Fast-Day Service

Fast-Day Service

(No. 154-55)

Held at the

CRYSTAL PALACE, SYDENHAM,

On Wednesday, October 7th, 1857, by the

REV. C.H. SPURGEON,

Being the Day appointed by Proclamation for a Solemn Fast, Humiliation,
and Prayer before Almighty God: in order to obtain Pardon of our Sins,
and for imploring His Blessing and Assistance on our Arms for the
Restoration of Tranquillity in India.

BRIEF INVOCATION.

O GOD, the God of heaven and of earth, we do this day pay Thee
reverence, and meekly bow our heads in adoration before Thine awful
throne. We are the creatures of Thine hand; Thou hast made us, and not
we ourselves. It is but just and right that we should pay unto Thee our
adoration. O God I we are met together in a vast congregation for a
purpose which demands all the power of piety, and all the strength of
prayer. Send down Thy Spirit upon Thy servant, that he, whilst
trembling in weakness, may be made strong to preach Thy Word, to lead
forth this people in holy prayer, and to help them in that humiliation
for which this day is set apart. Come, O God, we beseech Thee; bow our
hearts before Thee; instead of sackcloth and ashes give us true
repentance, and hearts meekly reverent; instead of the outward guise,
to which some pay their only homage, give us the inward spirit; and may
we really pray, really humiliate ourselves, and really tremble before
the Most High God. Sanctify this service; make it useful unto us and
honorable to Thyself. And O Thou dread Supreme, unto Thee shall be the
glory and the honor, world without end. Amen.

Let us now praise God by singing the first Hymn. I shall read it
through; and then, perhaps, you will be kind enough to sing it through.

BEFORE Jehovah's awful throng,

Ye nations bow with sacred joy;

Know that the Lord is God alone;

He can create and he destroy.

His sovereign power, without our aid,

made us of clay and form'd us men!

And when like wand'ring sheep, we stray'd,

He brought us to his fold again.

We are his people, we his care,

Our souls and all our mortal frame;

What lasting honors shall we rear,

Almighty Maker to thy name?

We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs,

High as the heavens our voices raise;

And earth with her ten thousand tongues,

Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise.

Wide as the world is thy command;

Vast as eternity thy love;

Firm as a rock thy truth must stand,

When rolling years shall cease to move.

EXPOSITION.

DANIEL 9:1-19.

"In the first year of Darius the Son of Ahasuerus, of the seed of the
Medes, which was made king over the realm of the Chaldeans;

"In the first year of his reign I Daniel understood by books the number
of the years, whereof the word of the Lord came to Jeremiah the
prophet, that he would accomplish seventy years in the desolations of
Jerusalem.

"And I set my face unto the Lord God, to seek by prayer and
supplications, withfasting, and sackcloth, and ashes:

"And I prayed unto the Lord my God, and made my confession, and said, O
Lord, the great and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy to
them that love him, and to them that keep his commandments;

"We have sinned, and have committed, iniquity, and have done wickedly,
and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and from thy
judgments:

"Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants the prophets, which spake
thy name to our kings, our princes, and our fathers, and to all the
people of the land.

"O Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee, but unto us confusion of
faces, as at this day; to the men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of
Jerusalem, and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far off,
through all the countries whither thou hast driven them, because of
their trespass that they have trespassed against thee.

"O Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to our kings, to our
princes, and to our fathers, because we have sinned against thee.

"To the Lord our God belong mercies and forgivenesses, though we have
rebelled against him."

There is the first bright star which shines in the midst of the
darkness of our sins. God is merciful. He is just–as just as if he
were not merciful. He is merciful–as merciful as if he were not just,
and in very deed more merciful than if he were too lenient; instead of
blending a wise severity of justice with a gracious clemency of
long-suffering. My brethren, we should rejoice that we have not this
day to address the gods of the heathens. You have not to-day to bow
down before the thundering Jove; you need not come before implacable
deities, who delight in the blood of their creatures, or rather, of the
creatures whom it is pretended that they have made. Our God delights in
mercy, and in the deliverance of Britain from its ills. God will be as
much pleased as Britain; yea, when Britain shall have forgotten it, and
only the page of history shall record his mercies, God will still
remember what he did for us in this day of our straits and our
difficulties. As to the hope that he will help us it is a certainty.
There is no fear that when we unite in prayer God will refuse to hear.
It is as sure as that there is a God, that God will hear us; and if we
ask him aright, the day shall come when the world shall see what
Britain's God has done, and how he has heard her cry, and answered the
voice of her supplications.

"Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord our God, to walk in his
laws, which he set before us by his servants the prophets.

"Yea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even by departing, that
they might not obey thy voice; therefore the curse is poured upon us,
and the oath that is written in the law of Moses the servant of God,
because we have sinned against him.

"And he hath confirmed his words, which he spake against us, and
against our judges that judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil:
for under this whole heaven hath not been done as hath been done upon
Jerusalem.

"As it is written in the law of Moses, all this evil is come upon us:
yet made we not our prayer before the Lord our God, that we might turn
front our iniquities, and understand thy truth.

"Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, and brought it upon us:
for the Lord our God is righteous in all his works which he doeth: for
we obeyed not his voice.

"And now, O Lord our God, that hast brought thy people forth out of the
land of Egypt with a mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renoun, as at
this day; we have sinned, we have done wickedly."

The prophet in his prayer pleads what God has done for them, as the
reason why he should make bare his arm; he tells how God delivered
Israel out of Egypt; and he therefore prays that God would deliver them
from their present trouble. And, my brethren, not Israel itself could
boast a nobler history than we, measuring it by God's bounties. We have
not yet forgotten an armada scattered before the breath of heaven,
scattered upon the angry deep as a trophy of what God can do to protect
his favored Isle. We have not yet forgotten a fifth of November,
wherein God discovered divers plots that were formed against our
religion and our commonwealth. We have not yet lost the old men, whose
tales of even the victories in war are still a frequent story. We
remember how God swept before our armies the man who thought to make
the world his dominion, who designed to cast his shoe over Britain, and
make it a dependency of his kingdom. God wrought for us; he wrought
with us; and he will continue to do so. He hath not left his people,
and he will not leave us, but he will be with us even to the end.
Cradle of liberty! Refuge of distress! Storms may rage around thee, but
not upon thee, nor shall all the wrath and fury of men destroy thee,
for God hath pitched his tabernacle in thy midst, and his saints are
the salt in the midst of thee.

"O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I beseech thee, let thine
anger and thy fury be turned away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy
mountain: because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our fathers,
Jerusalem and thy people are become a reproach to all that are about
us.

"Now, therefore, O our God, hear the prayer of thy servant, and his
supplications, and cause thy face to thine upon thy sanctuary that is
desolate, for the Lord's sake.

"O my God, incline thins ear, and hear; open thine eyes, and behold our
desolations, and the city which is called by thy name: for we do not
present our supplications before thee for our righteousnesses, but for
thy great mercies.

"O Lord, hear; O Lord, forgive; O lord, hearken and do; defer not, for
thine own sake, O my God: for thy city and thy people are called by thy
name."

And now for a few moments let us endeavor to pray:–

PRAYER

OUR Father, which art in heaven," we will be brief, but we will be
earnest if Thou wilt help us. We have a case to spread before Thee this
day. We will tell out our story, and we will pray that Thou wouldst
forgive the weakness of the words in which it shall be delivered, and
hear us, for Jesus' sake. O Father, Thou hast smitten this our land,
not in itself, but in one of its dependencies. Thou hast allowed a
mutinous spirit to break out in our armies, and Thou hast suffered men
who know not Thee, who fear neither God nor man, to do deeds for which
earth may well blush, and for which we, as men, desire to cover our
faces before Thee. O Lord God, Thou couldst not bear the sin of Sodom;
we are sure Thou canst not endure the sin which has been committed in
India. Thou didst rain hell out of heaven upon the cities of the plain.
The cities of Inde are not less vile than they, for they have committed
lust and cruelty, and have much sinned against the Lord. Remember this,
O God of Heaven.

But, O Lord our God, we are not here to be the accusers of our
fellow-mall; we are here to pray that Thou wouldst remove the scourge
which this great wickedness has brought upon us. Look down from heaven,
O God, and behold this day the slaughtered thousands of our countrymen.
Behold the wives, the daughters of Britain, violated, defiled! Behold
her sons, cut in pieces and tormented in a manner which earth hath not
beheld before. O God, free us, we beseech Thee, from this awful
scourge! Give strength to our soldiers to execute upon the criminals
the sentence which justice dictates; and then, by Thy strong arm, and
by Thy terrible might, do Thou prevent a repetition of so fearful an
outrage.

We pray Thee, remember this day the widow and the fatherless children;
think Thou of those who are this day distressed even to the uttermost.
Guide the hearts of this great multitude, that they may liberally give
and this day bestow of their substance to their poor destitute
brethren. Remember especially our soldiers, now fighting in that land.
God shield them! Be Thou a covert from the heat! Wilt Thou be pleased
to mitigate all the rig ours of the climate for them! Lead them on to
battle; cheer their hearts; bid them remember that they are not
warriors merely, but executioners; and may they go with steady tramp to
the battle, believing that God wills it that they should utterly
destroy the enemy, who have not only defied Britain, but thus defiled
themselves amongst men.

But, O Lord, it is ours this day to humble ourselves before Thee. We
are a sinful nation; we confess the sins of our governors and our own
particular iniquities. For all our rebellions and transgressions, O God
have mercy upon us! We plead the blood of Jesus. Help every one of us
to repent of sin, to fly to Christ for refuge and grant that each one
of us may thus hide ourselves in the rock, till the calamity be
overpass, knowing that God will not desert them that put their trust in
Jesus. Thy servant is overwhelmed this day; his heart is melted like
wax in the midst of him; he knoweth not how to pray. Yet Lord if Thou
canst hear a groaning heart which cannot utter itself in words, thou
hearest his strong impassioned cry, in which the people join. Lord save
us! Lord arise and bless us; and let the might of Thine arm and the
majesty of Thy strength be now revealed in the midst of this land, and
throughout those countries which are in our dominion God save the
Queen! A thousand blessings on her much-loved head! God preserve our
country! May every movement that promotes liberty and progress be
accelerated, and may everything be done in our midst, which can shield
us from the discontent of the masses, and can protect the masses from
the oppression of the few. Bless England, O our God. "Shine, mighty
God, on Britain shine;" and make her still glorious Britain, "beautiful
for situation, the joy of the whole earth." Lord accept our
confessions; hear our prayers, and answer us by Thy Holy Spirit! Help
Thy servant to preach to us; and all the glory shall be unto Thee, O
Father, to Thee, O Son, and Thee, O Holy Spirit; world without end.
Amen and Amen.

Let us now sing the second hymn. It is made up of verses selected from
different psalms, which I thought to be appropriate to the occasion

OUR God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come,

Our shelter from the stormy blast,

And our eternal home.

Under the shadow of thy throne,

Thy saints have dwelt secure

Sufficient is thine arm alone,

And our defense is sure.

Our foes insult us, but our hope

In thy compassion lies

This thought shall bear our spirits up,

That God will not despise.

In vain the sons of Satan boast

Of armies in array;

When God has first despised their host,

They fall an easy prey.

Our God, our help in ages past,

Our hope for years to come

Be thou our guard while troubles last,

And our eternal home.

Hoping to receive help from God's Holy Spirit, I shall now proceed to
address you from a part of the 9th verse of the 6th chapter of Micah:–

SERMON.

"Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it."–Micah 6:9.

