for evil is our duty in reference_to_man, surely, to requite evil for good, and that to God, must needs be impiety. This sin renders inexcusable. God appeals to the very consciences of mercy-despisers, and offers themselves to judge of the righteousness of his proceedings in punishment, Isa. v. 3, 4; nay, the recollecting of abused mercy will be the most scalding ingredient in that fiery lake, when the flaming sufferer remembers, He that is now mocking at my calamity, once wept over my unkind soul; he who is now harder than flint and marble against me, was once a tender-hearted God toward me; he who now thunders in wrath against me, formerly sounded in his bowels for me the way of mercy was once open and plain, but now the bridge of mercy is drawn, my possibilities are ended. I am now in a gulf of woe, that heretofore was unprofitably a gulf of mercy. How many kingdoms, nay worlds, would I now give

for but one drop of that love, the sweet and swelling streams whereof I heretofore but paddled in! Christian, sin not against mercy; if that be thine enemy, what shall justice be? when love itself shall be inexorable, who shall plead for thee? Let mercy make thee blush, that justice may not make thee bleed. Trifle not away the day of grace. The wine of mercy is to refresh the sorrowful with hope, not to intoxicate the sinner into presumption. If mercy cannot thaw thee, it will burn thee. O let the longsuffering of God be salvation, 2 Pet. iii. 15.

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Obs. 4. Great is the heinousness of sin, that can provoke a God of much mercy, to express much severity. That drop of gall must needs be bitter, which can imbitter a sea of honey. How offensive is sin, that can provoke God, to whose ocean of pity the sea is but a drop! Ephraim (saith the prophet) provoked God to anger most bitterly, or, with bitternesses, Hos. xii. 14. God afflicts not willingly he gives honey naturally, but stings not till provoked. Every sufferer coins his own calamities. There is no arrow of judgment which falls down upon us, but was first, in sinning, shot upwards by us; no shower of miseries that rains down, but was caused by the ascent of the vapours of sin; no print of calamity upon the earth, but sin was the stamp that made it. What a folly is it, in our sufferings to be impatient against God, and to be patient towards sin; to be angry with the medicine, and in love with the disease! Let us justify God in all our sufferings, and condemn ourselves. God commands, that if a man were found dead, the city that by measure was found to be nearest to the place where he was found, should offer up a sacrifice, Deut. xxi. 1-9. In all our deaths and woes, would we measure impartially, we should find sin nearest; | let us sacrifice it.

Obs. 5. It should be our care to obtain the best and choicest of mercies. God hath mercies of all sorts: wicked men are easily put off with the meanest ; their inquiry is, "Who will show us any good?" But, O Christian, let nothing please thee but the light of God's countenance: so receive from God, as that thou thyself mayst be received to God. Desire not gifts, but mercies from God; not pebbles, but pearls. Labour for that which God always gives in love. There may be angry smiles in God's face, and wrathful gifts in his hand; the best worldly gift may be given in anger. Luther, having a rich present sent him, professed with a holy boldness to God, that such things should not serve his turn. A favourite of the King of heaven rather desires his favour than his preferment. We are accustomed to say, when we are buying for the body, that the best is best cheap: and is the worst good enough for the soul? The body is a bold beggar, and thou givest it much; the soul is a modest beggar, asking but little, and thou

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givest it less. O desire from God that thy portion may not be in this life, Psal. xvii. 14; that what thou hast in the world, may be a pledge of better hereafter; that these things may not bewitch thee from, but admonish thee what is in Christ. The ground of Paul's thanksgiving was, that God had blessed the Ephesians with spiritual blessings in Christ, Eph. i. 3.

Obs. 6. How little should any that have this God of mercy for theirs be dismayed with any misery! Blessed are those tears which so merciful a hand wipes off; happy twigs, that are guided by so indulgent a Father! All his severest ways are mercy and truth to those in covenant, Psal. xxv. 10; if he smiles, it is in mércy; if he smites, it is in mercy: he wounds not to kill thee, but sin in thee. The wounds of mercy are better than the embraces of anger. If sickness, poverty, dishonour be in mercy, why dost thou shrink at them? Wrath in prosperity

