N00617:37
The Christian thank-offering. A brief discourse on the returns of gratitude & obedience whereto…
The Christian thank-offering. A brief discourse on the returns of gratitude & obedience whereto men are obliged, by the mercies of God. Made on a solemn thanksgiving, kept in a private meeting of Christians, on the occasion of some deliverances. / By Cotton Mather. ; [Five lines of quotation]
printed by B. Green for Michael Perry, 1696
Title page typeset from the transcription.
Modern spelling is a reading aid: the words are the author’s, only the spelling is modernized. Original shows the page as printed, with the transcription marks.
Indeed, Every Mercy of God unto us, call• for this Return. Almighty God therein does as he speaks, in Hos. 11. 3. I drew them with the Cords of a man, with Bands of Love; I Lai• meat unto them. When He dispenses Kindnesses unto men. He propounds this as a Reasonable ⟨p. 15⟩Expectation thereupon, These Kindness are to be attractive of their Obedience; Inferior Creatures are Serviceable unto their Keepers, […] Feeders, those that Lay meat unto them: and […] doing thus for the Children of men, I do with […] and Bands oblige them to Serve me for ever. •et us maintain this Truth, with a treble demonstration.
Indeed, Every Mercy of God unto us, call• for this Return. Almighty God therein does as he speaks, in Hos. 11. 3. I drew them with the Cords of a man, with Bands of Love; I Lai• meat unto them. When He dispenses Kindnesses unto men. He propounds this as a Reasonable ⟨p. 15⟩Expectation thereupon, These Kindness are to be attractive of their Obedience; Inferior Creatures are Serviceable unto their Keepers, 〈…〉 Feeders, those that Lay meat unto them: and 〈…〉 doing thus for the Children of men, I do with 〈…〉 and Bands oblige them to Serve me for ever. •et us maintain this Truth, with a treble demonstration.
First; We have the Lessons of Scripture, to ow, That the Mercy of God, obliges our Obedience to Him. The Scripture seems to put his Motto on every Mercy that we Receive, A rong Obligation to Serve the Lord Jesus Christ. Thus, When the Church of Israel received the Mercy of a mighty Deliverance, from woeful Circumstances, what Use did their most Merciful Deliverer make of all? It was, A Demand of Obedience to all His Commandments. This is he Preface to both Tables of the Law, I am the Lord your God, that have brought you out of your Distresses, and now surely you can deny me no Obedience. And when Ten Thousand further Mercies had been shown to the People of God, this was the Inference deduced from them; Let these be acknowledged, with an Obedience answerable thereunto: Thus you have it, in