A SERMON Preached at ABINGTON in the County of BERKS. Febr. 19 1642. By JOHN STRAIT Master of Arts, and sometimes Scholar of Queen's College in Cambridge, now Vicar of Stowerpaine in the County of Dorset, and Chaplain to the late Lord Bishop of Salisbury. Containing, Christ's serious asseveration and protestation of the 1 True Christians sad Lamentation. 2 Wicked worldlings mad Exultation. 3 Good Christians glad Exaltation. Be glad O ye righteous, and rejoice in the Lord: and be joyful all ye that are true of heart, Psal. 32. 12. Est gaudium quod non datur impiis, sed eis qui te gratis colunt, quorum gaudium tu ipse es, etc. Aug. lib. 9 Confess. Printed in the year 1643. To the READER. Courteous Reader, I Never was ambitious to see myself in print: They that know me can testify for me how much I stand affected to privacy and retiredness. This Sermon of mine was never meant for the press, though now it be constrained to show itself in public. It was extorted from me at Abington, where I was taken up as a Spy, and detained by the space of five days in the nature of a prisoner; having things laid to my charge that I never Fiebile principium, melior fortuna secutae est. Ovid. knew, my known Innocence at length out-poised all my accusations, & I stood as I deserved, Rectus in Curia. But preach I must, I could not be dismissed without the undergoing of that task; I did; and was no sooner come home but presently (the next week after) I heard by a neighbour a gentleman of no mean quality, that there were Copies of this my Sermon abroad, taken it seems by some Stenographers, transcribed, and sent into the Country after me, and there passing from hand to hand. I know not how they have dealt with me in their notes, but fearing lest they should patch up any thing with their own additions, and so make me speak that which I never meant, I have therefore adventured (and yet not without the instigation of some special friends) to expose this Sermon, just as it was then delivered to thy impartial view. To thee I say I submit it non modo tanquam ad pium lectorem, sed & ad liberum correctorem; Aug. And so I commend thee to God, this Sermon to thine and the world's light, and myself to thy favourable censure and faithful prayers, remaining Thine in the Lord jesus JOHN STRAIT. From my study in Stowerpaine this 28 of March 1643. A Sermon Preached at Abington in the County of Berks Feb. 19 1642. JOHN 16. 20. Verily verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, but the world shall rejoice; and ye shall be sorrowful, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. MIserable are the defects, and many are the infirmities, of the very best of God's children in all estates, and degrees; If David a man after Gods own heart (as the Scripture styles him) be but a while compassed about with the hedge of prosperity, he will think, nay he will say, he shall never be moved, Psal. 30. 6. dixi in prosperitate mea non movebor Psal. 30. 6. in aeternum. If good Hezekiah have but success in battle, and get the victory over his enemies, he is presently so lifted up with pride of the conquest, and greatness of his treasures that he shows them in ostentation to the Ambassadors of Babylon. 2. Kings. 20. 13. So likewise on the contrary, If 2. Kings. 20. 13. God to reclaim his children from this Charybdis of presumptuous oblivion or rather indeed oblivious presumption, do but a little whip them with his rod of adversity, they are instantly ready to run into a Scylla of desperate dejection: Thus David himself changed his non movebor in aeternum into a conturbatus sum, Psal. 30. 7. Nay more, into an Hath God Psal. 30. 7. forgotten to be gracious? and will he shut up his loving mercy in displeasure? Psal. 77. 9 Thus likewise was the Prophet Jeremy Psal. 77. 9 with pain driven to and fro 'twixt hope and despair, Lam. 3. 18. And I said, my strength and my hope is perished Lam. 3. 18. from the Lord; Such, such (Beloved) is the frailty, and so great is the weakness of the very best of God's Champions, that, what with the considerations of the prosperity of the wicked (at which David's feet were almost gone, and his steps had well near slipped: as Psalm. 73. 2) and what on the other side, with the contemplation of the adversity and afflicted life of the righteous, they are so dejected, that they are even ready to faint, if not forsake their colours. Our blessed Saviour therefore with his allseeing eye observing this pusillanimity in his selected Disciples, to the end they might neither be overmuch dejected by viewing the external felicity of wicked worldlings, nor yet on the other side, too fare cast down by reflecting on their own miseries, he makes them before his ascension many choice cordials against all distractions: As first, Let not your hearts be troubled, ye believe in God, believe also in me, John 14. 1. And again, Peace I leave with you, my peace I give unto you, let not your hearts be troubled nor fear, Jo. 14. 27. And yet again, These things have I spoken unto you, that my joy might remain in you, and that your joy might be full, Jo. 15. 11. And this also of my text, Verily, verily I say unto you, that ye shall weep and lament, and the world shall rejoice, and ye shall sorrow, but your sorrow shall be turned to joy. Which words do naturally resolve themselves into these four particulars, viz. 1 Into serious Prostetation, 2 A sad Lamentation, 3 A mad exultation. 