Fifty Sermons, Sermons · Sermon 50
SERMON L.
A Sermon Preached in Saint Dunstans.
1 THES. 5. 16.
Rejoyce evermore.
WE reade in the naturall Story, of some floating Islands, that swim and move from place to place; and in them a Man may sowe in one place, and reape in another: This case is so farre ours, as that in another place we have sowed in teares, and by his promise, in whose teares we sowed then, when we handled those two words, Iesus wept, we shall reape in Joy: That harvest is not yet; it is reserved to the last Resurrection: But the Corne is above ground, in the Resurrection of our head, the first fruits of the Dead, Christ Jesus, and that being the first visible steppe of his exaltation, begins our exultation, who in him are to rejoyce evermore.Prov. 14. 10. The heart knoweth his owne bitternesse; he and none but he; others feele it not, retaine it not, pity it not; and therefore saies the Text, A Stranger doth not intermeddle with his joy: He shall have a Joy which no stranger, not he himselfe whilest he was a stranger to God, and to himselfe, could conceive. If we aske, as Christs Disciples asked of him,Mat. 24. 3. Quod signum? what shall be the signe of thy comming, of this Joy in the midst of thy bitternesse?Aug: Ipsae lachrymae laetitiae testes, & nuncii: The tears themselves shall be the sign, the tears shall be Ambassadours of Joy; a present gladnesse shall consecrate your sorrow, and teares shall baptize, and give a new name to your passion, for your Wormwood shall be Manna; even then when it is Wormwood, it shall be Manna, for, Ga…debitis semper, you shall Rejoyce evermore.
But our Text does more then imply a promise to us,Divisio. for it laies a precept upon us: It is not, Gaudebitis, you shall Rejoyce, by way of Comfort, but it is, Gaudete, Rejoyce, see that you doe Rejoyce, by way of Commandement, and that shall be our first part. Cadit sub praecepto; It hath the nature of a commandement. Angels passe not from extreame to extreame, but by the way betweene; Man passes not from the miseries of this life, to the joyes of Heaven, but by joy in this life too; for he that feeles no joy here, shall finde none hereafter. And when we passe from the substance of the precept, to the extent thereof (which will be our second part) from the first word, Rejoyce, to the other, Rejoyce alwaies; we shall cleave that into two periods, Gaudete in bonis, Rejoyce in your prosperitie, and Gaudete in malis, Rejoyce in your adversitie too. But because it is in sempiternum, that must be in sempiterno, because it is alway, it must be in him who is alwaies, yesterday and to day, and the same for ever, Joy in God, Joy in the Holy Ghost, which will be another branch in that second part; of which Joy, though there be a preparatory, and inchoative participation and possession in this life, yet the consummation being reserved to our entrance into our Masters Joy, not onelyonly the Joy which he gives, that's here, but the Joy which he is, that's onelyonly there, we shall end in that, beyond which none can goe, no not in his thoughts, in some dimme contemplation, and in some faint representation of the Joyes of Heaven, and in that Contemplation we shall dismisse you.
First then it is presented in the nature of a Commandement,Part. and laies an Obligation upon all, at all times to procure to our selves, and to cherish in our selves, this Joy, this Rejoycing.Aquin: 12…. 28. 3. What is Joy? Comparatur ad desiderium sic ut quies admotum; As Rest in the end of motion, every thing moves therefore that it may rest, so Joy is the end of our desires, whatsoever we place our desires, our affections upon, it is therefore, that we may enjoy it;Ba…nez. and therefore, Quod est in brutis in parte sensitiva Delectatio, in hominibus in parte intellectiva est gaudium: Beasts and carnall men, who determine all their desires in the sensuall parts, come no farther then to a delight: but men, who are truly men, and carry them to the intellectuall part, they, and onelyonly they, come to Joy. And therefore saies Solomon, It is the joy of the just to doe judgment; to have lyen still, and done no wrong occasions, is not this Joy; Joy is not such a Rest, as the Rest of the Earth, that never mov'd; but as the Sunne rejoyceth to runne his race, and his circuit is unto the end of heaven; so this Joy is the rest and testimony of a good conscience, that we have done those things which belong to our calling, that we have mov'd in our Sphere. For, if men of our profession, whose Function it is, to attend the service of God, delight our selves in having gathered much in this world; if a Souldier shall have delighted himselfe, in giving rules of Agriculture, or a Architecture; if a Counsellour of State, who should assist with his counsell upon present emergencies, delight himself in writing Books of good counsell for posterity, all this occasions not this joy; because though there have been motion, and though there be Rest, yet that is not Rest after the Motion proper to them. A Man that hath been out of his way all the day, may be glad to find a good Inne at night; but yet 'tis not properly Joy, because he is never the neerer home. Joy is peace for having done that which we ought to have done:Banner ibid. And therefore it is well expressed, Optima conjectura an homo sit in gratia est gaudere; The best evidence that a Man is at peace, and in favour with God, is, that he can rejoyce. To trie whether I be able by Argument and disputation to prove all, that I believe, or to convince the Adversary, this is Academia animae, the soules University, where some are Graduats, and all are not: To trie whether I be able to endure Martyrdome for my beliefe, this is Gehenna animae, the rack, the torture of the Soule, and some are able to hold it out, and all are not: But to trie whether I can rejoyce in the peace, which I have with God, this is but Catechismus animae, the Catechisme of the Soule, and every Man may examine him selfe, and every Man must; for it is a Commandement, Gaudete semper, Rejoyce evermore.
