1st, When we have a great measure of outward prosperity, which is more than many enjoy; which calls for a proportionable degree of thankfulness, especially if it be sanctified and sweetened with a sense of God’s special love, so that it is a pledge and earnest of better things reserved for us hereafter. When we have the good things of this life for our conveniency, that our passage through the world may be more easy and comfortable to us; and yet we have ground to hope that this is not our portion, or that we are not like those whom the Psalmist speaks of, and calls the men of the world, who have their portion in this life, Psal. xvii. 14. or, like the rich man in the parable, to whom it was said, Son, remember that thou in thy life-time receivedst thy good things, Luke xvi. 25. We have reason to bless God when outward prosperity is a means of our glorifying him, and being more serviceable to promote his interest, and not a snare or occasion of sin, when it is not like the prosperity of fools, which has a tendency to destroy them, Prov. i. 32. or when what is said concerning that murmuring generation of men, whom the Psalmist speaks of, that lusted exceedingly in the wilderness, and tempted God in the desert: so that though he gave them their request, he sent leanness into their soul, is not applicable to us, Psal. cvi. 14, 15. Again, when we enjoy the outward blessings of providence, and, at the same time, live above them; so that our hearts are not too much set upon them; but we are willing to part with them, when God is about to deprive us of them, or take us from them; and when outward enjoyments are helps, and not hindrances to us in our way to heaven. These are inducements to the greatest thankfulness, and ought to be acknowledged to the glory of God.
2dly, We have reason to be thankful, though it pleases God to follow us with many afflictions and adverse providences in the world: These are not, indeed, to be reckoned blessings in themselves; nevertheless, they are not inconsistent with a thankful frame of spirit; especially,
1st, When we take occasion from hence to be affected with the vanity, emptiness, and uncertainty of all outward comforts, which perish in the using.
2dly, When afflictive providences have a tendency to humble and make us submissive to the divine will, so that we are hereby led to have a deep sense of sin, the procuring cause thereof. Thus Ephraim speaks of his being chastised by God, and, at the same time, ashamed and confounded, as bearing the reproach of former sins committed by him, Jer. xxxi. 18, 19. or, when those sins, which before prevailed, are hereby prevented, and we enabled to mortify them: Thus the Psalmist says, Before I was afflicted, I went astray; but now I have kept thy word, Psal. cxix. 67. And when God is pleased to cause his grace to abound as outward troubles abound. 2 Cor. iv. 16. and when the want of outward mercies makes us see the worth of them, and puts us upon improving every instance of the divine goodness, as a great inducement to thankfulness.
3dly, We have reason to be thankful under afflictions, when we have a comfortable hope that they are evidences of our being God’s children, interested in his special love, Heb. xii. 7. so that we have ground to conclude, that he is hereby training us up, and making us more meet for the heavenly inheritance, so that we can say with the apostle, Our light affliction, which is but for a moment, worketh for us a far more exceeding and eternal weight of glory, 2 Cor. iv. 17.
[2.] We are to express our thankfulness for those mercies which we call relative, or for the blessings that others enjoy, in whose welfare we are more immediately concerned. As it is the duty of every one to desire the good of all men; so we ought to bless God for the mercies bestowed on others as well as ourselves. The relation we stand in to others, is either more general or extensive, and, in this respect, it may include in it all mankind; and accordingly we are to be thankful for the mercies which our fellow-creatures receive from the hand of God, inasmuch as hereby the divine perfections are magnified: And, as for those who receive the blessings that accompany salvation, the ends of Christ’s death, and the dispensation of the gospel, are hereby attained; and whatever mercies God bestows on others, we bless him for them, as taking encouragement to hope that he will bestow the same blessings upon us, when we stand in need of them.
As for those who are related to us in the bonds of nature, or as members of the family to which we belong, for whose welfare we are more immediately concerned, we may, in some measure, reckon the mercies they enjoy, our own, and therefore should be induced to bless God, and be thankful for them, as well as for those which we receive in our persons.—There is also another relation, which is more large and extensive, namely, that which we stand in to all the members of Christ’s mystical body, whom the apostle calls the household of faith, Gal. vi. 10. and, as such, supposes them to be entitled to our more special regard: Accordingly we are to express our thankfulness to God, in prayer, for all the mercies they receive, especially those that are of a spiritual nature; inasmuch as herein Christ is glorified, and his interest advanced, which ought to be dearer to us than any thing that relates to our own private or personal interest, as the Psalmist speaks of his preferring Jerusalem’s welfare above his chief joy, Psal. cxxxvii. 6. And that which farther inclines us to do this, is, because we hope that we shall be made partakers of the same blessings, whereby others will have occasion to bless God on our behalf. Thus concerning the inducements we have to thankfulness for blessings received, either by ourselves or others.
I shall conclude this head by considering, that thankfulness, which ought to be a great ingredient in prayer, is always to be accompanied with the exercise of other graces, whereby we are disposed to adore and magnify the divine perfections that are displayed in the distribution of those favours which we bless him for; together with an humble sense of our own unworthiness of the least of those mercies which we enjoy, and an earnest desire that we may be enabled, not only to do this in words, but to express our thankfulness to him by such a frame of spirit as is agreeable thereto.
There are two things more, contained in the answer we have been explaining, without the due consideration whereof, the duty of prayer would be very imperfectly handled, namely, its being an offering up of our desires to God in the name of Christ, and by the help of the Spirit: But since these are particularly insisted on in some following answers, I have purposely waved the consideration of them at present.