SiixMi/, The thankful person must order his conversation suitably to the engagements that his mercies have put him under. When we have said all, it is the life of the thankful, that is the very life of thankfulness. Obedience and service are the only real manifesta- tions of gratitude. " He that offereth praise glorifieth me : and to " him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation " of God," Psal. 1. 23. Set down this for an everlasting truth. That God was never praised and honoured by an abused mercy. God took it ill from Hezekiah, " That he rendered not again ac- " cording to the benefit done unto him,'' 2 Chron. xxxii. 25. He that is truly thankful will say as David, Ps. cxvi. 12. " What shall " I render to the Lord for all his benefits ?"" We then glorify God with his mercies when we employ them to right ends, when we thankfully take our own share of comfort from them, receiving them with thanksgiving, as from the hand of a father. Mr. Swinnock * tells of a young man, who, lying upon his sick-bed, was always call- ing for meat ; but as soon as it was brought him, he shook and trembled dreadfully at the sight of it, and so continued till it was ta- ken away ; and before his death acknowledged God's justice, so that in his health he ordinarily received his meat without thanksgiving.
Use all God's mercies with thankfulness ; God will remember them in fury, who forget him in his favours.
And think not what God bestows upon you is wholly for your own use : but honour God with your mercies by clothing the naked and
* Swinnock's Christian Man's Calling, page 409.
THE seaman's return, 411
feedino" the hungry, especially such as are godly. This is a due im- provement of your estates ; thus you may make to yourselves friends of the mammon of unrighteousness. Ah, how little do we consider what praise, what glory we may occasion this way, from others, to the name of God ! It is storied of* Dionysius the Syracusian ti/rant^ that when he saw what heaps of gold and silver his son hoarded up in his closet, he asked him what he meant to let it lie there, and not to make friends with it, to get the kingdom after his death ? O son (said he) thou hast not a spirit capable of a kingdom. Thus honour the Lord with your substance ; look upon all you have as your Master's talents, for which you must give an account: and to use and employ them for God, that you may give up your account with joy; and then you will shew yourselves thankful indeed. Thus you see what is included in real thankfulness. O, it is another matter than we take it to be.
2. Next I promised to give you the grounds and reasons of this duty ; why you are obliged after the reception of mercies to such a thankful return of praises. And, among many, I will only single out these three, and briefly open them.
Firsts God requires and expects it. It is so special and pecuHar a part of his glory, as he will never part with it. As great landlords oblige their tenants to a homage and service, when they make over their estates to them, and reserve a quit-rent to themselves, which they value at a high rate ; so God, when he bestows deliverances of mercies upon us, still reserves an acknowledgment to himself: and this is dear to him, he will not endure to be defrauded of it ; much less that it be given to another. You find this reservation of praise expressly made by him in Psal. 1. 15. '' Call upon me in the day of " trouble, I will deliver thee, and thou shalt glorify me." Where you have the request, the grant, and the reservation in the grant, q. d. When I have granted thee thy desire, see thou do not defraud me of my glory. There be three things in every mercy, the matter of it, the comfort of it, and the glory of it. The two first God makes over freely to us, he gives the mercies themselves, he allows us to suck out all the lawful pleasure and delight that is in them ; but the third he reserves to himself, and will never part with it to any other. If an Hezekiah himself render not to God due acknowledgments, as well as God loves him, there shall be great wrath upon him and Judah for the default, 2 Chron. xxxii. 26.
Secondly^ You are under manifold engagements to render it to the Lord.
(1.) Common ingenuity obliges to a due acknowledgment of fa- vours freely received ; and unthankfulness on that score is the odium of mankind. Ingraium si dicas, omnia dixeris. You cannot o^ive a
41^ THE seaman's IlETURN'.
man a more odious character among men, than to say, He is an un- grateful man.
(2.) The examples of the very heathens will condemn you. They praised their gods, which yet were no gods, when they received any deliverance. Judges xvi. 24. Shall idols, dung-hill deities, receive their sacrifices and praises, whilst the true God is forgotten .?
Nay, (3.) Many of you have formally and expressly obliged your souls to it, by solemn vows and promises in the day of your distress : and yet will you deal perfidiously with God ? Will you not pay the vows which your lips have uttered ? Certainly you can never free your souls, from the guilt of perfidiousness against God, whilst you give him not the glory due to his name.
3. Lastly, Your ingratitude is the ready way to deprive you of the mercies you have, and to with-hold from you the mercies you might have in your future distresses and wants. He that is ungrateful for mercies received, provokes God to remove them. Thus it fell out with ungrateful Israel, Hosea ii. 5, 8, 9. " She did not know, (i. e. '' she did not with consideration and thanks duly acknowledge) " that I gave her corn, and wine, and oil. Therefore will I return, " and take away my corn in the time thereof, and my wine in the " season thereof; and will recover my wool and my flax." Thus they suffered their mercies to lapse into the Lord's hand for non-pay- ment of their duties. If you are weary of your mercies, and willing to be rid of them, you cannot take a more effectual course than to forget from whom you had them, and with-hold his praise for them.