The Government and Improvement of Mirth

TO THE READER.

THE Reason of my Publishing the following Discourses, is because I apprehend the Subject to be of great Importance, and a Treatise on it wanting among us. For among things of common and daily Abuse, no one scarce has escapit with less express Censure, and Labors for the Correcting it, than abused Mirth • as. It is always like to be in fashion in the World, and every single Person in every age of it is sometime or other making Solomon's Experiment, Eccl. 2.1. I said in my heart, Go to now, I will prove thee with Mirth, therefore enjoy Pleasure, 〈◊〉 it Endangers the World while it flatters and seems to adorn it: As in the days that were before the Flood, they did eat, they drank, they Marryed, — until the day that Noah entered into the Ark; and the Flood came and destroyed them all.

It may be there never was more Mirth, nor under less Regulation, than in this Age, and among too many in this Place. A great deal of Pleasantry there is in the Town, and very graceful and charming it is so far as it is Innocent and Wise. Our Wit like our Air is clear and Keen, and in very Many 'tis exalted by a Polite Education meeting with good Natural Parts: 'tis pity that Sin should mix with it, to render it Nauseous and Destructive, and make it end in Shame and Sorrow.

Youth is more especially the Age of Levity and Laughter, and needs Correction; Rejoice, O Young man in thy Youth, and let thy heart cheer thee in the days of thy Youth, and walk in the way of thine Heart, and in the fight of thine Eyes; but know thou that for all these things God will bring thee into Judgment. To Young People therefore it is that I principally Write; and possibly may do it with Advantage as well as Decency, my own Youth and natural Chearfulness not savouring to them of Moroseness, that common Prejudice of sensual Youth against their wise Reprovers.

And indeed I am far from Inveighing against Sober Mirth: On the contrary, I justify, applaud & recommend it; Only let your Conversation be as becometh the Gospel; let it be pure and grave, serious and devout, all which it may be and yet free and cheerful; there's no necessity of being Immodest or Profane, Idle and Impertinent, in order to be Merry. Yet for want of a Religious care and Watch over themselves, people slip insensibly into these Excesses; and some set themselves to abuse and pervert their Wit, and the Bounty of God to them, to Filthiness, and foolish Talking, and Jesting, which are not convenient, nor should be once named among us, as becometh Saints; But rather giving of Thanks.

A more mean and sickly thing this is in Elder People, as well as more vile and horrid! their Example Abominable and Pernicious, and Portentous to themselves that they are of that Number, St. James 5.5. Ye have lived in pleasure on the Earth, and been wanton; ye have nourished your hearts, as in a day of slaughter.

But because there is another Extream, and too many Good People run into it, I would turn my Address to them, and Say: That by no means must they seem to place anything of Religion in being Dull and heavy, sad and disconsolate, sour and morose. Not only does Religion Allow but it Obliges unto cheerfulness with Sobriety: It gives the most reason for it, and is served by it: None have that License, and in none is it so Decent and Comely as in them that are Good. Mirth was not made for the Profane and Ungodly, Especially Spiritual Joy is the peculiar Duty and Privilege of Saints: They are under Bonds to exhibit the Pleasures and Satisfactions of Religion, if it be possible to convince the Ungodly how Superior they are to all those of Sense which this World has to boast of. If men are for Mirth, This is worthy to be called so and aspir'd after! A Joy that is Solid, Pure, Perfective, Purmanent! Stronger than all Afflictions, and abiding in Death! A light in those shades, and a Triumph 'ore those Terrors!

To do my Duty therefore to One and Other, I have in the following Pages endeavor'd to show the Decency and Obligation of Natural and Civil Mirth, and then the foul Abuses of it to Vice and Carnality; and finally I have considered (as I was able within so short a compass) the Pleasures that are proper to Religion.

But the last being a Subject so Noble, I blush at my own Presumption in Attempting it; nor should I but for the Lameness which the Omitting this would have left on the others: Also when I consider how Rich & Copious a Theme it is, I blush again at the Poverty of my Essay on it. Moreover, I durst not trust my own Expressions on so Heavenly and Spiritual a Head, and therefore have laid it in Scripture Language. The Holy Ghost can best describe his own Gifts and Work, and speak of the Joys whereof He is the alone Author: and where should we expect this but in His Inspir'd Word? On such a Head which is strictly Divine, and purely Heavenly, that Discourse is sure to be most exact and pertinent, which is taken out of the Bible, and composed in Scripture-Phrase.

It is more than two years since I Preached these Sermons in the Course of my Ministry, (but the Last now appears altered in Method, and abbreviated as to that particular, Duty and Ordinance named in the Text, scil. The Singing of Psalms; that Argument having been designedly Written on very lately by my Reverend Brother Mr. Wadsworth. ) And as I then thought the Subject Useful and Seasonable, so I have since grown in that Opinion; and therefore I now humbly offer 'em to the Public, asking the Readers 〈◊〉 and Prayers, and beseeching Almighty GOD to bless what is Written to him, and to make it Serviceable also unto his Own Glory; and that not only in the Reforming the Lesser Slips and Grosser Excesses of Common Mirth among us, but also in giving us all a true understanding and Taste of the Divine Joyes of Religion.

Of MIRTH,

• Civil,
• Spiritual,
• Carnal.

Or

• Natural,
• Religious,
• Vicious.

THERE are the Special Seasons of the Particular Duties of the Christian Life, and everything is beautiful in its Season; most acceptable then to God, Profitable to us, and Fair in the eyes of the World. A Time there is to every Purpose, — A Time to Weep, and a Time to Laugh; a Time to Mourn, and a Time to Dance. It is therefore a great point of Christian Skill and Wisdom, obediently to Time our Duties, as God in his various Providences directs and commands us.

We are very prone to Err in every State, and in all our Frames. The Devil is ready to suit his Temptations, and the Corruption within us shows itself variously, but with equal impetuous Lustings, as our Condition and Temper in this changing World do alter. It particularly lusts against the Duty of the present Day, and like an expert Enemy tries to make its advantage of all that occurs, and to divert us from making ours. On the contrary, where the Grace of God is lively and vigorous, it influences to those particular Duties which are peculiarly proper and incumbent under present Providences, and the Blessed Spirit of God leads the Happy Souls in whom he dwells, to an instant and zealous application of themselves thereunto.

Agreeably, in the Text a special Precept and Direction is given for our good Conduct in two very different States of Life, and Frames of Spirit. If we are Afflicted and Sorrowful, we are bid to Pray; if our Condition be Prosperous, and accordingly our Spirits Chearful, we are bid to Sing Psalms. The first Rule is suited to all our Melancholy Hours under every Grief of mind occasioned by the suffering of Evil: In the other, the Occasion of Mirth is supposed, in opposition to the state of Affliction before named.

Is any Merry? 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , Is any one of a good, easy, pleasant mind? of good cheer, (as 'tis rendered, Act. 27.36. as the late foundring Mariners and Soldiers of Paul's Company, when their fears and distress were over, their Souls calm again after the Storm, nay, transported with an assurance of their Lives. ) The sense is plainly this; Does God in his Providence call any one to rejoice? And God allowing or requiring it, is any one joyful? scil. under the smiles of Providence, in the Benefits and Favors of God vouchsafed to him. In this Case the Duty directed to is,

Let him Sing Psalms: which is one part of Divine Worship, and Medium both of Prayer and Praise, but the principal aim of the Ordinance is Praise, to which at least the sense must be determined here; Prayer having been distinctly directed to before in the Case of Sorrow. This is a Spiritual, Devout and Holy Exercise for a Christians Mirth, which else does expire in Froth and Sin. Singing as well as Laughter is a natural expression of Mirth, both among Saints and Sinners. Psal. 126.2, 3. Then was our Mouth filled with Laughter, and our Tongue with Singing;—The Lord hath done great things for us, whereof we are glad.

Let him Sing Psalms, scil. Those Psalms of Praise which are provided for us by God in his Word; which are so worthy of his inspiring, and therefore meet for him to receive; which do so fully answer to all the Variety of Mercies that we at any time rejoice in, and are so powerful to raise in us the utmost sense of them, and the highest Gratitude. For I am not for the freaks of some men's Fancies, who love rather to compose Hymns for themselves, (and very silly dull ones too sometimes to my knowledge;) and bring them into the Public Worship instead of David's: as though' one should prefer puddle Water to the pure and christal River of the Water of Life, proceeding from the Throne on high; for such after all is the produce of our muddy Brain, be we never so illuminated, sanctified, and not inspired, compared to the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost; who has in Infinite Bounty and Mercy provided for us this store of pure and raised Devotion, in copious and lofty strains that well become the mouths of Angels; out of which we ought to bring our Offerings to God, because to him we ought to offer our Best, which sure must be His own. If we think otherwise, how insufferable is our vain conceit of our own low and paltry Inventions? and if we are not so opinionated of our own Composure, Conscience will modestly blush and give place.

Suffer me to offer one or two Lessons, which the Text suggests. It admonishes us in the first place, That there is no Time nor Circumstance of Life wherein we may not be Honouring God, advancing in Religion and in Communion with God. Our Christian Life neither ever need, nor ought to meet with any Interruption. Afflictions call us to Prayer, Prosperity ministers matter for Praise: the Apostles care is that the Exercise of Grace be the same under all the Changes of Providence: He knew well our Danger in either Extream, of Sorrow or Joy: He considers our Infirmity and Pravity, how prone we are under Affliction to murmur or despond instead of praying, and how apt under the smiles of God to forget God and kick against him, instead of giving him Praise: This he warns and cautions us against, giving us a Law how to behave ourselves in either Case, so as may turn to God's Glory and our own good account. The Rules are worthy of such a Master, as they were the practice of an equal Apostle, who said of himself, I know both how to be abased, & I know how to abound; everywhere and in all things I am instructed, both to be full and to be hungry, both to abound and to suffer need. So would the Holy Ghost instruct us also, how to serve God and preserve Fellowship with him, how to carry on the proper work of our Lives, and maintain a blessed Intercourse with Heaven, whether we are Merry or Sad.

Indeed, every inordinacy of our affections will interrupt it. Worldly Sorrow and Sensual Mirth have one and the same effect: they are necessarily the Intermission of a close walk with God, and conspire in working Death: they offend the Holy Spirit, and provoke him to withdraw from us. Immoderate Sorrows break the vigor of the engaged Spirit, enfeeble and sink it: Intemperate Pleasures sensualize it, and it becomes light and frothy: But if our affections be well limited and directed, they do excellently subserve unto the Exercise of Grace. We may be sorrowful and yet serious, resigned and thankful; and we may be cheerful and yet grave, devout and heavenly. It is utterly an Error to think, that a mournful Spirit does only or best suit Exercises of Devotion: You need not of necessity always get the frame of your Spirit altered before you draw nigh to God, only improve the present frame to Serve him withal; for if it be not irregular and inordinate in itself, there are Religious Acts or Services peculiarly adapted to it.

Many people if they are sad and pensive, are apt to think, this is a serious frame, and proper to help me in Retirement or in public Worship; but if in a cheerful vein, they go abroad to be merry: Whereas they might be as laudably and as profitably now in their Closets or in the Church as before, and it may be rather the more so, because a cheerful spirit will go about Religious Duties, as well as Worldly Works, with the more life, delight and zeal.

Let every man therefore in that circumstance of Life wherein he is, Walk with God. Let no State or Frame prove your temptation; but as these alter, remember that the same work is to be carried on notwithstanding, only in a different manner. So that our business is to inquire, and satisfy ourselves from the Word of God, what the duty of the present Circumstance or Frame is: Am I now Sorrowful? Yet let me not be duller and less active in Religion than before. Or, Am I in a pleasant Humour? Let me not be less serious, less thoughtful of my Spiritual and Eternal State. Praise may now preserve, continue and increase that Communion with God, which before was carried on by Humiliations and Prayers.

A Second Instructive and Useful Lesson suggested in the Text is this: That every Ornament, Gift and Accomplishment of our Souls is a Talent lent us by God, to be improved in his Service, and returned to him again in way of tribute and acknowledgment. Two Instances there are before us, which I am apt to think are seldom considered as the Gifts of God, improvable to his Glory, and to be accounted for another day: these are, A Chearful Spirit, and a Musical Ear and Voice.

First, A Chearful Spirit, or Pleasantness of Temper and Disposition, is a precious gift of God, a happy & lovely thing, and to be used to his Glory. Such a Christian must especially recommend Religion in his Life, as a seal to that Truth, Her ways are ways of pleasantness, and all her Paths are Peace. He must beware of Vanity and Froth, and sensual Excesses, to which his Temper will easily betray him. His care ought to be that his Wisdom remains with him in his Pleasantry; and that he never give himself all the loose which his heart may crave, for fear it should run quite away with him. He is inexcusable if he be not often delighting himself in God, and if he make not his Duty minister unto him Spiritual Joy, when Worldly things serve to his Sensitive. God did not give the Man this sweet. Temper to Serve the Devil with it, & make the ways of Irreligion look Gay; but to adorn his own Holy Doctrine, to show how pleasant the Road to Heaven, and how bright the Serenity, how profound the Peace, of his Servants Soul may be.

Secondly, Another considerable Ornament and Beauty in any Person is, A Musical Ear and Voice; Art and Skill in Singing, and a Genius to relish the Lusty Airs & Strains of Poetry. These also are of great Use unto Devotion, and when devoutly used they are truly Great & Charming. God designed 'em for the Celebration of his own Perfections & Works, though' to be sure the Devil has scarce ever had so much Honor and Homage from anything. He uses to attempt the fairest and worthiest part of God's Workmanship, and therefore has labor'd so to engross these; as knowing their Power and Force to serve that Interest they take in with.

The First POEM we know of was a Divine One, Inspir'd in Heavenly Numbers by the Holy Ghost; & so the First Singing we read of was to celebrate the Triumph of the God of Israel in the Overthrow of Pharaoh: (When had they altogether held their Peace the Neighbouring Rocks and Woods would have cried out, and the Dumb Fish of the Sea after their Fright woud have found a Tongue.) We know also of another Song of Moses to be Sung on a more Illustrious Occasion: So that the First and Last of Poetry is sacred to God: the Song of Moses begins it, and the Song of Moses and the Lamb ends it in the Holy Scripture; and the Argument of each much the same.

David's Skill is known both in Composing and Playing on Instruments, and in his Psalms and by his Harp Poetry & Music were both Sanctify'd and Perfected.

But since his day how have they been debas'd and debauchit to the leudest as well as the meanest Subjects? The Triumphs of filthy Vice have been waited on and adorned, by a Servile and Scandalous Prostitution of these lovely Gifts; and Sin has been so set off (like a Fiend transformed into an Angel of Light ) that Multitudes have been taken by its dress, and charmed into Hell. Very just is the High Resentment of the Abused Nation of late, at this impious Profanation of Powers that should be devoted to God; and Praised even in the Churches in Solemn manner should the Heroes be, who first Encounter'd this growing Prodigy of Sin, and dared to take that long despised part and place of the King of Israel, to Dance before the Lord, and the returning Ark.

Our Text is an address to every cheerful heart, and skillful Ear or Hand, to let God have the Voice he gave and which he claims, to tune our Harps to the Songs of Zion; and not to move a finger, nor lose a Breath in Satan's Service. What is so fair in you do not blemish ever, by trespassing on the Rules of Decency and Virtue. Consecrate your Skill and Muse to God: keep yourself pure. Pray and aspire after David's steady fervent Inclination to the worthiest Matter and Subject of raised Praise, and Summon all your Powers to the Mighty Work: Psal. 57.7, 8. My heart is fixed O God, my heart is fixed, I will Sing and give Praise: Awake up my Glory! Awake Psaltery and Harp! &c.

There is eno' in God for our Everlasting Wonders and Delights; Eno' Beauty & Perfection shining forth in his Works for all the Copious Thoughts of Men and Angels too to dwell on forever. The Lord Redeemer claims the Service of your Mind and Tongue: To Him the Song of Songs is Inscribed, and he Merits Ours. Sing now to your Well-beloved,— Sing of his Deity & Eternal Generation, the ineffable Felicities of the God-head, and His who was set up from Everlasting, the Fathers Daily Delight, and Rejoicing always before him (Prov. 8.30.31.) Sing of his Pleasure & Gracious Delights with the Sons of Men: his Life in our low World and all the Glories of it; His God-like Holiness, and Divine Works of Power and Mercy: Sing of his wondrous Love & Victorious Passion; how he Triumphed Gloriously, dying to Rise and Reign for evermore; to take all Power in Heaven, and dispense all Heavenly Gifts to Men. These are the Christians proper Theme, the Life of Jesus whom he Worships; Psal. 142, 2, 3. Let Israel rejoice in Him that made him, let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King; let them Praise his Name in the dance, &c.

