LXXX sermons preached at the parish-church of St. Mary Magdalene Milk-street, London whereof nine of them not till now published / by the late eminent and learned divine Anthony Farindon ... ; in two volumes, with a large table to both.

PART II.

PSAL. CXXII. 1.

I was glad when they said unto me, Let us (or, We will) go into the house of the Lord.

1. THey were many that went to the house of the Lord; the tribes, even the tribes of the Lord, go up. And though there be no virtue nor power in Number, yet we see it was that which made David glad at the heart, that God was praised in the great con∣gregation and among much people.* 1.1 Therefore let us also exhort and provoke one another to go up to the Lord's house, and gather as much com∣pany as we can to his service. In the Devil's work one is too many; but in God's many are too few. For no number, but All, are fit for him who hath right and title to every man, and whose dominion reacheth over all. For other ends, a number, a multitude, is soon gathered together. How do men run to see a man clothed in soft raiment! How hastily have we seen thousands joyn in a Covenant! and within a while after as hasti∣ly engage to the contrary! How many confused assemblies have we seen, where the greatest part knew not why they were met together!* 1.2 yet being met, how have they kept tune, and cried up they knew not what! like Demetrius and his fellow-crafts-men, they cry, Great is their Diana, though it be but a puppet. Ʋbi plures erant, omnes fuere, as Tacitus saith: Where the mo•••• are, there will soon be more, and all will joyn with the many. And shall Ambition and Covetousness, shall Malice and Envy, shall Folly it self have such force as to muster multitudes, yea armies of men, and shall Religion and Christ have so thin and poor a retinue? Shall the Devil's chappel receive more then God's Church? But for us the que∣stion had never been put,* 1.3 Are there few that shall be saved? For God call∣eth all: and we may resolve for that which is good as well as for that which is evil, for God as well as for Mammon.

2. DIXERUNT, They said, and they resolved, that they would serve the Lord. And so must we; not say and promise onely, but say and resolve it; not onely see that which is good, but see to the end, contem∣plate the beauty and glory of it, till we have drawn it in, and in a manner consubstantiated it with our souls. It is a strange thing to consider, how resolute we are in that which we should abhor as Death it self; that no

law, no terrour, no danger can beat us from it; what decrees we make in our selves to be rich; how peremptory we are to revenge; with what wings we fly to honour; what fiery spirits we have in lust, and how we put on the courage of a horse and even neigh after that which is forbidden; how we hold up our resolution till the twilight, in which time we might have parleyed with our selves, and reasoned down our resolution. On the contrary, what shaking and paralytical thoughts have we about that which most concerneth us, and what weak and feeble approches do we make towards it!* 1.4 When the child is ready for the birth, we have no strength to bring forth. We resolve to be chast, yet pollute our selves; we resolve to go to Church, yet upon the weakest inducement stay at home; we resolve to be honest, yet break our faith; not to take God's name in vain, and yet are perju∣red. The reason is plain▪ The Prince of this world hath more power over us then that God who made it. And therefore, if we will resolve to serve the Lord, we must do what our Saviour hath done already, and what he hath taught and enabled us to do,* 1.5 We must cast the Prince of this world out.

3. They agreed in their resolution; IBIMUS, We will go. In like manner we must resolve together. To go alone is dangerous. S. Cyprian and others of the Fathers will tell us, that Schism is a sin not to be expiated, no not with martyrdom; and that to dy for the Head will little avail him who hath divided the Body. But the truth is, If we resolve to serve the Lord, though we be millions, we shall all agree and be one. Religion, pure Religion and undefiled, cannot raise a schisme in the Church: For if there be an errour, she teacheth us to pardon it, if an injury, to forget it. A religious man, saith Nazianzene, is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, simple and sincere, in himself, ever like himself; but 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉; various and manifold, towards others: He applieth himself, as S. Paul did, to all, and is made all things to all men: And when they do not gather together,* 1.6 there is nothing in him to hinder it. Look upon all the contentions that ever were in the world, observe the persons that raised them, mark their original; and ye shall see that the name of Religion was onely ta∣ken in to carry them on, but it was something else that gave them life and continued them. Private ends and love of the world first kindle the fire; and then the name of Christ is taken up, that it may rage the more; the name of Christ, who hath left unto us that water of life which would easily quench it. For I cannot yet see how a truly-religious man should be a schismatick. If he be, he doth it oblitus professionis suae, quite beside the meaning of his profession, the chief end whereof is to gather all into one,* 1.7 and to preserve the unity of the spirit in the bond of peace.

4. They went chearfully and with great alacrity. A prompt and ready mind, an active and vigorous will in God's service is all in all. My son, give me thy heart, saith God.* 1.8 And when we have given him that, then, Awake, viol and harp; Awake all the powers of my soul; Stir up your selves, all the parts of my body: then we do our duty, and serve God with all our strength and might; then our feet are as hinds feet, and we run the wayes of God's commandments.* 1.9 Chrysostom saith the Church is the place of Angels and Archangels, the presence-chamber of God, yea heaven it self: And shall not we go more chear∣fully towards heaven then others do to hell? If we go to Church but for fashion, for company, or out of formality; if Love drive us not forward, it is plain that we are not willing to come into God's presence, and had rather mingle ourselves with our worldly affairs then appear

before God and his Angels in his house. Shame, or fear, or compliance may serve as wings to bear us to Church, but they will never carry us up so high as heaven: He that mounteth thither, ascendeth in a jubilee, with melody and joy.

