^ > IMAGE EVALUATION TEST TARGET (MT-3) // 1.0 1.1 u? 184 ^" ■" tM 12.0 IJi& |!i25 HU ||.6 nil SSS^^BS IIII^^^^Bb IHIIai^^H < 6" •. PhotDgraiiiic Sciences Corporalion 33 WMT MAIN »TMIT wniTm.N.V. 14SM (7l*)in-4S03 ^%^ ^ ^ ^ CIHM/ICMH Microfiche Series. CIHIVI/ICIVIH Collection de microfiches. Canadian Inatituta for Hiatorical Microraproductiona / Inatitut Canadian da microraproductiona hiatoriquaa Tachnical and Bibliographic Notaa/Notaa tachniquas at bibliographiquaa Tha Instituta haa anamptad to obtain tha baat original copy availabia for filming. 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Thia itam is flimad at tha raduction ratio chackad balow/ Ca document aat film4 au taux da rMuotkin indlqu4 ei-daaaoua. 10X 14X 18X 22X MX 30X y 12X ItX aox MX ax 32X Th* copy filmad her* has b««n raprodueMi thanks to tho gonorotity of: DouglM Library Quaan's Univarsity L'axamplalra film4 fut raproduH grica i la gAnArosIti da: Douglas Library Quaan's Univarsity Tha imagaa appaaring hara ara tha baat quality poaslbia consiclaring tha condition and lagibility of tha original copy and in kaaping with tha filming contract spacif icatlona. Original capias in printad papar covers ara filmad baginning with tha front covar and anding on tho laat paga with a printad or illustratad Impraa- sion. or tha back covar whan approprlata. All othar original copias ara filmad baginning on tha first paga with a printad or Illustratad impraa- sion, and anding on tha laat paga vifith a printad or illustratad impraasion. Laa Imagaa suhrantas ont 4t4 raproduitas avac la plus grand aoln, compta tanu da la condition at da la nattat* da I'axamplaira fllmi, at an conformit* avac las conditions du contrat da fllmaga. Laa axamplairas originaux dont la couvartura an paplar aat imprlmte sont filmto an commanqant par la pramiar plat at an tarminant soit par ia darniira paga qui comporta una ampralnta dimpraaaion ou dtliustration. solt par la sacond plat, salon la cas. Tous las autras axamplairas originaux aont filmto an commandant par la pramlAra paga qui comporta una ampralnta d'Impraaaion ou d'lllustratlon at an tarminant par la damlAra paga qui comporta una talla ampralnta. Tha last racordad frama on aach microflcha shall contain tha symbol — ^ (moaning "CON- TINUED"), or tha symbol ▼ (moaning "END"), whichavar appllas. Un daa aymbolaa suhranta apparaltra sur la darnlAra imaga da chaqua microflcha, salon la cas: la symbola -^- signlfia "A 8UIVRE", la symbols ▼ slgnifla "FIN". IMaps, platas, charts, ate, may ba flimad at diffarant raduction ratios. Thoaa too larga to ba antiraly included in ona axpoaura ara flimad baginning in tha uppar laft hand comar, laft to right and top to bottom, aa many framas aa raquirad. Tha following diagrams illustrata tha mathod: Laa cartaa, planchaa, tableaux, ate, pauvant Atra flimto A das taux da rMuction diffArants. Lorsqua la document eat trap grand pour Atra reproduit en un soul cllchA, 11 est fllmA A partir da Tangle aupArleur gauche, do gauche A droite, et de haut en baa, en prenant la nombre d'imagee nAcessaira. Lea diagrammea suivants illustrent la mAthoda. 1 2 3 1 2 3 4 5 6 BOC DAI Citmtrg Bl KINOSTON, ONTARIO BOCHIM, OR THE WEEPERS; A SERMON PREACHED ON THE 27th NOVEMBER, BBINQ THB DAY OF HUMILIATION ON ACCOUNT or THE INDIAN MUTINY. BY THE REV. JAMES GIBSON, UK OWEN BOUND. PUBLISHED BT SPECIAL BEQUEST. TORONTO : MACLEAR & CO., 16 KING STREET EAST. MDCCOLVn. [advertisement.] Tbls Sermon was composed in the ordinary course of Pulpit ministration, and irithout the most distant view to publication. By many of those who heard it* it waa deemed worthy of a permanent record, and a wider circulation ; and on their presenting -a requisition to publish it, it was readily complied with, in the hope that what gratified them might also be the means of benefiting others. In the process of extending bis short-hand notes, the Author may have altered ■ome sentences, and added or erased others ; but, lubstantiaUy, the sermon is printed as it waa preached ; and with all its defects must abide, of coarse— as by its appearance in tbis £>rm it challenges>-the award of the Public. Owen Sound, 7th December, 1857. Judges I to Bod brough I said, make n down t ye dom from bi gods si angel c that t) the na^ Lord.' J.G. SERMON. tration, and ho heard if, ion ; and on ritb, in the others. i«ve altered e sermon is arse— as bj Judges II. 1-5. — "And an angel of the Lord came up from Oilgal to Bochim, and eaid, I made you to go up out of Egypt, and have brought you unto the land which I sware unto your fafhtrs ; and I said, I will never break my covenant with you; and ye shall make no league with the inhabitants of this land; ye shall throw down their altars. But ye have not obeyed my voice. Why have ye done this ? Wherefore I also said, I tvill not drive them out from before you ; but they shall be as thorns in your sides, and their gods shall be a snare unto you. And it came to pass when the angel of the Lord spake these words unto all the children of Israel, that the people lifted up their voice and wept. And they called the name of that place Bochim, and they sacrificed there unto th* Lord." " The children of Israel" were " a peculiar people"— pecu- liar in their origin, peculiar in their progress, peculiar in their destiny. They were God's " peculiar people." He be- Btowed on them peculiar privileges. To these a special refe- rence is made in the text. Even when slaves in Egypt they were the objects of his peculiar care, insomuch that " the more they were afflicted, the more they multiplied and grew." And when the time of their emancipation came, " even the set time," He brought them out with a strong hand and an out- stretched arm, from the house of their bondage, and gave them for a possession the " goodly land " of Canaan — driving out its native inhabitanf;s, more numerous by far, aud more power- ful than they, before them ; and maintaining with them, through their leaders, the most constant, and immediate, we might almost call it, personal communication. Yet were they " a 8ti£f-necked and rebellious people." Their wanderings for forty years, and the fall of an entire generation in the wilder- ness, are the proof to us, as they were to themselves the pun- ishment, of their heinous sins. The new generation carried with them into the land of Canaan the same discontented and 117617 disobedient spirit that had preTented their fathers from enter- ing it ; and on many occasions it displayed itself in a manner 80 flagrant as to subject them to immediate chastisement. Oar text describes one of these, and contains a message from ** the angel of the Lord/' that is, as is generally understood, from the Lord himself— the Second Person of the Godhead in an angelic form — charging his people for whom he had wrought such a deliverance, on whom he had bestowed so many and such distinguished favours, with disobedience, aggravated by ingratitude, and forewarning them of