UC-NRLF 
 
 *B 3D2 3Tfl 
 
... /' <f 
 
 Universit»A)f California. 
 
 ;f)M THE LIBRARY 
 
 D R ."FRANCIS L I E 1 1 K K , 
 Profe^or j-jrffbtory and Law in Columbia College, New York. 
 
 'OM 
 
 A 
 
 f V fj THE GIFT OP 
 
 UEL REESE. 
 
 (* Of San I 
 
 
<£^**^c^ 
 
 Pk 
 
/ 
 
 
 
 ^ ^£^i£- ^^^^^ 
 
 
 TlJL^ /£^^A^ 
 
 fw 
 
 4^4^*?^ ^Z- -^^^^^ 
 
 s*>? s**r 
 
 cts^^: ^^ y*^^^ ^ 
 
 
 K 
 
 
 <^^^^^< 
 
 ^^-— ^^^^-^^^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 t^T^L^ ^>>^&<**<^£s *w 
 
 #1^ 
 
 ^ 
 
 tf^&^C &<_ 
 
 p j^ 
 
./^^i 
 
 C* A ^&4Z*^*-*^ 
 
 
 
BURGEON'S FAST-DAY SERMON. 
 

 - 
 
 
 
 . 
 
 * 
 
 ■ 
 
 . 
 
 •• 
 
 ■••■ . 
 
 ^ 
 
 . 
 
SPURGEON'S FAST-DAY SERMON. 
 
 FAST-DAY SERVICE, 
 
 HELD AT THE 
 
 Crystal lalau, jSghnJam, 
 
 ON WEDNESDAY, OCTOBER 7th, 1867. 
 
 BY 
 
 THE KEY. C. H. SPUKGEON. 
 I) 
 
 BEING THE DAY APPOINTED BY PROCLAMATION FOR A SOLEMN FAST, 
 
 HUMILIATION, AND PRAYER BEFORE ALMIGHTY GOD: IN ORDER 
 
 TO OBTAIN PARDON OF OCR SINS, AND FOR IMPLORING HIS 
 
 BLESSING AND ASSISTANCE ON OUR ARMS FOR THE 
 
 RESTORATION OF TRANQUILLITY IN INDIA. 
 
 NEW YOKK: 
 
 SHELDON, BLAKEMAN & COMPANY. 
 
 BOSTON: GOULD & LINCOLN. 
 
 CHICAGO I S. C. GRIGGS & CO. 
 
 1857. 
 
^X£ 333 
 
 W. H. Tw*on, Stereotyper. Podnet A Rumkll, Priuteifc 
 
§rief Iitkra&n 
 
 O God, the God of heaven and of earth, we do 
 this day pay Thee reverence, and meekly bow our 
 heads in adoration before Thine awful throne. We 
 are the creatures of Thine hand ; thou hast made 
 ns, and not we ourselves. It is but just and right 
 that we should pay unto Thee our adoration. O 
 God ! we are met together in a vast congregation 
 for a purpose which demands all the power of piety, 
 and all the strength of prayer. Send down Thy 
 Spirit upon Thy servant, that he, whilst trembling 
 in weakness, may be made strong to preach Thy 
 Word, to lead forth this people in holy prayer, and 
 to help them in that humiliation for which this day 
 is set apart. Come, O God, we beseech Thee ; 
 bow our hearts before Thee ; instead of sackcloth 
 and ashes give us true repentance, and hearts 
 meekly reverent ; instead of the outward guise, to 
 which some pay their only homage, give us the in- 
 ward spirit ; and may we really pray, really humi- 
 liate ourselves, and really tremble before the Most 
 High God. Sanctify this service ; make it useful 
 unto us and honourable to Thyself. And O Thou 
 dread Supreme, unto Thee shall be the glory and 
 honour, world without end. Amen. 
 
8 
 
 Let us now praise God by singing the first 
 Hymn. I shall read it through ; and then, perhaps, 
 you will be kind enough to sing it through. 
 
 Before Jehovah's awful throne, 
 Ye nations bow with sacred joy ; 
 Know that the Lord is God alone ; 
 He can create and he destroy. 
 
 His sovereign power, without our aid, 
 Made us of clay and form'd us men ; 
 And when like wand'ring sheep, we stray'd, 
 He brought us to his fold again. 
 
 We are his people, we his care, 
 Our souls and all our mortal frame ; 
 What lasting honours shall we rear, 
 Almighty Maker, to thy name ? 
 
 We'll crowd thy gates with thankful songs, 
 High as the heav'ns our voices raise ; 
 And earth with her ten thousand tongues, 
 Shall fill thy courts with sounding praise. 
 
 Wide as the world is thy command ; 
 Vast as eternity thy love ; 
 Firm as a rock thy truth must stand, 
 When rolling years shall cease to move. 
 
CONTENTS 
 
 PAGE 
 
 Brief Invocation 7 
 
 Hymn 8 
 
 Exposition *. 9 
 
 Prayer 16 
 
 Sermon 21 
 
 Chorus 43 
 
 Number Present 43 
 
 Amount Realized 43 
 
(Btymtmi 
 
 Daniel ix. v. 1 — 19. 
 
 u In the first year of Darius the Son of Ahasue- 
 rus, of the seed of the Medes, which was made king 
 over the realm of the Chaldeans ; 
 
 " In the first year of his reign I Daniel under- 
 stood by books the number of the years, whereof the 
 word of the lord came to Jeremiah the prophet, 
 that he would accomplish seventy years in the deso- 
 lations of Jerusalem. 
 
 "And I set my face unto the lord God, to seek 
 by prayer and supplications, with fasting, and 
 sackcloth, and ashes : 
 
 "And I prayed unto the lord my God, and 
 made my confession, and said, O lord, the great 
 and dreadful God, keeping the covenant and mercy 
 to them that love him, and to them that keep his 
 commandments : 
 
 1* 9 
 
10 
 
 " We have sinned, and have committed iniquity, 
 and have done wickedly, and have rebelled, even by 
 departing from thy precepts and from thy judg- 
 ments : 
 
 "Neither have we hearkened unto thy servants 
 the prophets, which spake in thy name to our kings, 
 our princes, and our fathers, and to all the people 
 of the land, 
 
 " Lord, righteousness belong eth unto thee, but 
 unto us confusion of faces, as at this day / to the 
 men of Judah, and to the inhabitants of Jerusalem, 
 and unto all Israel, that are near, and that are far 
 off, through all the countries whither thou hast 
 driven them, because of their trespass that they 
 have trespassed against thee. 
 
 " Lord, to us belongeth confusion of face, to 
 our kings, to our princes, and to our fathers, be- 
 cause we have sinned against thee." 
 
 " To the Lord our God belong mercies and for- 
 givenesses, though we have rebelled against him." 
 
 There is the first bright star which shines in the 
 midst of the darkness of our sins. God is merciful. 
 
