ANGELS REJOICING FOR SINNERS REPENTING. DELIVERED In a SERMON by the Right Reverend Father in God, BRIAN DUPPA, now Bishop of Salisbury.  
LONDON, Printed for RICH: ROYSTON at the Angel in Ivy-lane. M.DC.XLVIII.   

Angels rejoicing for Sinners repenting.  LUKE 15.10. 
Likewise I say unto you, There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth.  
MAn never yet invented more ways to damn himself, than God hath done to save him; nor was he ever varied into more shapes of sin, than his Saviour hath been of mercy: For as before his incarnation the Israelites had a cloud to usher them, and God was in that could; Moses had a flame to because to him, and God was in that flame; Elias had a voice to call to him, and God was in that voice: so after he was incarnate, when he became one of us (sin alone excepted, which makes us not of him) as if to have been man alone, was not enough, he ransacks the whole Inventory of his Creatures, puts on all shapes to gain a Soul: To the Traveller, he calls, I am the way; To the benighted, he shows, he is the light; To the Stranger, he opens himself, I am the door: Look for him among the Plants, you shall find him a vine; Search for him in the flock, the Baptist points him to you, Behold the Lamb! or if Metaphors be but verbal transfiguring, tract him his Parables, which are more real; if you meet there with a Sour, Christ is that Sour; if you hear of a Bridegroom, he is that Bridegroom; if you see the man that brings back his lost sheep in triumph, he is that man: or if you find a woman, that calls her friends to joy with her, Rejoice, for I have found the piece which I had lost; know that that piece is thy Soul, those friends are the Angels, he is that woman too; For of that Parable, this Text is the moral, the meaning of the Parable, Likewise I say unto you, there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth.  
That Parables are pictures, Athanasius tells us, but withal, such pictures as have their velamina, their shadows, their curtains diaphanous enough for the eye of faith to look through; but not for the eye of unbelief or ignorance. For as Saint Hierome counselled a Roman Matron, to keep her young Daughter from reading of the Canticles, ne anima non intelligens vulneraretur, lest the Soul that understood not the spiritual sense, should perish in the literal; or as those Images, which the Papists call, Idiotarum libros, the laymen's books, being misunderstood do prove the Fool's Idolatry: so these Images, (for Parables are but the Images of things) did not so much instruct, as abuse the eyes of them that saw them, until our Saviour drew the curtain; They had heard of a sheep that had gone astray, of a piece of silver that was lost: that both again were found, that friends were called to rejoice for both. But what this was to them, what share they had either in this joy or that recovery, they had not heard till he that made their ears applied it to their hearts with an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, Likewise I say unto you, I that came to heal that which was wounded, to bind up that which was broken, to save that which was lost; I, that have left the ninety nine in the Desert, all the Angels in heaven (for so the Fathers interpret it) to find out one wanderer; I say unto you, to you Sinners, that come near to hear me; to you Pharisees, that murmur, because these Sinners come so near me; to you that know not what the value of a Soul is, what music is in the groans, or what beauty is in the tears of a sad convert, I say to you, there is joy in the presence of the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth.  
The authority of the Speaker must win some credit to this Argument, for so far distant is Heaven from Earth, so rare the commerce between them, that unless God bring the intelligence himself from thence, man will not believe; Let the Separatist boast of his private spirit that hath revealed it, or the Bishop of Rome cite his infallible Chair; every one is not wax enough to take impression at this: But if our Saviour set his divine seal on; if we once find his 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, his ipse dico, I say unto you, then let him that hath ears, hear; no Oracle ever spoke like this, truth, to the truth incarnate: Be not therefore troubled either with the contrariety of passions in these words, that sorrow should beget joy, or the disparity of the persons, that Angels should rejoice for Sinners, or the inequality of the extent, many Angels for one Sinner: for Christ hath spoke it, and we are to believe it.  
First, that there is joy, though we know not what it is.  
Next, there is a ubi, a place where, of this joy, though it be not here.  
Last of all, there is a quare too, a why, a reason, a cause of this joy, for one Sinner that repenteth.  
