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ROBEKT IRVINE, Iflimrttr of Jlnov'a (ftljortb, Pamilloit, m ON WEDNESDAY, AUGUST "2, 1854, fVhich ipag observed as a Day of Humiliation and Fatthifi bu Proclamation of His Worship the Mayor, ,*' luring %t ptkkm of Cfeoka llcrks IN THE CITY. * * HAMILTON : fRISTED BY NICHOLSON, M'INTOSH A CO., KIN%8TaKET 1854. '^^ i I tih W>-rK,i\ i L L> wi \J U, I H m- «< Li®LM" f-'ji til „ ■''^ I ?ief§ it f;VM, IX A CITY.- Flos E A iii. not done it 'f" '1. " Shall there ho evil i.. .- ...tv ar.,1 the Lord bath f h It has bfion said by high authority tb;it there i.<» no i,r,sit!rf Evil in the world. Whether the orthodox moralist is prepared to eudoifa thifl maxim may be ii question, but it is certain that the orthodox Theologian believes it, so far as the doctrine which it involves applies to the people of God — for inspiration assures liim, that "all things work together for ijood to them that love God," kc. Jlence it is obvious that what at one time may seora an apparent evil, may at another appear to be a real good — and what one man may regard t real evil, another may regard a real good. Afflictive dispensations arc by some deemed a great calamity, yet we hear one say of them " blessed is the man whom thou chastenent and causcst to learn thy statutes." " Tho' no chastisement for the present (that is while it is being borne)scci) ,i . joyous but grievous, nevertheless a/tcncarch it yisldeth the unspeakable fruits of right- eousness." Afflictions are therefore a blessing — a real good to the man of God — a real good to the sinner whom they bring to Christ, yet like th amputating knife in the hand of the surgeon — tliey may create pain — and tho sinner may wince while the Divine Surgeon is " ouiting off the right hnnd" or '' plucking out the right eye." n fitill what may bo a prosoiit evil is in roality a futuro j?ood. Th« child wince« under the md, and yet lives to learn (iiaf " the rod and rcprjof brinj,' wisdom, but a ehild left to himself briiigcth hia mother to .sjianie." h\ lookinp at Divine ProvidunceH fhc hrlicver liiniMclf is Honie- timsH desperately puzzled. It is often difTuuh to reconeilo what God records in the puf,'oof Revelation, with what he records in the volume of Providence, and, therefore, wo sonictimps Jind oven sneh men as Darid stag^rered by the apparent discrepimey, as for example in the 7.3rd IValm. I'aith niid xeriHo seem to enter into eonflict, wb«n God'H prumiBos and God's rrovidencos are placed beside each other, and David " the man after God's own lioart," for the time being, seeuiH nonplussed— in attempting a reconciliation of the two — till he " went to the sanctuary " and there God solved his difficul- ties and reconciled the two volumes of Inspiration and Providence. There was one gloomy chapter in the history of Jacob. This patri- arch, with all his piety and all his patience — and all his grace, on hearing that he must jiavt with bis beloved Benjamin, exclaimed '* Joseph is not — Siiieun is not, will ye hike away IJcnjamin also ? all these things arc against mc," no doubt Jacob believed that all thcfie things were against him — one Providence follows another, likr the waves of the sea, and each is more heavy and more dir-astrous than the preceding Joseph is dead — Simeon is retained as a host- age, iJcnjamin is demanded as a proof of the truthfulness ol' their story and the integrity of their purpo.so — the case is a hard one — Jacob remembers tbe strength of an attachment which time can- not destroy — the very name of Joseph awoke a sigh in his bosom ~ he remembers, the coat of many colours stained with blood — ho then sees a Simeon awanting — another blank in the family — and now the son of Rachael's sorrow — the youngest, the favourite child, must go or Simeon cannot return — "all these things arc against me." So says a faith that cannot see far into Divine Providence. Jint Ben- jamin went — and Simeon is relea.sed, and Joseph is alive, and Jacob is brought down to Egypt, and bread is provided for him and his family in the famine, and a Goshen the best of Egjpt is given to him — and best of all Joseph is still alive I The good old patriarch no sooner falls on Joseph's neck and