XI.

SERM.ments of gratitude fhould be made, praises and prayers fhould be offered, and all fuitable marks of dependence on him be expressed.—This obligation extends beyond the filent and secret sentiments of our hearts. Befides private devotion, it naturally leads to affociations for public worship; to open and declared profeffions of refpect for the Deity. Where bleffings are received in common, an obligation lies upon the community, jointly to acknowledge them. Sincere gratitude is always of open and diffufive nature It loves to pour itself forth; to give free vent to its emotions; and, before the world, to acknowledge and honour a Benefactor.

So confonant is this to the natural fentiments of mankind, that all the nations of the earth have, as with one confent, agreed to institute fome forms of worship; to hold meetings, at certain times, in honour of their deities. Survey the focieties of men in their rudeft ftate; explore the African defarts, the wilds of America,

or

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or the distant islands of the ocean: and S ER M. you will find that over all the earth some religious ceremonies have obtained. You will every where trace, in one form or other, the temple, the priest, and the offering. The prevalence of the most abfurd fuperftitions furnishes this testimony to the truth, that in the hearts of all men the principle is engraved, of worship being due to that invifible Power who rules the world. Herein confifts the great excellency of Christian religion, that it hath inftructed us in the simple and spiritual nature of that worship. Difencumbered of idle and unmeaning ceremonies, its ritual is pure, and worthy of a divine Author. Its pofitive inftitutions are few in number, moft fignificant of fpiritual things, and directly conducive to good life and practice. How inexcufable then are we, if, placed in fuch happy circumstances, the fenfe of those obligations to the public worship of God fhall be obliterated among us, which the light of naturę inculcated,

SÉR M. inculcated, in fome measure, on the most wild and barbarous nations?

XI.

The refinements of falfe philofophy have indeed fuggefted this fhadow of objection, that God is too great to ftand in need of any eternal service from his creatures; that our expreffions of praise and honour are misplaced with refpect to him, who is above all honour and all praise; that in his fight the homage we seek to pay must appear contemptible; and is therefore in itself fuperfluous and trif-, ling.But who hath thought those vain reafoners, that all expreffions of gratitude and honour towards a fuperior become unfuitable, merely because that fuperior needs not any returns? Were they ever indebted to one whofe favours they had it not in their power to repay; and, did they, on that account, feel themselves fet loofe from every obligation to acknowledge, and to praise their benefactor? On the contrary, the more difinterested his beneficence was, did not gratitude, in any ingenuous mind, burn with the greater ardour,

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ardour, and prompt them the more s ER M. eagerly to feize every opportunity of publicly testifying the feelings of their hearts;—Almighty God, it is true, is too great to need our service or homage. But he is also too good not to accept it, when it is the native expreffion of a grateful and generous mind. If pride and felf-fufficiency ftifle all fentiments of dependance on our Creator; if levity, and attachment to worldly pleasures, render us totally neglectful of expreffing our thankfulness to Him for his bleffings; do we not hereby discover such a want of proper feeling, fuch a degree of hardness and corruption in our affections, as shows us to be immoral and unworthy; and must justly expofe us to the high difpleasure of heaven? On the contrary, according to every notion which we can form of the Father of the universe, must it not be acceptable to him to behold his creatures properly affected in heart towards their great benefactor; affembling together to exprefs, in acts of worship, that gratitude, love, and

reverence

SER M. reverence which they owe him; and

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thus nourishing and promoting in one another an affectionate sense of his goodnefs? Are not fuch difpofitions, and fuch a behaviour as this, intimately connected with all virtue?

O Come, let us worship and bow down; let us kneel before the Lord our maker. For he is our God; and we are the flock of his pafture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving and his courts with praise. The prayer of the upright is his delight. It cometh before him as incenfe, and the uplifting of their hands as the evening facrifice.Having thus shown the reafonableness of public worship with respect to God, let us now,

II. CONSIDER its importance in an¬ other view, as it refpects the world. When we furvey the general state of mankind, we find them continually immersed in worldly affairs; bufied about providing the neceffaries of life, occupied in the pursuits of their pleasures, or eagerly profecuting the advancement

of