4 A glad alteration, The serious Protestation in these words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. verily verily I say unto you. The sad lamentation in these, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉: Ye shall weep, Lament, and sorrow. The mad exultation in these, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, And the world shall rejoice. The glad Alteration in the last words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but your sorrow shall be turned into joy. Of these in their order, & first of the first, The serious Protestation 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, verily verily I say unto you. And here (not to trouble you with any tedious discourse concerning the various acception of this word 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 in the Original) it being taken here neither Nominally for truth, nor Verbally for fiat, or be it so, but for an adverbial asseveration, for verè, verily, or truly: The ingemination whereof serves both to invite your best attentions, as also to procure your most heedful observation to that which follows as most worthy to be received, Verily verily I say unto you; as if Our Saviour Christ had thus said: That which I declare unto you is no doubtful dream, no incertain cogitation; no, nor yet any fickle conjecture, but a most certain, firm, stable, and infallible truth, which shall not be changed, altered, nor revoked, it being so decreed by God, and therefore of necessity must really come to pass; do not therefore think that I speak this to you rashly, or slenderly, only by the way, but know that I am in good earnest, and avouch it constantly, and that with a double asseveration, verily verily I say unto you. But why did our blessed Saviour thus geminate his asseveration? what, would not his single affirmation have been a sufficient warrant for any to rely on, who was truth itself? Or might not his bare word have deservedly obtained credit, who could not lie? For Heaven and Earth shall pass away but not one jot or tittle of his word shall perish or fall to the ground. Surely (beloved) this emphatical iteration of our Saviour's verily here, was to extirpate that secure carelessness which he saw lurking in his own Disciples; he knew full well the parasitical disposition of man's depraved nature to be such that if it but a while enjoyed peace and prosperity (as altogether forgetful of its own miserable condition and never thinking of, much less expecting the billows of imminent and approaching adversity) 'twould be ready to soothe up itself with a vain conceit of continued content, even of enjoying perpetual peace; And therefore, that the sudden seizure of sad discontents, and fearful frownings of inexpected oppositions might not over whelm them, our Saviour Christ rouzes them up here, with a most pathetical predication of their future calamities verily verily I say unto you. Diseases once discovered are accounted as half cured, and miseries foretold as half prevented premonitio est premunitio, forewarning is thus a fore-arming. Afflictions greatest augmenter is inexpectation: when thwarting crosses come suddenly and unlooked for, they distract the mind and drive the faculties from their due consultation of remedy; Thus the sudden falling of a house is more perilous than the rising of a flood; for while of the former, the hurt is unavoidable by reason both of the violence and precipitation, the latter through the warning and appearance of its coming is less dangerous, less prejudicial; Tela previsa minus feriunt quam repentina. Christ therefore that neither the sudden aspect of distasteful afflictions might distract his chosen, nor yet the unlooked for access of cruel calamities might offend his children, he forewarns them Jo 16. 2. here of them: They shall excommunicate you, yea the time shall come that whosoever kills you will think that he doth God service; Jo 16. 4. But these things have I told you, that ye should not be offended; and these things have I said unto you that when the hour shall come, ye might remember that I told you them, For Verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep lament and sorrow. O than put we not far off the evil day, but rather provide we for perilous times, for much more hard is the winter to the grasshopper than the pismire, who before having stored 1 Thess: 5. verses 6 & 8. her garner, is now able to withstand a famine. Let us not therefore sleep as do others, but let us watch and be sober, let us which are of the day put on the breast plate of faith, and love, and the hope of salvation for an helmet, for verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow. And this be briefly spoken of my first particular, the serious protestation, verily verily I say unto you. The second follows, which is the sad Lamentation, expressed in these words, ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow. Ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow. These three words they have their several significations: For first 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 ye shall weep imports a clamourous kind of howling, as Mat. 2, 18. Math. 2. 18. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, In Rama was a voice heard, mourning, and weeping, and great howling, Rachel weeping for her children etc. Secondly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ye shall lament or mourn, denotes a continued course of sorrow and implies an habitual kind of heaviness. Thirdly and lastly 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, ye shall sorrow or grieve, signifies a dumpish sadness or contristation of the spirits, [〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, & ne contristate] and grieve not the spirit of God Eph. 4. 30. Citius Eph 4. 