Reader
Reader Although all men desire happiness, and nothing is more necessary to be known, there are great misconceptions about it. It is not found in sensual pleasures; if it were, Dives would have been happy (Luke 16), and those who worshiped their appetites would have found fulfillment (Philippians 3). It is not found in honors, for then the Dragon and the Beast would have been happy (Revelation 13:4). It is not found in riches (James 5:1). It is not found in moral virtues, as the heathens would have been happy in that case, and Paul in his
Pharisaism (Philippians 3:6). It is not found in knowledge (Ecclesiastes 1:18), nor in the contemplation of divine things, for then Balaam would have been happy (Numbers 24:3, 4), as well as Plato, whose thoughts were of such nature. It is not found in any of these, but in what the Lord Christ has laid down and explained in this work. Some deny that saintship and happiness can be experienced in this life, but David refutes the former (Psalm 16:3), and Christ the latter. It is true that perfect happiness cannot be achieved in this life due to the presence of sin, vanity, and misery in every condition and thing we enjoy. The best of men experience more
wormwood than wine. However, there is a true blessedness in this life, which lies in the qualities, actions, and sufferings that have a clear, certain, and strong tendency toward perfect happiness. It can be called "Seminal" or "radical" blessedness. Examples of such blessedness are the Beatitudes mentioned here and elsewhere in the Holy Scripture, such as delighting in the Law of God (Psalm 1:2), fearing the Lord (Psalm 112:1), and being undefiled in one's conduct
(Psalm 119:1). Such men are blessed, not simply because of the qualities they possess, things they do, or sufferings they endure, but because these lead to and culminate in perfect blessedness in the end.
Reader, the times are perilous. A sentence of death hangs over most, if not all, of your comforts. You do not know how soon you may be stripped of your apparent happiness. If you do not possess a share in these Christian Beatitudes, you are a miserable man. Your life is a dream, and your death will be dreadful. Presented to you is not the happiness that the world considers blessed, or what you may think is so, but what the blessed Son of the blessed God Himself has declared and will prove to be in life and death. Consider and deem as your blessedness that which the Lord Christ Himself regards and calls blessedness. Then, no matter the challenges, troubles, and changes of the times, you are a blessed man, you shall remain so, and you shall have a blessed end. The Reverend Author of these Sermons, Mr.
Jeremiah Burroughs, did so, as it was the subject of his preaching before his death.
These Sermons of his have lain complete and unpublished for thirteen years, up until this very day (for he died on the 14th day of the 9th month, 1646). But with the assistance of those who have taken charge, most of these Sermons have already been printed and are now brought to light. They reveal themselves as the genuine