is

dreadful, but mercy makes adversity comfortable. It is the anger of God which is the misery of every misery. Peter, at the first, was not willing that Christ should wash his feet; but when he saw Christ's merciful intent therein, feet, and hands, and head are all offered to be washed. A child of God, when he sees the steps of a Father, should be willing to bear the stripes of a child. God will not consume us, but only try us: he afflicts not for his pleasure, but for our profit, Heb. xii. 10. God visits with rods, yet not with wrath; he takes not away his loving-kindness, Psal. lxxxix. 33. Mercy makes the sufferings of God's people but notions. It would do one good to be in troubles, and enjoy God in them; to be sick, and lie in his bosom. God gives a thousand mercies to his people in every trouble, and for every trouble. He burdens us, but it is according to our strength: the strokes of his flail are proportioned to the hardness of the grain, Isa. xxviii. 27; and merciful shall be the end of all our miseries: there is no wilderness but shall end in Canaan; no water but shall be turned into wine; no lion's carcass but shall be a hive of honey, and produce a swarm of mercies. The time we spend in labouring that miseries may not come, would be spent more profitably in labouring to have them mixed with mercy, nay, turned into mercies when they come. What a life-recalling cordial is the apprehension of this mercy of God to a fainting soul under the pressure of sin! Mercy having provided a satisfaction, and accepted it; nay, which is more, it beseeches the sinner to believe and apply it. That fountain of mercy which is in God, having now found a conveyance for itself to the soul, even Jesus Christ, through whom such overflowing streams are communicated to us, as are able to drown the mountains of our sins, even as easily as the ocean can swallow up a pebble. O fainting soul, trust in this mercy. If the Lord takes pleasure in those that hope in his mercy, Psal. xxxiii. 18; cxlvii. 11, should not we take pleasure to hope in it? Mercy is the only thing in the world more large than sin, Exod. xxxiv. 7. It is easy to presume, but hard to lay hold upon mercy, Psal. lxxvii. 7. O beg, that since there is an infinite fulness in the gift, and a freeness in the Giver, there may be a forwardness in the receiver.

Obs. 7. It is our duty and dignity to imitate God in showing mercy; a grace frequently commanded and encouraged in the Scripture. Mercy we want, and mercy we must impart, 1 Pet. iii. 8; Matt. v. 45; Luke vi. 36. As long as our fellow members are pained, we must never be at ease, Col. iii. 12; Rom. xii. 15. When we suffer not from the Plus est aliquanenemies of Christ by persecution, we must suffer from the friends of Christ

do compati, quan dare: nam qui exteriora largitur,

rem extra se positam tribuit; qul compasSionem, aliquid sui ipsius dat. Gr. Mor. 20.

Sic mens per compassionem doleat, ut larga manus affectum doloris ostendat. Greg.

by compassion. When two strings of an instrument are tuned one to the other, if the one be struck upon and stirred, the other will move and tremble also. The people of God should be so harmonious, that if one suffer and be struck, the other should be moved and sympathize. Holy men have ever been tenderhearted, grace not drying up, but diverting the streams of our affections, Jer. ix. 1; Luke xix. 41; 2 Cor. xi. 29. Christ was mercy covered over with flesh and blood; his words, his works, life, death, miracles, were all expressions of mercy, in teaching, feeding, healing, saving men: if there were any severity in his miracles, it was not toward man, but the swine and the barren fig-tree. Insensibleness of others' miseries is neither suitable to our condition as men, nor as Christians: according to the former, we are the same with others; according to the latter, grace hath made the difference. Mercy must begin at the heart, but must proceed further, even to the hand: they whose hands are shut, have their bowels shut also. We are not treasurers, but stewards of God's gifts. Thou hast so much only as thou givest. The way to get that which we cannot part with, is by mercy to part with that which we cannot keep. Our good reacheth not to Christ's person, it must to his members. Jonathan is gone, but he hath left many poor lame Mephibosheths behind him. We must love Christ in his working-day clothes. We cannot carry these loads of riches to heaven; it is best to take bills of exchange from the poor saints, whereby we may receive there what we could not carry thither. Especially should our mercy extend itself to the souls of others: as soul miseries, so soul mercies, are the greatest. They who are spiritually miserable cannot pity themselves; though their words speak not to us, yet their woes do. We weep over a body from which the soul is departed; and can we look with tearless eyes upon a soul from which God is departed? If another be not afflicted for sin, grieve for him; if he be, grieve with him. If thou hast obtained mercy, thou dost not well (as said the lepers) to hold thy peace: mercy must never cease till its objects do; in heaven both shall, Luke xiv. 14; Gal. vi. 9.

Thus much for the first blessing which the apostle prays may be bestowed upon these Christians to whom he wrote, viz. "mercy."

The second follows, viz. " peace;" which we shall first explain, and then present you with some practical observations.

