Samson Occom, sermon, Ephesians 5:20
ms-number003221
abstractA sermon on Ephesians 5:20 — "Giving thanks always for all things unto God" — about how, where, and when to give thanks to God.
handwritingHandwriting is clear and legible. There are some crossed l's, uncrossed t's and dotted e's that have been corrected by the transcriber.
paperSmall sheets folded into a booklet and bound with thread or twine are in good-to-fair condtion, with light-to-moderate staining and wear that results in some loss of text.
inkBrown ink varies in intensity throughout.
noteworthyThe sermon is undated. It mentions 2 Corinthians 9.6.7, Isaiah 1.2, Psalms 116.12, and Genesis 32.
Ephe V. 20
Giving thanks always for all things unto God,
Perhaps there is no Duty incumbent upon Intellagent Crea‐ tures, more frequently Calld for, in the Providence of God, than this Duty of giving thanks to
god, there is nothing So Reaſonable and Becoming in Dependant
&^Creat^ as this giv‐ ing of thanks, to their great Preſer ver,— Yea all the Creation, even the Inanimate Creation Seems to
manifeſt this Duty, to the great Creator —
We may at once Perceive
Something very great and weighty in theſe few Words, if we doe but
liſten and attend to them, and
Shou'd find work enough all ˄ day and a Glorious work too
In the firſt Place, upon Reflecti[gap: tear][guess: on] we find the work it Self or the Duty
Giving thanks, Se[illegible]conly, upon inquiry to whom we are to give thanks, we may find object,
unto GOD; Thirdly we find, the Time when, this Duty, of
giving Thanks is to be Done it is Always Fourthly we find the Matter, or for
what we are to give Thanks; for all Things
Theſe four Particulars I Shall endeavor to repreſent in the following Diſcourſe
| 1. |
Firſt then, I will endea‐ vour Repreſent to you the Duty
it Self, to Give Thanks, This, I Conclude is well under‐ ſtood by all, that are grown to Years of underſtanding, It is to have a grateful Since and Right apprehention of the Benefits Conferred upon us and an Acknowledgment
of
^&^
Confeſſion of our Oblications to our Benefactors with glad
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gladneſs of Heart, attended with Humility, and a Careful and Right uſe of the Benefits we Receive, even agreable to the Mind and Pleaſures
four
of Benefactors for which they
beſtow^d^ their Bound upon us
The work
Anong Men, the work of the giver is one, and the work of the Receiver is
a nother,˄ we are dependent Crea tures
upon one to another, the
greateſt of men Can't ^well^ live with‐
out the vulgar Sort, and we, as Sotiable and Fellow Creatures, give and receive Benefets one from another, The giver has
[illegible: [guess: one]] Precept from God the great Benefactor, as we find
the Duty in 2 to the Corin 9.6.7 and many other Places in the Word of god — and the
Receiver has another Command or Precept from God th[gap: tear][guess: e] Great Benefactor, their wor[gap: tear][guess: k] is to Receive Right, and
to be [gap: tear]
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be truely Thankful, in the firſt Place to God the only giver of all good things, and next to
god we are to be thankful to the
Inſtruments by whom we have we Received Benefits, — let the
Second givers or Inſtrumental Benefactors give as they Pleaſe whether out a right vew or not, that is none of the Receivers Buſineſs, they ought to See to it, to do the work that is Lay'd upon them, by their Benefactors, to be Truely Sincere‐ ly and Hearltyly thankful, both to god and to his People by wi whom they
have received bene‐ factions — But man is Such a
Creature, many of them when they Receive a Kindneſs from their ^fellow^ Men, they are Ready to
que‐ ry and wou'd know whether the giver, gave freely and Cheerfully or Grudgingly
and of Neceſſity, and if they Suſpect the Sincerity
[gap: tear][guess: of] the Doner, they are Ready
