JOy and Pleasure are things so tru­ly desirable by all Mankind, so agreeable to the frame, and first inclinations of humane nature, that Religion usually suffers from nothing more in the minds of Men, than in being thought to be an enemy to them. They look upon it as a dry and sower task, a piece of sullen and cloystered Devotion, that dooms Men to a black melancholy temper, and condemns them to nothing but fasting and mourn­ing, [Page 2]to sadness and solitude: As if a Man could no sooner engage in a strict vertuous course, but he must present­ly renounce his appetites, and divest himself of all the ease and comfort of his Life. Such are the ordinary ap­prehensions, which Men of loose and prejudic'd Minds have of Religion: Than which nothing can be more ab­surd and fals e, and more directly op­posite to its Nature and Tendency, which is to ennoble the Minds of Men, to advance our present interest, and to instate us in perfect peace, both with God and our own Conscien­ces.

It were no hard matter to shew, that things rightly considered, Religi­on is no Enemy to external pleasure, it ties us up from nothing, but what our own Reason and Interest should [Page 3]restrain us from, to wit, what is ei­ther unmanly, or pernicious, unbe­coming the Dignity of our Natures, and destructive both of our present Wellfare, and our future Happiness. In all harmless and innocent satisfacti­ons, that neither intrench upon the Honour of God, nor the Rights of others, nor our own peace and quiet, we have leave to pick and choose, to crop what delights we please; and what wise and reasonable Man can desire more? Besides, by obliging us to use lawful things according to the measures of Temperance and Sobrie­ty, it gives the truest gust and relish to them.

But my business at present lies with pleasures of another sort, such as are Divine and Spiritual, and seated in the noblest part of Man, and which [Page 4]are as much beyond all sensual de­lights, as the Soul is of a finer make and constitution than the Body; and these the Royal Psalmist here tells us, he valued infinitely above all advanta­ges upon Earth, Thou hast put glad­ness in my Heart, more than in the time, See Isai. ix. iii. Jer. xlviii. xxxiii. (though a time of greatest festi­vity and rejoicing,) the time that their Corn and their Wine encreased.

In prosecution of which words, I shall briefly enquire into three things.

1. The nature of this inward joy and pleasure. 2. What influence Re­ligion has upon the Joy and Pleasure of a Man's mind. 3. I shall consi­der the excellency of the pleasures of Religion, above all the Delights and Pleasures of this World.

I We shall begin with the Nature of this inward Joy and Pleasure, by which I do not mean, a natural gaiety and chearfulness of Humour, or a few light and transient fits of Mirth, nor yet any strong and confident pre­sumptions of God's Love and Favour, or any rapturous transports, and sen­sible ravishments of Joy, which how­ever in extraordinary cases, they may be granted to some, are yet very often in those that pretend most to them, little else, but the quick and vigo­rous motions of the Animal Spirits, impregnated by the force and power of a warm active fancy. That which I here intend, is a solid and rational satisfaction of mind, in the goodness and soundness of a Man's estate to­wards God, and flows usually from these two things.

1. From a sincere and regular dis­charge of our duty, which brings its own comfort and tranquility along with it: The Harmony of our Souls depends upon an even and orderly course of Piety, every violation of our obedience makes a breach upon our peace, and sets us back in the fa­vour of Heaven. All pleasure is founded in an agreeableness between the Faculty and the Object: Now there is an essential and eternal congrui­ty between a reasonable Soul and mo­ral goodness, which the more it is cherished, the nearer we return to our Natural and Original State. All acti­ons of Nature are very pleasant and delightful, and certainly we never act more agreeably to the right frame and constitution of our Souls, than when we pursue the designs of Ver­tue [Page 7]and Religion, when we are care­ful to Love, Worship, Honour, and Obey our Maker; to keep our Fa­culties in due Order and Decorum, to be just, kind, helpful, and benefi­cial to Men: Hence springs that con­tentment and satisfaction, that is lodg­ed in the minds of good Men, it be­ing as possible for the Sun-beams to be without Light and Heat, as Ver­tue without an inward complacency and delight.

