prove useful to sent to hear it. many 92 of you who were not preMay you learn, from what here you read, both how to be thankful for being spared, and how to become more ready to depart, against the time when it shall please God to take you hence! From your faithful friend and Pastor, Vicarage, Sedgley near Dudley, Nov. 6, 1832. C. GIRDLESTONE. SERMON VII. THE COSTLY SACRIFICE OF THANKSGIVING. 2 SAMUEL 24. 24. And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God of that which doth cost me nothing. THESE were the words of King David, when the pestilence was stayed in Israel; and when he was directed to offer on the occasion a sacrifice of thanksgiving. The destroying angel was " by the threshing place of Araunah the Jebusite;" the disease, inflicted by this minister of wrath, had reached as far as this particular spot of ground, when “the Lord repented him of the evil, and said to the angel that destroyed the people, It is enough: stay now thine hand." (v. 16.) David was the same day instructed by the prophet Gad: "Go up, rear an altar unto the Lord in the threshing floor of Araunah the Jebusite." (v. 18.) To rear an altar implied also to offer sacrifice. And the intention of so doing was to testify, in a public manner, the thankfulness both of the king and of the people, for their deliverance. If this was done under the law, shall we, under the Gospel, do less than this? Shall we rear no visible testimonial, for them that come after to behold? Shall we offer no sacrifice for God's honour, nay, for the satisfaction of our own thankful hearts? What we may best offer shall be presently considered. But, first, let us learn further of David in what spirit we should make the offering. The king went, as he was directed, to Araunah. He proposed to purchase of him the ground for the altar to be built upon. And here we might expect a readiness to sell, an eagerness to profit by so good an opportunity of gain. We might expect it; if we were to judge from the disposition, manifest amongst those who deal, to take advantage of each other's necessities. But "Araunah said unto David, Let my lord the king take, and offer up, what seems good unto him: behold here be oxen for burnt sacrifice, and threshing instruments, and other instruments of the oxen for wood." (5. 22.) Not only did he ask no price for the land; but he offered also to provide, at his own expense, all things necessary for the sacrifice. "All these things did Araunah, as a king, give unto the king." (5. 23.) Not then from the king only, but from the subject, from the subject who was in this matter "as a king," we may learn this lesson of Christian generosity. We may learn to vie with each other, on an occasion such as this, which shall be the most free to give, the rich or the poor; and to imitate in our bounty the King, our heavenly Father, who hath restored to us health and glad ness. "And the king said unto Araunah, Nay; but I will surely buy it of thee at a 2 price: neither will I offer burnt offerings unto the Lord my God, of that which doth cost me nothing." This was a resolution worthy of a man described as being "after God's own heart." (Acts 13. 22.) This is a principle which we may now profitably apply to the sacrifice which we have this day to offer to the Lord our God. Let not us offer of that which costs us nothing. Let not us offer words without deeds, profession without practice, prayers without devotion, thanks without a gift. Have we not been spared in the midst of judgment? Have we not seen hundreds fall around us; and ourselves been expecting that fearful summons, for which we felt ill prepared? Owe we not to God all that we now have? Owe we not to Him that we are here to enjoy it? Nay, are we not indebted to his goodness, for that He hath stayed a worse evil than the pestilence; for that He hath atoned for sin; for that He hath vanquished death; for that He hath opened to us, whether now we die, or are spared many years to live; opened to us, at the end of our so |