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to diſpiſe the Benefits and the Benefactor, and are ^Ready^
to fling the gifts back in the Face of the giver with ^a^ Surly Countenance — this Plainly Argues the Horrid and Helliſh
Ingratidtue, in the unworthy Wrectch, Such cannot be thankful to god, for they don't
Conſider that all theſe good things are from god, for it is he that opens the Hands, if
not the Hearts of his People, to give to the Nee‐ dy, and therefor Thanks and Praiſe is his Due Chiefly; and But if the Receiver Cant be
thankful to their fellow Creatures that have Shown kindneſs to them; how Can they be Truely thankful to god —
Isa[illegible: [guess: i]]. 1.2
But thoſe that are truly Thankful are melted Down with the Benefets they have
Receiv'd, it excites [illegible]true humi‐ liation and Self Loathing in them As we find holy Pratrearch Jaco[gap: tear][guess: b]
Confeſſing his unworthineſs of the
Leaſt of gods Mercies Gene.32 [gap: tear]
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again an ungrateful wretch. Sets
Price upon the Benefits he rece.^s^ , or has a Scale as it were, So he
wou'd Put the Donations in the one and Propotionable thanks in the other or rather his Blank Indgratitude
— the ungrateful Pharaſee thought he did enough in Religion ˄ —
But the Grateful Man Sets no Price upon the Benefits he recei^es^ nor limits to his thankfulneſs, he thinks he Can never be thankful enough for Favours received
— Thus we find the ^truely^ thankful King of Israel, the Psalmeſt, Psal 116. 12 what Shall ^I^ render unto the Ld for all his Benefits towards me? it Seems by theſe words, that the holy Psalst found himself unable ^to^ make Suta‐ ble Returns to God for all the Kind‐
[illegible]neſs he had receivd
from god from him, and it was his Dili‐ gent
Search or Study to find a way to manifeſt his gratitude by unto god, as his holy thanksgiving Psa^s^ abundantly Show, — if we oſerv^e^ David in his great work of giving Thanks, According to his Psalms
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we may Eaſily
^find^ his experimental Notice and his wiſe
Conſideration of the Benefits of god towards him and this begets a grateful Sence of the Favours of god, and that breaks forth into Publick
Praiſes and thanksgiving — Yea upon find ing himſelf unable to give Sufi cient thanks to god for all his
goodneſs, he Calls all Creatures both in Heaven and Earth to Join with him
in his gr^e^at work of giving thanks and Praiſe unto God; and indeed it Reaſonable and Right that Dependent Creatures
Shou'd be truely thankful to their
up holder and only Benefactor,—
This Seems to be inate in the very Dumb Beaſts of the Feald, they
Manifeſt a kind of Gratitude to their Benefactors or Maſters, by a Certain Noiſe, or the Motion of their Bodies,— the Fowls of the
A[illegible]ir Mount up to wards hea‐ ven and Sing forth their Artleſs
[gap: tear] to God, — Toads and Frogs, and all the venomous
Kind, have their way of giving thanks to their Mas[gap: tear][guess: ters]
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yea the very Inſects of the Earth Seing their various Notes of Praiſe to god, if all theſe Creatures give thanks and Praiſe to god, how ought Man ^who is Endow'd^ to give ^ for whoſe sake^ thanks and
Praiſe to the God of heaven, it is Mans Beauty and Glory as well as Duty,
to give thanks and Praiſe to Heaven, and it is his happineſs So to do —
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| 2. |
Secondly let us tConſider the object, or to Whom we are or ought to give thanks, it is
unto God, the Great Creator of Heaven and Earth, and the upholder and
Governor of the Same, and the only Benefactor, unto him we are to give
thanks,
Even
To him we are to give thanks that Curiouſly and Wonderfully
Fraim'd our Bodies out of the Duſt of the Earth —
To him, that Breathed into our Bodies the Breath of Life, yt
Cauſed us ^to^ become Living Souls
[gap: tear][guess: w]e are to give thanks.
