A SERMON PREACHED AT St. MARY'S spital ON MONDAY IN EASTER Week, the fourteenth day of April, Anno Dom. 1623. By Walter Balcanqual, Doctor of Divinity, and Master of the Savoy.  
LONDON, Printed by F. K. for john Budge, and are to be sold at the sign of the green Dragon, in Paul's Churchyard. 1623.   

A SERMON PREACHED AT SAINT MARY'S spital.  Psal. 126. 5. They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. 
WHen any one hath sown tares, doth he expect to reap wheat? Do men gather grapes of thorns, or figs of thistles? saith our Master, Matthew the seventh, and the sixteenth. Ut sementem feceris, ita & meats: As you sow, so you shall reap, saith the old Proverb: justified by Saint Paul's instance, Galatians the sixth, and the eighth: He that soweth in the flesh, shall of the flesh reap corruption. And indeed from every seed sown, men do expect to reap grain, or corn, eiusdem speciei, of the same kind. How can we then expect from tears to reap joy, which differeth from it in the whole species or kind? To natural and worldly men, this is one of the paradoxes, wherewith they use to charge Divinity, and indeed a paradox it must needs be to all those who are not orthodox, and sound in the doctrine of spiritual tears and joy which are here meant, who know no other joy but jollity, nor tears, but when they are troubled; who know not the joy of the Spirit which Christians have here, nor their Master's joy which they shall have one day hence; who know not that gracious rain of tears, which God sendeth upon his Inheritance, whereby he refresheth it, when it is wearied. To such heteredox, earthly-minded men, this Parable of the Prophets Sower is a plain paradox.  
But here now unto God's people, in this Psalm, or unto any other people who have been in such a case, unto whose own experience God hath justified it, that after many years' captivity in a strange Land, where they did sow nothing but tears, eat the bread of sorrow, and drink the water of affliction, by the waters of Babylon, where all their joy was suspended, their Harps and Instruments hanged up; yet he now bringeth again their captivity, like the Rivers of the South: he now filleth their mouths with laughter, and their tongues with joy: He maketh their joy, like the joy of Husbandmen in Harvest, who after long expectation, come home loaded with sheaves To such of the Children of God, who, by reason of their sins, after they have mourned like Turtles, & chattered like Cranes, or like David, washed their beds with their tears, and have had their belly full of them as he had; My tears have been my meat day and night; Psalm the forty two, the third verse; do find, that God afterward doth make their broken bones to rejoice, to whom (Esay the sixty one, and the second) God giveth beauty for ashes, the oil of joy for mourning, the garment of gladness for the spirit of heaviness. And lastly, to all the Saints of God, who as strangers here upon earth, from home in Baca, this valley of tears, sighing for the adoption of the sons of God, and the redemption of their bodies, groaning and moaning with Saint Paul, till they may be dissolved, look with him one day to be with Christ, and to enter into their Master's joy. To all such now this is no paradox, but a proposition by experience proved unquestionable, that those that sow in tears, shall reap in joy.  
IT is a figurative proposition, wherein 
The sense of the words.  the people going into captivity, is compared unto Husbandmen, committing the seed to the earth, and as it were, with sorrow burying it there, as being uncertain, by reason of many alterations of weather, whether ever it will fructify and multiply; and the same people returning from their captivity, is compared to Husbandmen, after many large hopes and fears, reaping with great joy a plentiful Harvest, of the same seed so committed to the earth by them. But now this proposition in general is true, of all, or any of the people of God, not only in the case of captivity, but any other calamity spiritual or temporal, that they that sow in tears, shall reap in joy. And in this general sense will I handle the words.  
THey may be divided into a Lent and 
The Division.  Easter; first, fasting, and secondly, feasting: First, a time of sorrow, and secondly, a time of joy, or most seasonably into two known seasons of the year, a seed time, they that sow in tears; and a time of harvest, shall reap in joy. In the first season two things we must take notice of, the seed, and the sowing or manner of committing of it, the seed, Tears: or indeed to speak properly, it is the seasoning, rather than the seed, potius sal terrae; or pluma, quam semen, rather the salt or shower, than the seed: for it is in the text, not they that sow tears, but they that sow in tears: so that the seed here properly is, any good a Christian doth here in this life, be it an act of faith, repentance, alms, fasting, etc. If these, or any of these, be sown with, or in such tears as are here meant, you shall be sure to reap them again with joy; so that as you see, when Husbandmen have committed their seed unto the ground, if the earth be not afterwards watered with the rain of Heaven, their labour is lost; so whatsoever spiritual seed we sow in our hearts, it will not fructify, unless it be watered with this heavenly rain, and dew of tears: so that though Paul sow, or plant, if that Apollo's, or some other, do not water, God will give no increase, no reaping will follow; as therefore in Scripture we are commanded, to cast our bread upon the waters; so here we are commanded, to cast water upon our bread, or any thing that is ours: and this water, Our tears, shall not be as water spilt upon the ground, which cannot be gathered 
〈◊〉. 11. 1  up again, for our tears are put up in God's bottle; Psalm the fifty six, and the eighth 
Psal. 56. 8.  verse, they shall be gathered and reaped again with increase and joy, like the fruit in Harvest. Though strictly now it is here to be taken for the seasoning, yet fitly we may here account it for the seed, because the principal thing here intended by the Spirit of God, is the moving and stirring us up to tears, and therefore I must entreat you at this time, to let them be held not only for the seasoning, or the salt, but for the seed itself, warranted by other places of Scripture so to do: for David calleth tears not only his Sauce, but his Meat too, in the place above cited; My tears were my meat day and night: and in the 80. Psalm, vers. 5. 
Psal. 80. 5.  he accounteth them whole food, meat and drink; Thou hast fed them with the bread of tears, and hast given them tears to drink: let tears then be here for, The seed.  
The manner of committing this seed, must be by sowing; they that sow in tears; they must not be, as trees are planted, one far from another; nor niggardly or sparingly scattered up and down, here a corn, and there a corn, but sown, shed and poured out plentifully, as a sour soweth corn with a full and liberal hand. You know the Apostles rule, the second to the Corinthians, the ninth Chapter, and the 
2. Cor. 9 6.  sixth verse, Qui parce seminat, parce metet; He that soweth sparingly, shall reap sparingly: If we sow our tears thin and sparingly, the joy we shall reap, shall not be so much messis, as spicelegium; not a harvest, or reaping, but a poor gathering, or gleaning. Tears than must be the seed, and sowing, the manner of committing: and this is the first season, the seed-time, they that sow in tears.  
Now the second season, is the harvest, or time of reaping, they shall reap in joy: where we must take notice of these three things; first, the Corn, joy; secondly, the 
1. 2.  manner of gathering it, reaping; thirdly, 
3  the reapers, only such as sowed (they) shall reap: The Corn, joy, a strange 
1  grain, you will say, to be reaped from such a seed as tears, but you will not think it so strange, after you have heard what tears are here meant: for there are Lachrymae amoris, and Lachrymae doloris, tears of love, and tears of grief: for tears of love, no wonder though they bring forth joy, for they are tears of joy, and shed for joy: and for tears of grief in godly men, they are never altogether without joy, they never sorrow as without hope: as wicked men never know what a perfect and sincere joy is, but in the midst of all their joys feel secret checks pinch and griefs: so godly men in all their sorrows have some secret smiles, and lightnings of joy: they, as it is in the 2. Psalm, Serve the Lord in fear, and rejoice 
Psalm. 2. 11.  in trembling. Now as the seed must be turned after it is sown, before it can come to be corn, and be fit to be reaped: so here these tears shall be turned, and a little turning will serve the turn, to make these tears joy; the Lord of the harvest hath promised that he will turn them, john 16. 20. But your sorrow shall be 
John 16. 20.  turned to joy: and so from the seed of tears, men come to gather joy, that's the corn.  
Secondly, take notice of the manner of 
2  gathering this corn; we shall reap it; if we have not scattered but sowed, we shall not gather or glean only, but reap, that is, look how far the corn which husbandmen reap in harvest, exceedeth the seed which they did sow in seedtime, which in some grounds is, thirty, 
Matth. 13. 8.  some forty, some sixty, some one hundred fold, Matth. 13 8. so far shall the joy which we shall reap, exceed the tears which we did sow.  
Thirdly, we must take notice of the 
3  Reapers; they shall reap, which they? they that did sow, They shall, and none but They shall; they shall: and good reason, that that man whose brows did sweat, his hands should eat: that the same hand that did sow, should reap; and as they, so none but they; for Psalm 84. 6. such only come 
Psal. 84. 6.  to appear before God in Zion, who pass through the valley of Baca, that is, the valley of tears. It is not here, as in the oppressions of tenants, where, as the Apostle speaketh; one man soweth, and another man reapeth: They take all the pains, and the cruel extorting Landlord reapeth all the profit: nor as in your Impropriations abroad, and in the abominable crying sacrilege of this City, where the Ministers of God's Word, and the Pastors of your souls sow spiritual things unto you, with the sweat not only of their brows, but brains too; but you cheat them in their tithes, and reap that which is by all divine and humane law, as due to their spiritual sowing, as your gowns on your backs, or your bread provided for your bellies; But here they, and none but they that did sow, shall reap. And so you have the parts of this proposition, which I mean to handle in this order which now I have propounded, as God and your good patience shall give me leave.  
WE begin then first with the seed- 
The Seed.  time, and herein first with the seed, [tears] they that sow in tears. Tears are nothing else but a little water distilled by the heat of our tender brain, through our eyes: and as in all distillations, the thing to be distilled, aught to be choice and good: so it must be here; we must make choice of our tears, these tears are a seed to be sown, from whence we hope to reap joy: now husbandmen, you know, are ever very choice in their seed, that it be the best, purest, and finest that may be; for rotten, musty, empty seed can never promise any plentiful harvest: So it is with this seed of tears, many sorts of tears there are, but all of them not fit to be sown: but only from the best and choicest of them can we expect to reap joy. There be three sorts of tears, first, natural 
1  tears in themselves neither good nor bad, but as they are used moderately or immoderately: such are the tears which are produced from the sense of worldly losses, as of goods, friends, etc. or sense of sickness or injuries, or the like: these are not the seed here to be sown, no joy nor blessing: to be reaped from them, these tears did Esau plentifully sow when he 
Gen. 27 34. 38. Heb. 12. 17.  lost his birthright, but from them all could he reap no joy, nor Father's blessing: these tears plentifully sown by Rachel in Ramah, weeping for her children, but she reaped no joy, for she would not be 
jer. 31. 15. Matth. 2. 18.  comforted, because they were not. These tears are so far from producing any joy, as considered in themselves, they produce nothing but death, 2. Cor. 7. 10. 
