Continual thanks
Prayer has two parts:
Petition and thanksgiving.
Petitioning, we lay before God
The desire of our hearts,
Thus seeking from His goodness
What serves His glory,
And then what is useful to us.
In giving thanks, we own
His benefits to us,
With praise confess them,
To His goodness alone
Attribute all our blessings …
Well0night overwhelmed
Are we by the outpouring
Of God’s blessings,
By the many, mighty miracles
Discerned wherever we look.
How then can we fail to turn
In praise and thankfulness
To God? …
Author of all blessings
God truly is;
Receive them we must
All form His hand
With continual thanksgiving.
Make proper use we cannot
Of His benefits streaming down to us
Unless we continually praise Him
And give Him thanks.
– John Calvin, The Piety of John Calvin, by Ford Lewis Battles, p. 97
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