occasions of being displeased and he that hath many occasions of being displeased it is impossible that he should live a merry life be a wicked man It were easy to be large in this point by instancing in severall particulars wherein selfe-love workes the wicked man sorrow But I must remember my own intentions and the Reader 's ease Another thing that a godly man hath to make him mirth is Faith and good turne it hath vertue for that use in regard the godly man's life is most upon it I mean not only faith in Jesus Christ for deliverance from the wrath to come that which is enough of it selfe to make him rejoyce * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Pet 1.8 with joy unspeakable full of glory but the grace of believing with confidence whatever God sayes of expecting with confidence what ever he promises of trusting to him submitting to his will and wisedome resolving that he can chuse better for us then we can for our selvs that what ever he sends us if it be never so bitter is wholsome fit for our turnes There cannot be a better thing to keep a a man in merry heart then to have continually one to trust to He that trusts to God hath the best cause of mirth because he hath the surest ground of trust viz the Truth of God which is not of no concernment for matter of comfort as it might be if God had never said any thing what he would doe for men in regard that God hath promised so many excellent things which seeing he hath named no particular persons must in all reason be concieved to belong to those that believe him and love him If therefore there be any comfort in any of the word of God the faithfull or the godly man cannot be without it Nay there is certainely in it that wherewith he will keep himselfe from being sad in any condition When any danger is threatned be it from men or the creatures it troubles him least of any Come sayes he As the mountaines are round about Jerusalem so the Lord is round about his people from hence forth and for ever Ps 125.2 Either I shall never meet with any such troubles as they talke of or if I doe I am consident that the Lord will keep me harmelesse for I remember a promise of his When thou passest thorow the waters I will be with thee and thorow the rivers they shall not overflow thee when thou walkest thorow the fire thou shalt not be burnt neither shall the flame kindle upon thee Isa 43.2 Suppose it be certaine that he shall suffer he is not so poorely acquainted with God or so ill conceited of him or so little child-like-disposed to be vexed for it He will say It is the Lord Let him doe what seemeth him good 1 Sam 3.18 What shall we recieve good at the hand of God and shall we not recieve evil Job 2.10 What we have had fathers of our flesh which corrected us and we gave them reverence shall we not much rather be in subjection unto the father of spirits and live For they verily for a few dayes chastened us after their own pleasure but he for our profit that we might be partakers of his holinesse Heb 12.9.10 But you will say all the faith in the world cannot possibly make him merry when affliction is uppon him Ans Say you so what hath it nothing to comfort a man when he hath most need Then a Pin for faith But certainly it hath For as many things as there are concerning which there is any promise so farre is faith able to Comfort In this case it hath heard and it doubts not of the truth of it that the Lord doth not afflict willingly Lam 3.33 and therefore it hopeth he will not be long in his punishment It considereth That he is God and not man therefore it hopeth that he will not exercise the fiercenesse of his wrath Hos 11.9 It is enough for infidels to lye comfortlesse under afflictions and yet know that God hath said Happy is the man whom God correcteth Job 5.17 And Whom the Lord loveth he correcteth Prov 3.12 Is it nothing in a time of affliction to have an 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or substance of such things hoped for as a believer hopes for to stand by a man especially considering that besides the certainty of his hope he knowes withall that these short afflictions which are but for a moment worke a farre more exceeding and eternall weight of glory 2 Cro 4.17 So great are the comforts encouragements that a godly man hath under affliction that though he will not despise * Prov 3.11 Despise not the chastening of the Lord. the affliction so as to reject it 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 yet he can in a manner despise it so as not to be affrighted with it made to leave God for a little beating Nay he can comfort himselfe upon thoughts of gaining by affliction Sayes he I love God and I am confident he that loved them that hated him * When we were enemies Christ dyed for us Rom 5.10 will never hate one that loveth him Now I know for the word of God is not to me as the word of man or as a letter or dead as it is to a wicked man that All things worke together for good to them that love God Rom 8.28 I am confident there hath been many an experience of that which is said 2 Cor 7 6 God that comforteth those that are cast down Let a faithfull man's affliction encrease as often as he feels an encrease so often will he repeat Though he slay me yet will I trust in him Job 13.15 He can be merry when he is reproached because it is said If ye be reproached for the name of Christ happy are ye for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you 1 Pet 4.14 If he be slandred and ill thought of through mistake or malice either way it is that which one that is not a Believer can hardly beare without very much discomfort and vexation he hath this cordiall still by him to comfort his heart that God will one day make amends for all and bring forth his righteousnesse as the light and his judgment as the noon-day Ps 37.6 Let him live in never so meane and contemtible fashion and no man regard him he will not be be a jot the lesse merry for that but perhaps the more because he believeth that one time or other God will honour him which is farre better because he hath said Them that honour me I will honour 1 Sam 2.30 If there come any sicknesse near him he can presently say I remember what David said and I doe verily believe him Surely he shall deliver thee from the snare of the fowler and from the noysome pestilence He shall cover thee with his feathers under his wings shalt thou trust his truth shall be thy sheild buckler
