The Christian Thank-Offering.

A Brief Discourse ON The Returns of Gratitude & Obedience Whereto MEN are Obliged, by the Mercies OF GOD.

Made On a Solemn THANKSGIVING, kept in a Private Meeting of Christians, on the Occasion of some Deliverances.

By Cotton Mather.

How Happy were my part
If some kind man would thrust his Heart
Into these Lines: till in Heavens Court of Rolls
They were by winged Souls
Entred for both, far above their Desert,
Herbert. Pag. 98.

BOSTON, in N. E. Printed by [...]. Green, & J. Allen, for Michael Perry, at his Shop at the Town-House. 1696.

A Preparatory Thanksgiving-Song, fetch'd from the Beginning and Conclusion of the Hundred and Third Psalm.

AWake, my Soul, Awake, and Bless
JEHOVAH the most Blessed One:
Bless Him, and His Blest Holiness
Let all my Inward Powers own.
The Glories of that Lord, my Soul,
Confess with Praises, just and high;
And His vast Benefits Extol
With a most Thankful Memory.
Tho' thy Sins have His Wrath incurr'd
He does those Horrid Sins Forgive;
And tho' thy Sins have thee procur'd
Diseases, These He does Relieve.
He does from Deaths and Hells dark place
Thy Life, though Forfeited, Redeem:
And with Rich Mercies of His Grace,
Thou art, How Richly! Crown'd by Him.
Thy Mouth did never Wisely Crave
That Good, which He would not afford.
Such Bowels as our Fathers have,
And more than such are in the Lord.
O ye Bright Angels, who transcend
In Might, show with your Might abroad,
While ye His Will and Voice attend,
The Praise of our Almighty God.
Armies of Angels, that Obey
The Great Gods only Son and Heir,
His Greatness, Oh! Gladly Display:
You and We, His Glad Servants are.
All He has made, throughout His whole
Dominion too, Let all Adore
Their Maker: But, O Thou, my Soul,
Bear part with them for-ever-more.

THE Christian Thank-Offering.

I Beseech You, Bretheren, by the Mercies of God, that you now give your Serious Attention, unto the Returns which you are to make for those Mercies, declared in ROM. XII. 1. I beseech you therefore, Brethren, by the Mercies of God, that yee present your Bodies, a Living Sa­crifice, Holy, Acceptable unto God: Your Rea­sonable Service.’

AS Reasonable a Thing certainly, as ever was proposed, in the World!

Christians, I have set before you, a pas­sage of Sacred Scripture, worthy to be Written, as once the whole New Testament where­of this is a part, was upon the Walls of a Ger­man Monastery, In Letters of Gold; Yea, to be Written on the Fleshly Tables of our Hearts for ever.

We find this passage, in an Epistle Directed unto the Apostolical Church of Rome, and an Epistle, which insisting on that Great Article of Justification only by Faith in the Obedience of the Lord Jesus Christ, which is the main Thing [Page 4] denyed by the present Church of Rome; and on the Conversion of the Israelitish Nation, which is to be Consequent on, and perhaps a little Effect­ed by, the Destruction to come shortly on the present Church of Rome; in those, as well as in other Notable Things, it mentions matters, wherein the Apostatical Church of Rome, is in a peculiar manner concerned.

But we also are concerned in these Things; and this Day, Eminently concerned in the Text now to be considered.

The Doctrinal part of this Epistle, being dis­patched in the first Eleven Chapters, the Practical, is comprized in the Five last; And this part, begins with a most Universal, & most Com­prehensive Exhortation. Wherein we may note,

First, The Matter of the Advice. This is, That we do make our Bodies, which by a Sy­necdoche, implies our whole Selves, our Souls, our Names, our Friends, our Estates, and all our In­terests, a Sacrifice unto God: which is done, in short, by Devoting them unto the Service of that God.

Next, The Manner of pressing it. This is, with, A Compellation, Brethren: An Obtestation, I beseech you; And a very weighty Argument, By the Mercies of God; that is to say, The Mercies of God lay upon us, a very powerful Ob­ligation hereunto.