2. This pleasure lies in a cheerful reflexion upon a Man's innocency, and the integrity of his actions, when a Man dares look back upon what he has done, and knows that he has the testimony and approbation of Hea­ven on his side, bearing witness to the vote and suffrage of his own consci­ence. And indeed what can possibly [Page 8]administer greater security and satisfa­ction to a good Man, than the assu­rance that he has sincerely done his duty, and that he is accepted with God. If our heart condemns us not, says the Apostle, that is, either of Hypocrisie or neglect, 1 Joh. iii. xxi. then have we confidence towards God. Upon such a review, a calmness and Joy over­spreads the mind, and a Man is re­freshed with the remembrance of his past Life. Which made the wiser Hea­thens say, that Vertue was a reward to its self, and that a good Man al­ways carries a Heaven in his own Bosome: Nulla re tam laetari soleo, (says Cicero) quàm officiorum meorum conscientia; I am refreshed and plea­sed with nothing more, than the Con­science of having done my duty; or it might have been rendred in those [Page 9]words of St. Paul, This is our rejoy­cing, 2 Cor. 1. xii. the testimony of our Conscience, that in simplicity and godly sincerity, we have had our conversation in the World. And this will be farther e­vident, if we consider,

II What influence Religion has up­on the Joy and Pleasure of a Man's mind, which will clearly appear from these following instances.

1. Religion restores a Man to the grace and favour of God, and as­sures him that Sins are pardoned, and his peace made with Heaven, that there is a league of friendship between God and him, that his trans­gressions are done away, and that God will remember his Sins no more. Than which, what stronger Spring of Joy and comfort can there be to a [Page 10]Man's mind. If the respects and kind­ness of a great Man, be so highly valuable, and the smiles of a Prince so refreshing, that as Solomon speaks, In the light of the King's Countenance there is Life, Prov. 16.15 and his favour is as the Cloud of the latter Rain. What pleasure must it be for a Man to think, that he has the friendship and favour of the great King and Gover­nour of the World, In whose favour is Life, Psalm 30.5.63.3. yea, whose loving kindness is better than Life it self. So long as God is an Enemy, all within us must needs be either full of fears, or in a state of War: For Conscience having relation to God, as its immediate Lord and Superiour, cannot be kind and friendly to those that are Trai­tors to Heaven.

The wise Creator of all things, has so framed and contrived our Natures, that either joy or torment shall be our portion according as the cause goes within our own Breasts. By Sin we displease the most delicate sense of our minds, and by offering violence to the Laws of our duty, we presently fall out of our own fa­vour, as well as God's; and are thereby exposed to the sharp lashes of an injured Conscience. Guilt is naturally troublesome and uneasie, it frets and gauls the mind, and fills the Soul with jealous and dreadful thoughts of God, which in despite of all the Arts and Shifts, that Men can use, will still pursue and haunt them, and prey upon them by invisible fears. When we have done all that we can to deceive our selves, we cannot al­ter [Page 12]the nature of things, Vice will be Vice, and Guilt will be apt to disturb and awaken Conscience, and bad Men will be afraid to die, and their Souls will tremble at the appre­hensions of a day of doom. Epicu­rus thought, he had sufficiently secu­red the enjoyment of his pleasures, and fortified himself against the assaults of inquietudes and fears, when he had discharged the Justice and Providence of God, and had done what was pos­sible, to banish the force of Religi­on, and the belief of a future state out of the minds of Men.

But let us see how he himself suc­ceeded in this affair. The Philoso­pher in Tully, gives us this account of him; Nec quenquam vidi, qui magis ea quae timenda esse negaret, ti­meret, mortem dico & Deos. Cotta ap. Cic. de Nat. Deor. Lib. 1. I never saw any one, says he, who was more afraid of those very things, which he himself affirmed were [Page 13]not to be feared, to with, Death, and the vengeance of the Gods. And ano­ther of their Writers tells us of him, [...] Himer. declam. in Epicur. ap. Phot. Cod. 234. p. 1084. that when Cited to appear before his Judges, he came with the most de­jected look, and confuted his fine Notions of mirth and pleasure, by his own sad melancholy Countenance. Nothing can lay a firm Foundation of true ease and quiet to our minds, but the satisfaction, that God is our Friend, and that all stands clear be­tween him and us, and nothing can entitle us to that, but a solid Piety, an unfeigned Repentance for what is past, and a sincere Reformation for the future course and practice of our Life.