But first of that joy itself; for velut solatium erit, saith Tertullian, disserere de illo, quo frui non datur, Sick men may talk of health, and why not I of joy? As in sorrow the heart is contracted and straitened, so in joy the passages are enlarged, the cordial spirits scattered, the heart itself runs out, 'tis so dilated, which makes Aristotle say, that joy is, as it were, the letting of the heart out: But if they that feel no joy cannot define it, nor they that feel it, keep it in their hearts; nor he that wants a heart judge of it, who shall then resolve us what joy is? or where we shall find a thing to this name? For, examine first the joy of a proud man, lies it not in the breath of others, a thin cabinet of air which every man hath a key to, but himself? Let but them above him agree not to think him great, or wise, or noble; Let but his fellow worms forbear to honour him; he that holds the plough shall not change joys with him. Or look on the joy of the voluptuous: doth not sorrow often wait so close as to tread upon the heels of it? Have you not heard the Epicure cry, o his gout! even at that time, when he hath been feeding his disease with riot? Were not the Israelites struck with meat between their teeth? and was not Zimri slain in the embraces of his Cosby? Besides, to share in all the good that is under the Sun is at the best but indolence, a privation of grief; it is not joy; or if we will needs strain higher for a word for it, it is but an acquiescence, saith Scaliger, a kind of resting of the mind, it is not joy: he were a strange Chemist you would think, that when a drop of Wine were cast into the Sea; durst undertake out of that vast Element to extract the spirits of that one drop of Wine, and say, here they are: Nor shall I conceive him an easier Artisan, that can out of the Sea of his ordinary hourly discontents, extract this drop of joy, and show it to me. The truth is, we know not what it is, because we seek not for it where we should: Copernicus that thought the Earth moved, and the Heavens stood still, was not yet so mad as either to look for Trees in Heaven, or for Stars upon the ground; yet we, in our search for joy, do as mad things as this comes to: for what would you imagine if you should see a man knock at a Grave-stone for a Companion, or go down into a Charnel-house to make merry: if you did not pronounce him directly frantic, you would guess surely that he had mistake the place: and the like do I of you, saith Saint Austin, Qui quaeritis gaudium in loco non suo, who look for joy either in the honours or pleasures of this life, or what ever else is not the proper sphere of it.  
But suppose there were such a thing on earth as joy, that the Philosopher's stone, the Northwest passage, and that, were found out together; yet there remains another disquisition: for, where shall we have a lodging for it? where a breast capable to entertain it? in the heart of the sinful man? no, God himself hath barred that door against it: for, gaudere non est impiis, as we find it denounced in the Prophecy of Esay, there is no peace, no joy to the wicked; they cannot rejoice, they may perchance drown their grief in wine, or drive away their discontents with company, they may reprieve their souls for a time from melancholy, but the fits of a constant Ague, or the flow of the Tide come not more duly, than it returns again; Shifting of the place will not serve the turn, unless we can shift ourselves; for, post equitem s●det atra cura, like the Rats that followed the Germane Bishop, thy sad thoughts will after thee: Draw the curtains of thy bed, yet they will lie with thee; shut the door of thy closet, yet they will come in unto thee: For the truth is, saith S. Bernard, Intus est quem fugis, Every ill man hath his enemy within him, his own heart calls to him; as his did in the vision, ego tibi horum sum causa, I am the cause of all this trouble unto thee: Thou hast made me ill, I will not leave thee quiet.  
No joy then to the wicked: but shall we knock at more innocent doors to see if there it harbours? were the Prophets in the Old Testament acquainted with it? the Apostles in the New? or shall we inquire of innocence itself, the Saviour of us all? But he will inquire of us again, as he did in the 1. of the Lam. O all ye that pass by, not was there ever joy, but was there ever sorrow like my sorrow? But you will say perhaps, though he himself were the son of sorrow, yet he bid his followers joy in the 5. of Mat. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rejoice; or as if that had been too little, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, be exceeding glad: True, but it was in their reproaches: So Saint Paul had his joy, but it was in his afflictions: the Martyrs had their joy, but it was in their bitter sufferings. The few notes they heard of joy were but like the break of an Echo, a word or two they heard, but not a sentence; or like a Ring of Bells in a high wind, they heard some imperfect sounds of it, but they could not hear the Lesson.  