words or his carriage be not fine enough none of his feares of being counted foolish or childish or clownish if his looks or his language or his carriage or his complements be not in the fashion or according to his quality None of his sad thoughts for coming off ill at such or such an exercise or suspicions that such a one looks upon him when he is doing this or that Lastly none of his jealousies nor doubts nor misconceits with in finite more such troublesome businesses which the proud man's head is continually full of Next to his humility and carelesnesse of being honoured with esteem and reputation an excellent preservative against sorrows and vexations which continually hang like flyes upon those that are shye and nice in such things is his Carelesnes of being honoured with preferments and places of wealth and power I call this carelesnesse Modesty or want of ambition for we can goe a little further then Aristotle who would not allow of Aphilotimy 'T is a vertue this that having little to doe and lesse to care for can quietly sit and sing or sleep without disturbance either from within or without while Ambition seeking great things for her selfe walks up down scratching her head and biting her lips as sad as cares and doubts and feares of miscarriage with multitude of thoughts and multitude of enemies and multitude of obstacles can make her And yet hath not a godly man lesse honour in mens hearts that is that they think him worthy of preferment for not caring for it but even so much the more Whereas the wicked man hath many times the lesse when he looks most after it and when he hath most he hath none at all Prov 3.35 The wise shall inherit glory but shame shall be the promotion of fooles When he hath all he hath no content for he is as Solomon says 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Prov 28 25 big and wide of spirit of a large heart hardly satisfied like a longing stomak alwaies craving and never filled till it be full The truth of it is the godly man is soexcellent in this other vertues that the wicked man himselfe cannot chuse but honour him in his heart whether he will or no. Nay in spite of his teeth sometimes he does bewray and discover it for you shall see him stand gazing and amus'd and amaz'd when he sees the temperate man and the devout man and the selfe denier and their faces seem to shine when he looks upon them I might speak a great deale more in the commendation of a modest man's life in relation to his mirth and joy but I forbeare lest I should make him blush Another vertue which the godly man hath much conducing to a merry life is Taciturnity or Saying little as little troubled with sadnesse as it is with repentance For as Plutarch * De Liberis educan dis said 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in B. Hall's english It repented me oft that I spake to much seldome that I held my peace It was the saying of a wiser man then Plutarch Who so keepeth his mouth and his tongue keepeth his soule from trouble Prov 21.23 Nulli tacuisse nocet nocet esse locutum In many words there must needs be much hurt and offence either to the hearer or speaker and I believe there is as much vexation in the world for words as for deeds But the most constant companion of godlinesse and the merriest companion of all Contentednesse is Contentednes Neither is it an ordinary merry companion one that will be merry with them that are merry or one with whom a man may be merry if he will but such a one as will make mirth wheresoever it comes alway preventing trouble at home alwaies ending and never be ginning brawles abroad Well may Contentednes make a godly man merry be he never so miserable for it will make him rich be he never so poore Make him rich did I say or rather declare him only to be so And yet no disparagement to contentednesse neither as long as the honour redounds to godlinesse with that I know it will be well contented For godlines first is gaine by it selfe and contentednesse is the gaine or the fruit of godlinesse But such a fruit it is as it beares continually winter and summer and more in the winter then in the summer for adversity is her chiefest bearing time I think you may take those words of the Apostle 1 Tim 6 6 Godlinesse with content is great gain in the sense which some doe those of the Wise-man Wisedome is good with an inheritance so as if I say a wise man is strong with his armour or the like A godly man though he have never so little having contentednesse hath as much as he can desire Now he that hath the goodnesse to desire but little and the happinesse to desire no more then he can have how can such a man chuse but be merry A godly man is never without 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 moderatenesse of passion Now where there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 there is also * Sufficiency by himselfe 