11 
 
 He is just — as just as if lie were not merciful. He 
 is merciful — as merciful as if lie were not just, and 
 in very deed more merciful than if he were too 
 lenient ; instead of blending a wise severity of jus- 
 tice with a gracious clemency of long-suffering. 
 My brethren, we should rejoice that we have not 
 this day to address the gods of the heathens. You 
 have not to-day to bow down before the thunder- 
 ing Jove ; you need not come before implac- 
 able deities, who delight in the blood of their 
 creatures, or rather, of the creatures whom it is 
 pretended that they have made. Our God de- 
 lights in mercy, and in the deliverance of Britain 
 from its ills. God will be as much pleased as 
 Britain ; yea, when Britain shall have forgotten 
 it, and only the page of history shall record his 
 mercies, God will still remember what he did for 
 us in this day of our straits and our difficulties. 
 As to the hope that he will help us, it is a cer- 
 tainty. There is no fear that when we unite in 
 prayer God will refuse to hear. It is as sure as 
 that there is a God, that God will hear us ; and if 
 we ask him aright, the day shall come when the 
 world shall see what Britain's God has done, and 
 how he has heard her cry, and answered the voice 
 of her supplications. 
 
12 
 
 " Neither have we obeyed the voice of the Lord 
 our God, to walk in his laws, which he set before 
 us by his servants the prophets. 
 
 " Tea, all Israel have transgressed thy law, even 
 by departing, that they might not obey thy voice / 
 therefore the curse is poured upon us, and the oath 
 that is written in the law of Moses the servant of 
 God, because we have sinned against him. 
 
 " And he hath confirmed his words, which he 
 spake against us, and against our judges that 
 judged us, by bringing upon us a great evil / for 
 under the whole heaven hath not been done as hath 
 been done upon Jerusalem. 
 
 " As it is written in the law of Moses, all this 
 evil is come upon us: yet made we not our prayer 
 before the Lord our God, that we might turn from 
 our iniquities, and understand thy truth. 
 
 " Therefore hath the Lord watched upon the evil, 
 and brought it upon us : for the Lord our God is 
 righteous in all his works which he doeth : for we 
 obeyed not his voice. 
 
 " And now, Lord our God, that hast brought 
 
13 
 
 thy people forth out of the land of Egypt with a 
 mighty hand, and hast gotten thee renown, as at 
 this day / we have sinned, we have done wicked- 
 ly." 
 
 The prophet in his prayer pleads what God has 
 done for them, as the reason why he should niake 
 bare his arm ; he tells how God delivered Israel 
 out of Egypt ; and he therefore prays that God 
 would deliver them from their present trouble. 
 And, my brethren, not Israel itself could boast a 
 nobler history than we, measuring it by God's 
 bounties. We have not yet forgotten an armada 
 scattered before the breath of heaven, scattered 
 upon the angry deep as a trophy of what God can 
 do to protect his favoured isle." We have not yet 
 forgotten a fifth of November, wherein God dis- 
 covered-divers plots that were formed against our 
 religion and our commonwealth. We have not yet 
 lost the old men, whose tales of even the vic- 
 tories in war are still a frequent story. We 
 remember how God swept before our armies the 
 man who thought to make the world his dominion, 
 who designed to cast his shoe over Britain, and 
 make it a dependency of his kingdom. God 
 wrought for us ; he wrought with us ; and he will 
 continue to do so. He hath not left his people, 
 
14 spurgeon's fast-day sermon. 
 
 and he will not leave us, but he will be with us 
 even to the end. Cradle of liberty ! Refuge of 
 distress ! Storms may rage around thee, but not 
 upon thee, nor shall all the wrath and fury of men 
 destroy thee, for God hath pitched his tabernacle 
 in thy midst, and his saints are the salt in the 
 midst of thee. 
 
 " O Lord, according to all thy righteousness, I 
 beseech thee, let thine anger and thy fury be turned 
 away from thy city Jerusalem, thy holy mountain : 
 because for our sins, and for the iniquities of our 
 fathers, Jerusalem and thy people are become a 
 reproach to all that are about us. 
 
 " Now, therefore, O our God, hear tJie prayer of 
 thy servant, and his supplications, and cause thy 
 face to shine upon thy sanctuary that is desolate, 
 for the Lord's sake. 
 
 " my God, incline thine ear, and hear ; open 
 thine eyes, and behold our desolations, and the city 
 which is called by thy name : for we do not present 
 our supplications before thee for our righteousness, 
 but for thy great mercies. 
 
 " Lord, hear ; Lord, forgive; O Lord, 
 
15 
 
 hearken and do / defer nvt, for thine own sake, O 
 my God : for thy city and thy people are called by 
 thy name" 
 
 And now for a few moments let us endeavour to 
 pray. 
 
Jrap. 
 
 " Our Father, which art in heaven," we will be 
 brief, but we will be earnest if thou wilt help us. 
 We have a case to spread before Thee this day. "We 
 will tell out our story, and we will pray that Thou 
 wouldst forgive the weakness of the words in which 
 it bhall be delivered, and hear us for Jesus' sake. 
 O Father, Thou hast smitten this our land, not in 
 itself, but in one of its dependencies. Thou hast 
 allowed a mutinous spirit to break out in our 
 armies, and thou hast suffered men who know not 
 Thee, who fear neither God nor man, to do deeds 
 for which earth may well blush, and for which we, 
 as men, desire to cover our faces before Thee. O 
 Lord God, Thou couldst not bear the sin of Sodom ; 
 we are sure Thou canst not endure the sin which 
 has been committed in India. Thou didst rain hell 
 out of heaven upon the cities of the plain. The 
 cities of Inde are not less vile than they, for they 
 have committed lust and cruelty, and have much 
 sinned against the Lord. Remember this, O God 
 of Heaven. 
 
17 
 
 But, O Lord our God, we are not here to be the 
 accusers of our fellow-men ; we are here to pray that 
 Thou wouldst remove the scourge which this great 
 wickedness has brought upon us. Look down from - 
 heaven, O God, and behold this day the slaughtered 
 thousands of our countrymen. Behold the wives, 
 the daughters of Britain, violated, defiled !• Behold 
 her sons, cut in pieces, and tormented in a manner 
 which earth hath not beheld before. O God, free 
 us, we beseech Thee, from this awful scourge ! 
 Give strength to our soldiers to execute upon the 
 criminals the sentence which justice dictates; and 
 then, by Thy strong arm, and by Thy terrible 
 might, do thou prevent a repetition of so fearful an 
 outrage. 
 
 We pray Thee, remember this day the widow 
 and the fatherless children ; think Thou of those 
 who are this day distressed even to the uttermost. 
 Guide the hearts of this great multitude, that they 
 may liberally give, and this day bestow of their 
 substance to their poor destitute brethren. Re- 
 member especially our soldiers, now fighting in 
 that land. God shield them ! Be thou" a covert 
 from the heat ! Wilt thou be pleased to mitigate 
 all the rigours of the climate for them ! Lead them 
 on to battle ; cheer their hearts ; bid them remember 
 that they are not warriors merely, but executioners ; 
 