It is, we cannot say the Office, but the Essence of God to doe good; and when he does that,Deut. 30. 9. Zeph. 3. 17. he is said to rejoyce: The Lord thy God will make thee plenteous; (there is his goodnesse) and he will Rejoyce again over thee for good, as he rejoyced over thy Fathers. The Lord will love thee, there is his goodnesse; and rejoyce in thee, and he will rest in his love. Such a joy as is a rest, a complacency in that good which he hath done, we see is placed in God himselfe. It is in Angels too: Their office is to minister to Men, (for by nature they are Spirits, but by office they are Angels) and when they see so good effect of their service,Luk. 15. 10. as that a Sinner is converted, There is joy in the presence of the Angels of God. Christ himselfe had a spirituall office and employment, To give light to the blind, and to inflict blindnesse upon those who thought they saw all. And when that was done, Exultavit in spiritu, in that houre Christ rejoyced in the Spirit, and said, I thank thee ô Father,Luc. 10. 2…. Lord of Heaven and Earth, &c. To have something to doe, to doe it, and then to Rejoyce in having done it, to embrace a calling, to performe the Duties of that calling, to joy and rest in the peacefull testimony of having done so; this is Christianly done, Christ did it; Angelically done, Angels doe it; Godly done,Esay 62. 1. God does it. As the Bridegroome rejoyceth in his Bride, so doth thy God rejoyce in thee. Example, as well as the Rule, repeats it to you, Gaudete semper.
But how farre may we carry this joy?Basil. q. brevis 31. To what outward declarations? To laughing? Saint Basil makes a round answer to a short question. An in Universum ridere non licet? May a Man laugh in no case? Admodum perspicuum est, It is very evident, that a Man may not, because Christ saies, Vae vobis, Wo be unto you that laugh; And yet Saint Basil himselfe in another place sayes (which we are rather to take in explanation,Homil. de gratiar. actione. than in contradiction, of himselfe) that that woe of Christ is cast in obstreperum Sonum, non in sinceram hilaritatem: upon a dissolute and undecent, and immoderate laughting, not upon true inward joy, howsoever outwardly expressed. At the promise of a Son,Gen. 17. 17. Abraham fell on his face and laughed; a religious Man, and a grave Man, 100 yeares old, expressed this joy of his heart, by this outward declaration. Hierome's Translation reads it, Risit in Corde, he laughed within himselfe, because Saint Hierome thought that was a weaknesse, a declination towards unbeliefe, to laugh at Gods promise, as he thinks Abraham did. But Saint Paul is a better Witnesse in his behalf;Rom. 4. Amo. Against hope he believed in hope; he was not weake in faith; he staggered not at the promise of God, through unbelief. Quòd risit, non incredulitatis, sed exultation is indicium fuit, his laughing was no ebbe of faith, but a flood of joy. It is not as S.Hier. Hierome takes it, Risit in Corde putans celare deum, apertè ridere non ausus; he kept-in his laughing, and durst not laugh out; But as St. Ambrose says well, Risus non irrisio diffidentis, sed exultatio gratulantis; he laughed not in a doubtfull scorne of Gods promise, but in an overflowing of his own joy: It is well expressed, and, well concluded,Rupertus. O virum aeterno risu vere dignum, & sempiternae jueunditati bene praeparatum, This was good evidence, that he was a man well disposed for the joyes of heaven; that he could conceive joy in the temporall blessings of God, and that he thought nothing mis-becomming him, that was an outward declaration of this joy. It is a dangerous weaknesse, to forbeare outward declarations of our sense of Gods goodnesse, for feare of mis-interpretations; to smother our present thankfulnesse, for fear that some should say it was a levity to thank God so soon, till God had done the whole work. For God does sometimes leave half his work undone, because he was not thanked for it. When David danced and leaped,2 Sam. 6. 14. and shouted before the Arke; if he laughed too, it mis-became him not. Not to feele joy is an argument against religious tendernesse, not to show that joy, is an argument against thankfulnesse of the heart: that is a stupidity, this is a contempt. A merry heart maketh a cheerfull countenance. Prov. 15. 13.If it be within, it will be without too. Except I heare thee say in thine actions, Gaudeo, I do rejoyce, I cannot know that thou hast heard the Apostle say, Gaudete.