Yet mistake me not, I would not have you hang down your heads at this, or because the Earth is not your Heaven, therefore to make it your Hell: For as gold keeps the name in the lease as well as in the wedge, in the coin as in the bullion; or as he that sees a beam or two shine through the crevice of a wall, may say he sees the Sunshine, as well as he that walks abroad; so neither are we so destitute of all comfort, but we may say, there is a leaf of joy, the Tinfoile of it here, there are some few glimpses that shine in upon us: but for the full, the solid, the jubilating joy, look for it no longer in this valley of tears: There is joy, but not here; true joy, but not yet: You that sow in tears, be certain you shall reap in joy: But be as certain to tarry till the harvest, you must stay, no remedy, till Heaven be your dwelling, till the Angels be your Partners, incorruption your change, immortality your garment: for the earth is not the place, dull flesh is not the subject of it. Find it we shall, yet not in the presence of Men, but of the Angels. Thus having shown you the negative, where joy is not: My next venture (if it prove not a desperate one) shall be to show you where ●is, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, in the presence of Angels.  
He that comes out of a dark Room into the Sunshine, shall be sure to find his eyes dazzled: What then will become of us, whose eyes (Aristotle could say) were tanquam Noctuae ad ? how shall we look on this joy of Angels? shall we think of the place they live in, or the Company they enjoy, or the Anthems which they sing, when one Seraphin echoes to another, or when in a full Choir they sound together their everlasting Hallelujahs? or if we can lift up our thoughts so high, shall we think again, how they see the divine face of God? how they joy in that Mirror? how they exult in that beatific vision? what fullness? what torrents of pleasure in such a sight? such a sight, saith Saint Austin, 
S. Aust. de Spir. & Lit. c. 55.  that if the damned Spirits could but see a glimpse of it, that very glimpse for that time would infuse such joy into them as to take away the sense of all their pain: such a sight that the reflected rays of it, even in this life, gives us that 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, that Saint John speaks of, 
1 joh. 1.7.  that communion with God himself. What then can we conceive of those glorious Creatures, that see not God, either by glimpse, or by reflection, but stand under the direct beams, that have a full and eternal fight of him that see him 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, face to face, that hear him even with ear to mouth, that are acquainted with the very whispers of the Trinity. But whither am I carried? sooner shall a Sparrow drink up the Sea, or a Mole heave the whole Earth out of the Centre, than the heart of man swell to that bigness, as to be able to comprehend his joy.  
Yet as Fathers use to acquaint their Heirs with their estates, before they mean they shall possess them; so, be not angry, o my God, that we have looked a far off into those joys which with thy Angels we one day shall inherit: For though they be of the elder Family, and we like younger Brothers, wear about us a body of flesh, for a note of difference, yet this heraldry is not to last always; for thou hast told us, o my Saviour, that even that difference shall be took away, that we shall be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, equal to the Angels, aequalitate gratiae, though not naturae, saith Aquinas, in an equality of grace, though not of nature.  
Nor shall we offend to enlarge this meditation further, to conceive as some of the Fathers did, that as the Angels fell from several Hierarchies, some from being Seraphins, some Cherubins, some Thrones, some out of higher Seats, some out of lower: so on that great Day, when God shall distribute his glory among us, we may opine at least, that into those several Hierarchies we shall be assumed: for, among the rest, Origen was confidently persuaded, Quod si earum virium esset ut vinceret Luciferum, Luciferi solium in coelo obtineret, that had he been of strength enough to have overcome Lucifer in temptation that was once the chief of Angels, God would have given him Lucifer's seat in Heaven: I confess were this heavenly Court, like the Court of earthly Princes, (where he that is beneath bites at the heel of him that is above him; and he that is above treads on the mouth that bites him) this might breed rather envy, or hate, or any thing, but joy: But so fare are those blessed Spirits from envying us for this, that there shall be a time when, some Men shall be higher than some Angels, yet even for this there is joy in the presence of Angels.  
