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or influence the immutable? Are the purposes of the unchangeable to be altered or abrogated by prayer? Nay, we reply; but who shall presume to tell us what are his purposes? Who sall say, how far it may have been preordained in the unfathomable mind, that the judgment provoked by transgression should be tempered by mercy, in answer to prayer? Who shall say that national penitence and humiliation may not have been predestined to arrest the fearful progress of the otherwise desolating flood? We admit the purpose of God, like his nature, is immutable; but who shall decide that it is not a portion of that purpose to avert punishment in consequence of prayer? We are not to judge of God by what he can do, or what he may do-such knowledge is far too high and wonderful for such as we-but we are to judge him by what he has done; and what he has done is this, he has again and again rescued devoted nations from impending ruin, in consequence of national humiliation. And if we turn to him, as now, before the danger has become imminent, and the prospect of deliverance, by all ordinary human agencies at least, beyond all reasonable hope, who does not see that it is the very fittest time to cast ourselves upon Divine providence, while yet human resources are abundant, and the arm of flesh in human judgment is yet strong. This is the time to adopt for our own the language of the Psalmist which we heard in the service of to-day-" Some trust in chariots, and some in horses; but we will remember the name of the Lord our God."

For a last reason, however, we must look away from the aggregate; we must look away even from the sanctuary, from the solemn assembly; we must look into our own lives, and we must look through our own lives into our own hearts. For aught we can tell, a fire may even now be kindling which shall try every man's work of what sort it is. Let us, then, prepare for it by trial of our own; let us look well to the foundation on which we ourselves are building for eternity; let us examine into the sincerity of our faith, and into the stability of our hope, and into the grounds we have for believing "That if our earthly house of this tabernacle were suddenly or speedily dissolved, we should inherit a building of God, a house not made with hands, eternal in the heavens." From whatever quarter, under whatever aspect the last fearful summoner may appear, it would avail us nothing that others should be saved if we were lost. Any national deliverance might consist with individual destruction! Oh, then, let us seek and insure, while we may, a refuge from the storm, a shelter from the heat, before the blast of the terrible one shall be as a storm against the wall. This done, our own eternal interests are secured-even though for three transgressions of Britain, and for four the Lord would not turn away the punishment thereof, even though the abominations which are rife and reeking in the midst of us should provoke him still to say-"Shall I not visit for these things? saith the Lord: and shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this?"

II. But in order to avert the judgments, we have too justly deserved, and to bear our part in that general act of penitence and humiliation, which can alone constitute a fast an acceptable day unto the Lord, let us now consider, secondly, the manner in which this day should be solemnized and kept. We are to humble ourselves under the mighty hand of God, with our lips, and I trust also with our hearts-and confess not only our own sins, but

