is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ashrub 17. God is never so busy that he cannot nor so angry that he will not heare the cry of his children 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Peter 1 Epist ch 3.12 His eares are to or for their prayer as if they were all together for hearing prayer for nothing else or as if it were his part or his worke to heare and answer and concede as 't is our part and duty and worke to call and aske and intreat Sayes the Prophet Esay 58.9 Thou shalt call and the Lord shall answer as who should say doe thou doe thy part and the Lord shall doe his Nay such is the goodnesse of God and the freenesse of his goodnesse that he delights in our asking which one would think might be troublesome to him as well as in his own granting therein being farre more affable and kind then the best and freest givers among men who are many times willing enough to give when they are loth to be asked and like him best and pitty him most that askes least 'T is not so with God No cleane contrary In the old testament you shall find the complaint often that the people did not call upon God So our Saviour in the new Testament Joh 16.24 Hitherto have you asked nothing in my name as if he took it unkindly that they would not aske of him or as if it argued that they doubted of his love or his power There is no limited time in the court of heaven for hearing petitions It is not like the court of earthly Princes For there is a free accesse any day of the week any houre of the day or the night any minute of the houre As the Lawyer saith of the King for having his due Nullum tempus occurrit Regi so may I say of the godly for making his praiers and granting his requests Nullum tempus occurrit fidelibus No time unseasonable so the heart be seasoned with faith No non terme in God's court of Requests He keeps continually open house for all commers and goers and indeed more for commers then goers His eyes are alwaies open to behold our teares his eares are alwaies open to heare our groanes his heart also and his bowels * Where of he has infinit many 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 63.15 are alwaies open and never shut up so fast but they will yearn and turne within him if our misery be never so little For as we have not an high priest to pray by that cannot be touched with the feeling of our infirmities Heb 4.15 so neither have we a God to pray to that shall see us in distresse and heare us call and cry and never be moved And here I call to mind what Origen s Interpreter speakes of a Jewish interpretation upon those words of the King of Moab concerning the Israelites Num 22.4 And Moab said unto the Elders of Midian now shall this company lick up all that are round about us as the Oxe licketh up the grasse of the field That as the Oxe With his lips his mouth maketh cleare riddance of the grasse as he goes so that people fought most of all with their mouth and their lips and by the strength of their prayers carried all before them Now what a comfort it is to have God so ready to heare us in our prayer and give us an answer we may guesse a little by the pleasure we take pleasure in our talking with men whē they are attentive to what we say ready to answer our question For indeed prayer is as it were a talking with God And if it be not such it is but equivocally called prayer as a dead man may be called a man Because that which is most commonly the reason why prayer is no communion it wants that which is the heart life of prayer I meane the heart which is the principle of life both for naturall and spirituall actions Such prayer never hath an answer Or if you will he that prayes so hath no answer though the thing which he prayed for be granted And so there can be no discourse or communion with God in such a prayer For the Spirit is God's only spokesman or Interpreter by whom he speakes Now he does never speak to any one by his Spirit whom he does not move by his Spirit to speak to him which he does not to the wicked but to every godly man he doth And therefore the prayer of a godly man is as much a discourse to him and much more merry then the best discourse in the world It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Job 15.4 a communing with God For therein they commune with God and God with them And they may doe it as privately as they may with their own heart discourse with friends you know the more private it is the more comfortable as bread eaten in secret is sweetest Thus God is said to have communed with Abraham when he prayed for saving of Sodom Gen 18.33 Prayer if it be true is a discourse that is as pleasant and delightsome to the Godly man as it is painfull irksome to the wicked whether it be used by himselfe or another It is like vinegar to a wicked man's teeth and as smoke to his eyes to be in sight or hearing of those that pray or to have the words of a prayer in his mouth for that is the most that he hath He stands upon thornes as long as he is but in the company of such as are praying and it is worse to him to be in the house of prayer then in the house of correction And therefore on the other side as those things are usually best which wicked men most hate certainly a godly man cannot but be all as much delighted in prayer or he may if he be not lesse godly then he should be The joy and happinesse to be had IN prayer 't is not to be told how great it is God being thus easy to be spoken to and to give the soule a meeting Judge you what joyes are in his heart whose discourse with God is such as this Believer I am unworthy God But my Sonne is worthy and I have accepted thee in that my beloved B. But I have committed many sins since I have believed in that beloved and how shall I doe to make satisfaction for these sinns G. I have made my Sonne a priest for ever 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 7 5. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 10.14 and whom he saves he saves not for a certaine time but for ever B Lord I love thee and I would enjoy thee But it is impossible thou shouldst endure to be embraced by such an uncleane wretch as I am G. But I will a Ezek 36.28 sprinkle cleane water upon thee and thou shalt be cleane and I will sanctify thee b 1 Thes 5.23 throughout B. My Lord and my God Now I embrace thee And my joy
