THE BLESSED CHRIST.

NO. 3427

A SERMON PUBLISHED ON THURSDAY, OCTOBER 8TH, 1914.

DELIVERED BY C. H. SPURGEON,

AT THE METROPOLITAN TABERNACLE, NEWINGTON.

ON THURSDAY EVENING, 21ST JULY, 1870.

“Hosanna to the Son of David. Blessed in he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” — Matthew 21:9.

ONE feels very thankful that we have a few Hebrew words in common use in our Christian assemblies a kind of link between Israel after the flesh and Israel after the spirit. “Hallelujah,” they sang of old, and we sing “Hallelujah,” too. “Abba Father,” they said; we also say, “Abba Father.” And this word “Hosanna” is another of the few that remain to us of which we understand the meaning, though we use them still in a translated form — Hosanna — “save Lord,” “bless Lord.” “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” I did not mention in the reading of the Psalm — (the 118th Psalm) — that both the 25th and 26th verses of that Psalm begin with the word Hosanna. One is translated “Save Lord,” and the other is “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” I shall take his common exclamation then, constantly used among the Jews, and we shall see as to its use among ourselves. And our first point will be to: —

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I. Consider Occasions When This Exclamation, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” Has Been, Or Will Be, Suitable.

And, first, in the olden times, the Israelites were accustomed to use this cry, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord,” when their heroes returned victorious from the battlefield. When they went up to the temple to give thanks publicly to God for victories over their enemies, they were met by the people, with this exclamation of joy, “Blessed, is he that cometh in Jehovah’s name.” Very unlike to the cries of other nations! Some nations only extolled the heroes, but the people of God see the hand of God, and they mark that the hero only comes in the name of the Lord, and while they give him blessings and wish him every good thing for what he has done, yet the praise is ascribed to the Master in whose name he comes — even Jehovah. While the Philistines would be extolling their god and Moab and Ammon would be lifting up the song to the idols they worshipped, Israel took care, in the song of triumph with which they saluted the returning victors, to extol and magnify the glory of the Lord — the Lord God of Israel — “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of Jehovah.” So, my dear friends, whenever we thank men for kindnesses which they render to us — (and it is our duty to be grateful to them) yet let us thank yet more the Lord our God. Thank God, and thank the secondary means, but do not ascribe the honor to the instrument alone, lest you set up an idol in the presence of God. Always take care to see that God, whom you worship, makes all things work through your friends for your help and your deliverance. So to each one who shall bring you good, whether spiritual or temporal good, “Blessed is he that comes to me with this mercy I recognize him as coming in Jehovah’s name.”

This exclamation might again have been most commonly used of the coming of our Lord. The Word became incarnate and stooped from the throne of heaven to the manger of Bethlehem’s stable. I know not that these words precisely were used, but surely in this spirit the angels sang their midnight carol when the Savior descended — “Glory to God in the highest. On earth peace, goodwill towards men.” What is the spirit of all that song but this word “Hosanna”? What is the essence of it all, but this sentence, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”? The shepherds could not have used a more significant and suitable expression; and the Easterns, as they gathered round that little cradle and offered their gold, their myrrh, and their incense, together with their grateful homage, might have looked at Mary and Joseph, and the child, and said of him, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” And had but the nations known it, had but Israel known it, had but the kings of the earth recognised it, one universal shout might have gone up to heaven: “At last the promised One is come! The seed of the woman is born! The Messiah has appeared! The Prince of Peace has come with innumerable blessings! Blessed is he that cometh in Jehovah’s name!” And methinks the very sea and land, even the heavens and the heaven of heavens, might have caught up the spirit of that hour, and the sea, with its waves, might have roared out, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” And ye forests — every tree within ye — might have burst forth in the self-same note till all the nations should have become one mouth for song, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.”

