of the Lord encampeth round about them that fearchim delivereth them Psal 34.7 I will not rub the questions whether these Angells can contract themselves and whether they can subsist in a point and so stand together the better in so great a number neither will I trouble my selfe to examine whether they are in such or such a place in their substance or only in their vertue and operation But this the godly man may assure himselfe of that whensoever he shall want their help in spite of doores and locks and barres he may have it in a moments warning For there is no impediment either for want of power because they are Spirits or from want of good will both because it is their duty and because they beare an affection to him not only rejoycing at his first conversion Luk 15 10 but I dare confidently affirme alwaies disposed with abundance of cheerefullnesse to doe any thing for him I cannot let passe some words I remember of Origen's * Hom in Ezek 1. to this purpose as I have them from his interpreter He brings in the Angells speaking after this manner Si ille descendet descendet in corpus Si mortali indutus est carne sustinuit carnem pro hominibus mortuus est quid nos quiescimus quid parcimus nobis eia omnes angeli descendamus è Coelo If he meaning the Son of God went downe and went downe into a body was cloathed with flesh and indured it's infirmityes and dyed for men what doe we stand still for Come let 's all downe from heaven together Well you see by this time what good company a godly man alwaies hath to converse with even no worse then the eternall Trinity and the immortall Angells such company as he enjoyes most when the world thinks he is alone I might have mentioned the company of Saints also exceeding comfortable company especially at such time as they meet together either for the worship of God or for holy conference and communicating to one another their experiences of the love of God But because the greatest part of his life he is without it I had rather he should make his boast of the other which unlesse by his own default he may alwaies enjoy and there is nothing that can deprive him of it Now if a man have such company and yet cannot be merry I will impute it to the highth of his folly and negligence in improving his priviledges rather then to the depth of his melancholy as if he had no remedy sufficient to remove it For my part and I wonder no more are of my mind I can at no time think of the godly man's condition upon this account but presently I admire his unspeakable happinesse herein If a * Psal 4.4 Heathen were able to say Scipio he was never lesse alone then when he was alone how much more he For besides that he can commune with his own heart * 1 Joh 3.20 that which a wicked man is as loath to doe as a malefactour can be to commune with the Judge for his own heart judgeth and condemneth him he can commune with God also through meditation and by the exercise of his graces love and faith and hope When the night comes and all other company leaves him having made peace with God and his conscience he quietly betakes himselfe to his bed troubling himselfe with nothing having nothing to trouble him Whereas the wicked man being forced thither by want of opportunity or strength or some other meanes of practising wickednesse seldome gets into it without either fretting and vexing himselfe or being vexed with one thing or other Either he is sick in his body with paine having followed his pleasures too much or he is sick in his mind with sorrow for having had none or not so much as he would It is seldome that a wicked man goes to bed without having done himselfe or his neighbour some hurt one way or other either of which is enough to make him vexe and be angry to the purpose so that he must needs be sad though he have not the grace to repent But of the wicked man's life I shall speake more hereafter in the end of my discourse and therefore to returne to the godly man of whose happinesse I can never speak too much With what confidence and security of spirit upon the thought of his company does he enter into his chamber He hath no more to doe but to lay him downe and let God alone to care for him When others are rejoycing after their manner and making merry because their corne and their wine is increased He although he should have never so little and although the persecution and malice of his enemies be never so hot is able to make use of the words of the Prophet I will both lay me downe in peace and sleep for thou Lord only if I had nothing else makest me dwell in safty or in security * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Psal 4 8. He hath no need to trouble himselfe to set sentinels and barre doores so long as God is his guard whose charets are twenty thousand even thousands of Angells and he himselfe is among them Psal 68.17 If he sleep he sleepeth safely as in the everlasting armes of the watchman of Israel who never sleepeth nor so much as slumbreth Psal 121.4 When thou lyest downe thou shalt not be afraid Prov 3.24 Nay and sleepeth sweetly for that is wisdom's promise in the chapter last cited Yea thou shalt lye downe and thy sleepe shall be sweet I say his sleep or his rest for such his sleep truly is whereas many a sleeping is much more unquiet then waking is sweet Even as sweet as the sleep of a labouring man * Eccl. 6.7 for such a one commonly he is not only hating idlenesse as a sin it selfe but fearing it is an occasiō of other sins Gluttony doth not make him draw his breath short * A 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ecclus 31.20 having had too much of what he loves neither doth Ambition make him draw it long into sighes for want of his desire He hath none of the vapours of a stomack oppressed by gluttony to distemper his head nor any of the fumes of a conscience affrighted with sinne to distract his heart Such is a godly man's sleep by reason of God's presence with him And every man knowes that sleeping well is of great consequence to make a man lighter and merrier all the day after if there were nothing else But then how is he when he awakes no doubt well enough For God hath not left him When I awake I am still with thee Psal 139.18 As soone as his eyes are open he findes himselfe present with God and God present with him and they have presently communion one with the other And this his first communion is not without abundance of joy as friends use to have when they meet after
