In this manner the prophets represent all beings animate and inanimate, material and immaterial, as concurring in the Creator's will. This is not a truth which requires the submission of faith, but every branch of it proceeds from reason, and is supported by experience. When God wills the destruction, or the deliverance of a people, all creation executes his design. When he is angry, every thing becomes an instrument of vengeance. A cherub, brandishing a flaming sword, prevents the return of guilty man to paradise. The air infected, the earth covered with noxious plants, the brute creation enraged, wage war with the rebel. Grasshoppers become The prophets meant to inspire us with the | up to heaven;" fill up the horrible gulfs whither same notion of insensible and inanimate beings, thou goest "down to the bottoms of the mounso that every thing which excites fear might tains," Ps. cvii. 27. 26; Jonah ii. 7; dissipate lead us "to fear the King of nations," who the lightning that flashes in thy face; hush the has all things in his power, and moves all ac- bellowing thunders; confine the winds in their cording to his own pleasure. We will not caverns; assuage the anguish of thy soul, and multiply proofs. The prophet, in the chapter prevent its melting and exhaling with fear. out of which we have taken the text, mentions How diminutive is man! my brethren. How an object very fit to inspire us with the fear of many ways has God to confound his pride! "the King of nations," who disposes inani- " He uttereth his voice, and there is a noise of mate beings in such a manner: he describes a a multitude of waters in the heavens. He tempest at sea. The gravity of this discourse, causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the majesty of this place, and the character of the earth. He maketh lightnings with rain, this auditory, will not allow those descriptions and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures. which a sportive fancy invents. We allow Who would not fear thee, O King of nations?" students to exercise their imaginations in an academy, and we pass over their glaring images in favour of their youth and inexperience: but sometimes descriptions supply the place of arguments, and a solid logic, not a puerile rhetoric, requires them. We are now in this case. In order to humble man in the presence of "the King of nations," we tell him that this King can make all creatures fulfil his will. With the same design, our prophet gives a sensible example of the power of God, by transporting man to the ocean, and by showing him "the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep. God uttereth his voice," says he, in a verse that follows the text, "and there is a noise of a multitude of waters in the heavens."the Lord's great army," Joel ii. 11; flies He causeth the vapours to ascend from the ends of the earth. He maketh lightnings with rain, and bringeth forth the wind out of his treasures," Ps. cvii. 24. 13. Thou dull stupid man! who art not stricken with the idea of a God, whose will is self-efficient, and who alone can act immediately on an immaterial soul, come and behold some sensible proofs of that infinite power of which metaphysical proofs can give thee no idea! And thou, proud insolent man! go aboard the best built vessel, put out to sea, set the most vigilant watch, surround thyself with the most formidable instruments; what art thou, when God uttereth his voice? What art thou, when the noise resounds? What art thou, when torrents of rain seem to threaten a second deluge, and to make the globe which thou inhabitest one rolling sea? What art thou, when lightnings emit their terrible flashes? What art thou, when the winds come roaring out of their treasures? What art thou then? Verily, thou art no less than thou wast in thy palace. Thou art no less than when thou wast sitting at a delicious table. Thou art no less than thou wast when every thing contributed to thy pleasure. Thou art no less than when, at the head of thine army, thou wast the terror of nations, shaking the earth with the stunning noise of thy warlike instruments: for, at thy festal board, within thy palace, among thy pleasures, at the head of thine armies, thou wast nothing before "the King of nations." As an immaterial and immortal creature, thou art subject to his immediate power: but to humble and to confound thee, he must manifest himself to thee in sensible objects. Behold him then in this formidable situation: try thy power against his: silence "the noise of the multitude of waters:" fasten the vessel that reeleth like a drunken man;" smooth the foaming waves that "mount thee swarm, waters change into blood, light turns Thus, my brethren, has God proportioned himself to our meanness and dullness, in order to inspire us with fear. Is it necessary, to make us fear God, that we should see bodies, in various parts and prodigious masses of matter, march at his word to fulfil his will? Well, behold bodies, in various parts and in vast masses! Behold! universal nature moving these provinces from impending dangers, and we have "not had respect unto him that fashioned them long ago." But what are wise men? What are councils? What are navies? What are armies and