DISCOURSE Ill. 549 as the most religious man ; but he doth not fear and love, and de- sire and hope, and mourn and rejoice, as the true christian doth. If a bare rational knowledge of divine things were sufficient to make a true disciple of Christ, the greatest student in divinity, and especially, the sharpest critic in scripture, wouldbe the best christian : But it is not always found so ; critics and students, rich in knowledge, may have cold hearts, and lie dead in a state ofsin. IV. " The practices of religion are not only rendered easy, by having the affections employed in it, but they become pleasant and delightful, and every sin is niore painful to the soul where the passions are engaged for God." If the christian be employ- in holy meditation, how does the soul that loves God travel with delight over the various scenes of his glory, in the lower and the upper worlds ! Howdoes he dwell upon the majesty and the mercy of his heavenly Father ; upon the excellencies of Christ the Saviour, upon his offices and his dignities from day to day ! How pleasurably doth the mind diffuse itself in contemplation upon his pre-existent statewhen he dwelt In the Father's bosom : his condescending incarnation and coming into flesh and blood, the labours and sorrowsof his life, the anguish and amazing love ofhis death, the glory of his resurrection, the honours laid him at his ascent to the throne of God in heaven, theefficacy of his in- tercession, and the joyful and dreadful appearance of the Great Judge, when he shall come in the clouds of heaven to be admir- ed of his saints, and to give vengeance and destruction to those who have ridiculed and rejected the gospel of his grace ? How are the thoughts fixed on the sacred theme, without an inclina- tion to rove and go astray ? How are the powers ofimagination devoutly employed, when the holy passions are roused into acti- vity, when our fear, our hope, our love, our joy,` are all in happy exercise ? But ifthese are absent, and we are left merely to ra- tional enforcements of duty on the mind, without love or affection in the heart, with what a cold indifference do we set about the work ! How flutteringare our thoughts ? How wandering are our hearts ! And every flying fancy Balls us away, and scatters our powers among a thousandvanities. I might instance in the duty of prayer or praise, when the love of the heart flames out into holy desires, how ready and ea- ger is the soul to seek the Lord ! Not the shadows and silence of the midnight, not the early business and cares of the morning, can withhold the goodman from calling upon his God. With my soul have I desired thee in the night, with my spirit withinone will I seek theeearly; Isa. xxvi. 9. and Iprevented the dawning ofthemorning and cried to the, Lord ; Psal. cxix. 147. Or if the heart be warmed with a sense of divine mercy, and kindled into religious joy, how gloriously does the tongue break forth into
RkJQdWJsaXNoZXIy OTcyMjk=