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heart back again unto him, which is to praise God on the bed and there is public thanksgiving, when men “tell of the wondrous works of God in the congregation of his saints." Now here the church promiseth this public thanksgiving; it shall not be the thankfulness of the heart only, but of the lips too. As it is noted of the thankful leper, that" with a loud voice he glorified God ."-"The living, the living shall praise thee," saith Hezekiah: but how should they do it?"The fathers to the children shall make known thy truth"." There are some affections and motions of the heart that do stop the mouth, are of cold, stupefactive, and constringent nature; as the sap stays and hides itself in the root, while it is winter. Such is fear and extremity of grief. "Come," saith the prophet, "let us enter into our defenced cities, and let us be silent there; for the Lord our God hath put us to silence *." Other affections open the mouth, are of an expansive and dilating nature, know not how to be straitened or suppressed; and of all these, joy and sense of God's mercy can least contain itself in the compass of our narrow breast, but will spread and communicate itself to others. A godly heart is, in this, like unto those flowers, which shut when the sun sets, when the night comes,-and open again, when the sun returns and shines upon them. If God withdraw his favour, and send a night of affliction, they shut up themselves, and their thoughts in silence: but if he shine again, and shed abroad the light and sense of his love upon them, then their heart and mouth is wide open towards Heaven, in lifting up praises unto him. Hannah prayed silently, so long as she was in bitterness of soul, and of a sorrowful spirit': but as soon as God answered her prayers, and filled her heart with joy in him, presently "her mouth was enlarged” into a song of thanksgiving ".

There is no phrase more usual in the Psalms, than to 'sing forth praises' unto God; and it is not used without a special emphasis. For it is one thing to praise, and another to sing praises "This is, to publish, to declare, to speak of, abundantly to utter the memory of God's great goodness, that

g Luke xvii. 15.

h Isai. xxxviii. 19. k Jer.

f Psalm cxlix. 15. xxvi. 7, 12. i Plutarch. de capiend. ex hostibus utilitate.-Arist. Problem. sect. 27. viii. 14. Isai. xx. 14.

1 Sam. i. 12, 15.

1 Sam. ii. 1.

n Psalm

cxlvi. 2.

' one generation may derive praises unto another,' as the expressions are, Psalm cxlv. 4, 7. And therefore we find in the most solemn thanksgivings, that the people of God were wont, in great companies, and with musical instruments, to sound forth the praises of God, and to cause their joy to be beard afar off. This then is the force of the expression;"Lord, when thou hast taken away iniquity, and extended thy grace and favour to us, we will not only have thankful hearts, every man to praise thee by himself; but we will have thankful lips to show forth thy praise; we will stir up and encourage one another; we will tell our children, that the generations to come may know the mercy of our God."

This is a great part of the communion of saints, to join together in God's praises. There is a communion of sinners, wherein they combine together to dishonour God, and encourage one another in evil. Eve was no sooner caught herself; but she became a kind of serpent, to deceive and to catch her husband. A tempter had no sooner made a sinner, but that sinner became a tempter. As therefore God's enemies hold communion to dishonour him; so great reason there is that his servants should hold communion to praise him, and to animate and hearten one another unto duty, as men that draw at an anchor, and soldiers that set upon a service, use to do with mutual encouragements'. The holy oil for the sanctuary was made of many spices, compounded by the art of the perfumer, to note unto us, that those duties. are sweetest which are made up in a communion of saints, each one contributing his influence and furtherance unto them as in winds and rivers, where many meet in one, they are strongest, and in chains and jewels where many links and stones are joined in one, they are richest. All good is diffusive, like leaven in a lump, like sap in a root: it will find the way from the heart to every faculty of soul and body, and from thence to the ears and hearts of others. Every living creature was made with the seed of life in it, to preserve itself

• Apud poetas clarissimos laudes heroum ac Deorum inter regalia convivia ad citharam canebantur. Quint. 1. 1. c. 10. Spalding. i. 215.-Nec aliter veri Dei laudes in conviviis Christianorum. Tert. Apol. c. 19.-Cypr. 1. 2. ep. 2. P Jer. xii. 27, 31, 43. Isai. xii. 4, 5, 6. Jer. xxxi. 7. 9 Psalm lxiv. 5. lxxxiii. 5, 8. Mal. iii. 16. • Exod.

Prov. i. 10, 11.

xxiii. 24, 25.

r Isai. ii. 3. Zach. viii. 21.

by multiplying. And of all seeds, that of the Spirit, and the Word ", is most vigorous; and in nothing so much as in glorifying God, when the joy of the Lord, which is our strength, doth put itself forth to derive the praises of his name, and to call in others to the celebration of them.

SECT. 7. From all which we learn, 1. By what means (amongst many others) to try the truth of our conversions: namely, By the life and workings of true thankfulness unto God for pardon of sin, and accepting into favour. Certainly when a man is converted himself, his heart will be enlarged, and his mouth will be filled with the praises of the Lord; he will acquaint others, what a good God he is turned unto. If he have found Christ himself, as Andrew, and Philip, and the woman of Samaria did, he will presently report it to others, and invite them to come and see .' If Zaccheus be converted, he receiveth Christ joyfully. If Matthew be converted, he entertains him with a feast. If Cornelius be instructed in the knowledge of him, he will call his kinsfolk and friends to partake of such a banquet. If David be converted himself, he will endeavour that other sinners may be converted too, and will show them what the Lord hath done for his soul. The turning of a sinner from evil to good, is like the turning of a bell from one side to another, you cannot turn it, but it will make a sound, and report its own motion. He that hath not a mouth open to report the glory of God's mercy to his soul, and to strengthen and edify his brethren, may justly question the truth of his own converIn Aaron's garments (which were types of holiness) there were to be golden bells and pomegranates; which (if we may make any allegorical application of it) intimateth unto us, that as a holy life is fruitful and active in the duties of spiritual obedience, so it is loud and vocal in sounding forth the praises of God, and thereby endeavouring to edify the church. Gideon's lamps and pitchers were accompanied with trumpets when God is pleased to put any light of grace into these earthen vessels of ours, we should have mouths full of thankfulness, to return unto him the glory of his goodness.

