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we spent together, but this seemed to surpass them all. It was joy to my heart to witness the triumphs of his faith, and my prayer was that my last days might be like his.

Let me say to all who mourn on this occasion, we have more reason to rejoice than to sorrow. Precious in the sight of the Lord is the death of his saints. Precious indeed must be so calm a death to all surviving friends. May he, who is the resurrection and the life, who has promised to swallow up death in victory, be, and for ever remain, our consolation, our hope, and our joy.

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SERMON XIX.

THE NATURE AND REASONABLENESS OF DEVOTION.

DELIVERED IN DUXBURY, ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 18, 1826.

PSALMS, C. 3, 4, 5.

"Know ye that the Lord he is God; it is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves; we are his people, and the sheep of his pasture. Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name. For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."

THE recognition of a supreme, intelligent Being, as the ruler and rightful owner of the universe, lies at the foundation of all rational devotion. The evidences proper to convince us of the existence of such a Being are entirely ample, and of a character perfectly adapted to our senses, through which medium they bring conviction to the understanding. To our sense of sight are presented unnumbered worlds, whose known motions, as well as stations, have such a relation to each other, as to convince the rational mind, that what may be termed order, does in reality exist throughout the universe. The regular changes of the various seasons of the year, which are but the known effects of the order just noticed, are sufficient proof, to a candid mind, that the natural world is under the control of a principle, which is both steady and sure in its influence. The regular routine of the several divisions of the day and of the night, is such kind of evidence in this case, as can, by no means, be refuted. The sun, the moon, the stars hold forth a language to intelligent beings, not to

be misunderstood, in which they bear testimony

of the divine existence.

In order to arrive at the advantages, which result from our relation to the one Supreme, it is not necessary that we inquire into mysteries which are necessarily hidden. Philosophers may endeavour to determine of what substance the sun is composed, and in the fruitless attempt, they may weaken and even utterly destroy the power of vision; they may, in the utter darkness produced by their speculations, come to the prepostercus conclusion, that there is no sun in the heavens! So, if we attempt to find out the "Almighty to perfection," we are at once lost in a maze of our own folly, and are liable to doubt the existence of what we are unable fully to analyze or comprehend. Were we able to subject the monarch of day to a chemical process, and again to restore that vast luminary to his present station and splendor, we have no reason to believe, that the advantages which we have always enjoyed from his light and heat would in the least be increased by our labours. So if we were able to demonstrate, on physical principles, the very substance of the divine Being, we have no reason to believe that the blessings which we receive from him would, by this, be increased.

That our views of the Supreme Being should be such as to induce a rational devotion, on moral principles, it is necessary that we acknowledge Him to be intelligent. For however so great and numerous the advantages may be, which we derive from him, unless we view them the effects of design, we can feel no moral obligation, can exercise no gratitude, can offer no praise, nor feel a moral accountability. The fruit, which is most pleasant and agreeable to our taste, excites in us no gratitude to the tree on which it grew, because we have no evidence that this fruit was thus adapted to our taste by any design of the tree; but the rational mind, being convinced that such won

derful congruity, resulting in the most exquisite pleasure, must be the effect of design, and that this design must be in him who created the tree, who constituted the flavour of its fruit, and the taste of the eater, feels the weight of obligation, and exercises a rational gratitude to that infinite intelligence, which kindly regards the enjoyments of his creatures.

It is not, therefore, the simple existence of a supreme governor of the universe, viewed only as a governing principle, like the law of attraction in solid or gross bodies, which constitutes an object of rational devotion; nor is it the almightiness of that principle, nor its power to do us good or harm, which can call forth our worship; but it is the recognition of a benevolent, a compassionate design in our Creator, which always directs his omnipotence in such a course as cannot fail of the good intended, which calls our rational powers to devotional exercises.

The portion of scripture, which has been chosen to lead our religious contemplations, on the pres ent joyful and happy occasion, very evidently justifies the foregoing remarks. The acknowledg ment of God is the first thing mentioned and enjoined. The text then proceeds to inform us what God has done: "It is he that hath made us, and not we ourselves." It then informs us that "we are his people and the sheep of his pasture." We are God's property, and are provided for and taken care of by him. On these principles, the devotion, which the text requires, seems evidently to depend. As it is a fact that there is a God; and as it is a fact that he hath made us, and that we did not make ourselves; and as it is a fact that we are his people, and are provided for and taken care of by him, as sheep are by a shepherd, we are required to "enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise;" we are required to "be thankful unto him, and to bless his name." The reasons which the text further renders for

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ais devotion are thus stated; "For the Lord is good; his mercy is everlasting; and his truth endureth to all generations."

In improving this subject appropriately to the dedication of this house to the worship of the ONE ONLY AND TRUE GOD, special notice will be taken of the following particulars:

First. Important truths suggested by the facts that the divine Being made us, and that we did not make ourselves.

Secondly. A concise view of the reasons given in the text, why we should pay our devotions to our maker and preserver, and

Thirdly. The benefits arising from a faithful attention to these devotional duties.

First. If an almighty and infinitely wise Being created us, and if the Creator be himself morally good, it follows of course, that, whatever may be our nature and constitution, in relation to either natural or moral principles, they are what the Creator saw fit they should be, and what he made them, and that they are not opposed to his goodness. Whatever discrepance there may be between these self-evident facts and the common doctrine of man's native and entire depravity, in which the doctors of the church have found an utter aversion to God, and a fountain of unholiness, impurity and sin, it must be imputed to the perversion of human reason, and to that mental darkness which misguided the understanding in ages of superstition. It is far more reasonable t suppose, that the most learned, and even the most devout among men should err in understanding, than it is to believe, that, as the creatures of God, we possess any native properties which are in opposition to him.

Secondly. The fact that we were created by the divine Being, and not by ourselves, necessarily suggests, that in our constitution we are favoured with whatever unerring wisdom was able to devise for our benefit. Whatever is made partakes of the

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