The Express.
London, England, 1849-11-16 00:00:00

THE DAY OF THANKSGIVING.

We subjoin some further reports of the sermons of
some of the dignitaries of the church and most
popular preachers in London and its suburbs de-
livered yesterday :
ST. PAUL'S CATHEDRAL.
THE BISHOP OF LONDON.
A full cathedral service was celebrated at St. Paul's
yesterday morning, in the presence of the Right Hon. the
Lord Mayor and some other member, of the corporation.
The service commenced, as usual, before 10 o'clock, but even
at that early hour a very large congregation had assembled.
The sermon was preached by the Bishop of London, who
selected as his t. xt the Sth verse of the 107th Psalm:—" Oh,
that men would praise the Lord for his goodness, and for his
wonderful works to the children of men." The Right Rev.
Prelate commenced his ditcourse with some general remarks
on the lamentable absence of a recognition of the providence
o' God in the affairs of men, and the manner in which the
Almighty frequently reminded mankind of His providential
interposition by directing or permitting sfilictions of various
kinds. " We have lately," said the right rev. prelate," had a
striking illustration of these truths. It has pleased
Almighty God to visit us a second time with
that fearful disease which has traversed nearly the
entire circle of the habitable globe ; untraceable
in its origin, undefinable as to its nature; so rapid
in its progress that oftentimes its only symptom is death;
baffling the reserrehes:of science and the devices of human
skill; sweeping aff entire families, desolating a whole neigh-
bourhood, aid (miss even the thoughtless and the pre.
sumptuous to recognise the hand of God. And we did
recognise it ; not, indeed, as a nation, so solemnly as we ought
to have done, but yet as a Christian people, and as mooch. re
of a true church, we did openly and devoutly acknowledge
that the chastisement inflicted upon us was not more than
we had deserved." • • "As in the rase of the people of
Nineveh, Owl repented of the evil that he had said he
would do unto as, and he did it not. But was it, as in
their ease, because he saw our works, tbst we turned
from our evil way ? Let every one of us look
to his own conscience for the answer. That the
judgments of God which were abroed in the land did
awaken in the people of this country,. not merely a deep emo-
tion of fear, but an awful apprehension of the sovereignty of
God and a sincere reliance on his goodness, we trust there is
no reason to doubt. The unusual solemnity with which our
days of humiliation and intercession were observed ; the
general intermission, on such da)s, of business and plea-
sure ; the voluntary worshippers who thronged our churches;
the abundant almsgiving—these indicated, if not that a gene-
ral sense of sidelines, yet that a general sense of God's provi-
dence, was commonly felt. Whether the impression made
by the awful lesson of the last year has been such as is likely
to produce a permanent improvement is known only to Him
who judgeth the heart and trieth the reins. Let us hope and
pray that it may be deep and lasting. It is a question which
is personal to every individual amongst us, for to
one of us was the warning sent. Let us not
forges, brethren, that it is our own personal
feelings and actions which constitute, particle by particle and
drop by drop, the sass of virtue or the overflowings of wick-
edness which stamp the character of the community as that
of a godless or a god-fearing people." • • • " Where are
your solemn thoughts and pious resolutions now ? Are you
seeking to exemplify them in the realities of a Christian life,
or have tug melted away, es the shadows of some dark
mysterious arum, with the returning brightness of the day,
to be replaced by gayer visions of pleasure, or by schemes of
ambition or of covetousness? Have your thoughts become
more fixed on things carnal since God has spoken to you in
suds distinct language of the perishableness of the things of
this life ? " • • " The Almighty has other instruments
of His wrath besides the fell disease which has just passed
away. The sword which we imagine to be sheathed may
still be suspended over us by a hair, to fall when
the fullness of the appointed time shall come. That we
have been hitherto spared while others have been smitten is
wholly owing to the free mercy of God, not to our superior
merits or stronger claims upon his forbearance. It is, there-
fore, a subject for special thankfulness, but also for increased
vigilance end ears. God has other arrows in His quiver be-
sides that which has been shot and spent. The " pestilence'
that mike* in darkness" and "the sickness that destroyetk
at noon day," " the blest and the mildew end the famine,"
are not the only executioners of God's wrath upon a rebel-
lions or &wry's" autos. The madness of • people or
the foolishness of its rulers may be at once the cause and the
consequence of a scourge, and the nation's sin may be made
the instrument of its deuiation." • • " At the preeme
moment it is fitting that we should employ our
thoughts in the consideration of the special mercies which
we see come together to acknowledge. I say the special
weans ; for it is not one instance only of the divine acad.
ness to us as a nation for which our united praises steedd
ascend from God's earthly sanctuary to His threes of
Miming. Oar deliverance from the fatal •ealedy which has
cot off thousands of the inhabitants of this great city ia,
indeed, the most prominent topic of thankfulness, and the
ON most directly connected with our individual preserve
ties. " The most suitable, end we may well believe
the most acceptable soda of acknowledging the good-
ness of God in withdrawing from us the scourge of
peeMence and in" and preserving to our use the
kindly faits of the arch, ' will be a larger measure of
eheditable sansidoration for the physical evils which afflict
oak pone beetlires, sad the potting forth of more strenuous
AIM to sewn, se at least to diminish them. Till this shall
have bees ewe we eau effect but little for their religious or
moral impsoissaant. We atv bound to attempt this, not
only bye:Christian regard for our poorer brethren as mem-
bon the WOO family with ourselves, but as desiring the
well-Ming and safety of our country. Let ma endeavour
to do away with a state of things which is degrading to them
as human beings, still more as children of the church;
which not only invites the approach, and aggravates the
malMnity, daises's, but weakens all the social and domestic
virtue, des Toys all selirespect, removes all the motives to,
all the opportunities of, self-improvement. The want of a
decent and cleat habitation is one of the chief evils which
oppress the poor—an evil continually increasing with the
blame of our population, and which steps ought long ago
to have bees taken to prevent. Neatness, order, and cum
fort are unknown in their miserable, over-crowded dwel-
lings; modest reserve is impracticable; delicacy of feeling is
destroyed. Cowmen of manners and language is the con-
sequence of a mode of life which admits of no retirement, no
seclusion, no meditation, becomes the habit of childhood, and
prepares the mind for vicious intercourse in future years.
None of the comforts of home are there, none of its soften-
ing, purifjing influences. And can we wonder if from
such sinks of impurity and immorality come forth, if they
are spared by epidemic disease, the scandals and pests of so-
eiety—the mendicant, the drunkard, and the thief ? It is
not less our interest than theirs that our poorer neighbours
should enjoy the comforts and decencies of life ; treat they
should possess the means, which to so many of tic m are
wanting, of being cleanly. quiet, observant of domestic pro-
priety, having each their own home for their own family,
sad @toying, it not many of the meat rte of life, as the term
is commonly understood, ;)et at least the blessings from
which none ought to be delsa-red, which are common even
to the meanest of the brute creation, the pure elements of
Mr and water, rho accessary meaae of health and strength.
If persons who have a competency of this world's
have, for the most part, been exempted, by the good-
of God, from the scourge or sickness which proved so
Mal to the poor, they have surely in that exemption
a special ground of charitable exertion for the re.