upon us, before we have performed this neceflary task. For here we can have no excufe, the bufinefs of the day is over,employ then a few filent moments in fome fuch foliloquy: O foul, we have spent another day together; what good have we done in it, or what evil have we committed? have we acted agreeably to the intentions of the Creator, and preparatory to our future ftate? or have we, by fraud, malice, or oppreffion, forfeited the favour of God, and expofed ourselves to the terrors of eternal death? If, upon this felf-examination, we fhall perceive and recollect that we have done good, let us thank God for it: but if we have committed evil, let us fincerely repent, and pray for forgiveness; and befcech Almighty God to ftrengthen us with the renewal of his divine grace.

He who thus looks into his conduct, exercifes many virtues; and firft of piety, because he begins his examination with prayer and thanksgiving to God for the benefits and bleffings of life: also, of humility and penitence, for he acknowledges himfelf a finner, and grieves for his crimes: and of hope and charity, for he trufts that he fhall receive pardon of God, whom, as his Creator and Benefactor, he loves and prefers above all things. He also fortifies himfelf against future temptations, extir

pates

pates depraved inclinations, abolishes wicked habits, and in their ftead ftores his mind with virtues, and renders it tranquil and ferene. This review of our lives and behaviour is better to be taken frequently and daily, than to delay it until it is impofed upon us by misfortune, fickness, or old age, and our account appears fo long, and marked with the commiffion of fo much evil, that the retrofpect greatly alarms and terrifies us. It is more to our pleasure and advantage to call home our wandering thoughts, and to confider our ways, while we have fome hope and confidence in God's mercy, than to defer it till the reflection of our paft life drives us to madness and despair.

In our folitary hours, when we are free from the diftracting cares of life, let us frequently call ourfelves to account, and confider how we have acquitted our felves in the duties God requires of us. In this retirement we may commune with our own hearts, and call our ways to remembrance, and reflect and meditate on the final event of our conduct; that fo, if we are pursuing the path that will lead us to the land of immortal and unfullied joys, we may go on with affurance; but if we have deviated from the right way, we may retrieve our fteps before we are too much entangled in

the

the bewitching allurements of vice. In this fcrutiny of our conduct we fhall perceive if there be any fin which we have not repented of, and fhall be truly fenfible of the neceffity of a speedy repentance; we fhall also be more apt to think of another world, and of the preparation requifite for it.

I

CHAPTER IX.

Of Praife and Thanksgiving.

F we retain in our hearts a grateful affection of the goodness and beneficence which we daily experience from the providence of God, it will difcover itself in a willingness to discharge the duties of praise and thanksgiving. In imitation of the fweet finger of Ifrael, we fhall be continually revolving in our minds, and recollecting innumerable inftances of the divine favours; like him, we shall remember his wonders of old, and meditate and muse on all the works of his hands; and shall say with the Pfalmift, Blefs the Lord, O my foul! and forget not all his benefits. But that we may always have a proper fense of God's mercies, I will, in this chapter, fhew

that

that the facrifice of praise and thanksgiving is of right due to God, and which we are bound to discharge.

Reafon and equity exhort to this duty, for we are beholden to God for all the bleffings and enjoyments; and praise and thanksgiving are, as it were, a kind of return for his benefits, which cannot otherwife be made than by the facrifice of our lips, and proceeding from gratitude. They who neglect this duty, defraud God of that right which he has justly acquired by his kindness and bounty to us; they also obfcure his glory, not attributing to him the honour due. Such flight provokes the Almighty to withdraw his loving mercies from them, and to beftow them upon others who are less unworthy; as our Saviour told the Jews, in the 21ft chapter of St. Matt. verfe 43d, Therefore shall the kingdom of God be taken from you, and given to a nation bringing forth the fruits thereof.

Praise and thanksgiving is the most noble difpofition of mind with which we can be affected, because it declares our gratitude to God for his benefits; none of which are indeed small, but for the greatest of them we can make no other return than by confeffing them with heart and voice, and being thankful for them. Hence, says holy David, in the 116th Pfalm, What reward S fhall

fhall I give unto the Lord for all the benefits he hath done unto me? I will receive the cup of falvation, and call upon the name of the Lord. I will offer to the Lord the facrifice of thanksgiving.

This duty is very frequently, in the holy fcriptures, mentioned among the chief and most acceptable offices of religion. For thus we read in the 51ft of Ifaiah, 3d verfe, The Lord will comfort Zion, he will comfort all her wafte places, he will make her wilderness like Eden, and her defert like the garden of the Lord, joy and gladness fhall be found therein, thanksgiving and the voice of melody. One great means whereby we may be induced to render thanks and praise unto God is the confideration of the worth and multitude of his benefits. It is from him we derived our being, and every provifion made for our well-being; who alfo hath created us with immortal fouls impreffed with perfpicuous characters of his own divine effence, and capable of acting agreeable to his will, and confiftent with the innate and revealed knowledge of the future life. God is not only our creator, but preferver; for in him we live, and move, and have our being.

Although great and many are the divine bleffings and mercies which we daily and hourly