Moses his choice with his eye fixed upon Heaven, discovering the happy condition of…

O that you would make trial of the ways of God! If once your hearts were in them, whereby you would ¹be satisfied, as to want none of these pleasures, it would make the moderation of them more pleasant then the excess: You would find more pleasure in the very act of self-denial, then in all the pleasure of your lives; and if there be so much pleasure in the denying false pleasure, what then is there in the enjoying true? Surely God hath pleasure enough for you, if you had a heart to trust him with your pleasure; you shall only lose your sin, not your pleasure. Bernard hath a notable expression in a declamation of his De bonis deserendis; If you be willing, says he, to sacrifice your Isaac, which signifies laughter, that is your pleasure, your Isaac, your pleasure shall not dye; it is the Ram, that is, your stoutness of spirit, your self-willedness that shall dye; ²but Isaac shall live, you shall have pleasure still. Do not harbour ill thoughts of God, to think that God is an enemy to your pleasure, and delight, he does not delight to grieve the spirits of men; if you would trust him with your pleasure, you should have pleasure, it may be in this world, but howsoever in the conclusion you shall have pleasure enough, my soul for thine. You must trust God with your souls, and eternal conditions, and will you not trust him with your pleasures? Do you think Christ came to ⟨p. 162⟩dye, and shed his precious blood to bring men into worser conditions then before? O no, certainly Christ did not come to take away any pleasure from his people, but to bring them the pleasures of Heaven, and of earth too, so far as they are needful. Is it not more like thou shouldst have pleasure when thou art reconciled to God, then when thou art an enemy?

O that you would make tryal of the ways of God! If once your hearts were in them, whereby you would ¹be satisfied, as to want none of these pleasures, it would make the moderation of them more pleasant then the excess: You would finde more pleasure in the very act of self-denial, then in all the pleasure of your lives; and if there be so much pleasure in the denying false pleasure, what then is there in the enjoying true? Surely God hath pleasure enough for you, if you had a heart to trust him with your pleasure; you shall onely lose your sin, not your pleasure. Bernard hath a notable expression in a declamation of his De bonis deserendis; If you be willing, says he, to sacrifice your Isaac, which signifies laughter, that is your pleasure, your Isaac, your pleasure shall not dye; it is the Ram, that is, your stoutness of spirit, your self-willedness that shall dye;