his enemies Numb. 23. 21 22. 2. His approach He cometh When Solomon a type of Christ was made King they did eat and drink with great gladness before the Lord 1 Chron. 29. 22. At such solemn Inaugurations the Trumpets sound the people shout the Conduits run Wine honours are dispenced gifts distributed prisons opened offenders pardoned Acts of grace published nothing suffered to eclipse the beauty of such a Festivity Thus it was at the coming of Christ Wise men of the East bring presents unto him rejoicing with exceeding great joy Mat. 2 10 11. The glory of God shines on that day and an heavenly Hoast proclaim the joy Luke 2. 9 14 Iohn Baptist leapeth in the womb Mary rejoiceth in God her Saviour Zachary glorifieth God for the horn of salvation in the house of David Simeon and Hanna bless the Lord for the glory of Israel And after when he came to Ierusalem the whole multitude spread garments strewed branches cried before him and behind him Hosanna to the son of David Hosanna in the highest Mat. 21. 9. And the Psalmist Prophecying long before of it said This is the day which the Lord hath made we will rejoice and be glad in it Psal. 118. 24. 3. His Character 1. He is Iust And this is the great joy of his people Isa. 9. 3. 7. especially being such a King as is not only just himself but maketh others just likewise In the Lord shall the seed of Israel be justified and glory Isa. 45. 25. Sin pardoned guilt covered death vanquished conscience pacified God reconciled must needs be a glorious ground of joy and peace unto believers Rom. 5. 1 2. Luke 10. 20. But a Prince may be just himself and yet not able to deliver his people from the injustice of enemies that are stronger then he as Iehosaphat said We have no might against this great company 2 Cron. 20. 12. Therefore 2. Our King here hath salvation is able to save himself and his people from their enemies and that to the uttermost Heb. 7. 25. It was his Name his Office the end why he was sent why he was exalted to be a Prince and a Saviour Acts 5. 31. 1 Iohn 4. 14. And this surely matter of great joy It is an Angelical Argument I bring you tidings of great joy which shall be to all people for unto you is born this day in the City of David a Saviour which is Christ the Lord Luke 2. 10 11. But Princes possibly the more powerful and victorious they are may be likewise the more stately it is not altogether unusual with men where they do much good to be supercilious and haughty towards those to whom they doe it But loe here 3. A Prince great in honor righteous in peace valiant in war and yet humble and lowly still So lowly as to minister to his own servants and to wash their feet Iohn 13. 14. as to be an example of meekness unto them Mat. 11. 29. The meanest of his people have access unto him may present their wants before him nay he staies not for them he comes to seek as well as to save calls on us stands and knocks at our dores waits that he may be gracious bears with us in our failings expects us in our delaies forgives our wandrings praies us to be reconciled to God Luke 19. 10. Isa. 13. 18. Rev. 3. 20. Now there is nothing more rejoiceth the hearts of a people then the mildness gentleness and clemency of their Prince whence when his heart is not haughty nor his eyes lofty as David said of himself Psal. 13. 1. when he is as a servant to his people and speaketh good words unto them as the old men advised Rehoboam 1 Reg. 12. 7. But a Prince may have a righteous heart a valiant hand a meek temper and yet do the less good by a natural slowness and indisposedness to action a there is nothing more acceptable to the people and necessary for the Prince then vigour and dispatch in works of Justice and prowesse Therefore 4 Our King is here set forth riding He did alwaies go about doing of good made it his meat and drink to do his Fathers work And here when it seemed most reasonable for him to have drawn back and spared himself when he was to be crucified he shews his cheerfulness in that service by riding to Jerusalem about it which we read not that he did upon any other occasion He did earnestly desire that Passover he did severely rebuke Peter when he disswaded him from that work he did express his singular readiness to become a sacrifice Loe I come I delight to do thy will O God yea thy Law is within mine heart Psal. 40. 