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Richard Sibbes, The Backsliding Sinner 3.1 (thankfulness)

24 Thursday Jun 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Richard Sibbes, Thankfulness

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Praise, Richard Sibbes, thankfulness, The Backsliding Sinner

This third sermon begins with a short exhortation and instruction on praise. 

The words, as we heard heretofore, contain a most sweet and excellent form of returning unto God, for miserable, lost, and forlorn sinners; wherein so far God discovers his willingness to have his people return unto him, that he dictates unto them a form of prayer, ‘Take with you words, and turn to the Lord; say unto him, Take away iniquity.’ 

 ‘And do good to us,’ or do graciously to us; for there is no good to us till sin be removed. Though God be goodness itself, there is no provoking or meriting cause of mercy in us. But he finds cause from his own gracious nature and bowels of mercy to pity his poor people and servants. It is his nature to shew mercy, as the fire to burn, a spring to run, the sun to shine. Therefore, it is easily done. As the prophet speaks, ‘Who is a God like unto thee?’ Micah 7:18.

Notes:

for miserable, lost, and forlorn sinners: This repetition is not the bare repetition of synonyms. While repetition of a synonym can, in certain circumstances be useful, it most often simply a lack of thought trying to present itself as rhetorical power. Here, the words are not strictly repetitions: Miserable is here an objective statement on the badness of their circumstance: they are objects of pity. Lost is another objective statement but emphasis the reason why they are miserable. Forlorn speaks to the emotional state of these lost sinners. 

Wherein so far God discovers his willingness to have his people return unto him, that he dictates unto them a form of prayer: This is an inference which Sibbes obtains from the text, although it is not anywhere directly stated. It is based upon a broader understanding which Sibbes has of God as one of infinite mercy and grace toward his children.

Wherein we see how detestation of sin must be as general as the desire of pardon, and that none heartily pray to God to ‘take away all iniquity’ who have not grace truly to hate all iniquity. This inference is based upon the “all”. We are called upon to pray, not take away this particular sin, but let me keep the other. Rather, we must pray to be freed from all sin. 

Where we come to speak of the re-stipulation, ‘So will we render the calves of our lips.’ Where God’s favour shines, there will be a reflection. Love is not idle, but a working thing. It must render or die. And what doth it render? Divers sacrifices of the New Testament, which I spake of; that of a broken heart; of Christ offered to the Father, to stand betwixt God’s wrath and us; ourselves as a living sacrifice; alms-deeds and praise, which must be with the whole inward powers of the soul.

Notes:

re-stipulation Restating the agreement.

Where God’s favour shines, there will be a reflection: This is a fundamental principle of sanctification: Human beings function as mirrors to the glory of God. As that glory shines upon us, we become conformed to that glory. 2 Cor. 3:18. Therefore, if one is indeed beholding the glory of God in Christ by faith, it should be demonstrable in a transformation of the one gazing. This would be the place of good works. Good works do not merit the love and grace of God. But the love and grace of God produce good works in the human being. 

The seed in the ground can do nothing to compel the sun to shine or rain to fall. The plant does not grow to beckon the sun. Rather, the sun and rain produce growth in the seed. 

Love is not idle, but a working thing. It must render or die. Sibbes is not saying that love is not an affection. He does not say that we do not have a subjective sense of being one who loves. What he is saying is that this affection produces action: What does love do? It gives. For God so loved the world He gave. Likewise, if we love God we will give.

And what doth it render? Divers sacrifices of the New Testament, which I spake of; In the previous sermon, Sibbes wrote of what we give by means of sacrifice.

‘Praise is not comely in the mouth of a fool,’ saith the wise man, nor of a wicked man. Saith God to such, ‘What hast thou to do to take my words in thy mouth, since thou hatest to be reformed, and hast cast my words behind thee?’ Ps. 50:16, 17. There are a company who are ordinary swearers and filthy speakers. For them to praise God, James tells them that these contrary streams cannot flow out of a good heart, James 3:10, 11. Oh, no; God requires not the praise of such fools.

Oh, no; God requires not the praise of such fools. Sibbes develops this argument from two divergent passages. First, a rebuke of God in Psalm 50. Second, an observation of James. These sort of connections can only be made by enormous familiarity and meditation of upon the Bible.  

The point is that God does not need the sound of human beings praising. Rather, true praise must be something other than bare words.  Prayer is not magical invocation.

When he doth encourage us by his favours and blessings, and enlarge our spirits, then we are in a right temper to bless him. Let us not lose the occasion.

I gave you also some directions how to praise God, and to stir up yourselves to this most excellent duty, which I will not insist on now, but add a little unto that I then delivered, which is, that we must watch all advantages of praising God from our dispositions. ‘Is any merry? Let him sing,’ saith James, 5:13. Oh! It is a great point of wisdom to take advantages with the stream of our temper to praise God. When he doth encourage us by his favours and blessings, and enlarge our spirits, then we are in a right temper to bless him. Let us not lose the occasion. This is one branch of redeeming of time, to observe what state and temper of soul we are in, and to take advantage from thence. 

Is any man in heaviness? He is fit to mourn for sin. Let him take the opportunity of that temper. Is any disposed to cheerfulness? Let him sacrifice that marrow, oil, and sweetness of spirit to God. We see the poor birds in the spring-time, when those little spirits they have are cherished with the sunbeams, how they express it in singing. So when God warms us with his favours, let him have the praise of all.

Notes

This is one branch of redeeming of time, to observe what state and temper of soul we are in, and to take advantage from thence. This is the key thought of the paragraph. Rather, than provide instruction on how exactly to praise, Sibbes makes the practical observation of when we can praise. His proposition is that in every emotional state we find ourselves, there is a manner in which we can praise God. 

Therefore, when we have received a good thing, be thankful and cheerful. But even if we are in a difficulty place, our mourning can be the proper response. “It is a great point of wisdom to take advantages with the stream of our temper to praise God.” This point of wisdom is routinely lost in our worship. We have such a truncated understanding of human beings and worship that often a forced exuberance is the only permissible mode. 

And here I cannot but take up a lamentation of the horrible ingratitude of men, who are so far from taking advantage by God’s blessings to praise him, that they fight like rebels against him with his own favours. Those tongues which he hath given them for his glory, they abuse to pierce him with blasphemy; and those other benefits of his, lent them to honour him with, they turn to his dishonour; like children who importunately ask for divers things, which, when they have, they throw them to the dog. So favours they will have, which, when they have obtained, they give them to the devil; unto whom they sacrifice their strength and cheerfulness, and cannot be merry, unless they be mad and sinful. Are these things to be tolerated in these days of light? How few shall we find, who, in a temper of mirth, turn it the right way?

