2. Praise consists i)i taking notice, and not only in taking notice, but in remembering wulmimUnfi them, as in Ps. ciii. 2, ' My soul, praise the Lord, and forget not all his benefits.'
3. And likewise in mi estimation of them ; and likewise,
4. In e.rpressing this thankfulness in words, ' Awake, my glory,' Ps. Ivii. 8. Our tongues are our glory, especially as they are instruments to praise and glorify God. We cannot use our language better than to speak the language of Canaan in praising of God.
5. Likewise, praise consists in doing good, which is real praise, though we say nothing. Moses cried to God, though he spake not a word. Evil works have a cry, although they say nothing. Abel's blood cried against Cain, Gen. iv. 10. And as evil works, so good works have a cr3\ Though a man praise not God with his tongue, his works praise God. Job saith, 'The sides of the poor blessed him,' Job xxxi. 20. What! could their sides speak ? No ; but there was a real thanksgiving to God. Their sides blessed God. So our good works may praise God as well as our tongues and hearts. The heavens and the earth, they praise God, though they say nothing, because they stir us up to say something. ' Let men see your good works,' Mat. v. 16, that they may take occasion from thence to bless God, saith Christ. Or else your praising of God is but a mere comphment- ing with God ; to give him thanks with the tongue, and after to dishonour him with your lives, Ps. 1. 16, ' What hast thou to do to take my name into thy mouth, sith thou hatest to be reformed ? ' What hast thou to do to take my name into thy mouth, either in prayer or in praise, when thou hatest to be reformed ? ' High words are unseemly for a fool,' saith the the wise man, Eccles. v. 3, x. 14. And what higher words than praise ? Therefore, praise for a man that lives in a blasphemous course of life, in a filthy coiu'se of life, praise is too high a word for a fool. We must praise God in our lives, or else not at all. God will not accept of it. It consists in these things.
Now some directions how to perform it for ourselves and others.
1. If we would praise God for ourselves, or for any, then let lis look about us, let us look above us a)ul beneath us, let us look backward, look to the present, look forward. Everything puts songs of praise into our mouth. Have we not matter enough of our own to praise God for ? Let us look about us, to the prosperity of others. Let us praise God for the ministry, praise God for the magistracy, praise God for the government wherein we live. There
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are many grievances in the best government, but a Christian heart con- sidereth what good he hath by that government, what good he hath by that ordinance, and doth not only dehght to feed on the blemishes, as flies do upon sores. It is a sign of a naughty heart to do so. Although a man should not be insensible of the ills of the times (for else how should we pray against them ?), yet he is not so sensible as to forget the good he hath by them. If we would praise God, let us look to the good, and not so much upon the ill.
Look up to heaven, look to the earth, to the sea. David occasions praise from every creature. Every creature ministers matter of praise, from the stars to the dust, from heaven to earth, from the cedar to the hyssop that grows by the wall. Is there not a beam of God's goodness in every creature ? Have we not use of every creature ? We must praise God not only for the majesty and order that shines in them, but for the use of them in respect of us.
And so let us look to the works of providence, as well as to the works of creation. Look to God's work in his church, his confounding of his ene- mies, his deliverance of his church, the churches abroad, our own church, our own persons, our friends. Thus we should feed ourselves, that we may have matter of praising God. God gives us matter every day. He renews his favours upon the place wherein we live and upon us, as it is Lam. iii. 22, ' It is his mercy that we are not all consumed.' Let us look back to the favours that we have enjoyed ; let us look for the present. What doth he do for us ? The apostle saith here, ' God doth deliver us.' Doth he not give deliverance, and favour, and grace, inward grace for the time to come ? Hath he not reserved an inheritance, immortal and undefiled, in the heavens for us ? Wherefore doth he bestow things present, and where- fore doth he reveal things laid up for us for the time to come, but that we should praise him, but that we should praise him for that which he means to do afterv/ards ? ' Blessed be God the Father, who hath begotten us to an inheritance, immortal and undefiled,' &c., saith St Peter, 1 Pet. i. 4, God reveals good things that ai-e to come, that we are heirs-apparent to the crown of glory. This is revealed that we might praise him now, that we might begin the employment of heaven upon earth. Let us look upward and downward, let us look about us, look inward, look backward, look to the present, look forward. Everything ministereth matter of praise to God.