2. Cor. 7. 10.  Worldly sorrow causeth death.  
The second tears are wicked and pernicious 
2  tears, such as are sown either by wicked men in this life, or by the damned in hell: by wicked men in this life, produced by craft, dissimulation and hypocrisy, from a desire to seem devout, or compassionate, that so they may work their own ends: these be Crocodiles tears, good store of them sown at Achabs' feast, to drown 
1. King. 21. 4, 5.  Naboths' vineyard: many such tears sown at the funerals of Parents and Husbands, when there is no more sorrow at the heart, than there used to be at the hearts of the Praeficae, who of old were wont to be hired at all funerals to weep, as now you do, poor people to come in mourning gowns: many such tears no question sown, at the long prayers the hypocrites make, when they mean to pray upon Widow's houses: these are not the seed here to be sown, no joy to be reaped from the tears of Hypocrites, for the harvest and portion of hypocrites, is nothing 
Luke 1●. 28.  but weeping and gnashing of teeth; nor are here meant, such tears as are shed by the damned in hell, they reap no joy, but still more weeping, more cursing, from their fellow weepers; derision and laughter from God and his Saints: so that from them nothing is reaped wherewith as it is in the 129. Psalm, The mower filleth his 
Psal. 129. ●.  hand, nor the gleaner his lap, nor they that pass by say, We bless you in the name of the Lord. Of these natural and hypocritical tears, I will now say no more, they are not the tears to be sown in the text.  
The third sort of tears than are wholesome and saving tears, which proceed from the holy Ghost, as from the fountain, and are distilled unto us by him who in the Rom. 8. 26. is said to request 
Rom. 8. 26,  for us, with sighs which cannot be expressed: not that he himself asketh, but maketh us to ask, not with ordinary and natural sighs and tears, nor with acted and hypocritical sighs and tears, but with godly and saving sighs and tears, which no man is able to express, and wring from himself▪ only these tears are this precious seed, as they are called in the next verse, from whence you may expect to reap joy, and of them only will I speak; and though I know, that for the most part a discourse of tears is displeasing, being as some suppose, too sad and melancholy, yet I hope neither shall you be sorry for it, because it is to make you reap joy, nor I myself be sorry for it, hoping with S. Paul, that this discourse, like his epistle, though it cause a sorrow, yet it shall only 
2. Cor. 7. 8,  cause a godly sorrow, a sorrow to repentance, 2. Cor. 7. 8.  
These tears now are the seed, but where shall we have this seed? for though natural and hypocritical tears flow from ourselves: yet these precious saving tears, come not from ourselves, but from above; this water of life, cometh from the well of life, for these tears, though when we shed them, they are Donum or unguentum effusum; a sweet ointment poured forth: for I make no question but that Mary's tears, wherewith she washed 
Luke 9 38.  Christ's feet, were as acceptable to him as the box of ointment she poured on his head. 
Vers. 46  For as that in the Gospel, is called a precious ointment, so in the words after the text, a precious seed. Though, I say, in regard of our shedding them, they are Donum effusum Deo, yet in regard of our receiving of them, they are Donum infusum à Deo, an ointment or gift poured into us by God: and though the words, precious seed, in the next verse, signifieth semen acquisitum, a seed purchased or bought with a price, yet they are not to be accounted semen acquisitum, in that sense in which Divines▪ distinguish between Habitus infusi and acquisiti, that is, infused and acquired gifts, but only tears here are called semen acquisitum, because they must be aliunde quaesitae quam a nobis, purchased from somewhere else, then from ourselves. Where then must we quaerere and acquirere, seek and purchase this precious seed? If it be a precious seed, than you must purchase it with a price: what price? Must we pay money for it? No, you know in Isai. 55. 1. There is a buying or purchasing without money, Ho, every one that 
Esay 55. 1.  thirsteth, come to the waters, buy without money, etc. What then must we pay for this precious seed? there is another price besides money, there is operae precium, as well as pecuniae precium, the price of pains: though it cost us no money, yet it will cost us our pains and labour, which is precio aestimabile, though not a penny, yet pennyworth. What labour, what pains, must this precious seed cost us? I will tell you. When Jeremy went to seek this precious seed, he asked the way to the Well head; he inquired for some wells and fountains from whence they were to be had, jeremy 9 1. O that my head were a fountain of tears! Now how use men to 
Jer. 9 1.  come by water out of wells or fountains, not without drawing of it? In the fourth of John, the woman of Samaria 
john 4. 11.  wondered how Christ should come by the water of jacob's well without drawing. The well is deep, and thou hast nothing to 
Esay 12. 3.  draw with, Isa. 12. 3. With joy shall ye draw water out of the wells of salvation. The price and purchase then of this precious seed, is operae precium, the price of our pains, and this operae, or pains, is haurire, to draw, and we must be sure to draw them, nec e paludibus, nec puteis, neither out of pits nor puddles, where there is nothing but miry dirt, or standing puddle, such as was in Jeremy his dungeon, such as are all the wells from whence natural, hypocritical, and infernal tears are drawn. But you must draw them è fontibus, from wells, and sinae, I called them salutares lachrymae, saving tears, we must draw them è fontibus salutis, from the wells of salvation, of which the Prophet speaketh. Now the wells from whence we may draw these precious tears, are so many, as if we should seek for them, as the people of Israel did in the 15. of Exodus, 
Exod. 15. 27.  before we had gone half three day's journey, as they did, we should find many more than the twelve Wells or Fountains, which they found at Elim. But for memory and methods sake, I will only send you to four Wells, from whence you may draw your bellies full of these precious tears; of which, the more you drink, you will still be, though not the more dry, yet the more desirous to mend your draught, quo plus sunt potae, plus sitiuntur aquae.  
The first Well is, the consideration of 
1  our sins, which (I hope) will draw tears from the driest and deaddest eyes that can be. The second Well is, the consideration 
2  of the miseries we are compassed with in this life: and from this Well we cannot miss to draw (in regard of these miseries) tears; for this life of ours is not only a Well, but a Valley of tears. As Rivers naturally seek the Valleys; so our tears naturally run into this channel. 
3  The third Well is, the consideration of Christ's passion, and tears for us, and from this Well we cannot miss of tears; the driest eye in the world can give him no less than tears; if not for tears, yet for torments and blood. The fourth Well, is the desire of being at home in our own Country, which is Heaven, the consideration of our absence and exile from God, and our longing to be with him; and from this Well we cannot miss of tears, when with the people of Israel, sitting by the Waters of Babylon, we remember our absence 
Psal. 137▪ 1▪  from Zion. And as it is the custom in Scripture, to give names to Wells, so if it please you, for our better memories sake, we will name these Wells too. The first 
1  we may call Adam's Well, because it is the consideration of that source of sin, which is derived unto us from Adam, as the Fountain and Well of all. The second 
2  Well we may call jacob's Well, as the Well of Sichem is called by the woman of Samaria, in the 4. of John; and I 
john 4 6.  give it the name from jacob, because the consideration of the miseries of this life we best learn from him, who in one sentence did most significantly express them all, Gen. 47. 9 Few and evil have the days of my pilgrimage been. The third Well 
Gen 47. 9  we may call, fontem Saluatoris, our Saviour's Well, or the Well of salvation; as it is called by the Prophet, because it is the consideration of his tears and passion, who is both our Saviour and salvation. And the fourth Well we may call, fontem vitae, the Well of life, or Gods Well, because it is the consideration of our absence from him, with whom is the Well of life, Psal. 36. 9 With thee is the Well of life. 
Psal. 36. 9▪   
I can make these four Wells, but two, and divide these tears in lachrymas amaras ac dulces, salt tears, and fresh or sweet tears, tears of hatred, & tears of love, tears of grief, and tears of joy: the tears we must draw from Adam and Jacob's Well, we may call salt tears, tears of hatred and grief, because we shed them out of a detestation of sin, and being wearied of the miseries of this life. The tears we draw from our Saviour and Gods Well, we may call fresh sweet tears, tears of love and joy, because they are shed out of a desire to be at home in our own Country with God and Christ. And these two larger Wells of grief and joy, we may well compare to the waters of Noah's 
Gen. 7▪ 20, 21.  Flood, which were wholly caused by God; yet partly from the Springs of the Depth, which were let lose below, partly from the excessive Rains which fell from Heaven above. For our tears of grief, and hatred, proceed from the consideration of our sins and miseries which are here below: our tears of love and joy, from our consideration of Christ and God, who are above; yet all these tears, like the whole waters of the Deluge, are from God. Sure, if the consideration of our sins and miseries, can not fetch tears from us, yet the consideration of Christ and God will do it. If Moses first smiting will not, yet his second 
Exod. 17. 6.  smiting shall fetch water out of the stony Rock. But I will let this latter division of tears pass, and hold myself to our first four Wels. And though I know, that in this valley of tears, there needeth no great seeking after Wells; for we may have just occasion of tears every where; yet it is our best course to draw them from the Wellhead; Dulcius ex ipso fonte bibuntur aquae; and of these four Wells, now I will speak in order. If only first I tell you, that by the tears, here to be drawn from these Wells, we must not understand strictly, only the moistness and water of our eyes, but the grief and sorrow of our hearts, which many a time runneth over, when we cannot shed a tear; leaves loquuntur curae ingentes stupent. But as all tears are worth nothing, without the mourning of the heart; so many times the heart may be drowned with grief, when the eyes are dry; and we shall reap in joy, though we sow not in tears, but in sorrow: blessed are they, not only that weep, but mourn: for they shall be comforted, Mat. 5. 4.  
WE begin with the first Well of sorrow, 
1 adam's Well.  or tears, which I called adam's Well, because it is the consideration of sin, which by Adam entered into the world; and who would not shed tears for sin, if he do but consider, what a lamentable thing it is, that it is nothing else, but one offending and grieving of God, & all his creatures; making us like Ishmael, setteth our hand against every man, and 
Genes. 16. 12.  every man's hand against us? It is a grieving of God; for it was only sin which made God grieve and repent, that he had made man. It grieved the Son of God; the sins of jerusalem (in the 19 of Luke) 
Luke 10. 41.  made him weep: our sins made him grieve in the Garden, and drew not only 
Matth▪ 2●. 38▪  his tears, but his blood from him on the 
Luke. 23. 33.  Cross: It grieveth the holy Ghost; therefore 
Ephes. 4▪ ●0.  in Scripture are we forbid to grieve 
〈…〉▪  and quench the Spirit by our sins. It grieveth the Angels; for as they Rejoice at 
Luke ●●▪ ●  the conversion of a sinner to God, so (no question) after a sort they grieve, as God is said to grieve for the aversion of a sinner from God. It grieveth all sorts of men; good men, whose eyes gush out with 
Psal. 119. 136.  tears, when they see, that the wicked will not observe Gods Law. It offendeth wicked men, whom sinners draw into sin by their bad example; and though perhaps yet they do not grieve at it, yet it is the cause of many tears to them afterwards, and perhaps of weeping, and gnashing of teeth for evermore. It grieveth and offendeth all the rest of the creatures, because it turneth them out of the service of God, into the service of sin and Satan; for God created the Heavens, Elements, and all other creatures, to serve man, and to wait upon him in his serving of God; but now, when man turneth himself out of God's service, all the creatures, while they serve sinful man, are, as it were, turned out of God's service too, and, not without grieving, are compelled to wait upon a wrong Master▪ in which regard, the creatures, in the 8. Romans, 
Rom. 8 22.  22. verse, are said to groan, and to be in travel: nay, which you would wonder at, sin grieveth and offendeth the very damned in hell; for the more the number of the damned is increased, which is done by sin, the greater is their torment, their groaning, weeping, & gnashing of teeth: for that must needs be the cause why the Rich Glutton in the 16. of Luke, did beg of Abraham, that Lazarus 
Luk. 16. 27, 28.  might be sent to his friends and kindred, to forewarn them of coming thither. One damned can ask nothing out of charity, but out of self-love, lest his torment and grief should be increased, by seeing his brethren there. Now, who would not shed tears, and grieve for sin, which maketh all the Persons of the Trinity, Angels, good men and bad, all the rest of the creatures, nay, the very damned in hell to grieve, and will one day, if they be not wept for here, make us weep and gnash our teeth for evermore?  