“Welcome, welcome, King of Kings!” when he shall come. Those that have watched most, and longed most, and hungered and thirsted most after that glorious advent shall be they who most joyfully shall go forth to meet King Solomon with the crown wherewith his mother crowned him in the day of his espousal, and this shall be the note of their triumphant greeting, “Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in Jehovah’s name.” Thus I have very briefly run through the occasions when this exclamation would seem to be exceedingly suitable. Now let us for a while consider: —

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II. The Suitability Of This Cry For Constant Use — not now and then, but always. And it may be viewed in two lights, first, as an exultation. “Blessed is he that cometh”: he is blessed: it is a blessed thing that he hath come. It may be viewed, in the next place, as a prayer, let him be blessed, let him prosper, and so on. First, then, as an exultation, a note of triumph, he is blessed that hath come in the name of the Lord, and ought we not to be always saying this, “Blessed be he that he should condescend to tabernacle among men! Blessed be he that it should be true that the Word was made flesh and dwelt among us, that we might behold his glory, the glory as of the Only Begotten of the Father, full of grace and truth”? He is blessed, for he came to earth fully qualified for all his work, endowed with all the wisdom, the knowledge, the unction, the anointing from on high that he could wish. He was blessed in his coming, blessed while he carried on the work. Though his the pain and sorrow, yet it was all blessing to us, from the first act he did as a man until he said, “It is finished.” When I think of him coming down as a man, coming down as a servant, coming to take upon himself to die for our sins, I can indeed say, “Blessed is he that cometh to all this in the name of the Lord” — comes as our brother, comes as our priest, comes as our substitute, comes as our scapegoat, comes as our great deliverer and propitiatory sacrifice, that we might be cleansed from sin. He is blessed all blessings are in him, all blessings come through him, all blessings belong to him. God has given all blessings to him because of this. He is blessed. And, brethren, if he be blessed in the work and the carrying of it on, is he not, and shall he not, be blessed in our esteem now that he hath mounted to the skies and taken the precious blood within the veil and sprinkled it there, and stands there now pleading as a prevalent high priest for us? Blessed is he that came in Jehovah’s name, the great Ambassador of peace between offended Deity and revolted man. He is our peace, and let his name for ever be blessed. He is our prince: let us adore him. He is all our salvation, all our desire. We ask nothing more than to be like him and be with him. Blessings in him. He is blessed. God Lath blessed him. For ever and for ever shall all generations call him blessed. It is an exultation then. We shout to his triumph, “Blessed is he that cometh.”

But it is a prayer. My dear friends, we desire to do all we can for the Lord Jesus Christ, how very limited are our capacities! If we were to give him all we have, and give our bodies to be burned, it would be very little for us to give to such a Savior. But what a mercy it is that there is no limit to what we may wish. We can bless him with our wishes, if we cannot with our acts. I was about to say we may bless him infinitely with our desires; at any rate, there is no limit to our capacity to desire. And those desires may take the very acceptable and prevalent form of prayer. What I cannot do for Christ, I can pray God to be done. What if I cannot preach his gospel in every land, yet where I can will I preach it and pray God to raise up many to proclaim it. And if I cannot crown his head with many crowns, yet would I lay at his feet such as I have, and then my desires would crown him over, and over, and over again, and my prayer would clamber up to his lofty throne and put fresh coronets upon his dear head, blessing him that he does not deny me a share of wishing what I cannot do, and of praying for what I cannot give. In this sense, brethren, we can, to a very great extent, bless him who comes in the name of the Lord — bless him with our wishes, our desires, our earnestness, and especially with our prayers.

Now, what is the blessing, then, which we would seek for our Lord Jesus Christ? What are the prayers that we would offer for him? It is written, “Prayer also shall be made for him continually.” What shall we ask for him?

We will ask, first, that he that cometh in the name of the Lord may be blessed in his Church. Oh! that he would bless the Church just now. I am afraid we have fallen upon lean times just now. It may be that God is about to chastise his Church, because when we had a revival we had not grace enough to keep it. Almost universally there is a cloud hanging over Israel — lethargy coming in place of earnestness. God knows we were never very earnest — I mean the Church of God at large was not very earnest — but yet that earnestness which did arise seems now to be vanishing. I pray God it may not vanish, but, on the contrary, may all the zeal which ever has been in our days be far exceeded — all the agony for souls, all the labor to proclaim the grace of God to them, all the earnest desires and prayers of God’s people — may all these be renewed with tenfold vigor, and in this way may we have to cry, “The Lord has visited his Church, and let his name be blessed.” We do to-night, I trust, put up the prayer, each one of us who belongs to this Church and people, “Lord prosper thy word, be pleased to give power to thy minister and increased grace to thy servants, holiness of life, separation from the world, power in prayer — give them communion with thyself. Grant that there may be peace within the borders of thy Church, and that the citizens of Zion may be filled with the finest of the wheat.” In this respect we will bless Christ by desiring a blessing on his Church, and seeking to promote its prosperity.