7 8. And though in his agony he did earnestly desire that the cup might pass from him yet those groans of his nature under it did greatly set forth the submission and willingness of his love to undergo it Now this is a further ground of great joy to a people when all other Princely endowments in their Soveraign are vigorously acted and improved for their safety and protection when they see him deny himself in his own ease and safety that he may be ever doing good to them We see what an high value the people set on David Thou art worth ten thousand of us and this the occasion I will surely go forth with you my self 2 Sam. 18. 2 3. But a Prince may have all the endowments requisite to render him amiable in the eies of his people just and meek to them valiant and active against their enemies and yet fail a of success in his undertakings and they consequently have the joy of his Government much abated for The Race is not alwaies to the swift nor the Battel to the strong But it is otherwise with our King here Therefore it is added 5. He cuts the Chariot and the horse and the battel-bow he speaks peace to his people he extends his Dominion from Sea to Sea from the River to the ends of the earth he rides on in his Majesty prosperously the people fall under him Psal. 45. 4 5. He goes forth conquering and to conquer Rev. 6. 2. he takes from the strong man all his armor and divides the spoil Luke 11. 22. Isa. 53. 12. he never fails of full and final victory reigns till all enemies are put under his feet 1 Cor. 15. 24 25. And this is the Crown of his Peoples Joy That they have not only a just a valiant an humble an active but a prosperous and successfull Prince making his people rejoice in the spoils of their enemies breaking the yoke of their burden the staff of their shoulder the rod of their oppressor extending peace to them like a River and the glory of the Gentiles like a flowing stream causing them to put their feet on the necks of their adversaries Thus many waies are the people of Christ encouraged to rejoice in him This then serveth 1.
blessed hope secured by the witness of the spirit who is the seal and earnest of our eternal inheritance filleth the hearts of believers with joy unspeakable and full of glory while they look not on the things that are seen but on the things that are not seen 9. In the fellowship of his sufferings which though to sense they be matter of sorrow yet unto faith are they matter of joy When Gods servants consider that unto these sufferings they were appointed 1 Thes. 3. 3. That Christ owns them as his Col. 1. 4. That they work for them a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory 2 Cor. 4. 17. That thereby the spirit of glory resteth on them and that God himself is glorified in them 1 Pet. 4. 14. In these respects they not only rejoice but triumph as more then conquerors in all their afflictions Acts 5. 41 Rom. 8. 37. Iam. 1. 2. Thus are Believers to rejoice in Christ And that 1. Greatly again and again Other delights may please the senses tickle the fancy gratifie the reason but there is no joy that can fill all the heart but the joy of the Lord Zeph. 3. 14. 2. Alway Rejoice ever more 1 Thes. 5. 16. all other joies have their periods and vacations they flow and ebb they blossom and wither In a fit of sickness in a pang of conscience under a sentence of death they are all as the white of an egg without any savor But no condition is imaginable wherein a conscionable believer hath not a foundation of joy in Christ This Tree of life hath fruit on it for every month Rev. 21. 2. The comforter he sends abides with us for ever Iohn 14. 16. The joy he gives none can take away Iohn 16. 