PART III. of gracious Afeaions. 143 And as it is with the Love of the -Saints, fo it is with their Joy, and fpirituai Delight and Pleafure : the firft Foundation of it, is not any Confideration or Conception of their Intereft in divine Things ; but it primarily confifts in the fweet Entertainment their Minds have in the View or Contemplation of the divine and holy Beauty of thefe Things, as they are in theinfelves. And this is indeed the very main Difference between the Joy of the Hypocrite, and _ the Joy of the true Saint. The former rejoices in himfelf ; Self is the, first Foundation of his Joy : The latter rejoices in God. The Hypo= elite has his Mind pleated and delighted, in the firft Place, with, his own Privilege, and the Happinefs which he fuppofts he has attained, or shall attain. True Saints have their Minds, in the firft Place, inexpreff'ibly pleafed and delighted with the fweet Ideas of the glo- rious and amiable Nature of the Things of God: And this is the Spring of all their Delights, and the Cream of all their Pleafures ; 'tis the Joy of their Joy. This fweet and ravifhing Entertainment, they have in the View of the beautiful and delightful Nature of d;- vine Things, is the Foundation of the Joy that they have afterwards, in the Confederation of their being theirs. But the Dependance of the Affedions of Hypocrites is in a contrary Order : They first rejoice, and are elevated with it, that they are made fo much of by God ; and then on-that Ground, he feems if-Fa-Sort, lovely to them. The first Foundation of the Delight a true Saint has.in sod, is his own Perfe6ition ; and the first Foundation of the Delight he has in Christ, is his own Beauty ; he appears in himfelf the Chief among `Fen Thousand, and altogether lovely : the Way .o Salvation by Christ, is a delightful Way to him, for the fweet and admirable Manifeftations of the divine Perfec` -tions in it ; the holy Do&rines of the Gofpel, by which God is exalted and Man abafed, Holinefs ho- noured and promoted, and Sin greatly disgraced and difcouraged, and free and fovereign Love manifefted ; are glorious Doi &rives in his Eyes. and fweet to his Tafte, prior to any Conception,,of his Intereft in thefe Things. Indeed the Saints rejoice in their Interest: in God, and that Christ is their's ; and fo they have great Reafon ; But this is not the firft Spring of ..their Joy : They first rejoice in God as glorious and excellent in himfelf, and then fecondarily re- joice in it, that fo glorious a God is their's : They firft have their Hearts fill'd with S.weetnefs, from the View of Chrift's Excellency, and the Excellency of his Grace, and the Beauty of the Way of Sal- vation by him and thenthey have a fecondaryJoy,in that fo excellent a Saviour, and fuch excellent Grace is their's. 4- But that which is the l- Dr. Owen, on THE SPIRIT, p. 1q9. fpeaking of a common Work of the Spirit, fays, 6 6 The Effects of this Work on the t 6 Mind,
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