his enemies Numb. 23. 21 22. 2. His approach He cometh When Solomon a type of Christ was made King they did eat and drink with great gladness before the Lord 1 Chron. 29. 22. At such solemn Inaugurations the Trumpets sound the people shout the Conduits run Wine honours are dispenced gifts distributed prisons opened offenders pardoned Acts of grace published nothing suffered to eclipse the beauty of such a Festivity Thus it was at the coming of Christ Wise men of the East bring presents unto him rejoicing with exceeding great joy Mat. 2 10 11. The glory of God shines on that day and an heavenly Hoast proclaim the joy Luke 2. 9 14 Iohn Baptist leapeth in the womb Mary rejoiceth in God her Saviour Zachary glorifieth God for the horn of salvation in the house of David Simeon and Hanna bless the Lord for the glory of Israel And after when he came to Ierusalem the whole multitude spread garments strewed branches cried before him and behind him Hosanna to the son of David Hosanna in the highest Mat. 21. 9. And the Psalmist Prophecying long before of it said This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it Psal. 118. 24. 3. His Character 1. He is Iust And this is the great joy of his people Isa. 9. 3. 7. especially being such a King as is not only just himself but maketh others just likewise In the Lord shall the seed of Israel be justified and glory Isa. 45. 25. Sin pardoned guilt covered death vanquished conscience pacified God reconciled must needs be a glorious ground of joy and peace unto believers Rom. 5. 1 2. Luke 10. 20. But a Prince may be just himself and yet not able to deliver his people from the injustice of enemies that are stronger then he as Iehosaphat said We have no might against this great company 2 Cron. 20. 12. Therefore 2. Our King here hath salvation is able to save himself and his people from their enemies and that to the uttermost Heb. 7. 25. It was his Name his Office the end why he was sent why he was exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5. 31. 1 Iohn 4. 14. And this surely matter of great joy It is an Angelical Argument I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luke 2. 10 11. But Princes possibly the more powerful and victorious they are may be likewise the more stately it is not altogether unusual with men where they do much good to be supercilious and haughty towards those to whom they doe it But loe here 3. A Prince great in honor righteous in peace valiant in war and yet humble and lowly still So lowly as to minister to his own servants and to wash their feet Iohn 13. 14. as to be an example of meekness unto them Mat. 11. 29. The meanest of his people have access unto him may present their wants before him nay he staies not for them he comes to seek as well as to save calls on us stands and knocks at our dores waits that he may be gracious bears with us in our failings expects us in our delaies forgives our wandrings praies us to be reconciled to God Luke 19. 10. Isa. 13. 18. Rev. 3. 20. Now there is nothing more rejoiceth the hearts of a people then the mildness gentleness and clemency of their Prince whence when his heart is not haughty nor his eyes lofty as David said of himself Psal. 13. 1. when he is as a servant to his people and speaketh good words unto them as the old men advised Rehoboam 1 Reg. 12. 7. But a Prince may have a righteous heart a valiant hand a meek temper and yet do the less good by a natural slowness and indisposedness to action a there is nothing more acceptable to the people and necessary for the Prince then vigour and dispatch in works of Justice and prowesse Therefore 4 Our King is here set forth riding He did alwaies go about doing of good made it his meat and drink to do his Fathers work And here when it seemed most reasonable for him to have drawn back and spared himself when he was to be crucified he shews his cheerfulness in that service by riding to Jerusalem about it which we read not that he did upon any other occasion He did earnestly desire that Passover he did severely rebuke Peter when he disswaded him from that work he did express his singular readiness to become a sacrifice Loe I come I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within mine heart Psal. 40. 7 8. And though in his agony he did earnestly desire that the cup might pass from him yet those groans of his nature under it did greatly set forth the submission and willingness of his love to undergo it Now this is a further ground of great joy to a people when all other Princely endowments in their Soveraign are vigorously acted and improved for their safety and protection when they see him deny himself in his own ease and safety that he may be ever doing good to them We see what an high value the people set on David Thou art worth ten thousand of us and this the occasion I will surely go forth with you my self 2 Sam. 18. 2 3. But a Prince may have all the endowments requisite to render him amiable in the eies of his people just and meek to them valiant and active against their enemies and yet fail a of success in his undertakings and they consequently have the joy of his Government much abated for The Race is not alwaies to the swift nor the Battel to the strong But it is otherwise with our King here Therefore it is added 5. He cuts the Chariot and the horse and the battel-bow he speaks peace to his people he extends his Dominion from Sea to Sea from the River to the ends of the earth he rides on in his Majesty prosperously the people fall under him Psal. 45. 4 5. He goes forth conquering and to conquer Rev. 6. 2. he takes from the strong man all his armor and divides the spoil Luke 11. 22. Isa. 53. 12. he never fails of full and final victory reigns till all enemies are put under his feet 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. And this is the Crown of his Peoples Joy That they have not only a just a valiant an humble an active but a prosperous and successfull Prince making his people rejoice in the spoils of their enemies breaking the yoke of their burden the staff of their shoulder the rod of their oppressor extending peace to them like a River and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream causing them to put their feet on the necks of their adversaries Thus many waies are the people of Christ encouraged to rejoice in him This then serveth 1.
