566 USEFULNESS OF THE PASSIONS. or parts of worship to belong to our holy religion, as are suited to work upon our senses, and thereby to awaken pious passions within us ? Besides the voice of public prayer, and the affectionate speechand language of preaching the gospel, we are also taught and exhorted to sing the praises of God withholy melody. What a multitude of exhortations are found in the book of Psalms, to make a joyjìtl noise unto the Lord, and to sing new songs before him in the kingdom of the Messiah. The advice of St. Paul in. the New Testament, echoes to the harp of David, and calls upon us to speak to one another, aswell as to ourselves, in psalms and hymns, and spiritual songs, and to sing and make melody with grace in our hearts to the Lord ; Eph. v. 19. and Col. iii. 15. St. James gives the same encouragement : If any be merry, or chearful, let this passion of joy express itself in a devout manner, by singing psalms ; James v. 18. How happily suited is this ordinance to give a loose to the devout soul in its pious and chearful affections ? What a variety of sanctified desires, and hopes and joys, mayexert themselves in this religious practice, may kindle the souls of christians into holy fervor, may raise them near to the gates of heaven, and the harmony of the blessed inhabitants there? Nor are pious sorrows utterly ex- cluded from this ordinance : There are tunes and songs of mournful melody to solace the humble penitent, and to givea sweetness to his tears. And besides all this, there are the two glorious and sacred ordinances of baptism and the Lord's -supper, wherein divine things are exhibited to us in a sensible manner by figures and emblems which are designed to impress animal nature, and by the eyes to awaken the passions of the heart. How proper an emblem is baptism to represent our being washed in the blood of Christ ? and the pouring out of water on the face or head, how well is it suited fo represent the pouring out of the Spirit of God on men, and by this means to awaken the holy affections of hope and joy ? How happily is the Lord's- supper contrived by divine wisdom, to represent the death and love of our blessed Saviour, and the benefits that we derive from his sufferings ? Jesus Christ crucified is evidently setforth before our eyes; Gal. iii. I. He is repiesented even in his bleeding and dying love, while the bread is broken, and the wine poured out before us. O how should we loose the springs of pious passion at such a season ! How should our love to our Redeemer kindle and rise high at the sight of the sufferings of the Son of God, who took our flesh and blood, that he might be capable of dying ! that his flesh might be torn, and cut and bruised, that his blood might be spilled for our sakes, that he might bear such agonies as belonged to sinful creatures, with a gracious design to deliver us from
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