Peace is a word very comprehensive, and is ordinarily used to denote all kind of happiness, welfare, and prosperity. And, 1. I shall distribute it into several kinds. 2. Show the excellency of that here intended.

1. There is pax temporis, or external, among men. 2. Pax pectoris, or internal, in the heart.

3. Pax æternitatis, or eternal, in heaven. Or more distinctly thus:

1. There is a peace between man and man. 2. Between man and other creatures. 3. Between man and, or rather in man with, himself.

4. Between God and man.

1. Peace between man and man; and that is public or private.

(1.) Public; and that either political of the commonwealth, when the politic state is in tranquillity, and free from foreign and civil wars: There shall be peace in my days, 2 Kings xx. 19. "In the peace thereof ye shall have peace," Jer. xxix. 7. This is either lawful, and so a singular mercy; or unlawful,

as when one people is at peace with another against the express will of God, as the Israelites with the Canaanites and Amalekites; or when they join in any sinful attempt, as did the Moabites and Ammonites against the Israelites. Or ecclesiastical, and of the church, when its public tranquillity and quiet state is not troubled within by schisms and heresies; or without, by persecuting and bloody tyrants. "Pray for the peace of Jerusalem," Psal. cxxii. 6. "The churches had rest," Acts ix. 31; and Acts iv. 32; 1 Cor. xiv. 33.

(2.) Private; and that either between the good and the good, or between the bad and the bad, or between the good and the bad. 1. Between the good and the good: "Love as brethren," 1 Pet. iii. 8; and, "Let brotherly love continue," Heb. xiii. 1; and, "The love ye have to all saints," Col. i. 4. 2. Between the bad and the bad. "Is it peace, Jehu?" 2 Kings ix. 22. And that either lawfully, for their own preservation; or wickedly, against the people of God; or to strengthen one another in some sinful attempt, and to that end, joining hand in hand. 3. Between the good and the bad; which is either lawful, as Abraham's with Abimelech; and commanded, Render to no man evil for evil; but, if it be possible, have peace with all men, Rom. xii. 17, 18. So Psal. cxx. 7, "I am for peace." And sometimes caused by a work from God upon the hearts of wicked men, as in the case of Daniel, chap. i. 9, and in Esau's love to Jacob; according to that of Solomon, "The Lord will make his enemies at peace with him," &c., Prov. xvi. 7. Or unlawful, when against the mind of God the godly make leagues with them, or agree in any way of sin.

vita sic lædunt

ceant, non per

est, vocabulum

per similitudinem

2. There is a peace between man (the faithful I mean) and other creatures. The good angels are at peace with, and are ministering spirits to them, Heb. i. 14. As Job v. 23, "Thou shalt be in league with the stones of the field, and the beasts of the earth shall be at peace with thee;" and Hos. Hujus foederis viii. 18, "I will make a covenant for them gore, mala hujus with the beasts of the field, and with pios, ut non nothe fowls of heaven, and with the creep- dant, sed prosint. ing things of the earth." The meaning Ubi notandum is, There shall be such a work of God fœderis accipi upon the beasts and fowls, &c., for the eraAntikās, et good of the church, as if God had effectus. Riv. in bound them to do them good by way of Hos. ii. 18. covenant; so that although the beasts, the fowls, the stones, &c. may annoy them, nay, kill them, the true safety of the church shall not be hindered by them; yea, all things shall work together for their good: neither nakedness, nor sword, nor death, nor any of these things shall separate them from the love of God in Christ; and if God sees it for their good, all the creatures in the world shall be so far from hurting the godly, that they shall all agree to advance their temporal good and welfare. There is mention, Jer. xxxiii. 20, of God's "covenant of the day, and of the night;" that is, the establishment of God's decree upon the day and the night, whereby they come to be in such and such a way from the creation to the end of the world.

3. There is a peace in man with himself; and that is either false, or sound. False peace is, when sinners, thinking themselves free from the fear of dangers, falsely promise safety to themselves: "When they shall say, Peace and safety," &c., 1 Thess. v. 3. Sound peace in man with himself is twofold: (1.) Of assurance, when sanctified conscience ceaseth to accuse and condemn us, speaking comfortably in us and for us before God, Í John iii. 21. This sweet quietness and tranquillity of conscience is the immediate fruit of our atonement with God; "that peace of God which passeth all understanding," Phil.