chastisements of which their own sins were the cause, and would be the instruments. Were " the children of Israel" peculiar in this resp^iCt, my friends ? Are not we, as a people, placed very much in a similar position ? Do not we occupy now a high and promin- ent place among all the other nations of the earth, such as the Israelites did at the time referred to ; and are not our privi- leges, under the Christian dispensation, greater and more dis- tinguished than even theirs were under the Mosaic ? Is not their deliverance from Egyptian bondage but a type, and an inadequate one, of our deliverance from the slavery of Satan ; and does not the earthly Canaan given to them for a posses- sion, with all its fertility and beauty, furnish but a faint idea of the heavenly, promised to us for an inheritance ? And then, when we think of the means, respectively, by which their, and our, deliverance was achieved, and their, and our, inheritance secured. Oh how little room is their for comparison ! Yet have we, any more than they, " rendered unto Qod according to the benefits received," or " obeyed his voice," which, from considerations alike of duty and obligation, should fall on our ears with resistless, with all-constraining effect? Have we not, by our disobedience and ingratitude, given Him most frequent and just occasion to verify in our experience the threatening that lie addressed to them. " I will visit your transgression with the rod, and your iniquity with stripes?" " Profitable," as it might be, *' for reproof, for correction, ^nd for ipsiiruotion in righteousness," to extend the parallel )tween that have tltogethe cial obje( jthe disas [taken pis ito be mo be trace( [native in land Brit poys in 1 [neither [person o delibera Why, were, is dation What d name tc shed. Cavmpt principi nage ai which 1 scenes must i Buffere countr our ea nions mouri to be ing I coil, i are tc denci esp'^et, my much in a Qd promin- 'uch as the our privi- 1 more dis- c ? Is not >e» and an of Satan ; ^ a posses- faint idea And then, their, and iheritance on I Yet ficoording icb, from ill on our Have we im most ence the sit your ripes ?" •rection, parallel stween the Israelites and ourselves, on the general grounds that have just been indicated, we have selected the passage for iltogether a different purpose — with a specific view to the spe- jcial object of this day's meeting, the improvement, namdly, of Ithe disastrous and most deplorable events that have recently [taken place in India. To these we shall see it, as we proceed, ito be most appropriate ; and the points of analogy that may [be traced between Israel's position viewed relatively to the [native inhabitants of Canaan, at the period to which it refers, [and Britain's position viewed relatively to the mutinous Se- Ipoys in the Presidency of Bengal at the present time, are Ineither few nor faint. They can escape the observation of no [person of discernment i and they will receive the grave and [deliberate consideration of every person of a reflecting mind. Why, the very name of the place, where the Israelites now I were, is significant, and is alike obvious and easy of accommo- dation to our own case. What is the name ? " Bochim" What does it mean ? " Waepers." Why did they give that ; name to the place ? Because of the tears which they there shed. And what more appropriate name could be found for Cavmpore^ for example, for Lucknow, for Delhi, for the other principal seats of the Indian mutiny, and those scenes of car- nage and cruelty, treachery and torture, dishonour and death, which were there enacted ? From the very description of these scenes we turn away horrid ed and heart-sick. Oh, what then must it have been to witiiCMS them, to be actors in them, sufferers by them ? Does not the " great cry" set up by our countrymen and countrywomen and their children ring yet in our ears ? and is there not still throughout the British domi- nions " a voice heard, lamentation, and weeping, and great mourning," England " weeping for her children and refusing to be comforted, because they are not ?" Yes ; the devastat- ing hurricane that burst in Bengal is now felt, in its re- coil, in the very heart of the British empire, while its wrecks are to be found scattered on the shores of its remotest depen- dencies. Wherever Britons are, there will be found " weep- ««M 6 era'* over this dreadful catastrophe, and " Boohim" not inap- propriate, on this account, as a name for the entire empire, might be most fitly inscribed over the portals of hundreds of its dwellings, and is literally descriptive of the relief which thousands of its subjects have been seeking for their over- charged hearts. According to one estimate, " 3000 Europeans, eight missionaries, and six chaplains, with their wives and daughters, have been slain and dishonored in the course of the Indian mutiny." How many "weepers" will there be over this holocaust to Sepoy rage and lust? We ask the question that you may form some idea of the numbers directly involved in the sad calamities on account of whi?h we have this day met, to humble ourselves before God; while of the extent to which particular individuals and families have suffered by them, the following oases may be taken as an illustration. They are said to have been narrated by a minister, when offi- ciating on the day of humiliation observed in Great Britain, and have gone the round of the public prints. The one is that of a gentleman of the minister's own acquaintance, who had lost twenty-two relatives in India, within the space of six -weeks. The other, that of a family party numbering thirteen^ who met last year in St. Andrews, Scotland, and who had all, with a solitary exception, fallen victims to the Indian mutiny. But into the details of this disaster, we do not mean to enter ; nor shall we harrow up your feelings, or try the strength of our own, by a recital of the atrocities, wanton in many cases, as they were fiendish in all, by which it has been throughout distinguished. For this we refer the curious to the public prints, whose tales of horror, though falling far short of the reality, we, for our part, have ceased to peruse. Much has besn suppressed by them as not fit to be published, and much of what they have published is not fit to be pronounced from this place. The great facts of the case must be well enough known to all who take any interest in passing events ; and those whoso interest has not been excited by all that has been spoken and written, for months past, about the Indian mutiny, r not inap- ire empire, undreds of •Hef which [their over- uropeans, wives and e course of |I there be e ask the 's directly 'h we have hile of the ve suffered lustration, when offi- it Britain, 'he one is ance, who ace of six »g thirteen, •0 had all, n mutiny. 