THIS world is not the place of punishment for sin; not the place; it
may sometimes be a place, but not usually. It is very customary among
religious people, to talk of every accident which happens to men in the
indulgence of sin, as if it were a judgment. The upsetting of a boat
upon a river on a Sunday is assuredly understood to be a judgment for
the sin of Sabbath-breaking. In the accidental fall of a house, in
which persons were engaged in any unlawful occupation, the inference is
at once drawn that the house fell because they were wicked. Now,
however some religionists may hope to impress the people by such
childish stories as those, I, for one, forswear them all. I believe
what my Master says is true, when he declared, concerning the men upon
whom the tower of Siloam fell, that they were not sinners above all the
sinners that were upon the face of the earth. They were sinners; there
is no doubt about it; but the falling of the wall was not occasioned by
their sin, nor was their premature death the consequence of their
excessive wickedness. Let me, however, guard this declaration, for
there are many who carry this doctrine to an extreme. Because God does
not usually visit each particular offense in this life upon the
transgressor, men are apt to deny altogether the doctrine of judgments.
But here they are mistaken. I feel persuaded that there are such things
as national judgments, national chastisements for national sins–great
blows from the rod of God, which every wise man must acknowledge to be,
either a punishment of sin committed, or a monition to warn us to a
sense of the consequences of sins, leading us by God's grace to
humiliate ourselves, and repent of our sin.

O, my friends, what a rod is that which has just fallen upon our
country! My poor words will fall infinitely short of the fearful tale
of misery and woe which must be told before you can know how smartly
God hath smitten, and how sternly he hath chidden us. We have to-day to
mourn over revolted subjects, for to-day a part of our
fellow-countrymen are in open arms against our government. That, of
itself, were a heavy blow. Happily the government of this land is so
constituted that we know little of revolutions except by name; but the
horrors of anarchy, the terrors of a government shaken to its
foundations, are so great, that should I preach alone upon that
subject, you might hear the rod, and cry aloud beneath its strokes. But
this is as but the letting forth of water. A flood succeedeth. The men
that have revolted were our subjects, and I challenge all the world to
deny what I am going to say: they were our subjects rightly. Whatever
the inhabitants of India might be (and undoubtedly that people have
grave faults to find with us), the Sepoys had voluntarily given
themselves up to our dominion, they had themselves taken oaths of
fealty to Her Majesty and their officers, and they have no cause to
murmur if they are made to endure the sentence uttered by a government
of which they were the sworn and willing supporters. They were always
petted, always dandled upon the knee of favoritism. Their revolt is not
the revolt of a nation. If India had revolted, history might perhaps
have taught us that she had patriots in her midst, who were delivering
her from a tyrannical nation; but in the present cave it is only men
who are impelled by a lust and ambition for empire, who have risen
against us. And, ah I my friends, what crimes have they committed! Not
to-day shall I detail their acts of debauchery, bloodshed, and worse
than bestiality–this tongue will not venture to utter what they have
dared to do. Ye would rise from your seats and hiss me from the pulpit
which I now occupy, if I should but dare to hint at the crimes which
have been done of them, not in secret, but in the very streets of their
cities.

And, again, equally as painful, we have now rebels to be executed. I
look upon every gallows as a fearful chastisement. I regard every
gibbet as being a dreadful visitation upon our land; and I think that
whenever the arm of the ruler is outstretched for the punishment of
death, it must always be looked upon by the country as a serious
affliction to it. Just as the father thinks it a high affliction to
chastise his child, so should a country ever esteem it to be a
visitation when they have to punish, especially with the punishment of
death. Now, these men must be punished; both heaven and earth demand
it. I am no soldier, I love not war; I do not believe that this is a
war at all, in the proper sense of the term. We are not fighting with
enemies; our troops are going forth against revolted subjects–against
men who, by their crimes, by their murder, and by other unmentionable
sins, have incurred the punishment of death; and as the arrest of a
murderer by authority of the law is not war, so the arrest of Indian
Sepoys, and their utter destruction is not war–it is what earth
demands, and what I believe God sanctions. But it is a horrible
necessity. It is a dreadful thing to think of taking away the lives of
our fellow-subjects; we must look upon it as being an affliction: and,
to-day, amongst the other evils that we bemoan, we must bemoan
this–that the sword must be taken out of its sheath, to cut off our
fellow-subjects by their thousands. The rod, the rod, THE ROD hath
indeed fallen heavily; no mortal tongue can tell the anguish it hath
caused, nor perhaps can we yet dream where its ill effects shall end.