eight Ans Well I shall not contend with you much in this matter but shall easily yeeld to what you say as in this so in other things of this nature as for the things themselves All the difference or that which makes the matter better or worse and turnes the scales riseth from the disposition of him that gives and him that recieves 'T is not so much the thing Life that we care for as the man's contentednesse in the enjoying and especially God's loving kindnesse in the bestowing which is better then life Ps 63.3 These the godly man only hath With these the shortest life will be long and yet sweet and without these the longest will be short and yet tedious If a wicked man's life be as long as a godly man's yet he cannot have so long life Or if you will a wicked man may have so long a life as he but he cannot have it so i e as long life It will never be a long life to him though it be never so long for he will be alwaies longing for a longer Whereas the godly man is not only blessed in and with the having of the thing but blessed in the maner of the having viz with content and satisfaction which is a farre greater blessing and without which neither that nor any other thing can be a blessing He hath a short life so as to make it long and he hath long life so as to make it long enough or so as he will be satisfied with it and no other having of long life or having of life can be properly called having it See it set downe by the Psalmist Psal 91.16 for one of the priviledges or peculiar blessings of a godly man With long life will I satisfie him and shew him my salvation You may say of the godly man let him dye never so soone as the words are in Wisdome 4.13 He being made perfect in a short time fullfilled a long time Whether he live many yeares or not he passeth his time quietly under the blessing of heaven without toyle and vexation and his a Isa 65.22 dayes are like the dayes of a tree But very often also he enjoyeth in old a Isa 65.22 age the worke of his hands Let the wicked live long and perhaps those promises * There shall be no more therean infant of dayes nor an old man that hath not filled his daies Isa 65.20 c belong to them as well as others yet how is his condition the more commendable so long as The sinner being an hundred yeares old shall be accursed as it followes in the same place Well whether the godly man's life be longest or not I am sure and you cannot deny that what I told you is true viz that he useth the best meanes for it And then let it go how it will it will be well enough For if he have what he useth the meanes for he hath it with the more joy and content and if he have it not he hath it not with the lesse trouble Methinks the wicked man should rather feare and suspect what the matter is then rejoyce and be glad in it as a blessing that he hath health or long life when he takes all the courses to the contrary It would make a man afraid as of an ill omen to have a hare leape into his lap as he sits in his house ' I le warrant you he had rather hunt a whole week in the fields where they use to be though he meet with never a walke To say nothing of the comfort a man takes in the use and successe of the usuall meanes The next ground that godly men have to be merry * The eleventh ground the Easinesse of his worke may be the Easinesse of their worke I say the worke of godlinesse is easy and the way of godlinesse easy to find Wisedome is glorious and never fadeth a way yea she is easily seen of them that love her and found of such as seek her She preserveth them that desire her in making her selfe first known unto them Who so seeketh her early shall have no great travell for he shall find her sitting at his dores Wisd 6.12.13.14 The way of godlinesse is said to be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov 15.19 i. e. Like the Kings high way cast up and made of purpose to be found without windings and turnings such as travellers though fooles can hardly erre in Isa 35.8 Love which is one halfe of the profession is called the Royall law or the King's law Jam 2.8 in allusion to the King's way as it is interpreted It is the * The Syrâ—ack Interpreter translates The law of God King of heaven's High way There is no mystery of godlinesse as there is of iniquity in matters of practise Every thing is in the light and above boord clean contrary to the works of wickednesse which are called the workes of darknesse Eph 5.11 Wicked men both walk in the dark to themselves which must needs be painfull especially when the way is neither right nor plaine and they endeavour to walke in the dark to others wich must needs be very troublesome and full of difficulty 'T is not to be told what trouble a wicked man hath before and in and after the doing of his work to conceale * Ps 26.4 The word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is