Morning
Time: 7:12 AM PST
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." --Isaiah 54:17
This day is notable in English history for two great deliverances wrought by
God for us. On this day the plot of the Papists to destroy our Houses of
Parliament was discovered, 1605.
"While for our princes they prepare
In caverns deep a burning snare,
He shot from heaven a piercing ray,
And the dark treachery brought to day."
And secondly--to-day is the anniversary of the landing of King William
III, at Torbay, by which the hope of Popish ascendancy was quashed, and
religious liberty was secured, 1688.
This day ought to be celebrated, not by the saturnalia of striplings, but by
the songs of saints. Our Puritan forefathers most devoutly made it a special
time of thanksgiving. There is extant a record of the annual sermons preached by
Matthew Henry on this day. Our Protestant feeling, and our love of liberty,
should make us regard its anniversary with holy gratitude. Let our hearts and
lips exclaim, "We have heard with our ears, and our fathers have told us the
wondrous things which Thou didst in their day, and in the old time before them."
Thou hast made this nation the home of the gospel; and when the foe has risen
against her, Thou hast shielded her. Help us to offer repeated songs for
repeated deliverances. Grant us more and more a hatred of Antichrist, and hasten
on the day of her entire extinction. Till then and ever, we believe the promise,
"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." Should it not be laid
upon the heart of every lover of the gospel of Jesus on this day to plead for
the overturning of false doctrines and the extension of divine truth? Would it
not be well to search our own hearts, and turn out any of the Popish lumber of
self-righteousness which may lie concealed therein?