Remember, however, the words of my text. It is a rod; but it is an
appointed rod. Every deed that has been done against us has been
appointed by God. God is most fully to be cleared from the sin of it,
but it is undoubtedly true that he has overruled and permitted it. The
rod was ordained of God. I myself see God everywhere. I believe that
"the foreknown station of a rush by the river is as fixed as the
station of a king, and the chaff from the hand of the winnower as
steered as the stars in their courses." And I see God in this war. The
wheels of providence may revolve in a mysterious manner, but I am
certain that wisdom is the axle upon which they revolve, so that at
last it shall be seen that God, who ordained the rod, only permitted it
that greater good might follow, and that his name might be exalted
through the earth. The sin is man's own deed, but the affliction that
we suffer through it, God hath ordained. Let us bow before it, and let
us now hearken to the exhortation of the text–"Hear ye the rod, and
him that hath appointed it."

I shall have your attention whilst as briefly as I can I endeavor to
bid you hear this rod of God.

First, let me remark, it would have been as well if we had heard this
rod BEFORE IT FELL upon us. God's rod by the wise man may be heard
before it smiteth. He that understandeth God's moral government, knows
that sin carries punishment in its bowels. A wise man believing
revelation, could have prophesied that God would visit us. The sins of
the government of India have been black and deep. He who has heard the
shrieks of tormented natives, who has heard the well-provoked cursing
of dethroned princes, might have prophesied that it would not be long
before God would unsheath his sword to avenge the oppressed. With
regard to India itself, I am no apologist for our dominion there; with
regard to the Sepoys, they are our voluntary subjects, they deserve the
utmost rigour of the law. From their own oath they were our subjects;
and if they have revolted let them suffer the punishment of their
treason. But had it been the Indian nation that had revolted, I would
have prayed God that they might have been brought under British rule
again, for the sake of civilization, but I would not have preached a
crusade against them, lest haply we should have been smiting patriots
who were but delivering an oppressed country. My brethren, I say it
would have been as well if the rod had been heard before it fell. If in
the midst of sin the Indian government had paused, and endeavored to
undo the evil, it would have been well for them–if instead of
following the policy of creed they had followed the policy of right,
they might have looked for divine support. They never ought to have
tolerated the religion of the Hindoos at all. I believe myself (for it
in no way infringes the law of right) entitled to my religion; but if
my religion consisted in bestiality, infanticide, and murder, I should
have no right to my religion, unless I were prepared to be hanged for
it. Now, the religion of the Hindoos is neither more nor less than a
mass of the rankest filth that ever imagination could have conceived.
The gods they worship are not entitled to the least atom of respect.
Had they given a decent character to their demons, we might have
tolerated their idolatry; but when their worship necessitates
everything that is evil, not religion, but morality must put it down. I
do not believe that in this land there ever ought to have been any
toleration for the Agapemone, a place of lust and abomination, where
sin is committed before which God's sun might blush, never ought to be
tolerated. Any religion that does not infringe upon morality is beyond
the force of legislature. But when once religious teachers teach
immorality, and when once a religion compels men to sin, down with it;
no toleration to it. It is impossible that there should be any quarter
strewn to vice, even though embellished with the name of religion. If
it be any man's religion to blow my brains out, I shall not tolerate
it. If it be any man's religion to meet me as the Thugs do, and garotte
me, and murder me, I shall not tolerate his Thugism. If it be a man's
religion to commit bestial acts in public, I for one would touch his
conscience, but believing that he has none, I would touch him somewhere
else. Such a religion as the religion of the Hindoo, the Indian
Government were bound, as in the sight of God, to put down with all the
strength of their hand. But they have allowed it, in some cases they
have even aided and abetted their filthy deeds; and now God visits
them; and, I repeat, it would have been well if they had heard the rod
before it fell; they might have perhaps avoided all this evil, and
certainly they would have avoided the remorse which some of them must
feel in having thus brought it upon themselves.