5. The Church is the house of God: Let us therefore enter his gates with joy,* 1.10 and his courts with rejoycing: and not raise needless questions, which edifie not. Here we receive the doctrine of truth, the commands of God; which are as Angels descending from above: here we breathe out our souls, and send up our holy desires; which are as so many Angels of commerce between God and us. Hoc opus, hic labor est; This is the business of the day, this is the work of the place. What gaze we upon the walls, the fabrick, the fashion, the beauty of it? Why perplex we our selves and others where there is no reason, and blow up bubbles, which swell, and are straight no∣thing? It is an observation of the Ancients, That they who can once prevail with themselves to desire nothing more then piety and ver∣tue, and to have no other intent then to be good men, will rest in that contentedness which Religion bringeth, as on a holy hill, and will ne∣ver descend and stoop to low considerations. True Devotion never questioneth what fashion, what form, what beauty the place hath where it must shew it self. He that fighteth against his lust, and so beateth down the beast within him, he that presseth forward onely to that end for which he should go to the house of the Lord, and maketh it his chief aim to serve him, will never startle at that which cannot hinder, but may facilitate and promote the end he aimeth at; he will not fall out with colours, nor tremble at the sight of a picture, it may be of a leg or an arm; much less will he question the fashion, that he may pull down the fabrick. No; this humour springeth not from devotion or from a tender conscience; neither indeed can it. For a tender conscience is alway so: it doth not stumble at a straw, and leap over a mountain; it doth not check at a feather, at that which is no∣thing in it self, but hath all its value and dignity from its end. This humour hath its original from Pride and Covetousness; as Hippo∣crates saith all the distempers of the body have their original from Choler and Phlegme: from pride, I say, foolish pride, which misli∣keth every thing; and covetousness, that would make every thing a prey.* 1.11 But, as S. Paul saith, if any man seem to be thus contentious, we have no such custome, neither the Churches of God. Neither was there any such contention till those latter times, when Sacrilege lifted up the ax and the mattock to break down the carved works, yea to dig up the very foundations of the houses of the Lord.* 1.12 Wherefore, as S. Peter exhorteth, let us lay aside all malice and all guile, and hypo∣crises, and envies, and all evil speakings; and so go together to the house of God. It is his house: therefore 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, as the ancient form was, let us appear there with reverence. What though he be no more present here then in any other place? Yet I am sure thou oughtest to be as reverent as if he were. It is his holy place. What though it hath no inherent holiness? we cannot say it hath. Yet it is thy part to carry thy self as one that hath. Raise not idle questions, but be serious in thy duty. Do not bring a groundless phansie along with thee, and leave thy duty behind thee in the land of oblivion. Sanctorum vel sola recordatio sanctitatem parit, saith a Father; The very remembrance of the Saints by a kind of influence and insinuation may vvork holiness in us: And if vve could once chace avvay these empty and insignificant phansies, these impertinent and heretogene∣ous

thoughts, which spring from the Flesh as serpents out of carrion or dung, I see no reason but we might gain some advantage from the places of God's worship. To conclude this point; IBIMUS, We will go; or, EAMUS, Let us go, into the houses of the Lord, and bless his name for these blessed opportunities of Time and Place to serve him in; bless him for those who erected these fabricks, and bless him for those who repair and adorn them; and by the right use of these means build we up our selves on our most-holy f••ith,* 1.13 and so deck and beautifie our souls that they may be fit temples of the holy Ghost. And then, whensoever we spread forth our arms in this place, God will stretch forth his hand, and help us; when our prayers ascend as in∣cense, he will receive them as a sweet-smelling savour, when we bow our knees to him, he will bow down his ear to us; when we speak, he will hear, and return our prayers back again into our bo∣som; when we pour out our petitions, he will pour down his blessings, peace of conscience, with all things necessary for this life; which are a pawn and pledge and earnest of those everlasting blessings, glory, honour, and immortality.

Thus we have led you into the house of the Lord, the main circum∣stance in the Object of the Psalmists joy. The place we are going to, and the thing we are about, may be of such a nature, that Ma∣ny may be worse then none, Resolution may be pertinacie and madness, Agreement and Union may be conspiracy, and Hast may be precipi∣tancie. A man had better in some things be like Mephibosheth, lame on both his feet, then like Asahel, light of foot as a wild roe.* 1.14 Ye have read, how that pursuing after Abner, he turned not to the right hand nor to the left, from following Abner,* 1.15 and so ran straight to his own death.* 1.16 There be too-too many who walk in the counsel of the ungodly, and stand in the way of sinners, and sit in the seat of the scornful, There may be a Synod of Hereticks, a Senate of rebells, as ye know there is a Legion of Devils. Pliny telleth us,* 1.17 Major coelitum popu∣lus quàm terrae, that there were more people in heaven then on earth: and it might be true, when they made God's; for they might make as many as they pleased: But the broad way hath most travellers;* 1.18 there they go in sholes, in bodies, in companies, in Societies, and some under the name of JESUS: And our Saviour saith that many there be which go in at the wide gate. Secondly, resolve men may, and often∣times resolve they do, and are resolute in that which they should ab∣hor: Their Dixit is a Factum est; they say, and do it: no law, no conscience, no thunder from heaven can deter them from it.* 1.19 Give me money enough, and I will betray my Master, said Judas: and he did do it, betray him into the hands of his enemies. Thirdly, men may gather together and be united to do mischief; thieves and murderers may cast in their lots together, and have all one purse:* 1.20 Yea men of disagreeing and different principles may agree and combine in the same wicked design; though they have severall judgements, yet may they be brethren in iniquity:* 1.21 they may be tied together as Sam∣son's foxes were; though their heads look divers wayes, and one be an Anabaptist, another a Brownist, a third a Disciplinarian, a fourth a Seeker, a fifth a Quaker, a sixth — (but there are so many Sects that I cannot tell you their names) though their looks and language be never so opposit, yet they may be linked together by the tails, and carry those firebrands between them that may burn up the harvest. As Paterculus said of Jugurtha and Marius, In iisdem castris didicere quae postea in contrariis facerent, They learnt their skill in arms both