But the School hath well distinguished a double joy in Angels, either essential, or accidental; their essential joy consists in the vision of the Deity, their accidental, in the conversion of us Sinners; the one is always at full Sea, it neither ebbs nor flows, but the other occasionally receives either increase, or diminution: For as S. Hierome is of the mind, that Angelus Nomen est officii, non naturae, to be an Angel is a name of office, not of nature, (in essence they are Spirits, but in office only Angels) so in that office they accumulate their joy accordingly, as in our protection their success is answerable to their care: It was well thought on therefore by the Church of England to design a Collect in the Liturgy, wherein we pray, 
In festum Mich:  that the Angels which always do God service in Heaven, may by his appointment defend us on Earth: not that we are to belie their presence, as that Jesuit did, who hath blushed to print unto the world, that at the Bohemian overthrow, there was visibly seen a troop of Angels to fight on the Emperor's part against them; but what Angel joyed, think you, when that lie was made? yet on the other side, we are not to deny them to be our Guardians, whether one to one, or more to one, since their accidental joy doth ordinarily arise from thence, even from that employment.  
Well, but do the Angel's joy at the conversion of a Sinner? therefore they know it, must needs follow (for the will moves not till the understanding sets it going) ult: actus intellectus primus est voluntatis. But that therefore by their evening knowledge; or their morning, as the School distinguisheth, or that therefore in Verbo tanquam speculo, in the face of God as in a glass, all Angels necessarily know the thoughts of all; this will not follow, though all the Jesuits drive it. No? say they, But suppose there were a glass of crystal made so large that whatsoever were done in all the corners of the world might be reflected by it; should not he that saw that glass discern as well all that passed under the Sun? just such a glass is God unto his Angels; but I doubt the metal of this argument, for a touch or two will break it. 
Pius à Ponte m. 1. p. q. 12. r. 8. dub. 15.  First, some of their own men deny, that the Deity can either properly, or by way of Metaphor, be termed a Glass, or next, suppose it may, yet not a natural Glass, that represents all that is before it: but a voluntary, such a one as shows, non quantum relucet, saith S. Austin, but quantum voluerit, not all that shines within it: but more or less, when, or how, or to whom he pleaseth. God is infinite, whom the Angels see, but the manner is finite, by which they see: Besides, God knows the inward thoughts, the secret glances of the Soul, but the Angels do not know them: God knows as well what shall be, as what is, but the Angels do not so: God knows the determinate day, resolved on in his Counsels, when the Heavens shall be gathered together as a scroll, the Sun shall lose his light, the Graves open, and the dead rise up to judgement, but of that day or hour knows no man else, no, not the Angels: What then is become of the Jesuits Crystal? if it reflect all, why not this? or if not all, why do they urge it? But to leave them to their vitrea fracta: The Angels know the conversion of a Sinner; true, but not always, nor all Angels: They know it, not only by outward signs, but sometimes by discovery of our hearts too. But how? by way of leave, by way of dispensation? For none ever denied, but God imparts to them, when he pleaseth, the conversion of whom he pleaseth: There is knowledge, or else there were no joy in the presence of the Angels.  
To conclude this, when God therefore by repentance shall call thee to him, when he shall perform that wonder in thee, which Saint chrysostom saith, is greater than to create a world, to justify thee a sinner; when he shall seal thy pardon to thee, with the blood of his son Christ Jesus, doubt not but on that day, God hath revealed this to his Angels, that there is a new joy among them, a full comfort in Heaven, that the Holy Ghost is busy to set new Anthems, the holy Angels as busy in the singing of them.  
And thus we descend to the last part of the Text, the [why] of the joy. There is joy over one sinner that repenteth. In the which words, we must make a new discovery: First, of the object in general, a Sinner. Next of the quality of the Sinner, the Sinner that repenteth. Last of all, of the indefinite fingularity, for one Sinner, implying as much as for any one Sinner that repenteth.  
It was a strange error in Lactantius, so learned a Father, being deceived by the Translation of the Septuagint, in the second of the sixth of Genesis, to think that those sons of God, that fell in love with the daughters of men, because they were fair, were the Angels: For besides other absurdities, were all the beauty of the Heavens transferred into the face of a vicious sinful Woman, certainly not Angel could have joy in her; and S. Austin gives the reason of it: For their joy extends no further (saith he) than the works of God: but Peccator non est inter opera Dei, a Sinner is no work of God. Look in the first Chapter of Genesis, you shall not find him in the whole Catalogue of his Creatures; as he is Man, he is God's work, true; but as he is sinful man, he is his own work: see him in the pure Robe of original Righteousness, he is God's work; but look on him in the dress of his own vanity, he is his own work, or if not his own, I am sure the Devils: no argument then of joy here, no Ditty for such an Anthem.  
