I will allow them to goe when there is good occasion and to another passion come and it comes Certainely there must needs be much content where 't is thus as there cannot well be any where 't is otherwise We are not so often sad neither doe we vex our selves so often and so much and so long for any mishaps as those that come by our own default and unrulinesse of our passions For then we bite our own lips and are grieved to think that we might have been at home as I may say or at leasure to have prevented such a mischiefe had we not been wholy taken up and carried abroad by such or such a passion In such cases the cause of sorrow being from within where it is constantly maintained can never keep out so the sorrow of the heart is reflected upon the heart till like the beames of the sun by long much beating it become burning hot and hard to be quenched In other cases judgment and reason will stench the bloud and enlarge the heart where it is straitned because it finds a reason to forbeare But here it wrings the more for want of reason and the wiser the man is and the more for reason the lesse merry he will be and the more unable to excuse the fault having only cause enough for the griefe but no reason for the cause Now the godly man hath little or none of this kind of trouble if he have had but time enough to discipline his passions Time I say for time it requires and deliberation and policy more then to conquer an army of men The enemy that is intestine is most dangerous and among'st our own men mutinies are worse then forrain warres A man may better overcome a thousand contrary crosse actions without then one froward crosse passion within which perhaps playes with him and makes him sport and laughes in his face like a fairy but will lead him against the trees and put him upon difficulties and at length like an ignis fatuus cast him into a bog of inextricable perplexities Well then we suppose that already he hath bred his servants I mean his passions to his hand and so disciplin'd his souldiers that they dare not rebell And having thus ordered them that every one knowes his own work and can discerne a right object keep a due posture and observe a fit time and place to stop or runne accordingly and to hold when it is too much or too little I do not see how he can have much sorrow from his passions A passion may be in him but he will never be in a passion I meane so as to be all in in it all in a passion as we use to say To instance a little he will never be up to the eares in love for he will love the creature so as to hate to abuse it So neither in hatred He will hate sinne so as to love the man that commits it the more that he may doe him the more good He will feare a danger so as to have courage to undergoe it He will joy in prosperous things so as to be sorry for his sinnes that make him unworthy and he will sorrow too in adverse things so as to rejoyce that he shall be never the worse now and the better hereafter He will hope for the best so as to feare and expect the worst and he will feare the worst so as to hope for the best following Seneca's rule not to hope * Nec sperave ris sine desperatione nec desperave ris sine spe without despaire nor to despaire without hope Third cause Self-deniall Another thing whereby godly men cause themselves mirth is Selfe-deniall Whosoever is sad is displeased Whosoever denies himselfe cannot be displeased I meane as we commonly use the word for he regards not to be pleased Let God afflict him He will say If God be so pleased so let it be I have denyed my selfe Let men persecute him he will say If God be pleased to have it so I am contented I desire not to have it as I will but as he will I have denied my selfe Whatsoever hurt any man does him he takes it no worse then if it were to another man Nay not so bad for he hath not denyed another man but only himselfe Let him be put to it either to be wicked or to lose all that he hath yet will he not be at all sad either with doubt of what he shall doe or with feare of what he shall suffer For in such a case Love of a man's selfe and of what is his and thoughts of selfe-Concernments I meane of what Concernes himselfe in a temporall way are the only things that make him sad it being impossible for a man to be merry either when he parts with or when he thinks he shall part with what he loves Let the selfe-denyer have never so many losses so long as he denyes himselfe he does not own himselfe and he that does not own himselfe will not care to own any thing else and he that owneth nothing cannot be sad for the losse of any thing Thought of propriety is a maine cause of sorrow Let his cowardly friends call upon him never so often 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 the words of Peter to our Saviour * they cannot make him at all to relent 'T is looking on ones selfe and pitying ones selfe that makes him sad almost in all cases at least of sinfull sadnesse How doe many men and how many times doe weak Christians make shipwrack of courage if not of a good conscience in the use of such selfe-doting expressions as these What! It is my selfe It is my own flesh 'T is that which I have laboured for 'T is my inheritance I have had it so long and shall I now part with it This goes against my very heart The selfe-denyer scornes such language being tender hearted to none but his brother and for temporall good things more a friend to any one then to himselfe What disgrace what losses what injuries what dangers what evills can make him sad by displeasing him who can be as well displeased as pleased whose eye is not upon himselfe who compares not what he meets with what himselfe viz how it fits his nature or his humour or his condition to doe him a pleasure but compares it still with his sinfull life determining if it be bad that he is worthy of it which will abate his sorrow If it be good that he is unworthy of it which will encrease his joy How selfe-denyall will dispose to mirth you will best percieve if you serioufly consider how the contrary disposeth to sadnesse and what sadnesse wicked men continually have from it It is as hard to be merry with selfe love as it is to have every thing to a man's mind He that loves himselfe too much will love many other things to much he that loves many things too much must needs have many
