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
Jesus Christ And these things write * I see no reason for Beza's sit communio let it be because of these words I unto you that your joy may be full 1 Joh 1.3.4 Now the Spirit is a third person whose company Christians enjoy and upon the account whereof their condition affords them matter of rejoycing For although they enjoy the Father and the Son by the Spirit yet may I well put this for a third enjoyment because they enjoy the two first but by hope and desire and by meanes of the Spirit which they shall not have such need to doe when they come to Heaven but the Spirit they enjoy immediatly and it workes immediatly upon them and not by objects only for that is rather the businesse of God's providence then the Spirit Now can it be imagined that a man can live a sad life that hath a Comfortour not only with him but within him as our Saviour told his disciples He dwelleth with you and shall be in you Joh 14.17 Must it not needs be a great helpe to joy to one that is travelling to Heaven I say not to be led by the hand but in a manner carried on towards his home To have a word constantly behind him saying This is the way walke in it whensoever he shall turn either to the right hād or to the left Isa 30.21 When there is so great danger of errour and the danger of errour is so great to have for his guide the Spirit of truth within him Joh 14.17 chap 15.26 chap 16.12 Is it nothing think you for one that was once under the law of sinne and death now to live and be led by a Spirit of life Rom 8 2. Is it so slight a cause of joy think you for one that was once a poore ignorant soule and seeth millions round about him remaining in that condition perhaps for ever to have the Spirit of wisedome and revelation to have the eyes of his understanding enlightned so as to know what is the hope of God's calling and what the glory of his inheritance in the Saints and what is the exceeding greatnesse of his power towards believers who believe according to the working of his mighty power Eph 1 17.18.19 Can there be a more joyfull thing to a man that was once only under the law a meere servant and continually in feare * Heb 2.15 Luk. 1.74 not only to be adopted and to have his condition changed but to have a Spirit of Adoption within him to give him an enjoyment and sence of his condition and enabling him to looke boldly upon God and call him Abba father Rom 8.15 Is it so small a matter of comfort think you for one that is in continuall need hath occasion to pray to God but knowes not how to pray as he ought to have such a one within him as the Spirit himselfe to make intercession for him Rom 8.26 Is it not matter of joy think you for one that hath a great burden of sinne lying upon him and would faine be eased while others by insensibility and death in sins and trespasses lye still and stir not at all to have the Spirit himselfe who is set opposite of * Gal 5.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 purpose to sinne and the flesh to keep them in subjection continually within him enabling him to mortifie the deeds of the body that he may live Rom 8.13 Hath not he by much the start of the men of the world for mirth who in times of persecution and scandall when feare love of the world carrie others that are hypocrites cleane away hath continually within him a Spirit not of feare but of power and love and of a sound mind to hold him fast 2 Tim 1.7 Is this comfort of God small for men not only to have eternall life given * Job 15.11 them in a free bargaine or covenant of grace and not to have earnest only but to have for earnest the earnest of the * 2 Cor. 5.5 Perhaps best interpreted appositively The Spirit for an earnest As said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the seale of circumcision Rom 4.11 A manner of expression in most languages as in Hebr. Gen 15.18 Ezek 3.13 c Spirit You may judge what sweet cheerfull company the Spirit is by his fruits The fruits of the Spirit are love joy peace long suffering gentlenesse goodnesse faith meeeknesse temperance Gal 5.22.23 I know that carnall men who are yet in the world and not chosen out a Joh 15.19 of it will be ready to laugh at you if you tell them thus much and will not by any meanes be brought to believe what I have said of the Spirit which is a thousand times too short I am too young a Christian to speak sufficiently of it because they see him not neither know him Joh 14.17 But the godly know him and though they see him not yet they doe find continually by experience that he dwelleth with them and is in them as it is in the same place 4ly Besides the company of God lest he should complaine of too great distance betwixt him and his company A godly man hath the conpany of ANGELLS Creatures as well as himselfe and though in their nature his superiours yet in their office 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 merely ministring spirits sēt forth to minister for them who shall be heires a Or that shall inherit 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 they are heires already Ro 8.17 of salvation Heb 1.14 For the number how many every Christian b See more in the View of Threats in the ch of Enemies of God's Church hath I dare not undervalue their condition and respect with God to say they have but one a piece But rather think they are so farre from having the number stinted so low that it is not stinted at all but they may have more and more as their need increaseth even to Mahanaim enough to make a campe if there be occasion as well as Jacob * Gen 32.2 and a 2 Kin. 6.17 Elisha 'T is true we read of but one Angell for all the Israelites Exod 23 But that Angel was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the Angell of his presence b Perhaps ment by presence Ex 33.14 otherwise interpreted by Moses v. 15. or face Isa 63.9 his chief Servant Zach 3.8 who was next to him continually saw * Esh 1.14 his face nay he was the expresse Image of his person and so the fitter Angell of his face or presence and although he be called by occasion an Angel for what he did yet he had another name from what he was by inheritance the name of a Son Heb 1.4.5 If God sent his Son it is likely he sent the more Angels to attend him But David absolutely saith that The Angel b For Angells An enallage of the singular number for the plurall usuall in the Heb as Exod 33.38 Lev 11.2 c.
