Selected quad for the lemma: heart_n
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A45489
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The great duty of thankfulness a sermon preach'd at St. Pauls Covent-Graden, December 2d, 1697, being the day of thanksgiving for the peace / by John Hancock, D.D., Chaplain to His Grace the Duke of Bedford ; published at the request of some of the parishioners.
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Hancocke, John, d. 1728.
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1698
(1698)
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Wing H641; ESTC R43231
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9,483
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26
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The Great DUTY of Thankfulness A SERMON PREACH'D at St. Pauls Covent-Garden December 2d 1697. BEING THE Day of Thanksgiving FOR THE PEACE By JOHN HANCOCK D. D. Chaplain to his Grace the Duke of Bedford Published at the Request of some of the Parishioners LONDON Printed for Jonathan Robinson at the Golden Lion in St. Paul's Church-Yard 1698. A Thanksgiving Sermon ON ROM I. 21. Because that when they knew God they glorified him not as God neither were thankful but became vain in their Imaginations and their foolish Hearts was darkened THESE Words as appears from the Context were spoken by the Apostle of the Antient Heathen The Apostle tells us that even They had so much Knowledge of God as would render them wholly inexcusable while they indulg'd themselves in their vain Imaginations and unnatural Lusts They knew God yet they glorified him not as God neither were thankful They knew there was a great and supream Governour that he was good and bountiful and the Author of all the good things they enjoy'd yet they gave him not the Glory of his Goodness they were unthankful for his Mercies And if Unthankfulness were so great a Crime in the Heathen who had comparatively but a dark Knowledge of God to what we have How much greater will it be to us who live under the clear light of the Gospel who have such clear and full Revelations of God's Nature and Providence as well as such large Experience of his Goodness My Design in speaking from these Words does not require I should take any further notice of the Context 'T is sufficient that the Words as they lye before us easily afford us this plain Proposition which I design to lay as the Foundation of my present Discourse That Thankfulness to God for his Mercies is one considerable Part of that Glory that is due to God from us his Creatures When as the Heathen were unthankful to God they did not glorify him as God Glorifying God in the sense of the Text is the solemn Acknowledgments we pay to the Excellencies and Perfections to the real Glory of the Divine Nature The solemn Acknowledgments we pay to these are chiefly by Praising of him and by Praying and Giving Thanks to him The first of these that of Praise respects the Excellencies and Perfections of God as they are in himself The other two respect chiefly the Goodness and Mercy of God as extended to us There are some things in which this last way of glorifying God by an unfeigned Thankfulness seems to have the advantage of both the other and therefore to be more acceptable to God and necessary for us This seems to be the most free and voluntary there is least of force upon the Spirit of Man in the exercise of it Let a Man's Disposition as to Religion be what it will if he do but consider the mighty Power and Wisdom declared in the Works of Creation and Providence he can scarce withhold himself from admiring and Praising God Thus we read that Galen could not forbear to do it when he took notice of the curious Disposition and Use of the Parts of Living Creatures So 't is no wonder if Men when they are in Want and Misery make their Applications to the Divine Mercy by earnest Prayer the Extremity of their Afflictions even forces them to it But the very occasion of Thankfulness supposes Men under no present necessity of making their Acknowledgments to God There may be a sort of Selfishness in our Prayers for what we want but 't is pure Respect to God that makes us thankfully acknowledge the Goodness of God in what we already have And therefore we see by sad experience that this is more rarely found than the other Tho' many that can be importunate enough under their Wants when things go well with them are so far from being thankful that they grow wanton and abuse the good things that God hath given them to his Dishonour And thus it appears that one of the most genuine and acceptible Ways of glorifying God is by giving Thanks to him for his Mercies In my discoursing on this Subject I shall enquire I. Into the Extent of this Thankfulness II. How it ought to be expressed III. What Motives should induce us to it And where it may be pertinent I shall conder these things with a special Respect to the Present Occasion 1. Then in general we ought according to the Apostle's Exhortation in every thing to give Thanks Thankfulness for what we have is always requisite to accompany our Prayers for what we want But on such Days and Occasions as these Thanksgiving should make up the best Part of our Devotions And our Hearts ought now particularly to be tun'd to that chearful Key We should especially indeed give Thanks for Spiritual Mercies saying with the Apostle Blessed be God and the Father of our Lord Jesus Christ who hath blessed us with all Spiritual Blessings in heavenly places in Christ But we should not forget his Temporal Favours Especially when such emergent Occasions as these call so loud upon us for our most unfeigned Thankfulness When that God who that I may use the Words of the Psalmist Ps 29. ult hath all along this War given strength unto us his People hath now a length given us the Blessing of Peace Nor should we only give Thanks for our selves but others too The Apostle exhort that Supplications and Prayers Intercessions and giving of Thanks be made for all Men for Kings and all that are in Authority Methink we cannot but upon this Occasion congratulate the Happiness of those our Neighbor Nations whose Countries are now deliver'd from being any longer the Seat of this wasting War We have indeed in this our Island 〈◊〉 a kind of continual Peace in the midst of Wa◠But 't was sad with them As therefore before we could not but extend our Pity toward them now we ought to rejoyce with them And here likewise there is a particular Acknowledgment due to the good Providence of God which hath still attended His Majesty in the midst of so many great and apparent Dangers But in this we have so great and near an Interest that it is indeed to give Thanks for our selves Again As Thankfulness should be a great Part of the business of our Lives so extraordinary and remarkable Deliverances require an extraordinary more publick and solemn Thankfulness And this is the business of this Day The Occasion of it is very great When God hath made Wars to cease in all this our Part of the World When he hath given us so much beyond the Expectation of some of us an honourable advantageous and we hope a lasting Peace When after all the Toils and Hazards of this long and tedious War he bath brought Home our gracious Soveraign in Safety and with Honour In a word now we have what lately was the utmost we could wish for have we not reason at this time to give all Religious