22. Though Gods people have many causes of sorrow in themselves strong corruptions hard hearts little strength weak graces many temptations yet in Christ they have still matter of rejoicing in the constancy of his love in the abundance of his pardoning mercy in the fulness of his spirit in the sufficiency of his grace in the fidelity of his promise in the validity of his purchase in the vigilancy of his eye in the readines of his help in the perpetuity of his intercession we disparage so good a Lord discredit his service disquiet our selves discourage others grieve his spirit expose his waies to prejudice reproach weaken our hands in his service and our hearts in his love when we pine and languish under groundless perplexity and waste that time which should be spent in his work about our jealousies of his favor 3. With trembling and holy reverence Res severa est verum gaudium without levity without wantonness without presumption without arrogance Psal. 2. 11. So rejoice in him as withall to fear to offend him to work out our own salvation with fear and trembling even for this very reason because he is so gracious as to give us both to will and to do of his own good pleasure Phil. 2. 12 13. 4. With improvement of this joy 1. Unto thankfulness for Christ and any thing of Christ in our selves having tasted that the Lord is gracious let us ever be speaking good of his name though our measures are not so great as some other mens yet we may not esteem any thing of salvation small or little it will grow unto perfection 2. Unto more chearful service the more we triumph in his victory the more we shall abound in his work 1 Cor. 15. 57 58. The joy of the Lord is our strength Nehem. 8. 10. Return to thy rest O my soul there is Davids joy I will walk before the Lord there is the work of that joy Psal. 116. 8 9. None are more fruitfull in his service then they who are most joifull in his favor 3. Unto consolation against any other evils though we have not the wealth health gifts imployments honors that others have yet if Christ have given us himself his bloud to redeem us his spirit to quicken us his grace to renew us his peace to comfort us Should such consolations seem small unto us Iob 15. 11. What wants are there which the joy of the Lord doth not compensate What sufferings are there which the joy of the Lord doth not swallow up Would we exchange Christ if we might have all the world without him And shall we be displeased if we have not all the world with him Nay have we not in him all other things more eminently sweetly purely richly to enjoy then in all the creatures besides Fidelibus totus mundus divitiarum est Doth thy journey to heaven displease thee because the way haply is deep and stony admit it were a Carpit-way like Salisbury Plain haply there thou wouldst loiter more haply there thou wouldst be more assaulted whereas in a deeper way thou art more careful of thy self and more secure against thine enemies Lastly unto a zealous provocation of others to come in and be partakers of the same joy In times of festivity men use to call their neighbours under their Vines and Fig-trees Zach. 3. 10. The Lord Jesus is the feast of his servants 1 Cor. 5. 7 8. unto him therefore we should invite one another as Andrew did Simon and Philip Nathaniel Iohn 1. 41 45. Joy is of all affections the most communicative it leaps out into the eyes the feet the tongue staies not in one privat bosom but as it is able sheds it self abroad into the bosoms of many others It was not enough for David to express his own joy by dancing before the Ark but he deals amongst all the people cakes of bread pieces of flesh flagons of wine that the whole multitude of Israel might rejoice in the Ark of God as well as he 2 Sam. 6. 14. 19. I shall shut up all with removing two obstacles which seem to stand in the way of this joy 1. If I must alway rejoice how then or when shall I sorrow for sin I answer These two doe sweetly consist As the Passeover was a Feast yet eaten with bitter hearbs so Christ our Passeover may be feasted upon with a bitter sense of our own sins As in the Spring many a sweet flowre falls and yet the Sun shines all the while So there may be sweet flowres of Godly sorrow and the Sun of righteousness still shine on the soul None do more mourn for offending Christ then those who do most rejoice in the fruition of him 2. But what shall we say of wounded and afflicted consciences lying under the buffets of Satan under divine desertions sinking under temptation and wrestling with the sense and fear of wrath can these rejoice at all much less always It is true when God hides his face none can behold him in such a shipwrack neither Sun nor Stars wil appear But yet 1. There is the matter and foundation of true joy the seed of comfort Light is sown for the righteous and joy for the upright in
