such a scene of misery as no tongue can describe, and no heart conceive. The present torments of a guilty conscience, and the slavery of carnal appetites, are of themselves sufficient to shew the greatness of the inestimable benefit. But this is no more than a diminutive part of those horrible mischiefs which sin has introduced. When the subject is further investigated with respect to the present and future blessings which this redemption has procured for us, though we know but in part, and read of "such things as eye hath not seen, nor ear heard, nor have "entered into the heart of man to conceive;" yet enough is perceptible to the believing soul to shew the propriety of the following phraseology of our church: "But above all we bless "Thee for the redemption of the world by our "Lord Jesus Christ." The addition of one consideration more, viz. the nature of the ransom, will constrain us to confess our total inability to make any adequate returns of love and duty; for "we are bought with a price, not "with corruptible things, such as silver and gold, "but with the precious blood of Christ"-of Christ, the only begotten of the Father; God "manifest in the flesh." When the Roman Proconsul T. Q. Flaminius, after the defeat of King Philip and the Macedonians, restored to Greece its liberty, laws, and privileges; so soon as the proclamation of the herald was distinctly heard, the shout which the delivered Greeks gave, in the transport of their joy, was so loud as to be audible even at the sea; and the birds which were flying over their heads dropped down into the midst of the theatre, stunned with the noise of their acclamations. The people deserted their seats, no further regard was paid.

to the instituted diversions, but all hastened to embrace and to address the preserver and protector of Greece. And if the Proconsul had not retired to a place of shelter, so soon as the assembly rose up, he must have been surrounded, and probably suffocated by so immense a multitude. * Shall the sons of men, who have been redeemed from everlasting destruction by the blood of the Son of God, be silent in His praise?

The blessings of redemption, great and inestimable as they are, would be to us of no value, had not its gracious Author opened a way by which we might become partakers of them. On this account we proceed to thank Him "for "the means of grace." The preaching of His Word and the administration of His Sacraments, together with reading, prayer, and devout meditation, are those precious channels through which His favour flows into our souls. These are the Divinely instituted means of grace, of regenerating, renewing, quickening, strengthening, comforting, and sanctifying grace. Reader, have you learned to prize them? Does your constant attendance on them prove that your use of this form of thanksgiving is the language of sincerity and truth? If, by these means of grace, your soul has been quickened from that death in trespasses and sins in which it once lay, they are as necessary to your soul as food is to your body, and more valuable in proportion as you esteem the salvation of your soul above the life of your mortal body.

"The hope of glory," which "the redemp"tion of our souls by our Lord Jesus Christ"

*Langhorne's Plutarch, vol. ii. p. 374.

procured for us, and which "the means of grace" excite in us, completes the list of our spiritual mercies. This sweetens the bitter cup of affliction-this sheds a ray of consolation on the darkest path we are called to tread. If death were indeed an eternal sleep" if in this "life only we had hope in Christ, we should be "of all men most miserable," because faith produces in the hearts of all who are possessed of it desires and expectations to which the worldling is an utter stranger. But "blessed "be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus "Christ, who, according to His abundant

mercy, hath begotten us again to a lively "hope by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from "the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and "undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved "in heaven for you, who are kept by the power "of God through faith unto salvation, ready to be revealed in the last time: wherein ye greatly rejoice, though now for a season (if "need be) ye are in heaviness through manifold "temptations: that the trial of your faith, being "much more precious than of gold that perish"eth, though it be tried with fire, might be "found unto praise, and honour, and glory, at "the appearing of Jesus Christ: whom having "not seen ye love; in whom, though now ye "see Him not, yet believing ye rejoice with joy unspeakable and full of glory, receiving "the end of your faith, even the salvation of your souls."* Reader, is this the experience of your heart? Is "the hope of glory" the anchor of your soul in the storm of life? And is your anchor cast on the rock of ages, Jesus

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Christ? Let me intreat you to consider what base hypocrisy is couched under your oral thanksgiving for the hope of glory," if you are one among "the men of the world who "have their portion in this life." *

How humiliating is the consideration, that after the reception of all these favours we are incapable of gratitude, till God gives us "a "due sense of all His mercies!" And therefore, in the subsequent words, our Church teaches us to pray for it. The acknowledgments of every unconverted sinner proceed out of feigned lips. And even the believer is deeply sensible that he is not possessed "with a due "sense of all God's mercies." This, however, is a certain feature of a gracious soul, that it mourns over its unthankfulness, and, convinced of its own impotence, looks to the fountain of all grace, that by His internal operation it may be made "unfeignedly thankful." And whenever this unfeigned thankfulness, in any degree, presides in our hearts, it always produces a desire of "shewing forth the praise of God, not only "with our lips, but in our lives, by giving up "ourselves to His service, and by walking "before Him in holiness and righteousness all "our days, through Jesus Christ our Lord." But, alas! how many persons are there, who in the house of God thus verbally devote themselves to His service, as being under everlasting. obligations of love and gratitude, and yet go into the world, and there desecrate their timeand talents, their bodies and souls, to the devil, the world, and the flesh! Those whose professions are sincere continually labour to give up

* Ps. xvii. 14.

themselves to His service more and more, and consider themselves as a devoted thing which it would be sacrilege to alienate from its lawful Proprietor to any purpose dishonourable to Him. O how many there are among us who plead for reserves, and try to satisfy themselves with a partial surrender of their hearts, and a limited devotion of their lives, and who thereby prove their insensibilty of His mercy! How much more easy is it to give all our goods to feed the poor, and even our bodies to be burned, than to give up our hearts and lives to God! How proper then is the supplement which our church has added to our thanksgiving!

We present our praises and thanksgivings "through Jesus Christ our Lord." In His name only can they be accepted. His merit must always be combined with them, His intercession recommend them, or otherwise they will prove a stink in the nostrils of the Lord of hosts. And it is for His sake only that we expect a gracious answer to those supplications which we offer for that spirit of gratitude which, so far as it prevails, assimilates sinners on earth to saints in heaven. "TO HIM, THEREFORE, WITH "THE FATHER AND THE HOLY GHOST, BE ALL "HONOUR AND GLORY, WORLD WITHOUT END. "Amen."