18 
 
 and may they go with steady tramp to the battle, 
 believing that God wills it that they should utterly 
 destroy the enemy, w*ho have not only defied 
 Britain, but thus defiled themselves amongst men. 
 But, O Lord, it is ours this day to humble our- 
 selves before Thee. We are a sinful nation ; we 
 confess the sins of our governors and our own par- 
 ticular iniquities. For all our rebellions and trans- 
 gressions, O God have mercy upon us ! We plead 
 the blood of Jesus. Help every one of us to repent 
 of sin, to fly to Christ for refuge, and grant that 
 each of us may thus hide ourselves in the rock, till 
 the calamity be overpassed, knowing that God will 
 not desert them that put their trust in Jesus. Thy 
 servant is overwhelmed this day ; his heart is 
 melted like wax in the midst of him ; he knoweth not 
 how to pray. Yet, Lord, if thou canst hear a groan- 
 ing heart which cannot utter itself in words, thou 
 nearest his strong impassioned cry, in which the 
 people join. Lord, save us ! Lord, arise and bless 
 us ; and let the might of Thine arm and the majesty 
 of thy strength, be now revealed in the midst 
 of this land, and throughout those countries which 
 are in our dominion. God save the Queen ! A 
 thousand blessings on her much-loved head ! God 
 preserve our country ! May every movement that 
 promotest liberty and progress be accelerated, and 
 
19 
 
 may everything be done in our midst which can 
 shield us from the discontent of the masses, and can 
 protect the masses from the oppression of the few. 
 Bless England, O our God, " Shine mighty God, on 
 Britain shine ; and make her still glorious Britain ! 
 "beautiful for situation, the joy of the whole 
 earth." Lord accept our confessions; hear our 
 prayers, and answer us by thy Holy Spirit. Help 
 thy servant to preach to us ; and all the glory shall 
 be unto thee, O Father, to thee, O Son, and thee, 
 O Holy Spirit ; world without end. Amen and 
 Amen. 
 
20 
 
 Let us now sing the second hymn. It is made 
 up of verses selected from different psalms, which 
 I thought to be appropriate to the occasion. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past, 
 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 Our shelter from the stormy blast, 
 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 Under the shadow of thy throne, 
 Thy saints have dwelt secure ; 
 
 Sufficient is thine arm alone, 
 And our defence is sure. 
 
 Our foes insult us, but our hope 
 
 In thy compassion lies ; 
 This thought shall bear our spirits up. 
 
 That God will not despise. 
 
 In vain the sons of Satan boast 
 
 Of armies in array ; 
 When God has first despised their host, 
 
 They fall an easy prey. 
 
 Our God, our help in ages past, 
 
 Our hope for years to come, 
 Be thou our guard while troubles last, 
 
 And our eternal home. 
 
 Hoping to receive help from God's Holy Spirit, 
 I shall now proceed to address you from a part of 
 the 9th verse of the 6th chapter of Micah. 
 
urafftt. 
 
 "Hear ye the rod, and who hath appointed it." — Micah, vi. 9. 
 
 This world is not the place of punishment for sin ; 
 not the place ; it may sometimes be a piace, but 
 not usually. It is very customary among religious 
 people, to talk of every accident which happens to 
 men in' the indulgence of sin, as if it were a judg- 
 ment. The upsetting of a boat upon a river "on 
 a Sunday is assuredly understood to be a judg- 
 ment for the sin of Sabbath-breaking. In the 
 accidental fall of a house, in which persons were 
 engaged in any unlawful occupation, the inference 
 is at once drawn that the house fell because they 
 were wicked. Now, however some religionists 
 may hope to impress the people by such childish 
 stories as those, I, for one, forswear them all. I 
 believe what my Master says is true, when he de- 
 clared, concerning the men upon whom the tower 
 
 of Siloam fell, that they were not sinners above all 
 
 21 
 
22 
 
 the sinners that were upon the face of the earth. 
 They were sinners ; there is no doubt about it ; but 
 the falling of the wall was not occasioned by their 
 sin, nor was their premature death the consequence 
 of their excessive wickedness. Let me, however, 
 guard this declaration, for there are many who 
 carry this doctrine to an extreme. Because God 
 does not usually visit each particular offence in this 
 life upon the transgressor, men are apt to deny alto- 
 gether the doctrine of judgments. But here they 
 are mistaken. I feel persuaded that there are such 
 things as national judgments, national chastise- 
 ments for national sins — great blows from the rod 
 of God, which every wise man must acknowledge 
 to be, either a punishment of sin committed, or a 
 monition to warn us to a sense of the consequences 
 of sins, leading us by God's grace to humiliate our- 
 selves, and repent of our sin. 
 
 O, my friends, what a rod is that which has just 
 fallen upon our country ! My poor words will fall 
 infinitely short of the fearful tale of misery and 
 woe which must be told before you can know how 
 smartly God hath smitten, and how sternly he hath 
 chidden us. We have to-day to mourn over re 
 
23 
 
 volted subjects, for to- day a part of our fellow- 
 countrymen are in open arms against our govern- 
 ment. That, of itself, were a heavy blow. Hap- 
 pily the government of this land is so constituted 
 that we know little of the revolutions except by 
 name ; but the horrors of anarchy, the terrors of a 
 government shaken to its foundations, are so great, 
 that should I preach alone upon that subject, you 
 might hear the rod, and cry aloud beneath its 
 strokes. But this is as but the letting forth of wa- 
 ter. A flood succeedeth. The men that have re- 
 volted were our subjects, and I challenge all the 
 world to deny what I am about to say : they were 
 our subjects rightly. Whatever the inhabitants of 
 India might be (and undoubtedly that people have 
 grave faults to find with us), the Sepoys had volun- 
 tarily given themselves up to our dominion, they 
 had themselves taken oaths of fealty to Her Majes- 
 ty, and their officers, and they have no cause to 
 murmur if they are made to endure the sentence 
 uttered by a government of which they were the 
 sworn and willing supporters. They were always 
 petted, always dandled upon the knee of favoritism. 
 Their revolt is not the revolt of a nation. If India 
 
24 spuegeon's fast-day sermon. 
 
 had revolted, history might perhaps have taught 
 us that she had patriots in her midst, who were de- 
 livering her from a tyrannical nation ; but in the 
 present case it is only men who are impelled by a 
 lust and ambition for empire, who have risen against 
 us. And, ah ! my friends, what crimes have they 
 committed! Not to-day shall I detail their acts 
 of debauchery, bloodshed, and worse than bestial- 
 ity — this tongue will not venture to utter what they 
 have dared to do. Ye would rise from your seats 
 and hiss me from the pulpit which I now occupy, 
 if I should but dare to hint at the crimes which 
 have been done of them, not in secret, but in the 
 very streets of their cities. 
 
 And, again, equally as painful, we have now 
 rebels to be executed. I look upon every gallows 
 as a fearful chastisement. I regard every gibbet 
 as being a dreadful visitation upon our land ; and I 
 think that whenever the arm of the ruler is out- 
 stretched for the punishment of death, it must 
 always be looked upon by the country as a serious 
 affliction to it. Just as the father thinks it a high 
 affliction to chastise his child, so should a country 
 ever esteem it to be a visitation when they have to 
 
25 
 
 punish, especially with the punishment of death. 
 ISTow, these men must be punished ; both heaven 
 and earth demand it. I am no soldier, I love not 
 war ; I do not believe that this is a war at all, in 
 the proper sense of the term. We are not fighting 
 with enemies ; our troops are going forth against 
 revolted subjects — against men who, by their 
 crimes, by their murder, and by other unmention- 
 able sins, have incurred the punishment of death ; 
 and as the arrest of a murderer by authority of the 
 law is not war, so the arrest of Indian Sepoys, and 
 their utter destruction, is not war — it is what earth 
 demands, and what I believe God sanctions. But 
 it is a horrible necessity. It is a dreadful thing to 
 think of taking away the lives of our fellow-sub- 
 jects ; we must look upon it as being an affliction : 
 and, to-day, amongst the other evils that we be- 
 moan, we must bemoan this — that the sword must 
 be taken out of its sheath, to cut off our fellow sub- 
 jects by their thousands. The rod, the rod, the 
 rod hath indeed fallen heavily ; no mortal tongue 
 can tell the anguish it hath caused, nor perhaps can 
 we yet dream where its ill effects shall end. 
 
