SERMON XX. MAT. V. 12. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad: For great is your Reward in Heaven: For fo perfecuted they the Prophets, which were before you. The Sixth Sermon on this Text. N my last Difcourfe there were two Things 1. A comfortable Direction when we fuffer for Chrift or our Duty. Rejoice, and be exceeding glad. 2. The Reasons of that Direction, which are two: One taken from the great Reward which shall be bestow'd upon fuch Sufferers in Heaven, for Great is your Reward in Heaven; the other, from the honourable Rank it gives them upon Earth, the Company of the Prophets, For fo perfecuted they the Prophets, which were before you. As to the first of thefe, the comfortable Direction given to Chriftians, when they fuffer for Chrift, or their Duty, I propos'd to treat of it under thefe three Heads: 1. To confider the Nature and Importance of this Duty of rejoicing, and being exceeding glad under the Crofs. 2. Because 2. Because this feems difficult and unnatural, I propofed to enquire into the Grounds and Reafons of the Duty, in order to recommend it to Efteem and Affection. your 3. To point at the Ways and Means to facilitate the Practice of it. Now having at that Time spoke to the first and fecond of thefe, namely, the Defcription of the Duty, with the Reasons to recommend it to your Study; I fhall proceed now to the Ways and Means to facilitate the Practice of it, and then go on to the two great Motives in the Text, the Greatness of the Reward in Heaven, and the Ufage of the Prophets. III. As to the Ways and Means to attain true Joy, it is a very noble and ferious Study; for this inward Joy and Chearfulness is not to be procured, as Laughter and noify Mirth, by breaking of Jefts, by the Fumes of Wine and strong Drink, by the Charms of Mufick or Luft, no, nor by every Piece of good Luck and worldly Profperity; this Vein of the finest Metal, like that of pure Gold, lies much deeper, even in upright Intentions towards God, in a good Confcience, in pious Endeavours, in a right Faith, in a lively Hope, in a pure Charity, in a firm Belief and ferious Contemplation of the future State, in a Tranquility of Mind, fet above the Hopes and Fears of this World, in a Readiness to die, and a Pleasure in doing Good; a State of Mind, in fhort, which is not to be attained but by a confirmed Habit of Virtue and Goodnefs, not only external in the Sight of the World, but internal in the Heart and Soul, which is properly the true Seat of Joy and Grief. Light is fown for the Righteous, [SERM. Righteous, and Gladness for the upright in Heart, fays the Pfalmift, Pfal. xcvii. 11. Even the Light of Nature hath taught some wife Heathens thus much of found Divinity. Seneca fays, that true Joy is a very ferious Bufinefs; Severa res eft verum gaudium, Sen. Ep. And enquiring into the Caufes from whence it proceeds, and the Principles of which it is made up, he fays it proceeds, Ex bona confcientia, ex honeftis confiliis, ex rectis actionibus, ex contemptu fortuitorum, ex placido vitæ & continuo tenore unam prementis viam: That is, it proceeds from a good Confcience, from upright Intentions, from right Actions, from a Contempt of Misfortunes, and from a calm and steady Tenour of Life, keeping to one Course. More particularly, that this inward Peace and Joy, or Alacrity of Mind, is not to be attained in the Ways of Sin and Wickednefs, is very plain, both from Scripture and Reason. The Prophet Ifaiah compares the Wicked, in regard of their inward Perturbation, to a muddy troubled Sea cafting up Mire and Dirt. But the Wicked, fays he, are like the troubled Sea, when it cannot reft, whofe Waters caft up Mire and Dirt. There is no Peace, faith my God, to the Wicked, Ifa. lvii. 20. And right Reafon will teach us the fame Doctrine. Wicked Men are reduc'd to miserable Shifts, to procure a little inward Quiet; but all will not do. What Joy or Satisfaction can a wicked Man have, who can't yet shake off the Belief of a God, in walking directly contrary to his Precepts, and to the Dictates of his own Confcience, and under the fearful Apprehenfions of what is to follow after Death? And to think that a Man can be cured of this, by hardening his Heart into Atheism 351 Atheism or Infidelity, is just as if a Man, when he fees a powerful Enemy coming upon him, fhould wink hard, and pretend not to be afraid. But it is commonly found, that all this hardening of their Hearts will not do, unless by Drink and Luft, Company and Bufinefs, they keep their Thoughts in fuch a perpetual Hurry, as to fupprefs every serious Thought, and fo live the Life, and die the Death of the Beast that hath no Understanding. And as this Alacrity is not to be attained in the Ways of Sin, fo neither is it to be attained by any low or imperfect Endeavours after Holiness and Virtue. While a Man is wavering between God and his Duty, and not yet fixed in any fettled good Habits, he is but in an uncomfortable State: All Wavering, and Doubtfulness, and Uncertainty, either of Refolution or Endeavour, are great Enemies to this Alacrity; and, confequently, the more a Man is guilty of any Sin, and the more he is under the Power of any evil Habit, fo much the greater Stranger he is to this both Duty and Privilege of inward Peace and Joy. And therefore, among other Things, this fhould have great Weight with us to keep us from Sin, that every Sin puts us back fo far in the Degree of our fpiritual Joy and Alacrity, which is a very Heaven upon Earth. But to go on, and give you a more particular Account what it is that occafions this inward Joy, I shall briefly obferve it to you from the holy Scriptures. 1. A lively Faith in Chrift is attended with great Joy. Let not your Heart be troubled; ye believe in God, believe alfo in me, John xiv. 1. This is the great good News of the Gospel, the News of a Saviour; the Way of being reconciled to God, the betaking ourselves to the right Mediator between God and Man, the believing all those glorious Things which Chrift has promised in his Gofpel, and the believing them fo as to comply with the Conditions, and seriously to fet about a new Life, which is the Work of true Faith: This, I fay, occafions great Joy. So fays St. Peter to the Chriftians, to whom he writes: Who are kept by the Power of God through Faith unto Salvation, ready to be revealed in the laft Time: Wherein, fays he, ye greatly rejoice, tho' now for a SeaJon, if need be, ye are in Heaviness through manifold Temptations. That the Trial of your Faith being much more precious than of Gold that perifbeth, though it be tried with Fire, might be found unto Praife, and Honour, and Glory, at the appearing of Jefus Chrift: Whom having not feen ye love; in whom though now ye fee him not, yet believing, ye rejoice with Joy unspeakable, and full of Glory, 1 Pet. i. 5. 2. The keeping a good Confcience, is the Way to this inward Joy. Our rejoicing is this, faith St. Paul, the Teftimony of our Confcience, that in Simplicity and godly Sincerity, not with carnal Wif dom, but by the Grace of God, we have had our Converfation in the World, 2 Cor. i. 12. This is that merry Heart, that Solomon fpeaks of, which bath a continual Feaft, Prov. xv. 15. 3. This inward Joy is acquir'd by a faithful Difcharge of great and difficult Duties, fuch as fuffering refolutely and patiently for the Name of Chrift; by this Means learning more perfectly the Virtues belonging to a State of Affliction. My Brethren, |