Now when I tell you, that we must shed tears for sin, I mean not only your own sins, though them principally, but the sins of others too, the sins of the time, aswell as the sins of your persons: for as we find David washing 
Psal. 6. 6.  his bed with tears for his own sins, so find we his eyes gushing with 
Psal. 119. 136.  tears, because the wicked would not observe Gods Law. Christ had no sins of his own to mourn for, yet wept he for the 
Luke 19 41.  sins of jerusalem. Dear beloved in the Lord, when you have cried for your own sins, spare some of your tears for the sins of the time: for unless they be mourned for, God's plague will be poured out upon the place, aswell as their persons: and if you do not mourn and cry for the sins of the time, no body else will, for the sinners themselves will not weep. When the Sea for Ionas his 
jonas 1. 4.  sin raged, the men of the ship were crying hard, and throwing their-things into the Sea; when jonas, for whom all this 
Uers. 5.  tempest was raised, had got himself down to the bottom of the ship, and there was laid fast asleep. Christ's Disciples sleep, when he is in an Agony for 
Mat. 26. ●0, 43.  their sins. Wicked men, for whose sins all the tempests, wherewith the Church is tossed, arise, never shed one tear in the storm, but stretch themselves along upon beds of Ivory, and short aloud upon 
Amos 6. 4.  the pillows of security: it is only the godly in the mean time, who must plead, and pray, and cry, and shed tears for the sins of the time; like Daniel, who 
Dan. 9 16, 17.  in the time of his people's captivity, in fasting and tears, was confessing his own sins, and the sins of his people; only such mourners are fit to stand in the breach, with their pails of water in their hand, I mean▪ with their tears, and strong cry, like Moses, to quench the flames of wrath, which go out from the Lord to consume us for our sins.  
Now concerning these tears which we are to shed▪ both for our own, and other men's sins, you shall do well to take notice of these two things; first, the necessity of them; and secondly, the virtue of them. The necessity of them 
1  appeareth, first, by precept; secondly, by 
2  practice. By precept of God in the old Testament, continually calling unto his people by his Prophets, joel, jeremy, and the rest; Turn you unto me with weeping, 
joel 10. 12.  fasting, and mourning. And in the ninth of Ezechiel, marking out all those for life, 
Ezech. 9 4.  who did weep for their own sins, and the sins of the people. In the new Testament, by the precept of Christ, who forbade the daughters of jerusalem to 
Luke 23. 28.  weep for him, who was no sinner, but commanded them to weep for themselves who were sinners: and by the precept of his Apostle Saint Paul, who commanded the Corinthians to weep for the uncleanness of the incestuous person, 
1. Cor. 5. 2.  1. Cor 5. 2.  
The necessity of them appeareth by the practice of all the Saints, who have been chief mourners for their own, and other men's sins. In the old Testament David deserveth to have the place of the chief mourner, since he used his tears for sin, not only for Physic, and a Bath, as it is in the sixth Psalm; I washed 
Psal. ● 6  my bed every night with my tears; but for food: for my tears were my meat day and night. If he, who was a man according to Gods own heart, did thus weep for his sins, how should we, who walk according to the lusts of our own hearts, mourn for our sins? In this train of mourners you shall see Lot, whose righteous 
2. Pet. 2. 7.  soul was grieved and vexed for the filthiness of the Sodomites. You shall see Ezra, Josiah, Jsaiah, Joel, jeremy especially calling for fountains of tears, for tears day and night, for pouring out their souls like water before the Lord, writing whole books of Lamentations for their own sins, and the sins of their times. In the new Testament we have a new train of mourners and weepers, in which train you shall see Christ, the chief mourner, weeping for the sins of jerusalem; so prone unto tears, as 
Luk. 19 41.  that the solemnity of the time, the joy of the people, the shoutings and acclamations of Hosanna, could neither drown his voice, but that he lifted it up: nor dry his eyes, but that he wept: after him, 
Luke 22. 62.  cometh Peter weeping bitterly for his denial: Marry Magdalen wiping Christ's 
Luke 9 38.  feet with tears for her sins, and then Saint Paul crying out by reason of his sins: but O miserable man that I am, who 
Rom. 7. 24.  shall deliver me out of this body of death! You have seen sufficiently the necessity of these tears for sin: see a little the virtue and efficacy of them.  
First, these tears and sighs for our 
1  sins, make us the better to know our sins, both for their colour and weight. Alas, so long as we take joy and delight in sin, so long sin seemeth little, light, easy and sweet unto us: but he that here increaseth his sorrow, increaseth his knowledge: when we once come to smart, to grieve and groan under sins, than we will confess, that the remembrance of them is grievous unto us, and that the burden of them is intolerable. As a penny in the bottom of a basin of water, sheweth as big as a shilling: so our sins, which to us seem but little, steeped once in the water of our tears, show themselves in their just quantity and proportion.  
Secondly, as our tears for sins make 
2  us know them, so they wash and do our sins away, so as we shall never see them, nor need to know them any more. I dare say, the tears wherewith Mary Magdalen 
Luke 9 38.  washed Christ's feet, did not more wash away the dust from Christ's feet, than they did the sin from her own soul: for immediately after her tears did she hear that happy sentence, Thy sins are forgiven 
Vers. 47.  thee: therefore are these tears called by the Fathers, Our second Baptism, by which our sins are washed away; compared by them to the waters of the red Sea, in which Pharaoh and his host, that 
Exod. 14 27.  is to say, Satan and our sins are drowned: To the waters of Jordan, in which, 
2. King. 5. 10, 14.  if like Naman, we wash ourselves seven times, that is to say, often we shall be cured of the leprosy of sin: to the waters of the pool of Siloam, because if we 
John 9 7.  bathe ourselves in them, we shall be cured of all spiritual diseases and infirmities: so that if you use to extol and magnify some waters, which you distil from herbs and flowers, because they are good against sore eyes, burnings and heats, what do you then say of these tears, which if you can but distil from your own eyes, they will cure the lust of the eyes, the pride of life, and all carnal heats and desires.  
Thirdly, these tears for sin, do 
3  not only wash away sin for the present, but wipe them out of all books of account, so as they discharge us of our sins for ever: for you must know, that every sin we do commit, we write, as it were, in the book of our own conscience, a bill of our hand against ourselves, whereby we acknowledge ourselves debtors to Gond, & liable to his justice.. Now unless this debt be discharged, and the bond canceled, we must be cast in prison for it, and there lie, till we pay the utmost farthing, which God knoweth will be long enough, for we ourselves are not worth one farthing. This bond is principally canceled by Christ, who, as the Apostle speaketh, nailed unto his Cross the 
Coloss. ●. 14.  hand-writing of ordinances which was against us, who by his blood did wipe out the letters of this black bill, which was against us Now what Christ did with the blood of his body, that we in some sort do with the blood of our souls, that is, our tears: for so they are called by the Fathers: and they do indeed wipe and eat out that which we have written against ourselves by our sins, and stand where those letters did: as one colour laid upon another doth away the former, and remaineth itself: just so, when the book of our conscience shall come to be opened; if we have shed tears for our sins, there is no score nor register of our sins to be found in the Book. Whensoever a sinner shall repent himself (say some translations, Ingemuerit) bemoan himself for his sins, I will put away his iniquities out of my remembrance, saith the Lord. Then our sighs and tears put them out of God's remembrance, dash them out of his Register, and now our tears do come in place of them: for saith the Psalmist, Are not all my tears in 
Psal. 56. 8.  thy register, Psalm 56. 8? Our tears then are registered as our discharge and acquittance for our sins; for when he findeth our tears registered, he lets us go as those, who were marked for 
Ezech. 9 4.  mourners, in the ninth of Ezechiel, who by their tears were acquitted from destruction.  
Fourthly, without these tears, neither 
4  first, can we dye unto sin, secondly, nor live unto God: first, not dye unto sin: 
1  Can one think to be delivered of so huge a burden as sin, without grief and tears? to have his shoulder when it is burst, set right, without pain? to have a tooth pulled out of his head, or a thorn out of his foot, and not cry? No woman looketh to be delivered of the Child which she hath carried in her womb but nine months, without pain and crying; and can you expect to be delivered of a man, the old man, a man of sin, without crying and tears? Secondly, 
2  and as no dying unto sin; so no living unto God, without crying and tears for sin: for as in diseased bodies, when any member, by a violent hurt is benumbed and dead, a token that it is dead is this: If the member feel no pain, nor smart when it is pricked, pinched, launched and cut, but if the Physician by plying of it can bring it to that pass, that he complaineth and crieth out at the dressing of it, the Physician, himself, and his friends are glad, because it is a sure argument, that the member is alive, and upon the recovery: Just so it is here; If that after we have been dead in our sins and trespasses, so past sense and feeling of them, that we did not sorrow nor shed tears for them, we can be brought to have a sense of them, to weep and mourn for them; sure, we are yet alive and upon our spiritual recovery.  
Though I might, yet now I will say no more of the virtue of those tears for sin, to which holy men have attributed so much as some of the Fathers think, that God did endue man with this dew of tears, for no other end, but that by them he might wipe away and extinguish his sin. Chrysost. hom. 7. ad pop. Antioch. 
Chrys. hom. 7. ad Populum Antioch.  saith, it is plain by experience; for when we weep, and grieve for the loss of friends, money, for sickness, or any other temporal calamity, we are so far from diminishing our grief by our tears, as we do rather increase it; only if we weep for our sins, we diminish our grief and them, and many times quite wipe them away. And it is very true which Chrysostome saith, for though by our tears we are not able to raise our Parents and Friends from death, yet by tears we are able to raise our souls from the death of sin. I have stayed the longer at this Well, because it is deep, and the fire to be quenched by it is very great; a huge mas●e and body of sin, in regard whereof we must do that indeed, which Bonaventure (how true I know not) reporteth of S. Francis, who because he did see, that he could not follow agnum immaculatum sine macula, operam dedit ut copiosis & quotidianis lachrymarum imbribus animam purgaret: The Lamb of God which was without spots, himself unspotted, he did what lay in him, by his daily showers of tears, to wash away these spots from his soul.  
NOw the second Welford from whence we 
Jacob's Well.  draw this precious seed of rears, is the consideration of the miseries which attend upon us in this life for sin: which being rightly considered, are able to draw tears from the stoniest heart. That 
John 4. 6.  is it I called jacob's Well, because he digged it, and in one sentence comprehended the miseries of man's life, for which we must shed these tears so fully, as nothing can be more. The sentence you have in Genes. 47. 9 For being asked of Pharaoh, how old he was? his answer was, 
Gen. 47. 9  Few and evil have my days been. Mourn and weep then for these two, because our days are few, we must die; and because they are evil, that is to say, all the while till we die, we are sick, we have no good days, nor feel nothing but misery; so that this Well differeth from the former in this; that was the consideration of sin, this, the consideration of the misery, which attendeth us in this life as a punishment of sin: and though I know, that many men think, they need not go to this Well, because they have none but good days, and hope they shall live many years; yet I may ask them that question, which the woman of Samaria, in the fourth Chapter of Saint john, and the twelfth verse, asked of 
john 4▪ 1●.  Christ, Art thou greater than our Father jacob, who did drink of this Well? Though he had evil days, yet I dare say, if thou livest in these days, thou hast and seest more; and though thou thinkest to live long, yet you will hardly live the days which he had seen, when he said so, for he was then one hundred and thirty years old. I have not time now to say any thing of the ●ewnesse of our days, I will only speak of the badness of them: I do not mean the badness or evil of sin in them; for that we drew tears from the first Well; but the evil vanity which attendeth upon us in this life for sin.  