embraces him, than he disco- vers, that *» all these things arc (not) against him." What to 6 Jacob wa« nil nppnvmf Kvil— was a mj/good— Rnd nodoubt .loHoph and hi« brethren, Ixith doomed their harsh treutnient, an fivil. They envy Joseph— it in an ovil. Thoy ctaispin- n^^'ainst him, it is an evil. They oai't him into a (hingeoii, it it) iin evil. Thoy barter him against tlic spioes and iiromatie herlw id' Midian, it is an evil. He is iniprisom'.l under the false aeeiisation of I'utiphar's wife—its an evil. Ho remains i.ynuminimisly immured in im K^'yplian dungeon —all this is an evil— an apiiain.t evil. Yet Inn;^' after— when the pnp-s .d' I'rovideiHe arc unfolded and the mind of dod revealed— Joseph stands befure his brethren— and as his eye runs over the incidents of the past he addresses them in the foliowinKlanK'uaj;e— " Ve th(m^;ht evil a;;ainst me, but C-d meant it unto pMnl, to brin« to pa.ss, as it is tliis day, to .save mueh people alive." Ilcnee it i» manifest, that what seemed to bo an oril was. in reality a good— and HO far as God's people arc concerned, there is n.. positive evil can bcfal them in this world, ^ave and except sin. Kut our text would j^cem totro li.-thcr than this, for the riuestion which it puts has reference to the mu,-.*. Is there evil in a nt;/ ? Hy the phva.sc FAII, we arc to understand not what (iod calls cvd, but what man calls evil. If Intemperance, or bla.sphemy, or dis- honesty, or licentiousness, (.r -amblings or bloodslunl, or nmrdcr exist in a city— tiod is not to blame. He is not the author of sin,^ and Uo does not assume the respon.sibility of these evils. But if bankruptcy, or blasting, or nnldew, or pestilence, or pla-uc, enter a city— thinnin- the vanki ol' the liviii!. ajid crowding- the abodes of the dead— if these enter a city and spread jiovertyand wretchedness and widowhood and orphancy lhr.,ushout the streets— if Cholera . • Morbus enter a city and throw a pall over its donu"> 1'" (■..Hi,,-, of n spavrow— the imiiibei - der IIU special coKm^aiicc The l.Uliu„ oi »P'i i„„ of the liairsof oiu- head are mw«~ U.e nicdent, » »el. c am 2 "pecW eosnizanee of the Snpven,e vule,- in the emp.re of Ire- ''Sdoctrine, »o far as it, application to the great nmehinory of X PrSele, all are ready ... ad.nit ; but there are tna,,,. «* Tnot » readily admit it when viewed in reference to •" « ™™ » or apparently in»ignilleant incidents; this. » a, phdMOphrealy as t U tSo-tily heretical. We believe that the power wh.ch rude t, wrid governs the world. Now, a Newton has ^'-f f«^ * therl are certain laws «hicl. pervade the nn.verse of ■"« '» ■ J^''»; ,.ws hold the planets in their "^^--^t^l tc t dt,::*, lie These are called laws in nature, or laws of natme and K»ton" ol say that these planet, are n.anagcd and eon roW ," dUherrtien., by the direct and special operation and tnterferenc. "^nnitrof the" ™.e by which a .nechanlc «*, doc. not by tr. TTSm— wbv not in the more minute? ihe pliuo- XrJh dUrverrdVe"law ef gravitation artd proved «, sopncr wno heavenly bodies, will tell rdtroftheiherhcaLnlybodicsare controlled guMcstheM^^^^^^ of every drop of vain, or the dancing of ever, particle of dnst that 1 admit a it JesuH is ist are im- ic muuber- hicli claim ire of Pro- achinery of many wl'o lore minute lically as it vhicli made stratcd tbat ter. These the material immutable, iv can calcu 1 of tide, the centuries to nature; and d winter, of ) motions of ;he hcarenly -yet even a controlled in I interference s does not by inic invent a las no control events of the ribe universal ' The philo- id proved its odics, will tell :b of our earth ides the falling ,e of dust that reels in the whirlblast, or every gl ■■ Ic of dew that is suspended to the leaf. Now, if a special Providence pervade the movements of the planetary system, so that for ages those immense bodies have circled without aberration around their respective centres, may not a similar Providence pervade the more minute objects of nature, in every fitful operation of which a law in nature as certain and fixed as that which guides the planets in their orbits may be observed ? Nay, more. If there bo a speci.al Providence in the managementof all these material things, and if that