in the same camp, which they afterwards practised in divers, even one against the other; So have the Jesuites and these Sectaries taken up some common principles, (and we know in whose camp they learnt them) which they make use of to drive on their purposes, and yet defie one another as much as Jugurtha and Marius ever did. Many wicked men ye see may agree; we see too many do, and their agree∣ment breaketh the peace, and maketh the body of Christendome fly asunder into so many pieces and parts, with that noise and confusion that we tremble to behold it, ridente Turcâ, nec dolente Judaeo, whilest the Turk laugheth, and a Jew pulleth the veil closer to his face, and comforteth and applaudeth himself in his errour. Last of all, as men may resolve and agree, so may they encourage themselves in evil,* 1.22 and not onely do the same thing, but as S. Paul speaketh, have pleasure in them that do it; they may go together with a shout and with a merry noise, sport in the miseries, dance in the ruines, and wash their feet in the bloud of the innocent; and their word still be, So,* 1.23 so, thus we would have it. Thus, I say, the Many may resolve, agree, and delight in that which is forbidden; they may have a firm heart, they may have but one heart, they may have a merry heart, in that which is evil; their hearts may be fixed, their hands joyned, and their feet swift to shed bloud.* 1.24 Therefore we must look forward to the last circumstance, the Place, the house of the Lord, the Service of God: This shineth upon all the rest, and beautifieth them. Many here make a Church: To Resolve here is obedience: To Agree here is peace, the peace of God, which maketh us one, of the same mind, of the same will. To be one in place, and not in mind, is poena, saith a Fa∣ther; it is not a blessing, but a punishment; To be one in mind, and not in place, is bonitas, goodness; To be one in place and in mind both, is felicitas, greatest happiness: Then, in the last place, to Go together chearfully to the house of the Lord is an expression of that joy which is a type and earnest of that which is in the highest heavens. There is nothing here, we told you, which a religious mind can check at: No just scruple can arise concerning the place, seeing we have God's word for it under the Law, and Christs word for it under the Gospel, that it is God's house: If any do arise, it riseth like a fog, it steameth from a foul and corrupt heart, from Pride and Covetous∣ness, the mothers of Pertinacy and Contradiction; Which cannot be brought to conform to the counsels of the wise, no not to the wis∣dom of God himself; but call Truth heresie, because others speak it; Bounty wast, because others lay it out; Reverence superstition, be∣cause others bow; would pull down Churches, because others build them; spurn at every thing; nihil verum putant nisi quod contrarium, think nothing true but what is diverse and contrary and breatheth opposition against the Truth. This is a great evil under the Sun, to quarrel even the blessings of God, to be angry with light, to stand up against our helps, and to disgrace that for which the Saints of God have offered up the calves of their lips,* 1.25 the sacrifice of praise, from gene∣ration to generation. But when we have no peace within, we trouble all that is about us: When the love of our selves and of the world hath gained a throne and power within us, it presently raiseth a tem∣pest▪ distracteth and maddeth our passions, and sendeth them abroad; our Anger on that we should love, our Fear on that we should em∣brace, our Sorrow on that which should make us glad? our Anger on the Temple, whilest our Love is carried with a swinge to the gold of the Temple. And then what an unruly thing is Phansie in men,