2. A course of Vertue and Reli­gion subdues our inordinate appetites and vicious inclinations, which are [Page 14]the great Fountains of inquietude and trouble. Look upon a Man, that has broken loose from the restraints of Sobriety and Vertue, and aban­doned himself to a Life of Debauche­ry and Sensuality, and you will find his Soul like a Forest of wild Beasts, over-run with mutiny and disorder; his desires are infinite, his passions furious and ungovernable, his incli­nations different, apt to lye cross to, and to fall foul upon one another. The wicked, Isai. 51.20. says the Prophet, are like the troubled Sea when it cannot rest, whose waters cast up mire and dirt. In vain is it to expect calmness and serenity, where the Waves are con­tinually tossed with violent Storms; and as vain to look for joy and tranqui­lity in that Man's soul, that is distract­ed with the rage of unruly and ex­travagant [Page 15]affections, which at once bid defiance to the Laws of Heaven, and to the reasons of his own mind. Nay, could we suppose, that God should pardon a bad Man, and still leave him under the Power and Do­minion of his Lusts, this would not calm and pacifie his Conscience, eve­ry irregular appetite would be a Ne­mesis, a Fury to pursue him, and would disturb him in his most soft and retired hours. Nothing but Re­ligion, and the mighty assistance of Divine Grace, which is never want­ing to Men's sincere endeavours, is able to allay these storms, to con­troul our passions, to curb and mor­tify our corrupt inclinations. For Religion circulates through all our Powers, disposes every faculty to act in its due place and order, and de­termines [Page 16]every affection to its pecu­liar Object, which must needs pro­duce an inestimable contentment and delight, as then the Harmony will be pleasant, when every string gives in its proper sound. Besides the ve­ry mastering of our vices, yields mat­ter of Joy and Triumph; for though to contend with vicious habits, and radicated inclinations, be a difficult and ingrateful task, yet this difficul­ty is chiefly in our first entrance up­on a religious course; the Ice once broken, every temptation we repel, every Victory we obtain, will add a new pleasure and satisfaction to the mind, as no work more delightful to a Conquerour, than to pursue a routed Enemy, that flies before him.

3. A Pious and Religious Life, secures to a Man the peculiar care and protection of the Divine Pro­vidence, than which there cannot be a stronger support, and comfort to the mind of a wise and good Man. For what greater pleasure can there be, than to be assured, that whatever his circumstances may be in the World, yet all his concerns are lodged in the hands of unerring wis­dom, and infinite power, which can and will succeed and prosper them, to a happy event and issue; to know that in all streights and difficulties he is under the immediate guard and superintendency of Heaven, and that God stands by him, and takes care of him: That same omnipotent Arm, that brought the World out of no­thing, and keeps it from perishing by [Page 18]the same power by which he made it, is much more able to relieve and rescue him in the greatest dangers. The Lord is my light and my salvati­on, Psalm. 27.1 says David, Whom shall I fear? the Lord is the strength of my Life, of whom shall I be afraid? Though I walk through the Valley of the sha­dow of death, 23.4. yet will I fear no evil, for thou art with me. A Pious Man, that is heartily devoted to God's ser­vice, can chearfully trust God for his daily Bread, and is not anxious­ly concerned, if supplies come not in, just when he expects or wants them; he believes that that Almighty goodness, which provides for the meanest Creatures, and daily spreads a Table for the whole Creation, will much less neglect his own Children. Thus the Prophet argued when at his [Page 19]lowest ebb; Altho' the Figtree shall not blossom, neither Fruit be in the Vines, Habac. 3. xvii. xviii. though the labour of the Olive shall fail, and the Fields yield no Meat, the Flocks be cut off from the Fold, and there be no Herd in the Stalls, that is, though there should be an u­niversal failing of all the ordinary sup­ports of humane life, Yet will I re­joyce in the Lord, I will joy in the God of my Salvation. It is well for the World in general, that God Rules it, and takes care of it, The Lord reigns, let the Earth rejoyce. Psalm 97.1. Let the multitude of the Isles be glad thereof. Islands, that are cut off from the help and security of the Continent, and naturally seem most exposed to danger, yet even these are safe under the Divine care and Government. But above all, good [Page 20]Men have reason to rejoyce, because God being their Father, whatever he does for others, he will be sure to order the administrations of his pro­vidence for their comfort and happi­ness.

