March 17

I said in mine heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with mirth; therefore enjoy pleasure: and, behold, this also is vanity. I said of laughter, It is mad: and of mirth, What doeth it?—Ecclesiastes 2:1, 2.

THERE is a degree of vexation from the enjoyment, or rather from the use of earthly things: for though a wicked man may be said to use the creatures, yet, in a strict sense, he can not be said to enjoy them. The Lord maketh his sun to shine upon them, giveth them a lawful interest, possession, and use of them; but all this doth not reach to a fruition. For that imports a delightful, sweet, orderly use of them, which things belong unto the blessings and promises of the gospel. In which respect the apostle said, "that God giveth unto us all things richly to enjoy." This is the main sting and vexation of the creature alone, without God's more especial sanctification and blessing,—that in it a man shall still taste the secret curse, which deprives him of that dearness and satisfaction which he looks for from him.

False joy, like the "crackling of thorns," he may find; but still there is some "fly in the ointment," "some death in the pot," "some madness in the laughter," which in the midst of all, damps and surpriseth the soul with horror and sadness: there are still some secret suggestions and whisperings of a guilty conscience, that through all this Jordan of pleasure, a man swims down apace into a Dead sea; that all his delights do but carry him the faster unto a final judgment. True joy, saith a heathen man, is not a perfunctory, a floating thing; it is serious and massy, it sinks to the centre of the heart. As in nature, the heavens we know are always calm, serene, uniform, undisturbed, they are the clouds and lower regions that thunder and bluster. The sun and stars raise up no fogs so high, as that they may imprint any real blot upon the beauty of those purer bodies, or disquiet their constant and regular motions: but, in the lower regions, by reason of their nearness to the earth, they frequently raise up such meteors, as often break forth into thunders and tempests. So the more heavenly the mind is, the more untainted doth it keep itself from the corruptions and temptations of worldly things; the more quiet and composed is it in all estates: but in minds merely sensual, the hotter God's favors shine, and the faster his rain falls upon them, the more fogs are raised, the higher thorns grow up, the more darkness and distractions do shake the soul of such a man. As fire under water, the hotter it burns, the sooner it is extinguished by the overrunning of the water; so earthly things raise up such tumultuary and disquiet thoughts in the minds of men, as do, at last, quite extinguish all the heat and comfort which was expected from them.

"Poor silly soul, whose hope and head lies low: Whose flat delights on earth do creep and grow: To whom the stars shine not so fair, as eyes; Nor solid work, as false embroideries; Hark and beware, lest what you now do measure, And write for sweet, prove a most sour displeasure. O hear betimes, lest thy relenting May come too late! To purchase heaven for repenting Is no hard rate. If souls be made of earthly mould, Let them love gold; If born on high, Let them unto their kindred fly:

For they can never be at rest, Till they regain their ancient nest. Then silly soul take heed; for earthly joy Is but a bubble, and makes thee a boy.

Herbert.