But we have not yet given the Text so par­ticular an Illustration, as it seems to call for. [Page 5] Know then, That according to the Stricter No­tion of a Sacrifice, its more general Distinction, is into Propitiatory, or Eucharistical. Now Christi­anity in that Notion admits but One, and this of the former sort; by which One, even that of Himself, our Lord hath forever perfected them that are Sanctified: He is a Poor Priest, who dreams of any other. We our selves, or any Things that we do, in Religion, are capable of being Sacrifices, only by way of Analogy, & that chiefly to the latter sort; So, we offer up Spiri­tual Sacrifices, acceptable to God by Jesus Christ. A Sacrifice here signifies no more, than a Thing Devoted unto God. But what are we thus to Devote? Our Bodies. Hereby we are to un­derstand our whole Selves; but it is Expressed by, Your Bodies, for Distinction sake: the Bodies of Beasts were heretofore Offered, and now we are to Offer up Our own. This is called, a Living Sacrifice, because the Sacrifice of old was to be brought Alive unto the Lo [...]d; the Israelites might not themselves Eat a thing Dead of it self, much less might they bring such a Thing to the Living God. And yet the Victim was to be Slain, in Sacrificing; which is here opposed, by an Intimation, that when we Sacrifice our Bodies to the Lord, they yet continue to Live: Our Lives will not be at all Impaired, by the commanded Sacrifice of our Bodies, no, they will be Improved by a wonderful Sacredness added thereunto. Our Bodies are to be an U [...]bloody Sacrifice: And yet the Bodily Life also is herein [Page 6] but alluded unto: 'tis a further, an Higher, a Nobler Living, a Living unto the Lord Jesus Christ, that is here called for. Holy, is annex­ed without any Tautology; for though it be in our word, Sacrifice, it is not in the Greek word, [...]. And besides, the Real Holiness or the Rectitude of Mind, and Walk, which attends our Sacrificing of our selves unto God, is here pointed at. What is Holiness, but a Devotion of our selves unto the Lord Jesus Christ? This will be Acceptable. Indeed our Sacrifice becomes not Acceptable By this; and yet, it is not Acceptable without it: We have been told, that all our Sacrifices, are Acceptable to God, by Iesus Christ. How­ever, Holiness, in the Nature of the Thing it self, is Well pleasing unto God. And, In all this there is a Reasonable Service; This intimates the Transcendency of the Sacrifice required; they are not B uits but Men, that are to be a Sacrifice; and the Highest Acts of Reason too, are to be the Ingredients of the Sacrifice; and the Right of God hereunto is also signified; there is no­thing so Reasonable, as that we should Offer our selves unto Him. 'Tis to be done with a Presentation; we are to set our selves before God, as they did Sistere ad Altare, the destined Sacrifices, making them Stand ready there for Immolation. The Result of all is, ‘That the Mercy of God unto us, Very Strongly Obligeth us to Devote our selves unto the Service of God.’

There are Two Prop [...]sitions which we are here to Listen unto.

I. The First and Great Obedience, and the Summ and Substance of that Obedience, which we owe unto God, is the Devotion of our selves unto the Service of the Lord Jesus Christ. That we should Serve the God that made us, This is the Grand End for which we are made by God: Of mankind, it is by the Eternal Ma­ker said, This people have I formed for my self, they shall show forth my praise. But it is the Son of God, who is that Word of God, of whom we are told, in Col. 1.16. All things were Cre­ated by Him, and for Him. And the Son of God, who is also the Son of Man, He is that, Heir of God, and that Lord of All, concerning whom 'tis the Will of God, expressed, in Joh: 5 23. That all men should Honour the Son, even [...]s they Honour the Father. The Dues which belong to God from us, the Lord JESUS CHRIST, our Immanuel, and our God manifest in the Flesh, is the more immediate Receiver of them. He hath a Right unto us, not only as He hath Made us, but as He hath Bought us too; & as we are directed, in Eph. 5.20. To give thanks unto God, and the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ; thus, our Service is then most agree­ably and effectually yielded unto God, when we distinctly put the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST upon all, as being a Service intended for Him immediately. All the Mercy of God [Page 8] unto us, comes thro' the Hand of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, the God man, and the Medi­ator between God and Man. Hence, tho' it were an Impiety, to Exclude the Consideration of God the Father, or of God the Spirit, in that Service which we are to render unto God for His Mercy, yet we then render it after the most Christian manner, when we carry the Lord JESUS CHRIST in our Thoughts, as the next Object of it. Wherefore, in the Meditations which I am to give you, I shall study still to insert the Name of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, as calling for that Service, which is to be done in the whole of our Obedience unto God. And this I do the rather, because of a boiling An­tipathy in my Soul, against the Paganism of those Traitors unto the King of Heaven, who tho' they call themselves Divines, yet would have their Sermons and Writings valued, for the same cause that Blessed Austin undervalued the Books of their Brother Cicero, Quia Nomen Christi non est ibi; the Name of the Lord JE­SUS CHRIST is not there. Nor indeed, would we be so profane, as to reckon it a Battology, or a Superfluity, in the Fourteen E­pistles of Paul, that this dearest Name occurrs four hundred and fifty Times therein, and no less than ten Times in the Ten First Verses to the Corinthians.

The Thing which I assert is, That the Obe­dience to God, which His Innumerable & Un­parallellable [Page 9] Mercies unto us, do call for, is, That we Devote our selves unto the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST; who to this End both Died and Rose, that He might be the LORD of all. To Serve the Lord JESUS CHRIST, what is that? Briefly, 'Tis to make fit Acknowledgments of His Infinite Excellencies, and bring others to join with us in making of such Acknowledgments. It is to bear our Testi­monies unto the Truths and unto the Wayes of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, and Conform our selves unto His Will. Now to Devote our selves hereunto, is our Acceptable Sacrifice; For we are assured, He that Serveth Christ, is Ac­ceptable to God. And we are thus to proceed in our doing of it.