1 to enter; ;rength of nj cases, roughout ^ public I rt of the i fuch has id much 'ed from enough ts; and as been Mutiny, ' would not be much the wiser for anything that could be said now respecting it, within the limits of a single discourse. The few general statements on which we have ventured will serve their purpose, if they leave on our minds the impression that the visitation which wo deplore has been widely diffused in its general character, and intensely agonising in particular cases; if they help us to realize more vividly the analogy that we have been tracing between British India and the whole British empire as connected with it at the present time, on the one hand, and the congregation of Israel at the time referred to in the text, on the other ; if they lead us to see and constrain us to admit the propriety with which the former may now take to itself the name that the latter gave to the place where they then were, the place of " weepers," *' Btchim" And, Why has British India and the British empire been con- verted into a Bochim ? For the same reason that the camp of Israel was. " The angel of the Lord," the Lord himself, as we have already explained, comes up to us, charged with the same message that he delivered to them. And in further dis- coursing from this message, there are three points to which your attention shall be briefly directed, viz.. The sins com- mitted ; the punishment inflicted ; and the repentance exhibited. First — ^The sins committed. Sepoy treachery, Hindoo su- perstition, and heathenish cruelty were only the secondary causes of the Indian mutiny. Its real, active, and ultimate cause is to be sought for elsewhere — it is to be found in sin. All suffering is the result of sin, for " God does not afflict wil- lingly nor grieve the children of men." And when special sufferings are inflicted, when signal judgments are experi- enced, it becomes those who are visited with them to seek out, if haply they may discover, their special cause, the particular sins of which they are sent as the appropriate punishment. In these Indian calamities, God has been applying the rod to us, as he frequently did to his ancient people. Like them, we have been unfaithful to our trust, forgetful of our obligations ; and confronting us now, as he did them at Bochim, his Ian- I awiJuiwuiujiH 8 guage to us is the same — " Ye have not obeyed my voice ; why have ye done this V Some will ask, perhaps, what have we done ? wherein have we disobeyed ? where are the proofs of our ingratitude or of our unfaithfulness ? They are not far to seek, nor difficult to find. It were easy to draw out a long list of national sins, in the view of which the Indian disaster would appear to be no- thing more than a righteous retribution, " a punishment less than our iniquities have deserved." Pride and ambition ; im- morality in its most revolting phases, and irreligion of the most God-defying type ; the love of money and the love of con- quest, with their natural and hideous offspring, extortion, op- pression, injustice, and cruelty ; not to speak of those numerous and flagrant crimes of which human law takes cognizance, and for which earthly judges punish. Look at this black cata- logue, and say if there is reason either for complaint or aston- ishment, when, in the course of his providence, God makes his voice to be heard as it were from the highest heavens ; and in tones at once solemn and awe-striking, fitted alike to arrest the attention and impress the heart, asks, " Shall not I visit for these things ? Shall not my soul be avenged on such a nation as this V But we may come closer still. We think that the British nation may read in the judgment on account of which it has been called by its rulers to humble itself, the punishment of sins committed against India, and the millions of its population. Amid much diversity of opinion on collateral points, there is, so far as we have had the means of judging, very considerable harmony on this one, as expressed by t.he press, and from the pulpit or the platform. Some, indeed, dwell principally on the advantages that India has derived from British connection and influence ; but these are constrained to admit that they have been associated with many draw-backs, and neutralized, in but too many oases, by grievous injuries. Others, again, dwell chiefly on the opportunities of doing good that have been neglected by the British in India, the positive and great evils ■I "jwaisiwiwwflw" 9. Moej why 'rein have 'tude or of ■ffioult to tl sins, in to be no- raent less fcion; im- of the 've of con- ation, op- umerous Jance, and (ack cata- or aston- 'akes his ; and in to arrest r visit n such a J British ih it has ment of yulation, there is, iderable "•om the illj on nection kt they alized, again, ebeen t evils fchat they have perpetrated there, and the encouragement that they have given to the idolatry that is there practised ; while jthey refer only indirectly to the benefits reaped by India from its British connection, and represent them as by no means a counter-poise to the others. We do not presume exactly to ^apportion the two. We admit both the evil and the good, and are willing to assign their due place and prominence to each. j But balancing the one against the other, which predominates ? Making all allowance for the good done, what an amount of evil perpetrated, and of good that might have been done bat was not, remains to be accounted for ? Without discussing the question as to whether Britain came lighteously by her Indian possessions, it will be admitted even by those who take the most favorable view of this question, that " right " was not always regarded, yrh^n ** might" could achieve or ac- quire the object on which the representatives of British power had set their hearts, and that the interests of the natives were frequently, and recklessly, and shamefully sacrificed to per- sonal cupidity, and national aggrandisement. Cowper, the faithful Mentor to his country, and fearless denouncer of her sins, placed the spoliation of India and the oppression of its inhabitants, foremost in the list of those national crimes for which God was punishing England in his time. Far be it from us to detract from the brilliant exploits of Robert Glive, or Warren Hastings ;— ^but only the blindest of admirers or the most prejudiced of partizans will venture to deny the duplicity practised by the furmer^ or to palliate the atrocities perpetrated by the latter. The glories of Olive's military career are sadly tarnished by the falsehood and treachery that, in many parts of it, characterized his diplomacy ; — as, for in- stance, in the matter of supplanting Surajah Dowlah, the Na- bob of Bengal, by a creature of his own. The glories, agair, of Hastings' administrative career are still more stained by the exactions, alike unjust and exorbitant, of which he was guilty, in the case for example, of the Rtyah of Benares ; and by the cruelties, which, to secure compliance with his demands, io he perpetrated on those -who had givon him no offence, and \ were suspecting no injury; — as