The act of thanksgiving must be, in the fullest sense, a national act; that is, not only as proceeding from the Rulers of the nation, but as being generally shared in by the nation at large. The feast of praise and rejoicing should be coextensive with the fast of mourning and humiliation. Let it not be urged, that days of thanksgiving have been already observed in various places. Valuable as these have been, as proofs of individual thankfulness to the Giver of all good, and of zeal for the honour of His name, they are only private acts. The people of this kingdom, as a nation, acknowledged publicly the Providence of the King of kings, by ascribing to His displeasure the Pestilence which had broken out amongst them, and by imploring His mercy and protection. In the proclamation for a day of National Fasting and Humiliation, it was ordered, that prayers and supplications should be offered up in the most devout and solemn manner to the Divine Majesty, for obtaining pardon of our sins, and for averting the heavy judgments which our manifold provocatious had most justly deserved. That day was observed throughout the land with the deepest reverence and solemnity. And has not the prayer been answered? Has not our visitation been light in comparison with many other nations ? We are, therefore, under a vow. By an act of thanksgiving, equally public and general as that of our humiliation, on one day, we are bound, as a nation, to acknowledge God's power and goodness, first in the mitigation, and now in the removal, of the Pestilence. "When thou shalt vow a vow unto the Lord thy God, thou shalt not slack to pay it: for the

Lord thy God will surely require it of thee, and it would be sin in thee."* Let nothing be allowed to interfere with this great duty of publicly offering our grateful tribute of praise and thanksgiving to our gracious Preserver, who has chastened His offending people with a gentle hand, and suffered not the scourge to assume the fearful character of a wide-spreading and wide-wasting Pestilence. If the Royal Proclamation be little regarded, and the public recognition of God's providential care over us be imperfectly made; the Pestilence, which long appeared to resemble a smouldering fire, may be again stirred up and blown into a bright flame, by the blast of the breath of the Divine displeasure.

The public recognition of God's government, and thanksgiving for His fatherly protection, must further be accompanied with plans and prayers for the reformation of those sins which have subjected us, as a nation, to the Divine displeasure. Once before, the disease appeared almost to have past away. After the day of national humiliation, it declined in a wonderful manner for some time, and then reviving, became more widely extended than at first. Might it not be, that, as a nation, we had not profited by the gentle chastisement at first inflicted, and required a severer punishment? Might it not be, that, as a nation, we were not duly grateful for the mitigation of a pestilence which had desolated whole regions, and were therefore made to drink deeper of that cup of suffering of which so many nations had drunk to the dregs and wrung them out. But, whatever might be the

* Deut. xxiii. 21.

+ Psalm Ixxv. 8. Isaiah li. 17.

nature of the offence, the intention of the punishment could not be misunderstood. The Almighty does not needlessly afflict the sons of men. The

severer infliction, therefore, showed that our sins, as a nation, required a severer punishment. If, then, that severer punishment has been applied, and the proper effect not yet produced, what terrible judgments may be still hanging over our guilty and impenitent land!

Again, the storm appears to have died away. Let, then, the nation put away its sins, and with one heart and voice pray that the sunshine of Divine favour may be permanently restored, and the tempest of his wrath not again be allowed to gather and burst upon our land. Awful is the state of that people, of whom it may be said, as of old, "Thou hast stricken them, but they have not grieved; thou hast consumed them, but they have refused to receive correction they have made their faces harder than a rock; they have refused to return.' From such a state may we be preserved; for the Lord himself hath said, “Shall I not visit for these things?—Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?" Rather may it be, that in our day of thanksgiving this song shall be sung in our land: "We have a strong city; salvation will God appoint for walls and bulwarks. Open ye the gates, that the righteous nation, which keepeth the truth, may enter in. And it shall be said, in that day, Lo! this is our God, we have waited for Him, and he will save us. This is the Lord, we have waited for Him; we shall be glad and rejoice in His salvation.”†

I have thus, my brethren, endeavoured to set before you the public duty which we all owe to

God, as members of a Christian community, to assemble in His house on the day of national thanksgiving, to pay our vows, to offer our praises for His mercy towards us, as a people, who have much sinned against Him, and to implore His grace and blessing, that we may become a righteous nation. But let us take heed, lest we deceive ourselves, by thinking that there our duty ends. We have a duty which we owe to ourselves as well as to our country: we are to mourn over our own sins; we have to redeem our own vows. Let, therefore, each try and examine his own heart and life, as to how far he, by his own sins, has swelled the amount of national guilt, which has called down the Divine displeasure; and then let him offer his praise and thanksgiving for mercy shown towards himself; and pray for grace, to enable him to amend whatever may be unsound in his faith, or unholy in his practice. These two points require our careful consideration. May the Holy Spirit, my Christian Brethren, bless such consideration to the benefit of us all!

1. That, upon offering our praises and thanksgivings to God, for having preserved us, each is to examine his heart and life as to how far, by his own sins, he swelled the amount of national guilt, which called down the Divine displeasure. Two great ends may be hoped to be answered by such an examination: one, that the sense of our sinfulness may make us more thankful to God for having allowed us longer time for preparation for death and judgment; the other, that we may be enabled to enter upon that reformation, without which our sacrifice of praise and thanksgiving would be in vain

To be able to enter into such an examination, we must “commune with our own hearts, and in our own chambers, and be still." We must lay before us our Bibles, and with earnest prayer to Him, “ by whose inspiration all Scripture is given,' we must "search the Scriptures." We must search with an humble and teachable spirit, endeavouring to free the mind from every preconceived opinion; and determine, henceforward, with God's grace, to make His word, and not the opinions of men, the guide of our actions. Ignorance of Scripture is the grand cause of want of true religion amongst men and so long as his people refuse to read their Bibles for themselves, the Christian Minister has little hope of their reformation. If, therefore, brethren, you are really in earnest as to religion, at once begin the study of Scripture, through which alone you can obtain that knowledge of the strictness and holiness of God's law; and of your own natural weakness and sinfulness, which will bring you to the Saviour, with deep humiliation and selfabasement; and, yet, with an humble and holy joy, that there is a way of escape provided for the greatest of sinners through Him; " for the blood of Jesus Christ, His Son, cleanseth us. from all sin."†

Let us now proceed with our examination, first stating some of the sins which may be thought to have subjected us, as a nation, to the Divine displeasure. All sin is an offence against God; but there are some sins which are, in a more especial degree, sins against the majesty of the Most High; such are a distrust, and, still more, a denial of His providence, and a disre