1. The first reason is drawn from the nature of sorroiv and mourninfj. Sorrow is a kind of an imperfect thing, as it were. It is not made for itself, but for an higher and for a further end, to do service to something else, as it fares with all those that we call the declining affections. Hatred is servant to love ; fear doth service to confidence ; so likewise doth sorrow to joy. For God hath not appointed sorrow for sorrow's sake, but to make way for joy and true comfort. The physician doth not make a man sick for sickness sake, but for health's sake.
Many men's lives have been hazarded by carnal joy, as well as by worldly sorrow. And they that know anything in stories, they know many a man hath been taken away, his life hath leaped out of his mouth, as it were, by reason of extraordinary laughter and carnal joy. But now, the joy of a Chi-istian man, a spiritual joy, it is a safe joy. It hurts no man, but doth a man good ; it settles a man's mind, it strengthens his thoughts, it per- fects his wits and understanding. It makes him to have a sound judgment : it makes for the health of his body ; it makes for the preservation of his life ; it doth a man good every way. There is no provocation in it, there is no danger in it. Thirdly, as a Christian's joy is best in that respect, that it is the safest, so in this, that it is the surest joy. For this joy is an everlasting joy. The rejoicing of the wicked it is for a season, it lasts not long ; but the joy of the righteous, it is a constant joy in the root, and in the cause and in the matter of it. It shall never be taken from him. Indeed, everlastingness stands at the end of both kinds of joy.
The wicked hath a joy, and there comes something after it that is ever-
* The word being Tl^Qin^i^, consolationes tucc in the plural. — G.
282 SPIRITUAL MOURNING.
lasting ; but that is everlasting shame, everlasting pain and anguish. The righteous ho hath some joy here, and there is something that is everlasting that follows at the end of that ; but that is everlasting glory, everlasting joy. It is swallowed up of eternity. Further, the joy of the righteous is a more rational joy than the joy of the wicked : that is but brutish, as it were. A righteous man rcjoiceth in matters that are worthy of his joy, those things that he hath reason to be glad of. He rejoiceth that his name is written in heaven ; he rejoiceth that Christ hath taken upon him his nature ; that the Spirit of God the Comforter dwells in him in the graces of the Spirit, &c. But now the wicked man, his is an unreasonable joy ; he rejoiceth where he hath no matter nor cause of joy. You see many times madmen sing, and dance, and leap, and shout, and take on. Will you term this joy ? Alas ! this proceeds from distemper ; not that they have cause to be merry, but it is from distemper that they so rejoice, if you term it mirth. That which Solomon saith you may say of the laughter of the wicked, ' it is madness.' He laughs, and he can give no reason for it ; he rejoiceth for that which he hath no reason to rejoice in ; he rejoiceth in the creature, he rejoiceth in himself, in his own wit, in his own worth, in his own strength. He rejoiceth many times in his shame, in his torment, in those things that tend to his utter ruin and destruction. The righteous, then, hath the start of the wicked for matter of comfort and joy. He hath a more solid, a more safe and sure jo}', a more sweet joy, a more reasonable joy a great deal than the other hath. As he is beyond him in his joy, —
So, in the next place, he is beyond him in his sorrow too. Our life must have comfort and sorrow. It is compounded of sweet and sour. As the year is compounded of winter and summer, and the day of day and night, so every man's life is made up of these two. He hath some fair and some foul days, some joy and some sorrow. Now as the righteous is beyond the wicked in his joy and comfort, so he is beyond him in his sorrow. First, his sorrow is far better ; it is a more gainful, a more comfortable sorrow than others' is. They are beyond the sorrows of the wicked in all the causes and in all the circumstances of them.
(1.) Fii'st, The sorrow of the righteous it proceeds /row a better spring and fountain than the sorrow of the wicked. The sorrow of the godly, it comes from a sound mind, from a pure heart, from an inside that is puri- fied from hypocrisy, from self-love, from private respects. Whereas, on the other side, the sorrow of the wicked comes from distemper of brain, from an utter mistake. Ho takes that to be matter of sorrow, which is no matter of grief ; he takes that to be matter of great grief that deserveth but a few tears, &c. Again, his sorrow comes from distemper of heart, from pride, from passion, from cursedness of heart and spirit, that he cannot stoop. It proceeds not from love to God or to mankind, but out of self-love, and fi-om the miry puddle and filthy spring of pride and passion and error, &c. (2.) Secondly, The sorrow of the righteous, as it hath a better spring, so it is busied and taken up about better objects, about better matters. A wicked man howls and cries, and takes on many times for a trifle, for a bauble ; yea, many times, because he is disappointed and crossed in his lusts, in his base sins. The child of God finds himself somewhat else to do than to weep and to cry, and take on for trifles and vanities. He looks up to God, and is sorry he hath displeased him. He turns his tears into the right channel, and sets them upon his sin. He weeps for spiritual losses and crosses, for public miseries and calamities, and ho takes to heart such things as are worthy of a man's sorrow, and such as will perfect the affec-