Joy for Gods blessings to us, joy for Gods glory to himself, may come ad Risum, and farther: Not onelyonly ad Ridendum, but ad Irridendum, not onelyonly to laugh in our own prosperity, but to laugh them to scorne that would have impeached it. They are put both together in God himself, Ridebo, and Irridebo, I will laugh at your calamities, and I will mock when your feare cometh. Prov. 1. 26.And this being in that place intended of God, is spoken in the person of Wisdome; It mis-becomes not wisdome and gravity to laugh in Gods deliverances, not to laugh to scorne those that would have blown up Gods Servants, when it is carried so high as to the Kings of the Earth,Psal 2. 2. and the Rulers that take counsell against the Lord, and against his Anoynted, we may come Ad Gaudium, to joy in Gods goodnesse, but because their place, and persons are sacred, we leave the Ridere and the Irridere to God:Verse 4. who says, ver. 4. That he will laugh at them, and hold them in derision. But at lower instruments, lower persons may laugh, when they fill the world with the Doctrine of killing of Kings, and meane that that should animate men against such Kings as they call Heretiques, and then finde in experience that this hath wrought onelyonly to the killing of Kings of their own Religion, we lament justly the event, but yet we forbeare our Ridere and our Irridere, at the crossing and the frustrating of their plots and practises. Pharaohs Army was drowned, Et Cecinit Moses, Moses sung, Sisera was slaine Et Cecinit Deborah, Deborah sung. Thus in the disappointing of Gods enemies, Gods servants come to outward manifest signes of joy. Not by a libellous and scurrill prophanation of persons that are sacred, but in fitting Psalmes and Sermons, and Prayers, and publique Writings to the occasion, to proceed to a Ridere and Irridere, and as Saint Augustine reades that place of the Proverbs, Superridere, to laugh Gods Enemies into a confusion to see their Plots so often, so often, so often frustrated. For so farre extends Gaudete, Rejoyce evermore.
Joy then, and cheerefulnesse, is Sub praecepto, it hath the nature of a commandment, and so he departs from a commandment that departs, and abandons himself into an inordinate sadnesse.Psal. 42. 5. And therefore David chides his soule, Why art thou cast down, O my soul, why art thou disquiesed within me? And though he come after to dispute against this sadnesse of the soul, which he had let in, Hope yet in God, and yet the Lord will command his loving kindnesse, and my prayer shall be unto the God of my life, yet he could not put it off, but he imagines that he heares his enemies say, Where is thy God? and when he hath wrestled himself weary, he falls back again in the last verse, to his first faintnesse, Why art thou cast down, O my soule, why art thou disquieted within me? For, As he that taketh away a garment in cold weather,Prov. 25. 20. so is he that singeth Songs to a heavy heart: That heavinesse makes him uncapable of Naturall, of Morall, of Civill, of Spirituall comforts, charme the Charmer never so wisely. Heli heard that the Battell was lost, and that his Sonnes were slaine, and admitted so much sorrow for those, that when the last was added,1 Sam. 4. 17. The Arke was taken by the Enemy, he was too weake for that, and fell down and brake his neck. It was his daughter in Lawes case too; shee overcharged her soul with sadnesse for her husbands death, and her fathers death, and when the report of the Arke came, she fell into labour and died; and though the women told her, Feare not, thou hast born a Sonne, yet shee answered not. Though the Arke of God, the worship of his Name, bee at any time transferred from where it was, despaire not thou of Gods reducing it; for this despairing of others, may bring thee to despaire in some accident to thy self: Accustome thy selfe to keepe up the consideration of Gods mercy at the highest, lodge not a sad suspition in any publique, in any private businesse, that Gods powerfull mercy can goe but thus farre: hee that determineth Gods Power and his Mercy, and faith here it must end, is as much an Atheist, as hee that denieth it altogether. The Key of David openeth and no man shutteth; The Spirit of Comfort shineth upon us, and would not be blown out. Monasterie, and Ermimitage, and Anchorate, and such words of singularitie are not Synonym… with those plurall words Concio, Coetus, Ecclesia, Synagoga & Congregatio, in which words God delivereth himselfe to us. A Church is a Company, Religion is Religation, a binding of men together in one manner of Worship; and Worship is an exteriour service; and that exteriour service is the Venite exultemus, to come and rejoyce in the presence of God.