rendred by the Sept 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 transgressours I think it is a word in Niphal of the signification of Hithpael which is usuall as Ezra 9.1 ch 10.11 it Whereas the godly man doth his businesse with security and delight and cares not who sees him The very names of wickednesse betray the nature of it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which expresseth it's labour a It is called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a way of griefe but that is perhaps for it's grievousnesse to God in acting 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which expresseth it's anxious thoughts in contriving and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which expresses it's unquietnesse and tossings of mind in lusting and desiring so that a wicked man may well be compared to a troubled sea Isa 57.20 There are many other like words if I could call them to mind The godly man's work is easy for many reasons 1. Because it is but little A godly man hath little or nothing to doe more then to sit down and be quiet neither troubling others a thing which cuts out a great deale of work and takes up a great deale of time with the men of the world nor being troubled himselfe for any thing For how should he be troubled or have any care upon his own head who hath cast all his burden upon the Lord Ps 55.22 The Lord who careth for him 1 Pet 5.7 Being not of this world as Christ was not of this world but chosen out and called away to another whether he that called him is gone before
the godly is The workes of God of all sorts whereof both their duty and their practise is to be frequently meditating especially his wonderfull workes to the children of men * Many O Lord are the wonderfull works which thou hast done thy thought to us-ward Psal 40.5 in their preservation and redemption Ps 107.21 David bids us declare his workes with rejoycing Psal 107.22 And he speakes of it as if it were a thing for which especially he desired to live and wherein he should take most comfort I shall not dye but live and declare the workes of the Lord Ps 118.17 How can Believers chuse but rejoyce to think upon that wonderfull work of the Redemption both of Jewes and Gentiles by the Sonne of God the Sonne of Man Christ Jesus blessed for ever to think of Gods's wonderfull Love in the purpose a The eterrnal purpose Eph 3.4 his wonderfull freenes in the price his wonderfull wisdome b The manifold wisedome of God Ep 3 10. in the contrivance and his wonderfull faithfulnesse truth in the performance after so long c Psal 105.8 He hath remembered his covenant for ever the word which he commanded to a thousand generations a time and so much provocation by the sinns of the world to desist from his purpose Neither can a godly man's heart chuse but be exceedingly taken with the thoughts of God's power and wisedome in the first forming and the continuall governing of such a world of creatures Especially in the making of himselfe For he is fearefully and d 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 13.9.14 wonderfully made God hath given him an excellent Soule and of a divine extract He hath most curiously †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as with a needle Psal 139. v 15. wrought him and most excellently * Job 10.11 cloathed him with skin and flesh and fenced him with bones and sinewes he hath endowed him with most excellent naturall gifts reason and judgment which he hath not given to other creatures But that which is the greatest of all he hath bestowed on him most excellent spirituall gifts faith hope and love and many many graces which he hath denied to other men The medication upon these last only Basil the Great in his Sermon of Thanks-giving upon those words of the Apostle Rejoyce alwaies c affirmed to be sufficient matter of rejoycing in the middest of the furnace of the hottest afflictions David who in the day of his trouble even when his soule refused comfort had recourse for comfort to meditation upon the workes of God as if it could not chuse but recieve comfort from thence hath abundantly testified how usefull the meditation is for the purpose we speak of and what an excellent antidote it is against sorrow See Ps 77. In the second verse of that Psalme he saies My Soule refused to be comforted But in the tenth and twelfth verses And I said this is my infirmity c. I will remember the workes of the Lord. Surely I will remember thy wonders of old As if he had said thus I am very much discomforted insomuch that my soule refuseth to be comforted but I know what to doe to helpe it I will remember the workes of the Lord surely I will remember his wonders of old And a thousand to one but that if any thing will cause me to rejoyce this will To a wicked man the workes of God both of power and mercy are but matter of bare speculation after a Philosophicall manner wherein there is abundance of vexation And many of the former sort the creatures are unto him but objects and instruments and incentives of evill thoughts and words and actions to his own hurt Present any Creature to a wicked man and it will presently stirre up in him Covetousnesse envy lust feare or any thing rather then joy Wheras if you set all the Creatures in the world before a godly man he is able to look upon them and think upon them without any perturbation at all nay with comfort and delight 7ly A seventh groud God's Ordinances Another thing from whence a godly Christian may fetch abundance of joy is God's Sacraments and Ordinances For