heavens he hath done whatsoever he pleased Their Idols are silver and gold c. Be thou exalted O God in thine own strength We will sing and praise thy power Forsake me not until I have shewed thy strength unto this generation and thy power to every one that is to come c. This is given out as the Song of Moses and the Lamb Who shall not fear thee O Lord and glorifie thy name Great and marvelous are thy works Lord God Almighty c. And how do they magnifie his Mercy and Goodness both towards his own people and his creatures in general O how great is thy goodness which thou hast laid up for them that fear thee that thou hast wrought for them that trust in thee before the children of men Rejoice in the Lord O ye righteous for praise is comely for the upright Praise the Lord with harp Sing unto him with the Psaltery The earth is full of the goodness of the Lord. I will extol thee my God O King I will bless thy name for ever and ever Men shall speak of the might of thy terrible acts they shall abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodness and shall sing of thy righteousness The Lord is gracious and full of compassion slow to anger and of great mercy The Lord is good to all and his tender mercies are over all his works To insert all that might be mentioned to this purpose were to transcribe a great part of the Bible And in what raptures do we often find them in the contemplation of his Faithfulness and Truth his Justice and Righteousness his Eternity the boundlesness of his Presence the greatness of his Works the extensiveness of his Dominion the perpetuity of his Kingdom the exactness of his Government Who is a strong God like unto thee and to thy faithfulness round about thee Thy mercy O Lord is in the heavens and thy faithfulness reaches unto the clouds Before the mountains were brought forth or ever thou hadst formed the earth or the world from everlasting to everlasting thou art God But will God indeed dwell on the earth Behold the heaven and heaven of heavens cannot contain thee The works of the Lord are great sought out of them that have pleasure therein His work is honourable and glorious c. All thy works shall praise thee O Lord and thy Saints shall bless thee they shall speak of the glory of thy Kingdom and talk of thy power To make known to the sons of men his mighty acts and the glorious Majesty of his Kingdom Thy Kingdom is an everlasting Kingdom and thy Dominion endureth throughout all generations And his Glory in the general which results from his several Excellencies in conjunction How loftily is it often celebrated with the expression of the most loyal desires that it may be every-where renowned and of greatest complacency in as far as it is apprehended so to be The glory of the Lord shall endure for ever They shall sing in the ways of the Lord for great is the glory of the Lord. Be thou exalted above the heavens let thy glory be above all the earth Let them praise the name of the Lord for his name alone is excellent his glory is above the earth and the heavens When you read such passages as these whether they be elogies or commendations of him or doxologies and direct attributions of glory to him you are to bethink your selves with what temper of heart these things were uttered with how raised and exalted a spirit what high delight and pleasure was conceived in glorifying God or in beholding him glorious How large and unbounded a heart and how full of his praise doth still every where discover it self in such strains When all Nations when all Creatures when every-thing that hath breath when Heaven and Earth are invited together to join in the consort and bear a part in his praises And now eye him under the same notions under which you have seen him so magnified that in the same way you may have your own heart wrought up to the same pitch and temper towards him Should it not provoke an emulation and make you covet to be amidst the throng of loyal and devoted Souls when you see them ascending as if they were all incense When you behold them dissolving and melting away in delight and love and ready to expire even fainting that they can do no more designing their very last breath shall go forth in the close of a Song I will sing unto the Lord as long as I live I will sing praise to my God while I have my being How becoming is it to resolve This shall be my aim and ambition to fly the same and if it were possible a greater height Read over such Psalms as are more especially designed for the magnifying of God and when you see what were the things that were most taking to so spiritual and pious hearts thence receive instruction and aim to have your hearts alike affected and transported with the same things Frame the supposition that you are meant that the invitation is directed to you O Come let us sing unto the Lord let us come before his presence with thanksgiving and make a joyful noise to him with Psalms for the Lord is a great God and a great King above all gods c. And think with your selves Is he not as great as he was Is he not as much our Maker as he was theirs Is it not now as true that the Lord reigneth and is high above all the earth and exalted far above all gods Now since these were the considerations upon which so great complacency was taken in him set the same before your own eyes And since these were proposed as the matter of so common a joy and the Creation seems design'd for a musical instrument of as many strings as there are Creatures in Heaven and Earth Awake and make haste to get your heart fixed Lest the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad the world and all that dwell therein Lest the sea roar and the fulness thereof the floods clap their hands the fields and the hills be joyful together and all the trees of the wood rejoice before the Lord while you only are silent and unconcern'd And seriously consider the kind and nature of that joy and delight in God wherewith the hearts of holy men did so exceedingly abound Which is to be collected from the expressed ground and reasons of it for the most part wheresoever you have any discovery of that joy it self This general and principal character may be given of it that it was a sincerely-devout and a loyal joy not a mean narrow selfish pleasure an hugging of themselves in this apprehension meerly It is well with me or I am safe and happy whatsoever becomes of the world This was still the burden of their Song The Lord is
