Thirty-Six Sermons

Strengthened with this double title, what should hinder us from possession? Why may we not freely use that liberty, which was once given us by God, and again restored us by Jesus Christ? Why should we not stand fast in, and contend earnestly for the maintenance of that liberty, wherewith Christ hath set us free: by rejecting all fancies, opinions, and Doctrines, that any way trench upon this our Christian Prerogative; or seek either to shorten, or to corrupt, our freedom unto, and power over the Creatures? First, if any shall oppose the legal Prohibitions of the Old Testament; whereby some Creatures were forbidden the Jews, pronounced by God himself unclean, and decreed unlawful: it should not trouble us. For, whatever the principal reasons were, for which those prohibitions were then made unto them (as there be divers reasons given thereof by Divines both ancient and modern;) certain it is, they now concern not us. The Church, during her non-age and pupillage, (though she were Heir of all, and had right to all; yet was to be held under Tutors and Governors, and to be trained up under the Law of Ceremonies as under a School master, during the appointed time. But, When the fullness of the time appointed was come, her wardship expired, and livery sued out (as it were) by the coming and suffering of Christ in the flesh: the Church was then to enter upon her full Royalties, and no more to be burdened with those beggarly rudiments of legal observances. The hand-writing of Ordinances was then blotted out; and the muddy partition wall broken down; and the legal impurity of the Creatures scoured off by the blood of Christ. They have little to do then, but withal much to answer; who, by seeking to bring in Judaism again into the Christian Church, either in whole or in part, do thereby, as much as lieth in them, (though perhaps unawares to themselves, yet indeed and in truth) evacuate the Cross of Christ. In that large sheet of the Creatures, which reacheth from Heaven to the Earth, whatsoever we find, we may freely kill and eat, and use every other way to our comforts without scruple. God having cleansed all, we are not to call or esteem anything common or unclean; God having created all good, we are to refuse nothing. If any shall oppose, secondly, the seeming morality of some of these prohibitions, as being given before the law of Ceremonies, pressed from Moral Reasons, and confirmed by Apostolical Constitution since; upon which ground some would impose upon the Christian Church this, as a perpetual yoke, to abstain from blood: Or, thirdly, the Prophanation which some Creatures have contracted by being used in the exercise of idolatrous Worship, whereby they become Anathema, and are to be held as execrable things, as Achan's wedge was, and the Brazen Serpent which Hezekiah stamped to powder; upon which ground also, some others have inferred an utter unlawfulness to use anything in the Church, which was abused in Popery, by calling them Rags and Relics of Idolatry, neither this nor that ought to trouble us. For although neither my aim, (which lieth another way) nor the time will permit me now to give a just and full satisfying answer to the several Instances and their grounds; yet the very words and weight of my Text, do give us a clear resolution in the general, and sufficient to rest our Consciences, and our Iudgments, and Practice upon; that, notwithstanding all pretensions of reason to the contrary, yet these things, for so much as they are still good, ought not to be refused. For the Apostle hath here laid a sure foundation, and impregnable, in that he groundeth the use upon the power; and from the Goodness of the Creature inferreth the lawfulness of it. [ Every Creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused. ] He concludeth, it is therefore not to be refused, because it is good. So that look whatsoever Goodness there is in any Creature, that is, whatsoever natural power it hath, which either immediately and of itself is, or may, by the improvement of human Art and Industry, be taught to be of any use unto man, for necessity, nourishment, service, lawful delight or otherwise; the Creature wherein such goodness or power is to be found, may not be refused as upon tie of Conscience, but that power and goodness it hath, may lawfully be employed to those uses for which it is meet in regard thereof. Ever provided, we be careful to observe all those requisite conditions, which must guide our Consciences, and regulate our Practice, in the use of all lawful and indifferent things. They that teach otherwise, lay burdens upon their own Consciences, which they need not, and upon the Consciences of their Brethren which they should not; and are injurious to that liberty which the blessed Son of God hath purchased for his Church, and which the blessed Spirit of God hath asserted in my Text.

Injurious, in the second place, to this branch of our Christian liberty, is the Church of Rome, whom St. Paul in this passage hath branded with an indelible note of infamy; inasmuch as those very Doctrines, wherein he giveth instance, as in Doctrines of Devils, are the received Tenets and Conclusions of that Church. Not to insist on other prejudices done to Christian liberty, by the intolerable usurpation of the man of sin, who exerciseth a spiritual Tyranny over men's Consciences, as opposite to Evangelical liberty, as Antichrist is to Christ; let us but a little see how she hath fulfilled St. Paul 's Prediction, in teaching lying and devilish Doctrines, and that with seared Consciences and in Hypocrisy, in the two specialties mentioned in the next former Verse, viz. forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from Meats.

Marriage, the holy Ordinance of God, instituted in the place and estate of Innocency, honored by Christ's presence at Cana in Galilee; the Seedplot of the Church, and the sole allowed remedy against Incontinency and burning lusts, by the Apostle commended as honorable in all men, and commanded in case of ustion to all men, is yet by this purple strumpet forbidden, and that sub mortali, to Bishops, Priests, Deacons, Sub deacons, Monks, Friars, Nuns; in a word, to the whole Clergy (as they extend that title) both Secular and Regular. Wherein, besides the Devilishness of the Doctrine in contrarying the Ordinance of God, and in denying men, subject to sinful lusts, the lawful remedy, and so casting them upon a necessity of sinning; see if they do not teach this lie with seared Consciences? For with what Conscience can they make the same thing a Sacrament in the Lay, and Sacrilege in the Clergy? With what Conscience permit Stews, and forbid Marriage? With what Conscience allege Scriptures for the single life of Priests, and yet confess it to be an Ordinance only of Ecclesiastical, and not of Divine right? With what Conscience confess Fornication to be against the Law of God, and Priests Marriage only against the Law of holy Church, and yet make Marriage in a Priest a far fouler sin than Fornication or Incest? With what Conscience exact a vow of Continency from Clerks, by those Canons which defend their open Incontinency? With what Conscience forbid lawful Marriages to some, and yet by dispensation allow unlawful Marriages to others?

And is not the like also done in the other particular concerning Meats? The Laws of that Church forbidding some Orders of men, some kinds of Meats perpetually, and all men some Meats upon certain days; and that not for civil Respects, but with opinion of satisfaction, yea, merit, yea, and Supererogation too. In which also, besides the Devilishness of the Doctrine, in corrupting the profitable and religious exercise of fasting, and turning it into a superstitious observation of Days and Meats; judge if they do not teach this Lye also, as the former, with seared Consciences. For, with what Conscience can they allow an ordinary Confessor to absolve for Murder, Adultery, Perjury, and such petty crimes, but reserve the great sin of eating flesh upon a Friday or Ember-day, to the censure of a Penitentiary, as being a matter beyond the power of an ordinary Priest to grant absolution for? With what Conscience make the tasting of the coarsest flesh a breach of the Lent-fast, and surfeiting upon the delicatest Fishes and Confections, none? With what Conscience forbid they such and such meats, for the taming of the flesh, when they allow those that are far more nutritive of the flesh, and incentive of fleshly Lusts? With what Conscience enjoin such abstinence for a penance, and then presently release it again for a Penny? Indeed the Gloss upon the Canon, that doth so, hath a right worthy and a right wholesome note: Note, saith the Gloss, That he who giveth a Penny to redeem his Fast, though he give money for a speritual thing, yet he doth not commit Simony, because the Contract is made with God. If these men had not seared up their Consciences, would they not, think you, feel some check at the broaching of such ridiculous and inconsistent stuff, as floweth from these two heads of Devilish Doctrines, of forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain from Meats?

I deny not, but the Bawds of that strumpet, the Doctors of that Church, have their colorable pretences wherewith to blanch over these errors, else the Lyes would be palpable, and they should not otherwise fill up the measure of their Apostasy, according to the Apostles Prophecy, in teaching these Lyes in Hypocrisy. But the colors, though never so artificially tempered, and never so handsomely laid on, are yet so thin, that a steady eye, not bleared with prejudice, may discern the Lye through them, for all the Hypocrisy; as might easily be shewn, if my intended course led me that way, and did not rather direct me to matter of more profitable and universal use. Having therefore done with them, it were good for us, in the third place, (that we might know our own free-hold with better certainty, and keep ourselves within our due bounds;) to inquire a little what is the just extent of our Christian liberty unto the Creatures, and what restraints it may admit. A point very needful to be known for the resolution of many doubts in Conscience, and for the cutting off of many questions and disputes in the Church, which are of very noisesome consequence, for want of right information herein. I have other matter also to entreat of, and therefore since I may not allow this Enquiry so large a Discourse, as it well deserveth, I shall desire you to take into your Christian Consideration these Positions following.

The first, Our Christian liberty extendeth to all the Creatures of God. This ariseth clearly from what hath been already delivered; and the testimonies of Scripture for it are express. All things are pure; All things are lawful; All are yours: elsewhere, and here, nothing to be refused.

The second Position. Our Christian Liberty equally respecteth the using, and the not using of any of God's Creatures. There is no Creature but a Christian man, by virtue of his Liberty, as he may use it upon just occasion, so he may also upon just cause refuse it. All things are lawful for me, saith St. Paul, but I will not be brought under the power of anything. Where he established this Liberty in both the parts of it; Liberty to use the Creatures, or else they had not all been lawful for him; and yet Liberty not to use them, or else he had been under the power of some of them. Whence it followeth, that all the Creatures of God stand in the nature of things indifferent; that is, such as may indifferently be either used or not used, according as the rules of godly discretion, circumstances duly considered, shall direct.