Providence pervades the whole — from the motion of the particle of sand on tlie sea beach to the planet Jupiter — arc we to infer that a similar Providence does not run through every incident in the moral as well a.s the physkal universe of G od ? The great events in Ibe moral world are ascribed to Divine Pro- vidence, moreover, by many who rofuijo to admit Divine inter- ference in the management of the more minute affairs of men. The rise and ruin of ancient empires are great events in the history of our world, and the God of Providence controlled them. Yet the birth and death of an infant iire just ay much under his control as these. The moral government of God extends alike to the mightiest and minutest events in las providence, just as the law of gravitation controls alike the atom and the globe. Now, in the operation of the physical laws of Providence there will bo local ovils and local grievances, while there will be geaeral or universal good, and this without any defect of the great physical system taken as a whole. The spring freshet, for example, which swells the streams and affords the means of foi-warding, in certain countries, the winter produce to market, proves a general blessing to a province. The same salubrious raiu which swells the freshet, invigorates the soil, and moistens the earth, thereby yielding a rich and luxurious harvest. This is a general good. Yet these rains may sadly iuconvenienco the traveller, or the freshets which they create may eweep away the insecure property of some inland slug- gard. This is a local evil ; yet it is a fractiouaJ pait of a general and a great good. The thunder storm which sweeps over a con- tinent and purifies its atmosphere, banishing pestilence and plague, 2 ■*» n 'i' ; -m*" * !l i 10 and restorinj: the inestimable Wcsstiiiifi- of health to the people, may in its furious career dilapidate a building, or break a forest tree, or destroy the property, or perhaps the life, of some few of the inhabitants over whose territory it passes. This is a local evil ; but it is part and parcel of n great good : and while the Sovereign Disposer of all events in the physical world looks at the general good, He puts the question—Is there evil on the continent, and God hath not done it V In the administration of His providential -ovcniiuciit we see proofs of the fact now established every day. In the commercial cities of our empire — we might add of our world — we find immense masses of our fellow-creatures living without God. We cannot bring thorn i der the sound of the Gospel ; they will not enter the house of prayer. We cannot bring Bible tiiith under their notice, for they will not read God's precious word. We cannot teach them the means of grace, for they eschew all the appointed instrumen- talities for the .salvation of sinner,'?. They liv«' without God, and they die without hope. l*'or them the Gospel was provided, but they will not hear it ; for them the missionary would go into the highways aud hedges, but they will not heed him ; for them our Bible Societies and Tract Societies liave been established ; for their offspring our Sabbath Schoc! Institutions were originally appointed, but they will not even avail themselves of such privileges. No means, though bearing the obvious marks of divine appointment, but entrusted to a human executive, seem to bo of any avail. Now, when God thus speaks in tones of mercy and of grace, and calls on continents and communities to repent, yet thoy continue to turn a deaf ear to all the loud and lasting appeils of his Gospel, He changes his mode of treating them, and begins to speak in his Providence. He seuds famine j and wh';n the staff of bread is broken, the ungodly begin to tremble and to quail under the weighty hand that smites them. He sends war; and while the din of battle is sounding in an empire's ear, the ungodly, who refuse to hear God's voice when ha speaks in the Gospel, sometimes hear it when he speaks in judgment. He sends pestilence and plague ; and while the angel of death is sweeping over our world, and specially ransacking the streets, and lanes, and purlieus of our commercial cities, and thinning the ranks of the living, and € .