may be pleasantly touched and tickl'd on the outside of his heart and so he may have a little forced mirth for a while as a sick man or an old man may have by the strength of a potion or a cup of liquour But I doe not remember that ever I read or heard and I beleeve he cannot say it himselfe that joy entered into his heart and that his heart was enlarged with it so that his very spirit rejoyced so as the godly man's uses to doe and as the Scriptures testifie of him every where He lookes merrily without like a whited sepulcher but within there is a sad sight of dead men's bones of a dead heart and a dead conscience and a whole soule dead in trespasses and sins He is like a countrey where the wayes are cleane such as one that has no judgment will preferre before any other but the soyle underneath is heartlesse and barren and fruitlesse His pleasure is not a whit more hearty then the heart is fleshly For if by the heart you do mean any thing that is spirituall it is nothing hearty at all Now the pleasure that goes not home to the heart is as when a man may tast of a thing but must not or cannot let it downe which does but vex him the more and set the stomack a longing and the body a pining And truly even so the spirit of a wicked man that which is of most consequence and he thinks not of it and that which let him use it how he will will live however and cannot dye is sad and hungry and ready to starve for want while the flesh and the members of the body are glutted and not so much delighted as sated and sadded while they seeme to be gladded with abundance of pleasures As plus dolet qui quod intus est dolet so plus gaudet qui quod intus est gaudet For what is shaking of the legs stretching abroad of the jaws and making a noyse with the throat wherein there is paine and wearinesse and which are as suddenly ended as they are vainly begun and violently prosecuted to a well grounded quiet undisturbed endlesse joy of the spirit Joy is better enjoyd by the spirit and the joy of the spirit is better and more It is not only with lesse feare and disturbance but in more abundance The Vessell must needs be the fuller when lesse runnes out and is not so soone empty Griefe is greatest that is least expressed and wrung out into teares Expletur lacrymis egeriturque dolor and so doubtlesse joy is more and more sound and perfect if it be in one lump only in the heart then if it be minc'd into parts and scattered and diffus'd into the severall parts of the body 2. A wicked man's joy is imperfect in regard of the object too 1. Because it is corporeall And so it is the lesse wonder that his pleasure is but corporeall for the subject while the objects of it are no other such as meate and drink monyes and the like For such things as these being corporeall and of a grosse substance it is impossible they should come neere enough to the soule which is spirituall and of a pure sustance either in place and being or in pleasing and being liked as to make it fully and intimately and thorowly glad Nothing is suffered to be neere another thing in situation that is altogether of another kind and nothing is lik'd or suffered to be neer in affection which neither is nor can be made like to that which is to like or to love it Things that love one another would even be one another as we use to say Amicus alter idem a freind is another selfe for love and desire are such strong affections that they will never leave clipping and embracing and joyning the thing that is lov'd to the thing that loves till imitating nature in her operation they have made it almost one with it and in a manner transform'd it into the same thing For thus it is with a godly man and the objects of his love God and Christ who are all one in the other and one with one another as Christ said I am in the father and the father in me and you in me and I in you Insomuch that a godly man's joy having such objects which may be so enjoy'd must needs be perfect without defect Now if the Soule or the mind love such objects as these as it cannot doe if it be it's selfe and in it's right mind not mad nor drunck nor set besides it selfe with passion all that it could do would be only this even create the more trouble to her selfe in loving and desiring that which she is not able to enjoy even as much trouble and paine as it is for any one to love that which he cannot eate or a woman with child to be still longing for what can never be gotten or a man to strike at a ball with all his might and misse of his blow And yet on the other side if the Soule do not love such objects her vexation is all as much to have them alwaies offer'd to her so as they are 'T is an equall misery to love nothing but that which I cannot have to have nothing but that which I cannot love How miserably is the Soule of a wicked man eith r pined with want of food or vexed with such as it cannot eate Poore soule that must take all the paine and canst have none of the pleasure Not one of the senses can have the pleasure of the mēbers or the mēbers the pleasure of the sences without thy help must thou only be helples thy selfe and is there nothing provided to comfort thee Canst thou and must thou take care and provide for all their not only necessities but pleasures and in the meane while must thou sit alone thy selfe as if thou wert no body as thou art not sad and hungry and neglected kept in a fooles paradise and in a prison as long as thou art here a prison too well loved by thee and supported by thine wone care and yet to be condemned for ever to another hereafter for thy labour Truly truly I must needs say thy condition is slavish and miserable and thou maist well cry out Woe is me that I have my habitation in the tabernacle of the body and in these tents of Kedar 2. Imperfection of a wicked mans joy in regard of the object it being suppos'd that the true subject of joy which is the Soule is incorruptible is this that the object is corruptible neither good enough nor great enough nor lasting enough for such an excellent glorious everlasting creature as the soule is to rejoyce in They say a horse will never prove where he hath not a full bite his unsatisfiednesse and his longing does him more hurt then is meat does him good so the soule if it have only a little slender corruptible food if it have
a desire for the having will and desire looking forwards and Joy and content looking backward each of them upon the same object Can I but make a man believe he shall be merry when he hath done a thing I shall not be long in making him willing to doe it To be joyfull 't is life and more for it is the very life of life If a life be never so long high in honours and preferments * Called 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Ex 6 9 So 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 to be straitned is usd for to be grieved Jud 10 190 16 16. Job 21.4 if it be not large too i e if there be any 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 straitnesse either of body or spirit but especially of spirit no free breathing and no enlargment of heart to enjoy what a man enjoyes 't is but to be in a prison in green fields that are a man 's own where it is so much the worse because he is so much the more vex'd to see so much the more of that which he hath and cannot enjoy If therefore I will leave the men that use these pretences altogether without excuse I must make it appeare that their pretences are false and that there is no such thing as they feare or believe or would willingly have to be true Now that it is false and that it is no way necessary for a christian to be more sad then other men if there were no other argumēt it were sufficiently proved by this that it is in the Scripture above writen enjoyned as a duty or at least exhorted unto as a possibility to rejoyce Now if God command a thing to be done it may be done and it is not necessary to doe the contrary But yet because you are apt to think his cōmands greivous and to look upon him as an austere man that taketh up where he laid not down c to make it appeare to the contray that there is good reason for it we will consider a little how the case stands with a godly man what he is or what he hath that it should be expected he should be alwaies rejoycing or what cause he hath why he should be merrier then other men My method therefore shall be this First I shall shew you the grounds and causes of his mirth Secondly I shall answer the maine objection concerning Affliction After that I shall shew you the Nature of his mirth when I shall tell you that he hath not only better causes of mirth then a wicked man whom you think to be the only man that lives a merry life but better mirth when he hath it And lastly I shall speak somwhat to shew what cause there is of sorrowe and what sorrowes there are in a wicked life and how imperfect and vaine the joy is that wicked men have Now the causes that a godly man hath to be joyfull and the helps meanes he hath to make him merry are either from the goodnesse of the Condition in which he is or the goodnesse of the Conditions and habits and graces which are in him For the state and Condition in which he is First * First ground Good Company it is such as let him be where he will be he can never be without good company and that every one will say is a very good helpe for a merry life Now the company which I meane is First God the father who * By adoption out of love See View of Threats the last words et p 914. is his father therefore willing God all sufficient therefore able to comfort him He is the God of Consolation from whom all comfort comes In his company and presence even upon earth while we are at his left hand or while we sit on his footstoole is joy as long as the time lasts but at his right hand are ravishing delights and pleasures and that for evermore Psal 16.11 What an extraordinary comfort must it needs be to have the enjoyment of such good company of which a man can never be depriv'd nor be weary nor so much as feare that he shall be Such company God is But you will say perhaps this is but a phancy of yours that a man can have joy in the company of God For if he goe down to Hell he will find him there also Psal 139.8 And upon what ground can I take delight in his countenance who seeth all things I answer It is true indeed It is possible God may be with thee yet notwithstanding all the while he may not be with thee but against thee He might be present with thee not as a companion or a friend to watch over thee that no other thing may doe thee hurt but as an observer an enemy to watch for spy thy faults to doe thee hurt himselfe But if he be present with thee indeèd so as thou art also present with him which can hardly be said of a wicked man and if thou art not only under the sight of his Countenance so as to be seen by him but also in the light of his Countenance too so as to see him againe and enjoy communion and fellowship with him through his spirit certainely if any condition in the world will make thee merry this will Job when he speakes of the comfortable condition of a man that God hath delivered from going down into the pit from his bed of sicknesse after the mention of other blesings given him to recompence his misery addes it as a complement of his happinesse that He shall see the face of God with joy ch 33.26 Happy sicknesse that is attended with such a consequent David speaks more then once more then twice of God's countenance as of that wherein he took more comfort then in all the world besides There be many that say who will shew us any good Lord lift thou up the light of thy COUNTENANCE upon us Ps 4 6. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy COUNTENANCE Ps 21.5 See how he magnifies it Ps 42.5 Ps 44.3 Ps 89.15 For though it be metaphorically used for favour yet is the speech not all metaphor that well experienced Christians will tell you when a man would think his sighes would have been many his heart would have fainted for sorrow by reason of trouble what course takes he to make himselfe merry He sets the Lord alwaies before his face Saith he I have set the Lord alwaies before me Because he is at my right hand I shall not be moved Therefore my heart is glad and my glory rejoyceth my flesh also shall rest in hope Psal 16.8.9 The words are cited by Peter Act 2 25 other words joyned with them vers 27 28 where also in the end of the 28 verse it is said Thou shalt make me full of joy with thy COUNTENANCE Job speakes of seeing God's sace and David speakes of setting the
be rich by robbery and covetousnes and oppression as they usually doe and then such hast will breed wast or blind whelpes or nothing at all Usually in these things the furthest way about is the nearest way home Besides worse getting the wicked man is usually worse at keeping which is of as great consequencew hether in wealth or any other thing The wicked man's wealth is as soone lost as got melting away like snow as they say against the sun Their good things quickly come and quickly goe coming too soone like the untimely birth of a woman and going too soone like the morning dew Eeither the vengeance of God or the justice of men or their own vices make them suddainly poore You may wonder if you see them without one wasting vice or other intemperance or litigiousnesse or prodigality or gaming any one of which is able to set going more in one houre then he hath gotten or can get in an yeare And if his vice be covetousnesse a hundred to one but he hath a sonne that is a prodigall which comes all to one or else for his unlawfull getting or uncharitable keeping he hath some calamity or other to deprive him of it Without question the godly man in regard he hath none of those consuming vices can keep and increase riches better then they can if he have them And if he cannot get them himselfe why he may not have them by descent as if his father hath been wicked as they are and so might get wealth by their own confession I see no impossibility at all But though I grant their wealth to be lesse in quantity and bulke or lesse to look to then the wicked man's yet we know very well that many times a little Living in quantity by the goodnesse of the soyle or the tenure or by freedome from ill services or inconveniences in situation or the like is of greater value then one that is farre greater Even so is a godly man's estate Psal 37.16 A little that a righteous man hath is better then the riches of many wicked Be it more be it lesse he hath it every way good He hath a good title no way litigious from heaven or earth And he hath a good possession fast and sure he shall be * Hebr 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 It might seeme to signifie feed upon truth i.e. the truth and faithfulnesse of God in opposition to feeding upon the winde Hos 12.1 And upon ashes Isa 44.20 But perhaps the substantive is used adverbially which is usuall in Hebrew not for truly but in the sence that the word is used 2 Chron 31.12 15.18 for liberall 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 verily fed Psal 37.3 He is pestered with no inconveniences of trouble or sorrow either in getting or keeping or using The blessing of the Lord maketh rich and he addeth no sorrow with it Prov 10.22 or the blessing of the Lord †So the Hebrew THAT makes rich as if that were the onely thing that could make riches be without sorrow If his estate were never so little and had no other commendation but this yet it were enough to make it more worth which is all one as if I said it will make it more then the wicked mans if it were never so much For what is it to have both hands full of wealth or indeed how can I have both hands full of wealth that is enjoy it when I have my hands full as we say of troublesome imployment my head full of troublesome thoughts and projects my heart full of troublesome hopes seares and sorrowes and every night my a Eccles 12. The abundance of the wicked will not suffer him to sleep whole body full of troublesome tumblings and tossings to and fro till the morning Better is an handfull with quietnesse then both the hands full with travell and vexation of Spirit Eccles 4.6 Againe how hath he but a little any more then another that hath much more then he who hath as much as enough For either the other hath too much