and the end of the journey and what I shall have when I come thither cannot I take a little paines for a little time for a great reward to follow my Saviour when he calls me But perhaps after all this thou wilt yet againe object I question the goodnesse of the ware if it be so cheap as you make it This newes is too good to be true You told us before difficilia quae pulchra Godlinesse cannot be so good as others say it is and so easy too as you make it The best things every one knowes are hardest to be got farre fetch 't and dearely bought To this I answer that what I said first and what you said last is both true and in that sense which you speak of I will yeeld that godlinesse is difficult viz because of difficulty in attaining to it which difficulty according to you cannot be in the thing neither this not any other excellent thing because it is only before we have attained to it Now I confesse we cannot so easily be willing to undergoe difficulty to attaine that which we must enjoy and use with difficulty too for we could never love it so well But that godlines is thus difficult that it is painfull and toylesome and uncomfortable in it's exercises so as a man cannot live one merry day as long as he hath it but that teares must be his meat day and night and his eyes must still be consumed with griefe and the apple thereof never be suffered to cease I doe utterly deny Nay the more difficulty there is in getting up the hill I meane of Conviction of sinne humiliation and repentance the greater pleasure doe we take to look down againe when we are up You may observe it in the hardest mechanick trades that are hardest to be learned which usually are the best the workmanship is easy to be done and without labour or toyle when as in those that are easily learned and are of an inferiour rank you can scarce doe any thing to the purpose without a great deale of sweat and toyle tyring I will conclude this poynt with what Solomon said of wisedome Prov 3.17 Her wayes are waies of pleasantnesse and all her pathes are peace Another cause that a godly man hath to be merry may be this that tweflth ground satisfactorines of the objects of Love The objects of his love are satisfactory which is the most necessary qualification of any to make a man rejoyce in what he loves what a man loves the mirth of his life is most concerned in and he spends most of his time about it Where there is no satisfaction but the stomack as I may say is still hungry and empty just as it is in the hunger of the body there must needs be discontent and consequently sadnesse in the desire of that which is wanting and griefe for the want But when that which a man loves is satisfactory and answers a man's desires and gives him enough then and not till then he takes delight and then he begins to rejoyce as we say When the belly is full the bones are at rest Now for the objects of a godly man's love the first and the last and the chiefest the fountaine from which all other objects have their satisfactory vertue and the loadstone at which they are all touched whereby they have power to draw our hearts after them is no other and can be no lesse then God himselfe who is to every godly man as he was to David to whom he seemed so perfectly a satisfactory object of his desire that he desired nothing in heaven or earth besides him Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee And wise enough he to make choyce of such an object For now neither ought he nor need he desire any thing or if he doe he is in the fairest way to enjoy it having him who is all in all He satisfieth the longing soule and filleth the hungry soule with goodnesse Psal 107.9 He that is He alone for else it is no prayse of him They that seek after another God another thing to give them satisfaction and happinesse shall be sure to multiply sorrow Psal 16.4 The other objects of their love are The word and ordinances of God and the practise of good dutyes which as they give satisfaction by communion with and participation of the chiefest good so are they in their own nature good preservatives against sorrow and sadnesse being contrary to and used as meanes against Sinne the cause of all repentance and sorrow I would faine know among all the things that ever a wicked man loved to have and among all the actions that ever he loved to doe which it was that gave him satisfaction Many other causes of joy for a godly man might be fetched from the goodnesse of his Condition But I must leave a little roome for your own meditations and I doubt not but many of you that read me have more knowledge and better experience If notwithstanding all this that hath been said and though the Lord hath shewne thee these good things yet thy heart be heavy and thou art still dejected whatever thou doest confesse thy fault to be thine own Say not godlinesse is this or that But rather say with David when he was ready to think that God had forgotten him after he had thus complained Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gratious Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Psal 77.8.9 Surely this is mine own infirmity and nothing else vers 10. And come to thy selfe againe as he does in the following verses saying thus I will remember the workes of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy work and talke of thy doings vers 11.12 I am resolved I will no longer entertaine these melancholy phancies but I will comfort my heart with meditating upon the goodnesse of my God and the wonderfull things that he hath done for me whereby my Condition is so good The second Book Of the Mirth of a Christian Life FRom the godly man's Condition in which he is let us proceed to the Conditions affections and qualities which are in him and the actions which proceed from him see what causes he hath to have mirth of his own making by the grace of God The first thing he hath to make him a cheerfull countenance give me leave to to goe so largely now I shall speak more particularly hereafter is his Godlinesse Godlinesse I say both of his heart and Life both past and present in the performance of good actions Of these I might speak more distinctly but I shall take my liberty and speak sometimes of one and sometimes of another For godlinesse in heart when a man is able to assure his heart before God and his heart does not condemne him when
