stead of seeking our own glory, THE AUTHOR OF A LETTER ON CERTAIN DOCTRINES OF THE CHURCH OF ENG- LICAL. P.S. I have not the slightest knowledge of the insertion of the other letter signed E. L. in commendation of my pamphlet. I should not have presumed to intrude the extracts he has given upon the pages of your miscellany. FAMILY SERMONS.-No. CXXXVIII. Psalm xxxiii. 1.-Rejoice in the Lord, O ye righteous; for praise is comely for the upright. THE great desire of mankind is to be happy; and to the attainment of this end all our pursuits are naturally directed. It is true, that till our hearts are renewed by the Holy Spirit we uniformly mistake the only real source of enjoyment, and place it in worldly objects, thus hewing out to ourselves, "broken cisterns that can hold no water." But still the desire exists; and life is devoted as far as possible to its gratification. It might seem, therefore, at first sight unnecessary for the Scriptures so often to exhort men to rejoice, and indeed would be so, were not the true objects of satisfaction such as by nature we are not inclined to pursue. Our rejoicing is to be in God; it is not the natural buoyancy of the human mind under prosperous circumstances, but a holy delight which the world can neither give nor take away. The husbandman rejoices when he sees his fields yielding an abundant harvest; the merchant when he beholds his vessels arriving at their destined haven fraught with the riches of other lands. The young rejoice in their youth, the vigorous in their strength, and the ambitious when they attain the object of their eager pursuit. But this is not religious joy; it may exist where there is no feeling of love or gratitude to God for his mercies, and where, far from leading from the gift to the merciful Bestower, it leaves its possessor so engrossed with the former as wholly to neglect the latter. The exhortation of the Psalmist will furnish us with three ideas for consideration: First, the duty of rejoicing in the Lord. Secondly, The characters who are called upon to rejoice righteous. The Thirdly, That to such characters "praise is comely." First, The duty of rejoicing in the Lord. 1. It is a duty, because it is commanded in Scripture. We find throughout the word of God such injunctions as, "Rejoice in the Lord alway, and again I say rejoice," "O be joyful in the Lord, all ye lands,"" Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous; and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart." Religion was intended to be a source of pure and unfailing happiness. Far from being a gloomy invention of the imagination, or a cold feeling, at war with every thing generous and consoling, it is described in Scripture as the fountain of all true enjoyment. It does not empty the heart of unworthy objects without filling it with others more satisfying and substantial. If it teach us that we have destroyed ourselves, it also shews us that in God is our help; so that while it lays us low as penitents at the cross of our Saviour, it points out to us our only true dignity, our only real happiness, as children of God by faith in Christ Jesus, and inheritors of a crown of glory that fadeth not away. 2. To rejoice in God is also a duty, because it is one great end for which we were created. While Adam retained the divine image his delight was in the Lord his God, who revealed himself to him as his Creator, Benefactor, and Almighty Friend. The fall of man, it is true, so debased our nature, that we no longer retain the same natural love for God, the same filial eagerness to fulfil his commands, the same desire to be conformed to his image; and hence we need conversion of soul by the power of the Holy Spirit, to make us new creatures, and to restore us to our original taste for sacred enjoyments. Yet still we learn, both by experience and Scripture, that substantial happiness is to be discovered no where else but in God. In vain we chase the world and its pleasures through all their seductive windings. Solid repose is not there we shall find ourselves at the close of life still perplexed and disappointed. God alone can fill and bound the desires of an immortal being he alone is the final good, the never-failing spring of whatever deserves the name of happiness. "Thus saith the Lord: Let not the wise man glory in his wisdom; neither let the mighty man glory in his might: let not the rich man glory in his riches: but let him that glorieth, glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercise loving kindness, judgment, and righteousness in the earth." It may be necessary, here, to observe, with respect to the nature of the rejoicing commanded in the text, that it is of a holy and religious joy: it is "rejoicing in the Lord." The images employed in Scripture to point out the character of the Chris tian's triumph are usually of an unobtrusive and peaceful nature. "I will be as the dew unto Israel: he shall grow as the lily, and cast forth his roots as Lebanon: his branches shall spread, and his beauty shall be as the olive tree and his smell as Lebanon." Such is the sacred felicity of the servant of God: "he is as a tree planted by the rivers of water, that bringeth forth bis fruit in his season; his leaf also shall not wither, and whatsoever he doeth shall prosper." Through life 66 peace is bequeathed to him by his Saviour; and even in the approach of death his enjoyments are usually of a tranquil rather than of an ecstatic kind. "Though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death, I will fear no evil, for thou art with me: thy rod and thy staff comfort me." But though the regularenjoyments of the mature Christian are best depicted by images like the foregoing, there is no limit fixed to the injunction in the text. His joy may rise, as did that of many of the holy men of old, to triumph; only it must be "in the Lord." The love of God, the grace of Christ, the promised communications of the Holy Spirit, with all the other blessings held out to us in the Gospel, may well demand and inspire the highest notes of spiritual enjoyment. "Thanks be to God," exclaims the Apostle, "who always causeth us to triumph in Christ." Secondly, Let us inquire who are the characters thus invited to rejoice.-They are spoken of in the text as "the upright," or "the righteous." The Scriptures exhibit no cause of rejoicing to the sinner: they represent his condition as fearful in the extreme: he is living without God and without hope in the world, and, dying in his sins, must perish everlastingly. But to the humble penitent the promises of the Gospel are freely made upon his becoming a partaker of faith in the Redeemer. By this faith he is justified, and, being justified, has peace with God, and is invited to rejoice in the unspeakable love of his heavenly Father towards a once apostate but now reclaimed and obedient child. But here the diffident Christian may feel his mind distressed, from a fear that he is not included in the character described in the text. He distrusts his own heart; and, far from venturing boldly to assume to himself all the marks of so exalted a character, he is perhaps apprebensive that he is but a self-deceiver, and has no portion in the blessedness of which he reads. To meet such a case it is necessary to consider in what sense we may be said to be righteous, and how we may become so. Now the Scriptures plainly inform us, that strictly speaking, "there is none righteous; no, not one." We have all wandered from the ways of God; we have become corrupt in our imaginations and our sins have justly provoked the Divine displeasure; so that, as a meritorious claim, no man can urge any righteousness or uprightness of his own. In this unhappy condition, God saw fit to provide an atonement for our transgressions: Christ died, the Just for the unjust, to bring us nigh unto God. In virtue of his obedience unto death, our sins are freely pardoned; and as our church scripturally teaches, "We are accounted righteous before God only for the merit of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, by faith, and not for our own works or deservings." Our heavenly Father is pleased in infinite mercy to blot out our sins, and to restore us to his favour: our past unrighteousness is remembered no more, and our guilt is remitted in virtue of the supremely meritorious sacrifice of our Redeemer. But inseparably connected with this application of our Saviour's merits, for the pardon of sin, is that renewal of heart by the Holy Spirit which is indispensably necessary to entitle us to the character of righteous. A dead faith leaves us where it found us-in our sins. It neither justifies nor sanctifies us. But true faith is the parent of holiness; for where it exists, a new principle is implanted in the heart, by which we learn to love the ways of righteousness, and desire to keep the commands of God. Thus we are rendered upright or righteous; not indeed perfectly so, for upon earth perfection is unattainable. But the seed is as it were sown; the first steps have been taken; and that spiritual warfare has begun which shall terminate only with our mortal life. In the mean time, the flesh is being crucified, with its affections and lusts; the Christian is pressing forward towards the prize of his high calling, and, by the assistance of God's Holy Spirit, is earnestly contending both against his own corrupt desires and the temptations of Satan and the world. His outward conduct proves the holychange which has taken place in his character. Sin is no longer his element; and hence St. John remarks, that "whoso is born of God doth not commit sin," that is, willingly and habitually. "Whosoever sinneth hath not seen God, neither known him;" adding, what tends forcibly to explain the words of the text: "Let no man deceive you: he that doeth righteousness is righteous, even as God is righteous.' we perceive that to be a righteous character, in the scriptural sense, is to be justified by faith in the atonement of Christ, and to be renewed by the Spirit of God in righteousness and true holiness. To such characters, the exhortation to rejoice is addressed. Thus Thirdly, We are to shew, that to persons of this description" praise is comely."-This may indeed be inferred from the foregoing considerations; for we have already seen, that rejoicing in God is both commanded as a duty, and is an inestimable privilege belonging to the true believer. The same passage of Scripture which enjoins us not to glory in wisdom, or might, or riches, exhorts us to glory in a knowledge of God, that he exerciseth loving-kindness and judg ment in the earth. St. Paul applies the same idea more explicitly in reference to the New Testament dispensation, when he says, "God forbid that I should glory, save in the cross of our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom the world is crucified unto me, and I unto the world." It is only from a well-grounded hope of eternal salvation, that religious joy can justly spring; and where there is scriptural evidence of our having become the children of God-as was the case with St. Paul, when he could say, that he was crucified to the world, and the world to him-praise and rejoicing are truly comely; that is, befitting and appropriate. For as both the Apostle and the Psalmist teach, "Blessed is he whose transgression is forgiven, and whose sin is covered; blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not iniquity, and in whose spirit there is no guile." Well may he be joyful who has scriptural authority for believing that his sins, though many, are all forgiven, and that henceforth all things work together for his good. His hopes rest upon no wavering foundation; and, in their extent, are as large as the promises of God, who