2. As it respects the happiness of man —
[Were we to look only to the temporal happiness of man we shall find it greatly enhanced by the diffusion of true re- ligion in the world. For partly through the calamities to which we are unavoidably exposed, and partly through the evils which men through the influence of their evil passions inflict upon each other, this world is, more or le^s, to every man, a vale of tears. But religion induces such habits of mind as to dispose us to an universal exercise of love ; whilst it affords such consolations as turn afflictions them- selves into occasions of joy. In reference to individuals, it m^y be said, that " instead of the thorn grows up the fir-tree, and instead of the brier grows up the myrtle-tree^;" and, in reference to communities, that the wolf is made to dwell with the lamb, and the leopard to lie down v/ith the kid ; nor will there be any to hurt or to destroy in all God's holy moun- tain ^f.
Great as the change is in this respect, it is far more glorious in a spiritual view. Where is the man who knows any thing of solid peace ? He does not exist upon the face of the whole earth, except among the little remnant of God's peculiar peo- ple. Many possess what they call peace, that is, a mere thoughtlessness and indifference about the eternal world: but who derives joy from the contemplation of death and judg- ment ? Who is " looking for, and hasting unto, the coming of the day of Christ," as the period for the completion and con- summation of his bliss ? Or who finds a real dehght in God as his reconciled God and Father ? This is the portion of those only who have believed in Christ. They do possess it : they walk with God as dear children : they maintain sweet fellowship with the Father and the Son : they live as on the bor- ders of eternity, and enjoy already a foretaste of their hea- venly inheritance. Of this indeed none can judge, but those who experience it in their souls : there is " a stone given to them with a new name upon it which they alone can read^ :" but though the stranger intermeddleth not with their joy, it is real, "unspeakable, and glorified."
For the full effect of the reign of Christ we must wait till we come into the elenial world. We must be added to the hea- venly hosts before we can at all conceive of their bliss : but when exalted to a participation of their lot, we shall feel precisely as they do ; and " fall on our faces before the throne of God," to adore him with all the blended emotions of hinnility and love. W^here Christ is not known, the very superstitions of men im- pose on them such a yoke as makes life itself a burthen : but,
■wherever ' Isai. Ivi. 13. " Isai. xi. 6—9. ? Rev. ii. 17,