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 for if I care not how it goe abroad am one manner of man goe how it will and have that within me which will serve for every condition I have no need of forrein things have enough of my own or I count it enough that which I have which is all one and so I am 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 but where 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 is 't is impossible any condition should make the man sad For when a man is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as who youl l say selfe-sufficient cares for no more as long as he enioys himselfe or is able to live by himselfe he cannot be troubled for want of other things and consequently cannot be sad On the contrary the wicked man who mindeth earthly things enlarging his desire as hell and being as death which cannot be satisfied the objects of his coveting are alwaies so many and those things which he can obtaine so few that like a longing woman he cannot chuse but be alwaies sick and sad in mind both with the trouble of coveting so much and the thoughts of his misery that he covets what he cannot have and that he cannot have what he covets But especially is he thus sad if his maine vice be to be covetous I meane in that sense in which we usually take the word viz covetous of money or wealth either to get or to keep it or to encrease it wherein he endures so much paine and feare and distraction as it may be I shall shew you more fully in it's proper place Another cause of mirth which godly men usually have wicked men but seldome is Laboriousnesse and businesse of mind and love of employment qualities that are of excelient use in a man's heart to fill up the room and stop the entrance to sorrowfull thoughts and feares As
nay he is as glad and as merry as a man that finds a treasure or hath got-somewhat beyond his desert and expectation And if that little should be never so much yet will he himselfe be the same still only more bountifull and perhaps a little more merry and this is all the change you shall find in him On the contrary for the wicked man whose mind is bent after these things with eagernesse and affection consider what a deale of hard service and toyle what sleeplesse restlesse endlesse cares his lusts and passions and vices like so many peevish and never-to-be-pleased task-masters continually put him upon every one commanding and domineering over him many times all together and sometimes for contrary designes and most times for such as cannot be followed without difficulty and paine and danger of the losse of his body if I should say the soule he would weigh but little of that being a thing which he himselfe sees not nor any body else and so out of sight out of mind and regard If there were no such contrariety in the objects to say nothing of the contrariety also in the desires themselves worse then a civill warre in a Kingdome the quantity and the greatnesse of the number were enough to overloade him and the quality and the variety of the sorts sufficient to distract him While the godly man or the spirituall * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 1 Cor 2.15 man hath but one single spirit to please he living a sensuall life hath as many masters to please as he hath senses or acts of those senses or objects of those acts The most temperate rationall worldling and such a one it may be soonest for he is for others too whereas the intemperate bruitish sot is for none but himselfe how is he to use the words of the Apostle 2 Tim 2.4 Intangled with the afaires of this life What a deale of cumbersome imployments hath he How many perplexities to find and untangle How many doubts to study to cleare How many wayes and meanes to examine and essay dangers and inconveniences to enquire into and avoyd How many circumstances conditions events persons times and places to trouble his head with so that he is quite wearied and tired with multitude of counsells * Isa 47.13 to dispatch his businesses O the exceeding monstrous headlesse endlesse colluvies and the numerous tumultuary army of disordered and confused thoughts and plots and counsels that continually throngs and crouds in the little roome of the heart of a carnall man I dare say he hath no less then a thousand to one with the godly man For the godly man having but little to doe cannot have much to think or to speak and that little which he doth is cleane contrary to what alwaies is to be seen in the actions of wicked men not only not accompained with sollicitude in but not attended and dog'd with biting vexations and sorrowes and repentings after the doing Methinks I would faine in large a little upon this point and therefore I desire your patience to consider a little longer with me whether godly man have not by much lesse to doe then the wicked besides what hath been already said for these ensuing reasons 1. Because both they and their vertues are like men within a castle or those that have the defensive part whose businesse and care relates but to a little and to a few objects for the preservation of themselves that is almost all that they care for and if they take any care about others 't is in relation to their own duty and with an eye to their own recompence of reward whereas wicked men and their vices are rather like the besiegers or those that are without the castle whose maine businesse it is to offend which makes them have a great deale more to doe inasmuch as every offensive party hath necessarily both parts to act 2. Because vertue or a good action or the vertue goodnes of actions is like the mark in a But simple and single and but in one place whereas