The third Position. Our Christian Liberty for the using or not using of the Creature, may without prejudice admit of some restraint in the outward practice of it. Ab illicitis semper, quandoque & à licitis; I think it is St. Gregory's: A Christian must never do unlawful, nor yet always lawful things. St. Paul had liberty to eat flesh, and he used that liberty, and ate flesh; yet he knew there might be some cases wherein to abridge himself of the use of that liberty so far, as not to eat flesh whilst the world standeth. But what those Restraints are, and how far they may be admitted without prejudice done to that liberty, that we may the better understand, let us go on to▪

The fourth Position. Sobriety may and ought to restrain us in the outward practice of our Christian liberty. For our Diet, all Fish, and Flesh, and Fowl, and Fruits, and Spices, are lawful for us, as well as Bread and Herbs; but may we therefore with thriftless prodigality and exquisite riot fare deliciously and sumptuously every day, under pretence of Christian liberty? Likewise for our Apparel, all stuffs and colors, the richest Silks, and Furs, and Dyes, are as lawful for us, as Cloth, and Leather, and Sheeps-russet; Christian liberty extendeth as well to one as another. But do we think that liberty will excuse our pride, and vanity, and excess, if we tuffle it out in Silks and Scarlets, or otherwise in stuff, color, or fashion unsuitably to our Years, Sex, Calling, Estate, or Condition? In all other things of like nature; in our Buildings, in our Furniture, in our Retinues, in our Disports, in our Recreations, in our Society, in our Marriages, in other things, we ought as well to consider, what in Christian Sobriety is meet for us to do, as what in Christian liberty may be done. Scarce is there any one thing, wherein the Devil putteth slurs upon us more frequently, yea, and more dangerously too (because unsuspected) than in this very thing, in making us take the uttermost of our freedom in the use of indifferent things. It therefore concerneth us so much the more to keep a sober watch over ourselves and souls, in the use of God's good Creatures, lest otherwise under the fair title and habit of Christian Liberty, we yield ourselves over to a carnal Licentiousness.

The fifth Position. As Sobriety, so Charity also may, and ought to restrain us in the outward exercise of our Christian Liberty. Charity, I say, both to ourselves and others. First, to ourselves: for regular Charity beginneth there. If we are to cut off our right hand, and to pluck out the right eye, and to cast them both from us, when they offend us, much more then ought we to deny ourselves the use of such outward lawful things, as by experience we have found, or have otherwise cause to suspect to be hurtful either to our bodies, or souls. So a man may, and should refrain from meats, which may endanger his bodily health; but how much more then from everything, that may endanger the health of his soul? If thou findest thyself enflamed with lust, by dancing; if enraged with choler, by game; if tempted to Covetousness, Pride, Uncleanness, Superstition, Cruelty, and sin, by reason of any of the Creatures, it is better for thee to make a Covenant with thine eyes, and ears, and hands, and senses (so far as thy Condition and Calling will warrant thee) not to have anything to do with such things, than by gratifying them therein, cast both thyself and them into hell. Better by our voluntary abstinence to depart with some of our liberty unto the Creatures, than by our voluntary transgression forfeit all, and become the Devil's Captives.

But Charity, though it begin at home, yet it will abroad; and not resting at ourselves, reacheth to our Brethren also; of whom we are to have a due regard in our use of the Creatures. An Argument wherein St. Paul often enlargeth himself, as in Rom. 14. and 1 Cor. 8. the whole Chapters throughout, and in a great part of 1 Cor. 10. The resolution everywhere is, That all things be done to edification; that things lawful become inexpedient, when they offend, rather than edify; that though all things indeed are pure, yet it is evil for that man which useth them with offense; that albeit flesh and wine, and other things be lawful, yet it is good neither to eat flesh, nor to drink wine, nor to do anything whereby a man's brother stumbleth, or is offended, or is made weak. Hitherto appertaineth that great and difficult common place of Scandal, so much debated and disputed of by Divines. The Questions and Cases are manisold, not now to be rehearsed, much less resolved, in particular: But the Position is plain in the general, that in case of Scandal, for our weak brother 's sake, we may, and sometimes ought to abridge ourselves of some part of our lawful Liberty.

Besides these two, Sobriety and Charity, there is yet one restraint more, which ariseth from the Duty we owe to our Superiors, and from the bond of civil Obedience, which if it had been by all men as freely admitted, as there is just cause it should, how happy had it been for the peace of this Church? Concerning it, let this be our sixth Position; The determination of Superiors may, and ought to restrain us in the outward exercise of our Christian Liberty. We must submit ourselves to every ordinance of man, saith St. Peter, 1 Pet. 2. 13. and it is necessary we should do so; for so is the Will of God, Vers. 15. Neither is it against Christian Liberty if we do so, for we are still as free as before; rather if we do not so, we abuse our liberty for a cloak of maliciousness, as it followeth there, verse. 16. And St. Paul telleth us, we must needs be subject, not only for fear, because the Magistrate carrieth not the Sword in vain, but also for conscience sake, because the powers thus are, are ordained of God. This duty so fully pressed, and so uniformly by these two grand Apostles, is most apparent in private Societies. In a family, the Master, or Pater-familias, who is a kind of petty Monarch there, hath authority to prescribe to his Children and Servants in the use of those indifferent things, whereto yet they, as Christians, have as much Liberty as he. The Servant, though he be the Lord's free-man, yet is limited in his diet, lodging, livery, and many other things by his Master; and he is to submit himself to his Masters appointment in these things, though perhaps in his private affection he had rather his Master had appointed otherwise; and perhaps withal, in his private judgment, doth verily think it fitter his Master should appoint otherwise. If any man, under color of Christian Liberty, shall teach otherwise, and exempt Servants from the obedience of their Masters in such things, St. Paul in a holy indignation inveigheth against such a man, not without some bitterness, in the last Chapter in this Epistle, as one that is proud, and knoweth nothing, as he should do, but doateth about questions and strife of Words, &c. Vers. 3, 5.

Now look what power the Master hath over his Servants for the ordering of his family; no doubt the same at the least, if not much more, hath the supreme Magistrate over his Subjects, for the peaceable ordering of the Common-wealth, the Magistrate being Pater patriae, as the Master is Pater-familias. Whosoever then shall interpret the determinations of Magistrates in the use of the Creatures, to be contrary to the liberty of a Christian; or under that color shall exempt inferiors from their obedience to such determinations, he must blame St. Paul; nay, he must blame the Holy Ghost, and not us, if he hear from us, that he is proud and knoweth nothing, and doateth about unprofitable Questions, Surely, but that experience showeth us it hath been so, and the Scriptures have fore told us that it should be so, that there should be differences, and sidings, and partakings in the Church; a man would wonder how it should ever sink into the hearts and heads of sober understanding men, to deny either the power in Superiors to ordain, or the necessity in Inferiors to obey Laws and Constitutions so restraining us in the use of the Creatures.

Neither let any man cherish his ignorance herein, by conceiting, as if there were some difference to be made between Civil and Ecclesiastical Things, and Laws, and Persons in this behalf. The truth is, our liberty is equal in both; the power of Superiors for restraint equal in both, and the necessity of obedience in Inferiors equal in both. No man hath yet been able to show, nor I think ever shall be, a real and substantial difference indeed, between them to make an inequality. But that still, as civil Magistrates have sometimes, for just politick respects, prohibited some Trades, and Manufactures, and Commodities, and enjoined other-some, and done well in both; so Church-Governors may, upon good considerations, (say it be but for Order and Uniformitiessake,) prescribe the Times, Places, Vestments, Gestures, and other ceremonial Circumstances to be used in Ecclesiastical Offices and Assemblies: As the Apostles in the first Council holden at Jerusalem, in Acts 15. laid upon the Churches of the Gentiles for a time, a restraint from the eating of Blood, and things sacrificed to Idols, and strangled.

Thus we see our Christian Liberty unto the Creatures, may without prejudice admit of some restraints in the outward exercise of it; and namely, from the three respects of Christian Sobriety, of Christian Charity, and of Christian Duty and Obedience. But now in the comparing of these together, when there seemeth to be a repugnancy between one and another of them, there may be some difficulty; and the greatest difficulty, and which hath bred most trouble, is, in comparing the cases of scandal and disobedience together, when there seemeth to be a repugnancy between Charity and Duty. As for example: Suppose in a thing which simply and in itself we may lawfully, according to the Liberty we have in Christ, either use or forbear; Charity seemeth to lay restraint upon us one way, our weak brother expecting we should forbear, and Duty a quite contrary way, Authority requiring the use, in such a case what are we to do? It is against Charity to offend a brother; and it is against Duty to disobey a Superior; and yet something must be done, either we must use, or not use; forbear, or not forbear. For the untying of this knot, (which, if we will but lay things rightly together, hath not in it so much hardness as it seemeth to have;) let this be our seventh Position. In the use of the Creatures, and all indifferent things, we ought to bear a greater regard to our public Governors, than to our private Brethren, and be more careful to obey them, than to satisfy these, if the same course will not in some mediocrity satisfy both. Alas! that our brethren who are contrary-minded, would but with the spirit of sobriety admit common reason to be Umpire in this case: Alas! that they would but consider, what a world of Contradictions would follow upon the contrary opinion, and what a world of Confusions upon the contrary practice. Say what can be said in the behalf of a Brother; all the same, and more may be said for a Governor: For a Governor is a Brother too, and something more; and Duty is Charity too, and something more. If then I may not offend my Brother, then certainly not my Governor; because he is my Brother too, being a man, and a Christian, as well as the other is. And the same Charity that bindeth me to satisfy another Brother, equally bindeth me to satisfy this. So that, if we go no farther, but even to the common bond of Charity, and relation of Brotherhood, that maketh them equal at the least, and therefore no reason, why I should satisfy one that is but a private Brother, rather than the public Magistrate, who (that public respect set aside) is my Brother also. When the Scales hang thus even, shall not the accession of Magistracy to common Brotherhood in him, and of Duty to common Charity in me, be enough to cast it clear for the Magistrate? Shall a Servant in a Family, rather than offend his fellowservant, disobey his Master? And is not a double scandal against Charity and Duty both (for Duty implieth Charity ) greater than a single scandal against Charity alone? If private men will be offended at our Obedience to public Governors, we can but be sorry for it: We may not redeem their offense by our disobedience. He that taketh offense where none is given, sustaineth a double person, and must answer for it, both as the giver and the taker. If offense be taken at us, there is no woe to us for it, if it do not come by us; Woe to the man by whom the offense cometh: and it doth not come by us, if we do but what is our duty to do. The Rule is certain and equitable; the respect of private scandal ceaseth, where lawful Authority determineth our liberty; and that restraint which proceedeth from special Duty, is of superior reason to that which proceedeth but from common charity.