who talk much, and know little, in men of narrow minds and heavy understandings, in men who have bound their reason to the things of this world, and not improved it by the knowledge of the truth! What Comedies and Tragedies will it make! what ridiculous, but withall sad, effects will it produce! If this humour were general, as it is in too-too many, within a while we should not know where, or when, or what to pray; we shall not know how to move our selves, how to stand, or go, or kneel; we should make some scruple and be troubled to take up a straw; we should fall out with others, and dis∣agree with our selves; we should to day build a Church, and within a while pull it down, and shortly after set it up again; we should kneel to day, and stand to morrow, and every day change our postures, and appear in as many shapes as Proteus; we should do, and undo, and every day do what we should not do; be Antipodes to all the world, and (which is strange) to our selves also, and so, having been every thing, at last turn Apostates; first oppose the private spirit to Scripture, and then (as some have done of late) deny it to be the word of God; first wrest and abuse it, and then take it quite away. These are the common operations of a sick and distempered brain, the evaporations of a corrupt heart. Nor can we look for grapes from thorns, nor for figs from thistles.* 1.26 It cannot be expected that things sacred should escape the hands of Violence and Profaneness, till men begin to love Religion for it self, and cease to think every thing unlawful that may be spoken against; till they have learnt that totum Christiani, that which maketh a Christian indeed, learnt to sub∣due their affections to the truth, and not to draw down the truth to be subject to their unquiet and turbulent passions. When true devotion hath once purified and warmed our hearts, we shall not trouble our selves or others with low and groundless questions concerning God's house: Though he be indeed every where, yet we shall think him more present here then in any other place, more ready to shine upon us, to distill his blessings as dew upon us, in his own house then in our closet or shop; more ready to favour the devotion of many assembled to∣gether, then of one single person, and yet hearing and favouring both. Or, if we do not think the Lord more present here then elsewhere, yet we shall demean our selves as if we did think so; we shall use all reverence, as in the sight of God, before vvhom vve present our selves; vve shall use all reverence, as being before the holy Angels. What? you will say, do Angels come to Church? Yes. They did in St. Paul's time: And certainly they do still, unless we chase them away with our irreverence. One argument that the Apostle useth why women should be veiled and covered in the Church, and men unco∣vered is, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because of the Angels.* 1.27 Nor need we strain and study for an interpretation, and say he meant the Pastours of the Church, because in Scripture sometime they are called Angels.* 1.28 For this is too much forced, and maketh the reason less valid, and putteth the Veil upon the Man as well as the Woman. Nor can we under∣stand the evil Spirits,* 1.29 which are no where called Angels but with ad∣dition. Nor can I see any reason why we may not understand the holy Angels to be there meant. For they are ministring Spirits sent forth to minister for them who shall be heirs of salvation; then doubtless they minister to us in the Church assoon as in any other place. They rejoyce at the conversion of a sinner;* 1.30 then doubtless they rejoyce also at our prayers and praises in the house of the Lord. But, say some, the Apostle in that place exhorteth women to imitate the re∣verent

and modest behaviour of the Angels,* 1.31 who are said to cover their faces before the throne of God. But then this again would con∣cern Men as well as Women. All will be plain, if we consider that at that time it was a received custome for women to be veiled, and men uncovered in the Church.* 1.32 The words are plain; A man indeed ought not to cover his head: and, Is it comely that a woman pray unto God uncovered? If the women therefore will not be covered because of men,* 1.33 let them do it because of the Angels, who are sent by Christ into the congregations of Christians, to take care of them, to help them in every occasion, and withall to observe whether they behave themselves 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉,* 1.34 decently and in order. Here they are present in the name of their Lord; here they stand as witnesses of what is done: To them, as to their Lord that sent them, modest and reverent behaviour is pleasing; boldness, profaness and disor∣der, hateful. As they do their duty in ministring to us, so they rejoyce to see us doe ours in serving God. Why should they be grieved who are so ready to attend on us? Therefore it will con∣cern Women not to neglect or alter the custome of the Church, lest by so doing they give offense to the blessed Angels, who are great lovers of decency and order, and make them, who would minister to them, to become witnesses against them, upon the beck of Ma∣jesty, executioners of judgement upon their heads. This I take to be the meaning of the Apostle in that place. Reverence is due to the house of God, not onely because God is present there; Ye shall reverence my sanctuarie:* 1.35 I am the Lord, but because the Angels are present there also, who are the ministers of the God of order, and rejoyce in our order, and are offended at the contrary. Further yet, a reverent deportment in the Church is necessary in respect of men. Some men by their severity and eminency in virtue have obtained to themselves this privilege and prerogative, that no man dareth do any evil or undecent thing in their presence. Seneca saith, neminem ausurum coram catone peccare, no body had the impudence to do any thing amiss before Cato. And Tully saith of him, Oh happy man of whom no man ever durst ask any thing that was unfit to be given! And Job saith,* 1.36 that when the young men saw him, they hid themselves; and the aged arose, and stood up. But there is a reverence due in this place in respect of every man in the place, lest we offend some, and teach others; offend some, who know what order and decency is; and teach others, who understand so little of it that they are not willing to learn more, but come to Church, one would think, on purpose to be irreverent, as if it were a part of the Service; as if they counted it devotion, not to be devout; reverence, to be profane; humility, to out-face the Congregation and God himself. And indeed why should they thus confidently doe it, if they did not place a kind of religion in it, especially in this place, which is set apart onely for religious du∣ties: But let them know that by thus doing they not onely offend God and his holy Angels, but also scandalize pious and well-affected persons, and confirm and encourage those who are negligent and pro∣fane in their unbeseeming and irreligious behaviour.* 1.37 For when dayes do this, and multitude of years by their example teach it as a piece of wisdome,* 1.38 they that are but of yesterday, that is, the younger sort, will quickly be as wise, that is, as irreverent, as they. I will not press this any further,* 1.39 but onely say with the Apostle, Judge in your selves: Is this comely? And that you may judge aright, ye must resolve the thing, the action, into its first principle, from whence it had its rise

