DISCOURSE II. 533 should carry off' the thoughts from God to idols of gold and Silver, and thus defile the soul. If he has any share amongst the honours and equipages, the gay diversions and pleasures of lite, he is afraid lest they should fill his heart with vanity, lest they should tincture his spirit with sensuality and intemperance, and thus take away the tasteand relish of divine love. If providence call him sometimes into vain and wicked company, he is afraid of tarrying too many hours in the midst of them, lest evil communi- cations should corrupt goodmanners ; 1 Cor. xv. 33. and tli`re- fore he will not stand among the counsels of the ungodly, nor walk in the way where sinners dwell ; Ps. i. 1. He shuns them as a pestilence, because their ways are contrary to the pure and holy nature of that God whom he loves. Those studies, those employments, those recreations and amusements, which make the heart forget God, or withhold it too long from him, are uneasy and painful to a soul inflamed with divine love. As it is the Ianguage of the sinner who is weary of God, When will the new moan be over, and the sabbath be done, that I may return to my trade and my labour, to my buying and selling, and the daily business of this dying life ? So the sincere lover of God is ready to say, What, nothing but business and labour for the bread that perisheth? Nothing but buying and selling, and seeking gold and silver, food and raiment ? Alas, how unhappily am I detained all the day from my God by these embarrassments ! When will the evening come, and the season of pious retirement ? When will the sabbath appear, that I may spend my hours With God, and begin to try what heaven is ? IX. Where the divine principle of the love of God reigns in the heart, all sinful passions toward God andmen will be sub- dued by it. 1. Toward God. One would think indeed, that man should not dare to indulge any sinful passion towardshis Maker ; but so corrupt are our hearts, that we dislike the holy nature of God, we are displeased with his will, and his holy commandments are grievous to us, till the love of God subdue this inward aversion of the heart to holiness, and reconcile us to the law of God by. the constraining influence of divine love. Again, we are ready to repine at the hand of the Lord, to murmur against heaven, and to quarrel with our Maker, when wemeet with disappointments in our affrirs: We are inclined to grow peevish and fretful against providence, when we lose some desirable comfort, or sustain some heavy sorrow, or long and tiresome sickness; but holy love silences every murmur, and quashes every repining thought. Where the loveof God pre- vails, afflictive scenes oflife will never awaken resentment against heaven, but always meet with patient submission. The sacred lover is not angry with his God when he smites him, for he ever L 1 3
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