But I will detain you no longer from what the Title Promises: Mirth. A common thing in the World, and seldom seen under a good Regulation; Its Use to Religion (it may be) scarcely imagined or rarely considered, but the abuse of it gross and notorious everywhere.

Is any Merry? The Apostle Writes to professed Worshippers of Christ, real or at least visible Saints; he supposes Mirth among them, and in that he does not censure and condemn it, he plainly allows, approves and countenances it; much more does he so by supposing and intimating, that it may consist with a devout heart, prepare it for some Exercises of Worship, & promote our Fellowship with God in them. Indeed he does not deny that Mirth may and generally does degenerate into Sin: 'tis ordinarily the froth and noxious blast of a corrupt heart. Therefore holy Job always feared for his Sons, as their times of Feasting came about, lest there should have been Sinful Excesses in their Merry Meetings: He sent and sanctified them, and offered Burnt-offerings according to the number of them all.

It is with Mirth as it is with Sorrow: there is a proper, decent, Natural Sorrow on many Occasions, and there is a Sorrow which is Worldly & Deadly, and there is a Spiritual Mourning, a Godly Sorrow. In like manner, there is a Civil Mirth which is lawful and decent on proper occasions, and there is a Merriment that is Vicious, Fleshly, Hellish, and there is a Joy which is Holy and Heavenly. It highly concerns us to know these if we would converse in this Evil World as becomes the Gospel, so as neither to dishonor it by an Idle Austerity, nor by Licentious Excesses, nor live Strangers to its Divine Pleasure. I will therefore Essay to show these three things.

1. That there is a Civil and Natural Mirth, decent and lawful in a Christian, and occasionally a Duty.

2. That there is a Carnal & Vicious Merriment, to be condemned and avoided.

3. That there is a Spiritual and Religious Joy proper to a Saint; his rich Privilege, and his Duty to aspire after.

I. There is a Civil and Natural Mirth decent and lawful in a Christian, and occasionally a Duty. Mirth is good in itself, only it must be used Lawfully: 'tis then profitable & serveth to many Wise ends, and is countenanc'd by Religion. The Reason, Manner and Measure of it must be Innocent. No injury must be done by it to God or our Neighbor; it must transgress no Rule of Sobriety, Holiness or Charity; nor unfit us for any Duty we owe either to God or Man. Such Regulations must be observed, that it shall neither un-man us, nor trespass on our Christian Character; and then I am bold to affirm not only the Lawfulness, but the Loveliness and Obligation of Civil Mirth.

It were sufficient to say, that we have the express allowance of Scripture for it; and to be sure God does not indulge us in anything evil or indecent. I commended Mirth, says Solomon, meaning a Sober Satisfaction in the distributions of Providence, enjoying the comforts God allows to us: and what he commends the Apostle positively commands, Rejoice Evermore. There is a Complectional Joy which we must make allowance for, some being naturally of a more gay and bright Spirit than others; and it is a Super-added Gift of God, to the man to whom God has given riches and wealth, and hath given him Power to eat thereof, and to take his Portion, and to rejoice in his Labor. God often Fills the Perfect man's Mouth with Laughing, and his Lips with Rejoicing, on the account of present & worldly blessings: God has made me to Laugh, said Sarah, so that all that bear will laugh with me. A most acceptable License, and highly ornamental of the Christian Life: O • thy way, eat thy bread with Joy, and drink thy Wine with a Merry heart, for God accepteth thee herein; Let thy Garments be always white, and let thy head lack no Ointment; Live joyfully with the Wife whom thou Lovest, &c.

Many Reasons might be given in Justification of Moderate Mirth;

As,

1. Were this indecent in all Circumstances, Nature had not put this Faculty and Disposition into us, and made it so beautiful in us. God has so formed and framed us, and it is his Work; and 'tis most plain that he has graced and ennobled is Creature in it. For the Countenance of Man is much the more beautiful and graceful for its Smiles: A glad Countenance transforms a man, and makes quite another Person; the Eye has new Life, and the Mein is Superior & Angelic: Whereas when his heart is sad and his Spirits low, his Face confesses his Original, and his Fall; that like other Creatures he is of the Dust, and is tending thither again. Sorrow of heart shows the Spirit to be broken, but a Merry heart makes a bright Countenance, Prov. 15.13. Then Man appears Without like his First Self; Grave and yet full of Life and delight; so he must needs be thought to have been in his State of Integrity and Dominion: he Survey'd himself and all about him with unknown Content and Pleasure; no Cloud hung over his Brow, nor Frown wrinkled it; he walked Erect, without a dejected look, and as there was nothing light in his Air and Gate, so there was nothing dull and heavy: he had that Life & Majesty in his face that awe'd all the Creatures, and commanded fear and obedience from them. God made Man in his Perfection, and at the top of his proper Felicity; from which he is sunk by Sin, partly because of the Grief that comes of it, whereby we now so often look abject, low and mean; strangely other than what could have possibly agreed to a State of Rectitude & Felicity; for that must needs be accompanyd with a perfect Internal Delectation of Soul, shining forth constantly in all Looks & Words, and in the whole behavior. And if this must be supposed of Man in his first Estate, then so far as cheerfulness can be without Sin, we may conclude 'tis Comely & Ornamental in our present State, according to the design of our Nature, and the will of Him that created us.

2. If Mirth might not be decent & lawful, our Blessed Savior would not have ever countenanc'd it, nor would the Joyes of Heaven have been set off by it. It is plain that our Savior did give Countenance to it, by his Presence at the Marriage in Cana of Galilee. This was the House of Rejoicing, and Jesus goes thither as well as to the House of Mourning: and as he Wept with the Sisters of Lazarus whom he found in Tears, so no question he here partook in the Bridegrooms Joy. The Guests were indeed Select and Heavenly; The Mother of Jesus was there, and both Jesus was called and his Disciples; yet it is not to be doubted but there was Sober Mirth among them, as there was plenty of Wine; Wine that maketh glad men's hearts, and ministers to their Mirth; and lest there should be any want of it, as there had like to have been, he supplied 'em by his Divine Power. Hereby he sanctified the Solemnity and the Joy of it. As also elsewhere he intimates, that Sorrow were improper & indecent at such a time and place: Can the Children of the Bride-chamber Mourn, while the Bride-groom is with 'em?

Moreover, The Joy of Heaven is represented to us by Virtuous Mirth. Let us make merry and be glad, said the Father of the Prodigal, who in the Parable is our Gracious Heavenly Father in Jesus Christ. We are the Prodigals, who so often spend our first years in Riots and Excess, madly hunting after all manner of sensual Joy, wandering from God, and forgetful of him; but upon our Repentance there is Joy in Heaven among the Holy Angels, which the Holy Ghost thus represents to us— They began to be merry. In Heaven we are told there is the Fulness of Joy and Rivers of Pleasures: 'tis called also the Marriage Supper of the Lamb, and the united Acclamation of the Elect Guests begins thus, Let us be glad and rejoice. — So then Mirth may be decent and good, since it is a shadow of Heaven.

3. Sober Mirth is a duty so far as it is a due acknowledgment of God's Bounties to us, which do bespeak and challenge it. His Mercies call us to Mirth, we deny them if we be always of a heavy heart and sad face; we in effect say, that we receive nothing from God to make us cheerful and thankful: we donit render to him according to his benefits, but act as if only afflictions were measured out to us, and we were Chastened every morning. This were an ungrateful Forgetfulness or Undervaluing of the Favors of God, who in giving Fruitful Seasons, designs to fill men's hearts with food and gladness. A glad Spirit should be the least fruit of that Divine Bounty which feeds our Bodies. Therefore when Moses had given to Israel the Law of Offering the First Fruits of their Land to God, he adds,— Thus thou shalt worship before the Lord thy God, and thou shalt rejoice in every good thing which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thine House. The nature of a Benefit leads us into the reason of Such a Precept: For shall we receive Good at the hand of God, and not be pleased in it? Are Health, Peace, Plenty, Children, Friends, and the affluence of Worldly Enjoyments of little or no price with us? Are they not his rich Beneficence, his Fatherly Provision, his Royal Munificence? How do we acknowledge this if we do not rejoice in it? Do we need none of these things, or do we merit 'em and more at God's hand? but if freely given without our desert, and very valuable Mercies in themselves, self-love as well as gratitude binds us to rejoice in 'em. In short,

There is the same reason why we should rejoice under the smiles of Providence, as there is for mourning under its frowns. If when God bereaves us of Mercies he calls us to grief, then when he multiplies 'em, he calls us to Joy. Both have a voice, and ought to be hark'ned to.

4. And lastly, The apparent Ends of Mirth are very good, therefore in itself, & if virtuously regulated, it cannot be evil. Mirth is obviously good to many excellent purposes; of great use, service and benefit to us in many respects. As,

First, To refresh and recruit tired nature in its work. We are in a state of frailty: a little labor wearies the Body and Mind too; the labor of the Mind is a weariness to the Flesh, and the toils of the Body soon tire the Mind. We daily need some respite & diversion, without which we dull our Powers; a little intermission sharpens 'em again. It spoils the Bow to keep it always bent, and the Viol if always strained up. Mirth is some loose or relaxation to the laboring Mind or Body, it lifts up the hands that hand down in weariness, and strengthens the feeble knees that could stand no longer to work: it renews our strength, and we resume our labors again with vigor. 'It is designed by nature to cheer and revive us thro' all the toils and troubles of life; and therefore equally a benefit with the other Rests which Nature has provided for the same end. 'It is in our present Pilgrimage and Travel of Life refreshing as the Angels provision for Elijah in his sore travel. Prov. 15.15. All the days of the afflicted are evil, but he that is of a merry heart hath a continual feast.

Secondly, Moderate Mirth is of great use to preserve Health. It is both food and medicine; it nourishes a healthful Body, sustains and restores the languishing. Prov. 17.22. A merry heart doth good like a Medicine, but a broken spirit drieth the bones. It minds me how the Prophet joins these two things, Your heart shall rejoice, and your bones shall flourish as on herb: There is a natural Influence and Causality in the one unto the other. Cordials serve to cheer and keep up the spirits from sinking; but Nature is the best Physician, it knows what will work most kindly and efficaciously for its own sustentation; and things unnatural and violent should be the last Remedies. Now we all owe this Duty to ourselves, to look after our own life and health; and therefore so far as Mirth may be a necessary & kind Means of that, so far we are obliged to it by the Sixth Commandment.

Thirdly, Another good Use of Mirth is to cherish laudable Friendship, and to increase Love among Christians. Charity is the greatest Grace, the Apostle gives it the preeminence; & this must needs derive a Goodness on whatsoever shall be subservient and instrumental to the advancing such a Blessing in the World. Now it has been found a Means of Endearment and Love, for Relations, Acquaintance, Friends and Brethren in Christ to be free & pleasant at each others Houses. This was the Use of Feasts from the first Ages of the World; and so the happy Family of Job cherished that mutual delight in each other, for which they were so Exemplary: and so the First Christians did eat their Meat with Gladness and singleness of heart.

Religious Friendship, and the pleasure of Saints in one another, is the very Image and Joy of Heaven: There Holy Spirits unite, & their pleasure is, as their mutual Love, forever; both in their Fulness. One end of Life and Society is to increase in Love, & Mirth is both the fruit of Love as well as a means of it: For while we love, we shall rejoice together; and feel the Psalmists words, How good, and how pleasant is it, for Brethren to dwell together in Unity!

Fourthly and Lastly, Another End and Use of Virtuous Mirth is That we may attend holy duties of Worship, in Private or Public, with the more cheerfulness, and to promote Spiritual Joy. So in the Text, Mirth helps to the Singing Psalms, and making melody in our hearts to God. A cheerful spirit sanctified, finds its best pleasure in holy duties. David's Sanguine Temper being under the Regulation of Grace, lead him to his Psalmody. It not only fits a man to work the better in his Shop, to be a more pleasant Neighbor, and a greater comfort to his Family; but it makes him more serviceable to God's Glory, and acceptable in his sight. God Loves a cheerful Servant, (as we ourselves also do) to see men love their Duty, and make Meditation, Prayer and Praise their delight, being never so much pleased, as when engaged in such Exercises. He likes not to see us go pining or dull about our Work, as if it were our Penance, and a hard Service. It gives a Luster to Religion to go unto God's House with the Voice of Joy and Praise: When it is Pleasant to our Souls, then is God indeed honor'd by us. Now regular Mirth promotes this; the Habit of Chearfulness does not accompany us just to the doors of the Church, or of our Closets, and there take leave of us; No, it goes with us to our Knees; quickens, enli'vens & makes fervent: the Soul reflecting on its own delightful frame, says to itself, Thus will I bless him while I Live, I will lift up my hands in his Name.

As a sad heart goes heavily about business, so a lightsome mind is vigorous: and as Worldly Sorrow works Spiritual Death, and carnal Mirth does the same, so temperate Mirth promotes our living Spiritually. Let the Spirit be clouded thro' bodily Indispositions, & the Spiritual Life often seems to languish: Good People in that case have sometimes sadly but groundlessly complained of the decays of Grace; they are Lifeless and cannot go to their knees with half that pleasure and desire they lately did. But it has been the Physicians work, more than the Divines, to administer toward the Persons restoration unto his Sensible Communion with God; which has not been really Interrupted as it has seemed to be; for let his bodily Distemper be removed, and his delight in God, and in other things too, returns: Which is a Demonstration that Chearfulness does greatly subserve unto a holy & religious Joy. In short, Melancholy People commonly make drooping Christians, to the disadvantage of Religion.

These are the Excellent Ends of Sober Mirth; it recruits nature, preserves health, and cherishes both Charity and Devotion: wherein as it consults God's Glory, and our Neighbors Interest, so also our own present benefit & future Reward. And that which is of so excellent Use to us in our Christian Life must needs be decent and a duty: As these Ends are Great and Noble in themselves, so must that be which is a Mean of them.

USE. Having thus argued the lawfulness and use of sober Mirth, I will only say this upon it, That it reproves the defect and want of it among many good Christians. The use of it both unto Life and Godliness being manifest, one would have thought that such a Duty would be readily embraced; yet it is rather fled from by some few, either thro' the power of Melancholy, or a wrong notion taken up of Holiness. The last is injurious to God, dishonorable to Grace, a scandal to Religion, and mischievous to Mankind. 'It is a gross Opinion to think the Gravity, Sobriety, Moderation and Mortification to the World, which agrees to the Christians Character, cannot consist with Occasional Mirth, or with Habitual Chearfulness: Neither the Saints of old time, nor the Apostles after them, nor the Lord, the Savior of the Church, has taught us any such sour Doctrine.

Men wrong Religion by this ill account of it, and must answer for disparaging the Service of Christ, & giving an ill report of the Land of Promise, as if there were Monsters and Giants in the way terrible to force thro'. It is the Spirit of Joshua and Caleb that does God and Religion honor; they were for engaging cheerfully, and animated others to do so too; but the dullness and cowardice of the other Spies had a wretched influence to dispirit the whole Congregation, who lift up their Voice and wept that night, and were for turning their backs on Canaan. Just as a melancholy Christian would tempt his Neighbor to suspect Christianity to be a grievous and morose kind of Life. A most certain way to obstruct the growth of Christ's Kingdom; for you know the vain World are stumbled at anything that looks this way; therefore turn the bright side to 'em, and let 'em see that you enjoy more pleasure in Serving God, than they can in serving divers lusts and pleasures. It's true, we must not counterfeit or lie for God, but profane men must be told, that they must part with their Lusts, and repent of them, and that Repentance is a very bitter Grief, and that the Mortification of those fleshly pleasures they have surfeited on in their past ungodly Life is a necessary Labor, wherein they may expect the painful throws of a violent Death; and if men will go away Sorrowful from Christ upon such faithfulness, there is no Remedy: Only let the disheartened Person know too, that this does not infer Christianity to be a Life only of Penance & Sorrow; No, sensual men need only exchange their Pleasures for far better, more substantial and enduring than those they part with; such as become Men, and Heirs of Heaven, in the hopes of which there is a continual Ravishment.

Such a joyous Life of eminently good men has been the Means of the Conversion of profane Sinners. Famous is the Story of a Gentleman so Converted in an Inn; he never before knew that Mirth was separable from Profaness & Intemperance; the Mirth appeared Wise to him, & the Religion that allowed and governed it charming. The sad hearted Christian seems to be without hope in the World, and so his Religion without Motive or Allurement in it, which were an Effectual Care that it should make no Converts. Let me only ask the pensive drooping Christian,

Is your Master hard, your Work unreasonable? I am sure you detest the Blasphemy, you tremble at it, and will reply,

Then I beseech you, let your Life say so, and Glorify Christ: donit force People to pity you and to say, — What a Poor Slave goes there! What a Miserable Look has he! What a load of Grief hangs on his Brow! What a dead Eye and Heart has he! Pray, what Tyrant does he Serve? & whats the Drudgery he is put to? O Christian, let 'em see that there is such a thing as your Masters Joy, and that on this side of Heaven; that Devotion is a good Exercise, that your Meditation on God is sweet, and that Man may eat Angels Food.