^u^ 11 No peo^iliiig with nmltitiules the abodc« of* tin; ilcarl—thf thoughtlest young man, ju.st entpriiii: his career of folly, is alariL^d and arrested ; the a-cd siniior, who has loup- lived without God, is .iwcstruck, whilo ho sees his cojupaniou iu vice taken and ho left: the public mind of a oity—of a whole toutinont— is drawn away for a tinio I'rom the engrossing pm-suits of time and sense : a nation proclaims a fast, millions humble themselves before the living God, aud while the inhabitants of our cities, like the men of Nineveh, procbim a fas;, call a solemn assembly, and humble themfeclves before God, the cry of penitential sorrow is awoke in the bosoms of some poor wandcrorp of God. Then the calamity which by many is deemed an evil becomes a general and universal good ; and while, amid the ravages of the endemic, one family may lose a head, and another a member— in one case the widow may sigh over the tomb of her departed husband, in another the orphan may mourn the loss of earthly pare -its, in a third the lonely and unprotected emigrant from a far hind, a stranger, a pilgrim, may have only reached the foreign shore to find n grave— still these are minor evils compared, it may be, with a great and general good. If the loss of a few be the gain of n)any— if the natural death' of a few should bo the means of bringing spiritual life to many more— if the temporal death of oven hundreds should be converted by the God of Provi- dence to the eternal life of thousands— then what may seem to us a local and a limited evil, may ultimately turn out to be a general and unlimited good. Could wc only trace the consequences which often follow the temporal judgments of the God of nations, wc should doubtless find many a penitent heart, and many a broken spirit, and many a ransomed soul in glory, will doubtless trace its eternal salva- tion, through Jesu.s Christ, to some providential calamity, which drove it by force to seek pardon and repentance. Where such glorious consequences accrue from the trying events of Divine Pro- \idencc— when the death of a godly father reclaims a prodigal son — when the wail of widowhood or the sighs of orphancy drive the careless and the ungodly to repentance— -when the unbridled fury of (iholera morbus strikes terror to the hearts of the intemperate, the lipentious, and the Sabbath-breaking portions of the community, and when from their evil pursuits and their ungodly ways they are driven to the sanctuary to their knees, to plead for pardon through 12 h ii « the blood of the cross— well may the Sovereign Disposer of all events look down from his throne of providence and say, 'Shall there bo evil in a city and the Lord hath not done it ? " Again not only is the local evil of which we complain, a general good, but it 53 also xxndcr the special control of Christ Jesns, as the Kin<» and Sovereign in the empire of divine providence. He sent pestilence and plague on Egypt, and he removed them when he chose. He sent plagvie.^ among his own people in the wildernees and ho removed them when he chose. He smote the nation in the days of Allah with fomine, and wlicn the plague had done its work he removed it. Ue can commau-l tli<' wind? and seas and they obey him. ,, There is not au evil under which our nation groans that he could not rectify in a moment of time, and when these evils have done their work and accomplished their designed results they will be removed— not till then. Christ as the God of providence, could a« easily drive tho epidemic from our streets as he could send the breeze which bore on its wing the swarms of Egypt's flies and buried them in the Bed Sea. He could at this moment, as Aaron did of old, grasp the golden' censer of his mediation and rush m between the livinc and the dead and the plague would be stayed— but he waits and pauses till the plague humbles us before hun- and it may be that as our Lord and master on beholding the men of Nineveh humbling themselves before him on the day of their public humiliation aad fasting, and as he heard the cry of Nineveh's pene- tential wailing, and arrested his threatened judgment, so on bearing the cry of sorrow which this day issues from every Protest- ant Church in this City, as well as from many a wretched home over which the ruthless hand of decth has recently swept, he may be moved to issue from His thron.