together for our good, and the praise of his justice by taking part with him against our own sins, and join ing with his grace to revenge the blood of Christ upc them. A potsherd is good enough to hold fire, bu nothing but a sound and pure vessel is meet to put wine or any rich deposit into.

IV. As a principle of emendation of life, and of new obedience. Lord take away iniquity, and receive us into favour, then will we be thankful unto thee, and that shall produce amendment of life; "Asshur shall not save us, neither will we ride upon horses," &c. A thankful apprehension of the goodness of God in forgiving, giving, saving, honouring us, is one of the principal foundations of sincere obedience. Then the soul will think nothing too good for God, who hath showed himself so good unto it. "What shall

I render unto the Lord for all his benefits," saith the prophet David, Psa. cxvi. 12. and a little after it follows," O Lord, truly I am thy servant, I am thy servant, and the son of thine handmaid ;” that is, a homeborn servant, thine from my mother's womb. It is an allusion to those who were born of servants in the house of their masters, and so were in a condition of servants. If the mother be a handmaid, the child is a servant too, and so the scripture calleth them children of the house, Gen. xiv. 14. xv. 8. xvii. 12. Lev. xxii. 11. Ecc. ii. 6. His heart being enlarged in thankfulness, presently reininded him of the deep engagements that did bind him unto service even from the womb. True filial and evangelical obedience ariseth from faith and love. Faith shows us God's love to us, and thereby worketh in us a reciprocal love unto him; 66 We love him, because he first loved us," 1 John iv. 19. This is the only thing wherein a servant of God may answer him, and may, as Bernard speaks, return back unto

God what he gives unto him. If he be angry with me, I must not be angry again with him, but fear and tremble, and beg for pardon. If he reprove me, I must not reprove but justify him: if he judge me, I must not judge but adore him. But if he love me, I must take the boldness to love him again, for therefore he loves that he may be loved. And this love of ours unto Christ makes us ready to do every thing which he requires of us, because we know that he hath done much more for us than he requireth of us. "The love of Christ," saith the apostle," constraineth us, because we thus judge, that if one died for all, then were all dead;" that is, either dead in and with him in regard of the guilt and punishment of sin, so as to be freed from the damnation of it, or "dead by way of conformity unto his death," in dying unto sin, and crucifying the old man, so as to shake off the power and strength of it. And the fruit of all, both in dying and in loving, is this, "That we should not live unto ourselves, but unto him that died for us and rose again." Thus love argues from the greater to the less, from the greatness of his work for us, to the smallness of ours unto him. If he died to give us life, then we must live to do him service.

Fear produceth servile and unwilling performances, as those fruits which grow in winter, or in cold countries, are sour, unsavoury, and unripened; but those which grow in summer, or in hotter countries, by the warmth and influence of the sun, are sweet and wholesome such is the difference between those fruits of obedience which fear and which love produce. The most formal principle of obedience is love, and the first beginnings of love in us unto God arise from his mercies unto us being thankfully remembered; and this teacheth the soul thus to argue; "God hath

given deliverances unto me, and should I break his commandments?" Ezra xiii. 14. Christ gave himself to redeem me from all iniquity, and to make me in a special manner his own, therefore I must be "zealous of good works," Tit. ii. 14. therefore I must show forth the virtues of him that called me out of darkness into his marvellous light," 1 Pet. ii. 9. No more frequent, more copious common place in all the scriptures than this to call for obedience, and to aggravate disobedience by the consideration of the great things that God hath done for us, Deut. xiii. 20, 21. xi. 7, 8. xxix. xxxii. 6, 7. Josh. xxiv. 2—14. 1 Sam. xii. 24. Isa. i. 2. Jer. ii. 5, 6. Hos. ii. 8. Mic. vi. 3. 5. In the law a ransomed man became the servant of him that bought and delivered him: and upon this argument the apostle calls for obedience; "Ye are not your own, for ye are bought with a price: therefore glorify God in your body, and in your spirit, which are God's," I Cor. vi. 19, 20. We have but the use of ourselves, the property is his, and we may do nothing to violate that.

V. As a means and instrument of publishing God's praises. There is an emphasis in the word "lips." Sometimes it is a diminutive word, taking away from the duty performed, as Matt. xv. 8. "This people honoureth me with their lips, but their heart is far from me." But here it is an augmentative word, that enlargeth the duty, and makes it wider. "I will sacrifice unto thee," saith Jonah," with the voice of thanksgiving," Jonah ii. 9. God regardeth not the sacrifice, if this be not the use that is made of it; to publish and celebrate the glory of his name. The outward ceremony is nothing without the thankfulness of the heart, and the thankfulness of the heart is too little, except it have a voice to proclaim it abroad, that others may learn

66

to glorify and admire the works of the Lord too. It is not enough to sacrifice the sacrifices of thanksgiving, except withal we "declare his works with rejoicing," Psa. cvii. 22. There is a private thankfulness of the soul within itself, when, meditating on the goodness of God, it doth in secret return the tribute of an humble and obedient 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," Psa. cxlix. 5. xxvi. 7. 12. Now here the church promiseth this publie 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," Luke xvii. 15. "The living, the living shall praise thee," saith Hezekiah; but how shall they do it? "The father to the children shall make known thy truth," Isa. xxxviii. 19. There are some affections and motions of the heart that do stop the mouth, are of a cold, stupifying, and constraining 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 the defenced cities, and let us be silent there, for the Lord our God hath put us to silence," Jer. viii. 14. 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

66

themselves and their thoughts in silence; but if he shine again, and shed abroad the light and sense of nis 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, 1 Sam. i. 12. 15. 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, ch. ii. 1.

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, Psa. cxlvi. 2. This is, to publish, to declare, to speak of, abundantly to utter the memory of God's great goodness, that one generation may derive praises unto another, as the expressions are, Psa. 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 heard afar off, Neh. xii. 27. 31. 43. Isa. xii. 4-6. Jer. xxxi. 7. 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,