and decent Testimonies of our Joy and Thankfulness The second Thing I proposed to speak of is how it ought to be expressed And it should appear 1. By the Esteem we have of God's Mercies 2. By our Acknowledgments of the same 3. By the suitable Returns we make to them 1. By the Esteem we have of them The Mercies of God are very great it themselves They are stiled by the Apostle Rom. 2. The riches of his Goodness But they will appear much greater if we consider how ill we deserve from God and how little 't is we have reason to expect from him When therefore we actually disesteem hiâ— Mercies or when we interpretatively do so by carrying our selves so under them as sheâ—â— we make light of 'em then we offer an high Affront to God and bring great guilt upon our selves I wish there were none among us that were guilty of dis-esteeming and despising the Mercy of this Day Too many I fear there are who were too ready to rejoyce in the Success of our Enemies if not to side with them And now we have a Peace they scarce think it a Blessing and are so far from rejoycing in it that they rather grumble at it They are so enamour'd on some Schemes they have formed to themselves that they seem to have forgotten the Duty they owe to the Publick Welfare of their Country 2. Another Sign of a Thankful Heart is a due Acknowledgment of God's Mercies This requires that we should look upon 'em as coming from the hand of God The Atheist that denies the Being of God or the Epicurean that denies his Providence as if it were below him to trouble himself with this lower World will never pay this Debt of Thankfulness Those are likewise here to blame that look so much at the Means and Instruments that they forget God the Author of Publick Blessings We read of some that as the Prophet speaks sacrificed to their own Nets and burnt Incense to their own Drags We are too apt to do something like it when we so much vaunt of the Strength of our Navy and the Valour of our English Souldiers Those that on this Occasion have so bravely defended their Native Country may they have all due Honour both of Esteem and Requital and may their Names be had in everlasting Remembrance And particularly there is a very great Acknowledgment due to the Courage and Conduct of our Gracious Soveraign the great Instrument of this happy Peace When he hath the Publick Testimony of all Europe if we for whom more immediately he hath so long and so often sacrificed his Ease and exposed his Person if we I say are behind others in our Acknowledgments we are wretchedly ungrateful But still as our Gracious Soveraign in His Royal Proclamation for the keeping of this Day adores the Divine Providence and Goodness in bringing to pass this honourable Peace so should we from his Example learn to do so And the Result of all out Thoughts in this case should be a grateful Acknowledgment of the Divine Goodness And 't is well done that we are come here this Day to tell the World we own our selves beholding to God for this Mercy 3. Another Effect and Sign of Thankfulness is a grateful Return to God for his Mercy 'T is true all our Goodness extends not to him He is not the better for any thing we can do for him or give to him But yet there is a kind of Requital to be made to God for his Mercies What saith the Psalmist shall I render unto the Lord for all his Mercies It becomes us of these Nations therefore to think what we ought to do for God who hath done so much for us O that the Sense we have of God's Mercies might appear in the Goodness of our Lives That the blessed Effect of this Peace might be a general Repentance and Reformation Let it never be said the better God is to us the worse we are to him When we have Peace on Earth let us not by our bold Impieties proclaim War against Heaven When he hath made our Enemies to be at Peace with us let not us be at Enmity with him If this be all the fruit of the Peace 't is not like to last long If we break the Peace with God we cannot keep it long with Men. God will never want ways to punish us if we prevent not the Sentence by a true and timely Reformation I have now done with the second Thing the Effects or Expressions of true Thankfulness The Third general is the Motives that should induce us to the Exercise of this Duty of Thankfulness And first we may consider the Excellency of this Duty The Text tells us 't is a Part of that Honour we owe to God And consequently our neglect thereof is a great slight of the Divine Majesty When they knew God saith the Apostle of the Heathens they glorified him not as God And God testified his Resentment of this their Ingratitude by giving them up to the most stupid Blindness Their Unthankfulness to God as the Context tells us made him give them up to their own Imaginations May not our Unthankfulness for these Publick Mercies justly yet provoke God to give us up to the Will of our Enemies for certainly it must be a much greater fault in us than it was in them However 't is no small Inducement to this Duty that 't is one of the most acceptable Sacrifices we can present to God You may see this in the 50th Psalm throughout I will not saith God there to Israel reprove thee because of thy Sacrifices nor for thy Burnt-offerings because they were not always before me And after several Verses to that purpose it follows Offer unto God Thanksgiving and pay thy Vows unto the most High and call upon me in the day of trouble So will I hear thee and thou shalt glorifie me And in the last Verse of the same Psalm whoso offers me Thanks and Praise he honoureth me So that when we withhold from God our Thankfulness we rob him of his Honour a thing he is above all other jealous of And if we do so he will pay us in our own coin Them that honour him he will honour and they that despise him shall be as lightly esteemed 2. Let us consider the Equity of this Duty of Thankfulness Common Sense teaches us Gratitude to our Benefactors Those that have no Sense of this are justly look'd on by all as the worst of Men. If we call a Man ungrateful we call him all that 's bad at once If this be a Duty we owe to Men it 's much more due to God It 's impossible we should be so much obliged to any Man in the World as we are to him There is none that hath been so much disobliged by us and yet there is none that hath done so much for us And if this be a just debt for private Benefits how much more is it so