WITH A RETURN OF PEAISE. 151
Now what is the duty this holy man wishes ?
* That men would praise God. And sacrifice the sacrifice of thanks- giving, and declare his works.'
Out of the largeness of his heart he expresseth the same thing in many words, therefore I shall not need to make any scruple in particularising of them, because there is not so much heed to be given in the expressions of a large heart as to be punctual in ever}- thing.
First, He begins with praise.
' Oh that men would therefore praise the Lord,' &c.
It is a duty, as I said before, fit for angels. Fit ! Nay, it is performed by them. For it is all the work they do. It is the only work that was religious, that Adam did in paradise, and that we shall do in heaven with God. Therefore we are never more in heaven than when we take all occa- sions of blessing and ' praising God.' We are never in a more happy estate.
It is a duty therefore we should aim at, and the rather, because it is the fruit and end of all other duties whatsoever. What is the end of all the good we do, but to shew our thankfulness to God ? The end of our fruit- fulness in our place ? That others may take occasion to glorify God. What is the end of our heariug ? To get knowledge and grace, that we may be the better able to praise God in our mouths and in our lives. What is the end of receiving the sacrament ? Naj^ what is the duty itself ? A thanksgiving. What is the end of prayer ? To beg graces and strength that so we may cany ourselves in our places as is fit ; that so we may not want those things without which we cannot so well glorify God. So the end of all is to glorify God.
It is the end that God intended in all. He framed all things to his own praise in the creation. Why hath God given man reason here upon the stage of the world ? To behold the creatures, Kom. i. 19, 20, that seeing in the creature ' the wisdom of God in ordering things,' * the goodness of God' in the use of things, and the ' power of God' in the greatness of things, the huge, vast heaven and earth, he might take occasion to glorify and magnify this God, to think highly of him, to exalt him in our thoughts ; that his creatures, heaven and earth, be so beautiful and excel- lent, what excellency is in God himself !
And as the end of creation, so in redemption, all is for his glory and praise. In Eph. i. 6, how sweetly doth Saint Paul set forth the end of it : ' To the glory of his rich mercy and grace.' To be merciful to sinners ; to give his own Son ; for God to become man, not for man in that estate as Adam was in iunocency, but for sinners ; for God to triumph over sin by his infinite mercy : here is the glorj'- of his grace shining in the gospel. All is for the glory and praise of God there.
And for particular deliverances, in Ps. 1. 15, * Call upon me in the day of trouble : I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me.' His deliverances of us in the passages of our life is, that we may glorify him, by taking notice in imminent dangers of some of his attributes, when there is no means of deliverance, of his power and goodness, &c. In Piev. iv. 10, the elders are brought in praising God for the work of creation; and then in the fifth, ver. 12, for ' redemption,' ' Thou art worthy, for thou hast redeemed us.' So indeed the work of creation, redemption, and the particular passages of God's providence, and protection, and preservation, they are matter of praise in heaven and earth among God's people.
152
A RESCUE FROM DEATH,
Now to nnme a few helps and means to perform this duty the better.
If we would stir up ourselves to praise God, let us consider our own vn- vorthiness. As in prayer there must be a humble heart — for a man will not seek abroad if he have somewhat at homo : poverty of spirit and humility of heart makes a man pray — so it is the humble soul that ' praiseth God,' that sees no desert in itself. This is one way to help us to ' praise God,' to see nothing in ourselves why God should so regard us, as ' to give us our lives for a prey,' Jer. xxi. 9, to set his love on us, and to follow us with good ; nay, we have deserved the contrary, that God should leave us and expose us to misery, rather than to watch over us by his providence. What is in us ? ' It is he that hath made us, and not wo ourselves,' Ps. c. 3 ; and he made us again when we were sinners, when we were worse than nought. Therefore, to humble us, we must con- sider our own unworthiness. He that knows himself unworthy of any favour, he will be thankful even for the least, as we see in Jacob, ' I am less than the least of all thy favours,' Gen. xxxii. 10. Therefore he was thankful for the least. So we see here in the text. These men are stirred up to ' praise God.' They saw no other help, no worthiness in themselves. They were at the gates of death, in a desperate estate ; ' Oh that such men would praise God.' Indeed, such men are fittest to ' praise God,' that can ascribe help to nothing but to God, to no second causes.