when he forced one Nabob who had nothing to give him, to confiscate, for the replenish- ing of his coffers, the treasures of Aw own mother and grand- mother, — the Princesses of Oude, and when he hired his sol- diers to another, to seize the peaceful and prosperous territory of a neighbour, and to enslave and oppress "the finest population in India,'' as the Rohillas are designated by one of the most brilliant of living writers. Who will say that God is not visiting for " tJtese things " now ? — that he is not punishing the sins of a former genera- tion, on the present ? Nor is the present generation itself without sin as regards India. Admitting that it was a law- ful conquest, or a fairly won prize, has that extensive and magnificent country been governed and managed on those wise, righteous, and Christian principles which a nation like Britain should recognize, and on which it should act in all parts of its dominion ? Has that regard been paid, which should have been, even to the material interests and physical condition of its hundred millions of inhabitants? Let the opium trade, — to take only one example — answer the question. A mo8t extensive trade that is — the East India Company ex- porting not less than a hundred thousand chests annually — a most lucrative trade, but a trade carried on, not more certainly for the enrichment of the Company, than for the demoraliza- tion and destruction of multitudes of their fellow men in the East. Yea, we have not only been, and still are, traffickers in this poison for the soul as well as the body, but we have com- pelled reluctant nations, like the Chinese, to become our cus- tomers for it. We have done so, and not the Company alone, for the traffic is sanctioned, or at least connived at, by the British government, it is permitted by the British people, and the power and the prestige of both are lent to aid and abet such forcible measures, for its maintenance, as have just been referred to. "Partaking thus of their sins" can we wonder, or shall we complain, when, as in the recent calamities, we " receive also of their plagues ?" TumM Ito ameli Bubjecis, Ithat of I I to say — I -very pui [ ment of ' and Goc «• faults, state an count o alities influen which Butwl of that long p emplo; sionar ties, b prejud eeculii They the w fore, Indit J^nce, and! 5ne Nabob wplenieh- ^nd grand- led bis sol- as territorj J the finest fed bj one ^« things" er genera- ktion itself ras alaw- nsive and on those ation like act in all [id, which P physical \ I^t the question. ipany ex- lually— -a certainly ^oraiiza- 3 in the ickers in ive com- our 0U8- r alone, bj the >Ie, and 3d abet 9t been onder, es, W6 11 Turn we now to what Britain has done, or rather not done [to ameliorate tne moral and spiritual condition of her Indian Isubjeccs, and our consciences must be more seared than was ithab of Pharoah's butler, if we are not constrained with him ito say— >" We do remember our faults this day.'^ It is for this Tery purpose that the day has been set apart by the Qovern" mentof this Province, and by the Session of this Congregation, and God grant that the slight review now to be taken of our "faults," our national faults in connection with the religious state and prospects of India, may deepen our penitence on ac count of them. And here we dwell not on the flagrant immor* alities practised by the British in India, and the injurious influence that they must have exerted on the religion with which they would naturally, and universally be identified. But what have we done, as Christians, for the evangelization of that quarter of the globe, and its teeming millions ? For a long period we did nothing. Nay, means were systematically employed to prevent anything being dune. No Christian mis* sionary was permitted to reside in the territory. The author!* ties, both on the spot and at home, were afraid to ofiend the prejudices of the natives, and, content with gaining their own secular ends, paid no attention to the'.r spiritual interests. They were kept in entire ignorance of the Scriptures, and of the way of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. Well, there- fore, and most truly might an eloquent writer say, — " If our Indian conquests were to be as suddenly lost as they had been speedily acquired, not a trace would remain to shew that pa« gan India had ever been held in subjection by a professedly Christian nation.' At the time that he uttered these words of burning reproof and withering reproach, pagan India had been subject to professedly Christian Britain, for more than half a century. Nor was this all. Not only was Christianity thus carefully excluded from our Indian possessit'ns for more than fifty years, but Ilindooism, Mohammedanism, Budhism, and heatheniftm in all the various forms that it assumes there, were countenanced and encouraged, directly and in many dif* 12 ferent ways. While the Bible was shat out of the govBxr Xi t schools, the Yedas, the Shasters, and the Koran were re.'^^xlaT• ly read, and their doctrines systematically inculcated. While Christian missions were discouraged, contributions were made in support of idol temples. While the first preachers of the Gospel were ordered to leave the country, every indulgence was granted, alike to the priests and the devotees of India's million gods. While the most effectual measures were taken to prevent the true religion from gaining a footings measures as effectual were adopted to secure that the false religions which were already flourishing, should strike their roots deeper and wider in the soil. It is true that for a considerable num* ber of years past, this policy, ns baneful in its results as it was unchristian in its character, has been greatly modified. British connection with Indian idolatry has to some extent, been broken up. Some of its " horrid cruelties " have been put down. The presence of missionaries in the country has been tolerated. But their labours have not been encouraged* The conversion of the nation is not wished. It is not more strange than true, that this has actually been punished as a crime. Fur no other reason than that he had became a con* vert to Christianity, a Sepoy was discharged from his regi- ment, the chaplain who baptized him was reprimanded, and an enquiry was instituted to discover if any of his comrades . had been accessory to the result* If they had, they of course would also have been dismissed. Neither previous good con* duct, nor present earnest entreaty could avail for the reversal of the sentence ; and the words with which he left the com- manding officer, might well have crimsoned his cheek, as they ■hould impart a deeper tone to our penitence 1 Is day, — **You will allow me to serve your King, but not your God." Details of this description might be multiplied indefinitely ; but judging even from the specimen that has been given, have we done our duty by India? Have wo been true to the trust committed