fortifications, but subor dinate beings, which God directs as he pleases? Ah! ye penitential tears, ye days of sackcloth and ashes, ye solemn humiliations, ye sighs that ascend to God, ye fervent prayers, ye saints who impart your souls in fervour; and, above all, ye sincere conversions to "the King of nations," love to his laws, obedience to his commands, submission to his will, tenderness to his people, zeal for his altars, devotedness to his worship; if ye do not prevail with the at his word, and fulfilling his will. Let us fear God in this view of him, if our minds enveloped in matter cannot conceive an idea of a Being, whose will is self-efficient, and who alone can act on immaterial souls. But, my brethren, a mind accustomed to meditation has no occasion for this last notion: the first absorbs all. A God, every act of whose will is effectual, is alone worthy of the homage of fear. A just notion of his power renders all ideas of means useless. The power of God has no need of means. Were I existing alone with God, God could make me supremely happy, or supremely miserable: one act of his will is sufficient to do either. We do not mean to enlarge the idea, when, speaking of an all-"King of nations" to favour our designs, sufficient Creator, who is superior to the want of means, we treat of a concurrence of creatures: we only mean to level the subject to the capacities of some of our hearers. Let us sum up what has been said. To consider a creature as the cause of human felicity is to pay him the homage of adoration, and to commit idolatry. The avaricious man is an idolater; the ambitious man is an idolater; the voluptuous man is an idolater. And to render to a creature the homage of fear is also idolatry; for supreme fear is as much due to God alone as supreme hope. He who fears war, and does not fear the God who sends war, is an idolater. He who fears the plague, and who does not fear the God who sends the plague, is an idolater. It is idolatry, in public or in private adversities, to have recourse to second causes, to little subordinate deities, so as to neglect to appease the wrath of the Supreme God. To consult the wise, to assemble a council, to man fleets, to raise armies, to build forts, to elevate ramparts, and not to consider the succour of heaven, which alone is capable of giving success to all such means, is to be guilty of idolatry. Isaiah reproves the Jews in the most severe manner for this kind of idolatry. "In that day," says the prophet, speaking of the precautions which they had taken to prevent the designs of their enemies; "In that day thou didst look to the armour of the house of the forest. Ye have seen also the breaches of the city of David: and ye gathered together the waters of the lower pool. And ye have numbered the houses of Jerusalem, and the houses have ye broken down to fortify the wall. Ye have made also a ditch between the two walls, for the water of the old pool: but ye have not looked unto the Maker of this Jerusalem, neither had respect for him that fashioned it long ago. And in that day did the Lord God of hosts call to weeping, and to mourning, and to baldness, and to girding with sackcloth: and behold, joy and gladness, slaying oxen and killing sheep, eating flesh and drinking wine; let us eat and drink, for to-morrow we shall die. And it was revealed in mine ears by the Lord of hosts, Surely this iniquity shall not be purged from you, till ye die, saith the Lord of hosts," Isa. xxii. 8-14. Do we deserve less cutting reproaches? In that day, in the day of our public and private calamities, we have consulted wise men, we have assembled councils, we have fitted out fleets, and raised armies, we have pretended by them to secure what must our destiny be? And ye tragical designs, black attempts, shameful plots, impure associations, criminal intrigues, execrable oaths, atrocious calumnies, cruel falsehoods, with what oceans of misery will ye overflow us, if ye arm "the King of nations" against us? To conclude. There is much imbecility, if no idolatry in us, if, while we fear God, we stand in too much awe of second causes, which sometimes appear terrible to us. No, no! revolution of ages, subversion of states, domestic seditions, foreign invasions, contagious sicknesses, sudden and untimely deaths, ye are only the servants of that God, whose favourite creature I am. If, by his command, ye execute some terrible order on me, I will receive it as a comfortable order, because it is executed only for my good. Trouble my peace: perhaps it may be fatal to me. Turn the tide of my prosperity, which seems to constitute my glory:" perhaps it may be dangerous to me. Snap the silken bonds that have so much influence 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," Matt. 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 unto 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 has | 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," Ps. 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 multitudes of all nations, tongues, and people, concentrated 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 honour they were offered, will incur this reproof, "Thou wicked man! What hast thou to do to take my covenant in thy mouth?" Ps. i. 