but all the smart of them is rather from unhappiness than from sinful unworthiness and more for trial perhaps than for punishment yet then they are apt to relent too and to be deeply pensive and duly mournful in proportion to the uneasiness incident to them So the Christians at Miletus wept sorely and sorrowed extreamly to understand they should see Paul's face no more Act. 20.37 38. And when our own demerits or God's good Providence shall at any time sink us into Infelicities the like afflictive Sorrow will not only become us but likewise benefit us and I may safely averr it is so far our Duty as it makes for our best and our highest Interests When private mourning respects our Duties it hath the nature of Zeal in it Thus he that is sensible he wants the Graces of Heaven and prays earnestly for them and through heat and vigour and vehemence of his Spirit mourns in his Supplications for the obtaining of them his mourning is but Zeal which plainly discovers it self in his high Concern for his unhappy Defects and his hearty Endeavour to get them supplied So he that acts the Heavenly Graces which he hath in fearing believing and loving of GOD and weeps and mourns that he can do it no better his mourning is Zeal and this his Carriage is a fair Symptome or Indication of as much For it shews that he is warm in these Actings already and that he hath intense and ardent Desires of more Awe of of more Faith in and of more Affection to the DEITY In short when he that dischargeth any Christian Offices grieves and mourns for his Deficiency in them whence can this come but from Displeasure at himself for presenting Services so imperfect and from Eagerness to offer such as are more worthy and so what is it but unfeigned and inflamed Zeal and a laudable Effect or Expression of it When private Mourning respects our own Sins it may be lookt upon as a piece of true Repentance Nor will it improperly come under that notion as being the first great step we usually take in that needful Duty For as they who feel nothing but Pleasure in sin will be too fond of it and delight so much in it as to be loth to leave it So they who find it bitter and irksome will quickly disgust it and by degrees grow weary of it and be weaned from it till they come finally to forsake it Nor does mourning for sin as it renders it distastful become instrumental to our first Turn from it only but where it continues it conduces greatly to the consummation of our Repentance also helping to perfect as well as to begin it But of this more in the Sequel of the Treatise CHAP. IV. What solemn Mourning in private is It s principal Concomitants these Seven Tears Prayer Fasting Alms-deeds Set-times free Forgiveness and select Associates BEfore we go any farther we must remember that it is not only Mourning and private Religious Mourning that we here treat of but such private and religious Mourning as is solemn Such holy Mourning that is as we do not fall into by Chance or preter-intentionally and as we do not continue in contingently and uncertainly for some few Minutes according as it may happen But such as we design and propose to our selves and such as we deliberately chuse and studiously promote wisely projecting and contriving for it and carefully and industriously labouring after it to raise it to the highest pitch we can and then to keep it there for some reasonable time For as sincere Christians who are upright in their Lives and regular and zealous in the Works of GOD are often visited with sudden Joys and lifted up with unlookt for Consolations while a bright Beam is unexpectly darted into them from above and perhaps at such a time when they are more than usually in Clouds or Darkness So on the contrary it sometimes happens that they are surprized with Grief when they little think of it When they are seated in their best and easiest Circumstances where the Air is free and the Sky is clear and all about them is lightsome and pleasant even then their Serenity grows thick on a sudden and an unexpected Gloominess comes upon them Or if the Heavens be not wholly overcast at once yet some watry Clouds rise in their Horizon and their fair Weather is turned into Showers which fall as Rains very frequently do when the Sun shines Their Hearts are struck I mean with pious Relentings unawares and they slide in an Instant into Holy Sorrow and that so unsensibly that they find themselves in it without any Prospect at all of it and feel their Souls much affected with it without taking any manner of pains to raise it Now such a surreptitious and accidental Mourning is not the Mourning which we here speak to For however the Pangs of it which seize the Christian at his Prayers Meditations or the like may be Instances of the Divine Favour towards him and may shew that he is dear to the HOLY GHOST who is pleas'd to honour Him with unsought Influences yet our principal Subject is an intended premeditated and endeavoured Mourning A Mourning that we strive and labour for using our utmost care and skill to make it as serious and solemn as we can And when it is duly solemn it hath these Seven Attendants or Concomitants 1. Tears 2. Prayer 3. Fasting 4. Alms-deeds 5. Set-times 6. Free Forgiveness 7. Select Associates First Where Holy Mourning is duly solemn it is often accompani'd with Tears They are a most natural Expression of Sorrow and where-ever it rises high in the Heart it is usual with it to run out at the Eyes There it commonly discharges it self tho' I dare not affirm that it always does so For some have such a Masculine hardness in their Temper that scarce any thing is able so far to melt them as to set them a weeping While others again are of so soft and feminine a Constitution that every thing almost can cause them to do it They dissolve apace and sink and drown as it were in Floods of Tears even upon slight and trivial accounts and from very unproportionable Motives and Occasions So that if we would not err here we must lay down some Rule which may serve to guide us in this matter And the safest Rule as well as the plainest to judge our selves by in the Case before us I think is this If we do not weep upon Religious Accounts as well as upon others we may justly suspect that all is not right with us For this strongly argues that either we are not throughly affected with the things of Christianity or that we are short of that Tenderness of Spirit which should dispose us to weep in such weighty Affairs If therefore thou beest naturally prone to Tears and canst shed them freely for lighter concerns as for the Unkindness of Friends the Abusiveness of Enemies or any kind of outward Afflictions or
will be in vain To this agrees the Doctrine of that Great Man the Son of Sirach He that washeth himself after the touching of a dead body if he touch it again what availeth his washing So it is with a Man that fasteth for his Sins and goeth again and doth the same Who will hear his Prayer or what doth his humbling profit him Ecclus. 34.25 26. One Request now concludes the Preface That they who use this Book and find Benefit by it would not only give Glory to GOD for it to whom alone it wholly belongs But also that they would Remember its unworthy Composer in their daily Prayers especially on the days of their Devout and Solemn Addresses to Heaven ☞ That the plain Reader might meet with no Difficulties to stop or hinder Him in the perusing this Treatise some few things not altogether so obvious and easy as the Rest are taken out of his way by being thrown back in the Quality of Notes to the End of the Book THE Holy Mourner c. CHAPTER I. The Usefulness of our Faculties and Passions What Religious Mourning is Two Sorts of it Publick and Private The two Kinds of Private Mourning with the respective Branches of them AS GOD hath given us a lofty Nature and endued that Nature with excellent Faculties So He designs those Faculties for worthy Ends. He intends them not only for Ornament but Use and by them means to make us better as well as higher than other Creatures Thus He gave us an Understanding that we might know Himself as well as other things A Will that we might chuse our Duty as well as other Advantages A Memory that we may treasure up Divine as well as other Truths that so within our selves we might not only have Matter to entertain our Thoughts profitably but also be competently furnish'd with some good Principles from whence to take the measures of our Practice And if we look more downward into the Frame of our Being we shall see that our Passions tho' much inferior to the mentioned Faculties were contrived by the all-wise GOD Who made them for our very Souls Improvement For when He put them into us it was that they might be instrumental to our heavenly and eternal as well as to our temporal and secular Interests Love for instance He planted in us to fix our Hearts immoveably on Himself and to carry them out in Desires towards Him with all the Force and Vigour and Vehemence which that Sweet and Powerful Principle has Fear to awe our Minds into Seriousness and so to balast them as to keep them steady that they being tossed with no Lightness or Folly we may be kept from all Loosness and Sin Hope to draw us to true Religion and not only to induce us to it but to encourage us in it while lively Expectation of its future Rewards carries us through all its present Difficulties enabling us with Laudable Patience and Zeal to perform both its active and passive Duties Joy to enliven and elevate our Spirits that so besides zealous Patience and Constancy we may persist in our Duties with Alacrity and Pleasure For where Joy intermingles with the Offices of Religion it abates or takes off the uneasiness of them and turns them into real and high Delight To mention no more even Grief it self as mean a Passion as men think it and as bitter and irksome as it seems to be is of singular use to the Sincere Christian and serves him in his best and noblest concerns with an happy Efficacy Tho' to instance