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And as that repentance is unsound, which is not accompanied with thankfulness, so that thankfulness is but empty and hypocritical, which doth not spring out of sound repentance. We use to say, that the words of fools are in labris nata,' born in their lips: but the words of wise men are è sulco pectoris,' drawn up out of an inward judgement. The calves of the lips are no better than the calves of the stall, in God's account, if they have not a heart in them. Without this, the promise here made to God would be no other than that, with which nurses deceive their little children, when they promise them a gay-golden-new-nothing. Praise in the mouth without repentance in the heart, is like a sea-weed that grows without a root:-like the pouring of balm and spices upon a dead body, which can never thoroughly secure it from putrefaction :-like a perfume about one sick of the plague, whose sweet smell carries infection along with it. It is not the mentioning of mercies, but the improving of them unto piety, which expresseth our thankfulness unto God. God sets every blessing upon our score, and expects an answer and return suitable. He compares Chorazin and Bethsaida with Tyre and Sidon; and if their lives be as bad as these, their punishment shall be much heavier, because the mercies they enjoyed, were much greater. The not using of mercies is the being unthankful for them: and it is a heavy account which men must give for abused mercies. Sins against mercy, and under mercy, are 'the first ripe fruit;' when the sun shines hottest, the fruits ripen fastest. God doth not bear so long with the provocations of a church, as of those that are not a people; the sins of the Amorites were longer in ripening, than the sins of Israel'. When judgement is abroad, it will begin at the house of God.

SECT. 8. II. We should be so much the more earnestly pressed unto this, by how much it is the greater evi

Quint. Instit. 1. 10. c. 3.-A. Gell. 1. 1. c. 15.-Babeîav åλокa did pрevòs καρπούμενος, Ἐξ ἧς τὰ κεδνὰ βλαστάνει βουλεύματα. Esch. ed. Blomfield, d Mía 590.-Dicta, factis deficientibus, erubescunt. Tert. de Patria, c. 1, ἀμοιβὴ κυριωτάτη, ταῦτα δρᾷν ἅπερ ἀρεστὰ τῷ Θεῷ. Clem. Αlex. Strom. 1. 7. Deum colit, quisquis imitatus est. Senec. epist. 95.-Vid. Chrysost. Hom. 25. in Matth. e Deut. xxxii. 6. Amos ii. 9, 13. Luke iii. 7. Heb. vi. 7. f Amos viii. 1, 2. Jer. i. 11, 12.

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dence of our conversion unto God, and by how much more apt we are to call for mercies when we want them, than, with the leper, to return praises when we do enjoy them. Ten cried to be healed; but there was but one that returned glory to God. Vessels will sound when they are empty fill them, and they are presently dumb. When we want mercies, then with Pharaoh we cry out for pardon, for peace, for supplies, for deliverance: but when prayers are answered, and our turn served, how few remember the method which God prescribes, "Call upon me in the day of trouble; I will hear thee, and thou shalt glorify me ?" Yea, how many, like swine, trample on the meat that feeds them, and tread under foot the mercies that preserve them! How many are so greedily intent upon the things they desire", that they cannot see nor value the things they enjoy! "Omnis festinatio cæca est." It is noted even of good king Hezekiah, that he "did not render according to the benefits which he had received. Therefore we should be exhorted in our prayers for pardon and grace, to do as the church here doth, to promise the sacrifices of thankfulness and obedience, not as a price to purchase mercy (for our good extends not unto God *), but as a tie and obligation upon ourselves, to acknowledge and return the praise of mercy to him. that gives it. And this the apostle exhorteth us unto, that "our requests should be made known unto God," not only with prayer and supplication, but "with thanksgiving';' which we find to have been his own practice m. We should keep a catalogue" of God's mercies to quicken us unto duty, as well as a catalogue of our own sins, to make us cry for mercy. And unto this duty of thanksgiving we may be excited,

First, By the consideration of God's greatness. "Great is the Lord; and (therefore) greatly to be praised "." The

h Seneca de Benefic. 1. 3. c. 3.-Liv. 1. 22.

g Psalm 1. 15. i 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. k Psalm xvi. 2. 1 Phil. iv. 6. 1 Thess. v. 17, 18. 1 Tim. ii. 1. Ephes. iii. 14, 20, 21. n Vid. Field of the Church, 1. 1. c. 1. Qui curat esse nisi propter te, pro nihilo est, et nihil est. Qui vult esse sibi et non tibi, nihil esse incipit inter omnia. Bern. serm. 20. in Cant.-Eo quisque pessimus, quo optimus, si hoc ipsum quod est optimus, adscribat sibi. Serm. 84. in Cantic. • Psalm cxlv. 3.

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