One Special Duty

[by Thomas Manton (1620-1677): Non-Conformist Puritan preacher and Oxford graduate who preached until forbidden by the Act of Uniformity of 1662. From 1662 to 1670 he preached in his own house, but was arrested and imprisoned for six months. He later became the preacher for London merchants in Pinners’ Hall. James Ussher called him “one of the best preachers in England.”]

“At midnight I will rise to give thanks unto thee, because of thy righteous judgments”—Psalm 119:62.

ONE SPECIAL DUTY WHEREIN THE PEOPLE OF GOD SHOULD BE MUCH EXERCISED
IS THANKSGIVING. This duty is often pressed upon us: “Let us offer the sacrifice of praise continually, which is the fruit of our lips” (Heb 13:15), giving thanks unto His name. There are two words there used, praise and thanksgiving.

Generally taken, they are the same; strictly taken, thanksgiving differeth from praise. They agree that we use our voice in thanksgiving, as we do also in praise, for they are both said to be the fruit of our lips. What is in the prophet Hosea, “calves of our lips” (14:2), is in the Septuagint, “the fruit of our lips.” And they both agree that they are a sacrifice offered to our supreme Benefactor or that they belong to the thank-offerings of the gospel. But they differ in that thanksgiving belongeth to benefits bestowed on ourselves or others; but in relation to us, praise [belongs] to any excellency whatsoever. Thanksgiving may be in word or deed; praise in words only.

Well then, thanksgiving is a sensible acknowledgment of favors received or an expression of our sense of them, by word and work, to the praise of the bestower. The object of it is the works of God as beneficial unto us, or to those who are related to us, or in whose good or ill we are concerned, as public persons [or] magistrates: “I exhort, therefore, that, first of all, supplication, prayers, intercessions, and giving of thanks be made for all men; for kings, and for all that are in authority” (1Ti 2:1, 2); pastors of the church: “You also helping together by prayer for us, that for the gift bestowed upon us by the means of many persons, thanks may be given by many on our behalf” (2Co 1:11); or our kindred according to the flesh or some bond of Christian duty: “Rejoice with them that do rejoice” (Rom 12:15).

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From “Sermon LXX” included in Several Sermons upon Psalm 119.