alway again I say Rejoyce THat which Seneca sometime said of Learning I may and that not unfitly affirm of Joy Vita sine Literis mors est vivumque hominis Sepulchrum so he Vita sine gaudio mors est vivumque hominis Sepulchrum so I. A Life without Learning He without Joy I is a meer Death and but the living Sepulcher of man A short Life if joyous is far better than a long Age if mixt and continually clogg'd with anxious Molestations Much rather should I chuse to live a few dayes here in merry gladness than desire to accomplish the prolonged years of Methuselah in sullen sadness Heaviness of heart is the Curse of God 'T is Deut. 28. 65. Pro. 15. 13. 17. 22. 1 Pet. 5. 8. a great enemy to our health which God hath bound us to take care of It dries the Bones and briefly it gives great advantage to Satan who like a roaring Lion walketh about seeking whom he may devour 'T is an old Saying that Melancholia est Vehiculum Daemonus and Experience proves that we are never so weak never so apt to receive the Temptations of Satan never so unable to resist them as when we are oppress'd with Melancholy and Sadness of heart For this cause S. Paul chargeth the Corinthians to comfort the incestuous person lest Satan 2 Cor. 2 7 11. saith he circumvent us for we are not ignorant of his Devices Look upon David a man after Gods own heart as the Scripture stiles him and yet see to what an 2 Sam. 18. 33. inconvenience sadness and plodding too much on the loss of his Son Absolom brought him see how unlike himself it made him And so Job concerning whom the Job 1. 1. Lord gives also a large Testimony an upright and just man one that feared God and eschewed evil Yet observe how far he forgets himself by yielding too much to sadness and heaviness of heart he is angry with the Light Job 3. 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 c. quarrels with the Night hath a Saying to the Stars to his Mother to the Midwife there is no dealing with him in his Fit Instances of this kind there be more than enough but they are unpleasant Without Joy there is no contentment in any thing Who would wish for Life it self but to take some joy and comfort in it Joy is all in all Well therefore doth our Apostle apply himself to press this Duty upon the Philippians in the words of our Text Rejoyce in the Lord alway again I say rejoyce In which words observe these four Particulars 1. A Duty enjoyned viz. Rejoycing Rejoyce 2. The Limitation of this Duty our Rejoycing must not be carnal but spiritual non in Saeculo sed in Domino it must not be in the World but in the Lord Rejoyce in the Lord. 3. The Extent of this Duty of Rejoycing It must not be at one time and not at another it must not be only now at Trinity-Tide your usual time of Merriment and enjoyment of your Friends and Acquaintance and no more till that time comes again in a Revolution but it must be all the year long even as long as we live alway Rejoyce in the Lord alway 4. And Lastly The Ingemination of this Duty of Rejoycing Again I say Rejoyce As if S. Paul should have said I exhort you not unto this duty of Rejoycing suddenly nor rashly out of a merry pin as we commonly say but out of a serious and sober deliberation and therefore I say again Rejoyce Rejoyce in the Lord alway again I say Rejoyce Of these in their Order And first of the first The Duty enjoyned by the Apostle to every good Christian Rejoycing Rejoyce Doct. Doct. It is then the Duty of all Gods Children to be joyful It is the Duty of all Gods Children to be cheerful O come let us rejoyce unto the Lord saith the Psalmist Let Psal 95. 1. Psal 100. 2. Psal 100. 4. Psal 47. 1. us serve the Lord with gladness and come before him with joyfulness Let us enter into his Gates with praise and into his Courts with rejoycing All people clap your hands sing aloud unto God with a joyful voice saith David This Disposition we see was in the blessed Virgin Mary Luke 1. 47. when she said that her Spirit rejoyced in God her Saviour There is no man but would have his business done with Cheerfulness and therefore Solomon saith that a sluggish Pro. 10. 26. or dull Agent is as Vinegar to the Teeth or as Smoke to the Eyes It is a matter of vexation and trouble to see any thing performed with lumpish heaviness God himself is all Spirit and he will be served with our Spirits he can endure none but cheerful Servitors In the time of the Ceremonies when God had appointed that the first-born of a mans Beasts should be set apart to him it was with this exception If it were the first Foal of an Exod. 13. 12 13. Ass it should be redeemed with a Lamb if it were not redeemed the Neck of it was to be broken God would not have that to be sacrificed unto him Some not unaptly make this to be meant by it that God so appointed as an evidence of his detestation of dulness and want of Life and Cheerfulness in good things an Ass being one of the dullest Creatures for which cause I conceive Sloth is wont to be pictured riding upon an Ass God would not be honoured by the Sacrifice of such a Beast It is the Badge of Christs People that they come willingly at the time of assembling And I rejoyced saith David when they said unto me we will go unto the House Psal 110. 