monstrate the goodness of God, prove his justice also: for God hath created us with such dispositions, that we cannot enjoy the gifts of his goodness without obeying the laws of his righteousness. The happiness of an individual, who procures a pleasure by disobeying the laws of equity, is a violent happiness, which cannot be of long duration: and the prosperity of public bodies, when it is founded in iniquity, is an edifice, which with its bases will be presently sunk and gone.

But what we would particularly remark is, that the excellent principles of the psalmist, concerning God, are not mere speculations: but truths from which he derives practical inferences; and he aims to extend their influence beyond private persons, even to legislators and conquerors. One would think, considering the conduct of mankind, that the consequences, which are drawn from the doctrines of which we have been speaking, belong to none but to the dregs of the people; that law-givers and conquerors have a plan of morality peculiar to themselves, and are above the rules to which other men must submit. Our prophet had other notions. What are his maxims of policy? They are all included in these words: Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his owen inheritance, ver. 12. What are his military maxims? They are all included in these words: There is no king saved by the multitude of an host: a mighty man is not delivered by much strength: An horse is a vain thing for safety; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength, ver. 16, 17. Who proposeth these maxims? A hermit, who never appeared on the theatre of the world? or a man destitute of the talents necessary to shine there? No: one of the wisest of kings; one of the most bold and able generals; a man, whom God himself elected to govern his chosen people, and to command those armies, which fought the most obstinate battles, and gained the most complete victories Were I to proceed in explaining the system of the psalmist, I might prove, that as he had a right to infer the doctrine of providence from the works of nature, and that of the moral attributes of God from the works of creation; so, from the doctrines of the moral attributes of God, of providence, and of the works of creation, he had a right to conclude, that no conquerors or law-givers could be truly happy but those, who acted agreeably to the laws of the just and good Supreme. But I shall not enlarge on this article.

Permit

Permit me only to place in one point of view the different phrases, by which the psalmist describes the Deity in this psalm. The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together, as an heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. The Lord looketh from heaven: he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looked upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works, ver. 5-7, 13—15. From these speculative ideas of God, he derives the following rules of practice. Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help and our shield. For our heart shall rejoice in him: because we have trusted in his holy name. Let thy mercy, O Lord, be upon us according as we hope in thee, ver. 8, 20-22. How delightful it is, my brethren, to speak of God, when one hath talents to speak of him in such a noble manner, and when one intends to promote the fear and the love of him, with an universal obedience to him, from all that is said! How well it becomes such a man to praise God! The praise of the Lord is comely in the mouths of upright men.

II. Let us now apply the subject more immediately to the service of this day. To praise God is a phrase, which is sometimes taken, in a particular sense, for the exercise of a person, who, having received singular favours of God, delights in expressing his gratitude to him. This praise is comely in the mouth of an upright man for four reasons.

First. Because he arrangeth them in their true order, highly estimating what deserves a high esteem, and most highly estimating what deserves the highest esteem.

Secondly. Because he employs all his benefits in the service of his benefactor.

Thirdly. Because, while he recounts his blessings, he divests himself of all merit, and ascribes them only to the goodness of God from whom they proceed.

Fourthly. Because he imitates that goodness and love, which inclined God to bless him in such a manner.

I will affix to each of these reflections a single word. Praise, or if you will, gratitude, is comely for the upright, because it is wise, real, humble, and magnanimous :

Nn 2

In

In these four respects, praise is comely for the upright. These are the sentiments, with which the holy sacrament, of which we have taken this morning, should inspire us. These are the most important reflections, with which we can close this discourse.

1. The gratitude of upright men is wise. The praise of the Lord becomes them well, because, while they bless God for all their mercies, they arrange them in their proper order; they prize each according to its real worth, and that most of all which is of the greatest value. It is a very mortifying reflection, my brethren, that the more we study ourselves, the more clearly we perceive, that the love of the world, and of sensible things, is the chief springs of all our actions and sentiments. This disagreeable truth is proved, not only by the nature of our vices, but even by the genius of our virtues; not only by the offences we commit against God, but by the very duties we perform in his service,

A person so ungrateful, as not to discover any gratitude to God, when he bestows temporal blessings on him, can scarcely be found. We praise God, when he delivers us from any public calamity, or from any domestic adversity; when he recovers us from dangerous illness; when he raiseth us up an unexpected friend, or a protector, who assists us; when he sends us some prosperity, which renders life more easy. In such cases as these, we render an homage to God, that cannot be refused without ingratitude.