the objects of joy which are scattered amongst the creatures heaped up and everlastingly treasured in him alone Do we delight in wealth as many will say Who will shew us any good behold here unsearchable riches Ephes. 3. 8. Durable riches Prov. 8. 18. without bounds without bottom without end Do we delight in pleasure Behold here rivers of pleasure that never dry pleasures for evermore that never vanish Psalm 36. 8. and 16. 11. Do we delight in beauty He is fairer then the children of men Psalm 45. 2. In sweet odours All his garments smell of myrrh alloes and cassia he is perfumed with all the spices of the Merchant Psalm 45. 8. Cant. 3. 6. In musick or elegant orations His mouth is most sweet altogether lovely grace is poured into his lips Cant. 5. 16. In plentiful provision behold here a feast of fatted things Isa 25. 6 living water John 4. 10. Bread of life meat indeed John 6. 51 55. a Banquetting-house with flagons apples fruits Cant. 2. 3 5 7 17. In stately buildings Here is an Ivory Palace whose beams are Cedar whose galleries are cyprus Ps. 45. 8. Cant. 1. 16. In profound learning Here is knowledge that passeth knowledge {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Phil. 3. 8. the excellency of knowledge knowledge that is life Iohn 17. 3. In honor and dignity Here is the Lord of Glory honorable in himself Phil. 3. 9. an honor to his people 1 Pet. 2. 7. making them all Kings and Priests to God Rev. 1. 6. In safety and security This man is our peace when the Assyrian is in the Land Mic. 5. 5. He will cast out our enemies he will undo those that afflictus Zeph 3. 15 19 In him the fulness of all delectable things and that which makes all the more delightful it is bonum parabile though so superlatively precious yet not to be purchased at a dear rate set before us offered unto us without money without price Isaiah 55. 2. a gift a free gift a gift of grace a gift of righteousness Rom. 5. 15 18. Well might the Psalmist bid us rejoyce and exceedingly rejoyce Psalm 68. 3. Well might the Prophet bid us sing and shout and rejoyce and be glad with all the heart Zeph. 3 14. Well might the Apostle call it a joy unspeakable and full of glory 1 Pet. 1. 8. since the Lord Jesus is not onely the joy of Saints Luke 19. 37 38. but of blessed Angels Luke 2. 13. yea of God himself He is called the Lords delight Prov. 8. 30. Surely then Gods people cannot but be fully agreed upon it to Rejoyce in him And how in him 1. In his person and immediate excellencies those glorious treasures of wisdom and grace wherwith he is replenished a spectacle of Angelical adoration 1 Pet. 1. 12. Heb. 1. 6. 2. In his mediation the great things he hath done the great benefits he hath procured for us God forbid saith the Apostle that I should glory save in the cross of our Lord Iesus Christ Gal. 6. 14. 3. In our knowledge of him and communion with him in all those benefits a knowledge in comparison of which the Apostle esteemed all other things as loss and dung Phil. 3. 8. 4. In all the means which he hath appointed to bring men to this knowledge of him and communion with him In his Ordinances which are his voyce speaking from heaven unto us according to our estimation whereof he accounteth himself regarded by us Luke 10. 16. In his Ministers to whom he hath committed the word of reconciliation whom his people have received as Angels of God Gal. 4. 14 15. unto whom what respect or disrespect is shewed Christ looketh on as done unto himself Mat. 10. 40 41. And here I cannot but follow the example of our Apostle towards these Philippians Chap. 4. v. 10 14 19. with joy and thankfulnness make mention of the zeal and Christian care of this Honorable City both to provide a learned and faithful Ministery and having such to speak comfortably unto them as Hezekiah did and to encourage them in the service of the Lord And this your work of faith and labour of love is the more acceptable in that it hath flourished in these loose times wherein many unstable and seduced souls have been misled by the prophane impulsions of such as bear evil will to the prosperity of our Sion to load the Ministers of Christ as the Jews did their Lord before them with execrations and reproaches This your zeal hath been famous in all places at home and I perswade my self in all the Churches of Christ abroad and I doubt not but it will be a rejoycing and a crown unto you at the appearing of the Lord And truly your Honor standeth not so much in your spacious City in your goodly Structures in your great River in your numerous ships in your wise Senate in your full Treasures in your vast Trade in your ancient Name for you have been a most famous Emporium upon record for above fifteen hundred years all these are but thin and empty Elogies unto that one Ezek. 44. 35. The name of the City shall be Iehovah Shammah the Lord is there This is this will be your honor if you be a City of truth the mountain of the Lord of hosts the holy Mountain Zach. 8. 3. The Gospel is the riches of a Nation Rom. 11. 12. obedience and wisdom the renown of a people Deut. 4. 