3. Psal 122. 1. of the Lord. Those Services that are offered unto God without cheerfulness they never find acceptance And truly great reason have Gods Children to rejoyce and to serve him with alacrity For Reas 1 First Their Sins are forgiven them and that is a just cause of joy Son be of good cheer saith our Saviour Christ thy Sins are forgiven thee Matth. 9. 2. Secondly God is reconciled unto them in Christ and delights in them and that is another just cause of joy Let him that glorieth saith the Lord glory in this that he understandeth and knoweth me that I am the Lord which Jer. 9. 24. exercise loving kindness This is that loving kindness and mercy which being shed abroad in the heart by the holy Ghost is better than life as the Psalmist speaks The Soul is satisfied with it as with Marrow and Fatness Psal 63. 3. Psal 63. 5. Rom. 14. 17. Rom. 8. 16. 1 Pet. 1. 8. Luke 2. 10. John 16. 24. St. Paul calleth this Joy in the Holy Ghost The Holy Ghost works it in the heart and that witness of the Spirit is the Ground of it St. Peter for the dignity of it commends it to be both unspeakable and glorious The Angels to the Shepherds
called it great joy Our blessed Saviour stiles it a full joy And the Psalmist terms it the joy of Gods people as being their Peculiar The Stranger Ps 106. 5. from the Common-wealth of Israel meddles not with this Joy Vse 1. Instruct The Religious Life then is the merry Life Those that do unseignedly fear God and have set their hearts to please him are the only men of the world that have just cause to be cheerful that have just cause to be comfortable that have just cause to be joyful Let the heart of them rejoyce that seek the Lord saith the Prophet David Psal 105. 3. Psal 32. 11. And shout for joy all ye that are upright in heart Vse 2. Reproof Let this then be a check to our common Lumpishness and a reproof to our usual uncheerfulness Let it serve to correct that deadness of Spirit which doth generally discover it self in our performances of Religious Duties Men many times look when they are hearing or otherwise attending upon the other Services of Gods House as if they had no heart to them as if were it not for shame they would say with those Jews that the Prophet Malachy speaks of in plain terms Behold it is a weariness The Mal. 1. 13. thoughts of many are even tired and spent before an hour be half out witness that common deadness and filthy drowsiness to which many do give themselves over even in the midst of the Congregation Oh look to your Affections Beloved God looks for cheerfulness in his Service He would have nothing taken of any towards the erecting of the Tabernacle unless it were of him that had a willing heart Strive therefore Oh strive I say Exod. 35. 5. against your wonted sluggishness and when you feel a kind of heaviness to creep upon you do you check your selves for it rouze up your selves and blame your selves who in other things can be so jocund and fresh and yet be so heavy like men struck on the head when matters appertaining to the Service of God are in hand Remember the Duty injoyned here by the Apostle Rejoyce Rejoyce yes but what is this joy you perswade us Tho. Aq. unto The Angelical Doctor tells you that it is Passio mentis excitata ex opinione praesentis boni vel expectatione futuri Joy saith he is a passion of the Mind stirred up from an opinion of some present or at least from an expectation of some future good Now Beloved seeing Gods Children have not only an opinion of some present but a most certain expectation of some future good too therefore they of all men have most cause to rejoyce and serve their God with gladness But to give you yet a more Divine Description of true Joy True joy indeed is a spiritual motion wrought in the minds and hearts of the Faithful by the Holy Ghost proceeding from their Reconciliation to God by Faith in Christ Hence is that of Caesarius Verum gaudium non possidetur nisi pax justitia teneatur prima enim est quasi radix Caesar 2. Admon Justitia secunda Pax tertia Gaudium de Justitia nascitur Pax de Pace Gaudium generatur That is True Joy is not there to be found where Peace and Righteousness is forsaken for Righteousness which proceeds from our reconciliation to God by Faith in Christ is first and as it were the root of all Peace of Conscience second issuing from the former and lastly true joy springing from both from Righteousness comes Peace and from Peace proceeds true Joy This is the joy S. Paul enjoynes the Philippians to observe in our Text and this is that joy which I commend to you to embrace Would you be joyful would you be cheerful Would you be merry indeed Oh then labour for Righteousness whence Peace of Conscience will undoubtedly proceed and thence unspeakable Joy will necessarily follow Gaudete in veritate non in iniquitate Beda gaudete in spe aeternitatis non in flore vanitatis as Venerable Beda hath it that is Rejoyce in Verity not in Iniquity rejoyce in the hope of Eternity not in the fading flower of Vanity And thus I am fallen upon my second Particular