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I. RELIGION WILL, IN A VERY HIGH DEGREE, MULTIPLY AND EXALT THE PRESENT PLEASURES OF FRIENDSHIP. The pleasure of sympathy, we know, always hears a direct proportion to the magnitude and intrinsic interest of the subject by which it is excited. It will be readily granted, that when the subjects of our contemplation possess intrinsic dignity, when our thoughts themselves are high and employed upon high things, we feel greater pleasure in their interchange, and mark with warmer satisfaction the sympathy of those whom we esteem. But for grandeur of extent and depth of interest united, where is the subject that will bear a moment's comparison with religion?

II. The pleasure which we take in the sympathy of our friends on any subject will be affected, not only by its inherent dignity and importance, but also by THE RELATION WHICH IT BEARS TO OURSELVES PERSONALLY, by the individual interest, greater or less, which we have in it. Those circumstances and events in which we feel ourselves most immediately and deeply concerned; our prospects in life, for instance, our plans of usefulness or enjoyment, the fortunes and interests of our connections, the characters and conduct of our friends — these are the subjects which are reserved most carefully for the private ear of friendship, on which we look for corresponding emotions of sympathy with the greatest anxiety, and hail them with the most lively pleasure. "To have the same desires and the same aversions," has been said to constitute true friend. ship; to the perfection of which, therefore, it must be necessary, that these desires and aversions exist in corresponding strength, where the exciting causes are the same. The deeper the interest felt, and the more complete the sympathy, the greater will be the pleasure derived from it. But what is there of more essential importance to our happiness than religion?

III. As the pleasures of religious sympathy are likely to be greater in proportion to the superior dignity and deeper interest of the exciting cause; so also will they be heightened by reflection on THE PURITY AND EXCELLENCE OF THE SOURCE FROM WHICH THEY SPRING. Combined pleasures heighten and improve each other. Do we receive gratification from a worthy object, from one which we know ought to excite it? The consideration of the worth of that object, and the moral approbation consequent thereon, increase the gratification. Sympathetic feelings of satisfaction and pleasure may be called forth very strongly by a trifling and unworthy cause; but when this is the case, such pleasure will unavoidably be diminished by reflection; it will not bear examination; it cannot stand the test of time. Not so the pleasures of religious sympathy; the sources of these are always high and exalted; the subjects of them ever worthy the contemplation of the immortal soul.

(A. R. Beard.)

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KJV: We took sweet counsel together, and walked unto the house of God in company.

WEB: We took sweet fellowship together. We walked in God's house with company.