discipline to him, which shall have a comfortable issue; that it shall last no longer than it is expedient for him that it should: wherefore he patiently submitteth to it, and undergoeth it cheerfully, with the same mind wherewith a patient swalloweth down an unsavoury potion, which he presumeth will conduce to his health.* Never, indeed, hath any man enjoyed more real content, or hath been more truly satisfied, than good men have been in a seeming depth of adversity. What men ever upon earth have been more sorely afflicted, have underwent greater losses, disgraces, labours, troubles, distresses in any kind, than did the holy Apostles? Yet did they most heartily rejoice, exult, and triumph in them all.† Such a wondrous virtue hath piety to change all things into matter of consolation and joy. No condition in effect can be evil or sad to a pious man: his very sorrows are pleasant, his infirmities are wholesome, his wants enrich him, his disgraces adorn him, his burdens ease him; his duties are privileges, his falls are the grounds of advancement, his very sins (as breeding contrition, humility, circumspection, and vigilance) do better and profit him whereas impiety doth spoil every condition, doth corrupt and embase all good things, doth embitter all the conveniences and comforts of life. III. Piety doth virtually comprise within it all other profits, serving all the designs of them all whatever kind of desirable good we can hope to find from any other profit, we may be assured to enjoy from it. He that hath it is ipso facto vastly rich, is entitled to immense treasures of most precious wealth; in comparison whereto, all the gold and all the jewels in the world are mere baubles. He hath interest in God, and can call him his, who is the all, and in regard to whom all things existent are less than nothing. The infinite power * Scimus amicos Dei ab amantissimo, misericordissimo Patre Deo mala ista pœnalia recipere, non ut pœnam seu vindictam iracundiæ, sed magis ut correctiones et medicamenta stultitiæ, et adjumenta virtutis, ut malleationes sive fabricationes, et tunsiones, sive ablutiones, et candidationes.-Guil. Par. de Sacram. † Εκείνους μὲν γὰρ ἐπεκούφιζεν ἡ χαρὰ τῆς μαρτ τυρίας, καὶ ἡ ἐλπὶς τῶν ἐπηγγελμένων, καὶ ἡ προς τον Χριστὸν ἀγάπη, καὶ τὸ πνεῦμα τὸ πατρικόν.—Euseb. v. 1. Mart. Lugd. and wisdom of God belong to him, to be ever, upon all fit occasions, employed for his benefit. All the inestimable treasures of heaven (a place infinitely more rich than the Indies) are his, after this moment of life, to have and to hold for ever: so that great reason had the Wise Man to say, that In the house of the righteous is much treasure. Piety therefore is profitable, as immediately instating in wealth and whereas the desired fruits of profit are chiefly these, honour, power, pleasure, safety, liberty, ease, opportunity of getting knowledge, means of benefiting others; all these, we shall see, do abundantly accrue from piety, and in truth only from it. The pious man is in truth most honourable. Inter homines pro summo est optimus, saith Seneca; whom Solomon translateth thus: The righteous is more excellent than his neighbour. He is dignified by the most illustrious titles, a son of God, a friend and favourite to the sovereign King of the world, an heir of heaven, a denizen of the Jerusalem above: titles far surpassing all those which worldly state doth assume.* He is approved by the best and most infallible judgments, wherein true honour resideth. He is respected by God himself, by the holy angels, by the blessed saints, by all good and all wise persons; yea, commonly, by all men :" for the effects of genuine piety are so venerable and amiable, that scarce any man can do otherwise than in his heart much esteem him that worketh them. The pious man is also the most potent man: he hath a kind of omnipotency, because he can do whatever he will, that is, what he ought to do;† and because the Divine Power is ever ready to assist him in his pious enterprises, so that he can do all things by Christ that strengtheneth him. He is able to combat and vanquish him that is ó iozvoòs, the stout and mighty one; to wage war with happy success against principalities and powers. conquereth and commandeth himself, which is the bravest victory and noblest empire: he quelleth fleshly lusts, subdueth He inordinate passions, and repelleth strong | under the shadow of God's wings; God temptations. He, by his faith, overcometh the world with a conquest far more glorious than ever any Alexander or Cæsar could do. He, in fine, doth perform the most worthy exploits, and deserveth the most honourable triumphs that man can do. The pious man also doth enjoy the only true pleasures; hearty, pure, solid, durable pleasures; such pleasures as those of which the divine Psalmist singeth: In thy presence is fulness of joy; at thy right hand there are pleasures for evermore. That all joy in believing, that gaiety of hope, that incessant rejoicing in the Lord, and greatly delighting in his law, that continual feast of a good conscience, that serving the