for he has made life and conscience, the inward experience and the outward vicissitude, our teachers; and Jesus himself but the better and the more perfectly interprets this instruction. We speak to you, moreover, the language of respect and friendship. We desire no dominion over your faith; but to be helpers of your joy.' I say, if there had been more of all this in the ministry of reconciliation, it would better have suited the tenour of such an office, and better have answered its gracious and heavenly ends. It would have done much to promote a common feeling and sympathy between preachers and hearers.

The character of preaching, in these respects, it is true, is undergoing a great change. If any thing further could be devised to advance the same object, I am sure it would be worthy of serious consideration. It would be little to part with our pulpits; nay, more, to part with our notes. I am weary with this chilling formality in the all-absorbing and allembracing concerns of religion. I am weary of these distant and stately modes of communication. I am weary of these unreal and fictitious services, when the only reality is involved, and a reality which equally concerns us all. Our communings in the sanctuary, are not enough like the communings of friend with friend, of man with man. We should not be satisfied with such interviews on the exchange, nor with such deliberations at an election, nor with such cold decencies in a court of justice. And yet, religion is a common concern,a concern affecting us all as much, surely, as justice, or the right of suffrage, or business; nay, if it were even possible, infinitely more.

*

May the spirit of unity and fellowship, and mutual intercession, descend upon all our churches! May the prayers of the sanctuary be not the prayers of a few, but of many; and the lessons of its instruction be not the business of one, but the concern of all!

*Of course the writer does not design to recommend any change in the forms of our worship,-does not propose to abolish the ministry, nor to disuse written discourses; but only wishes to state a case, a supposition, in order to bring the difficulty he is treating of, more distinctly into view.

ON THE JOY AND CONSOLATION AFFORDED BY RELIGION.

PHILIPPIANS, Iv. 4.

Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, rejoice.'

It may be interesting to consider, what was the situation of the man by whom the words, that have just been quoted, were written; who it was that gave this exulting direction to be joyful; and what was the situation of the community to whom it was addressed. It was given by a poor, persecuted prisoner at Rome, who had suffered the loss of all things; who, in this very epistle, says that God had spared his friend Epaphroditus, when sick, nigh unto death, lest he should have sorrow on sorrow; who tells the Philippians, that he had not suffered on account of the delay in receiving their contribution for his support, because he had learnt in every state to be content, and was instructed how to bear want; and who, with respect to the cause in which his heart was most deeply interested, the cause of the Gospel, declares, that there were some who preached Christ contentiously, not sincerely, thinking to add affliction to his bonds. He was a man, who had endured almost every kind of suffering. He had been, as he informs the Corinthians, five times scourged; he had thrice been beaten with rods; he had been stoned and left for dead. He had been exposed to every variety of peril. He had thrice been shipwrecked. He had suffered, as we learn from himself, and might still be expecting to suffer, weariness, and pain, and watchings, and hunger, and thirst, and cold, and nakedness. His life, since his conversion to Christianity, had been one severe struggle in the cause of God and of mankind, against opposition and difficulties, the most disheartening and oppressive. He was one of those Apostles who were set forth, as it were, appointed unto death; who were in jeopardy every hour, and who were, in the view of the world, of all men most miserable. This was the man, who repeatedly in his epistle to the Philippians exhorts them to be joyful; who repeatedly, in strong language, speaks of his own occasions of joy; who speaks, as if he had felt it, as most undoubtedly he had, of the peace of God which passeth all understanding; and who could look either on life or death without depression or dismay; for to me, he says, to live is to serve Christ, and to die is gain.

And who were the persons to whom the exhortation of the Apostle was addressed? They were a little community of persecuted men, whom the world hated and despised; who, on account of the idolatry and the vices, which prevailed around them, were almost cut off from any intercourse with their former friends and associates; and could not enter, except under peculiar disadvantages, into any of the common pursuits of life. They were men to whom, as the Apostle expresses it, in language full of moral sublimity, it had been graciously vouchsafed not only to believe in Christ, but also to suffer for him; ye being engaged, as he goes on to say, in the same conflict in which ye saw me engaged, and now hear that I am; in which words he alludes to his sufferings in their city, related in the Acts of the Apostles, when he was beaten with many stripes and cast into prison. They were one of those churches of Macedonia, whom he mentions in his second Epistle to the Corinthians, who, during a great trial of affliction, and in deep poverty, abounded in the riches of their liberality. These were the people to whom the Apostle addressed the exhortation: Rejoice in the Lord always; and again I say, rejoice.