vice or a bad action or the badnes and pravity of actions may be either here or there nay is here and there every where except in the middle When there is shooting at a common marke suppose one man able and willing to hit the marke every time and suppose another neglectfull of the mark and desirous rather to shew his skill in shooting to any other place besides the mark sometime to one and sometimes to another and tell me who hath most to doe or whose worke is hardest he that hath but one place to hit though he have many to avoid or he that hath many places to hit and so many times as many more to avoid as he hath places to strike God appoints but one way The wicked man * Jer 3.13 disperseth his wayes and by that meanes encreaseth his trouble How often do we see the most cunning wicked men weary themselves in the mutitude of their wayes Isa 57.10 To instance in one vertue veracity What an easy thing it is to speak every man the truth to his neighbour We need not take much paine in apparelling Truth or putting over many cloathes about her For though she may be modest she is bold and loves to goe naked No need of a guard of many words to attend her nor of colours of gaudy expressions to make her take the better No need of adorning her with devices of Rhetorick to make her beautifull for she is naturally so nor of arming her with artifices of arguments to make her strong for she is strong enough of her selfe stronger then women or wine Darius being judge in the Apocryphall history 1 Esdr 4.14 With Leasing or falshood it is cleane otherwise For it must be as well clad and adorned by him that useth it as it is naked and deformed of it selfe He that bends his * Jer. 9.3 tongue like a bow to tell a lye with how much anxiety care study feare doubt compunction and sence of guilt doth he elaborate his story And when he thinks he hath made all sure and stopped every gap and does not only not know of any that knowes but knowes that no man knowes how to find him yet neverthelesse he hath palenesse in his face and faintnes in his heart his tongue faulters his lips hands and leggs tremble and the sound of a shaken leafe will chase him Although the feare of God be not in him to keep him from sinning yet the a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Gen 35.5 terrour of God will be upon him to affright him in it This sollicitude in the contrivance of lying whether by words or actions is as great as in any wickednesse whatsoever And therefore well might the Prophet complaine of the Jewes at once that they taught their tongues to speake lyes wearyed themselves to commit iniquity Jer 9.5 A second reason of the easinesse and pleasantnesse of a godly
and the end of the journey and what I shall have when I come thither cannot I take a little paines for a little time for a great reward to follow my Saviour when he calls me But perhaps after all this thou wilt yet againe object I question the goodnesse of the ware if it be so cheap as you make it This newes is too good to be true You told us before difficilia quae pulchra Godlinesse cannot be so good as others say it is and so easy too as you make it The best things every one knowes are hardest to be got farre fetch 't and dearely bought To this I answer that what I said first and what you said last is both true and in that sense which you speak of I will yeeld that godlinesse is difficult viz because of difficulty in attaining to it which difficulty according to you cannot be in the thing neither this not any other excellent thing because it is only before we have attained to it Now I confesse we cannot so easily be willing to undergoe difficulty to attaine that which we must enjoy and use with difficulty too for we could never love it so well But that godlines is thus difficult that it is painfull and toylesome and uncomfortable in it's exercises so as a man cannot live one merry day as long as he hath it but that teares must be his meat day and night and his eyes must still be consumed with griefe and the apple thereof never be suffered to cease I doe utterly deny Nay the more difficulty there is in getting up the hill I meane of Conviction of sinne humiliation and repentance the greater pleasure doe we take to look down againe when we are up You may observe it in the hardest mechanick trades that are hardest to be learned which usually are the best the workmanship is easy to be done and without labour or toyle when as in those that are easily learned and are of an inferiour rank you can scarce doe any thing to the purpose without a great deale of sweat and toyle tyring I will conclude this poynt with what Solomon said of wisedome Prov 3.17 Her wayes are waies of pleasantnesse and all her pathes are peace Another cause that a godly man hath to be merry may be this that tweflth ground satisfactorines of the objects of Love The objects of his love are satisfactory which is the most necessary qualification of any to make a man rejoyce in what he loves what a man loves the mirth of his life is most concerned in and he spends most of his time about it Where there is no satisfaction but the stomack as I may say is still hungry and empty just as it is in the hunger of the body there must needs be discontent and consequently sadnesse in the desire of that which is wanting and griefe for the want But when that which a man loves is satisfactory and answers a man's desires and gives him enough then and not till then he takes delight and then he begins to rejoyce as we say When the belly is full the bones are at rest Now for the objects of a godly man's love the first and the last and the chiefest the fountaine from which