[2.] That mourning for sin containeth in itself the matter of joy is evident, because a poor christian is glad when his heart can melt for ain. A day of serious and sound humiliation is more to him than all carnal pleasures whatsoever ; he would not exchange the comfort that he find^th in his penitent tears for all the mirth in the world. He findeth tLis helpeth to mortify sin, which would mar his rejoicing in God ; it helpeth him to value Christ and taste the sweetness of his
SERMONS UPON I THESSALONIANS V. 16. * 48S
love ; they are more glad of that measure of grace received than if they were masters and rulers of the world. To be affected with the dishonour done to God is included in their love and esteem of him, and iioweth from their dehght in him,
[3.] Though they groan under the relics of sin, yet they are glad they are but relics ; that they are in any measure gotten out of their former estate is a comfort, though that they are gotten no further be a grief to them. The mourning christian would not change estates with the best and greatest of ungodly men, which showeth there is some solid complacency and delight in their present condition, though not that full joy which they shall have in heaven, when sin shall be no more. Joy is not perfect till holiness be perfect, yet there is joy still, though it be not perfect joy. Here there is gaudium ineffahile cum suspiriis inenarrabilihus, a joy mixed with sorrow ; groans unutterable, and joys unspeakable and glorious.
Secondly, Having removed the prejudices, let me now persuade you to rejoice evermore by the two arguments of necessity and utility.
1. The necessity of it.
[1.] That you may own God as your God ; delighting in God is a duty of the first commandment : ' Thou shalt have no other gods before me ; ' that is, rejoice in no other, but in me only, as thy full and all-sufficient portion and happiness; and therefore it is a part, not of instituted, but of natural worship, such worship which we are to give God, though he had never given direction about it, which immediately resulteth from the owning and choosing of God for our God ; for if God be not loved and delighted in more than anything, or all things else, he is not our God. ]!^ow, then, is there not a necessity, if you would worship God as God, that you should rejoice evermore, and delight in him as sufficient to your happiness, whether the world cometh or goeth, whether your creature comforts and relations con- tinue with you or be taken from you ? God still must be the heart's delight and your exceeding joy : Ps. xxxvii. 4, ' Delight thyself also in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart.'
[2.] The necessity appeareth by this, how can you be thankful, and prize and value those blessings which you have from God by Christ, unless you rejoice evermore, whatever your condition be in the world ? Surely Christ when received must be received with all love and thank- fulness, else you do not know the worth and value of his grace ; and this esteem is never so much shown in words as in deeds, when you can delight in him more than all things else : Ps. iv. 7, ' Thou hast put gladness in my heart more than in the time that their corn and their wine increased.' Delight in him so as to lose all for him : Phil. iii. 8, ' For whom I have suffered the loss of all things, and do count them but dung that I may win Christ ; ' Heb. x. 34, ' And took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that ye have in heaven a better and an enduring substance.' And you can esteem a naked Christ ground enough of comfort, though you be stripped of all things. The heart is not sound with Christ, till we be so taken up with the love and praise of our Eedeemer that we have scarce leisure to observe whether we be rich or poor, or to regard the honours and dishonours of the world.
484 SERMONS UPON I THESSALONIANS V. 16.
[3.] How can you profess to follow the conduct of that Holy Sph-it who hath undertaken to be your comforter, unless your solid delight and comfort be in God and heaven ? I know the Spirit is not so necessarily a comforter as he is a sanctifier ; but I speak of that dis- position of soul which belongeth both to his sanctifying as well as his comforting operation, and is necessary to grace ; and that is to place your happiness not in this world, but in God and heaven, and so to place it there as that this may be a support to you in poverty and dis- grace and pain, that nothing may be able to overcome your joy : John xvi. 22, ' Your heart shall rejoice, and your joy no man taketh from you.' Surely this is a necessary work of the sanctifying Spirit, to teach you to fix your comforts there, where they may be out of the reach of the world, that you may have everlasting grounds of delight, whatever man can do unto you.