6. Go on therefore thus to rejoyce in Christ by honoring his Ordinances by strengthening the hands and comforting the hearts of his Ministers in his service and the Lord will be with you and men shall say of you The Lord bless thee O habitation of justice and mountain of holiness Ier. 31. 22 5. Rejoice we in that work whereunto by these he cals us as it was his joy to do his Fathers work so it is the joy of believers to do his work 2 Cor. 1. 12. they live not they die not unto themselves but unto him Rom. 14. 7 8. 6. In the graces he supplies us withall for the performance of that work Thus we read of the joy of faith Phil. 1. 25. not only in regard of the good things it assureth unto us but of the efficacy which it hath in us inabling us to work by love 7. In the light of his countenance shining on us which is much better then life it self Psal. 63. 3. We may all say unto him as he said unto his Father Acts 2. 28. Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy countenance 8. In the hope of his glory The spirit of adoption is even now a glorious thing John 1. 2. But it doth not yet appear what we shall be only this he hath assured us of That we shall be like unto him shall see him as he is shall appear with him in glory shall sit upon his Throne and be ever with him 1 John 3 1 2. Col. 3. 4. And this
heart Psa. 97. 11. 2. These sorrows are many times preparations for more joy as the sorrow of a travailing woman Joh. 16. 20. black roots bear beautiful flowres The Whale that swallowed Jonah carried him to the shore Dark colours make way to an overlaying of gold The more a stone is wounded by the hand of the engraver the more beauty is superinduced upon it Many times where the Lord intends most comfort he doth usher it in with more sorrow as the Angel first lamed Iacob and then blessed him 3. This very estate is far more elegible then the pleasures of sin and therefore hath more delight in it If you should ask an holy man in this case you see how severely Christ deals with you Will you not rather give over serving him lamenting after him languishing for want of him and resume your wonted delights of sin again What other answer would a good soul give but as Christ to Peter Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me Though there be little reason that he should comfort me yet there is great reason that I should serve him The wounds of Ghrist are better then the kisse of the world it is much better being with a frowning fatâ—â—r then with a flattering foe The worst estate of a Saint is better then the best of a sinner the bitterest Physick then sweetest poyson As in the midst of worldly laughter the heart is sorrowful so in the midst of saddest Temptations the soul still concludes It is good for me to draw nigh to Christ Let him deny me let him delay me let him desert me let him destroy me yet I will love him and desire him still As the blackest day is lighter then the brightest night so the saddest day of a believer is more joyous then the sweetest night of a wicked man We have thus considered the Lord Iesus as a present a precious a full a pure a rare a various a victorious a perpetual a proper good of his people a Prince adorned with justice with salvation with humility with dispatch with success and peace We have shewed the folly of those who fix their delights upon empty creatures the danger of those who are offended at the Person the Cross the Grace the Doctrine the Sublimity the Simplicity the Sanctity of the ways of Christ We have exhorted his servants to rejoyce in his Person in his Mediation in their knowledge of him in the Ordinances and Instruments he hath appointed to bring unto that knowledge in the service whereunto he calls us in the graces wherewith he supplies us in the light of his countenance in the hope of his glory in the fellowship of his sufferings to rejoyce in him fully to rejoyce in him alway to rejoyce with trembling to improve this joy unto thankfulness for his benefits unto chearfulness in his service unto Consolation against all evil unto the provocation of one another unto the same joy Now the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing that we may abound in hope through the power of the holy Ghost that the peace of God which passeth all understanding may rule in our hearts that we may rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls And the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 2. l. 30. r. Paradise passim p. 3. l. 24. r. tears p. 5. margent r. habet r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} p. 6. marg. r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} p. 16. l. 4. r. dispensed p. 18. marg. r. dispersum r. Cn. r. ineunte p. 19. l. 21. r. offense l. 17. r. mighty p. 23. l. 2. r. Hypostasis l. 3. r. Valentinians r. Marcionites l. 10. r. Eutycheans Small litteral faults correct Job 5. 7. Rev 7. 17. 2 Cor. 11. 23. 27 a Malam mansionem vocabant Antiqui vid. Dionis Gothofredi notas in Digest Tit. Depofiti vel contra L. 7. b Nihil Câ—us sentit in nervâ— cum animus in Coelo est Tertul. ad Martyras Vid. Iren. l. 4. cap 15. Aug. Tract. 10. in Joannem Beatior percipiendo fidem Christi quam concipiendo Carnem Idem To 6. de sancta virgin cap. 3. a Aquin. 1. 2. qu. 31. art 1. Aristot Rhetor L. 1. c. 11. b Azorius Moral lib 3. c. 10. qu. 10. Habit praeteriti doloris Secura Recordatio delectationem Cicer. ep. l. 5. ep. 12. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aristot Ethic. lib. 1. c. 5. vid. Rhetor l. 1. c. 6. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Crates apud Laertium Eccles. 10. 1. a Bonum insolitum plus amatur Cassiod variar. l 8. c. 20. Quaesitissimae dapes non gustu sed difficultatibus aestimabantur miracula avium longinqui maris pisces alieni temporis poma aestivae nives Hybernae Rosae Mamertinus in Panegyr {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Plutarch {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aristot Problemat sect. 5. qu. 1. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Marc. Anton. lib. 6 sect. 46. Vid Gataker Annâ—t {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aristot 7. Rhet. lib. 1. cap. 11. Periculum in praeâ—io gaudium in triumphâ— Aug. Confess lib. 8. cap 3. Verum Gaudium non deâ—init nec in contraria vertitur Senec. ep. 59. De Tuo Gaude Sen. Ep. 23. Vicarius Domini Spiritus Tertul. de Veland. Virg capâ— 1. de praescript cap. 13. Eph 5 23. 2. 22. Heb. 2. 11 12 13. Isa. 9 6. Joh 15. â—4 Hâ—b. 7. 22. 8. 6 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. 2 Pet. 1. 1. Col. 3. 3. Omnis mihi copia quae Deus meus non est Egestas est Aug. Confess lib. 13. cap. 8. Non alio Bono Bonus est sed Bonum omnis Boni Non Bonus animus aut Bonus Angelus sed Bonum Bonum Aug. de Trinit. lib. 8. cap. 3. Euseb histor. l. 4 c 14. Melch Adam pag 138. Vid Cypria de Nativitate Christâ— sect. 6 7 8 9. Vid. Aug. de Trinit. lib. 13. cap. 13 14 15. Vid. Joseph Antiquit lib. 7. cap 11. Turneb. Adversa lib. 24. cap 45. Vid. Ciceronis ad Q. fratrem Epistelam Sen. de Clemenâ—ia a Tantum Bellam tam diuturnum tam longè latèque dispernm Cis Pompeius extremâ hyeme apparavit ineunto vere suscepit Media aestaté confecit Cis prolege manilia a Amplissimorum viâ—orum consilia ex even â—u non ex voluntate aplerisque proâ—ari solent Cic. ep. ad Attiâ—â—… lib 9. ep 10 Vt quisque fortunâ utitur ita praecellet atque exâ—nde supere eum omnes dicimus Plautus Apul. Apologi Macrob. Satur l. 1 c. 7. 10. Athenaeus l. 14. c. 17. a Nicephor Calist l. 6. c. 26 b Socrates lib. 1 c. 3. c Epiphan. l. 2. to 2. d Greg. Naz. orat 46. e Tertul. de Carn Christi c. 1. f Vid Aug. Phi. Epiphan. de Haeresibus Fideles Seipsos discernuntab infidelibus Grevinchov dissertat de elect fide praevisa p. 226. Vid. Aug. ep. 46 De spiritu litera cap. 34. de praedestinat c. 3 5 8. De Grat. Christi l. 1. c. 24. Contraduas Epist. pelag l. 1. c. 19 20 l. 4. c. 6. De Grat. lib. Arb. c. 21. De Corrept Grat. c. 14. Greg. Naz. Orat. 3. Aug. de Civ. dei l. 10. c. 29. l. 13. c. 16. Hooker l. 5. s 3. Aug. Epist. 56. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Acts 17. 18. Mat. 16. 24. and 5. 29 30. Heb. 13. 13. Luk. 14. 26 27 Mat. 7. 13 14 Phil. 3. 20. Col 3. 1. 5. Mat. 5. 44. Eph. 6. 12. 18. 1 Thess. 5 22. Acts 24. 16. Phil. 2. 15. Ephes. 5. 15. Psal. 16. 8. Heb. 11. 25. 26 Nyssen in Cant. Homil. 3. †{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Euripid apud Stobaeum Serm. 61. Londinium Copiâ negotiatorum commeatu maximè Celebre Tacit. annal lib. 14. In eundem hominem non luto Convenire Gaudium silentium Pacatus in Panegyr Non se capit exundantis laetitiae magnitudo sed designata pâ—ctorum latebras foris prominet Nâ—z panegyr.
Joy in the Lord Opened in a SERMON Preached at Pauls May 6. DVM PREMOR ATTOLLOâ— London Printed by Tho Newcomb for Robert Bostock and are to be sold at his shop at the sign of the Kings-Head in St Pauls Church-yard 1655. To the Right Honorable Christopher Pack Lord Major of the City of London and the Honorable Court of Aldermen there Right Honorable IN Conformity to your desires signified by your Order unto me I here humbly present you a second time with that plain but wholsome Doctrine which you were lately pleased to receive with all ready attention And indeed the argument is such as the Apostle thought need ful to inculcate once and again And therefore if the Tongue and the Pen the Pulpit and the Press do a first and a second time invite you unto the same duty the Apostles example will both commend your zeal in desiring it and excuse my obedience in conforming to so just a desire Self-sufficiency is Gods peculiar honor one of those Regalia which belong unto him alone All creatures must go out of themselves both for the continuance of that Being which they have and for the Acquisition of such further good as they stand in need of And since they are all thus defective in them selves they must needs be unable to complete the perfections of one another much less of man who is one of the principal and most excellent of them That good therefore the want whereof doth kindle desire the fruition whereof doth produce delight must be sought above the world in him who as he is sufficient to himself so is he alone All-sufficient unto his Creatures And because there is no approach for sinful men unto God without a Mediator the Father hath set up his eternal son as that middle person in whom we may have communion with him and access unto him Justly therefore was the Lord Christ before his coming stiled The Desire of all Nations as justly is he after his coming their everlasting Delight since in and by him alone the Lord is pleased to be at peace with us and out of his fulness to communicate all good unto us To set forth this Preciousness of Christ unto his people and to quicken their joy in him was the end of this Sermon and is indeed the end of all other We live in changeable and uncomposed times we see distempers at home we hear of distresses abroad the Lord is shaking heaven and earth Churches and States our eyes and our experience tell us how mutable are the wills how inconstant the Judgements how fickle the favors how sudden the frowns of men how vain the hopes how unstable the delights which are drawn out of broken Cisterns how full of dross and dregs the most refined contents of the world are God alone is true and every man a lyar either by falseness deluding or by weakness disappointing those that depended on them Since therefore the life of man doth hardly deserve the name of life without some solid comfort to support it and neither men nor Angels much less honors or pleasures plenty or abundance can supply us with that Comfort what remains but that we betake our selves unto that Fountain of living water whence alone it is to be had that we secure our interest in the Lord Christ who is faithful and cannot fail powerful and will not forsake nor expose those that come unto God by him that so being upon the Rock which is higher then our selves we may be able amidst all the tempests and shakings the delusions and disappointments below to Rejoyce in him with a fixed and inconcussible delight who can bring joy out of sorrow light out of darkness and turn all confusions into order and beauty This that you and all Gods people in City and Countrey may every where do is the prayer of Your Honors most humble servant in the work of the Lord Edward Reynolds From my study Iune 2. 