a desire for the having will and desire looking forwards and Joy and content looking backward each of them upon the same object Can I but make a man believe he shall be merry when he hath done a thing I shall not be long in making him willing to doe it To be joyfull 't is life and more for it is the very life of life If a life be never so long high in honours and preferments * Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex 6 9 So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be straitned is usd for to be grieved Jud 10 190 16 16. Job 21.4 if it be not large too i e if there be any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straitnesse either of body or spirit but especially of spirit no free breathing and no enlargment of heart to enjoy what a man enjoyes 't is but to be in a prison in green fields that are a man 's own where it is so much the worse because he is so much the more vex'd to see so much the more of that which he hath and cannot enjoy If therefore I will leave the men that use these pretences altogether without excuse I must make it appeare that their pretences are false and that there is no such thing as they feare or believe or would willingly have to be true Now that it is false and that it is no way necessary for a christian to be more sad then other men if there were no other argumēt it were sufficiently proved by this that it is in the Scripture above writen enjoyned as a duty or at least exhorted unto as a possibility to rejoyce Now if God command a thing to be done it may be done and it is not necessary to doe the contrary But yet because you are apt to think his cōmands greivous and to look upon him as an austere man that taketh up where he laid not down c to make it appeare to the contray that there is good reason for it we will consider a little how the case stands with a godly man what he is or what he hath that it should be expected he should be alwaies rejoycing or what cause he hath why he should be merrier then other men My method therefore shall be this First I shall shew you the grounds and causes of his mirth Secondly I shall answer the maine objection concerning Affliction After that I shall shew you the Nature of his mirth when I shall tell you that he hath not only better causes of mirth then a wicked man whom you think to be the only man that lives a merry life but better mirth when he hath it And lastly I shall speak somwhat to shew what cause there is of sorrowe and what sorrowes there are in a wicked life and how imperfect and vaine the joy is that wicked men have Now the causes that a godly man hath to be joyfull and the helps meanes he hath to make him merry are either from the goodnesse of the Condition in which he is or the goodnesse of the Conditions and habits and graces which are in him For the state and Condition in which he is First * First ground Good Company it is such as let him be where he will be he can never be without good company and that every one will say is a very good helpe for a merry life Now the company which I meane is First God the father who * By adoption out of love See View of Threats the last words et p 914. is his father therefore willing God all sufficient therefore able to comfort him He is the God of Consolation from whom all comfort comes In his company and presence even upon earth while we are at his left hand or while we sit on his footstoole is joy as long as the time lasts but at his right hand are ravishing delights and pleasures and that for evermore Psal 16.11 What an extraordinary comfort must it needs be to have the enjoyment of such good company of which a man can never be depriv'd nor be weary nor so much as feare that he shall be Such company God is But you will say perhaps this is but a phancy of yours that a man can have joy in the company of God For if he goe down to Hell he will find him there also Psal 139.8 And upon what ground can I take delight in his countenance who seeth all things I answer It is true indeed It is possible God may be with thee yet notwithstanding all the while he may not be with thee but against thee He might be present with thee not as a companion or a friend to watch over thee that no other thing may doe thee hurt but as an observer an enemy to watch for spy thy faults to doe thee hurt himselfe But if he be present with thee indeèd so as thou art also present with him which can hardly be said of a wicked man and if thou art not only under the sight of his Countenance so as to be seen by him but also in the light of his Countenance too so as to see him againe and enjoy communion and fellowship with him through his spirit certainely if any condition in the world will make thee merry this will Job when he speakes of the comfortable condition of a man that God hath delivered from going down into the pit from his bed of sicknesse after the mention of other blesings given him to recompence his misery addes it as a complement of his happinesse that He shall see the face of God with joy ch 33.26 Happy sicknesse that is attended with such a consequent David speaks more then once more then twice of God's countenance as of that wherein he took more comfort then in all the world besides There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy COUNTENANCE upon us Ps 4 6. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy COUNTENANCE Ps 21.5 See how he magnifies it Ps 42.5 Ps 44.3 Ps 89.15 For though it be metaphorically used for favour yet is the speech not all metaphor that well experienced Christians will tell you when a man would think his sighes would have been many his heart would have fainted for sorrow by reason of trouble what course takes he to make himselfe merry He sets the Lord alwaies before his face Saith he I have set the Lord alwaies before me Because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope Psal 16.8.9 The words are cited by Peter Act 2 25 other words joyned with them vers 27 28 where also in the end of the 28 verse it is said Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy COUNTENANCE Job speakes of seeing God's sace and David speakes of setting the
