2. This Joy makes a man active and serviceable to God, Neh. 8.10, The joy of the Lord is your strength; Weak hands and feeble knees which are the Instruments of action and motion are attributed to fear as the cause of them; Thus on the contrary Joy makes strong hands and firm knees; The Incestuous person when almost swallowed with sorrow could no more vigorously serve God then a piece of wood, whose moisture is not yet dried up, would be useful for building: Hence any service done to God that is accompanied with dejections and sorrow, hath a kind of uncleanness in it, as we have a notable expression, Hos. 9.4. Their Sacrifices shall be unto them as the Bread of mourners, all that eat thereof shall be polluted, Lev. 11.1. Persons that mourned for others that were dead, were accounted unclean, and thus doth all sinful sorrow and dejection, it makes thy duty unclean, it polluteth thee, for God loveth not only a cheerful giver, but cheerfulness in all duties, and therefore we read of Gods severe threatening for the neglect of this, Deut. 28.47. One great cause of all those heavy Curses there mentioned, is because they did not serve the Lord ⟨p. 413⟩with joy and gladness of heart; Add to this, Deut. 12.7, 12. as also Deut. 26.14. where the person offering Sacrifices was to make this Protestation, that he had not eat thereof in his mourning: If you say, God is of such infinite purity and holiness, that I being full of infirmities have cause to tremble before him; We grant it, yet remember the Psalmists Advice, Rejoice with trembling, Psal. 2. That is the fat of the Sacrifice; Oh then thou that complainest of thy dullness, listlessness and lukewarmness in Gods Service, whose duties look like Pharaohs lean Kine, and though they swallow down many fat opportunities as these did the fat Kine, yet remain withered and ill-favoured still; Consider whether unbelief and sinful dejections are not like Ivy to the Tree, or like rottenness in the bones, so Solomon calls Sorrow. The bones which are the chief strength of a man, if they have rottenness in them, how weak must that man be? Consider then whether thy want of heavenly joy be not the cause of the evil upon thee, whether that do not make thee a barren Wilderness and a parched heath, whether thou hadst not fulfilled all Relations and opportunities more fruitfully, if this Joy had been fulfilled in thee.
2. This Joy makes a man active and serviceable to God, Neh. 8.10, The joy of the Lord is your strength; Weak hands and feeble knees which are the Instruments of action and motion are attributed to fear as the cause of them; Thus on the contrary Joy makes strong hands and firm knees; The Incestuous person when almost swallowed with sorrow could no more vigorously serve God then a piece of wood, whose moisture is not yet dried up, would be useful for building: Hence any service done to God that is accompanied with dejections and sorrow, hath a kinde of uncleanesse in it, as we have a notable expression, Hos. 9.4. Their Sacrifices shall be unto them as the Bread of mourners, all that eat thereof shall be polluted, Lev. 11.1. Persons that mourned for others that were dead, were accounted unclean, and thus doth all sinful sorrow and dejection, it makes thy duty unclean, it polluteth thee, for God loveth not only a chearfull giver, but chearfulnesse in all duties, and therefore we reade of Gods severe threatning for the neglect of this, Deut. 28.47. One great cause of all those heavy Curses there mentioned, is because they did not serve the Lord ⟨p. 413⟩with joy and gladnesse of heart; Adde to this, Deut. 12.7, 12. as also Deut. 26.14. where the person offering Sacrifices was to make this Protestation, that he had not eat thereof in his mourning: If you say, God is of such infinite purity and holinesse, that I being full of infirmities have cause to tremble before him; We grant it, yet remember the Psalmists Advice, Rejoyce with trembling, Psal. 2. That is the fat of the Sacrifice; Oh then thou that complainest of thy dulnesse, listlesnesse and lukewarmnesse in Gods Service, whose duties look like Pharaohs lean Kine, and though they swallow down many fat opportunities as these did the fat Kine, yet remain withered and ill-favoured still; Consider whether unbelief and sinful dejections are not like Ivy to the Tree, or like rottennesse in the bones, so Solomon cals Sorrow. The bones which are the chief strength of a man, if they have rottennesse in them, how weak must that man be? Consider then whether thy want of heavenly joy be not the cause of the evil upon thee, whether that do not make thee a barren Wildernesse and a parched heath, whether thou hadst not fulfilled all Relations and opportunities more fruitfully, if this Joy had been fulfilled in thee.