seeming forced pleasure it may have in those things whereof it will be one time ashamed as being either drunk with lust or bewitched to madnesse like a man that is tyed up to the love of an ugly woman by the strength of a potion and that is the most I grant that even while she is fetter'd and confind to things below her condition and unbecoming her breeding she may be merry as long as she doth not think of it or after a sort make her selfe so that she may not A noble spirit forced to be a servant or a drudge or a begger as long as he does not think upon his condition may be as another man and make a shift it may be to have a sprinkling of mirth now then to wash away the memory of his unhappinesse of being brought into that condition But yet still his heart is another way and his mind is higher then so He is like the bird in the cage singing perhaps sweetly so that a man would doubt sometimes whether he had not rather be there then any where else but yet ever and anon thrusting out his head at the holes so that a man may be sure he is not where he would be or he is not in his element and that though he sing sweetly and pleasantly to you yet it is not so to himselfe Besides there is a singing tongue with a weeping heart and all the mirth such a man hath is but sorrow and sadnesse in comparison of that mirth which he would have if his person were as free as his spirit is ingenuous Thus the soule of a wicked man it is of the same breed that a godly man's is and being borne as rational as his would delight in rational actions and in the reasonable service of God as his does if it were it 's own soule and it 's own soule it would be if it knew well that it is not But alas she is not her own For the Devill hath bought her unto sinne for nothing and made her a slave she hath sold her selfe to slavery to commit iniquity for pleasures only seeming so by the jugling tricks and panourgie of the tempter and being in the power of darknesse does not regard to be redeemed The Divill hath taken her alive * 2 Tim 2.26 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and put her in the cage made her miserably subject a most pure spirituall divine substance to most foule carnal divellish accidents to the base impure passions and lusts of the flesh as to the commands of an imperious whorish woman But what doe I goe about to prove that gladnesse may be when I might as easily prove that it must be the companion of good actions insomuch that they cannot be good without it Companion I say not as bells on the neck of a horse to make him goe the faster or as sweetning to a pill for feare of nauseating good actions without it as if it were necessary only thus viz that we and not that God may be pleased No surely it is more then after this manner necessary For else the actions might be good enough without it as pills may be without sweetning if the mouth would receive them which they cannot be no more then they can without willingnesse which is altogether necessary for I meane in this sense the will of God cannot be performed without the will of man To goe further gladnesse in the performance of duties is more necessary then the performance of duties For a duty may not be done and yet I may doe my duty because I may doe another duty though I doe not this But I cannot doe my duty at all unlesse I be glad or unlesse I be willing willingnesse will cause gladnesse wheresoever it is in some measure I know not but it may be a command as well as advice Serve the Lord with gladnesse Psal 100.2 And so that Psal 107 22 Let them declare his workes with rejoycing And there is excellent encouragement for as many as doe so For it is said that God meeteth him that rejoyceth and worketh righteousnesse Isa 64.51 Wherefore as James said If any be merry let him sing psalmes so I say If any sing psalmes or doe any other duty let him be merry for God loveth not a cheerfull giver only but a cheerfull doer of any thing else that is good 'T were better thou did'st sleep when thou broughtest thine offering to the Lord unlesse thine heart encourage thee and thy spirit make thee willing Exod 35.21 But to make the joy which is to be had by good actions better yet and to speak a little more to what I began with as we are commanded to hold up our heads and look right forward with cheerfulnesse upon what we are doing so are we allowed to turne about our heads too sometimes and look backward with gladnesse and rejoycing upon what we have done as a carpenter or mason or any other workeman uses to doe upon his worke And good turne is it that we are so allowed Else we should soon transgresse For how could we chuse but be glad when we have done that which we are glad to doe when we did it and must will be glad to doe if it be to be done againe Even good words or words which we have well spoken are to look to like apples of gold in pictures of silver Prov 25.11 Much more then may good actions be pleasant to look to and comfortable to think upon Methinks I see how joyfully Samuel stood upon his justification because he had lived honestly and had done no body wrong Behold here I am wttnesse against me before the Lord and before his anointed Whose Ox have I taken or whose Asse have I taken or whom have I defrauded whom have I oppressed or of whose hand have I recieved any bribe c 1 Sam 12.13 And indeed I doe not not see how we can have any joy whatever we may have else if we want this cause Or it we have any it will be very short-liv'd and such as will runne away like hony that hath no combes made before to hold it as Bernard said upon those words of Paul Rom 14.17 Righteousnesse and peace and joy in the holy Ghost Justitia pax ipsa ergo praecedant tanquam cellulae mellis ut adhuc labilem liquorem suavitatis solidior possit materia continere comparing joy to the hony and righteousnesse and peace to the combes You may remember I told you that good actions are as pleasant to the soule of a spirituall man one that lives in the flesh indeed but not after the flesh but after the spirit and by the faith of the Son of God as meat and drink are to the body when it is sit to recieve them And so indeed they are and that not only for the present while they are as I may say in the mouth For so unwholsome meat may be pleasant to the distempered sick man and so