Notes:

This paragraph is a warning. There are some people who cannot rightly conceive of how to be happy for the good things which God has given and done without turning that happiness into sinful revelry. They “cannot be merry, unless they be mad and sinful.”

This is “the horrible ingratitude of men.”  They take God’s blessing and then sin against God.

Is Sibbes speaking of believers? He does not specify, but I imagine yes and no. This would be appropriate in an age when church attendance was (nearly) universal on Sunday. Thus, the congregation would always be mixed. Unbelievers receive good things from God: the sun and rain are given to all. (Matt. 5:45) Thus, the common grace of God benefits all, but is not rightly praised by all. (Rom. 1:21)

Believers too can misuse good gifts and can take ease as an excuse to sin.

Now Sibbes provides a series of 5 encouragements to praise:

1. But to add some encouragements to incite us to praise God unto the former, I beseech you let this be one, that we honour God by it. It is a well-pleasing sacrifice to him. If we would study to please him, we cannot do it better than by praising him.

Note: We willing give praise to all sorts of things which are far less valuable and far less worthy of praise. But at the very least God is worthy of our praise. (Ps. 104) If we desire to please God, we must start with praising God.

As a practical matter, if more our thoughts were turned toward the praise of God,it would result in a transformation of how we live. I have never met someone who was overly zealous in a desire to praise God. 

2. And it is a gainful trading with God. For in bestowing his seed, where he finds there is improvement in a good soil, with such a sanctified disposition as to bless him upon all occasions, that there comes not a good thought, a good motion in the mind, but we bless God who hath injected such a good thought in our heart; there, I say, God delights to shower down more and more blessings, making us fruitful in every good work to the praise of his name. Sometimes we shall have holy and gracious persons make a law that no good or holy motion shall come into their hearts, which they will not be thankful for. Oh! when God seeth a heart so excellently disposed, how doth it enrich the soul! It is a gainful trade. As we delight to bestow our seed in soils of great increase, which yield sixty and an hundredfold, if possible, so God delights in a disposition inclined to bless him upon all occasions, on whom he multiplies his favours.

Note: By “gainful trading” Sibbes is playing upon the metaphor of someone who sells and buys. He then mixes this metaphor with farming: God plants a seed of something worthy of praise. The sanctified ground responds by raising up praise: this encourages more blessing (hence, the trade).

Notice how careful Sibbes describes this: as we have a good thought, a good motion of the soul, the respond should be thank and praise God for it. It is a continuous application of the soul to the circumstance. This is a sort of Christian mindfulness.

3. And then, in itself, it is a most noble act of religion, it being a more base thing to be always begging of God; but it argueth a more noble, raised, and elevated spirit, to be disposed to praise God. And it is an argument of less self-love and respect, being therefore more gainful to us. Yea, it is a more noble and royal disposition, fit for spiritual kings and priests thus to sacrifice.

Note:  This comes as a sort of encouragement rebuke. If all of our prayer is asking, it shows that we are self-consumed. We want what we want. But a more “royal disposition” (from 1 Peter 2) is to give sacrifice in the form of praise. This is not a rebuke to pray for our needs. But is a rebuke if we simply conceive of God as someone who is supposed to give me something when I want it.

4. Again, indeed, we have more cause to praise God than to pray; having many things to praise him for, which we never prayed for. Who ever prayed for his election, care of parents in our infancy, their affection to us, care to breed and train us to years of discretion, besides those many favours daily heaped upon us, above all that we are able to think or speak? Therefore, praise being a more large sacrifice than prayer, we ought to be abundant in it. 

For those that begin not heaven upon earth, of which this praise is a main function, they shall never come to heaven, after they are taken from the earth; for there is no heavenly action, but it is begun upon earth, especially this main one, of joining with angels, seraphim, and cherubim, in lauding God. Shall they praise him on our behalf, and shall not we for our own? We see the choir of angels, when Christ was born, sang, ‘Glory be to God on high, on earth peace, and goodwill towards men,’ Luke 2:14. What was this for? Because Christ the Saviour of the world was born; whereby they shew that we have more benefit, by it than they. Therefore, if we would ever join with them in heaven, let us join with them upon earth. For this is one of the great privileges mentioned by the author to the Hebrews, unto which we be come to, ‘communion with the spirits of just men made perfect, and to the company of innumerable angels,’ Heb. 12:22, 23. We cannot better shew that we are come to that blessed estate and society spoken of, than by praising God.

Notes: He makes two arguments here. 

First, “we have more cause to praise God than to pray; having many things to praise him for, which we never prayed for.” We might be tempted to be thankful for those things which asked for and received. But what we fail to realize is that God has been constantly providing us with good things –even without asking. We have endless reasons to be thankful. Therefore, we have more cause to praise than petition.

Second, the heavenly beings are busy praising God for the good things God has done for us. Christ was not given to redeem angels, and yet angels praise God Christ. If we are ever to be part of that heavenly choir, it will be that we have joined it on earth.

5. And lastly, if we be much in praising God, we shall be much in joy, which easeth misery. For a man can never be miserable that can be joyful; and a man is always joyful when he is thankful. When one is joyful and cheerful, what misery can lie upon him? Therefore, it is a wondrous help in misery to stir up the heart to this spiritual sacrifice of thanksgiving by all arguments, means, and occasions. 

Note: This is an observation about human psychology: Thankfulness makes one happy. We cannot be thankful and discontent. And we cannot but be happy if we are thankful. Thus, praising God in thankfulness is a means to transform and stir up our hearts to joy.

if we be much in praising God, we shall be much in joy, which easeth misery. For a man can never be miserable that can be joyful; and a man is always joyful when he is thankful. When one is joyful and cheerful, what misery can lie upon him? 

Richard Sibbes, The Backsliding Sinner 2.7

05 Saturday Jun 2021

Posted by memoirandremains in Praise, Richard Sibbes, Thankfulness

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Assurance, Heaven, Praise, Richard Sibbes, Sacrifice, thankfulness

V.        “Doct. That God’s children at all times have their sacrifices.”

Even though Christ has come and the temple sacrifices of animals and grain have been superseded, it does not mean there are no sacrifice remains for Christians. Sibbes lists five: a broken heart, “offering Christ to God,” offering a mortified life as a living sacrifice, giving alms, and praise. When it comes to praise, he will offer further elaboration. 

A. Even though Christ has come we must still offer sacrifice

There is indeed one kind of sacrificing determined and finished by the coming of Christ, who was the last sacrifice of propitiation for our sins. 