first What Christian can chuse but be ravish't with joy and consolation to think how by the baptisme of water and the renewing of the holy Ghost he is brought so neare to the God of joy and consolation as to be taken into a covenant of salt with him An everlasting Covenant such as he need not be sad to think it will end suddainly A covenant not of hard servitude and bondage the very thought whereof would never suffer him to be merry but of honourable service and freedome such as he need not be sad to think he shall never be able to keep because God will not regard a Hebr 8.9 him For it is a covenant better then many of his forefathers had and established upon better promises Heb 8 6. What Christian can chuse but be ravished with joy to think that he is made a member of God's own b Eph 2.19 c 1 Cor◠12.27 Citty of his own ◠houshold of his ◠body nay that he is by this meanes become even one with Christ as much and more then a wife is with a * Being dead to the law by the body of Christ Rom 7.4 husband as I may say bone of his bone and flesh of his flesh * Eph 5.30 31. I may adde spirit of his * Rom 8.9 1 Cor 6. He that is joyned to the Lord is one Spirit spirit being baptized not only in or to but * Thus Beza interpret's it and the context requiers it into Jesus Christ as the Apostle expresses it or as we render it Rom 6.3 2ly What a glorious life hath he and consequently what a merry life must he needs have who is not only taken into the Lord's own house so soon and so freely and to be there for ever but is also feasted so often at his own table I am sure I should be able to say so for if it be seldome it is the steward's fault and not the master's who allowes freely enough I say what joy is it to be feasted so often at the table of the Lord in the Sacrament of Communion where he can feed better on him then other where upon the Lord 's own flesh and bloud which is meate and drink indeed and whose nourishment is to an everlasting life 3ly What a life for light and knowledge and consolation in case of trouble of Conscience and consequently what a merry life must he needs have that hath a doore of a Col 4.3 utterance for the preaching of the word and a doore of b Act 14.27.2 saith and c Pet 1.11 entrance into the everlasting Kingdome for the hearing of the word continually open banqueting houses continually open Cant 2.4 Feasts of fat things continually provided Isa 25.6 And all this
He bids me come out of the pit but will not give me his hand and yet he knowes I can never be able to get up without it His commands are many and he is nice in the performance of every one of them He is not like other masters who are satisfied if their worke be well done not examining my thoughts but he searcheth my heart and my reines and my inmost thoughts before I can think them He requires such obedience as I have no ability to performe so that I must needs be disobedient and sinne and yet The soule that sinneth shall dye This is thy usuall complaint And indeed I confesse it is a hard case to be servant to such a master as thou describest Whom thou must thank most that thou art in such a case I know not This I know that thou art bound to thank thy God whom thou so much blamest that there is also a way made to to come out of it He who was not the servant a Heb 3.5 only b He is called a Servant Zach 3.8 but the everlasting c Mich. 5.2 son of the same master freely over and above what he was bound to doe took upon him the forme of a servant * Phil. 2.7 did as hard service as ever servant did pacifiedthy master for the past made him mercifull for the future and fulfilled all righteousnesse in thy behalfe I grant there had been no remedy but the soule that sinnes must surely dye had not he dyed who never sinned And why he should dye when he did not sinne unlesse it were to redeeme and save thee that diddest sinne as the innocent beast did the sinner in the time of the Law I cannot tell Well thus it is what was to be done by any one he hath done and what was to be suffered by us unlesse it be some few 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 * Col 1.24 he hath suffered himselfe All thy work is but to believe that he hath done so much and to trust that he will doe more and to live accordingly as well as thou canst But let me be plainer with thee Perhaps thou that makest these complaints never trod'st one foot in the pathes of God's commandements and I much feare that thou art such a one For shame doe not talke of the difficulty of the work which thou art to doe before thou knowest what it is The tryall of worke is only in practise First make tryall and tast and see how gratious the Lord is and then tell me afterward what thou thinkest Suppose there be some things as I doe not deny but there be that are irksome and painfull to thy body Be not dismaid Thy body will scarce be sensible of the paine for the joy which thy soule takes both in doing the worke if thou doest it in the best manner as there be many that doe and in the hopes of having more hereafter when it receives the wages If I would I could give thee an hundred cordialls every one of which if thou wouldest take it should be strong enough to keep the from fainting at thy worke under any of thy discouragements But for the present I will prescribe but two meditations 1 Meditate upon the immensity of the wages which God will give his servants at the last day and the unspeakable astonishing disproportion those wages bare to the worke which they doe for it O the wonderfull lenity and bounty of God towards them For much ill done they