If in any of these wayes God cast a Cloud upon our former joyes, yet to receive good at Gods hand, and not to receive evill; to rejoice in the calme, and not in the storme; this is to breake at least halfe of the Commandement, which is, Gaudete semper. And so from the first part, which is the substance which we have passed by these steps, That this rejoycing hath the nature of a Commandement, it must bee maintained, And that inward joy must be outwardly expressed, even to the disgrace and confusion of Gods enemies, and to the upholding of a joyfull constancy in our selves: We passe now to the extent of the Commandement, Gaude…e semper, Evermore.
Did God mean that we should rejoyce alwayes;2 Part. when he made sixe dayes for labour, and but one for rest?Semper. Certainly he did. Sixe dayes we are to labour, and to doe all that we have to doe: And part of that which we have to doe, is to rejoyce in our labour. Adam in the state of Innocency had abundant occasion of continuall rejoycing; but yet even in that joyfull state he was to labour,Gen. 2. 15. 3. 19. to dresse and to keep the Garden. After the fall, when God made the labour of man more heavie in sudore vultus, that he should not eat, but in the sweat of his browe, yet God gave him not that penalty, that occasion of sadnesse, till he had first imprinted the roote of true Joy, the promise of a Messias; that promise he made before he came to denounce the penalty, first came the Ipse conteret, and then in sudore vultus: upon those words, Thou shalt eat the labour of thy hand; Debuit dicere fructum, non laborem, Psal 128. 2. August.saith Augustine, David should have said, he shall eate the fruit, not the labour of his hands. Sed ipsi labores non sunt sine gaudio, but the very labours, the very afflictions of good men, have joy in them. Si labor potest manducari & jucundari, manducatus fructus laboris qualis erit? And if labour it self, affliction it self, minister Joy, what a manner, what a measure of joy is in the full possession thereof in Heaven? And as the consideration of the words immediately after the Text, hath made more then one of the Fathers say, Etiam Somnia justorum preces sunt, Even the sleep of the righteous is a service to God, and their very Dreams are Prayers and Meditations, so much more properly, may wee call the sleep, and the bodily rest, nay, the bodily torments of the righteous, joye, rejoycing. So that neither weeke day, nor Sabbath day nor night, labour nor rest interrupteth this continuall Joy: Wee may, wee must rejoyce evermore.
Gaudete in bonis, Rejoyce when God giveth you the good things of this world; First,In bonis Temporalibus. in Temporalibus when God giveth you the good Temporall things of this world. Gaudete in Terra, Rejoyce that God hath placed you in so fertill, in so fruitfull a Land. Gaudete in pace, Rejoyce that God hath afforded you peace to till the Land, Gaudete de Temporibus, Rejoyce that God giveth good seasons, that the Earth may give her increase, and that Man may ioy in the increase of the Earth: And Gaudete de amicitiis, Rejoyce that God giveth you friendship with such Nations, as may take of your superfluities, and return things necessary to you. There is a joy required for Temporall things; for hee that is not joyfull in a benefit, is not thankefull. Next to that detestable assertion (as Saint Augustine calleth it) That God made any man to to damn him, it is the perversest assertion, That God gives man temporall things to ensnare him.Gen. 9. 20. Was that Gods primary intention in prospering Noahs Vineyard, That Noah should be drunken? God forbid.
