gree, and operations; and that, as he has thus acted, so he will always act in the same manner. The Eternity of God shows us, that these perfections will know no end; and that, therefore, the enjoyments of his children will endure for ever. Thus what God is here, he is every where; what he is now, he will be through eternity.

In the venerable and endearing characters of the Father, the Redeemer, and the Sanctifier, of mankind, God appears as the source of peculiar joy. As the Father of mankind, he appears as a Sovereign and Lawgiver, offended by our rebellion, but with infinite kindness proffering to us forgiveness and reconciliation; as sending, for this benevolent end, his beloved Son, to expiate our sins, and his holy Spirit, to renew our hearts and lives; and, thus, as opening his arms, unasked and undesired, to receive his penitent and returning children.

In the endearing character of the Son, he appears with boundless benignity, as making an end of sin, finishing transgression, and bringing in everlasting righteousness; as becoming man, that we might again be united to God; as dying, that we might live; as rising from the dead, ascending to heaven, assuming the government of all things, and interceding before the throne of infinite Majesty, that we might rise, hereafter, incorruptible and immortal; might follow him to the heavens; enjoy the infinite blessings of his administration; and be accepted as his faithful friends at the final day. Christ is the Corner stone of this living and glorious building, formed, according to the glowing language of St. Peter, of living stones a spiritual house of God, eternal in the heavens. On Him, the sole Foundation, the vast structure is erected, to stand for

ever.

By the Spirit of truth is this mighty work completed. With infinite kindness and patience he awakens, convinces, renews, and purifies, the soul; forms it for endless holiness, and endless life; and conducts it through this earthly wilderness to the land of promise beyond the grave.

In all these things, united, is the Love of God seen with supreme advantage, as immense, unchanging, and eternal; as endeared with all possible tenderness; as overcoming the most perverse obstinacy; as forgiving the greatest guilt; as flowing out to enemies and apostates, condemned by unerring justice, and discarded by the virtuous universe.

To the Christian, in all these respects, is God the source of su preme and unceasing joy. As a Christian, he has become a new creature; entered into a new creation; and enrolled himself as a subject of a new and immortal kingdom. This kingdom is a kingdom in which will be progressively accomplished, universal, entire, and everlasting good. For this end it was created. To this end it is uniformly conducted by the all-pervading, all-ruling, hand of JEHOVAH. The subjects of it are universally children of

light. Their intercourse is an endless succession of diversified virtue and loveliness. Purity, dignity, and excellence, are their inherent characteristics; and everlasting happiness, and glory, their final destination. In all that they are, in all that they do, and in all that is done to them, God himself rejoices with intense and eternal joy.

With this new kingdom the Christian has begun an everlasting connexion. His union to the members of it, and his intercourse with them, instead of terminating, will unceasingly become more intimate, more endearing, more exalted. The views of their minds and his are destined to become perpetually more and more just and comprehensive; their affections and his to be more pure, intense, and noble; their mutual friendship to be more sweet and serene; and their conduct to be, in unceasing gradation, such as is proper to be exhibited in the house, and presence, of God.

In accordance with this state of things, therefore, will the whole scheme of the Christian's future being be formed. His plans will, of course, be concerted in such a manner, as to embrace, and promote eternal purposes. They will be the plans of an immortal being, destined to act with immortal beings in a boundless field of existence the plans of a dutiful and faithful subject of the infinite Ruler; of a child, warmed with perpetual and filial piety to his divine Parent; of a brother, finally united to the household which is named after Christ; of a redeemed, sanctified, returning prodigal, brought back with infinite compassion, and infinite expense, to the house of his father, and welcomed with exquisite joy by the family of the first-born. To glorify God, to bless his fellow-creatures, and to be blessed by both, will be the combined and perfect end for which he lives. This end he will pursue in a world where no obstructions ever arise; where no toil ever wearies; where no disappointments ever intrude; where no temptations ever arrest; and where no enemies ever alarm: where his affections cannot be too intense, nor his pursuits too ardent; and where his only professional business will be to be virtuous and happy. As a citizen of this new and heavenly kingdom, the Christian begins his course of spiritual life. All these things are already become his. God is his Father; Christ his Redeemer; the Spirit of Grace his Sanctifier; and all the children of virtue are his brethren. In the present world he is only a stranger and a sojourner: he regards it, therefore, as a mere lodging; and fixes his eye on heaven as his home. With this new character, all things, with which he here converses, assume, to his eye, a new aspect; and are filled with the presence and agency of God. The heavens declare his glory, and the firmament sheweth his handy work. Day unto day uttereth speech, and night unto night sheweth knowledge. The year, in all its revolutions, is crowned with his goodness. The Spring is his beauty, blooming in endless varieties of elegance and splendour. Summer and Autumn are manifestations of his bounty; filling his creatures