Lord with gladness, that exceeding gladness with God's countenance, that comfort of the Holy Spirit, that joy unspeakable and full of glory; the satisfaction resulting from the contemplation of heavenly truth, from the sense God's favour, and the pardon of his sins, from the influence of God's grace, from the hopes and anticipation of everlasting bliss: these are pleasures indeed, in comparison whereto all other pleasures are no more than brutish sensualities, sordid impurities, superficial touches, transient flashes of delight; such as should be insipid and unsavoury to a rational appetite; such as are tinctured with sourness and bitterness, have painful remorses or qualms consequent. All the pious man's performances of duty and of devotion are full of pure satisfaction and delight here; they shall be rewarded with perfect and endless joy hereafter. As for safety, the pious man hath it most absolute and sure; he being guarded by Almighty power and wisdom; resting Quid enim jucundius, quam Dei Patris et Domini reconciliatio, quam veritatis revelatio, quam errorum recognitio, quam tot retro criminum venia? quæ major voluptas, quam fastidium ipsius voluptatis, quam sæculi totius contempus, quam vera libertas, quam conscientia integra, quam vita sufficiens, quam mortis timor nulius, &c. ?-Tert. de Spectac. 29. * Prov. xvi. 32; xxv. 28. Vide Sen. de Ben. v. 7. › Ps. xvi. 11. upholding him with his hand, ordering his steps, so that none of them shall slide, holding his soul in life, and suffering not his feet to be moved; he being, by the grace and mercy of God, secured from the assaults and impressions of all enemies, from sin and guilt, from the devil, world, and flesh, from death and hell, which are our most formidable, and in effect only dangerous enemies. As for liberty, the pious man most entirely and truly doth enjoy that; he alone is free from captivity to that cruel tyrant Satan, from the miserable slavery to sin, from the grievous dominion of lust and passion. He can do what he pleaseth, having a mind to do only what is good and fit. The Law he observeth is worthily called the perfect law of liberty; the Lord he serveth pretendeth only to command freemen and friends: Ye are my friends, said he, if ye do whatever I command you; and If the Son set you free, then are ye free indeed. * And for ease, it is he only that knoweth it; having his mind exempted from the distraction of care, from disorder of passion, from anguish of conscience, from the drudgeries and troubles of the world, from the vexations and disquiets which sin produceth. He findeth it made good to him, which our Lord inviting him did promise, Come unto me, all ye that labour and are heavy laden, and I will give you rest : he feeleth the truth of those divine assertions, Thou wilt keep him in perfect peace whose mind is stayed on thee; and, Great peace have they which love thy law, and nothing shall offend them. As for knowledge, the pious man alone doth attain it considerably, so as to become truly wise and learned to purpose. Evil men, saith the Wise Man himself, who knew well, understand not judgment: but they that seek the Lord understand all things. It is the pious man that employeth his mind upon the most proper and worthy objects, that knoweth things which certainly best deserve to be known, | are paradoxes and fictions abstracting from that hath his soul enriched with the choic- religion, or considering men only under est notions; he skilleth to aim at the best the light and power of nature; but supends, and to compass them by the fittest posing our religion true, a good Christian means; he can assign to each thing its soberly, without arrogance, in proportion due worth and value; he can prosecute and according to the measure of his piety, things by the best methods, and order his may assume them to himself, as the holy affairs in the best manner: so that he is Apostles did: I possess all things, I can sure not to be defeated or disappointed in do all things, he may in a sort say after his endeavours, nor to misspend his care St. Paul. and pains, without answerable fruit. He As for all other profits, secluding it, hath the best master to instruct him in his they are but imaginary and counterfeit, studies, and the best rules to direct him in mere shadows and illusions, yielding only his proceedings: he cannot be mistaken, painted shows instead of substantial fruit.k seeing in his judgment and choice of If from bare worldly wealth (that which things he conspireth with infallible wis- usurpeth the name of profit here) a man dom. Therefore & εvσεbãν äxows qiyoσ- seeketh honour, he is deluded, for he is opet, the pious man is the exquisite philo- not thereby truly honourable; he is but sopher. The fear of the Lord, that is wis- a shining earth-worm, a well-trapped ass, dom; and to depart from evil is under- a gaudy statue, a theatrical grandee: standing. The fear of the Lord (as is with God, who judgeth most rightly, he said again and again in Scripture) is the is mean and despicable: no intelligent head (or top) of wisdom. A good under-person