"God, and to the remembrance of thy name. With 66 my foul have I defired thee in the night, yea, with "my fpirit within me will I feek thee early. My "foul waiteth for thee, O Lord, more than they that "watch for the morning; yea, more than they that "watch for the morning."

To engage us more effectually to the performance of this part of our duty, let us confider the general obligations we lie under, as rational creatures, to ferve the Lord with fervency of fpirit, and then the particular obligations that arise from Christianity.

And, in the first place, as the Almighty is the Creator of the world, and the Father of the human race, he is likewise their Preserver, and the Author of order and harmony in the universe.

In his Providence, he takes us, the children of men, into his particular tuition, in giving us, from his immediate hand, all things requifite for our subfiftence, well-being and delight in this world, our well-ordered habitation; in making nature fpontaneously unlock to us her hidden ftores; in caufing the wide creation, one way or other, to adminifter to our pleasures, as if heaven and earth contended which should be most liberal of their favours to happy man; and in fine, admitting us, above all the other inhabitants of our earth, into the plan of his creation, and making us fpectators of that beauty, original and fupreme, the image of himself, which he hath poured forth over all his works.

But when we confider his particular Providence, with respect to every one of us, our obligations will be infinitely heightened. Here we discern the finger of God. His goodness lent a favourable ear to all

our feeble cries and complaints, when we were upon the breaft; he guarded us from a thousand dangers and diseases which hung over our heads, and cut off more than one half of our equals in age. He hath led us, as it were, by the hand through the various ftages of life, affording us many deliverances, and many tokens of his loving-kindness, which only ourfelves and Heaven were privy to; and when all things in the world feemed to combine against us, he was a friend that never failed. Seeing then he upholds our existence, and is the parent of fo many mercies, has he not, as our Supreme Benefactor, a title to the service of our whole lives, and to all the fervour of our spirits?

This will appear still more, in the next place, when we confider the fuperior obligations which we are laid under by Christianity. While many nations are fitting in darkness, and the fhadow of death, on us hath the Sun of Righteoufnefs arifen, in full glory. We are let into the mystery kept hid from ages. We have seen the Deity, in human form, defcending upon earth, to teach the benighted nations the knowledge of falvation; to fet a pattern of goodness and perfection for the world to imitate; and, by expiating the guilt of fin upon the crofs, to finish our redemption. We have now a We have now a new and living way opened into the Heaven of Heavens, by the blood of Jefus. Life and immortality are brought to light, and promised to all who fincerely believe and obey the gospel. So that we may now rejoice with the Poet of Ifrael, "As the heaven is high above the "earth, fo great is the mercy of the Lord towards for as far as the eaft is from the weft, fo far F

us;

"hath he removed from us all our iniquities: he "redeemeth our lives from deftruction, and crown"eth us with loving-kindness and tender mercies."

When we are obliged to any of our fellow-creatures for an important favour, what pleasure is it to a generous heart, to be able to make the least return! If our benefactor be above us in his station in life, if he bestowed the favour without any folicitation on our part, and promifes ftill to continue our friend, fhall we not take every occafion of showing that we are not ungrateful, and fearch for opportunity of ferving him, as for hid treasure? What thanks, what praises, what services, fhall we not then render to our Supreme Benefactor, who hath translated us from the kingdom of darkness into the kingdom of his Son; who delivered up his Son unto the death for us, and with him freely gives us all things!

We have abundance of ardour and zeal in our temporal concerns. We rise early, and fit up late : we deny ourselves the pleasures and comforts of fociety we forego our native country, and all the dear connections of early life: we traverse the whole terraqueous globe, expose ourselves to the mercy of winds and waves, and bear alternately the extremities of heat and cold: we breathe in the regions: of infection and of death, to amafs a few pieces of fhining duft, whofe acquifition costs us fuch fore trouble, and whofe poffeffion gives us fo little happinefs. Almighty God! fhall we be thus fervent and zealous in every temporal, in every trivial concern, and remain cold and dead unto thee! If thus we continue, my brethren, the very heathens, iffuing forth from their regions of darkness, will fet up a

"The men of

tribunal, and call us before them. "Nineveh fhall rife up in judgment with us, and shall "condemn us; because they repented at the preach

66

ing of Jonas, and behold a greater than Jonas is "here! The Queen of the South fhall rife up in judgment with us, and fhall condemn us; for fhe came from the uttermoft parts of the earth, to ❝ hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold a great"er than Solomon is here!"-" Verily, it shall be "more tolerable for the land of Sodom and Gomor. rha, in the day of judgment, than for our city."

Do ye confider, my brethren, the dignity and importance of that religion, to which your attachment is required? Do ye reflect, that this is the mafterpiece of infinite wifdom; that here the Almighty made bare his holy arm, and put forth all his ftrength? The introduction of this religion was the object of all the difpenfations of the Deity upon earth. This is the centre in which terminates every line in the great circle of Providence. If one nation was victorious, and another put under the yoke; if war was commiffioned to ravage and lay defolate the earth, or peace to make the joyful inhabitants fing beneath the vine; if kings were crowned, or were de throned; if empires rose or fell, all was preparatory and fubfervient to this grand event. The monarchies which prevailed in the world, whether Affyrian, Perfian, Grecian, or Roman, were erected as introductory to the Meffiah, whose kingdom was to be without bounds, and whofe reign was to be without end. That great image which the Monarch of the East beheld in his dream, whofe head was of gold, whose breaft was of filver, whose thighs were

of brafs, and whofe feet were of iron, was fet up by Providence, to prepare the way for the Stone which was cut out without hands, which was destined to fmite the image, become a great mountain, and fill the whole earth. All events, whether profperous or adverfe, whether malignant or benign, have co-operated towards the advancement of our religion. Saints have established it, by their lives: martyrs have confirmed it, by their deaths: hypocrites have added strength to it, by their diffimulation: tyrants have purified it, by their perfecutions: infidels have corroborated it, by their oppofition: the arrows of its enemies have ferved for its protection: the refiftance which it has met with, from the combined wit and genius and malice of mankind, have brought forth those illustrious and immortal defences, which establish its truth upon the bafis of demonftration.

Shall we not, then, reckon ourselves eternally indebted to the infinite goodness of God, and ftir up all that is within us to blefs his holy name? faying, in the language of true fervour of fpirit, "We will "praise thee, O God! we will praise thee with our "whole heart! Our lives fhall be thy facrifice! We "will adore thee in death, and through eternity!"

God, from his throne in heaven, doth not behold an object more noble, and more worthy of his view, than a pious man; a man who, confcious of the dignity and immortality of his nature, employs himself with fervour and zeal, in those devout exercises which affimilate him to the Divinity; who, measuring time by his improvements in devotion and virtue, never lofes a day. He is the favourite of Heaven. The arm of the Almighty is ftretched out in his behalf.