THANKFULNESS.
O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.—Psalm xxx. 12.
Enter into his gates with thanksgiving, and into his courts with praise: be thankful unto him, and bless his name.—Psalm c. 4.
In every thing give thanks; for this is the will of God in Christ Jesus concerning you.—I. Thessalonians, v. 18.
A thankful heart hath earned me favour twice,
But he that is ungrateful wants no vice.
Quarles.
God is much displeased
That you take with unthankfulness His doing;
In common, worldly things, ’tis called ungrateful,
With dull unwillingness to repay a debt
Which with a bounteous hand was kindly lent;
Much more to be thus opposite with Heaven,
For it requires the debt it lent you.
Shakspere.
When all thy mercies, O my God,
My rising soul surveys,
Transported with the view, I’m lost
In wonder, love, and praise.
Unnumber’d blessings on my head
Thy tender care bestow’d,
Before my infant heart conceived
From whom those blessings flow’d.
Ten thousand thousand precious gifts
My daily thanks employ;
Nor is the least a grateful heart,
To taste those gifts with joy.
Through every period of my life
Thy goodness I’ll pursue;
And, after death, in distant worlds,
The glorious theme renew.
Addison.
Break forth into thanksgiving,
Ye banded instruments of wind and chords!
Unite, to praise the Ever-living,
Your inarticulate notes with the voice of words,
Nor hushed be service from the lowing mead,
Nor mute the forest hum of noon:
Thou too be heard lone eagle! freed
From snowy peak and cloud, attune
Thy hungry barkings to the hymn
Of joy, that from her utmost walls
The six days work, by flaming Seraphim
Transmits to Heaven! as deep to deep
Shouting through one valley rolls;
All worlds, all nature, mood and measure keep
For praise and ceaseless gratulation poured
Into the ear of God—their Lord.
Wordsworth.
Is there any smile of prophecy upon the world’s wide face?
Among the striving millions there, say who shall win the race?
’Mid fallen towers, and falling thrones, and glories that decay,
Will any kingdom rise to shine in everlasting day?
One spirit powers His riches o’er all the earth abroad,
And all these changing pictures shew the glory of our God.
But, would you know the meaning and the virtue of the whole,
Descend to yonder vale, where dwells one happy human soul.
There sitting in the sunshine, the grey-haired labourer see,
He smiles upon his grandson there, who plays besides the tree;
Where, when a child, he played himself, and soon its bough shall wave,
When he rests from all his labours, above his quiet grave!
Oh yes; there is a meaning and a rest for every heart,
Not in gazing on the whole, but in doing well a part;
Where rests in peace and thankfulness, one reasonable soul,—
There centres all the happiness, the wisdom of the whole!
J. Gostick.