Trouble of the Mind and the Disease of Melancholy, Discourse · Part 3 · Chapter 2
CHAP. II.
Shewing, that the fall of Adam was the cauſe of all our miſeries; and in how excellent a condition the bleſſed Angels are; and the folly of ſuch as expect to meet with nothing in the world, but what is eaſie and pleaſant.
Inf. 1. SEeing the life of man is a ſtate of weeping, what ſin there muſt needs be in the fall of Adam, that has provoked God ſo much as to ſend ſo many miſeries upon his own Creatures! Had mot he fallen, we had always rejoyced, and never mourned; we had always ſung the praiſes of God with delight, and never have hang'd our harps upon the willows. We ſhould have always lived upon the food of Angels, pure and Coeleſtial joys, and not have had that bread of ſorrows which we now have to feed upon. We may juſtly cry out, O Adam! what was it that you did when you rafted the forbidden fruit! Why did you ruin your ſelf and us your helpleſs poſterity in one day; and by one Act you turned the pleaſant world into a place of wo, and made your ſelf and us, of free men to become priſoners of this Earth. It was a ſad day indeed that opened a Sluce to that vaſt Inundation of miſeries that have from that time overwhelmed the lower world; thence came ſtorms and tempeſts, wars and deſolations, and all the burdens under which we groan, and which we cannot eſcape. 'Tis to this Spring that we may trace all our troubles. Oh how happily, how pleaſantly might we have lived, had we not Apoſtatiz'd! And now we can only ſay, Wo unto us, for we have ſinned! and when any Plagues moleſt us, can only ſay, this is the fruit of our own choice; this is the product of our own Iniquity! Tho, thanks be to God, through the blood of Jeſus Chriſt we have a way to eſcape at length from all thoſe Plagues and Sins.
Inf. 2. Seeing this life is full of weeping, how much more happy are the bleſſed Angels than we! At the view of the Harmony and order of the Worlds Creation, thoſe Sons of the morning ſang together; it pleaſed them to ſee their Creator's glory ſo appear, and they ſtill continue to ſing and praiſe him; not a ſad look has from that time to this, clouded their faces; not a troubled thought has poſſeſt their minds; thoſe holy Spirits are always joyful, ſerene, and undiſtutb'd; they are not linkt to ſuch bodies as we are, and conſequently not liable to ſo many thouſand miſeries. A ſoul in fleſh is forced to ſympathize with its neighbour and companion the body, and is altered or changed as to its joys and griefs, according to the ſeveral objects that are ſuitable or diſagreeable to that; and yet our imbodied condition gives us ſome privileges, of which the Angels being Spirits, are not capable; for by this means we can glorifie God by ſufffering for him, and by our patience in our ſeveral trials, convert many to the faith of Chriſt, which their Spiritual nature gives them no opportunity to do. As long as we are united to the body, ſo long muſt we expect to be afflicted; and when this union is happily diſſolved, then does the time of our freedom and our pleaſure come. In the Reſurrection we ſhall be as the Angels of God, we ſhall not be buſied in thoſe perplexing and intricate affairs that now moleſt us. We ſhall be like to them in vigor, and activity, and joy. We ſhall have bodies indeed even then, but ſuch as will be ſpiritualized, ſuch as will not be capable of mourning and lamentation; nor by their heavineſs, their pains, and indiſpoſitions, be any more an hindrance to the nimbler operations of our Souls; and it ſhould comfort us to think, that one day we ſhall have ſuch excellent Companions, ſo knowing and ſo kind and loving as Angels are, and that then we ſhall rejoice as well as they, and with our common praiſe, give our Great Creator an Eternal Hymn of Thanks.
Inf. 3. They have a wrong notion of the life of man, that expect to find nothing in it but what is pleaſant! And who, becauſe now their mountain ſtands ſtrong, ſay with David, That they ſhall never be moved! Pſal. 30.6, 7. How clearly ſoever their Sun now ſhines, yet ſooner or later ſtorms and darkneſs will overtake them. The day is coming, that will caſt a vail upon all their ſmiling glory, and turn their laughter into mourning and lamentation. For man is born to trouble, as the ſparks fly upwards, Job 5.7. This world is as an Hoſpital, or Lazaretto, full of various miſeries and calamities; and therefore thoſe that promiſe nothing to themſelves but diverſion and mirth, and ſoft and eaſie pleaſures, labour under manifold miſtakes, which ariſe from theſe two Cauſes.
