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I. WE ARE APT RATHER TO REST IN SECOND CAUSES THAN TO TRACE OUR BLESSINGS TO THEIR PRIMARY SOURCE. Does man receive any good, it appears to be the fruit of his own labour, or prudence, or of the kindness of his friends; but the First Cause is the Being to whom our thanks are chiefly due. Take a case. The way in which I can best serve a friend is by persuading a third person to do something for his benefit. To whom, then, is my friend really indebted? While his thanks ought undoubtedly to be given to the third person, they are principally due to me. Suppose you deemed it right, before you conferred a favour upon your child, to require of him some previous exercise — would he, when he received it, argue justly if he were to say, "I do not owe this to my parent, but to my own labour"? The fact is, the favour is enhanced by the appointment of the means where a merciful end is secured. This we discover in other cases, but not where God is the Author of our success. Paradise was not less replenished by His bounty because He appointed Adam to dress the garden. The bounty of the monarch is not the less because he distributes it by the hand of his ministers.

II. OUR DEFECTIVE VIEW OF HIS PROVIDENCE. Our acknowledgment of the agency of God in some instances becomes a means of diminishing our sense of His agency in others. The facet is God more distinctly reveals to us His agency in some instances that we may learn to recognise it in all. The very idea of a particular Providence arises from our imperfect conception of the Divine agency. For, if we saw the agency of God as it is seen in heaven, we should discover that His providence is as distinct, as minute in one case as another. Thus men call it a "providence" when they receive some unexpected deliverance or blessing. But they do not call a loss, or a disease, a providence. But it is certain that on this point the views of God differ most widely from our own; and when we shall be able to form a true conception of the goodness of God we shaft discover mercy where we once discerned only severity, and shall thank God for trials and sufferings as the most signal instances of His providential care.

III. MEN DO NOT CONSIDER THEMSELVES INDEBTED TO GOD EXCEPT FOR PECULIAR OR DISTINGUISHING MERCIES. For the mercies they share in common with others they think little gratitude is due. But do the diffusiveness and extent of the bounty of God form any just cause of unthankfulness? What would you think of a child who should say, "I am not indebted to my parent; for he feeds and clothes and takes care of my brothers and sisters as well as of myself"? The fact is, that the very extent of those blessings we share with others demands additional gratitude, for such mercies are the most valuable. Compare such a gift as light with any petty comforts granted to an individual. All private mercies may be compared to the dew which fell only upon the fleece of Gideon. But general mercies are like the dew of heaven descending on the general surface of nature, refreshing the thirsty fields, and clothing them with verdure and beauty. Surely the blessing cannot be lessened to me because others also are blessed.

IV. THE VERY NUMBER OF THE MERCIES OF GOD TENDS TO DIMINISH OUR GRATITUDE. Examine the common feelings of mankind: is it not evident that some extraordinary instance of the bounty of God excites more gratitude than the more valuable mercies of every day? The constant enjoyment of our senses, the nightly refreshment of sleep, make scarcely any impression; but if a sense, apparently lost, is restored, then we feel much gratitude to our Benefactor. The name disposition is seen in other cases. If a parent gives to his children something new and unexpected, they are more thankful than for their daily food and clothing. Thus, also, although the unexpected bounty of a friend may at first excite thankfulness, yet, if repeated every day, it is received with diminished gratitude, and at length the withholding of it is resented as an injury. If it be urged in reply that this springs from a principle in human nature, surely it is no excellent principle, but argues a depraved nature and a corrupt heart. From the same depravity it arises that the very feeling of obligation is attended with pain, especially where the debt is large. Men love to be independent, and therefore hate an obligation.

V. A PREVALENT VIEW OF GOD'S CHARACTER AS A JUST AND HOLY RATHER THAN AS A KIND AND COMPASSIONATE GOD.

(J. Venn, M. A.)

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KJV: Because that which may be known of God is manifest in them; for God hath shewed it unto them.

WEB: because that which is known of God is revealed in them, for God revealed it to them.