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by the fall of the republic , in punishment of the invasion of Egypt in 1798—by the loss of Spain , in consequence of the treacherous seizure of the government in 1808—by the ruin of the French army and the fall of the Emperor , in consequence of the treacherous invasion of Russia in 1812 . The future is before us , and the illustration of the principle is to be looked for in the punishment of the guilty aggression of Russia on the weakness of Turkey . With a larger mind than that of the Vicar of St . Pancras , the Reverend Frederick Maurice did not assail -frith bitterness those who question the holding of days of fasts and thanksgivings .
"There was , " he said , " a large class 'of persona who disparage ^ national fasts and humiliation , and regarded them with suspicion . He spoke not of scoffers , but of men of earnestness of purposes and character , who were impatient of whatever they looked upon as an attempt to keep up appearances , to revive practices which belonged to other days , and to establish an artificial and conventional devotion ; they admitted that these- observances had a meaning once , but that that meaning -was dead to us . They said that when the Puritans of old appointed a fast , they really trusted that the Lord of Hosts would go with them to battle , but that we believed nothing of the kind , and therefore that we only observed an empty ceremonial when we did as they did . It
awful day of judgment . He justified the searching ~ b y ministers of the Gospel into the prophecies contained in this book , and endeavouring to expound them to their hearers ; and showed that as the age rolled on it was found that what were mysteries before in process of time became simple truths . Turning to the war , which had been the cause of the solemnity of the day , he repeated what he said he had stated on a former occasion , when speaking on behalf of the children of soldiers and sailors in connexion with the Caledonian Schools ; that h « believed that the war on which this country had entered was a justifiable war . He believed it was not a crusade for conquest , or even for the purpose of humbling Russia , bof intended to do injury to a single country ; and if
it had been undertaken merely to show that we were braver or stronger than other nations , it wonld have been a monstrous war . Bat it was a war for the preservation of great rights and great interests , a war , in tact ,- to keep off the invader , and as it was a just and a right war , we might pray to God not to destroy Russia , but bring her to a sense of the errors of her ways in the sight of the nations . At the same time , looking ttf prophecy , he would not conceal his belief ' that Russia would not be finally driven back , but that she was yet ; destined to sweep over Europe , and to be an instrument in the hand of God to exhaust Mabommedanism and . to , fulfil prophecy . The war on which we had entered was one unprecedented in its nature and character , and promised to be long in duration ; aud it seemed to interpreters of the prophecy of the Revelations to be that which was called the " great battle , " that is the great conflict and struggle which was to last for years which was there indicated . He spoke
of the extraordinary development of ingenuity in the preparation and improvement or engines of war , and said that it seemed as if all the learning and instruction of forty years of peace had tended to the creating and perfecting of implements of warfare , such as the world never yet saw . He urged that in the columns- of daily newspapers we might constantly read the fulfilment of prophecy , and he argued that recent events showed that Mahommedanism was gradually vieldingup the peculiarities on which its faith was based . Hooking at the warfare that was * ensuing , every one spoke of it as one of which no man could . hope to see the end , and that statesmen had formed that estimate of its . character was evinced by tiheir reluctance to enter on a conflict which , would let loose so many elements of discord that their re-adjustment to a
state of peace was what no one could look forward to with any certainty . He enlarged on the magnitude of the armaments about to be employed by the contending parties . On one side was ranged the vast hordes of the boundless territory of Russia !; and on the other side the masteir of the Bosphorus was making his last effort to retain that which it was impossible for him to retain—the establishment of Mahommedanism . Then Great Britain joined with France were but the precursdrs of the subterranean heavings of Italy and Hungary ; and the hour would soon come when would be displayed that spirit which had long been ripening in men ' s minds , and preparing them for this last shock of nations , in which no one could tell what dynasties wouH be overthrown , or what kings would become refugees ; and , in