with good. The Winter is a solemn display of his majesty. Then the Lord hath his way in the whirlwind, and in the storm; and the clouds are the dust of his feet.

In his own blessings the Christian sees God in a manner still more delightful. His blessings are not mere enjoyments: they are gifts; unspeakably endeared by the Hand from which they flow. When he is in prosperity; The Lord is his Shepherd, who maketh him to lie down in green pastures, and leadeth him beside the still waters; who prepareth a table before him in the presence of his enemies, who anointeth his head with oil; who causeth his cup to run over, and goodness and mercy to follow him all the days of his life. Is he in adversity? The rod and staff of the same Shepherd support and comfort him. Is he in doubt and darkness, where he is scarcely able to trace the path of life? He hears a voice behind him, saying, This is the way: walk thou therein. Is he mourning in Zion? God appoints to him beauty for ashes, and the oil of joy for mourning. Is he sick? God is his physician; and has already taught him to say, Why art thou cast down, O my soul? and why art thou disquieted within me? Hope thou in God: for I shall yet praise Him, who is the health of my countenance, and my God. Has he come to a dying bed? Christ has vanquished death and the grave; and has taught him to sing at their approach, O death! where is thy sling? Ŏ grave! where is thy victory? Has he friends? God has raised them up. Has he children? They are an heritage from the Lord. Is the land of his nativity safe? God is a wall of fire round about it. Does Religion flourish? God is the glory in the midst of it. The Church, to which he is united, is a garden, which the Lord hath planted. Is it enlightened, quickened, and edified? It is not by might, nor by power, but by my Spirit, saith the Lord of Hosts. Is it comforted? The consolations have come down from the heavenly Comforter. Is it protected? The Lord hath created upon Mount Zion, and upon all her assemblies, a cloud and a smoke by day, and a light of a flaming fire by night.

Thus to the Christian all things in heaven and earth are full of God. Wherever he walks, wherever he is, he is surrounded with His presence; and in that presence there is abundance of joy. To Him, in his meditations, and in his worship, he instinctively turns, as the supreme Object of his affections, and of his obedience. In loving, fearing, and serving Him, with all the heart, he finds his chief delight; and becomes continually able, with more and more propriety and truth, to say, Whom have I in heaven but Thee? and there is none upon the earth, whom I desire, beside thee?

III. The Christian rejoices in Spiritual things universally.

Spiritual things, are those, in which the power of the Spirit of grace is peculiarly visible; and which, therefore, have a peculiar tendency to improve us in the Christian character. In all things of this nature the Christian finds a peculiar joy. Particularly in

the Word of God he discovers multiplied streams of pure and increasing pleasure. Here all the transporting things, already mentioned, are made known to mankind. Here are disclosed the character, designs, and works, of the Creator; the rebellion, guilt, and condemnation, of man; and his restoration by forgiving, redeeming, and sanctifying love. Here the means of grace and salvation are revealed; the truths which we are to believe, and the precepts which we are to obey. Here life and immortality are brought to light by the Redeemer; and the path, which leads to them, is pointed out by the finger of God. The Bible is a window in this prison of hope, through which we look into eternity. It is the door of heaven, through which, opened by a divine hand, we cast our view into that glorious region; and behold the beauty, splendour, and happiness, which reign and triumph there for ever.