without any discovery of God and his love any more then beasts have either like a candle blown out with the wind he leaves a filthy snuffe of a foul life to stink behind him having the love of no body or else he passeth away like the wind or a ship in the sea and leaves no signe at all his remembrance life being cut off together Ps 34.16 Now if a godly man have so much peace who will offer to question it whether he may have so much joy yea and much more then I speak of For if there be peace any where spirituall peace especially it seems to me impossible that joy should be long a comming after and so if joy be any where you may assure your selfe peace hath been there before See how joy and peace goe hand in hand Rom 14.17 chap 15.13 Gal 5.23 3ly A third cause that godly men have to be merry is Redemptiō Liberty Liberty obtained for we are not as others have been before us to use the words of the Prophet Zach 9.12 prisoners of hope we shall be so indeed when we are dead in regard of our bodyes a Why cannot the Papists in terpret the vers before this of the resu rection as well as those words in Mal c.. 4.2 the redemption whereof we must wait for But our maine captivity is turn'd already and God hath brought us out of darknesse b Rom. 8.23 the shaddew of death having broken our bands in sunder And therefore well might Moses say to us the Gentiles who partake of this mercy that which the Apostle repeats Rom 15 10. Rejoyce ye gentiles with his people Rejoyce 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 be merry For can a man if he be but as much as a beast and have but the use of a sensitive soule be insensible of so great a good as liberty when he enjoys it nay refraine from skipping and leaping for it when he thinks upon it Unlesse he can enjoy it without enjoying it God hath given thee rest from thy sorrow c Luk 1.17 and from thy feare and from the hard bondage wherein thou wast made to serve as he promised to doe the captive Jewes Isa 14.3 Wilt thou be so froward as not to take it or canst thou be so sencelesse as not to be glad for it That man that shall be any whit sad when he tells me he is redeemed from a miserable slavery in Turky I shall hardly believe what he sayes Certainly one that is delivered redeemed oh the sweetnes that is in the word snatcht as a firebrand out of the fire he cannot be sad if he would Saith David P 53.6 When God bringeth back the captivity of his people Jacob shall rejoyce and Israel shall be glad So Ps 71.23 My lips shall greatly rejoyce when I sing unto thee and my soule which thou hast redeemed As if there must needs be the voice of rejoycing presently where there is the least sound of redeeming Thus was it said of the redemption of the Jewes from their captivity But our redemption is more worth then theirs our liberty is greater and better and our bondage was worse And shall our joy be lesse Let us but consider We are freed from the slavery of having many masters for 't is slavery enough to have them let them use us never so well that servant who hath many masters let him be merry if he can I say many masters For many they are and many sorts and many of a sort and all that are of a sort such as if we have but one of them we shall find it hard service enough That sort I meane is our Lusts which are so numerous and various every way 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 serving DIVERS lusts saith Paul Tit 3.3 which I could easily make appeare were it not too much digression and doe purpose to speak somewhat of it in another place But we are not freed from the slavery of these masters only No we are freed from the slavery and delivered from the pow-of all the masters who had formerly the command of us whom it is not barely service but misery and slavery to be subject to I meane Sinne Death The World The Divell I may adde Our selves for if God had not been a better friend to us then we are to our selves I know what had become of us I meane not of lusts only for we hurt our selves many other waies The fourth of these whom we most feare as dreadfull as he is thought is but the Prince of this world and therefore hath no power over the subjects and heires of another Kingdome such as Christians are being translated * Col. 1.13 from his They are dead as to sinne and what then is there left for thee O thou destroyer of men to carry away captive * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Tim. 2.26 alive at and for thy pleasure They are no longer captives and gally-slaves as once they were to worke for thee and for nothing Thou mightest have heard long agoe of their releasment and their joy thereupon which thou shalt never be able to take from them no more then thou canst make them slaves againe or make the prophecy false or the promise of none effect Heare but what the Prophet's words are Isa 61.1.2.3 The Spirit of the Lord God is upon me because the Lord hath anointed me to preach good tidings unto the meek He hath sent me no bind up the broken hearted to proclaime liberty to the captives and the opening of the prison to them that are bound To proclaime the acceptable yeare of the Lord and the day of vengeance of our God To appoint unto them that mourne in Zion to give unto them beauty for ashes the oyle of joy for mourning the garment of praise for the spirit of heavinesse that they might be called trees righteousnesse the planting of the Lord that he might be glorified Behold now the time is come I tell thee again the time is come and those promises are fullfilled For we who by that malice our own were worse then bound to be sinfull and miserable even fast bound in misery an iron are now out of out bands adopted for nothing into the glorious liberty of the Sonnes of God Rom 8.21 Presume no longer upon the strength of thy associates Sin and the Lusts of our flesh For they are deposed from their regall power their dominion and strength is ended 'T is true their being is not ended but that makes so much the more for a godly man's joy as it doth for any other conquerour to have his enemy led in triumph alive or to have him lye vanquished before him more then to have him cleane removed out of the way Having sinne thus laid at our feet it may looke fiercely up upon us and threaten to bite and turne it's taile about our heeles but the danger is gone we have broken it's head and struck out it's teeth and though
