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In offering thanksgiving to God this day, let us remember with the deepest emotion his unspeakable gift to the world and to us, and bless the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings in heavenly places in Christ Jesus. O may each one of this assembly long and strive to praise him with that glowing joy and gratitude, which transport the real subjects of his grace. Let it add to the joy of this day, that we behold the gospel extending its blessings into many lands, which had never been cheered by its healing beams. The long and dismal night of pagan darkness seems drawing towards the dawn of day. The swarming millions of Asia begin to open their eyes. Ethiopia stretches forth her hand; the islands in the great Pacific begin to be converted from idols and their sanguinary orgies, and to become vocal in the songs of Moses and the Lamb.And our red brethren of the neighboring wilderness are beginning to attend to the things of their peace; are beginning to abandon savage life for agriculture and civil arts, and to embrace with affection the gospel and its teachers. We indulge the hope, that the time is near for the full accomplishment of the most precious predictions and promises of God's holy word; that the Father is about to give to his son the heathen for his inheritance, and the uttermost parts of the earth for his possession; that he is, even now, saying to the North, give up, and to the South, keep not back; bring my sons from far, and my daughters from the ends of the

earth. O may the gospel again spread like the lightning, which cometh out of the East, and shineth even unto the West; and that kingdom be established, which shall be the joy of the whole earth. Continually let us pray, "Our Father who art in heaven; thy kingdom come. For thine is the kingdom, and the power, and the glory, forever. Amen.

SERMON XXI.

THE PRIDE OF PROSPERITY, AND ITS FALL.

(Preached on the annual Fast, in 1823.)

DANIEL iv. 28,-31.

All this came upon the king Nebuchadnezzar. At the end of twelve months, he walked in the palace of the kingdom of Babylon. The king spake, and said, Is not this great Babylon, that I have built for the house of the kingdom, by the might of my power, and for the honor of my majesty ?-While the word was in the king's mouth, there fell a voice from heaven, saying, O king Nebuchadnezzar, to thee it is spoken: the kingdom is departed from thee.

In the chapter, from which this passage is taken, we have the interesting account of Nebuchadnezzar's dream or vision, and Daniel's bold exposition of it, followed by his faithful counsel, in these words :"Wherefore, O king, let my counsel be acceptable unto thee, and break off thy sins by righteousness, and thine iniquities by showing mercy to the poor; if it may be a lengthening of thy tranquillity." The counsel was neglected, and the prophetic vision exactly accom

plished, as we see in the text and verses following. I hope it may furnish many useful hints on this solemn anniversary, while I attempt to draw your attention to this affecting portion of sacred history.

In every stage and circumstance of life, very important is the knowledge of ourselves, and a consideration of the dangers and temptations to which we are exposed. But never is it more necessary thani n the day when general prosperity also is enjoyed around us. When suffering under adversity, the trial is severe; but we have some advantages in the conflict. The assaults are more from without, and the enemy more visible. And under repeated suffering, I speak particularly of the ills of poverty, the heart becomes less sensible, and learns to contract itself, and is sometimes, at least, seen to become less and less accessible to temptation. But in prosperity, a man is imperceptibly tempted from his guard; and he is in a manner subdued before he suspects his danger. This remark, I doubt not, might be found verified in almost every man's private history, if he has been careful to note the changes of his mind, with the changes of his circumstances. But as the ebb and flow of prosperity among the mass of mankind are not very perceptible, the influence of such changes is not perhaps so commonly observed by them. The history of those individuals, whose lives have filled a larger compass, or who have more strongly felt the contrast of good and bad fortune, presents a mirror in which mankind may see themselves. The prince, who speaks in our text, is a glaring example of

the dangers into which the current of prosperity tends to bear its possessor, and of those perverse dispositions, which are wont to spring up in the heart in such a season. Nebuchadnezzar, from common life, rose suddenly to a height of grandeur, pride, and wickedness, almost unexampled. His father was a servant of the king of Assyria, and exciting an insurrection in Babylon, erected that part of the empire into an independent kingdom. During his father's life, Nebuchadnezzar commanded the army, and by his victories extended the Babylonian empire over a great portion of the East. By an alliance with the Medes, he effected the overthrow of the Assyrian monarchy, the greatest at that time in the world, and formed a vast empire on its ruins. Having finished his conquests, and succeeded his father in the government, he turned his attention to the internal policy of his kingdom, and the embellishment of his capital. In doing this, he accomplished works which have been the astonishment of succeeding ages, in the vast magnitude and extent of the city walls, and in the superb temples, and other edifices, the hanging gardens, artificial lakes and mountains comprehended within those walls. So great was his magnificence, and so widely extended his fame, that the prophet is no less just than happy, in his figurative description of him. "The tree grew and was strong, and the height thereof reached unto heaven, and the sight thereof to the end of all the earth." Such was his prosperity. Let us now see what were the fruits of it. Having attained the utmost height of human

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