SERM: XXTI1.1 GRAvvrv, DECENCY, &C. 385 the mind. And how far this may be indulged, I shall have occasion to speak toward the end of this sérmon. III. Another thing that is included in this word gra- vity, is honour and decency in our whole deportment and behaviour. Each of us should be careful to main- tain our public character as a christian, with a due sense of the dignity of it. Christians should be ashamed to debase the powers of their nature, to practise any thing that is sordid and unworthy ; nor make the members of their flesh, nor the faculties of their mind, slaves to that which is ridiculous or foolish. IIow unbecoming is it to see a christian spoil his coun- tenance, and disfigure a human face, by practising all the wild' and - wanton grimaces of folly and madness ! To see man, who is made after the imageOf the Son of God, distort his body in the most antic postures, and give up all the honours of his nature to base and senseless merri- ment! Surely the duties of christianity lead us to nothing below the dignity ofman. Here I would not be mistaken, nor do I pretend that the gospel requires such a constant solemnity of counte- nance and language, as though we were all preachers, or always preaching. There is no need to put on serious airs at all times: We are not bound to banish mirth when we become christians. Laughter is a natural ac- tion, and the faculty was not given to mankind in vain, nor is the exercise of it forbidden for ever. The chief ends of it seem to be these two ; either to recreate animal nature by expressions of mirth, or to put folly out of countenance. There may be times to recreate nature, to unbend the spirits from business,' and to indulge mirth among our friends. The wise man assures us, there is a time to Iaugh, as well as to mourn. There are times proper for weeping, and sonic persons may have times for danciríg too ; I1c. iii. 4. And in the 19th verse of the xth chap- ter, the. same divine writer says, a feast is made for laughter. At the mutual entertainment of friends we may be merry, and not sin. Our holy religion only de= mands this of us, that we confine our mirth within the limits ofvirtue, and take heed lest when we give a 'loose to the sprightly powers of animal nature, we should trans- gress the rules of piety, or trespass upon things sacred. VOL. r, C
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