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it bears among them; or fet out, in the SER M. laft place, fome of its peculiar Properties and Advantages, with regard to the devout Performer of it.

I. The Duty of Praise and Thankf giving, confider'd abfolutely in it felf, is, I fay, the Debt, and Law of our Nature. We had fuch Faculties bestowed on us by our Creator, as made us capable of fatisfying this Debt, and obeying this Law; and they never, therefore, work more naturally and freely, than when they are thus employ'd.

'Tis one of the earliest Inftructions given us by Philosophy, and which hath ever fince been approved and inculcated by the wisest Men of all Ages. That the Original Design of making Man was, that he might Praise and Honour Him who made him. When God had finish'd this goodly Frame of things, we call the World, and put together the feveral Parts of it, according to his infinite Wifdom, in exact Number, Weight, and Measure; there was ftill wanting a Crea

ture

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SERM ture in these lower Regions, that could apprehend the Beauty, Order, and exquifite Contrivance of it; that from contemplating the Gift, might be able to raise it self up to the great Giver, and do Honour to all his Attributes. Every thing indeed that God made, did, in fome Senfe, glorify its Author, inafmuch as it carried upon it the plain Mark and Imprefs of the Deity, and was an Effect worthy of that firft Cause from whence it flowed; and Thus might the Heavens be faid, at the first Moment in which Pf. xix. 1. they stood forth, to declare his Glory, and the Firmament to fhew his Handywork: But this was an imperfect, and defective Glory; the Sign was of no fignification here below, whilft there was no one here as yet to take Notice of it. Man, therefore, was form'd to fupply this Want; endued with Powers fit to find out, and to acknowledge these unlimited Perfections; and then put into this Temple of God, this lower World, as the Prieft of Nature, to offer up the Incense of Thanks and Praise for the mute and the infenfible Part of the Creation.

This, I fay, hath been the Opinion all along of the most thoughtful Men, down from the moft ancient Times: And tho' it be not Demonftrative, yet is it what we cannot but judge highly reasonable, if we do but allow, that Man was made for fome End, or other; and that he is capable of perceiving that End. For then, let us fearch and enquire never fo much, we fhall find no Other Account of him that we can reft upon fo well. If we fay, That he was made purely for the good Pleasure of God; this is, in effect, to say, that he was made for no Determinate End; or for none, at least, that We çan difcern. If we fay, That he was defign'd as an Instance of the Wisdom, and Power, and Goodness of God; This indeed may be the Reason of his Being in general; for 'tis the common Reason of the Being of every Thing besides. But it gives no account, why he was made fuch a Being as he is, a reflecting, thoughtful, inquifitive Being: The particular Reafon of this feems moft aptly to be

drawn

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SERM. drawn from the Praife and Honour that

I. was (not only to redound to God from him, but) to be given to God by him.

This Duty, therefore, is the Debt and Law of our Nature. And it will more diftinctly appear to be fuch, if we confider the two Ruling Faculties of our Mind, the Understanding, and the Will, apart; in both which it is deeply founded: In the Understanding, as in the Principle of Reason, which owns and acknowledges it; in the Will, as in the Fountain of Gratitude and Return, which prompts, and even constrains us to pay it.

Reafon was given us as a Rule and Measure, by the help of which we were to proportion our Efteem of every thing, according to the Degrees of Perfection and Goodness which we found therein. It cannot, therefore, if it doth its Office at all, but apprehend God as the best and most perfect Being; it must needs fee, and own, and admire his infinite Perfections. And this is what is strictly meant by Praise; which, therefore, is

exprefs'd

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express'd in Scripture by confessing to God, SER M. and acknowledging him; by afcribing to him what is his Due; and, as far as This Senfe of the Word reaches, 'tis impoffible to think of God without praising him. For it depends not on the Underftanding how it shall apprehend Things, any more than it doth on the Eye, how Visible Objects fhall appear to it.

The Duty takes a farther and furer Hold of us, by the Means of our Will, and that strong Bent towards Gratitude, which the Author of our Nature hath implanted in it. There is not a more active Principle than This in the Mind of Man; and furely, that which deferves its utmost Force, and should set all its Springs a-work, is God; the Great and Univerfal Benefactor, from whom alone we receiv'd whatever we either have, or are, and to whom we can poffibly repay nothing but our Praises, or (to speak more properly on this Head, and according to the ftrict Import of the Word) our Thanksgivings. Who hath first given Rom. xi. to God, (faith the great Apoftle in his

usual

35, 36.

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