heart Psa. 97. 11. 2. These sorrows are many times preparations for more joy as the sorrow of a travailing woman Joh. 16. 20. black roots bear beautiful flowres The Whale that swallowed Jonah carried him to the shore Dark colours make way to an overlaying of gold The more a stone is wounded by the hand of the engraver the more beauty is superinduced upon it Many times where the Lord intends most comfort he doth usher it in with more sorrow as the Angel first lamed Iacob and then blessed him 3. This very estate is far more elegible then the pleasures of sin and therefore hath more delight in it If you should ask an holy man in this case you see how severely Christ deals with you Will you not rather give over serving him lamenting after him languishing for want of him and resume your wonted delights of sin again What other answer would a good soul give but as Christ to Peter Get thee behind me Satan thou art an offence unto me Though there be little reason that he should comfort me yet there is great reason that I should serve him The wounds of Ghrist are better then the kisse of the world it is much better being with a frowning fatâ—â—r then with a flattering foe The worst estate of a Saint is better then the best of a sinner the bitterest Physick then sweetest poyson As in the midst of worldly laughter the heart is sorrowful so in the midst of saddest Temptations the soul still concludes It is good for me to draw nigh to Christ Let him deny me let him delay me let him desert me let him destroy me yet I will love him and desire him still As the blackest day is lighter then the brightest night so the saddest day of a believer is more joyous then the sweetest night of a wicked man We have thus considered the Lord Iesus as a present a precious a full a pure a rare a various a victorious a perpetual a proper good of his people a Prince adorned with justice with salvation with humility with dispatch with success and peace We have shewed the folly of those who fix their delights upon empty creatures the danger of those who are offended at the Person the Cross the Grace the Doctrine the Sublimity the Simplicity the Sanctity of the ways of Christ We have exhorted his servants to rejoyce in his Person in his Mediation in their knowledge of him in the Ordinances and Instruments he hath appointed to bring unto that knowledge in the service whereunto he calls us in the graces wherewith he supplies us in the light of his countenance in the hope of his glory in the fellowship of his sufferings to rejoyce in him fully to rejoyce in him alway to rejoyce with trembling to improve this joy unto thankfulness for his benefits unto chearfulness in his service unto Consolation against all evil unto the provocation of one another unto the same joy Now the God of hope fill us with all joy and peace in believing that we may abound in hope through the power of the holy Ghost that the peace of God which passeth all understanding may rule in our hearts that we may rejoyce with joy unspeakable and full of glory receiving the end of our faith even the salvation of our souls And the God of peace who brought again from the dead our Lord Iesus that great shepherd of the sheep through the blood of the Everlasting Covenant make us perfect in every good work to do his will working in us that which is well-pleasing in his sight through Iesus Christ to whom be glory for ever and ever Amen FINIS ERRATA PAge 2. l. 30. r. Paradise passim p. 3. l. 24. r. tears p. 5. margent r. habet r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} p. 6. marg. r. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} p. 16. l. 4. r. dispensed p. 18. marg. r. dispersum r. Cn. r. ineunte p. 19. l. 21. r. offense l. 17. r. mighty p. 23. l. 2. r. Hypostasis l. 3. r. Valentinians r. Marcionites l. 10. r. Eutycheans Small litteral faults correct Job 5. 7. Rev 7. 17. 2 Cor. 11. 23. 27 a Malam mansionem vocabant Antiqui vid. Dionis Gothofredi notas in Digest Tit. Depofiti vel contra L. 7. b Nihil Câ—us sentit in nervâ— cum animus in Coelo est Tertul. ad Martyras Vid. Iren. l. 4. cap 15. Aug. Tract. 10. in Joannem Beatior percipiendo fidem Christi quam concipiendo Carnem Idem To 6. de sancta virgin cap. 3. a Aquin. 1. 2. qu. 31. art 1. Aristot Rhetor L. 1. c. 11. b Azorius Moral lib 3. c. 10. qu. 10. Habit praeteriti doloris Secura Recordatio delectationem Cicer. ep. l. 5. ep. 12. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aristot Ethic. lib. 1. c. 5. vid. Rhetor l. 1. c. 6. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Crates apud Laertium Eccles. 10. 1. a Bonum insolitum plus amatur Cassiod variar. l 8. c. 20. Quaesitissimae dapes non gustu sed difficultatibus aestimabantur miracula avium longinqui maris pisces alieni temporis poma aestivae nives Hybernae Rosae Mamertinus in Panegyr {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Plutarch {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aristot Problemat sect. 5. qu. 1. {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Marc. Anton. lib. 6 sect. 46. Vid Gataker Annâ—t {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Aristot 7. Rhet. lib. 1. cap. 11. Periculum in praeâ—io gaudium in triumphâ— Aug. Confess lib. 8. cap 3. Verum Gaudium non deâ—init nec in contraria vertitur Senec. ep. 59. De Tuo Gaude Sen. Ep. 23. Vicarius Domini Spiritus Tertul. de Veland. Virg capâ— 1. de praescript cap. 13. Eph 5 23. 2. 22. Heb. 2. 11 12 13. Isa. 9 6. Joh 15. â—4 Hâ—b. 7. 22. 8. 6 1 Joh. 2. 1 2. 2 Pet. 1. 1. Col. 3. 3. Omnis mihi copia quae Deus meus non est Egestas est Aug. Confess lib. 13. cap. 8. Non alio Bono Bonus est sed Bonum omnis Boni Non Bonus animus aut Bonus Angelus sed Bonum Bonum Aug. de Trinit. lib. 8. cap. 3. Euseb histor. l. 4 c 14. Melch Adam pag 138. Vid Cypria de Nativitate Christâ— sect. 6 7 8 9. Vid. Aug. de Trinit. lib. 13. cap. 13 14 15. Vid. Joseph Antiquit lib. 7. cap 11. Turneb. Adversa lib. 24. cap 45. Vid. Ciceronis ad Q. fratrem Epistelam Sen. de Clemenâ—ia a Tantum Bellam tam diuturnum tam longè latèque dispernm Cis Pompeius extremâ hyeme apparavit ineunto vere suscepit Media aestaté confecit Cis prolege manilia a Amplissimorum viâ—orum consilia ex even â—u non ex voluntate aplerisque proâ—ari solent Cic. ep. ad Attiâ—â—… lib 9. ep 10 Vt quisque fortunâ utitur ita praecellet atque exâ—nde supere eum omnes dicimus Plautus Apul. Apologi Macrob. Satur l. 1 c. 7. 10. Athenaeus l. 14. c. 17. a Nicephor Calist l. 6. c. 26 b Socrates lib. 1 c. 3. c Epiphan. l. 2. to 2. d Greg. Naz. orat 46. e Tertul. de Carn Christi c. 1. f Vid Aug. Phi. Epiphan. de Haeresibus Fideles Seipsos discernuntab infidelibus Grevinchov dissertat de elect fide praevisa p. 226. Vid. Aug. ep. 46 De spiritu litera cap. 34. de praedestinat c. 3 5 8. De Grat. Christi l. 1. c. 24. Contraduas Epist. pelag l. 1. c. 19 20 l. 4. c. 6. De Grat. lib. Arb. c. 21. De Corrept Grat. c. 14. Greg. Naz. Orat. 3. Aug. de Civ. dei l. 10. c. 29. l. 13. c. 16. Hooker l. 5. s 3. Aug. Epist. 56. 1 Cor. 1. 18. Acts 17. 18. Mat. 16. 24. and 5. 29 30. Heb. 13. 13. Luk. 14. 26 27 Mat. 7. 13 14 Phil. 3. 20. Col 3. 1. 5. Mat. 5. 44. Eph. 6. 12. 18. 1 Thess. 5 22. Acts 24. 16. Phil. 2. 15. Ephes. 5. 15. Psal. 16. 8. Heb. 11. 25. 26 Nyssen in Cant. Homil. 3. †{non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} {non-Roman} Euripid apud Stobaeum Serm. 61. Londinium Copiâ negotiatorum commeatu maximè Celebre Tacit. annal lib. 14. In eundem hominem non luto Convenire Gaudium silentium Pacatus in Panegyr Non se capit exundantis laetitiae magnitudo sed designata pâ—ctorum latebras foris prominet Nâ—z panegyr.