iv. 7, and in which the apostle places the kingdom of God, Rom. xiv. 17; the peace that Hezekiah was not destitute of, when he said, "Remember now, O Lord, I beseech thee, how I have walked before thee in truth," &c., Isa. xxxviii. 3. This peace sweetens every condition, is as music within, when the rain and storms fall upon the house; a friend, as Ruth to Naomi, that will go along with us in every distress: though we change our place, our garments, our conditions, our companies, yet our enemies cannot take this from us; it is "a continual feast," Prov. xv. 15. This peace preserves our hearts and minds (Phil. iv. 7) in all afflictions, and puts into us a holy security and neglectiveness of all dangers, Psal. iv. 8. (2.) Of subordination, when the will, affections, and inclinations of a man submit themselves to the mind savingly enlightened by and subjugated to God; which, although it be not perfect, by reason of that repugnant law in our members, yet it is true and progressive, the imperfection of it occasionally being an incentive to godliness, making us more fervent in prayer, humble, broken-hearted, and receptive of that peace we long for.

4. There is a peace with God, both in this life and in the next.

(1.) In this life; and so it is twofold. 1. A peace of reconciliation; and, 2. Of contentment. 1. Of reconciliation, whereby God and Christ is at one with man. "The chastisement of our peace was upon Christ;" the wrath deserved by us for our sins Christ sustained, and satisfied Divine justice fully; so that now God, not requiring satisfaction twice for the same offences, is at peace with us, Isa. liii. 5; John i. 29. This, the foundation of all the former and following kinds of good peace, is purchased by Christ the Prince of peace, Isa. ix. 6, and our peace, Eph. ii. 14; and proclaimed in the preaching of the gospel, the glad tidings of peace, Rom. x. 15, by the ministers of it, the ambassadors of peace, 2 Cor. v. 20; and accepted by faith, whereby we therefore enjoy and have peace with God, Řom. v. 1. 2. Of contentment, or holy submission, by which a man is peaceable, and not murmuring or impatient against God, but quietly accepting whatsoever is his will; the way indeed to live a truly quiet life, and (as one says well) ever to have our will; the waves of unquietness being ever raised by the wind of pride and unsubmissiveness, Phil. iv. 11.

(2.) Peace with God in the next life, or peace eternal, is the perfect rest which the saints shall enjoy in heaven; called "life and peace," Rom. viii. 6, and the "rest that remaineth for the people of God;" their resting from their labours, both inward and outward; not only from hurt, but from danger by, nay, from the presence of any thing that ever did molest them.

The apostle in this salutation, by peace, intends principally, peace with ourselves; that " peace of God which passeth all understanding," so often commended; which includes peace with men, commanded, and peace with the other creatures, promised to accompany it, and peace with God, presupposed as its cause and original.

2. This sanctified tranquillity and quietness of conscience (a singular blessing, often requested by the apostles for the faithful to whom they wrote) is of rare excellency, Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3; Col. i. 2; 2 Pet. i. 2.

(1.) For its author and original. It is from God, he being called the God of peace, 1 Thess. v. 23; 2 Cor. xiii. 11, and it the peace of God, Col. iii. 15; Phil. iv. 7. He is the author of external peace in church and commonwealth; the peace of Jerusalem must be begged of him; he maketh wars to cease, and all

stirs to be hushed; he maketh peace between us and the creatures, making a covenant for us with them: he is the author of eternal peace; for eternal life is the gift of God. But after a special manner is he the God of internal peace, the peace of conscience, at which St. Jude aims: for, 1. He sent his Son, [1.] To merit it for us, when we lay in the horror of an accusing conscience; who is therefore called in himself, the Prince of peace, Isa. ix. 6; and in respect of us, our peace, Eph. ii. 14: and the peace we speak of is said to be his peace, John xiv. 27, he making peace by slaying hatred on the cross, Eph. ii. 16, by his perfect obedience abolishing whatsoever God might hate in us. [2.] He sent his Son to preach and publish this peace, and to invite men to it, and that, first, in his own person. "The Spirit of the Lord is upon me, to preach glad tidings," &c., Isa. lxi. 1; Luke iv. 18. Secondly, in his ministers. "Christ came and preached peace to you who were afar off," Eph. ii. 17; he thus preaching it to the world's end. As he sent his Son to merit and preach this peace; so, 2. He sent his Spirit to apply and seal this peace in the hearts of the elect; it being called a fruit of the Spirit, Gal. v. 22; this Spirit enabling us to cry for this peace, Gal. iv. 6, and working faith in our hearts, whereby we have peace with God, Rom. v. 1, and boldness and access to the throne of grace, Eph. iii. 12, creating the fruit of the lips to be peace, Isa. lvii. 19. Nothing that the world either is or has, nay, neither men nor angels, can give peace; they may wish and publish it, God only gives it. Some say there is a disease which only the king can heal; I am sure a broken heart, a wounded conscience, can be healed only by the Prince of peace.

