Joy in the Lord Opened, Title page – Dedication
Joy in the Lord: Opened in a SERMON Preached at Pauls, May 6.
By Edward Reynolds, D. D.
DVM PREMOR ATTOLLO…
London, Printed by Tho: Newcomb, for Robert Boſtock, and are to be ſold at his ſhop at the ſign of the Kings-Head in St Pauls Church-yard, 1655.
To the Right Honorable Chriſtopher Pack, Lord Major of the City of London, and the Honorable Court of Aldermen there.
Right Honorable,
IN Conformity to your deſires ſignified by your Order unto me, I here humbly preſent you a ſecond time with that plain, but wholſome Doctrine, which you were lately pleaſed to receive with all ready attention. And indeed the argument is ſuch, as the Apoſtle thought need ful to inculcate once and again. And therefore if the Tongue and the Pen, the Pulpit and the Preſs, do a firſt and a ſecond time invite you unto the ſame duty, the Apoſtles example will both commend your zeal in deſiring it, and excuſe my obedience in conforming to ſo juſt a deſire.
Self-ſufficiency is Gods peculiar honor, one of thoſe Regalia which belong unto him alone. All creatures muſt go out of themſelves, both for the continuance of that Being, which they have, and for the Acquiſition of ſuch further good as they ſtand in need of. And ſince they are all thus defective in them ſelves, they muſt needs be unable to complete the perfections of one another, much leſs of man, who is one of the principal and moſt excellent of them. That good therefore, the want whereof doth kindle deſire, & the fruition whereof doth produce delight, muſt be ſought above the world, in him, who as he is ſufficient to himſelf, ſo is he alone All-ſufficient unto his Creatures.
And becauſe there is no approach for ſinful men unto God without a Mediator, the Father hath ſet up his eternal ſon, as that middle perſon, in whom we may have communion with him, and acceſs unto him. Juſtly therefore was the Lord Chriſt before his coming, ſtiled The Deſire of all Nations; & as juſtly is he, after his coming, their everlaſting Delight, ſince in and by him alone, the Lord is pleaſed to be at peace with us, and out of his fulneſs to communicate all good unto us. To ſet forth this Preciouſneſs of Chriſt unto his people, and to quicken their joy in him, was the end of this Sermon, and is indeed the end of all other.
We live in changeable and uncompoſed times; we ſee diſtempers at home, we hear of diſtreſſes abroad; the Lord is ſhaking heaven and earth, Churches and States; our eyes and our experience tell us, how mutable are the wills, how inconſtant the Judgements, how fickle the favors, how ſudden the frowns of men, how vain the hopes, how unſtable the delights which are drawn out of broken Ciſterns; how full of droſs and dregs the moſt refined contents of the world are. God alone is true and every man a lyar, either by falſeneſs deluding, or by weakneſs diſappointing thoſe that depended on them.
Since therefore the life of man doth hardly deſerve the name of life, without ſome ſolid comfort to ſupport it; and neither men nor Angels, much leſs honors or pleaſures, plenty or abundance, can ſupply us with that Comfort; what remains, but that we betake our ſelves unto that Fountain of living water, whence alone it is to be had? that we ſecure our intereſt in the Lord Chriſt, who is faithful, and cannot fail; powerful, and will not forſake, nor expoſe thoſe that come unto God by him? that ſo being upon the Rock which is higher then our ſelves, we may be able amidſt all the tempeſts and ſhakings, the deluſions and diſappointments below, to Rejoyce in him with a fixed and inconcuſſible delight, who can bring joy out of ſorrow, light out of darkneſs, and turn all confuſions into order and beauty. This that you, and all Gods people in City and Countrey may every where do, is the prayer of
Your Honors moſt humble ſervant in the work of the Lord. Edward Reynolds. From my ſtudy, Iune 2. 1655.