Year: 1872

ts iis shall sieid meat the flock shall OF from


rs- li ard tiere shall he no herd in the stalls


ui eirice she Lord. will joy in the God Of
rag Salvation. .'-flAHAEEgK iii, n.


Among the warnings that Moses delivered 10
the chosen people when the forty years wander
in-s in The wilderness we're ended. and they stood


on the banks Of the Jordan, ready to enter in
the Compromised land-''a good land, land Of
brooks Of water, Of fountains and depths that


spring cut Of valleys and hills land of wheat
IND barley and vines, and fg-trees, and pome-
granates; land Of oil olive, and honey" he
added this, most emphaiieally: Beware lest
when thou hast eaten and art full. and hast built
goodly houses. and dwelt therein, and thy herds
multiply and thy silver and thy gold is multi
piled, then thine heart be lifted up, and thou
forget the Lord thy God, and thou say in thine
heart. Ny power and the might of mine hand
hath gotten me this wealth" And 10 order that
they might remember that il was the Lord their
God who gave them power to get wealth, he
gave them this command, When thou hast
eaten and art foil, then thou shalt bless the Lord
ihy God for the good land that He hath given
thee" The feast OF tabernacles was appointed
for this very purpose that in the fifteenth day of
the seventh month, when they had gathered in
the fruit OF the land, they might keep solemn
feast unto the Lord. And in this feast, as per
peiual reminder TO them that they were the
tenants and not the possessors of he soil-that
rs they would see the present occupants melt
away before their eyes, that they might be
planted in their promised inheritance, so it was
IN Gods power, if they forgot Him, to remove
them at His will-they were commanded during
the seven days that 1t lasted to go out of their
houses and dwell in booths made of palm
branches, and boughs of thick trees" that their
children and their children's children might learn
that their fathers had been wanderers in the
desert. before God in His mercy bad brought
them into this good land. During the days of
Joshua this command was observed, but no
sooner was he gathered to his fathers than it fell
into abeyance, and the custom was not restored
t the warning voice Of Moses had been fulfilled
by the carrying away Of the ten tribes, and the
seventy years captivity Of Judah. Then after a
lapse Of nine hundred years, in the time of Ezra,
IN a grateful sense of Gods mercies to them in
restoring them again to their own land, all the
congregations Of them that were come again out
Of The capiivity made booths, and sat under
the booths for since the days Of Joshua the
son Of Nun, unto that day, had not the children
OF Israel done So.


Now we make but little use Of the Bible if
We can not read 10 that removal of the ten tribes
from of the land that God had given them, and
in the captivity OF judah, warning to all Chris
tian nations lest they TOO forget God, and gather
the produce Of the soil as the result Of their own
industry, the effects Of scientific cultivation,
without any acknowledgement Of Him who is the |
Ciyer. For what purpose is that history written,
with warnings literally fulfilled centuries after the
mouth that uttered them had been silent in the /
grave except as a standing warning to all nations |
who have received the Bible as the Word of
God that people which receives the bOunties
daily and yearly showered around them, and .
gathers them up for its own aggrandisement, and
wealth, and indulgence without any thought of
God who gives them-any remembrance of the
poor around them-any care for the maintenance
Of the service Of God, for which it is a divine law
that 4 tenth Of Gods gifts should be given back
by the receiver, then that people is tempting
Cod 10 remove them from land Of which they
are such unworthy tenants. and plant other oecu-
pants 10 their room. who will "render him the
fruits IN their season.


Since. then. tits divine command that every
people should make a public recognition that the
bounty they enjoy is the gift of God, it is mat
ter Tor which every American citizen should be
devoutly thankful that at the close of each year,
when the harvests and vintages OF that great
continent have been gathered in, day should be
set apart BY the President for national thanks
giving to Almighty God, who maketh the earth
+" bring forth and bud, that it may give seed TO
the sower and bread TO the eater" And if in
England there is no one day appointed for
thanksgiving services, it is result of the revival
that the last lew years have witnessed in the
Church at home that there is scarcely parish in
the land in which after the harvest is reaped,
q special service Of thanksgiving is not held, and
offerings freely made for the advancement of the
glory OF God, and the good of His Church. So
universal are these Harvest Festivals, that the
Convection Of the Province of Canterbury has
prepared special form of service suited to the
occasion. from which the Collects, Psalms, and
Lessons we have used to-day were taken.


Il Is, then, most fitting that we, who are not
separated from our brethren in England and
America, bat belong 70 the same Anglican CON-
munion, should not forego to unite with them in
showing forth our grateful sense of the mercies
We have received.


lu this Kingdom, where perpetual summer is
eHioyed, and we never witness the death and
decay Of nature where we are removed from the
poverty and want Of large cities, there is
temptation to think only Of ourselves to be
prapt up IN ourselves to forget the miseries of
our brethren at home, and TO clasp to ourselves
the bouniies that are strewn around MS, as if all
that We had to do was to gather them and enjoy
then. But # once We stop, as we do to-day, to
give thanks 10 God fOF these gifts, we at once
brought face to face with the truth, that, if the
fruits Of the earth are Gods gift, it is in His
power 10 withhold them when He pleases.


This is a truth We have to rise to in the present
day, and when drought comes, and the cane
Vithers, or blight comes upon our oranges and