Among our grounds of thanksgiving are the character and perfection of God. The respect and admiration justly claimed by any being depend upon the degree in which he possesses corresponding excellence. For instance, a being with reason is entitled to more regard than an irrational animal, and a man of talent and virtue to more regard than a dunce or profligate. Every one, in short, has a right to that place in our esteem which he deserves. Now, on this ground, we cannot without injustice withhold from God our highest praises and warmest affections. As a divine being, He is a being of superior nature to all others, for that nature belongs to God alone. The nature of man is common to the human race: the nature of angels is shared by the heavenly host; but the nature of God is peculiar to himself. Beside himself, all other beings are finite, created, dependent, and mutable. We owe to Him on this account, therefore, the whole honor, and the undivided regard, which belong to the only being thus distinguished. The respect due to a reasonable being is due as much to one as to another, and must be equally divided among the human family; but that which the Divine Being claims, since there is but one, is wholly and undividably his own. In the same way, the character of God, on account of its surpassing excellence, entitle Him to our deepest reverence, and to that response of feeling and affection which its several features deserve. Its amiability deserves our love, its truth our confidence, its compassion our regard, and its justice our awe. If such qualities occasion us to exercise such feelings toward a loving, truthful, benevolent and upright man, how much more should they do so toward God, in whose character they shine with the brightest lustre, and without any mixture of infirmity? Now, the duty in which we are engaged, implies that we have such feelings, that our prayers and praises are the language suggested by his nature, as the one living and true God, and by his character, as holy, and just, and good.

The works of God are a ground of thanksgiving. Some men there are in the world who have the finest sense possible of the beautiful in art, and yet seem insensible to that of nature. They praise Canova and Thorwaldsen to the skies, but say nothing of the statuary in living marl le. But these men are unjust to God, for every artist is entitled to all the credit which his works deserve. Whether the author of the works be human or divine, makes no difference. We accord to the sculptor, the painter, the writer, our applauses according to the supposed merit of their productions. Crowns have been wreathed for them, festivals have been held in their honor, eulogies have been pronounced on their genius, and books have been written in their praise. And yet all this is done in honor of those who are themselves indebted to the Almighty, for the means by which their fame has been acquired and their works accomplished. The intellect of Newton,

the hand of Phidias, the fire of Raphael, and the eloquence of Cicero, were all from God, and the praise of the wonders which they achieved is justly His. But if we applaud to the skies the works of men, with what rapturous enthusiasm and admiration should those of God be witnessed!

The most cunning contrivances of human ingenuity, the noblest triumphs of human genius, are as much beneath the grandeur, and skill, and wisdom, displayed in the works of God as man is beneath his Maker. Man can stretch a wire around the globe, and communicate with his antipodes in a moment; but can he create the subtle and mysterious fluid which conveys his message? Man can carve statues out of marble, but can he breathe into their nostrils the breath of life? Man can annihilate distance, but can he make a drop of water or a particle of dust? "Which of you," says our Lord, "by taking thought, can add one cubit unto his stature?" or what amounts to the same thing-can conceive how in any way the works of God may be improved? Let any man try to make that better which God pronounced very good, and his inability to originate will soon be palpable. What a prodigious grasp of mind then does it argue in the Creator of all things, that he could beget the idea of a universe, with its gorgeous assemblage of systems, and worlds; its complex laws and vast machinery. Ages passed before man could discover the law which governs the fall of atoms, and the sweep of planets; the wisdom then which originated all the physical laws of the universe, must be unspeakable. And what consummate power must the realization of these sublime ideas have demanded to produce from nothing, in such excellence that it could not be improved, everything! Consider, too, that the most diminutive of the works of God are as full of wonder as the greatest; that the mote in the sunbeam and the drop of water, teem as much with marvels, as the fields of space or the canopy of heaven. Reflect that even among those of his works with which we are acquainted, there is an endless diversity, so that no exact coincidence is found among individuals even of the same tribe in the animal and vegetable world.

Although there are so many plants, and animals, and men-so many that they cannot be counted, you cannot find a single pair of them without some points of dissimilarity. Whole tribes of creatures quite different from those now existing in the world have disappeared, and the process of producing and reproducing this infinitely varied and diversified succession of beings has been carried on by God from the creation of the world till now. Such thoughts, the very immensity of the subject make distracting, but they bring forcibly to our minds the adoring admiration, and love, which we owe to God. Such works as his do indeed deserve thanksgiving, and praise, and were they withheld these very walls might clap their hands, and yonder stones sing anthems to rebuke our apathy.

Another cause of thankfulness are "the blessings of this life," or the continued exercise in our behalf, of a watchful providence. Every being deserves our thanks in proportion to the time, and thought, and pains, which He employs for our good. Now in order to bestow upon us these blessings the wisdom, skill, power and goodness of God are continually occupied. He devotes, if I may so express myself, His time, His resources, His contrivance and His study, for our interests. Thus our preservation is owing to His incessantly warding off from us disease and accident-to His maintaining uninterruptedly the succession of seasons, the fecundity of the earth, the salubrity of the air, and that constitution of things, which to such beings as we are, if deranged for a moment, would prove fatal. This shows how busy God must be in our behalf; for that nothing may go wrong he must be everywhere and see everything. Were he to leave the helm of the great ship that he has built, fo a single moment, it must go to pieces. He must not only control and direct the movements of the world, but those of the atom, because a single screw out of place in this vast machine, might be destructive. He must foresee every danger which he averts, and have a perfect knowledge of every event before it happens. And what thanks are not due to God for such sleepless regard to our interests, and unwearied exertions in our favor! What goodness to occupy himself every moment in supplying our fast recurring necessities, and in daily bestowing upon us the richest blessings.