Rather then men will be thus sad we se it to be their common practise to practise vitious courses to keep themselves doing to put themselves to any trouble and to do any thing rather then to sit idle be melancholy Labour as hard thoughts as the sluggard hath of it is the best pleasure recreation to an industrious man and the delight he takes in worke is many times more then that which he hath in profit An industrious man will be sorry when his worke is nere an end and when he hath nothing to doe he knowes not what to doe He sits as if he were without life or soule and knowes not how to dispose of himselfe and if sorrow or vexation ever assault him then is the time An industrious man can be more merry in plowing and sowing with expectation then another shall be at the end of harvest with possession There is more mirth and joy even in the labour of a righteous man that tendeth to life then there can be in the revenue of the wicked that tendeth to sinne Prov 10.16 Laborious things alwaies make themselves pleasant with Hope of profit more or lesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov 14.23 Things wherein there is no labour seldome bring any profit afterward Though the godly man's labour be more and his work be harder then the wicked man's yet is it to him but so much delight and recreation if there were no other reason for this alone that though his candle goe not out in the night though he take paines to sow his seed in the morning and in the evening withold * Eccles 11.6 not his hand though he be kept never so hard to it yet he hath continually standing by him this cordiall of comfort to cheer him that he doth not plow the sea nor sow the winde nor spend his money for that which is not bread and his labour for that which satisfieth not but that having plowed in fruitfull ground and sowne pretious seed he shall returne from the field of this world into the garner of the world to come with joy and bring his sheaves * Psal 126.6 with him Nay suppose I should grant that Godlinesse is not only laborious but difficult yet it will be only to such or such It is not so of it selfe but made so by him to whom it is so It is not so for any excesse of painfulnesse in the things to be done but for defect of painfulnesse or willingnesse or something else in the person that undertakes it For either he is a sluggard one that is alwaies calling for a little more sleep a little * Prov 6.10 more slumber one that will not plow because it is cold Prov 20.4 nor goe out of doores because it raines To such a one it is difficulty paine enough to pluck his hand out * Prov 19.24 of his bosome and therefore I need not trouble my selfe to study for arguments why he may not be credited when he complaines of the difficulty of his work Or 2ly he is a young beginner in this way newly entred not yet accustom'd to go in the yoak of Christ For one that hath been long in another way wedded wholly to that will not easily be brought to change his old mumsimus as they say for a new sumpsimus being confident that the old is best because he knowes not the goodnesse of the new And such a one if he complaine I need no other argument to disswade you from believing him then his own ignorance Or 3ly such a one as hath indeed been formerly accustomed to the yoake of Christ but now by reason of desuetude is grown stiff in the neck and become a beginnner againe And such a one if he did not but only act the Christian as a Hypocrite and were not of a contrary mind to what he seemed to be I shall need no other argument to disswade you from believing him then his own knowledge For I dare referre you to his own confession and what hee can tell you himselfe he once found by experience and perhaps now desires to find againe with a great deale of sorrow and repentance Whosoever thou art therefore when thou doest any good work or duty if thou sindest it to be grievous and painfull doe not by and by as the manner of most men is look round about thee for the cause and complaine of the hardnesse of the work or the master but rather first suspect thy selfe and examine the matter well within thee and 't is a thousand to one that thou wilt need to goe further abroad If the rule the work which thou doest do not agree do not therefore make the rule bad but the worke better Never wish to have the rule change I dare warrant thee change but thy selfe and there will need no more to mend the matter Be more a new creature be more changed in thy mind rectifie thy crooked will pare off thy redundnat lusts cut away the knotty pieces of thy refractory spirit and all will be well and thou wilt say as I doe Doubtlesse if thou woudst but consider the matter well and deale ingenuously thou must needs confesse that thou did'st not find godlynesse difficult but godlynesse found thee untoward The exercises of it are like many of those that are wont to be imposed upon School-boyes hard to be performed by none but such as are hard to be brought to performe them The