and to fet before you in a better light the beauty both of praise and prayer, when duly performed, and accompanied with proper affections of the heart, than by any thing I could fay to you upon the subject. It is a subject indeed that speaks for itself: and a prayer, or a fong of praife, compofed in the true spirit of piety and devotion, is the greatest incitement, as well as the beft direction, for the performance of the respective duties. A man's heart must be as cold as marble, who can read or hear the fongs of holy joy and rapture, with which the faints of old gave praise to their Maker, and not feel fome refentments of the fame fpirit of joy and gratitude in his breaft; or who can go over a prayer which expreffes the guilt of fin, and confeffes the weakness of nature, and pours forth the cries of an afflicted foul for mercy and pardon, and not be touched with the description of circumftances which are fo much his own; or not fend forth the wifhes of his own heart to attend the cries for mercy and pardon, which he fo certainly stands in need of obtaining. A fcene of misery, drawn either by the poet's or the painter's fkill, has force enough to move the pity of a compaffionate heart; for we are so near allied to the fufferings of our fellow-creatures, by sharing in the fame nature, which as it fubjected them, fo it exposes us to the miseries we behold, that we cannot refift the impreffions of forrow arifing from circumftances which may any day happen to be our own: much less can we ftand by, as unconcerned lookers on, when we behold the mifery of a foul afflicted for fin, or when we hear the ardent prayers which are poured forth in the prefence of God for pardon

and mercy, or see the tears which flow from the pangs of a wounded spirit; for this cafe, this miferable condition, not only may be, but moft certainly is our own: thefe tears, these cries for mercy, fhould be ours, fince the cause is ours from whence they proceed; nor can we well help partaking in them, nor be altogether infenfible of the grief of our fellowfufferers.

There is the fame reafon for our being affected with the praises of God, and joining to give glory to his name, whenever we read the songs of thanksgiving recorded in Scripture, as instances of the tribute which God expects, and which the faints are used to pay; for his mercies are dispensed with an equal hand, he maketh the fun to rife upon the juft and the unjuft; and when we fhare the bleffings, and partake in the fame mercies, how can we refuse to bear our part in offering up the incenfe of praise ; or how refift the motions of gratitude, which arise from the sense of those enjoyments which are the gift of heaven? This pfalm of David, in how exalted a ftrain is it penned! how nobly is the fong raised from circumftances which at once fet forth in equal beauty the majesty and the mercy of the Almighty! and yet there is not one act of providence mentioned, one inftance of grace recorded, that you do not as largely reap the benefit of, and are as much in duty and gratitude bound to be thankful for, as even David himself. Nay, the advantage is certainly on your fide in this respect: the heavens indeed are the fame they were in David's time; and day and night, conftant to their Maker's law, have walked the fame unwearied round: the fun fhines

out with the same beauty and light to animate and refresh the world: the material fun I mean; for fince David's time the Sun of righteousness himself has arose in our firmament, and fhed forth the choiceft bleffings of heaven upon the inhabitants of the earth: the glories of the Meffiah's reign, and the happiness of his days, were prospects, which at a distance, and but darkly feen, could fill the mouths of the faints and prophets with the praises of the Lord! And can we be filent, who enjoy the fulness of those mercies, to whom the Saviour of the world has opened the richest treasures of God's bounty and goodness? Look back and fee with what pleasure and rapture the holy Pfalmift speaks of the laws and judgments of God; more defirable they were to him than the fineft gold; fweeter than the honey and the honey-comb: and yet he lived under the Mofaic law, a yoke hard to be borne. Had he feen the days of the Gospel, and tafted the righteousness of this new law, I am at a loss even to imagine in what strains of holy eloquence his joy would have flowed. When he applies to God for pardon and forgiveness for paft offences, for ftrength and affiftance to preserve him for the future, with what a noble refignation of foul, and fure truft in God, does he discharge this part of his devotion! And yet he had not all the encouragements for this duty which we enjoy: he had never heard the melody of that heavenly voice which daily calls us to repentance, Come unto me all ye that travel and are heavy laden, and I will refresh you: nor had he received those express promifes of grace and spiritual affiftance, which have fince been confirmed to us by the

blood of the new covenant. To return therefore to the thought which made way for these reflections: we have all imaginable reason to join with all our hearts, and all our minds, in these exalted forms of prayer and praise: we on whom the bleffings of heaven have been doubled, who have been made the children of God by the Spirit of adoption, who have had the charter of God's pardon granted to us by his bleffed Son, and have received the promises of a kingdom, which shall remain as long as time en.dureth. As our theme has been thus exalted, fo fhould our praises be likewife; fo fhould the affections of our fouls be raised to acknowledge and adore the giver of these good and perfect gifts. We need not fear being too lavish upon this occafion: let the tide of joy run ever fo high, it cannot fwell beyond the dignity of the fubject: our praises are but a poor tribute for what we have received; our prayers a price of no value for what we ask: and even those too have their imperfections, when performed in the beft manner; that were we not in the hands of a merciful God, who is not extreme to mark what is done amifs, we should not dare to open our mouths before him, either in prayer or in praise. And this reflection seems to have led the holy Pfalmift to that petition which is contained in the words read to you for the text, and with which this excellent composure is clofed up, Let the words of my mouth, and the meditation of my heart, be always acceptable in thy fight, O Lord, my ftrength and my redeemer.

If we confider these words with a retrospect upon what went before, and suppose the holy Pfalmist here to reflect upon what he had been doing, the

meaning of them then must be that which I have fuggefted: he had been praifing God for all his goodness to the children of men; had been by fervent prayer imploring his protection against the fnares and allurements of fin: but what were his prayers or his praises to God? or what valuable facrifice could duft and ashes offer up to the Almighty? Struck with this juft fense of humility, he ftirs not from the place or subject of his devotion, till he had first begged pardon for the lameness of his facrifice, for the imperfections even of his prayers and praises, and implored God's acceptance of the poor tribute he was able to pay him. He knew how imperfect the beft of his actions were; how unworthy his praises were of God; and how dangerous a fubject prayer is, fince we know not what we should pray for as we ought. Prayer, if not directed by the Spirit, will be influenced by the paffions, and taught the unworthy language of felflove: far therefore from being exalted with his performance, the faint retires excufing his devotion, and begging one farther mercy of God, that he would accept the service he was able to offer. An example worthy of our imitation! and which yet we are hardly worthy enough to imitate: for if we confider with what coldness we pass through our prayers and praises, with what inattention we are present at the fervice of God, how our thoughts wander, and our hearts are surprised into the pursuit of vain and idle conceits, or are poffeffed with worldly thoughts and care, we must needs think it an act of the higheft prefumption to defire God to receive fuch devotion, or to accept the meditation of fuch idle roving