Again, Are your Receipts nothing? have you no Calls to pleasure and the Joyous Exercises of Praise and Thanksgiving? Is there nothing delightful in all the good Gifts of God? No? not in the Gospel itself, that Good Tydings of great Joy to all People! But this is an Evil which I have seen under the Sun, a man to whom God has given all outward Blessings & Spiritual too in abundance, and yet the obliged Creature has not had a heart to taste the Good of any of 'em.

To add no more,

Is Heaven before you Inconsiderable? (for I speak to such as are bound thither) that One Hope of your Calling, in Hope of ETERNAL LIFE, which God who cannot Lye has promised! Is your Hope poor? the Promises not precious? & Grace (the Unspeakable Gift) not felt? How do you disparage the Riches of Mercy, by a heavy lumpish Life! how ill a Return to the Lord, who hath done great things for you, whereof you ought to be glad, which should fill your Mouth with Laughter, and your Tongue with Singing.

Men taste not the Blessings of their Sabbaths, nor of their Tables: Manna is raind about us but we want an Angels relish; the Milk and Honey flows but we have no Appetite: O did we taste and see how Good the Lord is, our Eyes would be Enlightned; we should rejoice more in Him and in his Benefits! Pray therefore to God for a Savour and Relish of your Mercies, that you may more love and delight yourselves in Him the Giver.

SERMON II. Of MIRTH Carnal and Vicious.

I have spoken of that Civil and Natural Mirth, which is decent in a Christian, and occasionally a duty.

I now proceed to say,

II. That there is a Carnal & Vicious Merriment, to be condemned, abhorred and avoided. All such Rejoicing is Evil, and Sorrow is better than such Laughter; wherefore this Apostle in another place calls upon such Merry fools to be afflicted and mourn and weep, to turn their Laughter to Mourning, and their Joy to Heaviness. There is a Laughter, of which the Wise Man could not but say — It is Madness, Transporting the Mind beyond the bounds of Sobriety & Reason; and there was a Mirth too in his days of which he said, What does it? It does no Imaginable good, but much hurt. This Unprofitable and Pernicious Mirth I shall endeavor to lay before you and describe the several kinds of it.

1. From the Measure. 2. Manner of it. 3. The Timing it. 4. The Object, Cause or Reason of it. 5. Its ill Effects.

I. The Measure of our Mirth may be Prodigal and Intemperate. There is a Mean to be kept in all things. No Excess is Innocent. Mirth may be Immoderate in the degree of it: Excessive loud it sometimes is, and sometimes excessive long. The first▪ is too often to be heard in Taverns, when Drink has intoxicated men and banished Reason and Sobriety. They chant to the sound of the Viol, but their own Voice most criminal. Inferior Mariners especially do give themselves this Offensive license: the Noise argues a Tube; hollow Creatures that have nothing within 'em; no Grace, Wisdom, Consideration or Thoit: A Gag is their proper and due punishment.

Length also is a frequent Excess, and commonly is with the other▪ increasing the Guilt and Mischief. Some spend the whole day in a Rant, and continue the Dinn from Morning to Evening. Thus precious Time is wasted in Madness and Riot: that Time which should rather be redeemed in Retirement▪ and deep Reflections in Silence on their horrid Sins. Men consume their days in vanity, and keep Conscience stunn'd till they pass into their Graves; Death cures their Madness, and at last they are in a State of Silence.

In Short, That Mirth is immoderate, which exceeds the Intention of Nature. 'It is designed to refresh our Spirits in our work, and not to tire 'em and unfit for it. It is easy to over-do & get a habit of Lightness: & then the Headstrong beast, used to liberty, would not endure the rein again; takes the Bitt in its teeth, and none knows the Compass of its Career. So hard is it to stop & reclaim a Libertine & Extravagant.

II. There is often a variety of Sin in the Licentious Manner of expressing our Mirth. 'It is sometimes Proud, sometimes Profane, sometimes Wanton & Fleshly. Pride puts on a very Pleas'd face when it scorns, derides and insults: Disdain is fleer'd from the Eye, and Contempt is in the Smile; though' indeed Envy and Spite are underneath the paint; the Look is pleased eno' and Gay, but 'tis only Disguize, a forced laugh while a man's galled and mad at the heart. Profane men Swear alike and Curse, imprecate and blaspheme, whether they are angry or pleased, in earnest or in jest. A kind of Merriment as Impertinent as it is Impious: that a Wretch cannot be over-joy'd to see a Friend but he must curse him, and every cup of drink he gets he damns himself he's so pleased, and blasphemes God the Giver of it. The Wanton man's Mirth is Ridiculous. He lays aside the Man, and the Gravity of Reason, and acts the part of a frolic Colt: He roars and frisks and leaps; and lies and throws firebrands in Jest. Finally, the Fleshly man's Mirth lies in obscene jests and drunken revels. There is a foolish Jesting, which the Apostle names with Filthiness, and opposes it to the giving of thanks; he says of it that 'tis not convenient, which might seem a mild Censure, but that he presently adds a vehement Inhibition of it, That it be not once named among us as becometh Saints, Eph. 5.3, 4. Frothy Wit is unsavory and should be insipped. The talk is not Season'd with Salt, to minister Grace to the hearers, and is flat and tasteless to a chaste and healthful Soul. But above all kinds of vain Mirth deliver me from the Drunken Club, who belch out noisy Ribaldry rank of the foul lees within. Nabal's Mirth, and Folly is in it: 1 Sam. 25.36. His heart was very Merry within him, for he was very drunken. Wine is Mischievous when it inflames Rage, but nothing is so Nauseous as a Merry Drunkard: A sickly sight that no Satyr can severely eno' expose: So ridiculous and fulsome that it would provoke one to renounce Mirth forever. "Gaudent Pii, garriunt Ebrii, the good man rejoices, the drunkard drivels. The flesh does thus pollute our Mirth, and the Manner of expressing it is foul and licentious.

III. Mirth ill Tim'd may for that Reason be Sinful and Vicious. To everything there is a Season, — a time to weep, and a time to laugh. Therefore that which is decent and lawful today, may possibly become indecent and unlawful tomorrow. Times of Affliction are proper for Humiliation and Mourning; Mirth were indecent under Mournful Providences. Ezek. 21.10. Shou'd we then make Mirth? scil. When the Sword is sharp'ned and furbished for slaughter: i. e. a time of Public Judgments on a Land is no time for Merriments among them. Sorrows are forced on 'em: Isai. 24.7, 8. All the Merry-hearted do sigh, the Mirth of Tabrets ceaseth, the noise of them that rejoice endeth, the joy of the Harp ceaseth, they shall not drink Wine with a Song, &c. God causes to cease from a Place the Voice of Mirth & the Voice of gladness. Jer. 7.34. Joy is taken away from the plentiful field, & the wine-press is no more to be trod with shouting. Some are too stout and stubborn to bend before Divine Judgments; their Jollity is a high Contempt and Provocation of the Holy God; New woes hang over such, Amos 6.1, 4, 5, 6. Woe to them that are at ease in Zion, — that chaunt to the sound of the Viol, — that drink wine in Bowls, — and are not grieved for the Affliction of Joseph. Utter destruction is threatened to such, Isa. 22.12, 13, 14. In that day did the Lord God of Hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth; And behold joy and gladness, slaying Oxen & hilling sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine: — And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of Hosts, surely this Iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die, saith the Lord God of Host.

Moreover, Mirth does no ways agree to a Fast-day. Isai 58.3. In the day of your Fast ye find pleasure. Nor common Mirth to the holy Sabbath, v. 13, 14. If thou turn away thy foot from the Sabbath, from doing thy pleasure on my holy day, & call the Sabbath a delight, the Holy of the Lord & Honorable, and shalt honor him, not — finding thine own pleasure, &c. Sports and Pastimes are detestable on the Lord-Day, whoever tolerate and authorize 'em: Work and Labor is rather sufferable; for to make it a Play-day is worse than not to make it a Rest. More abominable yet is it to see People on the Merry-pin in the very Exercises of Worship; which is to affront the Great God to his very Face, and in his House, which he has commanded us to Reverence, as well as to Sanctify his Day. Yet we too often see People bring vain and light minds thither. Some can Play and Laugh, as well as others Sleep, under that Word, which we should Tremble at, because we must be judged by it. How rude is it as well as Profane, not to put on Gravity and Respect in God's awful Presence, which we do when we come before any Superior on Earth! the God, the Lord our Maker, whom we should bow down and kneel before, whom we should Serve with fear, and Rejoice in with Trembling! Only Spiritual joy becomes the Sacred Place & Season.

Again, The House of Mourning is no place to be Merry at. Christianity requires us to weep with those that weep. A Corpse and a Grave should minister serious and devout though'ts to us, and sober behavior becomes a Funeral.

To conclude, A Graceless State is no condition for much mirth. A hard saying, and who can bear it? May not an Unregenerate man be allowed to laugh? Is it a Sin to be merry before we are Converted? I mean no such thing, 'tis a tender point & must be warily guarded.

It is easy to observe, that there is too much and Inordinate mirth among Unregenerate men. All excess of wantonness is to be seen among them, as if they had taken offense at Sobriety, and abjured all Rules of Restraint: so that confessedly the fault lies on this side, & here's the danger; Levity being one fruit of Natural Corruption.

Yet Occasional Mirth in moderation is Innocent in all men: Else Nature itself must be quarrel'd with, which has framed and invincibly disposed us for it; and has made it one distinction of mankind from Inferior Creatures.

Moreover, There is a Quiet and cheerfulness which is necessary to the preservation of Nature: and without which we never shall in any good measure discharge the Duties of our Respective Places. Now to be sure we may not destroy Nature, nor neglect Duty on any such pretence as this,— I have no right to be merry.

But yet the Graceless Person, upon a sober consideration of his State, must needs confess that he has no reason for anymore mirth than is necessary to these Ends. For let him but consider what his State is and what his danger: that he is in the broad way to Hell, and under the heavy Curse of God; and is this a condition for him to be merry in?

In like manner, rather should Anguish and Horror seize the Sinner. Delight is not seemly for a fool. The Earth may well be disquieted for this, A Fool when he is filled with meat; & bounds upon it like a fed horse. 'It is eno' to draw tears from a sober Beholder, to see the outrageous Extravagancies of some wild & careless, frolic people in a doleful, unsanctify'd State. But so much of Unseasonable Mirth.

IV. Mirth ill Plac'd becomes Sin: 'tis evil with respect to the Object, Cause, or Reason of it; and is either altogether idle and impertinent, or malicious and mischievous, or profane.

1. Idle and Impertinent Mirth is evil, which is squander'd away we know not on what, nor wherefore. No reason can be given of it, no cause assigned: 'It is an unaccountable Blithness and Jollity, common to many, they know not why, but because they are in a frolic. 'It is a Noise without sense & meaning, without design, and void of Harmony: Eccles. 7.6. As the crackling of thorns under a pot, so is the laughter of the Fool. 'It is below the Reason of a man, who is (or should be) an Agent by Counsel, and should be able to assign some sufficient cause for all his actions; know why he laughs, and why he weeps, and not like a Horse that has no understanding, frisk and leap & bound in a lawless though'tless Range. A wise man pities and blushes for such Freaks of others: And Nature teaches us to think it a calamitous sight, when we have beheld a poor Natural sit laughing at his Straws. There is a Disease that shows itself in strange and unreasonable Fitts of laughing & weeping, but altogether as unhappy & compassionate as some other Maladies: So is Idle Mirth the Disease of many a vain heart; a symptom of a sickly Soul, which every amusement of the fancy commands, & tosses about at pleasure.

2. Malicious & Mischievous Mirth is very wicked. It is a sport to a fool to do mischief, he plays with pointed Arrows and Death. His Mirth is injurious and cruel.

He is glad at Calamity, it may be; is merry in the sufferings of others, and says— Aye, so we would have it. This is equally against Nature and against Christianity, for both do teach us to weep with them that weep. Job detested the Barbarity, (Job. 31.29, 30. If I rejoiced at the destruction of him that hated me, or lift up myself when evil found him:—) & good men have sufficiently felt it; therefore does the Church complain so bitterly of the wicked pleasure of her Enemies; they have heard of my trouble, and are glad that thou hast done it; they pass by and clap their hands; and in like manner does the Psalmist grievously resent it, In mine adversity they rejoiced, yea the Abjects gathered themselves together,— Lord let them not rejoice wrongfully, nor wink with the eye.

Too often people make sport at the defects of others, whether Bodily or Intellectual: this also is cruel and uncharitable Mirth. 'It is abusive & inhumane to make merry at another's Infirmity, & much more his Misery. A very odd fault, that an Infelicity, and not procured neither by enormous lusts, as sometimes men are the guilty Authors of their own griefs, should be made such a matter of laughter! That if a poor Innocent, (as some Nations very humanely call 'em) a Miserable whom God has deprived of understanding, do but pass along the Streets, a troop of rude Boys are after him, abusing him, & making themselves cruel sport; when as they ought rather to weep in pity, and think with themselves,— Did not he that made me in the womb make him? —

I might note also that there is the malicious Joy of the Defamer and Backbiter; the huge satisfaction of the Detractor if he can blast a name which he spites. Envy also conceives a base Joy, & is highly gratify'd in another's loss; as the Devils high satisfaction was, to rain a happy world, and to make another Race of Beings miserable as himself. Finally; Persecutors please themselves in Blood. The Mourning of Rama, and the shrieks of Smithfield, are music to some savage hearts. The Guilt of Antichrist, all whose Gayety and Pomp & Pleasures have been bought with blood, or swam to thro' it.

I will sum up this Head, of barbarous Mirth, in the sad Instance of Sampson. His Indiscretion & Sin had delivered him into the hands of the Philistines, & they had bound him and put out his Eyes; upon which they had a great Holyday appointed to offer a great Sacrifice unto Dagon their god, and to rejoice; and when their hearts were merry, they called for their poor Captive to make 'em sport. 'Twas like the rest of their brutish Religion, and just as cross to true Goodness, as their stock Dagon was to the true and living God, the Immense Spirit. In this he was a Type of our Blessed Savior, who going to his Cross and upon it, was derided & reviled by the rude Mob. The last Instance this of cruel and malicious Mirth, when it insulted the Meek and Innocent Lamb of God: O fatal and impious pleasantry of the brutish stupid Guards, when they dressed the King of Heaven and Earth in scorn of his Kingship, and bowed the knee to him in Mockery! No doubt, they were wondrous merry at their insolent and barbarous Game, & the Hall shook with their Hoots and roaring. This is the Mirth that is malicious and mischievous, unmerciful and injurious to our Neighbor.

3. There is an ill-placed Mirth which is yet more strictly to be called Profane. Either when Sin or when Goodness is the Object, Reason and Cause of it.

First, Mirth is profane when we make ourselves merry with Sin. Sin calls for Horror and not Laughter, for tears and not sport: yet 'tis a common thing for Fools to make a mock of Sin. Prov. 14.9. And that sometimes their own Sins, & sometimes the Sins of others.

1. It is very profane to make our own Sins the reason or matter of our Mirth; instead of afflicting our Souls for them. Yet this men are often guilty of three ways more especially.

1. Profane men please themselves in Projecting Iniquity. They raise to themselves a Scheme of what they will do, and the Pleasure they shall find in it, and so their fancies are tickled beforehand with what their Imagination paints, and their Wishes have realiz'd. Thus Murderous Esau. comforts himself with the sweet Revenge he purposed, Gen. 27.41. Behold the days of Mourning for my Father are at hand, then will I slay my Brother Jacob. His heart conceived a wicked Joy in Imagining this almost worst of Crimes. The Oppressor and Robber devour all the sweets of Gain beforehand, Prov. 1.11, 13. — They say, Come, let us lay wait for blood, let us lurk privily for the Innocent without Cause, let us swallow them up alive as the Grave;— We shall find all precious Substance, we shall fill our Houses with spoil. A delicious Morsel this, on the hopes of which the hungry dog will smile and live a great while. The Rich Fool in the Gospel strangely pleased himself in premeditating a long Life of Sensuality and Luxury: the gay prospect transported his sunk Soul: St. Luk. 12.19. I will say to my Soul, Soul, thou hast much Goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink & be merry. And so I might show of the Lewd Heart too, what Scenes of pleasure it paints to itself, what charming Images it forms and gazes at, and enjoys! the Joy of this Sinner is all in Projection, he fancies things that are not, and promises himself what none can give. So the Impudent Solicitress whom Solomon speaks of, gave her Temptation, the gayest Outside that could be,— She tells of the Tapistry, and Carved Work, & the Fine Linnen of Egypt, wherewith she had decked her Bed; the Myrrh, the Aloes, and Cinnamon that perfumed it, and all to flatter the Simple One with a fond Expectation of a Fill and long Solace of Love. This is the Vile Joy of the Projection of Sin.