have a little temporall chastisement and for a little well doing aninfinite lasting reward This disproportion for I know not what proportion to call it I say not 't is a hundred fold which our Saviour said they should have in this life Math 19.29 but infinitly more then an hundred times a hundred Now what man can for shame say he hath hard service when for a pennyworth of work perhaps badly done his master out of love he beares him or upon his sons entreaty or because he endeavoured only to give him content shall give him an estate great enough to maintaine him as long as he lives Much more then should it be a shame but to think it hard service when for a little done in all so as it is and nothing at all so as it should be my master notwithstanding as if I had done whatsoever was my duty to doe or as if I had been righteous shall give me such a crowne of righteousnesse 1 Tim 4.8 as is a crown of life Rev 2.10 such a crown of life as is a crown of glory 1 Pet 5 4 and such a crowne of glory as is everlasting an inheritance incorruptable undefiled and that fadeth not away 1 Pet 1.4 Doubtlesse all godly men have a great deale of comfort and joy even in their actions to think of their end and the reward and profit wherewith they are crowned And indeed their condition would be as comfortlesse if they had not such thoughts as it would be miserable if they had no reward The wicked cannot take comfort in their actions if it were for nothing but this that though they doe not know that they cannot profit yet they doe not know that they can or will The knowledg of this and the thought thereof is of great concernment to cause a man cheerfulnesse in working For what should one labour for the wind yet so the wicked doe which will be their complaint one day against themselves among other things What hath pride profited us or what profit hath the pomp of riches brought us Wisd 5.8 The second Meditation is upon the greatnes and goodnesse of thy company Most men will be merry in good company if ever they will be merry and most men will say The more the merrier A bruit creature though his work be hard will goe on cheerfully with company and will keep up with the rest though he break his heart To cheer-up thy spirit therefore in thy march to heaven be ever and anon thinking upon the armies of Saints that are gone before thee the same way But especially I would have thee think upon him who is Captaine of the company him I meane who is himselfe the way it selfe and the life Joh 14.16 The Shepheard of our soules 1 Pet 2.25 The Apostle and high-priest of our profession Heb. 3.1 and the captaine of our salvation ch 2.10 Looking unto Jesus the authour and finisher of our faith who for the joy that was set before him endured the Crosse despised the shame and is set down at the right hand of the throne of God Heb 12.2 Let it not seem hard and tedious to thee but to follow so farre as to the Cross since it seemed not so to him to goe first to be crucified on it A dog will follow his master thorow thick and thin whether he call him or not and though he knowes not whither he goes or what it is for And cannot I who know the way that I goe
and the end of the journey and what I shall have when I come thither cannot I take a little paines for a little time for a great reward to follow my Saviour when he calls me But perhaps after all this thou wilt yet againe object I question the goodnesse of the ware if it be so cheap as you make it This newes is too good to be true You told us before difficilia quae pulchra Godlinesse cannot be so good as others say it is and so easy too as you make it The best things every one knowes are hardest to be got farre fetch 't and dearely bought To this I answer that what I said first and what you said last is both true and in that sense which you speak of I will yeeld that godlinesse is difficult viz because of difficulty in attaining to it which difficulty according to you cannot be in the thing neither this not any other excellent thing because it is only before we have attained to it Now I confesse we cannot so easily be willing to undergoe difficulty to attaine that which we must enjoy and use with difficulty too for we could never love it so well But that godlines is thus difficult that it is painfull and toylesome and uncomfortable in it's exercises so as a man cannot live one merry day as long as he hath it but that teares must be his meat day and night and his eyes must still be consumed with griefe and the apple thereof never be suffered to cease I doe utterly deny Nay the more difficulty there is in getting up the hill I meane of Conviction of sinne humiliation and repentance the greater pleasure doe we take to look down againe when we are up You may observe it in the hardest mechanick trades that are hardest to be learned which usually are the best the workmanship is easy to be done and without labour or toyle when as in those that are easily learned and are of an inferiour rank you can scarce doe any thing to the purpose without a great deale of sweat and toyle tyring I will conclude this poynt with what Solomon said of wisedome Prov 3.17 Her wayes are waies of pleasantnesse and all her pathes are peace Another cause that a godly man hath to be merry may be this that tweflth ground satisfactorines of the objects of Love The objects of his love are satisfactory which is the most necessary qualification of any to make a man rejoyce in what he loves what a man loves the mirth of his life is most concerned in and he spends most of his time about it Where there is no