in what Particulars it does it would be to anticipate the Matter of this Treatise in the Sequel of which they will Sufficiently appear At present therefore we note but this much That Grief is eminently serviceable to good Christians as it ministers to holy or religious Mourning and is an essential or constituent Part of the same This will be evident if we do but consider what religious Mourning is And that I think may not improperly be thus described It is a blessed Work of the HOLY GHOST whereby we grieve heartily upon some spiritual account It is a work of the HOLY GHOST Nor can it be otherwise For where a plentiful Effusion of HIM is promised we find holy Mourning in the true Church to be an immediate Fruit of it I will pour upon the house of David and upon the Inhabitants of Jerusalem the SPIRIT says GOD Zech. 12.10 And then it follows in the next Verse in that Day there shall be a great Mourning To Mourn as Men is incident to all and indeed inevitable As Nature hath given us Power to do it So our Circumstances give us Occasion enough here in this State of Mortality and Misery But to Mourn as Christians is quite another thing Religious Sorrow grows at no time upon the Stock of mere Nature tho' never so well cultivated by Virtuous Education That no where flows with any laudable Stream but where the HOLY GHOST first opens the Springs He bloweth with His Wind and the Waters flow Psal 147.18 St. Jerom from a literal turns the Text to an Allegorical Sense and by the Wind understands the Spirit of GOD. But then the Waters which by His means flow are no other than those of pious Tears which cannot flow unless He causes them to do it And therefore by the Way we have no Reason to think that divine Comforts are either the Sole or the Chief Indication of the Good SPIRIT 's kind and propitious presence Godly Sorrow is as clear a Symptom and assure a Proof of the HOLY GHOST's resting upon us or residing in us as the most refreshing Joys can be And therefore as humble Acknowledgments should be made to GOD and as hearty Praises rendred to Him for the one as for the other The Cloudy Pillar was as evident a Token of GOD's Providential Care of the Jews and of His special Residence with them as the Pillar of Fire tho' all know it was not so bright a one And tho' the SPIRIT 's Consolations are a more lightsome Sign of His Descent upon us yet holy Mourning must be as plain a Mark of his gracious Presence as being as much an Effect of His favourable Influence And then It is a blessed Work of His. Blessed in the entire Capacity of it For as it is wrought in us by a blessed Cause the breathing of this Glorious SPIRIT we speak of and as it is of a blessed Nature being a lamenting of our Wandrings from and Actings against the Laws and Interests of Righteousness So it hath a most blessed Tendency For it tends directly to the purging our of Sin to the purifying of the Soul to the making us upright and holy upon Earth and happy in the Kingdom of Heaven for ever We farther describe it to be a Grieving heartily As there can be no Mourning where there is no Grieving so on the other side where the Mourning is holy the Grief will be hearty There are two
us at last and shall eternally condemn us Matth. 12.41 CHAP. III. Of Private Mourning as it relates to Others and to Our selves THO' Public Mourning is besides our Purpose yet let not that little which we have said concerning it be thought impertinent the Design of it being but to excite us to it and ingage us in it when at any time it shall be imposed or required We are now to speak to private Religious Mourning And this is matter of our free choice We enter upon it voluntarily or of our own accord without any intervention of the Civil Power or Compulsion from it As it relates to Others it hath respect to two Evils their Miseries and their Impieties First unto their Miseries And as it dwells upon them it springs up from a sympathetic Principle I mean from those Bowels of Compassion Mercy or Commiseration which the holy and elect of God are to put on Col. 3.12 Those choice Persons that are happy in a true Sanctification are full of Pity of Pity so tender and affectionate as commonly makes them prone to Tears Being high in the Evangelical Spirit or Temper they come up to the Evangelical Rule or Precept Weep with them that weep Rom. 12.15 And if we weep and mourn for our Brethrens outward Afflictions it is no more than what our Religion obliges us to For where the Christian Law injoins us to be all of one mind and to be loving to the Brethren 1 Pet. 3.8 it means we should be and it intends to make us of so sweet a Temper and of Spirits so united and mutually endeared as not to fail in sympathizing with our Suffering Brethren tho' their Troubles be but secular and external so they be really sharp or heavy This may seem a melancholy Doctrine yet to practise it is much our Duty and therefore let us do it Whenever we hear or where-ever we see any good People under GOD's hand let us duly lay their Condition to heart If they labour and groan under War or Famine or Pestilence or Persecution or the like Judicial or Providential Severities let us be affected with their deplorable Calamities and think of their Infelicities with Sorrowful Resentments To this the Apostle instructs us powerfully where He elegantly compares the whole Community of Christians to a body Organical telling us that tho' they be Many Members yet they are but One Body 1 Cor. 12.20 And then from the Comparison He rightly inferrs the Sympathy we speak of that if one member suffers all the members suffer with it v. 26. So that not to be toucht with a Compassionate fellow-feeling of good Christians Sufferings makes it questionable whether we be true living Members of CHRIST's Mystical Body or rather it puts it past all Question by making it evident that we are not such And tho' hearty Sympathizing with the Righteous in their Sufferings was never so clearly taught and forcibly recommended as now under the Gospel yet on the Religious it was incumbent before long before that blessed Dispensation came into the World As much may be gathered from that Passage Amos 6.5 6. For there the Prophet charged it as a Fault upon some in his Time that they were unconcerned for good Mens Adversity and addicted themselves to Pleasures while they Languisht in Trouble They chaunted to the Sound of the Viol and invented to themselves Instruments of Music like David they drank Wine in Bowls and anointed themselves with chief Ointments but they were not grieved for the Affliction of Joseph For us to live in high Delights and to give up our selves to be Merry and Gay when the Church of GOD is grievously afflicted and in great Tribulation must needs be a Crime and none of the Least by its falling thus under a Prophet's Reproof Very different from this was the King of Israel's Carriage even to Evil Men and such as derided Him and were injurious to Him When they were sick says He my Clothing was Sack-cloth I humbled my Soul with Fasting I behaved my self as a Friend or Brother I bowed down heavily as one that Mourneth for His Mother Psal 35.13 14. How divinely Soft and Sympathetic was the Temper of this good Prince When unworthy Wretches base in themselves and spiteful to Him fell into Misery he Fasted and Mourned and wore Sackcloth for them Tho' they scorned and maligned and aspersed Him yet he prayed most heartily and importunately for them for GOD's Mercy to them for His Blessing upon them for His Deliverance of them O that we did but demean our selves towards our best Friends when miserable and to the choicest and most eminent Servants of God as this renowned Monarch did towards his Enemies and hypocritical mockers as they are there termed Yet we are happy in a nobler Dispensation than he was and live in that time when according to the inspired mans Prediction he that is feeble shall be as David Zech. 12.8 And as we must mourn in private for others Miseries so we must 2ly for their Impieties And indeed much more for them there being much more reason for it Tho what the Reasons for it are we need not here consider We 'll rather note at present that Charity is the Principle from which it flows and that in this sort of mourning we exercise that Principle And can we set it a Work upon a better Account I believe that excellent man thought he could not whose Wish it was Oh that my Head were Waters and mine Eyes a Fountain of Tears that I might weep Day and Night for the slain of the Daughter of my People Jer. 9.1 But surely he meant as in other places it appears to weep more for those that were slain morally by Sin than for those that were to be slaughter'd by the Sword Charity from which pious sorrow springs would cause him to shed most Tears for such And so it behoves us all to do To mourn more for our sinning than for our suffering Brethren And tho' we be short of the Prophet in Goodness yet in Proportion to our Virtues and the Degrees of our Charity let us bewail the miscarriages of that People to whom we belong But then besides mourning for Others we must mourn in private for our selves And when we do so our mourning hath respect to three things to our Sufferings to our Duties or to our Sins When it respects our Sufferings it is pious Affliction No sooner do good Men feel themselves in Pain or fall into trouble but they are ready to consider from whence it comes And if upon mature consideration they find it descends from Heaven upon them as the fruit of an offended GOD's displeasure and a just infliction of His deserv'd severity it usually brings an holy Grief upon them Thus did David fast and weep and lie all night upon the Earth for the dangerous Sickness and the threatned Death of His illegitimate Son 2 Sam. 12. Or if in the Sufferings they feel there be no sting of Guilt
