some by friends some in all but all in some all this is true and yet the Prophet neverthelesse saith true for crosses are our sufferings not our doings the adversity of a godly man in that he suffers is no contradiction of prosperity in that hee doth and yet even crosses and sufferings and all as St. Paul saith shall bee made usefull and prosperous to the godly For though Martyrs cannot well be said to prosper in their suffering because it is grievous yet they are truely said to prosper by their suffering because it is glorious though Lazarus did not prosper in his suffering because it brought him but to Dives gate yet he truely prospered by his suffering because it brought him into Abrahams bosome But may not the Prophet preach this doctrine long enough before he meet with an auditory that wil believe him Godlinesse to be a meanes of prospering a stranger Paradoxe was never held It is a greater miracle for men to draw prospering out of godlinesse than for Moses to draw water out of rockes Probitas laudatur alget godlinesse may have the worlds good word but he that useth it shall die a begger Thus the wicked thorow the Prophets sides stand goaring and galling the goodnesse of God and never remember or never regard the saying of St. Peter that godlinesse hath the promise both of this life and of the life to come But most of all they insult upon the Prophet as thinking they can take him tripping in his words and can prove him manifestly in two tales For that which he saith here of the godly hee affirmeth the very same in another place of the wicked Their waies alwaies prosper they are not in trouble like other men they have more than their hearts can wish And is it possible the Prophet should ever be able to answer this Can these words of his be ever possibly reconciled Indeede with a word For it is but mistaking a word taking the present Tense for the future that makes all this difference it is but breaking time that makes this discord keepe time with the Prophet and all will goe well for he saith not of a godly man all his waies doe prosper but they shall prosper he meddles not with the present Tense nor with the prosperity of the present Tense hee leaves that for the wicked to make merry with for it is a prosperity not worth the envying for who would envie Ionas his Gourd that is gone in a night The present Tense of this life cannot make a prosperity that is worth the having It is the future Tense must doe it for this is the lasting Tense and though it shew not all his wares at first as the present Tense doth you cannot see yet what it will prove yet give it time let things come to a ripenesse and you shall find it true in the end that Whatsoever a godly man doth it shall prosper And in this Tense and in this sense it is that the Prophet speakes of the prosperity of the godly but if he come to speake of the wicked in this Tense he then alters his Key he speakes in another tune Thou shalt looke after his place and it shall not be found Or may we not perhaps reconcile the Prophets words as well if we onely say that in speaking of the prosperity of the wicked loquitur ut vulgus as it is in appearance because in the eye of the world it seemes to be so but when he speaks of the prosperity of the godly loquitur ut veritas because it is in truth and really so The Prophet we may perceive makes this account that nothing can be truly said to prosper which hath not a prosperous ending but if it have a prosperous end it may truely then bee said to prosper And it is a very just account for else we might say that a cup of cold water prospers in a Feavour because it cooles and easeth for the present though it infinitly encrease the burning afterward And we could not say that a soveraigne medicine prospers in a sore because it akes and paines us for a while though afterward it worke a perfect cure And now bring the wicked and the godly to the try all of this account and you shall finde it true that the wicked never prosper and that the godly prosper alwaies Did Ahab prosper in seeking Naboths vineyard he got indeed the vineyard but the dogges licked up his blood Did Iudas prossper in betraying his Master hee got indeed the thirty pieces of silver but his bowels would not tarry in his belly after he had done it And so the most that can bee said of the prosperity of the wicked is but this that they have a prosperity indeed but it is a tragicall one beginnes in jollity and hath some mirth for a while but ends at last in blood and death And such it seemes the Prophet meanes is the prosperity of the wicked if he meane not rather that a prosperity it seemes but is not For the wicked may have children like Olive branches round about their Table and in this may seeme to prosper but yet they doe not and Iob tels why For their children are to the sword and shall bee buried in death They may heape up treasure and flow in wealth and in this may seeme to prosper but yet they doe not and Salomon gives the reason For they know not who shall gather it themselves they are sure shall carry away nothing They may rise in honours and bee set aloft and in this may seeme to prosper but yet they doe not and David shewes the cause For they are set in slippery places and their ending commonly fals out in falling And this is not onely to bee obserued in single persons but even in whole Families a generation or two may flourish and hold their heads high and in this may seeme to prosper but yet they doe not for of this is growne a Proverbe Non gaudet tertius baeres The third generation paies for all So it is true here which Abner said to Ioab There is bitternesse in the end But with the godly it is cleane otherwise For many are the afflictions of the righteous but the Lord delivers them out of all So here is prosperity in the ending yet They may sow in teares but they shall reape in ioy prosperity in the end still They may go forth weeping and carrying precious seed with them but they shall returne reioycing and bring their sheaves with them still prosperity in the end Daniel may be cast into the Lyons denne but hee shall come forth untouched his danger shall be his glory Ionas may be swallowed up of a Whale but he shall be cast up safe on shoare his destruction shall be his safety Iob may have his children slaine his goods taken from him and his body afflicted but his children shall be restored his goods doubled and his life trebled And to make short the Prophet in another
God resisteth the proud but giveth grace to the humble But for all this and neverthelesse it may bee said that these are yet but Negative markes and can make at most but a godlinesse by negation which can no more properly bee said a godlinesse than Indolentia may be said to be Voluptas The true godlinesse is a positive thing and cannot be affirmed out of Negatives it is a habit and cannot be concluded from privations The Prophet therefore staies not here but proceeds and hastens to the Affirmative marks for they indeed are the proper characters of a godly man they are never found but in him and in him they are ever found And of these there is but a paire as they came into Noahs Arke and yet enow to make a breed enow to bring godlinesse to its full propagation And he seemes to frame his processe in this manner A man is knowne what hee is by his delight for such as a mans delight is such a man himselfe is and therefore a godly man delights not to walke in the counsell of the ungodly nor to stand in the way of sinners nor to sit in the chaire of scorners for these are all lawlesse delights at least delights of that law of which St. Paul saith I finde another law in my members they agree not with a godly mans nature and though a delight there must bee there is not living without it yet a godly man will rather want it than take it up in such commodities But his delight is in the law of the Lord and now the Prophet begins to enter upon his Affirmative markes and the godly man beginnes to appeare in his likenesse for this delighting in the Law of God is so essentiall to godlinesse that it even constitutes a godly man and gives him his being For what is godlinesse but the love of God and what is love without delight that we may see what a soveraigne thing godlines is which not only brings us to delight when we come to blessednesse but brings us to blessednesse by a way of delighting For the Prophet requires not a godlinesse that barres us of delight hee requires onely a godlinesse that rectifies our delight for as the wrong placing our delight is the cause of all our miseries so the right placing it is the cause of all our happinesse and what righter placing it than to place it in the right and what is the right but onely the Law But is there delight then in the Law of God Is it not a thing rather that will make us melancholly and doth it not mortifie in us the life of all joy It mortifies indeed the life of carnall delights but it quickens in us another delight as much better than those as heaven is above the earth For there is no true delight which delights not as much to bee remembred as to be felt which pleaseth not as well the memory as the sense and takes not as much joy to thinke of it being done as when it was a doing For is it not a miserable delight when it may be threatned with this Oliâ—â— haec meminisse pigebit You will one day remember this Is it not a dolefull delight when Extrema gaudii lâ—ctus occupat when sorrow followes it at the heeles Is it not a fearefull delight when like a Magicians rodde it is instantly turned into a Serpent And such are all worldly delights either like that of Amnon in loving Thamar first enjoyed and presently loathed or like that of Cain in killing Abel madde to doe it and then starke madde for having done it or like that of Esau in eating Iaacobs pottage give at first a blessing for it and afterwards give it a thousand curses or like that of Gehezi in taking gifts of Naaman leape for joy till we come to Elisha and loathsome Lepers all our lives after This delight which the Prophet here speakes of is the onely delight that neither blushes nor lookes pale the onely delight that gives a repast without an after reckoning the onely delight that stands in construction with all Tenses and like Aeneas Anchyses carries his parents upon his backe And why should not even worldly men bee sensible of this delight They delight in gold and silver and behold The Law is more precious than gold yea than much fine gold They delight in beauty and behold How amiable the Tabernacles of the Lord are They delight in light and behold The Law is a lanthorne to our feete and a light to our paths They delight in knowledge and behold Through the Law we have more understanding than our teachers They delight in joy and behold The Law is right and reioyceth the heart They delight in long life and behold The Law of the Lord encreaseth the length of daies and the yeares of life And where are they now that are afraid of melancholy in the midst of such delights Certainely if there be as Physicians affirme an Ellebore or a Sena to purge away the melancholy and sad humours of the body this studie in the Law of God is the true Ellebore and Sena of the soule or rather it is the juyce of the Grape which David in another place speakes off that exhilerates and maketh glad the heart of man And as in this study of the Law of God there is no feare of melancholy so in the delight that is taken in it there is no feare of fatiety all other delights must have change or else they cloy us must have cossation or else they tyre us must have moderation or else they waste us this onely delight is that of which we can never take enough we can never be so full but we shall leave with an appetite or rather never leave because ever in an appetite it is but one yet is still fresh it is alwaies enioyed yet alwaies desired or rather the more it is enjoyed the more it is desired All other delights may be barred from us may be hindred to us this onely delight is free in prison is at ease in terments is alive in death and indeed there is no delight that keepes us company in our death-beds but onely this All other delights are then ashamed of us and we of them this onely sits by us in all extremities and gives us a Cordiall when Physicke and friends forsake us The Prophet hath taught us markes how to know a godly man but he hath not taught us how to know these markes and this is a speciall matter for wee may as well mis-take the markes as mis-take the man and therefore though wee let passe the Negative markes and leave them to be taken at all adventure yet this Affirmative marke of delighting in the Law of God would by any meanes be better marked For this is an essenciall marke and this mistaken might marre all and leade us perhaps to Cain instead of Abel For many delight in the Law because they which preach the Gospell should live by the Gospell