 Remember, however, the words of my text. It 
 
26 
 
 is a rod ; but it is an appointed rod. Every deed 
 that has been done against us has been appointed 
 by God. God is most fully to be cleared from the 
 sin of it, but it is undoubtedly true that he has 
 overruled and permitted it. The rod was ordained 
 of God. I myself see God everywhere. I believe 
 that " the foreknown station of a rush by the river 
 is as fixed as the station of a king, and the chaff 
 from the hand of the winnower as steered as the 
 stars in their courses." And I see God in this war. 
 The wheels of providence may revolve in a mys- 
 terious manner, but I am certain that wisdom is 
 the axle upon which they revolve, so that at last it- 
 shall be seen that God, who ordained the rod, 
 only permitted it that greater good might follow, 
 and that his name might be exalted through the 
 earth. The sin is man's- own deed, but the affliction 
 that we suffer through it, God hath ordained. Let 
 us bow before it, and let us now hearken to the 
 exhortation of the text — u Hear ye the rod, and 
 him that hath appointed it." 
 
 I shall have your attention whilst as briefly as I 
 can I endeavour to bid you hear this rod of God. 
 
 First, let me remark, it would have been as well 
 
2f 
 
 if we had heard this rod before it fell upon us. 
 God's rod, by the wise man, may be heard before 
 it smiteth. He that understandeth God's moral 
 government, knows that sin carries punishment in 
 its bowels. A wise man believing revelation, could 
 have prophesied that God would visit us. The sins 
 of the government of India have been black and 
 deep. He who has heard the shrieks of tormented 
 natives, who has heard the well-provoked cursing 
 of dethroned princes, might have prophesied that 
 it would not be long before God would unsheath 
 his sword to avenge the oppressed. With regard 
 to India itself, I am no apologist for our dominion 
 there ; with regard to the Sepoys, they are our 
 voluntary subjects, they deserve the utmost rigour 
 of the law. From their own oath they were our 
 subjects ; and if they have revolted, let them suffer 
 the punishment of their treason. But had it been 
 the Indian nation that had revolted, I would have 
 prayed God that they might have been brought 
 under British rule again, for the sake of civiliza- 
 tion, but I would not have preached a crusade 
 against them, lest haply we should have been smit- 
 ing patriots who were but delivering an oppressed 
 
28 
 
 spurgeon's fast-day sermon. 
 
 country. My brethren, I say it would have been 
 as well if the rod had been heard before it fell. If 
 in the midst of sin the Indian government had 
 paused, and endeavoured to undo the evil, it would 
 have been well for them — if instead of following 
 the policy of creed they had followed the policy of 
 right, they might have looked for divine support. 
 They never ought to have tolerated the religion of 
 the Hindoos at all. I believe myself (for it in no 
 way infringes the law of right) entitled to my re- 
 ligion ; but if my religion consisted in bestiality, 
 infanticide, and murder, I should have no right to 
 my religion, unless I were prepared to be hanged 
 for it. Now, the religion of the Hindoos is neither 
 more nor less than a mass of the rankest filth that 
 ever imagination could have conceived. The gods 
 they worship are not entitled to the least atom of 
 respect. Had they given a decent character to 
 their demons, we might have tolerated their idola- 
 try ; but when their worship necessitates everything 
 that is evil, not religion, but morality must put it 
 down. I do not believe that in this land there ever 
 ought to have been any toleration for the Agape- 
 mone. A place of lust and abomination, where sin 
 
29 
 
 is committed before which God's sun might blush, 
 never ought to be tolerated. Any religion that 
 does not infringe upon morality is beyond the force 
 of legislature. But when once religious teachers 
 teach immorality, and when once a religion com- 
 pels men to sin, down with it ; no toleration to it. 
 It is impossible that there should be any quarter 
 shown to vice, even though embellished with the 
 name of religion. If it be any man's religion to 
 blow my brains out, 1 shall not tolerate it. If it be 
 any man's religion to meet me, as the Thugs do, 
 and garotte me, and murder me, I shall not toler- 
 ate his Thugism. If it be a man's religion to com- 
 mit bestial acts in public, I for one would touch his 
 conscience, but believing that he has none, I would 
 touch him somewhere else. Such a religion as the 
 religion of the Hindoo, the Indian Government 
 were bound, as in the sight of God, to put down 
 with all the strength of their hand. But they have 
 allowed it, in some cases they have even aided and 
 abetted their filthy deeds ; and now God visits 
 them ; and, I repeat, it would have been well if 
 they had heard the rod before it fell ; they might 
 have perhaps avoided all this evil, and certainly 
 
30 sptjegeon's fast-day sermon. 
 
 they would have avoided the remorse which some 
 of them must feel in having thus brought it upon 
 themselves. 
 
 But it has fallen. The rod has smitten; the 
 scourge has ploughed deep furrows upon India's 
 back. What then ? " Hear ye the rod " that has 
 fallen. Now, it is an opinion published by 
 authority — and who am I, that I should dispute the 
 great authorities of England? — that one part of 
 the reason for this dreadful visitation, is the sin of 
 the people of England themselves. We are 
 exhorted this day to humble ourselves for sin. 
 Granting me that as being a truth — and mark, I 
 am not the originator of it ; it is in the Proclama- 
 tion — who am I, that I should dispute such a high 
 authority as that ? — it is our sin that has brought it 
 on us, so they say — what, then, are our sins ? 
 Now, I will be honest with you — as honest as I 
 can, and I will try and tell you. What are the 
 most glaring sins for which, if it be true that God 
 is now punishing us, are the most likely to have 
 brought this visitation upon us ? 
 
 First, there are sins in the community that never 
 ought to have been allowed. O Britain, weep for 
 
31 
 
 the deeds which thy governors have not yet 
 strength of mind to stop. We have long been 
 allowing the infamons nuisances of Holy well- 
 street ; bless God they are pretty well done for ! 
 But now what do I see every night ? If I return 
 from preaching in the country, in the Hay market 
 and in Regent-street, what stares me before my 
 eyes? If there be a crime for which God will 
 visit England, it is the sin of allowing infamy to 
 walk before our eyes thus publicly. I do not 
 know whose fault it is — some say it is the fault of 
 the police : it is somebody's fault, that I do know, 
 and against that somebody I do now most solemnly 
 protest. It is a most fearful thing that those who 
 are honest and moral cannot walk the streets, 
 without being insulted by sin in the robes of the 
 harlot. My voice perhaps this day may reach 
 some who have power to repeat this protest power- 
 fully and successfully. I see before me gentlemen 
 who are the representatives of the press. I believe 
 they will do their duty in that matter ; and if they 
 will sting as some of them can sting, right sharply, 
 they perhaps may be able to sting a little virtue 
 into some of our governors, and that will be a 
 
32 
 
 good thing. But I do protest that this has been 
 one of the causes why God has visited us, if 
 indeed our sins have brought this evil upon us, as 1 
 verity believe. Look ye too, men and brethren, at 
 some of those amusements of yours, in which ye 
 are wont to indulge. God forbid I should deny 
 you those of your amusements which are innocent, 
 but I must maintain that they should be always 
 moral ; when we know that lords and ladies of the 
 land, have sat in plav houses, and listened to plays 
 that were a long way from decent, it is time that 
 some voice should be lifted up against them. 
 These are glaring sins. I am not raking now for 
 private faults; we have had these things before 
 our eyes, and there have been some that have 
 dared to protest against them long ago. I say, 
 these sins of the community, in part have brought 
 the rod upon us. 
 
