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TEMPORAL MERCIES A GROUND OF PRAISE [Note: Thanksgiving Sermon for Peace, written January 18, 1816. It is not to be supposed that the same circumstances will ever occur again; and therefore the first intention of the author was to omit them altogether. But he conceives that the statement of them may serve to shew, how any other existing circumstances may be, not unprofitably, stated, when the occasion shall call for it.]
THE common habit of mankind is, to rest in the gift, and forget the Giver. But we should make the gifts of God a ladder, as it were, whereby to ascend to him; and take occasion from every blessing he communicates, to magnify and adore that bounty from which it proceeds. Nor should we be so engrossed with our personal mercies, as to overlook those which are national. The pious Jews thought they could never sufficiently praise their God for his mercies vouchsafed to Israel. The theme that beyond all delighted them was, to recount the wonders of love and mercy which their nation had experienced from their first coming out of Egypt even to the day wherein they lived. Who was the author of this psalm we do not know: but it seems evidently to have been written after the return of the Jews from the Babylonish Captivity, and most probably in the times of Nehemiah, who rebuilt the wall of Jerusalem, and dedicated it to God with sacrifices and songs of praise [Note: Neh_12:27; Neh_12:43.]. Certainly God’s interpositions for that people exceeded all that ever he did for any other nation: but next to Israel, methinks, we of this country may adopt the language at the close of this psalm, “He hath not dealt so with any nation [Note: ver. 20.].” Let us consider,
I. The grounds here stated for praise to God—
We forbear to enter on the Jewish history for the elucidation of our text: intending rather to confine ourselves to the mercies which we are at this time called to commemorate.
Behold then what the Lord hath done for us! Behold,
1. The protection he hath afforded us from without—
[Not a country in Europe, except our own, but has suffered from the ravages of war: yet we, with our vast extent of coast, assailable from every port in Europe, and with every power in Europe at one time leagued against us, have been preserved from invasion; notwithstanding we were, far beyond any other nation, the objects of envy and hatred to our most powerful foe; and notwithstanding the immense preparations that were made by him for our destruction. But God has truly “strengthened the bars of our gates,” so that they could not be forced; or rather “he himself has been a wall of fire round about us,” so that not even any serious attempt has been made to invade our land. Other nations far less accessible than ours have been made scenes of most dreadful devastation [Note: Russia, in 1812.]; but with respect to us, such a restraint has been imposed on our enemies, that they could never carry into execution their cruel projects [Note: Psa_124:1-8.].]
2. The blessings with which he has loaded us “within”—
[He hath blessed us with increase, so that, notwithstanding the ravages of war, our population has greatly increased. With union of sentiment he hath blessed us to an extent almost unprecedented in our history. The whole nation have been fully convinced, that the war was both just and necessary, and that it was carried on, not for the gratifying of ambition, but for security and independence. With a patient endurance of all the burthens occasioned by the war, all ranks and orders amongst us have also been greatly blessed. It could never have been conceived that such contributions could have been raised without exciting the most grievous complaints: but they have been paid with liberality and cheerfulness from one end of the land even to the other. With a respect for religion also we have been blessed beyond any former period of our existence as a nation. The societies that have sprung up, in the very midst of war, for the diffusion of the Holy Scriptures throughout the world, for the conversion of both Jews and Gentiles to the faith of Christ, for the instruction of the rising generation, and for the promotion of piety in every possible way, have far exceeded all that had arisen during whole centuries before. Truly these things abundantly shew how greatly God has blessed us; insomuch that we may say, like Israel of old, “He hath not dealt so with any nation [Note: ver. 20.].”]
3. The restoration of peace in our borders—
[With only two short intervals, the war has continued five and twenty years: and now at last we are favoured with a peace, which, we hope and trust, will be of long continuance. It is not such a peace as has been often made, a peace no better than an armed truce; but one which our enemy will scarcely venture to violate, seeing that all Europe is leagued together for its preservation. To say that it is a favourable peace, is to disparage it altogether: for it infinitely surpasses all that our most sanguine or ambitious statesmen of former days ever ventured to desire. It has left us too in a state of elevation, prosperity, and power, which our country never before attained. And we have the happiness to say, it is universal, in India, no less than in America and Europe. Now is the happy time come, when we may “beat our swords into ploughshares, and our spears into pruning-hooks,” and “sit every one of us under our own vine and fig-tree, none making us afraid [Note: Mic_4:3-4.].”]