which is the Limitation of this Duty enjoyned express'd in these words 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Lord. Rejoyce in the Lord. The Second Part Limitation This Beloved is the qualifying the seasoning and the bounding of our Mirth It must be in the Lord Why Vllumne gaudium nisi in Dorino saith Aug. Yes there is as the same Father hath it Gaudium Vanitatis as well as Gaudium Veritatis that is there is a joy of Vanity as well as a joy of Verity There is a twofold joy there is a hellish joy and there is a holy joy the one is inhibited the other imposed The vain joy of the world or rather the worlds joy in vanity is interdicted the holy joy the joy of verity the rejoycing in the Lord that is it which is here enjoyned in our Apostles Edict Rejoyce in the Lord. Obs Rejoycing in the Lord is the only true rejoycing Obs Illud est verum acsummum gaudium saith S. Bernard Bern. in Serm. quod non de Creatura sed de Creatore concipitur quod cum acceperis nemo tollet aâ—te cui aliunde comparata omnis jucunditas moeror est omnis suavitas dolor est omne dulce amarum est omne decorum foedum est omne postremo quod delectari potest molestum est That is true and excellent joy indeed saith that Father which is conceived in the Creator and not in the Creature which when thou hast received no man can take from thee to which if all other rejoycing and pleasure be compared they be but painfulness all other sweetness but sadness all other delightsomness but dulness all other comliness but filthiness and in a word all other mirth but madness The comfort which the Soul feels in Gods favour in the pardon of sin is that which indeed deserves to be termed Joy and Rejoycing Reas 1 And that first Because it will overcome and swallow up all other occasions of Sadness and Discouragement it sweetens all afflictions whatsoever it resolves the Soul that how sharp soever they are in a present sense yet they are the Lords Chastenings to prevent future Condemnation for when we are judged saith the Apostle we are chastened of the Lord because we should not be condemned with the world Secondly Rejoycing in the Lord is the only true Rejoycing because it is lasting it abides by us when all other joyes forsake us Christ commends it to his Disciples by the name of a Joy which no man could take from Joh. 16. 22. them It may indeed I confess sometime be interrupted and overclouded with sad Passions but it can never be clean extinguished God doth sometime so hide away his face from his dearest ones for their humiliation that they are troubled and that not a
Jesus Oh it is good for thee to rejoyce in them The Gospel is glad tidings of joy yea Luke 2. 10. of great joy to all Believers Dost thou find thy self sad sullen and discontented Oh check and chide thy self for thy unchearfulness Take the Prophet David for thy Pattern Psal 42. 5 11. Ps 43. 5. who no less than three times in two short Psalms together rebukes himself for this very thing Why art thou cast down Oh my Soul and why art thou disquieted within me Neglect not those divine Consolations that have been propounded to thee Stir up and provoke thy self to this holy Duty in the extent of it Rejoyce in the Lord alway That which Eliphaz Job 15. 11 12. sometime said to Job when he would not be comforted by God nor by his Counsel let me apply to the disconsolate dejected and drooping Soul Are the Consolations of God small with thee Is this thing strange unto thee Why doth thine heart take thee away and what do thine eyes mean Seem the Consolations of God small unto thee Thou hast heard twice so many Causes of rejoycing as there is of sorrowing in the same Particulars why then takest thou no more joy in God why then takest thou no more comfort in Christ why dost thou not rejoyce in the Lord alway Certainly beloved the true reason why we rejoyce not enough is because we are not enough Christians Well would you now for the future practise this Apostolical precept of rejoycing in the Lord alway then observe I pray these four Means following Means 1 First Get you a true justifying Faith get you a good assurance of Salvation this is a sure way to keep the heart chearful The Light of Gods countenance favourably shining upon us through Christ adds more comfort than when our Corn and Wine and Oil is increased The joy that groweth from this ground Psal 4. 6 7. 1 Pet. 1. 8. is unspeakable and glorious This is able to make a man rejoyce when he hath never so many means to make him heavy for being justified by Faith we have peace with God Rom. 5. 1 3. through Jesus Christ our Lord neither that only but we also rejoyce in tribulation This it was that made Paul and Silas rejoyce and sing in Prison True Faith gives a man many Act. 16. 25. sound grounds of comfort it gives a man many Reasons of solid rejoycing For first It assures him of the pardon of his sins and when he once knows that no affliction need trouble him Son be of good comfort thy sins are forgiven Matth. 9. 