^ uf Providence a mandate— saying to the raging pestilence " hitherto shall thou come, but no further." With such power He is invested. Oh ! that our prayers and tears and importunings may this day move him to exercise his authority and save our city from further destruction. II. There is a second view of the subject to which we now advert. The evils under which society labours are not only sent and controlled by Christ as the sovereign of the kingdom of providence, but they are provoked by sin. 18 It may not be possible tiiv us in fvei^y iU'jrHiicc to (.onnect the private afflictioiis and public judgnicnta v.-hicl) God fends among us, ATith specific eins ha their provoking f musc, — but that sin and suffer- ing, whether viewed on ;i luuall or n lar;,;c .sealo, .-land related as cauBe nnd effect, i,( a position fully juiiiGed by tho whole tenor of revelation. To connect each cahiuiitj which befah ihe individual or the nation with some particulnr nnd provoking sin — were perhaps a presumptuous invasion of the divine prerogntive — but to establis^h the point that sin is the prnvokiiifj,' oiiVu-t> nf all our ills, is cosily proven. '' Who.soov*n- d(H;th wrong .'A.'// suffci- for the wrong he docth." Kvery man whether righteous or wicked, whose con.science is not entirely destroyed, liiids thai //'r.soxf*^ sin brings down upon him personal .iuffering. The (iod of Providence, hn.H left here more unequiTocal proofs perhaps of hiis niuval character thuu anywhere else — for the upbraiding voic*; uf u luitnral conscience, cannot be hushed into silence ?o long as the burden of guilt hangs over it — tho cry of murder pursues the rofiigco in hi-* flight, and thou"-h he escape tho detection of luuiuui law, he focl.^ that he cannot flee from the avenger within — and not only so, but oven without as well us within them is a system of moral retribution, by which the sinner is made to suffer for his crime. Jacob sinned, in the matter of Esau's birth- right, and Jacob was nuuh^ to sufter for hi.v .'in. David sinned in the matter of the llittite, and sorely did he suffer for tho sin. Judas sinned in the betrayal of imr Lord, and for liis sin he suffered desperately within — and iiually ho became his own executioner. Personal sins bring down personal judgments. Tho .Saint and the sinner alike, experience tho equity of .Jehovah in the administration of his providence — the voice of God within and the judgment of God without — alike unite in vindicating Jehovah's character and punishing sin in the moral universe ; nnd from conscience within and from providence without no 7nan whether saint or sinner can escape. Jonah may flee from Nineveh and from the command of God, but he cannot floe ftora his own conscience, nor yet from the providence of God — for while the voice of the hidden monitor up- braids him within, the tempest howls without. But it is effually true th&t /ami/t/ sins provoke family judgment*. Eli was a good man. Yet Eli neglected a very important element in the administration of family discipline — it was a family sin — and J. ft£mJ3^ iKJCllUHt! 14 ,!• it {}oA throatciiPtl th.it W. would rlo : tliui'^ in Isvftpl which wouhl cauM' tlio i of k'\CV\ Ittlf to iiiiu:l<'--h»' would brim' :. \viA'.'Uu.'ut ou tl,e l.ou-.. of KH-Ihtiuih' o! ian.ily sni-!U.(J th/iud.nncnt , nuo. Ilui.hui .uul IMnnca.s tl... two ill voaveil son. of F-li pevi-hod in Olio .lay. whilst their goo.l oM vaieat whose heart trembled fov the ..uk of (rod -uiil: houeuth th. z.A tidiii-s ot Phili.- tia'3 Fond tvi.unphH. Dnvid rli.ncl ueainst his own lamily m the mutter of riiah-ai.d Clod thi-atonod that iIr' sword .should not depart from his hous... Tlio .•onsi,in,..y of Aksolom. moreover is a proof taatfnimly .ins hriM^t;nnilyj.ulpuent.-tholanu.uto.l death of his child whieh kopl him wecpi..