Thanksgiving to God for His Benefits and Mercies
Thanksgiving to God for his innumerable benefits and mercies particularly in the year past; with some direction and advice concerning it.
How precious and delightful are the thoughts of thy benefits! O Lord, how great is the sum of them!” Should I count them, they are more in number than the stars. Shall I not observe and consider them, maintain a grateful sense of them, and publicly acknowledge them on all occasions? that I may ‘’ bless the Lord at all times, and his praise be continually in my mouths” More especially should 1 conclude and begin this year with solemn praises to my great benefactor and preserver. I ought to begin and close every day with, it, thereby to make the outgoings of the mornbg and the evening to rejoice in God.” Every year, every day, every hour, every moment, offers me an occasion to praise him; because he is every minute gracious, and hath been so ever since he gave roe my being.
Almost one half of my time hath been spent in sleep, when I remember not God nor myself; yet doth he, who never slumbers nor sleeps, remember me in mercy, and watch over me for good; yea, though in the other half, by day, I have forgotten him in a worse sense, by casting off his fear, and not remembering that his holy eye is upon me, yet hath he not forgotten to be gracious. Therefore, I will praise the name of God with a song, and will magnify him with thanksgiving, and never forget his benefits. With which sacrifice he is better pleased, than with an ox, or bullock, that hath horns and hoofs.^’
He hath, prolonged my life this last year, when so many others of his more useful servants have been removed by death, and given me farther time and space to repent, when multitudes have been surprised in their impenitence. Yea, it was he who formed me in the womb, and brought me safely into the world, by whose providence I have hitherto been supported: In him I live, and move, and continually exist;” to this undeserved goodness I am beholden for all the good of any kind which I ever enjoyed; to his bounty I am indebted for all that I BOW have; and must depend upon it for whatever I can hereafter expect.
Through infancy and childhood he was pleased to preserve me; favouring me with many advantages in my birth and education; providing for me a competent livelihood; disposing the circumstances of my condition, relations,- places of abode, &c. more advantageously than he hath done for thousands; affording me many helps for the improvement of my mind, and the increase of knowledge; and preventing roy necessities, and even my desires, with num<^ berleas blessings, which I never so much as asked for. He hath caused several of my relations to yield me comfort, when they might have been sore afflictions. He bath raised up strangers to befriend me, and show me kindness. How many favours have I received from God, by the instrumentality of other men, to whom God gave the will and the power, the opportunity and the inclination!
How often hath he ‘delivered my soul from death, mine eyes from tears, and my feet from falling,” by seasonable preservations, so that I do yet “walk before him in the land of the living!” He hath rescued me from the brink of many a precipice which, through ignorance or inadvertency, I did not apprehend nor fear. When I knew not which way to turn, he hath made my path plain. Under sinking disappointments he hath commanded succour, and been a “present help in the time of trouble.” In great perplexities his eye hath been my guide, and his arm hath brought salvation; it may be by the ministry of his holy angels, obeying his order, and giving unusual intimations of very great, and otherwise unsuspected, dangers, or sending relief and deliverance by such small, unlikely, and unexpected means, as carried the name of God visibly engraven on them. Innumerable calamities he saves me from, which others groan under; and as many blessings am I favoured with, whereof they are destitute. He spreads my table, and fills my cup, and gives “me all things richly to enjoy,” when many excellent persons, of whom the world is not worthy, are fed with “the bread of affliction and the water of affliction.” Others have only necessaries, or but few conveniences, in comparison with the plentiful provisions God hath made for my cheerful obedience to faim. And shall I not praise him for “the precious things of heaven, the blessings of the earth, the dew, and the deep?” and more especially for the goodness of him who dwelt in the bush, to sanctify and sweeten all? whereby common mercies become the pledge and forerunner of better things; as the fruit of his special kindness, the witness of his truth, and the seed of peace, and joy, and righteousness, and praise; by reason of bis blessing on all that I possess, which otherwise would prove a snare, and a temptation, and be intermixed with a curse.