He specifically rejects the concept of the mass as a continuing sacrifice. The sacrifice commemorated in the Supper was the sacrifice under which which has ended.

The more to blame those who yet maintain a daily sacrifice, not of laud and praise, but of cozening and deluding the world, in saying mass for the sins of the quick and the dead; all such sacrifices being finished and closed up in him, our blessed Saviour; who, ‘by one sacrifice,’ as the apostle speaks, ‘hath perfected them that are sanctified,’ Heb. 10:14, 7:27; and that, ‘by one sacrifice, when he offered up himself,’ Heb. 10:12; when all the Jewish sacrifices ended. Since which, all ours are but a commemoration of Christ’s last sacrifice, as the fathers say: the Lord’s supper, with the rest, which remain still; and the sacrifice of praise, with a few others, I desire to name.

But there are other sacrifices:

1. First, The sacrifice of a broken heart, whereof David speaks, Ps. 51:17; which sacrifice of a wounded, broken heart, by the knife of repentance, pleaseth God wondrously well.

2. And then, a broken heart that offers Christ to God every day; who, though he were offered once for all, yet our believing in him, and daily presenting his atonement made for us, is a new offering of him. Christ is crucified and sacrificed for thee as oft as thou believest in Christ crucified.

I guess we best understand this as the application of faith to a broken heart: it is to plead Christ’s death again without claiming that we are in fact re-sacrificing Christ.

Now, upon all occasions we manifest our belief in Christ, to wash and bathe ourselves in his blood, who justifieth the ungodly. So that, upon a fresh sight of sin, with contrition for it, he continually justifieth us. Thus, when we believe, we offer him to God daily; a broken heart first, and then Christ with a broken heart.

There is also the sacrifice of the presenting our lives to service:

3. And then when we believe in Christ, we offer and sacrifice ourselves to God; in which respect we must, as it were, be killed ere we be offered. For we may not offer ourselves as we are in our lusts, but as mortified and killed by repentance. Then we offer ourselves to God as a reasonable and living sacrifice, when we offer ourselves wholly unto him, wit, understanding, judgment, affections, and endeavour; as Paul saith of the Macedonians, ‘they gave themselves to God first, and then their goods,’ 2 Cor. 8:5.

In sum, it is that sacrifice Paul speaks of, ‘to present our bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable unto God,’ &c., Rom. 12:1. For a Christian who believeth in the Lord Jesus is not his own, but sacrificeth himself to him that was sacrificed for him. As Christ is given to us, so he that believes in Christ gives himself back again to Christ. 

This sacrifice is the measure and proof of our salvation:

Hereby a man may know if he be a true Christian, and that Christ is his, if he yields up himself to God. For ‘Christ died and rose again,’ saith the apostle, ‘that he might be Lord both of quick and dead,’ Rom. 14:9. ‘Therefore,’ saith he, ‘whether we live or die, we are not our own,’ Rom. 14:8.

Each time we suffer due to the fact that our life given up to God is conflict with the flow of this world, we are in a state of sacrifice:

What we do or suffer in the world, in all we are sacrificed. So saith a sanctified soul, My wit, my will, my life, my good, my affections are thine; of thee I received them, and I resign all to thee as a sacrifice. Thus the martyrs, to seal the truth, as a sacrifice, yielded up their blood. 

In an anti-antinomian turn, Sibbes who is much of the freedom of God’s grace notes that nature of grace received is to create thankfulness which is expressed in a manner of life. This is an interesting idea: Obedience is rendered as an act of thankfulness toward God.

He that hath not obtained of himself so much as to yield himself to God, he knows not what the gospel means. For Christian religion is not only to believe in Christ for forgiveness of sin; but the same faith which takes this great benefit, renders back ourselves in lieu of thankfulness.

He presses and explicates the point:

So that, whatsoever we have, after we believe, we give all back again. Lord, I have my life, my will, my wit, and all from thee; and to thee I return all back again. For when I gave myself to believe in thy dear Son, I yielded myself and all I have to thee; and now, having nothing but by thy gift, if thou wilt have all I will return all unto thee again; if thou wilt have my life, my goods, my liberty, thou shalt have them. 

Here he notes that true faith is not merely a cognitive assent to a fact “not altogether in believing in this or that”. Faith transforms the entire life, faith is such a thing:

This is the state of a Christian who hath denied himself. For we cannot believe as we should unless we deny ourselves. Christianity is not altogether in believing this and that; but the faith which moves me to believe forgiveness of sins, carries us also unto God to yield all back again to him.

Love for those whom cannot repay:

4. More especially, among the sacrifices of the New Testament are alms, as, ‘To do good and to communicate forget not, for with such sacrifices God is well pleased,’ Heb. 13:16.

The sacrifice of prase:

5. And among the rest, the sacrifice of praise, which is in the same chapter, verse 15. First, he saith, By him, that is, by Christ, let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips: which is but an exposition of this place, which, because it is especially here intended, I will a little enlarge myself in.

B.  What is meant by “calves of our lips”

This idiom is at first quite difficult: calves and lips are not concordant ideas. But the use of “calf” as a metonymy for “sacrifice” leads to some sense: 

He first gives an outline of how he will develop the idea: giving glory and giving thanks. One is extolling God, the other is an effusion of love for the thing received.

The ‘calves of our lips’ implies two things: Not only thankfulness to God, but glorifying of God, in setting out his praise. Otherwise to thank God for his goodness to us, or for what we hope to receive, without glorifying of him, is nothing at all worth. 

1. What it means to glorify God

For in glorifying there are two things.

a. “A supposition of excellency.” For that cannot be glorified, which hath no excellency in it. Glory in sublimity hath alway excellency attending it. And

b. “The manifestation of this glory.”

Now, when all the excellencies of God, as they are, are discovered and set out, his wisdom, mercy, power, goodness, all-sufficiency, &c., then we glorify him. To praise God for his favours to us, and accordingly to glorify him, is ‘the calves of our lips;’ but especially to praise him. Whence the point is—

c. “That the yielding of praise to God is a wondrous acceptable sacrifice.”

Which is instead of all the sacrifices of the Old Testament, than which the greatest can do no more, nor the least less; for it is the sacrifice and fruit of the lips. 

But to open it. 

i. The speech which glorifies God has its value in the fact it springs from the understanding:

It is not the sound of the words, but the resolution of the heart which makes the speech God-glorifying.

It is not merely the sacrifice of our lips; for the praise we yield to God, it must be begotten in the heart. Hereupon the word, λογὸς [logos], speech, signifieth both reason and speech, there being one word in the learned language for both.

