Let our fons be as plants grown up in their youth, and our daughters as corner ftones polifhed after the fimilitude of a palace: Let our garners be full, affording all manner of ftore; and let there be no breaking in or going out, no complaining in our streets: Happy is the people that is in fuch a cafe, yea rather, happy is the people whofe God is the Lord.

Let us be bleffed in the city, and bleffed in the field, let our basket and our store be bleffed, let us be bleffed when we come in, and when we go out d.

Let thy good providence so order all events concerning us, that they may be made to work for good to us, as thou haft promifed they fhall to all that love thee, and are called according to thy purpose e.

Give us to trust in the Lord, and do good, and then we shall dwell in the land, and verily we fhall be fed; and be thou pleased to bring forth our righteousness as the light, and our judgment as the noon-day.

Let us be hid from the fcourge of the tongue, and not be afraid of destruction when it cometh; let us be in league with the ftones of the field, and let the beafts. of the field be at peace with us; let us know that our tabernacle is in peace, and let us vifit our habitation and not fin s.

And if God will be with us, and will keep us in the way that we go, during our pilgrimage in this world, and will give us bread to eat, and raiment to put on, fo that we may come to our heavenly Father's house in peace, then the Lord fhall be our God 1.

6. We must plead the promises of God for the enforcing of all our petitions, put thefe promifes in fuit, and refer ourfelves to them.

Lord, thou haft given us many exceeding great and precious promifes, which are all yea and amen in

b Plalm cxliv. 12, 13, 15.

d Deut. xxviii. 3, 5. 6. e Rom. viii. 28. f Palm xxxvii. 3, 6. g Job v. 21, 23, 24: Gen. xxviii. 20, 21. 2 Peter i. 4.

Chrift. Now be it unto thy fervants according to the word which thou haft spoken '.

Give us to draw water with joy out of thefe wells of falvation m, to fuck and be fatisfied from thofe breafts of confolation"; and now, O Lord God, let the word which thou haft spoken concerning thy fervants be eftablished for ever, and do as thou haft said o.

Deal with us according to the tenor of the everlasting covenant, which is well ordered in all things and fure, and which is all our salvation, and all our desire P.

Look upon us, and be merciful to us, as thou useft to do unto those that love thy name, and do more for us than we are able to ask or think, and supply all our needs according to thy riches in glory by Chrift Jefus .

CHA P. IV.

Of the fourth part of PRAYER, which is Thanksgivings for the Mercies we have received from God, and the many Favours of his we are interested in, and have, and hope for Benefit by.

Ο
OUR errand at

e throne of grace is not only to feek the favor of God, but to give unto him the glory due unto his name, and that not only by an awful adoration of his infinite perfections, but by a grateful acknowledgment of his goodness to us which cannot indeed add any thing to his glory, but he is pleased to accept of it, and to reckon himself glorified by it, it it come from a heart that is humbly fenfible of its own

unworthinefs to receive, any favour from God, that values the gifts, and loves the giver of them.

1. We must fir up ourselves to praise God with the confideration both of the reafon and of the encouragement we have to praise him.

Unto thee, O God, do we give thanks, unto thee do we give thanks; for that thy name is near, thy wondrous works declare t.

Let our fouls bless the Lord, and let all that is within us blefs his holy name; yea, let our fouls bless the Lord, and not forget any of his benefits ".

We will praife the Lord, for it is good, it is pleafant, and praife is comely for the upright, yea, it is a good thing to give thanks unto the Lord, and to fing praises unto thy name, O moft High, and to fhow forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night *.

We will extol thee, our God, O King, and will bless thy name for ever and ever: Every day will we blefs thee, and will praise thy name for ever and ever; we will abundantly utter the memory of thy great goodnefs, and fing of thy righteousness ỵ.

We will fing unto the Lord a new fong, and his praife in the congregation of faints; O let Ifrael rejoice in him that made him, let the children of Zion be joyful in their King: Let the faints be joyful in glory, and let the high praises of God be in their hearts, and in their mouths.