come so thick and grow so strong as to rent the Heart and to wound the Soul and to make as it were breaches in the Spirit of a Man this will be a valuable Temper with GOD a Frame of Mind that He will approve and love that He will really prize and make as great account of as ever He did of the Jewish Sacrifices under the old Mosaic Dispensation And that He had an high Esteem for them we need not question inasmuch as Himself was the Author of them By His order Sacrifices were introduced and set up in the Church and so were Rites of His own Institution The several Kinds of them and their respective Materials the Times when the Places where the Occasions upon which the Ways how the Parties for whom and the Persons by whom they were to be offered were all of His prescribing And when they were duly performed according to His pleasure and divine Appointment He could not but set an huge Estimate upon them But then it is as evident that He hath an equal Esteem for the Spirit that is broken with Holy Mourning because He calls it the Sacrifices of GOD. Not only His Sacrifice making it equivalent to this or that or the other single Sacrifice under the Law but His Sacrifices intimating that in His Esteem it equals many if not all of them at once And I must farther add this great Truth That if legal Sacrifices were so esteemed of GOD the broken Spirit must be much more estimable as being much more excellent For They were only outward and typical Services Symbols Figures and Shells of Religion at best but positive and so temporary things good for a time because they were commanded But the broken Spirit contains in it intrinsic Piety mental Virtue and moral Duty And so the mention'd Sacrifices must be as much short of it as a meer Skeleton is of a Man or as Shadows and Appearances are of most solid and substantial Realities For here the Religious do not bring their Oxen or their Heifers their Calves or their Kids their Sheep or their Lambs to be slain But things that are very much dearer to them I mean their Passions and their Appetites their Affections and their Lusts their selfish Interests and their sensual Delights and all their Pleasures and Practices that are sinful These are checked these are weakened these are wounded conquered and killed by holy Contrition When the Christian mourns these gasp and dye the Tears He sheds are the very Life-bloud of his Corruptions And therefore the broken Spirit must needs set us higher in GOD's Esteem than Holocausts or Hecatombs or the richest Sacrifices at any Altar And there is Reason for it For in them Men sacrificed their Beasts but in this they sacrifice Themselves which recommends them to the best Acceptance And shall not this effectually draW thee to Religious Mourning When thou doest it heartily beest thou never so low in thy Person or thy Circumstances thou shalt be very highly esteemed of GOD. Surely when the Jewish High Priest in his richest Garments did rightly make his choicest Offerings no spiritual Man could be more honourable in his Self or more acceptable in his Function Yet when Aaron array'd with all the pompous Ornaments of the Pontifical Habit stood in the holiest Place upon Earth and there presented the sweetest Incense to the MOST HIGH he could not be more approved or better esteemed than the poorest zealous Christian shall be when with a broken Spirit he pours out his Sighs or mournful Tears unto the same GOD. Nay if we measure Mens acceptance with GOD by the Quality or Goodness of the Oblations they make Him the Christian Mourner in his meanest Rags will be more acceptable than the Jewish Sacrificer in his Stately Robes Perhaps in this World there is not a Man that shines so bright in the Eyes of Heaven as the Christian does in a Mourning Cloud 3ly GOD dwells with Holy Mourners When one that is great and good and wise shall take up his Residence with such as are unspeakably beneath him and unworthy of him this alone sufficiently argues that he is much delighted with their Company and their Converse that what they are and what they do is extreamly pleasing and grateful to Him Let the Rule be applied to the most Great and Good and Wise GOD and it will shew his Acceptance of Holy Mourning for He professeth to dwell with them that exercise it Thus saith the HIGH and LOFTY ONE that inhabiteth Note III. Eternity whose Name is HOLY I dwell in the high and holy Place with him also that is of a contrite and humble Spirit Isai 57.15 And can any amongst us refuse to mourn or refrain from doing it that consider this If thou beest solidly good think with thy self what is there in the whole World comparable to this Where canst thou look for any thing like it or where shalt thou find it To have GOD dwell with us to have the Glorious GOD dwell in us O unspeakable Privilege 'T is much too high for the brightest Cherubin only He is pleased not to think it so But what is it then for sinful Souls in vile and frail and fleshly Bodies Where-ever a King dwells there is a Court and where-ever GOD dwells in the sense we speak it there must be Heaven Yet as mean as thine Heart is or as bad and base as it may have been GOD is ready to descend into it and to abide there if by Holy Mourning it be fitted for Him And should we weep till we wept our Eyes out methinks we should count it a cheap Price wherewith to purchase so rich a Blessing Tho' we plainly see that we need not go so far for it neither for a moderate Grief so much as makes the Spirit contrite will entitle us to it and settle it upon us Enough to amaze any thinking Christian O ponder it well and then speak Can the GOD of Heaven do thee a greater Honour or canst thou ask a greater Favour of Him than to dwell with thee for ever Blessed Blessed and for ever Blessed be His MAJESTY for it 4ly GOD hath ranked Holy Mourning amongst the noblest Perfections of the best Religion The LORD JESUS is GOD Blessed for ever Rom. 9.5 And when in tender Pity to lost Men He assumed their Nature to restore their Happiness and in order to accomplishing that glorious Work was newly entred upon His Mediatorship He publicly preached a most excellent Sermon to a Multitude of Hearers And in that divine and incomparable Discourse amongst other sacred useful Doctrines He recommended eight Beatitudes to them Truths and Duties of so high a Nature and heavenly an Efficacy as will certainly render all sincere Believers and hearty Conscientious Practitioners of them Spiritually first and then Eternally Blessed Now as we find in the Fifth of S. Matthew the Second in order of these Eight Beatitudes is the Holy * Whereas a considerable part of our
Plenty they fill her with such solid Pleasure and Sweetness as never can result from external Injoyments The choicest of that sort of Contentments in comparison to these are but slight and superficial but frothy and insipid things For the same Reason that holy Sorrows are the heartiest as hath been * Chap. I. noted holy Comforts will and must be the sweetest upon Earth even because as they are seated in the Soul so they are raised by the profound and mighty Workings of the SPIRIT of GOD. And where He is active in a Soul on purpose to comfort it what an Heaven of Sweetness must He produce in it It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that made St. Austin cry out in a kind of rapturous Surprise or in a Pang of Admiration when he felt Himself happily incircled with them †Nescio in quam dulcedinem me duces Domine O LORD I know not into what sweetness Thou wilt lead me It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that made St. Jerom profess with a Solemn Appeal to ALMIGHTY GOD that he thought he convers'd with Quires of Angels * Testor DEUM post Hebdomadarum Jejunia visus sum mihi inter ipsa agmina Angelorum versari I take GOD to witness that after my keeping the Lenten Fast I seemed to be conversant with Throngs of Angels It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that hath so fortifi'd and animated some pious Christians that in confidence of their Pardon and Salvation they have Scorn'd and Triumph'd over the Devil and His Angels and in their Languishing Sickness and under near and sensible Approaches of Death have even mockt and derided the Powers of Darkness and challenged and dared them to do their Worst It was the Sweetness of these Comforts that hath privileg'd some with a desirable Euthanasy or easy Death And not only with an easy but most blessed and hapyy one Exalting their Souls to such Excess of Rapture as their frail Bodies were unable to endure they have broken in pieces as it were just as we see Glasses crack and fly through the Strength of Spirits contained in them Farther yet such is the Sweetness of these Comforts that 't is really inutterable And therefore St. Peter says of the Saints of his time that they rejoyced †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet. 1.8 with Joy unspeakable All the Rhetoric in the World and all the Orators who use that Rhetoric cannot fully express the delicious Sweetness which holy Comforts derive to good Men. Don't think therefore that I am here going about to explain the native Sweetness of these Comforts or that I am attempting to give in an exact Account of it For when Heaven tells us it is unspeakable that must needs be a Task impossible As we noted even now insufferable is the torment of a wounded Spirit And one Reason may be because the Wounds are made in it by the force of Spirits Either by GOD Himself touching them with the finger of his heavy wrath which no poor Creature is able to endure * Psal 76.7 Who may stand in thy Sight when thou art angry or else by Devils the Ministers of His Severity For whenever GOD gives up sinners to them by withdrawing the care of their Guardian Angels to whose watchful Tutelage or Custody they were committed or by removing any other Defence of His Providence whereby they were protected they immediately assault them with dreadful Violence and in the Heat of their Malice lay on such furious Strokes upon them as poor Mortals are not able to stand under As in time of temptation they tickle Mens minds with Thoughts of Pleasure which wind and draw them to evil Inclinations