(2.) The excellency of this peace appears in the subject of it; and that both in respect of the parties that have it, and of the part of each of those parties in which it resides.

1. The parties that enjoy it are only the faithful. [1.] It is only promised to them, the true children of the church: "Great shall be the peace of thy children," Isa. liv. 13. "The Lord will bless his people with peace," Psal. xxix. 11. “The meek shall delight themselves in the abundance of peace," Psal. xxxvii. 11. "He will speak peace to his people," Psal. lxxxv. 8. "Lord, thou wilt ordain peace for us," Isa. xxvi. 12. "The end of that," the upright, "man is peace," Psal. xxxvii. 37. He shall enter into peace," Isa. lvii. 2. God will reveal unto such abundance of peace, Jer. xxxiii. 6.

[2.] It is only reported of the faithful, that they have peace; they are the sons of peace, Luke x. 6. The justified only have peace with God, Rom. v. 1. "There is no peace to the wicked," Isa. lvii. 21. "The way of peace they know not," Isa. lix. 3. "Great peace have they which love the law," Psal. cxix. 165.

[3] Peace is only wished and requested for the faithful. For others, either only as they were with an eye of charity looked upon as faithful; or as in those requests the terms upon which they should obtain this peace are also included; namely, the disturbing of their own unsound peace, the accepting of him that deserves the true peace, and the walking in the ways of holiness. But peace from God is never desired for men to continue in a state of war against God, Rom. i. 7; 1 Cor. i. 3; Gal. i. 3; Phil. i. 2; Col. i. 2, &c.; Gal. vi. 16; 2 Thess. i. 2.

[4.] The faithful only have taken the right course to obtain peace. They alone are freed from God's wrath, Rom. v. 9, 10, more dreadful than the roaring of a lion, or the wrath of all the kings of the world, it destroying the body and soul in hell: they only have pardon of sin, Rom. v. 1. The other, like guilty male

to the wheels, to make a Christian run the ways of God's commandments. The warmth of the spring draws out the sap of trees into a sprouting greenness, and the peace of God refreshes the soul into a flourishing obedience. Jonathan having tasted honey, his eyes were enlightened; and the soul which has tasted the sweetness of inward peace, is holily enlarged. Some who profess they enjoy an ocean of peace, express not a drop of obedience: suppose their profession true, they defraud God; but it being false, they delude themselves. The joy of God's people is a joy in harvest; as it is large, so it is laborious: they are joyful in the house of prayer, Isa. lvi. 7. (3.) This inward peace from God inclines the heart to peaceableness toward man. A quiet conscience never produced an unquiet conversation: the nearer lines come to the centre, the nearer they are one to another; the peaceable approaches of God to us, will not consist with a proud distance between us and others, 1 Pet. iii. 8, 9. This peace of God makes those who have offered wrong to others, willing to make satisfaction; and those who have suffered wrong from others, ready to afford remission. The equity of the former stands thus: If the great God speaks peace to man when offended by him, should not poor man speak peace to man when offending of him? The equity of the latter thus: If God be pacified toward man upon his free grace, should not man be pacified toward man, it being a commanded duty? and if God by his peace have sealed to man an acquittance from a debt of ten thousand talents, should not man by his peace acquit man from the debt of a hundred pence? Matt. xviii. 21-35. In a word, this peace from God makes us peaceable toward all; it keeps us from envying the rich, from oppressing the poor; it renders us obedient to superiors, gentle to equals, humble to inferiors; it preserves from sedition in the commonwealth, from schism in the church; it cools, it calms, it rules in heart and life.

Pax ista reddit offendentes ad satisfaciendum humiles, et offensos ad remittendum faciles. Dau. in Col. iii. 15.

(4.) Peace from God makes us commiserate those who are under his wrath. A pacified soul loves to impart its comforts, and 'is most ready to give a receipt of what eased it; it labours to comfort those that are in trouble, by the comfort wherewith it is comforted, 2 Cor. i. 4. The favourites of the King of heaven envy not his bestowing favour also upon others; they pity both those who please themselves with an unsound peace, and also those who are pained with the true wounds of conscience.