And, besides the ordinary and continued bounty of every day, in the midst of how many difficulties and dangers have I felt the dear obligations of his preserving mercy, abroad and at home; in foreign countries as well as my own; in the midst of enemies, and among friends; in all places, and at all times!
He hath prolonged my health, or made my bed in sickness. He hath often granted the desires of my heart, whenever it was for his glory; and contradicted my wishes, and disappointed my endeavours, in other instances, when it was more to my advantage. From how many mischiefs hath he saved me, by such things as I deprecated, and would have hindered! How many evils hath he turned for good! “He hath heard my cry in the day of adversity, and set my feet in a large place.” He hath chastened me for my proBt; his rod and his staff have comforted me; he hath spoken comfortably to me in the wilderness. Affliction hath been useful and necessary physic, made an instrument of virtue, apd SQ a token of bi love. Therefore “Nsrll! %vvx of the mercy of the Lord for ever, and) with the voice of thanksgiving, will I make known his faithfulness.”
He hath all along conducted me by his wisdom, guided me by his providence, and the Angel of his presence hath directed my path, and ordered all my goin’gs. He hath been a cloud to me by day, and a pillar of fire by night; he hath helped me in my straits, and supplied my wants, and comforted me in all my sadnesses; his powerful and gracious presence hath been my constant guard, and his sovereign, never-failing goodness hath compassed me about with mercy on every side, “For which,” O most merciful Father, “my soul, and all that is within me, desires to speak thy praise.”
The advantageous circumstances of many divine favours do raise their value, and deserve to be particularly observed and acknowledged. How suitably, how seasonably, how wisely, hath he conferred his benefits! With what tenderness and kindness! With what freedom and readiness! Of his own bounty and good-will, without any necessity or obligation on his part; without any desert, and sometimes without so much as a prayer, on mine! And, what is more, notwithstanding my ingratitude and forgetfuhiess of him, and great provocations, heightened by the abuse of so much mercy, demanding nothing, after all, in requital of so much kindness, but my acceptance of bis love, and grateful sense of his goodness, and the sweetest and most reasonable expressions of it by thankful obedience.
More especially would I bless the Lord, for enlightening my mind in the great mysteries of reli-
on; disposing, in wonderful wisdom, the several means and methods, whereby be brought me to the knowledge of the truth, by parents, ministers, friends, acquaintance, books, afflictions, &c. beginning with me in childhood, awakening and cultivating the inbred notions of God and natural religion, of good and evil, rewards and punishments, by the careful instructions of parents, or others concerned in my education; giving me the advantage of good exanw pies, counsels, and encouragements, to know and do well, with more assistance, and less hinderances and diversions, than to many others: particularly for the excellent privilege, and inestimable blessing of his holy word and sacraments; the liberty of the Chris* tian religion in the purity of it, in the most of those placesp where God has been pleased to cast my lot. “Causing me to lie down in green pastures, and leading me beside the still paters;” instructing roe in the revelation of his will and grace by Jesus Christ; acquainting me with the sublime principles and articles, precepts and rules, promises and hopes, of the gospel, in order to eternal life.