to us, as a Christian nation, when that rich and extensive country was added to the British dominioiii ? Are ^e not " iren ther iper<»iitic ery sins le Lord" league [)wn thei tie altars lave mad lolatrou 13 lovexr lit id. While ere made lers of the indulgence of India's ere taken measures religions lots deeper [able num* isults as it naudifiod. ne extent, lave been untry has icouraged. not more shed as a nie a oon* 1 his regi- ided, and comrades . of course ;ood con* > reversal the com* » as they finitely ; en, have 'he trust ioh and I? An fe not " verily guilty" in reference to the millions of our bre* iren there whom we left, as we found, sunk in ignorance^ iper«ttition, and brutality ? Have we not been guilty of the sry sins as connected with them, with which " the Angel of le Lord" charges the Israelites in the text ? ** Ye shall make league with the inhabitants of this land ; ye shall throw )wn their altars : but ye have not obeyed my voice." No ; le altars of heathenism are still standing in India, and we [ave made a league with its inhabitants, in maintaining the lo'atrous systems to which they are dedicated^ instead of kbouring for their overthrow, and for the establishment on leir ruins of the worship of the one living and true God, and le way of salvation by our Lord Jesus Christ. And now God saying to us with a voice of terror, and in a tone of indig- nant remonstrance — " Why have ye done this ?" He is call- ig on us to learn the enormity of our sin from the severity of ^ur sufferings. He has been threatening to wrest, from our ^rasp, the territory which we have so much misgoverned, and, from our sway, the teeming population, of whose best and high- est interests we have been thus grossly negligent* It is long lince one nf themselves said to a British official — "Your Go- rernment alone has prevented India from becoming a Chris* fian country." That is a grave charge ; and who will deny Its truth 7 That is a heinous sin ; and who will affirm that ^ven the recent disasters and horrors form too severe a punish- lent for it? The attempt has been made to trace the sad ivents that we deplore to-day, to the labours of the few mis- sionaries who have been sent to India ; but the attempt has |ltterly failed. Some of these self-denied men fell victims to he mutiny, as we have already seen; but the charge of being kither the cause or the occasion of it, either directly or indi- )otly, has fallen to the ground. There is no room even for luspioion. Tlie London Times, an impartial witness in such case, and one not particularly prejudiced in favour of the )artie8 whose acquittal it pronounces, whose innocence it as- lerts, has given this utterance on the suttjeot-^" The peril hai ■Mfei*HanM»' 14 been created not by the preRence of Christian missionaries, but by the absence of Christian soldiers." It is a favorable sign of the times-^a token for good— «the harbinger, ^e trust, of the speedy introduction of a new system, religious as well as political, of managing India--^to find that journal ascribing the calamities which we deplore to the neglect of the Sepoy's instruction in Christianity, and so, by implication, acknow- ledging this as one of the national sins on account of which we have reason to humble ourselves before Qod. Let us keep itj then, specially in view, while the others that have been mentioned are not overlooked in the services of this day ; let us humble ourselves on account of them all, but especially on lis account ; and pray that from them all, but especially from tY, we may be kept for the time to come. This much for the sins that we have committed, and for the analogy subsisting between them and those charged in the text by the " angel of the Lord'* against " the children of Israel." Now let us consider, Secondly — the punishment inflicted ; and here a similar an- alogy may be traced between our own case and Israel's. The punishment of the Israelites was that they did not obtain un- disturbed possession of the promised land. Instead of being exterminated, its native tribes were left to harass and torment them — to become, in the words of the text, " thorns in their sides," and their " gods a snare" unto themselves. Our pu* nishment has been the revolt of our Indian army, and the massacre of multitudes of our countrymen, and countrywomen, and their helpless children, in circumstances of unheard of horror ; the suspension of all law and order throughout the Presidency of Bengal ; the temporary triumph of rebellion there ; and the threatened loss of our Indian possessions. After what has been already said on these subjects, however, we do not revert to them. Our punishment is plain enough. We all know what it is ; multitudes feel it in the tenderest part ; but what we wish you to notice here is its uUimaie auihor, and its intermediate instrumenist What sa \* 1 will no kven so, 11 Ikbove enui Hod is the ^t it arigh like former is Lnd famil Ibis; and \ntly forv kf violatii Mon. Fa Bauses, o] >r super! 9art. A of prid This is t1 lame, h( knd publ khe clov( Ihough llxlsts, h lis woi do th rbile tt rond th olaced BBS wo 15 isionaries, : favorable we trust, |us as well ascribiDg le Sepoy's I acktiow* of which let us keep Ihave been ay ; let us teoially on lially from knd for the in the text of Israel." similar an- ftel's. The obtain un-^ d of being id torment 18 in their Our pa» ', and the ;rywomen, n heard of ghout the rebellion ssessions. however, 1 enough, tenderest s ultimate What said " the angel of the Lord" to the children of Israel f 1 will not drive them (the Canaanites) from before you;" and ^ven so, He says now to us in reference to the sad calamities Ikbove enumerated — " have not /done all these things ?" Yes 1 }od is the author of the Indian tragedy ; and we do not look ^t it aright unless we see it to be his work. National calam- Ity, like personal or relative affliction, is from God. The pormer is the discipline of nations, as the latter of individuals |nd families. There are those, we know, who don't believe ^his ; and that is the very reason why we bring it so promin- mtly forward. Loss of health, with them, is simply the result >f violating natural laws — the laws of their physical constitu* (ion. Famine and pestilence are simply the product of natural sauses, operating on fixed principles beyond men's controul, >r superinduced by negligence or criminality on their own >art. And war is simply the effervescence of human passion )f pride and ambition, of cruelty and the love of conquest. ?his is the creed of the atheist ; but many, who repudiate this lame, hold practically the sentiments just enunciated, aye, ^nd publish them, too, in a form all the more ensnaring that khe cloven foot is concealed, and that the being of a Qod, pough virtually denied, is verbally admitted. But if God dsts, he is the Governor of the universe. If he ever made lis world, he also rules it. If it was not beneath his dignity do the one, it is not beneath his dignity to do the other ; rbiie the most insignificant event can as little be removed be* f^ond the sphere of his notice, as the most momentous can be >laced beyond the reach of bis power. The idea of a father- less world, of a worla that is created by God, and then left to fhift for itself, is incompatible alike with the moral and the '.