1. VVant of Experience and Conſideration. Hence it is that young people, and ſuch as have lived but a little while, are mightily taken with the ſweetneſs and delight of life; whereas thoſe that have tried it ſome years longer, find ſeveral croſſes and diſappointments and vexations in it; and tho the morning of their day was clear, yet they ſee many thick Clouds gather as the ſhadows of the Evening are drawing on. It is nothing elſe, but groſs ignorance that occaſions the loud and mad Triumphs of so great a part of the world, for if they did but a little ſurvey the condition of their ſuffering-neighbours, and the weakneſs of their own bodies, the uncertainty of their hopes, and the vanity of their deſires, they would ſit down and bewail their miſeries, and they would find their biggeſt joys to be confin'd with grief. Or,
2. It ariſes from this, That they reſolve not to diſturb their preſent eaſe and pleaſure with any m…urnful meditations. They'l ſhut their ears againſt all ſad and doleful ſtories, haſten from the ſight of all ſuch diſmal objects as would make them grave and ſolid; they will not ruſtle their thoughts with anticipations of evil, and future trouble; they are now at eaſe, and they hope they ſhall be ſo very long; and this falſe expectation has no other cauſe than their unwillingneſs and averſion to think of a coming change; and becauſe they ſeel no pain, ſickneſs, or inconvenience, they will not ſpoil their Muſick with groans and ſighs; they will eat, drink, and be merry, and hang ſorrow and caſt care away; but as all the mirth of Sailors cannot hinder the winds and the ſtorms, ſo this inſenſibleneſs and jollity does not keep the evil day further off; but rather ſwells the Clouds, and lays in matter for a more durable and intollerable ſorrow; they may in their Jovial humours, and with their full Bowls drown their own underſtandings, but they cannot by this means overwhelm their miſeries, which after the fumes of the grateful Wine are paſt, will have a Reſurrection; they may ſay indeed, as Iſa. 57.11. Come, we will fill our ſelves, and to morrow ſhall he as this day, and much more abundant; but perhaps that morrow they may never ſee; or if they do, it may bring along with it ſome great or unavoidable calamity. We know David ſaid in his Proſperity, I ſhall never be moved; and yet as ſoon as God hid his face, he was troubled, Pſal. 30.6, 7. ſo unreaſonable is it to conclude from our preſent delight, that we ſhall never grieve. We may as well argue, becauſe we are now in health, we ſhall never be ſick; or becauſe we are now alive, we ſhall never die. Such falſe Concluſions, and ſuch vain hopes, do but encreaſe our aftertroubles, and make them more heavy; as it is ſaid of Babylon the Great, Rev. 18.7. How much ſhe hath glorified her ſelf, and lived deliciouſly, ſo much torment and ſorrow give her; for ſhe ſaith in her heart; I ſit a Queen, and am no widow, and ſhall ſee no ſorrow; therefore ſhall her Plagues come in one day, death, and mourning, and famine. Our miſeries are ſure, but our joys uncertain; our pleaſures endure but a moment, but our ſorrows laſt a long time; our pleaſures no ſooner begin to live, but they begin to die; and when we would with art prolong their date, their continuance occaſions either torment or loathing. Grief (as one ſaysSenault uſe of the Paſſions, p. 475.) iſ more familiar to man, than pleaſure; for one vain contentment, we meet with a thouſand real ſorrows; theſe come uncalled, and preſent themſelves of their own proper motion; they are linkt one to another; but pleaſures are ſought for with pain, and we are forced to pay more for them than they are worth. Sorrows are ſometimes entirely pure, and touch us to the quick, as they make us incapable of Conſolation; but pleaſures are never without ſome mixture of ſorrow; they are always dipt in bitterneſs, and we are much more ſenſible of pain than of pleaſure, for a flight diſeaſe troubleth all our moſt ſolid Contentments; a Fever is able to make Conquerors forget their Victories; and to blot out of their minds all the pomp of their Triumphs. Tho in ſome caſes we may make our ſorrows greater in our imagination than they are in reality; for we are more ingenious and more particular in the computation of our griefs, than of our mercies. And many a thorn that annoys us, is of our own planting; and for one Croſs that God ſends, our uneaſineſs and impatience makes a thouſand more. We apprehend ſome things to be evil, which are not truly ſo; and ſometimes we augment our real evils beyond their natural proportion, and ſo add new weight to that burden which made us groan before; yet for all that, and abſtracting from our Irregularities ſince the fall, man is a very dolorous and mournful Creature; and our being ſo, ſhould excite us to take heed that we do not wound our ſelves afreſh when we are already wounded; nor lay in matter of new griefs when our unavoidable ones may be great enough. There are two ways by which we aggravate our own miſeries: 1. By putting an higher value upon things than they really deſerve; by loving them more than we ought; and then the Separation that is made between them and us, gives us a more weighty ſorrow. 2. By ſeeking out of our ſelves for many things to make us happy; whereas we ſhould labour that our ſouls be duly order'd, and our deſires kept within their juſt and lawful bounds.
Inf. IV. We have cauſe to admire the wiſdom of the Divine Providence, that ſeeing the life of man is ſo very miſerable, he has ordered it alſo to be very ſhort. Tho our days are evil, yet they are but few. And that as the day is for hard labour, there is a ſucceſſion of comfortable nights wherein we may go to reſt. We find it a long tedious while to be in ſorrows for fifty or ſixty years; but how loud would our groans be were we condemned to this toyl, and theſe weepings for many thouſand years! The greater our miſery is (as one ſays) the leſs while it is like to laſt; the ſorrows of a man's ſpirit being like ponderous weights, which by the greatneſs of their burthen, make a ſwifter motion, and deſcend into the Grave to reſt and eaſe our wearied Limbs, and to knock our fetters off, that eat as to the very bones. Thus I have ſhewed what ſorrows are common to the ſons and daughters of men. I am in the next place to ſhew what peculiar occaſions of weeping Chriſtians have above other men.