satisfaction but the stomack as I may say is still hungry and empty just as it is in the hunger of the body there must needs be discontent and consequently sadnesse in the desire of that which is wanting and griefe for the want But when that which a man loves is satisfactory and answers a man's desires and gives him enough then and not till then he takes delight and then he begins to rejoyce as we say When the belly is full the bones are at rest Now for the objects of a godly man's love the first and the last and the chiefest the fountaine from which all other objects have their satisfactory vertue and the loadstone at which they are all touched whereby they have power to draw our hearts after them is no other and can be no lesse then God himselfe who is to every godly man as he was to David to whom he seemed so perfectly a satisfactory object of his desire that he desired nothing in heaven or earth besides him Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee And wise enough he to make choyce of such an object For now neither ought he nor need he desire any thing or if he doe he is in the fairest way to enjoy it having him who is all in all He satisfieth the longing soule and filleth the hungry soule with goodnesse Psal 107.9 He that is He alone for else it is no prayse of him They that seek after another God another thing to give them satisfaction and happinesse shall be sure to multiply sorrow Psal 16.4 The other objects of their love are The word and ordinances of God and the practise of good dutyes which as they give satisfaction by communion with and participation of the chiefest good so are they in their own nature good preservatives against sorrow and sadnesse being contrary to and used as meanes against Sinne the cause of all repentance and sorrow I would faine know among all the things that ever a wicked man loved to have and among all the actions that ever he loved to doe which it was that gave him satisfaction Many other causes of joy for a godly man might be fetched from the goodnesse of his Condition But I must leave a little roome for your own meditations and I doubt not but many of you that read me have more knowledge and better experience If notwithstanding all this that hath been said and though the Lord hath shewne thee these good things yet thy heart be heavy and thou art still dejected whatever thou doest confesse thy fault to be thine own Say not godlinesse is this or that But rather say with David when he was ready to think that God had forgotten him after he had thus complained Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gratious Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Psal 77.8.9 Surely this is mine own infirmity and nothing else vers 10. And come to thy selfe againe as he does in the following verses saying thus I will remember the workes of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy work and talke of thy doings vers 11.12 I am resolved I will no longer entertaine these melancholy phancies but I will comfort my heart with meditating upon the goodnesse of my God and the wonderfull things that he hath done for me whereby my Condition is so good The second Book Of the Mirth of a Christian Life FRom the godly man's Condition in which he is let us proceed to the Conditions affections and qualities which are in him and the actions which proceed from him see what causes he hath to have mirth of his own making by the grace of God The first thing he hath to make him a cheerfull countenance give me leave to to goe so largely now I shall speak more particularly hereafter is his Godlinesse Godlinesse I say both of his heart and Life both past and present in the performance of good actions Of these I might speak more distinctly but I shall take my liberty and speak sometimes of one and sometimes of another For godlinesse in heart when a man is able to assure his heart before God and his heart does not condemne him when
is sorrowfull for he sorrowes for his joy for hurting others And his sorrow is exceeding sorrowfull for he sorrowes for his sorrow for hurting himselfe His sorrow is but worldly at the best and accordingly it worketh death one way or other Seldome have you known the godly man's sorrow which is a godly sorrow to cause him to doe any thing to hurt his body either by hanging himselfe or breaking his heart or the like That he does his soule good by it for this world he knowes it by exderience and for the world to come by the word of God Of this good nature is his sorrow for sinne And he hath little or none other sorrow to speak of but what is of this nature David Psal 38 though he complaines indeed of his sicknes and the diseases of his body yet it semes he could deale pretty well with them But when he comes to feele the burden of his sinnes and the diseases of his soule then he is ready to sink verse 4 They are as a weighty burden too heavy for me If he speaks of sorrow as he does verse 17 My sorrow is continually before me presently he makes mention of sinne verse 18 for I will declare mine iniquity I will be sorry for my sinne so Psal â—5 verse 17 18 The troubles of mine heart are enlarged O bring thou me out of my distresses Look upon mine affliction and my paine and forgive all my sins He no sooner speaks of his afflictions but he prayes for forgiveness of his sinnes He is sure to complaine of them what ever he complaine of else as being that which lay heaviest and longest upon his stomack To speake the truth the soule never truly grieves but for what is either in her that should not be in her or done by her