1655. Joy in the Lord Opened in a Sermon Preached at PAVLS May 6. PHIL. 4. 4. Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say rejoice THere is nothing which the hearts of Believers doe either more willingly hear or more difficultly observe then those precepts which invite them unto joy and gladness they being on the one hand so suitable to the natural desires and yet withall on the other so dissonant to the miserable condition of sinful man Had our Apostle called on the blessed Angels to rejoice who have neither sin nor sorrow nor fear nor sufferings nor enemies to annoy them it might have seemed far more congruous But what is it less then a Paradox to perswade poor creatures loaded with guilt defiled with corruption cloathed with infirmities assaulted with temptations hated persecuted afflicted by Satan and the world compassed about with dangers and sorrows born to trouble as the sparks fly upward that notwithstanding all this they may rejoice and rejoice alway But we have a double corrective to all these doubts in the Text one in the Object another in the Preacher of this Joy The object of it is Christ the Lord as appears by the same thing twice before mentioned cap. 3. 1. 3 The Lord that pardoneth our guilt subdueth our lusts healeth our infirmities rebuketh our temptations vanquisheth our enemies sweetneth our sufferings heightneth our consolations above our afflictions and at last wipeth all tears from our eyes Here is matter of great joy may we be satisfied in the truth of it And for that we have the word of an Apostle who gives assurance of it by Divine Revelation and by personal experience He who next to the Lord himself was of all his servants a man of sorrow in afflictions in necessities in distresses in stripes in imprisonments in tumults in labours in perils in deaths in weariness in watchings in hunger in thirst in cold in nakedness beaten with rods stoned with stones shipwrackt at Sea beset at Land he who in the prison the inner prison a the stocks a kind of case of prisons one within another did yet b rejoice and sing Psalms unto God Acts 16. 24 25. He it is who from the Lord calleth upon Believers to rejoice alway Instead then of a Paradox you have here a Paradice a Tree of life as joy is called Prov. 13. 12. And the servants of God may securely notwithstanding their sorrow for sin their sense of sufferings their certainty of temptations their conflicts with enemies their sympathy with brethren may yet I say securely rejoice and rejoice alway they have the Lord to warrant it they have his Apostle to witness it Let worldlings delight in sensual pleasures Let false Apostles delight in carnal worship and ceremonial priviledges but you my brethren have another kind of object to fix your joies upon Rejoice in the Lord and again rejoice and rejoice alway and that upon the word and credit of an Apostle I say it and I say it again There are many
particulars couched in the words 1. The Subject of them spiritual joy or an holy exultation of soul in the Lord as the most beloved desired supreme good wrought in it by the spirit of grace rendring Christ by faith present unto it whereby it is not only supported under all afflictions but enabled to glory in them and to triumph over them 2. The difficulty of this joy intimated in that believers are so often invited unto it 3. The sureness and the greatness of it noted in the doubling of the words 4. The stability and perpetuity of it They may rejoice alway in the midst of their sorest fears or distresses 5. The object of it a glorious and replenishing object Christ the Lord 6. The Apostolical attestation given unto it Again I say rejoice I speak it by Commission from the mouth of Christ requiring it I speak it by the experience of mine own heart enjoying it in the midst of all my sufferings So you have both a mandatum and a probatum for it Rejoice in the Lord alway and again I say rejoice But because I love not to mince and crumble the bread of life into too many particulars I shall therefore comprize all in this one Proposition which I shall make the subject of my present service That the Lord Jesus is the great sure and perpetual joy of his own people By accident unto wicked and impenitent sinners he is a stumbling block as wholsom meat is offensive to sick stomacks and the light of the Sun unto distempered eyes but unto those that believe he is altogether lovely pretious and desireable Abraham rejoiced to see his day Iohn 8 56. Mary rejoiced more that he was her Saviour then her son Luke 1. 47. Simeon embraced him with a Nunc dimittis Luke 2. 28. Mathew made a great Feast to receive him Luk 5. 29. Zacheus entertained him at his house joifully Luke 19. 6. The Eunuch as soon as he knew him went on his way rejoicing Acts 8. 39. The Jailor who even now was ready to have killed himself when Christ was preached unto him rejoiced and believed Acts 16. 34. Christ is the author of our joy he calleth it his joy Iohn 15. 