which is due to his name. This is done in heaven. There every heart is filled to overflowing with all holy affections; every tongue is loud in his praise; every crown is cast at his feet; saints, angels, and archangels are all prostrate before him. And thus it ought to be on earth. Thus it would be, were not men alienated from God by sin, and blind to the glories of his nature, his character, and his works. We have not exhibited, nor even mentioned, the ten thousandth part of his glories, nor of his just claims to receive glory from his intelligent creatures. But we must leave the subject, all imperfect and unfinished as it is, and conclude with a few inferences and reflections.

1. Does God require nothing more of his creatures than the glory which is due to him on account of his nature, character, offices, and works? O, then, how reasonable, how just, are hist requisitions. He merely requires the payment of a just debt, a debt far more justly due, than any debt which was ever paid by man to man, by children to their parents, by subjects to their prince. How unreasonable then, is it to complain of his requisitions! How ungrateful, cruel, and unjust to refuse to comply with them! How inconceivable the guilt which men thus incur!

2. Is all the glory which has been mentioned due unto God's name, and ought it, in strict justice, to have been ascribed unto him by men, ever since man began to exist? How immeasurably great then is the debt which our world has contracted, and under the burden of which it now groans! During every day and every hour, which has elapsed since the apostacy of man, this debt has been increasing; for every day and every hour all men ought to have given unto Jehovah the glory which is due to his name. But no man has ever done this fully. And a vast proportion of our race have never done it at all. Now the difference between the tribute which men ought to have paid to God, and that which they actually have paid, constitutes the debt of which we are speaking. How vast then, how incalculable is this debt! For more than five thousand years every individual of the human race has been adding to it. Can we then wonder if its constantly increasing weight should finally sink our world down to hell?

There is another point of view in which our contemplation of the debt may assist us to compute its magnitude, or rather

convince us that it is, beyond computation, great. Compare the blessings which have descended from heaven to earth, with the returns which have ascended from earth to heaven. The difference between them composes the debt under consideration. And O, how immeasurable is this difference! That you may be convinced it is so, look first at the blessings which God has sent from heaven to earth. As soon as the world was created, see the windows of heaven opened above it, and all the fulness of the Godhead gushing forth, and pouring down upon it in a torrent, a flood of blessings, rich, various, inestimable blessings. Without cessation or diminution this flood has ever since continued to flow, as if all heaven were to be poured out upon earth, while, in its descent, the deluge divides into as many streams as there are individuals in our world; a constant stream falls upon each. My hearers, were God's blessings waters, they would long ere this have risen more than fifteen cubits above the summits of the highest mountains. Now look at the returns which men have made for all this deluge of blessings. From a comparatively small number of families and individuals scattered here and there, see a few clouds of incense, a few imperfect offerings, praises and thanksgivings slowly ascending to heaven. And is this all? Yes, my hearers, this is all, all the returns which men have made to God for blessings without number and without measure; and for the unspeakable gift of his Son. Need any thing more be said to show, that the debt which our world owes to God is great beyond all finite calculation? In this debt every nation participates. In this debt our own country largely shares. Of this debt every individual present owes a part. So far as the blessings you have received. exceed the returns which you have made; so far as each of you has failed to glorify God to the utmost extent of his powers, so far you are indebted to him. Well then may each of us be represented as owing God a debt of ten thousand talents. And is not this debt sufficiently large? Will any one present proceed to increase it by still neglecting to give God the glory which is due to his name? Will any one still refuse or neglect to apply to that Saviour, through whom alone the remission of his mighty debt can be obtained? Rather let all, without delay, apply to him for this purpose, and then proceed to present their bodies and their souls as living sacrifices to God, continually offering

those praises, thanksgivings, and spiritual services, which are acceptable through Jesus Christ.

