Notes of a sermon preached by' the Rev. C. E. Darwent in Union Church, Sunday evening, March 5.
Psalm XI., 6:—
"Many, O Lord, are Thy wonderful' works that Thou hast done And Thy thoughts which are to us-ward.
They cannot be set in order unto-Thee:
They are more than can be numbered."
Psalm XI. hae always been a favourite; more especially of men and women who have lived in strenuous times and who have needed all the strength and comfort that can be gathered from all quarters.
In peaceful times people do not feel they need much support. In still weather "hose: ron chimneys that We sometimes see, need no staying' wires; but when the golo is blowing: they do. So in times of trouble and alarm the-soul of man needs supports and comforts. We will take the case of a woman and a man who made our country what it is. Queen Elizabeth is accused of doing all kinds of reprehensible things. Some modern historians will not have her "good Queen Bess" any more. But in @ country in transition as it then was between' the old faith and the new ét needed a brave woman to battle it out, And on her silver was the last verse of this Psalm: "Make no! tarrying, O my God." What a ringing verse that is! It put heart! into her and she won. Then Cromwell, who broke for ever absolutist- power in Britain, loved this Psalm, We should not have been fighting for liberty now if he} had not given it to us. Let us} remember that. And once, on September 4, 1654, he delivered speech in the Painted Chamber at Whitehall on the "stupendous providenoes of God." "As David," he said, "in. like case exclaimed, 'Many, © Lord, are the wonderful, works 'Thou hast done: and Thy} thoughts which are to us-ward: they cannot be reckoned up in order unto Thee.' So we might go on quoting people who have been helped by this Psalm. Now the point to which T am leading is this: Itis to ask what it is that "good Queen Bess," and the Lord Protector and their like in their! strenuous lives, found in this! Psalm, and in this text, to make them gird on their armour more tightly for the fight. There must) be something very inspiring, very helpful.
Well, it was this: that in this Psalm, which may be taken to be true of the whole Bible, they got; up and away from their own thoughts to God's. You see that David dors not say that he gets comfort from what he thought
Text read from the printed page and cleaned; old type leaves the occasional error.