ence on the happiness of my life: perhaps they may become my idols. Pluck out my eyes, cut off my hands; perhaps they may cause me to offend, Mat. xviii. 8. and may plunge me into the bottomless abyss. Bind me to a cross: provided it be my Saviour's cross. Cut the thread of my life: provided the gates of immortal happiness be opened to me.

Christians, let us satiate our souls with these meditations. Let us give up our hearts to these emotions. Let us fear God, and let us fear nothing else. "Fear not thou worm Jacob. Fear thou not, for I am with thee; Be not dismayed, for I am thy God; I will strengthen thee, yea, I will help thee, yea, I will uphold thee with the right hand of my righteousness. Fear not thou worm Jacob, and ye men of Israel; I will help thee, saith the Lord, and thy Redeemer, the holy One of Israel. Who will not fear thee, O king of nations? for to thee doth it appertain,” Isa. xli. 10, 14. May God inspire us with these sentiments! To him be honour and glory for ever! Amen.

SERMON XIII.

The Manner of Praising God.

Preached after the administration of the Lord's Supper.

PSALM XXXiii. 1.

Praise is comely for the upright.

THERE is something very majestic, my brethren,

in the end for which we are now assembled in the

presence of God. His Providence hath infinitely diversified the conditions of those who compose this assembly. Some are placed in the most eminent, others in the most obscure posts of society. Some live in splendour and opulence, others in meanness and indigence. One is employed in the turbulence of the army, another in the silence of the study. Notwithstanding this infinite variety of employments, ranks, and ages, we all assemble to-day in one place; one object occupies us; one sentiment animates us; one voice makes the church resound, praise ye the Lord, for his mercy endureth for ever, Psa. cxxxvi. 1. If there be an object that can give a mortal any ideas of the first impressions which are made on a soul, at its first entering the glorious palace of the blessed God in heaven, it is this. The first objects that strike such a soul, are the multitudes of all nations,

tongues, and people, concentered in a meditation on the beneficence of God, prostrating themselves before his throne, casting their crowns at his feet, and crying, out of the abundance of their hearts, which contemplate the perfections of a being worthy of their profoundest praise, “Amen, blessing and glory, and wisdom, and thanksgiving, and honour, and power, and might, be unto our God, for ever and ever, Amen. We give thee thanks, O Lord God Almighty, which art, and wast, and art to come; because thou hast taken to thee thy great power, and hast reigned. Great and marvellous are thy works, Lord God Almighty; just and true are thy ways, thou King of saints! Unto him that loved us, and washed us from our sins in his own blood, and hath made us kings and priests unto God and his Father; to him be glory and dominion for ever and ever. Amen." Rev. vii. 12. xi. 17. xv. 3. i. 5, 6. This is the employment of the blessed in heaven: this is what we are doing to-day on earth.

But what a contradiction, what a contrast appears, when, lifting up the exterior habit of piety that covers some of us, we examine the inward dispositions of the heart. The psalms, which are uttered with the voice, are contradicted by the tempers of the heart. The mouths that were just now opened to bless the Creator, will presently be opened again to blaspheme and to curse him. The praises which seemed so proper to please him in whose honor they were offered, will incur this reproof, Thou wicked man! What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth? Psal. 1. 16.

My brethren, if we would join our voices with those of angels, we must have the sentiments of angels. We must, (at least, as far as the duty is imitable by such frail creatures) we must, in order to worship God as those happy spirits praise him, love him as they do, serve him as they do, devote ourselves to him as they devote themselves to him; and this is the manner of praising God, to which I exhort, and in which I would endeavour to instruct you to-day, agreeably to the prophet's exalted notions of it in the words of the text. What day can be more proper to inspire such a noble design? What day can be more proper to engage you to mix your worship with that of glorified intelligences, than this, on which we are come "unto the city of the living God, the heavenly Jerusalem, to an innumerable company of angels, and to the church of the first-born which are written in heaven?" Heb. xii. 22, 23.

But, who are we, to be admitted into a society so holy? Great God! Thou dost appear to us to-day, as thou didst formerly to thy prophet, " sitting upon a throne, high and lifted up, and thy train filling the temple," Isa. vi. 1. Around thee stand the seraphim, covering themselves with their wings in thy majestic presence, and crying one to another, "Holy, holy, holy, is the Lord of hosts, the whole earth is full of his glory," ver. 3. We are stricken as thy prophet was, with such a tremendous vision, and each of us cries, with him, "Wo is me! I am undone! I am a man of unclean lips! and yet, mine eyes have seen the King, the Lord of hosts," ver. 5.