r Jesus, and upon the faces of our brother citizens who have
entered by the gates of pearl. We can pray, and so send a message to
our City, and get an answer back again, a blessing coming like a sweet
flower sent from the fields of Paradise. When our soldiers do noble
deeds abroad, their thought is--what will they say in England? Let us
do our duty here in a strange land, thinking--what will they say in
Heaven? My brother, my sister, let this thought help you to struggle
against temptation--I must walk worthy of my vocation, I am a citizen
of Heaven.

SERMON LIX.

THANKFUL SERVICE.

(Twenty-fourth Sunday after Trinity.)

COL. i. 12.

"Giving thanks."

In one of our northern coal-pits there was a little boy employed in a
lonely and dangerous part of the mine. One day a visitor to the
coal-pit asked the boy about his work, and the child answered, "Yes, it
is very lonely here, but I pick up the little bits of candle thrown
away by the colliers, and join them together, and when I get a light I
sing." My brothers, every day of our lives we are picking up blessings
which the loving Hand of God has scattered around, every day we get the
light, but how many of us sing?

I want to talk to you about the duty and blessing of thankfulness, and
how it can be shown. Gratitude is the root of all true Christian
service and worship. If we go to Church, and give money for religious
purposes, only because we want to stand well with God, or to get
something from Him, our service is mere selfishness. We are like
people buying votes to get themselves into a charitable asylum. All we
do in the service of God should be done from a motive of thankfulness.
The thought should be, "What shall I render unto the Lord for all His
benefits?"

If a man does the state some great service we give him a pension, or a
statue. It is nothing very much, but we do what we can to show our
gratitude. During the last American War a farmer was discovered one
day kneeling by the grave of a soldier lately killed in battle. He was
asked if the dead man were his son, and answered that the soldier was
no relation: and then he told his story. The farmer, who had a sickly
wife, and several children, was drafted for the army, and had no one
who could carry on his farm, or take care of his family, whilst he went
to the war. Whilst he was overwhelmed with trouble, the son of a
neighbour came forward, and said, "I have no one depending on me,