5. The feelings of this joy are up and down, yet when the joy is gone, the right remaineth, and this joy will be fulfilled : John xvi. 22, ' Ye now have sorrow, but I will see you again, and your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.' If we lose it ourselves, it is not utterly lost. The sun is always moving, but it doth not always shine, and display his rays with a merry countenance ; so a christian meeteth with many rubs, but still he holdeth on his course to heaven ; and therefore, where sense faileth, faith should make supply.
6. The nature of man is more acquainted with sorrows than with pleasures. Men naturally are more susceptible of sorrow than of joy. Partly because of the presages of a guilty conscience : Heb. ii. 14, ' Through fear of death, tliey were all their lifetime subject to bondage.' Men are more ingenious and inventive to torment themselves than they are to find out arguments of joy. Partly out of ingratitude : Mai. i. 2, ' I have loved you, saith the Lord ; yet ye say. Wherein hast thou loved us ?' We grieve more for a mean affliction than we rejoice in many great blessings. As if the humours of the body be out of order, or one joint break, this is enough to make us sink, and ill at ease ; so one light affliction sinks us. Partly because God hath laid this burden of sorrow upon us to make us long for heaven : ' Few and evil are the days of the years of my life.'
Use 1. To show us the goodness of God, who hath made our wages a great part of our work, and our reward our service. The Lord doth not require of us to lance and gash ourselves ; his ways are not sour ways ; he hath made it a part of our duty and homage to rejoice in him. Oh ! that he should deal so bountifully with us in this life ! The world might be a Bochim, and it is a Beracha. It is indeed a vale of tears ; but yet the sun shineth sometimes when it raineth. Oh ! how should this make us in love with the service of God ! They are happy that minister in his presence. It is a request, Ps. xc. 14, ' Oh ! satisfy us early with thy mercy, that we may rejoice and be glad all our days.' Certainly God alloweth us to come witli such requests, for he commandeth us to rejoice: 1 Thes. v. 16, 'Rejoice evermore.' We might weep evermore, yet he saith, ' Rejoice evermore.'
Use 2. To take off the slander brought on the ways of God, as if they were dark and uncomfortable, as if we should abandon and
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renounce all delight. Oh ! that wicked men would but make experi- ence ! God doth not require that you should renounce delight, but change the course of it. Joy is not abrogated, but preferred. Do not think the practice of religion is full of sadness and heaviness. Will you believe the spies, that have been in the land of promise ? The righteous are only fit to give testimony to the comfort of a converted estate ; a stranger intermeddleth not with their joys. If any of God's children be uncomfortable, it is because they have not tasted deep enough of the promises, the Comforter suffer eth some contradiction from their hearts and lusts : but what is this to your estate ? The souls of wicked men are still under bondage ; in the midst of their greatest joys, their pleasures are mixed with fear ; as Belshazzar was soon put out of his mirth.
Use 3. Let us despise the dreggy delights of the world. We are empty by nature, and worldly joy filleth not but with wind. Since Christ hath made such provision for our consolation, why should we seek it elsewhere ? God hath forbid no joy but what is hurtful. Out- ward mercies bring in some joy, but not a full joy. Godliness doth not unman us, and hinder the course of any true natural affection. But no outward thing should be our chief joy ; a light touch is best : 1 Cor. vii. 30, ' They that rejoice should be as if they rejoiced not.' First we have an interest, then a comfortable use of the creatures. Hast thou wealth, power, greatness ? Do not bind up thy heart with these things, they will be gone, and then thy joy will be gone too. When they take up too much of our affections, they are curses, and will prove our sorrow : Eccles. vii. 6, ' As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the fool : this also is vanity ; ' a slight superficial thing. Vain men are catched with every light pleasure, as a fire soon taketh in thorns. Thorns burning under a pot make a great noise, and so carnal mirth maketh much noise. Worldly men promise themselves a great deal of pleasure and contentment, but this fire is soon lout, so worldly joy is soon gone. Let us not delight in fleshly liberty ; the pleasures of sin are short-lived, and carnal plea- sures leave bitterness and remorse behind them : Prov. xiv. 13, ' Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful ; and the end of that mirth is heavi- ness.' As laughter, through dilatation of the spirits, maketh us sad afterwards. The fuel of carnal pleasures is gross, burdensome, oppres- sive to reason, it hindereth the free contemplation of the mind, and lasteth but for a little while ; we need to be refreshed with other pleasures. But God in Christ is full and fresh to all eternity ; angels "are not weary of him. Besides, carnal mirth is but madness ; Eccles. ii. 2, ' I have said of laughter, It is mad ; and of mirth, What doeth it?' It is good for no serious purpose. Solomon challengeth the masters of mirth ; what doth it but displace reason, and give way to vanity and lightness ? I know there is a lawful use of inoff'ensive mirth ; but when we take pleasures, they should not take us : Eph. V, 4, ' Neither filthiness, nor foolish talking, nor jesting, which are not convenient ; but rather giving of thanks ;' ver. 19, * Speaking to your- selves in psalms, and hymns, and spiritual songs ; singing, and making melody in your hearts to the Lord.' There is a mirth becoming the gravity of a christian.