Thomas Manton on the Two Ways of Giving Thanks to God

30 Friday Aug 2019

Posted by memoirandremains in Thomas Manton, Uncategorized

Tags

First, The substance, or act of it, ‘Giving thanks.’ Praise relateth to God’s excellencies, thanksgiving to God’s benefits. There is a twofold thanksgiving—(1.) By way of celebration or commemoration, when we speak of God’s mercies one to another; (2.) By way of invocation, adoration, or worship, when we express them to God himself.

1. A thanksgiving by way of commemoration, when we communicate to others what experience we have had of God: Ps. 22:22, ‘I will declare thy name, unto my brethren; in the midst of the congregation will I praise thee.’ The name of God is that by which he is made known in his word or works. As we are to propagate to others what knowledge we get of God by his word, so also what we have found of him in his works, how God hath made known his name to us by acts of grace and mercy: Ps. 66:16, ‘Come and hear, all ye that fear the Lord, and I will declare what he hath done for my soul.’ This is one part of the communion of saints, to call upon others to praise God with us, as one bird sets the whole flock a chirping. We are usually barren, vain, foolish in our communications with one another. This celebration and commemoration should be our cure and solace: Eph. 5:4, ἀλλὰ μᾶλλον ἐυχαριστία, ‘But rather giving of thanks.’ Speaking to each other of God’s goodness is a christian’s mirth, and a choice remedy against foolish talking, jesting, and other sins. To put down idle and sinful talk, he prescribeth giving of thanks.

2. There is thanksgiving by way of adoration, or direct address to God himself. This is a special part of christian worship, therefore the whole is expressed by it: 1 Cor. 14:16, ‘Else when thou shalt bless with the spirit, how shall he that occupieth the room of the unlearned say Amen at thy giving of thanks, seeing he understandeth not what thou sayest?’ where the whole christian worship is expressed by ‘blessing with the spirit,’ or ‘giving of thanks.’ And thence God is said to ‘inhabit the praises of Israel,’ Ps. 22:3, because he is often magnified and praised by his church: the praises of Israel, that is the subject of it. Yea, it is doctrinally declared by God himself: Ps. 50:23, ‘He that offereth praise glorifieth me.’ The Lord taketh it as an honour to himself when we praise him for his excellencies or bless him for his benefits.

This thanksgiving is an acknowledgment of benefits received to the praise of the bestower.

There is included in it partly notice and observation of what God hath done for us. The contrary is taxed, Isa. 1:3, ‘The ox knoweth his owner, and the ass his master’s crib; but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.’ The brute beasts know such as feed them and make much of them, but men take no notice of what great things God hath done for them: Hosea 2:8, ‘For she did not know that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil, and multiplied her silver and gold.’ Little notice is taken of God’s kindness in the world.

And partly too an esteem of the benefits received; for we cannot give thanks for what we value and prize not. Solomon gave cities to Hiram, but they pleased him not; and therefore he called them Cabul, that is, displeasing or dirty, 1 Kings 9:12, 13, because they stood in low and moorish places. So God vouchsafeth many mercies, but most men are discontented with their portion; the mercies of God please them not: Mal. 1:2, ‘I have loved you, saith the Lord; yet ye say, Wherein hast thou loved us?’ What love is it to be restored to bare hills and mountains, or to be brought home to a wasted land, where they were to begin the world again? On the contrary, they that esteem the effects of God’s love will bless him, and praise him: Ps. 63:3, ‘Because thy loving-kindness is better than life, my lips shall praise thee.’

They that are affected with mercies received cannot but be affectioned towards the God of their mercies, and therefore will speak good of his name. And partly actual acknowledgment; they excite and stir up their hearts to give God the glory these mercies call for: Ps. 103:1, 2, ‘Bless the Lord, O my soul; and all that is within me bless his holy name. Bless the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits.’ This acknowledgment, if it be serious, will excite and urge them to make some recompense, as to consider what they may do for God: Ps. 116:12, ‘What shall I render unto the Lord for all his benefits towards me?’ And it was Hezekiah’s fault, 2 Chron. 32:25, compared with Isa. 38:9, when he had been sick, and was recovered of his sickness, that ‘he rendered not according to the benefit done him.’ Therefore unless this acknowledgment doth excite us and urge us to honour, please, serve, and glorify God, it is not right. They do anew devote themselves to him upon every eminent mercy.

Thomas Manton, The Complete Works of Thomas Manton, vol. 19 (London: James Nisbet & Co., 1874), 417–419.

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

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

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.

In My Distress I Sought the Lord.3 (Anne Bradstreet)

19 Wednesday Sep 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in Anne Bradstreet, Psalms, Puritan

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

1 Corinthians 4, Affliction, Anne Bradstreet, Brooks, poem, Poetry, Praise, praise, Psalm 50, Psalms, Puritan, Puritan Poetry, thanksgiving, The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod, Thomas Brooks

The entire poem may be found here: https://memoirandremains.wordpress.com/2012/09/15/in-my-distress-i-sought-the-lord-1-anne-bradstreet/

My wasted flesh thou did’st restore,

My feeble loins didst gird with strength

Yea, when I was most low and poor,

I said I shall praise thee at length.

What shall I render to my God

For all his bounty shew’d to me,

Even for his mercies in his rod,

Where pity most of all I see?

My heart I wholly give to thee:

O make it fruitful, faithful Lord!

My life shall dedicated be

To praise in though, in deed, in word.

Thou know’st no life I did require

Longer then still thy name to praise,

Nor ought on Earth worthy desire,

In drawing out these wretched days.

Thy name and praise to celebrate,

O Lord! For aye is my request.

O, grant I do it in this state

And then with thee which is the best.