First, We are to be convinced and satisfied of this; That the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, is the most Reasonable Service. The Lord JESUS CHRIST, is the True God, the Great God, the Mighty God, and GOD over all, Blessed for ever. The Lord JESUS CHRIST, is He, whom all the Angels adore, as the Lord of Hosts, the Creator and Preserver of the World; and the most High, Possessor of Heaven and Earth. The Lord JESUS CHRIST i [...] He, to whom we are beholden for all the Good Things that ever we do enjoy. HE particularly, tho' He were Equal with God, nevertheless Took on Him the Form of a Servant, for our Good. Upon the view of all this, we are to pro­nounce [Page 10] it infinitely Reasonable, that we should for ever be the Devoted Servants of such a Lord. But the Benefits of Redemption which we have by our Lord JESUS CHRIST, are to have a very particular consideration, among the Reasons of our Serving Him. If we Serve Him not, we Deny the Lord that Bought us.

We are hereupon to Dislike, and Renounce every Service inconsistent with that of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. The proposals which those Hellish Taskmasters, the FLESH, the WORLD, and the DEVIL, make unto us, we should Reject with all possible Abhorrence; and be al [...]ogether impatient of the Drudgeries, which we undergo, while we are under their Di­rection.

We are herewithal to Resolve that the Ser­vice of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, shall with His Assistences, be our Everlasting Employ­ment. It is not a Cold Assent, but a Full purpose of Heart, with which we are to Cleave unto the Lord. And with a Resolution to undergo all the Self-denial therein called for, we must be able to say, Lord, I have inclined my Heart, to perform thy Statutes alwayes, even unto the End.

We are herein to give the full consent of our Souls unto the New Covenant, wherein our Bonds to the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST are to be Signed by us. In the Co­venant of Graee, it is demanded of us, whether we are willing that the Lord JESUS CHRIST, [Page 11] should Enstate us in the Favour of God, by the vertue of His Obedience and Intercession, and by His Gracious Influences Enable us, as persons United unto Himself, to Glorify God for ever, and by His own Divine Methods, both Instruct us, and Incline us, to come at that Final Blessed­ness? And whether we are willing to Express our Thankfulness unto Him, for Delivering us from Spiritual and Eternal Miseries, by sincere Endeavours to Serve Him in Holiness and Righ­teousness all our Dayes? We are now to give up our selves unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST, by declaring our most Hearty Consent unto this COVENANT, in all the Terms of it. Our Baptismal Vow is thus to be Renewed, by our Professing in the most early years of our Youth and Choice, That we do for ever approve of the Dedication to the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, which was visibly passed up­on us in our Infancy.

And finally, We are now to Study, how to Improve our All, for the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST; that He may have Reve­nues of Glory out of All. Having said with Joshua, I will Serve the Lord, we are to say unto our Lord JESUS CHRIST, as one once more improperly did unto another King, I am thine, my Lord, O King, and all that I have. It was required, in 1 Cor. 6.20. Glorify God in your Bodies, and in your Spirits, which are His. Yea, It was required, in 1 Cor. 10.30. Whether ye [Page 12] Eat or Drink, or whatever ye do, Do all to the Glory of God. Thus, whatever does in any Regard belong unto us, we should by our Con­secration thereof unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST, be able to say, This belongs unto the Lord! When any Tempters do Sollicit us, to abuse any thing that we have unto the Dishonour of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, we should Reply with In­dignation, How shall I do this Wickedness, and Sin against the Lord; the Lord whose I am, and whom I am to Serve? Instead thereof, All the Powers of our Spirits, our Understandings, our Fantasies, our Memories, our Wills, our Affe­ctions, are to be at work for the Lord JESUS CHRIST continually; All the Members of our Bodies, our Eyes, our Ears, our Tongues, our Hands and our Feet, are to be at work for the Lord JESUS CHRIST perpetually. All our Possessions, are to have, HOLINESS TO THE LORD, written on them; and we are to put them unto no use, but what may be for the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Our Actions, every Day, should be Ennobled with Deliberate Thoughts, of Glorifying the Lord Jesus Christ, in what we do. Yea, we should be able to say, with the Apostle, in Phil. 1.21 To me to Live is Christ; by Spending our Lives in the Service of our Lord. It is thus, that we are to Present our selves a Sacrifice unto Him, that once made Himself a Sacrifice for us!

[Page 13] II. The Mercy of God unto us, is that which very Strongly Obliges us to this Obedience.

Very Various are the Courses taken by the God of Heaven, to Produce and Procure from us, that Service which we are to Honour our Lord JESUS CHRIST withal. 'Tis the Voice both of His Ordinances and of His Providences, Let men Serve the Lord Jesus Christ, and in all Things Obey the Will of that Glorious Lord. But the Mercies of God have this in a most particular manner, for the Language & the Errand of them.

Gratitude, as one says, Like the Blood in the Body, runs through the whole Practice of Christianity. The whole of that Obedience which we render unto God, is to be a continued Expression of Gratitude unto Him. Thus the Schoolmen make Ingratitude, a General Circumstance of sin; inas­much as though it be not in the Definition of sin, yet it is alwayes in the Perpretration of it.

