The Sun.
London, England, 1855-10-01 00:00:00

WESTMINSTER ABBEY.

The sermon at Westminster Abbey in the morning
was preached by the Rev. Temple Frere, the Canon in
residence, who took for his text the second verse of the
103 d Psalm—": Bless the Lord, omy soul, and forget
not all His benefits." The rev. gentleman, after some
preliminary remarks in reference to the duty of prayer
and thanksgiving, especially at the present moment,
proceeded to say that the Almighty had at last answered
the many prayers by which the people of this country
bad besought Him to confound the devices of their
enemies, and to establish the throne of their Sovereign
upon the success of their arms, and had given, in His own
time, an opportunity of appearing before Him, in the
more delightful exercise of their duties with the voice of
joy and praise, with the multitude that keep holyday.
Never, surely, was the duty of prayer and thanksgiving
more ti be respeCted and ardently embraced than on an
occasion when we were called on to commemorate so
great a. mercy as that which had recently been vouch-
safecl to us. " What glorious things the Lord had done
.for us.". He bad blessed the arms of oar Sovereign and
our allies with• victory over the ;most barbarous of
enemies—victories so complete and overwhelming that
we might hope that they would have a powerful effect
in putting an end to the destruction of the destroyer.
It was 'Matter for deep thankfulness that our prayers
and supplications had been graciously responded to,
and as the devices of our enemies had been con-
founded we had the more reason to hope that their
pride might be abated ; and that if our prayers were
conceived in a spirit of humble devotion the Al-
mighty would assuage their malice, and finally give
to us and to all nations, unity, peace, and concord.
In the presumptuous. pretences of the man who in-
volved us in this contest—he (Mr. Frere) would not say
his blasphemy, for he could believe that he was so per-
suaded by the enthusiasts that surrounded him, and for
that vain-gloriousness individuals of our own nation had
been in some degree responsible—the originator of this
war imagined himself to be the chosen instrument for
the establishment of the Messiah's miliennial reign on the
earth ; but his prophecy remained unrealised. The long-
projected scheme, inherited from his ambitious fore-
fathers, he cherished, fostered, and nurtured in the (lark,
and brought not openly into the light of the world until
he considered it sufficiently matured to result in success,
and then he did so reluctantly and with insidious pro-
testations of good faith. But how were the wise taken
in their own craft, and how were the mighty fallen !
The vast preparations of years and the designs of gene-
rations, they might say, had been frustrated, and the
immense accumulation of material in one of the most
sensitive parts of his dominions had been captured and
destroyed. The numerous, carefully collected, and ex-
pensively appointed naval force in the South had been
overwhelmed in the abyss of destruction to which be
himself consigned it. He never suffered defeat with it
in an open maul-y conflict with his antagonists, where
the prowess of the combatants might be equal ; but those
monsters of the deep, melting like wax before the fire,
had sunk in their own waters, annihilated by an act of
self-destruction of the most cowardly and degrading
kind. Even that portion of his naval power in the
Northern Sea had been driven to seek disgrace in shelter,
and was only safe when it was beyond our reach, where,
shrinking from fulfilling the purpose for which it was
designed, it remained the disgraceful witness of the
stagnation of his commerce and of the bankruptcy of
his merchant princes. Thousands and tens of thou-
sands of the people over whom he was destined to
rule, as the vicegerent; of the Almighty upon the
earth, were consigned to slaughter, the victims of an
unrighteous ambition ; and they who had the mis-
fortune to escape, remained degraded, dishonoured,
and disgraced. The rev, gentleman, leaving this topic,
proceeded to speak in terms of congratulation of the aus-
picious alliance of the two most powerful nations of
Western Europe, and concluded by an earnest exhorta-
tion that we might so use our victory that it might prove
a blessing, and not a curse to us.
The prayers were read by the Rev. Mr. Antrobus,
and the lessons of the day by the Rev. Mr. Arnold. There
was a full choral service both in the morning and after-
noon, and collections were made on each occasion on be•
half of those who had suffered in the contest.