yoke that was easy so long agoe when Christ said it cannot be grown narrower with wearing it might have grown lesse indeed and so better to be worne Rather thou art grown fatter with idlenesse or thy neck is growne bigger and stiffer with pride The burden would not be so heavy to the first undertakers but that shrinking their shoulders before they feel it and not only not giving their mind to it but bending their minds against it they make it to be so themselves For the workes of godlinesse are like the words of wisdome all plaine to him that understandeth and right to them that finde * So neere is ae man that is willing to bea wise man to a wise man that Solomon many times calls the lover of wisdome by the same name knowledge Prov 8.9 There are to this purpose some words of the Septuagint Prov. 2.20 for which there are none extant in the Hebr If they had gone in good waies they had found the waies of righteousnesse smooth He that hath gone in such a way but for some time or gone in it against his will as if he went to hanging there is no reason that his judgment should be taken concerning it I know that not withstanding all this thou wilt say still the master thou art to serve is to austere He taketh up that which he laid not down and reapeth that which he did not sowe as it is Luk. 19.21 He bids a lame man goe and yet keeps his staffe away from him
on the contrary constant experience tells us and I can say somewhat my selfe if a man doe not busie his mind but be either a busie-body only and wander about from house to house to tattle and prattle or else lyes gaping and folding his hands out of sluggishnesse or making pictures in his fancy as children doe in the walls out of pensivenesse and dumpishnesse I say if a man have such abundance of idlenesse as the Prophet's word is Ezek 16 40. let him have never so great abundance and fulnesse of bread let him have an affluence of all worldly things to his mind and let every body please him and doe all that they can to make him merry besides being more exposed to the temptations of Sathan more open to his assaults while he hath no Work a doing to keep him out his own necessarily active and still busy such is the nature of his soule but yet idle and not busied mind and fancy will worke him sorrow enough and more then ever he will be able to conquer though nothing from without was ever able to overcome him Another vertue of a godly man that will dispose him to mirth is Temperance a vertue that will make the heart as light as it doth the rest of the body A Temperate-man first Resolves to use but a little and therefore hath not much trouble of care to provide what he would have Secondly he doth use but a little and therefore he hath not much trouble of feare that it will doe him hurt Thirdly he hath used but a little and so is free from the trouble of distempers paine and sorrow and of much losse to boot It were easy to be large upon this But I have much field and I cannot tell how to stand long upon one place There is one more that is farre beyond all the rest a vertue shall I call it or a compound of vertues I meane Harmlesnes or Innocency or unwillingnes to hurt any body for the present or hereafter for of innocency i e unguiltinesse and not having done hurt heretofore I have spoken already He that will not hurt his enemies with injuries will never hurt himselfe with sorrows and vexations I think there is none more troublesome to himselfe then he that is most troublesome to others The creatures of prey live solitary in desarts disconsolate places while the poore harmelesse sheep and other such creatures as they are though they be nearest the slaughter skip and play and think of nothing The innocent man intending to hurt none and having a desire to doe every one good while he knows that non-intention to hurt is sufficient to excuse a desire to doe good good enough to commend him can no more be sad for having done hurt then he hath cause to grieve for not having done good 'T is not the act of doing hurt will make a man the worse no more then the power of doing well will make him the better With his unwillingnesse to doe hurt for else I should not care much to commend him there goes a willingnesse to doe good then which there is nothing that workes more constant quiet to the soule of any Christian especially if his endeavour be for the soule of his brother The object being better the good done is the better too the person's commendation more and the joy for having done it greater To enlarge a little here though I have spoken to this purpose already What a deale of comfort does a man take what happinesse doth he count it and with what joy does he tell of it and remember it that he lifted up an other man's oxe out of the ditch or saved his lamb from the fox or any thing else though it be but of little value from the fire How much more joy then think you must it be to a man unlesse he doe well and know not of it which is more then he can doe for a senslesse creature may as well doe a good deed that hath no knowledge at all as a reasonable creature if he have no knowledge of what he does to have sav'd or wonne or gain'd a soule for such a thing it is to convert a soule and we have no weaker adversaries then Satan and all the world to contend with us for the prize to have lifted it up from the pit of hell recovered it from the jaws not of the fox but the Lion and snatcht it as a firebrand out of the fire when it was so near to be burnt If it be such a comfort and joy and glory to a School-master to have made a good scholler in human learning what must it be to have made one in Divine and there is no learning truly learning but the Divine nor any Divine learing truly Divine learning but Christianity and godlines Paul cals the Christians in Philippi his joy and crowne chap 4 1 and so