(5.) This peace from God makes us contented and quiet in every affliction. Since the Lord hath spoken peace in the first, we shall take it well, whatsoever he speaks in the next place: whatever God does peaceably, the soul bears it patiently. The great question of a godly heart, when any trouble comes, is that of the elders of Bethlehem to Samuel, "Comest thou peaceably?" and if it answers, “ Peaceably," is entertained with welcome. Lord, thou hast pardoned my sin, saith a pacified soul, and now do what thou pleasest with me. Men destitute of this peace are Îike the leaves of a tree, or a sea, calm for the present, moved and tossed with every wind of trouble; their peace is nothing else but unpunished wickedness. And this for the explication of the second blessing which the apostle requests for these Christians, viz. "peace."

The observations to be drawn from it follow. Obs. 1. They who are strangers to God in Christ, are strangers to true peace. True peace comes from enjoying the true God. A quiet conscience, and an angry God, are inconsistent; a truth deducible as from the preceding exposition of peace, so even

from the apostle's very order in requesting peace. First he prays for mercy, then for peace. If the Lord do not help us, how shall we be helped to this blessing? "out of the barn-floor, or the wine-press ?" 2 Kings vi. 27. The garments that we wear must receive heat from the body, before they can return any warmth again to it; and there must be matter of peace within, ere any peace can accrue from any thing without. If God be against us, who can be for us? if he disquiet us, what can quiet us? if he remain unpacified, the conscience will do so, notwithstanding all other by-endeavours. A wicked man's peace is not peace, but at the best only a truce with God. The forbearance of God to strike is like a man's, who thereby fetcheth his blow with the greater force and advantage; or like the intervals of a quartan, the distemper whereof remaining, the fits are indeed for two days intermitted, but return with the greater violence. A wicked man's conscience is not pacified, but benumbed; and the wrath of God not a dead, but a sleeping lion. A sinner's peace is unsound and seeming, in the face, not in the heart; a superficial sprinkling, not a ground-shower: he having in laughter his heart sad, may truly in it say with Sarah, I laughed not; he being in his rejoicing, as well as in his mourning, a hypocrite. Ask not the countenance, but the conscience Vides convivium, of a sinner, whether he rejoices. The lætitiam: interguilt of his sin is an unseen sore, a hid- tiam. Amb. Off. den scourge. His peace relieves him not; 1. 1. cap. 12. it is no preservative to his heart in per- quos diri conscia secution or distress; it leaves him, like facti mens habet Absalom's mule, when he hangs in any verbere cædit, ocwoe, and stands most in need thereof. intus tortore His peace stands only in the avoiding flagellum. of troubles, not in the sweet enjoying of God in his troubles; it is as uncertain as a dream, or as the crackling of thorns under a pot, Job xx. 5, 7; Eccl. vii. 6. His days of mourning will shortly come. Deluded he is with a groundless conceit of vain hopes; he is like a child in a siege, not apprehensive of his danger, but busy at sport, while the parents are at the breach, and the city ready to be sacked: he is secure, but not safe.

roga conscien

Evasisse putas

attonitos et surdo

cultum quatiente

das? securus esto; non Isaac, bitur; non peribit

dum tibi tormi

sed Aries inacta

tibi lætitia, sed contumacia, cujus vepribus hærent, bus anxietatis esse non potest. Bern.

utique cornua

et sine punction

Obs. 2. It is a mistake to think there is no peace to be found in the good ways of God. True peace is a fruit of God's Spirit, Gal. v. 22, and a branch of Christ's kingdom, Rom. xiv. 17. Godliness does not quell, but qualify mirth, not consume, Isaacum, i. e. but correct it; it deprives not of the use gaudium jugulanof nor comfort in any lawful delights, being procured by Christ, and bestowed by God as fruits of love. As for sinful and inordinate delights, which have no more pleasure in them than is found in the scratching of some unsound part when it itches, a saint being now healed of his disease, it is no pain for him to part with them. If holy men want peace, it is because they, or others, or both, are not more holy; nor are they sad because they are now holy, but because they were no sooner so. Their greedy desire of more holiness, often hinders them from taking notice of what already they have. They judge not aright of their present state; they have a pardon signed and sealed, but haply they cannot read it, because some sin has blotted it, or Satan casts some mist before Vid. Gataker's their eyes. If the holiest will sport with, they must expect to smart for sin; Satan, who was their tempter, will soon prove their torturer. And in mercy doth God correct a wandering child home, when in wrath he suffereth a vagabond to take his course; and the tears of the godly for sin

Just Man's Joy.