While we live we will blefs the Lord, and will fing praise unto our God while we have any being; and when we have no being on earth, we hope to have a being in.heaven, to be doing it better a.

We are here through Jefus Chrift to offer the facrifice of praife to thee, which we defire to do continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to thy name b.

t Pfalm Ixxv. I. v ciii. 1, 2. w cxlvii. 1. y Pfalm cxlv. 1, 2, 7. x cxlix. 1, 2, 5, 6. b Heb. xiij. 15.

x xcii. 1, 2:

a cxlvi. 2.

And thou haft faid that he that offers praife glorifies thee, and that this alfo fhall please the Lord better than an ox or bullock that hath horns or hoofs 4.

We will mention the loving-kindneffes of the Lord, and the praifes of the Lord, according to ail that the Lord hath beftowed on us, and the great goodness towards the houfe of Ifrael, which he hath bestowed on them, according to his mercies, and according to the multitude of his loving-kindneffes

1. We must be particular in our thanksgivings to God, (1.) For the difcoveries which he hath made to us in his word of the goodness of his nature.

We give thanks unto the God of gods, unto the Lord of lords, for his mercy endures for ever £.

Thy goodnefs is thy glory g, and 'tis for that which all thy works do praife thee, and thy faints do bleis thee h.

Thou art, gracious and full of compaffion, flow to anger, and of great mercy, and haft told us, that thou doft not afflict willingly i, or grieve the children of men, but though thou caufe grief, yet thou wilt have compaffion according to the multitude of thy mercies k. Thou takeft pleasure in them that fear thee, in them that hope in thy mercy 1.

(2.) For the many inftances of his goodness.

1. The goodness of his providence relating to our bodies, and the life that now is ; and this,

, Wib reference to all the creatures, and the world of mankind in general.

Thou haft ftretched out the heavens like a curtain, and in them thou haft fet a tabernacle for the fun ", which is as a bridegroom coming out of his chamber, and rejoiceth as a strong man to run a race n

c Pfalm 1. 23. cxxxvi. 2, 3.

icxlv. 8..
m Pfalm civ. 2..

And

e Ifa. Ixiii. 7. Pfalm b Palm cxiv. 10.

dlxix. 31.
g Exod. xxxiii. 19.
k Lam. iii. 32, 3.3.
n xix. 4, 5

/ Pfalm cxlvii.-11

thou caufeft thy fun to fhine on the evil, and on the good; and fendeft rain on the juft and on the unjust ⚫.

When we confider the heavens, the work of thy fingers, the fun, the moon, and the ftars which thou haft ordained; Lord, what is man that thou thus vifiteft himP? For truly the light is fweet, and a pleasant thing it is for the eyes to behold the fun : All the glory be to the Father of light', who commandeth the morning, and caufeth the day fpring to know his place .

Thou didst not leave thyfelf without witnefs among the heathen, in that thou didft good, and gavest them rain from heaven, and fruitful feafons, filing their hearts with food and gladnefs".

Thou covereft the heavens with clouds, and prepare rain for the earth, and makeft grafs to grow upon the mountains: Thou giveft to the beaft his food, and to the young ravens which cry v.

Thou caufeft it to rain on the wilderness, where there is no man, to fatisfy the defolate and walle ground w.

Thou vifiteft the carth, and watereft it, thou greatly enricheft it with the river of God, which is full of water; thou prepareft them corn, when thou haft fo provided for it: Thou watereft the ridges thereof abundantly, thou fettleft the furrows thereof, thou makeft it foft with fhowers, thou bleffeft the springing thereof: Thou crowneft the year with thy goodness,. and thy paths drop fatnefs x.

Thou fendeft the fprings into the valleys, which run among the hills; and they give drink to every beast of the field and by them the fowls of the heavens have their habitation, which fing among the branches Y.

o Matth. v. 45•

r James i. 17.

p Pfalm viii. 3, 4. s Job xxxviii. 12.

9

Eccl. xi. 7. Acts xiv. 17.

v Pfalm cxlvii. 8, 9. w Job xxxviii. 26, 27. lxv. 9, 10, 11. y civ. 10, 11, 12.

x Palm