among us, particularly with respect to religion. Here, I think, I can see cause and effect, guided by God's inscrutable law, but not followed by any extraordinary display of the wrath of God; sin, followed by that, which, to the eye of the heathen, would appear the natural consequence of sin. If each of us will look at his own offences, we shall each become the better, and as a whole, our prayers will ascend to the Throne of Grace, more likely to obtain that for which we pray. But, as the punishment under which we are labouring, and, in consequence of which, we are assembled within these walls to-day, is a punishment of a public, rather than an individual, character, perhaps we should do more wisely by looking at our public sins. And here, I would rather look at the wrong tempers prevalent among us, than at any acts emanating from them; and the wrong temper which I conceive to be prevalent among us as a people, and which God probably intends to correct, is a spirit of national pride. God has granted to us, as a people, great blessings. Spiritual blessings, which, perhaps, were never enjoyed by any other people. It is not for us to judge of this. We can but say, that our spiritual blessings are very, very great. And so, too, are our temporal blessings as a people. Was any nation on the face of the globe, with whose history we are acquainted, ever in a state of greater national prosperity than England seemed to be enjoying last year? And, instead of acknowledging the hand from which these blessings flow, we are but too apt to attribute our national superiority to ourselves. think of our own arm; we turn not our eyes to the arm of the Lord. In order to see our guilt in its true light, we must consider the spiritual advantages which we possess, and compare our advantages with the use which we make of them. Look, for instance, look for yourselves, at the spiritual advantages which exist in London; and look, at the same time, at the spiritual destitution which prevails in this great metropolis! Look, yourselves, at the advantages of the body here assembled ! What blessings of religious education has not God bestowed upon us! And then look at the scenes of squalid wretchedness, privation, poverty, penury, and wickedness, which are spread as a leprosy upon all sides of this place! Look, even, at the state of the streets which lie between us, assembled here, at this moment, and the palace of our beloved Sovereign. Compare, yourselves, the money which has been expended, and rightly expended, on our Houses of Parliament; compare that with what has been expended in providing Churches for the poor.

We

Whoever does this with his eyes open, must think how humble we ought to be as a people; and I think, too, he will see how proud we really are. And God, no doubt, wishes to correct this evil in us, as a father, and is, perhaps, using this very calamity as an instrument in doing so.

Public events, regarded thus, will become private admonitions. God might have corrected our pride more severely had he sent defeat, instead of victory, to our armies in the East. Who can say what the fate of our empire in India might have been now, had we been conquered? God might have humbled us in this way, but he mercifully spared us; and our own troops, more than on any former occasion, seemed, both individually and collectively, to have acknowledged "Not unto us, not unto us, O Lord, but unto thy name be the praise." Those who were engaged in this warfare, saw the nature of the peril to which they were exposed. We saw the danger when it was past. God had given the victory to our troops, and we thanked God for it. Now, I say, God was not pleased to humble us in the way I have mentioned; and, perhaps, the reason was, we might have then regarded rather the power of our enemies than the hand of the Lord. We might have attributed defeat to some fault of our troops or of their commanders. But God has corrected us, not by means of mighty warriors and victorious armies, but by a blight: an insect, as far as we know, a minute insect, which infects and destroys the root of one of our agricultural productions, and which is, perhaps, extending, or, at least may extend its ravages over every species of vegetable! And, who can say that this blight, unless God, in his mercy withdraw it, may not destroy the glory and greatness of the British Empire, and reduce us down to the same level as Athens, Babylon, Rome, or Nineveh? Who can pretend to foresee or limit the consequences of this evil? Who can say that distress may not engender disunion; disunion discord; and discord be followed by civil war; and civil war by ruin? I hope, I trust, that it may not be so; but why do I hope so? What are the grounds of my confidence? I hope, because God is merciful, because I know the mercies of the Lord are great. Such a hope is a sound, rational, wellfounded hope, but it is accompanied with a humiliating confession. I know that we are deserving of punishment. I can see the chastening rod of God uplifted against us, but if we are humbled, we shall be spared again; and unless we are humbled. God will, in mercy to us, use more severe measures. I cannot help fixing my eye upon the smallness of the agent. Our fields