without any labour or charge for the d Ye shall be redeemed without money Isa 52.3 things Wine and milk without money or price Isa 55.1 Breasts continually full of nothing but consolation and sincere milke of which he may suck when he will and be satisfied Isa 66.11 1 Pet 2.2 4ly Lastly what a plentifull life hath he and consequently what a merry life is he most likely to have who hath the priviledge of Prayer which he and none but he is able rightly to use Herein I think a godly man hath or may have more joy then in any thing else in the world whether you respect successfulnesse for the obtaining of other good things which he wants by prayer or the joyes of the Spirit many other good things to be had in praier such as for the most part a good Christian meets with more or lesse and none but he In the first respect If a godly man have a mind to any thing and will pray for it whether he shall have it or no he is exceeding faire for it For he hath the SPIRIT OF GOD who is the Comforter for his spokesman to speak for him within him with groanes that cannot be uttered He hath the Sonne of God who is his Redeemer and his Mediatour Rom 8.26 for his Intercessor also his friend to speak for him without him with merits that cannot be slighted lastly he hath God the father to whom he makes his request and who is able to give him whatsoever he desires his own father whose bowels are so tender that he cannot deny him any thing who will not turne him off with a stone when he askes for bread nor if he aske for a fish will he give him a scorpion It is not to be told what vertue there is in the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 actually effecting not only of power to effect neither is the word so used any where in the Epistles but instead thereof 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 though I know it to be usuall for Participle to turne Adjectives both active and passive effectuall fervent prayer of one righteous man Jam 5.16 He hath no sooner looked up but God looks down He can no sooner bow the knee but God is ready to bow his a Psa 31.2 eare the b Psal 144 5. heavens also He can no sooner poure forth his prayer to aske and spread abroad his hand to receive but the Lord's hand is stretched out to give even to poure down blessings I say not more then his hands are able to hold but very much more then he is able to * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 aske or think of Eph 3.20 Then they cried unto the Lord and he delivered them out of their distresse saith David Ps 107.6 all in one breath They cried unto the Lord and he delivered c. What affliction so ever the people of God were in it was no more then cry unto the Lord and presently he delivered them out of their distresse You have the same words foure times in that psalme And indeed a very comfortable psalme it is Methinks the Prophet brings in his running verse speaking of God's deliverance when he had spoken of the peoples distresse with the like hast that God wrought his deliverance as if his meaning were to shew the speedinesse of God's deliverances when his people were distressed He hath but three or four verses presently comes in They cried unto the Lord in their trouble and he delivered them out of their distresse They that truly seek God's face by praying shall never have their own faces fild with shame by denying neither in this world nor in the world to come for such fruit of the lips can never be fruitlesse Let a faithfull man pray when he will so he pray for what is fitting either to be given or erceived would he for shame be heard for other things he knocks at the doore of heaven as I may say with the key in his hand as one would doe at his friends house where he durst be bold to enter without knocking and when he finds the doore open already not so much because he doubts whether he may be admitted as because it is his duty and because it is the ordinary way and manner of entrance What shall I say Godly men have in a manner had the command * Prov 15.29 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the word is used elsewhere though not for obeying yet for effectual hearing of Heaven I can doe nothing till thou be come thither sath the Lord to Lot Gen 19.22 when he prayed that the Lord would hold his hand till he was escaped to Zoar. I can doe nothing as if his hands were tied or as if he must needs continue hearing so long as a godly man continued praying The godly by strength of faith have the same power with God as Jacob had Gen 32.28 Hos 12.3 And I believe many times after long wrestling with him in prayer after a manner they bring him to say as he did the Angel let me goe I say in prayer as if that were Jocob's wrestling and that it was with God because the Prophet Hosea so interprets chap 12. vers 45. He had power over the Angel and prevailed he wept and made supplication unto him in Bethel and there he spake with us even the Lord God of hosts How long wilt thou be angry with thy people that prayeth saith David As if it were such an impossibility or such a disgrace for God's people to be denied such a griefe so hard a thing to God to deny his people any thing when they set upon him by prayer When God intended to inflict his judgments upon the Jews lest he should be hindred in the execution of his purpose so it sounds he spake to Jeremy aforehand not to pray or intercede to him for them as if he were afraid of the efficacy of that man's prayer that he should not be able to withstand it if once he heard it Jer 7.16 In the like manner in another place when he would declare his resolution to execute hi◠firce anger against them though they should use the most powerfull meanes in the world to hinder him he expresseth it thus Though Moses and Samuel stood before me yet my mind could not be toward this people cast them out of my sight and let them goe forth Jer 15.1 As if the prayers of such godly men as they were of greater power to prevaile with him then any thing else in the world whatsoever Now there is never a truly religious man that believes in God though he be the least in the kingdome of Heaven but is as great as Jeremy Samuel or Moses Be it the poorest wretch the lowest shrub He will certainly regard his prayer and no wise despise it Psal 102. * He will regard the prayer of the destitute he will not despise their prayer the word for destitute
