off, lonely and shunned-being separated, on account of their leprosy, from all intercourse with others" lifted up their voices and said, Jesus, Master, have mercy on us." The cry of supplication was never addressed to Jesus in vain; the diseased and the miserable always found in him an almighty Friend, desirous and able to succour and to save. When, therefore, he saw the lepers, "he said unto them, Go show yourselves to the priests." The priests, according to the Jewish law, were to judge when the leprosy was healed, and were to appoint the necessary sacrifices and purifications. The direction of our Saviour, therefore, that they should go and show themselves unto the priests, was to them, in fact, a pledge that they should be healed from their leprosy. "And it accordingly came to pass, that as they went, they were cleansed." What should have been their emotions and their conduct on thus finding themselves unexpectedly relieved from this loathsome and dreadful malady? Should not the tribute of lively thanks have been immediately paid to their gracious and almighty Deliverer? Alas! there was only one of the ten, and he not a Jew, who valued himself on his religious character and privileges, but a Samaritan-belonging to a people among whom a temple was established distinct from the temple at Jerusalem-and who was therefore considered by the Jews as an outcast from their church and nation-only "one of them, when he saw that he was healed, turned back, and with a loud voice glorified God;" overwhelmed with the emotions of gratitude and affection," he fell down on his face at the feet of his almighty Deliverer, giving him thanks." Struck with the grateful affection of this

poor Samaritan, and indignant at the insensibility and ingratitude of the proud and self-conceited Jews, who went on their way without expressing any sentiment of gratitude for their deliverance, Jesus sorrowfully and expressively exclaimed"Were there not ten cleansed? but where are the nine? There are not found that returned to give glory to God, save this stranger.'

This history, my brethren, forcibly suggests to us the guilt of the sin of ingratitude to God. While therefore we feel the sentiments of lively indignation rise in our bosoms at the view of the insensibility and ingratitude which the nine lepers who were cleansed displayed under the signal mercy which they received, it may be productive of salutary improvement, and it is certainly incumbent upon us diligently and seriously to inquire whether we are not justly chargeable with the same base sin of ingratitude to God-whether we do not merit the indignant reproaches which every feeling and ingenuous mind is disposed to cast on the lepers who were healed, on the insensible and ungrateful objects of the Saviour's mercy.

Let us consider the many obligations, and review the many mercies and favours that call for gratitude to God, and see whether we are absolved from the guilt of violating this duty.

We have received from that Almighty Jehovah who created us after his own image, a rational and immortal nature, endued with powers vigorous and exalted, capable of ranging, with inextinguishable ardour, through the works of the Creator-of exploring, with keen and vigorous research, the hidden recesses of truth-and above all, of receiving the knowledge of the existence, and the attributes

and the will of the Maker and Lord of all things— of knowing, of loving, and of enjoying, to all eternity, the infinitely exalted Fountain of truth, of goodness, of virtue, and of happiness. Have we given glory to God for this inestimable gift of a being spiritual in its nature, immortal in its existence, and capable of making continual advances to the perfection and happiness of Deity itself? Have our hearts overflowed with the emotions of gratitude to our glorious Maker, for ranking us thus high in the scale of being-for enduing us with capacities for the most exquisite, pure, and immortal enjoyments? or have we not, on the contrary, gone on our way, seldom reflecting on the exalted dignity of our nature, and still less frequently glorifying and magnifying the name of our Almighty Maker? Have we not ungratefully employed the exalted powers he has bestowed on us, in the career of sin and folly, in the pursuit of transitory and sensual gratifications, instead of devoting them to the glory of him who made us, to the service of him from whom we have derived them? Ah! my brethren, much I fear that these inquiries will convict us of having failed in these important duties; that they will fix on us the stain of ingratitude to the infinitely glorious Author of our being. To the good providence of him whose tender mercies are over all his works, we are indebted for the preservation of our being, for the countless enjoyments that crown our lot in life. He has placed us in a world enriched with beauties and glories that gratify every sense, and impart pleasure to every feeling of the heart. Not dooming us to solitary, and therefore to selfish joy, he has connected us in society by a thousand ties, and made

the exquisite emotions of pleasure in the breasts of others beat responsive to those in our own. In the many endearing relations of social and domestic life he has provided a rich increase of all our joys, a powerful alleviation of all our sorrows. Exercising towards us more than parental care, he "keeps us as the apple of his eye, he guards us as in the hollow of his hand;" and "though father and friend forsake us, yet will not he, whose goodness is boundless as his nature, and enduring as his existence. Have then these many blessings of his providence been returned with our homage, our love, our obedience? or, have we gone on our way, enjoying the bounties of his providence, heedless of the gracious Giver, neglectful of the tribute of affection and obedience due to him? Ah! it is to be feared that conscience will fix on some of us not only the stain of this criminal indifference and neglect, but the deeper guilt of having abused his bounties, to the corrupting of our own hearts, to the violation of his laws, and to the dishonour of his name.

Again: Infinitely powerful as are the claims of the Almighty, as our Creator and Preserver, to our gratitude and love, he appears in a relation to us still more endearing, still more loudly calling on us for the supreme and grateful homage of our hearts and lives. From everlasting misery, the just punishment of our numerous and aggravated violations of his laws, he offers us redemption: to the everlasting joys of his own glorious presence, which our most splendid and perfect virtue could not merit, he gives us a title. From death and misery he thus rescues us; to heaven and immortality he thus exalts us ;-not by any human agency,

not by the instrumentality of the most exalted angel of his presence; but by the sacrifice of his onlybegotten and well-beloved Son. This is a stupendous display of love, which absorbs in ceaseless adoration the host of heaven. Has it awakened in our hearts the sentiments of ardent gratitude? Have we, the unworthy subjects of this stupendous redemption, embraced it with thankfulness? Have we humbly devoted ourselves to the service of him who has redeemed us from hell and destruction, and conferred on us a title to an immortal and glorious existence? or, have we not, on the contrary, gone on our way, busied solely with the schemes of worldly aggrandizement, immersed in sensual pursuits, and regardless of the glorious redemption wrought for us by the sufferings and death of the Son of God? If this character should apply to us, indignant as we may be at being supposed capable of ingratitude, be assured, we have incurred its deepest guilt.

Pass from these general to the morc particular mercies which we have received from the overflowing goodness of our God.

Can we not look back to some dismaying period, when sickness held us in its agonizing grasp, and death appeared to be laying his cold hand on the pulse of life? The Lord of sickness and of health, of life and death, in his abundant compassion allayed the malady that was torturing our frame, and arrested the approach of the king of terrors. And for this gracious deliverance have we praised our Almighty Benefactor in the courts of his house, paid our vows to him in the assembly of his people, and devoted to his service the life which he graciously spared? Alas! on the contrary, have not