Doth God give any man honour or place, Vt glorietur in malo, qui potens est, that his power might be an occasion of mischief and oppression? God forbid. God made light at first; but wee know not what that light was: but God gathered all light into the Sun, and all the world sees it. God infuses grace and spirituall blessings into a mans heart, and no man sees that, but the Spirit that is in that man; but the Evidence, the great Seale, that he pleads in the Eye of the world, is Gods temporall blessings. When Assuerus put the Royall Vesture and Ring, and Crown upon Mordecas, it was to shew that hee was in his favour; in the same intention proceeds God too, when he gives riches, or honour, or favour, or command; hee would have that soul rejoyce in these, as in testimonies of his favour. God loves hilarem datorem, a cheerfull giver, but he that is not a cheerfull receiver, is a worse natur'd man, and more dishonours, nay, reproaches his benefactor. They then disobey this Commandment, of rejoycing in temporall things, that employ not their industry, that use not all good means to attaine them. Every man is therefore planted in the world, that hee may grow in the world, and as venomous hearbs delight in the shade, so a sullen retiring argues a murmuring and venomous disposition; To contemn Gods temporall blessings, or to neglect or undervalue those instruments, those persons, by whom God sheds such blessings upon us, is to break that branch of this Commandement Gaudete semper, Rejoyce evermore; for he does not rejoyce in bonis temporalibus. So is it also, as not to seek them before, so not to use them when we have them. When in a feare of growing poore, makes us think God to be poor too, that if we spend this, God can give us no more, when for feare of lacking at our end, we lack all the way, when we abound and yet will pay no debts, not to our own bellies, our own backs, our own respect, and the decency that belongs to our rank, these men so sordid, so penurious, & suspitious of Gods Providence, breake this branch of this Commandement too, because they doe not rejoyce in bonis temporalibus. And as the not-seeker, and the not-user, so the abuser of these temporall blessings is in the same transgression. Hee that thinkes all the world as one Jewell, and himselfe the Cabinet, that all was made for him, and hee for none, forgets his owne office, his Stewardship, by which he is enabled and bound to the necessities of others: to collect, hee that seeks not, hee that denies all to himself, hee that denies all but himself, break this branch, for they doe not rejoyce in bonis temporalibus.
This we must doe;In spiritualibus. but in bonis spiritualibus, in the spirituall good things of this world, much more we call those the spirituall good things of this world, which advance our devotion here, and consequently our salvation hereafter. The rituall and ceremoniall, the outward worship of God, the places, the times, the manner of meetings, which are in the disposition of Christian Princes, and by their favours of those Churches, which are in their government: and not to rejoyce in the peacefull exercise of those spirituall helps, not to be glad of them, is a transgression. Now the Prophet expresses this rejoycing thus, Venite exultemus, let us come and rejoyce. We must doe both. And therefore they who out of a thraldome to another Church abstaine from these places of these exercises, that doe not come, or if they doe come, doe not rejoyce, but though they be here brought by necessity of law, or of observation, yet had rather they were in another Chappell, or that another kinde of service then in this: and they also who abstain out of imaginary defects in this church, & think they cannot perform Davids De profundis, they cannot call upon God out of the depth, except it be in a Conventicle in a cellar,Excles. 5. 8. nor acknowledge Solomons Excelsis Excelsior, that God is higher then the highest, except it be in a Conventicle in a garret, & when they are here wink at the ornaments, & stop their ears at the musique of the Church, in which manner she hath always expressed her rejoycing in those helps of devotion; or if there bee a third sort who abstain, because they may not be here at so much case, and so much liberty, as at their own houses, all these are under this transgression. Are they in the Kings house at so much liberty as in their own? and is not this the King of Kings house? Or have they seene the King in his owne house, use that liberty to cover himselfe in his ordinary manner of covering, at any part of Divine Service? Every Preacher will look, and justly, to have the Congregation uncovered at the reading of his Text: and is not the reading of the Lesson, at time of Prayer, the same Word of the same God, to be received with the same reverence? The service of God is one entire thing; and though we celebrate some parts with more, or with lesse reverence, some kneeling, some standing, yet if we afford it no reverence, we make that no patr of Gods service. And therefore I must humbly intreat them, who make this Quire the place of their Devotion, to testifie their devotion by more outward reverence there; wee know our parts in this place, and we doe them; why any stranger should think himself more priviledged in this part of Gods House, then we, I know not. I presume no man will mis-interpret this that I say here now; nor, if this may not prevaile, mis-interpret the service of our Officers, if their continuing in that unreverent manner give our Officers occasion to warn them of that personally in the place, whensoever they see them stray into that uncomely negligence. They should not blame me now, they must not blame them then, when they call upon them for this reverence in this Quire; neither truly can there be any greater injustice, then when they who will not do their duties, blame others for doing theirs.