and beginning, as the Schools speak. Consider with your selves what it is that moveth you to this careless and graceless deportment. Whether Scripture, or Reason? The Word of God it cannot be; for that breatheth nothing but reverence and devotion. It biddeth us keep our feet when we go to the house of God.* 1.40 I do not find that we are any where bid to take such care of our heads: We need no spur for that. Neither can Reason plead for us; but contrà stat ratio, Rea∣son is against us, and telleth us in our ear, That we should be more re∣verent before God and his Angels then in the presence of Men, in the house of the Lord then in a great mans parlour; That 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, holy duties are to be performed holily, that is, with reverence, which ever attendeth and waiteth upon holiness, and is inseparable from it; as on the contrary no two things are more unlike and at greater distance one from the other then Holiness and Irreverence. Dic, Quintiliane, colorem: What colour then have we for rude and unhandsome demean∣our in God's house? Fear of superstition; That hath long since re∣ceived its deaths blow; and it is now buried, but not in its proper grave, a regular devotion, but rudely and disorderly raked up in pro∣faneness. Fear that others should imagine we did reverence to the walls? Nothing but extreme ignorance can raise such a thought. For who knoweth not that a wall is but a wall? and that he that setteth up a cottage, may build a Church? He that passeth this sen∣tence upon thee, may as well conclude thou art not a man, or that coming into the house of God thou leavest thy reason behind thee. But thou art weak and sickly. 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, This is but a shift and ex∣cuse. For if thou art sick, thou mayest (I might say, thou art bound to) stay at home. God will have mercy, and not sacrifice:* 1.41 And his mercy shall stay with thee in thy private closet, when his sacrifice doth not draw thee to the Church. He doth not require thy presence to hasten thy end, but looketh favourably upon thy private devotion which prepareth thee for it. What is the matter then? I fear it is Pride, which swelleth in opposition against every plant which it self hath not planted, and would root it out. Quod ego volo, pro canone sit, as Constantius the Arian said: The continued practice of the Church for many hundred years is no Directory for us: What we say or do, that must go for Canonical, that must be the rule. And so, to seem wise, we become, I am unwilling to say what; but the best and wisest men have ever accounted it the extremest folly in the world. For what wisdom, what honour is it, first to be unreasonable, and then to comfort our selves with this thought, That we are wiser then our teachers, and then all the holy men of God that went before us? In a word then, It is but an humour; let us purge it out: it is pride; let us beat it down. It is the house of the Lord ye come into; and there reverence is due. Ye know well enough, and are not to seek, what Reverence is. I am sure, that behaviour in Churches which is of common use is so unlike it, that ye cannot commit a greater soloe∣cisme then to give it that name; unless ye call it so as the Poet call∣eth Covetousness sacred, because it is a cursed thing; or as War is termed Bellum, that is, good and pleasant, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, because it is not so, but the worst and most displeasing thing in the world. We will go into the house of the Lord.] This one word LORD, one would think, might answer all arguments, purge out every evil humour, check and pull down our pride, bow our hearts and knees, I might adde, uncover our heads, especially in the time when we per∣form that which we call Divine Service. This one word LORD

should be of more force to bring in reverence into the Church, then any argument that Humour or Pride or Faction have contrived, to keep it out. We have long insisted upon the Object of David's joy; we will now therefore leave it, yet so as to have it ever and anon in our eye, while we consider the other part of the Text, and behold the Psalmist in his triumph and jubilee, in these words, LAETATUS SUM, I was glad. Herein we observe,

1. The Nature of David's delight. It was like the Object, like himself, after God's own heart, a company going to the house of the Lord.* 1.42 And what fitter object for him to look upon, whom the zele of God's house and a studious care to preserve it holy had even ea∣••••n up? A Temple filled with Tribes falling down and worship∣ing must needs fill that heart with joy which was before filled with devotion. Those things which delight us, saith the Philosopher, are alwayes 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉. fitted and sutable to our nature: And this maketh our delights so various, so contrary. The Philosopher flingeth his money into the sea, because he hath a pure and desecate soul, and hath wrought himself into a contempt of wealth, and set up his dis∣position against it, and had rather find out one conclusion then thou∣sands of gold and silver. But the Covetous, who hath a gross and earthy soul, as he maketh wealth his God, so he maketh it his hea∣ven too, and would no doubt believe the Gospel if it did convey a rich Mannour to him, as it doth the means of his salvation. The news of a Lordship fallen to him is more welcome then those glad ti∣dings the Angels brought at the birth of our Saviour: For Mam∣mon is his Jesus. Every man is delighted as he is elemented, and joy is shaped and configured to the soul that receiveth it. The En∣vious hath an evil eye, an evil disposition; and his joy is in another mans sorrow,* 1.43 like light struck out of darkness. The Wanton hath an eye full of the adulteress, a soul in a manner turned into flesh; and his delight is in his shame.* 1.44 The Revengeful hath a sanguine soul, and cruelty as it were actuateth it, as it doth his body; and he triumph∣eth in bloud. The Ambitious hath an airy soul; and his joy is shut up in a box of air, whereto every man hath a key, to shut it and open it at pleasure. Elijah was zealous for God, and of so hot and fiery a temper, that the Jewish Doctours say he sucked not milk but fire from his mothers breasts; and his delight was to break down the al∣tars of Idolaters.* 1.45 David had a devout soul, longing and fainting for the courts of the Lord, blessing the Sparrow and the Swallow, which built their nests so nigh the altars of the Lord of hosts, and blessing those who dwell in his house, and are still singing his praises: Therefore the sight of a company going together to the house of ihe Lord is more delightful unto him then the crown upon his head. He rejoyceth in their number, he is exalted in their resolution, he findeth musick in their unity, and a banquet in their chearfulness, and the house of God is his heaven. Their number, their resolution, their unanimity, their alacrity, their presence in the house of the Lord, these dilate his heart, these awak•• his viol and harp, these are his delight, because they are all set and tuned to the glory of God. That which his heart is fixed on casteth a loveliness upon every circumstance and occasion which may advance it. His own piety filleth him with joy, and other mens piety encreaseth that joy within him.* 1.46 Like the widows oil, it is joy in the vessel, and it is more joy in the effusion and pou∣ring out. How amiable are thy tabernacles, O Lord of hosts! and how amiable is the Tribes going thither! That joy is onely worthy of