those or Thessalonica his joy and Glory 1 Epist chap 2.20 Surely he that converts a sinner since his charity is all as much his joy must be no lesse then the woman 's was when she found the gâ—oâ—t or the Shepheard's when he found that sheep that was yeelded for lost And here now I am speaking of saving of soules and converting of sinners In which I comprehend strengthening the weak instructing the erroneous and ignorant and comforting the afflicted and all other such actions of a godly man as these are tending to the benefit of other mens soules I have an ocean of matter before me I have much adoe to forbeare launching into it but I am afraid of going too farre or tarrying too long at sea it is such pleasant sayling There are two things more in a godly man that dispose him for mirth which I will but mention The first is the Agreeing of his Will with the will of God The second is that which will follow upon this and the rest of his qualifications formerly mentioned a Preparednesse for any condition or time though it be the very last judgment for he lives not in darknesse and therefore that day cannot come upon him as a thief in the night 1 Thess 5.4 For the first that it is so may not be questioned for his constant prayer is Thy will be done and his ordinary motto The will of the Lord be done or It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth good And then if it be so that he may be merry in any condition is all as true For if his will be according to the Lord's will nay if his will be at all times this that the will of the Lord be done and he knowes that there is no evill in the City but what the will of the Lord is should be done 't is as impossible that any evill should make him sad as it is that that which is according to his will should grieve him which cannot be For the second that it is so appeares by all my discourse hitherto concerning his cenditions For being
furnished with good qualities and all things necessary within doubtlesse he is provided to entertain any guest that shall come from without and to welcome and comply with any accident Which if it be so that he cannot be sad will follow because being so prepared he knowes how and he hath ability wherewithall to doe it He will use every condition so as it shall in no way force him to sadnesse If it be bad he will not be so much troubled as to be sad now and if it be good he will not be so much gladded as to occasion himselfe to be sad for it hereafter as other men are wont to doe through want of moderation Having so many props and helps as he hath the grounds and causes of joy which I have mentioned and being so well taught as he is by the spirit from within and by experience from without and endued with so much strength and courage from above like a thing that is square which way soever he falls he will stand upright and throw him how you will he will be sure to pitch upon his legs and courageously say with Paul Philip 4.12 〈◊〉 know how to be abased and I know how to abound◠every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need It were easy to shew what quiet the Continent man hath in comparison of the Incontinent man whose restlesse burnings with desire and his difficulties and feares and diseases in or after the accomplishing of it there is none but will easily believe So likwise to shew how quietly and void of vexatious thoughts the Mercifull man lives in comparison of the Cruell man Neither were it difficult to enlarge upon severall other commendations of a godly man in regard of his vertues and the usefulnes of them ro the producing of joy but this much may suffice or the present There are also severall other wayes for a godly man to make himselfe merry I could shew him some out of Basil in his sermon of Thanks-giving wherein he explaines those words of the Apostle Rejoyce alwayes c For putting the question whether the Apostle did not exhort Christians to an impossibility in regard that at all times either they are in afflictions which it is impossible they should be glad of or have committed sinnes which they are bound to be forty for he answers himselfe and says First that misery and sinne * Licet uti peccatis Estius in L. 1. Dist S. 2. which breed so much sorrow to others to a man that is in Christ prove an augmentation of joy Secondly that such a man in the greatest affliction hath those things to meditate upon which will afford him abundant occasion to rejoyce as among other things his creation out of nothing his being made after the image of God his having reason and understanding his power to discerne between good and evill his restauration after his fall and his hoped for resurrection after his death In the next place because the carnall man whom Idesire to lure over to christianity understands not these things is better acquaintend with worse I think it may doe well now I have spoken so much of the chiefe causes of joy which a godly man hath to say somewhat of the chiefe causes of sorrow which he hath not especially considering that men of fearfull and prejudiced minds though you tell them of never so much good which they never thought of you had as good say nothing unlesse you tell them likewise how they may avoyd never so little evill which they are affraid of although that evill be so cleane contrary to the good that it cannot consist with it You shall never make them merry by telling them of living in plenty or an assurance of having this or that unlesse you can perswade them that they cannot come to poverty by such or such a mischance or that nothing can hinder them of it or take it from them There are within a man 's own selfe two grand enemies to his own mirth Care and Feare He that hath the first is sad because he thinks he cannot obtaine and he that hath the last because he thinks he cannot avoyd what he would