The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1871-12-16 00:00:00

UNION CHAPEL, ISLINGTON.

Sunday morning's service at this chapel, the minister of
which is the Rev. lie All., one of the ablest and most dis-
tinguish.' leaders of the Independent denomination, was
throughout exceedingly appropriate to the illness of the
Prince of Wales, and to the anxious, sympathetic feelings
which hred been excited in the public mind. The congrega-
tion, which was Toy large, no doubt was prepared for Some-
thing out of the ordinary course. Availing himself of a free-
dom of selection that is not possessegl by the clergy of the
hatablialied 1?r. Allen chose for the Scripture
" Lemons" two chapters of the Bible which seemed
to have a peculiar applicability to the great national
calamity which had juat been, if It were not still,
impending. The first chapter was the gath of Isaiah,
commencing with the words. "its those days was Here,
kiah sick unto death," quickly followed by the prophet's
announcement to the sick monarch, who had been longing
for the prolongation of his life, I have beard thy prayer,
I have seen thy tears: behold I will add unto thy days
fifteen years ;" and next by Ilezekiiik's beautiful hymn of
praise after his recovery ; while the second chapter was the
6th of Matthew, from the 19th verse to the end, beginning
with Christ's admonition, "Lay not up for yourselves
treasures upon earth," and afterwards asserling the
universal and beneficent care of God: or all His crea-
tures. In the principal prayer of the service the
Al:nighty wai solenguly iv, 'lied in relation to the sub-
ject which prolmlgly oceanic,' the thoughts of the
congregation. "Thu hoot," said the minister, " brought
siesneas into our palaces Thou has made our Princes feel
that they are at one with the lowliest in the land in their ex.
points to sickness and the accidents of human life. Comfort
the heart of our widowed Queen. If it please Thee, restore
to health the Heir to the Throne. Strengthen and Idess his
wife and children; and may they tut up to Thee their
prayers with the assurance that Thou hearest their cry,
art not afflicting them in wantonneaa, or indifference, hut
in mercy and in wisdom. If it please Thee, let Thy merry
Ito shown in the arresting of the process of death that
threatens. Let not the nation have to mourn the
premature decease of its Prince. May his sickness, if it he
not 'lnto death,' be anew epoch in his life, henceforth may
he live greatly, may he exercise an Influence which shall be
gracious and devout, and may he and all the Royal House-
hold have cause to thank Thee for this dispensation of Thy
providence." The hymn sung immediately before the sermon
was a translation by Winkworth from a noble German com-
position of Neumarck, commencing with the verse—
"if thou but antler God to guide thee,
And hope in Him through all thy ways,
rite thee strength, whate'er betide thee,
And bear thee up thniugh evil days.
Who trust in God's unchanging love
Build tin the Ruck that nought can move."
Tie text of the sermon was the 20th ar.d two following verses
of the loth chapter of the Gospel of St. Matthew—" Are not
two sparrows sold J:,r a farthing ? and one of them Acta not
fall ore the uround without your Father. But the wry hairs
f your head are all nu •n4ered. Peary, not, therepre, ware of
more salt, than many sparrows." On these simple and well-
known words the preacher founded an able and devoutly-
philosophic discourse, one great object of a hick appeared to
be to "justify the ways of God to men" in relation to such
artling events as the alarming illness and apprehended
death of a young Prince antedated hopefully in the mind
of the within with the future of his country. He com-
menced by remarking that the thought which their Lord
there expressed was that In which they instinctively took
refuge when great troubles came that they could not con-
trol. Under sudden and desolating strokes, resistless In
their course, they could only ask, in their helplessness, " Is
there a living God or not, or is this thing a child of
chance?" Never did the denial of Ggsta providence
seem to them -so cold and sti ghastly as in the dark
night of sorrow never did the half-truth that all was
the mere working of natural laws which God had
ordained, and with which He would not interfere, seem to
them si unsatisfactory. Nay, the thought was almost
Intolerable that thgaie terrible destructive forces which
smote down no many of them, were like donna
throuch which no one could [ruble men, and that what
they thought was aortae and loving Eye was hut an empty
socket. The human heart rejected sueh a thought and
almost cursed for its cruelty. And they might be sure that
it alai not true. Human instinct was as tnie as human
reason men's hearts were as true as their intellects. The
great Instincts within them we too strong for scepticism
when any great sorrow came, and Ile who was truer
to the comicionsuese and the needs of the human heart
than anyone else eve, was, and who spoke with greater
spiritual knowledge arid greater moral authority than
any other teacher, had employed the fullest tender-
ness, the most beautiful, human worth, to Inculcate
the doctrine of God's providence, and to bring home
to them the largest and most loving sense Of a Father
in Heaven. The remainder of the sermon was a carefully.
reasoned argument, accompanied with minute and Interest-
ing illustrations in support of the doctrine, not merely of a
general, but nf a minute, Providence in human affairs. In
conclusion, the preacher said, let reason say what it might,
there was a wise and loving Father ordering their daily life,
and that thought nhoulti calm their anxieties, steady their
perturbations, and be a sheet-anchor to their souls.