Acts 24:2-3

Seeing that by thee we enjoy great quietness.

Be thankful and do not rest

These words were addressed by a professional flatterer to one of the worst of Roman governors. Both speaker and listener knew that he was lying; but both knew that the words described what a governor ought to be. They suggest--

I. The grateful acknowledgement of personal worth. A life like that of Queen Victoria’s, touched with many gracious womanly charities, not strange to the homes of the poor, quick to sympathise with sorrow, sternly repressive of vice in high places, and not ignorant of the great Comforter, nor disobedient to the King of kings--for such a royal life a nation may well be thankful; and if it be true that twice the Queen has kept England from the sin and folly of war, once from a fratricidal conflict with the great New England across the Atlantic, then we owe her much.

II. A wider view of progress which has coincided with her reign. Let me touch upon the salient points of that progress for which, as members of the nation, it becomes us, as Christian people, to be thankful. English manners and morals have been bettered, much of savagery and coarseness has been got rid of; low, cruel amusements have been abandoned; the national conscience has been stirred in regard to the great national sin of intoxication; a national system of education has come into operation; newspapers and books are cheapened; political freedom has been extended and “broadened slowly down,” as is safe, “from precedent to precedent”; religious thought has widened, the sects have come nearer each other. Then, if we look upon our Churches, whilst there is worldliness to be deplored, there is also springing up amongst us a new consciousness of responsibility for the condition of the poor and the degraded around us. Only let us remember--

1. That that sort of talk about England’s progress may very speedily become offensive self-conceit, and a measuring of ourselves with ludicrous self-satisfaction against all other nations.

2. That such a contemplation of the elements of national progress may come between us and the recognition of the highest source from which it flows, and be corrupted into forgetfulness of God. “Beware lest when thou hast eaten and art full,…thy heart be lifted up, and thou forget the Lord thy God,” etc.

3. And beware lest the hosannas over national progress shall be turned into “rest and be thankful,” or shall ever come in the way of the strenuous and persistent reaching forth to the fair ideal that lies so far before us.

III. What yet remains to be done. A remarkable difference of opinion has been expressed by two of the greatest minds and clearest heads in England; one of our greatest poets and one of our greatest statesmen. The one looking back over sixty years, sees but foiled aspirations and present devildom and misery. The other, looking back over the same period, sees accomplished dreams and the prophecy of further progress. It is not for me to enter upon the strife between such authorities. Both are right. Much has been achieved. “There remaineth yet very much land to be possessed.” Whatever have been the victories and the blessings of the past there are rotten places in our social state which if not cauterised and healed will break out into widespread and virulent sores. The ideal for you Christian men and women is the organisation of society on Christian principles. Have we got to that yet, or within sight of it? Does anybody believe that the present arrangements in connection with unrestricted competition, and the distribution of wealth, coincide accurately with the principles of the New Testament? Will anybody tell me that the state of a hundred streets within a mile of this chapel is what it would be if the Christian men of this nation lived the lives they ought to live? We may be thankful for what has been accomplished, but uppermost there had need to be penitent recognition of failure and defect. And I lay it on the consciences of all that listen to me to see to it that they do their parts as members of this body politic of England. A great heritage has come down from our fathers, pass it on bettered by your self-denial and your efforts. And remember, the way to mend a kingdom is to begin by mending yourselves and letting Christ’s kingdom come into your own hearts. (A. Maclaren, D. D.)