It ha's been sometimes a Question very un­safely handled in the Books of some English Writers, What place in the Christian Religion is to be assigned unto Evangelical Obedience? Now we are not so grossly Ignorant of the Gospel, as to assert, That our Hearty and Honest Endeavour of Obeying the whole Will of God, is the condition upon which the Benefits purchased by Christ, belong unto us. God forbid, that we should Swallow down all the Poison Comprehended in that As­sertion! We say, The only Condition on our part, Entitling us to the Benefits Purchased by [Page 14] our Lord-Redeemer, is our Faith in Him, or the Reliance of our Souls upon the Free-Grace of God, in Him alone, for the Communication of those Benefits. And, Aliter qui vadit, Cadit! But then, the Place which we assign unto Evangeli­cal Obedience, is, that of Gratitude unto God, for the Benefits of Redemption; and we think, that the Principle which disposes us to Believe on the Lord JESUS CHRIST, and on His Righ­teousness, will also dispose us to an Hearty and Honest Endeavour of Obeying the whole will of God, in Gratitude unto Him, for what Provision He ha's made for our Happiness in our Lord JE­SUS CHRIST. The Connexion between Justifying Faith and Obedience, Holy, Sincere, Thankful Obedience, is Infallible, and Insepara­ble; though we say likewise, that no man can do any Good Works of Obedience, until he be Justified. Nor does this place of Grati­tude for our Happiness, which we assign to Obe­dience, hinder us, from Considering it, as the Way to our Happiness, Yea, as a Part of our Happiness. There is no true Believer, who is not of this Perswasion, I am an Happy man, if I may but Serve my Lord Jesus Christ.

Indeed, Every Mercy of God unto us, calls for this Return. Almighty God therein does as he speaks, in Hos. 11.3. I drew them with the Cords of a man, with Bands of Love; I Laid meat unto them. When He dispenses Kind­nesses unto men▪ He propounds this as a Rea­sonable [Page 15] Expectation thereupon, These Kindnes­ses are to be attractive of their Obedience; Inferi­our Creatures are Serviceable unto their Keepers, their Feeders, those that Lay meat unto them: and by doing thus for the Children of men, I do with Cords and Bands oblige them to Serve me for ever. Let us maintain this Truth, with a treble Demonstration.

First; We have the Lessons of Scripture, to show, That the Mercy of God, obliges our O­bedience to Him. The Scripture seems to put this Motto on every Mercy that we Receive, A strong Obligation to Serve the Lord Iesus Christ. Thus, When the Church of Israel received the Mercy of a mighty Deliverance, from woful Circumstances, what Use did their most Merciful Deliverer make of all? It was, A Demand of Obedience to all His Commandments. This is the Preface to both Tables of the Law, I am the Lord your God, that have brought you out of your Distresses, and now surely you can deny me no Obedience. And when Ten Thousand further Mercies had been shown to the People of God, this was the Inference deduced from them; Let these be acknowledged, with an Obedience an­swerable thereunto: Thus you have it, in Deut. 10.12. Now, (after all) What does the Lord thy God require if thee, but to Fear Him, to Love Him, to Serve Him, and to Obey Him? This was what Samuel once Preached unto a Great Congregation; in 1 Sam. 12.20. Only Fear [Page 16] the Lord, and Serve Him, for consider how great Things He hath done for you. This was what Paul has written to us all, in Rom. 2.4. The Goodness of God, O man, Leads thee to Repentance. And Symphonizing with all this, what says the Psalmist, in Psal. 130.4. There is Forgiveness with thee, O Lord, that thou mayst be feared? E­ven so, we shall conclude but Scripturally, if we say, We have all Mercies from thee, O Lord, that thou mayst be Obeyed. Unto this purpose, it has been Remark'd, that when God had carried Israel over Jordan, there were Stones Erected for His Praise: But what was inscribed on the Stones? It was not the History of what had been done by God; but it was a Copy of the Law. An Intimation, that our Keeping of the Law, is to be no small Ingredient in our Prai­sing of Him, that gave the Law; our Keeping of the Law is the Return that we are to make unto Him that has carried us well through our Jordans.

Secondly; We have the Complaints of Hea­ven, to show, That the Mercy of God obliges our Obedience to Him. Heaven takes it un­kindly, if we don't see an Obligation to Serve the Lord Jesus Christ, in every Mercy. It was the Expostulation of a provoked God, in Isa. 1.2. Hear, O Heavens, and give Ear, O Earth: Summoned they all are, to make Man Ashamed: Why, What's the matter? Alas, The Lord hath spoken, I have nourished & brought [Page 17] up Children, and they have Rebelled against me. How bitterly 'tis Complained of, That Mercy should be bestowed upon us, and we not Return Obedience to the God of our Mercy! It is menti­oned as a Provoking Evil, in Hezekiah, who was otherwise a Godly man: in 2 Chron. 32.25. He rendred not again, according to the Benefit done unto him, therefore was wrath upon him. And it is mentioned as a Provoking Evil, in Israel, on a Day of Humiliation, in Neh. 9.35. They have not Served thee, O Lord, in thy Great Goodness, which thou gavest them. So we see, That when a Benefit shall be done un [...]o us, by the [...]eat Goodness of God, and we don't render this again, that we shall Serve Him who gives all, the Wrath of God, is Enkindled upon such a Provocation.