Three Moderators then of our Christian liberty to the Creatures we are to allow of, Sobriety, Charity, and Duty; unto every of which a just regard ought to be had. Neither need we fear, if we suffer Sobriety on one side, and Charity on another, and Duty on a third, thus to abridge us in the use of our Christian liberty; that by little and little it may be at length so pared away among them, that there may be little or nothing lest of it. To remove this suspicion, let this be our eighth and last Position. No respect whatsoever can, or ought to diminish the inward freedom of the Conscience to any of the Creatures. And this inward freedom is it, wherein especially consisteth our Christian Liberty to the Creature. This freedom we are all bound to maintain to the utmost of our powers, and not to suffer ourselves to be made the servants of men, (otherwise than in serving one another by love, ) but to stand fast in the liberty wherein Christ hath set us free. Now this liberty consisteth in a certain resolution of Judgment, and a certain persuasion of Conscience arising thence, that all the creatures of God are in themselves lawful, and free for us either to use or refuse, as we shall see it expedient for us; and that neither the use, nor the forbearance of them, doth of itself either commend or discommend us unto God, or any way either please him as a part of his Worship, or offend him as a transgression of his Law. The Kingdom of God is not meat and drink, saith St. Paul; Neither if we eat, are we the better; neither the worse, if we do not eat; nor on the contrary. Now here is the Wickedness, and the Usurpation of the High Priest of Rome, that he challengeth to himself a spiritual Power over the Consciences of men, which is the greatest tyranny that ever was, or can be exercised in the world, laying impurity upon the things he forbiddeth, and annexing operative holiness, and power both satisfactory and meritorious, to the things he enjoineth. Which Usurpation, whosoever hateth not in him with a perfect hatred, is justly unworthy of, and shamefully unthankful for that liberty and freedom, which the blessed Son of God hath purchased for▪ his Church.

But this inward freedom once established in our hearts, and our Consciences fully persuaded thereof, let us thenceforth make no scruple to admit of such just restraints in the outward exercise of it, as Christian Sobriety, Charity, and Duty shall require. For we must know, that the Liberty of a Christian is not in eating, and drinking, and doing what and when, and where and how he list; but in being assured, that it is all one before God, (in the things themselves barely considered) whether he eat or not eat, wear or not wear, do or not do, this or that; and that therefore, as he may upon just cause eat, and wear, and do, so he may upon just cause also refuse to eat, or wear, or do this thing or that. Indeed otherwise, if we well consider it, it were but the empty name of liberty, without the thing: for how is it liberty, if a man be determinately bound the one way, and tied ad alteram partem contradictionis precisely, and not left indifferent and equal to either? If then the regards of Sobriety, Charity, or Duty, do not require a forbearance, thou knowest every creature of God is good, and nothing to be refused; thou hast thy liberty therefore, and mayest, according to that liberty, freely use that Creature. But if any of those former respects require thou shouldst forbear, thou knowest that the Creature still is good, and as not to be refused, so not to be imposed: thou hast thy liberty therefore here, as before, and oughtest, according to that liberty, freely to abstain from that Creature. Both in using and refusing, the Conscience is still free; and as well the use as the refusal, and as well the refusal as the use, do equally and alike belong to the true liberty of a Christian.

We have seen now, what liberty God hath allowed us, and therein we may see also his great goodness and bounty towards us, in making such a world of Creatures, and all of them good; [Every Creature of God is good ] and not envying us the free use of any of those good Creatures; [ Nothing to be refused. ] But where is our Duty answerable to this Bounty? Where is our thankfulness proportionable to such receipts? Let us not rejoice too much in the Creatures goodness, nor glory too much in our freedom thereunto, unless there be in us, withal, a due care, and Conscience to perform the Condition, which God requireth in lieu thereof; neither can their goodness do us good, nor our freedom exempt us from evil. And that condition is, the Duty of Thanksgiving, expressed in the last clause of the verse, [ if it be received with thanksgiving. ] Forget this Proviso, and we undo all again, that we have hitherto done, and destroy all that we have already established concerning both the goodness of the Creature, and our liberty in the use thereof; for without thanksgiving, neither can we partake their goodness, nor use our own liberty with comfort. Of this therefore in the next place, wherein the weight of the Duty considered, together with our Backwardness thereunto, if I shall spend the remainder of my time and meditations, I hope my labor (by the blessing of God, and your prayers ) shall not be unprofitable, and my purpose therein shall find, if not allowance in your judgments, at least in your Charity, Excuse. To speak of which Duty of Thanksgiving in the full extent, and by way of common place, were to enter into a spacious field, indeed a very sea of matter without bottom. For mine own ease therefore and yours, I shall confine myself to that branch of it, which is most immediately pertinent to my Text, viz. That tribute of Thanks which we owe unto God for the free use of his good Creatures, forbearing to meddle with the other branches thereof, otherwise than as they fall within the reach of this, by way either of Proportion or Inference.

And first, we are to know, that by Thanksgiving in my Text, is not meant only that subsequent act, whereby we render unto God praise and thanks for the Creature, after we have received it, and enjoyed the benefit of it, which yet is most properly Thanksgiving, but we are to extend the word farther, even to those precedent acts of Prayer and Benediction, whereby we beseech God to give his blessing to the Creature, and to sanctify the use of it to us. For what in this verse is called Thanksgiving, is in the next verse comprehended under the name of Prayer. And we shall accordingly find in the Scriptures elsewhere, the words 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 and 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , the one whereof signifieth properly Blessing, the other Thanksgiving, used oftentimes promiscuously the one for the other. The Blessing which our blessed Savior Jesus Christ used at the Consecration of the sacramental bread, St. Luke and St. Paul express by the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 ; St. Matthew and St. Mark, by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And the Prayer of Blessing used before the eating of common Bread, is by every of the four Evangelists in some places described by the word 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And by three of them in other-some places, by 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 . And the name 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 is sometimes found in the Writings of the Ancients, for the Sacrament of the Lord's Supper; the more usual name whereof is 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , or the holy Eucharist. And we in our ordinary manner of speech, call as well the Blessing before meat, as the Thanksgiving after, by the common name of Grace, or saying of Grace. Both these then together, Grace before meat, and Grace after meat, a Sacrifice of Prayer before we use any of the good Creatures of God, and a Sacrifice of Praise after we have used them; the Blessing wherewith we bless the Creature in the Name of God, and the Blessing wherewith we bless the Name of God for the Creature: both these, I say, together, is the just extent of that Thanksgiving, whereof my Text speaketh, and we are now to entreat.

Concerning Meats and Drinks, unto which our Apostle hath special reference in this whole passage, this duty of Thanksgiving hath been ever held so congruous to the partaking thereof, that long and ancient custom hath established it in the common practice of Christians, not only with inward Thankfulness of heart to recount and acknowledge God's goodness to them therein, but also outwardly to express the same in a vocal solemn form of Blessing or Thanksgiving, that which we call Grace, or saying of Grace. Which very Phrases, whether or no they have ground, (as to me it seemeth they have) from those words of our Apostle, 1 Cor. 10. For if I by Grace be a partaker, why am I evil spoken of, for that for which I give thanks? ) I say, howsoever it be with the Phrase, sure we are, the thing itself hath sufficient ground from the examples of Christ, and of his holy Apostles; from whom the custom of giving Thanks at meals seemeth to have been derived throughout all succeeding Ages, even to us. Of Christ himself we read often, and in every of the Evangelists, that he blessed and gave thanks in the name of himself and the People, before meat; in the 14, and 15, of Matthew, in 6, and 8. of Mark, in 9. of Luke, and in 6. of John. And in Matth. 26. that after meat also, when Supper was ended, he and his Disciples sang an Hymn before they departed the room. And St. Luke relateth of St. Paul, Acts 27. when he and his company in the Ship, who were well toward three hundred persons, were to refresh themselves with food after a long Fast, that he took bread, and first gave thanks to God in the presence of them all, and then after brake it, and began to eat: yea, St. Paul himself so speaketh of it, Rom. 14. as of the known practice of the Church among Christians of all sorts, Weak and Strong. He that was strong in the Faith, and knew the liberty he had in Christ to eat indifferently of all kinds of Meats, flesh as well as herbs; did eat of all indifferently, and gave God thanks for all. The weak Christian too, who made scruple of some kinds of flesh or other Meats, and contented himself with herbs, and such like things, yet gave God thanks for his herbs, and for whatsoever else he durst eat. He that eateth, eateth to the Lord, (saith he there, at verse. 6.) for he giveth God thanks: and he that eateth not, to the Lord he eateth not, and giveth God thanks too. Notwithstanding they differed in their judgments and opinions, and consequently in their practice, concerning the lawful or unlawful use of some meats: yet they consented most sweetly, and agreed both in their judgment and practice, in the performance of this religious service of Thanksgiving.

