Quest. Yet here may be a question, How shall we know when to cease and leave off mourning ? for the soul is a finite thing, and cannot dwell upon one action always, because it hath many things to do ; and therefore it cannot always mourn nor always rejoice.
Ans. To this I answer, that we have mourned enough, and discharged our duty sufficiently therein, when we have overcome our hearts, and brought them to a temper of mourning, and have complained before God, spread the ill of the times before him, and entreated pity from him, having poured out ourselves in prayer, though short, yet effectual. When we have this done, then we have discharged our duty in mom'ning, and may turn to other occasions as God doth require of us ; for when we have mourned and wept, then we must look upon causes of rejoicing and thanksgiving. We must always remember so to mourn and weep that yet notwithstanding, looking upon God's blessing upon us both in kingdom, state, and our own particular persons, we may be excited to thankfulness ; for we must not always be sullen, looking upon the evil, but casting our eyes upon the good things we do enjoy, we must provoke ourselves to be thankful. Even as men that have their eyes dazzled will look upon some green colour to recover their sight again, so when we have wrought upon our souls and brought them to mourn, then to help and raise them up, we ought to look upon causes of joy and thankfulness. We have cause of thankfulness when we consider that many churches in France and other places are invaded by enemies, * That is, ' guardeth.'— G.
70
THE ART OF MOURNING.
oppressed with cmclt}', and deprived of liberty, while yet wc enjoy the liberty and free passage of the gospel, being freed from the destruction of war and pestilence, which devoureth so many that it makes the land to mourn. He contiuueth to us liberty to hear the word, and gives us many blessings which others have not. Nay, we have cause to bless God for freeing us from that terriblcst judgment of all judgments, — which makes both church and commonwealth to mourn, — because he doth not suHcr us to fall into the hands of man, but takes us into his own hand to correct. It is God's infinite mercy that he doth not humble us by our enemies, but takes us into his own hand. Therefore let us not provoke him, lest he give us up to the hands of our merciless enemies, which is a terrible judgment. We had better an hundred times meet him by repentance, and cast our- selves into his hands, for then we have only to deal with a merciful God ; but when we are to deal with merciless men that scorn the gospel, then we have both God and them to deal with, which doubles our aflection.
Therefore let us mourn, seeing we have cause, for ourselves and the estates of others ; but yet let us be thankful, for if we would be more thankful for God's benefits, we should have them longer continued. For, as prayer begs blessings, so thanksgiving continues them. As the best way to obtain good things is prayer and mourning, so the best way to pre- serve them is thanksgiving and rejoicing. So, then, we have plainly seen that Christians should not always be dumpish and look sourly, but they must as well rejoice and be thankful, as mourn and weep.
Quest. 1. But here, ere I proceed, I must answer some cases of con- science. As, first, What shall we say to those souls that cannot weep for the sins and miseries of the church, and therefore complain for the want of it?
Secondh', What shall we say to that soul that can weep, but more for outward than for spiritual things ?
Sul. 1. To the first I answer briefly, that we must not speak friar-like of tears, and never know from whence they come. But when we speak of weeping, we must always understand that tears are no further good than when they spring from sorrow and love within, than when they proceed from inward hatred to sin, and from fear and love to the church of God. If this be in a man, the matter is not much for tears. There may be weeping without true sorrow, as there was in Esau for the blessing. Gen. xxvii. 38 ; and so the Jews, they could weep and howl upon their beds when there was a famine, yet there was no sound sorrow in them.
And, on the contrary, thex'e may be true sorrow without weeping, yea, and such may it be that there can be no weeping, because their sorrow may be so great that it is rather an astonishment than a weeping. In a fresh wound in the body, at the first there is not such pain felt nor the blood seen, because the part is astonied only ; so the soul for a time may be in such an astonishment and grief that there may be no expression of tears. Again, the soul doth follow the temperature of the body. Some are of a more easy constitution to shed tears than others, so that there may be more grief where there are fewest tears.