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 NATIONAL CALAMIIII^.S 
 
 A CALL TO REPEXTANCE. 
 
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 A S E R IVI ON 
 
 ricaolic'i-lApnllSUi, 1855, 
 
 r.KIXG THE DAY APPOINTED BY PROCLAMATION, FOR A GENERAL 
 FAST, IIUMILL-ITION, AND PRAYER, 
 
 FOR TaE 55LLLKSS OP 
 
 HER MAJESTY'S ARMS IN THE CRIMEA. 
 
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 BY EDWARD 11. DEWAR, M. A., 
 RECTOR OF SANDWICH, C.W. 
 
 
 
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 PUBMSIIED AT Tin: RKQ,V:i'.ST OF MANY PAniSIIION'ERS, 
 
 HENRY ROWSELL; TORONTO. 
 
 1855. 
 
 f'^^ft^^^^^^'^^^^^^^^^*^''^'-^^^ 
 

NATIONAL CALAMITIES A CALL TO REPENTANCE. 
 
 * 
 
 A. SERMON 
 
 Preached April 18tli, 1855, 
 
 BEING THE DAY APPOINTED BY PROCLAMATION, FOR A GENERAL 
 FAST, HUMILIATION, AND PRAYER, 
 
 FOU THE SUCCESS OF 
 
 HER MAJESTY'S ARMS IN THE CRIMEA, 
 
 BY EDWARD H. DEWAR, M. A^ 
 RECTOR OF SANDWICH, C.W. 
 
 VUBLISHED AT THE RECiUEST OF MANY PARISHIONER*. 
 
 1 •» 
 
 HENRY ROWSELL, TORONTO. 
 1855. 
 
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 Daniel IV., 17. " The Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and givoth it 
 
 to whomsoever lie will." 
 
 ) 
 
 It needs not the meridian splendor of tlie Christian Revelation to teach 
 us the lesson which the Prophet deduced from the fearful dream of 
 Nebuchadnezzar, that " the Most High ruleth in the kingdom of men.'' 
 The man is not a Christian, is not a believer In any rtligious dis])ensation, 
 could scarcely be deemed to credit the existence of a God, who will not 
 see the finger of the Almighty in the rise and ftill of empires, in the 
 prosperity and calamity of nations, in the peace, and wealth and security 
 or the desolation, ruin and decay of communities. The history of ancient 
 nations lays before the eye of posterity some terrible examples of the just 
 judgments of Almighty God. Recall to your memories the splendor, 
 riches, and population of those mighty empires which, in their turn, 
 played so distinguished a part upon the theatre of the world. I need 
 but remind you of the vast domains of the capital of Assyria ; I need 
 but recall to you the glory of the haughty Nebuchadnezzar, the voluptuous 
 court of the soft Belshazzar ; that when, in the height of joy and merri- 
 ment, the spirits flushed with wine, he lifted himself up against the Lord 
 of Heaven, the fingers of a man's hand wrote on the wall these emphatic 
 ■words, Mene, Mene, Tekel, Upharsin: " God has numbered thy king- 
 dom and finished it; thou art weighed in the balances and found wanting; 
 thy kingdom is divided and given to the Medes and Persians." And 
 before that very night had run her course, his city, surprized by the 
 invading enemy, was deluged with blood and death, and so uttcrlj 
 
demolished that, i„ tho pr„g,«, „f y,„„, „,, ,„,„„^^^ 
 
 woman amono-st tliom ^vl.;r.I. u-. 1 1 . ^' clehoato 
 
 '^ ' '^" ^^"^"^^^ "ot venture to set flm «oi ^ i 
 
 -. t^v Wo .,.,•..,, „ d.pic:;::^ *"^' "-" ""•» 
 
 events that raise and tl.n ...i •. nation.^ the prosperous 
 
 <-". - A,,;;; t:;::;r::t r::::r- -- 
 
 rect, to chastize* or to ble^s ' ^'-^ ""' ^° ^^^ 
 
 and chasti8.,„e.u. -ml ... „ i , ^ '" '" ""P"™' ''''"•■■"■'I' 
 
 afflictions. Tl!';;" iTf r VV™'™'' """ "»"-'«' ^y '-l».al 
 
 own Beiovod ...eZT o' :t,:::'::;'Vt t " ""'"^ °^ °" 
 
 among the nations, beeanso her 00.11! " '" ''"""' ''''"'""^' 
 
 bor ag,ie„li„e unprecedented ,r?, "™' ""' '"-haustible, 
 
 ever saw . becaj be t^ L 'T:"""™; '" ""' '""" '"^ """' 
 