So then giving of thanks for our meats and drinks before and after meals, in an outward and audible form, is an ancient, a commendable, an Apostolical, a Christian practice: ordinarily requisite as an outward Testimony of the inward thankfulness of the heart; and therefore not to be omitted ordinarily, neither but in some few cases. There being the like necessity of this duty, in regard of inward thankfulness, as there is of vocal prayer, in regard of inward Devotion; and of outward Confession, in regard of inward belief: and look what Exceptions those other outward duties may admit▪ the very same mutandis mutatis, and in their proportion, are to be admitted here. But not only meats and drinks but every other good Creature also of God, whereof we may have use, ought to be received with a due measure of thankfulness. And if in these things also, so often as in good discretion it may seem expedient for the advancing of God's glory, the benefiting of his Church, or the quickening of our own Devotion, we shall make some outward and sensible expression of the thankfulness of our hearts for them: we shall therein do an acceptable service unto God, and comfortable to our own souls. For, for this cause God instituted of old, among his own people, divers solemn feasts and sacrifices, together with the sanctifying of the first fruits, and of the first born, and divers other ordinances of that nature: as, on the other side to be fit remembrancers unto them of their duty of thankfulness: so to be as well good testimonies, and fit expressions of their performance of that duty.

But if not always the outward manifestation thereof: yet God ever expecteth at least the true and inward thankfulness of the heart, for the use of his good Creatures. Whatsoever you do in word or deed, do all in the name of the Lord Jesus, giving thanks unto God and the Father by him, Col. 3. Be careful for nothing: but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving, let your request be made known unto God, Phil. 4. Bless the Lord, O my soul (saith David in Psal. 103.) and all that is within me, praise his holy name: Praise the Lord, O my soul, and forget not all his benefits. Forget not all his benefits: as much as to say, by an ordinary Hebraism, forget not any of all his benefits. He summoneth all that is in him, to bless God for all he hath from him: he thought it was necessary for him, not to receive any of the good Creatures of God, without Thanksgiving. Which necessity of Thanksgiving will yet more appear, if we consider it, either as an act of Justice, or an act of Religion: as it is indeed and truly both.

It is first, an Act of Justice. The very Law of Nature, which containeth the first seeds and principles of Justice, bindeth every man that receiveth a benefit, to a thankful Acknowledgment of it first, and then withal ( Ability and Opportunity supposed) to some kind of Retribution. The best Philosophers therefore make Gratitude a branch of the Law of Nature; and so account of it as of a thing, than which there is not any Office of Virtue more necessary: as nor anything on the contrary more detestable, than Ingratitude. You cannot lay a fouler imputation upon a man, nor by any accusations in the World render him more odious to the opinions of all men; than by charging him with unthankfulness. Ingratum dicas, omnia dixeris: do but say, He is an unthankful wretch; you need say no more, you can say no worse, by any mortal creature. Verily, every benefit carrieth with it the force of an Obligation; and we all confess it: if we receive but some small kindness from another, we can readily and complementally protest ourselves much bound to him for it. Indeed when we say so; we often speak it but of course, and think it not: but yet when we do so, we speak more truth than we are aware of. For, if it be in truth a kindness in him, we are in truth and equity bound to him thereby. The common saying is not without ground, Qui beneficium accipit, libertatem vendidit. Some men therefore refuse kindnesses and courtesies at other men's hands; because forsooth they will not be beholden to them. Which though it be a perverse and unjust course, and indeed a high degree of unthankfulness, (for there is unthankfulness, as well in not accepting a kind offer, as in not requiting a good turn;) and therefore also a high degree of folly, (for it is a foolish thing for a man, out of the bare fear of unthankfulness one way, to become willful, unthankful another;) though, I say, it be a fond and perverse course in them: yet it argueth withal in them a strong apprehension of the Equity of that principle of Nature and Justice, which bindeth men that receive benefits ad 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , to a necessity of requital and retribution. Truth it is, to God our Heavenly, Father first, and then to our Earthly Parents, none of us can reddere paria: none is able to make a full requital to to either of them; especially not to God. But that freeth us not from the debt of thankfulness, as not to our Parents, so neither to God: it rather bindeth us the faster thereunto. The same Law of Nature, which teacheth us to requite a good turn to the utmost, where there is wherewithal to do it, and withal a fair opportunity offered; teacheth us, where there wanteth either ability or opportunity, to endeavor by the best convenient means we can to testify at least the thankfulness of our hearts, and our unfeigned desires of requital. Which desire and endeavor if every ingenuous man, and our earthly Parents, do accept of, where they find it, as of the deed itself: can we doubt of God's acceptation of our unfeigned desire herein, though infinitely and without all proportion short of a just requital and retribution? David knew right well, that when a man hath done all he can, he is but an unprofitable servant, and cannot be profitable unto God, as he that is wise may be profitable to himself and his neighbors; and that his goodness, though it might be pleasurable to the Saints that are on the earth, yet it could not extend unto the Lord. All this he knew: and yet knowing withal that God accepteth the will for the deed, and the desire for the performance; he doubted not to raise up his Language to that key, in Psal. 116. Quid retribuam? What requital shall I make? What shall I render unto the Lord, for all his benefits towards me? I will take the Cup of Salvation, and call upon the Name of the Lord. This thankful heart he knew God valued, as a Sacrifice: nay, preferred before Sacrifices. For having rejected them at Vers. 8. [ I will not reprove thee for thy Sacrifices, &c.] He exacteth this at Vers. 14. of Psal, 50.] Offer unto God thanksgiving, &c.] God respecteth not so much the Calves out of our stalls, or the fruits from off our grounds: as these Vitulos labiorum, these calves of our lips, as the Prophet; and these Fructus labiorum, these fruits of our lips, as the Apostle calleth them, [ Let us offer the sacrifice of praise to God continually, that is, the fruit of our lips, giving thanks to his name, Heb. 13.] More than this, in his Mercy he will not desire: less than this, in all Reason we cannot give. Thankfulness is an Act of Justice: we are unjust, if we receive his good Creatures, and not return him thanks for them.

It is not only an Act of Justice: it is an Act of Religion too, and a branch of that service whereby we do God worship and honor. Whoso offereth praise, he honoreth me, Psal. 50. ver. last. Now look what honor we give unto God, it all redoundeth to ourselves at the last with plentiful advantage, [ Them that honor me, I will honor, 1 Sam. 2.] Here then is the fruit of this religious act of Thanksgiving; that it sanctifieth unto us the use of the good Creatures of God, which is the very reason S. Paul giveth of this present speech in the next Verse. Every Creature of God is good, saith he here, and nothing to be refused, if it be received with Thanksgiving: for, saith he there, it is sanctified by the Word of God, and Prayer. Understand not by the Word of God there, his written Word, or the Scriptures, as some yet give the sense, not without violence to the words, though the thing they say be true: but more both naturally to the construction of the Words, and pertinently to the drift and scope of our Apostle therein, understand rather the Word of his eternal Counsel and decree, and of his power and providence, whereby he ordereth and commandeth his Creatures in their several kinds, to afford us such service and comforts, as he hath thought good. Which sanctifying of the Creatures by the Word of God's decree and providence, implieth two things: the one, respecting the Creatures, that they do their kindly Office to us; the other, respecting us, that we reap holy comfort from them. For the plainer understanding of both which, instance shall be given in the Creatures appointed for our nourishment: and what shall be said of them we may conceive of, and apply unto every other Creature in the proper kind thereof.

First then, the Creatures appointed for food, are sanctified by the word of God; when together with the Creatures he giveth his blessing, to go along with it: by his powerful word, Commanding it, and by that Command enabling it to feed us. Which is the true meaning of that speech in Deut. 8. alleged by our Savior against the Tempter, [ Man liveth not by bread only, but by every word that proceedeth out of the mouth of God. ] Alas, what is Bread to nourish us without his word: Unless he say the word, and command the Bread to do it, there is no more sap or strength in Bread, than in stones. The power and nutritive virtue which the Bread hath, it hath from his decree; because the word is already gone out of his mouth, that bread should strengthen man's heart. As in the first Creation, when the Creatures were produced in actu primo, had their beings given them, and natural powers and faculties bestowed on them, all that was done by the word of God's powerful decree, [ He spake the word, and they were made; he commanded, and they were created. ] So in all their operations in actu secundo, when they do at any time exercise those natural faculties and do those Offices for which they were created; all this is still done by the same powerful word and decree of God, [ He upholdeth all things by the word of his power. As we read of bread, so we often read in the Scriptures of the staff of bread: God sometimes threateneth he will break the staff of bread. What is that? Bread indeed is the staff of our strength; it is the very stay and prop of our lives: if God break this staff, and deny us bread, we are gone. But that is not all, bread is our staff: but what is the staff of Bread? Verily, the Word of God, blessing our Bread, and commanding it to feed us, is the staff of this staff: sustaining that virtue in the bread, whereby it sustaineth us. If God break this staff of bread, if he withdraw his blessing from the bread, if by his countermand he inhibit or restrain the Virtue of the Bread; we are as far to seek with bread, as without it. If sanctified with God's word of blessing; a little pulse and water, hard and homely fare shall feed Daniel as fresh, and fat, and fair, as the Kings dainties shall his Companions: a Cake and a cruse of water shall suffice Elijah nourishment enough to walk in the strength thereof forty days and nights: a few barley loaves and small fishes shall multiply to the satisfying of many thousands, eat while they will. But if God's Word and Blessing be wanting; the Lean Kine may eat up the Fat, and be as thin, and hollow, and ill-liking as before: and we may, as the Prophet Haggai speaketh, eat much, and not have enough, drink our fills, and not be filled.