all other objects have their satisfactory vertue and the loadstone at which they are all touched whereby they have power to draw our hearts after them is no other and can be no lesse then God himselfe who is to every godly man as he was to David to whom he seemed so perfectly a satisfactory object of his desire that he desired nothing in heaven or earth besides him Psal 73.25 Whom have I in heaven but thee and there is none upon earth that I desire besides thee And wise enough he to make choyce of such an object For now neither ought he nor need he desire any thing or if he doe he is in the fairest way to enjoy it having him who is all in all He satisfieth the longing soule and filleth the hungry soule with goodnesse Psal 107.9 He that is He alone for else it is no prayse of him They that seek after another God another thing to give them satisfaction and happinesse shall be sure to multiply sorrow Psal 16.4 The other objects of their love are The word and ordinances of God and the practise of good dutyes which as they give satisfaction by communion with and participation of the chiefest good so are they in their own nature good preservatives against sorrow and sadnesse being contrary to and used as meanes against Sinne the cause of all repentance and sorrow I would faine know among all the things that ever a wicked man loved to have and among all the actions that ever he loved to doe which it was that gave him satisfaction Many other causes of joy for a godly man might be fetched from the goodnesse of his Condition But I must leave a little roome for your own meditations and I doubt not but many of you that read me have more knowledge and better experience If notwithstanding all this that hath been said and though the Lord hath shewne thee these good things yet thy heart be heavy and thou art still dejected whatever thou doest confesse thy fault to be thine own Say not godlinesse is this or that But rather say with David when he was ready to think that God had forgotten him after he had thus complained Is his mercy clean gone for ever doth his promise faile for evermore Hath God forgotten to be gratious Hath he in anger shut up his tender mercies Psal 77.8.9 Surely this is mine own infirmity and nothing else vers 10. And come to thy selfe againe as he does in the following verses saying thus I will remember the workes of the Lord surely I will remember thy wonders of old I will meditate also of all thy work and talke of thy doings vers 11.12 I am resolved I will no longer entertaine these melancholy phancies but I will comfort my heart with meditating upon the goodnesse of my God and the wonderfull things that he hath done for me whereby my Condition is so good The second Book Of the Mirth of a Christian Life FRom the godly man's Condition in which he is let us proceed to the Conditions affections and qualities which are in him and the actions which proceed from him see what causes he hath to have mirth of his own making by the grace of God The first thing he hath to make him a cheerfull countenance give me leave to to goe so largely now I shall speak more particularly hereafter is his Godlinesse Godlinesse I say both of his heart and Life both past and present in the performance of good actions Of these I might speak more distinctly but I shall take my liberty and speak sometimes of one and sometimes of another For godlinesse in heart when a man is able to assure his heart before God and his heart does not condemne him when
on the contrary constant experience tells us and I can say somewhat my selfe if a man doe not busie his mind but be either a busie-body only and wander about from house to house to tattle and prattle or else lyes gaping and folding his hands out of sluggishnesse or making pictures in his fancy as children doe in the walls out of pensivenesse and dumpishnesse I say if a man have such abundance of idlenesse as the Prophet's word is Ezek 16 40. let him have never so great abundance and fulnesse of bread let him have an affluence of all worldly things to his mind and let every body please him and doe all that they can to make him merry besides being more exposed to the temptations of Sathan more open to his assaults while he hath no Work a doing to keep him out his own necessarily active and still busy such is the nature of his soule but yet idle and not busied mind and fancy will worke him sorrow enough and more then ever he will be able to conquer though nothing from without was ever able to overcome him Another vertue of a godly man that will dispose him to mirth is Temperance a vertue that will make the heart as light as it doth the rest of the body A Temperate-man first Resolves to use but a little and therefore hath not much trouble of care to provide what he would have Secondly he doth use but a little and therefore he hath not much trouble of feare that it will doe him hurt Thirdly he hath used but a little and so is free from the trouble of distempers paine and sorrow and of much losse to boot It were easy to be large upon this But I have much field and I cannot tell how to stand long upon one place There is one more that is farre beyond all the rest a vertue shall I call it or a compound of vertues I meane Harmlesnes or Innocency or unwillingnes to hurt any body for the present or hereafter for of innocency i e unguiltinesse and not having done hurt heretofore I have spoken already He that will not hurt his enemies with injuries will never hurt himselfe with sorrows and vexations I think there is none more troublesome to himselfe then he that is most troublesome to others The creatures of prey live solitary in desarts disconsolate