But that we are bound to a thankfull rejoycing in all that falls well to us,In malis. In bonis, admits lesse doubt, and therefore requires lesse proof: But the semper of our Text extends farther, Gandete in malis, we doe not rejoyce always, except we rejoyce in evill days, in all our crosses and calamities. Now, if we be not affected with Gods judgements, if we conceive not a sorrow for them, or the cause of them, our sins, God is angry; will he be angry too, if we be not glad of them, if we doe not rejoyce in them? Can this sorrow and this joy consist together? very well. The School in the mouth of Aquinas gives instances;Aquin. 3. 84. 9. 2. If an Innocent man be condemned, Simul placet ejus justitia, & displices afflictio, I congratulate his innocency, and I condole his death both at once. So Displicet mihi quod peccavi, & placet quod displicet; I am very sorry that I have sinned, but yet I am glad that I am sorry. So that, Ipsatristitia materia gaudii; Some sorrow is so far from excluding joy,Aug. as that naturally it produces it. S. Augustine hath sealed it with this advice, Semper doleat poenitens, Let him who hath sinned always lament; But then where is the Gaudete semper? he tels us too, Semper gaudeat de dolore, Let him always rejoyce,Basil. that God hath opened him a way to mercy, by sorrow. Lacrymae Seminium quoddam sunt & foenus, quibus increscit gaudium; Sorrow is our Seminary, from whence we are transplanted into a larger Orchard, into the dilatation of the heart, Joy; sorrow, says he, Seminium est, & foenus est; It is our interest, our use; And if we have sorrow upon sorrow, it is use upon use, it doubles the principall, which is joy, the sooner. Cordae cum distenduntur, it is S. Augustines musicall comparison, when the strings of an instrument are set up, the musicall sound is the clearer; if a mans sinew be stretcht upon the rack, his joy is not the lesse perfect. Not that a man must seek out occasion of sorrow; provoke the Magistrate by seditious intemperance, and call it zeal; or macerate the body with fastings,Aug. or mangle it with whippings, and call that merit; Non ut quaerant materiam quam non habent, sed at inveniant cam quam nescientes habent; This is the way of joy, not to seek occasions of sorrow, which they have not, but to finde out those which they have, and know not; that is, their secret sins, the causes of Gods judgements in themselves. To discern that that correction that is upon me, is from God, and not a naturall accident, this is a beam of joy, for I see that he would cure me, though by corosives. To discern that God is not unjust, nor cruell, and therefore it is something in me, and not in him, that brings it to this sharpnesse, this is a beam of joy too; for I see how to discharge God, and to glorifie him, and how to accuse my self; and that is a good degree of repentance.
But to perfect my repentance,A sensis. Non sufficit dolere de peccatis, sed requiritur gaudi…m de dolore, It is not enough to come to a sorrow in my sin, that may flow out into despair, but I must come to a joy in my sorrow, for that fixes me upon the application of Christ, and such a joy a man must suscitate and awaken in himselfe by these steps, In malis temporalibus, in all worldly crosses; Else he does not Gaudere semper.
No nor except he finde this joy,In spiritualibus. In malis Spiritualibus, in Spirituall afflictions too. When I fall into new sorrow, after my former joy, relapse into those sins which I have repented (and beloved, the dangerous falling in any man, is to fall backward, he that fals forward, hath his eys to help him, and his hands to help him, but he that fals backward lacks much) yet even out of these relapses we must finde joy too. For when Saint Iames says,Iames 1, 2. Count it all joy when you fall into divers tentations, as he speaks of all joy, so he intends, or may justly be extended to all tentations, not onelyonly tentations, that is, trialls, when God proves a man by affliction, where morall constancy is exercised, but even in triall of religious constancy; in tentations to sin, still there is fresh occasion of joy in discerning Gods deliverance from the falling into the sinne, or from lying in the sinne.Ambros. Ipsa tentatio sal animae, as salt preserves flesh, so tentations preserve the Soule: not the sinning, but the discerning that it is, nay that that was a tentation to sinne, preserves the soule. And therefore, he calls tentationes custodes; he makes even the evill Angells, our Guardians, our Tutelar Angells, because by their tentations they bring us up in the feare of God, and in the ways of joy. And therefore though it be a joyfull thing to have overcome a tentation, yet determine not your Joy in that; that if that tentation had overcome you, you might have no more Joy, but (as Christ says) In this rejoyce not, Luke 10. 20.that is, not onelyonly in this, that the Spirits are subject to you, but rather rejoyce that your names are written in heaven. Rejoyce not in this, that is, determine not, conclude not your ioy in this, that you have overcome that tentation, but rather in this; that God does not forsake you after a sinne, nor after a relapse into sinne; but manifests your election by continuall returning to you: But that this may bee the joy of the text, true Joy, not a joy that induces presumption, for that will faile, that it may bee Semper, it must bee in Sempiterno, a Joy rightly conceived, and rightly placed. Gaudium in Domino: and that is our next step.
