speak of the eternal and immutable difference between right and wrong; and of the foundations of obligation as existing in the nature of things. But the greatest of all things is God. His law is what it is, because he himself is God.

God himself must cease to be what he is, and his intelligent creatures must cease to be what they are, before his claims may hold a secondary place.

What are these claims? Summarily expressed, they are contained in the few words, "Thou shalt have no other gods before me." True religion begins here, with angels and with men, in heaven and on earth. It has peculiarities in the world that is fallen and redeemed, and some shining graces that are unknown to the unfallen; while the elements of these are the same which constitute the character of those who have never sinned, and "have no need of repentance.' And what do these claims imply, but that all men should know God, acknowledge him, and from the heart serve and honor him?

Him they must know. Ignorance and false views of his character may be, and often are, alike fatal to piety. They not only shroud the mind in darkness, but lead multitudes blindfold to perdition. Nature and providence speak for God; but there are lessons which they do not, cannot read Do we search for views of him that will not mislead our minds; for some strong and express

to us.

image of the invisible Deity? That great mystery of godliness, "God manifest in the flesh," was God himself dwelling among men, imprinting his footsteps on this low earth, and holding intercourse with mortals as a man with his friend. What he was, that God is; Immanuel, "God with us," in all his spotless purity and rectitude, in his attractive loveliness and overawing majesty; "the glory of God in the face of Jesus Christ." In his last and memorable prayer with and for his disciples, he utters the language, "This is life eternal, that they might know thee the only true God, and Jesus Christ whom thou hast sent."

God claims to be acknowledged as well as known. He requires an honest and frank avowal of his excellence and prerogative. Where men are brought into collision with idol temples and idol deities; or where, in less degraded lands, fame, pleasure and power set up their altars; where a forgotten God, a slighted Saviour, an unsought Sanctifier proclaim that there are thousands who have other gods before him; where thousands more make a God of self and gold, and worship and serve the creature more than the Creator: it is characteristic of those who serve and honor him, never to be ashamed of him, his truth, or his cause; and while they confess him with their mouths, to inscribe the acknowledgment on the fleshly table of their hearts, "This God is our God

forever and ever; he will be our guide even unto death."

His claims thus reach the inner man. It is this internal homage which we owe, and on which he insists. "My son, give me thy heart." Our hearts must be his so loving, fearing, trusting and rejoicing in him, that we live to praise him, and find our pleasure in doing his will. His being must influence us; all his attributes must influence us; his providence must influence us, as well as his grace and truth. and truth. Our time must be his; our labor his; his our property and influence; his our waking, and his our hours of rest; our home his, his our joys, our sorrows; our life his, and his our death. Living and dying, we must be the Lord's. He will have all, if his claims are duly honored.

And the thought may not be lost sight of, that he must have this supremacy in opposition to all other claims. There are claims which do not interfere with his; he appoints and honors them, and they are identified with his own. The world has claims, business and friendship have claims, science has claims, and every department of human effort and joy that is honest, true, temperate, pure, and of good report, has claims which he honors. But they must all be subordinate to him; we must turn from every altar to his. No danger may repress, no toil discourage, no external influ

ence subdue this paramount regard to God. No traditions of men may countervail his word; no confessor stand in his place; no sanctuary be set up against his. It is only at his footstool that true devotion kneels.

God also is before all things, in that his honor and glory should be the first and great object of our pursuit. When we look into the sacred writings, we find such declarations as these: “The Lord hath made all things for himself."-"I have created him for my glory."-"I wrought for my name's sake that it should not be polluted before the heathen."—"All things were created by him and for him."—"Thou art worthy, O Lord, to receive glory, and honor, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for thy pleasure they do exist, and were created."-" Whether therefore ye eat or drink, do all to the glory of God." We deduce from these and such like declarations, the great truth that God himself is his own great end, and that in all that they do, his creatures should aim to please and honor him. This is his supreme object, and it must be theirs. The supreme and ultimate reason of every created object in the universe is in God himself. What is this material universe, but an expression of his power? the utterance of the Deity as it awoke this universe of matter into being? And when we behold it clothed with verdure, and filled with ten

thousand forms of organic life, everywhere displaying its form and beauty; what are these but expressions of his wisdom? And when, in addition to these, we see the myriads of animated and living existences, fitted for life and enjoyment and utility; what are these but expressions of his goodness? And when, to crown the work of his hands, we see a race of thinking, moral, and immortal beings; what do these express but the manifold perfections of their great Author, and what were they made for, if not to show forth his praise? And when we contemplate our race, all the subjects of the divine government; what lesson do they so certainly and emphatically teach us, as the divine authority and control? And when we further contemplate man fallen, man redeemed, man glorified; what do these great and marvellous events so effectually secure as the manifestation of that holiness, justice, mercy, sovereignty, and boundless all-sufficiency of the Godhead, which, without these events, never could have shone forth, and only remained in their original and undiscovered radiance around the throne of the solitary Deity? God would still have been as spiritual, as powerful, as wise, as good, as holy, as just, as gracious and all-sufficient as he is now; but these glorious and burning perfections, which give rise to all the knowledge, holiness, and blessedness of angels and men, and which sustain and are pro