places while the poore harmelesse sheep and other such creatures as they are though they be nearest the slaughter skip and play and think of nothing The innocent man intending to hurt none and having a desire to doe every one good while he knows that non-intention to hurt is sufficient to excuse a desire to doe good good enough to commend him can no more be sad for having done hurt then he hath cause to grieve for not having done good 'T is not the act of doing hurt will make a man the worse no more then the power of doing well will make him the better With his unwillingnesse to doe hurt for else I should not care much to commend him there goes a willingnesse to doe good then which there is nothing that workes more constant quiet to the soule of any Christian especially if his endeavour be for the soule of his brother The object being better the good done is the better too the person's commendation more and the joy for having done it greater To enlarge a little here though I have spoken to this purpose already What a deale of comfort does a man take what happinesse doth he count it and with what joy does he tell of it and remember it that he lifted up an other man's oxe out of the ditch or saved his lamb from the fox or any thing else though it be but of little value from the fire How much more joy then think you must it be to a man unlesse he doe well and know not of it which is more then he can doe for a senslesse creature may as well doe a good deed that hath no knowledge at all as a reasonable creature if he have no knowledge of what he does to have sav'd or wonne or gain'd a soule for such a thing it is to convert a soule and we have no weaker adversaries then Satan and all the world to contend with us for the prize to have lifted it up from the pit of hell recovered it from the jaws not of the fox but the Lion and snatcht it as a firebrand out of the fire when it was so near to be burnt If it be such a comfort and joy and glory to a School-master to have made a good scholler in human learning what must it be to have made one in Divine and there is no learning truly learning but the Divine nor any Divine learing truly Divine learning but Christianity and godlines Paul cals the Christians in Philippi his joy and crowne chap 4 1 and so those or Thessalonica his joy and Glory 1 Epist chap 2.20 Surely he that converts a sinner since his charity is all as much his joy must be no lesse then the woman 's was when she found the gâ—oâ—t or the Shepheard's when he found that sheep that was yeelded for lost And here now I am speaking of saving of soules and converting of sinners In which I comprehend strengthening the weak instructing the erroneous and ignorant and comforting the afflicted and all other such actions of a godly man as these are tending to the benefit of other mens soules I have an ocean of matter before me I have much adoe to forbeare launching into it but I am afraid of going too farre or tarrying too long at sea it is such pleasant sayling There are two things more in a godly man that dispose him for mirth which I will but mention The first is the Agreeing of his Will with the will of God The second is that which will follow upon this and the rest of his qualifications formerly mentioned a Preparednesse for any condition or time though it be the very last judgment for he lives not in darknesse and therefore that day cannot come upon him as a thief in the night 1 Thess 5.4 For the first that it is so may not be questioned for his constant prayer is Thy will be done and his ordinary motto The will of the Lord be done or It is the Lord let him doe what seemeth good And then if it be so that he may be merry in any condition is all as true For if his will be according to the Lord's will nay if his will be at all times this that the will of the Lord be done and he knowes that there is no evill in the City but what the will of the Lord is should be done 't is as impossible that any evill should make him sad as it is that that which is according to his will should grieve him which cannot be For the second that it is so appeares by all my discourse hitherto concerning his cenditions For being
furnished with good qualities and all things necessary within doubtlesse he is provided to entertain any guest that shall come from without and to welcome and comply with any accident Which if it be so that he cannot be sad will follow because being so prepared he knowes how and he hath ability wherewithall to doe it He will use every condition so as it shall in no way force him to sadnesse If it be bad he will not be so much troubled as to be sad now and if it be good he will not be so much gladded as to occasion himselfe to be sad for it hereafter as other men are wont to doe through want of moderation Having so many props and helps as he hath the grounds and causes of joy which I have mentioned and being so well taught as he is by the spirit from within and by experience from without and endued with so much strength and courage from above like a thing that is square which way soever he falls he will stand upright and throw him how you will he will be sure to pitch upon his legs and courageously say with Paul Philip 4.12 〈◊〉 know how to be abased and I know how to abound◠every where and in all things I am instructed both to be full and to be hungry both to abound and to suffer need It were easy to shew what quiet the Continent man hath in comparison of the Incontinent man whose restlesse burnings with desire and his difficulties and feares and diseases in or after the accomplishing of it there is none but will easily believe So likwise to shew how quietly