Thirdly; The utmost Obedience were due to God, though He should never confer any Mer­cy at all upon us. Truly, such is the Sovereign­ty, such is the Authority, of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, that if HE say, Let such a Service be done for me! No man may dispute it: And, such are His Essential Perfections, that He will remain Worthy of all Service from us, though we were every one of us, Damned, among the Outcasts, in the lowest Hell forever: Tis from the Unreasonableness of Mankind, that there is any cause given for that Complaint, Vix diligitur Jesus Propter Jesum: Scarce is JESUS Loved and Served, for the pure sake of JESUS. Let [Page 18] the most miserable man, under the whole Cope of Heaven, keep Serving of the Lord JESUS CHRIST unto Eternal Ages; Yet he must, own, as in Luk. 17.10. I have done but that which was my Duty to do. If God should strip us im­mediately of all our Desireable Things, and cast us into the dismal shadows of the Second Death forever, we ought still to say, The Holy God still deserves all the Obedience that I can possibly yield unto Him. The Greatness of our Lord JESUS CHRIST renders Him worthy of all our Service, though we should have no particular motive of His Goodness unto us, to invite us thereunto. 'Tis said in Psal. 145. [...] Great is the Lord, & Greatly to be Praised. So I say, Great is the Lord, and Greatly to be Served. It was a sweet speech that fell from the Pen of the Renowned Chancellour of Paris, I don't know what the Lord intends to do with me forever; but this I know, (Amari Dignus est et Coli) He is worthy that I should Love Him & Serve Him; and I will do so. Though we were horribly bruised between the formidable Milstones of the Anger of God in the place of Dragons for­ever, yet it would become us ever to put this Accent on our Endless Lamentations, Yet This God is to be Obeyed! But what an Additional Obligation to Obedience, is by His Mercy then laid upon us? Let us now make some

APPLICATION.

I. There are Two Things, which, methinks, [Page 19] now have a very Scandalous Face upon them. Two Faults will fall under a Sharp Reproof. I am now to tell you,

First, It is an Ill Thing, to be nothing the Better for all the Mercies of God. Alas, How many of us will be found Guilty of this monstrous Disingenuity! Man, of whose Tender Mercy is it, that thou art not Consumed! whose Mercy ha's been Feeding, and Cloathing, and Sup­plying, and Preserving, and Advancing of thee, these many years? But art thou not as Dis­obedient unto the God of all this Mercy, as thou wast many years ago? Oh, Examine thy self; Have I done any more Service to the Lord Iesus Christ, for all that Goodness & Mercy, with which He is daily following of me? Now be we astonished at our own Unfruitfulness! It was a most Unrighteous Thing in Jeshurun, to give the Lord any Occasion to say, as in Deut. 32.15. Thou hast waxed Fat, and Kicked, & for­sook the God that made thee. It was a most Un­lovely Thing in David, that the Lord should have have any Occasion to say, as in 2 Sam. 12.9. I have done much for Thee; Wherefore hast thou despised the Commandment of the Lord? Let us with Trembling Souls, think, whether we shall not bring a Curse on our selves, by such a Barrenness?

But, Secondly, 'Tis a Worse Thing then, to be the Worse for the Mercies of God. Some there are, who make the Mercies of God, the [Page 20] Occasions, yea, the Instruments, of their Sin a­gainst Him. There are Spiders, whom the Grace of God, Emboldens in Impiety and Impe­nitency: they Cavil after this rate, God Al­mighty is ready to Pardon, and why may not I allow my self in some Transgressions of His Law? The Apostle Jude hath flashed the hottest Brimstone of Hell, in the faces of those Re­probates; and indeed, Whatever Sins a Rege­nerate man may fall into, it will not be Impro­per at least for the sinner himself to count it questionable, Whether any Regenerate man can Deliberately thus, Turn the Grace of God into Wantonness. And what shall be said of them, who take Encouragement from their Prosperity, to Wallow Securely in those filthy puddles of Death, which they would otherwise be afraid of plunging themselves into? Say, Would you not be more Prayerful, and more Careful, in all your ways, and more Studious to Serve the Lord JESUS CHRIST, if you were un­der those Deadly Bands, which ly upon such, or such of your Neighbours? Conscience, Do thy Office! Is there no Person among us, who ha's had, not only a Life, but a New Life, and a Life Sweetned with many Conveniencies, given to him? And yet, how does he now carry himself? Does not he Live more Car­nally, more Worldlily, more Vainly, than he did before? Is he not like the Jewes, who having made their Offerings in the Temple said, [Page 21] We are now acquitted to do all Abominations, and run upon a New Score of Sinning? Yea, How common a Thing is it, for Persons to make the Mercies of God, the meer Fuel of their Lusts? It was the Crime of them, in Hos. 2.8. The Corn and Wine which I gave them, did they prepare for Baal. Thus it may be said of many, They would be less Wicked, if it were not for the Mercies which God gives unto them. Now, what an horrid thing is this? If David should have taken the Sword and the Bow that Jona­than gave him, and presently have Stab'd or Shot the Donour with it, would it not have been a most Villanous Act? But be it known to you, That you are Fighting against God, with Weapons of His own; yea, you are fighting for the Devil with them. Oh! Think of this, and Blush at the Horrible Thing.