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 today, 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 to 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 thy 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. O great God! command one of thy seraphim to fly to us as he flew to him; bid him touch our mouths as he touched his, with "a live coal from off thine altar," ver. 6; and in this day of grace and mercy, let him say to each of us, "Lo this hath touched thy lips, and thine iniquity is taken away, and thy sin purged! Amen," ver. 7. "Praise is comely for the upright." The praising of God is a duty of which we may form two different notions: a general, and a particular notion. By a general notion of praise, I mean, the exercise of a man, who, being capable of examining sublime objects, and of comprehending grand subjects, fixes his attention on the attributes of God, feels the force of those proofs which establish the truth of them, is delighted with them to a certain degree, and is happy in publishing their praise. I mean, by a particular notion of praising God, the exercise of a man, who, having received some signal favour of God, loves to express his gratitude for it. Each of these exercises of praise supposes reflections, and sentiments. To praise God in the first sense, to reflect on his attributes, to converse, and to write about them without having the heart affected, and without loving a Being, who is described as supremely amiable, is a lifeless praise, more fit for a worldly philosopher than for a rational Christian. To praise God in the second sense, to be affected with the favours of God, without having any distinct notions of God, without knowing whether the descriptions of the perfections that are attributed to him be flights of fancy or real truths, is an exercise more fit for a bigot, who believes without knowing why, than for a spiritual man, who judges all things, 1 Cor. ii. 15. If we distinguish the part that these two faculties, reflection and sentiment, take in these two exercises of praise, we may observe, that the first, I mean the praise of God taken in a general sense, is the fruit of reflection, and the second of sentiment. The first is, if I may be allowed to speak so, the praise of the mind: the second is the praise of the heart. It is difficult to determine which of these two notions prevails in the text, whether the psalmist uses the word praise in the first, or in the second sense. If we judge by the whole subject of the psalm, both are included. The praise of the heart is easily discovered. Whe ther the author of the psalm were Hezekiah, as many of the fathers thought, who say, that this prince composed it after the miraculous defeat | of Sennacherib; or whether, as it is most likely, David were the composer of it, after one of those preternatural deliverances, with which his life was so often signalized: what I call the praise of the heart, that is, a lively sense of some inestimable blessing, is clearly to be seen. On the other hand, it is still clearer, that the sacred author does not celebrate only one particular object in the psalm. He gives a greater scope to his meditation, and comprises in it all the works, and all the perfections of God. Although the solemnity of this day calls us less to the praise of the mind than to that of the heart; although we intend to make the latter the principal subject of this discourse; yet it is necessary to attend a little to the former. I. "The praise of the Lord," taking the word praise in the vague sense that we have affixed to the term, "is comely for the upright:" and it is comely for none but for them. "Praise is comely for the upright." Nothing is more worthy of the attention of an intelligent being, particularly, nothing is more worthy of the meditation of a superior genius, than the wonderful perfections of the Creator. A man of superior genius is required, indeed, to use his talents to cultivate the sciences and the liberal arts: but, after all, the mind of man, especially of that man to whom God has given superior talents, which assimilate him to celestial intelligences, was not created to unravel a point in chronology, to learn the different sounds by which different nations signify their ideas, to measure a line, or to lose itself in an algebraic calculation; the mind of such a man was not created to study the stars, to count their number, to measure their magnitude, to discover more than have yet been observed. Nobler objects ought to occupy him. It becomes such a man to contemplate God, to guide the rest of mankind, to lead them to God, who "dwelleth in the light which no man can approach unto," 1 Tim. vi. 16, and to teach us to attenuate the clouds that hide him from our feeble eyes. It becomes such a man to use that superiority which his knowledge gives him over us, to elevate our hearts above the low region of terrestrial things, where they grovel with the brute beasts, and to help us to place them on the bright abode of the immortal God. The praise of the Lord is comely for upright men. should follow our inquiries. With such dispositions the psalmist celebrated the praises of God, in the psalm out of which we have taken