Defigns, or Pious fits, and Short liv'd Ser. 11 Heats and Sallies, inftead of a thorough Change, and an Habitual Righteousness. I have in the next place laid before you the Terrours and the Mercies of the Lord. And methinks I might reafonably expect that they fhould Operate upon you: That there fhould be no Soul fo Obdurate as to refift both the Wrath and the Goodnefs of God: Oh methinks every one that hears me fhould by this time be forming fuch Vows and Refolutions as thefe. O my God I am at length fenfible of thy Goodness and my Bafenefs! I fee what Judgments, what an Hell my Sins deferve! and yet what Bleffedness, what an Heaven thou in thy boundless Mercy art ready to bestow upon me; ah! My God, I am forry, my Soul bleeds within me to think that I have fo long withftood thee, that have fo long provoked thee. Ah! if thou wilt now accept of fuch an ungrateful Wretch as I am: If thou wilt now accept of the Miferable Remains and Shipwracks of a Mif-fpent Life, I here Solemnly devote and dedicate my felf, my time to thee, I will Love thee, I will ferve thee, I will delight in thee; Adieu my vain and foolish Defires, Adieu my Z 2 fhameful

Vol. I. fhameful Lufts, my empty and deceitful Pleafures, My Sloth, My Pride, My Vanity; My Soul is fired with an Ambition for Heaven, Prayers and Tears, Alms, and good Works, gracious Con"verfation and the Contemplation of Di vine truth, the Pleafures of a free and enlightned Mind, the Joy of God's Prefence, the Confolation of his Spirit; these shall be the business, these shall be the Diverfions, these fhall be the Projects and Pleasures of my Life, affift me, O my God, a poor wretched, frail Crea ture, that I may make good my Vows, and pass the time of my fojourning here in fear as always in thy Prefence, till I come to that State of Triumph, Peace and Glory, where I fhall watch and fight no more.

Of

Of Glorying in God alone.

PSALM XXXIV. 2.

My Soul ball make her boaft in the Lord.

MA

AN is too often more fenfible of evil than good, and more apt to murmur and complain of the one, than to bless and praise God for the other; nay what is worse, thofe good things which fhould infpire us with love and gratitude, and engage us to the fervice of God, have very often a quite contrary influence upon us: They render us more forgetful of God, and unthankful to him, they faften our affections more ftrongly on the World, and instead of humility and dependance on God, produce in us pride and infolence, vain glory and confidence in our felves and Fortunes. To prevent or cure this Sin, this crying Wickedness, this bold contradiction to all true notions of God and our felves, of his Providence, and our State, I have made choice of thefe Words, from whence I might recommend to you, a Duty than which nothing can better become us in whatever capacity we be confidered. Z3 What

333

Ser. 12.

Vol. I. What can better become us who are the Creatures of God, than to bless him, and depend on him? What can better become us as Chriftians, than to be always Praifing and Magnifying that God, to whofe grace we owe our Salvation and Happiness? It becometh well the Just to be thankful. If lastly, we confider our felves as members of this Church or State God appears to have diftinguifht us by peculiar and fignal Mercies and Bleffings, and therefore we ought to diftinguish our felves too by being peculiarly eminent, for our gratitude and reliance on God, we above all People ought to put in practice the refolution of the Pfalmift, becaufe we lie under more and greater Obligations to it than any others. My Soul fhall make her Boaft in the Lord.

Boafting in the Lord is not one fingle one,but a kind of complication of vertues, 'tis love and gratitude to God, in opposition to forgetfulness and unthankfulness ; 'tis humility towards him, in oppofition to Pride and Self-conceit; 'tis acquiefcence in reliance, and dependance upon him, in oppofition to vanity and confidence in our felves and fortunes. This is the Duty which the Text recommends, and which therefore I fhall prefs upon you by these four or five Arguments.

1. The Example of Excellent Perfons. Ser. 12. 2. We have receiv'd all from God.

3. We are in fuch a State of dependance upon him, that we can reap little benefit. Nay, we may fuffer much prejudice by the most excellent endowments and poffeffions; unless they be fanctified by his Grace, and befriended by his Providence.

4. The boafting in any thing but in him, is a symptom of extreme profaneness and irreligion; and therefore,

5ly. God is a profest Enemy to all fuch proud and vain boafters. I'll begin with the first of these.

1. The Example, &e. This Duty of boasting in God, and nothing else, is what the Scripture does frequently and earnestly inculcate, and extends to all those things which Mankind is wont to acquiefce,confide and glory in. Thus, Jer, 9. 23, 24. Thus faith the Lord, Let not the wife Man glory in his wisdom, neither let the mighty Man glory in his might: Let not the rich Man glory in his riches, but let him that glorieth glory in this, that he understandeth and knoweth me, that I am the Lord which exercifeth loving kindness, judgment and righteousness in the Earth: For in these things I delight, faith the Lord: To this probably St. Paul refers, when putting