hear the Voice of others is a scarcely audible Whisper Some have but a Drop of the Oil of Joy others in comparison a very Sea of it However this is asserted of all Believers The Joy of Faith is the chief Joy of every sort of them Of them that want it none dare to slight it None can rest or be very easy till they have it The New Nature in them panteth for it as the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks And as oft as they get from under the foresaid Obstructions §. 1. Believers do truly rejoice in their Victory over Death Here Examples shall show THAT they do so and Reasons shall satisfy WHY they must so do The Time would fail to tell of Abraham foreseeing the Day and Work of his victorious Lord and rejoicing in it Of Jacob cheering himself under heaviest Pressures with the same comforting Prospect Of Job insulting over Death and glorying in his Assurance of a blessed Resurrection Of David proclaiming that his God would not leave him in Death And that he would fear no Evil when he walk'd through the Valley of its Shadow The Heart of the Saints of the Old Testament is to be seen in the Song of Solomon Hear it uttering it self to the Lord Jesus Christ We will be glad and rejoice in thee In thee that is by whose Stripes we are healed In thee on whom the Lord hath laid the Iniquities of us all and by the Faith of whom he justifieth us In thee to whom a Portion is divided with the Great and who dost divide the Spoil with the Strong as the Evangelical Prophet speaks We will remember thy redeeming Love more than Wine I sat down under his Shadow with great Delight and his Fruit was sweet to my Taste Consult with these Manifesto's the Psalms and Songs of his Father David It shall appear that the Church was dancing for Joy before the Day brake and the Shadows flew away and the Sun of Righteousness arose with the Light and Glory of the New Testament Under which who needs to be told what a Spirit of Joy was presently poured out Glad Tidings of great Joy the heavenly Heralds call'd the Gospel Where-ever it comes a Torrent of Joy follows it Gladly it is received at its first Publication though with the loss of all things adventured Philip preaches it at Samaria and there is great Joy in all the City We glory in Tribulations We rejoice with Joy unspeakable and full of Glory We are more than Conquerours We are always confident and willing rather to be absent from the Body and present with the Lord. We are always rejoycing We rejoice in the Hope of the Glory of God Thus speak the Apostles as well of their Converts as of Themselves And what saith Ecclesiastical History of the Ages ever since The same Spirit of Joy and Gladness hath been in all times of the Church They that have loved the Lord Jesus have rejoiced in him And in his Name have wished for Death have welcomed it and have been unterrified with its most ghastly Shapes and Pomps Polycarp desires his Executioners to let him shew them that he could burn at a Stake without being tied to it Lucius thanketh a barbarous Judg for the Favour of sending him to his God and Father Cyprian thanks God for his Goal-delivery by Death Hilarion cries Out of this Body O my Soul What is there any thing for thee to fear For thee an old Servant of Christ But to come nigher our own days Cranmer thrusts his Right-hand into the Fire to be revenged on it for subscribing a Damned Scroll as he called it for fear of Death Think you that I have not learned to die said Adam Damlip Be at my burning you shall see and say There 's a Souldier of Christ said Kirby Ridley called his Death his Wedding And Latimer told the Bishop going before him to the Stake he would have after him as fast as he could And when Fire was put to him with a smiling Face he uttered these Words God is faithful who doth not suffer us to be tempted above our Strength Bainam in the Fire professed he felt no more Pain than on a Bed of Down Death in the most hideous Shapes hath been thus triumphed over Clouds of Instances are to be read even in English Books And do we not know Multitudes of surviving Friends and Neighbours whom we discern to be of the Mind of the Martyr Adam Wallack If Death be ready we are ready Blessed be God this Age is not so forsaken by him but that there are Multitudes to whom Christ's Word is verified Your Heart shall rejoice and your Joy shall no Man take from you Is it yet with any of you a hard Saying which holy Hildersam hath written He that doth not desire and strive to be willing to die he hath cause to suspect that there is no true saving Grace in him Or that harmonious Passage of great Calvin on Hebrews 2.14 He that is not able to quiet his Heart in holy Contempt of Death let him know that he hath made but little progress in the Faith of Christ For as excessive Fear of Death ariseth from Ignorance of the Grace of Christ so it is a sure Sign of Vnbelief Or that of Dr. Hammond on 1 Tim. 1.15 If the Conversion of a Sinner be not accompanied with unwonted Joy and Sorrow a Godly Sense of past Distress and a Godly Triumph for his Delivery I counsel not to Distrust but to Fear to a solicitous though not a suspicious Trembling Let me add one more of Mr. Ward of Ipswich If we had but half the Strength of St. Paul 's Faith or Life of his Hope or Fore-imaginations which he had of his future Felicity we could not but have the same Desires and Longings for our Fruition of them I think few Truths to be more evident But it 's possible that these following Reasons may add to its Evidence These Reasons I give why Believers must needs rejoice in their Victory over Death First Believers are Men And it is the Nature of Man to rejoice in his most desired Good when he knows it to be obtained Victory over Death is certainly the most desired and the obtained Good of Believers And ordinarily they do know themselves to have obtained it through Christ their Lord. For the Law of Grace through Faith they do understand Their own Acts of Grace by Sense they do perceive And their State of Grace by Reason they do infer And the Spirit which is of God they do receive whereby they know the things which are freely given them of God 1 Cor. 2.12 What our Saviour in his days on Earth said to the Ears of some the Holy Ghost saith now to Believers Hearts Be of good chear your Sins are forgiven Witnessing with their Spirits that they are the Children of God Rom. 8.16 Not only enlightning their Minds to see the Truth of their Graces and thence to conclude themselves in a
