November 5, Morning

C. H. Spurgeon · Modern retelling

"No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." — Isaiah 54:17 · KJV

This day is marked in English history for great deliverances God wrought for our forefathers. On this date a hidden plot against the nation's Parliament was brought to light; and on the same day in a later year, a landing took place that secured the country's religious liberty. Our forebears devoutly kept it as a special season of thanksgiving — there survives a record of the yearly sermons Matthew Henry preached on this day — and our love of the gospel and of liberty may well make us regard its anniversary with holy gratitude. When a burning snare was laid in secret for the nation's leaders, God shot from heaven a piercing ray and brought the dark treachery to light. Let our hearts and lips say, "We have heard with our ears, O God, our fathers have told us what work Thou didst in their days, in the times of old." You have made this nation a home of the gospel; and when the foe rose against her, You shielded her. Help us to offer repeated songs for repeated deliverances. On such a day, should it not be laid on the heart of every lover of the gospel of Jesus to plead for the overturning of all false doctrine and the spread of divine truth? And would it not be well to search our own hearts, and clear out any lumber of self-righteousness that lies hidden there? For here is the promise, sure through every age: "No weapon that is formed against thee shall prosper." The church of God has often been threatened, and as often delivered; the same faithful hand guards her still. Then let us not fear the weapons ranged against the truth, but rest in the word of the Lord, and take heed to cast out the enemy within — our own sin and self-righteousness — that we may stand clean before Him who has promised to defend His own.