And then again, besides this, ' the calves of om- lips ' carries us to work. The oral thanksgiving must be justified by our works and deeds ; or else our actions will give our tongue the he, that we praise him w'ith the one, but deny him in the other. This is a solecism, as if one should look to the earth, and cry, 0 ye heavens ! So when we say, God be praised, when yet our life speaks the contrary, it is a dishonouring of God. So the praise of our lips must be made good and justified by our life, actions, and con- versation. This we must suppose for the full understanding of the words, ' We will render,' from our hearts, ' the calves of our lips ; ' which we must make good in our lives and conversations, ever to set forth thy praise in our whole life.
Quest. But why doth the prophet especially mention Ups, * the calves of our hps,' which are our words ?
Ans. 1. Partly, because Christ, who is the Word, delights in om* words.
2. Because our tongue is our glory, and that whereby we glorify God.
3. And especially because our tongue is that which excites others, being a trumpet of praise, ordained of God for this purpose. Therefore, ' the calves of our hps ; ' partly, because it stirs up ourselves and others, and partly, because God delights in words, especially of his own dictating. To come then to speak more fully of praise and thanksgiving, let us consider what a sweet, excellent, and prevailing duty this is, which the church, to bind God, promiseth unto him, ' the calves of our lips.' I wiU not be long in the poiat, but only come to some helps how we may come to do it.
First, this praising of God must be from an humble, broken heart. The * Cf. p. 153 and note o, p. 195.— G.
272 THE KETURNING BACKSLIDER. [SeRMON II.
humble soul that sees itself not worthy of any favour, and confesseth sin before God, is alway a thankful soul. ' Take away our iniquity, and then do good to us.' We are empty ourselves. Then will ' we render thee the calves of our lips.' What made David so thankful a man ? He was an humble man ; and so Jacob, what abased him so in his own eyes ? His humility : ' Lord, I am less than the least of thy mercies,' Gen. xxxii. 10. He that thinks himself unworthy of anything, will be thankful for every- thing ; and he who thinks himself unworthy of any blessing, will be con- tented with the least. Therefore, let us work our hearts to humility, in consideration of our sinfulness, vileness, and unworthiness, which will make us thankful : especially of the best blessings, when we consider their gi-eat- ness, and our unworthiness of them. A proud man can never be thankful. Therefore, that religion which teacheth pride, cannot be a thankful religion. Popery is compounded of spiritual pride : merit of congruity, before con- version ; merit of condignity, and desert of heaven, after ; free will, and the like, to pulf up nature. What a religion is this ! Must we light a candle before the devil ? Is not nature proud enough, but we must light a candle to it ? To be spiritually proud is worst of all.
2. And with our own unworthiness, add this : a consideration of the greatness of the thinrj we bless God for ; setting as high a price upon it as we can, by considering what and how miserable we were without it. He will bless God joyfully for pardon of sin, who sees how miserable he were with- out it, in misery next to devils, ready to drop into hell every moment. And the more excellent we are, so much the more accursed, without the forgive- ness of sins. For the soul, by reason of the largeness thereof, is so much the more capable and comprehensible of misery ; as the devils are more capable than we, therefore arc most accursed. Oh, this will make us bless God for the pardon of sin ! And likewise, let us set a price upon all God's blessings, considering what we were without our senses, speech, meat, drink, rest, &c. 0 beloved ! we forget to praise God sufficiently for our senses. This little spark of reason in us is an excellent thing ; gi-ace is founded upon it. If we were without reason, what were we ? If we wanted sight, hearing, speech, rest, and other daily blessings, how uncom- fortable were our lives ! This consideration will add and set a price to their worth, and make us thankful, to consider our misery without them. But, such is our corruption, that favours are more known by the want, than by the enjoying of them. When too late, we many times find how dark and uncomfortable we are without them ; then smarting the more soundly, because in time we did not sufficiently prize, and were thankful for them.
3. And then, labour to get further and further assurance that we are God's children, beloved of him. This will make us thankful both for what we have and hope for. It lets out the hfe-blood of thankfulness, to teach doubting or falling from grace. What is the end, I beseech you, why the glory to come is revealed before the time ? That we shall be sons and daughters, kings and queens, heirs and co-heirs with Christ, and [that] ' all that he hath is ours?' Rom. viii. 17. Is not this knowledge revealed beforehand, that our praise and thanksgiving should beforehand be suitable to this revelation, being set with Christ in heavenly places already. Whence comes those strong phrases ? * We are raised with Christ ; sit with him in heavenly places,' Eph. ii. 6 ; ' are translated from death to life,' Col. i. 13 ; ' transformed into his image;' ' partakers of the divine nature,' &c., 2 Pet. i. 4. If anything that can come betwixt om^ believing,