4. Religion refreshes the mind of a good Man with a joyful assurance of the glory and blessedness of the o­ther World. He that goes on by a patient continuance in well doing, as­sures himself from the Justice and un­changeableness of the Divine Promise, that however he fares at present, it shall be well with him at last, and he shall be happy for ever; That there is a rest that remains, a state of incomparable Glory prepared for them that love and obey God: And the expectations of This daily spring in upon his mind with fresh pleasures [Page 21]and satisfactions, and he cannot but rejoyce to think, that he shall short­ly arrive at that place, where he shall be as happy, as all the glory and blessedness of that state can make him: And indeed were it not for the pre-apprehensions of these future rewards, Vertue however lovely and amiable in it self, would be thought but cold comfort, and be able to bring over but few Proselites and Followers; 1 Cor. xv. xix. If in this life only we had hope in Christ, we were of all Men most miserable. But there are Joys unspeakable, and full of glory, ready to Crown the Piety of a good Man in the other World, and which will infinitely compensate all the difficul­ties of his present services and suffe­rings, which must needs make him lift up his Head with Joy and Tri­umph, [Page 22]and take pleasure even under infirmities and distresses. For this cause, 2 Cor. iv. 16, 17, 18. says St. Paul, We faint not, but though our outward Man perish, yet the inward Man is renewed day by day; for our light affliction which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory: While we look not at the things which are seen, but at the things which are not seen: For the things which are seen are temporal, but the things which are not seen are eternal. And so I proceed to the last things I propounded to consi­der, viz.

III The Excellency of the pleasures of Religion, above all the delights and pleasures of this World, they Put more gladness into the Heart, than [Page 23]when the Corn and the Wine increa­ses. And the great advantages of the one above the other, will appear from these following particulars.

1. The delights of this World are gross and corporeal, and affect only the external senses, and are the pleasures of the Brute, rather than of the Man. For any one to drown himself in sensual enjoyments, is in effect to degrade himself from the ho­nour of humane nature, and to place his happiness in those things, where­in the Beasts have a better share than we. The Joys and sweetnesses of Re­ligion reside in the most noble and excellent part of Man, and that which alone is capable of true real pleasure, they come nearest to the happiness of Heaven, and the Joys of God himself. To be in Heaven is [Page 24]not to be rich or honourable, or to swim in plenty, or to feast our senses with gross delights, no, the Joys of that state are chast and rational, such as arise from the conscience of our innocency, and the sense of our hap­piness, our being for ever in the pre­sence of God, and the company of pure and holy Souls. What is it that makes Heaven a happy place to good Men, but that they are un­weariedly and uninterruptedly im­ployed in the Ministeries of praise and admiration, always acting in subser­viency to the Will and Pleasure of their Maker? wherein consists the blessedness of God himself, but only in a happy contemplation of his own infinite Being, and a reflexion upon the exercise of his incomparable attri­butes and perfections? Religion, as [Page 25]it is the imitation of the Divine per­fections, so the comforts of it are a kind of participation of God's own delights, they put us as it were into Heaven before hand, and shew us what our entertainment must be, when we come there.

2. The Pleasures of Religion are more solid and satisfying, than any thing this World can afford: They fill our appetites, and fix our de­sires, and settle the Soul upon the right basis and temper; as in nature, every thing is at ease and rest, when lodged in its proper center. All earth­ly delights are strangely unsuitable to the nature of our Spirits, our desires fly beyond the regions of sence, and grasp at something more than this lower World can present them with: No vicious Man could ever say he [Page 26]had enough, Habac. 2.5. He enlarges his desires as Hell, as the Prophets Phrase is, and his cravings are as insatiable as death it self. He is rack'd between his own inclinations, and rowls from one enjoyment to another, till the very object of his pleasure becomes the instrument of his torment. For not finding satisfaction in this thing, he turns to that, and so runs the round, and after all is never the near­er than he was before; he has either too little or too much, and like Am­non, is either sick for what he has not, or surfeited of what he has. If resi­ding on any one particular scene of pleasure, though it be that which he has most a mind to, he quickly grows weary, and it becomes to him a bon­dage and a burden. It is Religion only that can bound and terminate [Page 27]our desires, and fix the Soul in a hearty Union to the will of God, and in the enjoyment of him who is the chiefest good. Nor do the repeated acts of it ever cloy or weary us, they quiet our appetites, but do not nau­seate them, because fresh delights are continually springing up, as they needs must do, where the Objects we feed upon are infinite and inex­hausted. For,