11. It is the work and fruit of his spirit Gal. 5. 22. and he is the object of our joy it is fixed and terminated on him as on the most commensurable matter thereof Phil. 3. 3. There are many things belonging unto the object of a full and compleat joy 1. It must be good in it self and unto us 2. That good must have several qualificatious to heighten it to that pitch and proportion which the joy of the heart may fix on 1. It must be a Good present a in the view and possession of him whom it delighteth Good absent is the object of desire good present of delight It is true b a man may rejoice at some good that is past as that he did at such a time escape a danger or receive a benefit but then the memory makes it as it were present and the fruit of that past good is some way or other still remaining Also a man may rejoice in a good to come as Abraham rejoiced to see Christs day Iohn 8. 56. and believers rejoice in the hope of glory Rom. 5. 2. but then faith gives a kind of subsistence to the things so hoped for Heb. 11. 1. and the vertue and benefit of them is in being though they themselves be but yet in hope and so in regard of efficacy Christ was a Lamb slain from the beginning of the world though not actually slain before the fulness of time So still the most proper ground of delight is fruition which presupposeth the presence of the thing enjoied 2. It must be good pretious which hath some special value belonging unto it We read of the joy of harvest Isa. 9. 3. because men then reap the pretious things of the earth as they are called Deut. 33. 14 16. Iam. 5. 7. It was not an ordinary thing but a treasure a pearl of great price which made the Merchant-man sell all that he had to buy it Mat. 13. 44. 46. 3. It must be a full good sufficient and throughly proportionable to all the desires and exigencies of him that is delighted with it Bring the richest pearl to a man under some sore fit of gout or stone he cries groans sweats is in pain still The object though good though pretious yet is not suitable to his present condition in that case he takes more pleasure in an anodine medicine then in a rich Jewel It would be little good news to such a man to tell him that his kidnies or his bladder were full of pearls or diamonds because there they would not be his treasure but his torment 4. It must be a Pure good without any dregs or dross to abate the sweetness of it All earthly delights are bitter-sweets wine tainted by the vessel which brings a loathing along with it the best corn hath its chaff the richest wine its lees the sweetest oyle its dregs the sun it self its spots nothing of meer creatures can cause an unmixed joy free from all tang and tincture of the vessel from whence it proceeds And any one defect may corrupt all the content which the rest ministreth as a dead fly will spoile the whole pot of oyntment 5. It must be a rare wonderful glorious the commonness even of good things takes from the loveliness of them If diamonds were as plentiful as pebles or gold as iron they would be as little esteemed if there were but one balsom or drug in the world that would cure any mortal disease a man would value the monopoly of that above the richest Jewel Because the Pool of Bethesda had a rare healing vertue multitudes of impotent blind halt withered were waiting continually for the moving of it John 5 2 3. 6. It must be various like the holy anoynting oyle compounded of many principal spices Exod. 30 23-25 in rich hangings in choice gardens in great feasts in select libraries variety is that which greatly delighteth the spectators were a table filled with one and the same dish or a study with the same book or a garden with the same flowre it would wholly take away from the delight of it And this variety is then much more delightful when each particular good doth answer some particular defect or desire in him that enjoyeth it when it is as a rich Storehouse as the Shop of the Apothecary or as a Physick Garden wherein a man may in any distemper fix on some thing proper to help him 7. It must be a prevalent and soveraign good a most efficacious catholicon against evils Victory even in trifles where no evil is to be removed as in bowling or shooting is that which makes the pleasure in those games much more delightful must that needs be which can help a man to overcome all
the evils and enemies that assault him no joy to the joy of a triumph when men divide the spoils In this case Iehosaphat and his people came to Ierusalem with Psalteries Harps and Trumpets to the house of God rejoicing over their enemies 2 Cron. 20. 25 20. 8. It must be a perpetual good commensurate in duration to the soul that is to be satisfied with it they are but poor and lying delights which like Iordan empty all their sweetness into a stinking and sulphurious lake True comfort is a growing thing which never bends to a declination That man will find little pleasure in his expedition whose voyage is for a year and his victual but for a day who sets out for eternity with the pleasures and contents of nothing but mortality Such are all natural sensual secular sinful joies As the sheep feeds on the grass and then the owner feeds on him so poor sinners feed awhile on dead comforts and then death at last feeds on them Psal. 49. 14. Lastly That which crowns and consummates all is it must be our own proper good all the rest without this signifie nothing unto us A begger feels not the joy of another mans wealth nor a cripple of another mans strength the prisoner that is leading to death hath no comfort in the pardon which is brought to another malefactor As every man must live by his own faith so every man must have his rejoicing in himself and not in another Gal. 6. 