30. desint lacrymae quàm causa lacrymandi: (so sometime Seneca) far sooner shall watery tears be wanting, than cause of Seneca. weeping shall cease. For indeed infinite are the causes that force the faithful to weep and lament from birth to burial, yea and of exceeding efficacy are the motives that make the righteous thus to sorrow even from Cradle to Coffin: which as for brevity, so likewise for perspicuities sake I shall endeavour to reduce to these six subsequent heads. First therefore every true child of God shall and must 1 cause of weeping, our own sins. weep, both for the Remnants of sin remaining in him, as also for his own actual sins daily committed against God. For this cause Saint Paul wearied with miserable and continual conflicts, and as yet in part subject to sin cries out O wretched man that I am who shall deliver me from this body of death. Rom: 7. 24. And as original sin wrested this heavy Rom. 7. 24. exclamation from this holy Apostle, so likewise did actual sins wring from that sinful woman (for so she is styled Luke 7. 37.) abundance of tears: they turned her lascivious Luk: 7. 37. looks to lamenting, and her wanton eyes to weeping. Yea and this was the cause that made Saint Peter go out, and weep bitterly. Math. 26. 75. Flevit amarè ut lachrymae lavarent Math: 26. 75. Ambr. delictum, tu similiter lachrymis dilue culpam, So Saint Ambrose, he wept bitterly that tears might cleanse or wash away Ambr: his offence, do thou in like manner purge, and put away thy fault with tears: shed thou tears for thy intemperance, for thy impatience, for thy anger, for thy malice etc. Secondly ye shall weep for the sins of others too: and 2 cause of weeping, others sin. though it be true that the best of God's children cannot weep too much or rather indeed enough for their own sins, yet must they weep for the sins of others also: like the widow of Zarephta who though she had not meal in her ferkin nor oil in her cruse for the sustaining of herself and her child, yet spared some for the Prophet Elijah. And thus did 1 Kings 17. just Lot weep for the sinful conversation of the wicked Sodomites; for he being righteous & dwelling among them, in seeing and hearing, vexed his righteous soul from day to day with their unlawful deeds, as 2. Pet: 2. 8. For so great is the holy Indignation 2 Pet. 2. 8. that God's children bear against sin, and such deep impression of grief doth the perpetration thereof strike in the righteous, that if it were possible for them to weep even rivers of tears, yet could not their sorrow be exhausted, unless sin did cease; witness the man after Gods own heart, mine eyes gush out with rivers of water because men keep not thy law Psal: 119: 136. This was it that caused Saint Paul Psal. 119. 136. with sorrow and tears, to paint out the false Apostles in their colours Phil: 3. 18. For many walk (saith he) of whom I Phil. 3. 18. have told you often; why then (may some man say) do you tell us any more? Yes and now I tell you weeping, that they are the enemies of the cross of Christ. Yea Christ himself wept thus for Jerusalem Luke 19 41, 42. And when he was come Luke 19 41, 42 near, he beheld the City and wept for it, saying, O if thou hadst even known, at the least in this thy day, those things which belong unto thy peace! but now are they hid from thine eyes. This, this (beloved) is a sure sign of a good Nathaniel and an infallible token of a true Israelite, viz: to weep in secret for the sins of others, yea and cry out against the wickedness committed against God in the land. And the Lord said unto him (viz. the Angel) go through the midst of the City, even through the midst of Jerusalem and set a mark upon the foreheads of them that mourn, and cry for all the abominations that be done in the midst thereof. so ye may find it, Ezekiel. 9 4. Ezek. 9 4. Thirdly, ye shall lament or mourn for the Judgements of 3. 'Cause of weeping, Open and general Judgement. God on the land take the Prophet Jeremy for a pattern, who in this case thus cries out Jer. 4. 19 My belly, my belly, I am pained even at the very heart, mine heart is troubled within me, I cannot be still: for my soul hath heard the sound of the trumpet Jer. 4. 19 and the alarm of the battle, destruction upon destruction etc. and again Chap. 8. 21. I am sore vexed for the hurt of Jer: 8. 21: the daughter of my people, I am heavy, and astonishment hath taken me. Nay yet more pathetically doth this Prophet declare his compassionate grief for this people, and therefore as one that could never sufficiently lament their destruction, he cries out, Oh that mine head were full of water, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people. Oh that I had in the wilderness a cottage of way-faring men etc. as Jer. 9 1, 2. Jer 9 1, 2. Fourthly ye shall mourn for the afflictions of poor joseph; 4 Cause of weeping, private and particular Afflictions. and as feeling members one of another's misery, ye shall lament for those that are tossed from post to pillar, that are driven from house and home, (in a word) that are for Christ's sake brought to great extremity. They drink wine in bowls (saith the Prophet Amos) and anoint themselves with the chief ointments, but no man is sorry for the afflictions of joseph Therefore now shall they go captive, with the first that go captive, etc. Amos 6. 6. 7. Amos 6. 6, 7. mine eye casteth out rivers of water for the destruction of the daughter of my people, yea mine eye droppeth without stay and ceaseth not, Lam: 3. 48, 49. Lam. 3. 48. 49. Fifthly, ye shall sorrow for the loss of dear friends, thus 5 Cause of weeping, loss of friends. 2. Sam. 1. 