short ,-that all things showed that the great harvest of the earth was about to be gathered in , and prophecy about to be fulfilled . It was therefore right , under these circumstances , to call the people of this country together in prayer to God to spare us as a cation , and to makers victorious where it was good that we should be so , and to implore Him to stay the progress" ' and' change the heart of they infatuated Autocrat of Russia . Looking back to the occurrences of the last decade , we could trace much that appealed to us as a nation to consider the eventful nature of the times . Jn 1843 there were great divisions in the Scottish and the English churches , which in the latter case had caused the secession of hundreds of its members to Rome . In 1845 hundreds and thousands of people were the victims of
commercial infatuation and speculation . In 1846 and 1847 a famine , the effects of which , were still felt , desolated a great part of the land . In 1848 a great moral earthquake pervaded Europe in the revolutions , the influence of winch was still felt . In 1849 a pestilence smote tho rich and the poor in a form which even now threatened us , and with a more direful character . In 1850 the Romish church attempted an aggression which was to make all England ecclesiastically subject to the head of that church ; ana if 1861 was a year of hope , and beauty , and joy , it was an interlude , an interval between the storms and clouds which gathered soon again . In 1852 the great warrior and statesman of this country died , and scarcely had the last notes of the mournful march
wS J JT ° T * " » The re ™* <* orator next dwelt oa J « f £% ? ' i ^ jSL 811 commereial enterprise and wasteftlly destroying human life , and then passed a hi gh eulogiuiM oft the Government for having dona aTin its power to rant tS evil . But the Almighty Ood had not deserted the unWer * * because the Emperor of all the Russias had emtaSS Europe ui war ; the impending curse was not unobserved or uncontrolled by him , and he believed there was a blessinjr in store . He did not say that the fulfilment of certain prophesies was near at hand , for asonr Saviour said to his disciples when they impaired if he would restore the kingdom to Israel , it was not for us to know the times and the seasons which the Father had appointed , but he hoped the result of the wan would be to secure greater freedom of commerce
and liberty for the subject in southern and eastern Europe * , liberty for men who were dragging out their miserable lives in sdch dungeons as those of Naples and Rome , and whose deep groaning -and earnest cry had gone up to heaven ! EeradVenture , redemption was drawing nigh ! Then , there was the tyranny of the " false prophet , " which was trot little known in the Christianworld , and the idolatry and temporal power of the " man of sin , " which tended to perpetuate : hi spiritual reign . Peradventure the curse might be turned into a blessing by the destruction of all that was opposed to the progress of Chri 9 tianity ~ a purer moral atmosphere
might be created , and man get a share of hispredestinca emancipation . If this should be the happy result ^ it w ^ dd be the better for the world that this evil had been inflicted upon it . Let them rest in the conviction 4 hatit is the gtorjr or God to conceal his purposes—that all armies [ -atmmti ' hm disposal—all statesmen under ¦ his control—^ disaster and victory attendant on the bidding of his voice ;> and let them remember that "He hath made with us an everlasting covenant , ordered in all things , and > sure . ' . ? . •¦« ** The ; , Cora reizneth ,. let the earth rejoice—Jet the mountains aad tba hills be glad , thereof . "! . < ¦; „ .. * . .. . " i ^
; The Reverend Mr . Burnett came forward ail Uii chapel at Carnberwell-grove , and boldly pVeacbj the JPeace Society ' s view of the war . , , ' tnt He chose for lib text the following words of the 9 tli verse of the 45 th chapter of Isaiah : " Let tie potsherds strive with the potsherds of-the earth . " He commenced hy obsprving that he belonged to two societies , the principles . ; of both of which bad bnt little to do with-tbe present ntgeting He . was a ; member of the Religions Lioeration ; Society , jWhoae fundamental princi ple was that the stot « should not ' wefcfi » e in any way with reli g ion , and yet the , s ^ ate ^ ioAj ^ s ^ t ^ ala ^ that day for a religious purpose , and he tclpnged , t ^ | he Peace Society , vliicn was opposed to all "war ^ ^ ever ^ heUsijk he was about to address them on the subject of wan' Hb
