All the days of the afflicted [are] evil: but he that is of a merry heart [hath] a continual feast.
Ver. 15. All the days of the afflicted are evil.] The guilt of sin puts a sting into afflictions, and makes them very grievous. Nihil est miserius quam animus hominis conscius, a said the heathen. Such an affliction may well be called, as Amos 6:6, shebharim, ‘a breaking to shivers,' for then God is a terror to man, Jer 17:17 and runs "upon the thick bosses of his bucklers." Job 15:25 Himself is also a magor-missabib to himself; so that he is for the time in the very suburbs of hell, and ready to become his own deathsman, as Judas. Hence Anselm; Mullem, purus a peccato, saith he, Gehennam intrare, quam peccati sorde pollutus coelorum regna tenere.
But he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.] The sincere heart, the quiet conscience, will not only stand under greatest pressures, as Paul, 2Co 1:9 ; 2Co 1:12 but goes as merrily to die in a good cause as ever he did to dine, as divers martyrs. Be the air clear or cloudy, he enjoys a continual serenity, and sits continually at that blessed feast, whereat the blessed angels are cooks and butlers, as Luther hath it, and the three persons in Trinity gladsome guests. Mr Latimer saith that the assurance of heaven is the deserts of this feast. There are other dainty dishes, but this is the banquet. Another saith, In minimo maximum est, bona mens in corpore humano: quae si adsit, deliciosius vivit etiam is qui teruntium non habet in orbe, quam si in unum hominem sexcentos confles Sardanapalos. All other feasts to this are stark hunger. It is a full feast, a lasting feast; not for a day, as that of Nabal, not for seven days, as that of Samson, no, nor of hundred and eigthy days, as that of Ahasuerus, but a durable continual feast, without intermission of solace, or interruption of society. Vis ergo, o homo, semper epulari? vis nunquam tristis esse? saith Bernard; bene vive: Wilt thou therefore, O man, never be sad? wilt thou turn thy whole life into a merry festival? get and keep a good conscience. The heathen philosopher b could say, O αγαθος αιει εωρταζει. A good man keeps holiday all the year about.
a Plautus.
b Diogen.