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A47286
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Speculum gratitudinis; or, David's thankfulness unto God for all His benefits Expressed in a sermon on the 29th of May, 1664. being Whitsunday, and the day of the happy birth and return of our Gracious King, Charles the Second. By John Kerswel, B.D. and rector of Goddington in Oxford-shire.
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Kerswell, John.
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1665
(1665)
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Wing K353A; ESTC R217555
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10,730
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31
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easie than true it being a Gift which both accompanies a Blessing and is One. And this society of Blessings our Understanding may observe even in those things which are without understanding The Doves at every grain they pick look upward as giving Thanks the Jewel which is illustrated by the Sun-beams coloureth the beams and the Earth which receiveth moisture from the Sky repays it back again in vapours and exhalations and each good Tree returns Thanks as it were for its goodness by its fruitfulness yea the very Rocks and Stones which receive a sound from the Air before it be fully given return it by an Eccho No marvel then if holy David shew himself so sollicitous and inquisitive about some Boon or Gift to present his Lord withal 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 saith Saint Basil He is in a million of scrupulous Expostulations and Quaeries within himself about that matter But after all search and inquest made he finds 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 All too little and below the worth of such a Benefactor Quid retribuam What shall I render He saith not here Quid tribuam simply What shall I give But Quid retribuam What shall I give back Acknowledging that all which he possessed he first received from God Domini est terra plenitudo ejus The earth is the Lord's Psal 24. and the fulness thereof and so are the cattel upon a thousand hills We are but Usu-fructuaries and Tenants at Will if perhaps for a while we enjoy the possession of things howbeit the propriety is none of ours So that none of us all can give deproprio retribuere render up onely and give back we may Which again Royal David most emphatically and amply acknowledged in his Eucharistical Solemnity and Stupendious Preparations for the building of the Temple saying Thine O Lord is Greatness and Power and Glory and Victory and Praise for all that is in Heaven and Earth is thine Thine is the Kingdom O Lord and thou excellest as Head over all 1 Chron. 29.11 12 13 14 16. Now therefore our God we thank thee and praise thy glorious Name But who am I and what are my People that we should be able to offer willingly after this sort for all things come of thee and of thine own hand have we given thee O Lord our God all this abundance that we have prepared to build thee an House for thine holy Name is of thine own hand and all is thine Where our Royal Prophet seems almost as much taken up in preparing Materials for the Temple of the Lord as in pouring out Blessings and accumulating Praises unto the Lord of the Temple I have read that an Eccho was held by Pythagoras in such sacred and reverent Estimation that he even adored it as some admirable and divine thing especially if there were any wind up and stirring at the production thereof An Eccho now we know is but the multiplication or reflection of some sound or other occasioned through the Refraction of the Air in some hollow opposite place as the Philosopher describes it or as the Wise man calls it Wisd 17.19 The rebounding Eccho of the hollow Mountains Which Philosophical conceit or rather Poetical Fiction is by Franciscus Georgius thus drawn into a Moral Seeing that saith he Man was made at the Word of God's command and proceeded from him as some sacred Blast or heavenly Breath for inspiravit in faciem ejus fecit animam viventem he breathed on him and so made him a living Soul tunc redit vox flante vento quando gratia reflectitur in Deum quantum potest then saith he our Voice Eccho-like returns in a gentle Blast and sweet Rebound when we sacrifice unto the Lord with the voice of Thanksgiving and our tongues resould with his Praises Ps 107. O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness and declare the wonders that he doth for the children of men That invited and excited by Royal David's example they would sacrifice unto him the Sacrifice of Thanksgiving and shew forth all his Praise that they would not so far degenerate as to suffer themselvs to be out-gone in point of Gratitude by the dumb Creatures for even the Ox knoweth his Owner and the Ass his Master's Crib Esay 1.3 and the Storks both feed and carry the old ones that brought them forth Many Stories tell us likewise of grateful Lions kind Eagles and trusty Dogs qui etiam mori pro dominis that are ready to dy for and with their Masters as Saint Ambrose hath observed But come we now to Men and oh what Ingratitude and Unkindness we presently meet with there Joash remembred not the kindness of Jehoiada 2 Chron. 