we praise his goodnesse if both these together be not enough to make our hearts merry I know not what can be Especially I cannot chuse but commend praysing for this use and purpose if it be expressed by singing of psalmes as it uses to be in the publique meetings of godly men Then there is none taken up with busines and work to teach or to learne but every one does all that he can to make and encrease mirth all cheerfully together singing not only in the right tune of the psalme and making melody with the voyce to men but in the right tune of the heart speaking not so much to be heard to others for information as to themselves and others for consolation Eph 5.19 Speaking to your selves in psalmes and hymns and spirituall songs singing and making melody in your hearts to the Lord. Believe it there is more true mirth in singing one of the songs of Zion or one of the Lord's songs though it be in a strange land as this world is no other to a godly man especially when men sing with grace in their hearts to the Lord Col 3.16 then there can be in singing never so many of the most musically composed sonnets that can be imagined For a testimony of the pleasure to be found in praysing God I need give you no other then the Psalmist's who had practised this duty as much as any man and therefore knew what belonged to it Ps 135.3 Praise ye the Lord for the Lord is good sing praises to his name for it is pleasant Psal 147.1 Praise ye the Lord for it is good to sing praises unto our God for it is pleasant and praise is comely As James said If any be merry let him sing psalmes * Jam 5.13 that is let him expresse his mirth in such a way so I say If any be not merry and would be so let him sing psalmes or let him make himselfe merry by the singing of psalmes And not only in prayers and praises in publique but in the private practise of any other good action whatsoever whether of piety or justice or charity a godly man does or may take abundance of joy and delight When I am giving of almes or good instructions or a good example how much joy and content doe I take to think of pleasing him whom I love best of the good that will accrue to my brethren of the rich reward which I shall have my selfe and of the glory that redounds to him that enables me Methinks I see how merrily an ingenuous child looks up upon his master or his father while he is doing what he knowes will please him and how gladly and cheerfully a loving wife goes about to provide what her husband loves If there be so much strength in that love which many times hath no nobler nor stronger principall then nature what must there be in that which comes from grace If when I am a child and without knowledge I can doe thus in obedience and love to him that begat me to misery what will I doe when I am grown a strong man in Christ for such they are whom I most call upon to Rejoyce out of obedience and love to him who hath redeemed me to an eternall happinesse The very Heathen could find it in their hearts to make their happinesse nothing but 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 The exercise of vertue For they thought it consisted not so much in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in possession as in action in 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 not 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 as the Phylosopher determines * Eth l. 1. cap. 8 They thought a man had no need of a reward for vertue but that it was 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 a reward sufficient for it selfe It was the saying of one of their Poets 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 which I was willing to insert because it agrees so well with that of the Psalmist Psal 19.11 speaking of God's commandements In keeping of them there is great reward I shall need give you no other English of the words Artist's not only liberall but Mechanick what delight doe they take in their work especially when they doe it well Insomuch that you shall have many of them not care a jot for any recreation besides Nay not only workers who may be thought to be merry in their work to think of the profit and the gaine but players too as at dancing or any other sport who have an eye no further then the act when no body sees them so as they cannot be thought to be merry for making others so and when no reward is expected if they doe it well so that they cannot be thought to be merry for love of profit the pleasure they take in the action is so much that the paine which they suffer cannot be felt and they care not how long they doe it Even among brutes observe the spaniel dog How glad is he when he hath done as he should and pleased his master And how does he slink for shame and shrink for feare when he hath done amisse Nay this poore silly creature can take such delight in doing those tricks that you teach him that be he never so hungry he will leave his meat uneaten and his nature unsatisfied to satisfie his master 'T is not to be believed that the body having lesse work to doe and so the lesse need to be eased shall have a priveledge to have pleasure