YeR. 16.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 151
but here sliould be our great deliglit, ' I will solace or recreate myself in thy statutes.'
Use 2. Caution to us to fix our delight aright.
1. It is a considerable affection. AH the affections depend upon pleasure or pain, delight or grief — the one is proper to the body, the other to the soul — which grow from the contentment or distaste which we receive from the divers objects which we meet with. If we love, it is for that we find a sweetness in the object beloved ; if we hate, we apprehend a trouble in what we hate ; if we hope, we promise ourselves a happiness or satisfaction in the possession of the thing hoped for : if we despair, it is because the thing cannot be obtained from which our contentment would arise. Desire is of some good wdiicli we judge pleasing. By fear and flight Ave shun things which we apprehend would breed us vexation. So that, in etlect, delight sets all the other affections a-work.
2. It is a choice affection, more proper to ruition than use, and therefore not for the means so much as end, and so reserved for God, who is the last end. There are fruenda and utenda, God and heavenly things to be enjoyed, but earthly things to be used : for means, those that are in the nearest vicinity to the end, as the law of God and grace : earthly things are to be used with a kind of indifferency, and therefore should have little of our joy ; but our solid complacency must be in God, next in the things of God, his law and grace, which are means in the nearest vicinity with our end : Ps. xxxvii. 4, ' Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thy heart ;' Phil. iv. 4, ' Eejoice in the Lord always, and again I say, Eejoice.'
3. Delight, if not right set, of all the affections, is apt to degenerate. We have a liberty to delight in earthly things ; the affection is allowed, the excess is forbidden. Thou mayest delight in the wife of thy youth, in thy children, estate, in the provisions heaped upon thee by the indulgence of God's providence. Pleasure is the sauce of life, to better digest our sorrows. It is allowed us, but it must be well guarded. We are most apt to surfeit of pleasant things, and to mis- carry by sweet aff'ections. Sorrow is afflictive and painful, and will in time wear away of itself. Pleasure is ingrained in our natures, born and bred with us ; and therefore, though we may delight in the moderate use of the refreshments of the present life, in estate, honour, reputation, yet we should take heed of excess, that our hearts be not overjoyed, and too much taken up about these things. Carnal joy is the drunkenness of the mind ; it besotteth us, maketli us unmindful of God, weakens our esteem of his favour and blessing ; it chaineth us to present things. Pleasure is the great witch and sorceress that enchants with the love of the world, maketh us unmindful of the country wdicnce we came, and whither we are going; therefore we should be jealous of our delight, and how we bestow it.
Use 3. To exhort us to this delight in God's statutes, or this spiri- tual rejoicing.
1. Here is no danger of exceeding ; the greatest excesses here are most praiseworthy. In other things we must exercise it with jealousy, feed with fear, rejoice as if we rejoiced not. A man may easily go beyond his bounds when he rcjoiceth in the creature ; but here enlarge
152 SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. [SeR. XVIL
thy heart as much as is possible, and take thy fill of pleasure : Cant. V. 1, ' Eat, 0 friends ; drinlv, yea, drink abundantly, 0 beloved/ This is ebrietas quce nos casfos facit — chaste flagons: E])h. y. 18, 'Be not drunk with wine, wherein is excess ; but be ye filled with the Spirit/
2. We shall never be ashamed of these joys: 2 Cor. i. 12, ' Our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience,' &c. All carnal joys have a turpitude affixed to them, and therefore afiect to lie hid under a veil of secrecy. The world would cry shame of him that would say of his bags or his dishes, Here is my joy. As much as men affect these things, yet they desire to conceal them from the knowledge of others.
3. We shall never be weary of these joys. The delights of the senses become nauseous and troublesome ; our natural dispositions become weary and importunate ; a man must have shift and change, pleasures refreshed with other pleasures. But these delights add per- fection to nature; therefore, Avhen fully enjoyed, they delight most. A good conscience is a continual feast, a dish we are never weary of. The blessed spirits in heaven are never weary of beholding the face of God. God is new and fresh every moment to them. The contem- plation of such excellent objects doth not overcharge and weaken the spirits, but doth raise and fortify them. It is true, the corporeal powers being weak, may be tired in such an employment, as much reading is a weariness to the flesh ; but the object doth not grow dis- tasteful, as in carnal things.