N00617:48
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, Secondly: All the Return that we […] make unto God for His Mercies, is our […], in the Service of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. If we would ask, and Oh! Let us […], that convenient Question, What are the •anks that our God would have of us, for all His Mercies? The Reply must be, Become the Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Obey Him •ith Universal Holiness. Or, we may take an answer from Tit. 2. 10. The Grace of God, that •ingeth Salvation, teacheth us, to Deny all Ungod•ness, and Worldly Lusts, and Live Soberly, and righteously, and Godl•ly. It is worth nothing, •ow those Two Bad Qualities, are joined, in Tim. 3. 2. Unthankful, Unholy. If men be not •oly, they are not Thankful. Do we Dream, that our All sufficient God will expect from us, Thousands of Rams, and Ten Thousands of Rivers •f Oil, by way of Thankfulness for His Mercies? […], He only says, Be you my Servants; Live unto me, while you Live upon me, Obey me by Doing ⟨p. 26⟩of Justice, and Loving of Mercy, and Walking Humbly before me, and I have enough. It was most ingenuously spoken, by the Dying Martyr, Alas, I have only two Brass Farthings for my Lord Jesus Christ, a sorry Body, and a sinful Soul: if He, to whom I am infinitely Indebted, will accept of these, He shall have them with all my Heart. Even so ought we to say; We are […] Insolvent, a Desperate, sort of Debtors unto God; […] never can pay Him any thing proportionable to what we have Received from Him; but if the unwearied Service of my Obedience may be acceptable to Him. […] shall be glad; He shall have That, while I have […] Being.
〈…〉 Consider, Secondly: All the Return that we 〈…〉 make unto God for His Mercies, is our 〈…〉, in the Service of our Lord JESUS CHRIST. If we would ask, and Oh! Let us 〈…〉, that convenient Question, What are the anks that our God would have of us, for all His Mercies? The Reply must be, Become the Servants of the Lord Jesus Christ, and Obey Him ith Universal Holiness. Or, we may take an answer from