in doing it's works as it hath in the works of nature tasting and smelling and the like and the soule that hath so much more to doe shall have none in the doing of her's Or if you will that the soule shall take a delight in the works of the body or the works that she doth by the body and not be able to have any by her selfe in her own such as I count spirituall exercises and godly performances properly to be The godly man's work must all be done though not done all by her No certainly For as much pleasure no doubt may the soule take in taking the bread of life and chewing and ruminating upon the word of life while men are living in the Spirit Gal 5.25 as the body can in eating the food that perisheth And so in doing any spirituall good work as much as it can in any work of the body Againe should not the soule have a recreation in working did it not take some pleasure and delight therein one would think it were impossible she should hold out working sithence her work is so various and boundlesse and endlesse Now to glance a little on the wicked man being reasonable in it's nature and so necessarily delighting in things that are reasonable how can it have true genuine content be unfeignedly and unflatteringly merry in the unreasonable brutish meerly sensible and many times senslesse and unnaturall waies of sinne I grant some kind of
Thou shalt not be affraid of the terrour by night nor for the arrow that flieth by day Nor for the pestilence that walketh in darknesse nor for the destruction that wasteth at noon day A thousand shall fall at thy side and ten thousand at thy right hand but it shall not come nigh thee Only with thine eyes shalt thou behold and see the reward of the wicked Ps 91.3.4 5 6 7 8. By the help of this grace either he hopes to escape or if not he hath presently prompted to him The Lord will strengthen him upon the bed of languishing thou wilt make all his bed in his sicknesse Psal 41.3 When others even in the midst of riches and all wordly likelihood that they will continue are ever anon perplexed with thoughts and feares of want the Believer even against hope will hope with confidence and when the distrustfull carnalist with lamentations and condolings speakes to him of his future sad fortunes he can reply with cheerfulnesse Come I will not be dismaid I doe still as I ever did take it to be the word of God There is no want to them that feare him Psal 34.9 If poverty have overtaken him perhaps because he hath been overtaken in some notorious sinne of trusting in creatures or distrusting the Creator yet even then if he be not wanting to himselfe yea if he be not too much present with himselfe and doe not trust too much to his own wits he will comfort himselfe thus I remember the saying of one that made experience of it and one whom I believe to have said it upon God's motion Cast thy burden upon the Lord and he shall sustaine thee he shall never suffer the righteous to be moved Ps 55.22 He can be merry though he be forced to forsake his house his brethren his sisters his father his mother his wife his children his lands for the name of Christ because he believes he shall recieve an hundred fold and shall inherit everlasting life Mat 19.29 If he cannot be religious unlesse he leave his parents and his dearest friends whereas anothers heart would be ready to break he goes from them with abundance of alacrity remembring these words Come out from among them and be ye separate saith the Lord and touch not the uncleane thing I will recieve you And will be a father to you and ye shall be my sons and daughters saith the Lord Almighty 2 Co 6.17 18 He can be merry in a time of Famine because it is said The eye of the Lord is upon them that feare him upon them that hope in his mercy To deliver thir soule from death keep them alive in famine Ps 33.18.19 In such a time when all the people of the countrey besides him are sad and know not what to doe he will cheer himselfe up and say Although the fig-tree shall not blossome neither shall fruit be in the vines the labour of the olive shall faile and the fiâ—lâ—s shall yeeld no meat the slock shall be cut of from the fold and there shall be no herd in the stalls Yet I will rejoyce in the Lord I will joy in the God of my salvation Habak 3.17 18. He can be merry in a time of Warre because he believes not that only in famine God will deem him from death but in warre also from the power of the sword Job 5.20 He can be merry under oppression because he believes that God will be a refuge for the oppressed Psal 9.9 He can be merry the same day that his father dyes because he believes that God is a father of the fatherlesse Psal 68.5 He can be merry though all the men in the world be against him because he believes that so long as his wayes please the Lord the Lord will make even his enemies to be at peace with him Prov 16.7 He can be merry though the Divell be close by him to devour him because he believeth that God doth give his Angells charge over him to keep him in all his wayes Ps 91.11 And that he will not give theÌ„ charge without power to execute Although he know that as