by them exposed to the Jealousies of his Children and to the Prejudices of his Enemies Their Character is blotted and they must be taken rather for the defiling Pitch than the cleansing Salt of the Earth Lastly Believers are obedient Children of God and it is their required Obedience to triumph in their Victory through Christ It is not only a Licence for it that the Gospel giveth them but it is a Precept The old Primitive Law bound Man innocent to Joy and Glory in his blessed Life The Redeemer's Law doth not less oblige Man renewed to Joy and Glory in his more wonderful Salvation in his more blessed Life brought out of Death Who knows not how expresly and repeatedly this Precept is proclaimed Be glad in the Lord and rejoice ye Righteous Shout for Joy all ye that are upright Let the Saints be joyful in Glory let them sing aloud Rejoice and be exceeding glad Rejoice in the Lord and again I say Rejoice Rejoice evermore Because thou servedst not the Lord thy God with Joyfulness and Gladness of Heart thou shalt serve thine Enemies c. Texts are numberless Under the Law it self many were the Feasts instituted for one Fast In the Gospel-day the Holy Ghost is sent to be a Comforter extraordinary It were endless to enumerate the Ways in which God expresseth his Zeal for his Saints Joy The Reasons of which Zeal are both great and evident For Joy is the commanding Affection the End of all others that which all do subserve and seek And if this Ruler be corrupted all its Servants are necessarily wicked If this Potentate be not obedient to God it draws the whole Man into Rebellion He that rejoiceth not in Christ Jesus feels a thousand Temptations to forsake him yea in a fearful Degree he doth forsake him for not to delight and rejoice in him is to vilify and dishonour him and that is to forsake him with whatever unpleasant Services you shall all the while follow him All is Carrion that is not chearfully given it is not pure Sacrifice that is not offered with Joy and Gladness In short Thoughts of a Christ not delighted in will come but seldom and stay but little in any Mind and a Heart not delighted in him will soon believe a little Meditation of him to be enough and all the Duties which are laborious to be an Excess Why are secret ones and publick so generally neglected What maketh Backwardness to them and Weariness in them Whence rise Christians Inclinations to foolish forbidden Chats and Games Whence cometh their Quarrelsomness with each other and with their spiritual Fathers and Nurses To these and many like Questions it must be answered They rejoice not in Christ Jesus It needs not be said how impossible it is without Joy in him to rejoice in Tribulations to take joyfully the spoiling of outward Goods and to lay down our Lives for him Sense doth sufficiently certify it What shall we then judg of Believers if we take them for Men that make no Conscience of rejoicing in Christ We must judg them in the worst sense to be Solifidians very Demoniacks that break all Bonds and cast the strongest Cords of God behind their Backs which is as truly impossible as it would be unrighteous for a sound Believer ordinarily to do Extraordinary is the Case of Persons obstructed by a melancholy Habit of Body and temporary Temptations To will is present with them though how to do they find not They are not Fugitives but Captives and sold under Sorrow So that it is a Duty they would do which they do not do while remembring Death they are troubled they complain and their Spirit is overwhelmed Of other Christians I stick not to say They do not rightly seek the Lord who rejoice not and are not glad in him through whom they are Conquerors of Death who are Strangers to the Peace the Joy and the Glory of Faith Rom. 5.1 2 3. I am next to show that §. 2. Saints do Righteously triumph aloud over Death To shout for Joy as soon as they are in Christ is their reasonable Service The Equity of the Command is apparent as the Authority of the Law-giver and the Objections against it are Chaff easily blown away The Sum of them all is this Heaven only is the Seat of high Joy On Earth 't is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 absurd and out of Place It is a Business proper for none but Spirits made perfect unspotted with Sin unclouded with Sorrow unalarmed with Fear but most unfit for Souls that are bemired with Corruption laden with Guilt clothed with Infirmities surrounded with Temptations and in Jeopardy every Hour The Answer is of no Difficulty Though the King's Presence makes the Fulness of Joy above it gives abundance below The Victory given to Believers in Vocation and Adoption possesses them of an Heaven on Earth We which have believed do enter into Rest Heb. 4.3 Ye that believe on the Name of the Son of God may know that ye have eternal Life 1 Joh. 5.13 This but-inchoate Victory makes all old things pass away and all things become new The Believer's Corruption is mortified Guilt 's pardoned Infirmities gradually healed Temptations