- throe days and lhr«o nights m sack-eloth and ashos, is mioth.r proof of the same fact The cunjo of (iod is threatened attain.! ■• nil lhc./a»nV,V. that call not on his naine-'-aiul the history ol' many a prayerle.s. ^abbatl,-hrealan:_^ and sinnin- familv furnishes a nu>la,icholy proof of the fact that family sorrow" tamily wretchedness, family misfortune, lamily disgrace, have been provoked by the family sin of the family that live without the recognition of (Iml, and if .Jehovah be a (;od -d' justice he must vindicate his own honour a.d character beibiv the eyes of the fami- lies of the earth. Let the Muncr say what he will, family Hin will bring down family judgment on the house of the ungodly. Let us 0Ktend"the prin.'iph", and we shall see that socal sms pro- yoke social judinncnts. Sodom and (Jmnorrah .sinned, their cry went up to heaven, and the Lord sent down lire and brimstone and destroyed th.mi all. The sins of Sodom were markc.l by pecu lar .t<.iiravation, and therefore the judgment was marked by peculiar severity, and except one praying family, every family in those eit.es porishe'i, and peri.hed by the artillery of' heaven shot forth wUh unrestrained and desperate fury by the hand of the living t,od. Similarly, when we look at Eabylon, and .lerusalem, and Nineveh •uid Pomnei, and nianv other citica which were once the nnpona ol our world's commerce, and the rendezvous of our world's iniquitous inhabitants, and ask where are they? we think wc hear a voice issuin- from the ruin, and saying, "The hand of the Loid hath done i't " When God visits our cities with commercial embaiTass- ment or with pestilence, o- fominc, or plague, or sickness, or death, Tre we to regard such evils as merely accidental? Ought we not the rather to seek for the j.rovoking causes of such calamities in the 15 ' would u — and cd sons ic heart Philif,- iu the ndd not icr, is a 1 1 doatb lights in le curac jt on his iui:-, and L t'anuly ice, have hout the ho must the fami- Hin will sins pro- their cry stone and (• peculiar y peculiar lose cities brth with 'ing God. Nineveh, •mpOfia ol iniquitous av a voice Lord htith embarrass- , or death, ht wo not itieg in the drunkeiMiofir., and l.lasphoniy, .iml lirontiousncos, and Sabboth- Incaking, and dishoiicHty. and public and private vice ol' our inhu- lutaut^y The i)hilanthropi,st luay attempt to prevent the prevalence ul' distemper; (he pliysiciaii may attcmpl Id account Inr it or to cure it; but tbe (Jhristian wlio reatis and hoIievcH his Hiblc, must and will trace the jud^'inents ofCJod whidi abound amon^r „s us readily to the sins of the people, as (lod traced liic judgments which he -cut upon Sodom and tlomorrali to tlic impieties of their ungodly inhabitants. But wc hold thai llio principle liolds good when viewed on a uiitioiKil scale'/ Why did ridc and the vain-glory which the rapid growth of a young city sometimes begets ;-there is a species of civic pride which often arrows in a young community, especially among those who have watched with interest every atonn that has been laid, nnd have seen ♦ 17 rod of lu« (.h.,st.,somentH ;_ho has an end i,. view. Nor doe« ho net ^vinch (.od trauis h,s people fin- hoavor., and by whicl, he drives t'onimunitics to rcpontance Ilonr... ♦!, i • V nations ..liL-, .V, ?"";!".''"• /*'''"^'-' <'»♦' »onc.luHion-that men and nations alike iC(|,uro divmo chastisement. -'. That private vM public chastiseniont.M donuind private and Ml... n^iiiation and repentance before (lod. tI. ^^2 ^^ is any aHinted lot hnu pray." Time, of suffering, should bo time oi repentance and prayer, and this is as hecon,ing in nations ami cou .""n.t.es as u. .ndividuals and families. We," therefore, mme„d a. ad b ast to ab.sta,n fron. food and hun.ble themselves befor^ Uml .v^Iien l„s j«dg.„ent was threatened against the city .1 Ihat (.od's providences, like (Jod's ordinances, will make us 0. cr better or worse. The pla,ncsofK^pt unpoitunity. ho (.od s judgment will either harden the unjrodlv and au,nnent the black catalogue of our national ,uilt, or thc^w 1 b.mg„.„ny weeping penitents to the foot of the cro.s, and ca«,,e the laithful of the earth to si<'h and crv for nil th» oK ■ .■ , done in the land. ^ ' abominations that are 4. That eveiy man, whether saint or sinner, behoves to ucknow- odge h..s share in the guilt that has provoked (Jod to lay his chal t.sing hand upon u.. Let us not .say that it i.s because o'f this m n ..