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

ST. MARY'S, NEWINGTON.

A sermon appropriate to the day thanksgiving was
preached at this church in the morning by the Rev. C.
Moore. The preacher took for his text the 20th verse of
the 24th chapter of Josbua—" If ye forsake the Lord,
and serve strange gods, then He will turn and do you
hurt, and consume yon, after that he hath done you
good." He observed that, in obedience to the command
of the Legislature, we this day offered unto God our
hearty thanksgiving for the success which He has lately
vouchsafed to our arms in the East ; and he, for one,
considered that our praise for His goodness was enhanced
from the fact that the directions to give thanks had ema-
nated from the rulers of our country. To his mind there
was not a more beautiful narrative in the Bible than
that which was to be found in the last chapter of the
let Book of Chronicles, in which King David, after
making provision for the temple which it was reserved to
Solomon to buihl, gave command to his subjects, "Now
bless the Lord your God. And all the congregation
blessed the Lord God of their fathers, and bowed down
their heads, and worshipped the Lord and the King."
He had no sympathy with those who declared that
Royalty was overstepping its prerogative by command-
ing public fasts and thanksgivings. The Legislature
was but acting on scriptural authority in commanding
a public recognition of the governance of Jehovah in the
affairs of men. Long might the day be before it arrived
when the plea should avail that the consciences of some
were aggrieved by the observance of fasts and thanks-
givings ! It was a fallacy to suppose that, whatever
their professions, they were Christians who raised objec-
tions to such things. The Lord had done.good to us as
a nation. The late triumph seemed to tell us that, not-
withstanding our iniquities, His loving mercy was still
over us. Let us, theft, be on our guard that his good-
ness encouraged us not in carelessness or false security,
but let us give as a nation all the greater heed that we
provoke Him not to " turn and do us hurt, and consume
us, after that He bath done us good." It was unneces-
sary to dwell at any length on the many signal proofs of
the goodness of God to us as a nation. Our present
position among the countries of the earth was a pledge
how in temporal things His blessing had been poured
out upon us. Our land was the dwelling-place of free-
dom—a refuge from oppression. We had in an especial
manner appeared to dwell ender the Divine protection
and to receive the accomplishment of the promise " They
who honour me, the:n will I also honour." Tne Almighty
had again done us good. Though the fail of the devoted
city had not resulted in the re-establishment of peace,
yet the arm of the tyrant must to a grc at extent be para-
lised by the blow. The great foe of liberty fondly ima-
gined this mighty fortress to be impregnable, and its fall
must have done much to shake his confidence in the
ultimate. success of his schemes.

A. collection was made at the close of the sermon in
aid of the funds of the Newington District Visiting
Society.

ST. PETER'S, WALWORTH.

The Rev. F. Statham made a very appropriate ad-
dress from Psalm 18, and verse 29 :—" For by thee I
have run through a troop ; and by my God I have leaped
over a wall." Mr. &atham's sermon was almost exclu-
sively devoted to the war, and, while acknowledging the
reasons which the nation had for thanksgiving, he treated
the subject, on religious grounds, as exhibiting the re-
tribution of God for offences against the Scripture and
against nations. After quoting from the Psalms in re-
ference to the victories obtained by David and Saul, Mr.
Statham referred to the glorious victories obtained by
the allies since the commencement of the war, which had
been crowned by the possession of Sebastopol. He al-
luded to the perils and privations encountered by the
allied troops. Notwithstanding all these, our noble army
had held the enemy in check under the most adverse
circumstances, and, in concert with our allies, had ob-
tained a brilliant but most dearly-bought victory. There
was, therefore, a j utt reason for the thanksgiving of that
day, not for one, but for a series of victories, ending with
the downfall of the celebrated fortress, the stronghold of
the Russians. Our allies had there planted their victo-
rious and unsullied standard. He trusted, however,
that although we had cause for rejoicing, no feeling of
rancour would mingle with it. While we rejoiced, we
could not but sigh also for the brave hearts who had
purchased glorious victories with their blood. The rev.
gentleman then traced the progress of the war, and men-
tioned the various victories which the allies had obtained
in the Crimea, deploring the awful waste of human life
which had occurred through the reckless ambition of the
late Czar. The loss of life was almost beyond calcula-
tion. It would seem, however, as if God had determined
to punish the crime. The massacre of Sinope bad met
with signal retribution. All the admirals engaged in it,
and indeed all concerned in the foul and dastardly act,
bad since succumbed. He (Mr. S.) bad never doubted
the eventual success of the allies, and we were not only
successful, but God had punished the wrong-doers.
While, however, he deprecated any vindictive feeling,
he (Mr. S.) felt that he should not be doing his duty if he
did not refer to the retribution with which the offence of
the great culprit had been visited. Success bad always
been on the side of the allies. The Russians had lost both
their fleet and their army. They had been defeated in
the Baltic, the Black Sea, and in the Crimea. Their
last stronghold in the Crimea, which bad cost the Rus-
sians more than 7,000,0001., was now in the hands of
the allies. The Emperor, as was reported, had said he
would not sne for peace ; but if this were so, he would
be compelled by further reverses to agree to terms. God
appeared to have some great design in view in permit-
ting this despotism on the part of Russia, and perhaps
it would lead to the freedom of her serfs, and perhaps to
the freedom of the „Poles and the Hungarians. The
friendship of France and England had been cemented,
and some smaller States had claimed to have a voice
among nations. The rev. gentleman, in conclusion, ad-
verted to the reasons which existed for thanksgiving,
not only for the successes which we bad achieved, but
for the blessings and advantages which those successes
would bring in their train.