For the first The godly man may not and being a godly man will not because he may not suffer it to be within him He may not by any meanes take care upon him and if he happen to have it thrown upon him he hath a warrant to cast it off againe upon God who careth for him See an expresse command for it Phil 4 6 Be carefull for nothing c Be not sollicitous as if thou thoughtest thy caring were sufficient without God's providence or as if God's providence were not sufficient without thy overmuch caring He that is so must needs be sad for the present with the trouble of care for good and will be afterwards with the trouble of sorrow for ill succes But the godly man is never so nor so As for Feare it is too cowardly an adversary to conquer the heart of a Souldier of Christ The righteous is as bold as a Lyon His heart is too well fixed to shake for Feare Prov 28. Psal 112.7.8 It is tyed fast to God by hope and faith and it is held fast by God by his everlasting love A godly man is a choyce vessel without crannie or breach or leak not to be sunk with the waves and troubles of conscience for they shall never be so strong as to break him nor yet to be overwhelmed with the waves and troubles of afflictions for they shall never rise so high as to get above him And therefore is it that an upright man can walke to and fro so boldly and not be touched at heart though all his haire be burnt in the greatest combustions Isa 33.14 15. If he have at any time a little touch of feare as he may have being a man neither doth reason require that a man or faith that a Christian should be senselesse yet it is so that he may be merry nevetheless and rejoyce with trembling as the Psalmist speaks Ps 2.11 But yet I pray tell me what should he feare It cannot be any kind of misery for he knowes well enough that all things work for his good and therefore misery too among the rest Neither can it be any kind of adversary and who will slye when none pursues him unlesse the terrour of God be upon him which is only upon the wicked for he is well eased of all his adversaries therfore feares them not First he feares not what the divell can doe because he cannot kill the soule but with it 's own sword I meane thoughts words actions which by the grace of God he shall never have power of Secondly he feares not what Men can doe because they can but kill the body and for that he could afford to come againe and give them thanks because of
mountaines be carried into the mid'st of the sea Psal 46.2 Let the stormes of adversity rise never so high and the winds of persecution blow never so furiously the house can never be shaken that is founded upon the rock of salvation Jesus Christ The ship cannot be cast away that hath the Cross of Christ for the maine mast to fasten her sailes the word of God a rule that will never deceive for the card to direct her D. Feat ley the most sure promises of God for the anchor to hold her the Spirit of God for the winde to carry her and Christ himselfe for the Pilot to steere the course Jactatur nunquam mergitur ista ratis Such a house may be blown upon but it cannot be shaken Such a Ship may be tossed but it cannot be lost A godly man is even as such an house or such a ship And he knowes it very well And therefore though he expects yet he feares not the worst Let his enemies be never so mortall he knowes they are mortall and he shall soon be eased of them Let them never leave thirsting for his blood till they draw it out his soule is able to live upon the blood which such as they are drew from him his Saviour and so long he cares not Let the men of this world plow upon his back and make the furrowes never so long so he may bear good corne Let the Prince of this world shake him and winnow him like wheat For now he will say with Ignatius when he heard the roaring of the Lyons that were appointed to devoure him Christi frumentum sum I am glad of it Now I see I am cleane corne for I am going to the mill Doe not think these expressions poeticall Neither imagine either our Martyrs to have lyed when they spake of their joys in the flames or all those stories of their joyfull expressions to be lyes Let men talke what they will of the magnanimity fortitude of the old Romanes and the heathen Phylosophers as if it were not to be pararell'd I am confident that many a true Christian hath a great deale more and better then any of them had Pet Martyr in his common places class 3. c 12. puts the question An sancti homines inferiores fuerint Ethnicis in ferendis rebus rebus adversis whether the Saints were inferiour to the heathen in patience And having brought some of the best examples among'st them as of Horatius Pulvillus who having news brought him of his Son's death as he was consecrating the Temple went on his work and was not a jot moved at it And of Anaxogoras who having the same newes brought him only made answer sciebam me mortalem genuisse That he had not begotten an immortall Sonne And some others yet determines First that the Christians were no whit inferiour to them And that if Christians did at any time grieve at the newes or upon the thought of death or the like it was because they were better men then those heathen were and eiter might or would glorify God more and doe more good if they lived or for such like causes Then he applyes to this purpose the story of Aristippus Who being asked by a Mariner why he was fearfull being a Philosopher whereas he who never knew any Philosophy at all was not replyed Non debuisti sollicitus esse tu pro animâ nebulonis ego videbam Aristippum Philosophum periclitari For your part you should not be sollicitous for the life of such a poore knave as you are but I saw that Aristippus the Philosopher was in danger to be lost 2. Those Romanes and Philosophers feared not death or grieved not for it quod post