SERMON XLIII.

PSALM `XCV. 6, 7.

come, let us worship, and fall down before him :-for he is

the Lord our God.

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In this pfalm, we find holy David taken up with the pious contemplation of God's infinite power, majefty, and greatnefs:-he confiders him as the Sovereign Lord of the whole earth, the Maker and Supporter of all things that by him the heavens were created, and all the host of them; that the earth was wifely fashioned by his handshe has founded it upon the feas, and established it upon the floods ;- -that we likewife, the people of his pasture, were raised up, by the fame creating hand, from nothing, to the dig nity of rational creatures,--made, with respect to our reafon and understanding, after his own moft perfect image.

It was natural to imagine, that fuch a contempla. tion would light up a flame of devotion in any grate ful man's breast; and accordingly, we find it break forth, in the words of the text, in a kind of religious rapture:

O come, let us worship and fall down before him: for he is the Lord our God.

Sure, never exhortation to prayer and worship can be better enforced than upon this principle,that God is the Cause and Creator of all things ;- -that each individual being is upheld in the ftation it was first placed, by the fame hand which first formed it ; that all the bleffings and advantages which are neceffary to the happiness and welfare of beings on earth, are only to be derived from the fame fountain; and that the only way to do it, is to fecure an interest in his favour, by a grateful expreffion of our fenfe *for the benefits we have received, and an humble dependence upon him for those we expect and ftand in want of. Whom have we in heaven, fays the Pfalmift, but thee, O God, to look unto, or depend on?- -to whom shall we pour out our complaints, and speak of all our wants and neceffities, but to thy goodness, which is ever willing to confer upon us whatever becomes-us to afk, and thee to grant ?

because thou haft promised to be nigh unto all that call upon thee,- -yea, unto all fuch as call upon thee faithfully-that thou wilt fulfil the defire of them that fear thee,-that thou wilt alfo hear their cry, and help them.

Of all duties, prayer certainly is the sweetest and moft eafy.There are fome duties which may feem to occafion a troublesome oppofition to the natural workings of flesh and blood such as, the forgiveness of injuries, and the love of our enemies :

others which will force us unavoidably into a perpetual ftruggle with our paffions,which war against the foul;-fuch as chastity,-temperance,-humility.There are other virtues, which seem to bid

But

us forget our present interest for a while,-fuch as charity and generofity; others that teach us to forget it at all times, and wholly to fix our affections on things above, and in no circumftance to act like men that look for a continuing city here, but upon one to come, whose builder and maker is God. this duty of prayer and thanksgiving to God—————has no fuch oppofitions to encounter;-it takes no bullock out of thy field,-no horfe out of thy ftable,— nor he-goat out of thy fold ;-it cofteth no weariness of bones, no untimely watchings;—it requireth no strength of parts, or painful study, but just to know and have a true fenfe of our dependence, and of the mercies by which we are upheld :—————and with this, in every place and posture of body, a good man may lift up his foul unto the Lord his God.

Indeed, as to the frequency of putting this duty formally in practice, as the precept muft neceffarily have varied according to the different stations in which God has placed us;-fo he has been pleased to determine nothing precisely concerning it;-for, perhaps, it would be unreasonable to expect, that the day-labourer, or he that fupports a numerous family by the fweat of his brow, fhould spend as much of his time in devotion, as the man of leifure and unbounded wealth.-This, however, in the general, may hold good, that we are bound to pay this triubte to God, as often as his providence has put an opportunity into our hands of fo doing;-provided that no plea, drawn from the neceffary atten-` tions to the affairs of the world, which many men's fituations oblige them to, may be supposed to extend

to an exemption from paying their morning and evening sacrifice to God.—For it seems to be the least that can be done to anfver the demand of our duty in this point, fucceffively to open and fhut up the day in prayer and thankfgiving;-fince there is not a morning thou rifeft, or a night thou lieft down, but thou art indebted for it to the watchful providence of Almighty Ged.-David and Daniel, whose names are recorded in Scripture for future example:

the fift, though a mighty king, embarraffed with wars abroad, and unnatural disturbances at home; a fituation, one would think, would allow little time for any thing but his own and his kingdom's fafety; yet found he leifure to pray feven times a day :the latter, the counfellor and firft minifter of ftate to the great Nebuchadnezzar: and, though perpetually fatigued with the affairs of a mighty kingdom, and the government of the whole province of Babylon, which was committed to his adminiftration ; though near the perfon of an idolatrous king, and amidst the temptations of a luxurious court,yet never neglected he his God; but, as we read, he kneeled upon his knees three times a day, and prayed, and gave thanks before him.

A frequent correfpondence with heaven, by prayer and devotion, is the greatest nourishment and fupport of fpiritual life:it keeps the fenfe of a God warm and lively within us, which fecures our difpofition, and fets fuch guards over us, that hardly will a temptation prevail against us. Who can entertain a bafe or an impure thought, or think of executing it, who is inceffantly converfing with his God?

or

not despise every temptation this lower world can offer him, when, by his conftant addreffes before the throne of God's majesty, he brings the glorious profpect of heaven perpetually before his eyes?

I cannot help here taking notice of the doctrine of those who would refolve all devotion into the inner man, and think that there is nothing more requifite to express our reverence to God, but purity and in- tegrity of heart,-unaccompanied either with words or actions.—To this opinion it may be justly an fwered, That, in the prefent ftate we are in, we find such a strong sympathy and union between our fouls and bodies, that the one cannot be touched, or fenfibly affected, without producing some correspond. ing emotion in the other.-Nature has affigned a different look, tone of voice, and gefture, peculiar to every paffion and affection we are fubject to; and therefore, to argue against this strict correspondence, which is held between our fouls and bodies,—is disputing against the frame and mechanifm of human nature.—We are not angels, but men clothed with bodies, and in some measure so governed by our ima. ginations, that we have need of all these external helps which nature has made the interpreters of our thoughts. And no doubt, though a virtuous and a good life are more acceptable in the fight of God, than either prayer or thanksgiving, for, behold, to obey is better than facrifice, and to hearken than the fat of rams; nevertheless, as the one ought to be done, fo the other ought not, by any means, to be left undone.As God is to be obeyed,-so he is to be worshipped alfo,For, although inward holiness.