and then I hope you will not commend his condition because he hath too much nor will you discommend the condition of the godly man because he hath not too much Or else he hath but enough and then the godly man having but enough too hath as much as he let him have never so much Indeed no man either can have or be said to have enough better then the godly man For the first he hath the Lord for his God who is a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Rom 10.12 like 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Isa 32.5 and 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is used like it rich and bountifull to all that call upon him especially such as call upon him to his mind as he doth He alone is able as Paul said to the Corinthians 2 Epist ch 9.8 To make all grace abound towards them that they alwaies having all b 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor 9.8 sufficiency in all things may abound to every good worke For the second he hath so many good qualities that no quantity shall alter the case with him Whatsoever the godly man hath it is much to and for and compared with himselfe though it be not so when it is compared with that which the other hath which abateth nothing of the value or the quantity of it as to him and therefore it ought not to be counted the lesse for it A godly man hath as much as another hath although that which he hath be not so much as the other hath 'T is the having which is in the person and not the thing which is indifferent that makes the odds The person qualifies the * Mihi res non me rebussubmittere conor estate and not the estate the person unlesse it be occasionally no more then combustible matter makes fire to burne A thing which is otherwise much and good yet I may not have it so or it may not be so to me or while I have the ordering of it Things are not said to be much or good so much from their own quantity or quality as from the quantity or quality of other things with which they sute or disagree The same quantity of food is too much for the little child such a one as every Christian is which is too little for an old man such as all unregenerat men are who have not crucified the old Adam Every one who is sed with food convenient * Prov 30.8 for him hath much enough God gives to one man as muh as he knowes to be fitting for him and to another man as much as he knowes to be fitting for him I hope either of these is as good a man as the other although one should have never so much lesse then the other I thinke if any were worse it should rather be he that hath most given him because he needeth most and was not able to live with lesse He that hath a little meate
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
adde with him And my soule which thou hast redeemed Psal 71.22 If a godly man's mirth were no better then so viz to consist in laughter it were little better then madnesse for ipse dixit Solomon who no doubt had liv'd a joviall life and therefore could tell by experience said it and stood to his word I have said of laughter it is mad Eccles 2 2. No the mirth I speak so much of is no such thing as uses to be expressed by or hath it's being in shouting or dancing or shaking of the sides or shewing of the teeth Neither are any of those expressions the necessary fruits or signes of it For then you might often conclude against me in regard you shall often find them missing being either neglected for love of better or forborne for feare of offence The instrumentall causes of this mirth are of the same nature the efficient moving and all the rest are not carnall but Spirituall Godly joy playes least in sight and plays most so It is not ordinary ware to be seen by every one that sees the owner 'T is not a thing that may be imitated by beasts or any man but the spirituall Flesh and bone and skin and bodily organs cannot act such a pure spirituall and divine work Nay most commonly when for ought a man can see by his countenance without a godly man may be sad and melancholick and perplexed his joy and mirth within grows so much the stronger as heat does in many bodys in the inner parts by the antiperistasis of the cold that is without Or rather indeed the Soule knowing the nature and worth and excellency of the joy coming from a Spirit thinks it unfit to marre the gift in the use and abase it in the enjoyment by suffering it to be exercis'd by lower instruments then spirituall therefore keeps it wholy to her selfe without dividing it out to many subjects so that the joy being undivided must needs be stronger in it's exercises by being united the Soule the stronger to exercise it by being undistracted more at leasure For so she does all her selfe and trusts not to servants and who doubts that the work is bettter done when the mistresse does it her selfe Other marks there are of this joy to be fetcht from the nature and kind of it and from the chief properties qualities belonging to it The properties belonging to a godly man's joy which are not to be found in the joy of the wicked are 1. Truth Sincerity It is joy in puris naturalibus as they say 'T is all gold without any alloy No mixture of wormwood in the cup to imbitter it no ill herb in the pot to marre the broth No trouble to goe with it no bitternesse or sorrow in the bottome to come after it It is good without sorrow so that he does not grieve with it now and it is good without sinne so that he need not repent of it afterwards 'T is without the adulteration of sadnes to make it uncurrant the mixture of any thing that is evill to make it unpleasant The mirth of the godly is the quintessence of joy the gladnesse of joy as the expression of the Psalmist is more then once when he would set forth the greatnesse of joy Psal 43 4 I will goe unto the altar of God unto God my exceeding joy In the originall 't is the gladnesse of my joy So Psal 68.3 Let the righteous be glad let them rejoyce before God yea let them exceedingly rejoyce In the original 't is let them rejoyce with gladnesse as if there might be a joy that had sorrow with it and as if none but the righteous could have such a joy as hath none with it A wicked man's joy can be but little better then equivocally so as a painted dog is a dog or a dead man a man 'T is not true i e sincere For it is mixt with sorrows and never runs cleare Neither is it true i e genuine for it is but fain'd and hypocriticall 'T is no jugis aqua water that comes from a fountaine from whence it may be continualy supplyed 'T is but like the river that Job speaks of dryed up in the scorching summer of adversity when he hath most need of it and when the godly man's joy is highest There is a faire outside indeed of profuse laughter and jollity but there is nothing else There seemes to be something goodly but 't is no more then a whited wall with mud underneath or as a whited sepulcher beauty full without but full of dead mens bones and rottennes within 'T is not gold that you see in a hypocrite 't is but gilt upon tinne So much gilt without so much guilt and vexation and sorrow within His inward parts are as full of vexation and sollicitous thoughts as they are of ravening and wickednesse Luk 11.39 His mirth is like the pleasant itching of a sore that is healed to soone for it is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and it festers underneath though it look never so well Within there are prickings of heart for in the midst of their laughter as Solomon saith their heart is sorrowfull and besides that the end of such mirth is heavinesse Prov 14.13 2. Property of a godly man's mirth is Fulnesse and perfection Fulnesse I say absolute in quality or truth and in quantity as much as this present life is capable of For as for absolute fulnesse of joy in * Melancthon upon those words Your joy shall be full Joh. 17. Intelligatur ergo non quantitate sed sirmitate quantity we must tarry till the next life However there is such fulnes of this joy even in this life as that it cannot be exhausted measured or expressed either by the actions of the body or the relation of the tongue Yet is it not the worse neither for being so great for it is all as good too even as Peter says Full of glory 1 Pet 1.8 It is said of the disciples Acts 13 52 that they were filled with joy even in a time of persecution What Christ hath done and spoken for us and so whatsoever he does or speaks for us still it cannot have lesse effect in us then to make us truly joyfull John 15.11 These things have I spoken unto you that my joy might remaine in you and that your joy may be full All redeemed ones that have so many mercies on every side are encompassed with the * Ps 5.12 32.7 favour of the Lord must needs be encompassed also with a Ps 32.10 songs of deliverance and girded b Ps 30.11 with gladnesse If it were not so or if it should not be so God would never have said by his Prophet Isaiah chap 65.14 that his servants should sing for joy of heart for the godly only sing for joy of heart the wicked sing for want of it nor would the Psalmist have the Saints be so merry as to shout for