2. thee saith Christ to the sick of the Palsie Thy sins which were the cause of thy Sickness they are forgiven therefore be of good chear Secondly He that hath true Faith knows that he shall never lose the favour of God after he hath once obtained it how many signes soever of Gods anger may be upon him and is not this a notable ground of rejoycing when a man is by Faith perswaded that neither Life nor Death nor Rom. 8. 38 39. Principalities nor Powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth nor any other Creature shall be able to separate him from the Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord. Thirdly He that hath true Faith knows God will have a tender respect to his weakness in whatsoever affliction he shall lay upon him that it shall not exceed his Rom. 8. 26. strength God will be the strength of his Spirit God will support and enable him to bear it that he faint not under it God is faithful saith the Apostle and will not suffer you to be 1 Cor. 10. 13 tempted above that you are able but will even give the issue with the temptation that ye may be able to bear it Fourthly He that hath true Faith is assured that whatsoever affliction God layeth upon him it shall in the end tend to his good and to the furtherance of his Salvation Also we know that all things work together for the best unto them Rom. 8. 28. that love God even to them that are called according to his purpose So S. Paul Fifthly He that hath true faith knows the end will pay for all and that after a while all tears shall be wiped from his eyes and he shall enjoy unspeakable comfort I should Psal 27. 13. have fainted saith David except I had believed to see the goodness of the Lord in the Land of the living And this of the first Means of continual rejoycing If you would rejoyce in the Lord alway you must then get you a true justifying Faith a good assurance of your salvation Means 2 Secondly A second Means to rejoyce alway is to take care to keep a good Conscience That man that in all things is careful to please God and to keep his Conscience pure that he fall not into any known and grievous sin shall ever have a quiet and chearful heart he may rejoyce alwayes Our rejoycing is this saith S. Paul even the testimony of our 2 Cor. 1. 12. Conscience that in simplicity and godly pureness we have had our conversation in the world This will make a man chearful at all times not in prosperity only but even in adversity also and therefore Solomon calls it a continual Feast And Pro. 15. 15. in this respect the Apostle calleth Righteousness a Brestplate that will defend the heart even in the evil day Would you Eph. 6. 14. therefore have a cheerful heart would you be comfortable and rejoyce always even in affliction in the time of your sickness and at the hour of your death have a care then of a good Conscience take heed of known sins That man only that in all things is careful to please God and to keep his Conscience pure that he fall not into any known and grievous sin shall have a quiet and chearful heart he only may rejoyce alwayes Means 3 Thirdly The third Means to make us rejoyce alway is to make the Lord our Treasure and not any earthly thing If a man do not overvalue these earthly Comforts as namely Husbands Wives Friends Children Health Wealth Liberty Peace c. nor account them his chief treasure but esteem them as they are indeed even transitory Comforts and account the Lord and his Favour and Grace his chief Treasure If a man set not his heart on these things but love them only in the Lord then shall he not be oppressed with immoderate sorrow for them when God shall take them away Such a man may rejoyce still whereas he that maketh these worldly things his chief Treasure and setteth his heart upon them he cannot rejoyce alway he must needs be oppressed with sorrow when he shall be deprived of them You may see it in the example of Ahab who when he could not get Naboths Vineyard his spirit was exceeding sad he could not eat his Bread And
gustum quam post fastidium before we have tasted it than after we have surfeited on it The more hold we take of this the more we lose our hold upon God Turn ye therefore my beloved Brethren from this vain false and short joy that seeks you and seek that joy of verity that joy in the Lord which shall for ever content and never cloy you Quest But what may some man say may we not rejoyce at all in temporal things May we not chearfully enjoy those outward things that God hath been pleased to bestow upon us Answ Yes Beloved I deny not but you may so as you take these two Cautions along with you First You must have a diligent care to prevent Excess Whether we eat or drink or whatsoever we do else 1 Cor. 10. 31. Rom. 13. 13. Luke 21. 34 all must be done to the Glory of God Gluttony and Drunkenness are the works of Darkness contrary to honest walking you must take heed therefore lest at at any time your hearts be oppressed with them Secondly You may rejoyce in the enjoyment of these outward things always provided that God be not banished out of your thoughts We may be merry but God must be by we may please our selves so long as we displease not him All our joy is not reserved for the next life some is afforded us on earth Gods greater Light doth not extinguish the less Friends Children Wine Oyl Health Liberty Competency are not given us for discontent we may not make them indeed Gods Rivals but we may rejoyce in them as Gods Blessings In themselves they are nothing in him they are worth our joy They wrong Christians that forbid them mirth The Gospel is not such dull Metal but the Tidings of joy to all Believers When the Lord hath Luke 2. 