2. Profane men find a Superior Joy in the Compassing & Committing Sin. Just then their hearts are full of Satisfaction, and they greedily seize their Prey: they Sin in the Heat of blood, while their desires violently carry them to the forbidden Object; the Sinner is heated & Athirst, drinks eagerly and is pleased with his draught; the Stollen waters are sweet, his lust inflaming him as a Feaver within, & though' the Drought be Unnatural & Mortal, yet its pleasant to quench it. This is the Cris •• of their Joy, as it is of their Distemper, raised to the top of their wicked Desires. So the Intemperate man looks on the Wine in the Glass, and Praises its Colour and its Spirits, and when he has sufficiently raised his Own, he lifts up the baneful draught to his Mouth. So do the Unjust snatch and grasp at wicked Gains, and you may see their delight in their Eagerness after 'em, even though' Conscience & Fear check the bold Robber, & he tremble in the attempt, as it is common to see them. So the Lustful Amnon rush'd with mad desire on his Rape & Incest, had what he so long pin'd after, pleased for the moment the cursed act was perpetrating, but stung with bitter Loathing and Remorse immediately for it.

3. Profane men remember and call to mind their Sins with a wicked pleasure. It is sweet to 'em in the Review, they act over again in Imagination past Excesses which they cannot again come at; as some Creatures fetch up the food they eat & Chew, the Cud; only they are Clean Beasts, and so too good for a comparison here. How Merry are Impenitent men very often in reciting the vain, the lewd, the malicious Passages of their Lives? the Injuries they have done to some, the Contempts to others! glorying in their shame and dishonor, to set the Club a laughing. What a Prize has this been sometimes thought, and what a Contest and Vying has there been to carry it? to that degree that many in the World will bely and defame themselves, and pretend to Impieties which they never had Opportunity for, for the pleasure and delight of being thought Vile. Others who have out-lived their Sin, but not the Will to it, can only surfeit on the Remembrance of it; and nothing is more sickly as well as hydeous than the fulsome sprightly talk of some Aged People, about the Sins of their Youth. They ha'nt lost the Relish of their long acted follies, and impotently show their Will & Joy, though' to be compassed no more. This is Profane Mirth indeed! & we may well be struck with Horror at it, that men's Sins should minister it, when they call for their most bitter Sorrows, or will lead to endless Wailings.

2. It is also a Profane thing to make the Sins of Others our Sport. Which men too often do under a double Character, either as Friends, or as Enemies.

1. There is a Profane Approving of Another's Sin, which is the Guilt of wicked Friends and Companions. This is Evil, and just cross to the Holy Temper of the Psalmist, I beheld Transgressors and was grieved. Yet there are such Merry Clubs, where the Envy'd & Crown'd Hero is he that can tell of most singular Villanies, and number up most daring Crimes: and well may he be the most admired (but detested) Monster among them. So (they say) the Devil meets his devoted Tribe of Malice, to hear who has most Serv'd him, and is likest to him, and there bestows the Infamy of his Commendation. And these are some of his most natural & finished Children, the last brand of a Reprobate Mind, and evidence of Vile Affections, who knowing the Judgment of God, that they that do such things are worthy of Death, not only do the same, but have Pleasure in them that do them.

2. There is a Profane Insulting Another's Sin, the Malicious Joy of an Enemy. A man lost to that Christian Charity, which rejoices not in Iniquity, 1 Cor. 13.6. So contrary also to that Express Precept, Prov. 24.17. Rejoice not when thine Enemy falleth, and let not thine heart be glad when he stumbleth. Yet such there are who have no greater pleasure than to twitt, and cast another's Sin in his teeth; or if they ever hear him commended, then to Object it with a wretched spite. How contrary this is unto the Merciful Spirit of our Savior, might be shown from many Passages of His Glorious Life , as well as from the Tenderness of the Covenant of Grace to the greatest Sinners upon their Repentance. There are those also that hate Religion and all that Profess it, and have no greater Joy than to hear of a Professor falling into any Scandal; it is Sugar to their Cups to make a Sober man Drunk, & they lay it up as a Memorable Feat, and for a sufficient Triumph all their Life long; nay and it may be as a doughty, Eternal, Unanswerable Argument against God and His Worship for Evermore.

This is the first kind of Profane Mirth, to make merry at Sin; whether it be our own, or other men's Sins.

Secondly, It is equally Profane to make Religion and Goodness the Object of our Mirth: to Play and droll on things Divine and Sacred. And this is either Blasphemous or Contemptuous.

1. There are such daring Wretches as can make themselves merry in Blasphemies. It is dangerous to have one light thought of God, or of his Word: Unbelieving Sarah laughit at the Incredible Promise of her Pregnancy, but was severely rebuked for it. Yet in our days some horrid Creatures dare to do much more than this comes to; they dare to Ridicule the Doctrines of Reveal'd Religion, & the Godhead of Christ our Savior in particular, if not the very Being and Providence of God. What their Grovling Reason cannot comprehend, or what their filthy Lusts oppose, they set their paltry Wits to expose. And now all Revealed Religion must bear their saucy Banter; for so indeed our Modern Deists have been prodigal of Witticisms at the Expence of Scripture; and no Merrier fools than these conceited Despisers of the Mysteries of Christianity. So the Wits at Athens mocked at the Resurrection, and St. Peters Scoffers at the Promise of the Second Coming of Christ; and no doubt but he was in a Rapture who once asked a Christian, what the Galilean was a doing, & received this answer, that he was preparing a Hell for Scoffers. Such mad fools play with the Thunder, and clap hands at their Imaginary Judge, as if he were but a Name, and the subject of some Romance. They do daily what the barbarous Jews did once to him on the Cross, revile him with a wagging head, art thou he that must save us? But this sport would not last long; the Judgment Day will effectually stop it.

2. There is a Profane Contempt of Sacred Things, which helps the Scorner to a great deal of vile Mirth. I know that those whom I now accuse will plead Not Guilty, and try to excuse themselves from Contempt: they forsooth own a God and his Providence and his Word, and reverence them all; only indeed they have flights of Wit which some people are too grave and dull to be pleased with: but this pretence of Respect would not pass, when Contempt is plainly expressed. As,

1. To promote Mirth some are often making Allusions unto Texts and Phrases of Sacred Scripture. As if there could be no finished piece of Farce except the Bible be hal'd in and burlesqu'd! this passes for the Quintessence of Wit with some, and it is easily to be observed of them, that let another talk with ten times the Finess and Quickness without such Allusions, and he may pass for a sensible man it may be; but let a rude Dunce blunder out a scurrilous P •• n in Scripture-language, and they burst out and clap hands. Good God! that a Christian should treat his Bible thus, which a Turk would not his lend Alcoran! Is it, that nothing is serious and Holy! that the Inspiration of the Holy Ghost cannot be polluted! that any foul Mouth has license to take the pure words into it! has God spoken what is Ridiculous, that it should so entertain us with Laughter! Verily, 'It is because the Scripture is so very pure; therefore the rooted corruption in Mankind lusts so mortally against it, while it bears with the Quran because of the Mixtures of Filthiness in it.

2. The Merry Sinner proceeds on in the next place to scoff at a Serious Profession. And then the Puritan is dressed up a Merry-Andrew, & a Fools Coat is patched together of a thousand lies and calumnies. Or if a Story or two be got of a Devout Persons Impertinence, then woe be to Sobriety and Godliness! it and its Votaries shall suffer for the Indiscretion of a weak Brother, and the Hoot follows at the Nonsense of all that are not as loose as themselves; as if they would shake down the Churches, as Faith once did the Walls of Jericho by a shout. But more especially, Woe be to the Church-Member, who must now be content to be a Knave and a Fool, and like some Martyrs of old, be dressed up to be worry'd without pity, nay with all the rude pleasures of a Bear-baiting. Indeed if the world had not often found it so, we could never have guessed it possible, that an honest, sober, harmless life should have ever offended any, or seemed so Ridiculous! that a man should ever be exposed to scorn, because he seems to reverence and fear his Maker! because he prays to him, and delights in his Worship! Job 12.4. The Just, Upright man is laughed to scorn.

3. Especially the MINISTRY serves to the profane man's Mirth: When it may be there's no reason besides the Separation to the Service of the Altar. But the Servant is not greater than his Lord; for so did they by our disguised Lord first. We are made a spectacle to Angels & to Men, we are fools for Christ's sake, weak & despised; said the great Apostle himself. But our Age has outdone the very Times of Heathenism for Outrages to the Sacred Character and Order: witness what Mr. Collier has produced the Abuses of the Clergy by the Stage. A very odd Diversion in Christendom, as he very well says. The highest Resentment is very just and decent when the Church and its Glorious Head is so grossly Insulted. Our Order have reason to complain of this Usage, be it only of the Nick-names put on us, which our Friends too begin to countenance, though' they cannot but know, that whenever they come into play they are Prologues to something that is Ludicrous. Christ is struck at thro' his Servants side, and made the Drunkards Song.

4. And Lastly, Some horribly profane Fools can make Merry at the Judgments of God. As of late the Wretches, that could act the Tempest as soon as the fearful Storm was over that had astonished Europe, and produced amazing Ruines there, at the Recital whereof the Audience Clapt hands: things which the Hair of their head stood an End at in the Morning, and yet droll'd on in the Evening! A Desolation which Posterity will remember with awe, and speak of with Seriousness. It is a daring pitch of Sin, but common in the World, that no Voice nor Blow of God can lay men's ribald tongues, nor fright 'em into Soberness. Let the Sea roar, & the fierce Winds cast the Waves up to Heaven, yet there are profane Mariners that will Drink and Sing on. Let the Murdering Bullets fly, and bury the hardy Soldier in a Mount of dead Companions, yet he will jest it may be at their fall and maims, and their wild looks in Death. Let God speak in yet louder Thunders, & fill the Heavens with Flames, there are bold Sinners who will not bush their Laughter, nor leave their Cups and their Games. There's not an Awful thing happens in the Neighbourhood, but 'tis twenty to one some Circumstance shall be found to crack a Jest on. But these Fools-bolts are all shot at Providence, and fasten on the Operation of God's hand.

I have thus briefly laid before you some Instances of Profane Mirth, placed amiss, on Objects that will not bear it. Let it be never named among us, nor said that God and things Sacred are our Game. For if it be Vile to commit Sin, it is doubly so to laugh at it when we have done; and if it be Vile to omit to do good, it is doubly so to revile and scoff at Goodness. But this is the Fourth Head, Mirth ill placed becomes Sin.

V. And Lastly, Mirth may be known to be Evil and Unlawful, by its evil Fruits and Effects. As the tree is known by what it bears, the Vine of Sodom by its sour Grapes. Particularly, That Mirth is evil, which is an hindrance of what is Good, or which cherishes & provokes to what is evil.

1. Sometimes it indisposes for what is Good, which it should promote by Exhilerating the Spirits. It begets ill frames, and unfits for duty: the temper of Spirit is perverse, and will not be brought to what is good. Thus, Spiteful Mirth is the death of Charity: The heart that can insult the Miserable is void of all Pity & Beneficence: it would not so much as say, Be ye warmed, be ye filled: Again, Profane Mirth is the furthest point from Repentance and Spiritual Mourning. He that should be Sorrowing and trembling at his own Sins, is hellishly sporting himself without fear. Nothing that is good can dwell with this frame. And Frothy vain Mirth is an Enemy to all Devotion. It's hard to recover ones self to Sober & Devout thinking, or to find delight in Divine Contemplations. It suppresses & stifles the Convictions that were upon the Soul; Conscience is born down, and the Spirit of God driven away by impure Blasts: So pleasures Choke the Word as well as worldly cares, and Yesterday's concern for the Soul is forgotten. Finally, It takes away both List and Confidence for Prayer: too Serious a Duty, and too much a Privilege, for one that has been all the day in a light Spirit: How can he look God in the face at night, or compose himself to a holy Reverence!

2. Often it provokes to Evil, and promotes and strengthens Sin in men. It stupefies & hardens men, and by a though'tlessness of God, they insensibly grow fearless. The Jovial Sinner comes in a little time to sit under Sermons with the same Levity that he reads Plays with; and 'ere he is aware may come to make a Jest of Heaven & Hell, and all that's Sacred. Profane Mirth runs men into all Sensualities; it has a pernicious Influence to make men Shameless in all Immoralities: it hoots Modesty and Fear away. Moreover, It cramps Industry, and is big with Idleness; it affects such Company as are for the Glass and Gaming; it would make the Year one long Holiday, & dooms the Sabbath to Sport & Pastime, as well as the Six days of Labor. Finally, Malicious Mirth teaches men to backbite, imbitters 'em against their Neighbors, makes 'em hate 'em with Malignity, and Scorn 'em with Virulence. All this Iniquity it foments in our own Breasts.

Nor is it without an Evil Influence on Others, who behold our vain Conversation. It gives Scandal to the Sober and Temperate, who desire to Live Godly; as the Riots of Sodom vexed Lots holy Soul. And it tempts unstaid graceless Minds to run into the same Excesses: they are for this sort of Life, for a Merry and Loose one, and easily prevailed on to cast in their Lot here; if you only beckon you force him, and he Follows as a Fool to the Correction of the Stocks, till he find his Bane mixed up in these Sweets.

This is the Mirth that is Carnal & Vicious, and as such to be condemned, avoided and abhorred. And the view we have had of it is very Improveable, and of excellent USE for our Conduct and Government: That we be Merry and Wise; that we acquaint ourselves with Wisdom, while we yet desire to enjoy that Good which is for the Sons of men, all the days of their life. It teaches us to rejoice with trembling, and never to let go that holy Fear which is a Check on our mad lusts. It warns us what a wild thing Joy is in a Corrupted Heart, and with what Care it should be looked after. It may be a Cue to us in looking back on our past life, and searching out what has been amiss and faulty in our past Conduct. It may remind us how often our Joyes have been Intemperate, Fleshly, Profane, Uncharitable, &c. We may possibly discover Folly or Malignity, where it would be uncharitable for another to charge it, and where we ourselves did not so much suspect it. And all will have this good use, to preserve us from future Errors of this nature, & make us Penitent for those that are past.

And here I might observe, what a Strong Poison Sin is, how cursed its Influence to pervert every graceful Power God has given to man. That ever Mirth, so harmless and innocent as it is in itself, should become such a wild and bitter Root, bearing Gall and Wormwood! In itself truly a gay and pleasant thing, but now a black & threatening Evil; our Wound and our Blemish, our Grief and our Shame! How distorted from their Native Beauty are those Smiles, which should have been both Oil and Wine to us, to make our Hearts Glad, and our Faces Shine. The Devil who is held in Chains of black Despair himself, envy'd us Ihis which is forbid to him for over: But who could have Imagin'd that it could be turned to so much Sin and Mischief! Such a help to Duty into so great an hindrance, and the Pleasure of Life into so great a Curse! Sin is a Blast on all the Works of God, deforms the fairest Angels, and brings most hurt out of the greatest Good. You may partly conceive from hence, what the Works of God once were before Sin entered, and how strangely altered and perverted now. Alas! Men have no Conception of their Original Rectitude, and the Use that would have been made of every Power in us to the Creators Glory, & our own Felicity.

But because Sin never comes with that force upon us, as when it puts on a face of Pleasure, and invites us to be merry, I shall therefore add some Rules and Motives to help us to withstand it.

1. Let us Accustome ourselves daily to meditate on some serious awful Subject or other. Inconsideration is the Cause of men's Levity and Licentiousness; or rather it is from the possession which one Triffle or another takes of the mind; whereby it is Engross'd and swallowed up of vanity. But did we suffer our though'ts daily to dwell upon some serious and Holy Subject; did we realize God present with us, his eyes fastened on us as a severe Observer and Judge; it would thicken our flowing Blood, and cool our Fever. Did we calmly take a view pretty often of our Sins as they are linckt to amazing Consequences, even to a Judgment-day, wherein we must give an account for every Idle word; our own hearts would as often call upon us in the words of the Apostle James, Be afflicted, and mourn and weep! let you Laughter be turned into Mourning, and your Joy into Heaviness. To conclude, Let your Souls and Eternity come often to mind, and think with yourselves, I have an unseen part to look after, of an Invaluable Price and Everlasting Duration, the Danger of losing it is great, and the Time of Saving it very short; and am I Idling and Playing with my Soul in my hand, and it may be but a sand or two more in may Glass to run? O my Soul, it highly imports one hastening into Eternity to be Serious!