4. The abundant provision he has made for our wants—
[When an extraordinary plenty was predicted by the prophet Elisha in Samaria, the answer given him by the chief courtier was, “Behold, if the Lord would make windows in heaven, might this thing be [Note: 1Ki_7:1-2.]?” or, in other words, “The thing is impossible.” In the same strain would any one have replied, if the existing state of things had been predicted as to be accomplished amongst us. But behold, we are, contrary to all reasonable expectation, so “filled with the finest of the wheat,” that the very cheapness of it creates a general embarrassment: and this singular phenomenon exists, that the only subject of complaint heard in the nation at this time is, that God has been too good to us, and has overwhelmed us, as it were, with his superabundant kindness and bounty. The promise made to Israel has been almost literally fulfilled to us: he has given us such abundance, that “we have scarcely room to receive it [Note: Mal_3:10.].”]
Such being the circumstances of our country at this day, let us consider,
II. Our duty arising from them—
Every blessing which God bestows, whether on nations or individuals, calls for a suitable tribute of praise and thanksgiving. Such a tribute are we at this time called to pay: “Praise the Lord, O Jerusalem; praise thy God, O Zion.”
In order that we may discharge this debt for so many mercies,
1. Let us view the hand of God in them—
[As “war and pestilence and famine are judgments sent of God,” so peace and all other national blessings are the gifts of his gracious providence. “There is neither good nor evil in a city, but it proceeds from God.” Especially must he be viewed in all those? great mercies which have been vouchsafed to us. Israel of old had not more abundant reason for the acknowledgments made by them, than we ourselves to adopt their strains [Note: See Psa_124:1-8.] — — — We are but too apt to be looking to second causes, and to be giving to the creature the honour that is due to God only. But let us be on our guard against this, lest we turn into a curse every blessing that has been bestowed upon us.]
2. Let us duly appreciate their value—
[It is not easy for us, who have seen so little the calamities of war, to estimate in any measure aright, either the protection we have experienced, or the peace which has terminated all our dangers. But, if we could go over a field of battle where myriads of the dead and dying are strewed upon the ground; if we could traverse whole provinces which have been desolated by fire and sword, where countless multitudes are reduced to the utmost possible distress and misery by their pitiless enemies; if we could see with what rapid strides pestilence and famine are following in the train of war; methinks we should need no exhortation to gratitude for the blessings we now enjoy.
True it is that spiritual blessings are of incalculably greater importance: and if we could say, that we had been protected from the incursions of sin and Satan—that we had been “blessed with all spiritual blessings in heavenly things in Christ Jesus;”—that we had been brought to a state of peace with God and in our own consciences—and that we enjoyed in rich profusion the bread of life—we should then have more abundant cause for praise. But we must not forget that our temporal blessings, especially when compared with the troubles which we might have been at this time enduring, have a most favourable aspect on our spiritual welfare; and that the more spiritual we are, the more disposed we shall be to acknowledge God’s kindness towards us, whereinsoever it has been displayed.
We must remember, too, that, as members of the great body of the nation, we are called to bless God for our national mercies. Now national mercies are of a temporal nature: no nation, as a nation, participates spiritual bleissings, any further than the mere external enjoyment of them: individuals alone have the grace of God in their hearts: and therefore, as members of the national body, we are bound, in whatever capacity we have received God’s mercies, in that capacity, as far as possible, gratefully to requite them.]
3. Let us render unto God the tribute they demand—
[“Praise” is surely the least that we can render for such accumulated blessings: and this, as is observed in the psalm before us, is “both comely and pleasant [Note: ver. 1.].” Behold how Moses adored God for the deliverance of Israel from the Egyptian hosts [Note: Exodus 15.]! See how David makes every distinct blessing a subject of distinct acknowledgment, and no less than twenty-six times in as many short verses ascribes every thing to the free and everlasting mercy of his God [Note: Psalms 136. See particularly ver. 1, 2, 3, 26.]! And as David elsewhere calls on every rank and order of society to discharge that debt to God [Note: Psa_135:19-21; Psa_150:1-6.], so in our text both “Jerusalem and Zion,” both priests and people, are called upon to praise the Lord: yea, the psalm both begins and ends with this just requirement, “Praise ye the Lord; praise ye the Lord.” Let every one amongst us then stir up his soul to this blessed work; and “let all that is within us bless his holy name.”
Let us not however rest in acknowledgments, however devout. There is a more substantial way in which we are bound to praise him, that is, in our lives, “by giving up ourselves to his service, and by walking before him in holiness and righteousness all our days.” This is the union which God himself prescribes; “Whoso offereth me praise, honoureth me; and to him that ordereth his conversation aright, will I shew the salvation of God [Note: Psa_50:23.].”]