those of our country; we are to deprecate the exaction of the penalty which national transgressions have too justly deserved; we are to recoguize the judgments of God which are now abroad, and we are also to recognize the peculiar features of the fast which the Lord hath chosen-to deal our bread to the hungry, to provide clothing for the naked, to recognize the bond of human fellowship in the destitute of our own flesh, and break off our iniquities by showing mercy to the poor. But this is not all, to bow down the head as a bulrush, to spread sackcloth and ashes about us, and to disfigure our faces that we may appear unto men to fast, more especially when the morning abstinence is indemnified by the evening's excess-this is not to make the day acceptable to the Lord. Let the whole day, as far as practicable, be God's; enter at dawn into thy closet, commune there with "thy Father which is in secret ;" commune with thine own heart in thy chamber and be still. Let no larger portion of it be given to the repose, nor any larger measure of food to the refreshment of the body than shall suffice to keep its energies in full vigour for the weightier work of the soul. Let the main feature of that day's worship be confession of sin, and humiliation on account of it. Take a retrospect of the past, consider your ways; compare what you are with what you have been, and both with what you ought to be. If you find subject of thankfulness and encouragement in the retrospection of the past, give God the praise; if it be a source of humiliation and regret, still do not despond, still less despair, you may find-nay, I will venture to affirm you will find-much, far too much, if you find nothing worse, of time misspent, of opportunities unimproved, of purposes unfulfilled, of pledges unredeemed; you will find much of wilful offence, much of positive omission, much done that you ought not, much left undone that you ought to have done. But even if you look to sacrifices offered, to services attended, to duties performed, how many seeming prayers will be found to have been empty words! How many specious acts of devotion little better than mockery of God! How feebly have you endeavoured to render to him according to the benefits bestowed! How little concern have you manifested for the souls of those who are most near and dear to you? How little selfdevotion and self-denial have you manifested when kind offices were to be rendered, when ministries of love were to be discharged, when consciences were to be awakened, when souls were to be won! Oh, sure am I that the very holiest here present, feeling himself beneath the eye of one to whom all hearts are open, and from whom no secret can be hid, would be constrained, even if his very virtue were the test, to take for his own, the lowly deprecation of the Psalmist "Enter not into judgment with thy servant, O Lord, for in thy sight can no man living be justified." He would be constrained to seek refuge from the contemplation of what he had done as well as what he had left undone, beneath the all-protecting, all-preserving, allpervading righteousness of Christ.

Such confession, my brethren, such individual, national confession, if it be rightly made, will employ us no scant measure of time. But we ought not to confine our confession this day to that which is strictly personal. The prophet Daniel under somewhat different circumstances acknowledged and deplored the sin of his people, together with his own; and have not we cause to deplore the baseness of that righteousness which exalteth a nationthe presence and prevalence of that sin which is a reproach to any people?

And where confession ends, intercession should begin. On this day, if ever, should we plead for all who have, so to speak, a chartered and covenanted interest in our prayers. We should pray for the nation at large; for the church of Christ, which is its bulwark and its stay; for our Sovereign the vicegerent of God, for all who are placed in authority, and invested therefore with proportionate responsibility-for the bishops and pastors of the church, those more especially among the latter, who minister to ourselves the word of life-for all who are connected with us by ties of consanguinity or even companionship. Parents, pray for your children, separately and singly, as though a blessing were dependent on the offering of the special prayer. Children, sons and daughters, repay the fond solicitude and tender love of your parents, by commending them earnestly and importunately to God; Christians remember all those who are connected with you by an affinity or acquaintance, who you believe to remember you in prayer, and still more those who, you have reason to believe, never remember in prayer, either you or themselves. More especially wherever you have a neighbour or connection in need, in sickness, or in any other kind of adversity, let them have an especial interest in your addresses to the throne of grace. Never is it more true than of the offering of intercessory prayer, that the liberal soul shall be made fat, and that he who watereth shall be watered also himself. It must bring a blessing upon the suppliant, if not upon him for whom it is offered. St. Paul, himself, said that in every prayer of his for his converts, he made request with joy for their fellowship in the gospel, from the first day until now. And, again, writing to the Thessalonians—“ We give thanks to God always for you all, making mention of you in our prayers; remembering without ceasing your work of faith, and labour of love, and patience of hope in our Lord Jesus Christ." Not only did this great apostle thus intercede for others, but he earnestly entreated-as well may we your ministers-that all for whom he prayed, should pray for him, "Finally, brethren," he said, "pray for us that the word of God may have free course and be glorified, even as it is with you." And abundant need, in these critical and troublous times, have we, both in the spirit and the object of the prayer, to prefer the same entreaty to our congregations, saying—“ brethren pray for us." Such, then, as to our own immediate devotional exercise is the manner in which this day of national humiliation should be observed in the closet and the church.