2. As Mr. Baxter advises, Lay a good Foundation for Joy in Repentance, and by securing an Interest in the Lord Jesus Christ. This will both govern our Mirth well, and be a Licence and Warrant to us to rejoice. Let every man prove his own work, & then shall he have rejoicing in himself, Gal. 6.4. Stay till your Souls be safe, and then be as merry as your daily Reviewing your Evidences for Heaven can Inspire you. What quiet or ease belongs to you till you begin to return to God, & to seek safety under the Wings of Christ. Then God himself will take part in your Mirth, as it is represented in the Parable of the Prodigal Son, after his happy Recovery from his Riots, Luk. 15.23, 24. Let us eat and be merry, for this my Son was dead & is alive again, he was lost & is found: And they began to be merry.

3. Be constant in Secret Prayer, and therein daily renewing your Repentance. This will leave a seriousness on the Soul, and keep a man in the fear of God all the day long. He that in his Retirements has been confessing and bewailing Indwelling Sin, and all the cursed fruits of it; fervently praying too for the Spirit of Holiness, the Mortification of every Inordinate Affection, & to become dead to the world, will find little heart to fall in with mad Merriments that day. Watchfulness follows serious Prayer; It also begets in the Soul a Contempt of the wild Freaks, which the carnal heart loves. It makes a man look upon 'em with a Generous Pity, or a Noble Disdain.

4. Guard against the Sins of Sensuality more especially, & shun Evil Company. The First are the Fomentors, the Last the Favourers of & Assistants in Vain Mirth. Sensual Lusts are made up of Levity; they admit of nothing thats Grave & Solid, no not a single Thoit; their Life and Empire depends on the Exile of this; for Reason is really Sedition and Conspiracy against the Reign of Sin: if we ought to live to the Flesh, verily Conscience and Reason ought to die as Irreclaimable Traitors.

Morever, These Sensual Lusts love Company: Men cannot Game, and Drink, and be lewd and laugh Alone! they provoke and spur on one another by Evil Communication, which is very Infective, & unspeakably depraves while it is hark'ned to: As the Eyes of the Basilisk kill, so Attention does here, the deadly Poison is conveyed in the Sound. Where is Profaness & Licentiousness taught and propagated, but in these Clubs, which are the Devils Schools, and some Proficient in his Works sits, as Master, at the Head of the Table. As therefore you would retain any spark of Seriousness and Modesty, as you would not that Folly, Play and Vanity should devour all your Thoughts and Time, O give no Countenance to Sensual Companions and their Courses. You'll find it impossible to keep up an Intimacy here, and be Serious too; though' it may be there's many a Soul that's gull'd by promising it: He ventures at first into vain Company with a wrong and false notion of them and their Ways, as not so guilty neither as some do report 'em to be; or at least he promises for himself to preserve a Decorum among them, and let 'em see that one may be Jocund and Innocent: But how vainly is this pretended! he finds their Breath a subtle Poison, that imperceptibly Sheds itself into all his Veins, and he comes out from them as very a Rake as the worst.

5. Call often to mind the Afflictions you have gone thro', and the Frames you were in when these were upon you. Then you were serious, & though'tful for your Souls and another Life: then you had a sensible Conviction of the Emptiness of this World, and could find no Pleasure in it.: then your past Merriments were tasteless and nauseous to you, and stung you with Remorse: then you wished you had those days of Vanity to live over again & Redeem: then you could have felt Comfort from a sober and temperate, a Spiritual & Heavenly Life past: then you reproached and cursed your past pleasures of Sin, and said of Laughter, It is Mad. O judge of vain Mirth now by what your Conscience spake upon, the Sick-bed: You were then far from lavish Mirth, you promised to be more temperate in your Joyes if ever you recovered, Sobriety then looked Manly to you, and Godliness was infinitely Amiable and desirable: never forget those Apprehensions of things, and they will be a continual Check, and a faithful Directory. Remember, These were your wise and sober Hours, now was your Judgment Unbyass'd, & your Sight clear and distinct. It was in his deep Affliction that the Prodigal came to himself, he was out of his wits before in his Riotous Life. Lust and a Fever alike make the head giddy and light; when the Rod of God (which is Medicinal) lays our Fever, our Reason returns.

6. And Lastly, Set the Life of the Blessed JESUS before you, & by it correct and reprove your Excesses. Did our Holy Savior, whose Steps we ought to tread in, leave us any Countenance for Intemperate Mirth? Was there the least shadow of it, the least Inclination to it in his Life? On the contrary, how Austeer & Mortify'd was it! In what subjection kept he his Body and Passions! In what Contempt had he the World and all its Glories! How wide did he keep from it! His Conversation was Above, his Nights he spent in Prayer, his Days in doing good! in God-like Acts of Mercy, many as the Miseries of Men; the Needs of their Bodies, and of their Souls.

Indeed there was nothing Morose and Sour in the Conversation of our Lord: and I wish we could learn from thence, and always remember it, that Evangelical Holiness and Mortification do require no such thing of us. He was Courteous, Obliging, Affable to all that sought unto him; only Severe & Inexorable to men's Sins. 'It is true, we read of his Tears, but never of his Laughing; and his Style was— A Man Sorrows: Yet we know also he did not shun Mirth on proper Occasions, nor censure it in others. I have already observed, how he honor'd the Joyful Solemnity in Cana with his Presence; wherein he sufficiently countenanced Regular Mirth, & indeed sanctified it; for it would be silly to question whether the Guests were Merry there; there was the Joy of the Bridegroom, and his Friends rejoiced to hear his Voice; but then again it would be Audacious to suppose there were any Indecent Irregular Mirth there; No Backbiting, no Scornful Fleering, no foolish Jesting, no Profaness, no rude Laughs with their Wine. To conclude, If we ever find ourselves in a licentious Vein, ready to be carried away by flowing Mirth, let us bethink ourselves of our Character and Relation to Christ; Is this as becomes a Christian? did the Life of Jesus teach me this? should his Professed Follower give himself this loose? For he hath not called us unto Uncleanness, but unto Holiness: therefore let us who are of the Day be Sober.

Suffer me yet to lay two or three CONSIDERATIONS before you, to deter men from playing away their Souls.

1. Consider Seriously what a Shadow Sinful Mirth is. What is there of substance in it after all? What has a man enjoyed at last? It is Contingent, Mutable, mixed with pain, dashed with sorrow, and very fleeting. As Children blow up gay Bubbles in the Air, which vanish in a minute. Or as Solomon makes the Comparison, Eccl. 7.6. As the crackling of Thorns under a Pot, so is the Laughter of the Fool; this also is Vanity. His Mirth is like that Insignificant Noise, confused and soon over.

In the gayest part of Life his Mirth is mixed, Sunt quaedam tristes Voluptates, say Seneca: there are embitter'd and sour'd Pleasures▪ but we have a greater witness than his that there are so: Prov. 14.13. Even in Laughter the heart is sorrowful, and the End of the Mirth is Heaviness. Some sudden Judgment may put an untimely Period to it, and long sorrow may succeed it. Or the Sinner may long out-live the Relish of what he now surfeits on: At the Venerable Barzillai's Age will he discern between Good and Evil? Will he taste what he eats? Or be able to hear the Voice of Singing-men, and all their soft Airs? Deaths hasty Advances would spoil all if he could. Nabal's Mirth, and struck dead to Morrow! And what becomes of the Fools Mirth as he dies! What Profit or Comfort! It is remember'd with shame, and bitter in Reflection: Tho' Wickedness was sweet in his Mouth, yet his Meat in his Bowels is turned, it is the Gall of Asps within him. Truly the Triumphing of the Wicked is short, and his Joy but for a moment; it flies away as a dream, and is chased as a Vision of the night.

2. Consider Soberly what those Virtues are which Sinful Mirth transgresses and fights against, and where you will end. It will scandalize you at this Folly, if you are not lost to all sense of what is Good and Comely, to see what it is, you declare against, and to what degrees of Impiety it tends. You declare against Sobriety, Charity, Purity; the Fear, Reverence and Worship of God: And are you indeed the professed Enemy of these? Do you design to be this Libertine? Believe it, loose Mirth will soon run you to all this length. It is an Inchantment, and you cannot break it when you list. It is like Some Mills that having got the least hold of a man draw in the whole Body. The Disguise of all Sin is Pleasure, and a Bewitching one it is.

3. Consider, In thy Vain Mirth thou thyself art the Sport of Satan, and the Pity of Heaven. You gratify and please the Devil, but every Wise and Good and Happy Creature pities thy madness and distraction. There is a Cruel Sport I have seen in the World, that goes under the guise of Compassion, and Mercy; scil. A poor Natural kept in a Rich man's House, whom they daily make themselves very merry with: I know no Condition of Life more to be deprecated, and yet truly I know no more just Comparison, whereby to represent the deplorable Circumstances of the Jovial Sinner; only the Devil who in a sort begs and keeps him, feeding his Lusts, and provoking him to his follies, does it with a more malicious pleasure.

4. And Lastly, Consider the sad work which Sinful Mirth makes for Repentance, or the Sorrow that will come of it for evermore. The man is mad, who thinks the pleasures of Sin can balance the pain of Repentance; were he sure of the Grace to repent. He knows not what Remorse is, nor how heavy the Hand of God may lie; nor how the swallowed Poison will sting and rend 'ere it be cast up. One drop of Divine Wrath is so fiery, that if you could mix it with an Ocean of Sensual Mirth, yet it were not sufferable. The disgorging there pleasing Draughts of Sin is an uneasy thing; but the utter and extreme Griefs that attend Impenitence are amazing to think of. A sad Change of Note will soon be in this Case, and an unequal portion of Sorrow for a little empty Mirth! This for a day, that forever! this Imperfect for the Moment it lasts, that Insupportable for Weight as well as for Duration. Our Sensual Pleasures will be soon forgotten here, or then Memory will add to our Torments, and raise the more Wailing and Gnashing of Teeth forever. And very often there is a sad Prologue to these, and men are brought to mourn despairingly for their Intemperate Joyes before they go down into Hell: Prov. 5.11, 12. And thou mourn at the last—and say, How have I hated Instruction, & my heart despised Reproof! And have not obeyed the Voice of my Teachers, nor inclined mine Ear to them that Instructed me?

SERMON. III. Of MIRTH, Spiritual and Holy. Being the Substance of a Sermon Preached on a Day of Public and Solemn Thanksgiving, Nov. 23. 1704. And Recommended to be Read in Families or in Secret on such Occasions.

I Have spoken of that Natural and Civil Mirth, which is decent in a Christian, and Occasionally a Duty; and also of that Carnal and Vicious Merriment, which is to be condemned, abhorred and avoided; and now I pass on to say in the Third & last place,

III. That there is a Spiritual & Religious Joy, proper to a Saint; his rich Privilege, and his Duty to Aspire after. A Joy which the Carnal heart knows nothing of, which the World cannot give, nor can it take away. The Good Mans Privilege & Property: Light is Sown for the Righteous, and Gladness for the Upright in heart: And the Good Mans Duty, which is often required in the holy Scripture. Be glad in the Lord, and Rejoice ye Righteous. Rejoice in the Lord Always. Rejoice Evermore. Let not your hearts be Troubled.

It is a Joy on Spiritual Accounts, Spiritually Felt; and Spiritually Expressed: the Author, Object, Subject and Means of it are all Spiritual.

For Kind and Degree of Pleasure it is far away Superior to all Sensitive and Worldly Joyes; even those of Harvest and of Victory, which ever were named among the loudest and most Triumphant Exultations: Isa. 9.3. They Joy before thee according to the Joy in Harvest, and as men rejoice when they divide the Spoil. Yet These are below any Comparison with the Gladness put into the Psalmists heart by the Light of God's Countenance: Psal. 4.6, 7. There be many that say, Who will show us any Good? Lord, Life thou up the Light of thy Countenance upon us! Thou hast put Gladness in my heart, more than in the time when their Corn & Wine increased.

In Discoursing of this pleasant and Heavenly Enjoyment, I will, 1. Speak of its blessed Author. 2. The happy Subject of it. 3. The Glorious Object of it. 4. The Subordinate Causes and Means of it. And 5. The Proper and Natural Expression of it, as directed unto in the Text: Let him Sing Psalms.

I. The Blessed AUTHOR of this Holy and Spiritual Joy is GOD THE HOLY GHOST. 'It is a Divine Delight excited in and imprinted on the Soul by the Holy Spirit. This agrees to his Style & Office, the Comforter; and hence we read of a Walking in the Comfort of the Holy Ghost. 'It is He breaths and diffuses the Joyes of Holy Souls; 'tis He Creates in us every heavenly Grace and Pleasure: Gal. 5.22. The fruit of the Spirit is Love, Joy & Peace. Now where these are Shed abroad by the Holy Ghost, there must be Pleasure without Allay, and Brightness without a Mote to shade it. Are the Consolations of God Small? said Eliphaz to Job. Can they be so, when He is Infinite? His Consolations must be Vast and Ineffable as Himself, when it pleases him to vouchsafe 'em. As the Ocean they are Wide and Deep, and there are Seasons for their Swelling Tides: the Capacious, the Exalted, the Refined Spirit of Man Sanctify'd cannot fully Conceive of, and much less speak its own Spiritual Tasts.

This is eminently true of the SEALING from the Holy Spirit of Promise, & his Bearing Witness with our Spirits: Of which Divinest Privilege it were easy to Speak Great & Glorious Words, but all below what plain and humble Saints have felt: Especially what they have sometimes spoken in their Dying Extasies has been truly Marvelous; their Words too narrow to express their Sense, their Sense too Inward and Vast for the Living to apprehend, but who have also been Dissolv'd in Rais'd Devotions. Unutterable thing, even to the rapit Saints themselves, as the Words of Paradise were to the Descended Apostle! Omnipotent Delectation! that has so taken away the Sense of Pain in a holy Martyr, that the very Flames have not been felt! The Ravishit Mind, taken up with its own Fruitions, being not able to attend unto the Tortures that destroyed the Body; though' the Union so strict and Intimate, & the Sympathy on both sides so tender, yet the Soul has forgot it, being Intent on higher Objects, and sensible of no Union but to God the Supreme Good! As Calm at the Stake, as Elijah ascending in his Chariot of Fire: they have Smil'd out their Souls, and blessed their Tortures.

Next unto this, and Subordinate unto it, is the Testimony of CONSCIENCE for us; of which the Apostle says, 2 Cor. 1.12. Our Rejoicing is this, the Testimony of our Conscience. Our Rejoicing, — He speaks not of the vain Joyes of the Ungodly; they are Strangers to this, and Intermeddle not with it: A Joy peculiar to the Children of God, and which no Graceless heart can have: A Spiritual Joy, spoken of as the highest, best & chief Joy of Man. Our Rejoicing, — That which is Eminently Ours; compared to which nothing else is meet to be named so; which affords us our proper and fullest Satisfaction and Delight. This is from the Testimony of Conscience; i. e. That is the Cause, Ground & Reason of this Joy; what Warrants it, & what Constrains it; being the Voice of God Himself, whose Substitute and Representative it is, and gives its Testimony of Infallible Knowledge, with Invincible Integrity, and with Irresistible Majesty and Authority. So an Eye Witness affirms with Boldness: Act. 4.20. We cannot but speak the things which we have seen & heard: And so a Judge absolves with Power. Conscience is a Sovereign Comforter: †

It does not Beg and Intreat, but like a Lord bids, & it is done; as our Savior said to the Stormy Sea, Peace, be Still; and there was a great Calm: Its Sentence is Peremptory, and Forces Joy if it be for us; No man can refuse to credit and reverence his own Conscience; As if the Sun rises it will be Day, so the Soul is Serene and bright if that applaud us. It was a strange but happy Saying of Luther's to this purpose, Meaning, that his Conscience would not Suffer him to think himself so.

No Outward Troubles can take this Joy from us, as indeed the World cannot give it; but 'tis the Sure Sanctuary and Impregnable Fortress which the Good man has to retire unto, when Providence drives him out of his Out-works: Here he has Safety and Peace, and from hence he can look down boldly and calmly, nay with pity on the Evils & Enemies which do Besiege and Assault him. So Job did when Satan had spoiled him of everything but his Integrity; This he held fast & immur'd himself in it, My heart shall not reproach me so long as I Live. And he could bear it with less Patience that his Friends should endeavor to beat him out of this his Last Retreat, than if they had joined with the Ravagers of his Goods. 'It is a Noble Thoit of Dr. South, who likens Afflictions in such a case to Frost, when it seises some Generous Wine; it may congeal the Waterish parts of it, but the Spirit Retreats into itself, and would not freeze. So firm and free from Impression is the Conscience of a Good Man sometimes, when Calamity arrests his Name, Family, Body, Estate, &c.

To return from this small Excursion.