 .«-..ca„seberarJe::::::::;i :;:- 
 
i 
 
 have conquered the conquerors of the world? Far be such vainglorious 
 boasting from us! She is the first of the nations, not because she enjoys 
 these advantages; but Providence has given to her all these means 
 of extensive and commanding influence; has blessed her for many 
 years with all this glory, and prospority, and power over the nations; has 
 enabled her to rule them with a rod of iron*; has broken them beneath 
 her feet like the shivers of a potter's vessel, — because she has been, and 
 that sho may continue to be, the candlestick of His Church to the be- 
 nighted world; because her irresistible armies have conquered countless 
 provinces, and spread commerce and cultivation over trackless continenis, 
 not for vainglory, nor plunder; not for lust of dominion nor of wealth; 
 but to uphold the cause of justice and of truth ; to curb the madness of 
 the oppressor; to support the oppressed; to diffuse over all the wide 
 earth tho blessings of true religion, and moral knowledge, and civiliza- 
 tion, and peace. Such has been England's policy, and may it continue 
 such to be; for so long, wo may hope, she will not cease to be under the 
 immediate protection and favour of God. But so soon as it is otherwise; 
 so soon as she neglects to fulfil the great purpose for which this mightv 
 power has been committed into her hands, and seeks the gratificiition of 
 her own desires and her own ambition ; so soon must we expect that the 
 red :ight nand of the Avenger will shake His rod over all the sources of 
 her wealth and honour; that tho dismemberment of her vast empire in 
 the east, tho ruin of all her oriental riches and splendour, will at onco 
 prove and chastise the sordid and unjust motives of her policy ; that her 
 own sons, who have left her, teeming shores to hew out for her a new 
 dominion on this western continent, will throw off their allegiance and 
 turn their eyes elsewhere for help and protection; that the glory and 
 empire, the wealth and commerce, the huge fabric of our wonderful couur- 
 try, will shrink beneath the chilling spasm of epidemic ungodliness, — her 
 gigantic strength become weakness, her pride sunk in contempt, her sun 
 set for ever ! " And many nations shall pass by, and they shall say, 
 every man to his neighbour. Wherefore hath the Lord done this to this 
 great city ? Because they have forsaken the covenant of the Lord their 
 God." 
 
 Such, ray brethren, as surely as God ruleth in the kingdom of men, 
 
will be the fate of England, if she forsake. His covenant; and luch 
 13 fron, tho beginning unto tho end, the rule of His just government 
 Those that honour nic, saith tho Lord, I will honour. Tho nation or the 
 cit^, which remembers tho Lord her God, which romemj.ers Hmi in her 
 public acU, in her public acknowledgment of His providence, in her pub- 
 lic encouragement of His worship, of her we may say with a good assur- 
 ance, that siio will bo remorabored, and will enjoy tho favour of Him, 
 who directeth and governeth all things, who »saith to Jerusalem, Thou 
 Shalt be inhabited, and to the cities of Judah, yo shall be built, and I will 
 raise up tho decayed cities thereof. Tho labour of Egypt, and tho mer- 
 chandize of Ethiopia and of tho Sabeans shall come over unto thee, and 
 they shall be thine." 
 
 For this reason it must bo no small satisfaction to everv one who be- 
 lieves in tho over-ruling providence of God, and who is at'the same time 
 a loyal subject of our much-beloved Sovereign, and fondly attached to 
 the memory of that dear land, where are the graves of our fathers, that 
 by the observance of this day we have made a public acknowledgment 
 of a national faith in tho truth for which I have been contending-. It is 
 no small comfort to know that the whole population of this portion of 
 the British Empire, following the example given by the mother-country 
 Just four weeks since, do with one voice and with one heart humble them- 
 selves beneath the Almighty hand of God, acknowledging that the Most 
 High ruleth in the kingdom of men, and confessing ihat the calamities 
 which they have suffered are His most righteous judgment, and prayin<r 
 for succour and relief from Him, with whom only there is help. 
 
 But, my brethren, a nation, after all, consists but of a number of indi- 
 viduals; and a national repentanca is but the repentance of the whole or 
 a large part of the individuals who make up the nation. Let us then 
 look to ourselves, and see in the calamities which have befallen us a mer- 
 ciful warning, designed to recall our wandering hearts to the love, the 
 service, and the worship of God. The rulers of the State have done 
 their part in recommending an outward humiliation and repentance; it is 
 for us alone to give virtue and efficacy to it, by letting it be, bv God's 
 grace, an inward and real repentance. 
 