whom God requires it to unite for this very purpose This cannot but add unspeakably to the delightfulness of this transaction and of this effusion of the Holy Ghost in the virtue whereof the thing is done how oft soever it be seriously done As our case and state require that it be very often And to receive him as our Lord which is joined with that other capacity wherein we receive him viz. of a Jesus or Saviour As ye have received Christ Jesus the Lord so c. This also and the heart-subduing influence that disposes to it is most highly delectable When the Soul that was so stoutly averse and that once said within it self I will not have him to reign over me is brought freely to yeild and with sincere loyal resolutions and affections devotes it self to him consents to his government submits its neck and shoulder to his yoke and burden says to him with an ungainsaying heart as its full sense Now thou Lord of my life and hope who hast so long striven with me so oft and earnestly prest me hereto so variously dealt with me to make me understand thy merciful design and who seekest to rule with no other aim or intent but that thou may'st save and who hast founded thy dominion in thy blood and didst dy and revive and rise again that thou mightest be Lord of the living and the dead and therefore my Lord Accept now a self-refigning Soul I make a free surrender of my self I bow and submit to thy Sovereign Power I fall at the footstool of thy Throne Thou Prince of the Kings of the Earth who hast loved sinners and washt them from their sins in thy blood Glory in thy conquest Thou hast overcome I will from henceforth be no longer mine own but thine I am ready to receive thy commands to do thy will to serve thy interests to sacrifice my all to thy Name and Honour my whole life and being are for ever thine I say as before there is pleasure in the very doing this it self as often as it is sincerely done And it adds hereto if it be more distinctly considered It is no mean or any way undeserving person to whom this homage is paid and obligation taken on unto future obedience He is the brightness of the Fathers glory the express Image of his person the Heir of all things and who sustains all things by the word of his power It is he whose name is Wonderful Counsellor the mighty God the everlasting Father the Prince of peace 'T is he to whom all power is given both in heaven and earth and more especially power over all flesh that he might give eternal life to as many as were given him 'T is he who spoiled Principalities and Powers and made an open shew of them He whom because when he was in the form of God and thought it no robbery to be equal with God he humbled himself made himself of no reputation took on him the form of a servant became obedient to death the Father hath therefore highly exalted and given him a Name above every name that in his Name every knee should bow And of whom when he brought him his first-born into the world he said Let all the Angels of God worship him And such a one he is whose temper is all goodness and sweetness Tell Sion thy King cometh meek and lowly He came into this world drawn down only by his own pity and love beholding the desolations and ruins that were wrought in it every where Sin universally reigning and death by sin and spreading its dark shadow and a dreadful cloud over all the earth In which darkness the Prince thereof was ruling and leading men captive at his will having drawn them off from the blessed God their life and sunk them into a deep oblivion of their own original and disaffection to their true happiness that could only be found there This great Lord and Prince of life and peace came down on purpose to be the Restorer of Souls to repair the desolations and ruins of many generations He came full of grace and truth and hath scattered blessings over the world wheresoever he came hath infinitely obliged all that ever knew him and is he in whom all the nations of the earth must be blessed And who would not with joy swear fealty to him and take pleasure to do him homage Who would not recount with delight the unexpressible felicity of living under the governing power of such a one And if the tenor and scope of all his Laws and Constitutions be viewed over what will they be found but obligations upon men to be happy How easie his yoke how light his burden what is the frame of his Kingdom or whereof doth it consist but Righteousness Peace and Joy in the Holy Ghost And who would not now say This Lord reigneth let the earth rejoyce let the multitude of the Isles be glad thereof Why should it not be triumphingly said among the Heathen That the Lord reigneth that the world also shall be established that it cannot be moved Let the heavens rejoice and the earth be glad let the sea roar and the fulness thereof let the fields rejoice and all that is therein and all the trees of the wood rejoice It s plain that be the matter of joy here what it will be there never so much cause of exultation and glorying in him The righteousness and peace which his Kingdom promises never actually take place nor the joy that is connexion therewith till the Holy Ghost dispose and form mens spirits thereto For all this is but meer dream and idle talk to those who hear only of these things and feel not that vital influence insinuating it self that may give the living sense and savor of them And we may rather expect seas and fields beasts and trees to sing his triumphant Song and chant his praises than those men whose hearts are not attempered to his Government and who are yet under the dominion of another Lord not being yet by the law of the spirit of life in Christ Jesus made free from the law of sin and death But where this is effectually done How large matter of most rational pleasure do they find here while there is nothing in that whole System of Laws by which he governs that is either vain unequal or unpleasant or upon any account grievous only this is not the estimate of distempered spirits or of any other than them in whose hearts his Law is written and who because they love him keep his Commandments Unto Love his commands are most connatural For this is the love of God that we keep his commandments They are not grievous i. e. by the Meiosis which some do reasonably enough apprehend in those words they are joyous delightful pleasant but to them only who being born of God have overcome the world This holy influence and communication of God is therefore grateful and contributes not