For these alone we can never be sufficiently thankful. Unbroken health, without which, though possessing all things, we enjoy nothing. Oh, it must be a cold and withered heart that lies within that man's breast who does not praise God for the unimpaired energies of his frame, notwithstanding, perhaps, pernicious dissipations and wearing toils. "Strange" indeed is it that under such circumstances, "a harp of ten thousand strings should keep in tune so long." There is a sound mind without which nature would be a blank. There are not only the necessaries of life, but the feasts, which for our taste, our imagination, our curiosity, and our reason, are everywhere spread in the works of God. There are also home, that "nest of delights," and all the sweets of domestic happiness. But thousands of volumes and ten thousand times ten thousand tongues could not exhaust the catalogue! What affecting passages, my hearers, in each one's history, would such a recapitulation involve! What tales of hair-breadth escapes, singular recoveries, and special interpositions! Some God has rescued from dangers, some he has snatched from death, and some he has saved from ruin. Many have struggled hard with adversity, who are now prosperous, and many have acquired a handsome competence, who were once poor.

"The blessings of this life" will remind numbers of the up-hill part of its journey, and make them think perhaps with tears of the

humiliations, and hardships of the past, but it will remind them also, and I trust make them unfeignedly thankful for the happy change which they have since experienced. All the praises which we owe to God for these blessings, His creatures, were they to unite as one man in the attempt, could never render. If we extol the charity which relieves one object, how can we sufficiently praise Him, who "openeth his hand and satisfieth the desire of every living thing? If we praise the benefactor who merely shows kindness to his friends, what admiration is due to him who feeds his enemies and "makes his sun to shine upon the evil and upon the good?" If we applaud the benevolence which visits prisons, and improves the condition of the insane, how can we sufficiently applaud him who liberates and restores those who are enslaved and maddened by sin? If no praises are thought too great for the patriot who sacrifices his possessions for his country's good, what praises does He deserve who " gave His only begotten Son that whosoever believeth in him should not perish but have everlasting life."

Our present thanksgivings, however, are not only offered for our individual, but national mercies. "The good that men do" is not always "buried with their bones," for the custom which we now see generally established of a public thanksgiving to Almighty God, originated with those who have long since been numbered with the dead. It will be 232 years ago on the 11th day of next month, since the first demonstration of this nature was made; by men too in an unexplored wilderness, in the midst of savages and thankful if they could obtain sufficient food to support their lives. How strange that such a practice should first take root and flourish amid the adversities and hardships of emigrant life, and that not until the lapse of two centuries when the golden harvests of autumn wave over the thousand hills and valleys of the land should the noble example of the Puritans be imitated, and anything like a national acknowledgment of the goodness of God be offered. What nation is more indebted than this to God's bounty? Look at its rapid progress which makes the whole world stretch out its hands in wonder! See the extent of its commerce, the success of its manufactures, the amount of its revenues, the numbers, enterprise and intelligence of its people! Look at its fruitful fields, and the rich profusion of treasures with which it abounds! Its hills are studded with flocks, its rivers are freighted with gold, and its valleys are standing thick with corn. Contrast this with the spectacle which compa ratively a few years ago it presented, when but a sparse and widely scattered population covered the land; when the forests of the West were still unentered and its prairies untrodden, when the deer roamed where cities stand and Indians ambushed where cattle graze. Contrast all this with the condition of other countries, where the streets are crowded with the ragged and the poor,

and the towns soiled with filth and wretchedness; where the avenues to distinction are closed to the indigent, and where honest poverty is esteemed a crime; where armies are marshalling for the battle, and where the cormorants of war plume their wings. Peace is ours with all its attendant blessings.

And "what shall we render unto the Lord for all His benefits?" Oh, never, never can we adequately repay His mercies; but be it ours to render unto Him the undivided affection of our hearts and the unqualified obedience of our lives-be it ours, by doing good to others, to show our appreciation of His mercies to ourselves. If as a country or as individuals we would render in any degree according to the benefits we have received from God, we must honor His laws, reverence His word, and practice His precepts. Upon this depend both the welfare of the man and the endurance of the republic. Under such auspices anarchy and misrule shall never subvert our institutions, but preserved by the restorative and antiseptic powers of religion, they shall last whilst the sun and moon endure, for it is written that "Righteousness exalteth a nation but sin is a reproach to any people."

SERMON DCLXII.

BY REV. EMERSON DAVIS, D. D.

WESTFIELD, MASS.

GOD STIRS UP HIS PEOPLE.

"As an eagle stirreth up her nest, fluttereth over her young, spreadeth abroad her wings, taketh them, beareth them on her wings: so the Lord alone did lead him, and there was no strange god with him.”—Deut. xxxii. 11, 12.

IMPORTANT truths are often very pleasantly and forcibly illus trated by familiar facts in natural history. The righteous are said to be bold as a lion, to grow like the cedar, and to flourish like the lily. Like the bee they gather in summer, and like the ant lay up food in the time of harvest. The wicked are compared to the heath in the desert, to the deaf adder that stoppeth his ear, to the bullock unaccustomed to the yoke, and to the corn that springs up in the thin soil overlaying the surface of the rock.

The eagle being a large and powerful bird, attracts the attention of men in every country where it is found, and is often referred to by inspired as well as uninspired writers to illustrate important truths. This bird lives to the age of forty or fifty, and sometimes even to a hundred years. It sheds its feathers in the beginning of the spring, after which it is supposed to renew its