For do but consider with thyself o sinner, think of it seriously, the Angels that were by, when God stamped his Image on thee, when he washed thee in Baptism as clean as the untouched snow, when he married thee to his son Christ Jesus, made thee a temple of his holy Spirit, how can they either know or joy in thee, when that image is razed out that innocence polluted, that contract violated, that temple turned into a sink of filth, into a den of Serpents: How will they look, think you, when God the Father turns away his face, God the Son cries out, thou hast crucified him again, thou hast pierced him with thy oaths, spit on him with thy lust, wounded him with thy malice, when God the Holy Ghost shall leave thee, either to a fluctuating, unquiet, or (which is worse) to a seared, a stupefied conscience? which of those blessed Spirits can then take joy in thee? shall not the ill Angels rather give thee their Plaudite?  
Come, say those damned Spirits, let us see this Creature, that was made to fill up our seats in Heaven; this Creature that was the Angel's joy, and his God's delight, see where he is fallen, how deep, how dangerously fallen, how still he lies in his foul sins, without any motion left, any sense of grace: Ecce (say they) factus est tanquam unus è nobis, behold he is become like one of us. But Mentimini mali Daemons, (a devout Father answers them) ye were liars all from the beginning; so are ye now: For, though a Sinner be fallen, though fallen into the depth of sin, he is not become like one of you: For, you fell, nullo tentante, without a Tempter, damned are you therefore, nullo reparante, without a Saviour. But this fallen sinner you thus tread upon, alterius militiâ cecidit, alterius meritis resurget, he fell by another's malice, and shall rise by another's merit. They were some of the black crew that helped to throw him down; the Son of God, shall help him up again: For though sin hath been his poison, yet repentance may be his antidote; though his sins have made the Devil sport, yet his repentance may breed his Angel's joy: A sinner is no good prospect, but at the sight of a repentant sinner Heaven opens all her windows; the Text is warrant enough for such a Doctrine, for there is joy in heaven over one sinner that repenteth.  
Not for a sinner then, but for a repentant sinner; not for him that hardens himself in sin, but for the sensible, melting, bleeding sinner; but he that would draw repentance to the life, that would make such a resemblance of her, as the Angels might delight in; let him look that he fit her with two faces, on the one side a mourning dejected countenance, looking sadly back on the sins she hath committed, on the other side a more cheerful lively aspect, looking forwards on new resolutions; for there is beauty in both, in the sad as in the cheerful: God too will look on both, or not at all.  
As for the sadder look, though Andrea's Vega, a Spanish Writer, doted so much upon it, that he is censured by his own friend Bellarmine for maintaining that the sorrow of the heart for sin was of so high a value, that he that conceived that sorrow as he ought, needed no formal explicit purpose of amendment; though I confess this melancholy Friar went too fare, yet let not any therefore deceive himself or incline so far to the other side, as to think the way to Heaven is strewed with Roses, that he can leap out of the state of sin into the favour of his God without so much as a single tear or sigh: No, as it cost thy Saviour more to redeem thy soul, so it must cost thee more to apply that redemption to thee. Saint Ambrose therefore calls Repentance, Laboriosum Baptismum, a laborious, a painful Baptism, a Baptism in Marah, in the waters of Bitterness: For we must as well Flere commissa, as Flenda non committere, as well deplore the ill we have done, as not do again the ill we have deplored. It is true indeed, what Saint Bernard saith, non si te excories potes satisfacere, should we weep ourselves blind, kneel ourselves cripples, should we flay the skin from this wretched body of ours, all could not satisfy for sin: But our joy is, that Christ hath already done it; his blood hath fully satisfied for the whole world: yet withal, there lies a Condition on every Sinner, vel hic flere, vel in future, a condition that cannot be avoided, either to mourn here, or in the world to come; either to endure now a sorrow that shall have end, or to endure then a sorrow that shall have none. But mistake me not, I do not counsel you to a sullen, continued, unintermitted melancholy: but yet pardon me if I would have you throughly sensible of your sins when you have done them; for without sorrow on the earth, I am confident there is no joy in Heaven: There is no Sinner that repenteth.  
