1.] When it is allowed by hira.
2.^ When the matter is provided by him.
3/ When it is wrought by him.
l.j When it is allowed by him, and warranted by him. Every mnn afi'ects comfort and oblectation of mind ; for otherwise they could never be pleased in that condition they are in, nor satisfy themselves. It would much undeceive the carnal world, and make them see the folly of their unreasonable joy and quiet, if they would put conscience
170 THE SEVENTEENTH SERMON. [2 ThES. II. 17.
to the question, Is our joy from God or no ? that is, Doth God allow it me ? Certainly God doth allow us to rejoice in our outward por- tion: Eccles. V. 18, ' It is good and comely for one to eat and drink, and to enjoy the fi^ood of all his lahours that he taketli under the sun, all the days of his life which God giveth him, for it is his portion;' but so that liis favour may be the matter of our chief joy, for other- wise it is exceeding folly and gross carnality to rejoice in the creature apart from God. And in the midst of the greatest soul-dangers, you must first inquire, Are all things right between God and me ? It is a mighty contempt of God, yea, brutish atheism, to sit down con- tented with anything on this side God, Luke xii. 19, and to say, ' Soul, take thine ease, thou hast goods laid up for many years.' To sing lullabies to our souls when God is angry for sin, this comfort is not allowed by God : ' There is no peace, saith my God, to the wicked/ Isa. Ivii. 21. It is spiritual madness to dance about the brink of hell.
[2.] When the matter is provided by him. God in the new covenant hath propounded excellent grounds of comfort : John xiv. 1, ' Let not your hearts be troubled ; ye believe in God, believe also in me.' The two great general grounds of support against heart-trouble are God's merciful nature and Christ's mediation ; more particularly in the new covenant, the promises of pardon and life, — of pardon of sin : Kom. V. 1-3, ' Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ,' &c. ; and of life eternal : 1 Thes. iv. 18, ' And so shall we ever be with the Lord ; wherefore comfort one another with these words.' It is good to see what comforts we live upon and propound to ourselves and others, more expressly as to afflictions, God's particular providence, that nothing falleth out with- out God's appointment : 1 Thes. iii. 3, ' That no man should be moved with these afflictions, for yourselves know that we were ap- pointed thereunto.' It is not chance or a natural accident, but that which God hath appointed. If any Shimei rail, the Lord hath bid him curse. If any evil come to us, is it without God's f;itherly care over his people, who ordereth all things for their profit ? Heb. xii. 10, ' They verily for a few days chastened us after their own pleasure ; but he for our profit, that we might be partakers of his holiness,' And his unchangeable love, which doth not vary and alter with our condition ; Heb. xii. 6, ' Whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth, and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth.' He is our God still, though he seemeth to deal hardly with us. We learn of Christ on the very cross to cry, * My God,' Mat. xxvii. 4^ ; and if we cannot find enough in him when the creatures and our natural comforts fail, it is meet we should lose them : Hab. iii. 18, ' Though the fig-tree should not blossom, &c., yet I will rejoice in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my salvation.' This is the sum of God's comforts ; and when these things are suggested to us, God comforteth our hearts.
[3] When by these means God worketli comfort in us. Joy is often called ' the comfort of the Si)irit,' and 'joy in the Holy Ghost,' Eora. xiv. 17. Now all the Sj)irit's works are singular, and do much exceed the natural work of man's heart. The groans which he stirreth uj) in prayer are ' unutterable,' Ivom. viii. 2G ; liis joys ' unspeakable and glorious/ 1 Peter i. 8. The heathens counted that fire more fit and
2 ThES. II. 17.] THE SEVENTEENTH SERMON. 171
pure for their altars which was enlcindled by a sunbeam rather than a coal taken from a common hearth. So this comfort wliich is raised in us by the Holy Ghost is more rich and glorious and effective than that which is the fruit of our bare reason, or the mere working of our human spirit, even in the common grounds of Christian comfort ; or as elementary fire diflfereth from culinary and kitchen fire, and is much more pure, so doth this joy, which is immediately wrought in us by the Spirit, from all joy that we can work by ourselves, out of the scriptural grounds of comfort. Carnal men have their joy at the second or third hand, as God blesseth the order and influence of in- ferior causes ; it comes to them from creature to creature, so as they discern not the work of God in it; yea, the joy of common Christians in the proper grounds of comfort is not so strong as that which is raised in us by the immediate impression of the comforting Spirit. II. Why this is of God.