SPIRITUAL JOY AND SORROW.—As there is a sad mirth, so there is a joyful mourning; look upon the voluptuous man; however laughter may appear in his face, yet sadness ever centres in his heart: his carnal delights are not only vain, but vexing. Whilst the banquet lasts, the sensualist sings, but when the reckoning comes, his spirits sink, his burning candle presently goes out in a snuff, his shining sun instantly sets in a watery cloud. Solomon gives us the sum of it thus: Even in laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness. But now come to the penitential person: as his tears are the joy of angels, so they are the joy of his heart, and the solace of his soul: the salter his tears, the sweeter his comforts; the deeper his sighs, the fuller his joy: the beams of consolation always shine into this house of mourning, so that his soul is in travail with a Barnabas, and his labors bring forth the fruits of peace: insomuch, that I may truly say, “To mourn for sin, is to weep for joy.” These pure and pleasant streams of consolation, that flow and run in those crystal rivers of eternal pleasures, at God’s right hand, come from a weeping spring. Why then is the mouth of wickedness opened against the way of holiness? As if grace were the Calvary to intomb joys; and impiety the very womb to bring forth felicity: but if experience may be heard, my soul hath felt both, and I find such damps of spirit in worldly pleasures, and refreshing of soul in the depth of godly sorrow, that I shall esteem one drop of such spiritual joy, better than an ocean of their carnal mirth.