thy evil inclinations, fuggefting holy thoughts, kindling heavenly affections, and drawing thee to thy duty with a hand unfeen? Haft thou not felt him as a Spirit within thy fpirit, imparting fecret ftrength, animating thy frame as with new life, actuating thy faculties, purifying thy paffions, begetting in thee an abhorrence of fin and a love of righteoufnefs, and making all thy graces fhine out with fresh beauty? How eafy and delightful then will the Chriftian life be, when you have divine aids to strengthen, fupport, and affift? It is God himself who is on your fide, it is God himself who works with you; his wifdom is your guide, his arm is your fupport; his Spirit is your strength; you lofe your own infufficiency in the fulness of infinite perfection.

In the third place, It will appear, that the Chrif tian life is eafy and pleasant, if we confider the encouragements the good man receives.

The good man waits not for all his happiness till he come to heaven: he hath treasures in hand, as well as poffeffions in hope: he hath a portion in the life that now is, as well as in that which is to come. There is a fense of moral good and evil implanted in the mind; a principle of confcience which condemns us when we do ill, and applauds us when we do well. This principle is the chief foundation of our happinefs, and gives rife to the greatest pleasures and the greatest pains in human life. By means of this moral fenfe, there is no peace to the wicked. Inward ftruggles, ftrong reluctance and averfion of mind, precede the commiffion of fin. Sin, when committed, is followed by guilty blufhes, alarming fears, terrible reviews, startling profpects, and remorfe, with

all its hideous train. Against the finner, his own, heart rises up in judgment to condemn him; the terrors of the Lord fet themselves in array against him; a fire not blown confumes him. "There is no peace "to the wicked." The foundations of The foundations of peace are fubverted in his mind; he is at enmity with himself; he is at enmity with his fellow-creatures; he is at enmity with God. It is not fo with those that take upon them the yoke of Christ. When pure religion i forms the temper, and governs the life, all is peaceful and ferene; the man is then in his proper element; the foul is in a state of health and vigour ; there is a beautiful correfpondence between the heart and the life; all is ferene without, all is tranquil within. Delivered from the anxieties that perplex, and from the terrors that overwhelm the guilty man, the Christian refigns himself to peace and joy, conscious that he poffeffes a temper of mind which is acceptable to God, and leads a life which is useful In the heart of fuch a man there is a bleffed calmness and tranquillity, like that of the highest heavens.

to men.

But there is more than a calmness and tranquillity. The air may be calm and tranquil, when the day is dark; the fea may be smooth, when there is mist upon the waves; the fky may be tranquil when it is overcaft with clouds: but the pious and virtuous mind resembles a sky that is not only calm, but bright; resembles a fea that is not only smooth, but ferene; resembles an unclouded fky, beautiful with the rifing fun. There are joys in the Chriftian life, unknown to tranfgreffors: there is a spring shut up, and a fountain fealed, that refreshes the city of God; there

åre fecret confolations referved for the juft; there are filent pleasures that flow into the pious mind ; there is a still fmall voice that comes to the pure in heart, and bids them be of good cheer; there is an inward peace of God that paffeth all understanding; there is a joy in the Holy Ghoft, refulting from the well-grounded hope of a happy immortality, that is unfpeakable and glorious.

When the heart is thus pure, it becomes the temple of the Deity; and, as a temple is confecrated with the presence of God, "If a man love me, and keep "my words, my Father will love him, and we will

come and make our abode with him." Who can defcribe the joy of thofe happy moments, when a present Deity is felt, when God manifefts himself to his people, fo as he does not to the world, when our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son Jefus Chrift? Then a foretaste of immortality is given, the joys of the bleffed are let down, and heaven defcends

to men.

In the fourth and laft place, The ease and pleafure of the Chriftian life will appear, if we confider the joyful profpect that is set before us.

The Christian has joys in this life; but he is not confined to these. His hopes do not terminate with life; they extend beyond the grave. Death puts a final period to the happiness of the wicked man; but it is then that the happiness of the righteous man begins. We are affured in Sacred Scripture, that there is a kingdom prepared for the righteous from the foundation of the world, when they fhall enter into reft from all their labours, and fufferings, and forrows of this mortal life; when they fhall enter into a

ftate where no ignorance fhall cloud the understanding, and no vice pervert the will; where nothing but love fhall poffefs the foul, and nothing but gratitude employ the tongue; where they shall be admitted to an innumerable company of angels, and to the general affembly and church of the First-born; where they shall see Jesus at the right hand of the Father, and fhall fit down with him upon his throne; where they fhall be admitted into the prefence of God, fhall behold him face to face, and be changed into the fame image, from glory to glory; that glory which eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor has it entered into the heart of man to conceive.

To conclude, It may be observed, that it hath been the fate of Chriftianity in all ages, to fuffer more from its friends than from its enemies. Attacks from the enemies of our faith have generally proved fubfervient to its propagation and fuccefs; but the mifrepresentations and injuries of its friends have often wounded it in a vital part. One of the greatest of these misrepresentations, and one of the most flagrant injuries that ever was done to religion, was to represent it as a burdenfome fervice; as a grievous and a galling yoke, to which no man would fubmit, but from the terror of eternal punishment. What adds to the injury, this has fometimes been done by perfons of real seriousness, who, unhappily poffeffed of a gloomy imagination, and who, probably, in fome period of their days, having been guilty of crimes, have been fo deeply affected with remorfe and contrition, that they have continued all their lifetime fubject to bondage. But bleffed be God, my friends, that fuch unfavourable and forbidding

delineations of religion have no foundation in truth. In these volumes, Chriftians are called upon to rejoice evermore. Religion promises happiness to us in the life which now is, as well as in the life which is to come. The Wisdom that is from above, is represented as having length of days in her right hand, and in her left hand riches and honor. The prophets and apoftles ranfack heaven and earth for images to exprefs the joys of the juft. They bring together the most beautiful and moft delightful objects in the whole compass of nature, and introduce the inanimate parts of the creation as joining in the happiness of the good; the hills and the mountains breaking forth into finging, and all the trees of the wood fhouting for joy. All concurs to prove the truth in the text, "My yoke is eafy, and my bur "den is light."