But it has fallen. The rod has smitten; the scourge has ploughed deep
furrows upon India's back. What then? "Hear ye the rod" that has
fallen. Now, it is an opinion published by authority–and who am I,
that I should dispute the great authorities of England?–that one part
of the reason for this dreadful visitation, is the sin of the people of
England themselves. We are exhorted this day to humble ourselves for
sin. Granting me that as being a truth–and mark, I am not the
originator of it; it is in the Proclamation–who am I, that I should
dispute such a high authority as that?–it is our sin that has brought
it us, so they say–what, then, are our sins? Now, I will be honest
with you–as honest as I can, and I will try and tell you. What are the
most glaring sins for which, if it be true that God is now punishing
us, are the most likely to have brought this visitation upon us?

First, there are sins in the community that never ought to have been
allowed. O Britain, weep for deeds which thy governors have not yet
strength of mind to stop. We have long been allowing the infamous
nuisances of Holywell-street; bless God they are pretty well done for!
But now what do I see every night? If I return from preaching in the
country, in the Haymarket and in Regent-street, what stares me before
my eyes? If there be a crime for which God will visit England, it is
the sin of allowing infamy to walk before our eyes thus publicly. I do
not know whose fault it is–some say it is the fault of the police: it
is somebody's fault, that I do know, and against that somebody I do now
most solemnly protest. It is a most fearful thing that those who are
honest and moral cannot walk the streets, without being insulted by sin
in the robes of the harlot. My voice perhaps this day may reach some
who have power to repeat this protest powerfully and successfully. I
see before me gentlemen who are the representatives of the press. I
believe they will do their duty in that matter; and if they will sting
as some of them can sting, right sharply, they perhaps may be able to
sting a little virtue into some of our governors, and that will be a
good thing. But I do protest that this has been one of the causes why
God has visited us, if indeed our sins have brought this evil upon us,
as I verily believe. Look ye too, men and brethren, at some of those
amusements of yours, in which ye are wont to indulge. God forbid I
should deny you those of your amusements which are innocent, but I must
maintain that they should be always moral; when we know that lords and
ladies of the land, have sat in playhouses, and listened to plays that
were a long way from decent, it is time that some voice should be
lifted up against them. These are glaring sins. I am not raking now for
private faults; we have had these things before our eyes, and there
have been some that have dared to protest against them long ago. I say,
these sins of the community in part have brought the rod upon us.

But, my friends, I am inclined to think that our class sins are the
most grievous. Behold this day the sins of the rich. How are the poor
oppressed! How are the needy down-trodden! In many a place the average
wage of men is far below their value to their masters. In this age
there is many a great man who looks upon his fellows as only
stepping-stones to wealth. He builds a factory as he would make a
cauldron. He is about to make a brew for his own wealth. "Pitch him
in." He is only a poor clerk, he can live on a hundred a year. Put him
in! There is a poor time-keeper: he has a large family; it does not
matter; a man can be had for less: in with him! Here are the tens, the
hundreds, and the thousands that must do the work. Put them in; heap
the fire; boil the cauldron; stir them up; never mind their cries. The
hire of the laborers kept back may go up to heaven: it does not matter,
the millions of gold are safe. The law of demand and supply is with us,
who is he that would interfere? Who shall dare to prevent the grinding
of the faces of the poor? Cotton-lords and great masters ought to have
power to do what they like with the people: ought they not? "Ah! but ye
great men of the earth, there is a God, and that God has said he
executeth righteousness and judgment for all that are oppressed. And
yet the sempstress in her garret, and yet the tailor in his den, and
yet the artizan in his crowded factory, and yet the servants who earn
your wealth, who have to groan under your oppression, shall get the ear
of God, and he will visit you. "Hear ye the rod." It is for this the
rod falleth on you.

Mark, again, the sins of merchants. Was there ever an age when the
merchants of England had more fallen from their integrity? The mass of
them, I believe, are honest to the core; but I do not know who among
them are so. We can trust none in these times. Ye heap up your
companies, and ye delude your myriads; ye gather the money of fools; ye
scatter it to the winds of heaven, and when the poor call upon you ye
tell them it is gone: but where? O! England, thou wast once true,
upright, honest; men could not rightly call thee, then, "Perfidious
Albion;" but now, O Britain, alas! for thee! Unless thou dost recover
thyself, who can trust thee? God will visit the nation for this, and it
shall be seen that this alone is one of the things which God would have
us hear, when we hear the rod.