24. Gen. 23. Luk. 17.15 The chief Butler quickly forgat Joseph and of ten Lepers that were cleansed there returned but one to offer his Thanks Hereupon the Lord was so highly incensed against degenerate and ingrateful Israel that he summoned heaven and earth to testifie against them Esay 1.2 Hear O ye Heavens and hearken O earth saith he I have nourished and brought up Children but they have rebelled against me And again They forgat God their Saviour which had done so great things for them in Egypt they remembred not his hand Psal 78. Hos 13.6 for when they were filled their heart was exalted As the Mule having suck'd to the full presently flingeth at the Dam so Jesurun waxed fat and kicked Den. 32.15 he forsook the Lord that made him and lightly esteemed the Rock of his Salvation How beit 't is otherwise with our Royal Prophet here who never baulks the fountain of living Waters for Cisterns broken Cisterns which hold no water rightly making his onely Lord and Maker the sole entire Object of his Obedience and Gratitude still singing a Quid retribuam Domino What shall I render unto the Lord my second part now in order to be considered Quid habes quod non accepisti 1 Cor. 4.7 What hast thou which thou hast not received and if thou hast received it Why boastest thou as if thou hadst not received it John 3.27 Jam. 1.17 No man can receive any thing except it be given him from above Every good and perfect Gift is from above and cometh down from the Father of Lights Origo fontium fluminum omnium Mare Virtutum Dominus saith holy Bernard As all Waters come from the Sea So all Graces and Blessings flow from God and are derived unto us from that boundless Ocean of all good Si quis callet ingenio si quis nitet eloquio si quis moribus placet inde est saith the same Father Art thou rarely furnished with the rich treasures of Learning and Knowledg or grac'd with volubility of Speech and Elocution Art thou powerful in attracting the Eys and Affections of Men by thy graceful Deportment and winning Behaviour 'T is all from him He all-sufficient and lacking nothing powreth down on us
a rich and plentiful supply of all things He openeth his hand and filleth every thing living with plenteousness And therefore as all Springs and Fountains of Water have their secret and subterraneous passages through which uncessantly they run into the Seas that thence again they may return in their perennal offices and courses for our use and commodity Why should not the spiritual Rivers too I mean the Gifts and Graces of the Mind be refunded and delivered back again without stop or intermission in the full and faithful currents of Praise and Thanksgiving unto their proper Head and Fountain that thence again they may never surcease to water and make fruitful the fields of our Souls In all things then let us give Thanks and still return all Blessings and Benefits unto his Praise and Glory from whose grace and favour they have been derived In all things said I let us give Thanks All giving of Thanks is not acceptable before God Read we not of the Pharisee in the Gospel and of the form of his Thanksgiving how he stood up most pertly and prayed and gave God Thanks Luk. 18.13 that he was not like other Men Extortioners Unjust Adulterers or like the Publican that stood afar off he fasted twice in the Week and paid Tithes of all that he possess'd But see the up-shot and mark the Censure the infallible Judg pass'd upon him I tell you saith Christ this man that is the poor Publican went home justified rather than he His Thanksgiving was so far off from being accepted with God that it was utterly rejected as most abominable What sayest thou proud Pharisee Art thou not like other Men Art thou no Extortioner in the first place I say thou art and in the very denial thereof thou grantest it for whereas thou crackest and boastest of thy Purity and Holiness and glorifiest thy self so much in thine own Works and Worth thou provest thy self an Extortioner and a notorious one too for thou wrestest and extortest the Glory from God of which he hath said Esay 48.11 He will not give it to another Nay read we