future punishment, will, in cases where no strong temptation assails us, restrain from the commission of atrocious crimes, and produce some decent regularity of external conduct. But on occasions when inclination or interest prompt to some transgression of virtue, which safety or secrecy encourages, and which the example of the world seems to countenance; when the present advantage or pleasure appears to be all on one side, and no satisfaction arises to counterbalance it on the other; is it to be thought that conscience will then stand its ground, with one who never was attached to virtue on its own account, and never experienced any joy in following its dictates? But these are the occasions when the joy of the Lord proves the strength of the righteous man. Accustomed to take pleasure in doing his duty; accustomed to look up to God with delight and complacency, and to feel himself happy in all the offices of kindness and humanity to men around him; accustomed to rejoice in a clear conscience, in a pure heart, and the hope of heavenly bliss; he cannot think of parting with such satisfactions for the sake of any worldly bribe. There is something within his heart, that pleads for religion and virtue. He has seen their beauty; he has tasted their sweetness; and having such pleasures within himself, to oppose to all the pleasures of sin, he is enabled to maintain his integrity inviolate; or if in any degree he has deviated from it, speedy remorse is awakened, and he cannot be satisfied with himself till he returns back to the right path. Thus, through the joy of the Lord, religion becomes in him the spirit of love, and power, and of a sound mind. * It is the peace of God which

passeth understanding, keeping his mind and heart. * It is the path of the just which is as the light, shining more and more unto the perfect day.

In the next place, the joy of the Lord is the strength of the righteous, as it is their great support under the discouragements and trials of life. In the days of their ease and prosperity, it guards them, as has been shown, against the temptations of vice; and in the general tenor of conduct attaches them to the side of virtue, and when the evil days come, wherein they shall have no pleasure from the world, it supplies them with pleasures of another kind, to preserve them from improper despondency, or from entering into evil discourses for the sake of relief. A good man's friends may forsake him; or may die, and leave him to mourn. His fortune may fail, or his health decay. Calumny and reproach may unjustly attack his character. In circumstances of this kind, where worldly men become peevish, dispirited, and fretful, he who is acquainted with the pleasures of religion and virtue, can possess himself calm and undisturbed. He has resources within unknown to the world, whence light arises to him in darkness. From the gloom or turbulence of external evils, he can retreat to the enjoyment of his own mind. In the exercises. of devotion, his heart is elevated, and the cares of the world are forgotten. In his regular discharge of all the social duties of life, he finds cheerfulness and pleasure. Hence his temper is not soured. He accuses neither God nor man for the unavoidable misfortunes of life. He submits with patience to the

common lot; looking forward with good hope to better days; retaining always honourable thoughts of God's providence, and sentiments of candour towards men. In this manner, his experience of the joy of the Lord becomes his strength; as infusing into his mind a principle of firmness and stability, and enabling him, in every situation of fortune, to continue the same.

FROM the view which we have now taken of the subject, it must clearly appear, that to every one who wishes to possess the spirit, and to support the character of genuine goodness and virtue, it is an object most desirable and important, to acquire a prevailing relish for the pleasures of religion. As this is a most important object, so also it is an attainable one by every man whose intentions are sincerely upright. For let it be remembered, that the joy of the Lord, which I have described as the strength of the righteous, is not to be understood as a privilege belonging only to saints of the highest order, who can assuredly trust to their being the chosen of God. It is not to be understood of high raptures, and transports of religious fervour. It is not even confined to the sole pleasures or intercourse with God in devotion; though assuredly these constitute one great part of the joy of the Lord, and are auxiliary to its exercises on every other occasion. The joy of the Lord is to be understood of that joy, which accompanies the whole of religious and virtuous practice; that satisfaction which a good man feels in the discharge of his duty, which accompanies the performance of all the offices which belong to the station of life in which he is placed; whether these be of

a

public nature or private, social or domestic, or relating particularly to the exercises of religious worship and devotion.

To attain this spirit, of considering the discharge of our duty as our pleasure and happiness, is certainly not incompatible with our present state of infirmity. It is no more than what good men have often attained, and have testified of it; that their delight was in the law of God; that his statutes were sweet to their taste : that they had taken them as an heritage for ever, for they were the rejoicing of their heart. I delight to do thy will, O my God; thy law is within my heart.*

-According to the proficiency which men have made in virtue, will be the degree of satisfaction which they receive from the performance of it; but where no pleasures or satisfactions of this kind are known, men have much ground to distrust their pretensions to godliness or Christianity.

It is therefore of high importance, that all proper means be employed to form our internal taste to a proper relish for this joy of the Lord. For it is not to be dissembled, that much is against us in our endeavours to have our disposition formed for relishing virtuous pleasures. We breathe in this world a sort of vitiated air, very unfriendly to the health and soundness of all our moral feelings. From our earliest youth we are bred up in admiration of the external advantages of fortune; and are accustomed to hear them extolled as the only real and substantial goods. We must therefore begin by studying to correct these false ideas, and persuading ourselves that there are other things besides riches, honours,

and sensual pleasures, that are good for man; that there are joys of a spiritual and intellectual nature, which directly affect the mind and heart, and which confer a satisfaction both more refined and more lasting than any worldly circumstances can confer. In order to have a fair trial of the value and effect of those spiritual enjoyments, we must forbear polluting ourselves with gross and guilty pleasures; we must even refrain from indulging worldly pleasures that appear innocent in a profuse and intemperate degree, lest they sensualise and debase our feelings. By preserving a wise and manly temperance in lower pleasures and pursuits, we will then allow those of a higher kind to occupy their proper place; and shall be in a situation fairly to compare the pure sensations of pleasure which arise from the consciousness of discharging our duty, with the transient and turbid gratifications of sin and the world. To such endeavours of our own, for rectifying and improving our taste of pleasure, let us join frequent and fervent prayer to God, that he may enlighten and reform our hearts; and by his spirit, communicate that joy to our souls, which descends from him, and which he has annexed to every part of religion and virtue as the strength of the righteous.