1 781] REV. WILLIAM SMITH, D. D. 49 



thanksgiving of David, on receiving back the Ark of God, the great 

 pledge and deposition of the civil and religious privileges of his nation. 

 On that happy occasion* "He and all the Elders of the people, and 

 the Levites, and the Captains over thousands, appeared in solemn pro- 

 cession, with instruments of music, psalteries, and harps, and cymbals, 

 and the sound of the cornet and of the trumpet, and the lifting up the 

 voice with joy; and David himself came singing and dancing before 

 them, as a testimony of his true piety and gratitude; though Saul's 

 daughter, beholding out at a window, and not animated with the same 

 godly rapture, despised or laughed at him in her heart as guilty of 

 levity." 



But why should I mention more examples? The same Reason that 

 calls us to humble ourselves before God, on the marks of his Dis- 

 pleasure, calls us to rejoice before Him, with Thanksgiving, on the 

 marks of his Favou'-. For a series of years past we have had many 

 days of weeping and sorrow and fasting; and the hardest heart must 

 bleed to recount the scenes of suffering and anguish and distress which 

 we have beheld. In every city, in every village, nay, in every private 

 house and family, long hath the voice of sorrow been heard, for heroes 

 slain in battle; kindred hands imbrued in kindred blood; fathers de- 

 prived of sons; sons of fathers; wives of husbands; brothers of brothers; 

 and friends of friends. 



But we are this day called to express our gratitude to God on events 

 of a more pleasing nature, the Success of the allied armies of these 

 United States, almost in every quarter of our country, by land and by 

 Sea ; the blessing the fruits of the earth, and giving us plentiful har- 

 vests ; and, particularly, the capture of a General f of the first rank, 

 with his whole army, under the direction of our illustrious commander- 

 in-chief; yielding us the happy prospect of a speedy restoration of our 

 former peace and tranquillity, upon solid and lasting foundations. 



Although we dare not call this deliverance a miracle in our favour, or 

 in any degree comparable to the miracle for which the song in our text 

 was offered to the God of Israel ; yet when we reflect on the gloomy 

 prospect which lay before us a few months ago ; when we expected the 

 war at our doors, and all its concomitant ravages and distress; when we 

 beheld our Fields waving with Plenty, and almost despaired of reaping 

 them in Peace, or enjoying their Fruits in Safety; can we forbear 

 praising the Lord of Hosts, the God of our salvation, for the deliver- 

 ance he hath wrought for us, and the security we enjoy? Can we for- 

 bear to adore that Providence, which, by means almost unexpected to 

 us, "on the me day; nay almost at the same hour, brought Fleets 

 from the South, and Armies from the North, for our protection and 

 aid?" Can we cease to admire that magnanimity and steady perse- 



* I Chronicles xv. 16, etc. f Lord Cornwallis. 