not of many more beside the Pharisee who as much mistake the Fountain and first Original of all the Blessings and Benefits they receive In the first of Habakkuk at the 15 and 16 Verses we meet with the Nimrods of the Earth who when they took up all with the Angle and catched it in their Net and gathered it in their Yarn they then Sacrificed to their Net and burnt Incense to their Yarn as if by them their Portion became fat and their Food plentiful That is They flattered themselvs and gloried in their own Wit and Strength as if thereby they had gotten all their Victories with increase of Wealth and Honour and what not and so they robbed God of his Glory In requital of the like Ingratitude when superstitions People in the time of Hosea ascribed unto their Lovers that is to their Idols the gift of their Bread and Wine Corn and Oyl Wool and Flax Silver and Gold then Almighty God returned in high displeasure and took away his Corn in the time thereof and his Wine in the season thereof Hos 2.9 and recovered his Wool and his Flax which he had lent them for a time to cover their nakedness withal The right Praise and Thanksgiving indeed is always distinguished from the Pharisaical and false Honour by the Object The one being still fixed and terminated on God the other on our Selvs or some secondary Agent Therefore both devoutly framed and rightly levell'd was that Confession of the Church Esay 26.12 Omnia opera nostra operatus es tu Domine All our works hast thou wrought in us O Lord and therefore Non nobis Not unto us O Lord but unto thy Name be the Praise Now the false Honour hath still some subordinate Agent or secondary Means for its Object thus Nebuchadonosor vaunts himself in the height and Tropick of his Pride saying of Babylon Is not this great Babylon that I have built Dan. 4.30 for the house of the Kingdom by the Might of my Power and for the Honour of my Majesty Thus Sampson arrogantly usurpeth God's honour saying Jud. 15.16 With the Jaw-bone of an Ass heaps upon heaps with the Jaw-bone of an Ass have I slain a thousand men What was the Lord's doing alone and should have been the more wonderful in his Eys he most arrogantly challengeth to himself Thus as it is in the 10 of Esay verse 15 the Hatchet and the Saw magnifie themselvs against the Workman when secondary Means rob the first Agent of his Honour Thus in a word every foolish and vain-glorious Person exalteth himself and like an empty Scale quickly mounts upwards whereas the Wise man like the fuller and weightier one still inclines downward in all Humility making it the greatest Argument of his sufficiency to disclaim all Self-sufficiency and his highest Perfection to confess his Imperfections and thus with our Royal Prophet here he maketh God as in all Right and Reason he ought to be the proper Object of his Praise and Thanksgiving And so from the Object of David's Thankfulness I proceed to his Motives or Inducements thereunto God's Benefits All his Benefits towards him What shall I render to the Lord for all his Benefits towards me Chrysostom in his Comment on Galat. 2. thus magnifieth the boundless Bounty of Almighty God 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 He prosecuteth each individual person with no less measure of Affection than he doth the whole Vniverse And those Benefits which I Thou He in a word All of us receive from him we receive them not dimidiated or by halfs minc'd or cut into parcels but so perfect entire and compleat that each one in particular may take and interpret them as conferr'd on himself alone For Do not all the coelestial Orbs and elementary Bodies Do not those praedominant and greater Lights the Sun and Moon and whole Choir of heavenly Tapers dispense and impart their comfortable Light and sweet Influences alike to this sublunary and inferior World There 's no singular Person or single Creature if capable but hath the same Interest and Share in them which all collectively participate and enjoy Now if the Proportion of these all these Benefits be taken with reference to us who without him are very Nothing and Vanity it self we must confess with the fore-cited Father Chrisostom that there is 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 〈◊〉 and that they are far greater than the narrow Scantling of our hearts can conceive or imagine First He hath created us and into such dead Clods of Clay as we were hath he inspired the Breath of Life and fashioned us after his own Image which bright and glorious Image of His we wretched Creatures with our Works of Darkness have most abominably defaced and cast our selvs headlong into the bottomless-pit of Eternal Destruction Then when we lay weltring and polluted in our Blood