352 – This text introduces the author, the quantity, and the quality of joy. The joy set forth in the passage is a joy that is from Christ and a joy that concerns Christ. 353 – This joy is not only an accomplished fact, but Christ gives it to us abundantly. Believers know this joy in their experience.

353 – Two observations: 1. “Christ is a fountain of consolation.” Christ intercedes for us in two ways: through his own prayer on our behalf, and through the Holy Spirit in our hearts. Rom. 8:26. “The Spirit testifieth to our hearts the quality of that intercession Christ maketh for us in heaven; it is the echo of it; the inward interpellation of the soul is the echo of Christ’s intercession.” “Here is a remedy for all the afflictions of the church.” 2. Christ exercised much care in order to secure the joy of his people.

353 – First, What this joy is. 1. It is not a worldly joy, but a heavenly joy; not a carnal joy, but a spiritual joy. 354 – *“That which Christ would establish is a cheerful piety, not a profane joy.” If Christ delights in us (Prov. 8:31), then should we not delight in him? 2. “The joy is full because the object is infinite; we can desire nothing beyond him.” He made reference here to “peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost” ( See Westminster Shorter Catechism 36). “It is better felt than expressed.” It is a foretaste of heaven. 3. It is inward in quality and it comes to us in the midst of afflictions.

354 – Second, “How much Christ’s heart is set upon it.” This is why he sent the Holy Spirit. Jn. 14:19; 15:11. 355 – “Christ maketh this to be his main work and aim, that in this life we might have peace of conscience and joy in the Holy Ghost, and in the life to come, joy forevermore.” Likewise, “the whole ministry of the church” is designed to serve this purpose.

355 – Third, The reasons for Christ’s great concern over our joy. 1. It is very useful in our spiritual lives. Neh. 8:10. This joy makes us pursue our duties and our callings with comfort. 2. “To mar the taste of carnal pleasures.” Carnal men rejoice in carnal pleasures because they have no better pleasures. 356 – 3. Our joy honors Christ. “Nothing bringeth reproach upon the ways of God so much as the sadness of those that profess him.” 4. Christ is delighted when he sees us cheerful. “The Lord doth not delight in a sad devotion.” We make the heart of Christ glad by keeping our own hearts cheerful.

356 – Fourth, Observations concerning joy. 1. The providence of God aims at the joy and the welfare of his creatures. “All actions of godliness have a delight mixed with them.” 2. “Spiritual joy ariseth more from hope than possession.” Rom. 12:12; Heb. 3:6; Rom. 5:2. “It is an affection proper to the next life; but some birds sing in winter. Though we have not an actual possession of glory, yet there is a certainty of possession.” 3. We know more of this joy in adversity than we do in prosperity. 1 Pet. 1:6; Rom. 5:3. In our afflictions, we taste in ourselves the evil that Christ has ultimately freed us from. Our temporal sorrows remind us of the privilege of being delivered from eternal sorrows. 357 – 4. Those who have tasted the greatest sorrows have the greatest joys. Is. 57:18. “Unutterable groans make way for ineffable joys. . . . God permits sorrows, that we may find the fuller comfort.” 5. Our joy fluctuates, but even when it is gone in our experience, we still possess the right to it. Jn. 16:22. “If we lose it ourselves, it is not utterly lost.” Just as the sun always moves but does not always shine, so when the sense of joy fails a Christian, faith supplies what is lacking in order to help us to press onward. 6. “Men naturally are more susceptible of sorrow that of joy.” “Men are more ingenious and inventive to torment themselves than they are to find out arguments of joy.” In part, this is due to our own ingratitude, but it is also due partly to God’s work in making us long for heaven more.

357 – Use 1 – These things show us the goodness of God. Our wages are a part of our work, and our service to him is a part of our reward. This world is a vale of tears, but the sun shines sometimes even when it rains. Use 2 – 358 – Let us not slander the ways of God, as though he would take away all delight from us. “God doth not require that you should renounce delight, but change the course of it. Joy is not abrogated, but preferred. Do not think the practice of religion is full of sadness and heaviness.” If we lack joy, then it is because we have not tasted deeply enough the promises of God in Christ. Use 3 – Let us despise the “dreggy” delights of the world. We are empty by nature and worldly joys cannot fill us. “We need to be refreshed with other pleasures. . . . God in Christ is full and fresh to all eternity; angels are not weary of him.” “There is a mirth becoming the gravity of a Christian.”

