conclude Our reafoning, therefore, as He doth His: And now abideth Confeffion, Prayer, and Praife, these three; but the greatest of thefe is Praife.

It is fo, certainly, on other Accounts, as well as this; particularly, as it is the moft difinterested branch of our Religious Service; fuch as hath the most of God, and the leaft of our Selves in it, of any we pay; and therefore approaches the nearest of any to a pure, and free, and perfect Act of Homage. For, though a good Action doth not grow immediately worthless by being done with the Profpect of Advantage, as Some have ftrangely imagin'd; yet it will be allow'd, I fuppofe, that its being done without the Mixture of that End, or with as little of it as is poffible, recommends it so much the more, and raises the Price of it. Doth Job i. 9. Job fear God for nought? was an Objetion of Satan, which imply'd, that those Duties were moft valuable, where our own Intereft was leaft aim'd at: And God feems, by the Commiffion he then gave Satan to try Experiments upon Job, thus far to have allow'd his Plea. Now, our Requests for future, and even our Acknowledgments of past Mercies centre purely in our felves; our own Interest is

the

the direct Aim of them. But Praise is a generous and unmercenary Principle which propofes no other End to it felf, but to do, as is fit for a Creature endow'd with fuch Faculties to do, towards the most perfect and beneficent of Beings; and to pay the willing Tribute of Honour there, where the Voice of Reafon directs us to pay it. God hath indeed annex'd a Bleffing to the Duty; and when we know this, we cannot chufe, while we are performing the Duty, but have fome Regard to the Bleffing which belongs to it. However, that is not the direct Aim of our Devotions, nor was it the firft Motive that ftirr'd us up to them. Had it been fo, we fhould naturally have betaken our felves to Prayer, and breath'd our our Defires in That Form wherein they are most properly convey'd.

In fhort, Praife is our moft Excellent Work; a Work common to the Church Triumphant and Militant, and which lifts us up into a Communion and Fellowship with Angels. The Matter, about which it is converfant, is always the Perfections of God's Nature and the Act it felf is the Perfection of Ours:

I.

James v.

13.

III. I come now, in the last place, to set out some of its peculiar Properties and Advantages, which recommend it to the Devout Performer. And,

ift, It is the most pleasing part of our Devotions. It proceeds always from a Lively Chearful Temper of Mind; and it cherishes, and improves what it proPf. cxlvii. ceeds from. For it is good to fing Praifes unto our God, (fays one, whofe Experience in this Cafe, we may rely upon) for it is pleasant, and Praife is comely. Petition and Confeffion are the Language of the Indigent, and the Guilty; the breathings of a fad and a contrite Spirit: Is any afflicted? let him pray: but, is any merry? let him fing Pfalms. The moft ufual and natural way of mens expreffing the Mirth of their Hearts is, in a Song and Songs are the very Language of Praife; to the expreffing of which they are in a peculiar manner appropriated, and are scarce of any other Ufe in Religion. Indeed, the whole Compofition of this Duty is fuch, as throughout fpeaks Eafe and Delight to the Mind. It proceeds from Love, and from Thankfulness; from Love, the Fountain of Pleasure, the Paffion, which gives

every thing we do, or enjoy, its Relish and Agreeablenefs. From Thankfulness, which involves in it the Memory of paft Benefits; the actual Prefence of them to the Mind, and the repeated Enjoyment of them. And as its Prin tiple is, fuch is its End alfo. For it procureth Quiet and Ease to the Mind, by doing fomewhat towards fatisfying that Debt which it labours under; by delivering it of thofe Thoughts of Praife and Gratitude, thofe Exultations it is fo full of; and which would grow uneafie and troublesome to it, if they were kept in. If the Thankful refrain'd it would be Pain and Grief to them: but then, then is their Soul fatisfy'd as with Pf. lxiii.si Marrow and Fatnefs, when their Mouth praifeth God with Joyful Lips.

2. It is another diftinguishing Property of Divine Praife, that it enlargeth the Powers and Capacities of our Souls; turning them from little and low things, upon their Greatest and Nobleft Ob ject, the Divine Nature; and employing them in the Difcovery and Admiration of those feveral Perfections that adorn it. We fee, what difference there is between Man and Man; fuch, as there is hardly greater between Man Ca

and

and Beaft: And this proceeds chiefly from the different Sphere of thought which they act in, and the different Objects they converfe with. The Mind is Effentially the fame in the Peasant and the Prince; the forces of it naturally equal in the untaught man, and the Philofopher only the One of these is bufied in mean Affairs, and within narrower Bounds, the Other exercises himfelf in things of weight and moment; and This it is that puts the wide distance between them. Noble Objects are to the Mind, what the Sunbeams are to a Bud, or Flower: They Open and unfold, as it were, the Leaves of it; put it upon exerting and spreading it felf every way; and call forth all thofe Powers, that lie hid and lock'd up in it. The Praise and Admiration of God, therefore, brings this Advantage along with it, that it fets our Faculties upon their full Stretch, and improves them to all the Degrees of Perfection, of which they are capable.

3. It, farther, promotes in us an exquifite Senfe of God's Honour, and an high Indignation of mind at every thing that openly profanes it. For what we value and delight in, we cannot with

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