long as he is in this world all this world will be one way or other for his hurt by temptation or some other way yet he can be merry because he is still thinking that Christ gave himselfe for his sinnes that he might deliver him from this present evill world Gal 1 4 and that whatsoever is born of God overcometh the world 1 John 5.4 He can be merry in a strange countrey where it is hard to be merry so long as a man hath the heart * Exod 23 9. of a Stranger because he believeth that God loveth the stranger Deut 10.8 He can be as merry in the night as at any other time which the wicked man will hardly believe because he uses no revelling nor drinking because it is written When thou liest down thou shalt not be afraid yea thou shalt lye down and thy sleep shall be sweet Prov 3.24 He can be merry if he have never so great a designe in hand whereas in such cases other men are full of sad and perplexed thoughts and doubts how it will succeed because he believes that if it be not displeasing to God or not for his own good in which case he does not desire it should succeed so long as he commits his way unto the Lord and trusts in him he will bring it to passe Psal 37.5 He can be merry in temptation because he knows if he be faithfull himselfe to believe God will certainly be faithfull to helpe and will not suffer him to be tempted above what he is able 1 Cor 10.13 But especially because his hope extendeth not only to a freedome from this temptation but in little time a compleat conquest over the tempter having this word for it And the God of peace shall bruise Satan under your feet shortly Rom 16.20 If he be called before the enemies of the truth to speak his mind of it when others are sad and troubled either with feares or doubts he can be merry because it is written Whosoever shall confesse me before men him will I confesse also before my father which is in heaven Mat 10.32 When he hath confessed is put to suffer for it he rejoyces the more upon remembrance of those words of Christ Blessed are ye when men shall revile you persecute you shall say all manner of evill against you falsly for my namesake Rejoyce and be exceeding glad for great is your reward in heaven for so persecuted they the Prophets which were before you Mat 5.11.12 If he be cast into prison he will not be dejected because he knowes that God despiseth not his prisoners Psal 69.33 That he heareth their groaning Psal 102.20 and in due time bringeth out those that are bound with chaines Psal 68.6 Neither need he be sad because he cannot be revenged inasmuch as if he were desirous of revenge which
merry for having a great deal of wealth then any creature that is put a part to be kild has cause to be glad though glad enough too no doubt he is for having a great deale of meat For even in the same manner are they fed and therefore they have the same cause to feare they are left if not designed to the same end They are fed with the fat of the Land but leane meat and poverty is more wholesome and fatted up with plentifull feeding So Eliphas speakes Job 15 27 He covereth his face with his fatnesse and maketh collops of sat in his flankes But then see what he sayes afterward vers 29 30. He shall not be rich neither shall his substance continue neither shall he prolong the perfection there of upon the earth He shall not depart out of darknesse the flame shall dry up his branches and by the breath of his mouth shall he goe away Little doe they think why they are thus sufferd to prosper and sufferd to prosper thus viz that like beasts they may be fitter for slaughter When the wicked spring as the grasse and when all the workers of iniquity doe flourish it is that they shall be destroy'd for ever Psalm 92.7 The fatter they are the fitter they are for slaughter the sooner slain * Psal 78.31 He slew the fattest of them Did I say a wicked man is fed with prosperity Nay but he need not be fed for he will feed himselfe if he be let alone and have meat enough unlesse being in honour he had as he has not understanding enough though it were never so little more then the beasts that perish to be temperate in the use of it He is like bad ground Whether he have any thing sown on him or whether he have nothing he is all one unlesse the difference be in this that he brings forth most weeds when he is sown with the best seed Prosperity is to him as a horse which he can neither breake nor ride and so he must needs be thrown A wicked man having a bad heart or as I may say a bad stomack prosperity and the best meat that can be given him will beget in him nothing but ill humours fears and cares and vexations and sins continuall distempers both of body and mind Perhaps sometimes his prosperity has not these troubles with it Yet is it not enough to make him merry No it is too negative so and that which makes a man truly merry must be more positive He must take delight in it he must enjoy himselfe in the prosperity as well as enjoy the prosperity or else it will be nothing worth This a wicked man can never doe though he should have never so much and enjoy never so much outward peace * Prosperity so