Rejoyce in the Lord always, says the Apostle; and left it should admit any interruption, he repeates it,In sempiterno. Basil. Iterum dico gaudete, Againe I say rejoyce, But still in the Lord. For, Quasi locus quidam, iustorum capax est Dominum: though God be in no place, God is the place, in whom all good men are. God is the Court of every just King: God is the Church of every holy Priest: God is the field of every valiant man; and the bed of every sickly man: whatsoever is done in Domino, in the Lord, is done at home in the right place.Chrysoft. He that is settled in God, centred in God, Laetitiae fontem, voluptatis radicem lucratus est. They are all considerable words; Lucratus est, he hath purchased something which he did not inherit, he hath acquired something which was not his before, and what? Fontem laetitiae; 'tis joy, else it were nothing: for what is wealth if sicknesse take away the joy of that? Or what is health, if imprisonment take away the joy of that? Or what is liberty, if poverty take away the joy of that? but he hath joy, and not a Cistern but a fountain, the fountaine of joy, that rejoyces in God: He carries it higher in the other Metaphore; he hath radicem voluptatis; a man may have Flores, flowers of joy, and have no fruit, a man may have some fruit, and not enough, but if he have joy in God, he hath radicem voluptatis; if we may dare to translate it so, (and in a spirituall sense we may) it is a voluptuous thing to reioyce in God. In rejoycing in another thing Saint Bernards harmonious charme will strike upon us,Bern. Rara hora, brevis mora, they are joyes that come seldome, and stay but a little while when they come. Call it joy, to have had that thou lovest, in thine eye, or in thine armes, remember what oathes, what false oathes, it did cost thee before it came to that? And where is that joy now, is there a Semper in that? Call it joy to have had him whom thou hatest, in thine hands or under thy feet, what ignoble disguises to that man, what servile observations of some greater, then either you, or he, did that cost you before you brought him into your power? and where is that joy, if a Funerall or a bloudy conscience benight it? Currus Domini, says David, the Chariots of the Lord are twenty thousand, Psal. 68. 17.thousands of Angels, says our translation; Millia laetantium, says the vulgat; thousands of them that reioyce. How comes it to bee all thing Angells and Reioycers? Ne miremur illos laetari continuò subiecit,August. Dominus in illis, Saint Augustine saith, to take away all wonder, it is added, the Lord is in the midst of them, and then, be what they will, they must reioyce; For if he be with them they are with him, and hee is Joy. The name of Isaac signifies ioy;Bern. and the triall of Abraham was to sacrifice Isaac: Immola Isaac tuum, sacrifice all thy Joy in this world, to God, Et non mactatus sed sanctificatus Isaac tuus, thy Joy shall not bee destroyed, but sanctified, so farre from being made none, that it shall bee made better, better here, but not, better then that hereafter; which is our last steppe, beyond which there is nothing, that even true Joy, rightly placed, is but an inchoative, a preparatory Joy in this world. The consummation is for the next; Gaudebimus semper.
Sicut laetantium omnium habitatio est inte, Psal. 87. 7.as Saint Hierome reads those words, speaking of the Christian Church here, It is the house of all them, who do as it were rejoyce; who come nearest to true joy. And so, when the Lord turned againe the Captivity of Sion,Psal. 126. Facti sumus sicut consolati, We were as it were comforted. Quare sicut, sayes that Father, Why is it so modified with that diminution, as it were? Quia hic etiam in Sanctis non perfecta consolatio; Because; sayes he, in this world, even the Saints themselves have no perfect joy. Where the Apostle compares the sorrow and the joy of this world, then the Quasi lyes upon the sorrows side; it is but a halfe sorrow; Quasi tristes,2 Cor. 6. 10. We are as it were sorrowfull, but indeed rejoycing; but compare the best ioy of this world, with the next, and the Quasi will fall upon the ioy of the world.Eph. 1. 14. For though we be sealed with the holy Spirit of promise, which is the earnest of our inheritance, (and this is the Tropique of Joy, the farthest that Spirituall Joy goes in this Zodique,Hierom. in this world) yet this carries us no farther, but Vt ex arrabone aestimetur haereditas; That by the proportion of the earnest, we might value the whole bargaine: For what a bargaine would we presume that man to have, that would give 20000 l. for earnest? what is the Joy of heaven hereafter, if the earnest of it here, be the Seale of the holy Ghost? God proceeds with us, as we do with other men. Operariis in Saeculo,Bernard. cibus in opere, merces in fine datur: In this world, we give labourers meat and drink by the way, but wages at the end of their work. God affords us refreshing here, but joy hereafter. The best Seale is the holy Ghost, and the best matter that the holy Ghost seales in, is in blood; in the dignity of Martyrdome; and even for that,1 Pet. 4. 