rebuked Persecutions sweetned Death disarmed and all things are made to serve his Interests All things are yours 1 Cor. 3. What is there to hurt after removal of Sin 's Guilt and the Law 's Curse which is the Divine Hatred and Wrath What is lacking to his Comfort whose Transgression is forgiven and Sin covered In short There do meet in this inchoate Victory of Believers all things requisite to make an Object of Joy unspeakable and thereby to justify the most lofty Triumph For what should put a Soul into Exultation if not First So Great a Blessing One if it must be called it is One and All. And of a Greatness shining forth in the extreme and eternal Evil from which it exempts and Good wherewith it endows If the Pitch of Joy should be proportionable to the Good of its Object here can be no Excess Secondly So Everlasting an One The greatest things if like Jordan's Streams they hasten to a sulphurous Lake are unworthy of Delight It is a sorry Feast on which Death it self must one day feed But Duration makes things of value to be invaluable And nothing is more durable than a Believer's Victory His Crown is immortal And Heaven shall no longer be a Kingdom than he reigns in it with Christ Peccata non redeunt his Pardon is irrevocable the Love of God to him is unchangeable the Seed of God in him is incorruptible If then Immortality it self doth appretiate all Joy is not too much for him whose Object is for all Eternity 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Thirdly So Sutable an One The most durable Goodness gives little Joy without Sutableness Pleasure is applicatio convenientis convenienti All the Mines of India would less transport a famishing Man than a Morsel of Bread But never was
of his Door as one that would not go free from that blessed Yoke and Service and lays in Hope the whole Assistance hereof on his Grace and Help And how in so extraordinary a Case as is alone to my Lord I desire to witness and renew the same here with my humble and intire Reliance on him who is my Trust from my Youth to this day my Shield and exceeding great Reward To him I commit my Self my Ways my Work and Service which with my Soul's Desire I offer to my Lord In whose Hand I desire to secure my Credit for the Gospel's sake my Comfort and Enlargement in this Day of deep Trouble and Anguish together with my poor Children and the whole Interest of my Family and Concerns desiring to put my self with humble Confidence and all that is dear to me under his Care and Conduct O my Soul bless thou the Lord This I write the 1st of Jan. 1692. R. Fleming My Lord and my God 1694. It is in the first Day and Monday of this new Year 1694. that as I have formerly through most of my Life past so now do desire to renew my Dedication and Engagements to the Lord my God and to join in the same Witness with what herein hath been formerly with my whole Heart and Desire and to offer unto my dearest Lord Praise in remembrance of what he hath been through the Year past and in the whole of my Life whose gracious tender Conduct hath been so wonderful and well hast thou my Lord dealt with thy Servant according to thy Word in all hath befallen me And as my Soul does now move and betake my self alone to him as my own God my Father my Redeemer and blessed Comforter and my only All so do I hereby witness the settling of my Trust my Hope and Reliances alone upon him for this new Year or what Time of my Life may yet remain with earnest Desire to enter yet again and continue in his Service even in that delightful Service of my dearest Lord and Master And now I do again by a new Surrender witness my entire Commitment of my self my poor Children my Credit for the Gospel my Conduct and Comfort in so extraordinary a Juncture to my dearest Lord to his gracious and compassionate Care and Providence together with my Works and any small Design to serve him and my Generation And I do intreat new Supplies of his Grace and Strength to secure and make his poor Servant if it were his blessed Will yet more abundantly forth-coming to him And with hope of Acceptance I write this Jan. 1 1694. R. Fleming Post tenebras spero Lucem At another time thus floweth his sacred Pen O my Soul never forget this solemn Wednesday Night nor the last Monday Night what solemn Visits I had from my Lord after so serious a Work of Trial about the Warrant of my Hope and Petition for the heightning of my Faith and sealing Testimony of his Spirit In how marvellous a Way did my dearest Lord I hope bear Evidence to the great Assurance he had formerly given me c. O let my Soul bless and adore the Lord for this sweet and marvellous Visit this Monday Night which my dearest Lord I hope hath given his poor Servant when so near sinking and I hope said to my Soul Fear not I forget you not for I have graven you on the Palms of my Hands c. I look on thee with Delight and the Time is come when I will give thee an Account of thy Prayers and Tears of thy many Groans and long On-waiting Have I spoken and will I not do it c. O thou afflicted tossed with Tempests in an acceptable Time have I heard thee Trust thou in the Lord for I will make thee a Sign to this Generation c. I am leading thee right and thy Strength is to sit still Is the Lord's Hand shortned that it cannot save c. O how shall I entertain this marvellous Day and Appearance of my dearest Lord to his poor Servant O wonderful Condescension this Morning after so sweet an Evening before that he should please to give so near an Approach of himself O I hope it was his Voice I am come I am surely come my Servant in the fourth Watch of the Night to bring forth my Prisoner and set him at liberty who hath stay'd so long for me c. I embrace you as an Over-comer rejoice for great is your Reward in Heaven I am now entering thee on a Day of rejoycing Be not doubtful it is I who comforts thee c. And when I said O how shall I manage such a wonderful Enlargement how discernably was it returned I hope from himself I will manage it for thee Thou hast stayed for me but thou hast got the Victory and the Day shall be thine and thou shalt know what I have been doing with thee and for thee O let me never forget the 25th of Decemb. at Night when after 60 Years under the Lord 's special Conduct he gave me so sweet and remarkable a Visit never to be forgotten O what a Night was it when I went home pressed to sing the 103d Psalm c. But it were endless to name Passages of this nature since almost every Day was a Communion-day between God and him And how remarkably God hath answered his Prayers may easily be inferred from hence One Instance to this Purpose we may see in his Epistolary Discourse Page 68. of a Minister who had a violent Collick immediately taken off upon his praying to God for that End It is known to be himself he speaks of there though he expresses it Modestly in the Third Person I shall now present a few Things which he sets down in Writing by themselves under this Title A short Index of some of the great Appearances of the Lord in the Dispensations of his Providence to his poor Servant c. And although the Brevity and Obscurity of the Hints must needs leave us in the dark as to the full Meaning of most of them as being written only for his own Memory as the Title shews yet they will serve to shew us the particular Care of his Great Master over this his faithful and eminent Servant They are the Remarks which he calls the Appearances of the Lord towards him in his own Words 1. How near I was brought to Death in my Infancy given over yea and esteem'd a Burden to my Friends so as my Death was made desirable to them I being as the Refuse of my Father's Children yet even then I was God's Choice and in a most singular way restored 2. That remarkable Deliverance on receiving a Blow by a Club when a Child which was so near my Eye as endangered both my Sight and Life 3. That strange and extraordinary Impression I had of an audible Voice in the Church at Night when being a Child I had got up to the Pulpit calling to me to make haste
exulting Victors and Strength enough to hold them in its Dungeon till the Resurrection This Mouth of Infidelity is presently stopped Here follows A justifying Reason such as clears the Triumph from the Charge of Absurdity It is confessed if Death were but it self and not Pars minima sui it would be unworthy of the Honour of being insulted over it would be an Insect of an inconsiderable Sting if not a perfect Drone An Enemy too despicable to be triumphed over with Harp and Psaltery nor would Christians blow a Trumpet for the Overthrow of a Wasp But Death's Name is Legion and as it 's an Host of Enemies in one it is a formidable one The Sting of Death is Sin q. d. Sin is the whole Element of Evil it is all the Evil of Doing Nothing beside is Evil essentially or meritoriously This Hell of Sin being infused into Death makes it like it self even the whole Element of Misery and all the Evil of Suffering where then if not here shall be found a Trophy for Faith Here in Death envenomed by Sin By Sin whereof a Spark made Devils of the most blessed Creatures And no more than the imputed Guilt made the ever-living God to sweat Blood Seems this to be a Paradox Hear then The Strength of Sin is the Law q. d. No wonder that Sin is so pernicious a thing for the Curse of the Divine Law is on it And who can think what is God's Power or his Law 's Terror His Law must be like himself as in its Precepts and Promises so in its Threats The Punishments of so great a King must necessarily be great The Breach of his Law 's Duty can deserve no less than Extremity and Eternity of Misery and the Curse laid upon it is no less No marvel then that Sin 's Guilt maketh a Hell of Death being the Law 's Curse maketh Sin a worse thing than Death or Hell an Evil that Hell it self must have all Eternity to punish But over both Law and Sin God giveth us the Victory As fiery as this Law is Christ's Blood quencheth it As boiling a Furnace as it makes of Sin it cannot make Sin to be the Death of a Believer's Soul These the worst of Enemies are first slain For upon our first believing Christ's Righteousness is imputed and by that Imputation the Law 's Curse and Sin 's Condemnation are removed Over them we have Triumph sounded Rom. 7.4 Ye are dead to the Law by the Body of Christ And ver 24 25. Who shall deliver me from the Body of this Death I thank God through Jesus Christ our Lord. Death's Dominion is therefore at an end though its Power to kill the most holy Body and to detain the most sacred Dust for a time be not taken from it In short the Grace of Christ hath made Sin a broken Enemy the Law a kind Friend and Death a useful Servant Doth the Saints Triumph therefore precede or exceed Victory let the Wise judg When Israel was brought through the Red Sea what Songs of Praise were straitway sung though they had a howling Desart to be passed through and were not presently in Canaan Their Songs injected Terror to the Dukes of Edom and the mighty Men of Moab Yea the Greeks no sooner heard the Articles of Peace purchased for them by Titus Flaminius but they cried 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a Saviour a Saviour Plutarch in vit T. Flam. And with such Shouts of Joy as made the Air to ring and the Birds to drop down astonished A deep Lethargy it is that maketh Christians Joy to be less while their Reason for it is infinitely more That restrains them from such Triumph as would make the Infidel World to tremble But O where shall Offerings and whole Burnt-offerings be found For this Victory this Inchoate one Lebanon is not sufficient or the Cattel upon a thousand Hills But as Jehoshaphat in Berachah the Saints throughout the Earth do bless the Captain of their Salvation and Conquest The next Verse and Breath is An holy Gratulation A lovely Heaven of it in a little Globe of Words Thanks be to God! To the Father Son and Spirit our One God be all holy Obedience Whereof Gratitude is the principal Part that which contains and animates all Laws bind to Obedience and Benefits unto Thankfulness But God our Law-giver is in all things our Benefactor His very Laws all are Benefits To him be therefore all Obedient Thankfulness and all Thankful Obedience To him Who giveth us the Victory through our Lord Jesus Christ Of his Saints Victory we publish the Truth We declare his Gift of Grace to be the Original We testify the Limitation of this Gift unto Believers only and the Extent of it unto all Believers As well to Babes in the Cradle of Christianity as the oldest Mnason's in God's Kingdom We proclaim the never to be forgotten Purchaser of it the Lord Jesus Christ Whose Death gave the Angel of Death his mortal Wound Whose Resurrection certified and exemplified Believers Whose Righteousness by Faith received instateth them in the Power of an endless Life Whose Sanctifying Spirit mortifieth sinful Lusts which be not the least Stings of Death Whose Comforting Spirit takes out the Pain and Anguish that Sin sticketh into our Souls And whose Glorious Appearing one day will fulfil his old Word to a tittle O Death I will be thy Plague O Grave I will be thy Destruction Waving all others the Argument I take hence is this Holy Believers on Christ do rejoice in their Victory over Death Truly Righteously and Holily they rejoice in their Salvation by Christ They sing O Death where is thy Sting O Grave where is thy Victory c. The Plural Number in which he speaks may assure us that the Apostle sung in Consort Thanks be to God who giveth us the Victory And it shall be shown that this Text is all the Holy Catholick Church's Song Which while Militant is so far triumphant We may say of Death and of all Enemies in Combination with it as St. John saith of the World Whosoever is born of God overcometh them And this is the Victory that overcomes them even our Faith Consequently he that overcometh and shall not be hurt of the second Death must take it for his Duty and make it his Practice to joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of his Salvation But lest with the Dogs I should shut Children out of the Church-Doors and wound any that have already the Arrows of the Almighty sticking in them I must premise two things Obstructions are allowed for It is not affirmed that all or any Believers do always rejoice Full oft they are hindred by Bodily Maladies by Mental Mistakes by Satan's Buffetings and by Divine Desertions Under which their Harp is turned to Mourning and their Organ into the Voice of them that weep And Secondly Degrees be wondrously different Of them that sing Triumph the Voice of some is as Thunder which all
State of Grace but verbis mentalibus by secret spiritual Words by internal mysterious Whispers testifying unto them that they are in that blessed State For the Matter of Witnessing is more than Enabling a Person to read his Evidence In Westminster-hall he would not be taken for a Witness who should do no more than hold a Candle to one reading his Evidence But the Holy Ghost the Comforter is expresly named a Witness to Believers of their being taken into the Number and being bless'd with all the Privileges of the Sons of God Ordinarily therefore I say that Believers do know the Cause of Joy that they have Though as hath been foresaid Times of Desertion there are in which they know it not And it is most certain the heavenly Comforter doth not at all times comfort Nor is joyful Assurance of the very Essence of justifying saving Faith But by reason of fore-named Obstructions Children of Light may sit all their days in the Dark and in the Deeps And ascend to Heaven at last in a thick Cloud Otherwise we do all generally believe and teach that the Spirit of Adoption being given unto Sons as Sons of God he is given unto every Child of God And commonly they do know themselves Conquerors who are in Christ and are not reprobate unsound Christians This being admitted they must be dead and not lively Stones as St. Peter calls them if they Rejoice not They must cease to be Men if they become not joyful Ones They must be stupified as soon as Justified and Adopted For the Humane Nature hath an inseparable Instinct and Power which on good Tidings heard doth transport Minds and Bodies into Expressions of Gladness Diffusing Spirits and by them sending forth the News trying as it were by communicating to multiply it Gaudio cogendi vis inest The Roman Orator says and all Men feel it Joy enters with a Violence and with a grateful Violence that we are not able to resist breaks forth from us Who thinks that David was able to forbear his Dance before the Ark Or that the healed Cripple could contain himself from Running Leaping and Praising God We have read of them who have died of Joy and it is true which one saith Should Believers have the Degrees of Assurance which imprudently they do sometimes desire they must presently Die for Joy or be kept Alive by Miracle In short then Believers must put off Nature if they rejoice not in Christ's Grace They must be without natural Affection if they be without any spiritual Consolation if ordinarily they be so Secondly Believers are wise Men And it is Wisdom to rejoice in such Felicity as Victory over Death In the Day of Prosperity