II. But there is an Exhortation to be now pressed upon us; That the Mercy of God may now Cause us to do, what it Calls us to do. I Beseech you, Brethren, by the Mercies of God, that you be thence prevailed withal, to become the Devoted Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, in all New Obedience, which is to Present your selves a Sacrifice unto Him. The Affricans of old, would foolishly Worship the Creatures which did them any Benefit, as our Americans at this Day do the Fire, because of the Singular Bene­fit which they have therefrom. Yea, the Peo­ple [Page 22] of Troas worshipped the very Mice, because they had received a notable Benefit by an Ar­my of Mice, gnawing asunder the Bow Strings of their Enemies. But how unnatural then, will it be for us, to forget the Benefits done to us by our Lord JESUS CHRIST, or to decline the Service of Him that has done the Benefits? Indeed we cannot requite the Mercy of God unto us, by doing of any thing that shall be for His Advantage. Tho' the parts of Thank­fulness are well distributed by Aquinas, into Recognition, and Valuation, and Retribution, of the Divine Benefits; Yet, for this last point of Thankfulness, if the Son of Sirach might justly say, How canst thou Recompense thy Parents, the things they have done for thee? Much more may we say, 'Tis impossible for us to Recompense our Saviour, the things He hath done for us: And the Light of Nature it self dictates, as Bellarmine himself allows, That no man can, Paria reddere Deo; or, make Equal Returns unto the Lord. We must say to our God, as in Psal. 16.2. My Goodness extendeth not unto thee. Nevertheless there are some Things, which the Lord graci­ously calls Retributions; and those are the Fruits of Obedience, which the Showers of Mercy fal­ling upon us, from Heaven do bespeak our yielding of. The Mercie of God is the Tillage which He Employes upon us; O Earth, Earth, Earth, Hear the Word of the Lord! Now the Retri­butions which we are to make unto Him, are those [Page 23] which the Apostle mentions, in Phil. 1.11. The Fruits of Righteousness, which are unto the Glory and Praise of God. Wherefore, I beseech you, Brethren, to Consider such Things as these.

Consider, First, There are many, there are mighty, there are most Undeserved Mercies, which we have Received from the Open Hand of our God. There is no Comfortable Thing at any Time Enjoy'd by us, but what comes unto us, from the Hand of God in the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Verily, we must call Him, as in Psal. 59.17. The God of our Mercy. But oh! how much of His Mercy, are we on every side surrounded withal! There are General Mercies, wherein we all have our share. As we are Englishmen, we are Born to those Rights, which are preferrible to the Best Estates that can be acquired among any other Nations upon Earth. But as we are New-Englanders, we have our further Priviledges, which no People under the Sun, out of New England have. Here are things, whereof we may say, as the Jewish Rabbi said of Liberty, If the Heavens were Parchment, and the Seas were Ink, they would not suffice to Write the Praises due to God, on the account thereof. But besides, and above, and beyond, these Liberties, we have the Lib [...]rties of the Gospel too, (the Mercies in the Text now before us most peculi­arly referr'd unto!) in some Circumstances, which may cause us to sing, as in Psal. 147.20. God hath not dealt so with any Nation. But then, [Page 24] there are Personal Mercies also, wherein all of us may Rejoice. We have our Common Mercies: the Mercies which attended our Infancy, and Education: the Mercies of the Provision hitherto made for all our Necessities: the Mercies of our Preservations from Dangers whereto we have often been Exposed: the Mercies of the Rela­tions, which God has graciously given to us; Mer­cies whereof we may say, as in Lam. 3.32. The Lords Mercies are New to us every morning. We have our Special Mercies too. It may be, Tem­poral Mercies are heaped upon us, with such Loads, as to distinguish us from, to dignifie us above, others round about us: Oh! compare our case, with the case of others, known to us, of whom we do not know, but that we have Sinned much more than they; and say, as in Psal. 16.6. I have a Goodly Heritage. Yea, but we have our Spiritual Mercies, to be Celebrated with the peculiar Hallelujahs of our Spirits. Our Everlasting Salvation is contrived in our Lord JESUS CHRIST: and in pursuance of that Salvation, our Lord has complied with all the Humbling Things, which the Justice of God required of our Surety: and that Great Salvati­on is Revealed and Offered unto us, and the Spirit of the Lord JESUS CHRIST hath been savingly Operating upon us, to make us Accept of that Salvation, and to Apply that Salvation unto us for-ever. Oh! say with a Spirit Rejoy­cing in God our Saviour, as in Luc. 1.78. Thro' [Page 25] the Tender mercy of our God, the Day Spring from on High hath visited us. Now, have we Deserv­ed these Mercies? No, Not one of them. What are we, but the Dogs, that never merited a Crumb of all the Bounty that is fallen to us? We are Undeserving, and Ill-deserving, and Hell-deserving Wretches; and we must own, as in Gen. 32.10. Lord, I am not worthy of the Least, of all thy Mercies, which thou hast shewed unto thy Servant!

