THE NATIONAL FAST; MARCH 24, 1847, SERMONS PREACHED BY EMINENT DIVINES, ON THE DAY OF SOLEMNITIES OF A GREAT NATIONAL CALAMITY. LONDON: THE SERMON PREACHED BEFORE THE HOUSE OF LORDS, BY THE LORD BISHOP OF ST. ASAPH, IN WESTMINSTER ABBEY, MARCH 24, 1847. "O LORD, correct me, but with judgment; not in thine anger, lest thou bring me to nothing."-Jeremiah, x. 24. THERE can be no doubt in the mind of any reader of the Bible that the good things of this life are not only the gifts of God, but are spoken of as evidences of the favour of the Most High. The whole Jewish economy may be regarded as a proof of this. The blessings vouchsafed in Paradise were signs of the love of God; but, when man fell, these were partially withdrawn, because man was no longer fitted for them. But this general truth, as far as relates to the Old Testament, is too clear to require argument. The New Testament brought life and immortality to light; it placed before man something higher than this world, but it did not alter the nature of God's dispensations. Godliness, in the New Testament, is a promise of the life which now is, as well as that which is to come. In the midst of per secution, of suffering, and death, the Christian has comfort of which the worldly man knows nothing. In the midst of selfdenial he enjoys a pleasure which the sensualist cannot understand. A Christian who deprives himself of an earthly gratification for the sake of benefitting others, derives, from that act, a satisfaction, which the self-indulgent votary of pleasure will in vain endeavour to obtain from partaking of his wishes. The Missionary, who gives up his country and his home, obtains in his distant residence, earthly advantages, real enjoyments, a hundred-fold more valuable than those he resigned. But this is hardly the full and general promise, as now extended to the Christian world. The meaning expressed is, perhaps, this: if Christians, as the world is now constituted, follow the rules laid down for their guidance, they will, in this life, obtain that which is most valuable: not the glittering tinselled blessings which the world seek, but the real, substantial good things of life, peace, and quiet, and comfort. The Christian will have enough, and to spare. He will have enough when others are in want; and I conceive that the present state of society will enable any one to see that, in ordinary cases, Christian conduct does obtain a share, a full share, of the good things of this world. This is the general rule, and we must look up to God in the ordinary, as well as in the extraordinary, instances of prosperity or adversity which attend our path in life. I think that we should be quite wrong not to look up to heaven, through the dispensation of worldly events, which, we must acknowledge, come by the permission, at least, of God. When any great adversity or prosperity falls upon individuals, or a community, they would be unjustifiable in not looking up to the source from which it flows. Misfortunes do not happen by accident. It is true, alas, that our fellow-men do, very frequently, misinterpret the dispensations of God. We find instances among ourselves of that which our Lord reproved when he said, "Think ye that those eighteen upon whom the tower of Siloam fell, were sinners above all men that dwelt in Jerusalem ? " We should be cautious not to form uncharitable judgments; but we must be blind not to perceive the finger of God in these dispensations. Misfortunes are not a proof of God's hatred, but of his love; and they are sent for wise purposes. They are intended to teach men something, and we shall be unwise if we endure the chastisements and do not endeavour to learn from them that correcting lesson, which he who holds the rod intends us to derive from these chastisements. And this applies equally to a kingdom as to an individual. No man can look at the state of the British Empire and not see that we are labouring under the chastening hand of a merciful God. We know that He is wise and merciful. When we see His chastisement we may entertain different opinions, as to the extent of the dangers to which the country is exposed; some may be more alarmed than others at the prospects of famine and pestilence which hang over the empire; but no man can deny the fact that, in different parts of this wealthy kingdom, persons are dying from mere starvation! and no man can learn this, and not see the chastening hand of God. The Most High God is at this moment chastening us. Some men may see the reason; I do not pretend to know the precise reason, but I cannot help seeing ten thousand reasons why God should chastise us. It seems to me to be wiser to take another view of the matter, and to ask, what God wishes us to learn form His chastisement? When persons pretend to decide why God is chastening them, they allow their own opinions, sometimes political opinions, to occupy too prominent a part in the reasons they assign. There can be no doubt that the Lord of Heaven, may, perhaps is, chastening us as a nation for that which is wrong in us as a nation. But this is a very delicate and dangerous ground for investigation. When men seek in Ireland for reasons why the crop in Ireland has failed, they forget that the same crop has failed elsewhere, without producing such disastrous effects; that the poor, quiet, Scotch Islanders are exposed to the same famine. So again we look at the acts and not the tempers; at some definite thing done, and not at our wrong dispositions from which the evils flow; "It is the heart that defileth a man." It is the wrong bias of public opinion which makes us guilty before God; and who can say that this wrong state of mind may not exist in England more than elsewhere? We are punished as a nation; some individuals are exposed to greater sufferings than others; but “when rulers go wrong it is the people that suffer.' We, here in England, the ruling part, may be the guilty part, and yet all our own personal sufferings may amount to no more than a small contribution which we may make to relieve the distress of others. "Think ye, that those Galileans, whose blood Pilate mingled with their sacrifices, were sinners above all the Galileans?". With this view of the subject no man can doubt that it will be a wise thing in every one who is suffering under the chastening hand of the Lord, to try and learn the lesson which God intends to teach. We should first examine our own evil and wrong tempers, for, no doubt, it is the aggregate sins and tempers of the population which bring down the vengeance of God upon any people. First, then, I would suggest, that we should each look into our own personal sins. The most common, or prevalent sin among us, as indivduals, as far as I can judge, is a want of sincerity and straightforwardness in our dealings with each other, particularly on religious subjects. I conceive that God has punished us, as to this sin, by the divisions and mistrust which exist |