guished from violence. When Elijah the great prophet was called to go forth and stand before the Lord, behold, a great and strong wind rent the mountains, but the Lord was not in the wind; and after the wind an earthquake, but the Lord was not in the earthquake; and after the earthquake a fire, but the Lord was not in the fire. After that, there came forth a still small voice. When Elijah heard it, he knew the symbol of God's spirit; he wrapped his face in his mantle, and worshipped.*

AFTER SO many testimonies given by the sacred writings to the high importance of a meek and peaceable spirit, what shall we think of those, who in their system of religion, make slight account of this virtue; who are ready to quarrel with others on the most trifling occasions; who are continually disquieting their families by peevishness and ill humour; and by malignant reports, raising dissension among friends and neighbours? Can any claims to sound belief, or any supposed attainments of grace, supply the defect of so cardinal a virtue as charity and love?-Let such persons particularly bethink themselves how little the spirit which they possess, fits them for the kingdom of heaven, or rather how far it removes them from the just hope of ever entering into it. Hell is the proper region of enmity and strife. There dwell unpeaceable and fiery spirits, in the midst of mutual hatred, wrath and tumult. But the kingdom of heaven is the kingdom of peace. There, charity never faileth. There, reigneth the God of love; and, in his presence, all the blessed inhabitants are of one heart and one soul. No string can ever be heard to jar in that celestial harmony and therefore the contentious and violent are, both by their own nature and by God's decree, for ever excluded from the heavenly society.-As the best preparation for those blessed mansions, let us ever keep in view that direction given by an Apostle, Follow peace with all men, and holiness, without which no man shall see the Lord. To the cultivation of amity and peace in all our social intercourse, let us join holiness; that is, piety, and active virtue; and thus we shall pass our days, comfortably and honourably on earth, and at the conclusion of our days, be admitted to dwell among saints and angels, and to see the Lord.

SERMON LXXXVII.

ΟΝ

N RELIGIOUS JOY, AS GIVING STRENGTH AND SUPPORT TO

VIRTUE.

The joy of the Lord is your strength.-NEHEMIAH, viii. 10.

NEHEMIAH, the governor of Jerusalem, having assembled the people of Israel immediately after their return from the captivity of Babylon, made the book of the law be brought forth and read before them. On hearing the words of the book of the law, we are informed that all the people wept; humbled and cast down by the sense of their present weak and forlorn condition, compared with the flourishing state of their ancestors. Nehemiah sought to raise their spirits from this dejection; and exhorts them to prepare themselves for serving the God of their fathers with a cheerful mind, for, says he, the joy of the Lord is your strength.

Abstracted from the occasion on which the words were spoken, they contain an important truth, which I now purpose to illustrate; that to the nature of true religion there belongs an inward joy, which animates, strengthens, and supports virtue. The illustration of this position will require that I should show in the first place, that in the practice of religious duties there is found an inward joy, here styled the joy of the Lord; and in the next place, that this joy is justly denominated the strength of the righteous.

I. Joy is a word of various signification. By men of the world, it is often used to express those flashes of mirth which arise from irregular indulgencies of social pleasure; and of which it is said by the wise man, that in such laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the end of that mirth is heaviness. It will be easily understood that the joy here mentioned partakes of noth

ing a-kin to this; but signifies a tranquil and placid joy, an inward complacency and satisfaction, accompanying the practice of virtue, and the discharge of every part of our duty. A joy of this kind is what we assert to belong to every part of religion; to characterise religion wherever it is genuine, and to be essential to its nature. In order to ascertain this, let us consider the disposition of a good man with respect to God; with respect to his neighbours; and with respect to the government of his own mind.

WHEN we consider in what manner religion requires that a good man should stand affected towards God, it will presently appear that rational enlightened piety opens such views of him as must communicate joy. It presents him, not as an awful unknown Sovereign, but as the Father of the universe, the Lover and Protector of righteousness, under whose government all the interests of the virtuous are safe. With delight the good man traces the Creator throughout all his works, and beholds them every where reflecting some image of his Supreme perfection. In the morning dawn, the noontide glory, and the evening shade; in the fields, the mountains, and the flood, where worldly men behold nothing but a dead, uninteresting scene; every object is enlivened and animated to him by the presence of God. Amidst that Divine presence he dwells with reverence, but without terror. Conscious of the uprightness of his own intentions, and of the fidelity of his heart to God, he considers himself, by night and by day, as under the protection of an invisible guardian. He lifts up his eyes to the hills from whence cometh his aid; and commits himself without distrust to the Keeper of Israel, who never slumbers nor sleeps. He listens to the gracious promises of his word. With comfort he receives the declarations of his mercy to mankind, through a great Redeemer; in virtue of whose atonement provision is made for pardon to human infirmities, and for our reception in the end into a happier world. All the various devotional exercises of faith and trust in God, all the cordial effusions of love and gratitude to this Supreme Benefactor in the acts of prayer and praise, afford scope to those emotions of the heart, which are of the most pleasing kind; and which diffuse a gentle and softening tenderness over the affections. In a word, a truly pious man, who has always before him an object so sublime and interesting as this great Father of the universe, on whom his thoughts can dwell with satisfaction, may be truly said to partake highly in the jog of the Lord.