This first degree of the Creatures Sanctification by the Word of God, is a common and ordinary blessing upon the Creatures; whereof, as of the light and dew of Heaven, the wicked partake as well as the godly, and the thankless as the thankful. But there is a second degree also, beyond this; which is proper and peculiar to the Godly. And that is, when God not only by the word of his Power bestoweth a blessing upon the Creature: but also causeth the Echo of that word to sound in our hearts by the voice of his holy Spirit, and giveth us a sensible taste of his goodness to us therein: filling our hearts not only with that joy and gladness, which ariseth from the experience of the Effect, viz. the refreshing of our natural strength, but also joy and gladness more spiritual and sublime than that, arising from the contemplation of the prime cause, viz. the favor of God towards us in the face of his Son: that which David calleth the light of his countenunce. For as it is the kind welcome at a friends Table, that maketh the cheer good, rather than the quaintness or variety of the dishes, Super omnia vultus accessere boni; so that a dinner of green herbs with love and kindness, is better entertainment than a stalled Ox with bad looks; so the light of God's favorable countenance, shining upon us through these things, is it, which putteth more true gladness into our hearts, than doth the Corn, and the Wine, and the Oil themselves, or any other outward thing that we do or can partake. Now this sanctified, and holy, and comfortable use of the Creatures, ariseth also from the Word of God's decree; even as the former degree did, but not from the same decree. That former issued from the decree of common Providence; and so belonged unto all, as that Providence is common to all. But this latter degree proceedeth from that special Word of God's decree, whereby for the merits of Christ Jesus, the second Adam, he removeth from the Creature that curse wherein it was wrapped through the sin of the first Adam. And in this the wicked have no portion; as being out of Christ: so as they cannot partake of God's Creatures, with any solid or sound comfort; and so the Creatures remain (in this degree) unsanctified unto them. For this reason, the Scriptures style the Faithful Primogenitos, the first-born; as to whom belongeth a double portion: and Haeredes Mundi, heirs of the World; as if none but they had any good right thereunto. And S. Paul deriveth our Title to the Creatures, from God, but by Christ; [ All things are yours, and you are Christ's, and Christ is God's: ] As if these things were none of theirs, who are none of Christ's. And in the Verse before my Text, he saith of meats, that God hath created them to be received with thanksgiving of them which believe, and know the truth; as if those that wanted Faith and Saving Knowledge, did but usurp the Bread they eat. And indeed it is certain the wicked have not right to the Creatures of God, in such ample sort, as the Godly have. A kind of Right they have, and we may not deny it them: given them by God's unchangeable ordinance at the creation: which being a branch of that part of God's Image in man, which was of natural, and not of supernatural grace, might be, and was foully defaced by sin: but was not, neither could be wholly lost, as hath been already in part declared. A Right then they have: but such a right, as, reaching barely to the use, cannot afford unto the user true comfort, or sound peace of Conscience, in such use of the Creatures. For, though nothing be in, and of itself unclean; for, Every Creature of God is good: yet to them that are unclean, ex accidenti every Creature is unclean and polluted, because it is not thus sanctified unto them by the Word of God. And the very true cause of all this, is the impurity of their hearts, by reason of unbelief. The Holy Ghost expressly assigneth this cause, To the pure all things are pure: but to them that are defiled and unbelieving is nothing pure: but even their mind and conscience is defiled. As a nasty vessel soureth all that is put into it: so a Conscience not purified by Faith, casteth pollution upon the best of God's Creatures.

But what is all this to the Text, may some say: or what to the Point: What is all this to the Duty of Thanksgiving? Much every manner of way; or else blame S. Paul of impertinency; whose discourse should be incoherent and unjoynted, if what I have now last said were beside the Text. For since the Sanctification of the Creature to our use, dependeth upon the powerful and good Word of God, blessing it unto us: that Duty must needs be necessary to a sanctified use of the Creature, without which we can have no fair assurance unto our Consciences, that that Word of Blessing is proceeded out of the mouth of God. And such is this Duty of Thanksgiving: appointed by God, as the ordinary means, and proper instrument, to procure that Word of Blessing from him. When we have performed this sincerely and faithfully; our hearts may then with a most cheerful, but yet humble confidence, say Amen, so be it: in full assurance that God will join his Fiat to ours; Crown our Amen with his: and to our So be it of Faith and Hope, add his of Power and Command: blessing his Creatures unto us, when we bless him for them; and sanctifying their use to our comfort, when we magnify his goodness for the receipt. You see therefore how, as inseparable and undivided companions, the Apostle joineth these two together: the one, as the Cause, the other, as the Means of the Creatures sanctification; [ it is sanctified by the Word of God, and Prayer: ] By the Word of God's powerful decree, as the sole efficient, and sufficient Cause: and by the Prayer of Thanksgiving (for such Prayer he meaneth, as either hath Thanksgiving joined with it, or else is a part of Thanksgiving, or Thanksgiving a part of it:) by Prayer I say and Thanksgiving, as the proper Means to obtain it. This is the blessed effect of Thanksgiving, as it is an Act of Religion. And thus you have heard two grand Reasons, concluding the necessity of Thanksgiving unto God, in the receiving and using of his good Creatures. The one, considering it as an Act of Justice: because it is in the only acceptable discharge of that obligation of debt, wherein we stand bound unto God for the free use of so many good Creatures. The other, considering it is an Act of Religion: because it is the most proper and convenient Means to procure from the mouth of God a word of Blessing, to sanctify the Creatures to the uses of our lives, and to the comfort of our Consciences. This Thanksgiving being an Act both of Justice and Religion: whensoever we either receive or use any good Creature of God without this, we are unjust in the Receipt, and in the Use Profane. It is now high time we should from the Premises infer something for our farther use and edification.

And the first Inference may be, shall I say for Trial; or may I not rather say for Conviction? Since we shall learn thereby, not so much to examine our Thankfulness, how true it is; as to discover our Unthankfulness, how foul it is. And how should that discovery cast us down to a deep condemnation of ourselves for so much both Unjustice and Profaneness, when we shall find ourselves guilty of so many failings in the performance of such a necessary Duty both of Justice and Religion? But we cannot abide to hear on this ear: We unthankful to God? Far be that from us: we scarce ever speak of anything we have, or have done, or suffered; but we send this Clause after it, I thank God for it. And how are we unthankful, seeing we do thus? It is a true saying, which one saith; Thanking of God, is a thing all men do, and yet none do as they should. It is often in udo, but seldom in imo: it swimmeth often upon the tip of our tongues, but seldom sinketh into the bottom of our hearts. I thank God for it, is, as many use it, rather a By-word, than a Thanksgiving: so far from being an acceptable service to God, and a magnifying of his Name; that it is rather itself a grievous sin, and a taking of his holy Name in vain. But if we will consider duly and aright, not so much how near we draw unto God with our lips, as how far our hearts are from him when we say so: we shall see what small reason we have, upon such a slender lip-labor to think ourselves discharged either of the bond of thankfulness, or from the sin of unthankfulness. Quid verba audiam, fact a cum videam? Though we say, I thank God, a thousand and a thousand times over; yet if in our Deeds we bewray foul unthankfulness unto him, it is but Protestatio contraria facto: and we do thereby but make ourselves the greater and deeper liars.

Every sin is spacious and diffused, and spreadeth into a number of branches: this of ingratitude not least. Yet we will do our best to reduce all that multitude to some few principal branches. There are required unto true Thankfulness Three things; Recognition, Estimation, Retribution. He that hath received a benefit from another, he ought first, faithfully to acknowledge it; secondly to value it worthily; thirdly, to endeavor really to requite it. And whoso faileth in any of these, is (so far as he faileth) unthankful more or less. And do not some of us fail in all; and do not all of us fail in some of these? For our more assured, whether Examination, or Conviction; let us a little consider how we have and do behave ourselves in each of the three respects; in every of which, we will instance but in two kinds; and so we shall have six degrees of Ingratitude: still holding ourselves as close as we can to the present point, concerning our Thankfulness or Unthankfulness, as it respecteth the use we have of, and the benefit we have from the good Creatures of God.