^^ that man's sins-it is because of onr .si„.s that we are afflicZ tiom the c y tax; and every one of us contributes his share in njj^up at ei, „, „,nt which has awakened the wrath ;:f offended (.od and has recently filled our city with sorrow, and emptied our homes, our families, and pews of many of oui most valued friends and fellow-members. Let us, then with one heart and one humbled spirit, bemoan our- ehes, and confess our own .sins and the sin.s of our families before the Lord our God ; and it may be that while the loud cry of peni- t 18 * ti f^ihX m- loi -in arises thi^ da; fVdiu aii.oii^ »^ uiid HiterH tl.r wrMf^prayer-hea.-'^'ri'Hl that 1... will U, soverciL^i. .nerts hear, nn4 stretch'forth luH hand ai.d span- us. aid ^.vt- us thvnuuh tho merits and mediation of our bleM«ed Lord and l^uvi-mr Jesus Ohrist. riNALLY-— We cannot 1^ 've thf sul/iect. witJiout pressnifi on . -■'ttentiou iin imporative dufy whidi the »ul.io<-t sujruests. II' •• I .,>|JJ'>n and undeiiled" LefofuOod, W to vi«it the widow and thefatherle>«, mi their affliction, thou lot im ..ppeal to the Christian philanthropists ainonKyon. '"'d ask what i.ruvisi.m can bo made i..r the wants of those bereaved lainilies, wiiose nieohd a-onu'S av tins day far too acute to permit their reHcctin- up..n the wants of the body whether immediate or prospective. Within the past few weeks it has been my painful .luty to htand by the sepulchre which received the remains of the husband, the wife and the son, while this tears ol eight orphan children n.oistened the earth as the omvc-digKcr threw it in. This is (mly a s-.litary ca.se out of many. The widows and the orphans of our coligre-ations have a peculiar claim on our generosity and regard ; and next to them, the convalescent and surviving inmates of our hospital. Strangers fr..ni a far (.ountry-emigrants housele.sH and homeless-cast upon our shores, many of whom only reached Canadian soil in time to lind a place nf interment ior a father or a mother; these claim «mr interest and ..ur attention, tor we ourselves are pilgrims as our fathers were, and sojourn as stran- .'crs ill the earth. As Christiaiis-as ii ilhristiau community— wo arc bound by the sacred genius and heavenly spirit of our holy roll gion, to look out for all such eases of peculiar bereavement and suffering, and provide for their temporal and spiritual wants. If our blessed Lord and Saviour were to visit our carth-l wouk our city-at this moment, where should we find him V Would it not be, as before, talking with the widows in their affliction- hcaiing their sick daughters, and raising their dead s.ms ^ It his folio .;ers were to return to our earth, would we not hiul them, like Elijah of old, sojourning under the roof of the widowed mothers, and blessing their barrels of meal and cruses of oil? Would we iiof , ud the Sou of Man and his faithful follo^v. is visiting our lanes a:.' streets, and alms-houses and hospitals, and alleviating the so •■ „ > and allaying the sorrows of the afflicted and the dying '! Would we not discover in their conduct at this moment all the marks ot what 11) tile lli.ly Si»irit, li) .laiiii's, lui.s di'Mcriltt'd ii.- •iiuro (vli-riun iind un- ilftilcil hcfliro (Jod ' " Xi)W, it is lint lor nil' to |in>iiibt! ;it lliis tiim-, i.r in this plm r, itiiy sptciiiiitic pliiii ijf l(('i>t'Vi(|i'ii(c i,i' ("lui 'iau "-oiUTioii , 1 only advocnti; tlio principle, and I am |nTs)intli'd that tlic mnintonaiKr and jtrattioal (iiitwnilcin;^ ul'tlic |trin(iplo may )»(• huI'cIv eiitnistod to yon. Tlic f'ofid and (iHtliinij ul' many (irplians may drVdlvo cDmmui'.ity ;— alxivf all, the moral ami sjiirilual trainin-^ of many \s L'litiustod by the Almlirlity to ns. In .-ncli a work, it is hojanl tliat this coiipviial ion will not he hcliind, wlu'n tin- proper t inn,' .'irrivcs tor r.iU'iinL' niiiiu it. Then' will, no doubt, Ix! cases ot'aspoeial natnnj presented t(t you individually, and if, is Imped that they will be treated n.s their merits demand; but as on sueh oeea.