3. Religious Pleasures are more large and comprehensive, they take in a vaster compass, the delights both of this and of the other World. How exquisitely pleasant must it needs be to a wise Man, to let loose his meditations through the several circles of Divine contemplation, to entertain himself with the thoughts of God, the best and most happy Being; [Page 28]to consider the glories of his nature, the Wisdom and Harmony of his Creation, the wonders of his Provi­dence, the treasures of his mercy, and the unfathomable designs of his love and goodness, in the great work of our redemption: Things which cannot but excite his wonder, and ra­vish his affections. And if only in­tellectual pleasures, which are but the exercise of one faculty, have so wide a Sphear to move in, what is there, when every faculty is employed upon its proper object? In the best en­joyments upon Earth, we are soon at the end of the Line, the senses are limited to this and t'other ob­ject, and if that fails, their comforts are presently at an end, but spiri­tual delights are unconfined, and ex­tend themselves equal to the desires, [Page 29]the needs, and capacities of the Soul.

4. The Pleasures of Religion, have infinitely the advantage of all others in point of duration and con­tinuance, they abide with us, when all other comforts fly, or are rifled away from us. The delights of sense, as all other things in this World, are in their own nature fading and transient, and perish with the using, like the crackling of Thorns under a Pot, that make a flash and a blaze for a while, and then suddenly die away. Besides, they are exposed to a thousand casualties, that unavoid­ably break in upon us. Belshazzer was Arrested in the midst of all his Jollity, and the Triumphs of his Court, when an unexpected Message from Heaven, meeting with the Vote [Page 30]of a guilty Conscience, turn'd him into horror and trembling, and then all his light Airy Mirth vanished and disappeared. It is the peculiar ex­cellency of Religion, that the com­forts of it are out of the reach of all foreign and external accidents, and cannot be ravished from us. He that is the happiest Man in this World, is not able to secure his own felicity, because not able to de­fend it, from the rapine and malice of bad Men; who can be too hard for him, and strip him of his Estate or Reputation, when they have a mind to it. But what can break the ease of a good Man? what violence can force the guards of Conscience? or disturb that composure that is with­in our own Breasts. Death it self does not take it away, but improve [Page 31]and perfect it: And when the Joy of a wicked Man shall Perish like the Spiders Web, and his hope be as the giving up of the Ghost: Then will the Pleasures of a good Conscience ac­company us into the other World; Mark the Perfect, Psal. 37.37. and behold the Ʋp­right, for the end of that Man is Peace.

Thus we see, That the ways of wisdom, are ways of pleasantness, and how much the delights of a vertu­ous and a good Man transcend all other whatsoever. A consideration that ought mightily to endear Reli­gion to us; we naturally thirst after Pleasure, and 'tis no where substan­tially to be found, but in the course of a Holy Life. All sin is restless and tormenting, and sooner or later will make us troublesome and uneasie [Page 32]to our selves: 'Tis some time before a bad Man can wholly debauch his Reason and his Conscience, and 'till he can, that will create him some trouble and difficulty, it be­ing impossible a Man should sin with any tolerable ease or comfort, while Reason does remonstrate, and Consci­ence make head within. And when he has in a manner conquer'd all remorse, and stupified the sense of good and e­vil, he has no security that it will con­tinue, but that upon every little affli­ction or petty accident conscience will awaken into rage and horror, and that will be a torment infinitely beyond what the most witty cruelty of Man could ever find out, it being in the Phrase of the excellent Hierocles to anticipate [...], the torments which the damned suffer in the other World; [Page 33]as on the other hand to persevere in course of a serious and regular pie­ty, is to enter upon the Joys of Hea­ven, even in this Life; Joys which no misfortune is able to impair: 'Tis not all the World can make me miserable, if I be careful to preserve my innocency, and integrity. Tho' I cannot say (says Plutarch) that while I live, Lib. de A­nim. ap. Stob. Serm. 22. this or that calamity shall not befall me, yet this I can say, that while I live, I will never do this or that, I will not lie, or deceive, or craftily over-reach and betray my neighbour: For these and such like, are things that are in every Man's pow­er, [...], and do greatly conduce to the peace and tranquillity of our Minds.

The sum is this, Esai. 32.17. the work of righte­ousness is peace, and the effect of righte­ousness is quietness and assurance for e­ver; [Page 34]if either we would live with com­fort, or die with safety, this is the way, this is that that will sweeten the present difficulties of our journey, and in the end bring us to the Vision of God, in whose presence there is fulness of joy, Psal. 16.11. and at whose right hand there are pleasures for evermore. To which God of his in­finite Mercy, bring us all for Christ Jesus sake, To whom with the Father and the Holy Ghost, be all honour and glory, World without end. Amen.