The Mute Christian Under the Sm (continued)
hearts should stoop low; when he hath the rod in his hand, he looks that we should have tears in our eyes, as you may see by comparing of these scriptures together, Ps. 55:2, 38:6, Job 30:26–32. Good men weep easily, saith the Greek poet; and the better any are, are more inclining to weeping, especially under affliction: as you may see in David, whose tears, instead of gems, were the common ornaments of his bed, Jonathan, Job, Ezra, Daniel, &c. How, saith one, shall God wipe away my tears in heaven, if I shed none on earth? And how shall I reap in joy, if I sow not in tears? I was born with tears, and I shall die with tears; and why then should I live without them in this valley of tears?
There is as well a time to weep, as there is a time to laugh; and a time to mourn, as well as a time to dance, Eccles. 3:4. The mourning garment among the Jews was the black garment, and the black garment was the mourning garment: Ps. 43:2, 'Why go ye mourning?' The Hebrew word Kedur signifies black. Why go ye in black? Sometimes Christians must put off their gay ornaments, and put on their black, their mourning garments, Exod. 33:3–6. But,
6. Sixthly, A gracious, a prudent silence doth not exclude sighing, groaning, or roaring under afflictions. A man may sigh, and groan, and roar under the hand of God, and yet be silent. It is not sighing, but muttering; it is not groaning, but grumbling; it is not roaring, but murmuring, that is opposite to a holy silence: Exod. 2:23, 'And the children of Israel sighed by reason of the bondage.' Job 3:24, 'For my sighing cometh before I eat,' (or, as the Hebrew hath it) 'before my