we praise his goodnesse if both these together be not enough to make our hearts merry I know not what can be Especially I cannot chuse but commend praysing for this use and purpose if it be expressed by singing of psalmes as it uses to be in the publique meetings of godly men Then there is none taken up with busines and work to teach or to learne but every one does all that he can to make and encrease mirth all cheerfully together singing not only in the right tune of the psalme and making melody with the voyce to men but in the right tune of the heart speaking not so much to be heard to others for information as to themselves and others for consolation Eph 5.19 Speaking to your selves in psalmes and hymns and spirituall songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. Believe it there is more true mirth in singing one of the songs of Zion or one of the Lord's songs though it be in a strange land as this world is no other to a godly man especially when men sing with grace in their hearts to the Lord Col 3.16 then there can be in singing never so many of the most musically composed sonnets that can be imagined For a testimony of the pleasure to be found in praysing God I need give you no other then the Psalmist's who had practised this duty as much as any man and therefore knew what belonged to it Ps 135.3 Praise ye the Lord for the Lord is good sing praises to his name for it is pleasant Psal 147.1 Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely As James said If any be merry let him sing psalmes * Jam 5.13 that is let him expresse his mirth in such a way so I say If any be not merry and would be so let him sing psalmes or let him make himselfe merry by the singing of psalmes And not only in prayers and praises in publique but in the private practise of any other good action whatsoever whether of piety or justice or charity a godly man does or may take abundance of joy and delight When I am giving of almes or good instructions or a good example how much joy and content doe I take to think of pleasing him whom I love best of the good that will accrue to my brethren of the rich reward which I shall have my selfe and of the glory that redounds to him that enables me Methinks I see how merrily an ingenuous child looks up upon his master or his father while he is doing what he knowes will please him and how gladly and cheerfully a loving wife goes about to provide what her husband loves If there be so much strength in that love which many times hath no nobler nor stronger principall then nature what must there be in that which comes from grace If when I am a child and without knowledge I can doe thus in obedience and love to him that begat me to misery what will I doe when I am grown a strong man in Christ for such they are whom I most call upon to Rejoyce out of obedience and love to him who hath redeemed me to an eternall happinesse The very Heathen could find it in their hearts to make their happinesse nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The exercise of vertue For they thought it consisted not so much in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in possession as in action in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Phylosopher determines * Eth l. 1. cap. 8 They thought a man had no need of a reward for vertue but that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reward sufficient for it selfe It was the saying of one of their Poets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I was willing to insert because it agrees so well with that of the Psalmist Psal 19.11 speaking of God's commandements In keeping of them there is great reward I shall need give you no other English of the words Artist's not only liberall but Mechanick what delight doe they take in their work especially when they doe it well Insomuch that you shall have many of them not care a jot for any recreation besides Nay not only workers who may be thought to be merry in their work to think of the profit and the gaine but players too as at dancing or any other sport who have an eye no further then the act when no body sees them so as they cannot be thought to be merry for making others so and when no reward is expected if they doe it well so that they cannot be thought to be merry for love of profit the pleasure they take in the action is so much that the paine which they suffer cannot be felt and they care not how long they doe it Even among brutes observe the spaniel dog How glad is he when he hath done as he should and pleased his master And how does he slink for shame and shrink for feare when he hath done amisse Nay this poore silly creature can take such delight in doing those tricks that you teach him that be he never so hungry he will leave his meat uneaten and his nature unsatisfied to satisfie his master 'T is not to be believed that the body having lesse work to doe and so the lesse need to be eased shall have a priveledge to have pleasure in doing it's works as it hath in the works of nature tasting and smelling and the like and the soule that hath so much more to doe shall have none in the doing of her's Or if you will that the soule shall take a delight in the works of the body or the works that she doth by the body and not be able to have any by her selfe in her own such as I count spirituall exercises and godly performances properly to be The godly man's work must all be done though not done all by her No certainly For as much pleasure no doubt may the soule take in taking the bread of life and chewing and ruminating upon the word of life while men are living in the Spirit Gal 5.25 as the body can in eating the food that perisheth And so in doing any spirituall good work as much as it can in any work of the body Againe should not the soule have a recreation in working did it not take some pleasure and delight therein one would think it were impossible she should hold out working sithence her work is so various and boundlesse and endlesse Now to glance a little on the wicked man being reasonable in it's nature and so necessarily delighting in things that are reasonable how can it have true genuine content be unfeignedly and unflatteringly merry in the unreasonable brutish meerly sensible and many times senslesse and unnaturall waies of sinne I grant some kind of