There are many of you that are poor. I saw you smile when I spoke to
the rich. I will have at you also. If we are to humble ourselves this
day as a nation, ye have cause also to humble. Ah, my God, what
multitudes there are of men who deserve but little of their employers,
for they are eye-servers, men-pleasers, and do not with singleness of
heart serve the Lord. Were men better workmen, their masters would be
better. There are hundreds of you that are here to-day who are the best
hands in all the world to prop up walls, when you ought to be busy at
your own work–who, when your time is bought and paid for, steal it for
something else. And how many there are in what are called the lower
ranks–and God forgive the man that invented that word, for we are none
of us lower than the other before the Judge of all the earth–how many
are there that do not know what it is to look up to God, and say,
"Though he has made me a servant, I will discharge my duty, and I will
serve my master and serve my God with all my might." Many are the sins
of the poor. Humble yourselves with the rich; bow your heads and weep
for your iniquities; for these things God doth visit us, and ye should
hear the rod.

It is impossible for me to-day to enter into all the sins of
illiberality, of deceit, of bigotry, of lasciviousness, of carnality,
of pride, of covetousness, and of laziness which infest this land. I
have tried to indicate some of the chief, and I pray God humble us all
for them.

And now, "Hear ye the rod." O church of God, the rod has fallen, and
the church ought to hear it. I am afraid that it is the church that has
been the greatest sinner. Do I mean by "the church" that established by
law? No, I mean the Christian church as a body. We, I believe, have
been remiss in our duty; for many and many a year pulpits never
condescended to men of low estate. Our ministers were great and
haughty; they understood the polish of rhetoric, they had all the
grandeur of logic; to the people they were blind guides and dumb dogs,
for the people knew not what they said, neither did they regard them.
The churches themselves slumbered; they wrapped themselves in a shroud
of orthodoxy, and they slept right on; and, whilst Satan was devouring
the world, and taking his prey, the church sat still, and said, "Who is
my neighbor?" and did not arouse herself to serve her God. I do hope
that we have already seen the beginning of a revival. The last year has
seen more preaching than any year since the days of the apostles. We
are stirring in ragged schools, and in various efforts for doing good;
but still the church is only half awake; I fear she still slumbers. O
church of God! awake I awake I awake! for verily the rod has fallen for
thy sake. "Hear thou the rod, and him that hath appointed it."

