N00617:46
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.
Consider, First, There are many, there are mighty, there are most Undeserved Mercies, which we have Received from the Open Hand of our God. There is no Comfortable Thing at any Time Enjoyed by us, but what comes unto us, from the Hand of God in the Lord JESUS CHRIST. Verily, we must call Him, as in Psal. 59. 17. The God of our Mercy. But •oh• how much of His Mercy, are we on every side surrounded withal! There are General Mercies, wherein we all have our share. As we are Englishmen, we are Born to those Rights, which are preferable to the Best Estates that can be acquired among any other Nations upon Earth. But as we are New-Englanders, we have our further Privileges, which no People under the Sun, out of New England have. Here are things, whereof we may say, as the Jewish Rabbi said of Liberty, If the Heavens were Parchment, and the Seas were Ink, they would not suffice to Write the Praises due to God, on the account thereof. But besides, and above, and beyond, these Liberties, we have the Liberties of the Gospel too, (the Mercies in the Text now before us most peculiarly referred unto!) in some Circumstances, which may cause us to sing, as in Psal. 147. 20. God hath not dealt so with any Nation. But then, ⟨p. 24⟩there are Personal Mercies also, wherein all of us may Rejoice. We have our Common Mercies: the Mercies which attended our Infancy, and Education: the Mercies of the Provision hitherto made for all our Necessities: the Mercies of our Preservations from Dangers whereto we have often been Exposed: the Mercies of the Relations, which God […] graciously given to us; Mercies whereof we may say, as in Lam. 3. 32. The Lords Mercies are New to us every morning. We have our Special Mercies too. It may be, Temporal Mercies are heaped upon us, with such Loads, as to distinguish us from, to dignify us above, others round about us: Oh! compare our case, with the case of others, known to us, of whom we do not know, but that we have Sinned much more than they; and say, as in Psal. 16. 6. I have a Goodly Heritage. Yea, but we have our Spiritual Mercies, to be Celebrated with the peculiar Hallelujahs of our Spirits. Our Everlasting Salvation is contrived in our Lord JESUS CHRIST: and in pursuance of that Salvation, our Lord has complied with all the Humbling Things, which the Justice of God required of our Surety: