The Express.
London, England, 1857-10-08 00:00:00

inentred. The pescher quoted the caves of Manameh
pre-
and
Ahab In support of thia etalement, and that reir
sent =pante= wee precisely @hailer. Ilea one of them
attributes of Deity which no human imagination meld
Slalom—that prem.= generations were made to hear the she
of thaw gene by ; end strange indeed was It that the wrong
done to India thould be exacted of a generation wise dad
s balled, or at lei= attempted, more than any other to
repair it. What could they then say to them digs but that
tat Iwgdfinlente of Clod were =searchable, end Hie ways poet
out What could wo do under the pressure of •
judgment et woe so sudden and ro sore but entreat Him, as
did David, to behold our desolation F Ah f we knew not
how fur oar own du might have contributed to draw down
upon the sufferers thorn moat appalling and unsparing judg-
ments. They bad heard in that day's mervieeour Lord's rebuke,
" Su ye that them Galilean ware ,inner, above all
the Oellleane. I tell you, Nay but except ye repent,
ye shall ell likewise perish." The bearing that it
had upon oar case wan plain. If w,, would not
"learn righteonsnees " from the judgment. indicted
upon others, we could but expect them to fail upon
=mime. But them was mmetheag more required of us.
We mutt humble ourselves not only generally se a nation, I
not only collectively as • church, but separately and singly. II
Had not the fact been proclaimed—had not the solemn
amenably been convened—had not the Sovereign called upon
her people as it became a Christian Queen to do, the men of
Nineveh, of whom we had heard, would have risen against
this generation end condemned it, bemuse we repented not
at the prceching of Jonas, end "behold, a greater than
Jonas to here." Yea, a greater than Jonas! Behold, the
Lord carte out of His place to punish the inhabitants of the
earth for their iniquity ; and there must be the work of the
closet as well as of the church, if we would make dale en
acceptable day unto Hlm. Our impressions miushe es noble
as they were deep—our penitence as practical as It was pro-
found. The rev. gentleman at some length adverted to the
.elamitim [Whited on Jerusalem and Nineveh, and drew a
powerful comparison between their judgments and those with
whk.la Bugle= wee at present anicted. Having
to family prayer, which, he obverved, was moat urn to
God, he warned his hearers to musette their own ewes in
regard to the present crisis, and exhorted them to persoeal
religion. The preacher concluded with en appeal on behalf
of the Indian had.

ST. PHILIP'S, REGENT-STREET.
THI ASV. 1. W. BILLET/.
Jeremiah a 60, v. 22.
" The Lord bath opened his armoury; • sound of battle is
in the had, and of great destruction.'
Tie preacher commenced by saying that the
majesty of Ood was ever most distinct amidst tho con-
ranee and convulsions of the world. Nothing could
be a greeter proof of a divine power than the production of
melee out of chaos and confusion, and the creation of beauty
out d things without form and void; what but each • power
could evolve light out of deep darkness, and bid sterility
biome into esienty 1' This was beyond the reach of mate-
rialise, and could only result from the power of a
Cream. If that was so, revelation and creation were
in larmony, for they both testiSed to the personality
of Ord , and both showed that no inferior agency couM
havemodanel such wonderful effects. Nature in her work-
ings disclosed the existence of a Supreme Being, active in his
mysterious economy, the depths of which mankind was un-
able o fathom, and though obliged to say, so it is, was Inca-
ttlittaying, how it is ea The researches of science, the
tl of God, revealed the infallible truth of nature, that
all tie greeted results of creation come out of chaos and
conftsion. The whole world sprang out of convulsions and
confeaion. The waves of strata in the rocks, the not vet ex-
tinct voleanoa spoke of convulsion ; the agonies and throes
of mut= in the art of producing the last greet work of crea-
tion,the electric collimate which were neeemery to the
Natation of the atmeephere, the bursting of neon,
which as often converted them into arehite, te of
the earth—all tended to prove that out of convulsion
andeonfation order and peace wore to arise. It was Michael
Angelo who first taught that the fairest and brightest litres
of painting were beet brought out by a dark back ground,
and so in nature the highest points of character were urea
emitted on a dark and gloomy canems if events. Turning
font creation to human nature,we ever found man endeavour-
fi6yy of confusion to bring completion ; and the prevalence of
Wel and calamity was ever compelling him to make a battle-
Sad of life. He had always to {be in ectnflict with material
fed mental opposition. In his material straggle he mastered
de alomanta, and overcame the physical dbaculdes which
era end nature were ever placing in the way d'
lb material operationa. Thee he bad to enter into
mental conflict with the world's opinion, and last and greet-
at conflict of elle he had to encounter secret and insidious
foes within the citadel—his own vide and selfishness and
to enable him to do battle with them in that hie awful necce-
Pity, he could only act himeelf on an alliance with Divine
I Power. Hen the deadliest combat was to be waged, and for
eut h a reason it was that Christ Jesus was sent into the
world to Le the champion and saviour of men. When men
neglected to arm rimmed, a with the weapons of righteous-
noes they were settureed by enrrow and affliction. This was
proved by the ponied-me otte which God inflicted on the Jenne,
his own people; but though they were punished they were
still beloved of God, and they were promised pardon en their