II. The happy SUBJECTS of this Holy and Spiritual Joy are only Holy People, in their holy Frames, and in the actual Exercise of Grace. It is Spiritually felt, by them that have Tasted that the Lord is gracious. Only the Renewed Mind knows it: 'tis the Good of God's Chosen; the Gladness of his Nation; the Glorying of his Inheritance. 'It is the Illustrious Manifestation of the Empire of Grace: Rom. 14.17. The Kingdom of God is Joy in the Holy Ghost. Never is the Soul of a Saint more carried forth to God, than when this Joy fills him. His Love, Reverence, Admiration, Desire, Hope, are in their highest Exaltation. 'It is the top of Devotion; the Soul whom God has Sanctify'd raised in Meditation, Self-Examination, Prayer and Praise. A Heavenly Enjoyment truly, and the temper of the Blessed forever! The Perfect Spirits in Heaven have this Joy in its Fulness, and the Prelibations of it are their Peculiar, who are hasting thither. We read of JESUS his Rejoicing in Spirit, Luk. 10.21. And the Blessed Virgins Magnificat we know of, (Her Joy, like the Favor of Heaven to her, strictly Singular; ) Luk. 1.47, 48. And Mary said, my Soul doth Magnify the Lord, and my Spirit hath rejoiced in God my Savior. I might name another Happy Mothers holy Joy, but the Instance less Blessed than the Former, scil. the devout Mother of Samuel: What her Transports were let her Song tell us, at the Presenting of her Wondrous Son; Her Prayers and Vows which had obtained him came to Mind, & her Soul was Exalted and over joy'd: 1 Sam. 2.1. And Hannah Prayed and said, My heart rejoiceth in the Lord, mine Horn is exalted in the Lord: &c. David was eminently fitted for, and often favored with this Heavenly Enjoyment, thro' his frequent and excelling Devotions; and his Psalms do abound with the most lofty Flights of it that can be. Of this Noble Order are they to whom Heaven Vouchsafes its Visits, and its Streams of Light: the Ungodly can have no such Favor done 'em, for what Communion hath Light with Darkness? This Spiritual Joy might then possibly break into Hell too, and relieve the Miserable there. But 'tis indeed the Children's Bread, not a Crumb whereof is thrown to the Dogs; They like their Lord before them have Meat to eat that others know not of: Christ gives 'em to eat of the Hidden Manna, the peculiar portion of the New Name, which no man knoweth save he that receiveth it. Judas, not Iscariot, could not conceive of this till the Comforter taught him it: Joh. 14.22, 26. Lord, how is it that thou wilt manifest thyself unto us, and not unto the world? This may be called one of those Deep things of God, which no man knoweth, but the Spirit of God: — As it is written, Eye hath not seen, nor Ear heard, neither have entered into the heart of man, the things which God hath prepared for them that Love him. 1 Cor. 2.9, 10, 11, &c. I might very properly transcribe the rest of that Inward and Spiritual Discourse: But God hath revealed them unto us by his Spirit; adds the Apostle: For what man knoweth the things of a man, save the Spirit of man which is in him? Even so the things of God knoweth no man, but the Spirit of God: Now we have received, not the Spirit of the World, but the Spirit which is of God; that we might know the things that are freely given to us of God: Which things also we speak, not in the words which man's wisdom teacheth, but which the Holy Ghost teacheth, comparing spiritual things with spiritual: But the Natural man receiveth not the things of the Spirit of God, for they are Foolishness unto him, neither can be know them, because they are spiritually discerned: But he that is spiritual judgeth all things, yet he himself is judged of no man: i. e.

The Allusion is plain and pertinent, and needs no Comment. The happy Subjects of Spiritual Joy are only Gracious Saints, in some of their best Hours.

III. The Glorious OBJECT of this Holy Joy is GOD our Maker, and the LORD JESUS CHRIST our Savior. GOD is the Delectable Object: Absolutely so in Himself, possessing every Adorable Excellency; but more especially is he so to us, considered Relatively as our God and Father in Christ, and Everlasting Portion thro' him. The Holy Psalmist calls him his Exceeding Joy, & agreeably professes and promises , I will be Glad & Rejoice in Thee: Our heart shall rejoice in Him. We are also commanded to delight ourselves in the Lord. Psal. 37.4. And a like Direction we have, Psal. 149.2. Let Israel rejoice in him that made him, let the Children of Zion be joyful in their King. A most grateful Precept, and blessed Licence, and possible only to a Saint; the Holiness & Power, Truth and Righteousness of God being most terrible to the Wicked to think on.

The PERFECTIONS of the Deity are most Amiable & Pleasant to the Contemplative Mind. The Goodness and Mercy of God are so, Zech. 9.17. How great is his Goodness 〈◊〉 how great is his Beauty! Psalm 31.7. I will be glad and rejoice in thy Mercy. So is the Divine Power: Psal. 21.13. Be thou Exalted, Lord, in thy own Strength, so will we Sing and Praise thy Power. There is a Divine Pleasure in Contemplating the Holiness of God: The Seraphims feel this, (those Fires of Heavenly Zeal, and Love and Joy!) and they cry alternately, Holy, Holy, Holy is the Lord of Hosts, the whole Earth is full of his Glory: to whom the joyous Saints on Earth do Echo back, Psal. 99.5. Exalt ye the Lord our God, and Worship at his Footstool, for he is Holy.

But especially,

These Divine Attributes are Beautiful in their Union and Harmony; and in the Meditation of the Infinitely Blissful State resulting thence. Here is Infinite Majesty, Dominion and Power, Everlastingly possessit by Eternal Goodness, Wisdom, Holiness & Truth; from whence Ineffable Blessedness must necessarily arise. And what should be the Joy of every Created Mind, besides this Glorious and Blessed Being? everyone of whose Essential Attributes shine bright to our Understandings, and ravish 'em in their humble Admirations and Adorations! Psal. 96.6, 7, 11. Honor and Majesty are before Him: Strength & Beauty are in His Sanctuary. Give unto the Lord, O ye Kindreds of the People, Give unto the Lord Glory and Strength. Let the Heavens rejoice, and let the Earth be glad; let the Sea roar, and the fullness thereof; let the Field be joyful, &c. So while the Sun dazzles our weak Eyes, yet 'tis Pleasant to behold it, and the Light is Sweet. So are the small Gleams of Divine Light to the holy Mind; My Meditation of Him shall be sweet, I will be glad in the Lord.

Mediately we rejoice in God, while we do so in the Contemplation of his WORKS and of his BENEFITS. The Invisible things of Him from the Creation of the World, are clearly seen, being Understood from the things that are made, even his Eternal Power and Godhead. And how we should Joy in Him, in the Meditation of his Glories as they shine forth in the Works of CREATION, we may best learn from many of the Inspired Psalms which celebrate the Great Creator in lofty & sublime Expressions comporting with his own Immensity and Unapprochable Light.

The like holy Joy arises from a Devout Apprehension of God's Governing PROVIDENCE, and a religious Trust therein . Hence come Security & Confidence. Psal. 5.11. Let all those that put their Trust in Thee rejoice, let them ever shout for Joy, because thou Defendest them. There may well be Ease and Quiet, Delight & Gladness under God's Paternal Care: His Shadow refreshes, & His Wing warms and cherishes whom it covers: Psal. 63.7. Because thou hast been my Help, therefore in the Shadow of thy Wings I will Rejoice.

Moreover, The BENEFITS wherewith God daily loadeth us, even our most Common Mercies under a Spiritual Improvement, do yield us Divine and Holy Joy. They minister it unto our Humble, Thankful, Devoted Souls, while we consider 'em as coming from God, utterly undeserved by us, and Improveable to his Glory. So the Pious Jew rejoiced Spiritually when he offered his First-Fruits; the whole Form of which Solemnity is truly Expressive of the proper Spirit of a THANKSGIVING-DAY; Namely, How we should rejoice Spiritually in the Common and Outward Benefits of the Lord our God to us: Deut. 26. 10, 11. Thou shalt set it before the Lord thy God, and worship before the Lord thy God: And thou shalt rejoice in every good thing, which the Lord thy God hath given unto thee, and unto thy House. So were they to Sacrifice the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, and to declare his Works with Rejoicing. And so ought we to be doing, everyone Apart for his Personal and Family Mercies, and with United Voice for those of a Public Nature. Holy Joy is Essential unto, and Inseparable from the Spirit of true Thanksgiving: that is for Mercies received, to express our Joy in 'em, in Praises for 'em.

But SPIRITUAL BLESSINGS in Heavenly Things in Christ our Lord, are eminently the Object and Cause of a Religious Joy: they are so where they are duly apprehended and Resented.

CHRIST is both the Author & Object of the Believers Joy. And most justly, being the Unspeakable Gift of God to a Miserable World, & the Fountain of all Mercy and Saving Good to lost Sinners. Consider Him in his Glorious Offices, in the Illustrious Work of Redemption which he has undertaken and finished, & in his precious and Inestimable Benefits, contained in the Covenant & Promises of the Gospel, the Purchase of his Obedience and Death, and we have indeed Great Joy in him in all Respects! In such a Prophet! We rejoice in his Light. In such a Merciful High Priest! Rom. 5.11. We joy in God thro' our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have received the Atonement. In such a King & Lawgiver and Judge! He shall Save us. In such an Advocate! verse 2, 3. By whom also we have access by Faith into this Grace, and rejoice in Hope of the Glory of God. The Joy of Faith & Hope, of Prayer and Praise, of every Evangelical Grace and Duty, (hereafter to be Enumerated) does all Ultimately center in Christ the Savior. Phil. 3.3. We are the Circumcision, which worship God in the Spirit, and rejoice in Christ Jesus, & have no confidence in the flesh.

Well did the Angel say to the Shepherds, I bring you good Tidings of GREAT JOY, which shall be to ALL PEOPLE: for unto you is born this day in the City of David, a Savior, which is Christ the Lord. Our Father Abraham rejoiced to see that Blessed Day; He saw it and was glad. Devout Simeon waited for this Consolation, and at last had it in the Temple, where he took the Holy Child in his Arms, and blessed God, and said, Lord, now lettest thou thy Servant depart in peace,— for mine Eyes have seen thy Salvation. —

So then, Our Rejoicing may be MORE ABUNDANT IN CHRIST JESUS, to borrow the Apostle 's Words; but that must needs depend upon an Assured Interest in Him, and a Title to the Blessings of the Covenant of Grace. And the Divinest Joyes flow from this, Namely, from a sense of God's Eternal Love to us in Christ, that he has pardoned, accepted & justified us in his Son. This is that Loving-kindness which is better than life. In this our Savior bids us to rejoice, scil. That our Names are written in Heaven. The Joy of Christ Himself is in his Exaltation, Ours in the Great Salvation thro' Him: Psal. 21.5, 6. His Glory is great in thy Salvation; Honor and Majesty thou hast laid upon Him: Thou hast made Him most Blessed forever,— exceeding Glad with thy Countenance. If the Hope of Salvation will not give a sinking, perishing Sinner Joy, what should? 'It is his Hearts Desire surely! the one Request of his lips! all the Blessings of Goodness together! even Life forever & ever! Rev. 2.17. I will give him a white stone, and in the stone a new Name written, which no man knoweth saveing he that receiveth it.

Finally, The Ground of all this must be the Evidences and Fruits of our SANCTIFICATION; and the sure perception of the GRACE of God in our hearts: Which is another Invaluable Gift of God, & Benefit by Christ, that affords us assurance of God's Love and Joy in the Holy Ghost. To behold in ourselves a Conformity and Subjection of Soul unto the Redeemers Holiness! that Likeness wherein we hope to Awake, and rest satisfied forever! which is the Seeds of Glory Sown in us, and Light therein! Heaven begun in us! the Earnest and Foretast of its Perfection, and therefore necessarily of its Joyes. Indeed it cannot be pleasant to think of a Holy God, and to find no Image of his Holiness on ourselves; no love to it, no desire of it, nothing of His Divine Nature: But on the contrary, the bare apprehension of these Excellencies in us is an Unspeakable Pleasure; the Holy Soul even dies away thro' the Excess of it, saying,— The Health of my Countenance, and my God!

To finish this Head, The GLORY OF GOD in the Salvations granted to his Church, & in the Conversion of Sinners, is a special Matter and Object of an Holy Joy. 'It is the Honor of God and of the Lamb that occasions the Joyes of Heaven: Witness in what Triumphing Words they Sing his Works of Mercy and of Judgment: Alleluia, Salvation, and Glory, and Honor, and Power unto the Lord our God!—Let us be Glad and Rejoice, and give Honor to Him.

The Church's HOLINESS is the public Honor of Christ: Therefore there's Joy among the Angels of God over one Sinner that repenteth; And when Jesus Rejoyced in Spirit it was on this Account, (as well became the Lover and Savior of Souls) I thank thee, O Father, Lord of Heaven and Earth, that thou hast hid these things from the Wise and Prudent, and hast revealed them unto Babes: Even so, Father, for so it seemed Good in thy sight. The Holy Children of God have no greater Joy than to behold the Grace of God in one another; Especially Holy Ministers have none higher, than to see this in their People: For what is our Hope, or Joy, or Crown of Rejoicing? Are not even ye in the Presence of our Lord Jesus Christ at his Coming? for ye are our Glory & Joy.

So again, The Illustrious SALVATIONS of God's Church in the Earth, and its outward Tranquility and Flourishing, is to the Savior's Honor; and for this Reason alone Jerusalem must be Preferr'd above our chief Joy. It is but Piety to God and to his Interest, a Duty to Christ & to his Members: Isa. 66.10. Rejoice ye with Jerusalem, and be glad with her, all ye that love her; Rejoice for Joy with her, all ye that Mourn for her. Thus the Bridegrooms Voice fulfilled the Baptist 's Joy; and the Apostle 's was that Christ was Preached; and when Babylon falls the Commandment is, Rejoice over her thou Heaven, &c. So when King David brought up the Ark of God, which had sufficiently mortify'd the Philistines, and triumphed over their Idol Dagon, it was with Music and with Shouting, and the Kings Sacred Feet too Leapt & Danc'd with his Over-joyed heart. But this may suffice to say of the Glorious Object of Religious Joy.

IV. The MEANS and Subordinate Causes of it are Eminently the GRACES and DUTIES of Christianity. There is a Divine Pleasure that waits on these in their lively Exercise, and vigorous Practice. The Anointing we receive is indeed with the Oil of Gladness. Every Grace of the Holy Spirit is such as agrees to the blessed Style He has assumed, the Comforter; they refresh & exhilerate the Soul in whom they rule. And so truly does every Christian Duty we devoutly perform; I delight to do thy Will, O my God! thy Law is within my heart!

1. As to the GRACES of Christianity, I will Instance in Faith, Hope, Repentance, Resignation, and the Love of God. These are both the Object, & Means of a Religious Joy.

Very vast is the Joy of FAITH & HOPE: Even all Joy and Peace in Believing, to them that abound in Hope thro' the Power of the Holy Ghost, Rom. 15.13. Both these embrace the Promises afar off, look unto possessing, and already are the Substance of them. Blessed and Lively Hope! of no less than an Inheritance Incorruptible, and Undefiled, &c. wherein ye greatly Rejoice, says St. Peter, 1 Pet. 1.4, 8. O Happy Frame of Spirit, that wants nothing of Heaven save the Actual Possession! that like the Prince who is Apparent Heir to a Crown, has all the Joyes of it beforehand in his Acknowledg'd Right.

The Produce of REPENTANCE is Holy Joy. It yields a man Internal Peace and Self-delectation. There's Comfort and Pleasure in those Tears. It Restores the Joy of God's Salvation, Its Aspirations shall not be in vain, Make me to hear the Voice of Joy and Gladness, that the Bones which thou hast broken may Rejoice. "The End & Consequence of this Sorrow sweetens it. 'It is a high delight to feel that we do indeed Mourn for Sin. This is not to Sorrow as without Hope, for the blessed Mourners are promised Comfort, Mat. 5.4.

RESIGNATION to the Sovereign Will of God, and a Contented Thankful Acquiescing in His Dealings, has mighty Comforts attending it. Not barely Indolence and a profound Quiet, but Satisfaction, Complacency & real Delight is in it. It almost makes Adversity impossible, and Prosperity fixed and unalterable. It Glories in Tribulation: 'It is then the most Sovereign Cordial that the Art of man can prescribe: it makes a man's Bed for him in his Sickness; it keeps all his Bones, not one of them is broken; it lays him down in the arms of Sovereign Mercy & Wisdom, and to die, is but to Sleep in Jesus.

To name no more, The LOVE of God is Ravishing. Psal. 5.11. Let them that love thy Name be joyful in thee. Love is a sweet & delectable Passion: but when the Object of it is the Infinitely Perfect and Amiable Being, then is the Affection itself superlatively pleasing. Whom have I in Heaven but thee? & there is none upon Earth that I desire besides thee. The First and Great Commandment is the first and greatest Pleasure of Man; Thou shalt love the Lord thy God with all thy Heart, and with all thy Soul, &c. And the Second is like unto it, Thou shalt love thy Neighbor as thyself. A Love that is refined from all dress, inspired from Heaven, and directed to it! it is ten thousand Pleasures in one, as the Beauties of its Object are. How Joyous is the Conscience of this Love! Witness every Breast that holds this Sacred Fire! How easily could he bid Adieu to every Sensitive Refreshment, while this is sensibly burning within! This is the stay of his Life, the strength of his heart, the life of his Soul, his Ever-living Pleasure.

