The Sun.
London, England, 1839-01-07 00:00:00

96,410

515,197

9,4Cfi,958
1,`;00,255

11,'267,213

4,778,068

9072,605

5,680,673

at the same time, as I trust, so effectively, to press home '
on your attention the necessity of individually dedicating es':
all you are and all you have.to the God that made you t
and then doubt not that the Lord and Judge of all the earth
will do right ; of this have no dread ; in reference to
this be under no apprehension. He will bring it to pass,
or his word is a riddle, and we cannot exp:ain it. His word
is a mystery, and we cannot understand it—his word is
contradictory, and we cannot reconcile it—his word is ab-
surd and monstrous, and we cannot tell what to do with it •
—the word of God is en unintelligible jargon, or a
wicked medley of confuSed and altogether unintelli-
gible mystery, which man ought never to have had
anything to do with at all, and which man ought
now instantly to repudiate and reject. The word of ,
God is an unmeaning fable or an .absolute deceitful lie,
unless he who runs may read it, and understand what he
reads—unless the weyfarine man, though a fool, can so far
(Prect his steps and guide his ways, without erring and
straying like a lost sheep--eif, I say, the word of God be to
be understood and to be trusted at all, then "fear not,
little flock"---you and your children—you and your worldly
life—you and your temporal inheritance—you and your
fortunes and destinies, here in this world, and hereafter in
the world to come, are in the hands of your heavenly
Shepherd, and Keeper, and God. Commit then yourselves
into his hands, as into the hands of a faithful Creator
he will take care of you and yours—he will take
care of your country, he will take care of the world he has
made, for in his hands are the hearts of all mankind, and all
will conspire to serve his sovereign will—to fulfill and ac- •
complish the eternal and immutable decrees of his all-
' beneficent Providence. I bid you possess your souls in
patience, having first made yourselves individually possess
all good—having made more work for Heaven, so far as
your own interests are concerned personally—l bid you
possess your souls in patience in reference to everything
else ; for rest satisfied of this, the year on which you have
just entered will not only be the trying year, but the telling
year of England's future destinies. The battle.we are now,
fighting from one end of England
.to the other IS
not the battle which most men take it to be. It
goes much further—it runs much deeper than most
men have ever yet supposed it to do. It is not a battle of
party against party for the time being. It is not a struggle
for power or for place among men who, for the moment; are
placed in antagonistic relation to each other. It is the
working of the mystery of iniquity mentioned in Holy
Scripture—the mystery of ungodliness-=-the battle directly
though not ostensibly—the struggle actually though not
openly avowed—the struggle particularly of Christ in his
spirit, is wielded against Beiial in his spirit, and in his spirit
to his children. It is the battle between God and Mam-
mon—between Christ, the Prince of Peace, and Beelzebub,
the Prince of the Devil. The question is, whether God
shall reign in England, or whether Satan shall domineer—the
question is whether the laws of Heaven and the institutions
of mercy are to be the lees of a Christian land, and the in- •
stitutions of a Christian people ; or whether laws begotten
below and born here on earth are to be the laws and insti-
tutions to which a once Christian land and a once Chris-
tian people are to be compelled to submit. It is the bates
tie, my brethren, of this book (the Bible) against the earth
and against hell. If this book stands they fall,—(Several
voices, " Just so.") If this book falls great is the fall of
• the House of God, and you will be buried in the ruins.
The lists are drawn—the battle is set—the field is
pitchedeleadly will be the struggle ; and who is able--
who feels himself able, to enter into that warfare ?
Pray God that he will teach your hands to war and
your fingers to fight. I am well aware, my brethrene
that I have long been charged—indeed, have always
been charged, with a deviation— a departure from
the duties pre,cribed to the profession of which I am
an unworthy member, though I trust as upright, a sincere,
and devoted one. I have been charged with departing ,
ft= the duties of that profession, by wandering away to,'
what have always hitherto been considered the forbidden
paths of politics, by the introduction into my discourses of .
subjects which I am sorry to say, for so many years, if not. -
• age, have always been considered as foreign from the pule
pit ; and as it may happen that the bonds by which you
and I have been held together now for some years, in love and
brotherly kindness, may be broken asunder—as it maf
happen, and before very long, that you and I will have ,to
bid one another farewell, it's only right to yen and to myself,
and to the truth, whose int erpretcr I am—to the book whose
espoundk r I have endeavoured to be—and to the service
and master, whose Minister I am—it's only right that
I should this day, in the opening service of the
New Year, again repeat what I have so often
asserted, that sunless a priest, minister, clergyman, religi-
ous teacher—call him what you like—unless a priest of the
living God be a politician in the pulpit, he has no business
there at all.—(Several voices, " No, he has not.") Law
and religion can never be separated. If you attempt to
disassociate them, or to disunite them, it is like attempt-
ing to disassociate and disunite the soul from the body of
man, and expect, after you have done so, to find a living
being before you. The body without a spirit, is dead.--
faith without works, is dead—politics without religion, is
dead—religion without polities, is dead—the one is the ,
body, the other is the soul. Read this book (the Bible) ,
from the beginning to the end, and tell me whether.,
in the whole of its code of laws, you find one law out
of them till that does not apply to this world, and to.
this world only. These are the laws of God. To
whom ? To angels ?—to archangels ?—to devils ?—to
archilevils ? No!—to man. They are the laws of God, to,
be kept—where ? In heaven ?—in hell? No !—cat
earth. " Thy will he done on earth us it is in heaven."
Toe laws here given ate given to man for him to keep on
earth, that, by so keeping the law, and doing the will of
God here, he may liken himself to the angels that are in
heaven, and thus, in this probationary state, prepare him-
self fora life of holiness—for that place "at God's right
hand where there are pleasures for evermore." If, then,
all these laws of God to man on earth are by man to be un-
derstood and by man to be observed ; and if God has,
chosen from amongst the children of men those who more par-
ticularly are entrusted with the duty of explaining,expounde
lag, enforcing, applying, and exemplifying those laws, vvhste
are we to say of a man thus chosen of God—thus inspired
with the Holy Spirit—thus entrusted with the heavenly
charge—thus authorised by the Divine commission—thus
sanctioned by the Divine power—thus wielding Heaven'
o svn authority—what are we to think and what are we'
to say of that mini vilna shuns to declare the whole counsel
of God ; who says what he chooses to say, and keeps back
what he does not choose to let out ? who only tells
the people a portion of the law—a portion of their duty--
a portion of their privileges, and who withholds from them
that portion of -their privilege, of their duty, and of the
law which God Alinightly has commanded him to commu-
nicate to them, entire and without reservation ?
The man who does so is either purblind—(for
would, not be uncharitable even here)—the mats
who withholes any part of the Word cll. God, is either pig'.
blind, not seeing the way, or he is wilfully wicked, nose
walking himself in the way, nor leading his brethren to it ; •
or, lastly, he is forsworn, taking the name and authority or
God on his lips in vain, saying, "Thus saith the Lord,
when the Lord bath not said it—the most awful of all
imposters, of all hypocrites, of all deceivers, for whom is
r!served the hottest place in the bottomless pit of
(Two or three cries of " Hear, hear.") Woe unto you
ye Pharisees, scribes a'nd hypocrites—woe unto you, for
yours is the domination of hell ; you neither walk in the -
way yourselves, nor allow others to walk in the way ; Yols
keep the key of knowledge—you will neither open the