Use 1. Let us make conscience of this duty, not only of the matter, but the manner of it, that it may not be carried on in a dead-hearted fashion, or as a cursory exercise. To thi's end I shall press two things — (1.) Keep up a delight in God ; (2.) Be filled with the Spirit.
1. Keep up a holy delight in God, for singing is the vent of our joy ; and therefore, unless delight be always kept up, thoughts of God and of the life to come will be unwelcome and unpleasant thoughts. They that joy in the Lord delight most in singing, because everything that bringeth God to remembrance is sweet and acceptable to them ; to others the service is but cold and heartless.
2. Be filled with the Spirit. Take heed 3^ou do not give the Com- forter occasion to remove from you, for then all is uncomfortable : ' I remembered God, and I was troubled,' Ps. Ixxvii. 3. But especially look after these standing effects of the Spirit, ' faith, hope, and love.' Faith ; till we believe God's being and providence, and our redemption by Jesus Christ, they are not delightful matters to us, whatever they be in themselves. Carnal delight is the joy of sense, but spiritual delight is the joy of faith. The joy of sense is in the creature, but the joy of faith is in God ; the joy of sense is in present things, the joy of faith in future things ; the joy of sense is in the good of the body, the joy of faith in the soul's good, that it be renewed and reconciled to God ; the joy of sense is in the blessings that flow in the channel of common I^rovidence, increase of estate, and provisions for the flesh ; the joy of faith is in the covenant and promises of God : Ps. cxix. Ill, ' Thy testimonies have I taken as an heritage for ever, for they are the rejoic- ing of my heart.* So also for love ; when we love God, we love every- thing that is related to him. Love is nothing else but the complacency and well-pleasedness of our mind in God as our chief est good : Ps. xvi. 5, 6, * The Lord is the portion of mine inheritance, and of my cup ; thou maintainest my lot. The lines are fallen unto me in pleasant places ; yea, I have a goodly heritage.' We value and esteem him above all worldly things, therefore we are affected with what is spoken or siung of God himself or his ways, how to enter into his peace with joy, how to please and obey him, or promote his glory. Lastly, for hope ; we fetch our great solaces from the world to come. As heaven is the place of our full delight, so the foresight and foretaste of it is the liighest delight that is here on earth to be attained ; therefore we must often go to heaven for renewed matter of delight : Kom. v. 2, ' By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand.
VeR. 20.] SERMONS UPON EPHESIANS V. 417
and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.' If you come prepared with such a spirit, it will be a cheerful, a profitable thing to sing psalms.
Use 2. To show us what a good God we serve, who hath made our delight a great part of our work. God is much for his people's pleasure and holy joy. Many think it is against the will of God that they should rejoice ; you are not only at liberty that you may, but under a necessity of duty that you must ever rejoice in God. To this end con- sider what matter he hath provided for our joy in himself and our redemption by Christ ; and one of the Spirit's offices is to be our com- forter, and one of the duties of religion is singing of psalms, which is appointed as a help to this purpose.
Use 3. To show how much we overlook our profit when we deal slightly in this ordinance. It is a means, as other duties are, not a task ; and a means to make our lives both holy and comfortable ; there- fore let us not contemn it. The same graces which are necessary for other parts of worship, which we make greater reckoning of, are necessary here also.
SERMON XXV.
Giving thanks ahcays for all things unto God and tJie Father, in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ. — Eph. v. 20.
Here is the second effect of being filled with the Spirit, and it is of great affinity with the former ; for it showeth also what is the great matter, end, and use of christian singing. In the words observe —
1. The duty, ' Giving thanks.'
2. The circumstances of the duty — [l.J The time, 'Always.'
[2.] The matter, for what, ' For all things.'
[3.] The object to whom this religious worship is to be given, 'To God and the Father.'
[4.] The manner, or means by whom, ' In the name of our Lord Jesus Christ.'
Doct. That thanksgiving to God is a great and necessary duty becom- ing all christians.