 But, my friends, I am inclined to think that our 
 class sins are the most grievous. Behold this day 
 the sins of the rich. How are the poor oppressed I 
 How are the needy down-trodden ! In many a 
 place the average wage of men is far below their 
 value to their masters. In this age there is many 
 
33 
 
 a great man who looks upon his fellows as only 
 stepping-stones to wealth. He builds a factory as 
 he would make a cauldron. He is about to make 
 a brew for his own wealth. " Pitch him in ! He 
 is only a poor clerk, he can live on a hundred a 
 year. Put him in ! There is a poor time-keeper : 
 he has a large family ; it does not matter ; a man 
 can be had for less : in with him ! Here are the 
 tens, the hundreds, and the thousands that must do 
 the work. Put them in : heap the fire ; boil the 
 cauldron ; stir them up ; never mind their cries. 
 The hire of the labourers kept back may go up to 
 heaven : it does not matter, the millions of gold 
 are safe. The law of demand and supply is with 
 us — who is he that would interfere ? Who shall 
 dare to prevent the grinding of the faces of the 
 poor ? Cotton-lords and great masters ought to 
 have power to do what they like with the people : 
 ought they not ?" Ah ! but ye great men of the 
 earth, there is a God, and that God has said he 
 executeth righteousness and judgment for all that 
 are oppressed. And yet the sempstress in her gar- 
 ret, and yet the tailor in his den, and yet the arti- 
 zan in his crowded factory, and yet the servants 
 
34 
 
 who earn jour wealth, who have to groan under 
 your oppression, shall get the ear of God, and he 
 will visit you. " Hear ye the rod." It is for this 
 the rod falleth on you. 
 
 Mark, again, the sins of merchants. Was there 
 ever an age when the merchants of England had 
 more fallen from their integrity? The mass of 
 them, I believe, are honest to the core ; but I do 
 not know who among them are so. "We can trust 
 none in these times. Ye heap up your companies, 
 and ye delude your myriads ; ye gather the money 
 of fools ; ye scatter it to the winds of heaven, and 
 when the poor call upon you ye tell them it is 
 gone: but where? O England, thou wast once 
 true, upright, honest ; men could not rightly call 
 thee then " Perfidious Albion ;" but now, O Bri- 
 tain, alas ! for thee ! Unless thou dost recover 
 thyself, who can trust thee ? God will visit the 
 nation for this, and it shall be seen that this alone 
 is one of the things which God would have us 
 hear, when we hear the rod. 
 
 There are many of you that are poor. I saw 
 you smile when I spoke to the rich. I will have at 
 you also. If we are to humble ourselves this day 
 
35 
 
 as a nation, ye have cause also to humble. Ah, 
 my God, what multitudes there are of men who 
 deserve but little of their employers, for they are 
 eye-servers, men-pleasers, and do not with single- 
 ness of heart serve the Lord. Were men better 
 workmen, their masters would be better. There 
 are hundreds of you that are here to-day who are 
 the best hands in all the world to prop up walls, when 
 you ought to be busy at your own work — who 
 when your time is bought and paid for, steal it for 
 something else. And how many there are in what 
 are called the lower ranks — and, God forgive the 
 man that invented that word, for we are none of 
 us lower than the other before the Judge of all the 
 earth — how many are there that do not know what 
 it is to look up to God, and say, " Though he has 
 made me a servant, I will discharge my duty, and 
 I will serve my master and serve my God with all 
 my might." Many are the sins of the poor. Hum- 
 ble yourselves with the rich ; bow your heads and 
 weep for your iniquities ; for these things God 
 doth visit* us, and ye should hear the rod. 
 
 It is impossible for me to-day to enter into all 
 the sin's of illiberality, of deceit, of bigotry, of las- 
 
36 SPUKGEON'S FAST-DAY SEEMOK. 
 
 civiousness, of carnality, of pride, of covetousness, 
 and of laziness which infest this land. I have tried 
 to indicate some of the chief; and I pray God hum- 
 ble us all for them. 
 
 And now " hear ye the rod." O church of God 
 the rod has fallen, and the church ought to hear it. 
 I am afraid that it is the church that has been the 
 greatest sinner. Do I mean by " the church" that 
 established by law ? No, I mean the Christian 
 Church as a body. We, I believe, have been re- 
 miss in our duty ; for many and many a year pul- 
 pits never condescended to men of low estate. Our 
 ministers were great and haughty ; they understood 
 the polish of rhetoric, they had all the grandeur of 
 logic ; to the people they were blind guides and 
 dumb dogs, for the people knew not what 
 they said, neither did they regard them. The 
 churches themselves slumbered : they wrapped 
 themselves in a shroud of orthodoxy, and they 
 slept right on, and whilst Satan was devouring the 
 world, and taking his prey, the church sat still, and 
 said " Who is my neighbor ?" and did not arouse 
 herself to serve her God. I do hope that we . have 
 already seen the beginning of a revival. The last 
 
spurgeon's fast-day sermon* 37 
 
 year has seen more preaching than any year since 
 the days of the apostles. We are stirring in Bag- 
 ged Schools, and in various efforts for doing g;ood ; 
 but still the church is only half awake ; I fear she 
 still slumbers. O church of God I awake I awake I 
 awake i for verily the rod has fallen for thy sake. 
 ** Hear thou the rod and him that hath appointed it." 
 III. We have had many rods, friends ; we have 
 had many great afflictions, and we did bear them 
 for a time ; and now I close my sermon by saying, 
 " Hear ye the rod, when the rod shall again be 
 still." We trust that in a little while our soldiers 
 will carve us out peace and victory with their tri- 
 umphant swords; we trust that perhaps this very 
 day, a great fight is being fought and a great 
 victory being **von. I seem to hear to-day the 
 shout of the triumphant warrior ; I think I hear 
 the trump of victory even now. The hour of pray- 
 er is often the hour of deliverance. At any rate 
 we hope that ere long this black cloud will be 
 overblown ; and then I fear you will all forget it. 
 you will pray to-day ; will you pray when victory 
 comes? You will buy some fireworks will you 
 not ? That is how you thank God ! Yon had a 
 