And first, we fail in our Recognition, and in the due acknowledgment of God's blessings. And therein first, and let that be the first degree of our unthankfulness; in letting so many blessings of his slip by us, without any regard, or so much as notice taken of them: Whereas Knowledge must ever go before Acknowledgment, and Apprehension before Confession. There is a twofold Confession to be made unto God: the one of our sins; the other, of his goodness. That belongeth to Repentance; this to Thankfulness. Both of them consist in an Acknowledgment: and in both, the acknowledgment is most faithful, when it is most punctual: and in both, we come to make default, for want of taking such particular information, as we ought, and might. In our Repentance we content ourselves commonly with a general Confession of our sins; or at the most, possibly sometimes make acknowledgment of someone or a few grosser falls, which gall our Consciences, or which the World crieth shame of: and if we do that, we think we have made an excellent Confession. So in our Thanksgivings, ordinarily we content ourselves with a general acknowledgment of God's goodness and mercies to us; or sometimes possibly recount someone or a few notable and eminent favors, such as most affect us, or whereof the World taketh notice: and this is all we do. But we do indeed in both these, deal unfaithfully with God, and with our own souls. If we desire to show ourselves truly penitent, we should take knowledge (so far as possibly we could) of all our sins, small and great (at least the several species and kinds of them, for the Individuals are infinite:) and bring them all before God in the Confession of Repentance. And if we desired to show ourselves truly thankful; we should take notice (so far as possibly we could, and in the species at least) of all God's blessings, small and great: and bring them all before him in the Confession of praise. We should even Colligere fragmenta, gather up the very broken meats, and let nothing be lost, those small petty blessings, as we account them, and as we think, scarce worth the Observation. Did we so: how many baskets full might be taken up, which we daily suffer to fall to the ground, and be lost? Like Swine under the Oaks, we grouze up the Acorns, and snouk about for more, and eat them too, and when we have done, lie routing, and thrusting our Noses in the Earth for more: but never lift up so much as half an eye, to the Tree that shed them. Every crumb we put in our mouths, every drop wherewith we cool our tongues, the very Air we continually breath in and out through our throats and nostrils, a thousand other such things whereof the very commonness taketh away the Observation, we receive from his fullness: and many of these are renewed every morning, and some of these are renewed every minute: And yet how seldom do we so much as take notice of many of these things? How justly might that complaint which God maketh against the unthankful Israelites, be taken up against us? The Ox knoweth his Owner, and the Ass his Master's Crib: but Israel doth not know, my people doth not consider.

The second degree of our Unthankfulness to God, and that also for want of faithful Acknowledgment, is, in ascribing the good things he hath given us to our own deserts, or endeavors, or to any other thing or Creature, either in part, or in whole, but only to him. Such things indeed we have, and we know it too, (perhaps but too well) but we bestirred ourselves for them, we beat our brains for them, we got them out of the fire, and sweet for them; we may thank our good friends, or we may thank our good selves for them. Thus do we Sacrifice unto our own nets, and burn incense to our drag, as if by them our portion were fat, and our meat plenteous. And as Pilate mingled the blood of the Galileans with their own Sacrifices; so into these spiritual Sacrifices of Thanksgiving, which we offer unto God, we infuse a quantity of our own swink and sweat, of our own wit and fore-cast, of our own power and friends, still someone thing or other of our own; and so rob God, if not of all, yet of so much of his honor. This kind of unthankfulness God both foresaw and forbad in his own people, Deut. 8. warning them to take heed, verse. 17. lest when they abounded in all plenty and prosperity, They should forget the Lord, and say in their hearts, My power, and the might of my hand hath gotten me this wealth. The very saying or thinking of this was a forgetting of God. But (saith Moses there) Thou shalt remember the Lord thy God: for it is he that giveth thee power to get wealth, &c. The whole Chapter is none other but a warn-word against unthankfulness. All glorying in ourselves, all vain boasting of the gifts of God, or bearing ourselves high upon any of his blessings is a kind of smothering of the receipt: and argueth in us a kind of loathness to make a free acknowledgment of the Giver's bounty; and so is tainted with a spice of unthankfulness in this degree. If thou didst receive it; why dost thou glory, as if thou hadst not received it? Saith my Apostle elsewhere. He that glorieth in that, for which he even giveth thanks; doth by that glorying, as much as he dareth, reverse his Thanks. The Pharisee, who thanked God he was not like other men; did even then, and by those very thanks, but bewray his own wretched unthankfulness.

Besides a faithful Recognition, in freely acknowledging the benefit received; there is required unto thankfulness a just Estimation of the benefit, in valuing it, as it deserveth? Wherein we make default, if either we value it not at all, or undervalue it. The third Degree then of our Ingratitude unto God, is the Forgetfulness of his benefits. When we so easily forget them, it is a sign we set naught by them. Every man readily remembereth those things, he maketh any reckoning of: in so much that although old age be naturally forgetful, yet Tully saith, He never knew any man so old, as to forget where he had hid his gold, or to whom he had lent his moneys. In Deut. 8. Moses warneth the people (as you heard) to beware, lest being full, they should forget the Lord that had fed them; and David stirreth up his soul in Psal. 103. to bless the Lord, and not to forget any of his benefits. We all condemn Pharaoh's Butler of unthankfulness to Joseph, (and so we may well do; for he afterwards condemned himself for it:) in that having received comfort from Joseph, when they were fellow-prisoners, he yet forgot him when he was in place where, and had power and opportunity to requite him. How inexcusable are we that so condemn him? seeing wherein we judge him, we condemn ourselves as much, and much more: for we do the same things, and much worse. He forgot Joseph, who was but a man like himself: we forget God. He had received but one good turn; we many. It is like he had none about him to put him in mind of Joseph; for as for Joseph himself, we know he lay by it, and could have no access: we have God himself daily rubbing up our Memories, both by his Word and Ministers, and also by new and fresh benefits. He, as soon as a fair occasion presented itself, confessed his fault, and remembered Joseph; thereby showing his former forgetfulness to have proceeded rather from Negligence than Wilfulness: we after so many fresh Remembrances and blessed Opportunities; still continue in a kind of willful and confirmed Resolution, still to forget. Well may we forget these private and smaller blessings; when we begin to grow but too forgetful of those great and public Deliverances God hath wrought for us. Two great Deliverances, in the memory of many of us, hath God in his singular mercy wrought for us of this Land: such as I think, take both together, no Christian Age or Land can parallel; One formerly, from a foreign Invasion abroad; another since that, from an Hellish Conspiracy at home: both such, as we would all have thought, when they were done, should never have been forgotten. And yet, as if this were Terra Oblivionis, the Land where all things are forgotten, how doth the memory of them fade away, and they by little and little grow into forgetfulness! We have lived to see Eighty eight almost quite forgotten, and buried in a perpetual Amnesty, ( God be blessed, who hath graciously prevented, what we feared herein!) God grant that we, nor ours ever live to see November's fifth forgotten, or the solemnity of that day silenced.

A fourth Degree of unthankfulness is, in undervaluing God's blessings, and lessening the worth of them. A fault whereof the murmuring Israelites were often guilty: who although they were brought into a good Land, flowing with milk and honey, and abounding in all good things both for necessity and delight; yet as it is in Psal. 106. They thought scorn of that pleasant Land: and were ever and anon, and upon every light occasion repining against God and against Moses, always receiving good things from God, and yet always discontent at something or other. And where is there a man among us that can wash his hands in innocence, and discharge himself altogether from the guilt of unthank fullness in this kind? Where is there a man so constantly and equally content with his portion, that he hath not sometimes or other either grudged at the leanness of his own, or envied at the fatness of another's lot? We deal with our God herein, as Hiram hid with Solomon. Solomon gave him Twenty Cities in the Land of Galilee: but because the Country was low and deep (and so in all likelihood the more fertile for that) they pleased him not; and he said to Solomon, what Cities are these thou hast given me? and he called them Cabul; that is to say, dirty. So we are witty to cavil and to quarrel at God's gifts, if they be not in every respect such, as we, in our vain hopes or fancies, have ideated unto ourselves. This is dirty, that barren; this too solitary, that too populo us; this ill-wooded, that ill-watered, a third ill-aired, a fourth ill-neighboured. This grudging and repining at our portions, and faulting of God's gifts, so frequent among us, argueth but too much the unthankfulness of our hearts.

The last thing required unto Thankfulness (after a faithful Acknowledgment of the receipt, and a just Valuation of the thing received) is Retribution and Requital. And that must be real, if it be possible; but at the least it must be votal in the Desire and Endeavor. And herein also (as in both the former) there may be a double fail; if, having received a benefit, we requite it either not at all, or ill. Not to have any care at all of Requital, is the fifth degree of Unthankfulness. To a Requital (as you heard) Justice bindeth us, either to the party himself that did us the good turn, if it may be, and be either expedient or needful, or at the least, to his. David retained such a grateful memory of Jonathan 's true Friendship and constant Affection to him, that after he was dead and gone, he hearkened after some of his friends, that he might requite Jonathan 's love by some kindness to them. [ Is there yet any left of the house of ••• ul, that I may show him kindness for Jonathan's sake? ] And surely he were a very unthankful wretch, that having been beholden to the Father, as much as his life and livelihood is worth, would suffer the Son of so well deserving a Father to perish for want of his help, and would not strain himself a little, even beyond his power (if need were) to succor him. Indeed to God, as we heard, we can render nothing that is worthy the name of Requital, we must not so much as think of that. But yet somewhat we must do, to express the true and unfeigned thankfulness of our hearts, which though it be nothing less, yet it pleaseth him for Christ's sake to interpret as a Requital. And that to him and his; to him by seeking his glory, to His, by the fruits of our Christian Charity. We adventure our states and lives, to maintain the honor and safety of our Kings in their just wars, from whom perhaps we never received particular favor or benefit, other than the common benefit and protection of Subjects. And are we not then foully ingrateful to God, to whose Goodness we owe all that we have or are; if, for the advancement of his glory, and the maintenance of his truth, we make dainty to spend the best, and most precious things we have, yea, though it be the dearest heart-blood in our bodies? But how much more ungrateful, if we think much, for his sake to forgo Liberty, Lands, Livings, Houses, Goods, Offices, Honors, or any of these smaller and inferior things? Can there be greater unthankfulness, than to grudge him a small, who hath given us all? In these, yet peaceable times of our Church and State (God be thanked) we are not much put to it; but who knoweth how soon a heavy day of trial may come, (we all know it cannot come sooner, or heavier than our sins have deserved;) wherein woe, woe to our unthankfulness, if we do not freely and cheerfully render unto God of those things he hath give us, whatsoever he shall require of us. But yet even in these peaceable times there want not opportunities, whereon to exercise our Thankfulness, and to manifest our desires of requital, though not to him, yet to his. To his Servants and Children in their Afflictions; to his poor distressed members in their manifold necessities. These opportunities we never did, we never shall want, according to our Savior's Prediction, (or rather Promise ) Pauperes semper habebitis; The Poor you shall always have with you, as my Deputy-receivers; but me (in person) ye shall not have always. And what we do, or not do, to these, whom he thus constituted his Deputies, he taketh it as done or not done unto himself. If when God hath given us Prosperity, we suffer these to be distressed, and comfort them not, or victuals, to perish, and feed them not; or clothing, to starve, and cover them not; or power, to be oppressed, and rescue them not; or ability in any kind, to want it, and relieve them not: Let us make what shows we will, let us make what profession we will of our Thankfulness to God, what we deny to these we deny to him; and as we deal with these, if his case were theirs (as he is pleased to make their case his ) we would so deal with him. And what is to be unthankful, if this be not?