26. 2 Sam. 18. 33. Jo. 11. 35. 6 cause of weeping, our pilgrimage here, David sorrows for the loss of dear jonathan, woe is me for thee my brother jonathan 2 Sam. 1. 26. and he is likewise greatly perplexed with the untimely death of his son Absalon 2 Sam: 18. 33. thus Marry yea and Christ himself do weep for Lazarus Io: 11. 35. Sixthly and lastly, ye shall sigh and sorrow to because you are but as Pilgrims here, sitting by the rivers of Babel, (the world according to Saint Chrysostom's gloss, oppressed with various calamities) weeping at the remembrance of your spiritual Zion. For therefore we sigh, earnestly desiring to be clothed with our house which is from heaven, so Saint Paul, 2 Cor: 5. 2. verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep, lament, 2 Cor. 5. 2. and sorrow. [The shall weep] for your own sins, and 2 for the sins of others: [Ye shall lament] 3 for the Judgements of God on the land, and 4 for the afflictions of poor Joseph: [Ye shall sorrow] 5 for the loss of dear friends, and 6 for your own bitter peregrination here in this world. Pilgrimage you know is always perilous, God's children then who are but pilgrims here, must not expect an immunity Observat. 1 from the cross, nor must the righteous think to be free from afflictions: no, we must through many afflictions enter into the Kingdom of God, as Acts 14. 22. yea and all that will live godly in Christ jesus, shall suffer persecution, as 2 Tim 3. 12. Acts 14. 22. Dear beloved think it not strange concerning the fiery trial 2 Tim. 3. 12. which is among you, as though some strange thing were come unto you, as 1 Pet. 4. 12. In the world ye shall have affliction for the servant is not better than his Lord, nor the disciple above his 2 Pet. 4 12, Master, as Math. 10. 24. If therefore they have done these things to the green tree, what shall become of the dry? verily verily Mat 10. 24. I say unto you, that ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow. Luke 23. 31. The reason is evident, for ye are not of the world saith our Saviour, Io. 15. 19, in the world therefore ye shall have affliction. Reason 1 There is no concord 'twixt Christ and Belial, nor is there Jo. 15. 19 2 Cor: 6. 14. 15 any agreement 'twixt light and darkness. R. 2 Secondly ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow, because ye are by Christ the adopted children of God, it is meet therefore that ye become like unto him in affliction, who hath already trodden this path of tribulation. R. 3 Thirdly and lastly ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow, because troubles are the surest tutors of goodness; before I was afflicted (saith David) I went astray, but now I keep thy word. Psal. 119. 67. How many would have died ill, if they had lived Psal. 119. 67. merrily without affliction? God hath several ways to reduce his little flock from the straggling by paths of destruction, yet I am persuaded none, (none I say) more powerful than affliction, which sends the soul to meditation, whereby she sees the world's follies in such true colours of vanity, that no sound discretion can think them worth the doting on. Ideo enim Deus foelicitatibus terrenis amaritudines misoet, ut illa quaeratur foelicitas cujus dulcedo non est fallax. Aug. super Mat. Serm. 29. For therefore doth God intermingle bitter in gredients with his best terrestrial blessings, that that blessing might be sought after whose sweetness is not counterfeit. so Saint Augustine. And indeed we should surfeit with the counterfeit sweetness of external affluencies, were not our prosperities a little corrected with the bitter pills of atflictions: 'twas good for me saith the prophet David, that I was afflicted, that I might Psal. 119. 71. learn thy statutes. 'Tis no small abatement to the bitterness of adversities, that they teach us the way to heaven. Therefore it is that ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow, viz. because troubles are the best, the surest tutors of goodness. Prosperity is not then an infallible token of God's Church, Use. 1 nor is external felicity the undoubted badge of a true Christian; No, Praesentis vitae prosperitas innocentiae testis non est, quià multi ad perrennem vitam per flagella redeunt, & plerique ad infinita supplicia prrducendi, sine flagello moriuntur. so, Greg, in moral. Greg. in moral: that is, the prosperity of this present life is no evident witness of any man's innocency or integrity, because many by adversities whip do come to everlasting life, and most of all that die without it, are led unto endless torments. The cross, the cross I say is the true character of Christ's chosen, Math. 16. 24. Math. 10. 38. Mark. 8. 34. Luke. 9 23. if any man will be my disciple (saith our Saviour) he must take up his cross and follow me. Judge not then of any man by his outward appearance, nor Use 2 do you pronouce any man the happier for wallowing in worldly felicities; for difficile (saith Saint Hiero in one of his Epistles) imo impossibile est ut praesentibus & futuris quis fruatur bonis, ut & hic ventrem, & tibi mentem imple●●, Heiro in Epist. quadam. ut a deliciis ad delicias transeat, & in utroque saeculo primus 〈◊〉 ut in terra & in caelo appareat gloriosus: " that is, 'tis very hard yea almost impossible that any man should enjoy both the good things of this life, and of that which is to come, that he should fill his belly or satiate his desires here, and his mind or will hereafter, that he should pass from delights unto delights, that he should be happy in both ages, that he should appear both glorious here on earth, and glorious hereafter in heaven." And Solomon renders us a reason hereof, For the Lord correcteth him whom he loveth, even as a father doth the child in whom he delighteth, Proutrb. 