hurt him and God besides hath made a promise to his children long agoe Isath 43 3 That when they passe thorow the waters he will be with them and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow them when they walk thorow the fire they shall not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon them Insomuch that Hierome seeing the Church still having the worst and yet being never the worse compared it to the Bush Exod 3 2 that continued burning and was not consumed but also because they are infinitly profitable and beneficiall every way to perfect us and make us fit to be redeemed ons as our Redeemer himselfe was perfected by sufferings 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 2.10 and so made fit to be a Redeemer Like the bitterest pills they have the sweetest operation and that to many excellent effects which I shall speak unto 1. They are very good to hasten both the birth and the growth of the new man There is no readier way to be borne againe then through paines and pangs and travells Nay there is scarce any way but that For how shall there be a birth and delivery where is no travell nor burden How can the body of sinne be dissolved and the life of the old man be taken away without paine while the body of flesh and bone and the life of the man himselfe cannot Can a man goe on hot coales * Prov 6.28 and his feet not be burnt or can a man be a â—ath 3.11 baptised with fire and feel no paine Certainly weaning from the milk of the world must needs be painfull at first before a man finds that there is better nourishment in the milk of the word The circumcision of the foreskin was exceeding painfull insomuch that b Gen 34.3.5 two men could master a whole town when the men were circumcised And doubtlesse the circumcision of the heart the circumcision of Christ as the Apostle calls it or the circumcision brought in by Christ is as painfull the heart being as tender as that part and without the circumcision of the heart there can be no putting off of the body of the sins of the flesh according to the words of the Apostle Col 2.11 A man must put off cast off and cut off deny not only the world but his own selfe The very heart must be broken up the old frame quite taken abroad ere Christ can be formed in it No setting a new stamp without defacing the old You must get away the bad flesh if you will have better come As in the ordinary course of nature there must be a corruption before there be a generation so in the ordinary course of grace the death and corruption of the old man is necessarily prerequired to the generation and birth of the new I call it generation because it is called regeneration and because it is a second generation whereby we are begotten a new Not as if it were a generation properly so called For there is nothing in us out of which grace can make any thing Who can bring a cleane thing out of an unclean And therefore that new thing which is made is called a * Galat 6.15 creature It is indeed a creation rather and the worke of an Almighty power to make a new man or to forme the the second a Gal 4.19 I travell till Christ be formed in you Christ is the second Adam 1 Cor 15.47 Adam even as it was to make the first man or to forme the first Adam I say that before this introduction of the new there must be an ejection of the old inhabitant by reason of the enmity between them they cannot be together Believe it I speak for the most part there is a great deal of paines to be indured in fashioning a new man A bone out of joynt is not set in it's place but with paine If there were no paine when it was set without doubt it was not set aright and in short time though it may not for a while it will appeare I speak of the paines of Humiliation and Conviction Commonly your seeming religious men are such as never knew what the throwes of the new birth meant and did but only pretend them I shall ever suspect that Christian that was never afflicted His drosse and tinne must be purged out in fire and there must be much contrition and beating with the hammer of affliction before it can be well wrought I cannot hope that any thing that is hard as our hearts are will be made into a new fashion till it be put into the fire and softned with the flames Honey-combs must be squeez'd D. Featly Ore must be stamped in the mills and tryed in the fire and so must the Saints too before they can be gold fit for the building of the new Jerusasalem And so for the growth of the new man As our rational life is best when our vegetative is worst and as we begin to grow in wisedome when we cease to grow in strength so our spirituall life hath more life and spirit vigour then when the life of the flesh whether by reason of sicknesse or poverty or persecutions or voluntary 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or mortification is ready to dye When the body is lowest the soule is highest Like two scales when one is down the other is up The more weight you throw upon the body the lighter the soule Water in a vessell if you throw stones into it it mounts the higher A godly man may say with Paul when I am weak then I am strong 2 Cor 12.10 Yea though his very heart should faile he will be a gainer by it For whereas before he had no strength but his own which would quickly faile him now God will be the strength of his heart Psal 73.26 The Body without exercise will grow sickly and so will the Soule also needing exercise more then the body as needing both it's own and the bodies too 2. Afflictions are beneficiall because they have an excellent vertue to cleare the sight They make a man see the vanity basenesse of his pleasures viz that they are such as are presently destroyed if but one part of them that use them and that the worst too this contemptible fraile body of theirs be never so little distempered But besides the discovery of the vanity of the object they mak a man also to see the vanity and basenesse of the subject the Soule viz In looking after and being pleas'd with such pleasures the use and enjoyment whereof must depend upon the strength of such weak helps and instruments as the members of the body that are subject to so many casualties even according to that abundance of supplies necessaries which they stand in need of continually Afflictions discover the sinne of the Soule in that manner as many times men by one disease of the body discover another being made to looke more narrowly to their health by their