Nature necessitates Joy and Reason enforces it For Happiness is a Feast made for Mirth and how monstrous a Folly must it be to frustrate so kind a Design upon us Wisdom is a true Gust and right Relish of things Sapit cui res sapiunt ita ut sunt But how far be they from it who taste no Sweetness in the Milk and Honey that flow in this Victory Hearts delighting not themselves in Substances do most certainly delight themselves in Shadows And what a Delusion is that what a gathering together of all Folly and a very Sea of it The Laughter of Wretches laden with Irons or standing on the Ladder ready for Execution seems not greater Madness than the Disconsolateness of them when they are both pardoned and advanced Should the Saints and Angels in Heaven cease rejoicing it were to be asked What Wisdom is in them They would be to be charged with extreme Folly Unreasonable it would be for them to give over Rejoicing as it would be for Devils and damned Ghosts to begin And yet it is most certain that Justified and Adopted Believers have as true Cause of Joy as Angels and glorified Spirits are in a State only in Degree less blessed consequently have as true Reason to sing Hosannah's here below as they to sing Hallelujah's above and cannot but hold on Songs of Joy in the House of their Pilgrimage without first becoming sensless of their Conquest Joyful Praise is comely for them Nor is Triumph on the way to Hell more unreasonable than on the way to Heaven it is discreet In a word To think that Saints did ordinarily incur and indulge the Guilt of its Neglect would be to think them what the World stiles them Men besides themselves This Guilt would be a dead Fly in their Ointment and make it to send forth so stinking a Savour of the most loathsom Folly Thirdly Believers are Righteous Men and it is their Justice to be glad and triumph in their Victory over Death Justice witholds not what is due when it is in the Power of its Hand to repay To repay Vengeance to Evil-doers and Praise to them that do well Death and its Complices the Law Sin Satan and Hell are Enemies that have tragically used Believers made them to bear God knows what shamed them and tempted them to curse the Day of their Birth held them subject to Bondage through Fear all the time that they laid under their Power A holy Revenge is now owing to Sin and to Satan and now that through Christ they are taken out of those cruel Hands they are able to pay it able to expose them and put them to open Shame to shew abroad how they themselves have been used by one mightier than they how the Law as damning is abolished Sin is condemned Satan's Head is bruised Death is plagued the Grave is destroyed and Hell hath its Mouth stopp'd On the contrary there is no finding out to Perfection the Breadth and Length the Depth and Height of God's Grace The Love of God which is in Christ Jesus our Lord passeth all Vnderstanding His Grace and his Gift by Grace unto Believers are ineffable infinitely free without Merit in us or any Motive Astonishingly rich while we were Enemies most defiled and deformed ones and equally without Power to resist damning Justice and without the Prudence to ask Saving-Mercy Angels our Elders and Betters were not pitied but irreversably doomed to Destruction More than Angels and all the Creation was worth was given to redeem us even as much more than they are worth as God by Essence exceedeth the mere Creature Christ is God by eternal Essence and yet God spared not that his Son but gave him up to redeem Rebels whereat Hell envies and Heaven wonders A vast Tribute of Praise must hence rise due so due that if Believers be silent the Stones must needs cry out Believers that now are no longer Mutes have the dumb Devil expell'd and their Mouths opened for Praise their Tongues touched with a Coal from the holy Altar and qualified to lift up the Name of their Redeemer But what save Triumph in their Victory through him can render to Death the things that are Death's or to Christ the things that are Christ's If Faith doth not now play
on the Hole of that Asp and boldly put its Hand on that Cockatrice's Den what Shame does it thereto If it doth not joy in the Lord and rejoice in the God of its Salvation what Honour doth it pay him How makes it to be seen either that Death is disarmed or that it was Christ who did take away its two-edged Sword That of worst Loss it is made our great Gain or that Christ was he who so blessedly converted it Wherefore Believers must not be thought to put on Righteousness or to deserve the Name of just Men but to be most unlike to their righteous Lord who loveth Righteousness if they are taken for Men void of David's Resolution I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing Praise to my God while I have my Being Fourthly Believers are crowned Heads Men of Honour Kings and Priests to God and it is their Honour to rejoice and triumph over Death Fight is not honourable without Victory nor Victory without Triumph Believers fight the good Fight of Faith and overcome by the Blood of the Lamb but without the Joy and Triumph of Faith they appear but as Sampson when shaven like any other Man Joy is their sensible and visible Principality the conspicuous Crown of their Glory take away that and they are Kings deprived of their Crowns Priests unadorned with their holy Garments for Beauty and for Glory inglorious and unlike themselves Eye-sores and offensive to him that made them Kings and Priests and in the World's Eyes the vilest Abjects yea many an one becomes a Magor-missabib a Terror to himself and all about him The Israelites when their Ornaments were off were naked to their shame Believers are so when their Joy ceaseth If there come in among them those