4. Now then let us consider the Apostle and High-Priest of our profession Christ Jesus and we shall find him alone in every one of these particulars to be a most adequate object of the joy and delight of all his people 1. He is a Good ever more present with them I am with you alway Mat. 28. 20. though bodily absent and that for the expediency and comfort of his servants Iohn 16. 7. yet in his Ordinances and by his Spirit ever amongst them You shall see me saith he to his Disciples because I go to my Father Iohn 16. 16. whereby is not only intimated his purpose of appearing unto them before his ascension but with all the full manifestation of himself unto them when he was gon by sending the holy spirit per cujus vicariam vim his bodily absence should be abundantly compensated By that spirit his people are joined unto him as the feet below to the head above 1 Cor. 6. 17. by that spirit in the Gospel he Preacheth peace unto them Eph. 2. 17. and is evidently set forth before them Gal. 3. 1. by that spirit he dwelleth in them Eph. 3. 17. manifests himself unto them makes his aboad with them Iohn 14 20-23 Rev. 3. 20. walks in the midst of them as in his house and Temple 2 Cor. 6. 16. is more present with them then any good thing they have besides Some things are present with us in our eye in our possession yet still without us as Goods or Friends some things more intimate but yet separable from us as health strength our soul it self but Christ is not only with us but in us Col. 1. 27. not only in us but inseparably abiding with us Rom. 8. 38 39. As in the Hypostatical union there is an inseparable conjunction of the manhood to the Godhead in one person so in the mystical union there is an inseparable conjunction of the members to the head in one Church or body 2. He is not an ordinary common good which if a man want he may compensate by some other thing but a Treasure and Pearl of highest price in whom are unsearchable riches Eph 3. 8. Hidden treasures Col. 2. 3. in comparison of whom all other things are loss and dung Phil. 3. 7 8. most precious in the eyes of his people 1 Pet. 2. 7. precious in his own immediate excellencies the chiefest of ten thousand Cant. 5. 10-16 precious in the respects he bears towards us in the sweet and intimate relations of an Husband an Head a Saviour a Brother a Father a Friend a Surety a Mediator a Propitiation an Advocate Pretious in the great things he hath done for us in the rich supplies of grace and peace he doth bestow upon us in the high dignity whereunto he advanceth us John 1. 12. 1 Iohn 3. 1. Rom. 8. 15 16. in the great promises he makes unto us 2 Pet. 1. 2 3 4. in the glorious hope which he sets before us and blessed mansions which he prepareth for us Col. 1. 27. Iohn 14. 2. in the light of his countenance shining on us in the fruits of his spirit wrought in us in the present life of faith in the hidden life of glory in the great price he paid for us in the great care which he takes of us in the effusions and manifestations of the love of God unto us In the Seals Pleadges Testimonies first-fruits of our eternal inheritance which he is pleased by his spirit to shead forth upon us in the free and open way which he hath made for us unto the Throne of grace in these and many other the like is the Lord Christ more honorable and precious in the eyes of his people then a thousand worlds could be without him 3. He is not only a most present and a most precious good but full and sufficient for his people He ascended on high that he might fill all things Eph. 4. 10. that he might powre forth such abundance of spirit on his Church as might answer all the conditions whereunto they may be reduced Righteousness enough to cover all their sins plenty enough to supply all their wants grace enough to subdue all their lusts wisdom enough to resolve all their doubts power enough to vanquish all their enemies vertue enough to cure all their diseases fulness enough to save them and that to the uttermost all other good things below and without him have a finit and limited benignity Some can cloath but cannot feed others can nourish but they cannot heal others can enrich but they cannot secure others adorn but cannot advance all do serve but none do satisfie They are like a beggers coat made up of many pieces not all enough either to beautifie or defend but there is in Christ something proportionable to all the wants and desires of his people He is Bread wine milk living-water to feed them Iohn 6. 51. 7. 37. he is a garment of righteousness to cover and adorn them Rom. 13. 14. a Physician to heal them Mat. 9. 12. a Counseller to advise them Isa 9. 6. a Captain to defend them Heb. 2. 10. a Prince to rule a Prophet to teach a Priest to make attonement for them an Husband to protect a Father to provide a Brother to relieve a Foundation to support a Root to quicken an Head to guide a Treasure to enrich a Sun to enlighten a Fountain to cleanse As the one Ocean hath more waters then all the Rivers in the