object would , be to show how foreign the spirit Wthe < J 6 spjjJ of Christ was to the war spirit which was uBfortana ' tely spreading so largely in-this country at tats time . It could notbe denied that a war fever had Beizeit the public mind ^ and that so dfep . au interest was , taken in the con test jioir going on in the East , as indicated , the determinaVlontof ^ he nation to maintain a long , struggle should it be necessary N ^ . MB te ^ flf vmfr and % e ^ tj . tt ^ m&i were no more than the clashing together of potefterda wnen divested of all "the pomp , the ScltUj ana' gtandeiir ia wh ^ icb it was the fashion to clothe tliom . Why were the pbtsherctis striving with trie potsherds of the earth , andwhatwaslfrtfiey were striving for ? Disguise it as they might , what they were striving / for was conquest ' and the gratification of
theiirambitioD . It had- been so from the beginning ; and ambition was always rekindled and increased" as conqiiest ? after conquest was made . It had been so with Assyria , with Babylonr with Persia , with Greece , with Borne , and with none more to than -ourselves . England had conquered more than ' Snjr otber power , ancient or modem . She had * conquered 'Canada ^ India , with its 100 , 000 , 000 of inhabitants , part of China ; Ceylon , part of Africa , the West Indies , and part of South America , ' within the last two generations , and-if we'had one greater national sin than another it was that of our being warriors and conquerors . And what had become of the original inhabitants of some of the nations we had cott ^ qnered ? Where were the red Indians of Canada —tlui original inhabitants of Jamaica , of Van Diemen's Land , of
New Holland ? Annihilated and gone from the earth . Turning to the strife in the East , nothing could fcia' more hollow and false than the religious pretence put forward bjf the Emperor of Russia for kindling tbat strife . He pre * tended to be anxious for the privileges of tho Greek church ia Turkey , but what was the state of reli gious freedom in his own empire ? Throughout Russia a Bible society could not exist . No missionary could preach or teach there . No Rible was allowed to circulate , and the Greek priesthood in Russia were not only ignorant , but the greater part of them most unworthy . ' 1 he state of the Greek , church Jn his own dominions was a proof that religious liberty was not really what the Emperor of Russia desired in Turkey , and that it would not be tolerated by him if lie succeeded . But it might
be suid that the strife was not one of conquest on tho part of the powers opposed to Russia , but that their object was to preserve tho balance of power . Millions of money and millions of mon had been sacrificed for that object , but to what purpose ? It was meant by the phrase " maintaining the balance of power" that no single nation should be permitted to grow so strong as to be dangerous to tke rest } but there was no justice in any number of states fixing the limits of power to which another should bo allowed to grow . Our own miglity empire had gone further beyond thoso limits which were understood us the balance of power than any
other , yet other states did not combine to entceble us , though no doubt the Emperor of Russia would be glad to do so now if he could . The attempt , however , to preserve the balance of power , and to interforo with other nations , had always failed . Leave every nation to bring out its own . resources hi its own way and there would bo no danger of the balance of power boing lost . So much for the objects for which the potsherds of tho earth" were- striving ; then how was their strife curried on ? The levying of recruits , tho interference with industry consequent upon raising un army , the vice arising from a number of men who are forbidden to marry being allowed to rouin loose in nociety , the uurrora of tuo
battleto which his comrades in arms accompanied him to his last resting-place died away , vrhen the boom of the first Russian cannon was heard on the Danube , tke signal for a war greater than any in which even Wellington had been engaged . AH this was but the echo of the words of prophecy , its very literal fulfilment . The preacher thcu read several passages from Amos and Isaiah , which ho showed to be applicable to these events . Then turning to the great object of the day of prayer and humiliation , lie dilated with much eloquence on our national sins and short-comings , and dwelt on them with earnest entreaty that we Bhould use tho day now set apart for the purposes of prayer for aid in bringing our country to a sense of those deficiencies , as well aa the necessity for their amendment .