that are Unlearned or Unbelievers they cannot think God to be in them of a Truth or see what they are or do more than others Certain it is that God doth not willingly grieve them and the World and Devil cannot take away their Joy from them till they themselves do cast it away Divine Grace fails not to minister Comfort to them while they keep in the way of Comfort So that their Joy never dies but when they kill it their Honour is not laid in the Dust but by their own Hands Wherefore How unworthy a Judgment must we make of Believers if we take them for a Generation so careless of their Honour yea such Murderers of it for they are no less who cast away the joyful Confidence and Hope which keeps them from appearing of all Men the most miserable The Garment of Praise that can very much distinguish between God's Heirs and Satan's Slaves Fifthly Believers are Lovers of true Pleasures and it is their only Pleasure to joy and triumph in Christ Jesus and in God through him Pleasure is the Life of Life the End of Action and the Strength of Agents unto it Carnal Men do in all things pursue carnal Pleasures and spiritual Men spiritual ones Pleasure is the Spring of Action in both and in both Joy is Strength and Sorrow lays amort Heaviness in the Heart of a Man boweth it down Like a Moth in a Garment it bites asunder its Strings and its Strength insomuch that the Counsels and Determinations of disconsolate Souls are faint and tottering like the Motions of wounded Bodies But merry Hearts do good like Medicines they prevent and remove Indispositions they are also continual Feasts and preserve Spirits Salt and Sawce they are to sweeten all things in Peace and as Drums and Trumpets they inspire Courage in War Wherefore the Love of Action draws with it the Love of Joy And inseparable are the Desires of holy Life and holy Mirth Mirth and Joy as the Water of Aesculapius his Well was feigned to be uncapable of Putrefaction But what Joy is so save Joy in the Salvation of the Lord All others corporal and intellectual are vanishing in themselves and without this are delusive and corruptive A Nature they have that is clogging and such as makes Variety needful to keep out Loathing Believers do see this and therefore despise the Cucumbers and Melons which they did eat freely in their dark Egyptian State Manna they must have now or they die a Bread and a Joy that the World knows not of one in a higher Object and perfect without defect perpetual without Decay wherein all Desires may be satisfied and all Wants be supplied Now What Charity which thinketh no Evil can think Believers to be a Number of bewitched Creatures which they must be above any heard of upon this Earth if having a Desire of Joy as of Life and having no other Joy or at least none that they can exercise without this of their Victory by Christ they do not constantly rejoice herein Is it credible that the New Creature is one that is averse from his sole Pleasure negligent of what is dear to it as its Life Sixthly Believers are the Lights of the World and Salt of the Earth and it is their capital Service to the Church and World to triumph over Death The Work of converting confirming and comforting Souls is the whole Business of a Minister but it is the true Business of every Believer Doing Good unto all Men is the Duty of all and the Practice of all that be truly good It is sure that all such do desire and endeavour in their places to make others good and accordingly have the honourable Names given them in the Word which speak them to be very useful in the World Touching the Means of their Usefulness it is known even to a Proverb that Precepts do far less avail than Examples and of Examples of holy Life it needs not to be said how incomparably most beneficial those are which are most resplendent with Divine Consolation How much more than others these do attract and win the Tractable shame and silence the Incorrigible quicken the supine and slothful Christian strengthen the weak and wavering and solace all These it is confessed do singularly lift up the Hands that hang down and the feeble Knees and keep what is lame from being turned out of the way and heal it But it is to be awfully thought on what I add Unspeakable are the sad Effects and Consequences of holy Mens sad and utterly comfortless Walk Weak Christians see it and call in question the Truth of Christianity Scorners do open wide their Mouth Ignorant Wanderers from the way of Truth are hardened against it The Lovers of God are grieved And till such time as good Mens Sackcloth is put off and they become girded with Gladness their Light hardly sends forth any convincing or converting Beams Their Salt emits little piercing and purifying Savour If therefore the Love of God or Love of Men moveth them Believers must watch and pray for the Voice of Joy and Gladness without which as their own Souls be disquieted others are dismayed and the Ways of their God are