The consideration of which misery deserveth so many tears, as that our life (in regard of them) is truly termed, a valley of tears; into which valley, one no sooner entereth▪ when he is borne, but (as Job hath it) he beginneth with tears, and crieth: so that being in this World, we are like Noah in the Ark, or like Islanders, who from no point of their Island can see any thing but waters: so look any where in this life, there is nothing but occasion of tears, and therefore it were not much amiss to make Logicians change their terms, and say, that flebile, or lachrymabile, the faculty of weeping, is more man's proprium, then risibile, or the faculty of laughing: for we know, that never was any man but he, wept, at least, when he was borne, some men there have been, who for any thing we know, never laughed, as the Fathers all have observed it of Christ.  
I have not time to bid you shed tears, for the miseries common to all men, in regard of which, the Saints of God have never thought otherwise of this life, then of a valley of tears, as of a place of exile or pilgrimage by jacob, Davia, Saint Paul; of a place of strife and war, by Simeon; Lord, now lettest 
Luke 2. 29.  thou thy servant depart in peace; as of a prison and place of bonds, by Saint Paul, who accounteth his going out of it, a 
Philip. 1. 23.  being dissolved, or unbound. Now how do men in exile, bonds, or under a war, behave themselves? Not in mirth, but mourning; in tears, not in triumphing. I will only now desire you to shed tears for some special miseries of this life▪  
O, you will say, that labour may be spared in this place, here are none acquainted with any other miseries, than those general ones which humane nature is subject to. Here in this City is no misery, poverty, war, complaining in our streets, nor carrying away into captivity: We have our Summer, and our Winter-houses, fullness of bread, beds of Ivory to stretch ourselves upon, wine to make our hearts glad, oil to make our faces shine, every one of us may su under our own vine and figtree, and eat the fruit of them; therefore let us feast and laugh, we have no other cause, let them mourn and weep whom it concerns. O, but soft, God hath not done so to every Nation; other people in the world feel the weight of all these miseries abovenamed: we are commanded to mourn with 
Heb. 13. 3.  those that mourn; we must shed tears for their miseries, aswell as our own. It is the devil's cunning, when he meaneth to stop up this Well of tears, to present the state of this valley of tears to us, as he did the estate of the land of Egypt to the Israelites, to make them remember the Rivers and clear Springs there, but to forget their servitude and task of making of brick, to remember their Garlic, Cucumbers, and fleshpots; but to forget their stripes and bonds, or to present it unto us, as he did it to Christ; take us up 
Matth. 4. 8.  to the top of a high mountain, and from thence show us all the riches, pomp, and pleasures of the world, but showeth us none of the miseries and calamities of it. But now if any of us from some high Mountain, could but look down into this large valley of tears, and there have at once objected unto us all the special miseries and calamities, which men are suffering there, to hear there at once, all the sighs of the sick, the tortures and rackings of many men's limbs, both by the hand of justice and Injustice, the lamentable cry of the poor for want of bread, the faint chillinesse, and chattering of many one half starved with cold; hear the disconsolate weeping and tears for the loss of parents, husbands, children, friends; should see the pitiful anguish and affliction of such as are condemned to row in Galleys, work in Minerals, to turn in Mils, to see how they eat nothing but the bread of sorrow by weight, and drink nothing but the water of affliction by measure; to hear their unpitied roar and tears, at the smart of their unmerciful lashings: nay, if you did see from thence the miseries of a besieged City, to hear the roaring of the Canon, the sound of the trumpet, and the noise of the Drum; to hear the pitiful groans of men, dying▪ and wallowing in their blood, or swooning in the streets for famine; to see the women many times (as the Prophet hath it) to eat their own children of a span long; to see the uncomfortable tears of fathers and husbands, for the barbarous ravishing of their wives and daughters. If these, and millions of such miseries in the world, were objected to us all at once, and we did but know what men were doing abroad, perhaps it would draw tears from those▪ eyes, which now laugh so much. See a little the necessity and virtue of these tears for others.  
I he necessity of these tears appeareth, as did the necessity of the former, 1. by precept, 2. practice: 1. precept of the 
Rom. 12. 15.  Apostle, who commandeth us to mourn with those that mourn, Rom. 12. 15. of job, ●0. 25. Did not I weep with him that was in 
job 30▪ 25.  trouble? Was not my soul in heaviness for the poor? Of Jsaiah, Jeremy, all the Prophets, who poured out their souls in tears before the Lord, for the miseries God at any time brought upon his people. But let our Master be as the chief mourner in this train, who shed tears for jerusalem's miseries, for the grief of Lazarus his friends; for the text saith 
john 11. 15.  there directly, john 11 15. that Christ was glad for Lazarus his death, that his Disciples might believe, so that he wept only for his friend's sake, who were then a weeping; to show us the necessity of our tears, and mourning with those that mourn, say the Fathers on that place.  
Now in shedding our tears for others, we shall do well rightly to distribute them. Shed these tears, for these special miseries of any men, though they be both God's enemies and ours, at least in this regard, that they should have deserved them. Saint Aug 1. lib. de ciu. Dei, cap. 6. 
Aug de civet. Dei, lib. 1. c. 6.  doth highly extol the fact of Marcus Marcellus, which was this: When he was besieging the famous City of Syracuse, he got himself up to an high Turret, there to see the issue of the battle: and when he saw the Armies on both sides in the fury of ●he fight, heard the clashing of the Arms, the horrible out-cries of those that were beaten, saw the flames of the fire which they had cast into the Town, ascending up towards heaven, heard the noise and terrible cracking of the falling of the houses of that ancient City; he could not contain himself from tears, as if the battle were going against him, notwithstanding the victory was sure enough on his side, only because he did see men, though they were his enemies, endure so much misery. Shall not we have as compassionate a mind, as a Heathen man had, when we hear of the like miseries, which many in the world sustain, though they were enemies to our State, to our Religion, though they were Papists, nay, though they were Pagans? If his example cannot move us to be of his mind, yet (as the Apostle speaketh) Philip. 2. 5. Let that 
Phil. 2. 5.  same mind be in us, which was in Christ jesus; who, when he came near the City of jerusalem, and with his bodily eyes did see the proud buildings, and stately Towers, but with the eyes of his mind did see, that Titus and Uespasian would not leave one stone of them above another, although they were his utter enemies, and within a week were to put him to death, & his judgements were to come upon them, for this his death and murder, and he himself as a just God, was to send that destruction upon jerusalem, yet was he so touched with the sense of their destruction, that before they had shed that blood from his veins, for which they were to be destroyed, he sheddeth first tears from his eyes for them. Shed then these tears for such miseries of any men, though your enemies, and Gods enemies.  
But what now if the parties under these miseries be Gods friends, professing the same Religion and Worship with us? then let us with David, and those that were with him, for the burning of Ziklag, Lift up our voices, and weep till we 
1. Sam. 30 4.  can weep no more, 1. Sam 30. 4. then let us with Esay, 22 4. cry out, Turn away from 
Jsai. 22 4.  me, I will weep bitterly, labour not to comfort me, for the destruction of the daughter of my people, for it is a day of trouble and ruin, and perplexity, by the Lord God of Hosts, in the valley of vision. Then let us with Jeremy, call for Rivers and Fountains 
jer. 9 ●.  of tears, for the destruction of the people of God. Who knoweth not, that God within these few years, hath given us just▪ occasion of sowing such tears? there be people in the World, professing the same Religion with us, who this time four years did think their souls as far from death, as we now think ours, whose eyes were as dry as ours be now, whose feet, as they thought, were as secure from falling, as ours are now; but since, their feet have slipped, their souls have tasted of death, their eyes have been drowned with tears, because of complaining in their streets, and carrying away into captivity, because the sword of their enemies hath been glutted with their flesh, and made drunk with their blood; and shall not we sow and shed some tears for them?  
I will add one step more: What now if these miseries reach not only to the Professors of the same Religion, and worship with us, but to the Religion and Worship itself; that the Turk casteth out not only Christians, but Christ, and placeth in his place Mahomet: That the Papists cast not out only Protestants, but place there the Pope, and in the Temple of God set up that Idol, the Mass? O then for that let us pour out tears day and night, let us be ready to weep and die. I beseech you remember the History of Eli and his Daughter 
1. Sam. 4. 13.  in Law, 1. Sam. 4. 13. a messenger cometh to tell Eli the unhappy news of the defeat and overthrow, which the Philistines had given Israel: he was then sitting upon a seat by the way side; the Messenger cometh in with his clothes rend, ashes on his head, all his face blubbered with tears, so that in his countenance Eli might have read the bad news, yet had he strength to ask them. The Messenger answers heavily, Israel is fled before the Philistines: that (no question) troubled him, yet he sat still. What more? And there hath been also a great slaughter among the people: that (no question) sunk deeper, yet he sat still. What more? Moreover, thy two sons, Hophn● and Phinehas, are slain: sure, that made a deep cut in the heart of a father, yet he sat still. What more? Can there be any worse than these? And Sir, saith the Messenger, the Ark of God is taken. Old Eli, who had strength to sit still all this while, no sooner heard this, but his strength immediately forsook him, and he fell from his seat backward, and broke his neck, and died. The report of this cometh to Phinehas wife, Eli his daughter in Law, who was big with child, and near her travel; she hearing the news of the death of her Husband her Father in Law, her Brother in Law, of the people of God, and taking of the Ark of God, her griefs were above the griefs of Childbirth; for she falleth in labour presently, and bringeth forth a son; the women about her begin to comfort her, because she had borne a son (which Christ saith, maketh a woman forget her pain, when she remembreth, that a manchild is borne into the world:) But (saith the text) she 
1. Sam. 4. 19, 20.  answered not, nor regarded it not, only cried out first, The glory is departed from Jsrael, because the Ark of God was taken, and because of her Father in Law, and her Husband. And because the standers by should not think, that her grief for the loss of these two were alike, correcting as it were, herself, she insisteth only in her lamenting the loss of the Ark, and dyeth with that in her mouth, saith the last Verse of that Chapter, She said again, The glory is departed from Israel, for the 
1. Sam 4 22.  Ark of God is taken; and so she died. We have heard of late years how the people of God hath fled before their enemies, how they have been slain by them: perhaps some of you have lost your sons in these battles, some your husbands, some your friends; Weep for that: But alas! the Ark of God hath been taken in some places, the Candlestick removed, false Lights and Dagons set up: Now let our tears fall in great abundance. You have seen the necessity of them: in one word hear the virtue of them;  
Which is this, The keeping of the like tears from our own eyes; or if that shall not please God, the drawing tears from others eyes, if ever it shall please God to make our case such, as theirs is at this time: for they were not the greatest sinners 
Lnke 13. 4.  on whom the Tower of Siloe fell: but unless we repent, we must also look for judgement: if God find in us compassion for their passions, he may prove compassionate to us, and keep us from the like passions. As therefore Christ counteth himself touched, when any of his members is touched; Saul, Saul, why persecutest thou me? Acts 9 4. So ought 
Acts 9 4.  it to be among the members of his body, the grief of one, aught to be the grief of all the rest. If therefore we mourn with those that mourn, then do we draw this precious seed of tears from this second Well, which I called jacobs Well, or the consideration of the miseries of this humane life.  
