(A Thanksgiving Sermon.)
xxvi. 12. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou hast wrought all our work in us.
The joyfulness of the occasion. Peace a greater blessing than mere victory; for he that celebrates victory celebrates an event which has been produced by an incalculable measure of human suffering. Let us consider—
I. What there is in the restoration of peace, generally considered, to excite our gratitude. 1. The effusion of human blood is stayed, and all the suffering inescapable from war. 2. The injurious effects of war on human character afford another reason for thanksgiving on the return of peace. War renders men callous to human misery. The sacredness of human life is forgotten. Wars lead to intestine dissensions, and embitter and perpetuate national animosities.
II. What there is in the particular circumstances of this country to warrant us in considering the blessing as of special and particular value. 1. The triumph of which this peace is the result is the triumph of a righteous cause. Peace is often the result of the superiority acquired by the aggressor. The cause of right does not always at once prevail. Unoffending natives are conquered, or obliged to submissions contrary to their rights and interests, and then peace follows; peace dictated, not argued. There is peace, but not the spirit of peace. 2. We have preserved our national honour. Our victory has not been purchased by any alliance of which we have cause to be ashamed. 3. Peace does not find us, as it finds many nations, with our houses desolated and our cities destroyed by fire. 4. It was seasonable. We had put forth our utmost strength. Had we not succeeded at the moment we should have fallen to rise no more as a nation of the first order. 5. It may be considered an indication of the Divine approbation. On this subject we would not be presumptuous, but it may at least be affirmed that the happy change in our affairs, which has ultimately led to peace, followed, and, in some instances, immediately followed, certain acts of national reformation (e.g., the emancipation of the slaves) and acknowledgement of God which, from the condescending assurance of His Word, we know must have been acceptable to Him. 6. It will increase our means of promoting the kingdom of Christ in the world, and thus establish our national prosperity by continuing to us the blessing of God.
III. The reasons of our thankful acknowledgement of God on this occasion. He is the giver of the blessing of peace. Text. This is a most important principle, and if our hearts be not firmly grounded in it, our thanksgiving is a mockery; for why do we thank Him if we ascribe the work to second causes? He that excludes God from the world of providence might as well exclude Him from the world of nature. He who can attribute the events which are daily taking place in society, and especially such events as are connected with the celebration of this day, to mere human agency, is not less an atheist than the man who ascribes the birth and being of the fair system of the universe to chance or the dance of atoms.
Conclusion.—The proper expression of our thankfulness for this great blessing will be to do our utmost in the diffusion of the Gospel, that the final reign of the Prince of Peace may commence, and “quietness and assurance for ever” becomes the lot of man.—Richard Watson: Works, vol. ii. pp. 20–40.
Holiness Accomplished, Peace Ordained.
xxvi. 12. Lord, Thou wilt ordain peace for us: for Thou also hast wrought all our works in us.
Rather, “for us.” The Church acknowledges that all her deliverances and successes have been accomplished for her; and on what God has done for her in the past, she rightly bases her expectation as to what God will do for her in the future. He who was able to deliver His people from their bondage in Babylon, would secure peace for them when He had restored them to their own land. But, then, of all the works that God accomplishes for His people, some of the most important are precisely those which He accomplishes in them. So we may profitably meditate on our text as it stands: