hear the Voice of others is a scarcely audible Whisper Some have but a Drop of the Oil of Joy others in comparison a very Sea of it However this is asserted of all Believers The Joy of Faith is the chief Joy of every sort of them Of them that want it none dare to slight it None can rest or be very easy till they have it The New Nature in them panteth for it as the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks And as oft as they get from under the foresaid Obstructions §. 1. Believers do truly rejoice in their Victory over Death Here Examples shall show THAT they do so and Reasons shall satisfy WHY they must so do The Time would fail to tell of Abraham foreseeing the Day and Work of his victorious Lord and rejoicing in it Of Jacob cheering himself under heaviest Pressures with the same comforting Prospect Of Job insulting over Death and glorying in his Assurance of a blessed Resurrection Of David proclaiming that his God would not leave him in Death And that he would fear no Evil when he walk'd through the Valley of its Shadow The Heart of the Saints of the Old Testament is to be seen in the Song of Solomon Hear it uttering it self to the Lord Jesus Christ We will be glad and rejoice in thee In thee that is by whose Stripes we are healed In thee on whom the Lord hath laid the Iniquities of us all and by the Faith of whom he justifieth us In thee to whom a Portion is divided with the Great and who dost divide the Spoil with the Strong as the Evangelical Prophet speaks We will remember thy redeeming Love more than Wine I sat down under his Shadow with great Delight and his Fruit was sweet to my Taste Consult with these Manifesto's the Psalms and Songs of his Father David It shall appear that the Church was dancing for Joy before the Day brake and the Shadows flew away and the Sun of Righteousness arose with the Light and Glory of the New Testament Under which who needs to be told what a Spirit of Joy was presently poured out Glad Tidings of great Joy the heavenly Heralds call'd the Gospel Where-ever it comes a Torrent of Joy follows it Gladly it is received at its first Publication though with the loss of all things adventured Philip preaches it at Samaria and there is great Joy in all the City We glory in Tribulations We rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory We are more than Conquerours We are always confident and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. We are always rejoycing We rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of God Thus speak the Apostles as well of their Converts as of Themselves And what saith Ecclesiastical History of the Ages ever since The same Spirit of Joy and Gladness hath been in all times of the Church They that have loved the Lord Jesus have rejoiced in him And in his Name have wished for Death have welcomed it and have been unterrified with its most ghastly Shapes and Pomps Polycarp desires his Executioners to let him shew them that he could burn at a Stake without being tied to it Lucius thanketh a barbarous Judg for the Favour of sending him to his God and Father Cyprian thanks God for his Goal-delivery by Death Hilarion cries Out of this Body O my Soul What is there any thing for thee to fear For thee an old Servant of Christ But to come nigher our own days Cranmer thrusts his Right-hand into the Fire to be revenged on it for subscribing a Damned Scroll as he called it for fear of Death Think you that I have not learned to die said Adam Damlip Be at my burning you shall see and say There 's a Souldier of Christ said Kirby Ridley called his Death his Wedding And Latimer told the Bishop going before him to the Stake he would have after him as fast as he could And when Fire was put to him with a smiling Face he uttered these Words God is faithful who doth not suffer us to be tempted above our Strength Bainam in the Fire professed he felt no more Pain than on a Bed of Down Death in the most hideous Shapes hath been thus triumphed over Clouds of Instances are to be read even in English Books And do we not know Multitudes of surviving Friends and Neighbours whom we discern to be of the Mind of the Martyr Adam Wallack If Death be ready we are ready Blessed be God this Age is not so forsaken by him but that there are Multitudes to whom Christ's Word is verified Your Heart shall rejoice and your Joy shall no Man take from you Is it yet with any of you a hard Saying which holy Hildersam hath written He that doth not desire and strive to be willing to die he hath cause to suspect that there is no true saving Grace in him Or that harmonious Passage of great Calvin on Hebrews 2.14 He that is not able to quiet his Heart in holy Contempt of Death let him know that he hath made but little progress in the Faith of Christ For as excessive Fear of Death ariseth from Ignorance of the Grace of Christ so it is a sure Sign of Vnbelief Or that of Dr. Hammond on 1 Tim. 1.15 If the Conversion of a Sinner be not accompanied with unwonted Joy and Sorrow a Godly Sense of past Distress and a Godly Triumph for his Delivery I counsel not to Distrust but to Fear to a solicitous though not a suspicious Trembling Let me add one more of Mr. Ward of Ipswich If we had but half the Strength of St. Paul 's Faith or Life of his Hope or Fore-imaginations which he had of his future Felicity we could not but have the same Desires and Longings for our Fruition of them I think few Truths to be more evident But it 's possible that these following Reasons may add to its Evidence These Reasons I give why Believers must needs rejoice in their Victory over Death First Believers are Men And it is the Nature of Man to rejoice in his most desired Good when he knows it to be obtained Victory over Death is certainly the most desired and the obtained Good of Believers And ordinarily they do know themselves to have obtained it through Christ their Lord. For the Law of Grace through Faith they do understand Their own Acts of Grace by Sense they do perceive And their State of Grace by Reason they do infer And the Spirit which is of God they do receive whereby they know the things which are freely given them of God 1 Cor. 2.12 What our Saviour in his days on Earth said to the Ears of some the Holy Ghost saith now to Believers Hearts Be of good chear your Sins are forgiven Witnessing with their Spirits that they are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 Not only enlightning their Minds to see the Truth of their Graces and thence to conclude themselves in a
by them exposed to the Jealousies of his Children and to the Prejudices of his Enemies Their Character is blotted and they must be taken rather for the defiling Pitch than the cleansing Salt of the Earth Lastly Believers are obedient Children of God and it is their required Obedience to triumph in their Victory through Christ It is not only a Licence for it that the Gospel giveth them but it is a Precept The old Primitive Law bound Man innocent to Joy and Glory in his blessed Life The Redeemer's Law doth not less oblige Man renewed to Joy and Glory in his more wonderful Salvation in his more blessed Life brought out of Death Who knows not how expresly and repeatedly this Precept is proclaimed Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye Righteous Shout for Joy all ye that are upright Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud Rejoice and be exceeding glad Rejoice in the Lord and again I say Rejoice Rejoice evermore Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart thou shalt serve thine Enemies c. Texts are numberless Under the Law it self many were the Feasts instituted for one Fast In the Gospel-day the Holy Ghost is sent to be a Comforter extraordinary It were endless to enumerate the Ways in which God expresseth his Zeal for his Saints Joy The Reasons of which Zeal are both great and evident For Joy is the commanding Affection the End of all others that which all do subserve and seek And if this Ruler be corrupted all its Servants are necessarily wicked If this Potentate be not obedient to God it draws the whole Man into Rebellion He that rejoiceth not in Christ Jesus feels a thousand Temptations to forsake him yea in a fearful Degree he doth forsake him for not to delight and rejoice in him is to vilify and dishonour him and that is to forsake him with whatever unpleasant Services you shall all the while follow him All is Carrion that is not chearfully given it is not pure Sacrifice that is not offered with Joy and Gladness In short Thoughts of a Christ not delighted in will come but seldom and stay but little in any Mind and a Heart not delighted in him will soon believe a little Meditation of him to be enough and all the Duties which are laborious to be an Excess Why are secret ones and publick so generally neglected What maketh Backwardness to them and Weariness in them Whence rise Christians Inclinations to foolish forbidden Chats and Games Whence cometh their Quarrelsomness with each other and with their spiritual Fathers and Nurses To these and many like Questions it must be answered They rejoice not in Christ Jesus It needs not be said how impossible it is without Joy in him to rejoice in Tribulations to take joyfully the spoiling of outward Goods and to lay down our Lives for him Sense doth sufficiently certify it What shall we then judg of Believers if we take them for Men that make no Conscience of rejoicing in Christ We must judg them in the worst sense to be Solifidians very Demoniacks that break all Bonds and cast the strongest Cords of God behind their Backs which is as truly impossible as it would be unrighteous for a sound Believer ordinarily to do Extraordinary is the Case of Persons obstructed by a melancholy Habit of Body and temporary Temptations To will is present with them though how to do they find not They are not Fugitives but Captives and sold under Sorrow So that it is a Duty they would do which they do not do while remembring Death they are troubled they complain and their Spirit is overwhelmed Of other Christians I stick not to say They do not rightly seek the Lord who rejoice not and are not glad in him through whom they are Conquerors of Death who are Strangers to the Peace the Joy and the Glory of Faith Rom. 5.1 2 3. I am next to show that §. 