Reason is communicated as speech:

Because speech is nothing but that stream which issues from the spring of reason and understanding: 

therefore, in thanksgiving there must not be a lip-labour only, but a thanksgiving from the lips, first begotten in the heart, coming from the inward man, as the prophet saith, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me, bless his holy name,’ Ps. 103:1.

We know what and why we praise:

Praise must come from a sound judgment of the worth of the thing we praise for. 

Praise must rise from true affection:

It must come from an affection which desires that God may have the glory, by the powers of the whole inward man, which is a hard matter, to rouse up ourselves to praise God with all the powers of our soul, ‘all that is within me, praise his holy name,’ Ps. 103:1.

In sum:  There goeth judgment, resolution of the will, strength of affections, and all with it.

ii. Praise comes from the heart and then flows out into action: 

Praise is an act of integrity: It begins with a true understanding and love, expressing itself in word and in conduct:

And then again, besides this, ‘the calves of our lips’ carries us to work. The oral thanksgiving must be justified by our works and deeds; or else our actions will give our tongue the lie, that we praise him with the one, but deny him in the other. This is a solecism, as if one should look to the earth, and cry, O ye heavens! So when we say, God be praised, when yet our life speaks the contrary, it is a dishonouring of God. So the praise of our lips must be made good and justified by our life, actions, and conversation. This we must suppose for the full understanding of the words, ‘We will render,’ from our hearts, ‘the calves of our lips;’ which we must make good in our lives and conversations, ever to set forth thy praise in our whole life.

C. Why this phrase?

Quest. But why doth the prophet especially mention lips, ‘the calves of our lips,’ which are our words?

Ans. 1. Partly, because Christ, who is the Word, delights in our words.

2. Because our tongue is our glory, and that whereby we glorify God.

3. And especially because our tongue is that which excites others, being a trumpet of praise, ordained of God for this purpose. Therefore, ‘the calves of our lips;’ partly, because it stirs up ourselves and others, and partly, because God delights in words, especially of his own dictating. 

D. How can become the person who gives such true praise?

To come then to speak more fully of praise and thanksgiving, let us consider what a sweet, excellent, and prevailing duty this is, which the church, to bind God, promiseth unto him, ‘the calves of our lips.’ I will not be long in the point, but only come to some helps how we may come to do it.

1. We must be broken and humbled to give praise: We must think little of ourselves. He makes an important point here concerning thankfulness. A thankful person begins with an understanding of his lack of some-thing and his unworthiness to receive something. We pay money at the market and take away my apple, I am not thankful to the cashier for letting me take my apple, I have paid for it. But if that same person out of kindness gave me that apple without money, an apple I had not earned or deserved, I would be thankful:

First, this praising of God must be from an humble, broken heart. The humble soul that sees itself not worthy of any favour, and confesseth sin before God, is alway a thankful soul. ‘Take away our iniquity, and then do good to us.’ We are empty ourselves. Then will ‘we render thee the calves of our lips.’ 

Proof of the point

What made David so thankful a man? He was an humble man; and so Jacob, what abased him so in his own eyes? His humility: ‘Lord, I am less than the least of thy mercies,’ Gen. 32:10. 

He that thinks himself unworthy of anything, will be thankful for everything; and he who thinks himself unworthy of any blessing, will be contented with the least. 

Exhortation: Notice how Sibbes is continually raising application as it is appropriate. To be thankful: which is the thing sought, we first must contemplate our unworthiness. The point here is not self-centered loathing, but a realization that we do not deserve good so that we may be thankful of the good.

Therefore, let us work our hearts to humility, in consideration of our sinfulness, vileness, and unworthiness, which will make us thankful: especially of the best blessings, when we consider their greatness, and our unworthiness of them. 

Here he makes a point which coheres with something I see in the Iliad (which I am currently completing), a book of extraordinarily proud men. Thankfulness is almost non-existent. The word “thank” only appears 10 times in Butler’s translation, as an ironic concept, as a means for a god to deceive someone into a committing a crime, as a basis for pride (no one thanks me for my fighting). 

I wonder if our emphasis on self-esteem has contributed to unhappiness by making us unthankful: and also creating a basis for constant disappointment and frustration (I have not received what I deserved). 

Another note, the broken-hearted humility is humility toward God.

A proud man can never be thankful. Therefore, that religion which teacheth pride, cannot be a thankful religion. 

Popery is compounded of spiritual pride: merit of congruity, before conversion; merit of condignity, and desert of heaven, after; free will, and the like, to puff up nature. What a religion is this! Must we light a candle before the devil? Is not nature proud enough, but we must light a candle to it? To be spiritually proud is worst of all.

2. Thankfulness is paired with an evaluation of the greatness and goodness of God. The Christian who “humbles” himself can conceal pride in that humility if it is not paired with an understanding of the goodndess and greatness of God. Without this there will never be thankfulness; and there will not be true humility 

And with our own unworthiness, add this: a consideration of the greatness of the thing we bless God for; setting as high a price upon it as we can, by considering what and how miserable we were without it. 

He is going to raise the doctrine of Hell. The doctrine is routinely unfashionable and is often considered reprehensible. But here Sibbes asks us to consider it so that we may be thankful. Here is the misery we have earned (and that is the point which is unpalatable, perhaps you could deserve Hell, but I could not), and yet we are spared. If you narrowly avoided being killed in a fire, you would thank the fireman.

He will bless God joyfully for pardon of sin, who sees how miserable he were without it, in misery next to devils, ready to drop into hell every moment. And the more excellent we are, so much the more accursed, without the forgiveness of sins. 

For the soul, by reason of the largeness thereof, is so much the more capable and comprehensible of misery; as the devils are more capable than we, therefore are most accursed. Oh, this will make us bless God for the pardon of sin! 

Consider all of the good things we have received. In particular be thankful that we can see or hear or touch. 

And likewise, let us set a price upon all God’s blessings, considering what we were without our senses, speech, meat, drink, rest, &c. O beloved! 

we forget to praise God sufficiently for our senses. 

This little spark of reason in us is an excellent thing; grace is founded upon it. If we were without reason, what were we? If we wanted sight, hearing, speech, rest, and other daily blessings, how uncomfortable were our lives! This consideration will add and set a price to their worth, and make us thankful, to consider our misery without them. 

Sadly, we don’t know how many good things we have until we do not have them:

But, such is our corruption, that favours are more known by the want, than by the enjoying of them. When too late, we many times find how dark and uncomfortable we are without them; then smarting the more soundly, because in time we did not sufficiently prize, and were thankful for them.