But there is a duty which must not be altogether overlooked, beyond the limits of either-I mean the duty of self-denial, the duty of abstinence, if not from necessary food, at least, from all indulgence of appetite, from all pleasant bread, from all that ministers even to that chastened gratification, that tempered cheerfulness, which, at other times, is not unbecoming the Christian conversation and character. It is essential, however, that this selfdenial should be exercised for the profiting of others, not our own. The

objects to which it ought to have especial regard, are especially declared and defined in the text-"Is not this the fast that I have chosen to loose the

bands of wickedness, to undo the heavy burdens, and to let the oppressed go free, and that ye break every yoke? Is it not to deal thy bread to the hungry, and that thou bring the poor that are cast out to thy house when thou seest the naked, that thou cover him; and that thou hide not thyself from thine own flesh ?" The offering of that holy day-and offerings will be received both after the morning and afternoon services, at the doors of this Cathedral, for such is the express recommendation of our bishop-the offering of this day, I say, if not a large, ought at least to be a universal contribution; and for this reason, every one, by the exercise of self-denial, ought to spare or save something, even from his bodily wants, and whatever is spared or saved ought to be devoted to the supply of human need and relief of human suffering. Not only must sin be confessed and repented of, not only must self be controlled and mortified, not only must penitence be expressed and embodied in prayer, but faith must be demonstrated by love. When the judgments of God are in the earth, the inhabitants thereof should learn to practice righteousness, for this is the way to gain multiplied prosperity, this is the way to restore and perpetuate peace! Oh, then, see to it, my brethren, that so far as individual efforts can affect that national welfare, you do your part alike by heart-felt dovotion, by personal abstinence, by active sympathy, by a large hearted benevolence, to make this "a fast indeed, and a day acceptable unto the Lord." Even on behalf of the community to which he is attached, the "effectual fervent prayer of a righteous man availeth much." The very example of intercessory prayer, which is cited by the Apostle James for our imitation and encouragement, is one at which the heavens gave rain and the earth brought forth her fruit. God wrought a miracle in answer to prayer; and if the days of miraculous interposition, by the reversal or suspension of, what are termed the laws of nature, are now ceased, does that afford any room to doubt that the Most High still, as of old, “ruleth in the kingdoms of men, and giveth unto whomsoever he will?" And still he who giveth victory unto kings, "the Lord strong and mighty, the Lord mighty in battle?" And is it not true of our own imperial Britain, as it was of far-famed Babylon, that by him the greatness of Britain reacheth unto heaven, and her dominion unto the end of the earth? Oh, that she had provided for the lengthening of her tranquillity by the right employment of her privileges ! Oh, that she had consecrated to her God all the abundance of the seed, and gathered unto him all the forces of the Gentiles! Oh, that she had unfurled the banner of the cross and lifted up the standard to the nations and given due honour to that name which is above every name, to which all the prophets bear witness that it is a light to the Gentiles, and salvation to the ends of the earth! But if it be impossible to retract the error, it is not too late to repent of it and repair it. Of these however-both the repentance that is

needed, and of the manner in which that repentance should be proved-it will be more fitting to speak on that day, when we shall specially humble ourselves before our God, for responsibilities unrecognized, for mercies disregarded, for duties unperformed, for obligations unredeemed—and alas! that I should say it-for a gospel too often dishonoured, for a Saviour too often practically denied.

I will add no more, except that all who shall attend these consecrated courts, shall at least have an opportunity of expressing their sympathy with their distant fellow-countrymen, in the relief of children, who are fatherless, wives who are widows, those who were brought up delicately now desolate in the streets, those who were brought up in scarlet embracing dunghills—3 work of philanthropy and mercy, in which our own metropolis, as it became her, nobly led the way. And Oh! that by drawing out our souls to the hungry and satisfying the afflicted soul, light may arise to us in the obscurity, and the hour of darkness become to us as the noonday! Oh, that the heart of Britain being humbled before God, as the heart of one man, she may yet be called, an instrument of Divine mercy, the repairer of the breach, the restorer of the paths to dwell in! Oh, that she may yet become, what she ought to have been during the whole century of her dominion, the voice that crieth in the wilderness, "Prepare ye the way of the Lord, make straight in the desert a highway to our God."

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