THE

MORNING SERMON

BY

THE HON, AND REV. BAPTIST W. NOEL,

AT

JOHN STREET CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW,

MARCH 24, 1847.

"Him that cometh unto me I will in no wise cast out."-St. John vi. 37.

THE extensive famine and distress now afflicting thousands in Great Britain and in Ireland, by which so many have already perished, and by which many more are likely to perish, certainly has a tendency to prompt every humane person to reflection and observation of those sufferings of the people, and and that their great necessities are to be mitigated, if not removed, by considerable sacrifices, which must be made by the people at large. Contemplating the calamity God has put over us, I think there is no one of devout mind who does not see in that calamity matter for much reflection on our own sins; for without pretending to ascribe any particular judgment that God has sent upon the world from any particular cause,-without pretending to say why He has adopted this course towards the country, and involved the people at large in this calamity, -He has affected our sympathies by an unusual and great calamity, the proper time for us to confess our sins before God;— without assigning any cause for the calamity ;-for any calamity which God causes to fall upon us for our transgressions-while some mourn over the sins of their neighbours, let us, my brethren, consider those public offences against God by which He is dishonoured, by which the nation is likewise dishonoured, and by which His anger may be excited against us. There are many actions which obviously must be offensive to the Divine Being who has afflicted this country and the neighbouring island of Ireland with famine, and we cannot but reflect as I have already said to you how this calamity affects us. The extravagance and the oppression of many of the landlords of Ireland has involved their tenants and the neighbouring poor in a great degree of poverty and distress; and any failure of the crop on which their

lives depended must, of course, result in something like this. The clergy of Ireland have evidently been guilty of great transgression against God, for they have not taken the least ef fectual means to prevent this, the people's ignorance, and therefore their poverty by preaching to them the Gospel of Christ in their own language; it must be offensive, I believe, to Almighty God, that two thousand men, professing to be ministers of Christ in Ireland, should not have carried on any extensive home missions by which the Gospel might be brought to the doors of the poor people, when they knew very well they would not come to their church.

Every one must believe that the Roman Catholic priests of Ireland have offended God; and every Protestant must feel the need of the word of God which has manifestly been neglected and rarely preached to these people, who are in such a state of superstition and ignorance at the present time. These poor people have offended against God by consenting to that spiritual bondage in which they have been placed, and when the word of God was offered to them, even turning away from it with a tremulous alarm, and preferring positive superstitious tenets But our own country has not been guiltless. There has been no legislative measure taken of sufficient magnitude; I may almost say, of any magnitude, even up to modern times, by which this obvious distress of Ireland, for years approaching to starvation, might be removed, so that something like this extraordinary calamity was needed to arouse the legislature from that apathy with which they had regarded those mud cottages, and that wretchedness and nakedness of the population.

I cannot but acknowledge that our government has likewise sinned against God-our legislature, I mean, has sinned against God-by the endowment of Popery from the public purse, for those doctrines which pretend to preach the only God, but which are opposed to the glory of God, and cannot make any fair pretensions to appeal from God to man. And if we should proceed further yet to endow a seminary in which priests should be educated in superstition, and to endow the priests themselves throughout Ireland, this would be only one perhaps of many obvious sins which may still more be asking God's vengeance on us at this time; we must feel that great offences have been committed against God in this country, and in our own town are so manifest, that we wonder men do not more concentrate their attention upon these obvious offences against God. It is a great discredit to our church, that there should have been

seventy ministers of the Gospel who, within a few years, have apostatized, and joined the church which is marked in Scripture for Divine judgment. If this were all, however, we might leave them to their own consciences, however mistaken; but that with their doctrines they are poisoning the minds of the many, and this it is which seems to ask the Divine hand. And this seems to me even small compared with another mischief, but which because we are familiar with it we shut our eyes to it, and shun it as though there was some necessity for us to continue its endurance. Is it not notorious, and would it not be absurd to say, that there were not hundreds, perhaps thousands, in this land, living under ungodly and incompetent ministers, who have been placed there not because they professed they were moved by the Holy Spirit, but because their fathers had livings to bestow upon them-because their friends could send them by the money thus expended into the church, and who manifest by their sporting, their hunting, and shooting there, that they care not for their ministry which they profess to take charge of. It must be apparent, I think, to many, that this country is involved in that mischief beyond either ministers, or patrons of these ministers; hundreds, and perhaps thousands, of congregations, think it should be so, and lift up no protest against this desecration, and this poisoning of the mind against true principles; and scarcely is any effort made to raise them by education, and every one who has seen or heard them knows that they are most debased. Nothing has been done whatsoever to remove the wrongs by which these people are oppressed; they still exist to this day, and would exist still if you were to multiply fast days innumerably, but effect no change in these things. Think you of the various offences by the numerous classes against God in this country. Is it not true that the richest in this country live at an extravagant rate of self-indulgence which often keeps them poor in the midst of enormous revenues; hardens their hearts against the claims of charity, and makes them afraid of parting with any of their wealth, and thus suffering for righteousness' sake? And is it not true and plain that myriads of the poor in this country are living ungodly lives? Millions of them manifest it by an entire absence from public worship, which they have very little care for. Multitudes live in comparative opposition to the Bible. Fathers never think of asking for their children any favour of God. Many of them, therefore, become an easy prey to infidelity, and numbers fall by a fatal socialism, as absurd as it is false and

