The Sun.
London, England, 1861-09-12 00:00:00

ecclesiastical character, placed in the Roman Ca-
tholic Cathedral, St. George's, Southwark.
Mr, Thomas Briesnahan, the sexton of the church,
said that between the hours of 11 and 12 o'clock
that day, while in the cathedral, he heard a great
noise there, and on going to the spot from whence
it proceeded, he found the prisoner in a state of per-
fect frenzy, pulling down and destroying all the
articles of decoration within reach. One, a crucifix,
he had dashed to the ground, but the instant wit-
ness made his appearance he became perfectly calm,
and asked what was the matter. From his manner
for some time in the church, there could be no doubt
that his mind was affected, and for his own sake it
was considered desirable to send him before a ma-
gistrate.

James Harris, the day beadle at the cathedral,
said that for the last fortnight or three weeks the
prisoner had been a regular morning attendant at
the church, and appeared to pray with great devo-
tion. It was evident from his manner that he was
labouring under insanity, but till that morning he
had not committed any act of violence.
The prisoner, who said he had been in the army,
was remanded for a week, the magistrate giving
directions that he should be attended to by the
medical officer of the prison.

MR. SPURGEON AND THE LATE RAIL-

WAY ACCIDENTS.

On Sunday morning, at the Metropolitan Tabernacle, the
Rev. C. H. Spurgeon addressed his congregation at great
length upon the subject of the late railway a9cidents. He
observed that the columns of the newspaiets during the
past fortnight had been filled; not merely with accounts of
these accidents, but also with those of an unusually large
number of minor occurrences of a fatal nature which had
taken place in various parts of the country. The year 1861
would be reckoned as about the most calamitous which had
occurred within the memory of the present generation, and
it was particularly at that season of it when the sickle
had done its work, and our barns were filled with
plenty, that death had been reaping his harvest. It
was worthy, he thought, of remark, that in every age of
the world accidents of one kind or another had taken place,
quite as numerous and as calamitous as those which were
now being deplored ; and his own opinion was that those
which were recorded in the newspapers as happening
in the days of the old stage coaches were just as many
and as fatal as those which had followed since the inven-
tion of the Steam-ongine. He repudiated the notion that
the collision in the Clayton tunnel was a judgment
from Heaven because of Sunday travelling, and said
it was as likely to have occurred upon any other day of the
week as upon the Sabbath. In fact the catastrophe on the
Hampstead Junction had occurred upon a Monday, and
when the excursionists were going upon an errand of mercy.
He contended that it was both foolish and unscriptural to
attempt to unravel the mysteries of Providence. As well
might a man who entered the theatre in the middle of the
third act, and only stopped a few minutes to look at
one of the performers, pretend that he could under
stand the whole plot of the drama from beginning to
end, as for any one who, for a period of 30 or 40 years looked
at the great drama which for 6,000 years had been in course
of representation in this world, and which would continue
to go on until the consummation of all sublunary things—
to fancy that be could comprehend the inscrutable work-
ings of God's Providence throughout the whole of that
lengthened period. It had been stated in some quarters
that the people killed in Clayton tunnel, and on the Hamp-
stead Junction, must have been greater sinners than those
who escaped. He denied this assumption in very strong
terms, asking whether the unconscious babe who was
crushed to death in the tunnel could be supposed for a mo-
ment to be a greater sinner than some of those who were
occupying the dens of London, and who were yet alive. He
did not believe there was one among the whole congregation
who would have the brutality to go and tell the female who
had been rendered a weeping widow by these calamities that
her husband had been killed because he was a greater sin-
ner than other people. The rev. gentleman having enlarged
upon the dreadful scene in the tunnel at the moment of the
collision—of the crushing weight of the engine, of the one
train upon the hinder carriages of the other—of the break-
ing timbers, the shrieks of the women, and the groans of
the wounded, proceeded to remark upon the variety of modes
—in the street, in the domestic circle, and in the pulpit—in
which death might overtake us in a moment, referring par-
ticularly to the death of the celebrated Dr. Beaumont, who
died whilst in the act of delivering a sermon; and also to
that of an American divine, who finished his earthly course
after he had given out from the pulpit the first verse of a.
hymn. The latter part of Mr. Spurgeon's discourse was of
a practical character, arising out of the melancholy catas-
trophes of the last fortnight. Hs was listened to through-
out with marked attention.