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more may we hope that he wall respect those offered to him this day ! " The mercy of the Most High" has hitherto been signally manifested towards vis, and if we trust in him it shall yet be continued to us. We say not indeed but that, as a nation, we may be greatly " moved." It is certain that we de- serve the heaviest calamities that can fall upon us ; but we shall not be given up to ruin if we cry unto God for help. To the end of the world shall that promise be fulfilled to repenting nations P.]
Sure we are that they who trust in God for spi- ritual blessings shall never be disappointed —
[Our thoughts on this occasion are not to be confined to temporal concerns. Much as we are interested in national mercies, the welfare of our souls is yet more important : yea, our spiritual progress is the great means of obtaining God's protection to the state. Trust in God therefore, for spiritual blessings, is not foreign to the business of this day. Whatever our political sentiments may be, we are all equally concerned to seek acceptance through Christ. We all need to trust in the promises made to us in him ; and, if we do, " the gates of hell shall not be able to prevail against us." Though we have been led captive by our lusts, "we shall have redemption through his tilood;" and though we have still to conflict with sin and Satan, we shall be made more than conquerors. The mercy of the Most High shall assuredly be extended to us. Sooner shall heaven and earth pass away than that promise fail of accomplishment'!.]
Application —
[Let us habituate ourselves to view the hand of God in all our mercies, and to trust in him both for personal and national blessings ; but let us not think, we trust in God, when in reality we do not. Trust in God necessarily implies a renun- ciation of all creature-confidence : it also supposes that we sin- cerely commit our cause to God, and that we plead the promises made to us in his word. If we seek not the Lord in this man- ner, we trust rather in chance, or in our own vain conceits, than in him. Let us then be earnest in our applications at the throne of grace. Let us be exceeding thankful to God for the mercies we have received, and in every difficulty, temporal or spiritual, confide in him. Thus shall we see an happy issue to our present troubles, and be monuments of God's truth and faithfulness to all eternity.]
P Jer. xviii. 7, 8. i 2 Chron. xx. 20.
526. J OUR lord's complaint on the cross. 127