Gift so suted to a Creature 's Need as Believer's Victory is Herein being in themselves dead in Christ they are made alive Being blind they receive their sight Being weak they are made strong Being miserable they are made blessed Being mutable they are eternally established Joh. 6.57 As the living Father hath sent me and I live by the Father so he that eateth me shall live by me They must therefore die for Joy who joy too much for their Victory And scarcely could that it self be called too much Fourthly So Sumptuous an One All the World rates high what is bought dear But was there ever such a Purchase as the Believer's Conquest It astonished the Angels Our Saviour mentions it not without Wonder Joh. 3.16 The Price was the very Blood of God And only the Mind of God can comprehend the Worth of the Blood of God Wherefore of the most triumphant Joy herein it is boldly to be asked Is there not a Cause Fifthly So Rare a Blessing Rarity doth extremely enhanse Value Diamonds would be no Idols if they were no Rarities Yea what would Crowns be if every Head wore one It is what few attain that all do admire Now of Believers Victory who knows not how little there is of Commonness to take away from the Comfort Alas of the Many called to it how Few are chosen how Few will come to Christ for it And of the lapsed Angels not so much as One recovered his Fall Believers highest Joy is then surely unblamable if Rarity makes good things delectable and adds Sweetness to Hony it self Sixthly So Present an One It is most true absent Good is the Object but of Desire it must be present before it can be embraced with Delight Infidels ask therefore of Believers Are they not mad Mad to pretend their Souls filled with the Marrow and Fatness of things far from them But they are to be told Believers are not drunken as they suppose It is in things present that they exult Present though to the World invisible And real though every where spoken against as very Chimera's The Glories of their Victory are present in the Eye of Faith seeing them in the Hand of Faith receiving them in the Mouth of Faith tasting them Or to speak more to the Capacities of Infidel Objectors it must be said that the Blessing wherein they rejoice is in their Minds in daily Contemplation is in their Hearts in constant Expectation is in their whole-Man in sweet Fruition And how are the things in which they themselves do triumph any more or otherways present to them Do natural things incur their natural Senses As truly do spiritual Ones incur the spiritual Senses of Believers Whose spiritual Sight and Taste do therefore make their Exultations as just No more Candles shall be lighted in this Sun I proceed to evince that the Souls so joyful and thankful are holy that §. 3. Believers do triumph Holily over Death Their Laughter is not Madness If it be asked of their Mirth what doth it it must be answered It doth on Earth what Saints and Angels Mirth doth in Heaven It gives Praise and Thanks to God and to the Lamb For O Death where is thy Sting never goes before but Thanks be to God follows fast after Thankful Repentance thankful Faith Hope and Love thankful New-Obedience Blind Seers are the Romanists and others who teach otherwise And would bear us in hand that Assurance of Victory over Death is a Wine too strong for the Head of any Viator any living Believer Such whose Mirth would be Madness and the Joy of it turn the Grace of God into Wantonness Dispose us to nothing but Sloth and Security Pride and Presumption But what do the Arguings of Men so sensual and void of the Spirit of Faith avail It is true there are Wretches of slight and frothy Spirits who will be boasting of a false Gift a Cloud without Water Proclaim their wondrous Joy and speak swelling words though their Cloven-feet do manifestly confute their flaming Tongues And not walking in the Fear of the Lord it is sure they do not walk in the Joy of the Holy Ghost No small stumbling Block this hath been to Men of Senses not exercised to discern But these following Particulars will convince or confound all Gain-sayers First The Efficient Worker of the Joy and Triumph we speak of is the Holy Ghost Expresly it is named his Whose Operations no doubt are holy and make for Holiness His comforting Work tending as much to sanctify as his sanctifying Work tendeth to comfort us A contrary Thought would be Blasphemy against the Holy Ghost and plainly make him a Minister of Sin Secondly The Law of this Joy is the Holy Gospel Believers Joy is as surely by the Gospel's Warrant as by the Spirit 's Work For he never speaketh of his own never as a Judg speaks Life and Joy to any but those to whom the Gospel as the Law of Grace and Peace doth assign it There is a perfect Consent between Christ's Spirit and his Word The Joy given by one is given by both And to think that the Joy by them given is a Servant of Sin were fearfully to blaspheme both belying them with a Brow of Brass Thirdly The End of this Joy is holy Conversation Whereby is our heavenly Father glorified but by our bringing forth much Good Fruit Or what doth he either constitute in his Word or dispense by his Spirit but for the End that he may thereby be glorified If we imagine that this Joy of Believers so constituted and so dispensed for this End is no apt Means for it but for the contrary how foolishly must we charge him who is only wise Fourthly The Means whereby this Joy is wrought are holy Ordinances and vigorous Exercise of Grace therein The holy Spirit useth not to lift Souls out of the Hell of their Fears much less to lift them up to the Heaven of triumphant Joys but in this Way And is it likely that the Effect should be an Enemy to its Causes That the Believer's Joy like a Viper should be Death to its Parents That Communion with God should beget such a Delight in him as should make us by and by weary of him Fifthly The Subjects of this Joy are holy Souls others are uncapable of it nor need we say what Use they would make of it who make the worst use of all the Grace objective and subjective that they do receive Most sure it is the holy Spirit first worketh Grace then witnesseth it to be in a Man and so comforteth him and causeth him to triumph in his State of Grace Christ is formed in the Soul before the Soul rejoiceth in Christ and it is then a prepared Subject for Joy is it not And who can believe that then like a Dunghil it will be made the fuller of Stench and noisom Fumes by the Shines of Heaven on it and not like a Garden have its Spices flow forth the more