hanc vitā nulla reliqua essent because they thought after a man was dead there was an end with him whereas the Christian grieved not or was not afraid of death because there was not an end with him but there was a life to live in which men should be rewarded or punished for what they had done in this which is farre more to be commended and a signe of greater courage 3. The fortitude and courage of the heathen was but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a kind of stupour a want not a moderation of passions griefe which Austin saith is omnibus vitiis pejor worse then all vices They had no patience but in want of sence which could be none at all whereas these had none but when the sence was quickest which must needs be best of all And then fourthly he answers that their courage if it were never so much was not at all pleasing to God which is Saint Austin's opinion also contra Julianum lib 4. cap 4. because it proceeded not from Faith as the courage of a Christian does for otherwise it is no more pleasing to God then theirs was I know yet you will say that 't is impossible that flesh and blood meeting with so many sad accidents as Christians usually doe should forbeare to look sad and be so too But for my part I know no such necessity Indeed I confesse a godly man and so he may at any other time as well as then may have sadness upon the top of his countenance But alas so many sad as we use the word and serious and sober dry thoughts as he hath are enough to produce that without any sorrow This is such a sadness as I canot pitty or dispraise but rather commend it as the Preacher does It is better to goe to the house of mourning then to goe the house of feasting for that is the end of all men the living wil lay it to his heart Sorrow is better then laughter for by the sadness of the countenance the heart is made better The heart of the wise is in the house of mourning but the heart of fooles is in the house of mirth Eccles 7.2 3 4. But as for sorrow and griefe and vexation of heart a godly man hath not such vipers nourished within him He hath sorrow for sinne indeed but then he hath joy never the less and his joy is never the less for his sorrow I will undertake it there is more true mirth in a godly man's heart one houre even in the mid ' st of his sighings then any wicked man hath with all his tighings sneerings all the day For such a sorrow is so fare from destroying joy that it is the cause of joy and the cause of the best joy and the best cause of the best joy Reader 't is strange to consider how a godly man excell's a wicked man in matter of joy A godly man can joy that he hath joyed and joy that he hath sorrowed and joy for any thing And so with all my heart let him sorrow as Austin said doleat homo Christianus de dolore gaudeat Let a Christian man grieve and rejoyce in his griefe On the contrary the wicked man's joy
Godly and the ungodly Read the stories in the Bible of the enemies of God destroy'd by Creatures without the helpe of a reasonable hand But what need I puzzle my head to search or weary my pen to shew you how and what occasions a wicked man has to be sorrowfull when almost any object of any of his senses or his knowledge is sufficient to make him so Not any thing that he sees or heares when he goes abroad Not any thing that he eats or drinks Not any action that he does himselfe or knowes to be done by another Not any event that befalls him but if it be not every way according to his mind will marre all his mirth if it were or if it seemd to be never so much before His mirth is such so carnall so fraile and so much depending upon the use and enjoyment of outward things that unlesse there be a continuall supply of such oyle it will quickly goe out in a stinking snuffe of sorrow Unlesse there be a constant affluence of all those things in a full current if there be never so little amisse or never so little intermission or never so little abatement of the water his wheeles are presently stopd and he can goe no longer Any change of any circumstance will change the mood for a wicked man is but in a merry mood at the best never in a merry mind Too soone or too late too fast or too slow too oft or too seldome too long or too short too much or too little any of these or such as these are will doe it His mirth is but stayd up by props and those very weak ones So that having no root to hold it any little puff of wind will overturne it T is but superficiall without depth but on the top of his face Meere paint no complexion Heat will melt it and water will wash it and any thing that agrees not with it will deface or take it away To conclude let a wicked man's condition be what it will it is all one for he is still after the same manner who is still the same man He hath enough within to counterworke any thing that you shall bring from without Use what instruments you will cords or forks enticements or enforcements a good or a bad condition it is all one His nature holds fast and his bad condition will continue still to breed him discontent enough Come prosperity or come adversity you shall see but little oddes for the better One may make him more sad then the other but neither will make him more merry Adversity may break his heart and prosperity will not make it lighter He has not the patience to endure the one nor the discretion to manage the other without vexation Adversity is like a shield which he cannot beare and so he must needs be overborne with it Prosperity is like a sword which he cannot weild and a thousand to one but he hurts himselfe with it this sword will enter into his owne heart Psalm 37.15 His afflictions are intolerable because they are cursed of God as he himselfe is they are sent in displeasure and not so seldome neither as men count if we tooke better notice but because we