own salvation Thus the Iews not willing to seek righteousness by faith in Christ but as it were by the works of the Lavv stumbled at that stumbling stone Rom. 9. 32 33. Men would fain owe some of the thank for their salvation to themselves to their own will their own work their consenting to Christ their not resisting of him their co-operating with him their works of condignity and congruity disposing them towards him they like not to hear of discriminating grace But when men have used all the Arts and Arguments they can to have the efficacy of divine grace unto conversion within the power or reach of their own will yet still this will be Scripture That it is God that worketh in us to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2 13. That it is God who maketh us to differ 1 Cor. 4. 7. that he hath mercy on whom he will have mercy Rom 9. 15. that his grace is his own to dispose of as he wil Mat. 20. 15. 1 Cor. 12. 21. That the purpose of God according to election shal stand not of works but of him that calleth Rom. 9. 11. That by grace we are saved through faith and that not of our selves Ep. 2. 8. That it is not of him that willeth nor of him that runneth but of God that sheweth mercy Rom. 9. 16. That Gods divine power gives us things pertaining to life godliness 2 Pet. 1 3. That there is an exceeding greatness of his power towards those that believe the working of the might of his power Ephes. 1. 19. That the Lords people are willing in the day of his power Psal. 110. 3. So then our willingness is the work of his power the efficacy of his power is not suspended upon our will we will because he effectually works he doth not work effectually and with success because we will 4. Others are offended at the Doctrine of Christ they are not able to endure the things that are spoken by him 1. Some at the sublimity of it as being above the disquisition of Reason the Philosophers mocked at the Doctrine of the Resurrection Acts 17. 32. Julian scorned Christians as yielding up their souls captive to a blinde belief pride of Reason disdaining to admit any thing beyond its own comprehension hath been the cause of that offence which many have taken at Evangelical Doctrine The Deity of Christ and the Holy Spirit the Hypostatical union traduction of sin imputation of righteousness c. It hath been noted by learned men that the Eastern Nations by reason of the pride and curiosity of their wits have been most troubled with horrid and prodigious herefies And it hath been regularis Haereticorum temeritas the constant presumption of heretical spirits to oppose sound believers as unskilful and illiterate persons with the name and pretence of Reason 2. Some at the simplicity of it The doctrine of the Cross was esteemed foolishness by the Grandees of the world partly because delivered without the enticing words of mans wisdom 1 Cor. 2. 4. partly because the things were such as pride and lust judged unreasonable to stoop to Christian doctrine is above reason natural against reason sinful 3. Some at the Sanctity and severity of it When it teacheth Self-denial pulling out the right eye cutting off the right hand taking up a cross following Christ without the Camp hating and forsaking all for him walking in the narrow way having our conversations and affections in heaven mortifying our lusts loving our enemies wrestling against Principalities and powers praying always abstaining from all appearance of evil exercising our selves in a good conscience toward God and men living without rebuke in the midst of a crooked generation walking circumspectly setting the Lord alway before us chusing the reproaches of Christ rather then the pleasures of sin or honors of the world When sensual and earthly minded men are held close by such Doctrines as these they conclude with the men of Capernaum This is an hard saying who can hear it John 6. 60. Now the greatness of this sin appears by the other dangerous sins that are folded in it for it plainly implyeth 1. Unthankfulness for Christ and undervaluing of him for did we apprehend him as in truth he is exceeding pretious no such slender prejudices would cause us to take offence at him There is nothing in him which is not lovely to believers those very things at which wicked men stumble are to them amiable As that Odour which is deadly to a Vultur is comfortable to a Dove as the same water of jealousie in case of an innocent woman did cause to conceive which in case of guilt did cause the belly to swell and the thigh to rot Num. 5. 27 28. 2. It noteth love of sin and senselesness under it for were men truly affected with the danger of that they would not be offended at the bitterness of the medicine that removes it Had the young mans affections been looser from his possessions they would have cleaved closer unto Christ †An adulterous heart doth many times take more pleasure in an unhandsome harlot then in a beautiful wife Unbelief in Christ ever proceeds from the predominancy of some other love Iohn 12. 42 43. 3. It noteth slight apprehensions of the wrath to come The more the heart is possessed with the terror of wrath the more it will value the Sanctuary which protecteth from it No condemned man is offended at his pardon by what hand soever it be brought unto him 4. It noteth Hardness and contumacy in sin nothing shuts out the voyce of Christ but pride of heart which will not submit to the law of faith Heb. 3. 7. Rom. 10. 3. 5. It notes an unsavouriness of soul which cannot rellish the things of God As a bitter pallate tastes every thing bitter so an impure heart knows not how to judge of things that are spiritually discerned 1 Cor. 2. 14. Heb. 5. 13. makes even an impure Scripture an impure Christ an impure Religion And this is indeed a right dangerous condition for where Christ is not for the rising he is for the fall of men where his sweet favour is not reviving it is deadly That sickness of all other is most incureable which rejecteth Cordials no state so desperate as that which thrusteth away salvation from it Acts 13. 46. 3. We should therefore be exhorted unto this so comfortable a duty to stir up in our hearts that joy in Christ which the inestimable benefit of our high calling requireth of us It is a comely thing for the righteous to rejoyce Psalm 33. 1. Shall wicked men glory in that which is their shame and shall not the righteous rejoyce in him who is their salvation Shall he rejoyce over us to do us good Ier. 32. 41. and rests in his love to us Zeph. 3. 17. And shall not we rejoyce in him who is the chiefest of ten thousand Are not all