The Reverend Mr . Brock , of Bloomsbury Chapel , was not dogmatic by any means . Having elaborately denied the authority of the proclamation , ho proceeded to show that war was a curse , and all its boasted splendour and glory , specious , false , and " of tho earth , earthy . " Ho need not remind his hearers of what war had done—the business it interru pted—the education it arrested , th « property it endangered , the persona it jeopardised and violated , tbo fruits of tho earth it trampled under foot , the towns and cities which were given up to pillage , the claims « f humanity it disregarded , and the ceremonies of religion which it sot at nought . War rovore « l nothing however venerable , spared nothing however prerious , cared for nothin g however dear ; in ita very nature it wjis n roc k-)( bh , rut bless , cruel thing , mid w . is | in >] vily jierauiiiiied 11 a
behoved professing Christians to consider well whether these objectors had not a warrant for saying this in the state of our religions feelings and in our practices ; for when we endeavoured to observe tbfhhumiliations of the Church , that we . might make ourselves individually more holy , and obtais a greater foretaste of heavenly blessings , we ' experienced much bitterness of disappointment . Our evil habits remained as strong -as ever , and there was a rebound to animal indulgence , which we had supposed we lad learned to despise . " IHe thus explained the spirit in which the day should be regarded :- >—
" Now , their exercises that . day must be the most solemn mockery , if they did not start from the . Jewish ground . Had ) we been called by God to be Englishmen , might we at * tribute to Him the continuance of our English life , with the common language , laws , and religjion j which prescribed in our empire—an empire whose sovereign acknowledged the restraints , of law—might we believe that the sense of right and wrong , and the power of enforcing right , and putting down wrong , were flis gifts and the signs that we were His nation—xnight we think that the courage with which lie inspired our people , enabled them to brave the terrors of war , and the loss of visible enjoyments—might we say that all our spiritual forces , and all our mechanical appliances ,
and union In the direction of both , were from Him , and that we were fellow-workers with Him who had called the one and . the other into existence ? If we could not say this truly , let us lave no days for humbling ourselves before God ; for they would , then , mean nothing . In' the time of trial which had now overtaken us , if we trusted in our material resources , that trust would almost inevitably ensure our discomfiture . What the Queen invited them to do that day was , to believe that she and they were the subjects of the Father of spirits , who quickened their souls , and put divine energy and force into them ; and that she and they humbly acknowledged a God of righteousness , who would smite them or their enemies if either sought to frustrate tbe ends of that righteousness . She did not ask us mi ueutvB iuhi vic aiuo vu&nce it
tory L- uy —mac was given on this side and on that by tbe caprice of a sovereign who desire d to show His superiority to all . law—she called on us to invoke a God of order and of truth—to beseech that He would use us as his soldiers-r-to pray that He would give us the victory so far as we could bear it , and so far as it would further the ends for which He would have us fight , and not to minister to the inflation of our conceit and the drying up of our hearts . To save us from lightness of mind , and to enable us to enter into conflict yvith the calmness of men who had counted the cost , and to save us from the irritation and despondency into which the thoughtless and the careless might be thrown when we should meet disasters , we were asked to bumble ourselves before the Lord of Hosts , the giver of peace . The past years of tbe external peace we had so long enjoyed had been years of much conceit , self-glorification , and intestine strife . We knew that we had too much
cherished the same habits of mind which we were now obliged to struggle against when manifested by the Autocrat of the North , and that we had evinced the same readiness to g loss over schemes of conquest with tlie name of God and religion —and we knew that our different classes of the community had been striving against each otber , and were never seen striving more than they were doing now . All t his they were asked to confess—not that they might persuade the God of truth to make them successful in war ,-notwithstanding that temper of mind which engendered it , but that He might take away from us all such temper and moral disease , although we might now feel certain that hitherto the blame had not been ours . That day would not have been a vain or idle one in their calendar if it brought them to this repentance , and made them feel that the pride to which they were prone was unworthy and unreasonable , and that the humility they were now seeking was simply the healthy ordering of their own minds , to keep them right with themselves , with their brethren , and vrith their God . "
Turning to the Dissenters , let us talce first Dr . Cumming , who supplies from the pulpit of the Scotch Church , Crown-court , an original view of future . He took for his text the 14 th verse of 16 th chapter of the Book of Revelations , " Jb \> r they axe the spirits of devils working miracles which go forth unto th « kings of the earth , and of the whole world to gather them to the battle of the great day of God Almighty . " The preacher commenced by reading passages from the 14 th , 17 th and 20 th chapters of tho Revelations , which he declared to be chronologicall y and morally parallel , and which contained prophecies of the events preceding the Millennium , whkh wus itself to precede the
Untitled Article
Aprix 29 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 389
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), April 29, 1854, page 389, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2036/page/5/
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