The National Register.
London, England, 1816-03-03 00:00:00

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tounDa7► amuiemento.

" Divide SUNDAY from the Week.'

WATERLOO SERMONS.

THE transcendant victory that terminated the hat
war, slid not add more to the glory of our arms, than the •
collections and contributions for the relief of those who
suffered in the battle that led to it, atlsied to the fame of
our charity. The sympathy of the country was simulta-
neous with its exultation ; the charitable donation was
offered with the laurel of triumph ; and our purses were
opened to promote the recover•, to reward the services, or
to assist the families of our gallant soldiers ; while our
tongues resounded their praises, and our hearts rejoiced
at the success. For sonic time, the sentiments• of
duals, unprompted by any appeels to their sympathy, or
Christian principles, swelled thecfferings of benevolence;
and the humane spirit of our religion produced the grand-
est effect ; like the silent influence of nature, while ito
name was not cpmly employed; nor its aid invoked. It
soon allied itself; however, in a mere ostensible manner
with this labour of love ; and, as it has been the origin of
those numerous institutions, unknown to ancient times,
for alleviating the distresses, and improving the condition
of men in civil life, so it now stepped forward, to heal
the wounds received in the field of battle, or to supply, in
some manner, the losses incurred by victory. By the au-
thority of the Royal Letter, and the active zeal of the
clergy, the inhabitants of this country were unite sally
invited to bring the offering of patriotiSia and charity to
the altar of religion; to gratify the genesis feelings of
their nature, under the impression, that they were per-
forming an act of piety; and to anticipate the mild' of
distress, not more as the efleetof praise-worthy liberality-,
than of consecrated beneficence. The nation thus exhi-
bited the sublime spectacle of a great people, where mili-
tary renown could receive no addition, meeting, with one
accord, in the temples of their God for the purposes of
patriotic charity, forgetting all differences of religious
creed, in a unanimity of benevolence; suppressing all the

—siteeess-itigTflaVe and, anxious only to add to
a fund, for the relief of those, through whose sacrifices-
and exertions we had our present points of elevation.
The ministers of religion, in this interesting scene,
bc-
I ante the advocates of suffering humanity, and, without
forgetting their character of peace-makers, called upon
th? people for the means of repairing the ravages of war.
Their app .al was not heard in vain. That charity which
in late events has given us more than victory, which,
like a go al angel, has followed the track of the destroyer,
building. up the cutages, and' alleviating the distresses of
the Portuguese peasants, between the Douro and the
Tagus ; and conveying comfort, even into the ruined v l-
ieges and cities of Russia, was not reluctant to display it-
s(lf in the cause of our own countrymen, who added to
the plea of suffering, the claims which great merit and
important services impose upon our gratitude. Several of
the addresses made to the people on that occasion are
published, and thrown, us it were, into the fund for
which they were composed ; spa that we haVe not only
Waterloo sabscriptions, poems, pictures, sad statements,
but Waterloo sermons.

In so fur as these compositions aided the cause which
they recommended, orfwere calculated more extensively to
forward the interests of charity, we concur in their ob-
jects, and applaud their execution. Our religion is truly
the religion of benevolence ; land while it proscribes the
causes of human suCering, when they originate in vicious
propensities, and irregular passions, it calls upon its ad.-
herents by the example of its great Author, and by their
own hopes of future happiness, to succour and relieve the
wretched and the destitute. It came to procure the ces-
sation of war, but it commands us to bind. up the wounds
which war has inflicted. But we are afraid, from the
specimens that we have seen of these Waterloo sermons,
that many of them displayed as much secular politics as.
Christian charity ; and that they contained opinions and,
reasonings on the designs of Pnwidence, in the late
events, fully more than persuasions to liberality, or ex-
planations of moral duty. We are even afraid that many
()F our late successes were transferred from the Gazette to
the pulpit ; that " the pomp and circumstance of war,"
were detailed snore than the wounds of our soldiers, or -Y --3 C
,/.p,
the distresses of their destitute families; and that the mi. 7. .---..-" S
nisters of the religion of peace may have given a .sanction . ' 0.14' i
to that military spirit; which is not lass at variance with ( . •:,..,. 4
•
the civil tranquillity of the world, than inconsistent with •
the tenor of the gospel. The present generation of men 6! 4
in this country has be= so much accustomed to hear of _, ..'. •
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