repentance and turning to God. A great and mighty nation
was at prayer that day. To them belonged confusion of face be-
cause they hadnoned against God. But were they in earnest, or
was this pay's service a solemn mockery P me them only
word. upon their lips which they were sending tee to the
throne of God, or wore they heartfelt truth..? Were they
praying in meow of heart—hearts heavy with the loss of so
many Mends and countrymen—or were they asking for the
steady advent of the time of summary vengeance on these who
bed brought en one levee and 'tithed= on the lesd, tested of
humbling themselves before God for their bat If they
were not simply humbling themselves for their ..lea, thou
he proclaimed that day's service to be a shameful blare
phemy and a wicked hypocrisy. Were they only se=
fa time for vengeance on those Indian robbers whose
no lenguage could tharacterise, in order that they might
copy the example of those whose hideous snort:anus had
no parallel in the history of the world P He &eked this emotion
become he shuddered when he thought of the language used
in private letters and public journals en this subject. If we
were to copy the deeds of our enemimore bad better cease
from prayer, and shut up our bibles. The preacher then in '
the most emphatic Lacoste urged, that while we satisfied ,
pieties on the Mode in human shape who had been guilty of
such enmities sa had been yet unheard of in all time, we
must still remember that we were Christians; but there was
something se terrible and appalling in the tone of public feel-
ing and exprevion ith reference to those Indian butchen,
I that he felt it his duty to remonstrate against the cherishing
of such a eentintent of guilty vengeance which was divest:to-
ful to a Christian people. Our first feeling should not be
I one of reactance • but we should acknowledge that we had
sinned an a seam, and bend before Clod In humi-
liation and sorrow. We were keeping a solemn fast
in order that we might pray for pardon fur our
' stns. What dm? We had committed grievous sins
in our relations with India. In much of our
conduct there we had deo= =melee' &shamed of Christ and
his religion, and done dishonour to its prindples. Wo had
I been the governors ;of that vela territory for 100 years, and
in that time we had done many acts which some of our
statesmen had not hesitated to denounce. We bad
Mtttet empire for our own gains, and not governed it for
Its benefit. Its roveures had been undeveloped, and for
years it had been our narrow policy to keep them un-
der , and it was only four years ago that any attempt
bed been made at any broad scheme for the immanent of
the people of India. Lord William Bentinek, to hie eternal
honour, had abolished the terrible custom of Suttee; and
II Lord Dalhousie had done all in his power to cheek the crime
of Infanticide ; but beyond this, the moral influence of
England in India bad been extremely small. Even es
regarded the army now in revolt, we bad pampered
its folly and its prejudices, while at the same time we had
deprived it of so many of its effieers, that all discipline was
het. With reference to Christianity, he must say that the
government of India was blameless of any attempt at the I
conversion of the people, and no government oeuld have ex-
hibited • greater Independence of. or a greater indiffennice I.
Christianity. In justice, he would add that it was impair I
sible for an government to identify itself with missionary
efforts in India. While perhaps ours had been, on the
whole, the beet and most pot rule which India ever pm-
Reseed, still no one could think of the broken treatise, the
corruptioni anti opposition which had existed there without I
elle that there were many remess with reference to
India which called for humiliation and repentance from us ;
and be bread that when we regained our autho-
rity In that empire, many errors of government
weuht be abandoned, and that we would me ell our
effort• to make lodia what it bad never yet been under our
rale, a prosperous and powerful lead. Turning to the sub-
ject of the @offerings of our countrymen in the East, the
preacher pointed out that the ambition of the three greatest
conquerors of the world—Alexander, Cwear and Napoleon—
Mid mused the verifice of six millions of hinnate lire* ; but
in none of the blond-stained pages of history was there any
rennet to the cruelties and enormities which had been perpe-
trated in India ; the persecutions of the early Christians, the
direful acts of Nero, the secret tortures of the Inquisition,
and the horror. of the French revolution, were insignificant
when compered with what had been inflicted on our Mends
and countrymen there. He then introduced with great
pathos several of the most touching incidents of the recent
massacres, some of which were connected with the =mot of
member, of his own congregation ; and at this portion of the
mermen the emotions of numbers of those present was evi-
denced by theft, sobs and team. He then preceded to con-
shim the subject in its moral and national point of view.
Elegised now presented before the world the spectacle of a
Divine visitation; but it should be remembered that hitherto
out of all her trouble., God had evoked the greatest benefits
to her; and tent of this calamity two beneficial results had
arisen—the one individual, the other national. As regarded
the individual benefit, this fiery trial had produced mane a
here and many a mint ; and It had stirred the spirit of Chile-
tianity which bed lath dormant in that land in the persons of
many who had (wand at the lest their only refuge in God and
their Savinar. As regarded the national benefit, it was
already being developed in the recto:lingo of that day—in