for our sinnes and the mourning for our sinnes will cause a joy in the holy Ghost that we may be confident to say we have a comfortable blessednes seeing wee have the blessing of the holy Ghost the comforter And now if any man slight this joy as not deserving the name of blessednes Is it not because hee feeles it not in himselfe for without being felt it is not possible to bee understood but hee that feeles it and understands it will finde this joy to be that Iewell which the wise Merchant sold all that he had to buy For what availes it a man to enjoy the whole world and to want this joy For this joy is not an influence from the starres which yet can doe great wonders for breeding joy in the world but it is an influence from that spirit which moved upon the waters before the starres were made and is onely able still to move upon the waters and to remove the waters of a weeping soule It is a ioy begotten in our hearts by motion of the holy Ghost which moving upon the waters of a true repentance workes in us the joy of this assurance that wee have an Advocate and Intercessour for us with God the father Which joy was thought so great when time was that no Messenger was thought fit to bring the newes of it but an Angell from heaven Behold I bring you tidings of great ioy and great indeed it must needs be which an Angell cals great that scarcely would call the whole earth great and seeing St. Paul exhorts us to Reioyce evermore we may know the joy to be exceeding great that can make us able to hold out rejoycing so long together in all tempests and calmes in all actions and passions joy enough to maintaine a feast of rejoycing all our life long And then if this joy can make a blessednesse as certainly a greater cannot be had on earth and none partakers of it but the godly wee must needes confesse the Prophet had great reason to make it his challenge and that in the present Tense A godly man is blessed And will not this blessednesse appeare yet plainer if we consider the divers sorts of blessednesse For there is a blessednesse of the Law and this was delivered by Moses who delivering the Law but in litera delivers a blessednesse but in cortice Blessed shalt thou be in the field and blessed in the City blessed shall be the fruit of thy body and the fruit of thy cattell c. There is a blessednesse of Grace and this was delivered by Aaron who being the Minister of our atonement with God delivers a blessednesse in this atonement The Lord blesse thee and keepe thee The Lord make his face to shine upon thee and be mercifull unto thee The Lord lift his countenance upon thee and give thee peace And there is a blessednesse of Glory and this was delivered by Christ who being himselfe the perfection of blessednesse delivers a blessednesse in perfection Come yee blessed of my Father inherite a Kingdome prepared for you And now that wee have these divers sorts of blessednesse laid out before us which of them may wee thinke was thought upon by David in saying Blessed is the man Not Moses his blessednesse for that is too imperfect nor yet Christs blessednesse for that is too consummate Moses his blessednesse is imperfect For Gold one of the best of his blessings hath commonly proved but aurum Tolosâ—â—â—m ominous to the owners and apt to bring them to utter ruine at most to blessednesse it hath never beene but neutrall onely as a cypher in Arithmeticke no value but from the placing it for if it be placed in a godly hand it serves in subsidium virtutis and may prove a meanes for augmentation of blessednesse but if it fall to be the lot of the wicked it is but incontivum vitiorum and serves but in majorem dâ—â—nationem for an augmentation of misery And as Moses his blessednesse is too imperfect so Christs blessednesse is too consummate for the blessed face of God in which that blessednesse chiefely consists is no fit object for corruptible eyes God must make himselfe capabilte which now he is not and us capaces which now wee are not before wee can arrive at the haven of that blessednesse And so Moses his blessednesse being suspended and Christs blessednes not yet to be expected what remains but that we lay hold on Aarons blessednesse and this indeed we shall find to sympathize and suite well with this of David For Aarons blessednesse is a confidence in Gods mercy for remission of sinnes and a peace of conscience in being at peace with God in Christ. And it is no wrong to Aarons peace to adde in Christ for though Aaron expresse it not as speaking it but in figure yet wee may well thinke he understands it as meaning it in substance seeing no peace without Christ is safe unto us all peace without him is but dangerous security For Christus est pax nostra hee onely is our peace and this peace he hath ever used as his proper good It was the Present he brought the Apostles at his comming from Hell Peace be unto you and it was the legacy he left the Apostles at his going to Heaven My peace I leave with you this peace made Iob upon the dunghill blessed and the want of this peace made Saul upon his throne miserable this peace the world cannot give and the wicked cannot have here for there is no peace to the wicked saith the Lord. And now if any man sleight this peace as not thinking it to deserve the title of blessednesse Is it not because he hath no feeling of it in himselfe For not being felt it can never be understood but hee that feeles and understands it will finde this peace to be that purchase which Christ so deerely bought for us with his precious blood and is that in substance which Aarons peace was but in figure for to this peace it is not enough to have a Nil conscire sibi a cleere conscience in us seeing St. Paul knew nothing by himselfe yet was not thereby justified but we are justified by faith in Christ and thus justified wee have peace with God and being at peace with God we have peace of conscience within our selves And then if this peace can make a blessednesse as certainly a greater cannot be in earthly Tabernacles and none partakers of it but the godly we may speake it as well from Paul as from David or Aaron and so Priest and Prophet Apostle and all agree in this A godly man is blessed And if wee take another way to goe will it not come to all one journies end onely as having now taken the Prophets words in this manner A godly man is blessed And hee shall be like a tree There have appeared two distinct blessednesses one present and another future so if wee take the words in this manner as some will have