38 
 
 victory over a potent enemy, and peace was estab- 
 lished : your votive offerings consisted of rockets 
 and illuminations — grand offerings to the Dread 
 Supreme ? If a heathen were here he would say, 
 " Their God is the God of humilation not the God 
 of victory ; their God is a God of trouble, certainly 
 not a God of blessings, for they forget him when 
 they receive deliverance." I remember, when 
 last time the cholera swept through your streets ye 
 hurried to your churches, and ye prayed ; terror 
 sat upon your countenances, and many of you cried 
 aloud for deliverance. It came. What did you 
 do ? Alas ! for your piety ! It was as the morn- 
 ing cloud, and as the early dew it passed away. It 
 will be so again. It is but as the lashing of the 
 water ; it is smitten, but it soon -recovers itself 
 and all marks are effaced. It is so with this land ; 
 I fear it is so with each of us to a degree. How 
 often have you and I been laid upon our beds with 
 cholera, or with fever, or with some other disease 
 which threatened to take us away ! "Wo prayed ; 
 we sent for the minister ; we devoted ourselves to 
 God ; we vowed, if he would spare us, we would 
 live better. Here thou art, my hearer, just what 
 
39 
 
 thou wast before thy sickness. Thou hast forgotten 
 thy vow ; but God hath not forgotten it. Thy reso- 
 lutions were filed in heaven, and in the day of 
 judgment, God shall take them forth and say, 
 " Here is one solemn covenant broken ; here is ano- 
 ther vow forgotten, another resolution made in sick- 
 ness broken after recovery !" I do think that 
 to-day will be a most solemn mockery, if our hu- 
 milation ends to-day. With some of you it will 
 not even begin to day, and therefore it will not 
 end, for it is not begun. But the mass who will 
 pray to-day, will they pray in a week ? Not 
 they ; they will go their way, to heap again the 
 fagots of their sins upon the pile of ven- 
 geance, and still stand by and weep because the 
 fire is burning, the fire which they themselves 
 have kindled. Oh ! my hearers, permit me to 
 charge home to your heart ; and would God that 
 he would make the charge of my language against 
 your consciences as heavy as the charge of British 
 soldiery against the enemy ! How many of you 
 have been awakened, convinced of sin, of righteous- 
 ness, and of judgment ! How many times have 
 you vowed you would repent ! How many times 
 
40 SPUKGEOn's FAST-D4lY sermon. 
 
 have you declared that you did hear the rod, and 
 that you would turn to God I And yet you have 
 been liars to the Almighty; you iiave defrauded 
 the Most High ; and whilst the bill is due it still 
 stands dishonoured. Tremble ! God may smite you 
 yet ; and if to-day you are despisers of Christ, re- 
 member, you have no guarantee that you will be in 
 this world another hour. You may before this sun 
 is set stand before your Maker's bar. What then I 
 what then ? what then I To perish for ever is no 
 light matter ; to be cast into the flames of hell is 
 no little consideration. "Turn ye, turn ye, turn 
 ye ; why will ye die, O house of Israel I" Kepent i 
 " The times of your ignorance God winked at, but 
 now commandeth all men everywhere to repent." 
 And remember that when he gives repentance and 
 faith, he has appended the blessing to them. 
 " Jesus Christ of the seed of David " was nailed to 
 a cross ; he died that we might not die, and to 
 every believer heaven's gate is open, to every peni- 
 tent the path to paradise is free. Sinner 1 dost 
 thou believe ? If so Christ hath blotted out thy sin. 
 Be happy! Soul! dost thou repent? Thou art 
 safe. God has helped thee to repent, and inasmuch 
 
41 
 
 as he hath done that he hath proved that he loves 
 thee. 
 
 Oh ! if I might but have some souls won to 
 Christ to-day, what would I give ! What is all this 
 great gathering to me? It 1s an extra labour, that 
 is all. For this I do not labour. God is my wit- 
 ness, I sought you not ; never once have I said a 
 thing to court a smile from any man. When God 
 first sent me to the ministry he bade me fear no 
 man, and I have not yet met the man to whom I 
 have feared to tell of God's truth. Nor you have 
 I sought to please, nor you have I sought to gather 
 here. I would preach the gospel ; may God give 
 me some souls as my reward ! And if but one 
 poor sinner shall look to Jesus, clap your wings, ye 
 angels ! enough is done, for God is honoured. 
 
 I have done my sermon, but I want to make an 
 appeal to you to give liberally. 
 
 Lives there a man in England who will this day 
 refuse his help to those of his countrymen who have 
 suffered ? No ; there does not live such a man — 
 not such a Briton. Is there a miserable miscreant 
 without a heart, who will, when God has given him 
 enough, shut up his bowels of compassion against 
 
42 
 
 those whose sons and daughters have been mur- 
 dered, and who themselves have escaped as by 
 the skin of their teeth. No I will not slander you 
 by such a supposition. I cannot think that I have 
 such a monster here.* When the box shall pass 
 round, give — give as you can afford ; if it be a pen- 
 ny, let the working man give. You that are rich 
 must not give pence, however. Many a man has 
 said, " There is my mite." He was worth a hun- 
 dred thousand pounds, and it was not a mite at all ; 
 if he had given a thousand it would only have been 
 a mite to him. Give as ye can afford it ; may God 
 be pleased to grant a liberal spirit ! 
 
spurgeon's fast-day sermon. 43 
 
 The following Chorus was then sung — 
 
 Glory, honour, praise, and power, 
 
 Be unto the Lamb for ever ; 
 Jesus Christ is our Redeemer^ 
 Hallelujah, Amen. 
 
 After which, the benediction having been pro- 
 nounced, the service terminated. 
 
 There were upwards of 24,000 persons present at this ser- 
 vice ; and the amount collected towards the Indian Relief 
 Fund amounted to nearly $2,500, of which $100 was given 
 by Miss Nightingale. The Crystal Palace Company contri- 
 buted $1,000 in addition — making a total of nearly $3,500. 
 
 " Co Oft k all % fcg." 
 
Books Published by Sheldon, Blakeman & Co. 
 THE SAINT AND HIS SAVIOUR. 
 
 BY THE EEV. C. H. SPURGEON. 
 1 vol., 12mo. Price $1. 
 This is an entirely new work, never before published in any form. It is the first ex- 
 tended religious work by this distinguished preacher, and one which in its fervid devo- 
 tional spirit", the richness of its sentiments, and the beauty of its imagery, fully sustains 
 his high reputation. 
 
 SERMONS 
 
 OF THE REV. C. H. SPURGEON, OF LONDON. 
 
 FIRST SERIES. With an Introduction and Sketch of his Life, by the Rev. E. L. 
 Magoon, D.D. 1 vol., 12mo, 400 pages. With a fine Lithograph Portrait. Price $1. 
 
 SECOND SERIES. Revised by the Author, and Published with his sanction ; contain- 
 ing a new Steel Plate Portrait, engraved expressly for the Volume. Price $1. 
 
 THIRD SERIES. Revised by the Author, and Published with his sanction ; contain- 
 ing a Steel Plate View of Surrey Music Hall, London, engraved expressly for the 
 Volume. Price $1. 
 
 AN ILLUSTRATED SKETCH OF THE 
 
 LIFE AND MINISTRY OF THE EEV. C. H. SPURGEON. 
 