2. As to the DUTIES of the Christian Life, (though' these before-named Graces may bear that Name also) I will name two only, scil. CHARITY AND WORSHIP: the one a Joyous Grace in itself, delighting in the Good-will it bears, and the Kindness it shows to others; the other the Exercise of all Grace in its various Acts of Devotion.

1.

Never was such sweetness fancy'd of Revenge, as has been felt in forgiving Injuries, in overcoming Evil with Good, in Rejoicing with them that Rejoice, and in Weeping with them that Weep. Particularly, Bounty to the Poor, is one special Means of, and often rewarded with Spiritual Pleasure. When Job remember'd the Pleasures of his Prosperous Life, these were among the first of 'em, The Blessing of him that was ready to perish came upon me, and I caused the Widows heart to Sing for Joy. His pains were eased in the remembrance of these pious Dispositions & Actions. The Satisfactions of 'em brighten a man's face in the Streets, as the Joy of the Soul in the Resurrection will help to glorify the Body. Rom. 12.8. He that showeth mercy, with Chearfulness. The Frame and Face suits the Action: it delights him that does it. No Miser ever counts over his rusty Moneys with any Pleasure equal or comparable to what the Liberal Soul feels in Communicating. 'It is also the proper Joy of a Thanksgiving-Day, whereof BOUNTY is always one special Duty, causing the Poor to rejoice together with us. The Exercise of our Savior's Life lay in Acts of Mercy to the Miserable, and it agreed well to the Infinite Delight and Complacency of his Soul in God. And this is the Eternals Rest, even His Continual & Everlasting Communications to all his Creatures.

2. The other Instance & Means of Spiritual Joy is DIVINE WORSHIP, in all the Parts and Acts of it, whether Natural or Instituted. These are the great Employment of the Christian Life, and a very pleasant One. A Holy Heart receives the Word with Joy, Prayer is his Recreation, Praise his Rapture, Psalms are his Melody, the Sabbath is his Rest, the Sanctuary his Banqueting-house, the Ordinances his Feast: I was glad when they said to me, let us go up to the House of the Lord, our feet shall stand within thy Gates, O Jerusalem! The Devout Heart calls the Sabbath a Delight, and of the Sanctuary it says, How Amiable are thy Tabernacles, O Lord of Hosts! My Soul longeth, yea even fainteth for the Courts of the Lord; My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God. The Reason of all this is the Joyes he had tasted in Solemn Stated Worship: For I had gone with the Multitude, I went with them to the House of God, with the Voice of Joy and Praise, with a Multitude that kept Holy-day. O with what Joy do Heavenly Minds lift up their hands in God's Name, to receive of the Sweet and Saving Influences of the Holy Spirit! Those heavenly Gifts & Graces, that Divine Light & Comfort, which are with him to dispense, & which he does Communicate from on High in the ways which he has Instituted! Draw me, we will run after thee! we will be glad and rejoice in thee! They are indeed Strangers to this Spiritual Joy, who have never felt what I now speak of in Sabbath Exercises. It results from Fellowship and Communion with God in Sacred Duties; Whom it Converses with, whose Power and Glory it sees, whose Loving-Kindness it tastes, and the Soul is Satisfy'd as with Marrow and Fatness, while it is Praising with Joyful Lips .

I shall not enlarge here in a distinct account of the Joy of PRAYER, wherein indeed as every Grace has its Exercise, so at times the Joyes of 'em all are had. And in Reading and Hearing the WORD of God, I shall not attempt to say what the Psalmist could not express, How sweet are thy Words to my taste! yea sweeter than Honey to my Mouth! Psal. 89.15, 16. Blessed is the people that know the Joyful Sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the Light of thy Countenance: In thy Name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy Righteousness shall they be Exalted. The Law is Holy, and therefore pleasant to them that are Sanctify'd both in the Contemplation of it, and in the the Practice. The Statutes of the Lord are right, rejoicing the heart. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an Heritage forever, they are the Rejoicing of my heart.

BAPTISM is a Holy and Consolatory Ordinance; Whether we reflect upon our own Consecration to God, and think, O Lord, truly I am thy Servant, I am thy Servant, & the Son of thy Handmaid; Thou hast loosed my Bonds; Or whether in the Act of Dedicating our Little Ones to God in Christ. Nature here assists Grace in its Exercise, & Grace sublimates and exalts the pleasing workings of Natural Affection. The earning Bowels of a gracious Parent are doubly refreshed to behold his loved Off-spring publicly Accepted, and solemnly Blessed by God! as much and as formally as Joseph saw his two Sons at the Knees of Jacob! in whose words also in Effect the Blessing of the Covenant is— Thy two Sons are Mine, even as Simeon and Reuben are Mine! For a Parent or Grand-Parent, in the Aged Patriarch's words, turned into a Prayer, and in his Spirit, to bless their Posterity; God, before whom my Fathers walked, the God which fed me all my Life long unto this day; the Angel which Redeemed me from all Evil, bless the Lads, and let the Name of my Fathers Abraham & Isaac be on them! I say again, To behold the Blessing of Abraham coming on Ours after us, what more sensible Pleasure can a holy Parent have? To see your Child declared Heir of a Kingdom, i. e. a Heavenly! So when the Prophet Nathan brought that Message unto David from God, I will set up thy Seed after thee on thy Throne, and I will be his Father, and he shall be my Son; The over-joyed King went immediately to the Tent where the Ark was, and Sat before the Lord & said, (what each of us may well do in all humble Admiration) — Who am I, O Lord God, and what is my House that Thou hast brought me hither unto? And this was yet a small thing in thy Sight, O Lord God! but thou hast spoken also of thy Servants House for a great while to come! And is this the manner of man, O Lord God?

Finally, The Joy of the LORD'S-TABLE rises yet higher: 'tis the Stated and Solemn Memorial of the Love of Christ and his Purchased Benefits, the happy Season of raised Devotions and intimate Communion with Him, and of the Renewal of our Covenant Engagements to Him, which while we are doing with burning Love & Zeal, with strong Faith & Desire, with deep Repentance and Self-loathing for our Sins; We have our Pardon Sealed in his Blood, & Assurance of our Interest in the Mercies of God thro' Him. 'It is a most refreshing thing to revive often in our Minds the LOVE OF CHRIST, & the FREE GRACE of God, which (we trust) has chosen us in Him, and instated us in the Dignity, and will bring us to the Glories of his Redeemed. We have Great Joy in his Love, — O how Unspeakable! to think — I am my Beloveds, and his Desire is towards me! He is my Savior, I am a part of his Purchase, mine are the Promises, & the Heaven of Blessedness therein made over! Who Loved me, and gave Himself for me! To represent him to ourselves, either on the Cross, or on his exalted Throne, equally reaching out the same Arms of Mercy to Embrace returning Sinners! to realize ourselves with Him, where He is, to behold his Glory; Beloved of him, and Crowned by him,—what can beget in a devout Soul such Extasy & Ravishment as this? Such was the Seraphic Love and Joy of the holy Spouse, I sat down under his Shadow with delight, and his fruit was sweet to my taste; He brought me to the Banquetting-house, and his Banner over me was Love.

Again, 'It is a Joyous thing to revive on our Minds the Memory of our COVENANT-BONDS, which are so connected with the riches of Grace in our Lord Jesus Christ, that we cannot be struck with the Awe of the one, but the Joy of the other will break in upon us. Every Renewal of our holy Covenant should send us home with fresh Content, O my Soul, thou hast said unto the Lord, thou art my Lord. In the same breath we make Profession of our devotedness, and we humbly claim the glorious Privilege of a Relation to the Great God: O Lord truly I am thy Servant, I am thy Servant! A Thoit that threw the holy Psalmist into Raptures of Praise, and gave him new Ardors of Devotion: Psal. 116.17, 18, 19. I will offer to Thee the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving, and will call upon the Name of the Lord. I will pay my Vows unto the Lord, now in the Presence of all his People: In the Courts of the Lord's House, in the midst of thee, O Jerusalem! Praise ye the Lord.

There are yet behind two more Instances, or Acts of Religious Worship, the Seasons and the Means of Holy and Spiritual Joy, Namely, PRAISE AND SINGING: These my Text obliges me to take particular Notice of, teaching us, That our Joy in the Benefits and Mercies of God unto us, ought to be expressed in Singing Psalms of Praise unto Him. Is any Merry? let him SING PSALMS. I pass therefore to the last part of my Discourse, which is,

V. And Lastly, To speak of the Proper and Natural EXPRESSION of Holy Joy, as directed unto in the Text: LET HIM SING PSALMS. We must needs understand it of Psalms of Praise and Thanksgiving, and therefore I shall observe. 1. That our Rejoicing in God, and in his Divine Favors, should show itself in Praises & Thanksgivings▪ 2. That the Joyful Christians Praises may and ought particularly to be expressed in Singing of Psalms. 2 Chron. 29.30. They Sang Praises with Gladness, and they bowed their heads and worshipped.

1. Our Rejoicing in God, and in his Divine Favors, should be shown in PRAISES AND THANKSGIVINGS to Him. If we distinguish between Praise and Thanksgiving, Praise is the Celebration of the Divine Perfections shining forth in the Word and Works of God, Thanksgiving of the Divine Beneficence and Bounties: & so Praise carries more of Admiration and Veneration, Thanksgiving more of Acknowledgment: Both are a debt from us, as Creatures, and as Obliged; and unto God, considered as the most Excellent of all Beings, & as our Benefactor.

Need I say that the Word of God, and the Examples of all the Saints do loudly call upon us, to abound in these Duties. How often have we that devout Wish over in one Psalm, O that men would praise the Lord for his Goodness! &c. It stands as a Call to all Posterity, in the several Generations of men: As it was from the Beginning a Law to Israel, Deut. 10.21. He is thy Praise, and He is thy God, that has done for thee these great things which thine Eyes have seen. How agreeable this is to a devout heart, let the Book of Psalms bear witness, wherein we are so often called upon to show forth God's Praise, to make his Praise Glorious, to Triumph in his Praise, & to have our Mouth filled therewithal. A Duty so often repeated, & so fervently, that sometimes the Psalmist scarce gives himself time to take breath in his zealous Inculcating of it, as in the 135 Psalm, Praise ye the Lord, praise the Name of the Lord, praise him O ye Servants of the Lord: Nay he addresses unto all Creatures, Angels, Men and brute Creatures too, the Heavenly Bodies, & even things Inanimate, in their several ways to Unite in Lauding the Creator. For himself he resolves, My Praise shall be of him in the great Congregation, I will bless the Lord at all times, his Praise shall be continually in my mouth: O magnify the Lord with me, and let us exalt his Name together! — And my Tongue shall speak of thy Righteousness, and of thy Praise all the day long.

'It is the least Testimony of Gratitude and Esteem that can be expected from us, who have Souls in our Bodies, and Tongues in our Heads; who have the power of Speech, and Reason to regulate it; who have a Conscience within us, and a sense of Benefits. And never are our Minds and Tongues so well employ'd, as when the Glories of God do take 'em up: therefore the Inhabitants of Heaven are thus busied forever.

'It is the best part of Worship: the best Affections of the Soul are in the best manner that can be carried towards the Best Good. This is Praise; which like Charity has this to give it Prehenminence, that it Never faileth; but if it employs our life here, so will it our Eternity; & he that dies with these in his mouth, changes his place but not his Frame & Work; only in Heaven they are perfected. And what do we think it is that makes Praise the Work of Heaven? verily, because 'tis the Place & State of complete Eternal Happiness & Joy. Every Glorious Spirit there is full of these, & out of their abundant delight in God, they pour out Praise unto him. God communicates unto them with a liberal hand, they drink of the very Fountain of Goodness to the full, they know no want & indigence, & can know no sorrow; therefore being always brimful of Content, they unweariedly praise Him in whom all their springs are. So we, while the Joy of the Divine Benefits fills our Souls, must imitate the ravished Minds above, & give Blessings and Praises to Him.

In short, the Reason is as plain for Praise as for Prayer; there ought to be a sense of Benefits as well as of our Needs, nay much the rather, because the least selfish of the two, & looks more directly at God's Glory. But I pass to Praise more dilated.

2. The Merry Christians Praises may and ought especially to be expressed in SINGING OF PSALMS: of which there are very many full of rapturous Praises.

I will not enter on any Elaborate proof, that Singing of Psalms is a part of Divine Worship, Natural & Instituted, Private & Public. I doubt not but that the Reason of Mankind, even in this our sunk Condition, would teach & direct to this as well as unto bare Prayer or Praise: for the Tongues of men are hung for Singing as well as Speaking; & reason tells us that every noble Power in man ought to be used to the Creators Glory.

To be sure it is appointed in Scripture, is recommended by the noblest Examples, & has ever been the Practice of the Church, under both Testaments . Moreover, God has greatly owned the Ordinance: Holy Souls have tasted as much of Heaven in it, as in any part of Worship. It sweetly dilates the Soul, and God often comes unto the op'ned heart. No part of Worship oftener melts heavenly minds into Tears, & no wonder we should be rapit near to Heaven by it, since Heaven itself has its Songs. Rev. 5.9.

as, at the Dedication of the Temple, 2 Chron. 5.13, 14. and when at Midnight St. Paul & Silas Sang Praises in the Prison: Act. 16.25, 26. Was it their Voices that Shook the Place, and threw open the Doors, and Loosed every ones Bands? or was it the Brightness of Solomon's Majesty, the Fulgor of his Robes & Crown, that filled the House of the Lord with Glory? No: it was the Glory of the Lord Himself, and it broke in among his Worshippers on that great Solemnity, just as the Trumpeters and the Singers were as one, to make one Sound to be heard in Praising and Thanking the Lord. 'It is a Religious Exercise more especially Adapted to the Spirit of Praise & Thanksgiving. This is the Immediate and first End of Singing, the proper Spring whereof is Admiration & Joy . So 'ere the foundation of the Earth was laid, the Morning-Stars Sang together, and all the Sons of God Shouted for Joy; And as they began they hold on forever; PRAISE is the Eternal burden of their Songs, and everlastingly growing JOYES inspire 'em.

I mean not that Singing does not suit Occasions of Grief, and the Spirit of Humiliation & Mourning; for there are Penitential Psalms, & Psalms of Prayer, & of Sorrowful Complaint; and the sad Heart may and should Sing these, which suits its State and Temper; bemoaning itself, & seeking Grace and Help of God in this way, as well as in Prayer. Nor is Solomon to be understood to deny this when he says, As Vinegar upon Nitre, so is he that Singeth Songs to a Heavy Heart: 'tis as the Song is, and as it is tim'd and sung, that instead of soothing Grief will only vex and enrage it.

Nor do I mean to deny the Excellent Use of Reading the Inspired Psalms, but affirm that this also is wonderfully Adapted to the Spirit of Praise. Cou'd I speak with the Tongue of Men & Angels whether in Prayer or Preaching, had I all the Eloquence of the World given me this day, and the holy Zeal & Flame of a Seraph put within me, yet could I no ways compose for your Edification, & the raising your Affections toward God, anything to be Nam'd with those Psalms of Praise, which have this day been Read in your Hearing. Nor could an Angel from Heaven do it, save speaking by the Holy Ghost, who inspired these holy Odes.

How suited is the Book of Psalms to a day of Thanksgiving! From thence we may best take our Words and Expressions, clothing our Thoughts in these excelling Strains of Devotion, to raise in our Selves a like heat and warmth: while we Muse on these the Fire Kindles.

Yet Singing has its Peculiar Advantages for Edification, if it be not our own fault. The Apostle therefore speaks of the Instruction & Admonition which this Ordinance designs us: Col. 3.16. Teaching & Admonishing one another in Psalms, Hymns and Spiritual Songs.

One Advantage hereunto is the Deliberateness & Leisure of this Mode of Praise or Prayer. The Mind has time allowed it to Pause on the Sacred Passages: Every Sillable is distinctly uttered, and drawn out in its proper Note, that the Mind may fix and fasten and dwell on the holy Thoit. And as the Voice leisurely Ascends, so may the Soul with it towards Heaven.