Next to this, I say, “Lord save” — “Lord bless” — him that cometh (putting it as a prayer for the scattering of the Church’s enemies and his own enemies). Christ has many enemies still in the world. The Pope, the Antichrist of Rome, with all his doctors and counsellors, assemble at this very hour — the incarnate Antichrist — at this present moment. And here in this England of ours there are priests busy up and down, in every court and lane, in every corner of the land, and our clergy of the Established Church, many of them double-dyed Papists, doing the work of Rome and eating the bread of a Protestant Church at the same time. And then there is infidelity, seeking all it can to make its converts, with a zeal which were commendable if it were used for a right purpose. They compass sea and land to make proselytes, and shame the coldness of many professed followers of Christ. The enemies of Christ are very many. The Church is very feeble, yea, she is like a reed shaken by the wind. Without her Lord, she is less than nothing — like chaff in the whirlwind. But, oh! let us pray that he may be blessed who cometh in the name of the Lord by the scattering of all his enemies, by the putting down of spiritual wickedness in high places, and giving the victory to the truth and to the gospel — that which saves — putting to flight that which destroys before that which purifies — scattering that which defiles before that which glorifies God, annihilating that which blasphemes his holy name. May Christ be blessed as a Conqueror over his foes.

We may, further, very earnestly pray that the Lord may be blessed in the conversion of souls. Oh! would to God he were blessed in that respect in this congregation more and more. Preaching becomes very dead work when there are no converts. Sowing is very well and one likes it at the sowing season, but if a man had to sow all the year round and never saw the golden sheaves, he might well grow weary. Though, indeed, in sowing for God we ought not to be weary, yet the tendency is to be so. How few conversions there are anywhere just now! The Church does not increase at all in the same rate as the population does. Every year I believe that the sin of London is gaining upon the gospel, and all the efforts that are made do not tell upon the masses. We scarce hold our ground; certainly we make very little if any, advance. Of course, we congratulate ourselves that there are so many churches built. Does anybody go to them? We sometimes think there are so many chapels. Yes, but how many are there that are half empty, or even less occupied than that? And what if they be full, yet in how many places is the gospel preached very uncertainly and no certain sound is given from the trumpet! It is Christ that is preached in a measure, but preached in a fog — certainly not in the way that is so plain that wayfaring man need not err therein, but in a way that is so perplexing and involved in hard words and gaudy obscurities of rhetoric, that oftentimes many know not their right hand from their left, and look on, marvelling at the orator who speaks so grandly, but what he saith, or whereof he affirmed, utterly they know not. How many there are that have the key of knowledge, but open not the door! They seem rather to show how delightfully they can lock it, and how skilfully they can shut out the multitude. We want to see conversions. May God send them everywhere throughout this land by tens of thousands! And in other lands would God there were conversions by millions! The world teems with population, but Jesus Christ hath as yet few who find him. Straight is the gate, and narrow is the way, and few there be that go in at the gate or tread that road. O Lord, how long, how long, how long! Arise and convert sinners to thyself!