the name which is divine and heavenly, and hath piety for its ground∣work either in our selves or others. And as our Love to God is the effect of his love to us, so doth our Joy resemble his. For as he hath his heaven, his happiness, alwayes within him, it being essential to him, and as eternal as himself; so he hath as it were bowed the heavens, and come down, and in some measure revealed himself to Man the work of his hands, and made him to this end for immor∣tality and eternity, to be in some degree partaker of that happiness which he is. And this his goodness breatheth it self forth in his Laws; which were made for our sake, and not for his; for he need∣eth us not: In his passionate Wishes;a 1.47 Oh that men were wise!b 1.48 Oh that there were such an heart in them, that they would fear me, and keep all my commandements alwayes, that it might be well with them, and with their children for ever! In his Beseechings and Intreaties, and hisc 1.49 Spreading out his hands all the day long: In his Obtestations and Com∣plaints;d 1.50 Have I any pleasure at all in the death of the wicked?e 1.51 O my people, what have I done unto thee? and wherein have I wearied thee? And when men make good his wish, by being good to themselves; when they hearken and yield to his beseechings, and will be those happy creatures he would have them be; when their obedience stoppeth his complaints, and they tread the wayes of happiness, then he expresseth himself in joy, I will rejoyce in Jerusalem, and joy in my people.* 1.52 And this is the joy in hea¦ven. There the Angels joy over one sinner that repenteth And, Si deli∣ciae Angelorum lacrymae meae, quid deliciae? saith Bernard; If my tears be the joy of Angels, what is my joy? And this is the joy of the sons of men, si caeperint esse Angeli, if they strive forward to an Angelical estate; if they be Deiformes, as one speaketh, if they be followers of God; if they be Christiformes,* 1.53 have put on the Lord Je∣sus Christ, and tasted of the powers of the world to come. As there is a Com∣munion of Saints, so is there a communication of their joy. Every one rejoyceth in himself, and his joy reflecteth upon every one.* 1.54 Fulfil ye my joy, saith St. Paul to the Philippians: And when they have the same love and are of the same mind, then his joy is full. See how he breaketh forth into variety of expressions: They are his joy. That is not enough.* 1.55 They are his dearly beloved and longed for; they are his crown. So he also telleth the Thessalonians, that they are his hope, and joy,* 1.56 and crown of rejoycing; and again, that they are his glory and joy. And he calleth the Corinthians his epistle, and letters of commendation,* 1.57 written not with ink, but with the Spirit of the living God; not in tables of stone, but in fleshly tables of the heart. Sometimes he is their Apostle; and they are his epistle written in his heart, which all men know and read,* 1.58 and which he himself readeth with delight. Sometimes he is their Priest, and espou∣seth them to the Lord;* 1.59 and this contract made is his wedding-feast. To the Galatians he speaketh like a Mother,* 1.60 and saith he travelleth in birth again of them; and when Christ is formed in them, he hath joy as a mother that hath born a child into the world.* 1.61 Thus it is in heaven; and thus it is on earth. Each Christian is a glass to another, wherein they mutually behold themselves. I see my tears in my brothers sorrow, and he seeth his sorrow in my tears: I see my joy in his piety, and he seeth his piety in my joy: I cry aloud for him, and his prayers are the echo of my cry: I cast a beam of comfort upon him, and he reflecteth a blessing upon me. Quod est omnium est singulorum, That which is all mens is every mans, and that which is every mans belongeth unto the whole. Proprietas excommunicatio est, saith Parisiensis, Propriety is an excommunication. When I

appropriate my devotion to my self, I do in a manner thrust my brother out of the Church, nay I shut my self out of heaven, I at once depose and exauctorate both my self and him. Nay I cannot appropriate it: for where it is, it will spread. It is my sorrow, and thy sorrow; my fear, and thy fear; my joy, and thy joy. Ye see here the Tribes go up to the house of the Lord with joy; and this joy raiseth another, or rather the same, a joy of the same nature, in David. At the very apprehen∣sion of it he taketh down his harp from the wall, and setteth his joy to a tune, and committeth it to a song; I was glad when they said, &c. And thus I am fallen upon

2. The second thing observable in the Psalmists joy, the Publica∣tion thereof. He setteth it to Musick, he conveyeth it into a song, and, as the Chaldee Pharaphrast saith Adam did assoon as his sin was forgiven him, he expresseth sabbatum suum, his Sabbath, his content and gladness, in a Psalm, that it might pass from generation to ge∣neration, and never be forgotten, but that this sacrifice of thanksgi∣ving, which himself here offereth, might still upon the like occasion be offered by others unto the worlds end, and that the people which should in after-ages be created might thus praise the Lord. Thus David hath passed over and entailed his joy to all posterity. This is thanks and praise indeed, when it floweth from an heart thus affected, when it breaketh forth like light from the Sun, and spreadeth it self like the heavens, and declareth the glory of God. Gratè ad nos beneficium perve∣nisse indicamus effusis affectibus, saith Seneca; Then a benefit meeteth with a greateful heart, when it is ready to pour forth it self in joy, and the affections not being able to contain themselves are seen and heard, shine bright in the countenance, and sound aloud in a song. Cer∣tainly Gratitude is neither sullen, nor silent, Saul's evil melancholick Spirit cannot enter the heart of a David, nor any heart in which the love of God's glory reigneth. At the sight of any thing that may set it forth the pious soul is awaked, and the melancholick and dumb spi∣rit is cast out,* 1.62 nor can it return whilest that love is in us. When God hath chosen our inheritance for us, then, O clap your hands, all ye people; shout unto God with the voice of triumph.