immoral. They have thus brought dishonour on themselves and discredit on their country. Are there not still more widely extended offences than these yet more displeasing in His sight? The enormous sums which are spent in this country upon strong drinks; the awful system of drunkenness which prevails in our towns, along with which are a train of miseries which the mind shrinks from contemplating. How many of the wise and even good have had their hearts darkened by unnatural drinking customs? How many children are pauperized, and families ruined by this atrocious habit which yet men continue to indulge in, as though it were good for their existence, as though it were just the happiness for which man was born! It is not surprising, therefore, that those who adopt such a dangerous habit as this should find the just retribution of God through their offences which corrupt their minds, and destroy their bodies, and hasten them to a premature grave.

It is not an unjust charge, it has been made by foreign nations upon us; and it is every day repeated amongst ourselves that there is an avaricious thirst for gain, a love for money, which hurries on men to many things which their consciences would disapprove; and the eagerness to be rich is not only contrary to wisdom, but it likewise often inveigles men to do what is contrary to sound morality. How many such offences are daily committed in society! What lying-what quarrelling, and mutual dislikes, and mutual enmity, is manifested by numbers ; and if we turn to the Sabbath-day-that day given by God for the preparation of the soul for eternity, and which might lead the soul to Heaven if men would do right-how is this day desecrated to purposes worse than the rest of the week by myriads; and not only by their absence from public worship, to a fearful extent in this city, but even in the rural villages of this country. But railroads are busy on that day; their servants are well employed; their consciences violated that they may retain the means of living; and in many other ways, by steamboats, and by private business, which is transacted on that day. Thus is the day which God has given for man's welfare abused; thus dishonoured, to the injury of a whole nation.

These are some of those offences by which our nation has brought down the Divine anger; and it seems well on a day like this that we should recall them, and regard the sins of others, and the pardon we may obtain for any of them. But, my brethren, it seems to me that we should be wasting this day if we met We should effect very together only for the sins of others.

little good to our own minds if we only spoke of the sins of others; we ought, therefore, rather to speak of our own sins: If God be angry with us for what we have done, and if he has spared our nation, and is not peculiarly angry with it, what have we done to ask for such clemency; or rather, what have we not done to ask for his anger?

This congregation, as every congregation, is divided into two arts. The first is composed of those who have embraced the Gospel in all its purity, but, through sinfulness, have formed habits by which they have offended God and injured their country (and I propose to direct our attention to that consideration this evening). But there is another class: they are those who have not embraced those doctrines; and I have, therefore, wished that on this solemn day that you should review your minds, and consider what life it is we have been leading that has brought these calamities, and these dire misfortunes, upon us. It is a great misery for any to remain in an unconverted state; but I do not wish to-day to set before you the misery, but to remind you of the criminality, of remaining another day in an unconverted state. Do you believe that God has given his Son to save sinners? Do you believe that Jesus Christ died at the cross to atone for your guilt? You believe that God Almighty is ready to forgive sinners through Christ, and that He gives his Holy Spirit to those who ask Him, that they may be thus accepted and blessed. You know that there are means of grace within your reach appointed by Him. You feel sure that ere long you must enter heaven or hell. You know well that death will soon land you either into eternal bliss or eternal misery. What then is the proper use which you and all of us ought to have made of that knowledge? What have you yourselves marked out as a proper use of such knowledge? We have not had the revelation of God's mercy shown us only to offer Him praise and eulogy, and only to express our sins in the language of thankfulness without the heart; but if we believe, as you do believe, these great truths, that for which they were revealed, and for which in God's providence they have been made known to you-surely you should accept these truths, and act upon them throughout. You have heard that Jesus Christ is a Saviour, and you may be his disciples. You know that God the Father is ready to pardon sinners through Christ, that you may seek and obtain pardon, and you know that God the Holy Ghost dwells in the hearts of the righteous, and renews the hearts of sinners, in order that they may seek renewal, and then