But Saint Austin makes the Question, Which were more bound to God, he that should be preserved ever innocent, or he that were converted to be truly penitent? and he resolves it thus, Innocens majora, poenitens magis debet, extensively the innocent owes more, intensively the Penitent: Innocence a Jewel of higher price in the substance, but Repentance of greater value in the workmanship; so much of greater value, that in the 7 verse of this Chapter, it is proclaimed, that there is more joy for one repentant Sinner, then for ninety nine that needed no repentance: but Saint Paul gives a reason for it, when he saith, that where sin hath abounded, there grace hath much more abounded. So that I dare say, that God looks neither on the heaven of heavens, nor on the purest Seraphin, with such content, such joy, as on a heart well wrought, a heart either carved, or cut, or inlaid with sorrows, where grief hath been as witty in punishing, as pleasure was before in sinning; a heart still under the Hammer, and broken into a thousand pieces: O how busy is thy Saviour at such a sight, watching thy sighs, and numbering thy tears, gathering up the several pieces of thy broken heart; as if they were so many scattered Diamonds! how gently he handles them, how curiously he reunites them, like a rich watch took asunder to be made the cleaner, and set together again.  
But doth any doubt, when his heart is thus broken, whether this care will be taken for it, or no? is he loath to venture on so bitter a Receipt without his Physician's oath? why, God will swear rather than thy Soul shall waver: for, look in the 33 of Ezekiel, the 11 verse, Vivo, inquit Dominus: As I live (saith the Lord) I take no delight in the death of a Sinner: Turn ye, turn ye from your evil ways: for why will ye die, ye house of Israel? Can any thing be spoken more passionately? He protests, he exhorts, he expostulates; why then do we doubt? will he not save us when we repent, that hath threatened not to save us, unless we repent? 
Cyprian. Ser: de Coena.  Non patitur contriti cordis Holocaustum repulsam, Saint Cyprian had learned so much of holy David, 
Psal. 51.  A broken heart, O God, thou wilt not (or as some Translations render it, thou shalt not) despise: no, we have him safe in his own fetters, entangled to us in his own promises, if we repent, he will, he must forgive us, for he neither will, nor can deceive us: Let every one of us therefore make that confession as Saint Austin did, O Domine si non sum dignus oculos orando ad coelum levare, at sum dignus oculos plorando caecare, though I am not worthy O God to lift up my eyes in praying, yet I am sure, I am worthy to wear out my eyes in weeping: Though I can plead no innocence, yet I would fain plead repentance; that as my sins have caused the sorrows of thy Son, so my sorrows might cause the rejoicing of thy Angels.  
I would go on, but me thinks I hear some troubled Soul thus call to me, You tell me heavenly things of this repentance, what power a religious sorrow hath, that the Lizard doth not gaze more earnestly on him that sleeps, nor the Dolphin on the Mariner, than the Angels do on a weeping Sinner; nay, that God himself is pleased with such a sight; that he suffers all his anger to be washed away in such a shower: Credo Domine, I believe this O my God, but wretch as I am, I cannot sorrow: He that should tell me, that all the joys of heaven were to be bought for one single tear, how could he comfort me, that could not shed that tear? when my eyes are dried up, like the parched earth in Summer, my very heart turned Marble, what Moses shall I call to to strike this rock for water? But stay, be not discouraged who ever thou art: the Mother of Peter Lombard, it seems, was in as great a straight as this, when having transgressed her vow of continency, she told her Confessor plainly, that when she saw what a Son she had brought forth, she could not repent, that she had sinned in having him: A hard condition! but her Confessor sadly answered her, Dole faltem quod dolere non possis, be sorry at least that thou canst not sorry: and the like must I say to thee O troubled Sinner; if thou findest but so much impression made as to grieve really, that thou canst not grieve, know that thou art already come to a degree of that which thou grievest thou art not come to; know again that it is the beginning of that thaw, which at last will dissolve thy very heart to water.  
