SEEMONS UPOX I THESSALONIANS V. 16. 471
them, then surely we are much more to love God, not only because of his benefits, but because of his holiness. Yea, if we are to love the law of God, and to delight in it, as it is pure : Ps. cxix. 140, ' Thy word is very pure, therefore thy servant lovetli it ; ' then surely we are to love God also because of the immaculate purity of his nature, and to delight in him. At least this is one, though not the only nor the first reason of our love to him and delight in him.
[2.j We are to delight and rejoice in God as he hath discovered himself to us in Christ. That was the foundation of his beneficial goodness, and the greatest discovery of the amiable nature of God that ever was made to the creature : John iii. 16, ' God so loved the world, that he gave his only-begotten Son ; ' Kom. v. 8, ' But God commendeth his love towards us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.' That we might not conceive God to be all wrath and inexorable, unless upon hard terms, therefore Christ came as the express image of his person, full of grace and truth. Well, then, God reconciled in Christ is the life and spirit of all our joy and glad- ness. In Christ we see him accessible, near to us, and within the reach of our commerce, as dwelling in our nature. In Christ we see him gracious and propitious to us, ready to do us good : Luke i. 46, 47, ' My soul doth magnify the Lord, and my spirit hath rejoiced in God my Saviour.' We have a great and a good God in Christ ; he is God and our Saviour.
[3.] We rejoice in God as we rejoice in the fruits of our redemption, or in all those spiritual blessings which are ofi"ered or given to us by Christ; such as reconciliation, or God's admitting of us into the privi- leges of his holy covenant : Eom. v. 11, ' We joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.' Clear that once, and the cause of all our sadness and drooping dis- couragements is taken out of the way. The bottom cause of our bondage and fears is the quarrel God hath against us by reason of sin ; we can never be soundly merry and comfortable till that be taken up ; for as long as we apprehend him an enemy and an avenger, how can we rejoice in him? So Ps. xxxii. 11, 'Be glad in the Lord, and rejoice, ye righteous: and shout for joy, all ye that are upright in heart.' The Psalmist speaketh of the pardon of sins ; it is David's Maschil, an instruction from his own experience ; he begins the psalm, ' Blessed is he whose iniquity is forgiven, whose sin is covered : blessed is the man unto whom the Lord imputeth not sin.' Then he con- cludeth, ' Kejoice, ye upright.' A man that is condemned for some criminal ofi'ence, and ready to be executed, oh ! what joy hath he when he hath received his pardon ! So we should rejoice in God, who are as it were brought back again from the gibbet, and have received our atonement. So also in the gift of the Holy Spirit to sanctify and heal our natures ; if the angels, who are but the spectators and lookers-on, rejoice in the conversion of a sinner, should not the parties interested: Luke XV. 10, ' There is joy in the presence of the angels of God over one sinner that repenteth.' So in the hopes of glory : Luke x. 20, 'Kejoice, because your names are written in heaven ; ' Rom. v. 2, ' We rejoice in hope of the glory of God.'
[4.] We rejoice in God when we delight to do his will, and are fitted
472 SERMONS UPON I THESSALONIANS V. 16.
for his use and service. To be set and kept in the way to heaven is a greater comfort to us than if we had all the world 1 estowed upon us : Ps. cxix. 14, ' I have rejoiced in the way of thy testimonies as much as in all riches.' David had experience of both as a puissant king, and as God's servant. So 2 Cor. i. 12, ' For our rejoicing is this, the testimony of our conscience, that, in simplicity and godly sincerity, not with fleshly wisdom, but by the grace of God, we have had our con- versation in the world.' In carnal rejoicing men seek to conceal and hide the grounds of their joy, as being ashamed of them ; the world- ling in his bags, the voluptuous in the instruments of his pleasure. The glutton will not point to his dishes, nor the drunkard to his pots, and say, This is my rejoicing ; but a christian dareth own his joy. This is my rejoicing, that God hath taught me his ways, and enabled me to walk in them.
[5.] We also rejoice in God when we rejoice in the blessings of his providence, as they come from God and lead to God : Joel ii. 23, ' Be glad then, ye children of Zion, and rejoice in the Lord your God ; for he hath given you the former rain moderately, and he will cause to come down for you the rain, the former rain, and the latter rain in the first month.' So God's care in protecting us : Ps. v. 11, ' But let all those that put their trust in thee rejoice ; let them ever shout for joy, because thou defendest them : let them also that love thy name be joyful in thee.' These common favours and benefits manifest God's respect to us, and should be as a step to the Lord's people to lead them up to rejoice in God. This was God's quarrel with his people: Deut. xxviii. 47, 48, 'Because thou servest not the Lord thy God with joy- fulness and with gladness of heart for the abundance of all things, therefore shalt thou serve thine enemies, which the Lord shall send against thee, in hunger and thirst and nakedness, and in want of all things ; and he shall put a yoke of iron upon thy neck, until he hath destroyed thee.' Whatever we have, we should look upon it as a token of God's love to us, and so rejoice in them ; not as satisfied with these worldly things, but as they direct us to God. Carnal men rejoice in the creature, but in a carnal and sensual manner ; their joy neither arisetli from God, nor endeth in God ; they neither look to God as their author, nor make him their end ; and it is a naughty heart that can rejoice in anything without God and apart from God.