Let us, then, be stirred up to give God his due beforehand, to begin heaven upon earth; for we are so much in heaven already, as we abound and are conversant in thanksgiving upon earth.

3. If we have a good assurance that we are right before God, we will be thankful

And then, labour to get further and further assurance that we are God’s children, beloved of him.

Assurance will work in two ways: it will make me conscious of what I have – and what is coming. It will make me thankful. 

This will make us thankful both for what we have and hope for. 

Proof of the point by considering the opposite:

It lets out the life-blood of thankfulness, to teach doubting or falling from grace. 

Why does God tell us of the good which is laid up for us? To make us hopeful and thus thankful:

What is the end, I beseech you, why the glory to come is revealed before the time? That we shall be sons and daughters, kings and queens, heirs and co-heirs with Christ, and [that] ‘all that he hath is ours?’ Rom. 8:17. Is not this knowledge revealed beforehand, that our praise and thanksgiving should beforehand be suitable to this revelation, being set with Christ in heavenly places already. Whence comes those strong phrases? ‘We are raised with Christ; sit with him in heavenly places,’ Eph. 2:6; ‘are translated from death to life,’ Col. 1:13; ‘transformed into his image;’ ‘partakers of the divine nature,’ &c., 2 Pet. 1:4.

Faith begets thankfulness. Doubting robs us of blessing. This is an important aspect of faith: it the means by which one person receives love and joy and hope from another: if I distrust you, I can never receive love from you. 

If anything that can come betwixt our believing, and our sitting there, could disappoint us thereof, or unsettle us, it may as well put Christ out of heaven, for we sit with him. If we yield to the uncomfortable popish doctrine of doubting, we cannot be heartily thankful for blessings; for still there will rise in the soul surmises, I know not whether God favour me or not: it may be, I am only fatted for the day of slaughter; God gives me outward things to damn me, and make me the more inexcusable. 

And if we doubt we will not give God the praise he deserves. How could one be thainkful with, maybe you’ll do me good?

What a cooler of praise is this, to be ever doubting, and to have no assurance of God’s favour! But when upon good evidence, which cannot deceive, we have somewhat wrought in us, distinct from the greater number of worldlings, God’s stamp set upon us; having evidences of the state of grace, by conformity to Christ, and walking humbly by the rule of the word in all God’s ways: then we may heartily be thankful, yea, and we shall break forth in thanksgiving; this being an estate of peace, and ‘joy unspeakable and glorious,’ 1 Pet. 1:8, wherein we take everything as an evidence of God’s love.

He restates the proposition:

Thus the assurance of our being in the state of grace makes us thankful for everything. 

He restates the contrary: Notice the tell them what you are going to tell them, tell them, tell them what you told them. Particularly when delivering an oral message, repetition is critical to retention and understanding.

So by the contrary, being not in some measure assured of God’s love in Christ, we cannot be thankful for everything. For it will always come in our mind, I know not how I have these things, and what account I shall give for them. 

He repeats the exhortation: Be assured of what you will receive for this will fill your heart with thankfulness:

Therefore, 

[two reasons]

[1]even for the honour of God, 

[2]and that we may praise him the more cheerfully, 

[exhortation]

let us labour to have further and further evidences of the state of grace, 

[this leads to]

to make us thankful both for things present and to come, 

seeing faith takes to trust things to come, as if it had them in possession. 

[Our faith is well-grounded]

Whereby we are assured of this, that we shall come to heaven, as sure as if we were there already. This makes us praise God beforehand for all favours; as blessed Peter begins his epistle, ‘Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ, which, according to his abundant mercy, hath begotten us again unto a lively hope, by the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, to an inheritance incorruptible and undefiled, and that fadeth not away, reserved in heaven for you,’ &c., 1 Pet. 1:3, 4.

A final encouragement:

As soon as we are newborn, we are begotten to a kingdom and an inheritance. Therefore, assurance that we are God’s children will make us thankful for grace present, and that to come, as if we were in heaven already. We begin then the employment of heaven in thanksgiving here, to praise God beforehand with cherubims and angels. Let us, then, be stirred up to give God his due beforehand, to begin heaven upon earth; for we are so much in heaven already, as we abound and are conversant in thanksgiving upon earth.

Thankfulness as a Means of Obedience

28 Saturday Mar 2020

Posted by memoirandremains in Augustine, Thankfulness, Uncategorized

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creator, Creature, Desire, Gnosticism, thankfulness

Thinking this through …

Eugene Peterson gave a wonderful explanation of Baalism:

Do we realize how almost exactly the Baal culture of Canaan is reproduced in American church culture? Baal religion is about what makes you feel good. Baal worship is a total immersion in what I can get out of it. And of course, it was incredibly successful. The Baal priests could gather crowds that outnumbered followers of Yahweh 20 to 1. There was sex, there was excitement, there was music, there was ecstasy, there was dance. “We got girls over here, friends. We got statues, girls, and festivals.” This was great stuff. And what did the Hebrews have to offer in response? The Word. What’s the Word? Well, Hebrews had festivals, at least!

He is quite right. But as I have been thinking of this, I see that I can easily fall into an equal and opposite trap.

In Book IX of Augustine’s On the Trinity, he makes this observation, “For no one willingly does anything which he has not first said in his heart.” (Nemo enim aliquid volens facit, quod non in corde suo prius dixerit.)

What then makes such a thing “willing”? He next says that the word which conceived “by love (amore), either of the creature or of the Creator.”

[Conceived] therefore, either by desire or by love: not that the creature ought not to be loved; but if that love [of the creature] is referred to the Creator, then it will not be desire (cupiditas), but love (caritas). For it is desire when the creature is loved for itself. And then it does not help a man through making use of it, but corrupts him in the enjoying it.

Augustine of Hippo, “On the Trinity,” in St. Augustin: On the Holy Trinity, Doctrinal Treatises, Moral Treatises, ed. Philip Schaff, trans. Arthur West Haddan, vol. 3, A Select Library of the Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers of the Christian Church, First Series (Buffalo, NY: Christian Literature Company, 1887), 131. We either have a desire or longing for the creature as an end in itself; or we have love toward God. (The word here for love “caritas” is used to translate agape in 1 Corinthians 13.)

There is a laying hold of the creature as an end in itself; or there is a seeing through the creature to the Creator:

Romans 1:19–25 (ESV)

19 For what can be known about God is plain to them, because God has shown it to them. 20 For his invisible attributes, namely, his eternal power and divine nature, have been clearly perceived, ever since the creation of the world, in the things that have been made. So they are without excuse. 21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

One thing which struck me here was the implicit Gnosticism which so easily infects my understanding of the creation. John writes:

1 John 2:15–17 (ESV)

15 Do not love the world or the things in the world. If anyone loves the world, the love of the Father is not in him. 16 For all that is in the world—the desires of the flesh and the desires of the eyes and pride of life—is not from the Father but is from the world. 17 And the world is passing away along with its desires, but whoever does the will of God abides forever.