can inwardly respect him. Even standing have all they that keep his commandments.i : here, in this world of fallacy and dotage, the wisest and soberest men, whose judg ment usually doth sway that of others, cannot but contemn him, as master of no real good, nor fit for any good purpose; as seeing that in the end he will prove most beggarly and wretched. Farther the pious man is enabled and disposed (hath the power and the heart) most to benefit and oblige others. He doth it by his succour and assistance, by his instruction and advice, which he is ever ready to yield to any man upon fit If a man affecteth power thence, he is occasion: he doth it by the direction and grievously mistaken: for, instead thereof, encouragement of his good example: he he proveth exceedingly feeble and impodoth it by his constant and earnest prayers tent; able to perform nothing worthy a for all men he doth it by drawing down man, subject to fond humours and pasblessings from heaven on the place where sions, servant to divers lusts and pleashe resideth. He is upon all accounts theures, captivated by the devil at his pleasmost true, the most common benefactor ure, overborne by temptation, hurried by to mankind; all his neighbours, his coun- the stream of the world, and liable to the try, the world, are in some way or other strokes of fortune. obliged to him: at least, he doth all the good he can, and in wish doth benefit all men. Thus all the fruits and consequences of profit, the which engage men so eagerly to pursue it, do in the best kind and highest degree result from piety, and indeed only from it. All the philosophical bravadoes concerning a wise man being only rich, only honourable, only happy, only above fortune, are verified in the pious man: to him alone, as such, with a sure foundation, without vanity, with evident reason, those aphorisms may be applied. They h Trismeg. i Job. xxviii. 28; Prov. ix. 10; i. 7; Psal. cxi. 10; cxix. 34, 99, 104, 130. If he propoundeth to himself thence the enjoyment of pleasure, he will also much fail therein for in lieu thereof he shall find care and trouble, surfeiting and disease, wearisome satiety and bitter regret; being void of all true delight in his mind, satisfaction in his conscience; nothing here being able to furnish solid and stable pleasure. If he fancieth safety, he deludeth himself: for how can he be safe, who is destitute of God's protection and succour; who is the object of Divine wrath and vengeance; who is assailed by many fierce and powerful enemies; whom the * Sen. Ep. 59. roaring lion is ready to devour; whom I shall never fall into want or distress. death and sudden destruction are coming How can that man be rich, who hath not to seize upon; whom guilt threateneth, any confidence in God, any interest in and hell gapeth for; who, without any him, any reason to expect his blessing? guard or fence, standeth exposed to such yea, who hath much ground to fear the imminent, such horrid and ghastly dan-displeasure of him, in whose hand all gers ?! things are, and who arbitrarily disposeth of all? Piety, therefore, is the only profitable thing, according to just esteem. She is more precious than rubies, and all the things we can desire are not to be compared to her.o Upon this account it is most true, what the Psalmist affirmeth, A little that the righteous hath is better than great riches of the ungodly.P If he thirst for liberty, he will be frustrated: for he can be no otherwise than a slave, while he continueth impious; servus tot dominorum, quot vitiorum, a slave to so many masters as he keepeth vices: a slave to himself and his own lusts; carrying about with him the fetters of unsatiable desire; being hampered with inconsistent and irregular affections. Ease he cannot obtain, being oppressed with unwieldy burdens of sin, of care, of trouble; being tossed with restless agitations of lust and passion; being like the troubled sea, which cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt." If he meaneth to get wisdom, he is out; for wisdom and impiety are incompatible things. All his knowledge is vain, all his speculations are no better than dreams, seeing he erreth in the main point, and is not wise to salvation. IV. That commendation is not to be omitted, which is nearest at hand, and suggested by St. Paul himself to back this assertion concerning the universal profitableness of piety; For, saith he, it hath the promise of the life that now is, and of that which is to come: that is, God hath promised to reward it with blessings appertaining to this mortal life, and with those which concern the future eternal state. As for the blessings of this life, although God hath not promised to load the godly man with affluence of worldly things, not to put him into a splendid and pompous garb; not to dispense to himthat which may serve for pampering the flesh, or gratifying wanton fancy; not to exempt him from all the inconveniences to which human nature and this worldly state are subject; yet hath he promised to furnish him with whatever is needful or convenient for him, in due