not as he ought ; it is too big for utterance : as, in a mind overwhelmed with conscious unworthiness, " the Spirit of God maketh intercession with groans which cannot be uttered," so methinks, if we had a just apprehension of the benefits con- ferred upon us, our sense of them would be expressed rather in a way of silent adoration, than of verbal acknowledgment. We do not mean by this, that men should not sing praises to their God, and tell of all his wondrous works ; for it is our bounden
duty to celebrate them to the utmost of our power b:
but, in our present state of darkness and ignorance, it is rarely given to men so fully to behold all the wonders of God's love, as to have their organs of vision blinded by the overwhelming splendour of the light : we " see at present only in part : " we " behold things only, as in a mirror, darkly:" as " Moses put a veil upon his face" to hide from the admiring Israelites that glory which they were " unable steadfastly to behold," so God has, in mercy, veiled even his goodness from us, because we are incapable of supporting the ineffable effulgence of his glory. Of what we do see, we must say, with Job, " Lo, these are parts of his ways ; but how little a portion is heard of him ! but the thunder of his power " (we may add too, the riches of his goodness) "who can understand0?"]
2. With practical self-devotion —
[However overwhelmed our minds may be, there must be in us a determination of heart to render to the Lord all the service of which he has made us capable. Our gratitude to him must be, " not in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth." His love must have a constraining influence on our souls : it must " constrain us no longer to live unto ourselves, but unto Him who died for us, and rose again d." Every blessing we enjoy must lead us to Him, who of his great mercy and bounty has bestowed it on us : and the consideration of redeeming love especially must animate us to a total surrender of ourselves, in body, soul, and spirit, to the service of our Gode. As, under the Law, the slaughtered victims were wholly burnt by fire upon the altar, so, under the Gospel, must we offer our- selves up wholly to the Lord " as living sacrifices." This is nothing more than our reasonable service1: "We are not our own; we are bought with a price : and therefore we should glorify God in our body and in our spirit, which are hisg."]
But let us somewhat more distinctly consider, III. The way in which we should requite them — The example of the pious Jews is very instructive —
b Tsai. xii. 14 — 16. c Job xxvi. 14. d 2 Cor. v. 14, 15.
e 1 Thess. v. 23. f Rom. xii. 1. el Cor. vi. 20.