the worst actions may be pleasant to the intemperate wicked man but a long time after and as I may say in the stomack and the belly and in all the body being food of a most excellent nourishing quality never turning into choler and bitternesse ill bloud and ill humours to distemper and disquiet him but into spirit and life and good bloud such as will be ready to retire to the heart in time of sorrow and fainting to cheere him and support him as a wicked man's Actions like ill humours at such times use to run violently thither to kill him with dispaire It is all reason one would think that he who is to have so much happinesse hereafter at pay-day and is not to have it till then should have a little comfort now to stay his stomack as in part of payment Neither doe I see why the wicked man should have so much sorrow for having done ill if he himselfe could not and the godly man cannot have joy for having done well Let the godly man's condition be every way as good as the wicked man's is bad which is in this respect bad enough I am sure For doe but give a glaunce of your eye in due time I meane to hold you longer in full view upon the sad troubles of mind and the troublesome sadnesse of heart which a wicked man hath when he looks back upon his past actions I feare he dares not doe it for feare of the terrours of hell to torment him before his time The past life of a wicked man may be compared to the same thing that he himselfe is by the Prophet Isaiah ch 57.20 viz a troubled sea casting up nothing but mire and dirt in his own face so that he durst not come near it A bankrupt-Factor cannot be more loath to look back upon his book of accompts nor a man that hath gone a great way out of his way to looke back upon the way which he hath gone and consider that he is so much the further from the place he should go to with more pensivenesse and anguish and vexation For with such kind of thoughts he must needs be tormented unlesse he thinks he is still in the right and resolve to goe on and then he is in a more miserable condition and will one day have so much the more sorrow For he will be still going further and further on and as many steps as he goes so many degrees his misery increases His misery I say encreases if not in the next world in this for though it shall please the Lord to turne his heart he is sure to be troubled with the labour of going twice for once and the vexation and loathnes to goe the same steps againe There must be going backward by humiliation and griefe as well as a turning into the right way To say nothing of what feare a man that hath done done wickedly continually goes in like Cain lest some justice or other or the law of men or his wronged neighbour should apprehend him If any body doe but know them they are in the terrours of the shadow of death Job 24.17 How sadly pensive is the prodigal Steward that hath mispent his masters allowance when he lookes upon the bill of his own expences and thinks upon the greatnesse of his masters expectations Why should not the joy of the godly be all as much on the contrary to consider that so farre as he hath gone he hath not been a jot out of the way but that as many steps as he hath made he is by so much the nearer his desired home To thinke that he hath no necessity to runne away like a bankrupt and fly to the rocks and mountaines to hide him but that he is ready at any time to come to God at a call and give an account of his stewardship O what an exceeding weight of comfort is it for a man to have lived so well as to be able to look every one of his former actions in the face to passe all his debts and accompts over and find never a debentur nor the least occasiof a Cross to his mirth for want of a cross from the Cross of Christ to set to every farthing Though at such a time he could not doe as he would but miscarried in his designe by making a conscience to be wicked yet it is his comfort he did as he should He had rather suffer if it were never so much misery of body for doing well now then indure the least trouble of mind for having done ill hereafter To have one lash of the conscience upon the mind which no body sees is more to him then to have a thousand upon the naked body and to be made a gazing stock of afflictions to all the world 'T is more misery to him to have sinned then to have suffered I will conclude with this question Who doe you think was most light at heart Joseph who was innocently and wickedly sold to suffer the wickednesse and oppression of strangers or his brethren that sold themselves to doe that wickednesse to sell him And so much for the integrity of a godly mans heart in the love and the integrity of his life in the practise of piety A second cause of mirth that a godly man hath of his own or from within himselfe Second cause serenity of mind is The Quietnes or serenity calme of his minde the good order that he keeps there the command that he beares over his passions and affections He hath so mortified his passions and affections that he seemes to have no 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or passion at all at least no inordinate affection as the word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 passion Coll 3 5 is rendred I say inordinate affection And in this sense I think Austin * Lib 14. Dc Civ Dei c. 1 well approved of the opinion of the Stoicks who held that only wicked men and fooles have 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perturbations * So Cicero reneers the word or inordinate affections and that they did cupere laetari metuere contristari desire rejoyce feare but as for wise men and good men they had 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred Constantias even and well ordered affections and it was proper only to them velle gaudere cavere to will joy and beware There can be no greater joy to a King or any other governour then to have those that are under him dutifull and obedient to him and loving and quiet among themselves No greater content to a master then to have all his servants at a beck neither is there more quiet and merrier living then in a family where the servants and children are orderly and temperate and at command If it be so in these cases judge then how it is in the state of the soule in the family of the Interior domus when grace and reason shall sit and command and but say to this passion goe and it goes for
