condition will affect another, and what consequences will issue from particular events, we are incompetent judges of the wisdom and equity of providence. He who governs the world, is a God of truth, and without iniquity. He is a rock, his way is perfect; just and right is he. Let us never suspect his ways are unequal. Let us never indulge an impatient, murmuring spirit; but learn in every state to be content.

3. We see the proper foundation of submission and gratitude under all the dealings of God. It is a humble sense of our unworthiness. Be ashamed and confounded for all your ways, says the prophet.

If you enjoy prosperity, imagine not, that heaven gives it for your sake, either for your worthiness, or solely for your use; but remember that God distributes the bounties of his providence, with a sovereign hand, to the just and unjust, as his wisdom sees best-that his bounty is the source of all your enjoyments that you are not worthy of the least of all the mercies which he has shewed you-and that you are to glorify him by an imitation of his goodness, in promoting virtue and happiness among your fellow mortals.

If you suffer adversity, utter no complaints-indulge no impatience; but be confounded for all your iniquities. These have forfeited the blessings which you have lost, and merited the pains which you feel. Every good is undeserved-every affliction is less than you deserve. The more humble thoughts you entertain of yourselves, the more contented and thankful you will be, and the less disposed to complain of Providence, and to envy or despise your fellow men.

Humility in the heart, is the groundwork of religion. Till we know ourselves, we shall neither love God, nor our duty. When we know ourselves, we shall be humble, for we can find nothing VOL. I.

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within us, nothing done by us, which will justify a spirit of pride. The more clearly we see our own unworthiness, the more highly we shall admire God's goodness. The deeper sense we have of our own ignorance, the more we shall confide in his wisdomthe more sensibly we realize our impotence and dependence, the more readily we shall submit to his sovereignty.

The proper effect of God's mercies, is to melt us into a godly sorrow for our sins. Not for our sakes does he grant them, but that we may be a ashamed and confounded for all our ways. His goodness will lead an ingenious mind to repentance. The humble penitent takes serious notice of the ways of God, and sees mercy in those dispensations, of which he once complained. He examines himself, and discovers iniquity in those works of his own, in which once he gloried. He was formerly alive without the law; but when the commandment comes, sin revives, and he dies. When the law enters, the offence abounds. He sees that his remedy is not in himself-he repairs to the mercy of God. He remembers, and is confounded, and never opens his mouth any more because of his shame, when God is pacified toward him for all that he has done. Let us consider and know ourselves, and contemplate the ways of God's providence and grace, and we shall admire his wisdom and love, and shall condemn our own folly and ingratitude. Not unto us, O Lord, not unto us; but unto thy name be glory, for thy mercy, and for thy truth's sake.

SERMON III.

God works, not for our Sakes only, but for his Name's Sake.

EZEKIEL xxxvi. 33.

Not for your sakes do I this, saith the Lord God, be it known unto you;

THE deliverance of the Jews from their

captivity in Babylon is the work of God here referred to. This was attended with such circum. stances, as proved it to be eminently his work. When the captivity of Sion was turned, then said they among the heathen, "The Lord hath done great things for them." Under such a sudden and surprising change of condition, there was danger, that, being lifted up with pride, they would vainly imagine, their own virtue had entitled them to so great a favour, and God had too high a regard for them to punish them any more. This caution is therefore repeatedly given them, Not for your sakes do I this, be it known unto you, but for my holy name's sake, which ye had profaned among the heathBe ashamed and confounded for all your ways. These words, as they respect the case of the Jews, import two things: First that God delivered them, not for their own worthiness, but in mere goodness and mercy. And, secondly, that he restored them, not with a primary view to their national benefit and importance, but rather in order to the general good of mankind, and that his great name might be more extensively known.

II. The same may, with equal truth, be said of every favour which God grants, either to particular persons-to communities or to the human race.

1. The benefits which God bestows upon us personally, are the fruits of his benevolence, not of our desert; and intended not merely for our advantage, but for the glory of his name, by rendering us more useful in our sphere.

The apostle says, "None of us liveth to himself, and no man dieth to himself; for whether we live, we live to the Lord; and whether we die, we die to the Lord; whether we live therefore, or die, we are the Lord's." As we are not made merely for ourselves, so we ought not to live solely to our own ends. We are the servants of him who made us at first, and who preserves us still: And by his will, not by our own humour, are our lives to be governed. We then do his will the best, and advance his glory the most, when we direct our abilities and opportunities to the promotion of virtue and happiness among his rational creatures.

No man dieth to himself. God orders the time, manner and circumstances of each man's death, to serve the great and benevolent purposes of his providence. The good man's death brings hin indeed to that happiness, which is the reward of h virtuous life. In this sense, as he lived, so dies, to himself. But his death, at the same tím, answers other more general ends. It may impre on survivors those serious sentiments, which

taught and inculcated in the course of his life. And in the other world where he enjoys the fruits of his piety and goodness, he may still, in ways unknown to us, do much to advance the felicity of moral beings-may perhaps do more than he ever did, or could do, here below. As he lived to the Lord, so he dies to the Lord.

"Ye are not your own," says the Apostle, "for ye are bought with a price: Wherefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's."" The love of Christ constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead; and that he died for all, that they who live should not henceforth live to themselves, but to him who died for them, and rose again."

If we are wholly God's property, then such is every thing that we possess. Ifour life and death are not for our sakes only, but for his name's sake, then all his particular gifts are to be regarded in the same light, and improved to nobler purposes than our own immediate interest.

Thus we are to regard all the gifts of Nature. As God hath made different orders of intelligences, so in each order there is a gradation; and all to . promote the general happiness. The singular genius of a Newton was given, not merely that he might amuse and gratify himself in stating the tides, measuring the distances of planets, and tracing the paths of comets; but that he might explore the vast fields of science, and collect treasures for the general benefit of mankind.

Who is a wise man, says St. James, and endued with knowledge? Let him shew out of a good conversation his works with meekness of wisdom-And the wisdom, which is from above, is full of mercy and good fruits.

You have nothing, but what you received; and if you received it, Why should you glory, as if it

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