that should not be done by her the being or doing whereof could or should have been prevented such a thing is sinne Plus dolet qui quod intus est dolet Griefe within the soule shall never be or it shall never be much for things that are without it with which it hath nothing to doe Nemo nisi suâ culpâ diù dolet The griefe is quickly over when I my selfe have no hand in the cause If I am never so much at a fault or to seek for a worldly good If I am not in fault too it shall never trouble me a whit All the bitterness that any man hath that walketh in the way of godliness he hath it not from the way but from turning out of the way Hence it is partly if godly men are seen at any time to be sorrowing for outward evills they are but as Paul saith as sorrowing and yet rejoycing For their sorrow is no more then a spark of fire is in the sea suddenly quenched with waters of comfort and rivers of joy of the Holy Ghost If there be a mixture of both joy and sorrow joy is still the predominant So that at the worst they cannot be swallowed up of sorrow because the sorrow is so soon swallowed up of joy Having shewed you why you are to goe the journey and what manner of way you have and what the fruit of the journey will be Now that I have removed the rubs also it remaines although I have not been idle as to this work in my answers to the objections that I put on my spurres and use some motives of exhortation to stirre you up prick you too by reproofe if you goe not on First then I will exhort you and beseech you to rejoyce in the Lord. You that are call'd by the name of Christ you that have the Lord for your God you that are so fast in the favour of heaven that neither life nor death nor angels nor principalities nor powers nor things present nor things to come nor height nor depth or any other creature shall be able to seperate you from the love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord * Rom. 8 38 39. to be breife you that enjoy so many and so great priviledges and enjoy them so freely you I say though you doe suffer afflictions yet neverthelesse lift up your eyes and your heads unplait your browes and cleare up your countenance so that no signe or cause of suspition of sadnesse be left for your redemption drawes nigher and nigher every day and your salvation is so certainly determind that it is every day neerer * Rom. 3 11. then when you first beleev'd A way with this squalid dejected sowre Monkish pharisaicall carriage Wash your faces and anoynt them with the oyle of gladnesse for your deliverance comes on a pace I tell you melancholy and Christianity are no such companions as the world thinke they are and therefore pray do not you thinke so of them And if you find affliction Christianity to be so be no more troubled Cypri-Ep ad Mart then I have prov'd you have need to be Certaine it is if you are good grapes de vinea domini pingues racemi there is no talking of it you must to the winepress you must be squeez'd and bruis'd and oppressed But as I told you before such usage is a signe not that you are the less but the more cared for Now you shall be safely kept as men keep their wine and highly priz'd and never thrown away However you are or have your selves ill yet be sure to behave your selves well cheerfull if for nothing else yet for these few reasons 1. To avoid scandalizing and disheartning of men that so you may gaine more credit and more Proselytes to your profession 2. To avoid scandalizing as the word is also used for making a thing a scandal and dishonouring of God and making Christ a scandall that so you may gaine more glory to the truth by living up sutably to the honourable and happy condition of those that keep it Believe it it becomes no body so well as a good Christian and nothing becomes a good Christian so well as to be merry Psal 33.1 Rejoyce in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright In the wicked it is uncomely and absurd because they have no reason wherefore Yea 't is folly and madnesse because they have so much reason wherefore not 3. Because 〈…〉 well are wont to be by their master neither is God only delighted in you like such masters when you doe your work cheerefully but you are taught likewise and if not commanded yet exhorted as I told you before in an imperative mood so to doe The places I cited were Matt. 5.12 Luk. 6.22 Christians it is strange to me not to see you merry when you are doing well For if you are willing to doe what you doe I doe not see how you can be sad in the doing unless you can be unwilling when you are willing If you are not willing you had better let it alone then doe it The high spirited-Roman Souldiers went home-ward with
Because it is most agreable to his nature pleasure a Arist Rhet l. 1. c 11. defines pleasure 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and pleasantnes consisting mainly in the sence and being of such agreablenesse Both the statutes of God's law sprinckled here and there in his booke and the exhortations out of the same dropping out of the mouth of his minister are drunk in by the heart and eares of a godly man with as much thirst and greedinesse 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the law and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 raine comefrō the same radix as the raine is by the thirsty ground He waites for instruction as the ground does for the b raine and as Job said the people did for him Job 29.22 Christ's commands are not grievous nor heavy but to him that is unwilling to beare the yoake 1 Joh 5.3 For to one that is unwilling any