"I will rejoice in the Lord!" Oh, grand source of unfailing bliss! Here is enough to satisfy a world. Ho! every one that thirsteth for happiness-ye to whose hearts joy has been long a stranger-ye who mourn the loss of kindred, and sit in plaintive bereavement—and ye who are hurt with wounds that man cannot heal-in fine, ye who are this day helpless and disconsolate, from whatever cause-come all! come away from the painful emptiness of created things! repair unto the Lord! choose Him for your portion, and be joyless no more!

In contemplating the Lord's essential excellency-in beholding his glory-in the perception of his holiness, and in the consideration of his beneficent power-in dwelling on the immensity of his adorable attributes and in coming to new and evergrowing discoveries of divine perfection, reaching to infinity in the Lord, there is a sense of enjoyment that inexpressibly exceeds the best emotions of those pleasures which are without God. He who can say, (and many, we are persuaded, truly can say,) "Whom have 1 in heaven but Thee, and there is none upon earth that I desire besides Thee !"-has come to a source of happiness heavenly in its origin. He has

tasted of the same fountain from which angels derive the bliss of immortality. His measure of enjoyment is less capacious than theirs, but the fountain is one; for throughout the regions of immortality, the Lord is all in all. And could we ask of the rejoicing inhabitants of those worlds, wherefore they express such transports of everlasting gladness? all would' answer"We rejoice in the Lord!" •

And ye on earth who have known the Lord, fail not to exercise your souls in the same way. Here, many things happen to us in which we cannot rejoice. Years may come in which we shall say we have no pleasure. Changes take place which deeply affect our temporal comforts, and rapidly diminish the amount of what is reckoned valuable in life; and even in those who are the most endeared to us among men, we may see at times something to disappoint or offend us: But is not. the Lord yours to rejoice in, "with joy unspeakable and full of glory." "Rejoice in the Lord; again I say, rejoice!" There is not a perfection of God, nor a manifested glory of his divine character, the reflection of which, in the enlightened soul, may not awaken spiritual feelings the most exalted and de

lectable. And it may justly be affirmed, that a rational nature hath not known of what happiness it is capable, until it hath tasted and seen the goodness of the Lord in the excellency of his glory, and begun to rejoice in Him. "Happy is the people that is in such a case; yea, happy is that people, whose God is the Lord."

Some, however, would think it presumption to allow themselves such a privilege of spiritual joy as we have set forth. It is meet for angels, they tell us, and meet for the spirits of the just made perfect, for these are sinless, and may rejoice in a holy God without rebuke: But for us sinners, it is of the Lord's mercy we are not consumed; and doth not trembling fear better become us than to aim at joy? Such sentiments are common, and while men live in sin, such sentiments are just; for though the divine glory, and eternal excellency of Jehovah, ought to furnish to every intelligent being a subject of fervent admiration and rejoicing, and will do so, where guilt has not darkened the understanding, and alienated the affections from God: yet must it be confessed, that to a sinful creature, conscious of evil, and apprehensive of retribution, there will no

complacency be felt in the contemplation of the Almighty in the glory of absolute perfection; sovereign, just, and infinitely opposed to sin. While God is viewed in the majesty of dominion, and the effulgence of holy power, the glory is great, and to holy natures most attractive; but to sinners, it is like a consuming fire, before which they tremble with dread; as the Israelites stood trembling before Sinai, while the mountain shook at the presence of the Lord, and the putting forth of the manifestations of his glorious power. To contemplate the Most High enthroned in light, overwhelms us with awe; and such a portion seems too high and holy, as well as altogether inaccessible, to beings not free from imperfection. But the Lord comes forth in manifestations of majesty indeed, but it is majesty exercising mercy, the most reconciling of views. He appears dispensing grace. He is revealed to us as the God of salvation, to be his people's joy; and to joy in God in this respect, constitutes the second branch of a believer's happiness in time.

And from this joy, the deepest penitent need not turn away; for it belongs to such, and is prepared for such, with special des

tination. We have sinned, but God is the God of salvation. He so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son to be a propitiation for the world's sins. He hath so loved us, a sinful race, that he hath made him to be sin for us; and for his righteousness' sake, he calls, and justifies, and glorifies them that believe. He saves them by grace through faith, and that not of themselves, for it is also given them to believe. He begins in them the good work, and performs it unto the end; and from his love in Christ Jesus, nothing that is past, nothing present, nothing to come, shall ever effect their separation.

But on this topic we shall not enlarge;. simple statement is enough-the thing is too great for amplification. God is infinite, and God in his infinity, is the God of salvation; and if any desire to be saved, let them give up the heart to faith, and the life to holiness; let them believe his word, confess with their mouth the Lord Jesus, and come unto God by him; and shall they not see the salvation of God? They shall see it, to their unspeakable joy; and soon will their spirits begin to rejoice in God their Saviour, while his own word will best express their happiness and its cause: "Behold, God is