love a man he will punish his body in this day of his own that his Spirit may be saved in that day of the Lord. Like a fencing master or one that fights in love he never strikes at the vitall parts Or if he does 't is but with a blunt weapon as intending not to kill but to teach the Combatant His blow shall make him smart so as it shall not easily be forgotten but it shall be in such a place where it may be easily cured Cured I say either living or dying which is all one both to him to whom all doe live and to the man also to whom to live long is but so much losse unlesse so far as it is Christ and to dye betime advantage I say the Soule of a godly man being a Spirit by nature and being spirituall by grace is out of gun-shot for ought that any thing in the world can doe to it God who is able is unwilling And the divell and the world who are willing are unable The divell though he be a spirit is no more able to hurt this spirit then one body is to hurt an other when it is armed as the spirit is throughout even with a whole suit * Eph 6.13 or panoplia of spirituall armes The world whether malicious men or worldly crosses or sicknesse or poverty or persecution is not able to reach it I may say to any of these as the Philosopher did to the Tyrant Tundis vasculum Anaxarchi non Anaxarchum Knock and beat and doe your worst Though you break the casket in a thousand pieces you shell never be able to hurt the jewel in the least manner Beat upon the outside the body as you will you doe but make that which is within the stronger for now the bloud and the spirits retire to the heart and so to the soule which by this meanes will take heart and gather spirit and prove the stronger 'T is true If a wicked man be not well in his body he is not well in any part If his out-workes be taken he can hold out no longer His soule is the most diseased part and therefore will be sure to suffer most being also least able to beare it He is rotten at the core His heart neither is sound nor ever was It was alwaies the weakest spoke in the wheele though you never heard hard it creak and though you might think it strong enough even then when his body had health enough and God did grant his desire in those things As the Psalmist says Psal 106 15 God gave him his request but sent leannesse into his soule If his soule were so bad in prosperity it must needs be worse in adversity For then all the ill humours run to it as they use to doe to a weak or diseased member And his sinns which he hath formerly committed like so many dogs when they see another dog beaten come every one of them not to helpe but to opresse the weaker side The pleasures which he hath loved and us'd the creatures which he hath loved and abused the divell whom he hath not loved but obeyed when the body is hindered from being any longer serviceable to such purposes like enemies made to be friends or friends restrained from being enemies only with gifts complyance will be all ready to fly in his face and testifie against him all that ever he did Now it is otherwise with a godly man For if one part be afflicted he shall have amends presently made in the other If the outward man * though our outward man pereâ—h yet the inward man is renewed day by day 2 Cor 4.16 be weak he hath not therefore lost his strength for the inward man viz the soule and the soule of a man is the man hath so much the more What ever else failes his heart shall never faile him because he depends upon God who never failes of his word and hath promised to strengthen the heart of those that depend upon him Psal 27 14 Wait on the Lord be of good courage and he shall strengthen thine heart wait I say on the Lord. And indeed herein hath the godly man a great advantage above the wicked For the wicked man's care being for the body which is not able to live without the soule his care and trouble must needs be the more in regard that those things which the body needs are so many and so hard to be supplyed But the godly man's care is chiefly for the soule which can live without the body and upon such things as the poorest man may buy a little will serve to maintaine it If it be but a bare Hope it will make a shift to live with that So that a godly man is so much lesse miserable in affliction then a wicked man as a man that hath a little appetite is less miserable in a time of famine then he that is a great eater The food of the soule is his food and that can be gotten at any time and more plenty of it when there is least of the other food If God give the godly weaknesse of body he will be sure to give them strength of soule Ps 138 3 In the day when I cryed thou answeredst me strengthned'st me with strength in my soul Perhaps he cried to him for strength of body or for power against his enemie and had it not But he had that which was as good God strengthned him with strength in his soule God is more then a Father to us if we trust in him For he will not only when we aske an egge not give us a scorpion but when like foolish children as many times we doe we aske for a scorpion he will give us an egge * Luk 11.12 Nay he will not only give us better then what we aske for when we aske for that which is not good * Who is able to doe exceeding abundantly above all that we aske or think according to the power that worketh in us Eph 3 20. but he will give us being as willing to give as he is able farre above what we aske or are able to aske or thinke God is never behind hand with his children He will one way or other make it good Either they shall have mony or mony-worth still If he strike them with one hand he will stroak them with the other and they shall never have a purge for their bodies but they shall have a cordiall for their soules If they be in poverty and as the Apostle saies 2 Cor 4.8 9. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 perplexed or to seek of a plentifull supply of maintainance yet shall they not be 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 cleane out of cash altogether helples The way wherein God usually supplies them and makes amends for their sufferings is that which I have already mentioned viz If their bodies be in trouble their soules shall be at ease Psal 25.13 His soule shall dwell at ease and his
needs 1. It depends much on the company of men wherein be cannot alwaies have his mind yet otherwise he cannot be merry For still one thing or other is amisse Either he wants company or he has too much or too little or such as does not agree with his humour If the fault be one of these three last he may perhaps scrabble out with a great deale of paine But if it be the first he has no shift to make For he has such a number of objects without him to tempt him and vexe him which he cannot put off such a lowd importune noyse within him viz of a troubled conscience continually upbrading him which he cannot appease finally such disturbance from his thoughts to or for the committing of sinne which he cannot remedy that if you put him to single mirth he is no body If you keep him but within doores never so little he is presently off the hinges and like a thing as I may say unhang'd dull unweildy and without any activity at all Certainly that clock is not good that cannot goe long after it is set a going whose hand will goe no longer then it has the helping hand of another to keep it going Even such another thing is a wicked mans joy The joy of a godly man is cleane contrary because he has so little need of forrein assistance being so well furnish'd at home and able to live of himselfe You may not think to make him sad by making him solitary who has most of God when he has least of men and is never lesse alone then when you think him to be so 2. It depends much upon the state of his body He is merry either because he is of a sanguine complexion and so his mirth can be but a humour at best of an uncertaine continuance being that which proceeds from a humour which must be supplyed and may be corrupted will runne away at the least hole in a veine Or else because he is in a good condition of health and strength and so his mirth must needs be as his body is viz. seldome sound quickly disturbed and easily destroyed Keep such a one but from a meales meat or give him a morsell too much hurt him in one of his fingers or let him have but a little dumpish weather how does he sit mourning like an owle and knows not how to be comforted His laughing is presently turned into howling and sighing his harp into mourning and his organ into the voyce of them that weep 3. It depends much upon his age As his mirth dyes with him so it grows old with him and decayes as he does There is seldome a wicked man but his gray haires are brought downe with sorrow to the grave Sorrow for paine and Sorrow such as it is for Sinne and Sorrow that he cannot be merry Every thing that he has been he cannot think of it without sorrow either that he was so or that he cannot be so any longer