Here the Christian finds himself most mercifully checked in the hour of temptation by the threatenings of the law, and divinely allured to righteousness by promises and invitations. Behind him, Justice displays its flaming sword, to prevent him from returning to the by-paths of sin. Before him, Mercy calls, with the music of heaven, and the smile of Infinite love, to quicken his course in the highway of holiness.

In the Worship of the same glorious Being, the same delight is experienced, and with enhanced enjoyment. In his closet, like Moses, he converses with God face to face; and, while he spreads all his wants and woes, all his sins and dangers, all his hopes and joys, before him, is assured of an open reward. In his family, when his nearest connexions are around him, he finds every comfort endeared by these beloved objects; and sweetened by the remembrance, that his house is a house of God. In the Sanctuary, he unites with his fellow christians to ask counsel at the mercy-seat, and to present before it prayers and praises, refined and exalted by Evangelical sympathy. Here, also, all his virtuous affections and purposes are purified, and strengthened, by the heavenly influence of the holy day, and the holy place. Here grace is given, and glory anticipated.

At the Table of Christ, and in the celebration of Baptism, his soul is refreshed and revived by the sight of the dying Saviour, expiating his sins, and of the Spirit of God, symbolically poured out as a divine cleansing, to purify his heart from moral pollution. Earth, here, borrows the aspect of heaven; and sublunary things are invested with no small degree of immortal beauty.

In the Church of God, he sees a real, though imperfect, picture of the general Assembly of the first-born. All Christians are his brethren, and fellow-travellers with him towards the heavenly kingdom, in the straight and narrow way that leads to life. Their character, their hearts, their interests, their designs, are one. They are members of one family. They have one Father, even God: they have one Lord, even Christ: they have one Sanctifier, and VOL. II.

69

one Comforter, even the Spirit of grace. Their hopes and fears, their doubts and discoveries, their joys and sorrows, are the same. On all, the same Divine image is instamped; the same Evangelical beauty is visible. Lovely and pleasant in their lives, in their death they are not divided.

IV. The Christian finds an exalted pleasure in the good, enjoyed by others.

In his view no truth is clearer, than that it is more blessed to give, than to receive. With this truth he cheerfully accords; and finds in doing good to others a humble share of the same delight, which is enjoyed by the universal Benefactor in the overflowings of Infinite beneficence to the Creation. Nor is his enjoyment less exquisite, when good is done by those around him. In them, as in him, real, disinterested beneficence is a proof of sanctification. If the beneficence be not disinterested; he still possesses the joy of seeing his fellow-creatures made happy.

In the diffusion of the divine beneficence, also, he experiences a perpetual delight; while he beholds the illustrious exhibitions of the goodness of God, and shares in the comfort of all, on whom it descends. Especially is this enjoyment exquisite, when sinners are brought out of darkness into marvellous light, and from the power of Satan unto God. Then, souls, guilty and debased, condemned and ruined, are redeemed from everlasting sin and wo. Then, heaven is enlarged by the accession of new inhabitants; and the joy, which is felt in that benevolent world over repenting sinners, trembles delightfully through his own bosom. The sight of a sanctified mind, of a redeemed and forgiven sinner, of endless virtue and immortal life begun, is the fairest and most enchanting prospect, ever seen in the great kingdom of Jehovah.

V. The Joy of the Christian, in this world, is the beginning of Everlasting Joy.

To be spiritually minded is both life and peace. This mind is the mind of every Christian. Of course, life and peace eternal are begun in him, while he resides in this evil and melancholy world. There are, indeed, many interruptions, diminutions, and preventions, of this glorious possession, accomplished by remaining sin, and its inseparable companion, sorrow of heart. But in the midst of all these he finds consolation, often abundant, almost unceasing, and always sufficient for his wants. The promises of the Gospel, are continually before him. God he knows, will never leave him, nor forsake him. Christ, he knows, will always be with him unto the end. He may, indeed, be cast down, but he will not be destroyed: he may be afflicted, but he will not be forsaken. The Father of the spirit may, indeed, smite him in his wrath for a small moment, yet with everlasting kindness will he have mercy on him. In every gloomy and distressing day there will be gleams of sunshine, and openings of a serene, unclouded heaven. In the dry and thirsty ground, where there is apparently no water, and in the midst of a