a better life which by this meanes he enjoyed the sooner Thirdly He feares not what his lusts can doe because they are Mortified themselves and cannot kill either soule or body Fourthly he feares not what the World can doe because he hath overcome not only the temptations and tempting vanities of it so as he scorns to be sorry if he want them but all crosses and unpleasing accidents that he can meet with in it so as he scornes to be sorry if he have them Last of all he feares not either the King of terours himselfe Death because they two are friends now and he hath in a verry good sense made a covenant with him not that he may not meddle with him but that he doe him no hurt or secondly any of his Pursuyvants as Sicknes and deadly diseases because to him that I may use the words of our Saviour concerning Lazarus even when he knew he was to dye John 11 14. They are not unto death They are not sent by God so much to kill him take away a life that is but temporall though that be no more then to lay his body down softly on the ground or rather lay it up safely in the grave against a good time as to make it better alive that when he hath raised it up againe an incorruptible and glorious insteed of a corruptible and base condition he may give it a life that shall last to all eternity By this time I hop I have brought you over to be of my mind that a godly life is the merriest In the next place lest you should mistake and because the best life hath so much mirth where you see much mirth presently think that there is the best life I will give you some marks chraracters whereby to distinguish the true mirth which is to be found only in a godly life from that which may be had in a wicked Those marks are drawn partly from the Authour partly from the the object and subjects partly from the properties of it 1. For the Authour the principall mover or efficient cause of it it is the Spirit according to Paul Gal 5.22 But the fruit of the spirit is love joy c Joy hath the second place among the fruits of the Spirit who may be compared to a Fire as it is in Math 3.11 as well for warming and cherishing and refocillating the heart with joy as for purifying and purging and cleansing the conscience from dead workes 'T is the Spirit 's proper office and businesse to be a Comforter And therefore a godly man may lawfully be merry upon his warrant and never feare to be troubled for it whereas the wicked man is sure to be cal'd to an account for his mirth because his authority is good having his warrant and commission from the Father and the Son both and being sent down among'st us under that name 2. For the Object The maine ultimate and adequate object of it is God who is the object perse and there is none other besides unlesse it be anologically in relation to and by participation of him I say the object of it is God For as the joy is from and by God the spirit who beget's it in us so is it in God the Father who gave his Son and all things else with him and especially in God the Son who gatt it for us and gave himselfe a ransome to redeem us from sinne and punishment and sorrow Whence it is that you find those expressions of rejoycing in God c so frequent in Scriptures wheresoever there is either an exhortation to rejoycing or mention made of the practise of it See one place in the prophecy of * cap. 61.10 Isaiah and two in the Epistle to the a cap 3 1. c. 4.5 Philippians where I think as in most other places of the Epistles by The Lord is meant more especially Christ as I hinted but now the Soveraine Lord and God indeed of all the world but more peculiarly the Lord and Master of the Saints who are his houshold and their High Lord of whom by faith they hold their inheritance which he purchased for them and their Lord and Owner whose peculium or peculiar possession they are purchased by and to himselfe What happinesse hath he that hath such an object to rejoyce in What perfect joy hath he that rejoyces in such an object though in none besides And indeed none besides must it be for if he rejoyce in any thing else that the world affords his joy in this will be little Sicut * Bernard Serm 38. De Verbis Domini non potest homo duobus dominis servire sic nemo potest in hoc seculo gaudere in Domino A man can no more rejoyce in God and the world too then he can serve two masters Better be content with this object alone and seek no further T is the way to make the joy better A true friend will be most trusty to me when I trust most to him and if I trust wholy to him I shall be sure to have my businesse done If thou shouldest seek further thou wouldest but loose thy labour as Solomon did who sought farre and neare to pleasures wisdome and wealth thinking they might make him some mirth and content but in the end he confessed he found the best of them but meer emptinesse and vanity and vexation of spirit 3 For the subject of this mirth as the Authour was the Spirit of God so the subject of it is the spirit of man or the spirituall man For in a godly man's mirth the outward man hath little or no share 't is the inward man that rejoyceth and that for inward and spirituall things only De interioribus gaudeamus de exterioribus necessitatem habeamus non voluptatem sayth Austin on the thirteenth psalme Outward things are but for his necessity and so he uses them and not for his pleasure or delight for so he should abuse them 'T is not as the mirth of a wicked man for that is but just as much as you can see meerly superficiary or shallow The wicked man is like one that weares all his clothes at once If he have never so great need he hath no change When his mirth of laughter is done which heshewes abroad to all the world commonly to serve them he hath no more at home to serve his own turne When his outward mirth is ended his outward comforts faile him he hath not one dram of inward mirth or comfort to support him keep him warme for one minute Alas it were a poore businesse if a godly man's mirth were no better then so For what joy can be in the labour of the sides or the throat if it goe no deeper What is the merriest tune upon the treble of the tongue unlesse the base and ground of the heart consort Or what is it to say with David my lips shall rejoyce unlesse we can
but serious They are indeed as sad or they are as serious as if they were sad as men that think it not becoming them to be profuse and childishly merry but to be considerate which they cannot well be if they be over-merry 'T is hard to be merry and consider as the preacher's word is Ecles 7 14 In the day of prosperity be joyfull but in the day of adversity consider They are no more sad then is necessary for a couragious man to be when he is in the mid'st of his eneimies or upon the sea in a storme or in any dangerous place He is wary doubtlesse and he may be somewhat fearefull and sad about the mouth but he is merry still at the bottome of the heart even for this viz to think how merry indeed he shall be when the danger is over He had no sadnesse but that of the countenance and by that the heart is made better saith Solomon Eccles 7.3 Even so is the godly man merry at the heart goe how it will yea and most merry in that part when least in the rest even when he is most afflicted The Thessalonians even in much affliction received the word with joy of the holy Ghost 1 Thes 1.6 Where you see by experience that Affliction and joy can very well goe together though they seem as strangely coupled as prosperity and sorrow or Affliction and prosperity But the HOLY GHOST that takes a way the wonder So the Maaedonian Christians Paul brags of them That in a great triall of afflicton 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the abundance of the joy c 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 abounded unto the riches of their liberality 2 Cor 8.2 And so Paul himselfe even for the good which others had received could say 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c I am filled with comfort I am exceeding joyfull in all our tribulation 2 Cor 7.4 And I doubt not but another godly man as he was may in his greatest afflictions say as much as he did upon good grounds For when he is most afflicted he is most assured that since he hath not his portion in this world he is one of those that are to have it in another He is glad of it as a prisoner that hath deserved death is glad when he comes to be whipt because now he presumes that he shall not be hanged He can be proud of it like a valiant Champion that he is chosen out by God himselfe to fight a combate with such strong adversaries as the divell and the world and the flesh whom it can be no small comfort and glory to conquer Nay he can glory with the beaten Apostles * that he is counted worthy to suffer He counts it an honour to drink of Christ's own Cup Though it be with sicknesse and much against the stomack he will joyfully pledge him He will cheerfully goe any where as long as he hath such a leader before him Whereas else he would be sad and feare that God had laid him aside as a stone unfit for his building viz if he did not beate him with the hammer of affliction that he had given him over as not fit to be wrought upon leaving him to himselfe and so to destruction Now he is merry and gathers heart and resolves to beare up saile because he thinks like the sick man that there is hope of life so long as the Lord giveth him physick and keeps him under with a diet of Affliction Like a man that hath a disease already upon him or a crazy body about him so that he needs the help of physick Because he thinks he hath need of it he cannot but be a little sad and pensive fearfull till he take it but when he hath taken it unlesse he be a child or a mad-man or a foole he is presently glad though it put him to never so much paine because he is confident it will doe him good and he expects every houre when it will Affliction is the Godly man's ordinary physick which he takes of course and like a man that hath been used to Physick at such and such certaine times and forbeares it but once 't is a hundred to one but he is presently sick if he want it He is naturally subject to many spirituall diseases and therefore is glad when he uses the meanes and is in a course of Physick to be cured and preserved Now what spirit hath so weak an edge as to be dulled with a little affliction which though it were more is not only attended with but the cause it selfe of so much good Away never talke of it I scorne your words that a godly man can be sad unless when it is his desire or his duty So as it is to see God dishonoured and men sinning against him He can beare any burden but such Endure any thing but sin And beare with any man but a wicked man whom he cannot 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beare with or endure like the church of Ephesus of which it is said that she could not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 beare them which were evill Rev 2.2 But as for other things Afflictions and persecutions as 't is said of the same church vers 3 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and hast borne and hast patience they make nothing of them You will say yet that either your objection must be true or Christ's own words must be false who told his followers long agoe that it should be so as you say as it is recorded John 16 20 Verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep and lament but the world shall rejoyce and ye shall be sorrowfull c But to answer you I pray what kind of sorrow did our Saviour mean He says himself in the very next verse it was but such a sorrow as that of a woman in travell And think you that women are truly sorrowfull when they are in travell No more are the godly in all their sufferings They may be in paine as women in travell are and in travell till they be delivered of their Affliction as no chastisement for the present seemeth to be joyous but grievous * Heb 12.11 But yet so it is that they doe not only not remember their paine as soon as they are delivered for joy either that they are by this meanes regenerated and borne againe or that they were so well beloved as to be chastened and counted worthy to suffer But even all their paine be it what it will they will never think it too much or too high a price for the birth of such a child as Affliction in the new generation brings forth For the pangs and throwes of our short Affliction here as short and as sharp perhaps as those of a woman in travell to say nothing of the sweet fruit of righteousnesse which they usually bring to them that are thereby exercised in this world Heb 12.10 He chastneth us for our profit that we might be