exceedingly, and suffereth not their
cattle to decrease; and again, when they are diminished or brought low
through affliction, through any plague or trouble, though He suffer them
to be evil entreated by tyrants, and let them wander out of the way in
the wilderness; yet helpeth He the poor out of misery, and maketh them
households like a flock of sheep." (Ps. cvii.)

O my friends, have not these words ever been wonderfully fulfilled to
some of you! Then see how true it is that God will not always be
chiding, neither keepeth He His anger for ever; but He knoweth our frame,
He remembereth that we are but dust, and like as a father pitieth his
children, so does He pity those who fear Him; and oftentimes, too, in His
great condescension, those who fear Him not.

My friends, I have been trying in this sermon to make you feel that you
are under God's guidance, that His providence is trying to train and
educate you. I have told you that there is a blessed use and meaning in
your very sorrows, and in this life of continual toil which God has
appointed for you; I have told you that you ought to thank God for those
sorrows: how much more then ought you to thank Him for your joys. If you
should thank Him for want, surely you should thank Him for plenty. O
thank Him earnestly--not only with your lips, but in your lives. If you
believe that He has redeemed you with His precious blood, show your
thankfulness by living as redeemed men, holy to God--who are not your
own, but bought with a price; therefore show forth God's glory, the power
of His grace in your bodies and your spirits which are His. If you feel
that it is a noble thing to be an Englishman--especially an English
soldier or an English sailor--a noble and honourable privilege to be
allowed to do your duty in the noblest nation and the noblest church
which the world ever saw--then live as Englishmen in covenant with God;
faithful to Him who has redeemed you and washed you from your sins in His
own blood. Do you be faithful and obedient to Christ's Spirit, and He
will be faithful to those promises of His. Though a thousand fall at thy
right hand, yet the evil shall not come nigh thee. Blessed are all they
that fear the Lord and walk in His ways. For thou shalt eat the labours
of thine hand. O well art thou and happy shalt thou be. The Lord out of
heaven shall so bless thee, that thou shalt see England in prosperity all
thy life long. Yea, thou shalt see thy chi