Finally; is all this glory due unto God's name? Then there is no reason to fear that saints and angels in heaven will not ave sufficient employment to occupy them through eternity. What God is he will be unchangeably and eternally. What God does shall be forever. He will therefore forever continue to deserve all the glory which he now deserves; and to ascribe unto him this glory in ceaseless praises and thanksgivings, will constitute the employment, and the felicity of saints and angels through endless ages. Nor will this employment ever become wearisome. New glories and new works of wonder will still burst upon their astonished sight, and excite in their bosoms new emotions of wonder, admiration, gratitude and love; and these emotions it would pain them not to express in new songs of thanksgiving and praise. Christian, is this to be thine eternal employment and felicity? Is thine ear destined to hear, and thy tongue to join in the songs of heaven? Is thine eternity to be one long endless day of thanksgiving? If so, abound more and more in this blessed work; be jealous for the honor of the Lord your God, and with increasing diligence and fervor and constancy, give unto him the glory which is due to his

name.

SERMON XCIV.

GOD'S PRAISES SUNG; HIS WORKS FORGOTTEN.

They sang his praise; they soon forgat his works. —PSALM CVI. 12, 13.

THIS was said of that generation of the Israelites, which came out of Egypt. The chapter which contains the portion of their history here alluded to, begins with rapturous expressions of gratitude, and ends with the murmurs of discontent; both uttered by the same lips, within the short space of three days. Their expressions of gratitude were called forth by that wonderful display of the divine perfections, which delivered them from the host of Pharaoh, and destroyed their enemies. Their murmurs were excited by a comparatively trifling inconvenience, which in a few hours was removed. Of persons, whose thanksgivings were so quickly, and so easily changed to murmurings, it might well be said;-though they sang God's praises, they soon forgat his works.

Unhappily, the Israelites are by no means the only persons, of whom this may, with truth, be said. Their conduct, as here described, affords a striking exemplification of that spurious gratitude, which often bursts forth in a sudden flash, when dreaded evils are averted, or unexpected favors bestowed; but expires with the occasion that gave it birth; a gratitude resembling the joy excited in an infant's breast by the gift of some glittering toy, which is received with rapture, and pleases for an 70

VOL. III.

hour; but when the charm of novelty vanishes, is thrown aside. with indifference; and the hand that bestowed it is forgotten. Springing from no higher principle than gratified self love, it is neither acceptable to God, nor productive of obedience to his laws; nor does it in any respect really resemble that holy, heavenborn affection, whose language it often borrows, and whose name it assumes. It may be called, distinctively, the gratitude. of sinners; who, as they love those that love them, will of course be grateful to those that are kind to them; grateful even to God when they view him as kind. When excited by any signal display of his goodness, wisdom, and power, it is often, as in the case before us, accompanied by other emotions of the same character; by wonder, admiration, joy, and love, which assist to swell the song of praise, but die on the lips that pour it forth. Such is the gratitude, such the emotions with which man too often receives the blessings, and contemplates the works of his Creator. Such evidently was the gratitude of the Israelites; and such, I fear must be added, is much of the gratitude, which, as a community, and as individuals, we have expressed on our annual seasons of public thanksgiving.

A person unacquainted with human nature, who should witness for the first time some striking exhibition of national gratitude, would not, indeed, suspect this to be its character. Such a person, while listening to the rapturous ascriptions of praise poured forth by the Israelites on the shore of the Red Sea, would have little expected to hear them, within three days, impiously murmuring against that God, whose goodness they had so recently experienced, and so loudly acknowledged. And as little, perhaps, would such a person be prepared to anticipate the scenes, which usually attend, and follow our days of public thanksgiving. The day itself, in its approach and commencement, would present to his mind an appearance, in no small degree imposing, affecting, and even morally sublime. When he read the proclamation of our chief magistrate, enumerating the many public and private blessings for which we are indebted to the unmerited bounty of God; and calling upon men of all classes and denominations, to set apart a season, for the express purpose of thankfully, and publicly acknowledging his goodness; when he saw the appointed day on its arrival ushered in with the solemn stillness of the Sabbath; and the usually