The Sun.
London, England, 1866-12-26 00:00:00

E SUN, LONDON, WEDNESDAY EVENING, DECEMBER 26, 1866.

gard to this traffic, with any of the lines terminat-
ing at the north side of the metropolis. They do
not, perhaps, in the aggregate, bring to London as
many Christmas gifts as arrive at Shoreditch ; but
on the other hand, they carry more from town into
the country. The South-Western, however, has a
large Christmas traffic, which is in some respects
similar to that to be found at Paddington. At a
rough calculation the value of these grateful pre-
sents is about £320,000, and so perfect is the or-
ganisation that, when the week is at an end, it will
most likely be found that, numerous as have been
the packages to be delivered, five dozen of them
will not have gone astray from being either mis-
delivered or non-delivered.—Railway News.

Dean Stanley on
_Christmas and Its

Assoeations.

Yesterday morning the Very Rev. Dr. Stanley,
the Dean of -Westminster, preached a most interest-
ing sermon in the Abbey, selecting for his text the
9th chapter of the prophecy of Isaiah, verse 5, " For
every battle of the warrior is with confused noise,
and garments rolled in blood ; but this shall be with
burning and fuel of fire. For unto us a child is
born, unto us a son is given : and the government
shall be upon his shoulder : and his name shall be
called Wonderful, Counsellor, the Mighty God, the
Everlasting Father, the Prince of Peace." After
an allusion to the historical circumstances connected
with the text, he said the day on which they were
assembled recalled an event in the history of that
place of which that day was the anniversary, and
that abbey the scene. Some present might remem-
ber that last year they celebrated in that abbey, on
Innocent's Day, the 800th anniversary of the foun-
dation of that abbey by the last hereditary Saxon
king. They had now advanced another year, and
on that day (Christmas-day) they commemorated
the 800th anniversary of the first coronation cele-
brated in that abbey—the coronation of William
the Conqueror. That coronation was so remark-
able, not only as being the first in the long unbroken
series which had since been one of the chief glories
of Westminster Abbey, but from its own intrinsic
interests and the marvellous lessons it con-
veyed, that it would not be without use for him to
describe it. A great battle which had decided the
fate of England had been fought in October. Wil-
liam entered London as a stranger and a conqueror,
but he was determined to mount the throne accord-
ing to all the forms which ancient usage had pre-
scribed. On that Great Christmas festival, the
usual coronation day of Anglo-Saxon princes, in
the heart of what was then considered the capital
of England, William appeared with his courtiers
and his army in the newly-finished abbey. He
took his stand at the altar beside King Ed-
ward's tomb, an indomitable conqueror, suc-
cessor to the frail,fantastic prince of whom he spoke
last year—Edward the Confessor. Outside, in
the gardens, were stationed the Norman cavalry ;
inside the abbey were the Norman nobles and the
Saxons—distinct as French and English, but never-
theless feeling an equal interest in the events of that
day. At that time the question was addressed to
those present—to the Normans in French, by a
French prelate, the Bishop of Coutance ; to the
Saxons, by an English prelate, whether they would
have King William to reign over them. Each re-
turned a shout of welcome ; but the shout-was so
loud, and the discord of the two rival languages so
great as to arouse the Norman soldiers, who burst
into the church. A wild panic ensued ; then came
a bloody massacre, and the day ended in wild con-
fusion. The abbey was left almost empty, but the
king and the assistant clergy stood by the side of
the altar, and for the first time the Conqueror was
terrified and trembled from head to foot in an ex-
tremity of fear. The sacred forms were hurried
through, the oil was put on his face, and the crown
on his head ; and thus, wildly and fiercely, was in-
augurated the English monarchy ; thus began a
series of those august and peaceful ceremonials
which bad never ceased within its walls. Who could
have thought tLat on that memorable day the two
discordant nations should have come together, that
those languages, so unintelligible each to each , should
have been blended into one ; that a dynasty en-
throned in a state of blood should have become
settled in the affections of the people. Yet so it had
been, and it was no unworthy subject of contempla-
tion on that sacred day. Tho.le ancient implements
of warfare bad been burned (as they always were in
ancient times), and their ashes had been scattered
to the winds. The proud Norman and th 2 humble
Saxon had been united in one nation—the great
English people—the French and English language
had been blended into one language, and the de-
scendant of William the Conqueror and his Saxon
rival was seated on the throne of England—the
centre of the English constitution—the heart of the
English empire. The two great nations he had
alluded to were at the time in the womb of
the abbey of that day ; without the Norman
Conqueror there would have been no pro-
gress ; without his Saxon subjects there would
have been no solidity. Both qualities had marked
the history of the English people ever since. Anti-
quity and novelty, aristocracy and democracy, the
rich and the poor, had been interwoven with the

constitution, securing amongst us peace and good-
will as they had never been secured amonst any
other people. Christmas-day was not now to Eng-
land a stormy signal of bloodshed and misunder-

standing, but it bound man to man and both to God,
equally in bonds of Christian love and English sym-
pathy. " Unto us," might they well say in a lower
sense, " a child is born, and his name is Wonderful.

Counsellor, Prince of Peace." What lessons might
not be learned from all this ! He might apply his
subject to private quarrels amongst neighbours, to
friends who had parted asunder, but he might go a
step further than-this, and point out how it applied
to the present condition of the English Church.
From the first there had been two tendencies in the
English Church, but without destroying it. The
Church of England was a mixed and double church,
because England was a mixed and double nation.

If it were not so, it could not be a national Church.

In these days there was a great conflict between two

great parties, and the same thing they had in the
State and Constitution. Again, if they looked at the
first exhortation in the Prayer-book they would see
that it was composed of half Norman, half English
words. For example, " knowledge" was Saxon,

" confess" was French, "meet together" was Saxon
" assemble" was French, " humble" was French

" lowly" was Saxon, " goodness" was Saxon,
" merry" was French. Some of them might regret
that phrases had been left in the Prayer-hook which

savoured of the superstition which prevailed before

the Reformation, While others might regret that

phrases had been left which seemed to favour the

rational spirit of modern times. Both these certainly
did exist together, and .the only real breach of
Christian faith and Christian charity was when either

party thought it necessary to leave the Church

and nation to itself and to drive the other out.

Let them take, for example, the divergence of opin-
ion which there was on the subject of the Lord's

Supper. Ever since the Reformation there had been
two opposite tendencies, two separate forms of
thought on this subject. Some, with the Church
_ _

of Rome,and the great reformer, Luther, had found
pleasure in figuring to themselves the special near-
ness of Christ in the bread and wine, identifying
those tokens with the body and blood of Christ him-
self, while with the Swis3 reformer, Zuinglius, and
the Reformed Church, others had found pleasure in
believing that the Saviour's presence was in the
heart, within, and not without; that the spiritual life

itself was brought near by the remembrance of his
death, by living faith, and not by the mere outward

act and ceremony. Traces of the conflict had been
left on the very words of the communion office. The
dean pointed out the various changes which the word
in the connnunion service had undergone, and showed
that the policy of the Church had been not to ignore
the views of either great party, but to preserve the
spirit of both. The true policy of the Church had
not been to throw away either of the forms that had
been used, but so to blend them together in that

most solemn act of fellowship that they might feel
themselves to be not two but one people. Since the

first Ronfiict one party bad been constantly endea-

vouring to drive the other out, always at a great

[oss to itself, as it would have been a loss to the