3. 12. If therefore ye be without correction, Prov. 3. 12. whereof all are partakers, then are ye bastards and 〈◊〉 sons. 'Tis the Apostles expression Heb 12. 8. God indeed Heb. 12. 8. had one Son sine flagitio, but never any sine flagello, one without offence, but none without affliction. Hence is that of Saint Aug. in quodam Serm: Augustine. Nullus servus Christi sine tribulatione est; Si patas te non habere persecutiones, nondum coepisti esse Christiann●, that is, " None of Christ's Servants are without tribulation if therefore thou thinkest thou thinkest thou hast no persecutions, thou hast not yet begun to be a Christian; for verily verily I say unto you that ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow." And must the Cross thus go before the Crown? O the● Use. 3 be ye patiented all ye that mourn in Zion; say with holy 〈◊〉 in your afflictions, shall we receive good at the hands of God and not evil? job 2. 10. and with David, submit yourselves Job. 2. 10. to God's good pleasure saying with him also, here am I, let him do to me as seemeth good unto him 2 Sam: 15. 26. Nei●● 2 Sam. 15. 26. dignemini, si mali in hoc mundo floreant & vos patimini, qui● non est Christianae religionis in hoc mundo exaltari, sed deprimi● Mali nihil habent in coelo, vos nihil in mundo: sed spe illius beni ad quod tenditis, quicquid in via contigerit gaudere debet● so venerable Beda, that is, Do you not disdain nor repit Beda. though wicked men do flourish in this world and you suffer, for 'tis not for Christian Religion to be in this world exalted, but depressed, & kept under: wicked men have nothing to do in heaven, you nothing in the world: But ye ought rather to rejoice and patiently endure whatsoever shall happen to you in the way, for the hope of that good unto which ye tend. Blessed are they that suffer persecution for righteousness sake, for theirs is the Kingdom of Heaven, Matth: 5. 10. How should this animate, Math. 5. 10. how should this encourage all God's children cheerfully to undergo all those miseries which here they suffer, though they seem never so harsh, never so grievous? especially seeing they cannot be compared with the recompense, that shall be given us hereafter. If the threatening surges of the raging sea are by Mariners slighted, if the tempestuous storms of frosty winter are by husbandmen neglected, if cruel wounds and truculent slaughters are by soldiers set at naught, (in a word) if heavy blows and dangerous stripes seem as nothing, and are easily borne by stout and valiant champions, and that only for the vain hope of attaining some perishing pelf, or atcheiving some temporal conquest, Then how much more should the momentany, the light 2 Cor. 4. 17. afflictions of this present life, (for so they are styled) be by us neglected, and not easily only, but cheerfully endured, for whom is certainly prepared, not a temporal, but an eternal weight of glory in the heavens? Wherefore let us also, seeing that we are compassed with so great a cloud of witnesses, cast away every thing that presseth down and the sin that hangeth on so fast: let us run with patience the race that is set before us; looking unto jesus Christ the author and finisher of our faith, who for the joy that was set before him, endured the cross, and despised the shame, and is set at the right hand of the throne of God. Consider therefore him that endured such contradiction of sinners, lest ye should be wearied and saint in your minds; so the Apostle Heb: 12. 1, 2, 3. and this of my second particular, Heb. 12. 1, 2, 3. various acceptions of the world. the sad Lamentation, Ye shall weep, lament, and sorrow. I pass on to the third which is the mad exultation contained in these words, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, but the world shall rejoice. The world shall rejoice; By world here is not meant the creatures, nor glorious fabric of the universe; nor secondly the beleivers, the righteous, or world of Elect; But in the third place, the unbeleivers, the ungodly, in a word, the world of wicked and unregenerate men, of which our blessed Saviour speaks Io. 15. 18. If the world hate you, ye know it hated Jo. 15. 18. me before you. But what? shall children be beaten with the rod, and shall slaves go free? shall children serve at the table, and shall servants sit down? shall God's dear children weep, lament▪ and sorrow, and shall the wicked worldlings rejoice? Ye● beloved, Truth itself hath spoken it, and David seeing it verified, ingeniously confessed his feet were almost gone and his trade had well near flipt. Psal. 73. 2. It hath indeed been Psal. 73. 2. always a great temptation to the godly, to see the wicked enemies of God in prosperity, and to behold his dear children in adversity; wherefore doth the way of the wicked prosper▪ (saith jeremy) and why are all they in wealth that rebelliously transgress? Ier: 12. 1. wherefore doth wicked live (saith job) Jer. 12. 1 wax old, and grow in wealth? job. 21. 7. Certainly saith David I have cleansed my heart in vain and washed mine hands in innocency, Psal. 73. 13. for daily have I been punished and chastened every morning. Psal. 37. 2. Psal. 73. 13. Thus beloved (though God be just in all his works and holy in all his ways yet) man is not able to give a reason of all his deeds: David himself saw not the end of these men till he went into the Sanctuary of God, namely, how they were set in slippery places, and though they seem to flourish for a while like green bay trees, yet are they soon cut down like the grass, and Psal. 37. 