 Whatever uncertainty may exist with regard to the interpretation oT 
 
MuaccoiDplisheU prophecies, the darkness wliich veils pu'-ticular object*, 
 and hides from us exact dates and minute details, is assuredly not in- 
 tended to conceal the great outline of God's future dealings with man- 
 kind, [t is perfectly clear that while yet the generations of men are alivo 
 upon this earth, the day of the Lord, th.it day which is great and very 
 terrible, will come; but so come, as a thief in the night, so silently, so 
 unoxpectedly, so fearfully. Upon that day will bo accomplished the 
 most dreadful retribution upon the unbelieving world. When these 
 things shall begin to come to pass, there will be, as at all other periods, a 
 large proportion of weak and wavering believers, neither prepared to take 
 up their cross and follow the Lord, nor willing to renounce their hope of 
 sharing in His final triumph ; neither good soldiers of Jesus Christ, nor yet 
 open deserters from His standard to the part of the rebellious world. 
 
 To such feeble and still not abandoned professors there are many mer- 
 ciful calls interspersed throughout those prophetic Scriptures, which 
 denounce the terrible wrath of the Almighty against the enemies of His 
 kingdom. More touching yet, perhaps, and more powerful, are the visi- 
 ble and terrible judgments with which He sometimes visits the earth, 
 in compassion to weak man, who is so much more apt to walk by sight 
 than by faith. We are, it is true, often disposed to endue with an exag- 
 gerated importance the occurrences of our own times, and the events 
 which fall under ouv oWw observation. But on the other hand, it is at 
 least equally certain, that the impression which these e\ents produce upon 
 our hearts and lives, is often far too slight and transitory. We are excited 
 beyond the bounds of moderation for a moment; we fall back into the 
 routine of worldly cares and worldly pleasures, and into the drowsiness of 
 practical infidelity, as soon as the excitement is passed. Yet who can 
 look back upon the occurrences of the past year, and not read in them 
 the voice of God, calling us to repentance? The appalling loss of life 
 through accidents (as men call them), by sea and by land, whereby thou- 
 sands, without a moment's warning, have been hurried into eternity ; the 
 dread nestilence which stalked over the earth, and carried oflF its count- 
 less victims, and snatched the young, and the strong, and the fair from 
 the embrace of loving friends ; — do not, brethren, do not call these things- 
 chance; do not blaspheme God, by either doubting His^o^^er to restrswcB 
 
 I 
 
8 
 
 these natural ., As, or His love, that He would suffer us to be afflicted 
 without a purpose. They are, it is true, the consequence of sin; but be 
 assured they are designed also to be its remedy. They are designed to 
 be the faint images, as it were, and to shadow forth more fearful ven- 
 geance, more extreme sufferings, more grievous punishment. They are 
 designed especially to remind the waverers, the doubting, the hesitating, 
 that, « verily there is a God which judgeth the earth." 
 
 But why need I dwell ujion these limited warnings? The very pur- 
 pose of our being here assembled appeals more powerfully still to the 
 same truth. Carry yourselves back in imagination but a few months. 
 Little more than a year ago, and peace smiled over all the earth. A 
 glorious vision of universal brotherhood dawned upon the minds of men; 
 the gentle bonds of common interests and common wants seemed to draw 
 nations together; and the only occupation of their rulers was to develop 
 their resources, to encourage their peaceful pursuits, to foster the arts and 
 scienoes, and lo elevate the minds of the people by the diffusion of useful 
 knowledge, and the ordinances of religion. Then arose the small cloud 
 in the East, no larger than a man's hand, which quickly spread over and 
 darkened the whole horizon. And now four of the mightiest nations of 
 the world are arrayed in arms; the fate of Europe is trembling in the 
 balance ; and even at this moment, it may be, the torch of war has been 
 lighted afresh; that torch which, once kindled, will not be extinguished 
 until it has been quenched in the blood of millions of our fellow crea- 
 tures. Who does not remember the strong feelings of enthusiasm and 
 confidence with which England entered upon the war? Who does not 
 recall the sailing of that matchless fleet beneath whose fire the gra- 
 nite fortresses of the Baltic were to crumble into dust? Who did 
 not dwell upon the details of the departure of our gallant troops, 
 in all the flush of healtn and strength, in all the pride and pomp of 
 martial array ? Not a doubt overshadowed the general exultation; not a 
 passing cloud obscured the nation's confidence. But, my brethren, was 
 this entirely the right spirit in whicli a Christian nation ought to enter 
 upon a great, though just and necessary war ? Was there not too much 
 reliance on the a: 71 of flesh? Did we not trust too much in our own 
 Strength, and think too little of that Almighty Being, who ruleth in the 
 