The same thought comes to us only a little enlarged. Our desire in prayer for Christ is that, he may the blessed in the sense of being glorious to the ends of the earth. We have no doubts about the issue of the struggle in which we are engaged — against the powers of darkness. It may be a thousand years before Christianity is prevalent. It may be ten thousand years it may be fifty thousand years, it may be a hundred thousand years. We none of us know. To God it will be quick very quickly — and in but a short, time — behold Christ cometh quickly. But that “quickly” may not mean what we think it does, and they who sit down and say it will be the next twenty, or fifty, or hundred years know not what they say, nor whereof they affirm. Now, we who are working now are very like, as I believe, those coral insects that are about to build a reef. They begin at the bottom of the sea. They lay, first of all, the foundations, broad and strong. It will be a long, long, long, long while before that reef will come to the top of the sea, before it will be seen, before earth and weeds will be attracted to it. It will be longer still before there begins to grow upon it certain tiny plants and mosses, longer still before the cocoanut begins to spring, and before men and animals shall be found there. Now, those first insects that lay the foundation die. They have gone, and the next, and the next, and the next and the reef is still unseen. That is very like what we are. All we can do is to keep on working, working with all our might. Our prayer ought not to be that we should see the whole of our success. I like Moses’ prayer Let thy work appear unto thy servants! and thy glory unto their children.” Hence no matter how things are — it may have been that we have hardly stood our ground, and we can hardly say the Lord’s cause has prospered still we have only seen the beginning. And we may rest assured that when the latter verses of this grand poem shall come, though the book may have opened somewhat dolorously and gloomily the end will be, “Sing unto the Lord for he hath triumphed gloriously: the horse and his rider hath he cast, into the sea.” In any great cause that is undertaken in any country it is not one generation that succeeds. Many generations have to take part in it. There is a periods of contempt for even common political principles — a period of neglect — afterwards a period of contempt — then perhaps, a period of absolute persecution, and then, perhaps, when we least expect it, there comes the moment of victory. And so it will be with the great cause of Christ. Only let this be our prayer, that the Lord should cut short his work in righteousness that he would be pleased soon to come forth with his sword girt upon his thigh and take to himself his great power and reign. Ere another year comes, if the Lord will, the nations may all give up their idols and turn to Christ. God can do as he pleases. Time is nothing to him. With men, steel and iron must be wrought gradually, but in the world of spirits God has but to strike a spark, and the fire will run along the ground and illumine the earth with its sacred conflagration. He can affect all minds at once, and turn the heart of the child to the Father, and the hearts of all men to the great Prince of Peace, if so he wills it. And, perhaps, he means to do that — to save the whole battle for one grand last charge when the King himself shall lead the van, and then the conquering banner shall be seen, and the Lord God omnipotent shall reign. Be it as he wills, we will always say under every discouragement, at all times when we see not our sign, “Blessed be thou Jesu! Thou shall get the crown and be conqueror yet. May thy kingdom come, and thy will be done as in heaven so in earth.”

Now, lastly, there are times, dear friends, when this exclamation may be used about ourselves personally. I will only hint at these times. The first is at our conversion. When we had been in sorrow and trouble, under sin, when the law had made sin revive and we died, when every hope was hurled in despair, you remember how you and I welcomed Christ. I do remember the very Sabbath morning and the spot of ground. Some of you may not so distinctly remember — that does not signify — but some of you can. Oh! how blessed was he that came to us in the name of the Lord! Sin was forgiven. Doubts fled, despair vanished, joy and peace flowed in our souls leapt within us, and we were so happy: we scarce knew how to express our joy and our love. Oh! dear Savior, on that first day of our spiritual birth, and afterwards while we were yet in the love of our espousals, we could do no other than say, “Blessed is he, the dear, precious, and exalted Savior, who has come to me in the Lord’s name and saved my soul!” Since that day we have every now and then had repetitions of our conversion — renewals of the presence of God. You had got very dull and worldly, and your soul was cleaving to the dust, but, perhaps, it was under a sermon or in private prayer. Or it may have been in the middle of your business the Lord returned unto you — he became the health of your countenance and restored your soul. Oh! I know how you sang, when your communion with Christ began to be as sweet as it was before, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” The Lord send such seasons to any of you who are backsliding! May he come to you now and knock at the door of your heart! Oh! open to him and bid him come in, for there is no power on earth that can revive a decaying heart like the coming of Christ afresh by renewed communion. So too, dear friends, you and I have said this when we have had some very happy seasons in the house of the Lord. Have you not sometimes in this very place, when our voice has gone up in song (the thousands praising God) — when we have been all moved by gracious words of Scripture, as the trees of the forest are moved with the wind — have not you been inclined to burst out with the note, “Hosanna: Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord”? Why, the very preacher has been to you beloved for his Master’s sake. But the preacher’s Master — oh! what love you felt in your heart to him — what joy at the sound of his name! What delight when it has been like ointment poured forth, and the love of God has been shed abroad in your heart by the Holy Ghost which is given unto you! Do you not remember when you went up with the multitude that kept holy day, when you went up to the altar of God with exceeding joy, with the voice of thanksgiving? Ah! then it was: —

“Blessings for ever on the Lamb
Who bore the Cross for wretched men.”