not easy to be resisted and which indanger their falling into Deadly sin So in time of Desertion they Strike mens Consciences with such dismal Terrors as that being unable to sustain the terrible concussions they sink into horror and raging despair And if the wrath of GOD or of His revengefull Ministers can make such direful Impressions on our Spirits as wound them with Pains beyond all manner of Patience well may His comforts infused by His SPIRIT affect us with Pleasures which for Sweetness shall exceed all measure of Apprehension For such Comforts wrought in us by such a Comforter must needs enter deep enter very deep into our Souls They will pierce to the very Root of their Being and to the center of their Life and flow in upon them with most exquisite Sweetness With such a Sweetness that as it can come from none but GOD so it will draw us most powerfully after Him And were it not for the Luggage of these earthly Bodies which weigh us down it would not fail when it is strong upon us to snatch us hence and carry us up into the glorious Place above O Blessed Creatures they that are favoured with the injoyment of such sweet Comforts Yet that solemn Mourners are sensible of them I dare confidently appeal to themselves to say When ye have withdrawn from the World betaking you to your Chambers or entring into your Closets hath not your FATHER who seeth in secret visited you there Hath He not visited you with sweet Consolations in the midst of your closest mournful Privacies Yea hath He not so visited you as to fill your Hearts with consolatory Sweetness And so hath He filled you many times as that you have been overflowed with it So overflowed as that you have Sunk in it as it were or have been swallowed up by it And then forgetting the World and forgetting your selves like to Angels in their heavenly Extasies ye have perceived nothing but divine Delights And tho' these be Heighths to which all Mourners do not ascend and to which the same holy Mourners cannot at all times attain yet I doubt not but their own Experience being witness their Mournings do commonly lift them up to very raised Comforts Even to such Comforts as are attended with Sublime and inlivening Sweetness tho' some degrees below the highest of all For let me ask when thou hast spent a Day in religious Mourning how hast Thou found thy self after it at night Hast thou not felt a grave Lightsomness in thy Spirit and a serious Gladness in thy Mind and a most pleasant Joy lie glowing at thine Heart And was not the Gratification arising from thence such for Sweetness as no Worldly things did ever afford thee When thou hast spent several Days or it may be some Weeks in the worthiest civil Imployments or Recreations hast thou met with any thing in them so grateful as this or hast thou perceived any such satisfaction after them or can any like it be derived from them But then when the Comforts which here rest upon Mourners are so incomparably Sweet must they not contribute to their being Blessed in this present state In way of Corollary I add but this When the Christian that is constant to his Mourning-days and accustom'd on those
we digress a little But tho' what it delivers be somewhat beside our professed Scope yet the Benefit I hope will make amends for the Deviation it being a kind of Apology for the Christian Religion or a short Vindication of it from the contemptuous Obloquy of Evil Men. The Inference is this How egregious is the Folly and Rashness of those who decry Religion as vain and unprofitable So degenerate are some and so far sunk below the Raised Dignity of their Reasonable Nature that they mock and cavil at true Religion as if it were an empty and fruitless thing and attended with no considerable Advantage * Job 21.15 What is the ALMIGHTY that we should serve Him and what Profit should we have if we should Pray unto Him was the Language of the Dissolute in Job's Days †Mal. 3.14 It is vain to serve GOD and what Profit is it that we have kept His Ordinances said some Impious and Blasphemous Jews in the Prophet Malachy's Time And Men of such vile and ungodly Principles seem to be sprung up in too great Plenty amongst us For how many are there that dispute or deny all Rewards of Righteousness And as for such as in Faith and Hope of the same addict themselves to Virtuous and Holy Living they slight and despise them and vilify and reproach them especially if they be a little stricter than ordinary and their Zeal flies above the Common Pitch Then they censure and condemn them for downright Ideots for People of no Sense of no Reason and of no Judgment that dote upon Shadows and feed upon Fancies and fill their Expectations with impossible things But let such know that themselves are mistaken and grievously misled and as for the Sons of Virtue and Goodness whom they are pleas'd thus to Scorn and Deride they are the wisest and happiest of all Mortals For as upon surest Grounds they look for infinite future Retribution so they are sensible of present Recompence The Psalmist speaks of this where he says in keeping GOD's Commandments there is great Reward Psal 19.11 Not there shall be Reward for keeping them hereafter in Heaven but there is Reward in keeping them here upon Earth And this Reward is ample as well as certain * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a great Emolument or Recompence And what the Sacred Writer thus positively asserts the faithful Christain feels true in himself He does not only hope for Remuneration to come but He actually finds it in his present Enjoyment And as it is great in many Respects so a great part of it lies in those excellent Comforts which descending from above do strangely delight Him And that this Reward must consist of these Comforts is clear from hence because otherwise no great Reward can here come to Men in keeping GOD's Commands Yea instead of great Reward or of any Reward their very keeping of His Precepts may expose them as it hath done Martyrs to the worst Sufferings and Deaths And for any to say that GOD makes Temporal or Worldly Blessings a great Reward to such as keep His Commandments would be perfect Non-sense For the greatest of those are not only really little in themselves but much less still in the Esteem of good Christians So that 't is necessary that the great Reward mention'd by the Psalmist should be made up of Joys or Comforts from Heaven And truly were the worst but well acquainted with it by being made throughly sensible of it they could never stick at owning it to be great And from the sense of its greatness they would immediately alter their opinion of Christianity and no longer blame its most zealous Professors for taking much pains as they now think they do in pursuing nothing Indeed so long as Men choose to rest in Sin and are unwilling Captives to domineering Lusts and the base and sinful Pleasures of the Body 't is impossible they should enjoy the Comforts of the SPIRIT I am confident rather let them say what they will and make what fair shew they can that they mostly lie as it were upon a painful Rack There hainous Guilt unless they be stupid or quite insensate will certainly be attended with secret Torment and will raise such fears and horrors within as they shall no way be able to suppress There may as well be Rest in the Sea when 't is tossed with Winds as true Peace to that Soul which perisheth in Sin For the Wicked are like the troubled Sea when it cannot Rest and to them there is no Peace saith GOD Isai 57.20 21. But let them abandon Vice and betake them to Virtuous and Religious Courses and they shall soon perceive an happy Change Then the mouth of Conscience shall quickly be stopped and her hideous Clamours shall all be quieted and the bloodly Scourge wherewith she chastiseth them shall be wound up and laid aside and inward Peace and Applause of Mind shall exceedingly refresh them Then they shall be visited with Joys from on high and the Light of GOD's Countenance shall shine into their Hearts and the Beams of His Favour shall dilate their Spirits and the Influence of Heaven shall sweetly replenish their expanded Souls In a word then the great JEHOVAH will love them and delight in them and lifting them up into Communion with Himself will ravish them with high and strong Consolations With such Consolations as can proceed from nothing but His propitious Presence and the favourable Illapses of that divine Paraclete who is the Comforter of GOD's Elect. Let none doubt of the Truth of this Let none question but there are such excellent Comforts as these If your own Experience hath not discover'd them yet do but perform your respective Duties in answer to the several Obligations upon you and that will lead you directly to them Then you shall soon find that extraordinary Sweetness is treasur'd up for the Righteous A Sweetness surpassing our corporal Delights and the fullest Gratifications of all lower Appetites And well it may as being indeed no other than Angelic Satisfactions which from the Face of GOD are shed down into the Hearts of pious Men. Some refined Heathens priz'd Tranquility of Mind at such a Rate that they accounted it no less than the chiefest good Thus Epicurus taught that Happiness consists in Pleasure Meaning that Pleasure which springs up and spreads through Virtuous Livers and is the pure Result of that Harmony and Agreement which there is betwixt Virtue and the rational part of them that practise it Tho' some mistaking him have thought he plac'd it in gross Delights and so have condemn'd Him for a notorious Sensualist and a Patron of vile and shameful Voluptuousness And as this was * Note IV. Epicurus's Opinion so it was the Judgment of many other great and noble Philosophers Now when there were some Ethnic Sages who thought so highly of inward Peace or mental Pleasure which moral Integrity brought along with it how unreasonable is it that