•ft latural attributes of the Divine Being. To cherish such an lea is to impeach not only his wisdom and power, but also his justice and goodness. It is, indeed, to place him in the same category with the unnatural husband and parent, who deserts tis dependent partner, and throws his helpless progeny on the Render mercies of an unfeeling publio. 16 This much even on principles of reason. And now for rtve' ladon. If there is such a thing — if there is any truth in those Holy writings which we all believe to be " given by inspira- tion of God" — if the Bible is not, from beginning to end, "a cunningly devised fable/' "verily there is a God that judgeth in the earth/' He is a " fool that says there is not i" and he is a liar who, admitting God's existence, denies his Provid* ence — a Providence, alike exhaustless in its resources and minute in its surveillance-^regulating and over-ruling, for its own purposes, the destinies of empires, yet watching over the " fail of a sparrow,'' and " numbering the hairs of our head." We deny not the operation of secondary causes^ or their influ- ence upon the condition of individuals, families, and nations ; but we maintain that these are but instruments in God's hands, working under his direction, and evolving his secret and sovereign purposes. The most sedulous attention to the laws of health will not always keep away disease, just as the utter disregard of them, in other cases, does not engender it. "Affliction cometh not from the dust, neither doth trouble spring out of the ground." And where, then, is its source ? Just where Job sought it — " I would seek unto Gody and unto God would I commit my cause ;" and where David found it — " In very faithfulness Thon has afflicted me." And as with personal, so with national calamity. " Shall there be evil in a city," asks the prophet Amos, " and the Lord hath not done it ?" When the Assyrian power was broken in pieces, whence came the stroke under which it first staggered and then fell ? Isaiah tells us, " The Lord of hosts hath purposed, and who shall disannul it? and his hand is stretched out, and who shall turn it back ?" The same prophet, addressing God, in another place says, " when thy judgments are abroad in the earth, the people will learn righteousness," clearly implying that whether men will learn the lesson or not, God is the teacher whose judgments are abroad in the earth. Let us, my friends, sit docilely, as we profess this day to do, at the feet of this teacher ; let us " humble ourselves under the mighty Jiow su le vict 17 forreve- in those inspira> end, "a tjudgeth " and he is Provid' rces and g, for its over the ur head." heir influ* nations ; in God's his secret ion to the ust as the gender it. th trouble ts source ? ', and unto found it— ^ id as with be evil in I not done 's, whence then fell r and who and who J God, in id in the impljing >d is the >t us, my ) the feet ) mighty nd of God,'' as it has been lifted up against us, in the mat- r of the Indian mutiny. This is the part of interest as well of duty ; for what shall be the end of those who will not hear the rod," nor gee the hand that wields it? "Lord, [ben thy hand is lifted up, they will not see ; but they shall e, and be ashamed, * '^ yea, the fire of thine enemies all devour them." We have acknowledged the operation of secondary causes, e employment of subordinate agents by God in the accom- ishment of his purposes. And so far from wishing to ignore, even conceal them, in the case of the present calamity, we 11 on you to notice them particularly, in connection with its timate author. The instruments employed by God in pun- hing his ancient people on the occasion referred to in the xt, were the native inhabitants of Canaan. He made /^6m to " thorns in their sides, and their gods to be a snare unto em." And what language could more accurately describe e agency employed by God in punishing our sins against dia ? AVho were the mutineers ? Were they not the native habitants of that country — the Sepoys. And what were the eans by which they effected their purpose ? Was it not by hcry f " snares," and death by torture, produced by slow d painful means, like being pricked to death with " thorns ?" is instructive to observe this coincidence ; and while we ob- rve it, let us feel that now as then " our own iniquities have een correcting us, and o>jr own baokslidings reproving us." ere the very people whom we had injured became, in the and of God, their own avengers and his. Look back again, n some of our sins against our Indian brethren, as formerly Jioticed. and you will see that from like sins against us we are l^ow suffering. Were they the dupes of our deceit? We are 4he victims of their treachery. Did we treat theui with cruelty ? H*' With the same measure," only " pressed down, and shaken itogether, and running over," " has it been measured to us «:ain." Pride we mentioned as another of our national sins ; d of nothing in India, perhaps, were we more proud than of 18 our army — a native army, commanded by British ofScers.l We had raised and trained it ; fought and conquered with it ; and what, we were ready to ask, could we not do with such| an array ? Yet that very army has nearly been our ruin, at least in India. By it were all our conquests there placed in jeopardy, yea, and the very prestige of our arms in all parts of the world. The object of our pride has thus been converted into a scourge for our punishment. And where is that army now? Disorganized, dispersed, annihilated. Let us learn from dear-bought experience to say with one who was himself a great warrior as well as a mighty king — " Some trust in chariots, and some in horses, but we will remember the name of the Lord our God." " It is better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in man ; better to trust in the Lord than to put confidence in princes." Another of our sins against the people of India, our great- est sin, was neglect of their spiritual interests. And the baneful consequences of that neglect we are now reaping. We did not teach them the religion of Jesus ; and they have treated us, and especially our countrymen and countrywomen who fell into their hands, in the spirit of their own religion. It is a religion of "horrid cruelty." It sanctions the desertion and even the destruction of sick and aged relatives, and marks with its highest approval the self-infliction of tor- ture, and the presentation of human sacrifices. What was it to the devotees of such a system to imbrue their hands in their officers' blood? And what treatment had the wives and daughters of those officers to expect, other than they received, when, with the sanction of the same religious system, they hold their women in contempt, and, till a late period, burned their widows ; when they ornament their temples with obscene pictures, and walk about, themselves, in open day, in a state of nudity ! And what shall we say to these things, when we remember that that religious systen* was long patronised by the British Government, and its idols and their '^emples sup- ported by British treasure ! Is it not in righteous retribution for our land, an thus pr( try men the Gos the trea leditai )ur ins [tish officers.! 