THe third Welford, from whence you may 
Our Saviour's Well.  draw these precious tears, is fons saluatoris, our Saviour's Well, a Well so deep and full, as we may draw tears from thence perpetually, and never draw it dry It is a Well, from whence all the Fathers, holy men, learned men, these sixteen hundred years, have been drawing tears in their mournful meditations upon our Saviour's death & passion, which by their styles, it should seem, they have rather written with tears, then with ink. And indeed, who can choose but sow tears, when he shall think of this man, who as he was called by the Prophet, Uir dolorum, a man of sorrows; so he might aswell have been called, Uir lachrymarum, a man of tears; so given to them, as that no worldly nor divine joy, could make him refrain from them.  
Four times we know he wept, and they were all four such times, as others were, either rejoicing for him, or laughing at him: at his birth (no question) he wept, as all other men do, than were the Angels singing: at Lazarus his raising, 
Luk. 2. 13.  the multitude was laughing, because he said, he slept; this Man of tears weeping: 
John 11. 35.  jerusalem in triumph shouting out Hosanna 
Luke 19 41.  for joy; this Man of tears weeping: upon the Cross, the beholders mocking and shaking their heads at him, this man of tears praying and weeping▪ for the Fathers expound that place of the Apostle in the Epistle to the Heb. 5. 7. Who offered up prayers and supplications, 
Heb. 5. 7.  with strong cry and tears; of our Saviour's prayer on the Crosse. What, shall no mirth keep him from mourning? No solemnity keep him from sorrowing for us, and shall we ever forget to shed our tears, for this man of tears? (which is my only apology unto you, for thus mentioning his passion at this Easter solemnity.) But why weep for him? In these two regards; first, for grief that he should suffer so much; secondly, for grief that we should be the cause of this his so grievous sufferings.  
First, whose eyes can be dry, when we remember the measure of his suffering, that the Son of God should be humbled so low, as to be borne of a woman? The earth is but a centre to the heaven, and a man or woman, but as a centre to the earth; and yet that a centres centre should contain him, whom the whole circumference, that is to say, the heaven of heavens cannot contain: that at his birth his bed should be no better than a cratch, a bed nothing so well furnished as that bed, which the poor Shunamite made 
2. King 4. 10.  for Elisha; 2. Kings 4. 10. for there was neither a table, nor a stool, nor Candlestick by it. O that He who made the World, and spread the heavens like a curtain, should be cast in such a bed, as was neither made, nor had curtain hanging about it▪ that he should fly by banishment into Egypt, unto whom God gave the ends of the earth for his proper possession: that he should be put to fast, who filleth the hungry with good things, and was that Bread of life, which came down from heaven to give life unto the World: that he should be tempted of the Devil, whom he did usually throw out of the possessed by the word of his mouth: that he should weep for jerusalem, who at his passion would not suffer the daughters of jerusalem to weep for him; Weep not for me, ye daughters 
Luk. 23. 28.  of Jerusalem: that he should be subject 
Matth. 11. 29.  to weariness, who is the refresher of all those that be loaden and wearied: that he through sense of God's wrath upon him for sin in the Garden, should sweat water and blood, who never knew 
john 1. 29.  sin, but was that immaculate Lamb of God, who taketh away the sins of the world: that he should be mocked and scoffed at, who one day shall have 
Psal. 2. 4.  the sinners in derision: that he should be spit upon, who one day shall spit and spew the wicked out of his mouth, as it is 
Reuel. 3. 16.  Revelat. 3. 16. That they durst scourge him with rods, who with a whip of cords 
john 2. 15.  not long before, had scourged out the prophaners of the Temple: that they durst bind him, who bindeth Kings in chains, and Princes in links of Irons: that they durst set a Crown of thorns upon his head, at whose right hand (as the Apostle telleth us) there standeth a Crown of immortal glory.  
That they durst put a rod for a Sceptre in his hand, Who with a Sceptre of Iron 
Psal. 2. 9▪  shall crush the wicked, and break them in pieces like a potter's vessel; Psal. 2. 9 That he should die, who was the Resurrection and the life. That he should die so accursed a death, as to be crucified, who was the blessed of the Lord, and he in whom all the Nations on the earth were to be blessed. That he should be crucified between two thieves, who was the 
john 14. 6.  truest man that ever was borne, nay, was Truth itself. That he on the Cross should thirst, who in the 55. of Esay, calleth unto every one that thirsteth, to 
Esay ●5. 1.  come unto him. That he should have Vinegar offered him to drink, who was that tree that sweetened the waters of Marah. That he should be wounded in the side, who healeth the Nations, and bindeth up our wounds. That he who was God himself, should ask, why God had forsaken him? Can we remember these things, and not sow tears? Can we remember, that his blessed Head was pricked with Thorns, and yet do not our hearts prick us, at the remembrance of it? That our Saviour's hands and feet were smitten thorough with nails, and his side with a lance, and yet we not so much as smite our breast at it. That with the spittings of his enemies, and his own precious blood and tears, his beautiful face was all marred; and yet our faces not wet with so much as one tear for it. That his face for faintness lost the colour, and yet no man's cheeks grow pale at it. That he should be thus offered a pure Virgin as a sacrifice, and yet we not do so much, as the Daughters of Israel did in remembrance of Iphtaphs daughter, bewail it with tears and lamentations. You know, the senseless creatures could not hold, but testify their grief: the Sun put on, as it were, a mourning robe for the death of his elder brother, the Son of righteousness; the Veil of the Temple rend itself in two, for grief to see its Lord so dishonoured: the stones in the street clave asunder, to see that Stone refused of the builders, which was the head of the corner; and shall we now be sparing of our tears?  
Dear beloved in the Lord, when I consider, how at the passion of the Son of God, the rest of the creatures did testify their grief, but yet our hard hearts cannot send forth a sigh, nor our eyes a tear; I am ready to allow of the force 
1. King. 13. 5.  and strength of bonaventure's Meditation on Ezech. 36. 26. and almost begin to say Amen to his petition. The Lord there 
Matth. 27. 51.  thus promiseth to his people; I will take from you your hearts of stone, and give you hearts of flesh: No, Lord (saith he) I will have none of that change, give me rather a heart of stone, than a heart of flesh: for in the 1▪ King 13. 5. at the voice of the Prophet, the stones of the Altar went asunder; but the heart of Jeroboam remained untouched▪ and when thy Son my blessed Saviour suffered, The Veil of the Temple rend itself in two, and the stones of the street did cleave themselves asunder; Matth. 27. 51. yet the hearts of the jews remained untouched: therefore Lord (saith he) give me rather a heart of stone, than a heart of flesh. Let us not (I beseech you) be slow to draw tears out of this Well.  
O, but Christ hath forbid us, Weep 
Luk. 23. 28.  not for me, ye daughters of Jerusalem, Luke 23. 28. But, O Lord, thou couldst have taken no such ready course to make us weep, as to forbid them then to weep; for how can we (alas) but weep to remember that thou thyself didst weep for jerusalem, and yet that thou wouldst not suffer the daughters of jerusalem to weep for thee? that thou makest so small account of thyself, in regard of us, that thou canst not choose but weep, when thou considerest, that in jerusalem, there shall not be left so much, as one stone upon another; and yet thou wilt not consent, that the daughters of that traitorous City shall weep, to see thee keep not so much as one drop of blood by another? Weep then first for the measure of his passion.  
O but secondly, grieve and weep much more, that we were the cause of all this his suffering: you are deceived, if you think it was either the hands, or tongues of Christ's enemies, that did crucify and revile Christ, so much as our sins did. Not all the hands of the soldiers could have done it; he said no sooner 
john 8. 6.  to them; I am he, but they fell dead to the ground, john 8. 6. What was it then? hear the Prophet, Propter scelus populi mei percussi eum; hear the Apostle, Sinners do 
Heb. 6. 6.  crucify again unto themselves the King of glory, and make a mock of him, Heb. 6. 6. What our sins do now, they did then; the jews cried out, Crucify him, crucify 
Luke 23. 21.  him; their malice was so great, that if it had been possible, they would have had him twice crucified; and they had their wish: for they did it once with their hands, and we did it with our sins: let us shed tears for that.  
The necessity and virtue of these tears, drawn from our Saviour's Well, see both at once in one word: because we must be like Christ, that showeth the necessity of them, and they make us like Christ, that showeth the virtue of them; if the head weep, the hand must not play, nor the foot dance; and if the members condole, when the head weepeth, it maketh the members like the head. Remember Vriahs' answer to David, when he would have had him gone home to rejoice with his wife: Doth my Lord and 
Sam. 11. 11.  Captain Joab, and the Host of the Lord lie abroad in tents, and shall I go home and rejoice with my wife? 2. Sam. 11. 11. Did our head weep, and shall not our eyes shed tears? Let it be the answer we make to all the pleasures and vanities of this world, when they would persuade us only to laughter, and to forget tears. And thus much of the tears which we may draw from this third Well, which I called our Saviour's Well.  
THe fourth Well, I called the Well of 
The Well of Life. Psal 36. 9  life, or Gods Well; With thee is the Well of life, Psal. 36. 9 How can we out of this Well draw tears? Even because we cannot come at this Well. Let us weep, because in this life we are forced 
Psal. 137. 1.  to sit by the waters of Babylon, and are yet strangers, and as it were, banished and barred from being satisfied with the pleasures of that River, which gladdeth the City of God. Alas, if we did consider that our Country were Heaven, and did apprehend this place here below, to be our prison, or place of banishment, the least absence from our Country would draw tears from our eyes, and sighs from our hearts, with David, Psal. 120. 5. 
Psal. 120. 5.  Woe is me that I sojourn in Mesech, and am constrained to dwell in the Tents of Kedar. Theodoret expounding that place, observeth, that Kedar was the other son of Ishmael, and that they who were descended of him, did dwell not far from Babylon; who calling to mind, that their father Jsmael was cast out of Abraham's Family, did live like exiles, and bewail their banishment out of their father's House, the House of Abraham. What should we do then, when we consider our long absence from Abraham's bosom, and our being banished like our father Adam, for a certain time, from the heavenly Paradise? Do you remember how the jews behaved themselves in the 137. Psalm, in the time of their exile and captivity, while they sat by the 
Psal. 137.  Rivers and Waters of Babylon? they wept, would not be comforted, hanged up their Harps and Instruments. What are the waters of Babylon, but the pleasures and delights of the World, the waters of confusion, as the word signifieth? Now when the people of God sit by them, that is to say, doth not carelessly, but deliberately, with a settled consideration, see them slide by and pass away; and compareth them with Zion, that is to say, with the unconceivable rivers of pleasure, which are permanent in the heavenly jerusalem; How can they choose but weep, when they see themselves sitting by the one, and sojourning from the other? And it is worthy your observing, that notwithstanding the jews had many causes of tears; the Chaldeans had robbed them of their goods, honours, Countries, liberty, parents, children, friends; the chief thing for all this, that they mourn for, is their absence from Zion; We wept, while we remembered thee, O Zion; for their absence from jerusalem. What should we then do for our absence from another manner of jerusalem? theirs was an earthly, old, robbed, spoilt, burned, sacked jerusalem; ours a Heavenly new one, into which no arrow can be shot, no noise of the Drum heard, nor sound of the Trumpet, nor calling unto battle: who would not then weep, to be absent from hence?  
