A plea for the Godly

2. It is a more unmixed joy. Worldly joy is usually spiced with some bitterness; guilt eclipseth it, Prov. 14. 13. In laughter the heart is sorrowful: One may drink wormwood in a golden-cup; but the joy of the righteous like David's Harp ⟨p. 50⟩drives away sadness; it gives honey without gall; it hath no allay or umbrage.

3. The joy of the righteous is more durable. Other joy is like a flower which withers while you are smelling to it. I have read of a River in America, which runs in the day with a full Torrent, but it is dry at nig•: The comforts of the world run strongly in the day of health, and prosperity, but at the night of death they are dried up; but as joy abounds in the godly, so it abides: Joh. 16. 22. Your joy no man taketh from you. Divine joy is but begun in this life, it is perfected in glory; here is but the tuning of the instrument, the sweet consort is reserved for heaven; here the Saints do but sip of the cup, there they shall drink of the rivers of divine pleasure for evermore, Psal. 16. 11.

3. A righteous man is more excellent than a wicked, in respect of ⟨p. 51⟩what he Shall Have: He shall have a better reward; both righteous and wicked are rewarded, but there is a vast difference; the wicked shall have a reward of punishment, the righteous of mercy,