persist in such lofty Practices which stand upon the exalted Principles of Christianity there is no reaching them and running through them without considerable Pains and some Uneasiness And therefore we are taught by CHRIST Himself that His Religion is both a Yoke and a Burthen S. Mat. 11.30 But then as He perfectly understands the Height of His own Laws and the Frame of our Being so He hath throughly experimented the Difficulties of Obedience and the Infirmities of our Nature And so we need not doubt but He will graciously dispense his Comforts to us and that in such measures as shall be most suitable to the Tasks which Himself hath impos'd and as shall effectually assist us in the Performance of those Tasks For such is the Powerful Virtue of these Comforts that they wonderfully dispose us to the Worship of GOD and strengthen us in it Thus as sometimes when they come They fill us with Longings after His Service and make us even Restless till we are ingaged in it So at other Times when they visit us in our actual Waitings on His Glorious MAJESTY they so animate and inspirit us that we feel no Weariness at all in our Attendance And when in any Periods or Circumstances of our Life we chance to grow down or dead in Devotion and to droop and flag in our pious Exercises and to be in danger of turning Lukewarm in Religion no sooner are they darted into our Souls but they replenish us with fresh and lively Fervours And these again inspire us with such Active Force and vital Energy as enable us to fulfill our Several Duties not only with Content and chearful Alacrity but always with true and sometimes with great Delight and Pleasure And thus our LORD's Religion tho' it be a Yoke is made easy to us and tho' it be a Burthen is rendred Light as Himself proclaims it in the fore-quoted Place Nor do heavenly Comforts only inliven us in our dutiful Addresses to GOD but also infuse holy Confidence into us Such a Confidence as lifts us up into decent and modest Familiarity with His MAJESTY So that whereas they who are destitute of Comforts and dejected for want of them do commonly approach Him with troubled Minds and trembling Hearts and are so overset with the Sense of His Excellencies and their own Unworthiness that their Thoughts are disordered and their Duties dispirited We that enter GOD's Presence full of Peace and make our devout Aplications to Him do it at a far more happy Rate For as we are wholly free from all terrifying Dread so our filial Awe and reverential Fear are mixt and incouraged with ingenuous Boldness With so bashful and becoming a kind of Audacity as recommends us to Heaven and much facilitates our devotional Performances And their Ruggedness and Uneasiness being thus taken off or greatly abated the Labour of them in good measure vanisheth and Religion turns mostly into holy Recreation To come more home to our purpose Christian Duties as every one knows are either Private or Public and divine Comforts are ready to attend and animate us in both if we act them with Fidelity As to Private Duties let that Passage witness Psal 119.165 great Peace have they which love thy Law As many as love the Law of GOD which contains their Duties and love it so well as to mind and study it and make it their Guide or the Rule of their Practice They shall have Peace Not only all kind of outward Felicity which Peace does often signify in Scripture but inward Tranquility and Spiritual Joy of mind Nor shall they only have this Peace in some little Measure but in Plenty or Abundance for they shall have great Peace Peace so great that the World cannot give it S. Joh. 14.27 Peace so great that it passeth all understanding Phil. 4.7 Peace so great that nothing shall offend them that enjoy it as the Psalmist adds where we now cited Him There is * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 no stumbling-block to them Nothing that can cause them to trip or fall or hinder them in their course of private Duties which Religion prescribes them tho' in it they meet with many Difficulties And then as to Public Duties that the like divine Comforts will attend us in them is evident from a clear and emphatical Testimony in Psal 36.8 They shall be abundantly satisfied with the Fatness of thy House and thou shalt make them drink of the River of thy Pleasures Muit gives the true Character of this Verse †Singula verba sunt emphatica et vehementia The Words are every one forcible and vehemently affect They are so full of meaning that there is no finding it out no attempting a thorough explication of them And long before them S. Austin upon the place delivered himself thus ‖ Nescio quid magnum promittit It promiseth I know not what great thing * Non capimus we comprehend it not The vastness and pregnancy of its sense makes us shallow Creatures incapable of conceiving it I only observe it manifests thus much That not only Comforts but abundance of them shall be the Lot of such as frequent God's House and publicly wait upon Him in His Ordinances In this mortal State Two of the greatest Satisfactions as well as Supports of humane Life are eating and drinking And to the Gratifications arising from these Natural Actions the SPIRIT compares the Pleasures which we feel in public Duties But then because the Quality of the things which we eat and drink contributes mightily to the Pleasure of doing so therefore that the HOLY GHOST might the better set off the Lusciousness of those Delights wherewith GOD favours us when we are zealous in Ordinances He screws up the comparison by which He chose to express it to the highest Pitch For suppose a Man would Eat meerly for Pleasure and to the highest Degree of Pleasure that He could What then could he desire to Eat of better than Fat things Especially if they were set in great Plenty before Him and he might eat of them freely and to satiety And therefore the good SPIRIT gives us to understand that they who conscionably resort to GOD's House shall there feed upon Fatness and not only so but shall be satisfied likewise and abundantly satisfied therewith The Pleasures that is which they are sensible of in GOD's public Service shall be equivalent to those which the Hungry perceive in eating choicest Viands if not far surmount them And so if a man were disposed to Drink his fill and with greatest Delight where could He do it so well as out of a River A River of Wine Suppose or of Milk and Honey by which last sort the holy Book describes a plentiful and pleasant Land But then imagine there were a River running nothing but Pleasures and whose Streams consist wholly of Torrents of Sweetness would not full Draughts out of such a River that flows with the clearest Oblectations most
Soul is athirst for GOD yea even for the living GOD when shall I come to appear before the Presence of GOD Psal 42.1 2. Which pathetic Expressions tho' in their primary Aspect they look to GOD's Presence in the Sanctuary yet they may extend to His Presence in Heaven as well And so they show the vehemently transported Passions of a Soul ravish'd with Comforts from GOD and languishing with eager and importunate Desires of the Body's Dissolution that so she might be carri'd up hence to an everlasting Participation of more of those Comforts And therefore here we must note that none desire Death merely for it self nor can they in reason do it as being destructive to their Nature For the Nature of Man we know consists in the Vital Union of Soul and Body But Death divides these two and very rudely tears them asunder And who can desire such contra-natural Violence should ever befal them for its own sake a Violence that separates those essential Principles whereof they are compounded and so brings with it the present Ruin of their Persons The Law of Self-preservation in the animate World is universal and so must be in force among Rational Beings and can never be rooted out where Humanity grows For us therefore to desire what is fatal to us merely for its self must be nothing less than to put off our own Nature and to be what we are not even while we continue what we are which is perfect nonsense and manifest contradiction and a thing most unpracticable because impossible And then besides there is a farther malignity in Death which makes it that it cannot be desirable for its self For it is not only an enemy to Man as it demolishes his Body and breaks his vital Frame to pieces but also as it contains malediction in it For it is the cursed fruit of Adam's sin and so carries with it the bitterness of a penal severity it being justly inflicted as a punishment of Disobedience But tho' none can desire Death for it self yet we may desire it upon other Accounts particularly upon account of Divine Comforts And here let me add these Desires * Note that what follows is spoken only of eminent Christians and but of some of them neither in some eminent Christians are strangely vehement and importunate They grow so high and they run so strong that they are fain to give vent to them in Solemn Expressions For sometimes they sigh and sometimes they weep and sometimes they are ready to fret and be half discontented and sometimes to repine and be holily impatient that they cannot dye They are fit to cry out and that very often O Death where art thou thus long Why comest thou so slowly Mend thy pace and make more haste that so thine hand which others fear may lead my weary Soul to Heaven They wonder what shift those famous Men made who liv'd so long in the Primitive World and should they be condemned to the Like Abode upon Earth they would think it an hard and most cruel Sentence They rejoice exceedingly upon their own account that the Life of Man is so very much shortned and next to the Mercy of dying at all they reckon it a choice one that they dye so soon And as short as the Thread of Life is now made they grudge it should run out to its utmost Length but are willing rather to have it cut off betimes that so they may be happy in a speedier Dismission Whereas others quarrel with Time for its Swiftness and angrily wish that its Wings were clipt for flying so fast they cry