The necessity of these tears you may easily see, because God giveth none of the water of the Well of life; that is to say, eternal happiness, but to such who by the importunity of their tears do beg it, and obtain it of him. The virtue of them is seen, because the Saints who sought heaven with these tears, obtained it. David, whose meat day and night 
Psal. 42. 3.  were his tears, while they said unto him, Where is thy God? whose heart brayed, panted and fainted, after the living God, Psal. 42. 3. The woman of Samaria, who after she had heard Christ talk not above three or four words of the water of this Well of life, made it her present suit; Lord, evermore 
John 4. 15.  give me to drink of these waters, john 4. 15. Peter, who after he had seen a little of the glory of that Country, made it his next suit; Lord, it is good for us to 
Mat. 17. 4.  be here, let us build three tabernacles. Saint Paul, who after▪ his rapture into that Country, made it his only moan, that While we dwelled in the bodies, we were strangers 
2. Cor. 5▪ 2.  from the Lord, and did sigh, till he might 
Phil. 1. 23.  be dissolved, and be with Christ. All these men's longings have been satisfied, and that Kingdom which with tears they have sought, God (wiping all tears 
Reucl. 21. 4.  from their eyes) hath bestowed upon them. And this is all I have time to say of the fourth Well, the Well of Life.  
These now are the four Wells, from whence we may draw these tears, this precious Seed, which here we are commanded to sow. Though profane men think these tears, but the badge of hypocrites; yet know, that David did sow them, who was none, but a man according to Gods own heart. That they proceed out of childishness and simplicity, yet David did sow them, who was wiser than his Ancients and Teachers: 
Ps. 119. 99, 100  though they do account them womanish, and signs of weakness; yet David did sow them, who had the heart of a Lion, and was one of the Worthies, and valiant men of Israel. Though they think they proceed of idleness and laziness; yet did David sow them, a man as full of business, both in peace and war, as ever was any. And if David's example will not serve the turn, remember Christ, the Son of David, one far beyond all the exceptions, wherewith profane men use to charge the precious tears, which we are to draw from those four Fountains. So that as from the bitter flowers of Wormwood, by 
Simile.  the Art of distilling, and heat of the fire, sweet and wholesome moistness and waters are distilled; even so, from the bitter consideration of our sins, miseries for sin, the bitter passion of Christ, and our absence from God, by the fire and heat of God's Spirit, and this act of spiritual sorrow and weeping, do drop and distil▪ tears of far more virtue and vigour, than all the waters you use to distil, which you make serve for so many purposes.  
O sweet waters! O precious seed! O divine tears! What can you not do? You whom God maketh so great account of, as that he putteth you in his 
Psal. 56. 8.  own bottle? You which keep us from everlasting tears, weeping and gnashing of teeth? You that make fat, and fertile our hearts, like that Fountain which came out of Paradise, Genes▪ 2. and make 
Gen. 2.  them bring forth a plentiful harvest of joy? You that both quench our thirst, and cool our concupiscences? for as when we are thirsty, we run to the Well; and when our houses are on fire, we run to the water; so these tears both lay our thirst, and cool our lusts. You that do raise up our souls towards heaven, as the waters of the Deluge did lift up the 
Gen. ●. 17.  Ark; for the people's tears by the waters of Babylon, brought into their minds the remembrance of Zion? You that are the viaticum, or provision at our death, when we are travelling to our everlasting home, as you were to Jephthah's Daughter, David, job, and Ezekiah, who 
Esay 38. 2.  upon the sentence of his death, turned himself to the wall and wept? You blood of our souls, which cry louder into the ears of God, then either our sins, or the blood of Abel; and therefore 
Heb. 12▪ ●●.  in our language is called a crying, who next to the blood of Christ speak best things, who never held your peace, though you want tongues, and teach our eyes to speak powerfully to the Lord, Lament. 2. 18. Ne taceat pupilla oculi 
Lament. 2. 18.  tui; Let not the apple of thine eye hold its peace, or take rest. Of you I will say no more, for such is the sweetness and force of your own eloquence with God, that whatsoever the most eloquent tongues, or happiest pens can say, or write of you, it is far beneath your worth. Happy is the man who hath his bottle full of you, & his eyes running over with you: for you are the precious seed here spoken of; They that sow in tears. And thus much of the first thing in the first season, the seed to be committed, Tears.  
NOw secondly, see the manner of 
The manner of committing the seed.  committing this seed, it must not be thin, or niggardly scattered, but sowed plentifully, else our Harvest shall be no reaping, but a gathering: for he that soweth 
2. Cor. 9 2.  sparingly, shall sparingly reap: as the Lord in the parable of the Gospel complained of the reapers, so may we now of the sowers; he complained, that the Harvest 
Matth. 9 37.  was great, but the reapers, or laborers few.  
We may on the other side complain, that the seed is great: here is seed enough, never more matter and cause of tears, but the sowers few, few that plentifully shed and pour them out. Many now and then will drop a tear upon the present occasion; as in extremity of heat, you shall see sometimes a few drops of rain, or a few prodigious drops of blood to fall: but you know the verse, Gutta cavat lapidem non v●, sed saepe cadendo: tears will never sink into our stony hearts, but by oft falling, as we see drops do hollow stones. And who is there among us, that doth thus sow them? We must shed them often, and many at a time, often; Day and night, saith jeremy, without taking rest to our eyes, ne taceat pupilla oculi tui: day and night, saith David, and many at a time. So many as will fill God's bottle, so many as you may wash your 
Psal. 6. 6.  bed, and water your couch with them at a time, so many as may serve a man for meat and drink. They were my meat 
Psal. 42. 3.  (saith David) and I mingled my drink 
Psal. ●02. 9  with tears.) As many as would serve to wash one's feet with Marie Magdalen; or if we cannot attain to that measure of spiritual moisture and perfection of tears, with those holy men and women: yet let us do that which the strict letter of the Text requireth of us; let us sow them, observe a seed time for them; that is to say, set out some certain times and seasons for the sowing of them, principally those which the Church hath, or shall set out; but every one his own times, and seasons too, according as he feeleth his own wants, or is touched with the sense of others miseries, especially the Church of God.  
I doubt not, but that some such sowers there are; & these are they that stand in the breach, and that the wrath of God doth not burn among us, as it doth among many, perhaps less deserving than we: no question, a good part of the cause is, the seed of these sowers, the many tears of these men of tears, which they throw upon the devouring flames of wrath, which are gone forth from the Lord, the number of which tears, unless they be increased, and in this combustion of Christendom, we will show ourselves as swift in running to the four Wells above mentioned, as we can be forward to run and ride, if we hear but of any new upstart Well in the Country, and from them bring pales full of tears to quench this flame; the fire may go on, and as now it is in our neighbour's house, so next it may take hold of ours.  
Now as all are bound to sow these 
Matth. 13. 3.  tears, so they especially, who in the Parable of the Sour, Matth. 13. 3. are designed by that name, I mean, God's Ministers: for if the seed in that Parable, be the Word of God, than the sowers must be the Ministers of that Word. The Seers and Watchmen of Israel, as they ought with joel, Jeremy, and the rest (if from the Towers of Zion they spy any fire approaching unto it) to call to all the people of God for tears, to meet and quench the flame: so they ought first to power out their own tears; si vis me flere, dolendum est primum ipsi tibi. Where only by the way, note how much these Ministers and sowers are mistaken, who use to sow and preach the Word of God, not in tears, but in laughter, and think they sow best, when their wit makes the people laugh. But alas, it were more wisdom to make them weep. From this kind of sowing, they shall reap but small joy from the fruit of their Auditors, and less joy in their own consciences from the remembrance of it, when they shall lie upon their deathbeds. Now I have done with the seed-time; They that sow in tears. I come to the Harvest, and will dispatch it more quickly: Shall reap in joy.  
IN which, as I told you, we must take 
The Harvest.  notice of three things: First, the Corn, Joy: Secondly, the manner of gathering it, Reaping; they shall reap. Thirdly, the Reapers, they, that is to say, the Sowers. For the Corn, joy, as I told you, that we were to be choice in the seed: All tears not to be sown: so not every joy here to be reaped, nor expected. As I told you of three sorts of tears, so I pray you take notice of three sorts of joys. 
Three sorts of joys.   
First, sensual joy, not that it is a joy 
1  indeed, but because men call it, and account it so: for it is a beastly sensuality and voluptuousness, and though it doth arise from the external sense, yet because it ariseth only from sense, it is against all sense, that it should be called joy, and may as well be called a senseless, as a sensual joy.  
Secondly, joy is humane or worldly 
2  joy, whereby a man is delighted with virtue and honesty, by the natural or reasonable contemplation of them: neither of these joys be that joy you must here look to reap; for Christ hath promised these joys to the World, Mundus 
john 16. 20.  autem gaudebit; but the World shall rejoice: A world full of these joys will never make a Harvest; for though to the sense they seem to grow fairer and higher than true joy, yet when you come to the haruest-field, they prove but wild Oats, which many times grow higher than the Corn; or like the gaudy flowers among the Corn, which rather disgrace it, then grace it, and prove both the corn to be naught, and the ground barren; these joys be such, as the Mower filleth not his hand with them, nor the gleaner his lap.  
The third joy then, and that which is 
3  here meant, is spiritual, which ariseth from the enjoying of God and spiritual things, and it is called spiritual joy, both because it is apprehended and perceived not by our senses, but by our spirits, but especially because the Spirit of God begetteth this joy in us, and is the cause of it, who therefore is called the Comforter, 
john 14. 16.  or bringer of joy.  
NOw this spiritual joy is twofold, here 
Division of spiritual joy.  and hence: first, in via; secondly, in patria: first, the joy which we feel while we are upon our way or journey in this life; and secondly, the joy we shall feel, when we are come to our journey's end, in the life to come, both of which we shall reap from tears; the one we may for distinctions sake call spiritual, the other heavenly joy; the one, the first fruits or earnest of the Spirit, the other, the harvest or whole sum: for whereas in other harvests, the gleaning followeth, but in Heaven there is no gleaning, but all harvest, God is there all in all: Therefore God here before bestoweth upon us something answerable to a gleaning; he bestoweth upon us here some ears of this Corn, till the Harvest be ripe; the one is, the joy which the prodig all conceived, 
Luke 15. 18.  when he thought but of returning to his father; the other, the joy of kissing, weeping, falling on his neck, feasting, 
Vers. 22. etc.  and music, which he conceived upon his meeting with his Father: the 
Numb. 13. 24.  one, the bunch of grapes, which Joshuahs' Spies brought to show the goodness of the Land; the other, the whole Vintage, The milk & honey where with the Land overflowed. 
Exod. 3. 8.  In a word, the one is our joy, which may enter into us, because it is not without measure; the other, our Master's joy, which is so great, as it cannot enter into us, but we must enter into it, Enter into thy Masters joy.. In a word, look how great difference there was between the first fruits, and all the rest, which was the Masters, or the Owners of the ground, so much difference is between our joy here, which the Scripture calleth, Primitiae 
Rom. 8. 23.  Spiritus, The first fruits of the Spirit, and our joy hence, which is the Owners, and Masters own; and therefore is called, Our Masters joy.. The object of both these joys is the same, God and heavenly things; but our joy here, ariseth from our being united to these objects by hope and faith: but our joy hence, shall arise from our actual being united to them, by vision, comprehension, and fruition; so that look how much enjoying is above hope, and sight above faith, so much shall our joy hence be above that which is here: which I speak not for the vilifying of our joy here, but for the magnifying of our joy hereafter; I will speak a word of either.  
