composed, would not have been the fruit of enjoyment, but of despair. It was when he was reduced to great misery that his wife told him "to curse God and die." It was by bringing upon him the utmost extremity of suffering that Satan hoped to tempt him to "curse God to his face." But to curse God in the heart is a different thing, and in those times arose from a different state of outward circumstances. In prosperity, men go along with the world around them; they echo its language, because they receive the tribute of its respect; they are content to observe its customs, because the actual constitution of it brings them nothing but what is good. Therefore in an age when the outward profession of religion is fashionable, we shall hear no open blasphemy from the prosperous; and so it was in the days of Job. But the blasphemy of the heart is the natural child of prosperity where man is corrupt and God is pure. Prosperity makes a man feel strong in himself and confident; but it does not make him feel grateful, because knowing God to be a holy God and himself to be alienated from Him, he cannot think that his good things are God's gift, but rather that they are enjoyed in spite of Him. But if enjoyed in spite of Him, he is ever fearing that God may take them from him, or punish him for enjoying blessings without deserving them. So then he learns to hate God, and the more he enjoys his earthly good things, the more

he hates Him. He thinks of Him only as connected with death and judgment, and many are the wishes of his heart, that death and judgment might never come, and that there was no God from whom to fear them.

This is the feeling spoken of in the text when full grown. I trust and believe, that none of us know it in this state of ripeness; but I fear we cannot be unacquainted with its first beginnings. The first beginnings of it, are a sense of weariness and impatience when any pleasure is interrupted, or for a short time deferred, by a call to offer up our prayers to God. The two things seem to us unsuitable to one another. Enjoyment and devotion are in our notions altogether opposite. Sometimes this may proceed from superstition, from judging amiss of God, from feeling towards Him an excess of fear, though accompanied with the deepest reverence. But more often it arises from judging of God and of ourselves too truly; from knowing that we do not love Him, and being sure therefore from our consciences that He will not love us. And therefore devotion is not a pleasure; and the form of it, like all other unmeaning forms, can be no better than a weariness. And such persons endure it, though with impatience, when they think they can make it only a form; they will come to church, they will be present at family prayers; but when they think that it cannot be so treated, that if partaken in at

all, it must be partaken of in sincerity, then they avoid it altogether. And this is the real reason why so many persons attend the common church service, while so few in comparison will be partakers of the Lord's Supper.

Now we have many of us, during the course of the last week, had more than our common share of pleasure; there has been gaiety, excitement, enjoyment of one kind or another, but all worldly, of which we have almost all tasted. And this in common language is said to unsettle the mind; that is, to make it feel its common pursuits dull, to disturb it while engaged in them either with a restless recalling its past pleasures, or with an equally restless looking forward to their coming again. Thus there is much in them to make us sin, and to draw away our hearts from God; it being a most certain truth, that whenever we find our duty dull, then the thought of God becomes dull to us also; we are in the first beginnings of cursing Him in our hearts. So we need that something be done for us; that this evil state should be shaken off, lest it grow on to be our ruin.

What then is it that we want? It is not burnt offerings to atone for evil done, but something to stop evil actually doing, and living within us. The sweets of the pleasure are now gone, what enjoyment there was for us in the week past, we have had it all, it is over, all but the evil of it; and

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surely it is our wisdom to get rid of this also. Nay, we may do more; we may not only get rid of the evil of it, but may still preserve it as good, and may be as glad to have had it, now that it is over, as before it came we earnestly wished to receive it.

If we think of any pleasure as of God's gift, undoubtedly we cannot repent of having had it, but must continually delight to dwell upon it. Now do we think so of our several pleasures of the week past? Were they God's gift to us or no? Are we at a loss to answer the question? Certainly if any of our pleasures were sinful in themselves, they were not God's gift; of this at least there can be no doubt. Or if not sinful in themselves,-if we abused them by carrying them too far, if they excited in us any bad temper, any bad passion whatever, if they made us proud, or peevish, or jealous, or indolent, or sensual, certainly they were not the gift of our heavenly Father. But suppose they were neither; that they were innocent, and moderate, not exciting any bad feelings, but rather awakening kindly ones; that they were in the best sense of the word refreshments to us. Were theyt hen God's gift to us? Surely they were, if we choose to think them so. It now depends wholly on ourselves; they were God's gift to us, good and tending to good; or, pure as they were and wholesome, they have not come from Him, but have done hurt to us rather than good. It depends wholly on ourselves; they were God's

gift to us, if we can thank Him for them at this moment with a sincere heart, and feel desirous to show by our after zeal, how much we are grateful to Him for His goodness.

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Believe then that they were the gift of God, believe that God loves you, and that these as well as all other things which you enjoy, are the fruits of His fatherly affection. Even here it may be said, "If thou canst believe, all things are possible to him that believeth;" and here too we may join in the answer made to our Lord when he spoke these words, "Lord, I believe; help thou my unbelief." We do find it very hard to believe heartily in the fulness of God's love to us; and it is something bad in our own hearts that is still our hinderance. believe heartily that all that we have been enjoying innocently was indeed God's gift; believe it really, not merely saying it; believe that He loves us tenderly; then we need no sacrifice of atonement to sanctify our joys to us, and to save us from the punishment of inward blasphemy; all is atoned for, all is peace and safety; for we have received the spirit of adoption, and cry Abba, Father; and the Spirit itself witnesseth with our spirit that we are the sons of God through Jesus Christ. They were God's gift, one of ten thousand, and amongst the poorest of them all, but yet an earnest of what He will do for us more. Now then, the sacrifice for sin is no longer needed; for Christ has died, yea, rather