But we are extremely blameable, when, while we feel the value of these blessings, we remain insensible of the worth of other blessings, which are infinitely more valuable, and which merit infinitely more gratitude. A blessing, that directly regards the soul, is more valuable than one which regards only the body. A blessing, that regards our eternal happiness, is of greater worth, than one which influenceth only the happiness of this life. Whence is it then, that, being so sensible of blessings of the first kind, we are so little affected with those of the last? How comes it to pass, that we are so full of gratitude, when God gives the state some signal victory; when he prospers its trade; when he strengthens the bonds, that unite it to powerful and faithful allies; and so void of it, while he continues to grant it the greatest blessing that a society of rational creatures can enjoy, I mean a liberty to serve God according to the dictates of our own consciences? Whence is it, that we are so very thankful to God for preserving our lives from the dangers

dangers that daily threaten them; and so little thankful for his miraculous patience with us, to which it is owing, that, after we have hardened our hearts against his voice one year, he invites us another year; after we have falsified our promises made on one solemnity, he calls us to another solemnity, and giveth us new opportunities of being more faithful to him? Whence comes this difference? Follow it to its source. Does it not proceed from what we just now said? Is not love of the world, and of sensible things, the grand spring of our actions and sentiments? The world, the world; lo! this is the touchstone, by which we judge of good and evil!

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An upright man judgeth in another manner: he will, indeed, bless God for all his benefits; but as he knows how to arrange them, so he knows how to prize each according to its worth, and how to apportion his esteem to the real value of them all.

According to such an estimation, what ought not our gratitude to God be to-day, my dear brethren! we may assure ourselves with the utmost truth, that had the Lord united in our houses to-day pleasures, grandeurs, and dignities; had he promised each of us a life longer than that of a patriarch; a family as happy as that of Job, after his misfortunes; glory as great as that of Solomon; he would have bestowed nothing equal to that blessing, which he gave us this morning. He forgave those sins, which, had they taken their natural course, would have occasioned endless remorse, and would have plunged us into everlasting misery and woe. A peace was shed abroad in our consciences, which gave us a foretaste of heaven. He excited hopes, that absorbed our souls in their grandeur. Let us say all in one word; he gave us his Son. He that spared not his own Son, how shall he not with him also freely give us all things? Rom.

viii. 32.

2. The gratitude of upright men is real. The praise of the Lord becomes them, because, while they praise God for his benefits, they live to the glory of their benefactor. Every gift of God furnisheth us with both a motive and a mean of obedience to him. It is an excess of ingratitude to make a contrary use of his gifts, and to turn the benefits that we receive, against the benefactor from whom we receive them. What gifts are they, by which God hath most distinguished us? Thee he hath distinguished by a penetrating genius, which renders the highest objects, the deepest my

steries

steries, accessible to thee. Wo be to thee! if thou employ this gift to invent arguments against the truths of religion, and to find out sophisms that befriend infidelity. An upright man devotes this gift to his benefactor; he avails himself of his genius, to discover the folly of sceptical sophisms, and to demonstrate the truth of religion. On thee he hath bestowed an astonishing memory. Wo be to thee! if thou use it to retain the pernicious maxims of the world. An upright man dedicates this gift to his benefactor; he employs his memory in retaining the excellent lessons of equity, charity, and patience, which the holy Spirit hath taught him in the scriptures. To thee he hath given an authoritative elocution, to which every hearer is forced to bow. Wo be to thee if thou apply this rare talent to seduce the minds, and to deprave the hearts, of mankind. An upright man devotes this blessing to the service of his benefactor; he useth his eloquence to free the minds of men from error, and their lives from vice. Towards thee God hath exercised a patience, which seems contrary to his usual rules of conduct toward sinners, and by which he hath abounded toward thee in forbearance and long-suffering. Wo be to thee! if thou turn this blessing into an opportunity of violating the commands of God; if thine obstinacy run parallel with his patience, and if, because sentence against an evil work is not executed speedily, thy heart be fully set in thee to do evil, Eccles. viii. 11. An upright man devotes this blessing to his benefactor's service. From the patience of God he derives motives of repentance. How easily might this article be enlarged! how fruitful in instruction would it be on this solemnity! But we proceed.

3. Gratitude to God well becomes an upright man, because it is humble because an upright man, by publishing the gifts of God's grace divests himself of himself, and attributes them wholly to the goodness of him from whom they came. Far from us be a profane mixture of the real grandeurs of the Creator with the fanciful grandeurs of creatures! Far be those praises, in which he who offers them always finds, in his own excellence, the motives that induced the Lord to bestow his benefits on him!

Two reflections always exalt the gifts of God in the eyes of an upright man: a reflection on his meanness, and a reflection on his unworthiness and it is with this comeliness of humility, if I may venture to call it so, that I wish to engage you to praise God for the blessings of this day. 1. Meditate