the word is used in our Bible because he has no peace within Having no peace within him what ever peace he has without him he can no more be merry then a Prince who is plundring of another mans house abroad and in the mean time has an enemie seizing upon his kingdome at home But then againe here is more misery for a wicked man For as he is not able to use prosperity so that which will necessarily adde to his sorrow he must necessarily have it As he knows not what to doe with it so he knows not what to doe without it For he has no strength to encounter with adversity and is no more able to live merry in sad times then a man that is not before hand is able to live plentifully in a dearth or a man that has no stock of money to lay out is able to get his living by a trade Being poore without a stock of grace he cannot find himselfe maintenance and being lazy without a principle of grace he will never labour to get it His soule is naked and without the garment of faith to keep it warme and so cannot endure the cold It is loose and without the anchor of hope to hold it fast and so cannot endure the stormes of affliction Certainly it must needs be starv'd to death it must needs be miserable toss'd in this world and irrecoverably cast away in the world to come Wherewith should a wicked man encounter with adversity The best weapon for such an use must be a strong soule for a strong body opposed to miseryes is but a great heap of wood to a flame of fire but alas his soule is so sick with sin that insteed of easing him of his burden it will adde more weight and presse him lower to the ground But I will not speake much of adversity lest wicked men tell me I may spare my labour they are not so much troubled with it I will returne therefore and have a word more of their prosperity which they so much brag of and of which they have so little cause to brag considering to what passe it brings them they being so much the more miserable in the end for that their beginning was so happy Nay not only their end hereafter but every interuption of their condition while they are here is so much the worse For the more they have and the fatter they are the more is their griefe when they lose and the greater their paine when they are any way sick or afflicted as it is usually seene in fatt and corpulent men in regard of bodily sicknesse and yet they are subject also to as much as another and more too as full bodies are to diseases What a sad comfortlesse sight is a wicked man in his sicknesse or in any other affliction whereas on the contrary what comfort is there in a godly man not onely to himselfe but to any other that shall visit him even then when the hand of God is heaviest upon him All sorts of evills partly by their Suddennesse partly by violence and partly by his owne unpreparednesse and security presuming of nothing but peace like naturall things meeting with things of a contrary quality have their full blow upon a wicked man That which was threatned to the Babylonians is usually his case Therefore shall evill come upon thee thou shalt not know from whence it rises and mischiefe shall fall upon thee thou shalt not be able to put it off and desolation shall fall upon thee suddenly which thou shalt not know Isa 47.11 His Candle seldome goeth out but is put * Job 21.17 out suddenly though I speak not so much of outward admonitions as of Gods inward preparation of this heart But to returne to the wicked mans Joy Give me leave to mention a few reasons why a wicked man's mirth that which he has is so short liv'd My reasons shall be drawne 1. From the Abundance of helps which it needs and from the weaknesse and fullibility of those helps 2. From its imperfection both in regard of its subject and object and also in its owne nature For the first viz the Abundance of helps which it
no better diet or entertainent in the body then so it may seem to live but it will secretly Consume and pine and with eating food too long that is not fit for her at length lose her stomack to better and then dye to all eternity Corruptible objects to an incorruptible soule especially if it can have no other are like weak meats to a strong stomack or bad meats to a good stomack which because it must have some and it has no other does not reject them by degrees may be brought to use thē constantly as many by degrees are brought to a diet contrary to their nature but then in the mean time it turns the meats into ill humours and growes the weaker it selfe for want of a stronger subject to work upon So it is with the Soule in the use of this Corruptible food It is so farre from being improved with it that it proves the worse and not only abuseth the creatures with too much mispence but wrongs her selfe with abundance of diseases I tell thee thy soule must have otherguise food if ever it think to grow unlesse it be to grow worse An Incorruptible soule is so farre from being satisfi'd with any Corruptible things so as to make her selfe merry in the enjoyment of them that when she has used thē like a great stomack with a very little meat she grows more hungry and consequently more