and void of vexatious thoughts the Mercifull man lives in comparison of the Cruell man Neither were it difficult to enlarge upon severall other commendations of a godly man in regard of his vertues and the usefulnes of them ro the producing of joy but this much may suffice or the present There are also severall other wayes for a godly man to make himselfe merry I could shew him some out of Basil in his sermon of Thanks-giving wherein he explaines those words of the Apostle Rejoyce alwayes c For putting the question whether the Apostle did not exhort Christians to an impossibility in regard that at all times either they are in afflictions which it is impossible they should be glad of or have committed sinnes which they are bound to be forty for he answers himselfe and says First that misery and sinne * Licet uti peccatis Estius in L. 1. Dist S. 2. which breed so much sorrow to others to a man that is in Christ prove an augmentation of joy Secondly that such a man in the greatest affliction hath those things to meditate upon which will afford him abundant occasion to rejoyce as among other things his creation out of nothing his being made after the image of God his having reason and understanding his power to discerne between good and evill his restauration after his fall and his hoped for resurrection after his death In the next place because the carnall man whom Idesire to lure over to christianity understands not these things is better acquaintend with worse I think it may doe well now I have spoken so much of the chiefe causes of joy which a godly man hath to say somewhat of the chiefe causes of sorrow which he hath not especially considering that men of fearfull and prejudiced minds though you tell them of never so much good which they never thought of you had as good say nothing unlesse you tell them likewise how they may avoyd never so little evill which they are affraid of although that evill be so cleane contrary to the good that it cannot consist with it You shall never make them merry by telling them of living in plenty or an assurance of having this or that unlesse you can perswade them that they cannot come to poverty by such or such a mischance or that nothing can hinder them of it or take it from them There are within a man 's own selfe two grand enemies to his own mirth Care and Feare He that hath the first is sad because he thinks he cannot obtaine and he that hath the last because he thinks he cannot avoyd what he would For the first The godly man may not and being a godly man will not because he may not suffer it to be within him He may not by any meanes take care upon him and if he happen to have it thrown upon him he hath a warrant to cast it off againe upon God who careth for him See an expresse command for it Phil 4 6 Be carefull for nothing c Be not sollicitous as if thou thoughtest thy caring were sufficient without God's providence or as if God's providence were not sufficient without thy overmuch caring He that is so must needs be sad for the present with the trouble of care for good and will be afterwards with the trouble of sorrow for ill succes But the godly man is never so nor so As for Feare it is too cowardly an adversary to conquer the heart of a Souldier of Christ The righteous is as bold as a Lyon His heart is too well fixed to shake for Feare Prov 28. Psal 112.7.8 It is tyed fast to God by hope and faith and it is held fast by God by his everlasting love A godly man is a choyce vessel without crannie or breach or leak not to be sunk with the waves and troubles of conscience for they shall never be so strong as to break him nor yet to be overwhelmed with the waves and troubles of afflictions for they shall never rise so high as to get above him And therefore is it that an upright man can walke to and fro so boldly and not be touched at heart though all his haire be burnt in the greatest combustions Isa 33.14 15. If he have at any time a little touch of feare as he may have being a man neither doth reason require that a man or faith that a Christian should be senselesse yet it is so that he may be merry nevetheless and rejoyce with trembling as the Psalmist speaks Ps 2.11 But yet I pray tell me what should he feare It cannot be any kind of misery for he knowes well enough that all things work for his good and therefore misery too among the rest Neither can it be any kind of adversary and who will slye when none pursues him unlesse the terrour of God be upon him which is only upon the wicked for he is well eased of all his adversaries therfore feares them not First he feares not what the divell can doe because he cannot kill the soule but with it 's own sword I meane thoughts words actions which by the grace of God he shall never have power of Secondly he feares not what Men can doe because they can but kill the body and for that he could afford to come againe and give them thanks because of