thing is heavy if it be never so light Believe it if Christ's burden seem heavy to any 't is not the heavinesse or unwieldinesse of the burthen but of the bearer not the hardnesse of the taske but the softnesse of the labourer that is most in fault Certainely the reading of most part of the Scriptures must needs be a very comfortable thing and I think a godly heart disposed as it ought to be can hardly tell how to be sad while it * I doe not rememb r that in all my melancholy any thing whatsoever had power to call in my distracting phancy as the Scriptures had when I could be brought to read them does it For what a comfort is it for a man to read an earthly father's letters sent to him though they were written long agoe With what care do we keep such letters in our chests with how much delight doe we ever and anon take them out and looke upon them and with how much sorrow doe we loose them Is my love to my earthly father so great and shall my love to my heavenly father who is my father for heaven to which he adopteth me in the Gospel who being in heaven that he will regard a worme on earth is a signe of infinit love be lesse Can my heart chuse but rejoyce and my bones flourish like an hearbe as oft as I look upon my Redeemers last will and testament whereby I know that he gave me so much and that he doth so much for me continually and that it shall be for ever * Christ was the authour of life and immortality or immortal life 2 Tim 1.10 I doe not say therefore called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 I◠9.6 but the vulgar there reneders it pater futuri seculi and Grotius upon Act 3.15 whatever he had said before upon Isa will allow him such a name from raising the dead what I have of him How is David for I cannot chuse but returne to him againe having no example like him in this thing neither that I know was there any before or since his time ever and anon talking of his delight in the Lawes of God in his Statutes and Testimonies It was to him insteed of all other delights standing by him when all delights else left him Vnlesse thy law had been my delight or my very great delight * The Hebrew word not only is in the plurall number like deliciae but hath letters repeated 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which some observe to be for the increasing the signification So R. Kimchi Hos 8.7 and Psal 33. such a word is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Lam 1.20 I should then have perished in mine affliction Psal 119.92 Let Princes sit and speak against him never so much yet will he meditate in God's Statutes vers 23. Let him have never so many persecutours and enemies yet will he not decline from God's Testimonies vers 157. Let him be in a strange place there shall God's Statutes be his Song vers 54. Let him be a Stranger in the earth all his life so he may not be a Stranger to God's Commandements he cares not v 19. Although he should have never so much Contempt cast upon him yet will he not forget God's Precepts vers 143. Although his Soule should be Continually in his hand yet that should not make him forget God's Law vers 10.12 Yea although he became like a bottle in the smoake yet will he not forget God's Precepts vers 83. And therefore was it that he rejoyced because he had been afflicted upon this account that it made him Learne God's Statutes He cared for no other wealth Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage for ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart vers 111. Neither cared he much for Life but only to keep God's word vers 17. Deale bountifully with thy servant that I may live and keep thy word as vers 17. What ever he had said before or meant to say next he still cryes Teach me thy Statutes and I have longed for thy Precepts c or some such expression or other He could not forbeare to speak of them for they were still before him vers 30. No wonder then that he meditated upon them so often as he saith he did O how I love thy law it is my meditation all the day vers 97. And Thy testimonies are my meditation vers 99. God's commandements were to David sweeter in his mouth then hony to talke and discourse of them Psal 119.103 And so it is possible they may seem to bet a hypocrite for the time but then they were not bitter in his belly * It is sweet if thou keep them in thy belly so Hebr Prov 22.18 when he came to meditate on them and digest them so as it hardly is with a hypocrite for then he would not have spoken so gladly that the Law was in the midst of his bowels* Psal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 40.9 But on the contrary rejoycing the heart to think on them Psal 19.8 and pleasant in the hand to doe them Psal 40.8 * I de light to doe thy will O God yea thy law is within my heart The waies wherein they lead a man are so easy and pleasant as I shall hereafter more fully shew that if once the heart be enlarged and set at liberty from the chains of corruption there will be no hinderance in the members of the body but they may runne in them with cherefulnes Ps 119.32 I will run the way of thy commandements when thou shalt enlarge my heart O for ever blessed be the name of God that at length he was pleased to make known these his lawes to the Gentiles also Once indeed he did not deale so with any nation * Psal 147 18 but the Israelites the Gentiles knew not the judgments of God Ps 147.20 But now all the world every place in it's time is all alike in God's account A sixth thing The Workes of God 6ly A sixth thing of speciall use to delight and recreate the hearts of