I find myself – and find in the ‘spiritual’ talk of others this tendency to think that fo the physical as the equivalent of “the world”. But Jesus himself expressly confirms that we “need” such things:

Matthew 6:31–32 (ESV)

31 Therefore do not be anxious, saying, ‘What shall we eat?’ or ‘What shall we drink?’ or ‘What shall we wear?’ 32 For the Gentiles seek after all these things, and your heavenly Father knows that you need them all.

The trouble does not lie in the physical things per se. The trouble lies in the relationship to such things. It lies in the creature as an end-in-itself.

But to get this wrong leads to a painful and inhuman problem: on one hand there physical things in this world for which I have inclination, they are embodied, tangible, they appeal to my senses. On the other hand, there is God who is then reduced to a bare concept. And thus, God becomes less real than a sight or a sound.

But Augustine, informed by the Scripture, notes that this thing is only rightly known and used if it is known and used in the context of God. As Paul writes:

1 Timothy 4:1–5 (ESV)

4 Now the Spirit expressly says that in later times some will depart from the faith by devoting themselves to deceitful spirits and teachings of demons, 2 through the insincerity of liars whose consciences are seared, 3 who forbid marriage and require abstinence from foods that God created to be received with thanksgiving by those who believe and know the truth. 4 For everything created by God is good, and nothing is to be rejected if it is received with thanksgiving, 5 for it is made holy by the word of God and prayer.

The creature is received with thankfulness – which is precisely what Paul condemns in the unbeliever of Romans 1. And thus, my implicit Gnosticism in thinking in reducing my relationship to God to an idea, makes me co-belligerent with the condemned man in Romans 1!

It also reduces relationship to the creation as one of sin in all cases, which then makes actual sinful relationship not that much different.

Jesus however looks at birds and flowers and sees teachers. He receives a meal and gives thanks.

This orientation of thankfulness actually permits easy interaction with the creation without sin: If I can receive this thing in holy thankfulness, then I will not sin in the use of it. But since that could easily be misunderstood as license, I will use this illustration from Bishop Ryle’s chapter on William Romaine:

He was one evening invited to a friend’s house, and, after tea, the lady of the house asked him to play cards, to which he made no objection. The cards were brought out, and when all were ready to begin playing, Romaine said, “Let us ask the blessing of God.” “Ask the blessing of God!” said the lady in great surprise; “I never heard of such a thing before a game of cards.” Romaine then inquired, “Ought we to engage in anything on which we cannot ask God’s blessing?” This reproof put an end to the card-playing.

On another occasion he was addressed by a lady, who expressed the great pleasure she had enjoyed under his preaching, and added that she could comply with his requirements, with the exception of one thing. “And what is that?” asked Romaine. “Cards, sir,” was the reply. “You think you could not be happy without them?” “No, sir, I know I could not.” “Then, madam,” said he, “cards are your God, and they must save you.” It is recorded that this pointed remark led to serious reflections, and finally to the abandonment of card playing.

Now what precisely about cards is the problem, I am not quite certain. But what I do know is that the orientation and test is correct. If I cannot ask God’s blessing upon the thing, then I cannot do the thing. God has specified what he will bless and what he will curse.

When I give heed to that instruction in thankfulness for the wisdom of God, I am freed from the sin of action and the sin of legalism (As Sinclair Ferguson helpfully explains, legalism is to take up God’s law in the absence of God’s person. It is the conduct without the relationship.)

And so, I see that I have this bent to cheat God of his glory (they did not honor him as God, nor were they thankful) – disguised as obedience! This is certainly not my only fault ….

Thomas Manton Sermon on Titus 2:11-14 1.2

19 Monday Nov 2018

Posted by memoirandremains in Puritan, Thomas Manton, Titus, Uncategorized

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Grace, Sanctification, Sermons on Titus 2, thankfulness, Thomas Manton, Titus 2:11-14

The first post on this sermon may be found here: 

Part Two: Use

I. Use 1. To persuade us, if grace be the cause of all the good we enjoy, not to wrong grace.

A. Why? For this is to close and stop up the fountain; yea, to make grace our enemy; and if grace be our enemy, who shall plead for us?

B. But how do we wrong grace? I answer—five ways—

1. By neglecting the offers of grace. Such make God speak in vain, and to spend his best arguments to no purpose: 2 Cor. 6:1,

a. It is a great affront you put upon God to despise him when he speaks in the still voice. Look, as when David had sent a courteous message to Nabal, and he returns a churlish answer, it put him in a fury: 1 Sam. 25:34,

b. It may be you do not return a rough and churlish answer, and are not scorners and opposers of the word, but you slight God’s sweetest message, when he comes in the sweetest and mildest way. … It is great salvation that is offered; there is an offer of pardon and eternal life, but it worketh not if you neglect it. There is a sort of men that do not openly deny, reject, or persecute the gospel, but they receive it carelessly, and are no more moved with it than with a story of golden mountains, or rubies or diamonds fallen from heaven in a night-dream. You make God spend his best arguments in vain if you neglect this grace.

….They do not absolutely deny, but make excuse; they do not say, non placet, but non vacant—they are not at leisure; and this made the king angry. When all things are ready, and God sets forth the treasures and riches of his grace, and men will not bethink themselves, their hearts are not ready. How will this make God angry? Such kind of neglecters are said to ‘judge themselves unworthy of eternal life,’ Acts 13:46. …Grace comes to save them, and God makes them an offer as though they were worthy; and they judge themselves unworthy, and plainly declare they were altogether not worthy of this grace.

2. Another sort of men that wrong grace are those that refuse grace out of legal dejection.

(a) Many poor creatures are so vile in their own eyes that they think it impossible they should ever find favour in God’s eyes. Oh! but consider, cannot the riches of grace save? When God shall set himself on purpose to glorify grace to the full, cannot it make thee accepted? Wherefore doth God bring creatures to see their unworthiness, but that grace might be the more glorious? Grace would not be so much grace if the creature were not so unworthy; therefore you should be glad you have your hearts at that advantage, to be sensible of your own vileness.