We have had many rods, friends; we have had many great afflictions, and
we did bear them for a time; and now I close my sermon by saying, "Hear
ye the rod, when the rod SHALL AGAIN BE STILL." We trust that in a
little while our soldiers will carve us out peace and victory with
their triumphant swords; we trust that, perhaps this very day a great
fight is being fought, and a great victory being won. I seem to hear
to-day the shout of the triumphant warrior; I think I hear the trump of
victory even now. The hour of prayer is often the hour of deliverance.
At any rate, we hope that ere long this black cloud will be overblown,
and then I fear you will all forget it. You will pray to-day: will you
pray when victory comes? You will buy some fireworks, will you not?
That is how you will thank God! You had a victory over a potent enemy,
and peace was established: your votive offerings consisted of rockets
and illuminations–grand offerings to the Dread Supreme! If a heathen
were here he would say, "Their God is the God of humiliation, not the
God of victory: their God is a God of trouble, certainly not the God of
blessings, for they forget him when they receive deliverance." I
remember, when last time the cholera swept through your streets, ye
hurried to your churches, and ye prayed; terror sat upon your
countenances, and many of you cried aloud for deliverance. It came.
What did you do? Alas! for your piety! It was as the morning cloud, and
as the early dew it passed away. It will be so again. It is but as the
lashing of the water; it is smitten, but it soon recovers itself, and
all marks are effaced. It is so with this land; I fear it is so with
each of us to a degree. How often have you and I been laid upon our
beds with cholera, or with fever, or with some other disease which
threatened to take us away! We prayed; we sent for the minister; we
devoted ourselves to God; we vowed, if he would spare us, we would live
better. Here thou art, my hearer, just what thou wast before thy
sickness. Thou hast forgotten thy vow; but God hath not forgotten it.
Thy resolutions were filed in heaven, and in the day of judgment God
shall take them forth, and say, "Here is one solemn covenant broken;
here is another vow forgotten, another resolution made in sickness
broken after recovery!" I do think that to-day will be a most solemn
mockery if our humiliation ends to-day. With some of you it will not
even begin to-day, and, therefore, it will not end, for it is not
begun. But the mass who will pray to-day, will they pray in a week? Not
they; they will go their way, to heap again the faggots of their sins
upon the pile of vengeance, and still stand by and weep, because the
fire is burning, the fire which they themselves have kindled. Oh! my
hearers, permit me to charge home to your hearts; and would God that he
would make the charge of my language against your consciences as heavy
as the charge of British soldiery against the enemy! How many of you
have been awakened, convinced of sin, of righteousness, and of
judgement! How many times have you vowed you would repent! How many
times have you declared that you did hear the rod, and that you would
turn to God! And yet you have been liars to the Almighty; you have
defrauded the Most High; and whilst the bill is due it still stands
dishonored. Tremble! God may smite you yet; and if to-day you are
despisers of Christ, remember, you have no guarantee that you will be
in this world another hour. You may before this sun is set stand before
your Maker's bar. What then? what then? what then? To perish for ever
is no light matter; to be cast into the flames of hell is no little
consideration. "Turn ye, turn ye, turn ye; why will ye die, O house of
Israel!" Repent! "The times of your ignorance God winked at, but now
commandeth all men everywhere to repent." And remember that when he
gives repentance and faith he has appended the blessing to them. "Jesus
Christ of the seed of David" was nailed to a cross; he died that we
might not die, and to every believer heaven's gate is open, to every
penitent the path to paradise is free. Sinner I dost thou believe? If
so, Christ hath blotted out thy sin. Be happy! Soul! dost thou repent?
Thou art safe. God has helped thee to repent, and inasmach as he hath
done that, he hath proved that he loves thee.

Oh! if I might but have some souls won to Christ to-day, what would I
give? What is all this great gathering to me? It is an extra labor,
that is all. For this I do not labor. God is my witness, I sought you
not; never once have I said a thing to court a smile from any man. When
God first sent me to the ministry he bade me fear no man, and I have
not yet met the man to whom I have feared to tell of God's truth. Nor
you have I sought to please, nor you have I sought to gather here. I
would preach the gospel; may God give me some souls as my reward! And
if but one poor sinner shall look to Jesus, clap your wings, ye angels!
enough is done, for God is honored.

I have done my sermon, but I want to make an appeal to you to give
liberally.

Lives there a man in England who will this day refuse his help to those
of his countrymen who have suffered? No; there does not live such a
man–not such a Briton. Is there a miserable miscreant without a heart,
who will, when God has given him enough, shut up his bowels of
compassion against those whose sons and daughters have been murdered,
and who themselves have escaped as by the skin of their teeth? No, I
will not slander you by such a supposition. I cannot think that I have
such a monster here. When the box shall pass round, give–give as you
can afford; if it be a penny, let the working man give. You that are
rich must not give pence, however. Many a man has said, "There is my
mite." He was worth a hundred thousand pounds, and it was not a mite at
all; if he had given a thousand it would only have been a mite to him.
Give as ye can afford it; may God be pleased to grant a liberal spirit.

The following Chorus was then sung–

GLORY, honor, praise, and power,

Be unto the Lamb for ever;

Jesus Christ is our Redeemer,

Hallelujah, Amen.

After which, the benediction having been pronounced, the service
terminated.

There were upwards of 24,000 persons present at this service; and the
amount collected towards the Indian Relief Fund amounted to nearly
£500, of which £25 was given by Miss Nightingale. The Crystal Palace
Company contributed £200 in addition–making a total of nearly £700.

"To God be all the glory."