perform their Duty to him where also his Justice or punitive Goodness and the Psalmist concludes with as general an acknowledgment by his mouth speaking the praises of the Lord and let all flesh bless his holy Name for ever and ever Read also a magnificent particular acknowledgment of God's Power Goodness and Wisdom in Psalm 104. which begins bless the Lord O my Soul O Lord my God thou art very great thou art cloathed with Honour and Majesty who coverest thy self with light as with a garment who stretchest out the heavens like a curtain and then ends O Lord how manifold are thy works in wisdom hast thou made them all the Earth is full of thy riches that is of plenty and abundance of good things For reasonable trust in God we meet with the most significant Expressions every where of the greatest and boldest degree thereof both as to particular favours of Peace Plenty good Name and Honour c. and also in general Psalm 37. Verse 3 4 5 6. and so on throughout the whole Psalm Trust in the Lord and do good behave thy self as thou oughtest and do thy Duty so shalt thâ—â— dwell in the Land and verily thou shalt be fed Delight thy self also in the Lord and he shall give thee thine hearts desire Commit thy way unto the Lord trust also in him and he shall bring it to pass c. Psalm 146. Verse 3. Put not your trust in Princes nor in the Son of man in whom there is no help And Verse 5. Happy is he that hath the God of Jacob for his help whose hope is in the Lord his God who made Heaven and Earth c. And how often doth the Psalmist seem to be exalted above himself and triumph in his trust confidence and firm hope in God For Confession and Grief for Sin see the reality and seriousness of it in the 38 Psalm Verse 3. There is no soundness in my flesh because of thine anger nor any rest in my bones because of my sin And Verse 18. I will declare mine Iniquity I will be sorry for my sin The 51 Psalm is a known Example both of David's hearty confession of and piercing grief and bitterness of Soul for his sins as also of the vehemencies of his desire and petition to God for purging and pardon to cleanse and rectifie his Soul and to forgive him and then to grant him Joy Comfort and Peace Have mercy upon me O God according to thy loving kindness according to the multitude of thy tender Mercies blot out my Transgressions c. We may read the whole Psalm than which there cannot be any thing more pathetical O Lord open my mouth and my lips shall shew forth thy praise that is give me an occasion and a cause of acknowledging and praising thee in this thy particular favour of granting me Purification Pardon Peace and enable me to do it and then I resolve also to declare and make known how much thou deservest to be praised thanked loved admired by me and all men As for Profession of Obedience there are not many Verses in the 119 Psalm in which we have not some Emphatical signification of the firmness and unmovableness of his resolution the very frequency is a great sign thereof Verse 97. Oh how I love thy Law Verse 103. How sweet are thy words unto my tast sweeter than honey to my mouth Verse 106. I have sworn and I will perform it that I will keep thy righteous Judgments Ver. 111. Thy Testimonies have I taken as an heritage â—â—r ever for they are the rejoycing of my heart Ver. 127. I love thy Commandments above Gold yea above sine Gold Ver 131. I opened my mouth and panted for I longed for thy Commandments c. Are these the Words and Expressions of a cold indifferent or of a luke-warm man in his love to resolution for Righteousness and consequently for the Commands of God For the Psalmist's Thankfulness and Love to God for his Benefits to him in particular the passages and places are as numerous Psalm 86. Verse 12. I will praise thee O Lord my God with all my heart and I will glorifie thy Name for evermore for great is thy Mercy towards me thou hast delivered my Soul from the lowest Hell 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 or from the deep Grave or the Grave underneath that is from Death which had overtaken me and seized upon me had it not been for thy special eare A very pathetical and emphatical Expression of his Love and Thankfulness to God both for his personal Favours towards himself and those towards his own Nation the People of the Jews nay towards all his Works in all places is the 103 Psalm all which Read we heedfully and imitate Verse 1. Bless the Lord O my Soul and all that is within me bless his holy Name Bless the Lord O my Soul and forget not all his Benefits who forgiveth all thine Iniquity and healeth all thy Diseases who redeemeth thy life from destruction who crowneth thee with loving kindness and tender mercies c. And lastly his Petitions and Desires are with the greatest fervency and importunity signified and expressed and that principally in the things of greatest concernment especially considering his case sometimes fain to fly to Idolatrous