To draw towards a conclusion; By this rejoycing spirit of David's we may examine and judge of the temper of our own. If we be of the same disposition with him, no sight, no object will delight us, but that in which God is, and in which his glory is seen; We shall not make songs of other mens miseries, nor keep holiday when they mourn; We shall not like any thing, either in our selves or others, which dishonoureth God's name;* 1.63 In a word, we shall not rejoyce to do evil, nor take pleasure in the frowardness of the wicked: But 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉, our whole life will be one holiday, one continued Sabbath and rest in good. Of what spirit then are they who rejoyce not in their own miseries, but in their sins? who take great delight and complacency not onely in the calamities, but also in the falls and miscarriages, of others, especially if they cast not in their lot and make one purse with them?* 1.64 who, as Judas did, carry their religion and their purse in the same hand, whose religion is in their purse, and openeth and shutteth with it? who, that they may triumph in the miseries, rejoyce first in the defects, whether seeming or real, of their dissenting brethren? Every man that looketh towards Jerusalem,* 1.65 and will not stay with them at their Samaria, must be cast out of doors,

Criminibus debent hortos, praetoria, campos.

They owe their wealth and possessions, shall I say, to other mens crimes? no: they owe them to their own. For a great sin it is to delight in sin; but to make that a crime which is not a sin, is a greater: What is it then to turn piety it self into sin? To call an asseveration an oath, is a fault at least: And then what is it to call devotion superstition, the house of God a sty, and reverence idolatry? Yet if these were sins, why should my bro∣thers ruine be my joy? Why should I wish his fall, delight in his fall, follow him in his fall, as the Romanes did their sword-players in the thea∣tre, with acclamation, So, so, thus I would have it. We cannot say this proceedeth from piety, or is an effect of charity.* 1.66 For Charity rejoyceth not in iniquity, but rejoyceth in the truth: Charity bindeth up wounds, doth not make them wider: And when people sin, Charity maketh the head a fountain of tears, but doth not fill the mouth with laughter: Cha∣rity is no detractour, no jester, no Satyrist: it thinketh no evil:* 1.67 it is not suspicious: It cannot behold a Synagogue of Satan in the Temple of the Lord, nor Superstition in a wall, nor Idolatry in reverence. This evil humour indeed proceedeth from Love; but it is the love of the world, which defameth every thing for advantage; laugheth at Churches, that it may pull them down; maketh men odious, that it may make them poor; and dealeth with them as the Heathen did with the first Christians, putteth them into bears skins, that it may bait them to death. This certainly is not from David's, but from an evil spirit. Nor can it be truly termed Joy, unless we should look for joy in hell, and content in a place of torment. Rejoycings and jubilees of this sort are like unto the howlings of devils. In the De∣vil there cannot be joy. My drunkenness cannot quench the flames he burneth in; my evil conscience cannot kill that worm which gnaw∣eth him; my ignorance cannot lighten his darkness; my loss of heaven cannot bring him back thither: Should he conquer the whole world he would still be a slave. But yet in the Devil, though properly there be no joy, there is quasi gaudium, that which is like our joy in evil, which we call Joy, though it be not so. And it is in him, saith Aquinas, not as a passion, but as an act of his will. When we do well, that is done which he would not; and that is his grief: and when we sin, we are led captive according to his will; and that is his joy.* 1.68 And such is the joy of malicious wicked men: for whom it is not expedient nor pro∣fitable that those who are not of the same mind with them should be good, and therefore against their will. And to this end, where they can∣not find a fault, they will make one: And this fiction of theirs must be as a sheet let down from heaven,* 1.69 with a command to arise and kill and eat. And at the sight of a prodigy of their own begetting they rejoyce and divide the spoil. For conclusion then; Let us mark these men, and avoid them. And let us mourn and be sorry for their joy, the issue not of Christian Love, but of Pride and Covetousness, and which hath not God's glory for its object, but their own. Let them mur∣mure; let us rejoyce: let them reproch us; let us pray: let them break witless jests; let us break our stony hearts: let them detract; let us sing praises: let them cry; Down with it, Down with it, even to the ground; let us reverence God's Sanctuary; let us remember the end for which it was built, and draw all our thoughts, words and gestures to that end; let us so behave our selves in the Church that we may be Temples of the living God, and worship God in the beauty of holiness. Why should we not rejoyce with David, and tune our harps by his, our devoti∣on by his songs of thanksgiving? The same God reigneth still, the same end is set up, and the same means appointed for that end.

