374 RIGHT REJOICING. 1. Alas ! sirs, if God would allow you to rejoice, how willingly could I allow it you! But hear whether he approve it ; Jam. v. L 3. "Go to, now, ye rich men, weep and howl for the miseries that are coming on you. Your richesare corrupted and your gar- ments moth-eaten ; your gold and silver is cankered, and the rust of them shall be a witness against you, and shall eat your flesh as it were fire. Ye have heaped treasure together for the last days ; " Luke vi. 24-26. " Woe unto you that are.rich, (if you have no better riches,) for ye have received your consolation. Woe unto you that are full, for ye shall hunger. Woe unto you that laugh now, for ye shall mourn and weep. Woe unto you when all men shall speak well of you," &c. You may find your lesson, Joel ii. 12, 13. " Therefore also now, saith the Lord, turn ye even to me with all your heart, with fasting, and with;weeping, and with mourning ; and rend your heart." You see what God calls such men to. And if he allow you not to rejoice till you are converted, if I or any man should flatter or cheat you into joy, it would be but a curse to you, and not a benefit. . 2. Were your joy but reasonable, I would not discourage it. But a madman's laughter is no very lovely spectacle to yourselves. And I appeal to all the reason in the world, whether it be rea- sonable for a man to live in mirth that is yet unregenerate, and un- der the curse and wrath of God, and can never say, in the midst of his greatest pomp or pleasure, that he is sure to be an hour out of hell, and. may be sure he shall be there forever, ifhe die before he have a new, a holy and a heavenly nature, though he should die with laughter in his face, or with a jest in his mouth, or in the boldest presumption that he shall be saved; yet, as sure as the word of God is true, he will find himself everlastingly undone, as soon as ever his soul is departed from his body, and he sees the things that he would not believe. Sirs, is it rational to dance in Satan's fetters, at the brink of hell, when so many hundred dis- eases are all ready'to mar the mirth, and snatch away the guilty soul, and cast it into endless desperation? I exceedingly pity the godly in their unwarrantable, melancholy griefs ; and much more an ungodly man that is bleeding under his wounds of conscience. But a man that is merry in the depth of misery, is more to be pit- ied than he. Methinks it is one of the most pitiful sights in all the world to see a man ruffle it out in bravery, and spendhis pre- cious time in pleasures, and melt into sensual, foolish mirth, that is a stranger to God, and within a step of endless woe! When I see their pomp, and feasting, and attendance, and hear their laughter, and insipid jests, and fiddlers at their doors or tables, and all things carried as if they had made sure of heaven, it saddenethmy heart to think, alas ! how little do these sinners know the state that theyare
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