Online Bible 1995 March/ROM-1025.iso/olb/gill/d_500.lzh/D_562.TXT

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562                                                  OF SPIRITUAL JOY.                                                        Book L

CHAP. X.

OF SPIRITUAL JOY.

Joy is a fruit of the Spirit, which follows love; The
fruit of the Spirit is love, joy, Gal. v. 22. it attends
faith and hope; and as these graces are in exercise,
and increase, so does spiritual joy; hence we read of
the joy of faith, and the rejoicing of hope, Phil. i.
Heb. iii. 6. it enters very much into the christian's cha-
racter and experience, and is peculiar to saints and be-
lievers in Christ. Concerning which may be oberved,
I. The objects of it.
First, Not a creature, nor creature-enjoyment, nor
outwardprivilege, nor duty; but Jehovah himself, the
Lord andGod of all; therefore called by David, God,
his exceeding joy; that is, the object of his great joy
and gladness, Psalm xliii. 4. To glory in riches,
wisdom, and strength, and to boast of them, is not
r. igh. t; and to rejoice in such boasting. s, All such re-
joicing is evil, James iv. 16. to rejoice m any. thing of
this kind, is to rejoice in a thing of nought, m a non-
entity, .an.d in what is of no account, Amos vi. 13. and
so to rejoice in youthful pleasures and vanities, and in-
dulge to them in the highest degree; such joy is not
spiritual, or the fruit of the Spirit; but is carnal and
sensual, and but for a season; and to glory, and boast
of, and trust in fleshly descent, in birth-privileges, and
in the duties of religion, and in a man's own righteous-
ness, and please himself with such things, is only the
joy of an unregenerate man, and of an hypocrite, which
is but for a moment, but the Lord himself is the pro-
per object of joy; to rejoice in him is what is exhorted
to, both in the Old and New Testaments, Psalm xxxiii.
1. Phil. iv. 4. So the prophet Habakkuk did, and re-
solved to do, in the worst of times, when all creature-
mercies failed; Fet I will rejoice in the Lord; I will
joy in the God of my salvation! Hab. iii. 17, 18. not
in him merely as the Creator, from whom are had be-
ing, life, and breath, and all things, which yet is matter
of joy, Psalm cxlix.2. Job xxxv. 1o. nor in him merely
as the God of providence, and a kind benefactor, the
preserver of men, and gives them all thin. gs richly to
enjoy, so that they have reason to rejoice in every good
thing, which the Lord in his providence gives unto
them; but more especially saints rejoice in him as their
covenant-God; I will greatly rejoice in the Lord, says
the church; My soul shall be joyful in my God! Isa.
lxi. 10. as her covenant-God, which is the sum and
substance of the covenant, and includes and secures
every blessing of it, and always continues; who, as
such, is the God of all grace, and blesses with all
spiritual blessings, and gives both grace and glory,
supplies all the wants of his people out of his riches
in glory, by Christ; and causes all grace to abound
towards them, and will never suffer them to want any
good thing; he is their portion now, and will be for
ever; and as such they rejoice in him; and particularly,
1. In the attributes ef God; which are all on the
side of his people, and are exercised for their good,
and they receive benefit and advantage from; and not
only his power, wisdom, truth, and faithfulness, his

goodness, grace, and mercy, are matter of joy; but
even his justice and holiness, in which he is so glorious;
Rejoice in the Lord, ye righteous, and give thanks at
the remembrance of his holiness, Psalm xcvii. 12.-----
2. The everlasting love of God is matter of.joy to the
saints; as the Lord rests in his love, and rejoices over
them with joy, so they rejoice in his love to them; it
is that river the streams whereof, the blessings which
flow from it, make glad their hearts; see Jet. xxxi. 3.
a view of interest in it puts more joy and gladness into
the hearts of the Lord's people than the largest in-
crease of worldly things; it makes what they do enjoy
blessings indeed; for there is no curse in their bless-
ings; a little, with the fayour of God, is better than
the riches of many wicked; mean fare, a dinner of
herbs, where the love of God is enjoyed, is preferable
to the most delicious dainties without it; and greater
reason there is for a man to boast of, and rejoice in this,
that he knows the Lord, as exercising loving kindness
in the earth, and delighting therein, than to rejoice
and glory in the greatest outward attainments of body,
mind, and estate; a sense of the love of God shed
abroad in the heart by the Spirit, supports under all
the trials and exercises of this life; and even causes
to glory in tribulations, and to rejoice in hope of the
glory of God; since neither tribulation, distress, per-
secution, famine, nakedness, peril, nor sword, can
separate from it; yea, the loving kindness of God is
better than life itself, than which nothing is dearer to
a man; yea, when men are influenced by this love,
they love not their lives unto the death; it is death to
them when they are without a sense of this love; but,
in the fayour of God, and the enjoyment of it, is life,
it revives and comforts, Psalm xxx. 5. and what makes
the love of God greater cause of joy is, that it is ever-
lasting and unchangeable; though G,,d may be dis-
pleased with his people, and chastize them because of
their sins; yet he never takes away his loving kindness
from them; and though he hides his face from them
for a moment, yet with everlasting kindness he has
.me. rcy on them; nor shall it ever depart from them;
it is more immoveable than hills and mountains, and is
established both by the promise and oath of God; and
there is nothing in heaven, earth, and hell that shall
ever separate from it; every thought concerning it,
meditation upon it, and discovery of it, fills with joy
unspeakable; a thought of it is with the greatest
pleasure and delight; meditation on it is sweet; and
whilst musing upon it, the fire of divine love is inflam-
ed, and burns within, and breaks forth in expressions
of joy and gladness; and nothing can yield greater
satisfaction than to be remembered with the fayour
God bears to his 'own people; and the love of God is
to be remembered more, and is more exhilarating
to the soul, than wine is to the animal spirits, Cant. i.
2, 4. see Zech. x. 7.         3. The saints election of God
is matter ofjpy unto them; that their names are written
in heaven, Luke x.-20. in the Lamb's book of life, in
the book of divine predestinauon to the adoption of
children, and to eternal life; and therefore it cannot
be such a gloomy and melancholy thing, as some who
are strangers to it, and ignorant of it, represent it;
but is, as the XVIlth article of the church of England