N00802:1988
The truly blessed man
The truly blessed man: or, The way to be happy here, and for ever: being the substance of divers sermons preached on, Psalm XXXII. / By Samuel Willard, teacher of a church in Boston. N.E. ; [Five lines from Isaiah]
printed by B. Green for Michael Perry, 1700
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
2. It is your indispensable duty. God doth not only encourage, but command it, and no duty more urgently: and Gods Commands are not to be slighted by his Children, how can you say you love Christ, if you keep not his Commands, John 14.15.10.14. He loves to see his Children show their delight in him, that his Service is not grievous, that they are satisfied in their portion, that they have enough in him, and desire no more to make them happy.
3 It is a very pleasant and desirable thing. Joy is the very life of a mans life, without that it doth but hang before him: it carries the man comfortably through his work; the want of it makes his life a burden to him: if natural joy be so beneficial, ⟨p. 643⟩Prov. 17.22. What then is spiritual joy, which reacheth the very soul, and hath an object transcendently glorious to act upon? this will make heavy burdens light, hard work easy, and carry you comfortably through an evil world under all changes of Providence.
3 It is a very pleasant and desirable thing. Joy is the very life of a mans life, without that it doth but hang before him: it carries the man comfortably through his work; the want of it makes his life a burden to him: if natural joy be so beneficial, ⟨p. 643⟩Prov. 17.22. What then is spiritual joy, which reacheth the very soul, and hath an object transcendantly glorious to act upon? this will make heavy burdens light, hard work easy, and carry you comfortably through an evil world under all changes of Providence.