is both able and willing to do exceeding abundantly above all that we ask or think. He has the unfailing pledge of mercy to pardon all his sins; of acceptance with his Creator; of supplies of strength, and holiness, and consolation by the way, and eternal and unutterable bliss at his journey's end. Under such considerations, we may forcibly use the exhortation of the text: "Rejoice then in the Lord, O ye righteous, for praise is comely for the upright." In conclusion, we cannot ton earnestly repeat, what has been already alluded to, the great importance of ascertaining that we are among those whom the word of God calls upon to rejoice. Let us not venture to take the promises of Scripture to ourselves, without first examining whether we are in the faith. Infinitely awful are the threatenings of the oracles of God against the careless and deliberate sinner, and against the insincere and inconsistent pretender to religion. If our conscience reprove us in these respects, let the warning lead us to the foot of the Cross, both for the pardon of our sins, and for a new and holy nature to be wrought in us; and let it be our earnest prayer to God, that He would guide us in future by his Spirit, in the way of wisdom, and keep us in the path of the just, which shineth more and more to the perfect day. MISCELLANEOUS. To the Editor of the Christian Observer. I REMEMBER well the happy delineation of surprize felt by a simple hearted clergyman, who is the subject of a popular novel of the past age, and who is made to receive at different times the most opposite accounts of the character of a gentleman, the supposed occupant of a house which he passes on the road. He can scarcely believe that the gentleman once so illiberal, unfeeling, and tyrannical, should the very next moment be found without a vestige of his former character, and have been transformed so readily into a plain good man, and not even holding the offices which he had been said before so greatly to abuse. And the good parson, I remember, is left to the very charitable and safe solution of an alias, or doubtful identity of person in the case, as far more congenial to his own honesty in than any suspicion of the motives which might produce from different mouths such opposite delineations of one and the same man. I must own that I felt a surprise somewhat similar, on comparing the use made by Mr. Wix (whose work was lately reviewed your miscellany) of Archbishop Wake's name and authority, with what I have reason to believe were in truth the character and the opinions of that great and good prelate. By Mr. Wix he is made to sanction the supposed possibility of an union between a Popish and a Protestant church; whilst the tone and temper of Mr. Wix and his scheme evidently include and suppose a rejection from the benefits or the possibility of such an union, of the English Dissenters, and in general of all who do not adopt an episcopal form of church government. In other words, Archbishop Wake appears to be brought in by Mr. Wix, as an evidence and an authority in favour of the exclusive claim of episcopacy to the name and privileges of a true church, and as sanctioning a distinct and undeniable preference of the Church of Rome, such as it is, for a cordial union (upon terms) with ourselves, over the universal body of Protestants, such as they are, if not possessed of the epis. copal succession. The compromises necessary in order to the former union are, it is intimated, not to be compared in magnitude with those necessary for the latter; and it would be impossible not to consider the bearing of Archbishop Wake's mind on this subject, when seen through the pages of Mr. Wix, as quite in unison with his own. Such then being the view which is presented of this great and good prelate's opinions, on a very important aud vital subject, through the medium of Mr. Wix, I cannot but add, that if a prelate so learned, so pious, and who lived so soon after the period of our final sepaCHRIST, OBSERV. No. 222. ration from the professors of Popery, and the enactment of our statutes of exclusion against them, had been really inclined to place them in this favourable light, and to give them so decided a superiority in point of worth and truth over our Protestant fellow-Christians, I might probably have thought better of the Papists and worse of the Dissenters on that account. Nor perhaps, but for some slight suspicion of the methods in which controversies are too often conducted, should I have felt any strong reason to doubt the accuracy of those views of the Archbishop's opinions which I had thus collect.ed on Mr. Wix's authority. But a somewhat intimate acquaintance with controversial practices made me a little sceptical on this point; and I so much preferred my old prejudices in favour of the good Archbishop to Mr. Wix's new implications respecting him, as at least to look for some positive and direct testimony of his opinions on so very important a question. The result of my search I am confident you, sir, so well versed as you must be in the character and history of our great theological worthies, will easily anticipate. I found that Archbishop Wake was decidedly against any compromise whatever with any popish communion, whether Gallican or Roman; and that he had, on the contrary, the largest and most liberal views with respect to the possibility and the duty of charitable, and even devotional, union with Protestant Dissenters. The impropriety, not to say impossibility, of compromise, in order to union with the Gallican Church, the only popish church he ever thought of conciliating, will be easily collected from the full account of the whole transaction, as detailed in the sixth volume of Maclaine's translation of Mosheim's Ecclesiastical History. On the other hand, the duty, as well as propriety, of every possible advance towards the Protestant Dis 8 C |