(b) It is a wrong to grace if you do not fly to it; you straiten the riches and darken the glory of it. It is as if an emperor’s revenue could not discharge a beggar’s debt. …
Take heed of slighting the grace of God; it is God’s treasure: so far as you lessen grace, you make God a poor God. Mark that expression, Eph. 2:4, ‘God, who is rich in mercy.’ God is lord of all things, but he counts nothing to be his treasure but his goodness and mercy. He doth not say, rich in power, though he is able to do beyond what we can ask or think; nor rich in justice, though he be righteous in all his ways and just in all his works; nor doth he say rich in creatures, though his are the cattle of a thousand hills; but rich in mercy. Therefore take heed of straitening mercy, for so far you lessen God’s wealth and treasure.

3. Grace is wronged by intercepting the glory of grace.

(a) It is the greatest sacrilege that can be to rob God of his glory, especially the glory of his grace.

(b) Grace is wronged also when you are puffed up with anything you have done for God, as if it were done by your own power and strength.

(c) So, when we have done anything for the glory of God, let us send for God to take the honour.

4. Grace is wronged by turning it into wantonness.

(a) It is a heavy charge, and a black note is set on them: Jude 4, ‘Ungodly men, turning the grace of God into lasciviousness;’ …It is a mighty wrong to grace when we make it pliable to such a vile purpose.

(b) You dishonour God and disparage grace when you would make it to father the bastards of your own carnal hearts. You are vile and sinful, and you are so under the encouragements of grace, and the rather because of the abundance of grace; and, like the spider, suck poison out of the flower, and turn it into the nourishment of your lust;

( c) Grace giveth no such liberty to sin. This is done grievously by the Antinomians, who say grace gives them freedom from the moral law. It is true, grace makes us free, but to duty, not to sin.

(d) A man hath never the more carnal liberty for being acquainted with the gospel. This is the great thing which puts us upon duty and watchfulness, and melts the heart for sin, and awes it, and disposeth it to obedience.

5. Grace is wronged by slighting it after a taste, as carnal professors do: 1 Peter 2:3, ‘If so be you have tasted that the Lord is gracious.’

(a) A man hath at first a taste, that he may have trial how sweet the ways of God are. Now, if after trial, you are not satisfied, but make choice of the world again, it is a mighty wrong and contempt you put upon grace; for you do as it were declare and pronounce that you have made trial, and upon experience have found the pleasures and profits of the world are better than all the comforts that flowed from the grace of God.

(b) The whole aim of the word is to persuade men to make trial of the sweetness of grace: Ps. 34:8, ‘O taste and see that the Lord is good,’ and that his grace is good. But now your experience is a flat negative and contradiction to the word, and you do as it were say, I have made trial, and I find no such sweetness in it. None wrong grace so much as they that have tasted of grace, and yet have turned aside to the profits and pleasures of the world again, and grow weary after some strictness of profession.

II. Use 2. To press you to glorify grace.

A. This is the glory God expects from you. ..Certainly he that is a partaker of it must needs be most affected with it. Let us see a little what cause we have to praise God, above the angels, and above other men.

1. Above the angels. I do not mean the bad angels, with whom God entered not into treaty; he dealeth with them in justice, not in grace; but even the good angels. …

(a) In some respects we have more cause to bless God than even the good angels…. It is true God hath been exceeding good and bountiful to the angels, in creating them out of nothing, that they are the courtiers of heaven; but mark how good and gracious he is to us above them. The angels never offended him, but he is bountiful and gracious to us, notwithstanding the demerits of our sin; his wronged justice interposed and put in a bar, yet grace breaks out, and is manifested to us unworthy creatures.

2. Above other men.

(a) There is a common and inferior sort of grace, which is made known to all the world. [“Common grace”]

(b) The whole earth is full of his goodness, but this grace that bringeth salvation, that is peculiar to the elect, to a few poor base creatures in themselves, a little handful whom God hath chosen out of the world.’’

But when God comes to look among the sons of men, many times he chooseth the most crabbed pieces, and calls them with a holy calling, according to the purpose of his grace. It is a wonder sometimes to see how grace makes the difference between two persons involved in the same guilt. Justice can make no separation; when men are in a like case, they must look for the same judgment; but grace makes a great separation. Many of God’s elect are as deep in sin as those now in hell, yet God makes a difference. Both the good and bad thief were involved in the same condemnation, yet one is taken into paradise, and the other went unto his own place. Thus praise and glorify grace.

John Calvin: The World as a Theater

23 Thursday Mar 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Genesis, John Calvin, Romans, Thankfulness, Uncategorized

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Genesis 1:1, glory, God's glory, Gratitude, John Calvin, Sermons, thankfulness, The World as Theater, theater of glory

Therefore, because God has put us in this world as in a theatre, to contemplate his glory, let us acknowledge him to be such as he declares himself to us, and because he gives us the second instruction which is even more familiar in his word, let us be more confident and stirred with a burning zeal to aspire unto him until we reach that goal, and let us be aware that this world was created for that purpose and that our Lord has placed us here and has favored us with living here and enjoying all the things he has created.

Now, the sun was not made for itself and is even a creature without feeling. The trees, the each, which produces food for us — all of that works for man. The animals, although they move and have some feeling, do not do for all that have this high capacity to understand what belongs to God, for they do not discriminate between good and evil. We also see that their life and death are for men’s use and service.

Jean Calvin, “The Triune God at Work (Gen. 1:1-2)” in Sermons On Genesis, Chapters 1:1-11:4: Forty-Nine Sermons Delivered in Geneva between 4 September 1559 and 23 January 1560, trans. Rob Roy McGregor (Edinburgh: Banner of Truth Trust, ©2009), 6.

However, we need note here that we are more than cursed and abominable if we, being masters and possessors of all the good things God has bestowed upon us, do not at least show gratitude as we worship him and confess that everything comes from.

Id., at p. 10. This is the great indictment of humanity:

21 For although they knew God, they did not honor him as God or give thanks to him, but they became futile in their thinking, and their foolish hearts were darkened. 22 Claiming to be wise, they became fools, 23 and exchanged the glory of the immortal God for images resembling mortal man and birds and animals and creeping things.

24 Therefore God gave them up in the lusts of their hearts to impurity, to the dishonoring of their bodies among themselves, 25 because they exchanged the truth about God for a lie and worshiped and served the creature rather than the Creator, who is blessed forever! Amen.

Romans 1:21–25 (ESV)

 

Ethics of Gratitude 

17 Friday Mar 2017

Posted by memoirandremains in Colossians, Theology of Biblical Counseling

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Colossians, Gratitude, Thankful, thankfulness

Patience, longsuffering and joy should continually be accompanied by a thankful spirit. In Christianity, someone has said, theology is grace, and ethics is gratitude. If God’s attitude and action towards us have been characterized by grace, our response to Him, in life and behaviour as well as in thought and word, should be characterized by gratitude. Nothing less is fitting, when we consider how, in the apostle’s language here, He has “fitted us to share the inheritance of His holy people.”