Let us press hard to the end, and then no scruple can arise. Let not our sins and evil conscience trouble us, and nothing will trouble us. Come, let us worship, and fall down; that is one end: and our everla∣sting happiness is another: And these are so linked together that ye cannot sever them. The end cannot be had without the means, and the means rightly used never miss of their end. And then God's glory and our happiness will meet, and run on together in a continued course to all eternity. Oh then let us so use the means, ut profectum pariant, non judicium, as S. Augustine speaketh, that they may have their end, and not end in judgement. Why should any benefit, opportunity, oc∣casion, that looketh this way, be lost, and so ly dead and buried? why should it loose the effect it should have? Why, when God sow∣eth his grace and favour, should nothing grow up but wormwood and bitterness? Why should Heaven bow it self, and Earth withdraw? Why should God honour us, and we dishonour his gift? Let us there∣fore put on David's spirit, and enter God's courts with joy, and his house with rejoycing; let us come to Church with one heart and one soul.* 1.70 And as God's delight is to be with the children of men, so let our delight be to converse with him in all humility (And Humility is an hel∣per of our Joy:) let us bow our knees, and lift up our hearts, and upon those altars burn the incense of our prayers, and offer up the sacrifice of our praise; and let our obedience keep time with our devotion. Thus if we present our selves before God in his house, he will rejoyce over us, and his Angels will rejoyce with us and for us, and we shall joy in one anothers joy; and when all Temples shall be destroyed, and the hea∣vens shall be rolled together as a scroll,* 1.71 we shall meet together in our Masters joy, and there with Angels and Archangels and all the company of heaven sing praises to him for evermore. To which joy he bring us, who can hear from heaven, and grant our requests, and fill us with all joy, even the God of love, the Father of mercy, and the Lord of heaven and earth.

Soli Deo Gloria.

Notes

• * 1.1

  Psal. 35.18.
• * 1.2

  Acts 19.32.
• * 1.3

  Luke 13.23.
• * 1.4

  Isa. 37.3.
• * 1.5

  John 12 31.
• * 1.6

  1 Cor. 9.19, &c
• * 1.7

  Eph. 4.3.
• * 1.8

  Prov. 23.26
• * 1.9

  Hab. 3.18. Psal 119.32.
• * 1.10

  Psal. 100.4.
• * 1.11

  1 Cor. 11.16.
• * 1.12

  1 Pet. 2.1.
• * 1.13

  Jude 20.
• * 1.14

  2 Sam 9.13. & 2.18.
• * 1.15

  —19.
• * 1.16

  Psal. 1.1.
• * 1.17

  Mark 5.9.
• * 1.18

  Matth. 7.13.
• * 1.19

  Matth. 2 6.
• * 1.20

  Prov. 1.14.
• * 1.21

  Gen. 49.7. Judg. 15.4, 5
• * 1.22

  Rom. 1.32.
• * 1.23

  Psal. 35.25.
• * 1.24

  Prov. 1.16. Isa. 59.7. Rom. 3.15.
• * 1.25

  Hebr. 13.15.
• * 1.26

  Matth. 7.16.
• * 1.27

  1 Cor. 11.10.
• * 1.28

  Hagg. 1.13. Mal. 2.7.
• * 1.29

  Psal. 78.49. Matth. 25.41. Rev. 12.7, 9. Hebr 1.14.
• * 1.30

  Luke 15.••, 10
• * 1.31

  Isa. 6.2.
• * 1.32

  1 Cor. 11.7. — 13.
• * 1.33

  —11.
• * 1.34

  1 Cor. 14.40.
• * 1.35

  Levit. 19.30.
• * 1.36

  Job 19 8.
• * 1.37

  Job 32.7.
• * 1.38

  Job 8.9.
• * 1.39

  1 Cor. 11.1••.
• * 1.40

  Eccles. 5.1.
• * 1.41

  Hos. 6.6. Matth. 9.13. & 12.7.
• * 1.42

  Psal. 69.9.
• * 1.43

  2 Pet. 2.14.
• * 1.44

  Phil. 3.19.
• * 1.45

  Ps. 84.2, 3, 4,
• * 1.46

  2 Kings 4.2. &c. Psal. 84.1••.
• a 1.47

  Deut. 32.29.
• b 1.48

  Deut. 5.29.
• c 1.49

  Isa. 65.2.
• d 1.50

  Ezek. 18.23, 32.
• e 1.51

  Mich. 6.3.
• * 1.52

  Isa. 65 19. Luke 15.7, 1••
• * 1.53

  Ephes. 5.1. Rom. 13.14. Hebr. 6.5.
• * 1.54

  Phil. 2.2.
• * 1.55

  Phil. 4.1.
• * 1.56

  1 Thes. 2.19. —20.
• * 1.57

  2 Cor. 3.1, 2, 3
• * 1.58

  2 Cor. 3.2.
• * 1.59

  2 Cor. 11.2.
• * 1.60

  Gal. 4.19.
• * 1.61

  John 16.21.
• * 1.62

  Psal. 47.1, 4.
• * 1.63

  Prov. 2.14,
• * 1.64

  Prov. 1.14.
• * 1.65

  Luke 9.53.
• * 1.66

  1 Cor. 13.6.
• * 1.67

  1 Cor. 13.5.
• * 1.68

  2 Tim. 2.26.
• * 1.69

  Acts 11.01, 13
• * 1.70

  Prov. 8.31.
• * 1.71

  Isa. 34.34.