A godly man will express his thankfulness in every duty, hee mingles thanksgiving with prayer, Phil. 4. 6. In every thing by prayer, with thanksgiving, let your requests bee made known to God. Thanksgiving is the more divine part of prayer; in our petitions wee express our own necessities, in our thanksgivings we declare Gods excellencies. Then prayer goes up as incense, when it is perfumed with thanksgiving.

And as a godly man expresseth thankfulness in every duty, so in every condition; hee will be thankful in⁹ adversity, as well as prosperity, 1 Thes. 5. 18. In every thing giving thanks: A gracious soul is thankful and rejoyceth, that hee is drawn nearer to God, though it be by the cords of affliction; when it goes well with him, hee praiseth Gods mercy; when it goes ill with him, he magnifies Gods justice; when God hath a rod in his hand, a godly man will have a Psalm in his mouth. The Devils smiting of Iob, was like the striking upon a musical instrument, he sounded forth praise, The Lord hath taken away, blessed be the name of the Lord, Iob 1. 21. Gods spiritual plants, when they are cut and do bleed, drop thankfulness, the Saints Tears cannot drown their praises.

2 If this be the sign of a godly man,¹⁰ then the number of the godly will appear to bee very small. Few are in the work of praise, sinners cut God short of his thank-offering, Luk. 17. 17 where are the¹¹ nine? Often Leapers healed, there was but one returned to give praise; the most of the world are Sepulchres, to bury Gods praise; you shall hear some swearing and cursing, but few that bless God: Praise is the yearly rent that men sit at, but most are behinde hand with their rent. God gave King Hezekiah a famous deliverance, but Hezekiah rendred not again, according to the benefit done unto him, 2 Chron. 32. 25. that But, was a blot in his Scutchion; some instead of being thankful to God, render evil for good, they are the worse for mercy, Deut. 32. 6. Do yee thus requite the Lord, foolish people and unwise? This is like the Toad, that converts the most wholsome hearb to poyson; where shall wee finde a grateful Christian? Wee read of the Saints, Rev. 5. 8. Having harps in their hand; the Emblem of praise; many have tears in their eyes, and complaints in their mouths, but few that have harps in their hand who are blessing and praising the name of God.

Use 2 Let us put our selves upon a scrutiny, and examine by this Character whether we are godly,¹² are wee thankful for mercy? ‘tis an hard thing to bee thankful.

Quest. How may wee know whether wee are rightly thankful?

Answ. 1 When wee are careful to register Gods mercy, 1 Chron. 16. 4. David appointed certain of the Levites, to record and to thank and praise the Lord God of Israel. Physitians say, the memory is the first thing that¹³ decayes; ‘tis true in spirituals, Psal. 106. 13. They soon forgat his works: A godly man enters down his mercies, as a Physician his receipts into a book, that they may not bee lost. Mercies are Jewels that should be locked up; A childe of God keeps two books alwaies by him, one to write his sins in, that he may be humble, the other to write his mercies in, that he may be thankful.

2 Then wee are rightly thankful, when our hearts are the chief instrument in the musick of praise, Psa. 111. 1. I will praise the Lord with my whole¹⁴ heart. David would not only put his Viol in tune, but his heart; if the heart doth not joyn with the tongue, there can bee no consort; where the heart is wanting, the Parrot is as good a Querister, as the Christian.

3 Then we are rightly thankful, when the favours which we receive, endear our love to God the more. Davids miraculous preservation from death, drew forth his love to God, Psa. 116. 1. I love the Lord, it is one thing to love our mercies, another thing to love the Lord; many love their deliverance, but not their deliverer; God is to bee loved more than his mercies.

4 Then we are rightly thankful, when in giving our praise to God, wee take all worthiness from our selves, Gen. 32. 10. I am not worthy of the least of all the mercies, thou hast shewed unto thy servant; as if Iacob had said, Lord the worst bit thou carvest me, is better than I deserve. 2 Sam. 9. 7. Mephibosheth bowed himself, and said, what is thy Servant, that thou shouldest look upon such a dead dog as I am? So a thankful Christian, when he takes a survey of his blessings, and sees how much he enjoyes, that others better than he want, Lord saith he, what am I, a dead dog, that free-grace should look upon me, and that thou shouldst crown mee with such loving kindness?

5 Then we are rightly thankful, when we put Gods mercies out of Use; wee turn our injoyments into improvements; the Lord gives us health, and wee spend and are spent for Christ, 2 Cor. 12. 15. hee gives us an estate, and wee honour the Lord with our substance, Prov. 3. 9. he gives us children, and wee dedicate them to God, and edugate them for God; wee do not bury our Talents, but trade them, this is to put out our mercies to Use: a gracious heart is like a peece of good ground, that having received the seed of mercy, thrusts forth a crop of obedience.