2. Saints do Righteously triumph aloud over Death To shout for Joy as soon as they are in Christ is their reasonable Service The Equity of the Command is apparent as the Authority of the Law-giver and the Objections against it are Chaff easily blown away The Sum of them all is this Heaven only is the Seat of high Joy On Earth 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absurd and out of Place It is a Business proper for none but Spirits made perfect unspotted with Sin unclouded with Sorrow unalarmed with Fear but most unfit for Souls that are bemired with Corruption laden with Guilt clothed with Infirmities surrounded with Temptations and in Jeopardy every Hour The Answer is of no Difficulty Though the King's Presence makes the Fulness of Joy above it gives abundance below The Victory given to Believers in Vocation and Adoption possesses them of an Heaven on Earth We which have believed do enter into Rest Heb. 4.3 Ye that believe on the Name of the Son of God may know that ye have eternal Life 1 Joh. 5.13 This but-inchoate Victory makes all old things pass away and all things become new The Believer's Corruption is mortified Guilt 's pardoned Infirmities gradually healed Temptations rebuked Persecutions sweetned Death disarmed and all things are made to serve his Interests All things are yours 1 Cor. 3. What is there to hurt after removal of Sin 's Guilt and the Law 's Curse which is the Divine Hatred and Wrath What is lacking to his Comfort whose Transgression is forgiven and Sin covered In short There do meet in this inchoate Victory of Believers all things requisite to make an Object of Joy unspeakable and thereby to justify the most lofty Triumph For what should put a Soul into Exultation if not First So Great a Blessing One if it must be called it is One and All. And of a Greatness shining forth in the extreme and eternal Evil from which it exempts and Good wherewith it endows If the Pitch of Joy should be proportionable to the Good of its Object here can be no Excess Secondly So Everlasting an One The greatest things if like Jordan's Streams they hasten to a sulphurous Lake are unworthy of Delight It is a sorry Feast on which Death it self must one day feed But Duration makes things of value to be invaluable And nothing is more durable than a Believer's Victory His Crown is immortal And Heaven shall no longer be a Kingdom than he reigns in it with Christ Peccata non redeunt his Pardon is irrevocable the Love of God to him is unchangeable the Seed of God in him is incorruptible If then Immortality it self doth appretiate all Joy is not too much for him whose Object is for all Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly So Sutable an One The most durable Goodness gives little Joy without Sutableness Pleasure is applicatio convenientis convenienti All the Mines of India would less transport a famishing Man than a Morsel of Bread But never was
on the Hole of that Asp and boldly put its Hand on that Cockatrice's Den what Shame does it thereto If it doth not joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of its Salvation what Honour doth it pay him How makes it to be seen either that Death is disarmed or that it was Christ who did take away its two-edged Sword That of worst Loss it is made our great Gain or that Christ was he who so blessedly converted it Wherefore Believers must not be thought to put on Righteousness or to deserve the Name of just Men but to be most unlike to their righteous Lord who loveth Righteousness if they are taken for Men void of David's Resolution I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing Praise to my God while I have my Being Fourthly Believers are crowned Heads Men of Honour Kings and Priests to God and it is their Honour to rejoice and triumph over Death Fight is not honourable without Victory nor Victory without Triumph Believers fight the good Fight of Faith and overcome by the Blood of the Lamb but without the Joy and Triumph of Faith they appear but as Sampson when shaven like any other Man Joy is their sensible and visible Principality the conspicuous Crown of their Glory take away that and they are Kings deprived of their Crowns Priests unadorned with their holy Garments for Beauty and for Glory inglorious and unlike themselves Eye-sores and offensive to him that made them Kings and Priests and in the World's Eyes the vilest Abjects yea many an one becomes a Magor-missabib a Terror to himself and all about him The Israelites when their Ornaments were off were naked to their shame Believers are so when their Joy ceaseth If there come in among them those that are Unlearned or Unbelievers they cannot think God to be in them of a Truth or see what they are or do more than others Certain it is that God doth not willingly grieve them and the World and Devil cannot take away their Joy from them till they themselves do cast it away Divine Grace fails not to minister Comfort to them while they keep in the way of Comfort So that their Joy never dies but when they kill it their Honour is not laid in the Dust but by their own Hands Wherefore How unworthy a Judgment must we make of Believers if we take them for a Generation so careless of their Honour yea such Murderers of it for they are no less who cast away the joyful Confidence and Hope which keeps them from appearing of all Men the most miserable The Garment of Praise that can very much distinguish between God's Heirs and Satan's Slaves Fifthly Believers are Lovers of true Pleasures and it is their only Pleasure to