2. withered even as the green herb; O how soon do they consume, perish, and come to a fearful end! The righteous indeed shall be punished, but as for the seed of the ungodly it shall be rooted out at the last. Psal. 37. 29. Psal. 37. 29. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, mundus autem gaudebit, But the Observe. 2 world shall rejoice. The vilest men upon earth (you see) may have a time of mirth in this world: The wickedest wretches under the cope and canopy of heaven may have a time of rejoicing, a time of prosperity here. Lo, saith David,) These are the wicked, yet prosper they always and increase in riches, Psal. 73. 12. The earth (saith job) is given into the hand of the wicked. job. 9 24. Did not cursed Cham rejoice a while? had not cruel Cain a time of prosperity here on earth? had not the filthy Sodomites a time of jollity in this world? Had not hardhearted Pharaoh a time of mirth in Egypt? briefly, had not hypocritical Saul, had not wicked Haman, had not treacherous judas their several times of rejoicing? And at this day with us, have not blasphemous swearers, debauched Drunkards, profane Papists, and Neuteralizing Atheist, have not these I say their several times of delight and pleasure here? we cannot deny it, 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉, mundus enim gaudebit, for the world shall rejoice. And is not this the Reason, namely because they have Reason 1 their portion here, because their heaven is upon earth, in a word, because they have all the joy here that ever they are like to have. Nam qui hic consolantur indigni tua consolatione habentur; so Aug. in Soliloque, for they that are comforted here Aug: in Soliloq: with the world's consolations are counted unworthy of thy heavenly consolations hereafter. Son remember, saith Abraham to Dives, that thou in thy life time receivedst thy pleasures and likewise Lazarus his pains: now therefore is he comforted and thou art tormented, Luke 16. 25. Luk. 16. 25. Secondly, wicked men have a time of mirth, a time of Reason. 2 prosperity here; that they may be found without all colour of excuse at the dreadful day of Judgement: for by it they are as it were fatted up against the day of slaughter. But I pass on to the objects of this worldly joy, and (as most pertinent to my purpose in hand,) I proceed to show you, wherein Worldlings delight in what the godly lament. so. wicked men do thus rejoice. Now the Object of the world's Joy is fourfold: wicked men I say rejoice especially in these four things: First in their own sins, Secondly in the sins of others, Thirdly in the miseries of others, and Fourthly and lastly in doing mischief unto others. They rejoice first in their own sins, Psal. 10. 3. The 1 Their own sins, Psal. 10. 3. Moler. Com. in locum. Superbia (inquit) impios eousque provehit, ut non tantum pravis suis cupiditatibus securi indulgeant, sed etiam spreto & contempto dei judicio de sua cupiditate, & sceleribus glorientur, seque omnireatu absolvant. wicked hath made boast of his own hearts desire, and the covetous blesseth himself in his wickedness, (that is saith Molerus commenting on the place, The wicked rejoice in their sins, and contemning Gods judgements, glory in their wickedness; Such rejoicers (as they are,) Solomon derides Ecclesiastes 11. 9 Rejoice O goung man in thy youth, and let thy days cheer thee in the days of thy youth, and walk in the ways of thine heart and in the sight of thine eyes, but yet know that for all these things God will bring thee to Judgement. But what? do wicked men rejoice only in their own sins? and doth their joy dilate itself no further, then to delight in their own wickedness? O yes, beloved, as not content with their own, they rejoice in the sins of others too, which is the second object of the world's Joy and wicked men's rejoicing. Thus cursed Cham rejoiced at his father's 2 Others sins. nakedness. Gen: 8, 22. and I would to God that this rejoicing Gen. 8. 22. were not so common amongst the carousing Cham's of these our days, who impudently boast not only of their own immoderate quaffing and beastly uncleanness, but also shamelessly glory in the weakness and infirmities of others, O how many do by this means draw iniquity with Isaiah. 5. 18. 1 Cor. 5. 6. the coards of vanity, and sin as it were with cartropes? But their rejoicing is not good. so the Apostle 1 Cor: 5, 6. Neither is the world's joy confined only to these two, nor 3 Others misery? yet can these limits comprehend the latitude of wicked men's rejoicing: for as altogether void of compassionate humanity and quite destitute of humane compassion (worse than bruit beasts) they rejoice in the miseries of others; which is the third object of the world's joy, and wicked men's rejoicing. And thus did the bloody soldiers rejoice in our blessed Saviour's misery a little before his passion, putting upon Math: 27. 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, etc. him ascarlet robe, and platting a crown of thorns on his head, bowing in derision before him, with a HAIL KING OF THE JEWS, thus likewise the high Priests mocking him, with the Scribes & Elders, said, he saved others, himself he cannot save: in a word, thus they that stood by at the time of his extreme torment, on the cross, when he cried with a loud voice, Eli, Eli lamasabacthani, mocked him, with a this man calleth for Elias, when alas they knew well enough what he meant; they alluded to Elias name, not for want of understanding the tongue but out of a profane, impudent, and saucy mockery, thus rejoiced in his misery. Thus also was holy David in his woeful calamities derided by wicked Caitiffs, Lord (saith he) how Psal: 94, 3. long shall the wicked, how long shall the ungodly triumph? all they that see me have me in derision, they make a mow, and nod Psal. 22. 