only consider, that what thou callest enthusiasm in me is the doctrine of scripture, and of the articles and homilies of the church of England, and of her soundest bishops and ministers in her better days. But if thou givest me this hard name, because my brethren do not preach up the same doctrines which I do, how is that my fault? If they pay no regard to their subscriptions, why shouldest thou load me with reproach for their crime? if they dissent from the church, is that any reason why thou shouldst dissent from it, or why thou shouldest think the worse of me for not dissenting? but if thou wilt nevertheless call me an enthusiast, without any reason, nay against all reason, then I will learn to bear it. And may God forgive thee, as I do from my heart, but I pray thee read no farther; stop here; throw the book into the fire, and it will save thee a good deal of vexation; and when thou art more open to conviction, perhaps I may lay something before thee that may be of service. In the mean time farewel.

But, reader, if thou dost not take me to be an enthusiast, I thank thee for thy good opinion. Peruse the following lectures, and compare them with the doctrines of scripture and of the reformation, and I doubt not but thou will be fully convinced of the antiquity and soundness of what is here advanced. Only let me give thee a friendly caution against being misled by a set of infidel writers, who pretend to give characters of books which they never read, in a thing called The Monthly Review, in which I have seen every sound doctrine of Christianity ridiculed

and blasphemed, and every damnable heresy openly defended and maintained. I expect no favour from these men. I desire none. To be spoken of well by them would be indeed reproach; their abuses will do me service, and they may load me with enthusiasm, I will carry it patiently, and would suffer any infamy or torment upon earth, rather than be answerable for their horrid blasphemies against Jehovah and his Christ. And I hope, reader, that the evidence, which I have laid before thee, will prevail against the scandal of these monthly reviewers. If thou art as indifferent about what they say of me, as I am, it will not move thee at all; but thou wilt think the better of me the more I am abused by them. And whenever thou seest an author degraded and vilified by them, if thou wilt take my advice, buy the book, depend upon it there is something very excellent in it, and I dare promise thou wilt never be disappointed.

I have nothing more, kind reader, to offer thee at present, but to commend thee to the grace and blessing of almighty God, who will, I hope, accompany thee in the reading of these lectures, and render them the means of making thee more thankful to Jesus Christ. And if thou dost indeed receive any benefit from them, give him all the glory. I expect no reward but to be remembered in thy prayers. And if thou wilt always mention me in thy addresses to the throne of grace, then I shall be bound to pray for thee. And may God hear us both, and enrich thee and me with all his graces and blessings in heavenly things through Jesus Christ.

A

PRACTICAL COMMENT

ON THE

HUNDRED AND SEVENTH PSALM.

SERMON I.

PSALM Cvii. 1, 2, 3.

O give thanks unto the Lord, for he is good for his mercy endureth for ever: let the redeemed of the Lord say so, whom he hath redeemed from the hand of the enemy: and gathered them out of the lands, from the east, and from the west, from the north, and from the south.

THE book of Psalms is a treasury of divine knowledge. It contains a complete collection of sacred hymns, which were composed in praise of the blessed Jesuswhose miraculous birth-whose life and actions-sufferings and death-resurrection and ascension-and investiture and supreme power on the throne of glory -his gathering the church out of all lands-and protecting it to the end of the world, against its enemies -and then putting it in possession of eternal gloryare the subjects here treated of. And they are the most noble and elevated subjects in themselves, and besides they are the most interesting to every believer.

Every part of them is full of wonder and miracle, which deserve his greater attention and esteem, because each of them was done for his salvation. And the author, who undertook to write upon these subjects, has not fallen below their dignity: he has recommended them to us by all the graces of language, and the sublimity of sentiment. His poetry is worthy of himself, and raises up to the merits of that adorable person whom it celebrates: for it came from heaven. The Psalms were not the composition of king David, or the flights of his poetical imagination; he was only the scribe, who copied them from the dictates of the allwise Spirit: they are indeed the inspiration of the Almighty, whose the matter is, and from whom the words themselves proceeded. And if any persons doubt of it, let them take any one description of nature out of the Psalms and compare it with what the best heathen authors have said on the same subject, and they will see reason enough to be abashed and confounded at the abject poverty of the human genius, when put in competition with the infinite perfection of the inspired volume. And how should it be otherwise? The heathens had no such subject, nor no such inspirer. They were ignorant of the person and excellencies of the great deliverer of mankind, and how then could they sing his praises? Or if they had known of him, yet they had no infinitely wise author, no eternal Spirit to dictate to them their highest poetry was but the work of men, and of very ignorant men too: but this collection of hymns was indeed the work of God, and coming from him, it is as much superior to any human composition, as the infinite Author is superior to his creatures. this account it deserves our greatest esteem and veneration, and we cannot value it too much; since we have here a richer treasury of heavenly knowledge, than is any where else to be met with. And may we look upon it in this light, and treat it accordingly, may it be our continual study and delight, until we enter into the spirit of these divine hymns, and reap all the instruc

On

tion and profit from them, which God intended they should be the means of administering to his church.

And I hope the same Spirit who recorded this particular hymn, which I purpose to explain in the course of these lectures, will be graciously pleased to accompany us in the explanation of it, and to give us his blessing. He left it upon record, as a lesson of gratitude, to inspire us with thanksgiving and praise to our blessed Saviour, and we always want to be stirred up to the practice of this duty. Our hearts are strangely averse to it-they are by nature unholy and unthankful-and whatever we may talk of our fancied moral rectitude, and how pleasing a thing it is to be grateful to one another, yet with respect to God we are not, nor is it pleasing to us to endeavour to be grateful: for we are always, every moment of our lives, receiving mercies from God; but how few moments do we spend in making proper acknowledgments for them? And they who endeavour the most to be sincerely thankful, yet often find their affections cold and languid, and want fresh motives to warm and inflame them: and even they, who have the greatest knowledge of the abundant mercies of God their Creator and Redeemer, and have a grateful sense of them, yet freely confess, that they are not so grateful as they could wish, and it grieves them to find, that they do not love God in so perfect a degree as they ought to love him. And therefore the subject of this Psalm will be useful to us all: we all stand in need of every assistance, which can help us to render proper thanksgiving and praise to our sovereign Lord and Saviour. And the holy Spirit here offers us his assistance: he left us this hymn to be the means of inspiring us with grateful hearts, and he will doubtless accompany his own means with his own grace. May he help us to meditate upon it with devout and humble tempers, that He, who is now in the midst of us, and from whom no secrets are hid, may dispose us to make a right use of his sacred word, and may pour