joy and triumph in Christ Jesus and in God through him Pleasure is the Life of Life the End of Action and the Strength of Agents unto it Carnal Men do in all things pursue carnal Pleasures and spiritual Men spiritual ones Pleasure is the Spring of Action in both and in both Joy is Strength and Sorrow lays amort Heaviness in the Heart of a Man boweth it down Like a Moth in a Garment it bites asunder its Strings and its Strength insomuch that the Counsels and Determinations of disconsolate Souls are faint and tottering like the Motions of wounded Bodies But merry Hearts do good like Medicines they prevent and remove Indispositions they are also continual Feasts and preserve Spirits Salt and Sawce they are to sweeten all things in Peace and as Drums and Trumpets they inspire Courage in War Wherefore the Love of Action draws with it the Love of Joy And inseparable are the Desires of holy Life and holy Mirth Mirth and Joy as the Water of Aesculapius his Well was feigned to be uncapable of Putrefaction But what Joy is so save Joy in the Salvation of the Lord All others corporal and intellectual are vanishing in themselves and without this are delusive and corruptive A Nature they have that is clogging and such as makes Variety needful to keep out Loathing Believers do see this and therefore despise the Cucumbers and Melons which they did eat freely in their dark Egyptian State Manna they must have now or they die a Bread and a Joy that the World knows not of one in a higher Object and perfect without defect perpetual without Decay wherein all Desires may be satisfied and all Wants be supplied Now What Charity which thinketh no Evil can think Believers to be a Number of bewitched Creatures which they must be above any heard of upon this Earth if having a Desire of Joy as of Life and having no other Joy or at least none that they can exercise without this of their Victory by Christ they do not constantly rejoice herein Is it credible that the New Creature is one that is averse from his sole Pleasure negligent of what is dear to it as its Life Sixthly Believers are the Lights of the World and Salt of the Earth and it is their capital Service to the Church and World to triumph over Death The Work of converting confirming and comforting Souls is the whole Business of a Minister but it is the true Business of every Believer Doing Good unto all Men is the Duty of all and the Practice of all that be truly good It is sure that all such do desire and endeavour in their places to make others good and accordingly have the honourable Names given them in the Word which speak them to be very useful in the World Touching the Means of their Usefulness it is known even to a Proverb that Precepts do far less avail than Examples and of Examples of holy Life it needs not to be said how incomparably most beneficial those are which are most resplendent with Divine Consolation How much more than others these do attract and win the Tractable shame and silence the Incorrigible quicken the supine and slothful Christian strengthen the weak and wavering and solace all These it is confessed do singularly lift up the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees and keep what is lame from being turned out of the way and heal it But it is to be awfully thought on what I add Unspeakable are the sad Effects and Consequences of holy Mens sad and utterly comfortless Walk Weak Christians see it and call in question the Truth of Christianity Scorners do open wide their Mouth Ignorant Wanderers from the way of Truth are hardened against it The Lovers of God are grieved And till such time as good Mens Sackcloth is put off and they become girded with Gladness their Light hardly sends forth any convincing or converting Beams Their Salt emits little piercing and purifying Savour If therefore the Love of God or Love of Men moveth them Believers must watch and pray for the Voice of Joy and Gladness without which as their own Souls be disquieted others are dismayed and the Ways of their God are
abundantly Bees do suck Honey out of sweet Flowers whatever it be that Spiders do extract Sixthly The very Essence of this Joy is holy Obedience And is not Obedience the Womb of Obedience as Sin is the Womb of Sin What carries to obey God more than obeying him doth Naturally Acts do strengthen Habits and institutively also God of admirable Love rewards Grace with Grace The Believer's Joy answering a known Precept prepares his Ear and Heart to answer all the Divine ones In a word how fruitful of Holiness is the Joy of Saints in Heaven Believers Joy is of the very same Nature and why should it not be their holy Strength also Seventhly The constant visible Concomitants of this Joy are extraordinarily holy Satan's Delusion it is and not divine Consolation which sheweth not out of an excelling Conversation its Works with Meekness of Wisdom Holy Joy hath these Jewels shining in the Crown of it High Esteem of Christ Jesus No Star leads to Christ more than Joy in him doth Profound Humility The most joyful Apostle stiled himself least of Saints chief of Sinners Spiritual Flame is herein like natural the higher it rises the more it trembles Sorrow for Sin after the most godly manner No where are so bitter Herbs eaten and so sweetly as in