I
SERMON UPON PROVERBS III. 17. 373
which is raised in us by the Holy Ghost is more rich and glorious than that which is but the fruit of our own reason or our reflection upon our ways. When he sheddeth abroad the love of God in our hearts, it is more powerful and penetrating. Other joy is not wrought by God, but at second or third hand. It is said, Acts xiv. 1,7, ' He gave us rain from heaven, and fruitful seasons, filling our hearts with food and gladness ; ' that is, he giveth them the matter of their joy, as he blesseth the course of nature, and giveth fruitful seasons. Therefore this is the true and solid joy.
Object. 1. But how are all wisdom's paths pleasantness and peace, since there are many crosses and afflictions incident to a spiritual life?
Ans. 1 . Spiritual joys and temporal adversities are no ways incom- })atible : Kom. v. 3, ' We glory in tribulation.' The joy that resulteth from the ways of wisdom is not always visible to the world. Believers feast on the hidden manna : Kev. ii. 17, ' To him that overcometh will I give to eat of the hidden manna.'
2. How afflicted soever we be for the present, there is an assurance of future joys in another world : Heb. x. 34, * Ye took joyfully the spoiling of your goods, knowing in yourselves that in heaven ye have a better and an enduring substance.' So that this is a peace which the world can neither give nor take away ; it dependeth on things out of their reach.
Object. 2. Wisdom forbiddeth us many bodily pleasures.
Ans. 1. God forbiddeth no bodily pleasure but as it hinderetli our greater pleasure, as it tendeth to our hurt, such whereby the mind may be perverted, or diverted from things spiritual, and so enchanted as to lose the relish of the true felicity, and intermit our care of the way that leadeth to it ; as the flesh-pots of Egypt made them ready to revolt and neglect Canaan. So indeed God saith, 1 Peter ii. 11, ' Abstain from fleshly lusts, which war against the soul ; ' as they bring a servitude and a brawn and a deadness upon the heart : Titus iii. 3, ' We ourselves also were sometimes foolish, disobedient, deceived, serving divers lusts and pleasures,' &c. ; as we are apt to love them more than God : 2 Tim. iii. 4, ' Lovers of pleasure more than lovers of God ; ' as they bring a brawn and a deadness upon the heart, and so make it incapable of that sweet consolation which the Spirit worketh in us.
2. When the heart is mortified and subdued to God, there is no such pleasure as the contempt of bodily pleasures. Quarn suave mihi suhito factum est, carere suavitatibus nugarum ! — How sweet is it to me to want the sweetness of these trifles ! In some diseases it is a pleasure to eat dust ; when the disease is cured, it is abhorred as a filthy thing. It is our distemper that leaveth the carnal relish so strong upon us ; get rid of your distemper, and you will be ashamed of your brutish satisfactions ; it is a diseased mind that looks after them.
Use 1. To remove prejudice. Men usually judge wisdom's ways to be sour and bitter, whereas they yield great joy and pleasure to those that walk in them. Here is peace for their consciences, and pleasant- ness to satisfy their affections. Who live the pleasant life, they that walk upon the brink of hell every moment, or they who, being justi- fied by faith, are made heirs of eternal life, who look every day when
374 SERMON UPON PROVERBS III. 17.
God will translate tliem into his immediate presence ? they that satisfy their lusts by breaking God's law, or they that provide for the peace of their consciences by observing and keeping it ? Who are like to be most satisfied in their object, they that love a vain uncertain world, or they that live in the love of God ? If men would but come and try what it is indeed to believe in Christ, to live in the love of God and the hope of eternal life, their prejudices would be soon confuted.
Object. But you will say, Your spiritual delight is but a fancy ; it seemeth to be hard to forsake what I see, what I feel, what I taste, what I love, for a God and a glory which I do not see, and it may be never shall see.
I answer — It is no wonder. How can you see when you have no eyes ? Faith is the eye of the soul : Heb. xi. 1, ' Faith is the substance of things hoped for, and the evidence of things not seen ; ' and ver. 27, ' By faith he forsook Egypt, not fearing the wrath of the king ; for he endured as seeing him who is invisible ; ' 1 Peter i. 8, ' Whom having not seen, ye love ; in whom, though now ye see him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory.' And how can you hope to see while you are carnal, and your hearts do not suit with these things, or ever experienced this joy ? But beg the spirit of wisdom and revela- tion : Eph. i. 17, 18, ' That the God of our Lord Jesus Christ, the Father of glory, may give unto you the spirit of wisdom and revelation in the knowledge of him ; the eyes of your understanding being en- lightened, that ye may know what is the hope of his calling, and what the riches of the glory of his inheritance in the saints ;' and return you to him. Illumination and inclination conduce both to your cure ; for this holy delight cannot be forced, nor drawn forth by bare commands and threatenings. When the attractive goodness of the object is re- presented by the Spirit, the heart must be suited to it, and then you will find this joy.