And once again, to conclude, whenever God visits his Church with a revival, then the cry goes up, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord” — a revival of religion, I mean, of this kind — when a deep religious concern is upon all, when Christians become more earnest and more prayerful, when they become more attentive to the unconverted and more anxious to see them saved, and when the unconverted themselves take a deeper interest in the Word; when they begin to feel their sin, when they cry out for mercy, when they ask the way to Zion with their faces thitherward. We have had the Lord with us now these seventeen years with no paroxysms of excitement, but with one continual stream of blessing and I am so anxious that we should not lose it. I could wish that we might see some token of even a larger measure of his presence than we have had yet. I would ask some of you that have power in prayer to join with me every morning and every night in a prayer that he would come to us afresh. We are not discouraged very far from it. We have never been without many enquirers and many being added to the church, but still there are unconverted ones in the congregation. We have found at the Tabernacle what we had at Park Street, that we have many more members than seats. I remember one man coming one night to have a seat who was very honest, and wanted to see me first before he took a sitting. “Sir,” said he, “somebody told me that I should be expected to be converted if I took a seat, and I cannot guarantee that.” I said, “My dear friend, somebody has told you the right thing, but he has not put it exactly right. If you take a seat, we expect that you will be converted. It is not that you are expected to convert yourself, but we expect that, if you hear the Word, God will bless you, because,” I said, “I hardly know any who have sat there but have been converted.” I was very glad to find there was all current among the seat holders that God would bless them. I believe he will. But still I wish we had more members. We have 4,200, I think, but we can hold more than that. I would like to see 6,000. What a joy it would be! So many that I should be half inclined to say I must go and fish in another pool: they are all caught here. Would not it be a mercy if there were no more fish in the sea to be caught, but all were convert everyone that comes into this Tabernacle. His power is infinite. There is no limit to that, except that our unbelief in the economy of grace is sometimes allowed to limit it. What is said converted to God! If you could go out and do good to others, and bring others in, and other churches could be formed, what a blessing might come of it! And why not? If God wills, he can of Christ? “He could not do many mighty works there, because of their unbelief.” Oh! that this might be taken away from us! May we believe, and we shall see. May we trust and pray, and we shall joyfully behold it. Oh! that some poor sinner would come to Jesus Christ to-night! He would, indeed, have to say, “Blessed is he that cometh in the name of the Lord.” One prayer will bring you to him if it be sincere. Simply to trust him — that is the thing; to rely upon him — that is all. He died for the guilty. His blood was shed for the foul. Come and trust him and yield to him. Amen.

EXPOSITION BY C. H. SPURGEON.

PSALM 118.

Verse 1. O give thanks unto the LORD: for he is good: because his mercy endureth for ever.

Here is a standing reason for thanksgiving. Although we may not always be healthy, nor always prosperous yet God is always good, and, therefore, there is always a sufficient argument for giving thanks unto Jehovah, That he is a good God essentially, that he cannot be otherwise than good, should be a fountain out of which the richest praises should perpetually flow.

2-3. Let Israel now say, that his mercy endureth for ever. Let the house of Aaron now say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

These were specially set apart for God’s service, and, therefore, where much in given, much is expected. The house of Aaron, therefore, must have a special note of thanksgiving, and though we who preach the gospel claim no sort of priesthood, yet if any ought to lead the strain of thankfulness, it should be those who minister for God continually.

4. Let them now that fear the LORD say, that his mercy endureth for ever.

Let them all say it: let them all say it now: let every one of us say it for himself, “His mercy endureth for every.”

5. I called upon the LORD in distress: the LORD answered me, and set me in a large place.

I think many of us could make just such a record as that and not once but many times in our lives, we could say, “I called upon the Lord in distress.” We have had many trials, but we have a mercy-seat always to fly to, and a God always ready to hear the cries of his distressed ones.

6. The LORD is on my side; I will not fear: what can man do unto me?

The past always gives us assurance for the future, for we are dealing with the same unchangeable God, and, therefore, we may expect to have the same dealings from him.

7, 8. The LORD taketh my part with them that help me: therefore shall I see my desire upon them that hate me. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in man.

