gratitude which they deserve at your hands, let not that gratitude pause here; but carry forward your thoughts to that great and gracious Being, who prompted in their hearts the feelings of christian love, and supplied them with the means of carrying their purposes into effect, by your preservation. Your very benefactors are themselves the blessings of God: the good gifts to you of that God from whom alone cometh salvation. Do not then attribute to yourselves, or to those who have been the means of your preservation, do not attribute to them the praise and thanksgiving that are due to God. Raise to him, above all, the song of joyful gratitude; offer to him, first of all, the tribute of your grateful obedience. And if for the temporal blessings so abundantly showered down upon your heads, the tribute of praise and of grateful obedience is justly due, how much more solemn an obligation is laid upon you, as those who have been brought under the means of grace, and instructed in the principles of your holy religion! By these blessings you have been taught to know more of that God who has loved and protected you, you have learnt to recognise in the same almighty Being, your preserver from death and misery, not only of a temporal, but of a spiritual nature. He has given you another and a loftier cause for gratitude and love to him, while he at the same time

provides for its full exercise in the cultivation of personal holiness, and the influence of christian principles. I would humbly hope that the truths which you learned here in your earlier days are not forgotten. I would hope that they have been the means of forming that regularity of conduct for which you have obtained the joyful commendations of your benefactors; and that these principles will still flourish and be effectual through the remainder of your life.

Whatever of religious knowledge you have acquired, whatever of christian virtue you have learned to practise, whatever of christian temper you have been enabled to cultivate, it is to God, and to God alone, that you must give the praise, as the author and giver of every good, and of every perfect gift. Moreover, while you express your thanks for blessings already received, view them as the earnest of a continuance of the same favours, consider them as the gifts of him with whom is no variableness, neither shadow of turning. The continuance of his blessings it will be yours to secure by the continuance of your humble dependence upon him, by your faith, by your obedience, by your prayers. He who has so far sustained and supported you, will not neglect you; he who has begun a good work in you will perform it until the day of Jesus Christ. These are his own promises, sanctioned by the truth of his word, and confirmed by the experi

ence of every age. Yet though this unchangeableness is the character of God, you may forfeit the blessings which it offers you may yourselves turn aside his benefits, you may shut out yourselves from all the blessings, and all the comforts, which his character leads us to believe would not be taken from you, on account of any change in him, either in his perfections or his love. Lose not then the hopes of future blessings by any neglect of God. Sensible of his past mercies, strive the more earnestly for their continuance, pray the more fervently for his constant support. Rely upon him, both in your temporal duties, and in your spiritual life. Make his word your study, his commandments your guide, his promises your comfort with humility, with devotion, look up to him as your Creator, your Preserver, and your Redeemer, and may he guide your hearts aright to love and to serve him. Be diligent in the use of all the means of grace; be serious in your attendance upon the worship of God; and, above all, neglect not the opportunities of attending the sacred ordinance of the Lord's supper, to seek the sustenance of your souls, while you express your love to your Saviour. We can only pray for you as we have done in times past, that you may go on from strength to strength, increasing in wisdom and in holiness; and after having passed through this world with the answer of a good conscience

towards God, may you receive from him the best and most perfect of his gifts, the gift of everlasting life.

Finally, let each of us, my brethren, endeavour to realise in our own hearts the feelings of gratitude and confidence which the text would inspire. Let us refer all our blessings to the bounty of him who has given them, and let us trust his mercy for their continuance. Then shall we best discharge our debt of gratitude, by the exercise of holy obedience; and best consult our own comfort, by the cultivation of that spirit of dependence upon him which he has a right to demand from us, both as the creatures of his hand, and as the receivers of his mercy; both as the objects of his care in this life, and as the children of his adoption, the inheritors of his everlasting kingdom.

294

SERMON XXI.

OBEDIENCE TO CIVIL GOVERNMENT.

PREACHED JUNE 26, 1836; THE ANNIVERSARY OF THE ACCESSION OF HIS

LATE MAJESTY KING WILLIAM THE FOURTH.

MATT. xxii. 21.

Render therefore to Cæsar the things which are Caesar's; and to God the things that are God's.

OUR blessed Saviour recommended to his followers that they should be "wise as serpents and harmless as doves." This was indeed only a copy of his own character. Wisdom that confounded the arguments of all his enemies, and authority that spake as never man spake, would tend to enforce the reasonableness of his statements; whilst the love which beamed in every sentiment of his lips, the benevolence which shone in every action of his life, might well have engaged the affections of every heart. But, alas! the hearts of mankind in general are too desti