People for shelter as particularly for to be admitted and restored to the external publick Worship of the true God as it was by himself instituted in order to his internal Worship which as I have above said contains all Religion nay all Duty Psalm 42. Verse 1. As the Hart panteth after the Water-brooks so panteth my Soul after thee O God My Soul thirsteth for God even for the living God when shall I come and appear before God Psalm 63. O God thou art my God early will I seek thee My Soul thirsteth for thee my flesh longeth for thee in a dry and thirsty Land where no water is to see thy Power and thy Glory so as I have seen thee in the Sanctuary because thy loving kindness is better than life my lips shall praise thee The Psalmist Asaph very passionately expresseth his Joy repoâ—e and â—â—quiescence in God in that of the 73 Psalm Verse 25. Whom have I in Heaven and I have delighted in nothing on Earth in compare with thee or with thee at all that is besides thee as our Translation hath it That is I put my Trust and place my Delight neither in any God the Heathen Gods nor man in compare with thee or together with thee Thou art my Ultimate Trust my chiefest Delight My flesh and my heart faileth but God is the strength of my heart and my portion for ever The like earnestness and fervency may be observed when the Psalmist prays for deliverance from his so great and malicious Enemies that they sought utterly to ruine him to defame and reproach him by malicious and mischievous slanders and so banish him perpetually or take away his life or when he prays for
to us in any kind when we expresly mind our selves that God seeth and knoweth it How darest thou that hast vile Thoughts Designs Affections Inclinations secret Actions all as well known to God as if they were exposed to the Meridian Sun ask any thing of him or so much as think of him And shouldest thou not fear that he should punish thee for thy Impudence and Dishonour thou doest him 3. An Acknowledgment of the Divine universal Goodness or Righteousness which in effect is all one his always doing that which is for the greatest Perfection and Happiness of all that he hath made considered together This gives us Assurance and consequently emboldens our Desires that every thing that is righteous and just a Condition we are always to remember in our Prayers shall be effected and granted And here we may take notice of the two Branches for so they are of his universal Goodness or Righteousness viz. his Justice properly so called and his Mercy The first is the Method of effecting the Universal Good by permission and inâ—licting of Evil. The last by bestowing of Good The good use of the former is as hath been said to engage us to all sincerity and purity of Heart when we approach him with our Prayers and Desires For he is so good to the World that when he sees fit he will also certainly punish wicked persons and sinners which may be sometimes by taking away what they have already received and enjoy but much more by the denial of their Petitions for any thing they want And so likewise God sâ—nercy engageth us to be good if we would have so great a favour from him as the granting our Petitions For God is no more merciful than he is just at random but so as is for the best government of the World or for the greatest good thereof and therefore he is principally so to those who are good to those who obey and serve him God indeed may sometimes see it good to bestow good things upon bad men but it is very little probable that he should give to a bad man any particular good thing because asked by him at any particular time Nay the contrary is far more probable viz. That he should deny and reject his petition as a sign of his just displeasure against him And this the consciences of wicked men very often let them know and make them afraid and ashamed to send up the least desire to God or if they do 't is with a strange faintness and indifferency as if they little hoped it should be accepted and return with success Moreover God's mercy as hath been said of his universal goodness or righteousness gives us particular assurance of his granting our desires for any thing that is good for us if it be just and consistent with or rather part of his universal Goodness or his goodness to the whole World That he is not tyrannical imperious cruel envious to the meanest of his creatures but that every thing which can and ought to be done shall be done for us Now the express belief hereof together with his infinite Wisdom and Power begets in us assured hope and trust for the granting our just Prayers and consequently enlivens and encourages them And in some cases God himself hath told us that it is just for him to hear our Prayers as when we pray for pardon of sin for Christ's sake upon our sincere repentance and for grace to repent Things of so great consequence to us that we need not be much solicitous concerning any other