Six times Elias his Servant looked towards the Sea, before he could see any thing; the seventh time he saw but a Cloud no bigger than his hand, yet that Cloud within few hours covered the Heaven with darkness, and the Earth with rain: just so may be thy case, when thou art praying to thy God as Calebs' Daughter did unto her Father, Dedisti mihi terram aridam, da etiam irriguam, thou hast hitherto made me the owner of a dry, a barren heart, but give me now some springs of water, some feeling at least, some sorrow for my sins, though at six times bending of thy knees, God doth not grant it thee, though at the seventh there appear but one small drop swimming in thy eyes; yet be not discomforted, that drop may prove a shower, or if not suddenly, yet in the mean time the Angels begin their joy in that; for, as the least piece of a broken glass may serve to reflect the face that is before it; so from that small drop, that spot of sorrow, there is a reflection made of thy repentance; and as there is a full joy for the total, the full conversion of a Sinner, so there is a proportion, a measure of joy for one tear, nay for one desire of a tear of any one Sinner that repenteth.  
But stay, you must remember I told you repentance had two faces, not only a sad one that looked back, but a cheerful, that looks forward on new resolutions: for, as in diseases, it is not enough to purge, to sweat, to bleed, unless we keep a stricter diet after it: so neither are tears, nor sighs, nor a broken heart sufficient, unless we forbear to commit again the sin we sorrowed for: for, however Bellarmine be pleased to censure Luther for overmagnifying that saying, Poenitentia optima, nova vita, the best repentance is a new life; yet in the practice of it we shall all find, that though contrition may begin our peace with God, yet a new life must crown it; though tears may soften the wax for pardon, yet a resolute amendment must set to the seal; you therefore that have recovered out of the contagion of any particular bosom sin, let me beseech you, as ever you would have the Angel's joy for you, not to lean, or listen, or incline again to the opportunities, the occasions that have betrayed you, to cast off all inducements to sin, to hate even the garment that is spotted by the flesh; for who, having scaped the plague, would not burn the clothes he wore when he was infected? Be not like those planetary, unsteady Penitents, who having discharged their sin this day in the ears of their God; take it up again the next day in the Arms of a Sinner: as if God were bound to set no end of pardoning, because they are wilful to set no end of sinning: Hoccine poenitere? is this to repent? can the Angel's joy at this? no: as there are no rests, no stops, no pauses in their intermitted Anthems; so they look too there should be no digressions, no break off in thy repentance. If then any of thy former sins will needs knock unseasonably at the door of thy heart for entrance, answer them, as the Spouse in the Canticles, I have put off my clothes, how should I put them on? I have washed my feet, how should I defile them? I have put off my sins, why should I resume them? I am reconciled to my God, why should I offend him? O what triumphs doth he cause above that thus answers his temptations here! what shouts, what peals, what Jubilees of joy, even for one such sinner that repenteth!  
We are now come to the last particular, For one Sinner: but what for one? yes even for one; for could it be supposed, saith Saint Austin, that there were but one lost Soul in the whole world, suppose it were only thine; yet thy Saviour, thy Jesus would have come into the world, he would have suffered all that he did suffer; those scorns, those buffet, that passion, and that death for that one soul of thine: If God then would have died for a single Sinner, may it not become the Angels to joy for him, whom their God would die for? Of the ten Leopers whom Christ had cured, there was but one turned back to thank him, yet there was joy in Heaven even for that one; of the many She-sinners in Jerusalem there was but one Mary Magdalene that washed her Saviour's feet with tears, yet there was joy in Heaven even for that one. Should there want one string to a lute, the music would not be full; or one link to a chain, the chain would be imperfect; or one regenerate soul to the number of the elect, Heaven would not be satisfied: why then doth not every one of us strive to make up that number? how long shall God expect for one sinner to make towards him? when shall his holy Angels spy so much as a promising cloud in thine eyes, that thy tears are coming to a settled resolution in thy heart that thy life is changed? what shall I say more? Let there be but one among you that shall reckon his conversion from this day, God the Father shall bless the memory of this day for ever, for he shall gain a son: God the Son with his own blood shall give it a red letter in his Calendar, for he shall gain a Brother: God the Holy Ghost shall sanctify it, for he shall gain a Temple: or if this be not loud enough, all the glorious Angels shall at this instant shout for joy, even for that one Sinner that repenteth. Who then would not thus make holiday in heaven? who would not feast the Trinity? or who would not joy the Angels? begin therefore your repentance early: Begin it now, since this is the only way to fill up the number of those Angels that expect you, when in stead of having your sorrows, the burden of their songs, you shall become the fellow-singers of their Anthems. Amen.  
THE END.