13. for Martyrdome, we have a rule in the Apostle, Rejoyce in as much as ye are partakers of Christs sufferings; That as he suffered for you, so you suffer for him: but in what contemplation? That when his glory shall be revealed, ye may be made glad with exceeding Joy; not with exceeding Joy, till then; For till then, the Joyes of Heaven may be exceeded in the addition of the body. There is the rule, and the example is Christ himself, Who for the joy that was set before him, endured the Crosse; in contemplation of the Propterea exaltatus, that therefore he should be exalted above all in heaven. Rejoyce and be glad; Mat. 5. 12.why? for great is your reward: but where? in heaven. And therefore Ask and you shall receive; Iohn 16. 24.Pray and you shall have answer: but what answer: but what answer? That your joy shall be full. August.It shall be; in heaven. For Quis sic delectat quam ille, qui fecit omnia quae delectant: In whom can we fully rejoyce, but him, who made all things in which we rejoyce by the way,Psal. 89. 16. In thy Name shall we rejoyce all the day, says David; Si in nomine suo,August. non tota die. St. Augustine says not that to any particular person, nor any particular calling but to any man, to every man; Any Prince, any Counsellor, any Prelate, any Generall, any Discoverer, any that goes in any way of joy, and glory, Si nomine suo, non tota die, If they rejoyce in their own names, their own wisdome, their own strength, they shall not rejoyce all the day, but they shall be benighted with darke sadnesse, before their dayes end; And their sunne shall set at noon too, as the Prophet Amos speaks. And therefore that shall be Christs expressing of that joy, at the last day, Enter into thy Master Ioy, and leave the joy of Servants (though of good Servants) behind thee; for thou shalt have a better Joy then that, Thy Masters Ioy.
It is time to end; but as long as the glasse hath a gaspe, as long as I have one, I would breathe in this ayre, in this perfume, in this breath of heaven, the contemplation of this Joy.Psal. 89. 15. Blessed is that man, qui scit jubilationem, says David, that knowes the joyfull sound: August.For, Nullo modo beatus, nisi scias unde gaudeas; For though we be bound to rejoyce alwayes, it is not a blessed joy, if we do not know upon what it be grounded: or if it be not upon everlasting blessednesse.Cant. 5. 1. Comedite amici, says Christ, bibite & inebriamini. Eat and drink, and be filled. Joy in this life, Vbi in sudore vescimur, where grief is mingled with joy,Bernard. is called meat, says Saint Bernard, and Christ cals his friends to eat in the first word. Potus in future, says he, Joy in the next life, where it passes down without any difficulty, without any opposition, is called drink; and Christ calls his friends to drink: but the overflowing, the Ebriet as animae, that is reserved to the last time, when our bodies as well as our souls, shall enter into the participation of it: Where, when wee shall love every one, as well as our selves, and so have that Joy of our owne salvation multiplied by that number, wee shall have that Joy so many times over, as there shall bee soules saved, because wee love them as our selves, how infinitely shall this Joy be enlarged in loving God, so far above our selves,Matt. 9. 15. and all them. Wee have but this to add. Heaven is called by many pretious names;Luc. 12. 32. Life… Simply and absolutely there is no life but that. And Kingdome; Simply, absolutely there is no Kingdom,Esay 66. 23. that is not subordinate to that. And Sabba…ūex Sabbate, A Sabbath flowing into a Sabbath, a perpetuall Sabbath: but the Name that should enamour us most, is that, that it is Satietas gaud…orum; fulnesse of Joy. Fulnesse that needeth no addition;Psal. 16. 11. Fulnesse, that admitteth no leake. And then though in the Schoole we place Blessednesse, in visione, in the sight of God, yet the first thing that this sight of God shall produce in us (for that shall produce the Reformation of the Image of God, in us, and it shall produce our glorifying of God) but the first thing that the seeing of God shall produce in us, is Joy. The measure of our seeing of God is the measure of Joy. See him here in his Blessings, and you shall ioy in those blessings here; and when you come to see him Sicuti est, in his Essence, then you shall have this Joy in Essence, and in fulnesse; of which, God of his goodnesse give us such an earnest here, as may binde to us that inheritance hereafter, which his Sonne our Saviour Christ Jesus hath purchased for us, with the inestimable price of his incorruptible blood. Amen.
FINIS.
End of the text · John Donne, Fifty Sermons (1649)