And yet behold, unthankfulness, more and greater than this; unthankfulness in the sixth, and last, and highest, and worst degree. We requite him evil for good. In that other we were unjust, not to requite him at all; but injurious also in this, to requite him with ill. It sticketh upon King Joash as a brand of infamy forever, that he slew Zacharias the Son of Jehoiada the High Priest, who had been true and faithful to him both in the getting of the Kingdom, and in the Administration of it, recorded to all Posterity, 2 Chron. 24. Thus Joash the King remembered not the kindness which Jehoiada the Father had done him, but slew his Son; and when he died, he said, The Lord look upon it, and require it. And it was not long before the Lord did indeed look upon it, and require it; the very next verse beginneth to lay down the vengeance that God brought upon him for it. And yet compared •• th ours, Joash his ingratitude was nothing. Jehoiada was bound as a Subject to assist the right Heir, God is not bound to us, he is a Debtor to none. Joash had right to the Crown before Jehoiada set it on his head: we have no right at all to the Creature, but by God's gift. Joash, though he dealt not well with the Son, yet he evermore esteemed the Father so long as he lived, and was advised by him in the Affairs of his Kingdom; we rebel even against God himself, and cast all his Counsels behind our backs. Joash slew the Son, but he was a mortal man, and his Subject, and he had given him (at least as he apprehended it) some affront and provocation; we by our sins and disobedience crucify the Son of God, The Lord and giver of life, by whom, and in whom, and from whom we enjoy all good Blessings, and of whom we are not able to say that ever he dealt unkindly with us, or gave us the least provocation. But as Israel (whom God calleth Iesurun, and compareth to an Heifer fed in large and fruitful Pastures) going always at full bit, grew fat and wanton, and kicked with the heel; so we, the more plentifully God hath heaped his blessings upon us, the more wantonly have we followed the swinge of our own hearts, and the more contemptuously spurned at his holy Commandments. It was a grievous Bill of complaint, which the Prophet in the name of God preferred against Israel, in Hosea 2. That his Corn, and Wine, and Oil, and the Silver, and Gold which he had given them, they employed in the Service of Baal an abominable Idol. If when God giveth us Wit, Wealth, Power, Authority, Health, Strength, Liberty, every other good thing; instead of using these things to his glory, and the comfortable relief of his Servants, we abuse them, some or all, to the service of those Idols which we have erected to ourselves in our hearts; to the maintenance of our Pride and Pomp, making Lucifer our God; of our Pelf and Profits, making Mammon our God; of our swinish pleasures and sensuality, making our Belly our God: Are we not as deep in the Bill as those Israelites were? As unjust as they? As profane as they? As unthankful every way as they? Flatter we not ourselves: Obedience to God 's Commandments, and a sober and charitable use of his Creatures, is the best, and surest evidence of our Thankfulness to God, and the fairest requital we can make for them. If we withdraw our obedience, and fall into open rebellion against God; if we abuse them, in making them either the occasions or instruments of sin to the dishonor of God, and damage of his Servants; we repay him ill and unworthily for the good we have received, and are guilty of Unthankfulness in this foulest and highest degree.

Now we have seen what we are, let us say the worst we can by unthankful ones; call them Wretches, Caitiffs, Churls, anything; load them with infamies, disgraces, contumelies; charge them with Injustice, Profaneness, Atheism; condemn them, and with them the vice itself, Unthankfulness, to the pit of Hell: do all this, and more, and spare not; and as David did at Nathan 's Parable, when we hear any case or example of ingratitude in any of the former degrees, whether really done, or but in a Parable, pronounce sentence upon the guilty, The man that hath done this thing shall surely die. But withal let us remember, when we have so done, that our hearts instantly prompt us what Nathan told David, Thou art the man. We, we are the men, we are these unthankful ones; unthankful to God, first, in passing by so many of his blessings without taking any consideration of them; unthankful, secondly, in ascribing his Blessings wholly or partly to ourselves, or any other but him; unthankful, thirdly, in valuing his Blessings so lightly, as to forget them; unthankful, fourthly, in diminishing the worth of his Blessings, and repining at our portion therein; unthankful, fifthly, in not rendering to him and his, according to the good he hath done for us; but sixthly, and most of all, unthankful in requiting him evil for good, and hatred for his good will. Dealing thus with him, let us not now marvel, if he begin to deal something strangely, and otherwise than he was wont with us. If he deny us his Creatures, when we want them; if he take them from us when we have them; if he withhold his blessing from them, that it shall not attend them; if we find small comfort in them, when we use them, if they be unanswering our expectations, when we have been at some pains and cost with them; if, as the Prophet speaketh, We sow much and bring in little, we eat and have not enough, we drink and are not filled, we clothe us and we are not warm, and the wages we earn we put into a bag with holes: if any of these things befall us, let us cease to wonder thereat; ourselves are the causers of all our woe. It is our great unthankfulness that blasteth all our endeavors, that leaveneth with sowerness whatsoever is sweet, and turneth into poison whatsoever is wholesome in the good Creatures of God. It is the Word of God, and Prayer, that sanctifieth them to our use; and they are then good when they are received with thanksgiving. So long as we continue unthankful, we are vain if we look for any sanctification in them, if we expect any good from them.

I have now done with my first Inference, for Trial, or rather Conviction: I add a second of Exhortation. The duty itself being so necessary as we have heard; Necessary, as an Act of Justice for the receipt of the Creature; and necessary as an Act of Religion for the sanctifying of the Creature: how should our hearts be enflamed with an holy desire, and all our powers quickened up to a faithful endeavor, conscionably to perform this so necessary a duty? One would think, that very necessity, together with the consciousness of our former unthankfulness, should in all reason be enough to work in us that both desire and endeavor. In all reason it should so; but we are unreasonable, and much ado there is to persuade us to anything that is good, even when we are persuaded. Wherefore to enforce the exhortation more effectually, I must have leave to press the performance of this duty upon our Consciences, with some farther Inducements, and important Considerations.

Consider, first, the excellency of the Duty. There are but three heads, whereto we refer all that is called good; Iucundum, Utile, Honestum; Pleasure, Profit, and Honesty. There is nothing desirable and lovely, but in one or other of these three respects. Each of these singly we account good, but that excellently good, wherein they all concur. We love things that will give us delight, sometimes when there is neither profit, nor credit in them; we love things that will bring us profit, though possibly neither delightful greatly, nor s • emly; and we love things that we think will do us honesty, oftentimes without regard either of Pleasure or Profit. How should we then be affected to this duty of giving thanks, and singing Praises unto our GOD, wherein all those do jointly concur, and that also in an excellent measure? David hath wrapped them all together in one verse in the beginning of Psal. 147. Praise ye the Lord, for it is good; yea, it is a pleasant thing, and praise is comely. It is good, it will bring you profit; it is pleasant, it will afford you delight; and it is comely, it will do you honesty; and what can heart wish more? Again, many good virtues and graces of God in us shall expire together with us, which though they be eternal in their fruit and reward, yet are not so as to their proper Acts; which after this life shall cease, because there shall be neither need, nor use of them then, Whether there be Prophecies, they shall fail; or whether there be tongues, they shall cease; or whether there be knowledge, it shall vanish away. There shall be no use of taming the flesh by Fasting, or of supplying the want either of others by Alms, or of ourselves by Prayer. Nay, even Faith and Hope themselves shall have an end; for we shall not then need to believe, when we shall see; nor to expect, when we shall enjoy. But giving of Thanks, and Praise, and Honor, and Glory unto God, shall remain in the Kingdom of Heaven, and of Glory. It is now the continual blessed exercise of the glorious Angels and Saints in Heaven, and it shall be ours when we shall be translated thither. O that we would learn often to practice here, what we hope shall be our eternal exercise there! Oh, that we would accustom ourselves, being filled in the Spirit, to speak to ourselves in Psalms, and Hymns, and spiritual Songs, singing and making Melody in our hearts to the Lord, giving thanks always for all things unto God and the Father, in the Name of our Lord Jesus Christ, as speaketh our Apostle, Ephes. 5.

Consider, secondly, the multitude, and variety, and continuance of God's Blessings, and let that provoke thy Thankfulness. If thou hadst received but one or a few benefits, yet thanks were due even for those few, or for that one, more than thou art able to return. But what canst thou allege, or how excuse thy unthankfulness, when his mercies are renewed every morning, nay, every moment? when he is ever opening his hand, and pouring out his blessings, and loading, and even overwhelming thee with his Benefits, as if he did vie with thee, and would have thee see how easily he can overcome thy evil with his goodness, and infinitely out-strip thine infinite ingratitude with his more infinite munificence? His Angels are about thee, though thou knowest it not; from a thousand unknown dangers he delivereth thee, which thou suspectedest not: he still continueth his goodness unto thee, and repreiveth thy destruction, though thou deservedst it not. What should I say more? thy very life and being thou owest to him▪ In whom we all live, and move, and have our being: thence resolve with holy David, to sing praise unto the Lord, as long as thou livest; and to sing praise unto thy God, whilst thou hast thy being. Many and continual receipts should provoke many and continual Thanks.