out 't is slow and blame it that it does not mend its Pace For if they must be old before they depart they would be so quickly that they might the sooner be gone They hope for Death every Year they look for it every Month and they long for it every Day If they envy not the Saints that dye young they are hugely pleas'd with their happy Lot and had it been in their choice how very contentedly would they have been of their Number So very desirous are they to dye that they can scarce hear of one desperately Sick but they are ready to grieve that it is not their case So very desirous are they to dye that when they hear of one dead or see him carri'd to his Grave they are ready to cry out O that I had gone in his stead and that he had staid in my Room So very desirous are they to dye that high Distempers do but chear their Spirits and tho' through weakness of Body their countenance may droop yet their Souls even then rejoice and triumph and are vested with Robes of Light and Gladness So very desirous are they to dye that when dangerous Sickness wears off again and fair Possibilities of Life return the Sense of this makes them dumpish and heavy and is matter of Trouble and Affliction to them Now how Divine Comforts may stir up such eager desires of Death is obvious and easy enough to apprehend As for Death it self we have already hinted it is no more desirable to the very best than to any else nor is there any Reason why it should be so Pain and Sickness which usher it in and the Coffin and the Grave which follow after it if considered in themselves are as little pleasing to them as to others But then this is confessedly true on all hands that when we have once tasted what is rarely sweet 't is natural for us to desire more of it and where we are sensible most of it is there we are most desirous to be Now the Comforts of GOD which descend from Heaven being so incomparably sweet and pleasant they inflame us with Desires of removing thither And tho' our Way lies through the Gates of Death yet our burning Desires make us earnest to pass them that so we may exchange these imperfect Measures of delicious Comforts for the Entire Fulness and Immensity of them The little Draughts we drink of them here enrage our Appetites after the Fountain from whence they spring The slender Rivulets which run through us now make us thirst insatiably after that Ocean from whence they flow Those single Rays which strike us at present as through a crevise make us long incessantly to ascend into the clear and open Light and to sit under the Gleams of that Eternal Sun whose consolatory Glories shall irradiate our Souls and delight and satisfy them to everlasting Ages Thus the sweet foretasts of future Satisfactions make us greedy of dying that we may be finally settled in the Possession of them And who can deny this to be a piece of true Blessedness All must dye and most are afraid of Death and many fear it immoderately they therefore that fear it not at all but are lifted up so far above Fears that they earnestly Desire it must needs be reputed signally Blessed and which is more must really be so But then here we
of Scripture mistaken and misapplied First False Comforts are sometimes Effects of Nature Where the Spirits are good and the Bloud is sweet and the Ferments of the Body regular and even besides Health and Indolency we there find a constant readiness in Men or a standing Disposition to Lightsomness and Jollity So that if they of this Constitution who dwell as it were upon the Brinks of Joy be at any time carri'd by Just occasions but a little farther they forthwith step into the pleasing Passion it self And how they should come to be advanced to it and also raised to an high Pitch in it even by a natural complexional Efficiency is easy to apprehend Melancholy in conjunction with a sanguine Temper is able to do it For by mingling its brisk acrimonious Flatulency with a sweetish heavyish kind of Bloud it strikes upon the Nerves with such grateful Touches as cause delightful Titillations in the Body and so affect the Soul with much joy and pleasure Nor need we wonder that such joyous Comforts or Delights should result from meer nature or our bodily Temper if we do but consider how other things are very productive of the like Effects Wine for instance hath a power in it to chear our Spirits or as it is expressed in holy Stile * Psal 104.15 to make glad the Heart of Man Insomuch that Josephus says of it †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Antiq. li. 11. cap. 4. it even transports and regenerates Souls It puts a kind of new life into them by mending or raising the Temper of their Bodies and rendring them more healthful and vegete I speak of the moderate and sober use of it it being most baneful both to Soul and Body wherever it is taken in excess So Mela informs us that the Thracians who had no Wine suppli'd the want of it at their Feasts by a certain Seed And of such a Quality was that Seed that the Smoak of it caused Intoxication and Mirth Which things considered how Melancholy should cause high Joys within us will not be difficult to conceive For it is but allowing hypocondriacal Humors to have Affinity with Wine or its Vapours to have cognation with the Fumes of the Thracian Seed and the work is done And that Nature which out-does the most exquisite Chymists should refine Melancholy to such a Degree and sublimate or exalt it to such an Height as to make it so capable of the forementioned Operations as to fill us with joyous and triumphant Delights cannot be surprizing to the intelligent For they know very well that where Melancholy is predominant and duly heated and invigorated by a sanguine Temper or Constitution very strong Joys and even rapturous Delights will result from it So * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Aristotle expressly affirms that it produces Extasies and Joys of Mind and that too as he adds †〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Probl. sect 30. with singing And when Men may so overflow with Joys as that their Joys shall rise up into Raptures and their Raptures run out and spend themselves in singing must not the Gratifications they feel within be exceeding high Yet these are Fruits that may grow upon the bare stock of Nature and so may have nothing at all of the Good SPIRIT in them or of His true Consolations Secondly Inward Comforts False ones I mean may be Effects of a worse Cause than this they may be derived from Satan himself As GOD sheds abroad true Joys and heavenly Consolations into the Hearts of His Servants to encourage and strengthen them in the Works of Religion so the Devil who loves to ape the ALMIGHTY where he can does sometimes cast false Joys and delusive Comforts into the Hearts of his Vassals to animate and imbolden them in the Ways of unrighteousness For should they always walk on in Dulness and Darkness this might so startle them as to make them seriously bethink themselves It might so alarm and terrify them as at some time or other to fright them out of their vitious into virtuous Courses Now and then therefore he tantalizes them with some feeble Glimmerings of false Light and Comfort He darts some glaring Joys into their Souls to make them well opinion'd of themselves And perswading them by this means that their Condition is good tho' it be quite otherwise he so prevails with them to persist in Sin till at length they fall into irrecoverable Ruine Nor is it hard to conceive how the Evil Spirit should kindle this Fire of false Joys in our Breasts and warm us as it were with Comforts which flash from Hell For since an agreeable mixture of Melancholy with our Bloud can raise us as we have heard to an Elevation of rapturous Delights the Devil who hath power to actuate the Humors and Vapours in our Bodies especially if we be his Servants by his dexterous agitation of those Vapours and Humors inforcing them beyond their natural strength he may easily transport us with ravishing Satisfactions And thus the strange Delights which some Men feel and which they reckon to be divine Influences from above and blessed Productions of the HOLY GHOST are but natural Effects or Satanical Injections and so rather hellish Infusions than Inspirations from Heaven Thirdly False Comforts may proceed from Enthusiasm For where that prevails Imagination is strong Insomuch that the Mind which should always be under the government of free Reason is wholly sway'd by this lower Faculty And where Fancy rules it easily over-powers and bears down the Soul into a firm Belief of the Truth of what she vigorously apprehends be her Apprehensions never so enormous and extravagant Hence it hath come to pass that one Fanciful Enthusiast has conceited himself to be a Prophet or an Angel another has thought himself to be the true Messiah or the great Judge of the World another has boasted himself to be GOD the FATHER or the HOLY GHOST Now when the Strength of Fancy or Force of Imagination thus carries away the Mind into a credulous Assent to such wretched Mis-conceits these or the like Conceits naturally lift up Souls which fully believe them to be great Truths into very high Joys and Ravishments of Spirit Yet be they never so lofty or never so luscious they are but a corrupt and dangerous sort of Fruit as having nothing but Enthusiasm for their chiefest Root Fourthly False Comforts may arise from wrong Notions which Men have in Divinity Thus some too opinionative are mightily for absolute or irrespective Predestination Others for Justification by Faith alone Others for being justifi'd by CHRIST's Righteousness imputed And others again are as stiff Assertors and as strenuous Maintainers of that absurd Perswasion that GOD sees no Sin in His own Children Now they that firmly believe and fiercely contend for these and such Fancies conclude they are highly beneficial to them in their greatest Interests and so they are strangely affected with them and influenced by them and feel them