6 Then wee are rightly thankful, when we can have our hearts more enlarged for spiritual mercies, than for temporal: Eph. 1. 3. Blessed be God, who hath blessed us with all spiritual blessings: A godly man blesseth God more for a fruitful heart, than a full crop; hee is more thankful for Christ, than for a Kingdome: Socrates was wont to say, hee loved the Kings smile more than his gold: a pious heart is more thankful for a smile of Gods face, than hee would bee for the gold of the Indies.

7 Then wee are rightly thankful, when mercy is a when to duty, it causeth a spirit of activity for God; Mercy is not as the Sun to the fire, to dull it, but as oyl to the wheele, to make it run faster. David wisely argues from mercy to duty, Psal. 116. 8, 9. Thou hast delivered my Soul from death, I will walk before the Lord in the land of the living. It was a saying of Bernard, Lord I have two Mites, a soul and a body, and I give them both to¹⁵ thee.

8 Then wee are rightly thankful, when we excite others to this Angelical work of praise: David would not only bless God himself, but calls upon others to do so, Praise ye the Lord, Psalm. 111. 1. That is the sweetest musick, which is in consort; when many Saints joyn together in consort, then they make heaven ring of their praises; as one drunkard will bee calling upon another, so in an holy sense, one Christian must bee stirring up another to the work of thankfulness.

9 Then we are rightly thankful, when we do not only speak Gods praise, but live his praise: It is called gratiarum actio, then wee give thanks, when wee live thanks; such as are mirrours of mercy, should be patterns of piety, Obad. 17. Upon Mount Sion, shall be deliverance, and there shall be holiness: To give God orall praise, and dishonour him in our lives, is to commit a barbarism in religion, and is to be like those Iews who bowed the knee to Christ, and then did spit upon him, Mark 15. 19.

10 Then wee are rightly thankful, when wee do propagate Gods praises to posterity, we tell our children what God hath done for us, in such a want hee supplyed us, in such a sickness he raised us, in such a temptation he succoured us: Psa. 44. 1. O God our Fathers have told us, what work thou didst in their daies, in the time of old. By transmitting our experiences to our Children, Gods name is eternized, and his mercies will bring forth a plentiful crop of praise when wee are gone. He man puts the question, Psal. 88. 10. Shall the dead praise thee? Yes, in this sense, when we are dead, we praise God, because having left the Chronicle of Gods mercies with our Children, we put them upon thankfulness, and so make Gods praises live, when we are dead. —dumque aurea voluet astra polus, Memori semper celebrabunt cantu.—

Use 3 Let us evidence our godliness by gratefulness,¹⁶ Psa. 29. 2. Give unto the Lord the glory due unto his name.

Motive. 1 It is a good thing to be thankful, Psal, 147. 1. It is good to sing praises to our God. ‘Tis ill when the tongue (that Organ of praise) is out of tune, and doth jar, by murmuring and discontent; but it is a good thing to be thankful: it is good, because this is all the creature can do to lift up Gods name; and it is good, because it tends to the making us good: the more thankful we are, the more holy; while wee pay this tribute of praise, our stock of grace increseth: in other debts, the more we pay, the less wee have, but the more wee pay this debt of thankfulness, the more grace wee have.

2 Thankfulness is the quit-rent wee owe to God, Psa. 148. 11, 13. King of the earth, and all people, let them praise the name of the Lord: Praise is the tribute or custome, to bee paid into the King of heavens Exchequor: Surely while God renews our Lease, we must renew our rent.

3 The great cause we have to be thankful, ‘tis a principle grafted in nature, to be thankful for¹⁷ benefits: The Heathens praised Iupiter for their victories.

What full clusters of mercies hang upon us? when we go to enumerate Gods mercies, we must (with David) confess our selves to bee nonplussed, Psal. 40. 5. Many, O Lord my God, are thy wonderful works which thou hast done, they cannot be reckoned up in Order. And as Gods mercies are past numbring, so they are past measuring: David takes the longest measuring line hee could get, hee measures from earth to the clouds, nay, above the clouds, yet this measure would not reach the heighth of Gods mercies, Psal. 108. 4. Thy mercy is great above the heavens. O how hath God enriched us with his silver showers? a whole constellation of mercies, hath shined in our Hemisphere.

1 What Temporal favours have wee (Chrys)received; every day wee see a new tide of mercy coming in; the wings of mercy have covered us, the breast of mercy hath fed us, Gen. 48. 15. The God which hath fed mee all my life long to this day. What snares laid for us have been broken? what fears blown over? the Lord hath made our bed, when he hath made others grave; he hath taken such care of us, as if he had none else to take care for; never was the cloud of providence so black, but we might see a Rainbow of Love in the cloud? we have been made to swim in a sea of mercy, and doth not all this call for thankfulness?