But it may here be objected, are there no mortifications and griefs that particularly belong to piety? What shall we say to the tear of repentance, and to that humiliation of confession and

remorse, which may, at times, be incumbent on the most pious, in this state of human infirmity ?-To this I reply, first, that although there may be seasons of grief and dejection in a course of piety, yet this is not inconsistent with the joy of the Lord, being on the whole, the predominant character of a good man's state; as it is impossible that, during this life, perpetual brightness can remain in any quarter, without some dark cloud. But I must observe next, that even the penitential sorrows and relentings of a pious heart, are not without their own satisfactions. A certain degree of pleasure is mingled with the tears which the returning offender sheds, in the hours of compunction; the ingenuous contrition that he feels, relieves his heart, at the same time that it gives it pain. If we attend to the workings of human nature on other occasions we shall find that it is no unusual thing for a secret mysterious pleasure to be mixed with painful feelings. This we all know to be the case in those exercises of pity and commiseration to which we are led by sympathy with the afflicted. We grieve and are pained for their distress; yet we choose to indulge that grief; satisfaction is felt in the indulgence; and we are unwillingly separated from the object which has occasioned this painful, but tender sympathy. A mixture somewhat similar, of pleasure and pain, takes place in the sentiments of penetential sorrow, which good men sometimes feel. In the midst of their distress, they are soothed by an internal consciousness, that they are affected as it becomes them to be; that they feel as they ought to feel; and they are gradually relieved by the hope rising in their breast of finding mercy and acceptance with their Creator and Redeemer. Where the mind is properly instructed in religion, it will not long be left in a state of overwhelming dejection, but will return to tranquillity, and repossess again the joy of the Lord.

WHEN We consider, next, the disposition of a good man towards his fellow-creatures, we shall find here the joy of the Lord exerting its influence fully. That mild and benevolent temper to which he is formed by virtue and piety; a temper that is free from envious and malignant passions, and that can look with the eye of candour and humanity on surrounding characters, is a constant spring of cheerfulness and serenity. Indeed if there be joy at all in human life, it is, perhaps, in this state of the mind that it is most sensibly felt, and felt with the least check or allay. It is truly said, to the wicked there is no peace. In proportion as any one of the bad passions predominates in the breast, it never fails, in the same proportion, to corrode the heart, and to shed over all the comforts of life a poisonous and baneful influence. Whereas all those exercises of friendship, compassion, and generosity, which are essential to the disposition of a virtuous man,

are to him lively enjoyments of pleasure in themselves, and increase the satisfaction which he tastes in all the other innocent pleasures of life. He knows that he enjoys them along with the good-will and the blessings of all to whom he has studied to do good. When he can cheer the dejected or gladden the sorrowful, he is cheered and gladdened himself. If his circumstances allow him not do all the good he wishes to have done, yet in the consciousness of good intentions there is always an inward satisfaction; and in those lesser offices of kindness and humanity which are with in the sphere of every man to perform, he enjoys innumerable occasions of being pleased and happy.

WITH respect to that part of religion which consists in the government of a man's own mind, of his passions and desires, it may be thought that much joy is not to be expected. For there religion appears to lay on a severe and restraining hand. Strict temperance and self-denial are often requisite; and much is on some occasions abridged, of what is apt to be reckoned the full and free enjoyment of life. Yet, here also it will be found, that the joy of the Lord takes place. To a person just reclaimed from the excesses of sensual indulgence, the restraints imposed by virtue will, at first, appear uncooth and mortifying. But let him begin to be accustomed to a regular life, and his taste will soon be rectified, and his feelings will change. In purity, temperance, and self-government, there is found a satisfaction in the mind, similar to what results from the enjoyment of perfect health in the body. A man is then conscious that all is sound within. There is nothing that knaws his spirit; that makes him ashamed of himself; or discomposes his calm and orderly enjoyment of life. His conscience testifies that he is acting honourably. He enjoys the satisfaction of being master of himself. feels that no man can accuse him of degrading his character by base pleasures or low pursuits; and knows that he will be honoured and esteemed by those whose honour and esteem he would most desire; all which are sensations most pleasing and gratifying to every human heart.

He

FROM this slight sketch it plainly appears that there is an inward satisfaction, justly termed the joy of the Lord, which runs through all the parts of religion. This is a very different view of religion from what is entertained by those who consider it as a state of perpetual penance; to which its votaries unwillingly submit, merely from the dread of punishment in hell; and who bargain for the rewards of another world, by a renunciation of all that is agreeable or comfortable to man in this world. conceptions of religion are contradicted by the experience of every truly virtuous man, and are directly opposite to the views of religion given us in the word of God; wherein its ways are

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