Let us now, then, consider what were those principles, not merely of comfort and consolation, but of hope and joy, which were felt by the Apostle, and those whom he addressed; that were of such wonderful efficacy; which could thus operate, and produce their effects, amid so much external suffering; of which no accidents of fortune, and no malice of enemies, could deprive them; and which, amid the hatred and contempt of men, in poverty, pain, and danger, could prepare the Philippians to receive, and dispose the Apostle to give, an exhortation to continual rejoicing.

The causes of joy, which were felt by the Apostle, and those whom he addressed, were principally derived from our religion, and were the same, essentially, that may be felt by all sincere Christians. Let us consider, therefore, what are those sources of happiness, derived peculiarly and immediately from our religion, which may be enjoyed by a sincere Christian under all circumstances.

In the first place, he believes that God exists; and that all things are under his providence and moral government; and

he has not such a mere belief, as might make him assent to these propositions, if proposed to him in words, but he has a faith in them that is habitual, intimate, and which influences all his principles and affections. He believes, that all the creatures whom God has made are objects of his continual care; that the universe is embosomed in his infinite goodness. He sees evil and suffering around him, and he feels them in himself; but he believes that God has permitted no evil in his works, which is not the necessary consequence, or the necessary means, of greater good. He believes that not a breath of air moves, that not a withered leaf falls to the ground without his providence; and much more, that nothing, however inconsiderable, affects any living and rational being without his appointinent, or without his knowledge and permission. He believes that not a prayer is unheard by him, that not a tear is unnoticed, that not a single good action is unregarded. Sincerely endeavouring to do the will of God, he knows that infinite power is on the side of virtue; he knows, therefore, that he is engaged in a cause, which must prevail; that he is trusting to hopes, which cannot be disappointed. We run, says the Apostle, not uncertainly. We know in whom we have trusted. He may be exposed to severe trials and sorrows; but he believes that affliction cometh not forth of the dust; that trials and sorrows are appointed by God as a necessary part of the discipline of the present life; that they are intended to purify and strengthen the mind; to call forth and give vigour to the most excellent virtues. He believes that their power is but for a season; that he that endureth to the end shall be safe; that not a hair of his head shall perish. He believes that the messenger of affliction, when received as sent from God, will ere long change his countenance, and appear as an angel of glory. The good man cannot be destitute and friendless; he has a friend, who is almighty; who is ever present with him; who never remits his love; who is continually directing upon him and upon all his concerns, the inspection of omniscience, and the care of infinite wisdom. He is at the disposal of a being, who cannot be deceived as to his interests, and who has all power and all will to do him good. If we could but feel the full influence of these truths, the evils of life would relax their grasp upon our minds; their strength would fail; and we should stand

released from their thraldom. But we may hope to feel, more and more, the invigorating power of these sources of joy and consolation, in proportion as we are sincere and rational Christians in faith and practice. They are not something to be talked about, as a matter of pleasant speculation; their enjoyment is earnestly to be desired and sought after; they are real; they are most rational; they are adapted powerfully to affect the happiness of life.

But in immediate connexion with his trust in the mercy of God, is the belief to which the thoughts of a good man are continually recurring, that this life is but the commencement, and regarded in itself, a most inconsiderable part of his existence; that death has no dominion over him; and that, if he persevere in duty, the time cannot be far distant, when his sufferings shall be accomplished, and he shall enter into glory. The first disciples of our Saviour were exposed to severe afflictions; and the manner, in which these were announced to them by their master, strikingly illustrates the character of our religion, and may serve to strengthen our conviction of its truth. When he told them, that if they would be his disciples, they must take up their cross and follow him, that they would be hated by all men for his sake, and that for his sake they must submit to labour, and peril, and pain, and insult, and death,―he did not speak like an impostor, who was seducing men to be his followers. Nor did he speak as ever man spake, when, under all these afflictions, he directed them to rejoice, and be exceeding glad. It is only he who knows the character, and believes the promises of our religion, who knows, that there was, nothing of extravagance in this direction; for he remembers, and is able to estimate, the motive by which it was enforced: Rejoice and be exceeding glad, for great is your reward in Heaven. It is the same motive, which Christianity now offers to her disciples, to enable them to submit with patience and cheerfulness to the various evils of life. In one scale of her balance, Christianity puts the accidents of those few years of life, that may remain to us; and places in the other that exceeding weight of glory, which is to be continually increasing through the ages of eternity. Our religion teaches us that this world is a state of discipline, and not of retribution; and that our circumstances here, in respect to prosperity or adversity, are