3. God's righteous judgments afflicting of us doth also yield matter of praise, as they work together for good to such as love him, Rom. viii. 28 ; and the saddest corrections afford necessary and profitable instructions: Ps. xciv. 12, 'Blessed is the man whom thou chastenesi. and teachest him out of thy law ;' Ps. cxix. 71, ' It is good for me that I have been afflicted, that I might learn thy statutes ;; though not barely for the afflictions themselves, yet for their fruit and issue, that our souls are bettered and humbled by them, and as we see the faithfulness of God in them.
Boot. That the people of God should never cease lauding and mag- nifying the name of God because of his righteous judgments.
David was never weary of praising God; every day he praised God, and often every day : love sweetened it to him. We shall praise him evermore in the world to come, there it will be our sole employment ; but even in this world we should not count it a burden, but praise him yet more : Ps. lxxi. 14, ' I will yet praise him more and more,' still magnifying his greatness.
Here I shall speak —
1. Of the duty, that we should praise God.
2. Of the continuance, that we should not cease praising God.
3. The grounds of it in the text, because of thy righteous judg- ments.
First, The duty.
Secondly, The motives to it.
First, The duty, and there we have — (1.; The nature of it ; (2.) The grounds of it ; (3.) The formality ; (4.) The fruit of it.
1. The nature of it. There are three words used in this matter — blessing, praising, giving thanks. Sometimes they are used promis- cuously, at other times there is a distinctness of notion to be observed . Blessing is used: Ps. ciii. 1, 'Bless the Lord, 0 my soul.' Blessing
VER. 164.] SERMONS UPON PSALM CXIX. 191
relateth to his benefits ; it respects the works of God as beneficial to us ; his mercy, love, and kindness to us. We bless him who hath blessed us, Eph. i. 7. Praise relateth to his excellences, as we may- praise a stranger for his excellent endowments, though we are not benefited by them: Ps. cxi. 1, 2, 'Praise ye the Lord; I will praise the Lord with my whole heart, in the assembly of the upright, and in the congregation : the works of the Lord are great, sought out of all them that have pleasure therein.' It is a great part of our work to praise the Lord ; not that he at all needeth it, for he is infinitely perfect, but he deserveth it, and by this means we testify our love and reverence of him, and strengthen our own dependence on him, and gain others to him, when we speak good of his name. The other word is thanksgiving : Ps. cvii. 1, 'Oh! give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good.' This differeth from the two former, because praise may be expressed in words, gratitude and thankfulness in deed ; also it hath respect to benefits as well as blessings ; but we show our grati- tude by obedience. But these are often coincident ; indeed, there is a mixture of all in the true praising of God ; excellences and benefits are to be acknowledged with heart, mouth, and life.
2. The grounds of it. Faith and love must be at the bottom of our praise, if we would not have it slight and formal ; for the more lively apprehensions we have of God's perfections, which is the work of faith, and the more sensible of his goodness and mercy, which is the work of love, the better is this service performed. Therefore, unless these praises flow from a believing, loving soul, they are but an empty prattle and a vain sound. Faith is necessary, that is the eye of the soul to see the invisible one, Heb. xi. 27. It giveth us an apprehen- sion of the Lord's excellences in order to love and trust. So also, in order to praise, faith sets us before the throne, and doth withdraw the veil, and showeth us the eternal God, who liveth and reigneth for ever, dispensing all things powerfully, according to his own _ will : that is all the sight we have of God in this life — a nearer vision is referred to our future glory ; here we see him by faith. Again, love, or a deep sense of the goodness of God, which enlargeth the heart towards him, and forceth open our lips, that our mouths may show forth his praise, Ps. li. 15. There he meaneth God's giving a sweet and renewed sense of pardoning mercy : Ps. lxiii. 3, ' Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.' An intimate sense of the Lord's love sets the tongue a-work to speak of it. Praise, then, is the result of faith and love. None else do it seriously, delightfully, but where these graces reign and prevail in the heart.
3. The formality of it is an acknowlegment of the divine virtues, benefits, and perfections, manifested to us in his word or works, or both. These must be acknowledged by some outward expression: words, whereby we express our inward thoughts and apprehensions. Our tongues are called our glory : Ps. lvii. 8, ' Awake up, my glory ;' Ps. xvi. 9, ' My heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth.' When that scripture is quoted, Acts ii. 26, it is said, ' My tongue is glad,' rjyaX- Xtdaaro r\ yXcoo-crd [jlov. So the Septuagint. So called, not only as speech is our excellency above the beasts, but because God is thereby glorified and praised ; given us to this end and purpose, to bless God,