were apparently flourishing; in one night their aspect was blighted, and no one could tell the reason of the change. We hardly distinguished the insect which was the cause of our famine. Here is a small agent, but the destruction is extensive. Here is the safety of a mighty Empire endangered by a minute insect! And, my brethren, is not the hand of the Lord here? No doubt, it will be most wise that every exertion of agricultural and scientific skill should be directed to stay the evil, and perhaps, some remedy may be discovered. We may, perhaps, be forced to change the species of cultivation : some benefit may be derived from new discoveries. It is our duty to try every means, but where is our hope after all? Verily, our hope is not in science, but in God's mercy. But let us see what is the remedy. When Jonah preached to the Ninevites, God saw that they repented, and the evil that he said he would do unto them, he did it not. And, how must we do? The first step is repentance of the heart. Every inhabitant of Britain should see that he has offended a merciful God, and feel sorrow for it. If any one will compare his life with the holy Word of God, he will see how far he himself has fallen short of that holy standard. But something more than the mere seeing of this is required to bring us on our knees in penitence before our offended God. There is wanting the Spirit of God, which worketh in the heart of man, and bringing forth "fruits meet for repentance." Our doing this will not only be the consequence of our godly sorrow, but the means of producing that sorrow, that spirit of abasement which brings man nearer to God. If God, in his mercy, is chastising us through our suffering brethren of Ireland; and if we feel that we deserve it, we should do all we can to lessen their sufferings, while we acknowledge our own guilt, and the trying to relieve them will bring our own sinfulness more closely to our eyes. I do, however, give us, as a people, great credit for trying to relieve our suffering brethren, and I take courage in consequence; but I have not seen any great disposition in us, as a people, to humble ourselves for our sins, and I confess, I fear that God will humble us. I thank God for having put it into our rulers' hearts to appoint this general fast. It is a natural and a proper fruit of repentance. But "fruits meet for repentance are not designed to do away with sin. It is the blood of Christ only, which can cleanse us from sin; but such fruits are calculated to bring us into such a state that our hearts may be better prepared to accept the mercy of God, offered to ruined and Fasting cannot do away the sin of the glutton, but

llen man.

fasting may render the body of the voluptuary more meet to cooperate with the sorrowful emotions of his own heart. The prodigal son was suffering from hunger when he said, “I will arise and go to my father, and will say unto him, Father, I have sinned against heaven and before thee, and am no more worthy to be called thy son." Liberality to the poor will not undo the sins we have committed, but the act of giving alms may induce the proud man to say to himself, "Who made me to differ from my poorer brother?" Some persons have misused alms-giving and fasting; but God will make such means as he has appointed, instrumental in producing the best effects, for "there are some spirits which go not out, but by prayer and fasting." May God, in his great mercy, make our acknowledgment of this day the means of producing a double blessing. A blessing to the poor Irish and Scotch, whose bodily wants we are endeavouring to supply; and blessing to us, in making us see the evils which are in ourselves, our pride, our luxury, and our contempt of God. May we, like the prodigal son, come to ourselves, and return to our Father, confessing our own sinfulness, and saying "I will arise and go to my Father;" and may God accept us, as the merciful father, when he saw his returning son "while he was yet a great way off." We are still " a great way off." May we run and meet him. Then will that affliction which he has brought upon us, prove a blessing to us, as a people; which God in his great mercy grant; through Jesus Christ our Lord, to whom, with the Father, and the Holy Ghost, be all honour, might, majesty, and dominion, now and for evermore.

Amen.

THE SERMON

PREACHED

BEFORE THE HOUSE OF COMMONS,

IN

ST. MARGARET'S CHURCH, WESTMINSTER,

March 24, 1847,

BY THE REV. DR. DEALTRY, ARCHDEACON OF SURREY.

"For their heart was not right with Him, neither were they steadfast in His covenant; but He, being full of compassion, forgave their iniquity, and destroyed them not; yea, many a time turned He his anger away, and did not stir up all His wrath."-Psalm lxxviii. 37, 38.

THESE words present us with a brief, but most instructive, record of God's dealings with his ancient people. He had interposed continually in his providence, and blessed them, yet they rebelled against Him; but even in his judgment he remembered mercy, and with his severest inflictions was mingled his compassion; yea, many a time He turned his anger away, and did not stir up all his wrath. Now, whatsoever things were written aforetime, were written for our learning, and although reasoning from the circumstances of the history of the Ancient Church, we must bear in mind that the Israelites were under a peculiar dispensation; yet many valuable lessons of the Old Testament would be lost to us if we fail to recognise, as a fact beyond dispute, the over-ruling providence of God's government of the world, so general that providence there is nothing beyond its reach, yet so particular, there is nothing which it overlooks without God's knowledge; not a sparrow falls to the ground, and even the very hairs of your head are all numbered; and, in short, we can supply no stronger words to express his universal presence. "Tis true, God, in the ordinary course of his government, works by secondary causes: thus, the moon observes her seasons, and the sun knoweth his going down; but there are instances of special interposition-visitations so peculiar and so severe, as to extort from the most thoughtless the confession, this is the finger of God. Such visitations the Holy Scriptures teach us to consider as judgments. The Psalmist speaks of