Commentary on Ephesians and Colossians, E.K. Simpson, F.F. Bruce (Wm. B. Erdmanns, Grand Rapids, 1957), 187

http

New Ingratitude

05 Wednesday Aug 2015

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John Newton, thankfulness, Tony Reinke

This all-sufficiency in Christ works the other way around. God’s aim in saving us is not to boost our self-esteem or self-evaluation, but to expose our self-sufficiency as a sham. Newton trembled at his own sins and marveled at how he had been loved so much and how he loved so little in return. We are invested with all the mercies of heaven, and what is our daily response? Forgetfulness and spiritual laziness. “Every new day is filled up with new things—new mercies on the Lord’s part, new ingratitude on mine.”

Tony Reinke, Newton on the Christian Life

Thomas Manton on Psalm 119:65, continued

04 Friday Jul 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Discipleship, Psalms, Thankfulness, Thomas Manton

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Covenant, Praise, Promise, Psalm 119, Psalm 119:65, Psalms, Psalms 119, Psalms 119:65, thankfulness, Thomas Manton

The previous post may be found here

Doctrine 2: We should give thanks for what we have received. “We should not be always, craving, always complaining; there should be a mixture of thanksgiving.” Colossians 4:6.

A. “There is a time for all things, for confessing sin, for begging mercy, for thankful acknowledgements” “As no condition is so bad but a good man can find reason of praising God”. James 5:13, Psalms 50:15

B. “Self love will put us upon prayer, but love of God upon praise and thanksgiving”

C. “It is for the glory and honour of God that his servants should speak good of his name. When they are always complaining, they bring an ill report upon the ways of God, like the spies that went to view the promised land; but it a great invitation to others when we can tell them how good God hath been to us” Psalms 34:8

D. It is for our profit, “We do no more thrive in victory, over corruption, or the increase of divers graces, because we do no more give thanks.”

E. It prevents many sins.

1. Hardness of heart

2. Murmuring, fretting, quarelling

Use: This must urge us to be thankful in fact.

To remedy this:

A. Be thankful to God for everything we enjoy. Hosea 2:8, Isaiah 1:3

B. When we are thankful, let us be particular for each thing: not merely thankful for a generic “all” Psalms 139:17

C. Trace benefits to their fountain: God. Psalms 138:2, Hosea 13:11, Isaiah 38:17

D. When you think of what you actually possess, you will see that many would be thankful for your condition. John 14:22

E. Consider your own unworthiness to have actually received anything from God. Genesis 32:10, 2 Samuel 7:18

Doctrine 3: Thankfulness must acknowledge that good comes according to God’s promise, “according to your word“. Joshua 23:14, 1 Kings 8:56

This will bring great benefit:

A. To us:

1. It will confirm our faith

2. Seeing something which comes by way of promise, will increase its sweetness

B. To others, “you will invite, encourage, and strengthen them in believing.”

Use: “Let us look to the accomplishment of these promises, and trust God the more for the future.” Hebrews 11:13, Romans 18:21, Psalms 116:11, Psalms 31:22.

Paul Baynes, Brief Directions Unto a Godly Life, Chapter Sixteen, Thanksgiving and Fasting

16 Friday May 2014

Posted by memoirandremains in Biblical Counseling, Esther, Fasting, Paul Baynes, Thankfulness

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Brief Directions Unto a Godly Life, Paul Bayne, Paul Baynes, Spiritual Disciplines, thankfulness, thanksgiving

The previous post in this series may be found here: http://wp.me/p1S7fR-24r

CHAPTER SIXTEEN, THE SPIRITUAL DISCIPLINES OF SOLEMN THANKSGIVING AND FASTING

Extraordinary helps are two:

First, solemn thanksgiving.

And secondly, fasting with prayer more than usual.

Solemn Thanksgiving

For the first, when in some rare and unlooked for deliverance out of desperate danger, we do in most fervent manner yield praise to God for the same, rejoice heartily in the remembrance and consideration of it, tying ourselves in a renewing of our holy covenant more firmly to the Lord; testifying both by sings and unfeigned good will to our brothers. An example of this is most clearly seen in the story of Mordecai and Esther, found in Esther 9.

It is to be measured according to the nature of the occasion. When the occasion for thanksgiving belongs to the entire church, the thanksgiving should be a public event. It ought to be accompanied by the preaching of the Word, for the quickening [profit, enlivening] of the entire assembly. If the occasion be private, it is to be privately used with the singing of Psalms, praising his Name and speaking of his works, and the reading of Scripture that tends to that end.

Fasting and Prayer

The second extraordinary help is fasting: and this is a most earnest profession of deep humiliation in abstinence with confession of sins and supplication (for the great part fo the day at least) to God, to turn away some sore calamity from us or for the obtaining of some special blessing.

It must be used according to occasions – as with thanksgiving.

Remember, neither fasting nor thanksgiving should be undertaken without true repentance.

Now if we weigh the force and use of these exercises, how the one raises up a joyful recording of God’s wonderful kindness; the other brings us low for our own vileness; both the matter more especially remembered. Both of them do exceedingly draw our hearts to more love and more obedience to God. We must need confess them to be effectual means for the setting us forward in a godly life.

Ann Bradstreet: What Shall I Render to Thy Name?

27 Wednesday Nov 2013

Posted by memoirandremains in Anne Bradstreet, Praise, Thankfulness

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Ann Bradstreet, poem, Poetry, Praise, Prayer, Puritan Poetry, thankfulness

In thankful remembrance for my dear husband’s safe arrival, September 3, 1662.

What shall I render to thy name,

Or how thy praises speak;

My thanks how shall I testify?

O Lord, thou know’st I’m weak.

 

I owe so much, so little can

Return onto thy name,

Confusion ceases my soul

And I am filled with shame.

 

O thou that hear’st prayers Lord,

To thee shall come all flesh;

Thou has me heard and answered

My ‘plaints have had access.

 

What did I ask for but thou gav’st?

What could I more desire?

But thankfulness, even all my days,

I humbly require.

 

Thy mercies Lord, have been so great,

In number numberless,

Impossible for to recount

Or any way express.

 

O help thy saints that sought thy face

T’return unto thee praise,

And walk before thee as they ought,

In strict and upright ways.

 

This was the last thing written in that book by my dear and hon’d mother.

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