376 RIGHT REJOICING. of endless horror, is a doleful sight. O, how quickly will that mer- ry countenance turn sad ; those proud looks be turned toan earthy paleness; and those wanton eyes be mouldered to dust, and leave the empty holes to warn the next spectators to use his eyes more wisely while he hath them ! Howquicklywill these same sensual persons exchange their mirth for sighs and groans, and endless torments, and fruitless lamentations, when they shall have everlast- ing leisure to peruse their lives, and to consider their ways, which now there is no persuading them to consider of! Who can en- courage such hurtful and unseasonable mirth as this? "Rejoice not, O Israel, for joy, as other people, for thou hast gone a whor- ing from thy God ; " Hos. ix. 1. "Rejoice not in a thing of nought," (Amos vi. 13.) much less in the sufferings of your breth- ren ; (Obad. 12.) and least of all, in any hurt that befalls the church. If enmity to holiness, and exalted impiety, should take occasionto triumph, we answer as Micah, (vii. 8, 9.) "Rejoice not against me, O mine enemy ; when I fall, I shall arise ; when I sit in darkness, the Lord shall be a light unto me; I will bear the indig- nation of the Lord, because I have sinned against him, until he plead my cause, and execute judgment for'me: he will bring me forth to the light, and I shall behold his righteousness." . If you think I have stood too long on the first part of my. text, it is not to rebuke your holyjoy, but only to promote it, and re- press that carnaljoy which is more destructive to it than sorrow it- self. As you must "seek first the kingdom of .God, and its right- eousness, and then other things shall be added to you," (Matt. vi. 33.) so must you rejoice first in the kingdom of heaven, and the righteousness that is the way thereto; and then. you may add a moderate rejoicing in the things below, in a due subordination thereunto. You have de sum in the words of the Holy Ghost, " Thus saith the Lord, let not the wise man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty man glory in his might ; let not the rich man glory in his riches ; but let him that gloneth glory in this, that he understandeth and knowetfi me, that I am the Lord," &c. Jer. ix. 23, 24. My next address must be to themwhose names are written in heaven, and. that with a twofold exhortation. I. "Rejoice that your names are written in heaven." It is you, Christians, that joy of right belongs to. Little know the lovers of pleasure more than God, that they lose a thousand foldmore pleas- ure than they win ; and that by running from a holy life for pleas- ure, they run from the fire into the water for heat, and from the sun into a dungeon for light. 'O show the unbelieving world, by your rejoicing, how they are mistaken in their choice ! Be ashamed that an empty sot, and one that must be forever a fire-
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