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
angry T is the way to be a signe of being left to destruction to be left to a man's selfe God like many School-masters and fathers is most angry when he sayes least When he neither chides me like a father nor chastises me like a master I have cause to feare he will sentence me like a Judge and will punish me the more for that he hath punished me so little 'T is true a child or an apprentice either at any time because he is ignorant may think it to be out of ill will or at the first because he is young and tender may take it to heart and think and speak the worse of his master that beates him for a long time while he remaines in his ignorance or his childhood But seldome or never knew I such a one after he came to knowledge or yeares of discretion unlesse he were then so bad as not to know the good of it by experience complaine of correction It is even so with a young schollar in the schoole or an apprentice in the houshold of * Eph 2.19 Christ At first perhaps he may cry out of infirmity being but weak in the faith and he may complaine out of ignorance being as yet but in the rudiments of christianity a 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 Heb 5.12 and but now initiated into the Temple b 1 Cor 3.16 Ye are the temple of God that he is hardly dealt with when others are spared But afterward when he is well grown and grown strong in faith and hath been a good while in the Sanctuary whither David went c Ps 73 17.18 when he would see the end of the prosperity of the wicked and hath gotten to himselfe a good degree in all saving know ledge of Christ when he percieves the benefit of correction and sees to what passe others come who were let alone to their liberty then he is just like him who is angry with his physitian while he is sick with his physick for afterward when he hath found the good of it he thanks and prayses his Physitian for doing so well likes and commends his physick for working so well and blesses himselfe for taking so good a course Then you shall heare them say as I my selfe have said many a time I would not now for a thousand worlds have been without chastisement Better never to have been borne then to be a * Heb 12.8 But if ye be without chastisement whereof all are partakers then are ye bastards and not sons bastard so If I had not been sick I should have been If I had not been diseased with afflictions then I had bene diseased with sinne now and to be diseased with punishment for ever hereafter It was a good a Ps 119.71 turne that I was afflicted otherwise in what case had I been Nihil eo b Demetrius in Seneca in faelicius cui nihil infaelix contigit None more unhappy then he that is never unhappy The furthest way about to unhapinesse in the worlds account is the neerest way home to unhappinesse in the Christian's account or that which is such indeed If it be a woefull thing to receive a man's consolation here as it is said it is * Woe unto you that are rich for ye have received your consolation Luk 6.24 I cannot but think the better of my selfe and hope for the better from my God for his chusing to afflict me now I will not be angry let him doe what he will No if I may have my choyce let him strike me and love me rather then stroak me and hate me A lover was never angry with his mistresse for striking him though it were never so hard because he takes it as a token of love Falling out amongst lovers is a renewing of love Here is no falling out but all love Ablow in love is better then a gift a gift from one that hates me is worse then a blow Timeo Danaos dona ferentes Let him that loves me or let my God smite me rather I shall count it a kindnesse it shall be as pretious balme I le warrant you it shall not break my head A godly man cannot but take the afflictions which God sends him as from a loving master who bearing a love to a scholar chastens him betimes when 't is least shamefull and most profitable * He that spareth his rod hateth his son but he that loveth him chastneth him betimes Prov 13.24 God corrects him privately here in the sight of a few and those such as many of them will not rejoyce at it unlesse because they think it is for his good but rather grieve with him and comfort him and doe what they can to deliver him that he may not doe it publikly in the sight of all the world when every one will rejoyce at the sentence and where there shall be none that shall be able or willing to save a man The godly man is judged now that he may not be judged then 1 Pet 4.17 For the time is come that judgment must begin at the house of God and if it begin first at us what shall the end be of them that obey not the Gosple of God Which must needs be a great deale better For now there is an Advocate then 't is all judges God and his Saints and the advocate himselfe 'T is well that judgment begins with the godly better have it begin then end With the wicked it begins when it ends which is a sad thing viz to have the last judgment when they are sure to have the worst and to be reserved to that too as they are said to be 2 Pet 2.9 The Lord knoweth how to deliver the godly out of temptation to reserve the unjust unto the day of judgment to be punished Well then the love of God to the godly appeares clearely in their afflictions And this apearance of his love to us if we care for his love and love any thing that comes from him as we use to doe with men whom we truly love it will be abundantly enough to us to make our afflctions our greatest consolations so that we may say with Paul 2 Cor 1.5 As the sufferings of Christ abound in us so our consolation aboundeth in Christ Let him send us never so much foule weather of troubles and calamities if the clouds be not so thick but we may see his face shine thorow we care for no more It will be as good to us as if they were removed out of the way and we were delivered We will say as the Psalmist did Psal 80 3 Turne us againe O God and cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved and so v 7.19 doe but cause thy face to shine and we shall be saved 3. Afflictions are not so grievous to the godly not only because they are sent in love and are not hurtfull for who will give his friend that which shall
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