consists of it which is injurious to us there 's so little cause why we should Mourn that we have reason to neglect it and industriously decline it and to do all we can to defend our selves from it I answer This Charge of Melancholy upon holy Mourning runs too high and seems to come from the unexperienc'd Divine Love is the usual source from whence that flows and therefore it is light and soft and pleasant and does not too much fret nor grate the Spirit with anxious and corroding Trouble Rejoyce evermore is S. Paul's Direction to the Thessalonians which plainly shows that Christians may in some measure rejoyce even when they mourn Otherwise the Duties would be inconsistent and Heaven must require such Performances as are incompatible The Prophet also tells us of GOD's reviving the hearts of the Contrite Isa 57.15 Which is farther Assurance that the tears let fall in holy Mourning GOD shall turn into Spiritual Cordials When our Hearts are wounded with Sacred compunction He 'l certainly chear us under the same by mingling Divine Consolations with it And where ever those Consolations dwell there can be no room for any settled Melancholy Dejection We have heard likewise from the Mouth of the HOLY GHOST that they who sow in Tears shall reap in Joy And tho they receive not their whole Crop on Earth yet their blessed Harvest begins here and pleasant are the First Fruits which they gather even those they gather as I may say in a rainy-day For believe it there 's * Dulciores sunt lachrymae plorantium quam gaudia Theatrorum Aug. more sweetness in or after a few Tears spent in Holy Mourning than in all the empty frothy mirth which this World affords Tho' in that Exercise we be disguised as it were with seeming sadness yet under the vizard of that Grief which we wear upon our Faces some degree of Joy may lie hid in our hearts For real Joy is no such Enemy to nor does it stand at such a Distance from Religious Sorrow as some imagine †Res severa est verum gaudium True Joy is a grave and serious and severe thing and often spreads briskly through our Souls when they are in a Mourning frame And there 's Reason for it For as godly Sorrow contracts and lessens our Opinion of this World and eclipses the Beauties and Glories of it wrapping them up in Darkness and a Cloud so at the same time it sets a Lustre on divine Excellencies and quickens and dilates our Apprehensions of them and renders them very estimable with us Yea it draws aside the Curtain betwixt GOD and us and opens a Window towards Heaven for us letting in the Light of his Countenance upon us and the refreshing Gleams of His ravishing Love under the bright displays and lively sense of which we cannot but rejoice even when holy Tears trickle down our Cheeks In a word our solemn Mournings and our sacred Comforts are seldom far or long asunder But in case they be not actually Blended or in competent measures happily complicated or twin'd together then at little intervals or distances they will not fail by alternate Vicissitudes to succeed each other Whoever therefore make a lasting uneasy Grief an Ingredient into sacred Mourning or think it compounded of harsh vexatious raking Melancholy do but calumniate and reproach it and declare themselves Perfect strangers to it For did they but throughly understand the Duty by being practically acquainted with it they could never pass such a Censure upon it Thirdly It may be objected against holy Mourning that it disparages Religion Of such a Constitution is true Christianity and so circumstantiated that wherever it is heartily receiv'd and practis'd it will commonly be productive of divine Tranquility and a solemn Chearfulness For 1st It restrains from all wilful Sins And so it saves us from those troubles both of Mind and Body which naturally and judicially pursue such Impieties 2ly It fits us to be GOD's Habitations and consecrates us into Temples for the HOLY GHOST And where GOD and His SPIRIT are pleased to reside what chearfulness may not their Presence produce 3ly Two chief Perfections of the Christian Religion are Patience and Contentedness And they that are furnisht with those excellent Graces are not only fortifi'd against Perplexity but fairly disposed to an Heavenly Lightsomness 4ly Two special Fruits of the Blessed SPIRIT which usually grow where Religion thrives are Peace and Joy Gal. 5.22 And what Souls can be sad where they flourish 5ly As the HOLY JESUS by a principal Apostle hath given it in charge to all His true Proselytes ever to rejoice in Him and to ingeminate the Precept to inforce the Duty rejoice in the LORD alway and again I say rejoice So one great End why the holiest Order of Men in His Church was at first set up and ever since continu'd was that they might be helpers of His Peoples Joy 2 Cor. 1.24 So that put these several things together and impossible it is but Christianity must minister to Peace and Joy or rather in part be made up of the same But then if it be thus how very inagreeable and disparaging to it must Mourning be And therefore why do you press it at such a rate For so earnestly do you urge it and so vehemently do you labour to perswade us to it as if you would have us all turn Heraclitus's and spend our Days in pensive Sadness As if we were forthwith to betake us to mopish Cells to cloister up our selves in Darkness and Solitariness and to keep the Muffler of Grief continually on our Faces Or in one Word as if none could be happy but they whose cheeks are furrowed with their Tears and whose handcherchiefs are never from their dripping Eyes If this be a necessary Christian Duty 't is a very comfortless one and will little credit it or encourage any to undertake it Nay to speak the plain Truth it seems to cross it and to be directly opposite to the very Temper or Genius of it I answer The Objection is perverse and captious There is a season for every thing as the great Master of Wisdom observed Eccles. 3.1 And amongst the rest there 's a time to weep and a time to mourn and that 's my meaning and all that I contend for Now and then we should weep and mourn but not set our selves to do nothing else To do that incessantly is the Damned's Fate and would ill become the Children of GOD. Yet to Mourn at times will make us Blessed as most of what hath been here advanc'd may serve to prove But then that which helps to make us Blessed as it can never blemish our Persons in the least so neither can it give any disrepute to that noble Religion whereof it is a Branch Some are ready to think and venture to affirm there shall be godly sorrow in Heaven * See Mr. Manton's Exposition on James 4th v. 9th Because there
the sad Revenges of divine Justice upon the Dissolute and Licentious as they are natural Effects of their being so And farther as the wisest of Men we see hath told us they that walk on in the ways of Wisdom that are regular and persevering in the several Duties and progressive in the noble Perfections of Religion shall not fail to meet with Pleasantness and Peace With such Peace and Pleasantness as come from GOD and fill the Soul with inexplicable Comforts And these Comforts as little as some think it may be good and great Instruments of Health unto us As where the Body is well and strong they help to confirm it in that State so where it happens to be weak and low they raise and mend its Constitution They put a spring of new Life as it were into the Soul which excites most pleasing Motions in the Body even such as serve to inliven and invigorate it For as raking Grief does not only fret and imbitter the Mind but withal casts a sad Damp upon the Body and deadens the liveliness of those inward Motions on which its Health depends and by which it is conserved so heavenly Comforts where they are often and liberally imparted do ordinarily produce the contrary Effects They quicken the Spirits where they move too slowly and help the Bloud to circulate more freely and nimbly where 't is subject to Stagnancy and by taking off the sharpness and sowreness of them they insensibly sweeten and rectify both By peculiar Motions which they put them into they alter the Figures of their disordered Particles and so better the Mass or Substance of them with more Ease and Efficacy than the best Physic can possibly do And the Bloud and Spirits being thus corrected and the Ferments of the Body made light and soft and smooth and unctuous the Wheels of Nature will by this means be freed from cumbersome Cloggs and Entanglements within and in case no Violence happens from without may run on a great way in a regular Course And thus not only Life is prolonged as Length of Days is in Wisdom's right Hand Prov. 3.16 but that Life is made more happy because the Person injoying it is made more healthful And therefore we are taught by an incomparable Writer that the Fear of the LORD which maketh Peace or produceth Comforts where it dwells does thereby make perfect health to flourish Ecclus. 