or that he has no longer time to be not so How oft does he repeat it sighing and shaking his head I was and I have been thus and thus Those daies are gone or It was a merry time with me thē And So every thing that he has done he cannot think of it but with sorrow at least he cannot be glad to think of it If he were able to lay together before him all the deeds that ever he did all the words that ever he spake all the thoughts that ever he conceiv'd and all the objects too that ever entered into his sences or his understanding he would not be able to extract out of them one dramme of Comfort to exhilarate and revive his disconsolate drooping soule 4. It depends much upon his meat and drink His bones are never at ease till his belly be full I will not give a pin for his mirth if he be fasting If he be hungry and not presently supply'd which meat he is angry and was pish As the frensh-man says A hungry Clowne c so may I say a hungry wicked man is halfe mad And yet if he is not hungry he will be angry then too and sad for want of a stomack When he is empty he would be full and when he is full he would be empty He will be sad because he cannot eate and he will be sad because he can eate no more He has more then enough to doe to please his tast and the rest of the sences and yet he knowes not what to doe if he doe not Deny the merriest epicure such a dish or such a sawce or let him want but his wine and tobacco and who so melancholy a body as this merry soule Beleeve it such a mans mirth is for the most part but drowning of sorrow upon times and tides For when the water is gone and the drink is all up and downe his mirth is upon the head his joy is at an ebbe and like bankes that have been overflowne there is none so muddy as he 2. A Second fault in a wicked man's joy is that it is imperfect And so it is in regard both of the subject and the object 1. In regard of the subject that has it viz because it is but in one part of the man and that the worst too the body and not in the soule and in the worst part of the body the outer part and not in the heart or if at the best it be in the Soule it is but in a part of that neither and the worst part thereof too even as farre as it is carnall or naturall and not a jot further or higher But it is seldome so neither and therefore it can hardly be said to be in the man or to have any depth in it and consequently a man cannot be truly affected with it For seeing it is but outward and carnall superficiall and floating upon the top 't is no more comfort to the heart then a cup of strong water throwne in a man's face I say a wicked man's joy in regard of its subject is as grosse and earthly remaining in the members of the body As in regard of the cause it is aërie and vain beginning and continuing upon light occasions so that it is neither pure enough to pierce so farre as the Spirit nor weighty enough to sinke to the bottome of the heart Any stranger * Prov 14.10 may intermeddle with it and any strange accident will interrupt it His heart will be many times sad when his countenance is merry but his heart can never be merry when his countenance is sad A merry heart may make a cheerfull Countenance but a Cheerefull countenance will not make a merry Heart His heart is so farre from the objects of his joy which are grosse and earthly things that cannot get to it and the objects of vexations so neere his conscience and his conscience so neere his heart that he can never be heartily merry Perhaps he
is all in every thing For what is a faire easy way if it end there where I would not be or if it lead me out of the way But then as I have formerly said a wicked mans wayes besides that they are slippery are dark too And what sad walking is it besides the toyle and vexation in the dark Prov 14.9 The way of the wicked is as darknesse they know not at what they stumble 2. A wicked man has many masters and many sorts of masters and such as are very bad If they were good it were bad enough in that they are many viz The devill the world and six hundred Lusts Such masters as are to him for the most pars task-masters and such taske-masters as are Egyptian task-masters For. 1. they are unreasonable They will require brick of him when he has no straw Command him him to doe this and that and make him covet and feare and lust and hope and be angry when there is no possibility to obtaine or voyd or be reveng'd Which must needs put him to a great deale of torture and vex him exceedingly 2. They are unanswerable imperious and importunate They will not be put off They will have their commands executed what ever come of it presently to the full and every one though they be never so contrary to reason and to one another or else he shall never be quiet And shall he be quiet so 3. As their commands are unreasonable and imperious so they are continuall and without intermission 'T is not company nor want of company not opportunity nor want of opporrunity to doe what God would have him 'T is not night nor day Not sleeping nor watching Not being in publick nor being in private Not any time nor place nor person nor thing that will make the devill or his Lusts forbeare tempting him one minute of an houre And what domineering manner of tempting is it wherewith they tempt a wicked man But 4. there is one thing more in this tyranny which the devill and the flesh have over a wicked man that makes it intolerable and that is this that it is to be obeyed in severally ways extending it selfe both to body and soule They will be served with all the soule and with all the body which is more then God himselfe to whom only our service is due necessarily requires for if the spirit be doing it will suffice when the body cannot But this they doe and that with the inevitable hurt now and necessary destruction hereafter of both body soule which have thus served them which will make a fifth aggravation of a wicked mans misery in being subject to these masters viz because their commands are cruell enjoyning him to doe not that from which some good or benefit may come or which is indifferent or which is onely wearisome and painefull but that which is only evill absolutely and every way unprofitable in a spirituall sense and many times and many wayes in a carnall sense necessarily hurtfull and destructive not only to the body now as in the sins of whoredome intemperance contentiousnesse but both to body and soule hereafter 3. A wicked man hath many enemies Even those his masters are his enemies What condition can be more sad then his who cannot fight with but is under the command of his enemie Especially 1. If it be an intestine and domestick enemy No misery like to that One would endure to be under a forreiner but a civill enemy my subjection to him is as slavish as the hatred between us is bitter A wicked man's lusts Satan being his masters his enemies his enemies are domestick enemies and his domestick enemies are the most bitter and malitious for they seeke not any good of their own yet they seek his everlasting hurt 2. If it be a secret enemy and a seeming freind so these enemies and masters are which makes them the easier to be believed the harder to be avoided and the worse to be dealt with Those enemies are all in the darke to a wicked man who walkes altogether in the darke and hath noe light at all either without him or within him and what advantage has my enemy that stands neere me in the dark while I am in the light A wicked man being in darknesse is no more able to deale with the divell who is able to transforme himself into an Angell of Light then a blinde man is able to fight with one that hath his sight But beside these that dwell within him he hath other enemies without him that are not far from him neither 1. God who made him is made his enemy what an enemy must he be One whose eyes are alwaies upon him who knowes all that he does or sayes nay that he will doe or say or thinke every counsell and thought of his hart and that a farre off and long before What a case is he in that hath such an enemy and provokes him too as he does every minute 2. Men. Wickednesse will make enemies one way or other in the