his yoke, how light his burden! What is the frame of his kingdom, but righteousness, peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost. Who would not now say, "The Lord reigneth, let the earth rejoice, let the multitude of the isles be glad thereof." a Why should it not be triumphantly said among the heathen, "The Lord reigneth ; the world shall be established, that it cannot be moved; let the heavens rejoice, and the earth be glad; let the sea roar, and the fulness thereof; let the fields rejoice and all that is therein, let all the trees of the forest rejoice!"

CHAPTER IV.

Happy State of a Soul set right towards Men. Happy State of a Soul set right towards itself. Happy State of a Soul set on Heaven. Happy State of a Soul framed after the image of God.

It is plain that, be the matter of joy here what it will, be there never so much cause of exultation and glorying in God, the righteousness and peace, which his kingdom promises, never actually take place, nor the joy that is connected therewith, until the Holy Ghost dispose and form men's spirits thereto. For all this is but mere dream and idle talk to those who hear only of these things, and feel not that vital influence insinuating itself, that may give the living sense and savour of them. We may rather expect

seas and fields, beasts and trees, to sing his triumphant song and chant his praises, than those men whose hearts are not attempered to his government, and who are yet under the dominion of another Lord, not being yet "by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus, made free from the law of sin and death." But where this is effectually done, how large matter of most rational pleasure do they find here; while there is nothing in that whole system of laws, by which he governs, that is either vain, unequal, or unpleasant, or upon any account grievous. But this is not the estimate of distempered spirits, or of any other than those in whose hearts his law is written, and who, because they love him, keep his commandments. To love his commands are most connatural; "For this is the love of God, that we keep his commandments." They are not grievous, they are joyous, delightful, pleasant, -but to them only who, being born of God, have overcome the world. This holy influence and communication of God are therefore grateful, and contribute not a little to delight in this respect, that thereby men's spirits are set right towards God, namely, both towards the Creator and the Redeemer.

Hereby men's spirits are rectified towards men. They have the universal law of love wrought deep into their hearts, being filled with all goodness, righteousness, meekness, mercifulness ; apt to do no wrong, to bear any wrong, to pity and help the distressed, to love enemies, and, as there is opportunity, to do good to all, especially to them that are of the household of faith. We must understand in this, as well as in the other parts of that stamp, which the Spirit of God puts on the souls of men, that the impression corresponds and answers to the seal, the inward communication to the outward revelation of God's will. And so we find the matter is: for as divine precepts require this should be the temper of men's spirits, so the very things, that compose and make up that blessed temper, are said to be the fruits of his own Spirit; "The fruit of the Spirit is peace, long-suffering, gentleness, goodness, meekness; "a and again, "The fruit of the Spirit is in all goodness, and righteousness, and truth." Now has not that soul a spring of pleasure within itself, that is in these respects as God would have it be, that is conscious to itself of nothing but righteousness, goodness, benignity, candour, and is in all things acted by a spirit of love, "that suffereth long, and is kind, that envieth not, that vaunteth not itself, is not puffed up, doth not behave itself unseemly, seeketh not its own, is not easily provoked, thinketh no evil, rejoiceth not in iniquity, but rejoiceth in the truth, that beareth all things, believeth all things, hopeth all things, endureth all things, and never faileth." This so equally poises and moves a man's spirit, that he carries himself seemly and suitably towards all men, takes pleasure in the best, in the saints and excellent of the earth has all his delight; neither envies the greatest, nor despises the meanest; neither is revengeful towards them that injure him, nor unthankful to them that oblige him; is apt to learn of good men and to teach the bad, by observing and giving the most imitable example; is not undutiful to superiors, nor morose and unconversable towards equals; lives not to himself, is a common good to all within the sphere, through which his activity can extend itself; does good from the steady inclination of his own will, and from an implanted principle of goodness. It is evident, God has formed such a man's spirit to delight of the purest kind, and to the best sort of pleasure; and they who are strangers to it banish it from their own breasts by the resistance and grief they give his blessed Spirit, and by harbouring in their own bosoms their own tormentors, pride, wrath, envy, malice, revengefulness, and bitterness of spirit, which, as they render them uneasy and intolerable to all about them, so most of all to themselves.

Men's spirits are hereby also rectified towards themselves. All the good qualifications we can mention or think of, redound to a man's self, and turn to his own advantage, repose, and delight: yet there are some that more directly terminate on a man's self, wherein the rectitude, we now speak of, in great part consists. When we are obliged to love others as ourselves, it supposes not only an allowable but a laudable self-love.

"Men shall praise thee when thou dost well to thyself." Before this right spirit be renewed in a man, he wounds himself. How cruel to themselves are all unholy persons! What wastes and desolation do they make in their own souls, by breaking the order, which God and nature at first established there, by dethroning their own reason and judgment, which ought to bear sway within them! This banishes delight, and drives it far away from them. They see what is fittest for them to do and seek, yet run quite a contrary course. What storms do they hereby raise in their own bosoms! What a torture is it, when a man's own light and knowledge bear a standing testimony against him, and hold him under a continual doom.

This gracious communication from God sets all things in a good degree right within, so that, where there was nothing before but darkness, disorder, and confusion, there now shines a mild, pleasant, cheerful light, which spreads regularity, purity, and peace. How great is the pleasure that arises from self-denial, not only as it is an act of duty towards God, but as it is an act of justice and mercy towards our own souls! How pleasant, when we have learned to abandon ourselves, not to seek and serve ourselves unduly, and are only inclined to cleave to ourselves as far as we ought, when that idol self is no longer maintained within us at the expense of our peace, comfort, safety, and eternal hope! How much more easy and reasonable a service is it, (when once the grace of God and their own