discontented and sorrowfull If it had no knowledge nor sense it would never prosper so long as it is ty'd to such things as disagree with the nature of it or are a hinderance to that which does agree no more then a vine or any other plant can grow neere that which either has an antipathy to it or hinders the influence of the sun or diverts its nourishment another way How much lesse then having knowledge what those Corruptible things are how vaine and empty and altogether unfit for her is she able to be merry in the enjoyment of them How can I take full delight in that company which I am sure will leave me suddenly Even the more delight I take in such Company the lesse I take for the thought that it will not continue The faster a thing is joyned to another thing with the greater paine it is separated from it 3 A third Imperfection in a wicked man's joy in regard of the object is because its objects as they are of too short continuance so are they of too narrow extent for such a thing as the soule is to be merry with The soule hath an infinite capacity and a Capacity of that which is infinite Though she be coop'd up much against her will and made to dwell below her dignity in a little poore cottage yet is shee big enough for all the Trinity to dwell in and too big for all the world besides to fill She doth not only looke forward beyond the world the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 world of the creatures to things which last in another world where she knowes she is to dwell longest and therefore makes the greatest provision for it but she lookes beyond the world every way beyond the creatures of the * 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 world whether in heaven or earth Spirits Angells and all T is not the most divine thing but only that which is Deity it selfe can set a bound and give content to the desires of this Spirituall immortall and divine creature Nothing but the feare of God and such wisdome as that affords will fill her The rich man might brag as much as he would and tell his soule Soule thou hast enough and Soule thou art well enough when his barne was full But 't was more then his soule would tell him or was able to say herselfe For if the whole world had been his barne and a world of riches had been in his barne and his barne been full to the brimm alas poore wretch and never so wretched as now his empty soule all the while is ready to starve and die and he feeles it not I might say to him as it was said to Laodicea Rev 3.17 Thou saiest I am rich and increased with goods and have need of nothing and knowest not that thou art wretched and miserable and poore and blind and naked Nay it may be that which is worse by this time by reason of long want of food the soule 's appetite is gone and she cannot desire what she should have She may be full but 't is as a vessell that is empty of good liqour and full with aire She is full with wind and vanity like a stomack that hath been kept fasting too long She hath nothing and she is neither able nor desirous to take any thing and so her condition was never so dangerous as now it is Say thy soule be full yet it is not satisfied And unlesse there be a fullnesse of satisfaction all other fullnesse is but a burthen and nothing worth That is the fullnesse which the preacher meanes Eccles 6.3 If a man beget an hundred children and live an hundred yeares so that the daies of his yeares be many and his soule be not filled with good and also that he have no buriall I say that an untimely birth is better then he Though thy soule have as much as it can have now while it hath what it hath yet it hath not what it would have if it were as it should be and what it could have if it were not as it is It is full i. e. sated as a stomack overchargd with heavy meat to sicknesse but it is not full i.e. satisfi'd as a stomack refresh'd with what is fitting to alacrity and content Neither indeed is it possible it should be so with such heavy and light vanities as these earthly goods are which like sweet cates cloy the stomack before they fill it and fill it before they satisfy it These overlushious dainties of corruptible pleasures take away the appetite before they satisfie the desire It was not for nothing you must think that David was so afraid to touch them Psal 141.4 Incline not my heart to any evill thing to practise wicked workes with men that worke iniquity and let me not eate of their dainties But the worst of it is the soule perhaps is not full so neither For if she were I believe she would feele some paine by this meanes be brought to take some course to be cur'd of of the distemper and resolve to be distemper'd and glutted so no more Doubtlesse the soule being in this condition of a surfet yet feeling no pain the condition of the wicked man must needs be the more miserable and his soule the sicker even as the body is in the worst condition when it eats nothing but unwholesome meat and eats too much and is not sick with it neither For feeling no paine as long as she can eate she keeps on her old diet her diseases encrease secretly and so encrease