The Art of Happiness – by Francis Rous (1579–1659)

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The Art of Happiness by Francis Rous (1579–1659)

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Francis Rous (1579–1659) was a fiery preacher of the Gospel of Christ, and a member of the Westminster Assembly as a lay assessor. He was a sound Puritan divine, and was highly recognized for his “Art of Happiness,” and his writings against Arminianism.

Who doesn’t want to be happy? So ask yourself, “Are you happy?” Rous masterfully explains how man may attain true and eternal happiness. He expounds multiple passages in Scripture in order to be skilled in the “Art of Happiness.”

Man must understand God’s original intention in happiness, how it was lost, and how man in his fallen condition can attain it once again through Jesus Christ. It is in Christ Jesus that the Christian is able to be happy, and able to see Christ’s beauty. It is here that all Christian affections desire and gasp after Christ. The soul is a wide opened door to receive the benefits of Christ by the power of his quickening and sanctifying Spirit. The Christian must desire him as the only happiness, for true happiness is found in Christ alone.

Rous teaches the Christian how to discern true happiness, how to gain this happiness, how to keep this happiness, and how to cultivate this happiness; especially by those who may be depressed or despondent. Here the Christian should not only be content to get this happiness, but there must be in them an insatiable desire to forever increase it, and never to lose it. Rous shows that the Spirit of God is the fiery chariot that carries the soul through the way of piety to the country of happiness. Once the Christian finds true happiness, God is theirs, and they are God’s, and in this unity is the fullness of happiness, experienced both now, and the life to come.

The Table of Contents is as Follows:

ARE YOU HAPPY? – McMahon

MEET FRANCIS ROUS – McMahon

ORIGINAL TITLE PAGE

A LETTER

A WORD TO MAN

PART 1: A SEARCH OF MAN’S HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 1: THE BEST PROPOSED END IS HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 2: THE CONDITIONS OF TRUE HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 3: CAN THE WORLD MAKE MEN HAPPY?

CHAPTER 4: PLEASURES AND RICHES ARE NOT MAN’S HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 5: OF KNOWLEDGE

CHAPTER 6: THE UNIVERSAL VANITY OF THE WORLD

CHAPTER 7: WHAT REMAINS OF NECESSITY TO BE THE HAPPINESS OF MAN

PART 2: SETTING FORTH THE HAPPINESS OF MAN, AND ITS RESTORATION AFTER IT WAS LOST

CHAPTER 1: THE PURPOSE OF THE CREATOR IN CREATION

CHAPTER 2: HOW MAN FELL FROM HAPPINESS INTO MISERY

CHAPTER 3: HOW MAN IS RESTORED TO HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 4: HOW MAN IS FREED FROM MISERY AND MADE HAPPY

PART 3: THE ART OF HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 1: HOW MAN FASTENS HIMSELF TO HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 2: HOW A MAN MAY GET THIS FACULTY WHICH UNITES MAN TO GOD

CHAPTER 3: THAT WE SHOULD STRIVE TO INCREASE OUR HAPPINESS

CHAPTER 4: INCREASING HAPPINESS WITH QUICK OBEDIENCE

CHAPTER 5: INCREASING HAPPINESS WITH WATCHFULNESS

CHAPTER 6: PRAYER

CHAPTER 7: MEDITATION

CHAPTER 8: ASSOCIATION

CHAPTER 9: OF HUMILITY

CHAPTER 10: PATIENCE

CHAPTER 11: THE FINAL POSSESSION AND FRUITION OF HAPPINESS

This is not a scan or facsimile, has been updated in modern English for easy reading and has an active table of contents for electronic versions.