'red with it I ■0 with such I our ruin, at 're placed in all parts of in converted IS that army •t us learn was himself Jme trust in er the name e Lord than 'ord than to our great- the baneful We did not treated us, ^n who fell on. It 18 a > desertion relatives, tion of tor- '^hat was it ^» in their waives and T received, tem, thej d» burned 'b obscene in a state when we onised by •pies sup- tribution 19 for our sin, in " making a league with the inhabitants of the land, and not throwing down their altars," that they have thus proved thorns in our sides, and a snare" unto our coun- trymen ? Had we been as careful to instruct the Sepoys in the Gospel of peace, ns we were to teach them the art of war, the treason that has been perpetrated might never have been leditated. But we taught them the one, and they have turned )ur instructions against ourselves. We neglected to teach [them the other ; and dearly, dearly have we paid for our ne- [gleet I Have we paid too dearly for it ? Has our punishment (been too severe? Far be such a thought from our minds? i*' Is there unrighteousness with God? God forbid." While jwe condemn ourselves on this day of humiliation, let us, at the same time, justify Hia procedure, saying, " We have sin- Ined, and have committed iniquity, and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by departing from thy precepts and [from thy judgments ; neither have we hearkened unto thy ; servants the prophets, who spake in thy name to our kings, Eour princes, and our fathers, and to all the people of the land. |0 Lord, righteousness belongeth unto thee ; but unto us con- [fusion of faces, as at this day." This introduces us naturally ito the Third and last department of the subject, viz., the repent- ance exhibited. Ancient writers tell us of a savage tribe, who, when it thundered, shot theirarrows and threw their javelins, in defi- ance, against the sky ; and even so there are some men living in civilized and Christian lands, who " set their mouth against the heavens," and " harden their necks" under God's reproofs. This is daring wickedness, extreme folly. •* Let the potsherd strive with the potsherds of the earth," but "woe unto him that striveth with his Maker." The Israelites, on the occasion referred to in the text, "show us a more excellent way:" — "they lifted up their voice and wept, * * and they sacri- ficed there unto the Lord." Our meeting here to-day is evid- ence, so far, that we feel disposed to follow their example in 20 this respeot. Bat genuine sorrow, let us remember, and espo* oially penitential sorrow^ courts seclusion, though on all pro- per occasions it does not shrink from publicity. Let us see, then, that we weep over our sins, national and personal, when alone with God in our closets, and when surrounding with our families the domestic altar ; as well as when convened with our Christian brethren, on a day like this, in the sanctuary of God. And let the tears that we shed in all the three places, be tears of contrition on account of sin itself^ and not merely on account of its consequences. Ah, it would require a large bottle to hold all the tears of natural affection that have been shed over the Indian mutiny. Would one of the same dim- ensions be required to contain those oi penitential sorrow? The two may with all propriety be mingled ; for religion does not eradicate or suppress, it only regulates and elevates our natural feelings ; but tears purely of the former description are not the tribute that such a day as this calls for ; they do not constitute " the fast that God hath chosen,^' and that we profess now to be keeping. Let this be the confession of our hearts — " Against thee^ thee only have we sinned, and done evil in thy sight.'' Let the true reason of our sorrow be ex- pressed in these words — " rivers of waters run down mine eyes, because they keep not thy law.'' And feeling that we cannot weep enough over our own sins, and the sins of our people as formerly enumerated, let us make Jeremiah's lam- entation our own — " that my head were waters, and mine eyes a fountain of tears, that I might weep day and night for the slain of the daughter of my people." But the children of Israel not only " lifted up their voice and wept," they also " sacrificed unto the Lord." And so let us do. But what shall we sacrifice ? The sins^ surely, for which we profess to be so sorry. Though dear to us as a right eye, let us pluck them out. Though useful to us as a right baud, let us cut them off. What of all the tears that we shed over them, if we still persist in their commission ? It is only adding hypocrisy to the already long catalogue. Reformation t t 1 i mm >er, and espo- h on all pro- I^et us see, •sonal, when |»ng with our ivened with lanctuary of three places, not merely mre a large |t have been same dim- lal sorrow? sligion does levates our description 'p; thejdo nd that we "on of our and done 'ovr be ex- lown mine g that we ins of our iah's 1am- and mine night for 'eir voice ^nd so let Telj, for w a right ' a right we shed b is onlj rmation 21 lust be the evidence of repentance ; and it is only when ** sin |s forsaken'' as well as confessed, that we are promised mercy. Tea, consistency itself requires this ; for what worth is humi- Uation on account of sins which we do not abandon ? or of That avail will prayers be for their pardon, if we still indulge b their commission ? The mighty God, the Lord himself, has mswered these questions — " If my people will humble them- selves, and pray, and turn from their wicked ways," not )therwise, it is implied " I will hear from heaven, and forgive their sins." This passage suggests another "sacrifice" appropriate to this occasion. *' Let our prayer be set forth before God as in- tense, and the lifting up of our hands as the evening sacri- ice." To this exercise the Proclamation expressly calls us, [and a specific object is mentioned, viz., prayer for the success [of our arms in India. But in this we have been anticipated. [God has verified the promise — " And it shall come to pass, that before they call I will answer." For Delhi is taken ; the lead-quarters of therebellion are broken up, and the out-posts, ^t may be expected, will ere long be dismantled, and the entire [presidency brought back to its allegiance. Let us, however, [give thanks for the victory that we do not now need to ask, land be encouraged to pray that it may be only the first of a peries of victories, to follow in rapid succession — the har- [binger of the speedy return of peace and security to Bengal.