 Compiled from original and authentic documents, with numerous Anecdotes and Inci- 
 dents of Travel; and Illustrated with a Portrait of Mr. Spurgeon, engravings of New 
 Park-street Chapel, Waterbeach Chapel, Mr. Spurgeon in his Pulpit, his Birth-place, 
 etc. ; with an Outline of his Articles of Faith. 
 1 vol., 12mo. Muslin. Price 60 cents.—! vol., 12mo. Paper Covers. Price 40 cents. 
 From the Rev. E. Q. Robinson, D.D., Professor of Biblical and Pastoral Theology 
 in Rochester University. 
 "Messrs. Sheldon, Blakeman & Co.— Gentlemen : Many thanks for your new vol- 
 ume of Spurgeon's Sermons. I opened it with a good deal of misgiving, but must con- 
 fess to a most agreeable surprise. It is an extremely rare thing that the sermons of a 
 popular preacher will bear reading ; but these of Spurgeon are not only better arranged 
 and more logical than I had expected, but with soundness of doctrine, are also written in 
 true Bunyan-like simplicity, directness, and beauty. I am not surprised at his popular- 
 ity, and am only glad it is so well founded. I shall recommend them to the attention of 
 my class, and shall take up one or two of them for analysis, as a special exercise. — 
 Respectfully yours, E. G. ROBINSON." 
 
 From Francis Wayland, D.D. 
 
 " Providence, December 15, 1S56. 
 " Gentlemen : When I wrote to you last I was reading Spurgeon's Sermons. I have 
 now finished them; and I thank God that such a preacher has been raised up to teach us 
 how to address men on the subject of their salvation. I am surprised at their eloquence, 
 but especially at the source of it. They are the result of a most thorough reading of the 
 New Testament by a man of very remarkable gifts as-a public speaker. ' They are the 
 Bimple truths of the New Testament brought home to the consciences of men with a 
 simplicity, honesty, fearlessness, and affection, such as I have rarely, if ever, witnessed. — 
 Yours, truly, F. WAYLAND." 
 
 From the Rev. S. trenazus Prime, D.D. 
 
 " Observer Office, New York, February 23, 1857. 
 "Messrs. Sheldon, Blakeman & Co.: I am indebted to you for the pleasure oi 
 reading several of the sermons you propose to publish of the Rev. Mr. Spurgeon. They 
 are far more able, interesting, and instructive, freer from coarseness and extravagance, and 
 more evangelical and scriptural than I had supposed, from the notices 1 had read of his 
 preaching:. These sermons have the root of the matter in them, while their fervid style, 
 earnest appeal, and vivid illustration, arrest the attention and impress the truth. The Rev. 
 Dr. Campbell, of London, is the editor of the British Banner. He is the valiant opponent 
 of the 'Negative Theology' now infesting the dissenting churches of England. In his paper 
 he says of Mr. Spurgeon : ' That young minister has more knowledge of the sacred Scrip- 
 tures, the source of all genuine theology, than the whole of his traducers multiplied by the 
 highest figure of the table. Nay, he is a better theologian than was either Grimshaw, or 
 Berridge, or Whitefield, or Wesley, at the outset of their respective careers, and inferior to 
 none of them at the close.' I shall be pleased to commend the volume to the public when 
 you bring it out— Truly, yours, S. I. PRIME." 
 
 Either of the above sent by Mail, Postage paid, for the Price annexed. 
 
Books Published by Sheldon, Blakeman Sf Co. 
 
 The Publishers invite Attention to the following recommendation* «l 
 
 MRS. CONANT'S 
 
 ENGLISH BIBLE. 
 
 From the New York Evangelist 
 
 "Tot story is one of deepest import, involving acts of heroism and daring, not leal 
 than of scholarship and piety, and so identified with the history of freedom, civilizatioa 
 and literature, as to partake of the spirit of all these unspeakable interests." 
 
 From the Christian Times, Chicago. 
 ■ It is full of matter ; its style is graphic and pure, its spirit excellent" 
 
 From the New York Examiner. 
 
 w There was room for such a work as Mrs. Cox a nt has undertaken, and the Volume 
 the has given us will be generally welcomed, as supplying the deficiency." 
 " The work is one we should be glad to see in every Christian family." 
 
 From the Louisville Journal. 
 
 m The work is not only an admirable sketch of the early English versions and revisions 
 of the Bible, but a most skilful and forcible presentation of the very essence of the 
 religious History of the English race. Many portions are executed with wonderful 
 effect 
 
 44 The Chapter on the Martyrdom of Frith, is among the most thrilling and nowerful 
 pieces of historical painting extant 
 
 u A more comprehensive and gratifying record of the religious progress of the AJiglo- 
 Baxon race, has never before been given or attempted." 
 
 From the New York Tribune. 
 
 M In closing this article, for the materials of which we are Indebted to the volume before 
 us, we must not omit to give ottr humble tribute to the learning, historical research, 
 soundness of judgment, and masculine energy of style, which characterize its composi- 
 tion. The claims of the author to an enviable place in literature, which her previous 
 efforts have suggested, are unquestionably made good in the composition of this 
 volume." 
 
 From the Cambridge Chronicle. 
 
 " The work shows on almost every page, the evidence of learned investigation, and thor- 
 ough research. 
 
 "The style is free from the dry and harsh characteristics which render the volumesoi 
 Anderson, Lewis, and other writers, so repulsive to all but the antiquary and the pro- 
 fessed student of history. , • 
 
 44 Mrs. Conant's style is easy and elegant ; she seizes the strong points and presents them 
 vividly to the reader. V( » can do no better service to our friends and readers, of all 
 i than to advise them to purchwe this volume." 
 
Books Published by Sheldon, Blakeman & Go. 
 A NEW BAPTIST HYMN AND TUNE-BOOK, 
 
 FOR THE ENCOURAGEMENT OF CONGREGATIONAL SINGING ; 
 
 BEING THE PLYMOUTH COLLECTION OF HYMNS AND TUNES: 
 
 ENLABGED AND ADAPTED TO THE USE OF BAPTIST CHUBCHE8. 
 
 The grounds on which this book has been prepared and offered to the Baptist Churches 
 may be learned from the following correspondence addressed to the publishers of the 
 " Plymouth Collection." 
 
 Brookbm, May 1st, 1857. 
 
 Gents : — The Pierrepont Street Baptist Church being greatly interested in the improve 
 ment of Congregational Singing, have had their attention directed to the merit and useful 
 nessof the " Plymouth Collection of Hymns and Tunes" published by you. Many of 
 us have examined it carefully, used it in our families, and observed its influence upon ths 
 singing in public worship, and we are led to believe that it is, on the whole, better adapted 
 to promote Congregational Singing than any other book now before the public, and that, 
 with some alterations and additions, it might be well adapted to the use of Baptist Churches, 
 and be made to supply a want at present extensively felt among us. 
 
 In this view, at a meeting of the Church, held April 1st, 1857, the following resolutions 
 were passed unanimously, and directed to be communicated to you : — Resolved, 1st. That 
 we request of the editor and publishers an edition of the "Plymouth Collection of 
 Hymns and Tunes" adapted to the use of Baptist Churches. 2d. And that upon issue 
 of such an edition, that this Church use the same in their public worship. 
 
 Yours truly, WILLIAM F. FORBY, Clerk. 
 