1.18 Nor can it seem strange that holy Comforts should thus conduce to Health if we do but remember what wonderful Effects they have had upon Martyrs turning their dying Pangs into rapturous Pleasures as was * Chap. 11. But then the Martyrs Comforts are there said more than once to be extraordinary ones and so much above those we here speak of noted above And another Instance may abate the strangeness of the thing As 't is commonly said Witches are †Note VI. suckt by their Familiars And to this end as we may reasonably suppose that thereby they might taint and disorder their Bodies And when Distemper of Body proceeds from the influence of wicked Spirits well may Healthfulness be an Effect of the Comforts of the HOLY GHOST And divine Comforts being such Preservatives and Restoratives of Health upon this Account they must be Blessed Things Health being necessary to our present Happiness For as he that would be wise must first put off Folly and as he that would be virtuous must first throw off Vice so they that would be Happy must first be Healthful Else in spite of all Rules and Principles of Stoicism a sickly Body will disquiet the Soul and a pained Body will disturb the Mind and Trouble and Unquietness in the Soul and Mind will soon convince all Persons concern'd that if they would build up Felicity to themselves they must lay its Foundation in Ease and Indolence However * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 c. Diog. Laer. in Anaxar pounce the Sack of Anaxarchus for Anaxarchus thou dost not strike were big words in that Abderite's Mouth when cruel Nicocreon was braying him in a Mortar and might express a stout and resolute Humour yet they were as far from rendring the Sufferer happy as the Thumpings he endured were from rendring him easy Nor do heavenly Comforts conduce more to mending the Habit of our Bodies than they do to bettering the Temper of our Minds For as Pleasures that are sensual and impure do sink and soften and emasculate the Spirit as they fill it with pensive Solicitude and fretful Anxiety to find that it is fallen below it self and inslav'd to things unworthy of its Dignity so where it is ravisht with the Comforts of Heaven and nobly transported with frequent Returns or Iterations of them it will rise by Degrees into a very delicate and desirable Frame So that if before we were 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 tart and waspish and peevish and passionate these in time will work a thorow and an excellent Change in us They will cool our Heat and quench our Fury and rebate the sharpness and fierceness of our Disposition and polish the Ruggedness and Unevenness of our Minds and take off the Bitterness and Sowreness of our Nature and so make us not only to be easy in our selves but obliging to others And to have our Passions thus curbed and tamed in us and all Harshness and Roughness thus taken out of us and to become moderate and well composed in our selves and meek and mild and pleasing unto all must needs be a great Improvement of our Temper And as this Improvement sweetens our Life which how it should do it the meanest Capacities can apprehend it must add considerably to our Blessedness upon Earth But then as we would live sweetly in this present World as we would have our Souls blessed with Health of Body and good Temper of Mind let us heartily take up Religious Mourning from which will result those holy Comforts that are productive of the same CHAP. XV. The Eleventh Motive to Mourning in General being the Eighth Branch of that Blessedness which springs up from the Comfort annexed to Mourning They supply us with noblest Delights in this Life when those that are less generous fail and forsake us Which they do by acquainting us farther with GOD and by inflaming us with Love to the LORD JESUS CHRIST IN our declining Years as our Strength decays so other natural Abilities and Perfections which depend upon it flag and decay with it Particularly our Faculties grow dull and our Appetites grow down our Pleasures wear off and by degrees wear out and the sinking Body so depresses the Soul that Men dye to most of their corporal Satisfactions even while they live But here the Force of holy Comforts again is blessedly felt this being a chief Juncture wherein they exert it For when in these our Declensions they dwell plentifully with us they are an inexhaustible Spring of rich and high Complacencies They do not only fill us with great Thoughts and
Desires but also with such lofty Joys and Delights as of all things else make the best Entertainment for incarnate Spirits as being indeed not only the choicest that consist with Mortality but such as will be fresh and flourishing in us when all besides shall fade and wither In case it be enquired by what means these Comforts furnish us with such noble and divine Delights it may be answered by These two By bringing us Acquainted with ALMIGHTY GOD. And By inflaming us with Love to the LORD JESUS First By bringing us into better Acquaintance with the ALMIGHTY By leading us that is into the clearest and most familiar Knowledge of the Certainty of His Existence and of the Excellency of His Nature which in this State we can attain to As to the Perswasion of the Certainty of His Existence it roots no where so deep and grows no where so strong as where 't is well watered by divine Consolations There is no such forcible Demonstration as they of the Being of a GOD. What solid Reasoning does but prove in this case the Man under Comforts even feels in Himself The HOLY GHOST speaks of Mens feeling after GOD and finding Him out so Act. 17.27 But none do that so well and satisfactorily as they upon whom divine Comforts rest Scarce any thing almost be it never so tangible or never so palpable can be more obvious to their Touch or Handling than GOD is to their spiritual or inward Perception Their Sentiments of Him are so quick and lively that they convince them more throughly and convince them more powerfully that He is than the brightest Speculative Evidence can do when it strikes their Minds with clearest discoveries Philosophy can make it out that the Wind blows and that the Light shines and that Meat and Drink which are taken for Nourishment do refresh and strengthen but they who feel these Effects are more assured of them than they that only hear them talkt of and attend to the Loudest argumentative Proofs of them So Reason and Discourse may prove there is a GOD but they whom He honours with the enjoyment of His Comforts know that He is upon surer Grounds I mean the ravishing Influences which He casts upon them and the Impressions which they make on their pure Minds The delightful Converse they have with Him and the reviving Joys they perceive from Him seal up this Truth with a sensible Testimony and evince His Existence beyond all Argumentation the best Topics can afford As impossible it is for them that sit under the Gleams of Consolation to question GOD's Being as it is for them to doubt of the Being of the Sun who feel the Heat and see the Brightness of his cherishing Beams And this home Perswasion of the Existence of a GOD is the main Pillar which supports the Delights of all good Men. Were it not for that which under-props them they would forthwith sink and fall flat to the Ground And well they might For take GOD out of the World and how sorry a thing would it immediately prove and how despicable and lamentable would Living in it be to all Men at once For then according to Atheists nonsensical Hypothesis as all things were made by blind Chance so they must be govern'd by giddy Fortune And being under so weak and wild a Conduct must necessarily run on through dismal Irregularities into dreadful Confusion Nor would it be worse with Nature than with Morality For then there being nothing to give check to licentious Principles or to controll the Inclinations and Practices of the Dissolute their Power and Will would be their Rule and Law and their Pleasures and Interests would be their ultimate End and rampant Vice and predominant Malice through Pride and Lust and Tyranny and Revenge would drive on outragiously to the Top of Rapine and all Excess And thus the whole Earth would be turn'd in a Trice to the most horrid Wilderness and Men into the worst wild Beasts that inhabit it How strange is it therefore that any should ever so dote upon Atheism as to court and be fond of that cursed Opinion An Opinion so monstrously unreasonable in it self and attended with such evil and pernicious Consequents that they ought to reject it with highest Detestation in their own Defence But as there is a GOD who in spite of all base Enemies to His Being will maintain the Beauty and Order of the Universe and will keep up true Virtue and Goodness among Men to the End of this World so they that live in the sense of His Comforts must live in the sense of His Existence too And that deep and lively sense of His Being which holy Consolations imprint upon them will replenish them with such dear and gratifying Delights that they would not part with it upon any Terms And as they would not upon any account part with their sense of GOD's Existence so much less with His Being it self They would not for a thousand thousand Worlds that the true GOD were not or that He were any other than what He is Their sense of His Being makes them sensible also of many Benefits and mighty Advantages which accrue to them from it As that when they Complain they have a GOD to hear them When they Pray they have a GOD to answer them When they are Afflicted they have a GOD to support them and also to sanctify their Sufferings to them When they do their Duties they have a GOD to assist them When their Duties are done they have a GOD to reward them While they live they have a GOD to bless them When they dye they have a GOD to take care of them After they are dead they have a GOD to crown them And when the sweet sense of of all this and of a great deal more is strong upon them it cannot but produce excessive Delights Delights as noble in their Nature as they are exquisite in their Sweetness As there is no worse Terror and no greater Torment to the guilty Souls of the Irreligious than the stinging Conviction of the Existence of a GOD so the Pleasures that the vivid Sense of His Being yields to the Penitent or truly Righteous under Consolations are as unspeakable But because they are so let us say no more of them Yet we are to note that as divine Comforts bring us to a quick sense of the Certainty of GOD's Being and thereby raise us to noble Delights so they make us happy in the same Delights by leading us into a right Notion of the Excellency of His Nature The Mind of Man is a most busy Thing And as it is active about other Objects so it will be about GOD Himself And when our Thoughts imploy themselves about Him if they feign improper Ideas of Him and exhibit Him to us in never so false Images or erroneous Conceptions yet they springing up in our Minds and so most throughly and strongly possessing them we are apt to suspect or believe