Another Advantage is, that it strikes so strongly on Sense & Imagination, and by them has the more forcible Access to our Affections. Our Spirits being Imbodyed are naturally come at by Impressions on our Senses, and more particularly by the Eye and Ear. Musical Notes may be fitted to the Matter Sung, whether it be Grave or Loose; and they may be Addressit with Art & great Power to one or other Passion of our Souls; and accordingly they do convey into our Minds Ridiculous Idea's or Venerable, which provoke Laughter or Seriousness, bespeak Reverence or Contempt, move Love or Hatred, Joy or Sorrow: Hence it is that loose Sonnets have so fatal a power to deprave men, and Satan uses 'em as natural Means hereunto; while the Holy Spirit works also upon our Souls in ways adapted to our Frame and Nature, and uses Holy Psalms as naturally tending to leave Impressions of what is Holy and Good upon us.

Another Advantage of Singing unto our Edification is, the Pleasure and Delight which generally Mankind take in it: though' it must be granted that its Force is not alike on all. Music has its Charm, in such an Ear as David's more especially, and so have Psalms where there is his Devotion, It is a good thing to give Thanks unto the Lord, & to sing Praise to thy Name, O most High! 'It is the Echo of our Earth to Heaven, and a softer kind of Rapture. It has had wonderful Effects: The sweet Voice of a Psalm has ejected Melancholy, as David's Harp did the Evil Spirit from the Lord on King Saul: It has sweet'ned a Prison, and given new Heart to Martyrs at the Stake: It has made the Shades of Death to flee away, and closed up a Saints Eyes in like Brightness, as the Sun sets in a fair Evening.

Nor is this a Sensitive Pleasure merely. The Body subserves the Soul, and is its Instrument in this State of their Union: yet the Rational part governs, and he that throws away his Senses and Natural Powers, must his Reason & Religion too; nor Glorify God in his Spirit no more than in his Body. God reaches the Soul by the Ear, or else Faith had not come by Hearing.

Nor is it sufficient for men to say, that they could never have any Relish of the Ordinance, nor find Profit from it: 'It is their Carnality that hinders; & it may be neither have they ever had any real savor of Prayer or Hearing the Word: It's too common for People to live under Gospel-Ordinances, & not taste the Goodness, nor feel the Power of 'em. And it is eno' to say, that thro' Grace others do relish this Holy Ordinance, & the more Heavenly men are, the more do they delight it it. Moreover, It is possible for a depraved Heart not to relish Heaven neither: were he taken thither he would find Singing there, & if that can disgust him, Heaven can be no Place for him.

To Conclude, It must be granted, that some do Abuse the Ordinance; they Sing Vainly, Conceitedly, Lightly in the Solemn Worship of God, & 'tis an offense to see 'em do so: But is it not as true, & equally a Lamentation, that they can have wandering Minds, can Sleep, & be wanton in Prayer & Hearing also? And must we therefore reject, revile and pour contempt on all Instituted Worship? No: God's Institutions are no more to be charged with our Sinful Abuses of 'em, than Affronts & Injuries are to be charged on Him that innocently suffers 'em.

I have said all this of the Use of SINGING unto the Ends of Holiness, not to depretiate Prayer and the other Ordinances, but to assert the Place due to this, & to show that God owns all his Institutions, and chooses which of them he pleases to work by.

The USE of this Meditation on the Joyes of Religion might be easily enlarged on, in many Particulars. As,

1. To display the free & rich Grace of God unto us Sinners, & to put us on Adoring Him, who has provided thro' Christ Jesus this Holy Joy for us; allows it to us, & requires it of us.

2. To show the high Felicity of Saints, for whom this Light is Sown, this blessed Enjoyment purchased.

3. To set a just Price on Grace, & raise our Aspirations after the greatest Measures thereof, that our Joy may be full, which it can be only by our abounding in Holiness and Devotion.

4. To manifest the Wretchedness of the Ungodly, who are (while such) debarred this Joy forever; it being impossible to 'em, and the Means of it their Torment. Yet disbelieve the Account of it they cannot, having felt the torturing Gripes of an Accusing Conscience, which alone may satisfy 'em that its Approbation is exceeding Joyous. Or if they pretend to Joyes too in their Evil Courses, what are they but Precarious, Borrowed, and at the mercy of a thousand Accidents, proper only to the Body, Partial & Fleeting! whereas Those of Religion are proper to the Soul, Sure and Full, at the mercy of no Evil or Enemy, living in Spite of a frowning World, bearing the Heart up under Affliction, growing like the Palm-tree under Burdens & heavy Pressures, & Abiding to Death, & after it. So true are our Savior's Words, St. John 14.27. Not as the World giveth, give I unto you. But at last, the Wicked man's Joyes are his Guilt and Woe. Conscience is Asleep. or run from. A Joy without Warrant, and against Reason; an Extravagance as Criminal as Absurd! The more of it there is, so much the Worse! the more Sin and Misery!

5. I must needs again lay before Good People their Duty, to Exhibit in their Lives the Joyes of Religion, thereby to make some Acknowledgment to the Great God of the Riches of his Mercies toward them, and to Honor the Ways of God in the sight of Others. Why else has God made a Provision of Joy for his Children, but that they might Serve Him with a Glad Heart, and Serene Face!

Yet Some, whom we must needs account Good People, seem not at all to apprehend it a Duty to labor after a settled Joy in God, & Others that have it, apprehend not their Obligation to Exhibit it.

To the First I would say, That they act as if Unknowing in the Nature, Design, Tendency & proper Effects of Religion: That 'tis no Christian Modesty and Humility to put that Divine Pleasure from us which God allows to us: That on the contrary, Nothing is more Ornamental to Christianity, or does more Honor to God, than for Good People to be Walking in the Comforts of the Gospel; Nor scarce anything more Unseemly in them, Injurious to God, and more palpably a Temptation of Satan, than some of their Cloudiness and Dejections.

Again, The Mis-behavior of Others is very gross, who are not Strangers to the Joyes of Religion, but yet have taken up a Melancholy Way, on a Conceit (I fear) of its Looking Religious, and being Agreeable to Seriousness of Spirit. Zeal is apt to run Weak Minds into some Unnatural Oddities, by which Religion is hurt and wounded instead of being Served. Unnatural it is to speak of God as Our God in the same sad manner as we would Lament after the Blessed Hope in. Is the Soul indeed delighted? I am sure 'tis Ill-favor'dly Expressed, and cross to Nature the Interpretation must be; As if Frowns and Tears should be made to signify Pleasure and Content. But, why should not Holy Joy express itself freely? Why should not the Brightness of the Face, and the Life in the Eye, speak it? and the Tone of the Voice be Natural; Then was our Mouth filled with Laughter, and our Tongue with Singing: the Lord hath done Great things for us, whereof we are Glad. —

Let me Argue a little with the Sad Spirited Saint. Is this the Look that the Servant of a Kind and Good Master, and a Child of God, an Expectant of Glory should have!

Do you not look for Joy in Heaven? and why should the State of Grace be so unlike to that of Glory? Why not that Life of Pleasure now begun, which Heaven will perfect and be, the Fulness of? You hope to Launch 'ere-long into those Rivers that flow Above for evermore, and why not wish to Swim in those calm and serene Streams that run into these Deeps!

Is it that you only groan after more Grace? a clearer Sight of it in yourself? and then you should Rejoice! But do you not the mean while overlook the Grace you have, and forget the Thanks you owe to God for that! Be Just to God, to own what he has done for your Soul, and from every symptom of his Grace in you Conceive a holy Pleasure.

Have you Grace? take it for your Portion, & rejoice in it as a sufficient One. What would you have more, or what can you? With what Flesht Sinner would you change Condition! for whose Possessions would you give your Hopes! Pity his Pride & Joy, the Abject Object whereof is a little Dust: or if it glitter in your Eyes, to dazzle 'em, lift 'em to Heaven, & see how much Higher and Brighter thy Place is than his, and how much wider the Compass of thy Felicity! If the mean Sinner survey his mouldering Stores with pleasure in his Eyes, Can you the Graces of the SPIRIT in yourself with less? Are the Diviner Gifts smaller with you? The Gifts & Calling of God which are without Repentance! Whose Faces should wear Smiles but Theirs whom Heaven so Endows and Smiles on!

Pine not after Unnecessary Goods, when the Best & Chief GOOD is secured to thee! Will you for a Feather, when you are Heir to a Crown! or after finer Array for thy Body, when thy Soul is Adorn'd & Beautify'd with the Array of Angels! or for more Delicacies of Food, when thou hast Bread from Heaven to eat of! Pine not after more Friends or Respect on Earth, when God & Angels esteem & love thee, and thou art their Care! Nor after Children, when thou thyself art a Child of God! (Hannah! why weepest thou? and why eatest thou not? and why is thy heart grieved? Is not an Interest in the Great GOD, a happy Relation to Him, joyous Communion with Him, better to thee than ten Sons?) Finally; What anxious Thoit about any Event possible in this Life can haunt and fright you? He that has done the Greater things for thy Immortal Soul, and as to thy Eternal Concerns, can he deny the Lesser Concerns of Time and of the Body? He who has given HIS OWN SON for thee and to thee, Shall he not with Him also freely give thee all things? But I pass,

6. And Lastly, To the more Particular Application of the Subject to the Present Solemnity.

You see the proper Exercise of the DAY, and the Spirit we must be in before the Lord our God. There must be Praise, which must proceed from Joy, which must be Spiritual, and therefore the Worship we perform must be from the Heart; from an Engaged Spirit, & raised Affections.

1. There must be PRAISES offered to God. And it may not be Improper just to Intimate, That we have PSALMS of Praise prepared for, and suited unto, every possible Reason of Joy, and Solemn Thanksgiving.

As,

Do we Praise the God of our HEALTH? We have Forms of Praise ready penned to our hands, to Sing unto HIM, Who killeth and maketh alive, who bringeth down to the Grave, and bringeth up. Who maketh Sore and Bindeth up: Who woundeth and his Hands make whole. Who strengthens on the Bed of Languishing, and makes our Bed in Sickness. Who healeth all thy Diseases, and Redeemeth thy Life from Destruction. See also, Psalm CVII. 17, — 20.

Or do we Sing unto God in the Joyes of HARVEST? We have Psalms adapted: Sing unto the Lord with Thanksgiving, Sing Praise upon the Harp unto our GOD; Who Covereth the Heaven with Clouds, who prepareth Rain for the Earth, who maketh Grass to grow upon the Mountains: Who giveth to the Beast his food, and to the young Ravens which cry: Who filleth thee with the finest of the Wheat, —&c. See also Psalms LXV. 9, —13. CXLIV. 13, 14, 15.

Do we magnify the Power and Love of our Gracious PROTECTOR? We have prepared Psalms to be Sung aloud unto GOD OUR STRENGTH:— Praise the Lord O Jerusalem! Praise thy God O Zion! for He hath strengthened the Bars of thy Gates; He hath blessed thy Children within thee; He maketh Peace in thy Borders. —See also the CXXIV Psalm.

The Songs of VICTORY are Innumerable, to HIM who hath Triumphed Gloriously; Such are the Song of Moses at the Sea, The Lord is my Strength and Song, & he is become my Salvation: The Song of Renowned Deborah, Praise ye the Lord for the Avenging of Israel: The Song of Habbakkuk, &c. But especially David's Harp strikes every Warlike Note; He the Warriour, the Saint, & the Divine Poet too! GOD is gone up with a Shout, the LORD with the Voice of a Trumpet. Sing Praises to God, Sing Praises: Sing Praises to our King Sing Praises. See Psalms XLVI. XLVII. XLVIII.

Once more; Do we bless the Name of God for our Civil Liberties, and for Pious RULERS? We have again Psalms formed to our hands: TO HIM who led his People like a Flock by the Hands of Moses & Aaron:— Who chose David also his Servant, and took him from the Sheepfolds; from following the Ews great with young; He brought him to feed Jacob his People, and Israel his Inheritance: So he fed them according to the Intregrity of his heart, and guided them by the skilfulness of his hands. See also, Psalm. LXXII.

Finally, Are we Praising our Gracious and Merciful God for his GOSPEL, and all Spiritual Blessings in CHRIST JESUS? We have prepared Psalms herefor: To HIM that chose the Tribe of Judah, the Mount Zion which he Loved; and built his Sanctuary like high Palaces, like the Earth which he hath Established for Ever. — He showeth his Word unto Jacob, his Statutes and his Judgments unto Israel; He hath not dealt so with any Nation, and as for his Judgments they have not known them: Praise ye the LORD. See also, Psalm XLVIII. 11, 12, 13, 14. LXXXIX. 1, 15, 16, &c. St. Luk. I. 68, 69, &c.

These are some of the Sublime and Holy Psalms, adapted unto our Solemn Feast Days. Psal. 81.2, 4. Take a Psalm, and bring hither the Timbrel; the pleasant Harp with the Psaltery: For this was a Statute for Israel, and a Law of the God of Jacob.

2. These Praises must be Sung with Hearts full of JOY. The Call of Providence is to this, and 'tis more requisite and decent than Garments of Praise or a joyful Countenance. There should be no sad Heart or Face in the Lord's Assemblies: We remember his Benefits in the midst of all our Sins and Sorrows. Our work To Day is like that of Heaven, where Prayers are changed into Praises: the very Felicity of Angels, to Rejoice in the Divine Munificence, to Rejoice in Praising God! O might we all feel this Heavenly Principle of Joy, enlarging us in this Good Work of Praise! But remember,

3. Our Joy must be SPIRITUAL, and what is properly Religious. I very much dread to see the day, when Thanksgivings shall lose of their Solemnity in this Land. It has been our Crown and Glory that they have not been Debas'd & Prostituted among us, as they are too commonly in Other Places, by Play and Sports, to Drinking and Bonefires, and Noisy Lawless Jollity; nor yet have dwindled into more Silent and Innocent Illuminations. Certainly it is pleasing to God, and seemly to Man, that we do at least appear more Spiritual, Grave and Retir'd on such Occasions. So Brethren, I beseech and humbly Charge you in the Lord, that your Joy in Him, his Operations and Favors, be Serious and Inward, and Holy.

The truth is, Spiritual Joy is as Uneasy and Impossible to a carnal Heart, as other Duties of Christianity. We easily Rejoice in a Fleshly manner, our Lusts provoke to it, we can Eat, Drink and be Merry: But to Rejoice Spiritually is to sour the Pleasures of the Flesh. Corn and Oil and Wine are good things, and the Flesh to thinks 'em so: But to set ourselves to consider & weigh 'em as coming from God, and our Ill-deserving any of 'em; to Abase our Souls for our Sins ungratefully committed in Abuse of his Benefits, to Rejoice in paying the Homage and debt of Praises for them, and to bind ourselves to Live Devoted to God as a meet Thank-Offering; — this has nothing of Pleasure in it, but is a sore Penance to the Carnal Mind so much as to think of! Let God take his Gifts again, ('tis ready to say) if we must Pay so dear for 'em, at the Expence of our Lusts!

But nevertheless, I must insist on it, that our Joy be Holy: Such as true Devotion inspires, and the Spirit of God kindles in holy Souls, by his Fellowship with them in holy Duties: Such as the Spirit of Praise requires, as the Graces of the Holy SPIRIT do cherish, and as Influences unto all Holiness. If men do not feel themselves delighted from Love to God, Admiration of his Mercy, Desires & Serious Purposes (thro' Grace) of Living to his Glory, and to Serve him with the more Chearfulness and Diligence, under the large Experience of his Benefits, they do but play with and mock their Benefactor.

4. And Lastly, Therefore our present WORSHIP must be from the HEART, from an Engaged Spirit, & raised Affections. A Joyful Noise alone is not Praise. The Transports of the Ear are one thing, those of the Heart quite another. The Lord takes no more pleasure merely in the Voice, than in the Legs of a Man, but in them that Fear him. 'It is a Play of Worship, whether we Sing Psalms of Praise or Penitence, if no Inward Pleasures Elate us in the one, nor Sorrows depress us in the other. The very Sport of the Children in the Market-place, We have piped to you & ye have not danced! We have mourned to you & ye have not lamented! The Goodly Sacrifice is the Heart itself; the Substance this, a Lifeless Sound the other. Without Grace in the Heart, and in Exercise, we make no Melody to the Lord;

We may pass for Tubes, making a Sound, but by no means are Worshippers.

I will only offer further, David's Example, and the Apostle's Precept or Benediction rather; Both teaching us that the Heart must be intently fixed, and devoutly raised in the Spiritual Duty of Praise.

My HEART is Fixed, O GOD, my Heart is Fixed, I will SING and give PRAISE. Awake up my Glory! Awake Psaltery and Harp! I myself will awake Early.

Let the PEACE OF GOD rule in your HEARTS, to the which also ye are called in one Body, and be ye THANKFUL. Let the WORD OF CHRIST dwell in you richly in all Wisdom, Teaching and Admonishing one another in Psalms and Hymns and Spiritual Songs, SINGING WITH GRACE IN YOUR HEARTS TO THE LORD. And whatsoever ye do in Word or Deed, do ALL in the Name of the LORD JESUS, GIVING THANKS TO GOD, AND THE FATHER BY HIM.