7, 8. the head saying, he trusted in God that he would deliver him, let him deliver him if he will have him. And again, I puton sackcloth Psal 109. 24. also and they jested upon me, they that sit in the gate speak against me, and the drunkards make songs upon me. But what Psal. 69. 11. 12. need I spend so much time in illustrating this third object of the world's joy, & wicked men's rejoicing, when, alas, woeful experience daily demonstrates the same, in infinite examples at home amongst ourselves. May not every true religious man, in his misery say with holy Job, there are none but mockers with me. Job. 17. 2. Let any of God's children be in misery, Job. 17. 2. in any kind of calamity, and is there not instantly some insulting Shemei that in stead of a comfort returns a curse? But let them know that the Lord will recompense them their wickedness, and destroy them in their own malice. as it is Psal. 94. Psal. 94. 23. at the last verse. The fourth and last object of the world's Joy, and wicked 4. Their own private working of wickedness. men's rejoicing, is in doing mischief cunningly and secretly to others. And thus did wicked Doeg rejoice in his malicious slandering of and mischievous detracting from holy David. Ps: 52. 1, 2, 3, and 4 verses. Why boastest thou thyself thou Psal. 52, 1, 2, 3, 4. tyrant, that thou canst do mischief? Thy tongue imagineth mischief, and is like a sharp razor that cutteth deceitfully. Thou lovest all words that may do hurt, O thou false tongue. In this do all slandering Sycophants rejoice, yea and this is the object of the deceitful Tale-bearers Joy: How glad is the one if he can but prejudice his neighbour, though it be by putting in the paragoge, dicier for dici? And how merry is the other if he can but cunningly mischief his brother, though it be by false & forged accusations? Particular instances in this case are but superfluous, when as the common course of the world is a continual example. For Whence, I pray, proceed almost all jars? whence come so many heavy distastes, but from falls accusers, & flattering Doegs? For without wood, saith Solomon, the fire is quenched, & without a tale-bearer strife ceaseth: The words of a Talebearer are as flatter, and they go down into the bowels of the belly. that is, they take deep impression, and are soon and easily believed. Prov: 26. 20, and 22. verses. And thus much be spoken of the Objects of the Prov: 26. 20. and 22. verses. world's joy wherein wicked men do thus rejoice: A word or two now of the qualities thereof or notes how to know it. Notes how to know the worldlings Joy. 1 False. The qualities of this worldly Joy, are two. First, it is a False joy. Secondly, it is a Short joy. First I say it is a false joy. for the heart is heavy, in the midst of it, even in laughing the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness, as Prov. 14. 13. And like Belshazzars Mirth and Jollity, 'tis mixed with trembling terror; as his at the hand writing on the wall, so theirs at the ghastly checks of their guilty consciences. I appeal to every man's particular conscience here present, whether he finds not, or at least hath not found by his own experience, this joy to be merely an induction to grief. And therefore Solomon the wisest man that ever was gives it the name of Madness. Ecclesiastes. 2. 2. I have said Prov: 14. 13. Dan. 5. 5, 6. Eccles. 2. 2. of laughter thou art madness, and of joy what is this that thou dost? It is better saith Saint Gregory in the words of Solomon, to enter into the house of mourning, than the habitation of such rejoicing. If this beloved be not sufficient to bring wicked-men quite out of conceit with this their mirth, or rather indeed madness; nor enough to quail their courage in the eager pursuit of such worldly joy, if yet it's venom lies hid under the garment of good liking, Let them know in the second place, that it is as short as false; and though it may seem to tickle our senses for a while, yet it quickly slideth and suddenly slippeth away, always leaving behind it occasions rather of repentance, then of calling it again to remembrance. Knowest thou not this of old, and since God placed man upon the earth, That the rejoicing of the wicked is short, and that the joy of Hypocrites is but for a moment? Though his 2 It's shortness. Job. 20. 4. 5, 6, and 7, verses. Eccles. 7, 8. Excellency mount up to the heaven, and his head reach unto the clouds, yet shall he perish for ever like his dung, and they which have seen him shall say, where is he? He shall flee away as a dream, and they shall not find him, and he shall pass away as a vision of the night: so Zophar to Job, Job 20. 4, 5, 6, and 7. verses. How little a time did Herod enjoy his Herodias? Not unfitly therefore is the lasting of this joy likened to the crackling of thorns under a pot, no sooner flashing, but instantly fleeting. Ecclesiastes 7. 8. Who then is there here present so deeply wedded to this Use. worldly joy, that will not now choose rather with Moses to suffer affliction with the children of God, then to enjoy the pleasures of sin for a season, for so little a time, so short a space? Heb. 11. 25. What profane Esau will lose his birthright Heb. 11. 