A world of joys we have here, according 
joy in v●a.  to the number of the several objects, which the Spirit of God maketh us to take delight in, according to which number of objects, we have so many several strains of joy; to speak of all which, were to slip from the proper place of my Text, and to fall into the common place of joy; the joy which in this life you shall reap, by the warrant of my Text, is fourfold, according to the fourfold feed of tears, which I directed you to draw from the four Wells▪ I will but name them.  
From Adam's Well, that is to say, tears 
1  for our sins, we reap here the joy, first, of the forgiveness and remission of them all, which is not only a joy, but a blessedness, Psal. 32. 1. Blessed is the man, whose sins are remitted. The Publican found more joy in this, that after his tears and smiting of his breast, he returned home justified, than the Pharise did in the enumeration of all his gifts and goodness; and Marie Magdalen found more comfort in that one sentence of Christ after her tears, Thy sins are forgiven thee, then ever she did in all the gifts and pleasures of her Lovers. Christ called health and other gifts which he bestowed upon men, by this name, as he told the sick of the Palsy, Mark. 2. 5. after his cure, Thy 
Mark▪ 2. 5.  sins are forgiven thee: as if that should be his chief joy: if there were no more joy, here is recompense enough for all thy mourning. From the tears we 
2  draw from jacob's Well, that is to say, for the miseries of humane life, we reap a second joy, which is the joy of content, for they make us content with that little God giveth us here, because we see this life a veil of misery, and that the more men have, the more misery they have with it. Now for one to be content with his present estate, it is not only a great joy, but so great a gain too, as that without it (as it should seem by the Apostle) godliness itself were no gain: Godliness is great gain, if a man be 
1. Tim. 6. 6.  content with that he hath. From the tears which we draw from the third Well, that is to say, our Saviour's Well, we may reap a third joy, and that is no less than the 
3  joy of our salvation, as it is called by the Psalmist, 51. 12. Restore unto me the joy of 
Psal. 51. 12.  thy salvation: and to the waters of this Well, we have an express promise annexed, Esay 12. 3. With joy shall ye draw 
Esay 12. 3.  water out of the Wells of salvation. Here is a joy indeed, for a condemned man to be delivered from, I cannot tell how many sentences of death, temporal and eternal curses here, and being cursed hereafter, and that with no less price, then by the bitter death and passion of the Son of God▪ This may well be called, The joy of salvation. She that was saved from least, found great cause of joy, I mean Marie, whose spirit rejoiced 
Luke 1. 47.  in God her Saviour. And he that thought he was saved from most, Saint Paul, who reckoned himself the greatest sinner, found so much joy in it, as he resolved 
Gal. 6. ●4.  never to rejoice, nor glory in any thing else, but in the Cross of Christ. From the tears which we draw from the fourth Well, that is to say, the Well of life, we reap a fourth joy, the joy of 
4  hope; Of what? Of inheriting our Country, from our absence, from which we wept so much; and if it were not for this hope, the heart would break. It was this joy, the joy of hope of looking after the recompense of the reward, which made the Martyrs so merry; from this joy of hope came their rejoicing, singing, kissing of the stake, as it is reported of Theodorus that young man, who when by julians' command, he was dragged to most terrible tortures, he is said so to have sung and rejoiced, as he made his very torturers to blush; he persuaded some almost, others altogether to become Christians. I can stay no longer on these joys, because the gaudium magnum, the great joy is yet behind.  
Only let me tell you this, that the least of those joys is worth all your tears, and the least drop of them is worth a Sea of all sensual and worldly joys; and indeed to speak of these spiritual joys, to such as have not felt them, is ridiculous, because they are known by apprehension, not by discourse, and to them who have felt them, it is needless to discourse of them; for this doctrine is better learned by one experience, then by a hundred rules; as one will know more of the sweetness of honey by one taste of it, then by a hundred disputations and discourses of it. In this point only, if there were no more, it is worth all worldly joys: it is purum purum gaudium; a sincere and sound joy: so are not worldly joys, they are but shadows and figures of things we take them to be. 1. Cor. 7. 30. Let them that rejoice, be as if 
1. 〈…〉.  they rejoiced not; and them that marry, be as if they married not; and they that buy, as if they possessed not; for the shadow of these things passeth away. The Fathers on that place have made this observation, that the joys of this world are but quasi, as if they were joys, not joys indeed, but shadows or figures; they are, as it is in the nine and twentieth Chapter of Esay, 
Jsai. 2● 8.  and the eighth verse: As when a hungry man eateth in his dream, but when he awaketh, his soul is empty: as Nabuchadnezzar did see 
Dan. 2. 31, 37.  the glory of the world, but it was in a dream. Next, this spiritual joy is a sincere joy, because as it is all joy, so it is always joy, any cross or affliction will dash out a worldly man's joy: Balthasar's 
Dan. 5. 5, 6.  joy dashed out with the dash of a pen upon the wall; Herod's joy dashed with a 
Acts 12. 23.  few Lice and Vermin▪ worldly men's joys lie in the power of others; but 
john 6. 22.  (saith our Master of spiritual joy) no man shall take your joy from you: It is increased rather, then impaired by death itself, as I told you in the Martyrs; or by scourges, as in the Apostles, who rejoiced, that they were thought worthy to suffer for 
Acts 5. 41.  the name of Christ: So worldly joys are but like Towns and Countries, finely painted in the Map, which as with a little water any one may wipe out; so are they quite wiped away by the water of affliction: and if there be no cross to dash out worldly joys, they will dash out themselves: for they are all, saith Gregor. 
Greg. Nyssen. hom. 5. in Eccles.  Nyss. in his 5. homily on Eccles. written in water, which retaineth no print of that which passeth thorough it: nam voluptatis cuiusque cessante operatione cessat & sensus; when that is gone in which worldly men joy, their joy is gone. It is not so with spiritual joy, which reflecteth back upon it own acts and objects. When wicked men delight in sin, they rejoice for the time; but when they remember what they have done, that reflecting upon it, grieveth and troubleth them, Pro. 14. 13. The end of their mirth is heaviness: but 
Prou. 14. 13.  a godly man is joyed, not only when he reflecteth upon any joyful action, but when he remembreth his grief and sorrow, and rejoiceth even in the remembrance of his sufferings. As Samson, judg. 14. 8. being 
Judg. 14. 8.  set upon by a Lion, slew it; and after a few days going to look upon it, found a swarm of Bees and Honeycombs in it: So godly men, when they reflect upon their temptations and crosses, find joy and sweetness in the remembrance of them. I have done with the joy which we shall reap here from our tears; let us speak a little of the joy of Heaven, which one day we shall reap hence from the same tears: for he that draweth tears from the four forenamed Wells, shall be sure one day to reap eternal joy.  
OF which joy, I know not well what 
joy in Patria.  to say, so much hath been said already, and yet nothing hath been said: in my expression of it, I would gladly take a new course, and only tell you this of it, that it cannot be expressed. Hear Saint Augustine, he telleth us, that one day, while he was about to write something upon the eighth verse of the thirty sixth Psalms, which is this; Thou shalt make them drink of the Rivers of thy Pleasure; and he was almost swallowed up with the contem▪ plation of these Heavenly joys, that one called him very loud by his name; and enquiring who it was, he answered; I am Hierome, with whom in my life time thou hadst so much conference concerning doubts in Scripture, and am now by experience, best able to resolve thee of any doubts concerning the joys of Heaven: but only let me first ask thee this question: Art thou able to put the whole earth, and all the waters of the Sea into a little pot? No more is it possible that thy understanding should comprehend the least shadow of these joys. Will you hear Paul tell us, that he cannot express them? 1. Cor. 2. 9 Eye hath 
1. Cor. 2. 9  not seen, nor ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for those that love him. The eye can see very far: I will not stand to tell you, how far the Optics tell us that a man may see, having all advantages: but it is certain, that a man may see wonderful far in the night, because he may see the Stars of the Firmament; which are so far distant from us, that Philo (laughing at the folly of the Babylonish builders) affirmeth, That a Millstone would be four hundred years in falling to the earth from the Sphere of the Moon: and Astronomers, That it would be fifteen hundred years a falling from the firmament, where the Stars are. And yet though our eye can see thus far, yet it cannot pierce into this joy: he goeth on to the ear, which extendeth itself a great deal farther than the eye, which only looketh upon things present, but by our ear we know things past, the glory of all the Monarchies and Empires that are past, the glory of all things that now are, and all the things which are foretold shall be; and yet our ears have never heard of any thing like this joy: he goeth on; neither hath entered into the heart of man to understand: That is more than both the former, the eye apprehendeth things present, the ear things past, present, and to come, they go no farther: but the understanding apprehendeth things that are, and are not, and by a divine power calleth things that are not, as if they were: disputat de quolibet ente & non ente; it imagineth Mountains of gold, and heaven to be a place of infinite joy: and yet the heart of man cannot comprehend this joy.. Sure these are great expressions of the Apostle: Can we find no other way to know this joy? As Moses and joshua sent out some Spies to spy the Land: 
Numb. 13 18.  so we have 2. special men in Scripture, who have spied this joy; john in a Vision, Paul in his Person: Can they tell us nothing of this joy? Yes, john telleth us something of it, but his expressions are dark, in regard of the light that is there; for he expresseth it by floods, Rivers, Mountains, Metals, stones, all which are but material things, and whatsoever he saith, is not good enough to be a shadow of this joy: and S. Paul is forbid to tell us what he heard, and was so ravished with that he did see, as that he is confounded, and can say nothing of it: nay, not so much as now fourteen years after he was there, tell us whether he was there in the body, or 
●. Cor. 12. 3.  out of the body: it must be a great joy which so dazelled him. When men see things in a dream or vision, than they think they see them in the body; but restored again to themselves and senses, they know that they did not see them in the body: but the Apostle fourteen years after, cannot tell whether he saw that joy in the body, or out of the body. Now after these great expressions of the impossibility of expressing it, I will never go about to do it; only I will give you a taste of it by this one drop: One drop of this joy, is able to quench all the fire that burneth, to dry and stop all the tears, weeping, and gnashing of teeth, which is in hell; the rich glutton in hell desired Abraham to send Lazarus with 
Luk. 16. 24  one drop of water to cool him. From whence we must not infer, that the pains of hell are so little, as they may be quenched with one drop of water, but rather make this safe inference, that one drop of that water where Abraham and Lazarus were, is of such infinite power and sweetness, that if it could be but dropped into the flames of hell, it would quench them all. The greatness of this joy may be comprehended in these two words; in the fullness of the object, and in the fullness of enjoying this object. The objects are many, but the sum of all is God, whom we shall see face to face, and in him all the joys and goodness which is in Heaven with him: for as looking in a glass, we see the glass, ourselves, and all things about it; so in that glass of the Trinity, we shall by a beatifical Vision, see the glory of the Trinity, see ourselves, and our own glory, and all the Angels, Saints and pleasures of Heaven, which are round about that Trinity. And as our joy shall be full, in regard of the fullness of this object, so it shall be full, in regard of our fullness of enjoying it; we shall feel this joy with all our powers and faculties; and never have done feeling it, ever beholding, though always satisfied; ever drinking and yet still thirsting, non per sitim siccitatis, saith the school, sed per sitim ardoris & desiderii, not with any thirst of dryness, but with the thirst of desire. This is all I will at this time say of the joy of Heaven.  