* But let us not by any means restrict our prayers to this one object, important as it is. Let us pray also, that these sad ca- lamities, when overpast, may leave a blessing behind — that * Since this discourse was delivered, the intelligence has also been received of the relief of Lucknow — a relief indeed, not only to the brave-hearted, long-beleaguered, and much-enduring garri- son of that place, but also to the public mind of the British empire. It furnishes, at the same time, an additional cause of gratitude for the past and ground of hope for the future. In connection with other successes, indeed, it leaves no doubt of the ultimate subju- gation of the rebels, and speedy restoration of tranquillity and order to the well disposed portion of the community. 22 they may bo sanctified to the immediate sufferers, and to the entire nation — and that they may lead to such a change in the administration of Indian affairs as to facilitate, instead of re- tarding as hitherto, the evangelization of that colossal empire. Yes, for the poor Indians themselves, even the treacherous Sepoys, claim, as they need, an interest in our prayers ; and this will not be denied them by those, at least, who have the spirit of Him who, in the very article of death, prayed for his murderers — " Father, forgive them, for they know not what they do 1" Again, lot us " sacrifice here unto the Lord,'' those timid and time-serving principles, those maxims of worldly policy which have hitherto prevented us from effecting, or even at- tempting on anything like an adequate scale, the Ghristian- ization of India. Let us be as true to our religion as either Hindoo or Mahometan can be to theirs. Let us no longer pay greater deference to their opinions and prejudices, than to the dictates of Scripture and the commands of God. What have we gained by this in times past? Only their contempt^ and His rebuke ; and if we would either command their respect, or secure His approval, for the time to come, we must turn over an entirely new leaf. AVe must adopt the motto of the first Christians, — " We ought to obey God rather than men ;" and while we do not offend unnecessarily the prejudices of the heathen, nor provoke imprudently, their hostility, we must make it the rule of our conduct. Had we done so when India came first into our possession, how very different might its condition to-day, have been ; and how very different our own position in reference to it? Let us, profiting by past miscal- culations, and errors, do our duty now ; and leave results with God. Duty to his sovereign was the guiding principle of a great warrior and statesman, lately gone from among us ; and how much more should duty to their God be the watchword of every Christian man, and of every Christian nation ? To the laconic sayings of the Duke of Wellington, great weight is attached ; and there is one which we cannot forbear quoting ithis co| pasion, ^n? |re theJ tvery c\ by o-J^® the rl Iside do| not c(| soldi* iGod" idolat am the m's fa triun: 23 this coQuoction. One of his chaplains asked him on one jasion, What is the use of preaching the gospel to the he^- jn? "What are your marching orders?" was his reply; ire they not, go ijc into all the toorld and preach the Gospel svery creature? Yes, most unquestionably they are, and by are to be obeyed, though tumult and commotion should the result — aye, though "the world should be turned Iside down." " The Captain of salvation," himself said, " I not come to send peace on earth, but a sword ;" and shall soldiers keep " the sword of the Spirit, which is the word [God" in its scabbard, because it may provoke the devotees idolatry to draw theirs in defence? Shall they shrink )m the conflict of truth with error — of God's truth with la's fables, as if distrustful of its power, or desponding of triumph 1 Elsewhere, the same " meek and lowly " Jesus [ys, " I am come to send jire on the earth." And his gospel )uld not be what it is — it would but belie its name, if it did )t burn up such systems of religion, falsely so called, as de- cade, and pollute, and curse India. It is to our shame that jiis firo is not already kindled ; and recent disasters will not lost upon us, if they tend to stimulate our zeal, and thus, jflexly, to fan and blow into a flame the merely " smoking ix" of Indian Christianity. But there is another sacrifice still, which it is but right that re oiler, here, unto the Lord. It is thus enjoined by one of [is Apostles — " To do good and to communicate, forget not^ for rith such sacrifices God is well pleased." Money has been illed the sinews of war ; and it is as necessary in the war rith India's heathenism, as with the Sepoys' rebellion. How luch is required to equip, to send out, and to maintain an Ldequate force of Christian missionaries for the Indian ser- vice ? Let the cost be carefully counted, and cheerfully >aid. Here, we have an opportunity of returning, with in- |erest, some of the treasure, wrung by injustice and fraud fom our fellow subjects in the East. Shall it be taken advan- ige of? If not, the humiliation of such a day as this is a 24 mere sham. If it is — means, and adequate means, will not be wanting for this evangelistic enterprise. How utterly in- adequate is the present force of Indian missionaries 1 Of them we may well say as Andrew did of " the five loaves and two fishes" that were forthcoming to feed five thousand men, " What are these among so many ?" What are they ? They are, as neariy as may be, in the proportion of two missionaries to three millions of people I To our shame be it spoken ! Let such a blot remain no longer on our Christian generosity, on our natural humanity. " Freely ye have received, freely give." The appeal in behalf of the British sufferers by the Indian mutiny has been nobly responded to ; but let us not forget the Indian sufferers by British neglect and parsimony ; nor let us turn a deaf ear to the appeal which, by their con- dition, if not with their lips, they send across the seas, " Gome over aud help us." God, by his judgments, is pleading with us on their behalf. He is saying, " Break off your sins by righteousness." One of these, doubtless, is "robbing Him of the tithes and offerings" that Ilis service in India requires Now, then, let us place them upon His altar, and ourselves in a position to expect and experience the fulfilment of the ap pended promise — " Bring ye all the tithes into the storehouse. * * and prove me now lierewith, saith the Lord of hosts if I will not open you the windows of heaven, and pour you out a blessing, that there shall not be room enough to receive it." PRINTED BY MAOLEAU, THOMAS k 00., 16 KINQ 81. EAST, TORONTO. i ^