the text. How comely are the praises of God in the mouth of such a man! Let us follow the holy man a moment in his meditation. His psalm is not composed in scholastic form, in which the author confines himself to fixed rules, and, scrupulously following a philosophical method, lays down principles, and infers consequences. However, he establishes principles, the most proper to give us sublime ideas of the Creator; and he speaks with more precision of the works and attributes of God, than the greatest philosophers have spoken of them. How absurdly have philosophers treated of the origin of the world! How few of them have reasoned conclusively on this important subject! Our prophet solves the important question by one single principle; and, what is more remarkable, this principle, which is nobly expressed, carries the clearest evidence with it. The principle is this: "By the word of the Lord, were the heavens made; and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth," ver. 6. This is the most rational account that was ever given, of the creation of the world. The world is the work of a self-efficient will, and it is this principle alone that can account for its creation. The most simple appearances in nature are sufficient to lead us to this principle. Either my will is self-efficient, or there is some other being whose will is self-efficient. What I say of myself, I say of my parents, and what I affirm of my parents, I affirm of my more remote ancestors, and of all the finite creatures from whom they derived their existence. Most certainly, either finite beings have self-efficient wills, which it is impossible to suppose, for a finite creature with a self-efficient will is a contradiction: either, I say, a finite creature has a self-efficient will, or there is a first cause who has a self-efficient will; and that there is such a Being is the principle of the psalmist; "By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth." If philosophers have reasoned inconclusively on the origin of the world, they have spoken of its government with equal uncertainty. The psalmist determines this question with great facility, by a single principle, which results from the former, and which, like the former, carries its evidence with it. "The Lord looketh from heaven: he considereth all the works of all the inhabitants of the earth," Ps. xxxiii. 13, 14. This is the doctrine of Providence. And on what is the doctrine of Providence founded? On this principle: God "fashioneth their hearts alike," ver. 15. Attend a moment to the evidence of this reasoning, my brethren. The doctrine of Providence, expressed in these words, "God considereth the works of the inhabitants of the earth," is a necessary consequence of this principle, "God fashioneth their But praise is comely only for upright men. I believe it is needless now to explain the word uprightness. The term is taken in the text in the noblest sense: this is a sufficient explication, and this is sufficient also to convince us, that the praising of God is comely for none but upright men. I cannot see, without indignation, a philosopher trifle with the important questions that relate to the attributes of God, and make them simple exercises of genius, in which the heart has no concern, examining whether there be a God, with the same indifference with which he inquires whether there be a vacuum in nature, or whether matter be infinitely divisible. On determining the questions which re-hearts alike," and this principle is a necessary late to the divine attributes depend our hopes and fears, the plans that we must form, and the course of life which we ought to pursue: and with these views we should examine the perfections of God: these are consequences that consequence of that which the psalmist had before laid down to account for the origin of the world! Yes! from the doctrine of God the Creator of men, follows that of God the inspector, the director, rewarder, and the punisher of his goodness without obeying the laws of his righteousness. The happiness of an individual, who procures a pleasure by disobeying the laws of equity, is a violent happiness, which cannot be of long duration: and the prosperity of public bodies, when it is founded in iniquity, is an edifice, which with its bases will be presently sunk and gone. their actions. One of the most specious objec- | dispositions, that we cannot enjoy the gifts of tions that has ever been opposed to the doctrine of Providence, is a contrast between the grandeur of God and the meanness of men. How can such an insignificant creature as man be an object of the care and attention of such a magnificent being as God? No objection can be more specious, or, in appearance, more invincible. The distance between the meanest insect and the mightiest monarch, who treads But what we would particularly remark is, and crushes reptiles to death without the least that the excellent principles of the psalmist, regard to them, is a very imperfect image of concerning God, are not mere speculations: the distance between God and man. That but truths from which he derives practical inwhich proves that it would be beneath the dig-ferences; and he aims to extend their influence nity of a