measure and season, the which he doth best understand. There is no good thing which a man naturally desireth, or reasonably can wish for, which is not in express terms proposed as a reward, or a result of piety. He is, in fine, extremely mistaken, and in all his projects will be lamentably disappointed, whoever fancieth any true profit without piety: he never can attain to be so much as wealthy; but drudge | and plod what he can, must be a beggar, and a forlorn wretch. For how can he be anywise rich, who doth want all the best things, the only valuable things in the world, which any man may have, which any good man doth possess? How can he be rich, who is destitute of the most needful accomodations of life; who constantly feedeth on the coarsest and most sordid fare (the dust of pelf, the dung of sensuality;) who hath no faithful or constant friends (nothing earthly In general, it is declared, that Blessings can be such;) who is master of nothing are upon the head of the just; that no but dirt, or chaff, or smoke? Whereas good thing God will withhold from them also riches do consist, not in what one that walk uprightly; that, whatever othenjoyeth at present (for that can be little), erwise doth fall out, it assuredly shall be but in a presumed ability to enjoy after-well with them that fear God: that, Blessward what he may come to need or de-ed is every one that feareth the Lord, sire; or in well-grounded hopes that he that walketh in his ways: happy shalt thou be, and it shall be well with thee; that, There shall no evil happen to the just; that All things work together for good to them that love God. Particularly, there are promised to the pious man, that fear him: he will hear their cry, and will save them.x Firm peace and quiet.-The work of righteousness shall be peace; and the efA supply of all wants.-The Lord will fect of righteousness, quietness and asnot suffer the soul of the righteous to fam-surance for ever. Great peace have they ish. The righteous eateth to the satis- which love thy law. The fruit of rightfying of his soul. There is no want to cousness is sowed in peace. them that fear God. The young lack, and suffer hunger; but they that seek the Lord shall not want any good thing. lions do Guidance in all his undertakings and proceedings. The steps of a good man are ordered by the Lord- -none of his steps shall slide. In all thy ways acknowledge him, and he shall direct thy paths. Joy and alacrity.-Light is sown for the righteous, and gladness for the upright in heart. In the transgression of an evil man there is a snare: but the righteous doth sing and rejoice. Support and comfort in afflictions.— He healeth the broken in heart, and bindeth up their wounds. Be of good courage, and he shall strengthen your heart, all ye that hope in the Lord.a Deliverance from trouble.-Many are the afflictions of the righteous, but the Lord delivereth him out of them all. He keepeth all his bones, not one of them is broken.b Preservation and recovery from mishaps, and miscarriages.-Though he fall, he shall not be utterly cast down: for the Lord upholdeth him with his hand.c Success and prosperity in his designs. Preferments of all sorts, to honour and -Commit thy way unto the Lord; trust dignity, to wealth and prosperity.- Wait also in him, and he shall bring it to pass. upon the Lord, and keep his way; and Whatsoever he doeth, it shall prosper. he shall exalt thee to inherit the land. -Thou shalt decree a thing, and it shall By humility and fear of the Lord are be established; and the light shall shine riches and honour. Blessed is the man upon thy ways. The Lord shall com- that feareth the Lord-wealth and mand a blessing upon thee in thy store-riches are in his house. The upright houses, and in all that thou settest thine hand unto. Thine expectation shall not be cut off." Comfortable enjoying the fruits of his industry. Thou shalt eat the labour of thine hands.▾ Satisfaction of all reasonable desires. -The desire of the righteous shall be granted. Delight thyself in the Lord, and he shall give thee the desires of thine heart. He will fulfil the desire of them Prov. x. 6; Deut. xxviii. 8; xxx. 9; Ps. lxxxiv. 11; Eccles. viii. 12; Isa. iii. 10; Ps. cxxviii. 1, 2; (Prov. viii. 35); Prov. xii. 21; Rom. viii. 28. Prov. x. 3; xiii. 25; Psal. xxxiv. 9, 10.; xxxiii. 19; xxxvii. 3, 19. Psal. xxxiii. 18; xxxiv. 20; cxii. 7; xxxvii. shall have good things in possession. If they obey and serve him, they shall spend their days in prosperity, and their years in pleasure. The tabernacle of the righteous shall flourish.a Long life. The fear of the Lord prolongeth days. By me thy days shall be multiplied, and the years of thy life shall be increased. Let thine heart keep my commandments: for length of days, and long life, and peace, shall they add unto thee.e * Prov. x. 24; Psal. xxxvii. 4; cxlv. 19. 2 Psal. xcvii. 11; Prov. xxix. 6. a Psal. cxlvii. 3; xxxi. 24; xxvii. 14. d Psal. xxxvii. 34; Prov. xxii. 4; Ps. cxii. 1, 3: Prov. xviii. 10; (Job xxxvi. 7); Job xxxvi. 11; Prov. xiv. 11. • Prov. x. 27; ix. 11; iii. 1, 2, 16. |