God's continual Care in preferving & guarding us amidst thofe innumerable Evils and Dangers which furround us, should be every Day thankfully acknowledged. He upholdeth our Souls in Life; his invifible Arm is our conftant Support; his Vifitations preferve our Spirits. Let us not prefume to use the good Creatures of God without a proper Acknowledgment of his Goodness, who, by the Death of other Creatures, preserves us in Life. Remember you are not the abfolute Proprietors of thofe Things which God gives: We are but Stewards, who are accountable to him, who is the Proprietor of all that we enjoy. I. Tim. iv. 4. Every Creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with Thanksgiving. All the Diftinctions which the Law of Moses made between Meats Clean & Unclean is now taken away and abolished; and under the Evangelical Difpenfation every Creature of God is permitted to be used. But then we must use them with Hearts full of Thanksgiving and Praise; for, as the Apoftle expreffes himself, the Creatures of God are by him bleffed, and fanctified to our Ufe by Prayer and Thanksgiving. Let us blefs God every Day for the Provision he makes for the Supply of all our Wants. Never receive God's good Creatures without an Acknowledgment from whom you receive them, as God must be thus

blefs'd

bless'd and prais'd every Day for these common Favours of his Providence, fo more especially we should adore his Name for fpiritual Benefits: For our Nativity in a Christian Land, for our Redemption by Christ, for the Ordinances of the Gospel, the Means of Grace; more efpecially if, by the Divine Bleffing, they have been profitable to us in promoting our fpiritual Advantage, Welfare, and Happiness. Thus Chriftians, who are under the strongest and most endearing Bonds to Gratitude, fhould be frequently and daily teftifying their Sense of God's Goodness, and employing themselves in this delightful Duty of adoring and praifing God's holy Name; and by the frequent Exercife of our Minds this Way we shall find our Gratitude to God will be habitual.

Having thus offered feveral Directions for this Purpose, I should now proceed to recommend and enforce this by fome Reasons and Arguments. But this fhall be the Subject of the following Difcourfe.

Of Thanksgiving,

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Of Thanksgiving, or Gratitude to God for his Mercy and Goodness.

PSALM C. 4, 5.

Enter into his Gates with Thanksgiving, and into his Courts with Praife: Be thankful to him, and blefs his Name; for the Lord is good, bis Mercy is everlasting, and his Truth endureth to all Generations.

IN

N the foregoing Difcourfe on thefe Words I have fhewn, that the Goodness and Mercy of God is the Foundation and Reafon of Thankfulness and Gratitude to him. Secondly, With what Temper and Difpofition of Mind we fhould offer our Tribute of Praife. Thirdly, I have proposed several Directions for the raifing and promoting a Spirit of Thankfulness to God. I fhall now proceed, in the fourth Place, to prove, by

feveral

Pfalm cxlviii. 3, 4, 5. Praife ye him Sun and Moon, praife him all ye Stars of Light, &c. The very Light of Nature and Reason recommends this Gratitude and Thanksgiving to God; 'tis of a moral and therefore of eternal Force and Obligation. By this very Argument the Pfalmift enforces it, Pfa. cxlvii. 1. Praife ye the Lord, for it is good; fing Praifes to our God, for 'tis pleasant, and Praife is comely. 'Tis good, comely, moft fit, as all who derive their Being from God, and depend on him, must know. 'Tis a Duty that is incumbent on all, on account of the intrinfick Goodness of it. 'Tis decorous, becoming, and comely, that all depending Creatures fhould pay their Tribute of Thankfgiving and Praise to their great Creator, Preferver, and conftant Benefactor. We ought to reason with ourselves thus: Why hath God made us capable of difcerning his glorious Perfections, fhining in the Works of his Hands? Surely this is a plain Evidence, that he expects we fhould celebrate his Praifes, and afcribe Glory to Him of whom are all Things. Since therefore we cannot, confiftent with Reason, think that these Things came into Being by Chance, or by a fortuitous Concourse of Atoms, we are therefore obliged to acknowledge one firft Cause and Principle of all Things; for fince there are the most confpicuous Marks of Wisdom,

Power,

Power, and Goodness, in the Works of Creation, he who is the Author of them muft neceffarily have these Perfections to an infinite Degree. Agreeably hereto we read, that the Heathens, having only the Light of Nature and Reafon, are faid (by the Apostle) to be inexcufable for not improving it as they ought and might have done, fo as by the Things which are made to difcern and own the eternal Power and Godhead of the great Creator, and alfo for not glorifying him as God. When God had finished the material World, there was a Creature wanting here below, that was capable of giving him the Glory and Praise that was due from a Rational Being. 'Till Angels and Men were created, what Glory or Praife could the Divine. Being have? Angels might refound the Praifes of God in Heaven, when the Foundation of the Earth was laid. Thefe Morning Stars, the holy Angels, fang for Joy. But on Earth none were capable of fuch exalted Service. God therefore said, Let us make Man, a Creature endowed with a rational and immortal Soul,, and fitted for this Duty. Praifing God was the very End for which Man was form'd. Muft it not therefore be good, fit, and comely, to be thus employed? How fhall we answer the Defign of our Creator, if we live thoughtless of Him who gave us the very Power of thinking,

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