William Wright

“ And now, my brethren, what is the most appropriate thank-offering that we, Sovereign and people, can make to Almighty God for his mercies vouchsafed to us? Undoubtedly that which follows up our advantages and shows that we are worthy, or labouring to be thought worthy, of the great position with which God has entrusted us, even the thank-offering which David made after his preservation, and which is unpretendingly recorded in the words, “And David executed judgment and justice to all his people.” ”

“ Never have we acted so graciously and so in accordance with the spirit of our Gospel. Before us stood—a sickening and never-to-be-forgotten sight—a vast army in deadly and rebellious array—an army made up of men with whom we had gone side by side to victory over a common foe—men our familiar friends, to whom we had extended, and were learning more and more to extend, the right hand of social fellowship—men whom we had not only treated kindly, but, as was reported and believed, had verily spoiled by forbearing gentleness. ”

“ Who, when he contrasts the greatness of the work to be accomplished with the contemptibly limited means he has brought to bear on its fulfilment—one pastor to a million souls being the provision made by Christian England’s National Church for the restoration of heathen India to her God and Saviour—who, when he so contrasts, is not lastingly impressed with a sense of unworthy selfishness? ”

“ Time is about to commence her gracious task of lessening our sorrows for the brave and bold who are no more on earth amongst the children of men, and whose remains are swelling with their sad accumulations the once unbroken, but now grave-studded Crimean plain. Our minds are turning homeward. We dwell upon reforming ourselves. Social progress and fair play in all matters, ecclesiastical as well as civil, are points which much interest us. ”

“ You will suppose, then, that we are just released from the cruel bondage of a warfare into which we were compelled, as men of faith and feeling, to enter for humanity’s sake. Our laurels of awarded victory are still fresh on the hero’s brow. Our triumphant attitude is, to all appearance, keeping at bay a tyrant world, and securing “peace on earth and goodwill towards men.” ”

“ God’s glory, we do not hesitate to affirm, has been more or less advanced by the conduct and policy of England in and during the warfare which has been recently accomplished in the East. All that we have done in it worthy of praise or remembrance, we have done, so we believe and confess, through Him, through his strength, through his teaching, through his Gospel, through the very circumstances under which He has placed us, and through the very constitutional dispositions which He has given us. ”

“ He has rejoiced with exceeding great joy to have fallen in with a religion which is far from contradicting conscience or nature, but which, contrariwise, advocates and enforces “whatsoever things are true, whatsoever things are honest, whatsoever things are pure, whatsoever things are lovely, whatsoever things are of good report;” things which even in his childhood’s superstitions and the ignorance of his more advanced years have never altogether forsaken him. ”

“ Our prayer in this matter is as simple as it is beautiful. A prayer is it which none who are in the habit of praying at all for others can possibly object to. It simply asks of God that He would “be pleased to direct and prosper all their consultations to the advancement of his glory, the good of his church, the safety, honour, and welfare of our Sovereign and her dominions.” ”

“ A cry is heard abroad amongst us; it is no less than a cry of war—that hell-cry which despots love to raise, and which all godless and loveless spirits echo in sympathetic sinfulness! At the gates of science do we listen, in dread suspense, to hear the contradiction or confirmation of the evil tidings. ”

“ No hunting down the adversary, no trampling upon him, no tearing away the suckling from the breast, for the sweetness of being revenged, have characterized our doings. Vengeance have we repudiated, or rather, I should say, not dared to handle, being, as we conceive, an attribute belonging solely to God, and too fearful to be entrusted to fallen man. ”

“ Each true believer is, by his very impulse of faith, a soul-seeking power amongst men. In his heart is deeply sown the missionary germ—only requiring the light and heat of a living faith to raise and mature it to its appointed height and grandeur—when its branches are sure to spread themselves forth in sheltering love over all living within their reach. ”

“ In rapid successions does the magic whisper steal across the deep, and tell its brief but bloody tale, that ours have risen up against us in the far East; that many a bitter Shimei has come forth to curse our rule ”

“ All, indeed, must at once see, and grant as a foregone conclusion from which there is no appeal, that our monarchical and representative government, being essentially and generally Christian—being so in spite of the Judaism, vice, and infidelity which may be discerned in it, and which in no way interfere with our present argument—is, by virtue of its admitted and preponderating Christianity, brought under the immediate guardianship and protection of the Most High. ”

“ As an aggregate of individuals professing faith in Christ, we, the people of Great Britain, may with truth and reason venture to assert that our Queen and our Legislature are on a footing, as to God’s protecting care, with highly favoured and heaven-honoured David of old. ”

“ We are musing with practical intent upon such things as become enlightened and well-disposed minds. We are thoroughly enjoying national repose, dwelling each man “safely under his own vine;” and we are doing, and anxious to do, the great, the civilizing work of peace. ”

“ Who is there that does not sorrow over his indolence in not having done more hitherto for his fellows? Who does not burn with indignation at his own—his country’s—missionary apathy, when he contemplates before him, in India and her immortal millions, a vast sea of souls, now surging with infidelity, now again raging with superstition, bearing as it does on its sin-heaving and lust-swelling surface but few, very few, labourers in the employ of that blessed and acceptable merchandize, p. ”

“ He has longed for a creed which should not suppress and smother, but fan into a living flame of sterling piety, those smouldering elements of natural religion which he has treasured amidst the follies of heathenism on the hearth of a not yet abandoned conscience. His wish is gratified. He has at length found, or rather, we should say, seen at work, such a creed—seen it in the warrior of the Cross, seen it in one who can fight and yet be merciful, p. 18who can have within his power a cruel relentless enemy, yet find room for compassion ”

“ Nothing, however, that they do disturbs for a moment the balance of Christian power and influence in our national and common mind. To war, indeed, do we sally forth in saddest necessity and from a sense of duty, but it is to a war of a purely defensive character on our part, and nothing more. ”

“ As to the last result of legislative labour on our behalf, “the safety, honour, and welfare of our Sovereign and her dominions,” which we prayed might follow our rulers’ consultations, it is needless to say anything. Each of us can see the finger of p. 19God at work in, and trace its divine impress upon, the facts of to-day, which call us together to thank and praise the Lord. Each has faith and wit enough of soul, let us believe, to read, in the spirit of the words of the text, the manner in which God has been with our Sovereign, our national interests, yea! ”

“ Show them that you delight not in brandishing over their heads the cold and deadly steel, nor take pleasure in witnessing the fire-flash which heralds p. 23a creature’s death, but that you would rather wield the sword of the Spirit over their immortal souls, by means of the preached word, and rejoice for ever and ever in heaven that they were preserved with you and yours unto everlasting life. ”