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To him we are under Infinite obligations, who Confers, not few and Small Inconſiderable Benefits up on us, but very all godod
things not at times only, but Continualy
To him we are to give thanks who hath Created ^ye^ Lights for our Eye^s^ the whole
world for our Sakes —
To him we are under greateſt obligations, ^he^ that hath made the
Pleaſant
^Light^ for our Eyes, ^he^ that hath Made the Herb of the Field, and all the Fruits of the Earth
for the life of Man, He that hath made all manner of Four footed
Beaſts and Creeping things and the Fowls of the Air, and the
Fiſhes of the Seas. He that hath given and Deliver'd all theſe Crea‐ tures unto us, to him we are to ˄
unfeigned thanks
To him we are to give moſt humble thanks, into whoſe
Juſti[gap: tear][guess: ce] we have forfited all Mercyies, yet Continues his Mercies to us thr[gap: tear][guess: o] the Mediator
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To him, in whom Live Move and have our Beings, we owe all
Poſſible Thanks —
To him, who hath given his only begotten son into the World, to Save us vile
Sinners from everlaſt Ruin, to Eternal Happineſs, I Say to him we are Bound to give moſt Sincere and humble, Yet Joyful Thanks —
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| 3. |
Thirdly let us Conſider the Time, when, this Duty of giving thanks is to be done, it is allways there is no Limited Time, or a Certain
T.
^in^ of our Life to give thanks, but at all Times; this is
altogether Reaſon‐ able, for we always Receive bene‐ fits and Mercies of
various kinds from god, we live and Move and have our Being in him Continualy— all the Faculties and Powers Both of Soul and Body are Maintain'd in us by god Continualy, the food and Drink [illegible]which we Continualy
Uſe is the Lord's, the Earth upon which we have Always Liv'd is the
[gap: tear][guess: Lor]ds the Air in which we
alway^s^
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Breathe in is the Lords; and So
in return, as we always live upon a goodneſs of God, So Shou'd our thanks be always to God — further this giving of thanks
always may
Suppoſe or require a thankful
Fraim of Heart to God always — to have grateful Sence of the good‐ neſs of god Always, — and to have holy reſolution to [illegible]go on in giving thanks to
god always, as David abundantly Shows in his holy P[illegible: [guess: salms]] his reſolution was to Praiſe God — all this Time; So Shoud all ration^al^ Creatures reſove, — again we Shou'd
^always^ be very Strict in attending to Cer‐ tain Seaſons or Perticural Times of giving Thanks to God;, whether
PrivetPub^l^ick Privet or Secret; yea as there is no Minute of our lives empty of Mercies
from god, So Shou^d^ we fill every Minute of our lives with thanks [illegible]to god, I [illegible] David
Says I will Praiſe God Seven Times a Day, or give thanks Seven Times a Day, —
So Shou'd we give thanks to god, not only Seven Times a Day but Seventy
Times Seven
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I mean to have a T^h^ankful Fraim of Heart all the Day Long — we don't mean in all this that
we ^are^ obliged to Manifeſt our thankfulneſs
[illegible]always in ^one^
Continued Act either by word of Mouth or by the Poſture of the Body for this is Impoſible in the ^Preſent^
Settuation of our Life, we are Neceſſarily
Calld to other
enmediate Acts of Duty from Day to Day, we Neceſſarily
^spend^
Som time in Sleep, But this need not, yea Can't Break off our than^k^ fulneſs if we are true thankful— —As a Wiſe Man, is a Wiſe Man,— always whether he Sleeps or wakes whether a broad or at home, he is Still the Same [illegible]Wiſe Man— So a thankful Man is always So —
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| 4. |
Fourthly and laſtly let us Conſider the Matter of our
thankfulneſs. It is for all things for Every thing that we have Receiv^d^ and any thing that we now Poſſes and Enjoy, and for all things yt we for
^hope^ to Receive hereafter—
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here we may be Naturaly Lead to Conſider three Particulars, for which we are to give thanks to god
| 1. |
Firſt for Creation
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| 2. |
Secondly for Preſervation
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| 3. |
Thirdly for Redemption
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Firſt then we [illegible] are to give thanks for
our Creation of our
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