9 
 
 kingdom of men, and giveth it to wliomsoover He will i A tew weeks^ 
 a lew months passed away ; tlieu came tidings, each sadder than the 
 last; tidings of heroic victories, of fearful losses, of misery, want, disease, 
 and suffering in its most awful forms; whole regiments swept away by 
 the bitter storms of a Crimean winter: whole battalions disappearing 
 under the continued assaults of toil and hardship. And then there camo 
 a change over the heart of the nation . Then the voice of wailing was 
 heard in many a homestead, and sorrow darkened many a once happy 
 home. But then also, we are assured, the nation began to remember, 
 that there is a God who alone ordoreth the atfciirs of men, and to turn 
 to Him for help and strength. Then the churches began to bo crowded 
 with earnest worshippers, and many a careless daughter of the world was 
 driven, by the peril of those whom she best loved, to humble herself under 
 the mighty hand of God, and to pour forth soul-felt petitions for their 
 safety, from lips which had been but little used to pray. And who can 
 tell how much these prayers may have availed! Who shall withdraw 
 the veil that hides the counsels of the Almighty, and tell how on that 
 dark I'Tovember morning, when the Sabbath sun was shrouded in thickest 
 gloom, and eight thousand British warriors endured for five long hours 
 The fierce assault of the mighty Russian host,— who shall tell of what 
 avail may have been the prayers which, even at that hour, from ten 
 thousand village churches, through all the length and breadth of the 
 British Isles, were winging their way to the throne of Grace! ^ This 
 is intended to be the eft'ect of calamity upon nations and upon individuals. 
 Well is it for them if it has this eftect. Well, if it arrests the careless in 
 their career, convinces the proud and self-confident of the insecurity of 
 earthly strength, and teaches all to submit themselves unrepiningly to 
 the supreme decrees of an over-ruling Pruvidence. In England, I am 
 glad to believe, this effect has been produced. Never, it has been 
 remarked by careful observers, did the entire nation manifest such an 
 earnest, manly, and yet temperate spirit; free alike from that self-confi- 
 dence which displayed itself a year ago, and from that despair which 
 would indicate distrust of their, cause, or of the justice of God . Never 
 was there such unanimity, such concord, such loyalty in the nation. 
 Never were men so willing to expend their treasure or to peril their lives 
 2 
 
for their country's good. No other war has ever so united the sympathies 
 of all parties and all classes, and so called forth the offerings of the most 
 distant colonies and dependencies of the British Empire. No other war 
 has ever produced such instances of patient endurance and heroic self- 
 devotion. Wliat annals of our history can show so bright a page, as that 
 which records the mission of those noble women, who have left all the 
 delights and luxuries of life, to tend the wounded sufferers in r. distant 
 land, and pass the long watches of the winter's night in the pestilential 
 atmosphere of crowded hospitals ? 
 
 All these, my brethren, are, I think, indications, happy indications we 
 may call them, that grievous as are the afflictions which God in his wis- 
 dom has allowed to befell us, those afflictions have not been without a 
 purpose, and that purpose, we trust, has partly at least been accomplished. 
 We have, let us hope, become more humble, more distrustful of our own 
 strength, more firm in our reliance upon the help and strength of Him, 
 who is the giver of all victory. 
 
 And, my brethren, as I have already observed, a nation is composed of 
 individuals, and we, though more distant from the scene of conilict, and 
 although we are most of us, relieved from that intense anxiety, which 
 broods over so many homes in England,— we too are part of the British 
 nation ; it is our pride and our joy that we are. Let us then bear our part 
 in the hour of a nation's sorrow, let us bow low our hearts befove the 
 footstool of God's throne; let us acknowledge the guilt, the f ^etfulnett 
 of Him and of His loving kindness, the irreverence and contempt for His 
 BEcred Name, His holy Day, His Word, His Ordinances, His Sacrameate, 
 which have often been conspicuous in the national character, and which, I 
 fear, are nowhere more conspicuous than in that portion of the Empire 
 of which we are citizens. Let us strive to correct and amend these things- 
 to amend them first, each in himself, and then by his example araonc aB 
 whom his influence can reach. Thus shall we fulfil the design of 
 Almighty God in placing us in our high position: and fulfilling shall be 
 blessed with his continual favor. And the pure light of the Gospel, kindled 
 at our zeal, shall shine throughout the wo.^d, aud prove to the farthest 
 climes that God hath called us to be His peculiar people, not more di«- 
 tmguishad for empire and renown, for ar^d arms, for all Uiat the world 
 
 
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 11 ' 
 
 holds in honoi than for our return of grateful attachment to IHm, wlio 
 has so riclily crowned us with blessings. 
 
 And then may we hope for the temporal blessings which God once 
 promised to a righteous people : ' 
 
 " That our sons may grow up as the young plants, and our daughters 
 be as the polished corners of the temple. That our garners may be full 
 and plenteous with all manner of store; that our sheep may bring forth 
 thousands and ten thousands in our streets. That our oxen may be 
 strong to labor, that there be no decay, no leading into captivity, and no 
 complaining in our streets. Happy are the people that are in such a 
 case ; yea, blessed are the people who have the Lord for their God." 
 
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