2 That which may put a string more into the instrument of our praise, and make it sound louder, is to consider what spiritual blessings God hath conferred upon us: he hath given us of the upper-springs,¹⁸ he hath opened the Wardrobe of Heaven, and fetched us out a better garment than any of the Angels wear; he hath given us the best robe, and put upon us the Ring of faith, whereby wee are married to him: These are mercies of the first magnitude, which deserve to have an Asterist put upon them, and God keeps the best Wine till last, here hee gives us mercies but by retail, the greatest things are laid up; here are some Hony drops, and fore-tastes of Gods love, the Rivers of pleasure are reserved for Paradise; well may we take the harp and viol, and triumph in Gods praise; who can tread upon these hot coals of Gods love, and his heart not burn in thankfulness?

4 Thankfulness is the best policy, there is nothing lost by it; to bee thankful for one mercy, is the way to have more, ‘tis like powring water into a¹⁹ Pump, which fetcheth out more; Musicians love to sound their trumpets, where there is the best Eccho, and God loves to bestow his mercies, where there is the best Eccho of²⁰ thankfulness.

5 Thankfulness is a frame of heart God delights in; if repentance bee the joy of heaven, praise is the²¹ musick. Bernard calls thankfulness the sweet Balm that drops from a Christian.

Four Sacrifices God is much pleased with, the sacrifice of Christs blood, the sacrifice of a broken heart, the sacrifice of Alms, and the sacrifice of thanksgiving: Praise and Thanksgiving (saith Mr. Greenham) is the most excellent part of Gods worship, for this shall continue in the heavenly quire, when all other exercises of Religion shall cease.

6 What an horrid thing ingratitude is, it gives a dye and tincture to every other sin, and makes it Crimson; ingratitude is the spirits of baseness, Obad. v. 7. They that eat thy bread, have laid a Wound under thee: Ingratitude is worse than bruitish, Isa. 1. 3. ‘Tis reported of Iulius Caesar, that he would never forgive an ungrateful person; though God be a sin-pardoning God, he scarce knows not how to pardon for this, Ier. 5. 7. How shall I pardon thee for this, thy children have forsaken me, when I had fed them to the full, they then committed adultery. Draco (whose Laws were written in blood) published and edict, that if any man had received a benefit from another, and it could bee proved against him, that hee had not been grateful for it, hee should be put to death; an unthankful person is a monster in nature, a Pardox in Christianity; he is the scorn of heaven, and the plague of earth; an ungrateful man, never doth well but in one thing, that is when hee dies.

7 The not being thankful, is the cause of all the Judgements which have lain upon us; our unthankfulness for health, hath been the cause of so much Mortality; our Gospel-unthankful thankfulness, and Sermon-surfeiting, hath been the reason why God hath put so many Lights under a Bushel; as Bradford said, my unthankfulness was the death of King Edward the sixth: Who will bestow cost on a peece of ground, that brings forth nothing but briars? unthankfulness stops the golden Vial of Gods bounty, that it will not drop.

Quest. How shall we do to be thankful?

Answ. 1. If you would be thankful, get an heart deeply humbled in the sense of your own vileness; a broken heart is the best pipe to sound forth Gods praise; hee who studies his sins, wonders that he hath any thing, and that God should shine upon such a dunghill, 1 Tim. 1. 13. Who was before a Blasphemer, and a Persecuter, but I obtained mercy: How thankful was he? how did he Trumpet forth freegrace? A proud man will never bee thankful, he looks upon all his mercies, to bee either of his own procuring or deserving; if he hath an Estate, this he hath gotten by his wit and industry, not considering that Scripture, Deut. 8. 18. Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God, for it is he that gives thee power to get Riches. Pride stops the Current of gratitude: O Christian! think of thy unworthiness, see thy self, the least of Saints, and the chief of Sinners, and then thou wilt be thankful.

2 Labour for sound evidences of Gods love to you; read Gods love in the impress of holiness upon your hearts; Gods love powred in, will make the Vessels of Mercy run over with thankfulness, Rev. 1. 5, 6. Unto him that loved us, be glory and dominion for ever. The deepest Springs yeeld the sweetest water: hearts deeply sensible of Gods love, yeeld the sweetest praises.

Footnotes

1. 17 Character. ↩

2. Super tribus consistit mundus, super lege, & cultu sacro, & retributione. Aloys. novar. ↩

3. […] jaculatus est. Hiph. […] confiteri, gratias agere. Buxtorf. ↩

4. Vse 1. ↩

5. 1 Bran. ↩

6. Lactan. instit. c. 3. ↩

7. Plures sunt apud quos non diutius in animo sunt donata quam in usu. Sen. de benef. ↩

8. Diodor. Siculus. ↩

9. […], Chrysost. ad Antioch. […]om. 1. […]om. 17. ↩

10. 2 Bran. ↩

11. […], Theodor. ↩

12. Vse 2. Trial. ↩

13. Memori[…] primo senescit. ↩

14. […] ↩

15. Du[…]s habeo min[…]tias domine, &c. Bern. ↩

16. Vse 3. Exhor. ↩

17. Beneficium Postulat officium. ↩

18. […] ↩

19. Ascensus gratiarum descensus gratiae. ↩

20. […]. ↩

21. […]. ↩