is all in every thing For what is a faire easy way if it end there where I would not be or if it lead me out of the way But then as I have formerly said a wicked mans wayes besides that they are slippery are dark too And what sad walking is it besides the toyle and vexation in the dark Prov 14.9 The way of the wicked is as darknesse they know not at what they stumble 2. A wicked man has many masters and many sorts of masters and such as are very bad If they were good it were bad enough in that they are many viz The devill the world and six hundred Lusts Such masters as are to him for the most pars task-masters and such taske-masters as are Egyptian task-masters For. 1. they are unreasonable They will require brick of him when he has no straw Command him him to doe this and that and make him covet and feare and lust and hope and be angry when there is no possibility to obtaine or voyd or be reveng'd Which must needs put him to a great deale of torture and vex him exceedingly 2. They are unanswerable imperious and importunate They will not be put off They will have their commands executed what ever come of it presently to the full and every one though they be never so contrary to reason and to one another or else he shall never be quiet And shall he be quiet so 3. As their commands are unreasonable and imperious so they are continuall and without intermission 'T is not company nor want of company not opportunity nor want of opporrunity to doe what God would have him 'T is not night nor day Not sleeping nor watching Not being in publick nor being in private Not any time nor place nor person nor thing that will make the devill or his Lusts forbeare tempting him one minute of an houre And what domineering manner of tempting is it wherewith they tempt a wicked man But 4. there is one thing more in this tyranny which the devill and the flesh have over a wicked man that makes it intolerable and that is this that it is to be obeyed in severally ways extending it selfe both to body and soule They will be served with all the soule and with all the body which is more then God himselfe to whom only our service is due necessarily requires for if the spirit be doing it will suffice when the body cannot But this they doe and that with the inevitable hurt now and necessary destruction hereafter of both body soule which have thus served them which will make a fifth aggravation of a wicked mans misery in being subject to these masters viz because their commands are cruell enjoyning him to doe not that from which some good or benefit may come or which is indifferent or which is onely wearisome and painefull but that which is only evill absolutely and every way unprofitable in a spirituall sense and many times and many wayes in a carnall sense necessarily hurtfull and destructive not only to the body now as in the sins of whoredome intemperance contentiousnesse but both to body and soule hereafter 3. A wicked man hath many enemies Even those his masters are his enemies What condition can be more sad then his who cannot fight with but is under the command of his enemie Especially 1. If it be an intestine and domestick enemy No misery like to that One would endure to be under a forreiner but a civill enemy my subjection to him is as slavish as the hatred between us is bitter A wicked man's lusts Satan being his masters his enemies his enemies are domestick enemies and his domestick enemies are the most bitter and malitious for they seeke not any good of their own yet they seek his everlasting hurt 2. If it be a secret enemy and a seeming freind so these enemies and masters are which makes them the easier to be believed the harder to be avoided and the worse to be dealt with Those enemies are all in the darke to a wicked man who walkes altogether in the darke and hath noe light at all either without him or within him and what advantage has my enemy that stands neere me in the dark while I am in the light A wicked man being in darknesse is no more able to deale with the divell who is able to transforme himself into an Angell of Light then a blinde man is able to fight with one that hath his sight But beside these that dwell within him he hath other enemies without him that are not far from him neither 1. God who made him is made his enemy what an enemy must he be One whose eyes are alwaies upon him who knowes all that he does or sayes nay that he will doe or say or thinke every counsell and thought of his hart and that a farre off and long before What a case is he in that hath such an enemy and provokes him too as he does every minute 2. Men. Wickednesse will make enemies one way or other in the execution of sinne Now if those men be wicked there is malice enough with them and God is like to prosper it against his enemy If they be godly there is power enough with God and he is certain to exercise it first or last in the behalfe of his children What a poore love is it that a wicked man hath The godly man loves him but does not love his company the wicked man loves his company but does not love him He may love what he does as drinking and the like because he loves to do it himselfe but no longer then he does it neither Nay no longer then he does it with him and as he would have him wicked men associate not so much to beare one another company as to beare a part with one another but he loves not what he is he loves not his soule that is the most that a man is His soule is seldome knit to the soule of his companion by the band of friendship Neither indeed can it be For there can be no true friendship and yet without that there cannot be a merry life where there is no vertue Philosophers have said so long agoe and Christians find it to be true Wicked men may keep one another company to keep one anothers counsell they may agree together to doe mischiefe because they cannot doe it otherwise But it is no better then when dogs curres agree to cath a prey unlesse it be in this that they will agree sometimes when they have taken a prey which not withstanding usually they doe not so much out of mutuall love to protect one another as out of selfe love to preserve every one himself from the hand of justice 3. The Creatures who beare him a grudge continually That they forbeare him the least minute it is through the infinite forbearance of a most mercifull long-suffering God who can endure to let his sun shine both upon the