I bless thee, O Lord, and shall for ever do so, that, with any or all these advantages and helps, thy Holy Spirit hath taught me to know “the truth as it is in Jesus,” heartily to believe and obey it. That, by thy grace, I have been convinced of sin, and broiht to repentance; showing me the necessity of a Saviour, to make my peace with thee, the allsnfficiency of his grace, the fulness of his merit, the freeness of his love, and his readiness to receive me to mercy, inviting and calling me to it, and enabling ttke to accept his gracious invitation «adi o ^vi% compassionate call; making me willing, by a power-* ful and victorious grace, drawing me with cords o£ love, and so effectually persuading me to consent to: thy covenant, and comply with thy message, on the. gracious terms of the gospel. “Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, who, through, bis abundant mercy, hath begotten me again to-alively hope;” having humbled my proud heart, and. conquered the perverseness of my stubborn will, and* brought my soul to an entire subjection to himself; who took pity on me, when he saw me in my blood, spread his skirt over me, cast a mantle upon my nakedness, washed me from my sins, and put his own comeliness upon me by sanctifies tion; who opened my eyes when I was leaping blindfold into the pit of destruction; who healed my soul, when I was sick unto death; who rescued and recovered me from the slavery of the devil, when I was led captive by him at his will. Shall not a ransomed, redeemed, slave be thankful to his deliverer? Shall not a miserable undone sinner, who is received to mercy, be thankful for a pardon? Awake, O ray soul! and utter a song of praise to him, “who forgiveth all thine iniquities, and healeth all thy diseases, who redeemeth thy life (thy soul) from destruction, and cro.wneth thee with loving-kindness and tender mercies.”
Hath he made thee partaker of his own renewed image and likeness? given thee his Son, his grace, his Spirit; and taken such a wretched creature into so near a relation to himself; and promised to be thy God and guide, thy portion and thine inheritance, thy friend and thy physician, thy sun and thy shield, and thine exceeding great reward? And shall not my soul speak aloud his praise? Hath he been “merciful to my unrighteousness, and blotted out my sins?” Hath he “gathered me with his arm, and carried me in his bosom?” Hath he been my Saviour and Re-* deemer, adopted me into his family, and promised to make me blessed in his glory, with the, holy angels? The curse being removed, and the handwriting against me cancelled, the price paid, the breach made up, the mouth of justice stopped, and the condemning sentence of the law exchanged for a gracious pardon, through the sacrifice of my blessed Lord Jesus? And shall I not praise his incomprehensible love and grace?
I likewise thank thee, most holy Father, for saving me from guilt and ruin, when assaulted by powerful and dangerous temptations; that, by preventing mercy, or restraining grace, thou hast kept me from many scandalous and presumptuous crimes. I thank thee for making the sins of others a warning and a caution to me, an argument to humility, and a motive to watchfulness; for preserving my judgment from many errors and delusions, by which others are seduced; for enabling me to improve any opportunities of doing good, and making me in any thing use<*^ ful to others: yea, I thank thee for all thy mercies to other Christians, for all the gifts, and graces, and usefulness of any of thy servants, wherein, as a member of the same body, I desire to rejoice; for any support and comfort to me, or any of them, under honourable sufferings for thy name’s sake.
I desire unfeignedly to bless thee for any succour relief, and victory, with respect to the snares and buffetings of Satan, and the vilest of his temptations
When he hath tempted me to apostacy and infidelity in speculation or practice; to question the truth of the Holy Scriptures, and the life to come; to doubt of the foundations of the Christian faith, or to despair of the mercy of God, and give up the reins to sensual lust; or to draw me from God, by the love of the world and the praise of men, by evil company, intemperance, secret wickedness, &c.
I bless thee, with my whole soul, for calling me back from any of my wanderings, and by in&nite goodness recovering me after great falls, enabling me to return when I had gone astray, and seek thy forfeited favour, that thou mayest heal my backalidings; giving me, in order to it, a deep sense of my own sin, and of thy sovereign grace; leading me to a Saviour whose blood cleanseth from all sin, when my guilty defiled soul so much needeth its pardoning and cleansing virtue; awakening me to make holy vows, and calling upon me, by thy word, and Spirit, and providence, to perform them.
