able to fupply the former, and to deliver ourfelves from the latter; it is highly reasonable that we fhould have recourfe to an almighty power, and by prayer and fupplication make known our requests. unto God; who executeth judgment for the oppreffed, who giveth food to the hungry, who loofeth the prisoners, who openeth the eyes of the blind, who raiseth them who are bowed down, who loveth the righteous, who preferveth the ftrangers, who relieveth the fatherless and widow: Pfal. CXLVI. 7, 8, 9.

It is hardly poffible that a man who hath a sense of the divine majesty impreffed on his mind, who believes him to be the most excellent being, who regards him as his creator and preferver, and hath an inward veneration and love for him upon account of his glorious attributes and wonderful works, should forbear expreffing these fentiments of his mind outwardly for out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaketh. When the foul is ftrongly affected with forrow or joy, with love or hatred, it cannot bear to fmother or ftifle those affections; but is almoft irresistibly conftrained to give vent unto them. So when our hearts are full of devout affec

tions towards God, we fhall not let them lie filent within us, but fhall make an open difplay of them; and fhall naturally, I had almost faid neceffarily, fall into acts of worship and adoration.

But perhaps fome may be ready to think that there is no need of external worship, because God fearcheth the heart, and knoweth all the pious motions and affections of our fouls, without our making any folemn and formal addrefs to him by prayer and praise.

To fuch I answer: that the defign of external worship is not to inform God of any thing which he was ignorant of before, or to give him a better knowledge of the difpofitions of our fouls to wards him; but only to impress the fenfe, of him, and of our dependence upon him the more firmly, upon our own minds; for if we fhould intirely difufe it, there is too much reason to fear we should, in a little time, forget the God who made us. Men may talk of an inward devotion of the mind, without any external expreffion of it: but it is all chimerical and imaginary, and there is no foundation for it in nature. I am ready to think with a late Q 2 writer

which is

writer, "that even that prayer "called mental, can fcarce be made "without words, or fomething equiva"lent. For, as he obferves, thoughts "in their naked ftate, divefted of all "words, and taken merely by them"felves, are fuch fubtle and fleeting "things, as are scarce capable of ma"king any appearance in the mind; at "leaft of being detained, compared to

gether, and ranged into fentences." Therefore he concludes, that "words "are as it were bodies, or vehicles to "the fenfe or meaning, which is the

fpiritual part, and which, without "the other, can hardly be fixed in the "mind." But fuppofing it were barely poffible to worship God inwardly, without the ufe of language or any thing equivalent; yet fuch a worship as that must needs be very imperfect, because it could be but very fhort and tranfient, and would not admit of that attention of mind which a living voice is apt to create, and which is requisite to render our devotions acceptable to God. For this reafon I would recommend to all perfons the use of language, even in fecret prayer, and advise them to express their pious thoughts in words;

only

only with this caution, that they speak no louder than is juft neceffary to make them be heard by themselves.

(5.) And lastly: thofe precepts which enjoin obedience in general, whether active or paffive, to the will of God, are righteous precepts. For most certainly he who hath made us, and continually preferves us, hath a right to prescribe laws unto us. Creation gives

a title to dominion: therefore fince God is our Creator, 'tis fit he should be our ruler. By being his creatures we become his fubjects; and the duty of subjects is to obey their fovereign. Befides, it ought to be confidered, that God is not only our fovereign but our benefactor; and therefore upon that account deferves our obedience. Moft men think it reasonable to fulfill the defires of those who have greatly obliged them, and bestowed fingular favours upon them. How much more reasonable must it be to comply with the will of God, who hath been fo liberal in his diftributions to us, and hath bestowed upon us far greater benefits than it is poffible for us to bestow upon one another? We fhould rejoice on the account of his having laid any commands upon us;

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because by obedience to them we have an opportunity of teftifying that love and gratitude which we owe unto him.

The reasonableness of our obedience to him will yet farther appear, if we confider that it is impoffible for him to command any thing that is unrighteous. His precepts must be like himself, boly, just and good. He who always doth that which is moft fit and reasonable himself, cannot be fuppofed to require any thing that is unfit and unreasonable of others.

The judgment of God is according to truth. He, and he only, is infallible in his notions of things: and therefore whatsoever he hath determined to be good, is good; and whatsoever he hath determined to be evil, is evil. Moreover, he is intimately acquain ted with the powers and capacities of his creatures, and knows what they are able to avoid and to perform; and therefore cannot be fuppofed to require of them any thing that is impracticable. Foraímuch then, as God cannot be the author of any unrighteous laws, it follows that we ought to yield obedience to all of them, even to thofe which are pofitive, as well as those which are moral: for tho pofitive pre

cepts