do, but to sit down and make ourselves as miOne great means, therefore, of promoting chearfulness is, to keep our thoughts constantly and usefully employed. The pursuit of any important and worthy object is in itself enlivening. Every advance we make in it, is a new accession of pleasure we feel ourselves animated with a growing delight; and go on with increafing ardour and alacrity to the attainment of the end we have in view. A succession of worldly pleasures and occupations may, for a time, engage our attention; but that delusion is soon over, and they leave a void behind which nothing can fill up, but those great and noble purposes of action which the Gospel presents to our minds: the conquest of our passions; the improvement of our nature; the exaltation of our affections; the diffusion of happiness to every human being within our reach; the attainment of God's favour and protection here, and of everlasting glory and happiness hereafter. These are objects worthy of a rational and immortal being; these will find ample employment for all the faculties and powers of his mind; and the higher his rank and abilities

serable as we possibly can.

are, the more will his duties multiply upon him, and the sphere of his activity enlarge itself. Whoever, in short, engages in earnest in the Christian warfare, whoever presses on with zeal and ardour towards the mark, for the prize of the high calling of God in Christ Jesus, and "forgetting those things that are "behind, reaches forth to those that are be"fore," will never find either his attention or his spirits droop. He will be continually animated with new prospects, elated with new acquisitions, rewarded with new triumphs, and will know nothing of that languor and flatness, that gloom and melancholy, which are so apt to seize upon unoccupied minds.

II. Whoever suffers himself to be brought under the dominion of any malignant passion, envy, malice, hatred, jealousy, or revenge, must, from that moment, bid adieu to peace and chearfulness. These odious tyrants are all most fatal enemies to our repose. They throw the mind into a perpetual ferment and agitation; they harass it with a succession of malevolent sentiments and vindictive designs; they keep it in a constant fever of resentment, and allow it no rest. The man possessed by

these

these wicked spirits "sleeps not, except he has "done mischief: his sleep is taken away, "unless he cause some to fall*” Every one must see, that a state of mind like this must exclude all enjoyment of life; must produce a sullen gloominess of disposition, which no ray of chearfulness can penetrate or enliven.

When, therefore, Christianity exhorts us to put away "all bitterness, wrath, anger, clamour, evil-speaking, and malice," it prescribes one most effectual remedy against disquietude and dejectiou of mind. And when it further recommends, in the room of these passions, to substitute sentiments of mercy, kindness, meekness, gentleness, compassion, brotherly affection, charity; when it commands us to feed the hungry, cloath the naked, visit the sick, and pour oil into the wounds of the af ficted and distressed, it points out to us the most effectual means, not only to make others happy, but ourselves also.

In fact, true Christian charity, in all its extent, is a never-failing fund of pleasure to the seul. The joy resulting from the diffusion of dessings to all around us, is the purest and

*Prov.-iv. 16.

sublimest

sublimest that can enter the human mind, and can be conceived only by those who have experienced it. Next to the consolations of divine grace, it is the most sovereign balm to the miseries of life, both in him who is the object of it, and in him who exercises it; and it will not only soothe and tranquillize a troubled spirit, but inspire a constant flow of good humour, content, and gaiety of heart.

III. Another source of chearfulness to be found in the Gospel is, that most comfortable doctrine of a particular Providence, which is there set forth in the clearest and most unequivocal terms. It is impossible for any thinking man, who supposes that the world, and all its affairs, are under no other direction than that of chance and fortune, to enjoy any true and permanent tranquillity of mind. There is such a variety of miseries to which human nature is continually exposed, and which no human prudence can either foresee or avert, that, without a firm confidence in some powerful superintendent, who is both able and willing to protect us, we must live under perpetual apprehensions for ourselves and those who are most dear to us. From this most

painful

painful solicitude (which was, in fact, a source of endless uneasiness to the Pagan world) the Gospel effectually relieves us. It informs us, that we are under the constant guardianship of an Almighty Friend and Protecfor, who sees the very minutest events, and governs the most casual; who, in the immense range of creation, does not overlook the least or meanest of his creatures; who commands us, 66 to take no

thought for the morrow," but to cast all our care upon him, for this most substantial and satisfactory reason, "because he careth for us;" who has declared, that, " if we seek first his kingdom and his righteousness, all those

666

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things (that are really necessary) shall be "added to us ;" and that, in the great variety and seemingly discordant mixture of human events, "he will make every thing work toge"ther (ultimately) for good to them that love "him" Here, now, is a firm and adequate foundation for enjoyment of the present moment, and indifference about the next. Under the persuasion that no disaster can reach us without his permission, who watches over us with an eye that never slumbers, and a tender

* Matth. vi. 34; 1 Pet. v. 7; Rom. viii. 28.

ness