But now how come we to reap this joy from our tears? It is a thing that both standeth with reason, and with good justice: with reason; for as sweet Spices, when they are burnt in the fire, or beaten in the Mortar, send forth their sweet smell and savour: so after our tears and grief, God may well send us this pleasure and joy; with God's justice and goodness it standeth, that those souls which have refrained themselves from worldly delights, which cannot be without some sorrow and sadness, should one day be filled with joy and gladness, that those vessels, which for the enjoying of God, did empty themselves of all joy here, should run over with joy in Heaven, that as joseph (Gen. 45.) after 
Gen. 45. 2, 3, 4.  he had used his brethren a little roughly at first could hold himself no longer, but must needs over-ioy them, with making himself known to them: so Christ our elder Brother, after he hath used us here a little hardly under the rod, and made us shed many a salt tear, should show us himself in Heaven, wipe those tears from our eyes, and fill them with joy and laughter. Though you see therefore the Children of God in tears, nay and perhaps in blood, both brokenhearted, and broken-boned, despair not for all this, but that one day you may see them shine in joy, like the bright Stars of the Firmament. 
Dan. 12. 3.  When you see one in the streets from every dunghill, gather old pieces of rags & clouts, little would you think, that of these rotten rags beaten together in the Mill, should be made such pure fine Paper, as afterwards we see: and so from tears we do not expect pure joy, which notwithstanding is the pure Corn we are promised here from this seed of Tears. I have done with the Corn, joy; now I come to the manner of gathering it, which is reaping.  
IF we have not scattered, but sowed, we 
The Reaping.  shall not gather or glean, but reap; that is to say, Look how far the corn which Husbandmen receive in Harvest, doth exceed the seed which they did sow in seed-time, so far shall the joy which we shall reap, exceed the tears which we did sow. When God suffereth us to sorrow, he ever keepeth in his hand, and suffereth tears perhaps, to enter into our souls, but not to go over our souls; but in bestowing his mercies and joys, he ever stretcheth forth his hand, & semper, say Divines, praemiat ultracondignum; He filleth our cup full, and maketh it to run over. Isai. 40. 12. God 
Esay 40. 12.  is said to measure the waters pugno, with his fist, and to meet out the Heaven's palmo, with his span. By the Waters, you know, in Scripture, is often meant sorrow and afflictions; and by the Heavens, the joys and rewards due to the righteous. When therefore he measureth out our tears and sorrows, he doth it pugno, with his fist, that is to say, his hand closed and contracted; but when he measureth our joys and consolations, he doth it palmo, explicata manu, with his span, and open hands: saith our Master; A little 
john 16. 16.  while and ye shall not see me, and again, a little while ye shall see me, for I go unto my Father. The Apostles were to mourn and fast for the absence of the Bridegroom, and their Master, to wit, all the time of his being dead and buried in the Grave, and then afterward they were to see him from his resurrection until his ascension, or going to his Father. So there was modicum absentiae, & modicum praesentiae, a little while of his absence, and a little while of his presence; but now which of these littles was the greater? that of his absence while he was in the grave, was forty hours; that of his presence, or conversing with them, between his resurrection and ascension forty days; so that for every hour of his absence, there was a whole day of his presence: nay, Jsaiah maketh the one a year, annum placabilem, and the other but a day, diem ultionis, Isai. 61. 2. To preach 
Jsai. 61. 2.  the acceptable year of the Lord, and the day of vengeance of our God: but the Apostle, 2. Cor. 4. 7. hath cut the one so short, and 
2. Cor. 4. 7.  so lengthened and loaded the other, as he will not have them come within the compass of any comparison; Our light afflictions which are but for a moment, cause unto us a far more excellent and eternal weight of glory. Let any man show me a richer or fuller expression in all Tully or Demosthenes, than this; our tears but light, our joy not only weighty, but a weight, our tears but momentary, past 
2. Cor. 4. 17.  as soon as come, our joy eternal, ever coming, and never to be gone. What proportion between these two? our joy then shall be as far above our tears, as reaping above sowing; they shall reap.  
THirdly, we must take notice of the 
The Reapers.  reapers, they shall reap. Which they? They that did sow: they shall, and none but they shall: they shall, and good reason they should, because it was they that did sow. And though some that have sown in tears, do complain of the lateness or thinness of the Harvest, that they have not reaped in joy, as is here promised, know, that some grounds are later than others, and some years the Harvest falleth later than others, and that God, who is the Lord of the Harvest, in his good time will ripen thy joy, and thou shalt reap it: and in the mean time, if we try it narrowly, we shall find the cause in ourselves, both of the lateness of our joy, because we were too late of sowing our tears; and of the thinness of our joy, because we did sow our tears too thin. And if after our sowing of tears we find no harvest of joy at all, we may be well assured, that either our seed was not good; that is to say, our tears none of them which are here meant, or else some of the mischances is come upon them, which came upon the seed that came to no good in the thirteenth of Matthew, either they have fall'n by the way side; that is to say, they have been shed for false causes, not upon true grounds of godly sorrow; or they have fall'n upon stony ground; that is to say, only fall'n from our eyes, but never sunk into our stony and hard hearts, and so could take no root; or else they have fall'n among the Thorns, which choked them; that is to say, the grief and cares of this present World, which drown many times our godly tears: or else the envious man hath sown Tares among our tears; that is to say, false worldly joys, which we, as they sprung up, did not weed out, till they overgrew this seed: but let us sow this precious seed of tears in a good ground; that is to say, in a contrite and broken heart, and have a care, that the envious man sow no Tares among them, and they shall bring forth a hundred fold; for all they that thus sow in tears, shall reap in joy.  
And as all they, so none but they, Psal. 84. 6. Such only come to appear 
Psal. 84. 6.  before God in Zion, who pass through the valley of Baca, that is to say, tears. And indeed there is no other way to enter into Heaven but by affliction, violence, grief, and tears. There are in the new Testament twelve names especially given to the Kingdom of Heaven, and the celestial joy which we hope to reap; but look to them narrowly, and you shall find, that quantum honoris is in every one of them, tantum etiam & oneris; that as there is pleasure in them, so there is toil and tears likewise, before you can come thither. Matth. 11. It is called the Kingdom of Heaven: but the Text telleth 
Matth. 11. 11.  us, that it cannot be taken but by violence. It is called a Heavenly City; the Spiritual jerusalem. But the Apostle, 2. Eph. teacheth us, that those who are Citizens of this world, cannot be fellow Citizens with the Saints: there is a changing of the Copy, which to flesh and blood is grievous. The fourteenth of John, it is called, the House of God, in which there are 
john 14. 2.  many dwelling places: but the Gospel telleth us, that the door of this house is so narrow, as we shall have much ado to get into it, Matth. 13. 44. A hid Treasure, 
Matth. 13. 14.  but that we must dig very sore for it: Matth. 13. 46. A rich Pearl; but rated at 
Matth. 13. 46.  such a high price, as we must sell all we have to buy it: and that was a grievous task to the young man in the Gospel; Matth. 20. 9 A penny, but it is given only 
Matth. 20. 9  to such as labour all the day long in the Lord's Vineyard, Luke 14. 16. The great 
Luke 14. 16.  Supper of the King: but such a one as those who minded worldly business, as seeing of Farms, proving of Oxen, and marrying of Wives, were not thought worthy of it: Matth. 25. 21. Our Master's Joy: 
Matth. 25. 21.  but into which no man must enter, unless by his toil and trading, he hath doubled his talon. Matth. 25. The Marriage of the great King: but from whose Marriage-chamber they that sleep too long, are shut forth. 1. Cor. 9 A prize; but such as no man obtaineth, until he run to the end of the race 2. Tim. 4. A Crown of righteousness, but none must we are it, but those, who with the Apostle have fought a good fight. And lastly, A Paradise; This night shall thou be with me in Paradise: but you know how Paradise was guarded, with a guard of Cherubins, Fire, and the blade of a sword shaken, to pass through which guard, it must cost us some pains and danger: and besides these twelve, herein the Text it is called a joy, but such a one as only those shall reap, who first sow in tears: So that these men, who travelling to the Mountain of God, take not the valley of Baca, that is to say, the valley of tears in their way, but shun it; and had rather take the way of the flowery and gaudy Meadows: So as there is no Meadow in their way, in which they leave not some tokens of their merriment and wantonness, as it is 2. Wisd. They are out of their way, Errand & errant toto coelo, they are wide, and as wide as the wide Heaven. And so much afterwards they themselves confess in the fifth of Wisdom, Ergo erravimus, etc. Therefore we went astray from the way of truth; as therefore all they, so none but they who sow in tears, shall reap in joy; which is the proposition of the text, that by God's assistance I have now expounded unto you. And it is in the number of those propositions, which are convertible and reciprocal, for as they that sow in tears, shall reap in joy: so it is as true, that those that sow in joy, shall reap in tears; if by joy you understand worldly joy; and by tears, uncomfortable tears here, and desperate weeping and gnashing of teeth hereafter. Christ himself hath converted these two propositions, Luk. 6. 21. for Blessed are you that weep now, for you shall laugh. So it is in the 25. verse; Woe be unto you that laugh now, for you shall weep. And as I told you of our joy, so I tell you of their tears: for they shall find, that their weeping shall as much exceed their joy, as reaping doth sowing; all their joys are but momentary, or for days, at most, for years: but there shall be no end of their Harvest of tears, it shall come in so fast upon them; never shall their tears fail to fall from their eyes, nor never shall any tear that falleth, be wiped from their eyes: and if they should shed but every year that they must remain in that bottomless valley of tears, one tear, they shall shed more tears than there be drops of water in all the Ocean; for though we cannot number the drops of water in the Ocean, yet God can precisely tell, how many there are even to one: but these tears neither God nor man can number, because they are numberless and infinite tears, which they shall reap, who sow in joy; as that joy is infinite which they shall reap, who sow in tears. And so now by God's assistance and your patience, I have cleared my hands of my text: They that sow in tears, shall reap in joy..  
FINIS.   

Errata.  
Page 2. line 20. for heteredox, read heteredox▪ p 4. l. 25. for large, r. long. p. 5. l. 23. for pluma, r. plunia. p. 13. l. 21▪ for feast, r. fast p 15. l. 2. for unto, r. into. p. 16. l. 14. after so▪ add these. p. 18. l. 14. for opera, r. opera▪ p. 18. l 23. for 〈◊〉▪ r. since. p. 24 l. 10. for one, r. one. p. 36. l. 11. for launched, r. lanced. p. 40. l. 8. after evil, add, of. p. 59 l. ar. for Son, r. Sun. p. 62. l. 21. after it, add, once p. 69. l. 8. for act, r. air●. p. 70. l. 21. for held, r. hold. p. 76. l. 15 for Secondly, r. the second. p▪ 82. l. 10. after promise, add, of joy. p. 83. l. 8. for from, r▪ for. p. 84. l. 16. for purum, in the second place, r. putum.