idle thoughts in the day might we have exchang'd for thoughts of God! and every thought have been to us a spring of pleasure and holy delight in him Know then that if ever you will do any thing in this great matter of deligbting in God you must arrest your thoughts for him and engage them in more constant converse with him And withal mix prayers with those thoughts or let them often be praying craving thoughts such as may carry with them annexed desires or wherein your heart may breath out requests such as that for instance Rejoice the Soul of thy Servant For unto thee O Lord do I lift up my soul c. See they be spiritful thoughts that carry life in them and aim to draw more But now our thoughts may be conversant about him under very various considerations and all of them very delightful And this variety may much increase our delight while our minds converse with him now under one notion then under another They are apt to tire and grow weary being long imployed the same way upon the same thing And it were an injury to the blessed God himself when he presents himself under various aspects and appearances so to take notice of any one as to overlook and neglect the rest Therefore 4. Look often to him according as absolutely considered he is in himself the most excellent Being and as in reference to his creatures he is the Supream Author and Lord of all There is an unspeakable pleasure to be taken in him so beheld Too many while their distrust or their carnality and strangeness to God holds them in suspence concerning their own special relation to him are apt to fancy themselves excused of delighting in him It belongs not to them they think but to some familiar friends and great favourites of his to whom he expresses special kindness and on whom he places the marks of his more peculiar good-will But do you think so to shift and wave the obligation of an universal Law upon mankind and all reasonable nature You are to remember as hath been said your delight in God is not to be considered only as your priviledg but as an act of homage to him that made you and put an intelligent apprehensive spirit into you by which you are capable of knowing who made you and of beholding your Makers excellency with admiration and delight And if now you are become guilty and vile Will you run into darkness and hide your selves from him or close your eyes and then say the Sun doth not shine and deny the blessed glorious God to be what most truly and unchangeably he is What-ever you are or have desired he should be towards you yet do him right Behold and confess his glorious excellency every way most worthy to be delighted in Nor have you rendered your selves so vile nor had so much cause of apprehending his displeasure towards you by any thing so much as this Your not having taken delight in him all this while and your neglect to take the ways spoken of before tending to bring you thereto If you think you have no special relation to him Do you think you ever shall if you continue in the temper of your spirits strangers to him and look upon him as one in whom you are to take no delight Surely 't is your dutiful affection towards him and complacency in him that must give you ground to hope you are his and he is yours And therefore the beginnings and first degrees of that complacency and delight must be in you before being begotten by the view of that excellency which he hath in himself antecedently to his being related to you Yea and if your relation to him were already as sure and evident to you as can be supposed yet are you to take heed of confining your delight in him to that consideration of him only or of making it the chief reason of that your delight For so your delight in him will be more for your own sakes or upon your own account than his Learn to look upon things as they are and not according to their aspect upon your affairs Is it not a greater thing that he is God than that he is yours It is a purer a more noble and generous affection to him you are to aim at than what is measured only by your private interest Is that boundless fulness of life glory and all perfection treasured up in the eternal and incomprehensible Being to be all estimated by the capacity and concerns of a silly worm That consideration therefore being sometimes laid aside sit down and contemplate God as he is in himself not disowning as it is not fit you should but only waving the present consideration of any more comfortable relation wherein you may though most justly suppose him to stand to you and see if you cannot take pleasure in this that he is great and glorious and to have a being so every way perfect before your eyes Try if it will not be pleasant to you to fall down before him and give him Glory To join your Praises and triumphant Songs to those of Saints and Angels And how much yet also it will add to your satisfaction to behold and acknowledg him exalted above all blessing and praise How great delight hath been taken in him upon such accounts In what transports have holy souls been upon the view and contemplation of his Sovereign Power and Dominion his wife and righteous Government his large and flowing Goodness that extends in common to all the Works of his hands Labour to imitate the ingenous and loyal affection of this kind whereof you find many expressions in the sacred Volume For what hath been matter of delight to Saints of old ought surely still as much to be accounted so To give instances You sometimes find them in a most complacential adoration of his wonderful Wisdom and Counsels O the depths of the riches both of the wisdom and knowledg of God! How unsearchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out And again To God only wise be glory through Jesus Christ for ever Amen To the King Eternal Immortal Invisible the only wise God be honour and glory for ever c. To the only wise God our Saviour be Glory and Majesty Dominion and Power now and ever c. Elsewhere we have them in transports admiring his Holiness Who is like unto thee O Lord among the Gods Who is like thee glorious in Holiness There is none holy as the Lord for there is none besides thee neither is there any rock like our God! And this is recommended and enjoined to his holy Ones as the special matter of their joy and praise Rejoice in the Lord ye Righteous and give thanks at the remembrance of his holiness At other times we have their magnificent Celebrations of his Glorious Power and that by way of Triumph over the Paganish gods Our God is in the