monarch to observe the motions of ants, or worms, to interest himself in their actions, to punish, or to reward them, seems to demonstrate, that God would degrade himself were he to observe, to direct, to punish, to reward mankind, who are infinitely inferior to him. But one fact is sufficient to answer this specious objection: that is, that God has created mankind. Does God degrade himself more by governing than by creating mankind? Who can persuade himself, that a wise Being has given to intelligent creatures faculties capable of obtaining knowledge and virtue, without willing that they should endeavour to acquire knowledge and virtue? Or who can imagine, that a wise Being, who wills that his intelligent" There is no king saved by the multitude of a creatures should acquire knowledge and virtue, will not punish them if they neglect those acquisitions; and will not show by the distribution of his benefits that he approves their endeavours to obtain them? Unenlightened philosophers have treated of the attributes of God with as much abstruseness as they have written of his works. The moral attributes of God, as they are called in the schools, were mysteries which they could not unfold. These may be reduced to two classes: attributes of goodness, and attributes of justice. Philosophers, who have admitted these, have usually taken that for granted which they ought to have proved. They collected together in their minds all perfections; they reduced them all to one object, which they denominated a perfect being: and supposing, without proving, that a perfect Being existed, they attributed to him, without proof, every thing that they considered as a perfection. The psalmist shows by a surer way that there is a God supremely just, and supremely good. It is necessary in order to convince a rational being of the justice and goodness of God, to follow such a method as that which we follow to prove his existence. When we would prove the existence of God, we say, there are creatures, therefore there is a Creator. In like manner, when we would prove that a creature is just, and a good being, we say, there are qualities of goodness and justice in creatures, therefore he, from whom these creatures derive their existence, is a Being just and good. Now, this is the reasoning of the psalmist in this psalm: "The Lord loveth righteousness and judgment; the earth is full of the goodness of the Lord," ver. 5, that is to say, it is impossible to consider the works of the Creator, without receiving evidence of his goodness. And the works of nature, which demonstrate the goodness of God, prove his justice also: for God has created us with such VOL. I.-17 beyond private persons, even to legislators and conquerors. One would think, considering the conduct of mankind, that the consequences, which are drawn from the doctrines of which we have been speaking, belong to none but to the dregs of the people; that lawgivers and conquerors have a plan of morality peculiar to themselves, and are above the rules to which other men must submit. Our prophet had other notions. What are his maxims of policy? They are all included in these words: "Blessed is the nation whose God is the Lord; and the people whom he hath chosen for his own inheritance," ver. 12. What are his military maxims? they are all included in these words: host; a mighty man is not delivered by much strength: a horse is a vain thing for safety; neither shall he deliver any by his great strength," ver. 16, 17. Who proposes these maxims? A hermit, who never appeared on the theatre of the world? or a man destitute of the talents necessary to shine there? No: one of the wisest of kings; one of the most bold and able generals; a man, whom God had self-elected to govern his chosen people, and to command those armies which fought the most obstinate battles, and gained the most complete victories. Were I to proceed in explaining the system of the psalmist, I might prove, that as he had a right to infer the doctrine of Providence from the works of nature, and that of the moral attributes of God from the works of creation; so from the doctrines of the moral attributes of God, of providence, and of the works of creation, he had a right to conclude, that no conquerors or lawgivers could be truly happy but those who acted agreeably to the laws of the just and good Supreme. But I shall not enlarge on this article. Permit me only to place in one point of view the different phrases by which the psalmist describes the Deity in this psalm. "The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. By the word of the Lord were the heavens made: and all the host of them by the breath of his mouth. He gathereth the waters of the sea together, as a heap: he layeth up the depth in storehouses. The Lord looketh from heaven: he beholdeth all the sons of men. From the place of his habitation he looketh upon all the inhabitants of the earth. He fashioneth their hearts alike; he considereth all their works," Ps. xxxiii. 5— 7, 13-15. From these speculative ideas of God, he derives the following rules of practice, "Let all the earth fear the Lord: let all the inhabitants of the world stand in awe of him. Our soul waiteth for the Lord: he is our help |