drunk with the wine having the the wind at my back and the reines on my neck I am running like a blind mettlesome horse with full carreer in the easy and smooth but slippery waies of jolity and pleasures into the pit of distruction farre be it from me to count it a misery to slide and have my legs broken with Affliction that I may goe no further or to meet with such a crosse in my way in these crosse and crooked waies of death as may violently throw me into the path of life If I am like a mad man and ready to destroy my selfe have I cause to be sad for it or is it my misery to be bound as the expression is Job chap 36.8 No I should rather chuse to cut of my right hand my selfe and pluck out my right eye and voluntarily throw away any thing that is most pleasant to me rather then in keeping of it displease and offend my God or my brother or my selfe or my conscience Moreover Affliction as it brings us out of love with the pleasures of the creatures and the pleasures of sinne so it brings us in love with God and the pleasures of godlinesse which are then most when there are least of the others to the godly man's unspeakable joy and comfort Who can chuse and if ever you were well affected you will say so but be ravished with and desire more of that exceeding weight of comfort that is to be found in most secret meditations of most confident prayers to most familiar converses with all the three persons of the most blessed Trinity now none of these exercises are better done or with lesse dissturbance then in a time of adversity VVho would not love godlynesse ever after that should work such effects in such a time if it were never so little while 'T is strange to see what excellent fruits there are of such a seeming dead tree VVhat profit and gaine by such a dead trade as suffering of affliction seems to be to a believer at the first view and to a carnall eye at any time Believe it these fruits are recompence enough and enough I will set down therefore for a third particular wherein Afflictions are beneficiall viz because they make us doe like children when some body hath beaten them or when they see their enemies about them viz to cleave to God to keep us closer to our Fathers side and cling the faster about him A child that is alwaies at home with his Father either knowes not or thinks not what a happinesse it is to have a Father A Father is little more to him then another man He can never love him so well or prize the enjoyment of him so much as one that hath been sometime absent from him and knowes the want of him The way to be much in love with any thing is to see it but seldome and none knowes the value of a thing better then he that is put to buy it The time of Affliction is God's usuall time both of calling the uncalled before and calling home againe the rest 'T is his time when he will be sought and found of men and 't is his time when he makes them to seek him In the second of Chron 33 12 and 13 't is said of Manasseh When he was in affliction he besought the Lord his God and humbled himselfe greatly before the God of his fathers and prayed unto him and he was intreated of him and heard his supplication and brought him againe to Jerusalem into his kingdome Then Manasseh knew that the Lord he was God So Isa 19 22 it is said of Egypt They shall returne even to the Lord and he shall be intreated of them and shall heale them After the children of Israel have suffered affliction in captivity then saith the Prophet they shall stay upon the Lord the holy one of Israel in truth Isa 10.20 The Lord hath called thee as a woman forsaken and grieved in spirit and a wife of youth when thou wast refused saith thy God In the same Prophet chap 54.6 And thus much did Azâ—ria testifie to Asa 2 Chon 15 3 and 4. * 'T is said of Christ Heb 5 8 Though he were a son yet learned he obedience by the things which he suffered Now for a long season Israel hath been without the true God and without a teaching Priest and without law But when they in their trouble did turn unto the Lord God of Israel and sought him he was found of them And as the absence of the person of a father so likewise doth the discontinuance of his favour encrease the love of the child and make him more obedient to his command If a child be alwaies dandled upon the knee and suffered to have his will and never denied a request 't is a thousand to one but at length he scornes the love that is so cheap and be by so much the more disobedient by how much he hath the lesse cause 'T is the ready way first to make him sinfull by his forsaking his father then to make him miserable by his father's forsaking him Faire weather and the sunshine of prosperity may cause thee to presume runne out and play off too farre like the wanton conies from the rock of defence and so bring thee into danger but the stormes of adversity unlesse thou art unreasonable when thou art in will make thee keep in and unlesse thou art insensible when thou art out will make thee runne in againe Surely afflictions if thou hast any thing of a Sonne in thee will make thee hang about and depend upon God and look up in his face as the child does to his father with teares in thy eyes and prayers and cryes in they mouth and never leave moaning before him till he take thee up and hug thee in the armes of his Spirit set thee down againe with this gracious answer Be still and feare not there is nothing shall hurt thee thy faith hath saved thee and my love shall never leave thee 4. Afflictions are beneficiall not only because they make men more willing and able to seek God but as I hinted but now because God also is more willing and more easy to be found in a time when we are to seek or at a losse and can find no comfort from any thing else And therefore whereas David in one sense said in the time of great water-flouds they shall not come near thee I say in another In the time of great water-flouds or in time of adversity they shall come near thee and then best of all and best welcome and with best successe God is a present help at all times but he is a very present * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 helpe in time of trouble Psal 46 1. God is not as men are to take most notice of those that are greatest and are able to requite and to slight others No he hath not despised nor abhorred the