359 – Use 4 – Reproof [1] To those who are sad always. “It is a sad thing that Christians should not have the wisdom to make use of their own felicity.” This shows that we have “ill thoughts of God.” Like a snail that leaves is “slaver” upon a beautiful flower, Christians who complain and lack joy in the Lord “leave the slaver of their murmurings upon [God’s mercies], as if all were nothing.” 360 – “In the garden of Christ there groweth other fruit besides crabs.” “Your discontent cannot be greater than the grounds of your comfort.” We should never mourn without hope, even when we mourn over our sins. “God doth not forget his relation to us, and so should not we.” Jer. 3:14. [2] Others rejoice who have no proper matter for rejoicing. We cannot rejoice in God until we have a true interest in God.

361 – Use 5 – Use your minds in order to exercise this joy. [1] Consider the reasons that you have for rejoicing. (1) Marvel at the change that God has made in your soul. 1 Pet. 2:9. “The light is more marvelous because of the foregoing darkness.” Christians must consider what they were and what they are now. (2) Consider the mercies of God that you have in hand presently. Rom. 8:37. The saints have communion with God even when they are banished from among men. (3) Consider your future hope. Heb. 3:6. “We are heirs-apparent to the crown of heaven. We may rejoice in what we possess, we may glory in what we hope for.” 362 – [2] Use the graces and the ordinances that God has appointed in order to cultivate spiritual joy. The graces in view are faith, hope, and obedience. Faith represents to us the excellence of truth as well as the reality of spiritual things. Joy arises either from the actual possession of some good, or from the firm expectation of it. Heb. 10:34. “It is the nature of faith to make things absent present.” Faith gives “an actual presence” to the objects of our hope. Hope “is an earnest elevation of the mind to look for what faith counteth real.” Rom. 12:12. Faith gives the title to joy, hope gives the sight of joy, and obedience provides the evidence of these things. By obedience we walk in a condition that makes us capable of joy. Therefore, we must beware of even the least sin. Walking in the fear of the Lord and in the comfort of the Holy Ghost “is a sweet couple.” Acts 9:31.

The ordinances that we must use are the word, prayer, the sacraments, and meditation. 363 – In the word, God opens his own heart to us. In prayer, we open our hearts to God. Sacraments are a means of fostering joy because they are “sealing ordinances.” It is not the external elements that delight us, but “the renewing of the covenant.” Meditation “is the proper natural use of reason.” “It is a refreshing to the soul to think of creation and providence; as a son taketh pleasure in a history wherein are recorded his father’s valiant acts. It is a pure recreation. But oh! the sweetness of redemption, the excellency of glory! The thoughts are sent as spies into the land of promise; hereby we have a Pisgah-sight; it giveth us a foretaste of heaven, and filleth our souls with joy and blessedness.”

The audio and .pdf outlines are available here.

The Wednesday Study in Theology here at the Oceanside United Reformed Church continued through Thomas Manton’s sermons, “The Temptation of Christ,” this week. Manton’s second sermon deals with the first temptation of Christ’s by the Devil. Here is the link to part 1 of the lecture (which also includes a .pdf of the outline) and part 2.

“I confess we do not forbid other songs [non-Psalms]; if grave and pious, after good advice they may be received into the Church . . . [he then cites a well-known passage from Tertullian on singing privately composed songs] . . . But that which I am to prove, that scriptural psalms may be sung [he's arguing here against those who said the Psalms were too Old Covenant and legal for us to sing], and I shall, ek perissou, with advantage over and above, prove that they are fittest to be sung.” (Works 4:441–445)

This is basically what Calvin said in his “Preface to the Genevan Psalter,” summarizing Augustine, that the Psalms are the best thing to sing [not condemning, though, other songs]. Manton also gave three qualifications for singing humanly-composed hymns: 1) they must be grave and reverent, 2) they must be pious and spiritual, and 3) they must be approved by the church as a whole.