25. for a mess of poor pottage? I mean, will hazard heavenly mansions, for a minute of earthly mirth? That will prefer one poor draught of the world's transitory Nepenthe, before his own endless drowning in eternal perdition? Choose O choose rather, my beloved to weep, lament, and sorrow here with God's children, then with the world to rejoice; for than your sorrow shall be turned into joy, which is the fourth and the last particular of my text, The glad alteration, and comes now in order to be spoken of: of which but briefly because I would not be too tedious. 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉. But your sorrow shall be turned into joy: This is good news indeed; were it not for this, our hearts might have burst with grief, before the glass had been out, or the Sermon ended: For if in this life only we have hope in Christ, we are then of all men the most miserable, witness Saint Paul. 1 Cor: 15. 19 Yea then 1 Cor: 15 19 with David might we justly say, Certainly we have cleansed our hearts in vain, and washed our hands in Innocency; for daily have we been punished and chastened every morning Psal: 73. 13. For what are we else, beloved, but as so many common Psal. 73 13. balls banded up and down here on the racket of the world? Yet here is our comfort, here is our consolation, Our sorrow shall be turned into joy. A glad alteration indeed. 'Tis a good conclusion that makes the premises so to be esteemed of: a sweet relish at the leaving off makes that draught delightful, which at the first did taste unpleasant. Exitus acta probat: hence our English proverb, That's well that ends well. Better we know is a bad beginning that concludes well, than a prosperous onset that ends in complaint. What then though our beginnings here be bitter? Sorrows overblowen are pleasant: Dulce est meminisse laborum, That which hath been hard to suffer is sweet to remember: what therefore though we have here a wet and a watery Spring tied, we shall be sure to have a clear and a joyful harvest; They that sow in tears shall reap in joy: Your sorrow shall be turned into Joy. The kinds of this joy of verity (for so Saint Augustine stile● it) into which our sorrow shall be turned, I find to be three▪ 3 Sorts of joy. viz: in gaudium fidei, in gaudium charitatis, in gaudium aeternitatis. First into the joy of Faith, secondly into the joy of Charity, and thirdly and lastly into the joy of Eternity. First into the joy of Faith and of this joy we read Luke, 1. 1 Of Faith. Luk. 1. 46. 47. 46, 47. Where the blessed virgin breaks out into her Magnificat, My soul (saith she) doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoiceth in God my saviour. Secondly into the joy of 2 Of Charity. Charity and love one with another; And such was Saint Paul's joy in Philemon, love, Philem: 7. and in the Corinthians to● Philem. 7. 2 Cor: 7. 4. 2 Cor: 7. 4. The Lord of his mercy in his good time turn all our sorrows into this joy, This joy of brotherly Love, and true Christian Charity one towards another; that soon we may again see how good and how pleasant a thing it is for Psal. 133. 1. brethren to dwell together in unity. Thirdly and lastly our sorrow 3 Of Eternity shall be turned into the joy of Eternity, and of this joy we read, Isay. 51, 11. Therefore the redeemed of the Lord Isaiah. 51. 11. shall return and come with joy unto Zion, and everlasting joy shall be upon their head: They shall obtain joy and gladness and sorrow and mourning shall flee away; This joy is permanent, and by Christ promised to all Gods faithful servants: Math. 25. 21. Eugè bone serve, well done good and faithful servant, enter into thy Master's joy: where are things which neither eye hath seen, nor ear hath heard, nor ever entered into the heart of man to conceive. as 1 Cor: 2. 9 Saint Aug: meditating on this joy, 1 Cor. 2. 9 breaks out into an O gaudium vitale, gaudium sempiternum & sempiternè beatum, gaudium sine moerore, gaudium super gaudium, gaudium vinceus omne gaudium, extra quod non est gaudium etc. That is, O living Joy, Joy eternal and eternally blessed, Joy without sorrow, Joy above Joy, Joy excelling all ●oy, without which there is no Joy etc. And now beloved choose ye one of these two, either by Applic: prosecuting still (with wicked worldlings) the vain pleasures and delights of this life, with them to weep, and lament eternally in the life to come, or else by participating with the righteous in their sorrows, with them also to partake in this joy of eternity, into which their sorrows shall be turned: Vbi erit omne bonum, & non erit aliquod malum; ●i erit quicquid voles, & non erit quicquid noles; ubi non e●●t Aug. in Soliloq. host is impugnans, nec ulla illecebra, sed summa & certa se●ritas, secura tranquillitas, tranquilla jucunditas, jucunda ●elicitas, foelix aeternitas, aeterna beatitudo, beata Trinitas, Trinitatis unitas, Vnitatis Deitas, & Deitatis beata visio. so Saint Aug: in Soliloq. That is, where there shall be all good and no evil, where there shall be whatsoever thou wouldst have, and nothing that thou wouldst not have. Where there shall be no enemy to resist, nor any allurement to entice, but sure and ●●fe security, secure tranquillity, tranquilliucundity, pleasant happiness, happy eternity, eternal blessedness, The Blessed Trinity, the Unity of the Trinity the deity of that Unity, and the blessed vision of the deity; unto which mountain of joyful happiness, and happy ioyfullnesse, he in his good time translate us out of this vale of miserable sorrows, and sorrowful miseries; even he who hath so dear bought us, jesus Christ the righteous, To whom with thee O Father and thy blessed Spirit be ascribed all honour, and glory, power and dominion, might, and majesty, both now and for evermore, Amen. FINIS.