Where we have not the certain assurance of the justice of our desires we must only propose them with reference to the divine wisdom As it is in the case of Health Riches Honour Parts Gifts nay all instances of power or ability to do any thing whatever unless it can any where appear to us that God hath by Revelation or Reason in some particular cases promised them to us And here it may be useful and proper to reflect upon the several ways or instances of God's Mercy as they are also of his Power and Wisdom such as his making sustaining providing for all his Creatures in all respects his affording Means Helps and Assistances of being good and wise and keeping Men from being bad the external ones of Direction Instruction Example the internal of the immediate Influences of his Spirit upon Mens Understandings Consciences Affections Inclinations God's forbearance and long-suffering till Men do repent which may be more especially taken notice of And lastly all or any more particularly as occasion may be the Conveniencies Commodities good things of this Life as Health Strength Plenty good-Name Friends Deliverance from Evils or Dangers all which will still more evidently prove to us and cause us longer to attend to and more clearly to see and more sensibly and strongly to be affected with the divine Mercy and Bounty That indeed the Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works That he is merciful gracious long-suffering and abundant in goodness and truth If God be not good whence are these and all other good things to the World Since God is infinitely powerful and knowing to do what he pleaseth what can be the cause besides his goodness that there is any thing in the World but the extreamest misery Hence consequently our Faith that is our Belief and Trust and then our Desires will be strengthened and emboldned Here too we may make a Reflection upon God's Veracity or his Goodness in performing his Promises which in the Old Testament is very often called by the Names of Faithfulness and Truth We may reflect generally upon God's Goodness in the performance of what he hath said and therefore of his Promises and more especially upon those Promises which concern Persons in our particular cases if it appear there are any he hath any way by Revelation or Reason made known and signified to us Here further we may call to mind the past Instances of God's Mercy and Bounty to us and principally those which are the most like that which we now petition for The Reason is because that which hath been done or come to pass hath more of probability that it may and will be done again than that which hath not Wherefore this also will confirm our Faith and consequently encourage our Desire or Prayer Of this there are many Examples in the Scripture especially in the Psalms But besides this more proper and pertinent use and effect of the express Acknowledgment and Recital of the Divine Perfections and Attributes in Prayer and some few others mentioned we may add here in short only that it causeth us to admire the Divine Perfections to honour and reverence God in the most real and serious manner and in the highest degree we are capable of to love him freely chearfully earnestly ardently with all our souls with all our might all the strength and vigour of our spirits all which is
in external and bodily actions with their mouths or other parts of their body yet the internal actions of their Souls such as I have above mentioned are very slight weak and slender Persons approach to God with their Lips and their Bodys when their Hearts are far from him and it may be after their Covetousness or any other Lusts Or they are there with him and conversant about him and other matter of their Prayers as men use to be in the company of those persons and in doing those things they do not much care for or have no great value for It is really a thing of which men are to be ashamed that they are conversant about lesser matters with great attention and affection and about infinitely greater such as are in this part of the Worship of God with little or none it is certainly a sign of their pitiful ignorance and errour degeneracy baseness and meanness that they are like Children and School-boys who are attentive and eager about their Sports and Pastimes but not at all concerned in the Cares of their Parents for them and the rest of their Families Is it not a shame to see men honour and admire mortal men a potent Prince a profound Statesman of great capacity for business one that administers Affairs with much prudence and dispatch or a great Scholar one of large Revenues splendid Train and Attendants and perhaps sometimes but more rarely a virtuous just pious holy and very spiritual minded person I say to honour some of these with the Titles of Incomparable Prodigious and other significations of astonishment and yet to have very little of these in their Souls to God from whom all these