sent passage may be concluded; for the Samaritan being already cured of his leprosy, was now to be saved by his faith from some greater evil. The all-penetrating eye of Jesus saw in the gratitude of the Samaritan the joyful and cordial acceptance of himself as the promised Messiah, the Son of God, mighty to save: accordingly he speaks the words of peace and comfort to the soul of this humble believer: "Thy faith hath saved thee," saved thee from the guilt and dominion of sin; thou art cleansed from the leprosy of thy soul, through faith in me; thou art brought out of darkness into light, and out of the dominion of Satan, into the state of grace and the way of salvation. But if in proof of his divinity our Lord displayed these miraculous instances of his power to forgive sins on earth, this is no ground for the enthusiastic notion, that from heaven he exercises this divine prerogative in the same manner, and gives to elect individuals the certain assurances of pardon and salvation by an instantaneous operation of his holy spirit. To deny the reality of sudden conversions, would be to deny the omnipotence of divine grace; but in the ordinary instances of God's assisting spirit, conversion is gradual: were not this the case, how manifest would be the absurdity of those

several scriptures which inculcate growth in grace; advance, progress, proficiency, improvement in faith, knowledge, and virtue, and which represent under the strongest figures and expressions the progressive nature of the christian life.

We may next infer from the words of our Saviour to the Samaritan, the true nature of justifying faith. To outward appearance it was his gratitude which commended him to the pardoning mercy of Jesus; but so transcendent a reward was not bestowed upon the mere exercise of a moral virtue, but upon the act of that "faith which worketh by love." Gratitude to the Redeemer is the first fruits of faith in him; the disposition inseparable from a state of salvation, For though our justification before God is through faith alone, yet in whatsoever heart it justifies, it is never found alone, but always accompanied with the love of Him who loved us, and gave himself for us, In Christ Jesus no faith availeth, but that which is a living, acting principle, calling forth gratitude and every generous affection of the soul into vigorous and habitual exercise, Love is the foundation of the covenant between God and his people; in God this love is mercy, in believers it is gratitude; and as filial piety is the gratitude of children to their parents, so is

piety to God the gratitude of his "children by adoption and grace." Gratitude then is piety in its essence and perfection; for it is the parent of that faith which bringeth salvation. "We love God, because he first loved us," and by his spirit diffuses that grace in our hearts which forms them to every sentiment of gratitude to him and benevolence to our fellow-beings.

Having in a former part of this discourse traced the resemblance of Jewish ingratitude, in our character as a nation, I shall now examine how far in our conduct as individuals we fall under the reproach of the nine lepers. Let us take a retrospect of the years that are past, and remark the various instances of divine mercy that have followed us up to this day; the difficulties and dangers with which we have been surrounded, and the providential hand by which we have been extricated from them, or carried through them; how suddenly our darkness has been turned into light; how critically relief has been experienced in the moment of necessity and danger. Reflect on the weeks and months that many of you have languished on the bed of pain and sickness, from which you thought you should arise no more? but years of health and comfort have since been added to your lives. The mercies of heaven visit

us with the dawn of every day, and each night are a curtain of protection about our beds. Well may each of us say with the Psalmist, "How gra

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cious are thy thoughts unto me, O God, how great is the sum of them." But do we adopt the tice of this great teacher of thanksgiving? we summon and stir up all our faculties to assist us in it? Do we call upon our souls to "bless the Lord, and all that is within us to bless his holy name?" Alas! we know that we do not; we know that our thank-offerings are not a burning sacrifice; that our praises are cold and languid, because they result not from deep and affecting impressions of divine mercies; the remembrance of them is transient as the morning dew. Nay, how prone are many of us to ascribe all our successes and deliverances to some human cause, to friends and connexions, or to our own wisdom and foresight, or to chance, an empty sound without a meaning, forgetful of the Supreme First Cause whose providence ordereth all things in heaven and earth. But for what purpose or with what consistency do we assemble in this house of prayer, to render thanks to God for the great benefits we have received at his hands, if we eat and drink, and lie down to sleep, without lifting up one grateful or pious thought to heaven, until

sickness or calamity brings us upon our knees, and awakens our devotion with our dangers or our sufferings? If, my brethren, as professing Christians, we are not chargeable with a profane contempt of providential dispensations, we cannot deny that we overlook or undervalue our daily and hourly blessings, and for the very reason that should increase their value, I mean their being regular and familiar; and that even the special mercies vouchsafed us are, generally speaking, soon effaced from our remembrance. Conscious therefore as we must be, of our moral resemblance to the nine lepers, let us have recourse to religious ordinances, to prayer and meditation on the word and works of God, to excite and energize our languid faith, to give us eyes to see and hearts to feel the operations of his hands, that so with the humble zeal and ardent gratitude of the ingenuous Samaritan, for all the mercies we receive outwardly in our bodies, and inwardly in our souls, we may give glory to God, and humble ourselves at the feet of the Redeemer. O my brethren, immense as is our debt of gratitude for our creation, preservation, and all the blessings of this life, what comparison will they bear with his inestimable love in the redemption of the world, by our Lord Jesus