he may "give us rest and refreshment;" that he may wipe all tears from our eyes;" that we may enter "into our Master's joy ;" and that "our joy may be "full." For this purpose he has sent us a blessed Comforter, to abide with us for ever," whose first fruits are, "love, joy, and peace;" a Spirit, cheerful in himself, and making those cheerful who are partakers of him; cheerful in trouble, cheerful out of trouble; cheerful while they live, cheerful when they die; cheerful in using well the blessings of this life, cheerful in expecting the blessedness of the next; cheerful through faith, while they believe in the great and precious promises made to them; cheerful through hope, which depends upon their accomplishment; cheerful through charity, in doing acts of mercy and loving kindness; till they come to that land of plenty, where none shall want; to those regions of joy, from whence sorrow shall be for ever excluded.

There is no occasion to be more particular upon this topic. It appears evidently, that whether we consider the name, the nature, or the end of the Gospel, its Author, its doctrines, its duties, or the Spirit which accompanies it; every way, it is a dispensation of love and peace, consolation and joy. So that a good Christian, of all men, has most cause to be cheerful. Some have gone so far as to affirm, that it is impious in such a one to be otherwise.

A celebrated writer on the side of scepticism and irreligion, in a book published since his death, to recommend atheism to the world has been pleased to say, that all the devout persons he had ever seen were melancholy. This might very possibly be; for,

in the first place, it is most likely that he saw very few, his friends and acquaintance being of another sort; and secondly, the sight of him would make a devout person melancholy at any time.

But it may be said, How can these things be? Doth not the Gospel call us to repentance? And is not repentance attended by mourning? Are we not commanded to renounce the world, and to mortify the flesh; to abstain from jollity and pleasure; to deny ourselves, to fast, to watch, and to pray? How then can such a religion as this be a source of cheerfulness and joy?

It is most certainly true, that the Gospel calleth us to repentance; and it is equally true, that repentance is attended by mourning. But is this the fault of religion, or of the sinner? Of the sinner, surely, who by his conduct makes repentance necessary, and then is angry to find that it is not agreeable. Physic is seldom so; and he, who has contracted a disease, must submit to the remedy, if he would recover his health. But the fact is, that true penitents have never failed to declare, they felt a greater joy in the midst of their sorrow, through a comfortable sense of God's returning favour, than ever they did in the commission of their sin, which was sure to be followed, if it were not accompanied, by the stings and terrors of conscience.

As to the world and the flesh, jollity and pleasure, if we are commanded to renounce, to mortify, and to abstain from them, it is by way of friendly caution, lest they should endanger the health of our minds, and bring on a relapse. They are taken from us by

the kind hand of our heavenly Father, that something more wholesome, and more truly delightful, may be communicated to us, and relished by us. "Be not "drunk with wine," says the apostle; "but be filled "with the Spirit." And he who makes the exchange can be no loser by it. In a word, there is infinitely more joy in subduing a passion, than there can be in gratifying it; and, if we are to be determined by experienced persons, who have fairly tried both, they tell us, the pleasures of sin are far inferior to those afforded even by the severest and most unpromising exercises of religion. The objection, therefore, when considered and answered, turns out (as all objections in the end do) to the advantage of the Gospel; which resembles a fine country in the spring season, where the very hedges are in bloom, and every thorn produces a flower. The joys of the world end in sorrow; but the sorrows of religion terminate in joy. "Blessed "are they that mourn; for they shall be comforted." And it is very observable, that our Lord enjoins his disciples not to appear abroad with a sour and gloomy countenance, but, in their converse with mankind, to preserve their usual cheerfulness, even at those seasons when they are exercising upon themselves any act of religious discipline: "When ye fast, be "not as the hypocrites, of a sad countenance: for they disfigure their faces, that they may appear unto

men to fast. But thou, when thou fastest, anoint "thine head, and wash thy face; that thou appear "not unto men to fast, but unto thy Father which "is in secret; and thy Father, which seeth in secret, "shall reward thee openly."

Such, then, are the motives for cultivating a cheerful disposition, which reason dictates to us as men, and religion prescribes to us as Christians. You would wish perhaps to know, by what means this happy temper may be acquired and preserved.

We have before had occasion to mention the influence which the mind hath on the body. It is necessary here to take notice of the influence which the body sometimes hath on the mind, and to observe that melancholy is not infrequently constitutional, taking its rise from some distemperature of the blood and juices. This has, perhaps a share in the production and increase of what is called religious, but should rather be called irreligious, melancholy, much oftener than is generally imagined. That the effect, therefore, may cease, the cause must be removed, and application must be made to the physician, rather than to the divine.

When this is not the case, but the disorder lies originally in the mind, many useful directions may be given for its removal. Three things more especially are to be avoided by him who would possess a cheerful spirit.

The first of these is idleness. The mind of man being an active and restless principle, must have some matter given it to work upon, or it will turn its force inward and prey upon itself. When grief proceeds from a real cause, and not from one that is imaginary, it admits of no remedy more expeditious and efficacious, than that of diverting the thoughts from the subject which occasioned it, by providing for them some other employment; as we are told of

a famous Roman general who had lost his son, that he found a cure for his sorrow in the heat and hurry of ward. And it is obvious to observe, that the sedentary and inactive, they who are retired from business, or they who were never engaged in any, are the persons that suffer most by the incursions of melancholy, from which, they themselves will tell us, they have never failed to be relieved, as often as, by any extraordinary call, they have been roused from indolence and forced upon action. The malady which destroys so many constitutions, and makes such numbers miserable who have nothing else to make them so, is unknown to him whom necessity obliges to toil for his bread. With the sun he rises, full of life and vigour, to his appointed task; upon that his attention is engaged all day, and the performance of it secures to him an uninterrupted repose at night, according to Solomon's observation, "The sleep of a labouring man is sweet." From all which we may venture to conclude, that happiness consists in employment, and that to be idle is to be wretched.

A second thing to be avoided is guilt. We must not only be employed, but we must be well employed. To every station Providence has annexed its proper offices and duties. We shall always find the discharge of these to be one source of cheerfulness, and the consciousness of having discharged them will

Agricola-" In luctu bellum inter remedia erat." Tacit. in Vitâ. See the first lines of a Poem styled the LIBRARY, printed for Dodsley, 1781.