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The Duty of Praise and Thanksgiving:

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SERMON

Preach'd before the

QUEEN

A T

WHITE-HALL.

MAY 29. 169 2.

PSAL. L. 14.

Offer unto God Thanksgiving.

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Mong the many Excellencies of this pious Collection of Hymns, for which fo particular a Value hath been fet upon it by the Church of God in all Ages, this is not the leaft, that the true Price of Duties is there juftly ftated; men are call'd off from refting

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refting in the outward Shew of Religion, in Ceremonies and Ritual Obfervances; and taught rather to practise (that which was fhadow'd out by these Rites, and to which they were defign'd to lead) found inward Vertue, and Piety.

The feveral Compofers of thefe Hymns were Prophets; Perfons, whose business it was, not only to foretel Events, for the benefit of the Church in fucceeding times, but to correct and reform alfo what was amifs in that Race of Men, with whom they liv'd and convers'd; to preferve a foolish People from Idolatry, and falfe Worfhip; to rescue the Law from corrupt Gloffes, and fuperftitious Abuses; and to put Men in mind of (what they were fo willing to forget) that Eternal and Invariable Rule, which was before thefe Pofitive Duties, would continue after them, and was to be obferv'd even Then in preference to them.

The discharge, I fay, of this part of the Prophetick Office taking up fo much room in the book of Pfalms; this hath been one reason, among many others, why they have been always fo highly efteem'd; because we are from hence furnish'd with a proper Reply to an Ar

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gument commonly made ufe of by Unbelievers; who look upon All Reveal'd Religions, as Pious Frauds, and Impoftures, on the account of the Prejudices they have entertain'd in relation to That of the Jews the whole of which they firft fuppofe to lie in External Perfor mances, and then eafily perfuade them, felves, that God could never be the Author of fuch a mere piece of Pageantry, and empty Formality; nor delight in a Worfhip which confifted purely in a Number of wild and unaccountable Ceremonies. Which Objection of theirs we should not be able throughly to answer, unless we could prove (chiefly out of the Pfalms, and other parts of the Prophetick Writings) that the Jewish Religion was fomewhat more than bare Outfide and Shew; and that Inward Purity, and the Devotion of the Heart was a Duty Then, as well as Now. One great Inftance of this Proof we have in the words now before us; which are taken from a Pfalm of Afaph, written on purpose to fet out the Weakness and Worthlefness of External Performances, when compar'd with more Subftantial and Vital Duties. To enforce which Doctrine God himself is brought in, as delivering B 2

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it. Hear, O my People, and I will speak; O Ifrael, and I will teftifie against thee: I am God, even thy God. The Preface is very folemn; and, therefore, what it ufhers in, we may be fure, is of no common Importance. I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices, or thy Burnt-Offerings, to have been continually before me.

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is, I will not So reprove thee for any failures in thy Sacrifices and Burnt-Offerings, as if These were the Only, or the Chief Things I requir'd of thee. I will take no Bullockout of thy house, nor He-goat out of thy folds. I prefcrib'd not Sacrifices to thee, for my Own fake, because I needed them: For every Beaft of the Foreft is Mine, and the Cattel upon a thousand Hills: Mine they and were, are, before ever I commanded thee to offer them to Me; fo that (as it follows) If I were hungry, yet would I not tell thee; for the world is Mine, and the fulness thereof. But can ye be fo grofs and fenflefs, as to think me liable to Hunger and Thirst? as to imagine that wants of That kind can touch me? Will I eat the Flesh of Bulls, or drink the Blood of Goats? Thus doth he expoftulate feverely with them, after the most graceful manner of the Eastern Poetry. The Iffue of which is, a plain and full Refo

of the Text.

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lution of the Cafe, in those few words Offer unto God Thanksgiving. Would you do your Homage in the most agreeable way? would you render the most acceptable of Services? Offer unto God Thanksgiving.

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The Ufe I intend to make of these Words is, from hence to raise fome Thoughts about that very excellent and important Duty of Praife and Thanksgiving A Subject, not unfit to be difcours'd of, at this Time; whether we confider, either the more than ordinary Coldness that appears of late in mens tempers towards the practice of this (or any other) part of a warm and affecting Devotion; the Great Occasion of fetting afide this particular Day in the Kalendar, fome years ago; or the New Inftances of mercy and goodnefs, which God hath lately been pleas'd to bestow upon us anfwering at laft the many Prayers and Faftings, by which we have befought him fo long for the Establishment of their Majefties Throne, and for the Success of their Arms; and giving us, in his own good time, an Opportunity of appearing before him in the more delightful part of our Duty, with the voice Pí. xlii, 4

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