I bless thee, who hast guided my feet into the way of peace, when, by the terrors of an accusing conscience, and the sense of unpardoned sin, and the apprehensions of thy deserved wrath, I was ready to despair; that, though thou didst most justly hide thy iacj at any time, it was but for a little while, but didst seasonably, and in. mercy, return to wipe off my tears, restore the joy of thy salvation, and chase away the clouds and darkness on my spirit by the reviving presence of thy own. Thou, who art the author, wilt be the finisher of my faith; and therefore, though thou hast visited mine iniquities with a fatherly rod, yet “thy loving kindness thou hast not taken froin me, nor suffered thy faithfulness ttp fail, nor thy covenant of peace to be removed;!” but hast refreshed me with hidden- manna aftiev great perplexities, saying unto my soul, “I am God, even thy God.” Thou hast made me to hear thy voice, which was sweet; and to taste thy love, which is better than wine: enabling me to say, with thine apostle Thomas, “My Lord, and my God;” and to have any communion with thee since, in public or private duties.
For all these innumerable mercies, I desire to praise thee; which yet are but in order to greater, everlasting kindness in heaven. These are but the taste and earnest of what thou wilt bestow hereafter. Oh how great is his goodness that he hath laid up for those that fear him! And now, Lord, what wait I for? My hope is even in thee. I thank thee, who hast put it into my heart, to render thee solemn praise, and’ once more to renew my covenant with thee.
^’ I will magnify the Lord, and my spirit shall rejoice in God, my Saviour. Return unto thy rest, O my soul, for the Lord hath dealt bountifully with thee. While I live I will praise theS*, and sing praises unto my God while I have a being. O come, and behold the works of the Lord, what he hath done for my soul I The Lord liveth: blessed be my rock, and let the God of my salvation be exalted. Let my heart be glad, and my glory rejoice, for the Lord is not ashamed to be called my God. Thanks be to God, who hath caused me to triumph in Christ Jesaa» Sing unto the Lord, O ye his saints, and giv« thanks at the remembrance of his holiness. I cried unto thee, and thou hast healed and saved me; I will give thanks to thee for ever. I will show forth thy loving-kindness in the morning, and thy faithfulness every night. For the Lord is good, his mercy is everlasting, and his truth endures throughout all generations. O enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and his courts with praise; be thankful unto him, and bless his name. Bless the Lord, all ye his works, in all places of his dominion; bless the Lord, O my soul.”
Let me add, for a conclusion, that the particular deliverances, supports, and consolations, which at any time God hath given in cases of great exigence, or in answer to importunate prayer, ought never to be forgotten. Many experienced Christians have been wont to write down such remarkable appearances of God for them, with the particular circumstances that did recommend or enhance the mercy, (whether spiritual or temporal,) as an encouragement to trust in God in future difficulties; and have afterwards found the comfort and advantage of being able to have recourse to such papers. This practice I recommend as what has been useful and consolatory to divers Christians for many years afterwards; and to some others of their more intimate friends, to whom they might, without vanity, be imparted. What experiences might be recorded of signal returns to prayer, and seasonable manifestations of the truth, and goodness, and wisdom of God, if all the instances thereof were| duly recollected and preserved! And how sweet and pleasant would the work of prayer and praise then be! With what rejoicing and delight should we set about it, and live in it if the constraining goodness and love of God, and a thankful sense of bis unspeakable mercies did bring us to him and indite and animate every word! What support, and comfort, and probable hopes, at least, of the special love of God, might we derive from the various passages of bis compassion and kindness! And hereby we may be able more heartily to give him thanks for pardon, sanctification, and adoption, which we commonly mention with too much doubt and fear.
It may likewise be advisable to examine and record the workings of your own spirit, under such dispensations; what thoughts you then had of God; what acts of faith, love, and thankfulness, you did then manifest; what evidences of God’s favour, and what discovery of your own sincerity, you have had at such times; when, and how, and by what means, you were cured of your uncomfortable unbelief, and raised from your despondency; what promisea you had recourse to for relief; what considerations were most helpful to you; what frame of spirit you kept up in prayer before and after; what resolutions and engagements you made to God, to love, and trust, and praise, and serve him, and give up all to his disposal for the future; and what consequent obligation xnay be inferred from thence, to acquiesce in the will of God, and resign ourselves entirely to him, saying, “This God is our God for ever and ever, and ha will he our guide unto death..”