Consider, Secondly: All the Return that we can make unto God for His Mercies, is our O­bedience, in the Service of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. If we would ask, and Oh! Let us ask, that convenient Question, What are the Thanks that our God would have of us, for all His Mercies? The Reply must be, Become the Ser­vants of the Lord Iesus Christ, and Obey Him with Universal Holiness. Or, we may take an Answer from Tit. 2.10. The Grace of God, that bringeth Salvation, teacheth us, to Deny all Ungod­liness, and Worldly Lusts, and Live Soberly, and Righteously, and Godlily. It is worth noting, how those Two Bad Qualities, are joyned, in 2 Tim. 3.2. Unthankful, Unholy. If men be not Holy, they are not Thankful. Do we Dream, that our All sufficient God will expect from us, Thousands of Rams, and Ten Thousands of Rivers of Oyl, by way of Thankfulness for His Mercies? No, He only says, Be you my Servants; Live unto me, while you Live upon me, Obey me by Do­ing [Page 26] of Justice, and Loving of Mercy, and Walking Humbly before me, and I have enough. It was most ingenuously spoken, by the Dying Mar­tyr, Alas, I have only two Brass Farthings for my Lord Iesus Christ, a sorry Body, and a sinful Soul: if He, to whom I am infinitely Endebted, will accept of these, He shall have them with all my Heart. Even so ought we to say; We are an Insolvent, a Desperate, sort of Debtors unto God; we never can pay Him any thing proportionable to what we have Received from Him; but if the unwearied Service of my Obedience may be acceptable to Him, I shall be glad; He shall have That, while I have any Being.

Consider, Thirdly: If we do not Return the Service of Obedience unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST for His Mercies, we are chargeable with an odious Ingratitude; and Ingratitude is indeed the most odious thing Imaginable. We say, Ingratum dixeris, et omnia dixeris: As Good call a man, a Viper, or the Detestablest Thing you can imagine, as to say, He is Unthankful! I remember, the Prophecy concerning the Re­turn of the Israelitish Nation to a good State in the Latter Dayes, Expresses it so, in Hos. 3.5. They shall Fear the Lord, and His Goodness; that is, as a Converted Jew teaches me to Expound it, the Messiah, the Good Thing promised in the Eighty Fifth. Psalm. Syrs, Our Lord JESUS CHRIST, is a Lord so Good, that He is Good­ness it self; and how Ungrateful are we, if we [Page 27] do not Serve such a Lord! A Slave, that shall have his Meat, his Drink, his Cloathing and Lodging from a Good Master, is to be Beaten with many Stripes, if he be not like the Servant, of whom the Centurion his Master, said, I say to him, Do this, and he doth it. It was a Custom even among the Heathen, as our Lord Himself observes, that such as were their Benefactors, (their Baal-Hanans, and their Hannibals, their Gracious-Lords) they would make them their Governours, and Swear Allegiance unto them. And shall we then refuse to Serve our Lord in Heaven, the Lord of Heaven, who supplies all our wants, and is our Benefactor every moment? The Prophet Elisha, in 2 King. 4.12. thought it would have been a breach of Good Manners, if he had not asked a Courteous Hostess, Behold thou hast been careful of us; What shall be done for thee? Surely then, we should say with ourselves, What shall be done, what Service is there to be done for the Lord JESUS CHRIST, who has been al­ways careful of me? What a sordid man, was that Egyptian Butler, who forgat the Joseph, that had been so useful unto him? And is it not as vile a thing for us to Forget the God of our Lives? It was a base Temper that Nabal show'd, when David must say of him, in 1 Sam. 25.11. in vain have I kept all that this Fellow hath. And shall our Lord say of us. In vain have I thrown away all my Mercies upon such a Sinner: He is a meer Grave to my Mercies: He'l [Page 28] do no Service for me, Let me do never so much for Him. Syrs, the Lord will by dreadful Dispen­sations, give us to understand, that He does no­thing in vain. Oh! Let not that check belong unto us, in Deut. 32.6. Do ye thus Requite the Lord, O foolish people and unwise!

Consider, Fourthly; All the Service wherein we Obey the Lord JESUS CHRIST, for the Requital of His Mercies, will be as profitable to our selves, as acceptable to the Lord. Certainly, we shall not Lose by it! No, It will issue in the Continuation, and the Augmentation of our Mer­cies. As among men, 'tis a Delight unto us, to Do good unto the Thankful; So will the Bles­sed God say, My Mercies are well bestow'd upon such a man; he shall have them still, he shall have more of them, he shall have as much as Heart can wish. Behold, how we may prevent the Loss of our Precious and Pleasant Things. Let us do Service for the Lord JESUS CHRIST, with what we have: So our Talents will not be ta­ken from us. Let us be Tenants, that shall ho­nestly pay the little Rents required of us, and we shall not be Turned out of all. And what a Sign shall we therein have of our Sincerity before the Lord? An Hypocrite will sometimes abstain from Evil, for fear of Rods and Blowes: Oh! but when a man is marvellously quickned unto the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, by the Smiles of the Lord upon him, there is a most hopeful mark of Uprightness upon the Soul of such a man.