think so well of good men and see them punished we take notice of none but them How oft is the candle of the wicked put out And how oft cometh their destuction upon them God distributeth sorrowes in his anger Job 21.17 If their afflictions come not often recompence is made in the coming For they come with a vengeance If his fall be but one it is irrecoverable for He that is perverse in his ways shall fall at once Prov 28.18 When he is afflicted none more afflicted then he For he has no grace either to endure his affliction or to pray to be eased On the contrary the godly man being well affected to God and having God well affected to him is so farre from being so sadned and dejected either for being or for feare of being afflicted that he cannot only look upon but laugh at afflictions c. 5.22 At distruction and famine thou shalt laugh One that lookes upon a godly man and a wicked man with a carnall eye nay one that looks with a spirituall eye but does not look neere enough or long enough will wonder there should be so much difference as there is betweene them in regard of their condition But I 'le warrant you let him look as he should and he will find it to be as I have said I will but shew you in a word or two of what use that which I have said may be to the wicked man and I have done It is of use to him both for Information and for Exhortation For information To informe him that he has been misinform'd by the devill and the world who have put it into his head that there is no life like that which he is in for mirth no mirth so good as his and none so merry as he 2. That his case is cleane contrary viz that no life has more cause of sorrow then his that no mirth is worse either morally or Physically i.e. for corruption of sinfullnesse or mixture of sadnesse and that none is lesse truly merry then he For exhortation it will be of use to exhort him That seeing he hath so much cause to be sorry and his mirth is such what ever it seem to be he would forbeare a while his foolish jollity and bethink himselfe of the sadnesse of his condition to get out of it and the vanity of his mirth to leave it Come whosoever thou art doe not flatter thy selfe as other wicked men doe as the psalmist said He flattereth himselfe in his owne eyes untill his iniquity be found to be hatefull Psalm 36.2 Doe not couzen thy selfe to deceive the world I tell thee thou hast many diseases Discover thy folly Doe not conceale it at least to him who will know it though thou doest what thou canst and will forgive it if thou doest what thou shouldst Doe not heale slightly thy wound but search thy sins to the quick and never leave till they be dead Thou hast many a leake and thou hast a great deale of water in thee allready Repent and pump it out at thine eyes ere thy ship sink T is but be sad for a while till the work of humiliation conviction be done and afterward I will warrant thee mirth enough and good enough and long enough For He that goeth forth and weepeth bearing precious seed shall doubtlesse come again with rejoycing bringing his sheaves with him Psalm 126.6 FINIS A Catalogue of Books Printed for and to be sold by Richard Davis at his shop neare Oriell Colledge in Oxford A Paraphrase and Annotations upon all the Books of the New Testament by Hen Hammond D.D. in folio The Practicall Catechisme with all other English Treatises of Hen Hammond D.D. in two volumes in 4o. Dissertationes quatuor quibus Episcopatus Jura ex S. Scripturis Primava Antiquitate adstruuntur contra sententiam D. Blâ—ndelli aliorum Authore Henrico Hammond in 4o. A Letter of Resolution to six Quaeres in 12o. Certaine Sermons and Letters of Defence and Resolution to some of the late Controversies of our times by Jasp Mayne D. D. in 4o. A View of the Threats and Punishments Recorded in the Scriptures Alphabetically composed with some breife Observations upon severall Texts by Zachary Bogan of C.C.C. in Oxon in 8o Fides Apostolica or A Discourse asserting the received Authors and Authority of the Apostles Creed together with the Grounds and ends of the Composing thereof by the Apostles the sufficiency thereof for the Rule of Faith c. with a double Appendix 1 Touching the ATHANASIAN 2. The NICENE Creed by George Ashwell B D in 8o. Ailmeri Musae Sucrae seu Jonas Jeremiae Threni Daniel Graeca redditi carmine in 8o. Ad Grammaticen ordinariam supplementa quaedam editio 2. multis auctior in 8o. A Guide to the Holy City or Directions and Helps to an Holy-life by John Reading B. D. in 4o. Theses Quadragessimales in Scholiis Oxonii Publâ—â—rs viz Quod Caeli sint Fluidi Terra Moveatur Terra Centrum Universi non sint Luna sit Habitabilis Radius Luminosus sit Corporeus Sol sit Flamma A CAROLO POTTER in 12o. Contemplationes Metaphisicae ex Naturâ Rerum rectae Rationis lumine deductae Auctore Georg Ritscheli Bohemo in 8o. The Amorous War a Play in 4o. Aditus ad Logicam Authore Samucle Smith in 8o Elementa Logicae Authore Edwardo Brerewood in 12o. Johan Buridani Quaestïones in octo Libros Politicorum Aristotelis in 4o. Robert Baronii Philosophia Theologiae Ancillans in 8o. The Hurt of Sedition by S. Jo Cheek in 4o. Scripture Vindicated from the misapplications of M. St Marshall in his Sermon entituled Meroz Cursed by Ed Symmons in 4o. The Christian Race A Sermon on Heb 12.1 by Tho Barton in 4o A Sermon on the 2. of Timothy cap. 3. v. 1 2 3 4 5. by Will. Chillingworth in 4o. A Funerall Sermon on Philip 1.23 by John Millet in 4o. A Funerall Sermon on 1. Cor 7.29 30 31. by Tho Hauskins in 8o. A Nomenclator of such Tracts Sermons as have been Printed or translated into English upon any place or Booke of the Holy Scripture now to be had in the Publique Library in Oxford by Jo. Vernevill in 12º The Vaulting Master or the Art of Vaulting illustrated with Sixteene brasse figures by Will Stoakes in 4o.