10. made us happy he gives us no thanks to make our selves miserable If we find God reconciled Christ our Advocate the Holy Spirit our Comforter if we have peace in our Conscience and in Heaven an Inheritance we should be both angry and ashamed at our selves to ask on earth that Question Why art thou sad or cast down Oh my Soul If we be in Christ our very bread Psal 42. 11. is a Symbole of the Bread of Life and our Wine and Beer a Token of that Cup we shall drink in Heaven What should discomfort us if the Lord be with us Only let 's be sure that our Delights exclude not the Presence of God Rejoyce we may nay rejoyce we must it is our duty enjoyned by the Apostle but look we to the Limitation that the Lord be in it Rejoyce in the Lord. The Third Part The Extent I have done with two parts of my Text The Duty and the Limitation of it I shall now proceed to the Third which is the Extent of the Duty in the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 alway 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rejoyce in the Lord alway This seems at first view a strange Paradox an intricate Riddle nay indeed a meer contradiction For how can we weep lament and sorrow too as our blessed Saviour Joh. 16. 20. himself hath said we shall and yet rejoyce also and that alwayes too as the Apostle here saith we should Rejoyce in the Lord alway How is it possible that weeping and rejoycing should comply and agree together in one and the same Subject at one and the same time Do not Contraries expel each other Yes Beloved they do indeed but these are not contraries Christian Rejoycing and Christian Mourning do well agree together in one and the same Subject at one and the same time too Take a Similitude from a Traveller to illustrate this unto you A Traveller may rejoyce to see the Sun shine and yet he may be sorrowful too at the very same time to behold some Clouds arising to eclipse his Light from him So it is Beloved with Gods Children they may rejoyce to see the Sun of Gods Favour shining comfortably upon them and yet at the same time they may weep too to behold some of their cloudy sins arising to obscure it Nullus enim justus sanctus caret peccato Aug. nec tamen ex hoc desinit esse justus vel sanctus cum affectu teneat Sanctitatem There is no man so righteous or holy as to be without sin and yet he ceaseth not to be righteous or holy so long as he affecteth Holiness so S. Aug. The burning Bush in which God appeared to Moses that Exod. 3. 2. was not burnt up because God was in it sheweth us how Gods Church and Chosen may both weep continually and yet rejoyce continually too Weep they must continually because they are alwayes compassed about with the fiery flames of Affliction Again rejoyce they must continually because they are not consumed but comforted by God in the midst of all calamities We have seen saith S. Gregory Clouds dissolving themselves Greg. into drops upon the Earth and yet the Sun-beams resplendently reflecting refreshment on the same at the same instant of time So it is with Gods Children here on Earth the doleful Clouds of sin and affliction for sin do often distil-Chrystal showers from their eyes and yet the Sun of Righteousness shines at the same instant most comfortably in their hearts and causeth them to rejoyce witness holy David who tells us that in the multitude of the Psal 94. 19. sorrows of his heart Gods Comforts still refreshed his Soul We will now descend to the demonstration of this unto you in some few Particulars Six Causes I have formerly observed in my Sermon on the 16th of John at the 20th verse Printed in the Year 1643. to move the Righteous to weep continually but lo now I bring you twice so many more Causes out of Gods Storehouse to make them rejoyce even in the same things alwayes The first cause of their weeping is for their own sins against God This made David every night to water his Couch with his Tears This made Mary Magdalen Psal 6. 6. Luke 7. 38. weep as if she poured forth water not by drops but by floods This made Peter weep bitterly yea and this made S. Paul cry out heavily Miser ego homo quis me Matth. 26. 75. Rom. 7. 24. eripiet c. Oh wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from the body of this death Yes blessed Saint thou hast a Deliverer Jesus Christ our Lord he is the Propitiation for thy sins and not for thine only but for all the sins of all the Elect. Rejoyce 1 John 2. 2. therefore in this Oh ye Righteous first Because there is no condemnation to them that are in Christ Jesus And then secondly Because you walk not after the Flesh but Rom. 8. 1. after the Spirit Your sins are remitted and therefore you have cause to be chearful If there be sorrow in the contrition of sin much more then is there joy in the