this joyful Feast of Passover Strictest Watchfulness against Sin The more Joy in a Treasure the stronger Guard is set upon it against the Robber Because Joy breeds Jealousies omnia tuta timet the Disciples for very Joy believed not Luke 24.41 and Jealousy suffers not to sleep or to slumber Thoughtfulness of Heaven The joyful Israelite had Canaan in his Mind all the while he was in the Desart True Contempt of this World's Gaudies What are Candles or Stars when the Sun appears When the Good of all the Land of Egypt was before Jacob and his Sons they regarded not their Stuff Exod. 45.20 The Joy of Paradise stains the Glory of a Paris Sweet Content in the most bitter worldly State The Joy of Faith finds Meat in the Eater and Sweetness in the Strong The God whom we serve is able and he will deliver us say the Hebrew Heroes And what follows Vpon their Bodies the Fire had no Power not a Hair of their Heads is singed they walk in the midst of the Fire and have no Hurt Lions Dens are quiet Rooms to Daniels Prisons are Musick-houses to such as Paul and Silas Exquisite Pleasure in all holy Services Being full of holy Joy St. Paul was well pleased to be kept out of Heaven for a time to serve Christ's Interest on Earth And joyful Luther professed he had rather honour God with his Service than be honoured by God with any Gifts which made great and noted in the World Mallem obedire quam miracula facere Lastly A real Indifferency towards this present Life It is only the joyful Christian that can possess this but the Heart of every one that is such doth say as his Lord Father not my Will but thy Will be done Concerning his stay in the Body it thus saith most sincerely To conclude Is God to be thought now a Loser and not a Gainer in his Glory by Believers Joy Or is it possible that Holiness should languish in a Joy wherein these Fruits do flourish In a Joy that so evidently maketh God to be the Centre of the rejoicing Heart the Centre toward which it moves and in which it rests There are many Inferences of most humbling instructing and comforting Truth which do here offer themselves and I presume will be darting in their Beams upon Minds not shut up against them Their Light is such as is ready for every prepared Eye It is therefore a tripartite Exhortation wherewith I conclude 1. To those who have not ever sang Triumph over Death 2. To those who have sung it but have lost that Voice of Joy and Gladness 3. To those that have for any time sung it and are still singing it I must have leave to think that all three Sorts are present among us Unto the first I first address my self §. 1. To such of you as have not yet sung Triumph over Death If now you believe the Truth which hath been irrefragably proved I exhort as follows First Acknowledg your selves to have no Saving-Faith if you have no stirring Desires to attain a joying Faith It hath been said by what Means a Child of God may be kept it may be all his Days from the Joy of Faith but it cannot be said whereby he should be so kept from desiring it and from pursuing it Nothing but a reigning and damning Presumption or Despair is able to keep a Soul from these Review my seven Arguments which I may not repeat and assure you it is no Child of Light that sits unconcernedly in the dark as if nothing ailed him and unto whom it is not as Death it self that he cannot triumph over Death who travels not from Ordinance to Ordinance for the Power and the Act and follows not Heaven with unutterable Sighs and Groans until he gains them Comfortless Believers are represented so doing Cant. 3.1 2 3. and Cant. 5.6 7. Secondly When you bestir your selves for the Joy of Faith be not impatient if it doth not presently become triumphant To be using the Means appointed for getting it is your unquestionable Duty but to fret against God as though he wronged you if he made you wait long for it is your certain Sin and Folly Doubt not but God will give it as soon as he sees you fit for it And nothing save Ignorance and Pride can make that wild Question Why should I wait on the Lord any longer In a word Let him not go till he bless you with it but let him take his own time to bless you with his richest Gift It is Unbelief that makes Haste and that Haste makes Woe Thirdly When you are waiting for the Joy of Faith be praising and blessing God for putting you upon the Pursuit of it and enabling of you to wait therein This Grace well deserveth your best Thanks Had you ever ran after it if Grace had not drawn you or had not you laid violent Hands on your selves as others have done under their Terrors if Grace had not restrained you Thanks are Sacrifices with which God is well pleased And who was ever known to be thankful for Twilight but he had e're long a shining Noon-day On the contrary from him who is unthankful Sun Moon and Star-light is full often removed and he is left as without Hope Fourthly When you are blessing God for drawing you to seek the Joy of Faith fail not to multiply the two first Acts of Faith That which prepareth for Union to Christ and that which uniteth unto him Plainly thus Night and Day tell your Souls that God propitiated by Christ will surely save them if they truly repent and believe on him Proceed also and perpetually be saying to your God that as far as