and the Subjects of them came and who is the Authour of all these and all other never so great and never so little things in the World to whose Infinite Perfection all those and all other compared are not so much as one Atome to the content of the starry Heaven and whose is the Kingdom the Power and the Glory for ever and ever and this even when they make their most solemn Addresses and pretend to Worship him And so likewise it is a sign of pitiable ignorance or folly in men to be more confident and secure to put their trust more in the savour and power of an ordinary Relation or Friend possibly in a man's self in his own Power Wit Prudence Riches Strength than in the All-mighty All-wise and All-good God for which indeed sometimes there may be reason if their designs or hopes be unjust Who would not be moved to contempt or pity to hear men protest with the greatest zeal and earnestness to one some very little their superiour how much they are their servants and with all the gestures that may be signifie it but when they profess their Universal Obedience to God the King of Kings and Lord of Lords the only Potentate the Supreme Monarch of Heaven and Earth in saying thy Kingdom come thy Will be done in Earth as it is in Heaven or in any other words to do it so remissly coldly and indifferently that if they should do in like manner to any one little their betters they would think themselves so unjustly neglected as to bid them or to be content they should keep their service to themselves Who could like to see men with great reality and submission to confess their Offences against those they fear can punish them but to confess to God their Offences against his Laws as if they were afraid they should do so again and were very loth and unwilling to prevent it To see men with a great deal of earnestness and humility and mouthful of blessing render thanks to their Brother for a satisfying meals meat when hungry or a refreshing draught when thirsty or a scrap of silver to buy them necessaries when destitute but to thank God both in their publick and private Devotion for his innumerable Benefits even all good things that ever we have had in our lives and especially for spiritual ones as if it were a meer Compliment or Ceremony and they would gladly have done with it as soon as may be And lastly How great a senselesness and sottisness is it in men to beg with so much importunity of those in whose power it is to punishness them a little in temporary good things forgiveness and pardon or of others their favour countenance assistance direction counsel their Alms or Charity or in poor Prisoners guilty and ready to be condemned to mulcts banishment or corporal pain or death to Cry out with the most pitiful Voice for Mercy or Pardon but to ask of God Grace to Repent strength to be better and then pardon for innumerable lesser and many greater and more heinous Sins That God who can make them miserable here and hereafter who can throw both Body and Soul into Hell would forgive us our Trespasses as we forgive those that trespass against us to ask of him to take care of them and provide for them to counsel and direct them I say to ask these and all other things of God as if they were unwilling he should grant them or very indifferent and little concerned whether he did or no or as if God were obliged to them that they would ask and receive any thing from him What can be more absurd more unreasonable more shameful than this This is not Superstition but Truth and Reason And this slackness streightness perfunctoriness in the Worship of God comes from Sensuality or Immorality or both Either men are dull and carnal and cannot take notice of and be affected much with God who is a spirit or they are unwilling to do it they care not how little because they know they do such things and live in such courses as do not please him and which he doth not allow of Of this their Duty they may do a little it may be to appease some remainder of the natural appetite that all men have to Worship God and for Credit or Reputation sake and that 's enough Contray to the excellent Examples and Precepts which we have in the Holy Scriptures There can hardly be given any more certain signs of the greatest strength and fervour of all those Operations of the Soul in Prayer than what we meet withal in the Psalms every where Read for an Example of the most sensible acknowledgment the 145 Psalm in Verse 1. is a general acknowledgment and admiration I will extol thee my God O King and I will bless thy Name for ever and ever c. And Verse 3. to Verse 6. is a magnificent acknowledgment of God's Power Great is the Lord and greatly to be praised and his greatness is unsearchable c. and Verse 11 12 13. again in Verse 8 9 10 15 16. is an acknowledgment of the general Divine Goodness and Verse 17. of his Holiness and Verse 14 18 19 20. of his mercy or goodness to persons in misery and distress especially who