The poet celebrates the answer to her prayer,

My wasted flesh thou did’st restore

Her prayer being answered, she turns to praise of God for healing her:

I said I shall praise thee at length

This leads to the problem: What can one give to God? “What do you have that you did not receive?” 2 Cor. 4:7. Indeed, the idea that we have something which we could actually confer upon God to his benefit is sinful:

7 Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God. 8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me. 9 I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds. 10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills. 11 I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine. 12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine. 13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats? Psalm 50:7–13 (ESV)

How then can one honor God? Bradstreet follows the biblical model by (1) calling upon God for help and (2) praising God for his deliverance:

14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High, 15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me. Psalm 50:14-15 (ESV)

The praise for delivery ends the poem:

Thy name and praise to celebrate,

O Lord! For aye is my request.

O, grant I do it in this state

And then with thee which is the best.

One last point must be explained:

Even for his mercies in his rod,

Where pity most of all I see?

By “rod” Bradstreet means God correcting her, which is an act of God’s mercy in that God corrects us to conform to his will – which is our best:

⁴ In your struggle against sin you have not yet resisted to the point of shedding your blood. ⁵ And have you forgotten the exhortation that addresses you as sons? “My son, do not regard lightly the discipline of the Lord, nor be weary when reproved by him. ⁶ For the Lord disciplines the one he loves, and chastises every son whom he receives.” ⁷ It is for discipline that you have to endure. God is treating you as sons. For what son is there whom his father does not discipline? ⁸ If you are left without discipline, in which all have participated, then you are illegitimate children and not sons. ⁹ Besides this, we have had earthly fathers who disciplined us and we respected them. Shall we not much more be subject to the Father of spirits and live? ¹⁰ For they disciplined us for a short time as it seemed best to them, but he disciplines us for our good, that we may share his holiness. ¹¹ For the moment all discipline seems painful rather than pleasant, but later it yields the peaceful fruit of righteousness to those who have been trained by it. Hebrews 12:4–11 (ESV)

The doctrine of the Christian’s response to the rod of God may be best seen in Thomas Brooks’ book The Mute Christian Under the Smarting Rod: http://gracegems.org/Brooks/mute_christian.htm

“Our fathers disciplined us for a little while as they
thought best; but God disciplines us for our good,
that we may share in His holiness.” Hebrews 12:10.

What God, our Father wills, is best.

When He wills sickness, sickness is better than health.

When He wills weakness, weakness is better than strength.

When He wills poverty, poverty is better than wealth.

When He wills reproach, reproach is better than honor.

When He wills death, death is better than life.

As God is wisdom itself, and so knows that which is
best; so He is goodness itself, and therefore cannot
do anything but that which is best—therefore remain
silent before the Lord.

Cain, Abel and Psalm 50

19 Sunday Feb 2012

Posted by memoirandremains in 1 John, Genesis, Matthew, Psalms

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

1 John, 1 John 3, Abel, Cain, Genesis, hate, love, Matthew, Psalm 50, Psalms, Sacrifice, thanksgiving

Genesis 4:
2 And again, she bore his brother Abel. Now Abel was a keeper of sheep, and Cain a worker of the ground.
3 In the course of time Cain brought to the LORD an offering of the fruit of the ground,
4 and Abel also brought of the firstborn of his flock and of their fat portions. And the LORD had regard for Abel and his offering,
5 but for Cain and his offering he had no regard. So Cain was very angry, and his face fell.

Psalm 50:
As to Abel:

7 “Hear, O my people, and I will speak; O Israel, I will testify against you. I am God, your God.
8 Not for your sacrifices do I rebuke you; your burnt offerings are continually before me.
9 I will not accept a bull from your house or goats from your folds.
10 For every beast of the forest is mine, the cattle on a thousand hills.
11 I know all the birds of the hills, and all that moves in the field is mine.
12 “If I were hungry, I would not tell you, for the world and its fullness are mine.
13 Do I eat the flesh of bulls or drink the blood of goats?
14 Offer to God a sacrifice of thanksgiving, and perform your vows to the Most High,
15 and call upon me in the day of trouble; I will deliver you, and you shall glorify me.”

God did not need the sacrifice.
To be acceptable, Abel’s sacrifice would have been given with thankfulness – which seems consistent with the details of Genesis 4.
What of Abel’s deliverance?

First, God did immediately confront Cain and sentence him. God tells Cain that Abel’s blood cried out to him. Second God continued to avenge him. Matt. 23:35:

so that on you may come all the righteous blood shed on earth, from the blood of innocent Abel to the blood of Zechariah the son of Barachiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.

Third, God remembers him; Heb. 11:4:

By faith Abel offered to God a more acceptable sacrifice than Cain, through which he was commended as righteous, God commending him by accepting his gifts. And through his faith, though he died, he still speaks.

And as to Cain: Psalm 50 speaks with perfect plainness:

16 But to the wicked God says: “What right have you to recite my statutes or take my covenant on your lips?
17 For you hate discipline, and you cast my words behind you.
18 If you see a thief, you are pleased with him, and you keep company with adulterers.
19 “You give your mouth free rein for evil, and your tongue frames deceit.
20 You sit and speak against your brother; you slander your own mother’s son.
21 These things you have done, and I have been silent; you thought that I was one like yourself. But now I rebuke you and lay the charge before you.
22 “Mark this, then, you who forget God, lest I tear you apart, and there be none to deliver!

Thus the application; 1 John 3:

11 For this is the message that you have heard from the beginning, that we should love one another.
12 We should not be like Cain, who was of the evil one and murdered his brother. And why did he murder him? Because his own deeds were evil and his brother’s righteous.
13 Do not be surprised, brothers, that the world hates you.
14 We know that we have passed out of death into life, because we love the brothers. Whoever does not love abides in death.
15 Everyone who hates his brother is a murderer, and you know that no murderer has eternal life abiding in him.