«ions the vif:i- Iint eye of lionninism will be poerint; into our hospitals and alms- houses, and eai,'erly seeking the i'rotestant orphan, with the pretext of adminixterinu to his leuipural relief, but with the real desitrn of proselytism, l»c it the honorable, the philanlhropie, the Christian duty of every follower of (.'hrist anions us to w(>k out for " his own," and esppeially those of his household of faith, (>very ease that elainis his charity, and provide \\n- it. This is a duty which you owe to sueh objects on the i;rouMd ..1' humanity, on the ground of philan- thropy, on the ground of Christianity. Hut your charity is not to be limited to tlu^.se objects, though they have a primary claim. You are commanded to do good to all, ispninfO/ to them that are of the household of faith ; hence it is that, above and beyond the special or denominational claims which may be urged, there are tho.se "1 the Briti.^h and continental emigrant, who, irrespective of creed or country, calls upon you, ami who has a claim on your liberality and (Jhistir.n charity simply because he is a fellow-creature. In the name, therefore, of llim " who though he was rich yet for our sakes became poor, that we through his poverty might be made rich," we beseech you to hear the claim of widowhood and orphancy, the claim of poverty and wretchedness, the claim of the pilgrim and the strar,:Ter, the claim of the disconsolate and down-hearted emi- grant from a far country, who, amid the .sorrows of affliction, poverty-, and bereavement, remind you that "he that givcth to the poor Icndcth to the Lord." Amen. linivi I w.i s.. ».v VIVPEXDIX. KE(HnSITTON. TO HIS wousiiii' Tiir, jrAvoii. MllJ/ it P'lilsr V/ld- Wnrs/li/t, Wo tli(Miii(l(>i-,sioiio(l. Ministers ol'tlicdrj-pcl in tliis Citv, in consid- eration otMho oxistiii-': state ol'tlip !'nltinji- and Praver. invitinj:' tlie ('iti/.ens to suspend secular eniploynients, and in private and ]iublie worsiiip, tn lumdjlc llieiitselv(;s under tiie Uiiulity '.and of (lod, acknowled.iiin-' tliis calaniity !'• le I'nnn ilini. and iniiilnrinu His nu'rey in its removal. Wo respectfully sugjjjost that n(\\t Wednesday, the second day of Aui^ust, would 1)0 a convenient time. Your Worsliip's hnnd)Ii> Servants, UoiiKUT 1/:vi.m:, .Minister of Knox's Chureli. Ai,ri:i:n Mookkh, of Park Street 15aptist (.'hmcli. AVm. MfCi.riiK, :Minisfer New Conneelion (Mmrcii. JouN Hood, U. 1*. ("liurcli .Minister. Enw.MM) Kinis, ('on;rrcpational AFinislep. .1, (f.vMui,n (Jkooics, Itecter of Hamilton, •lonv ]h;iuti;\, Ineunibent, (.'hurrli ofllie .\.,ceu;iion. .T.\Mi:s f^i.i.ioTr, We.sieyan Ministcj'. Wm. Haw, "Wesjeyan Minister. Hamilton, July I'S, l^'t4. PROCLAMATION In aocordan( with the above, I hereby appoint Wodncsdav, Au^-. 2, to l)C set apart f(>r I'uMie and Private Worship, Fastiiicr and U ">') I rujor, that tlie Aliuiglity may bo pleased in His inaiiitc mercy, tu reinove from amongst us the scourge with which we arc now afflicted. 1, tliercture, as iMayor of the City of Hamilton, earnestly reflucst that ail business of a secular nature he suspended upon that day; and that the '^recommendation contained in this Proclamation be religiously observed by all our citizens. Mayor's Office City Jlall, Hamilton July 20, 11)5 1. CHAllLES M AGILL, Mayor. Lv accordance with the above rrochimation, Divine .Service was conducted in all the Protestant Churches in the city of Hamilton, on Wednesday, the 2nd of August. I'^vory Store was closed, every ('hurch filled, and the city wore a peculiarly solemn a.spect during the day. In the evening, a united concert for prayer was held in Knox's Church. The Churcdi ivas completely filled, and the devo- tional services were marked with a peculiar appropriateness and solemnity. The llev. 3Ir. :McClurc, Xew Connexion Methodist Minister; llev. 3Ir. IJooker, Baptist Minister; Rev. Mr. Hogg, U. P. Minister; Kov. Mr. Ebbs, (Jongregationalist 3Iinister; and Rev. 11. Irvine, pastor of the Church, joined in the exercises of the cvenin;:. I i". Hnivi i Ci^ 1 Boi Fr( 23 The foUowinii obituary is taken fro)u the official return, of the IJoard of Health :— OTHER CAVSES. ... 14 ... 21 ... 40 ... 29 ... 42 ... 14 160 OF rHOI.KRA From July 1 to July 8 u s l'> - . - 21) . ♦ 84 u 22 -•' (' 20 to Au|i'. •") . - 118 . - 14:1 - - 71 Aug. :') 1- • . . 43 Total to this ^\^^ te, - - 488 w Prion,. n.o 1.. of .T'ly. rt- -« -'7' "'" "'' ""fl "n above abstract shovrs. \A slag** /ff'^ i I ERRATA 9, iivxt line, fov io, ve:ul fn> \ fj)i'■*. ^ i W m •m^' %