Ecclesiastes 12:13

Ecclesiastes 12:13

In its happy influence religion, or a filial compliance with the will of God, includes "the whole duty of man." It is self-contained felicity.

I. A new heart itself is happiness. When gifts are so good as the Gospel and its promises, so good as our kindred and friends, so good as the flowers of the field and the breath of new summer, it only needs an honest heart which takes them as they come, and which tastes unaltered the goodness of God that is in them. This is what the worldling wants; this new heart is what the God and Father of our Lord Jesus offers to you, to me.

II. The very faculty of joy is the gift of the Holy Ghost. He heals the canker of the churl, and sweetens the bitterness of the misanthrope; and by imparting the faculty of joy He has often exalted life into a jubilee and made a humble dwelling ring with hallelujahs.

III. A devout disposition is happiness. It is happiness whether outward things go well or ill.

IV. A benevolent disposition is happiness. Benevolence is God's life in the soul, diffusing in kind emotions, and good offices, and friendly intercessions; but, unlike other expenditures, the more it is diffused the more that life increases of which it is the sign: and to abound in love one towards another is to abound in hope towards God.

J. Hamilton, The Royal Preacher,p. 242.

References: Ecclesiastes 12:13. Parker, City Temple,vol. i., p. 10; G. Salmon, Sermons in Trinity College, Dublin,p. 148; J. Thain Davidson, Talks with Young Men,p. 275; J. M. Buckley, Christian World Pulpit,vol. xxx., p. 75.