There is one text which I have never seen put up anywhere. You have illuminated texts in your houses and schoolrooms, and so on, but I think I have never seen this, “Cursed is he that trusteth in man, and maketh flesh his arm” or this other one, “Cease, ye, from man whose breath is in his nostrils, for wherein is he to be accounted of?” and I am sure there is no teaching of Scripture more necessary than that, whether it refers to great men or to little men, whether it refers to men of eminence, or to those of your own family circle. “It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence, in man.”

9. It is better to trust in the LORD than to put confidence in princes.

It is nobler, it is more agreeable to sound reason, it will lead to better results. God better deserves our confidence than the princes of the earth do — even the best of them.

10. All nations compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD will I destroy them.

This may apply to David, but it applied better to Christ, around whom: Jews and Gentiles came, but he won the victory over them.

11, 12. They compassed me about: yea, they compassed me about: but in the name of the LORD I will destroy them. They compassed me about like bees, they are quenched as fire of thorns; for in the name of the LORD I will destroy them.

The thorn makes a good blaze and crackle, and splutter, but it is soon out altogether. “For in the name of the Lord will I destroy them.”

In this way we may meet our spiritual foes, temptations, trials, the world, sin death, hell, the name of Jehovah shall be our strength. “In hoc signo vincit,” said one of old — “By this sign thou conquerest,” and so by this sign we also overcome through the blood of the Lamb.

13. Thou hast thrust sore at me that I might fall; but the Lord helped me.

This will rebut all the attacks of our fiercest foes — “But the Lord helped me.”

14, 15. The LORD is my strength and song, and is become my salvation. The voice of rejoicing and salvation in the tabernacles of the righteous: the right hand of the LORD doeth valiancy.

Where God’s people dwell, there is the voice of joy. “Their family prayer sanctifies the house with its joyous notes. Even then there is trouble and sorrow in the house, yet resignation makes joy and rejoicing there still; and if rejoicing for a moment should go, yet salvation never does. “This; day is salvation come to thine house. If thou be now a converted man, it will never go away again. It is an abiding being: it is in the tabernacles of the righteous.

16, 17. The right hand of the LORD is exalted, the right hand of the LORD doeth valiantly. I shall not die but live, and declare the works of the LORD.

Some have thought this psalm was composed by Hezekiah after his sickness, and after the destruction of Senacherib’s host. It may be so. It has been used by many besides Hezekiah, who have not forgotten that these are the words of Wickliffe, used when monks came round his dying bed with prayers, Paternosters, and crucifixes, and urged him to repent, and he said, “I shall not die, but live and declare the works of the Lord.” And so, indeed, he did.

18. The LORD hath chastened me sore: but he hath not given me over unto death.

Many of his best children can say this, for “whom the Lord loveth he chasteneth.” “The Lord hath chastened me sore, but he hath not given me unto death.” You that have recovered from sickness, here is a song for you, who above all were not given over to your sins and to the just punishment of them, here is music for you, “He hath not given me over to the second death, which he might have done.”

19, 20. Open to me the gates of righteousness: I will go into them, and I will praise the LORD: This gate of the LORD, into which the righteous shall enter.

I suppose he who uttered these words has passed through the beautiful gates of the temple.

21. I will praise thee: for thou hast heard me, and art become my salvation.

Future, past, present — all full of blessing.

22-24. The stone which the builders refused is become the head stone of the corner. This is the LORD’S doing; it is marvellous in our eyes. This is the day which the LORD hath made: we will rejoice and be glad in it.

Though this is applicable to the Sabbath, yet it is also applicable to any day, and to every day which God especially makes glorious by delivering many.

25-27. Save now, I beseech thee, O LORD: O LORD, I beseech thee, send now prosperity. Blessed be he that cometh in the name of the LORD: we have blessed you out of the house of the LORD. God is the LORD, which hath shewed us light: bind the sacrifice with cords, even unto the horns of the altar.

It is the king returning from victory and recovered from sickness. He brings his sacrifice with thanksgiving, as every child of God should, and there it is ready bound to the altar horns.

28, 29. Thou art my God, and I will praise thee: thou art my God, I will exalt thee. O give thanks unto the LORD: for he is good; for his mercy endureth for ever.