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"open thou our lips," and the people an

SÉR M.

swer "That so they shall be able to shew "forth his praise." These words are from the fifty-first Psalm, which is one of those in which David, oppressed by the sense of his guilt, dares not presume to sing the praises of God, before he had prepared himself for it by humiliation and repentance. The two following sentences are likewise taken from the Psalms. 66 O God, make "speed to save us ;" "O Lord make hasté "to help us;" and are aptly introduced on this occasion; for it is at all times reasonable to pray to God to save us from sin, and to help us in performing our duty; it is more particularly so, when we are about to perform so exalted an office as that of celebrating God's praises. All are now ordered to stand up; we read, that when the Priests and Levites praised the Lord, all Israel stood and we begin this good work by the sum of all the praises which

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SERM. we can offer, comprehended in a few words,

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to which we frequently afterwards return :

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Glory be to the Father, and to the Son, "and to the Holy Ghost," as it was paid them by the earliest of created beings, angels and archangels, and the whole host of heaven; as it is now paid them by the same holy personages and beings, and by good and righteous men, and as it shall continue still to be for ever and ever, world without end, to a length of time to which there shall be no period.

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And now the unspeakably great subject, which we are to celebrate, being proposed, the minister calls on the people for the immediate performance of it. Praise ye "the Lord;" to which they are to answer with readiness and cheerfulness, signifying their joyful concurrence with the proposal, "The Lord's name be praised." We now proceed to the Psalms, which are divided into certain portions, and such a number

of

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of them appointed to be read each day, so SER M. that they all come over every month. In our morning service, however, the ninetyfifth Psalm is commanded always to be read first, and with singular propriety, it being a distinct invitation to the several duties of praise, prayer, and hearing the word, with an awful warning of the danger of neglecting God, drawn from his judgments on the disobedient Jews. "O come,

"let us sing unto the Lord, let us heartily 65 rejoice in the strength of our salvation ;" O come let us join together in praising our maker; let us rejoice and be glad that such an all-powerful being is the guardian both of our present and future safety. Let us come before his pre

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sence with thanksgivings; let us shew "ourselves glad in him with psalms;" let us approach him with grateful thanks for his blessings; let us shew what joy we have in the contemplation of him by rap

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SERM, turous hymns; "For the Lord is a great

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66

God, he is king above all gods;" he is unspeakably superior to all who have been called gods by the heathen, to all their deified princes and heroes, and, in comparison with him, the highest orders of archangels are less than nothing. "In his "hands are all the corners of the earth, " and the strength of the hills is his also:" his influence, his presence, extends to the most remote and inaccessible places, and there is none where he cannot save or de

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stroy. The sea is his, and he made it, " and his hands prepared the dry land. O "come then let us worship and fall down be"fore the universal Father, for he is the "Lord our God, and we are the people of his "pasture and the sheep of his hand,"we depend on him for the supply both of our bodily and spiritual food, and; notwithstanding his greatness, he graciously administers to our wants, with as much tenderness as a

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shepherd to the wants of his flock.

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"To- SER M.

day if ye will hear his voice, harden not

your hearts as in the provocation, and as "in the day of temptation in the wilder"ness;"be not obstinate and disobedient as the children of Israel were, when they wandered forty years in the desert, murmurring and repining, after having been so miraculously brought out of Egypt by Moses; follow not their example, nor tempt and provoke God, as they did, but softenyour hearts, be religious and virtuous immediately, to-day, whilst it can be called to-day, lest you be hardened through the deceitfulness of sin. Hear the tremendous words of God himself, with regard to that rebellious crew. "I sware in my wrath "that they should not enter into my rest;" this was addressed to them in a temporal sense, and relates to their exclusion from the promised land of Canaan; but be assured, that if ye imitate their wicked con

duct,

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