A SERMON,

DELIVERED IN

NEW-JERSEY, AT THE RISING OF THE SUN,

ON THE

FOURTH OF JULY, 1814;

IN A TIME OF GREAT AND GENERAL INTEREST ON

THE SUBJECT OF RELIGION.

Intended to prevent the usual desecration of the day.

SERMON LVI.

THE MERCIES OF GOD NOT OBEDIENTLY

RECIPROCATED.

Isaiah i. 2.

Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me.

How provoking is the sin of ingratitude! Among men it is considered unpardonable, while every other crime is forgiven. To be ungrateful argues a want of ingenuousness, of which even the most ungrateful are not willing to be accused. And can we wonder that pride takes the alarm, when a charge is brought that argues baseness, not to be found in the herd of the stall.

The descendants of Abraham, to whom the prophet refers, furnish us a long history of ingratitude. God had so distinguished them as to render them eternal debtors to his mercy, but they rebelled against him. He called Abraham from Ur of the Chaldees, a land of dark idolatry, gave him a large posterity, and made them the objects of his peculiar care. When oppressed with famine, the king of Egypt must feed them. When enslaved, God raised them up a deliverer, who brought them out with triumph. He bade the waves of the sea roll back and leave them a passage, and return to discomfit their foes. He miraculously clothed, fed, and guided them forty years. He then divided Jordan, and introduced them into a beautiful country, which, being watered

with enriching dews and timely showers, furnished them all that heart could wish. To give them room he "drove out the heathen with his hand." They had riches, honours, pleasures, and health. God delivered to them his word, called them his children, and placed in their magnificent temple the symbol of his presence.

When the ten tribes revolted from the house of David, and were abandoned to dispersion and slavery, he still kept his eye on Judah. He gave them wise kings, faithful prophets, and a mild and happy government. Still had they the means of knowing the mind of God. They had their temple, their high priest, their holy altar, and their daily sacrifice. For many years they sat under their vines and fig-trees, and none made them afraid.

Thus God nourished and brought them up as children. Had he not a right to expect their obedience? Was it not enough to astonish heaven and earth, to see it withheld? Can we, without amazement, be told, that in contempt of all this succession of mercies, that people made them other gods, and bowed to images ⚫which themselves had carved? They imprisoned their prophets, profaned their temple, hardened their hearts, and generated a posterity prepared to embrue their hands in the blood of Christ. All this mischief achieved by that people, God resolved to destroy; but first commands heaven and earth to listen to the story of their apostacy: "Hear, O heavens, and give ear, O earth; for the Lord hath spoken; I have nourished and brought up children, and they have rebelled against me."

How aptly does this whole history apply to us! If Judah's ingratitude has ever been surpassed-if it has ever been equalled, it has been in America. While attending to this short history, you have been making