84 MISERY OF THOSE WHO [Chap. 6. doth he establish a firm and lasting peace. If, therefore, thou art yet in that first peace, never think it will endure. Can thy soul have lasting peace, in enmity with Christ? Can he have peace, against whomGod proclaims war? I wish thee no greater good, than that God break in upon thy careless heart, and shake thee out of thy false peace, and make thee lie down at the feet of Christ, and say, " Lord, what wouldst thou have me to do ?" and so re- ceive from him a better and surer peace, which will never be quite broken, but be the beginning of thy everlasting peace, and not perish in thy perishing, as the groundless peace of the world will do. 4. They shall lose all their carnal mirth. They will themselves say of their " laughter, it is mad; and of their mirth, what doeth it ?" It was but " as the crackling of thorns under a pot." It made a blaze for a while, but it was presently gone, and returned no more. The talk of death andjudgment was irksome to them, because it damp- ed their mirth. They could not endure to think of their sin and danger, because these thoughts sunk their spirits. They knew not what it was to weep for sin, or to humble themselves under the mighty hand of God. They could laugh away sorrow, and sing away cares, and drive away those melancholy thoughts. To meditate and pray, they fancied, would be enough to make them miserable, or run mad. Poor souls, what a misery will that life be, where you shall have nothingbut sorrowintense, heart-piercing, multiplied sorrow; when you shall neither have the joys of saints, nor your own former joys! Do you think there is one merry heart in hell ? or one joyful countenance or jesting tongue ? You now cry, "A little mirth is worth a great deal of sorrow." But, surely, a little godly sorrow, which would have ended in eternal joy, had been worth much more than all your foolish mirth; for the_end of such mirth is sorrow. 5. They shall also lose all their sensual delights. That which they esteemed their chief good, their heaven, their god, must they lose, as well as God himself. What a fall will the proud, ambitious man have from the top of his honors! As his dust and bones will not be known from the dust and bones of the poorest beggar, so neither will his soul be honored or favored more than theirs. What a num
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