Consider, thirdly, thy future necessities. If thou wert sure of that thou hast, that thou and it should continue together forever, and never part; and that thou couldest make pretty shift to live upon the Old stock hereafter, and never stand in need to him for more, there might be so much less need to take care for giving thanks for what is past. But it is not so with any of us; of what we have, we are but Tenants at Courtesie, and we stand continually upon our good behavior, whether we should hold of him any longer, or no; and much of our future happiness standeth upon our present thankfulness. And with what face can we crave to have more (and yet more we must have, or we cannot subsist) if we be not thankful for what we have? Peremptoria res est ingratitudo, saith St. Bernard, it cutteth off all kindness. Ventus urens & exsiccans, like that strong East-wind, which in a night dried up the Red Sea; it holdeth off the streams of God's bounty from flowing, and drieth up those Channels whereby his mercies were wont to be conveyed unto us. Certainly this is one special cause why God so often saith us Nay, and sendeth us away empty when we ask, even because we are so little thankful to him for former receipts. The rivers return all their waters to the Sea, from whence they had them; and they gain this by the return, that the Sea feedeth them again, and so by a continual fresh supply, preserveth them in perpetual being and motion. If they should with-hold that tribute, the Sea would not long suffice them nourishment. So we by giving, receive; and by true paying the old debt, get credit to run upon a new score, and provoke future blessings, by our thankfulness for former; as the earth by sending up vapors back to Heaven from the dew she hath received thence, filleth the bottles of Heaven with new moisture, to be poured down upon her again in due season, in kindly and plentiful showers. By our Prayers and Thanksgivings we erect a Ladder, like that which Jacob saw, whereon the Angels ascended and descended, we preserve a mutual intercourse betwixt Heaven and Earth, and we maintain a kind of continual trading, as it were, betwixt God and us. The Commodities are brought us in, they are God's blessings; for these we traffick by our Prayers and Thanksgivings. Let us therefore deal squarely, as wise and honest Merchants should do. Let us keep touch, and pay; it is as much as our credit is worth. Let us not think to have Commodities still brought us in, and we send none out, Omnia te adversum spectantia, this dealing cannot hold long: rather let us think, that the quicker, and speedier, and more returns we make, our gains will be the greater; and that the oftener we pray and praise God for his blessings, the more we secure unto ourselves both the continuance, and the increase of them.

Consider, fourthly, thy misery, if thou shouldst want those things which God hath given thee. ( a) Carendo magis quam fruendo. Fools will not know that true worth of things but by wanting, which wiser men had rather learn by having them. Yet this is the common Folly of us all; we will not prize God's blessings as we should, till he for our unthankfulness, take them from us, and teach us to value them better before we have them again. We repine at God 's great blessings, we grudge at his gentle Corrections, judging these too heavy, those too light. We think our very Peace a burden, and complain of plenty, as some would do of scarcity; and undervalue the blessed Liberty we have of treading in his Courts, and partaking his holy Ordinances; and all this, because by his great goodness we have so long enjoyed them; and this is our guise in every other thing proportionably. Did we but feel a while the miseries of our Neighbor-Countrys, who want the Blessings which we thus slight; or could we but fore-think what our misery should be, if we (as they) had our Throats ever before the Sword, or were wasted with extreme Famines and Pestilences, or lived either in thick darkness, without the Gospel, or under cruel Persecution for it. Did we thus, though our hearts were as hard and cold as stones, it could not be but those thoughts would soften them, and inflame them to magnify and bless the holy name of God for our long and present peace, for that measure of plenty whatever it be which we yet have, and for the still continued liberty of his glorious Gospel and sincere Worship among us. God grant, that from our wretched unthankfulness, he take not just occasion, by taking these great blessings from us, to teach us at once both how to use them better, and how to value them better.

Consider, fifthly, thy Importunity with God, when thou wantest anything, and according to that, proportion thy thanks when thou hast it. I remember what Bernard writeth of the Popes Servants and Courtiers in his time: Importuni ut accipiant, inquieti donec acceperint, ubi acceperint, ingrati. When Suiters come to the Popes Court with their businesses, the Courtiers and Officers lie in the wind for them, greedily offering their service, and never quiet with them till they have got something; but by that they have got the money, they have forgot the man; and having first served their own turn, they then leave the business to go which way it will. Not much unlike is our dealing with God. When we would have something, some outward blessing conferred, or some outward calamity removed, (for thankless devotions seldom look farther than after these outward things; ) we are, as St. Chrysostom speaketh, 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , very eager and earnest with God, we must have no Nay; we wrestle with him, and that stou • lie, as if we would out-wrestle Jacob for a blessing, and we will not let him go till we have obtained it. But 〈 in non-Latin alphabet 〉 , saith Chrysostom there: When our turn is served, and we have what we would have, by and by all our devotion is at an end, we never think of thanks. All the ten Lepers begged hard of Christ for a cleansing; the Text saith, They lift up their voices, they were all loud enough whilst they were Suitors: Sed ubi novem? There returned not to give God thanks for their cleansing, of the whole ten, anymore than barely one single man. It is our case just. When we want any of the good Creatures of God for our necessities, we open our mouths wide, till he open his hand, and fill them with plenteousness; but after, as if the filling of our Mouths were the stopping of our Throats, so are we speechless and heartless. Shame we to be so clamorous, when we crave from him; and so dumb when we should give him thanks.

Consider, lastly, how freely God hath given thee, what he hath given thee. Dupliciter gratis, saith Bernard, sine merito, sine labor. Freely both ways; freely without thy desert, and freely without so much as thy pains. Freely, first, without thy desert. Jacob, a man as well deserving as thou, yet confessed himself, Not worthy of the least of all God's Mercies. And St. Paul cutteth off all challenge of desert, by that Interrogatory, Who hath first given him, and it shall be recompensed him? As who should say, No man can challenge God, as if he owed him ought. If he have made himself a Debtor to us by his Promise, (and indeed he hath so made himself a debtor to us) yet that is still gratis, and for nothing; because the Promise itself was free without either Debt in him, or Desert in us. Nay more, God hath been good to us, not only when we had not deserved it▪ but (which still more magnifieth his bounty, and bindeth us the stronger to be thankful, ) when we had deserved the quite contrary. And how is it possible we should forget such his unspeakable kindness, in giving us much good, when we had done none, nay, in giving us much good, when we had done much ill? And as he gave it sine merito, so sine labor too; the Creature being freely bestowed on us, as on the one side not by way of reward for any desert of ours, so neither on the other side by way of wages for any labor of ours. To show that God giveth not his Blessings for our labor merely, he sometimes giveth them not, where they are labored for; and again he giveth them sometimes where they are not labored for. If in the ordinary dispensation of his Providence, he bestowed them upon them that labor, as Solomon saith, The diligent hand maketh rich; and seldom otherwise, for He that will not labor, it is fit he should not eat; ) yet that labor is to be accounted but as the means, not as a sufficient cause thereof. And if we dig to the root, we shall still find it was gratis; for even that power to labor was the gift of God, It is God that giveth thee power to get wealth. Yea in this sense, nature itself is grace, because given gratis and freely, without any labor, preparation, disposition, desert, or anything at all in us.

All these considerations, the excellency of the Duty, the continuance of God's Blessings, our future necessity, our Misery in wanting, our Importunity in craving, his free Liberality in bestowing, should quicken us to a more conscionable performance of this so necessary, so just, so religious a Duty. And thus having seen our Unthankfulness discovered in six points, and heard many Considerations to provoke us to thankfulness, it may be we have seen enough in that to make us hate the fault, and we would fain amend it; and it may be we have heard enough in this to make us affect the Duty, and we would fain practice it, may some say, but we are yet to learn how. The Duty being hard, and our backwardness great, what good course might be taken, effectually to reform this our so great backwardness, and to perform▪ that so hard a Duty? And so you see, my second Inference for Exhortation breedeth a third, and that is for direction; which for satisfaction of those men that pretend willingness, but plead ignorance, I should also prosecute, if I had so much time to spare: wherein should be discovered, what be the principal causes of our so great Unthankfulness; which taken away, the effect will instantly, and of itself cease. Now those Causes are especially, as I conceive, these five, viz. 1. Pride, and Self-love; 2. Envy, and Discontentment; 3. Riotousness, and Epicurism; 4. Worldly Carefulness, and immoderate Desires; 5. Carnal Security, and foreslowing the time. Now then, besides the application of that which hath already been spoken in the former Discoveries and Motives, (for every Discovery of a fault doth virtually contain some means for the correcting of it; and every true Motive to a duty, doth virtually contain some helps unto the practice of it:) besides these, I say, I know not how to prescribe any better remedies against unthankfulness, or helps unto thankfulness, than faithfully to strive for the casting out of those sins, and the subduing of those Corruptions in us, which cause the one, and hinder the other. But because the time, and my strength are near spent, I am content to ease both myself and you, by cutting off so much of my provision, as concerneth this Inference for Direction, and desire you that it may suffice for the present, but thus to have pointed at these Impediments, and once more to name them. They are Pride, Envy, Epicurism, Carefulness, Security.