execution of sinne Now if those men be wicked there is malice enough with them and God is like to prosper it against his enemy If they be godly there is power enough with God and he is certain to exercise it first or last in the behalfe of his children What a poore love is it that a wicked man hath The godly man loves him but does not love his company the wicked man loves his company but does not love him He may love what he does as drinking and the like because he loves to do it himselfe but no longer then he does it neither Nay no longer then he does it with him and as he would have him wicked men associate not so much to beare one another company as to beare a part with one another but he loves not what he is he loves not his soule that is the most that a man is His soule is seldome knit to the soule of his companion by the band of friendship Neither indeed can it be For there can be no true friendship and yet without that there cannot be a merry life where there is no vertue Philosophers have said so long agoe and Christians find it to be true Wicked men may keep one another company to keep one anothers counsell they may agree together to doe mischiefe because they cannot doe it otherwise But it is no better then when dogs curres agree to cath a prey unlesse it be in this that they will agree sometimes when they have taken a prey which not withstanding usually they doe not so much out of mutuall love to protect one another as out of selfe love to preserve every one himself from the hand of justice 3. The Creatures who beare him a grudge continually That they forbeare him the least minute it is through the infinite forbearance of a most mercifull long-suffering God who can endure to let his sun shine both upon the
to have had many temptations to yeeld and yet to keep his old ground his first Faith * Tim 4 7. and love a Rev 2 4. and a good conscience b 1 Tim 1.19 Such a one if men did rightly judge of things would not only be talked of with commendation but poynted at with admiration whethersoever he went Digito monstrari dicier hic est Even as those Saints in the Revelation are by the Elder chap 7 vers 13.14 Where observe how he takes a delight to boast of them asking as if he did not know What are those which are arayed in white robes and whnce came they and then answering himselfe These are they which came out of great tribulation and have washed their robes and have made them white in the bloud of the Lamb. The Apostle James allowed a rich man to glory * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 rendred rejoyce in his abasement Jam 1 9 10. Thus you see that Afflictions are so farre from being as they are thought to be miseries or any thing hurtfull that they are rather indeed mercies and very beneficiall so that they make our condition exceedingly blessed And therefore insteed of pitying any man that is afflicted I will boldly say with Eliphaz and care not who heares me Behold happy is the man whom the Lord correcteth therefore despise not thou the chasttening of the Almighty Job 5.17 For what hinderance can Afflictions be to mirth if they are so beneficiall How many things could I name which although they are painfull yet because they are known to be beneficiall men endure with joy Be glad then O ye righteous rejoyce in the Lord in the mid'st of your greatest Afflictions If Paul could rejoyce in his Afflictions because he had done so much good to others other wayes 1 Thes 3 7 Therefore brethren we are comforted over you in all our affliction distresse by your faith why cannot we rejoyce in and after and for our Afflictions when even the Afflictions themselves doe so much good to our selves Certainly we can and doe and will rejoyce 4. Reason why the Afflictions of the godly in this world neither are miseries nor are to be so accounted by them is because of the inestimable amends which is certainly made after a very few minutes in a better world For if we suffer we shall also reign * And so those words Rom 8.17 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 per haps may well be rendred thus for as much as we suffer with him that we may be glorified with him You cannot deny the consequence for I have it of the Apostle 2 Tim 2.12 The greatest burden must needs be light in the ballance that hath such an exceeding weight * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 2 Cor. 14.17 of glory laid against it Which made Moses and the rest of the faithfull in the old Testament beare their burdens so cheerfully as they did as knowing whether they went with them Moses as 't is said Heb 11 25 26 Freely chose rather to suffer Affliction with the people of God then to enjoy the pleasures of sinne for a season esteeming the reproach of Christ greater riches then the treasures of Egypt for he had respect unto the recompence of the reward What is a little short paine of a purge or a vomit or a letting bloud in comparison of a long lasting health He were a very foole who would not be not only contented but glad to have no fruit at all this yeare when every one else hath a great deale upon condition to have a great deale next yeare when few besides have any Doe but have a little patience and stay till the Lord come and all will be well I will use James his words to you chap 5 7 Be patient therefore brethren unto the comming of the Lord Behold the husbandman waiteth for the precious fruit of the earth hath long patience for it untill he receive the early latter raine Let it not be said any man shall have more patience for a temporall then you can have for an eternall reward 5. The Afflictions of the godly are not miseries because for the most part I mean Afflictions which are chiefly counted such by the wicked in their objections to whome I direct my answer they are arrows that will reach or at most kill no further then the body which is a thing they doe not reckon so much of Neither indeed is it a jewell of such a price as that a man should be miserable presently as soon as it is crack'd Rather they count it a happinesse for the soule and consequently no misery to them For a man would willingly be miserable as the world accounts misery in the worst part to be happy in the best which is happinesse indeed Many times it is the way to be so as it is many times a meanes of preserving the vitall parts of the body within to make a wound in one of the others without The body is as a prison or manicle to the soule Quod equidem non aliter aspicio quam vinculum libertati meae circundatum said a heathen * Sene-Epist 65. And will a prisoner count it a misery if his maâ—icles be loosned or his prison or the walls thereof goe to decay whereby there may be hopes of escaping Nay the body in this condition it is now in till it be well purged and resined and made fit for such an inhabitant as the soule is is not only troublesome but hurtfull to the soule Noxia corpora tardant Terrenique hebetant artus * Virgil The bodies of clay hanging about the Soule are like so much dirt hanging about the wings of a bird and will not suffer it to fly like a bird to the mountaine Psal 11.1 Hath the soule reason to be heavier for that it is the lighter Or will any thing that is hurted by another thing be the worse because that thing is hurted Or may I be counted miserable when that is not well which the better it is I am commonly the worse Certainly it cannot be Unlesse the Soule were improv'd by the accession of things corporeall more then it is it cannot be so much impaired by the want But the improvement it hath from thence is but little For commonly when there is a diminution of the things of the body there is as great an addition of the things of the Soule Now as I said before those Afflictions of the godly which the wicked talke so much of and for which they account their condition so miserable are so farre from adding * Phil 1 16. to the bands of the Soule that they are the usuall meanes to release her of them and have no power but upon the bands themselves A skilfull workman will knock off the band of a thing and doe the thing no hurt at all And so God can doe a man's body hurt and yet doe him no hurt at all Nay if God