First, Liberality towards the indigent and destitute, who would find nothing to regale them, when they returned to their humble dwellings. And send portions unto them for whom nothing is prepared. By the law of Moses, the poor, the fatherless, the widows, and the strangers within the gate, were all to be entertained on these festive occasions; and if they could not provide for themselves, I will not say their betters, but their superiors, were to replenish them. In accordance with the spirit of this statute is the intimation of our Lord to the person who had invited him to his house. "When thou makest a dinner or a supper, call not thy friends, nor thy brethren, neither thy kinsmen, nor thy rich neighbours; lest they also bid thee again, and a recompense be made thee. But when thou makest a feast, call the poor, the lame, the maimed, the blind and thou shalt be blessed; for they cannot recompense thee for thou shalt be recompensed at the resurrection of the just."-The very thing that his professed followers are constantly doing!! The same rule is enjoined in religious fasting as well as feasting. "Is not this the fast that I have chosen? to loose the bonds of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house? when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ?" Well therefore does the Apostle say, "Let all your works be done with charity." O! what a lovely religion do we profess; and what a church, what a world shall we have, when those who profess it will throw off, with execration, the detestable hab

its of avarice and selfishness, hoarding and extravagance; and living according to its admonitions, instead of practically insulting them as they now do, will easily and cheerfully furnish a sufficiency for all the exigencies of sacred and civil beneficence!

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Secondly, with Cheerfulness. Neither be ye sorry -Not that sorrow is improper in itself, or absolutely forbidden but it was now unseasonable, and every thing is beautiful in its time. Joy becomes a feast. And this joy, says Nehemiah, is as important as it is becoming for the joy of the Lord is your strengthIt will strengthen your bodily frame; and what is more, it will renew the strength of your souls, so that you shall mount up with wings as eagles, run and not be weary, and walk and not faint.

Let us contemplate the Christian,

I. In the DIVINITY; and

II. In the UTILITY of his JOY.

I. The DIVINITY of it.

-It is the joy of the Lord. So it is called by the Judge of all, in his address at the last day. "Well done, good and faithful servant; enter thou into the joy of thy Lord." Now, this joy enters the Christian; and as he is so contracted a vessel, he cannot contain much but then, he will enter the joy, and he will find it a boundless ocean. The dawn is nothing compared with the day; yet the one always results in the other: and "the path of the just is as the shining light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day." The dawn also arises from the same sun as the day; and this joy is divine,

not only in its completion, but in it progress and even commencement-it is the joy of the Lord.

The joy of the Lord, means religious joy. But there is always a reason for the language of Scripture; and we lose much, by not remarking the beauty and energy of "the words which the Holy Ghost teacheth." It is the joy of the Lord in every view he can take of it.

-His, in the authority that binds it upon us as a duty. He has commanded it. He has done this virtually in enjoining many things which necessarily presuppose and require it. But he has expressly enjoined the joy itself; and in terms of peculiar extent and degree-Re oice evermore." "Rejoice in the Lord always, and again I say rejoice." "Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.”

-His, in the assurance which holds it forth as a privilege. His purpose could have taken effect without a promise; but in this case we could not have known his thoughts towards us; nor have walked by faith; nor have lived in hope; nor have pleaded his own engagement in prayer. But now we can go to him and say, "Lord, do as thou hast said. Fulfil the word unto thy servant upon which thou hast caused me to hope." The promises of men are vain and false like themselves, and often make us ashamed of our hope. But the Lord is not a man that he should lie, nor the son of man that he should repent. Hath he said, and shall he not do it? Hath he spoken, and shall he not make it good? And has he not said, "The redeemed of the Lord shall return, and come to Zion with songs; and everlasting joy upon their heads: they shall obtain joy and gladness;

and sorrow and sighing shall flee away."

"Blessed

are the people that know the joyful sound: they shall walk, O Lord, in the light of thy countenance; in thy name shall they rejoice all the day, and in thy righteousness shall they be exalted." The assurance is because he could

also confirmed by an oath. And, swear by no greater, he sware by himself; that by two immutable things, in which it was impossible for God to lie, we might have a strong consolation who have fled for refuge to lay hold upon the hope set before us."

-His, in the resemblance it bears to his own. Christians are "partakers of the divine nature." They are partakers of his holiness." As far as they are renewed, his views are their views, and his dispositions are their dispositions. When John says, "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?” -by the love of God he means obviously a love like God's. As if he should say, God gave his own Son for his enemies; and this wretch will not give a little of his substance for the relief of one, who is bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh. Now the same may be said of this joy. Did the joy of the Prodigal himself surpass that of the father, when he said, “Let us eat and be merry for this my son was dead and is alive again, was lost and is found?" Do we feel the joy of God's salvation? He feels it too; and this salvation is called "the pleasure of the Lord." If it be more blessed to give than to receive, what must be the pleasure of him who "openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing?"

But you share in this pleasure, in doing good. Is he "ready to pardon ;" and does he "delight in mer. cy?" You may taste the same delight in the exercise of cordial forgiveness. Doth the "Lord take pleasure in them that fear him, in them that hope in his mercy ?" So does the Christian. In them is "all his delight." Does the Lord call his Son his "Elect in whom his soul delighteth ?" And "to them that believe he is precious." What a commendation! To have the same end, and the same way with God! To choose what he chooses! To pursue what he pursues! To relish his happiness! To have his joy fulfilled in themselves!

- His, in the subject. The material of it, so to speak, is found in him, and in him alone. As the dove returned into the ark because she could find no rest for the sole of her foot, so it is impossible for the mind of man to know any true satisfaction till he says, with David," Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee." Though, as a fallen creature, he is alienated from the life of God, he retains the same relation to him, as his portion; and having been made capable of communion with God, and designed for it, he is necessarily miserable without it. He may forget his resting-place; but he can find no substitute for it. He may debase himself into a congeniality with the lowest gratifications; but for happiness he must draw near to God as his exceeding joy. With him is the fountain of life. And there is enough in him to bless us, whatever be our wants, or our capacities of enjoyment. And therefore, says the Christian, "My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit rejoices in God my Saviour." In him I have a shelter from every