more.

great fury, but very foon dieth away, and is no We cannot rejoice evermore, in things of fo vain and tranfitory a nature, which are of no value, nor of no continuance.

But this we all may, this we ought to do, and this the apoftle meant to enjoin us: In whatever fate of life we are, therewith to be content. To be grateful in our acknowledgments of thofe mercies which are beftowed upon us, to enjoy and to praise God for them, to shew a pleasure and fatisfaction in ferving so good and fo gracious a mafter, to obey his commands with chearfulness and alacrity, to come before his prefence with thanksgiving, and fhew ourselves glad in him. Nothing can doubtlefs be more prejudical to religion, or more highly injurious to the great author of it, than to fuppofe it four and melancholy; that it fhould enjoin forrow, and make felf-affliction the teft of our obedi. ence. Religion on the contrary, is the fource of all true joy, the foundation of all happiness, gracioufly imparted to mankind to footh his griefs, foften his calamities, and adminifter comfort and confolation to him in every ftation and circumftance, and which only can indeed give him to rejoice evermore both here and here after.

I fhall endeavour therefore, in the fubfequent difcourfe, to enforce this fhort but amiable precept, by a few of thofe numberlefs arguments which may be produced in fupport of it, both from reafon and revelation, and to fhew that it is the duty of every Christian to rejoice evermore; a duty which he owes to God,

and

and to his Saviour, whofe yoke is eafy and his burthen light. And it may perhaps at this time be more particularly neceffary to vindicate the religion of Chrift from the imputation of severity, in an age when a set of men have fprung up amongst us, whofe gloomy aufterity and frantic enthusiasm, have faddened and afflicted the minds of the weak and fplenetic, and endeavoured to establish strange and ridiculous notions without the least authority from that fcripture which they read, that faith they profefs, or that mafter whom they pretend fo diligently to ferve, and fo implicitly to obey.

Whenever God hath pleased to reveal himfelf to mankind, hath he ever required any thing at our hands but a reasonable and chearful fervice? Human ordinances will ever have fome flaw in them, fome partiality, or injuftice; but when God is the law-giver, all which he enjoins is tempered with that tenderness and mercy which is over all his works. In confirmation of which, we need but for a moment look back on the Jewish and Christian difpenfations, and compare them with the wild and incoherent notions of the Pagan world concerning religion and morality.

What a glorious pre-eminence did the Jews enjoy over the whole race of mankind whilft God was their king and governor! Joy was enjoined them as a duty, and feftivity a part of their religion. Whilft the priests of Baal, those who made the idols, and were like unto them, were tearing their flesh in honour of

their lifeless deities, the minifters of Jehovah were loft in holy raptures, and chanting hallelujahs whilft the worshippers of Thammuz were lamenting the death of their fancied divinity, the daughters of Ifrael were far otherwife employed with their pfaltries and timbrels, the lute, the harp, and the well-tuned cymbal, repeating joyful hymns to the Father of love and mercy: the bloody Moloch commands his votaries to facrifice their own beloved offspring, but the God of the Hebrews calls for old men and children, young men and maidens, to join in the easy task of praise, and fill up the chorus of thanksgiving. I will have mercy, and not facrifice, faith the Lord; Thinkeft thou that I delight in burnt offerings? Such were the glorious privileges which God's chofen people fo long enjoyed, and fo little deferved; for though they had of all men moft reafon to rejoice evermore, yet were they evermore complaining; and eafy as the yoke was, yet did they continually groan beneath the weight of it. But if we have reafon to condemn the ingratitude of the Jews to their divine law-giver, fo vifibly fhewn in their unjuft murmurs against him, what fhall we fay to thofe Chriftians who fo unwillingly enter into, and fo negligently perform that service which is perfect freedom? Can we complain our mafter's commands are grievous, or his laws unjust? Are not chearfulness and good, nature, tenderness and generofity, perpetually inculcated in the precepts of our bleffed Lord and Redeemer? Doth he feem to rejoice in

any

any thing more than in feeing us love and ferve each other? Does he enjoin any duties that are irksome and burthenfome to human nature? On the contrary, do not all his commands carry with them the utmost pleasure and fatisfaction in the performance of them? With regard to our own private fituation and circumstances in life, it may be advanced, that it is not always poffible to comply with the injunction of the apoftle; that there are fome fituations and events which would undoubtedly rather incline us to weep than to rejoice; and that it is the lot of many to be always, and with too much reason, unhappy. But to this it may doubtlefs, on the other hand, be replied, that we are very feldom, if ever, able to judge ourselves, what may be best and moft convenient for us. That which we are most apt to rejoice in, is frequently that which we ought rather to lament and be forry for; and that which gives us the most uneafiness, is what, if rightly understood, we should be moft fatisfied with.

The hand of God is always operating for us, and though unseen by us, is not therefore lefs powerful; but men wilfully fhut their eyes, and will not fee his goodness, nor glorify their Maker.

The various beauties and wonders of nature, though they are every day and every hour before our eyes, (and perhaps indeed because they are fo) are feldom taken notice of or admired. Very few contemplate or investigate, and ftill fewer understand, her works. She

clotheth

clotheth herself in verdure to refresh the eye; fhe dictates every fong that delights the ear;. fhe ordereth the fun to rule by day, and the moon by night; the ftars to glitter in the firmament, and the earth to bring forth her increafe, for our ufe, for our pleasure, for our inftruction; and yet man is not mindful of her, neither doth the fon of man regard her; and fo it is with that particular and continual providence of God, which is appointed to watch over and protect us, and without which, furrounded as we are with dangers we can neither forefee nor prevent, we could not poffibly fubfift; and yet how few are there who feem in the leaft fenfible of it? how very few who confide or who rejoice in it?

Had we leifure fufficient to examine into the human mind, unbiaffed by pride and partiality, we should perhaps difcover, that, abftracted from the difference which arifes from habit, education, and circumftances in life, men are much more upon a level in regard to their understanding than is generally acknowledged and it is not improbably the same in point of happiness, which is, for the most part, pretty equally. diftributed amongst us; not confined to any clime or nation, to any particular fet of men, to titles, rank, or profeffion, but flowing through various channels; and like that divine Being, by whom it is imparted, fhedding its gracious influence over the whole creation. It becometh well the juft, therefore it becometh the happy, to be thankful; and when our almighty Benefactor fhowers down