On Delighting in the Laws of God.

DISCOURSE IX.

PSALM CXix. 47.

I will delight myself in thy Commandments, which I have loved.

WE

E are now confidering that Part of the Duty required of us in the Divine Law which immediately relateth to God, and which may in the propereft Senfe be called Godliness. This includeth, as hath been already fhewn, our Endeavouring to get our Minds poffeffed with a ftrong and lively Perfuafion of the Exiftence, the Perfections, and Providence of God, and with thofe holy Affections and Difpofitions which become reasonable Creatures towards the

fupreme

fupreme Being; fuch as a fuperlative Love, a profound and filial Reverence, an abfolute Submiffion to his Authority and Refignation to his Will, and an ingenuous steady Truft and Affiance in him.

I now proceed to obferve farther, that it is a neceffary Part of true Godliness, or of the Duty we owe to God, to render him that religious Wordfhip which is his Due, and to obferve thofe facred Rites and Ordinances which he hath appointed in his Word. It is an important Part of the Divine Law, Thou shalt worship the Lord thy God, and him only halt thou ferve. Matt. iv. 1o. This Worthipping of God includeth, as the principal Part of it, an inward Adoration and Devotion: God is a Spirit, faith our Saviour, and they that worship him must worship him in Spirit and in Truth. Our Hearts and Affections, and all the Powers of our Souls, must be engaged, when we pay our religious Homage to that moft pure and perfect Mind, the Sovereign Lord of the Univerfe; and, that we may do this in a proper Manner, we must endeavour to withdraw our Thoughts for a While from our worldly Occupations, Diverfions, and Cares, and fix them upon God, realifing him to our Minds in his incomparable Majefty, his Greatnefs, Goodnefs, and Purity.

And

And this must be ordinarily accompanied with fome outward Signs and Expreflions of the inward Devotion of our Hearts: The very Frame of the human Body feems to be peculiarly fitted for this. Man is made with a Countenance erect towards Heaven, and not, like that of other Animals, prone towards the Earth: He hath the Power of bending his Knees, and of raifing his Hands in an adoring Pofture, and of lifting up his Eyes in a Manner wonderfully expreffive of awful Veneration; and by the admirable Faculty of Speech he is capable of uttering, in diftinct articulate Sounds, the inward Sentiments and Affections of his Mind. It is proper therefore that, at the fame Time that we worship God in our Spirits, there fhould be fomething correfpondent to it in our bodily Gesture and Deportment: O come let us worship and bow down, faith the Pfalmift, let us kneel before the Lord our Maker. Pf. xcv. 6. But especially we should, on fuch Occafions, exprefs in Words the devout Sentiments of our Hearts. This is very proper and useful even in our private Devotions, but is abfolutely neceffary in public and focial Acts of Worship. And, as these Acts of Religion have an immediate Relation to the Deity, fo we are faid, in the Language of Scripture, to draw near to God

in

in those holy Exercises. We then maintain a facred Intercourfe with him, we fet our* felves as in his immediate Prefence, and, as far as in us lies, lay our Souls open to his Divine Communications. God doth not require this of us, as if he were to be a Gainer by our Worfhipping him: For what Profit or Advantage can the all-fufficient Jehovah reap from the religious Services we are capable of offering? But he requireth us to worship him, because it is in the Nature of Things moft fit and proper that reafonable Creatures fhould render this facred Homage to the fupreme Lord of the Univerfe, and because it is a worthy Employment of the noble Faculties and Powers he hath given us, and tends to the Heightening and Improving pious and excellent Dif pofitions in our Sculs, and confequently to the Promoting the true Happiness and Perfection of our Natures. Surely then every fincere and well-difpofed Mind may upon just Grounds fay, with the devout Pfalmist, It is good for me to draw near to God. Pf. Ixxiii. 28.

One eminent Part of religious Worship is Prayer, whereby we apply to God for the Bleffings we ftand in need of, whether fpiritual or temporal, relating to our Bodies or to our Souls: And this, in fuch finful Crea

tures

tures as we are, fhould be accompanied with humble penitent Confeffions of our Iniquities, which render us utterly unworthy of his Favour; and with earneft Supplications for his pardoning Grace and Mercy. By Prayer we acknowledge him as the fupreme Difpofer, the Author and Fountain of all Good, from whom every good and perfect Gift doth defcend. This is a Duty frequently and exprefly required in the Divine Law: It is to be our daily Exercife. Nothing less than this can be underftood by that Precept, Pray without Ceafing

Theff. v. 17. And, for our Encouragement in this Duty, God is described under this Character, that he is the Hearer of Prayer. Pl. lxv. 2. And it is a marvellous Inftance of his Grace and condescending Goodness towards us, and of his earnest Defire of our Happiness, that he is pleafed not only to allow, but to invite and even to command us to apply to him by Prayer for whatsoever Things are really good and needful for us. What a gracious Command is that, in Phil. iv. 6, Be careful, or anxiously follicitous, for Nothing, but in every Thing by Prayer and Supplication, with Thanfgiving, let your Requests be made known

unto God! Not as if he did not know what we ftand in need of without our Prayers,

but