 The editor and publishers of the " Plymouth Collection" having signified their will- 
 ingness to accede to the above request, Rev. J. S. Holme, Pastor of the Pierrepont Street 
 Baptist Church, Brooklyn, has, at their request, and with the advice and co-operation of 
 a large number of the pastors of other Baptist Churches, prepared for publication a new 
 edition of the " Plymouth Collection." All Hymns have been stricken out that seemed 
 not in harmony with the views and feelings of Baptists, and a large number have been 
 added, not only of a denominational character, but those old familiar hymns, which, by 
 long us?, have become much endeared to the Baptist Churches. The original plan of the 
 book has been carried out in restoring old standard hymns, which have been mutilated by 
 attempted improvements, to their former integrity. A few choice hymns have been adted 
 that have never appeared in any collection, and a number of original hymns on Baptism 
 and subjects ia which hymnology appeared especially barren — such as Home Missions — 
 have been obtained from very distinguished pens. Especial acknowledgments for orig- 
 inal hymns are due, among others, to William C. Bbyant. Esq., G. W. Bktitcne, D.D., 
 S. F. Smith, D.D., S. D. Phelps, D.D., Chaeles Thubheb, and Rev. Sydney Dyeb. 
 This edition contains about 150 hymns and 50 tunes more than the original number of 
 the " Plymouth Collection," making in all about 1,600 hymns and 400 tunes, which, it is 
 believed will form the most complete collection of the kind ever offered to the public. 
 
 The Musical arrangement for the new matter of the present edition has been under the 
 control of Peofessoe Robeet R. Raymond. 
 
 Among the peculiarities of this book, the following may in brief be specially noted : 
 
 1. Its primary object is to promote the interests of Congregational Singing. 
 
 2. Every hymn is set to appropriate music. For the most part, the tune is on the same 
 page with the hymn. 
 
 3. It abounds in old familiar tunes, and plain and easy melodies, such as congregations 
 generally not only can, but love to sing. 
 
 4. This book, containing about 1,600 hymns and 400 tunes, presents a wider range 
 for adaptation and taste than any other book ever presented to the public. 
 
 5. It is especially rich in warm, soul-stirring revival melodies. 
 
 6. It is adapted equally to the conference meeting, the family circle, and the great 
 congregation ; so that one book will not only suffice for all these places, but in the use of 
 one book all these separate exercises are made to contribute to the improvement of the 
 music of each, and especially to that of the more public services of the sanctuary. 
 
 7. The book may be used by churches in the public service, either with or without a 
 choir as they may prefer. 
 
 8. The indexes of this book are so full and complete that it is hoped they will mate- 
 rially lessen the inconvenience so generally felt by ministers in the selection of suitable 
 hymns. 
 
 PRICES OF THE BAPTIST HYMN AND TUNE-BOOK, 
 In Plain Binding, $1 50. Extra Gilt, $2 50. Super Extra, $3 50. 
 
 Churches wishing them for introduction will be supplied at a liberal discount. 
 SHELDON, BLAKEMAN & CO., 
 
 Publishers, 115 Nassau Street, N. Y. 
 
Books Published by JS/ieldon, Blakeman <& Co. 
 
 LIFE-PICTURES FROM A PASTOR'S NOTE-BOOK. 
 
 By Robert Turnbull, D.D. 
 
 1 vol., 12mo. Price $1. * 
 
 •* The author's intention has been to develop in a natural, vivid way, by means of nar- 
 ratives, portraitures of characters, conversations, letters, etc., the Divine or inner life. 
 The characters are real, such as the author has met in his extended observation and ex- 
 perience, among all classes of persons. Some of them of" great intelligence and worth, 
 and others of an inquisitive, skeptical turn, including studeuts, lawyers, merchants, liter- 
 ary characters, mechanics, and others. Some of the ' Life Pictures' are of young men 
 reclaimed from skepticism. These will be found to possess a thrilling interest. Some of 
 the sketches are of characters remarkable for their gifts and graces. Those of William 
 Bentley (.the baker's boy), and Harvey Miller, one of the noblest men that ever lived, will 
 be hailed witli pleasure by all who ever knew them. As it touches upon Harvard Uni- 
 versity, Theodore Parker, Cambridge and Boston life, it will be read, no doubt, with great 
 interest." 
 
 " With a skillful and elegant pen, with a rich and entertaining fund of social and pas- 
 toral reminiscence, Dr. Turnbull teaches truth in the garb of interesting narrative, mak- 
 ing a most useful book of these sketches. The book is one to be sought for and circu- 
 lated." — Lutheran Observer. 
 
 " There is probably not a reading, thinking young man in town who has not found him- 
 self overwhelmed at times as, alone, he met face to face the great questions continually 
 coming toward him from the cloudy future. It is all well enough to tell men that they 
 must have faith, that this, that, and the other is so, because the church ha6 said so, or for 
 the very much better reason tliat the Bible says so. Whether a man will or not, he can 
 not subdue the everlasting Why that starts up at every demand upon faith or reason." — 
 Hartford Evening Press. 
 
 " The style of the several sketches is very simple and spirited, and the lessons they 
 were designed to teach are such as any man would be wiser for having learned." — A'eto 
 York Examiner. 
 
 CHILDHOOD : 
 
 ITS PROMISE AND TRAINING. 
 By W. W. Evakts, D.D. 
 1 volume, 12mo. Price 75 cents. 
 From Louisville Journal. 
 «'As presenting more fully and justly the claims and promise of childhood, and in depth 
 and range of thought, this work is far beyond any we have yet seen upon the same sub- 
 ject To those who are acquainted with his characteristics as a writer, the name of the 
 author will be a sufficient guaranty for its literary merit The style of the c mpositioa 
 is ori-inal and impressive; bold and vigorous rather than elaborate and finished; the dic- 
 tion elegant, and the illustrations truthful and appropriate. It is adapted to interest and 
 benefit the most philosophical philanthropist and the most humble parent" 
 From Oenesee Evangelist. 
 "A valuable book, and very suggestive. Admirably calculated to impress the import- 
 ance of early religious training. No Christian mother can read it without profit 
 From Louisville Courier. 
 " It is more clear and comprehensive in its plan, and more original and striking in its 
 Illustration than any volume we have seen on this subject It is designed and adapted to 
 be a manual of early education. It .mbraces in order the whole range of physical, intel- 
 lectual, moral and religious training." 
 
 THE SANCTUARY*: 
 
 ITS CLAIMS AND POWER. 
 
 By W. W. Evabto, D.D. 
 
 1 volume 18mo. Price 63 eenU. 
 
THIS BOOK IS DUE ON THE LAST DATE 
 STAMPED BELOW 
 
 AN INITIAL FINE OF 25 CENTS 
 
 WILL BE ASSESSED FOR FAILURE TO RETURN 
 THIS BOOK ON THE DATE DUE. THE PENALTY 
 WILL INCREASE TO 50 CENTS ON THE FOURTH 
 DAY AND TO $1.00 ON THE SEVENTH DAY 
 OVERDUE. 
 
 
 
 AUG 5 %m 
 
 
 
 9M ?I *4MA 
 
 
 
 
 } TB2$t9r*r,} 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
 1,1) 12 1 lOOm-T.'.'.'.M 102 8 ) 
 
YB 33826 
 
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 
m