SERMON XX.

THANKSGIVING DAY.

PSALM XXX. 11, 12.- "Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth and girded me with gladness; to the end that my glory may sing praise unto thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."

IN these eloquent words David closes one of those beautiful hymns of thanksgiving to God," which are so numerous in the book of Psalms. The present one is very remarkable, and being appointed for the service of this day's solemnity, has a peculiar claim upon our attention.

It appears, from perusing it, that the Almighty had recently delivered His servant out of some great and overwhelming danger, a danger which threatened him and his people with certain destruction, and which, as he tells us, he had incurred through overmuch pride, and false confidence in

his own resources; "In my prosperity I said, I shall never be moved." Out of this sinful state he had been aroused by a heavy judgment from God: Thou didst hide thy face and I was troubled.”

This particular trouble is supposed to be that pestilence which the Lord sent upon Israel after the numbering the people; a pestilence which in three days carried off seventy thousand souls. In the midst of this trouble and affliction, David remembered his Maker, and turned unto Him in penitence and prayer; "Then cried I unto thee, O Lord, and gat me to my Lord right humbly." And with the best success; God hearkened unto him, and the pestilence was stayed. It it this deliverance that he describes in the end of the psalm;

66

Thou hast turned for me my mourning into dancing; thou hast put off my sackcloth, and girded me with gladness: to the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent. O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."

Such was the view which David took of God's mercy in saving him from destruction. He looked upon it as designed for this express purpose; for bringing forth the praises of God out of his heart. "Thou hast girded me with gladness, to the end that my glory (or soul) should praise thee, and not be silent." And such he promises shall be its effect; he vows eternal gratitude to his great Bene

6.

factor; O Lord my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever."

Now the application of this psalm to our own case must be obvious to you all. We, like David, have been troubled: we have experienced the hiding of God's face, the withdrawal of His protecting favour from our land. The cause, too, of our judgment seems to have been the same, -over confidence in our own strength, and that which over confidence produces, forgetfulness of God. In our affliction we sought the Lord; we sought Him as David did, with weeping, and with mourning, and with prayer. Nor has our supplication been made in vain. The Lord has hearkened unto us, and has restored to us what for our sins had been withdrawn, the light of His countenance. Again, as before, He has looked upon our land for good, and poured down upon us the riches of His goodness. The famine and the pestilence, those sore judgments with which we were threatened, and which to a certain point have spread desolation over these countries, are now, we trust, removed from us. "For mourning," God has given us, as to His king of old, "the oil of joy;" for the "spirit of heaviness," the garment of praise." He has taken away our sackcloth, and "girded us with gladness;" and no doubt for the same purpose as aforetime, namely," to the end that our soul should

"

66

-

sing praise to Him, and not be silent,"-to the end that our song should be of His loving-kindness: that we, like David of old, should "speak the praise of the Lord, and give thanks unto His holy name for ever and ever."

Yes, my brethren, and in a degree this end has been attained: ever since our corn. increased, ever since the produce of our late abundant harvest has been gathered into the barn, there has been in the hearts of many, nay, I would believe of all who have been witnesses of such bounty-a yearning towards God, a longing desire, to enter into the courts of His house, with the voice of praise and thanksgiving. We have said one to another, in anticipation of this holy time, "When shall I come to appear before the presence of God?" And now, when by the appointment of our rulers the day has arrived, that desire, that yearning of the heart, is being fulfilled. Everywhere throughout the breadth and length of this thickly-peopled land, multitudes are assembled together, even as we now are, in the sanctuary of God to give utterance— public, and simultaneous utterance-to the sentiments of piety and gratitude towards Him. Everywhere have the same solemn prayers been offered, the same praises poured forth before the Lord.

There is nothing wanting to the outward sight to complete the picture which England this day

presents; the picture of a christian nation united together for an object of the very highest nature; united together to record its obligations to the Almighty; to give their thanks with one mouth, and one mind, for all the benefits which we have received at His hands, and more particularly for this last mark of His favour; in rescuing our souls from death; in not giving us over to the pestilence; in" filling our borders with the flower of wheat.”. There is nothing wanting to the outward sight, but who shall say that there is nothing wanting in the sight of God? Who shall say that amongst the worshippers now congregated in His courts, there are not some who will offer an unacceptable service; some who will seek the Lord this day without reverence or holy fear, only from carnal and worldly motives; some who resemble those disciples whom our Lord rebuked, because they followed Him, not for the miracles which He did, but because they did eat of the loaves and were filled?” That this may not be the case with any of us; and with a view to advance the object for which this solemn thanksgiving has been ordered, let me shortly offer some few considerations which the services in which we have been engaged mainly suggest such considerations as may, by God's blessing, serve to fix in our minds a lasting remembrance of the mercies we have just received,