Well, These Things being thus Considered, there are some Things, which I desire we may now find our selves disposed unto.

First, Let us very particularly P [...]nder the Mercies of God unto us, in the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Retire, & Look back, & Look round, upon the Multifarious Loving kindness of our God unto us. As Ahashuerus in Est. 6.1. called for the Records, wherein he found Great Things that had been done for him; So let Us cast an Eye into the Records, which we Do, or Should keep, of the Great Things that God hath done for us. Oh! Let us make a Catalogue, as far as we can, of our Mercies: Nor indeed can we easily leave, a better Legacy to our Families, than such a Catalogue of our Ebenezers, of our Experiences.

Secondly, Let us very particularly Purpose the Service of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, for, and with, His Mercies. Retire, and put that Interrogatory unto our selves, in Psal. 116.12. What shall I Render to the Lord for all His Benefits? And pursuant hereunto, Let us choose to be the Servants of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, in all Holy Conversation. Imitate that Prince Cantacuzanus, who giving up himself unto the Lord JESUS CHRIST, would afterwards have his Name Changed into Christodulus, or, A Servant of Christ. I tell you, Great Emperors were not the Smaller for Subscribing themselves, The Vassals, of this Lord. Yea, Let us often [Page 30] have our Explicit Contrivances, how to Glorify and Magni [...]y God our Saviour. 'Tis a Noble Question, that we should sometimes put unto our selves, What special Service may I do for my Lord Iesus Christ, as I Stand in such a Relation, or such a Capacity? And in Answer to this Question, some singular ways to Do Good, will doubtless occur unto us.

Finally, Let us Resign up our selves unto the Spirit of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, that by His Influences, we may Present our selves a Living Sacrifice, Holy, and Acceptable unto God. We can do nothing of our selves, in this Rea­sonable Service: but if once the Spirit of our Lord JESUS CHRIST shall take Possession of us, we shall then Serve Him faithfully, Serve Him fervently, Serve Him constantly; and be for Him, and not for another. In allusion to the old usage of Masters Branding their Servants, it was usual for the ancient Idolaters, to Brand themselves for the perpetual Service of the Idol whereto they were devoted, with such Marks as are forbidden in Leviticus. They some­times Branded themselves, with the Mark of their Idol, as an Helmet was the Mark of Mars, and the Ivy was the Mark of Bacchus. They sometimes Branded themselves with the Name of their Idol; as, Jupiter, or the like, at large. And they sometimes Branded themselves with the Number of his Name; that is, with other Letters which together would amount unto the [Page 31] same Number wi [...]h the known Letters of his Name, agreed Privately among the fraternity, to signify So. I will not Report what some Zealous Persons among the People of God, in the Primitive Times, did in Opposition here­unto. But this I say; Lying at the Foot of Soveraign Grace, Let us, give up our selves to the Free Spirit of the Lord JESUS CHRIST; and that Spirit will Effectually Mark us, and Hold us, to Service of that Lord Eternally. Come then, Let us Lay our selves in the Dust, at the Feet of the Lord JESUS CHRIST, and say before Him; Lord, I would gladly be Thine, and there is infinite Reason that I should be so forever. Oh! how wonderful will be my Hap­piness, and If thou wilt accept me to Serve thy Glorious Interests! Behold, I here Devote my self, and all that I am, and all that I have, unto thy Glory? But I am able to do nothing: Where­fore, Oh! give me that Good Spirit of thine, which thou hast Promised unto them that ask it. Let that Spirit Seize me, fill me, act me, and make me an Instrument of thy Glory for ever.

Whatever ha's been done by the Mercies of God, for the man who does thus, I say, Believest Thou? Thou shalt see yet greater Things than Ever.

But it is Time to break off. We will now make an Echo to the Calls of Heaven which we have thus had, ‘I Beseech you, by the Mercies of God, that ye present your Bodies, a Living Sacrifice, Holy, Acceptable to God, your Reasonable Service;’

By Digesting it into an Hymn, which may help to carry on the Thanksgiving wherein we are Engaged.

THe Mercies of Almighty God
To miserable Me,
Purchas'd by His most precious Blood,
Are, Oh! how Rich and Free!
Mercies, which Answer and Remove
All my just Miseries:
Mercies, Well-worth my Praise and Love,
And Thankful Sacrifice.
Behold, O Gracious Lord, I do
Present my self to Thee:
No Beasts, but my Own Body to
My God, shall Off'red be.
A Body, by the Death of Thine
For Thee full dearly Bought,
To Thee, with Every Thing of mine,
Is now Sincerely brought.
My Living Body Off'red here
So does continue Still;
Oh! may it Live, Thy Name to Fear,
And still to Do Thy Will.
May, HOLINESS UNTO THE LORD,
On all I do in It,
According to Thy Holy Word,
Be now most Plainly Writ.
May I, the Pleasing of Thee, make
My daily care therein,
And never any Pleasure take
Defil'd with Loathsome Sin.
Lord, Let me thus my Reason use
In Off'ring Thee Thy Own:
'Tis all Right Reason I should choose
To be Thine, Thine alone.
FINIS.

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