HUMILIATION.

To the Right Hon. and Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of London.

My LORD BISHOP,-Your letter to the clergy of your diocese, and the Form of Prayer with which it was accompanied, entitle you to the heartfelt thanks of serious-minded Christians, whether lay or clerical.

Permit me, as a layman, thus to express my thanks for the course which you have so promptly taken, and my hope that, through your instrumentality, aided by others, something more than a diocesan form of prayer may be used, and some course adopted more adequate to the emergency of the crisis, and the magnitude of the interests involved in the fearful struggle which has commenced in a portion of our Indian possessions.

Never, perhaps, since the world began has there been an empire such as our own. Never, during our connexion with India, of now more than a century's duration, have such

VOL. XIX. Sept., 1857.

those which, though, it may be, but half told, have sent a thrill of horror through every heart.

We may busy ourselves in tracing the causes of these disasters, in order to apply a remedy-and rightly so; but, while using all proper human agency, we must look higher than man, if we would be safely and honourably extricated from them. Possibly, had this principle been more borne in mind, and more acted on, we should not have suffered the disasters we so much deplore.

L

Elated with prosperity unexampled, and too confidently relying upon an arm of flesh, we have been lulled into a false security; and, owing to some strange infatuation, have omitted to take those ordinary precautions which were essential to secure a continuance of the advantages we had acquired.

Yet, while we endeavour to retrieve the errors and blunders of the past, let us not overlook the Controller of all

causes.

Wisdom, and power, New Series, No. 69.

and strength, and success, are blessings which the Almighty may give or withhold at his own good pleasure and sovereign will; for none can stay his hand, or say, "What doest thou?" He can turn into folly the boasted wisdom of the wise; and turn the folly of the foolish into wisdom; and even make the wrath of man to praise Him. The strong become weak when his blessing is withheld, and the weak become strong when He wills that it should be so. Nations are responsible to Him no less than men; and if, in his mysterious providence, the purposes for which He has conferred empire and dominion are lost sight of, forgotten, or ignored, what can be expected but a chastisement to admonish of the sin, or the withdrawal, in punishment, of the powers which have been so conferred and abused?

It is not my intention here to dilate upon India generally, and our Indian policy. Yet this remark seems called for, that our rule there has oftentimes been oppressive, grinding, and, in some instances, severely cruel. Nor have we sought, as we should, to elevate the moral and social condition of the native population, and to bring them under the mild and saving influences of the Gospel of peace and salvation.

Have we, then, it may be asked-have we been sent to India as a scourge; and is our mission as such accomplished? Or have we not rather been sent as a blessing, with a

great and a blessed work yet in store for us? We trust the latter may prove to be the case. But who shall answer these questions? Whence shall the information requisite for that purpose be drawn?

We

They suggest matter for grave and prayerful consideration; and, as Christians, we are compelled to acknowledge the hand of God, and the teaching of his Word. dare not ignore the Bible; yet are there those who, while they would blush at the charge of doing so, would no less blush at being supposed practically to recognise the overruling providence of the Almighty in the affairs of men and of nations, with the consequent obligation of praising Him for his mercies, humbling ourselves for our trangressions, praying for his pardon and continued blessing. But even as regards temporal matters, one of the great lessons taught to us by holy Scripture is, that He who made the world still governs it, and that the immensely great, and the minutely small, are alike the creatures of his power, and subject to his rule and government.

With what grandeur and magnificence are we reminded of the Omnipotence, Omniscience and Omnipresence of the Almighty! How are the powerlessness and nothingness of men and nations set forth when opposed to Him! How is it enforced upon us, in order to abate the pride and arrogance of man, that "the nations are as a drop of a bucket, and are

counted as the small dust of the balance"! and that "He taketh up the isles as a very little thing," and that "all nations before Him are as nothing, and are counted to Him less than nothing, and vanity." (Isaiah xl. 15, 17.) Human power is held by a slender thread. The breath of Divine displeasure blows upon it, and it is broken. What is the tenure by which we hold our empire but to glorify the Giver of it and to work out his purposes! If we fail to do this, what can we expect but that the empire will be taken from us and given to some other? Forgetfulness of Him by whom kings reign and princes decree justice exposes us to Divine punishment; while submission and repentance may turn aside the judgment deserved. Thus even the cities of the plain would have been spared if only a few righteous had been found therein. Thus Nineveh was spared the threatened judgment because the monarch and the people humbled themselves before God; and on the same principle, even the humiliation of Ahab postponed to a future day the evils which were other wise to have been immediately inflicted. Nor is there any instance to be found of a nation fearing God and working righteousness being rejected by Him. How sublime and touching is the monition and reproof given to a king of one of the greatest monarchies of the East:-"The God in whose hands thy breath is, and whose are all thy ways, hast thou not

glorified" (Dan. v. 24); and the exhortation to repentance given to another, "Break off thy sins by righteousness and thy iniquities by showing mercy; if it may be the lengthening of thy tranquillity." (Dan. iv. 27.)

Now, the position in which a nation stands may be considered either with reference to the acts, tone, or feeling of the large portion of those who constitute the nation, or with reference to the acts of the ruling powers of the nation-indicating what a nation is in its corporate capacity as a nation, and, as such, responsible for the use or abuse of its influence, and subject, as such, to temporal rewards or punishments.

Is it not remarkable, is it not to be deplored, may it not be a cause for withholding blessings or for sending down judgments, that, as a nation, we have too much sided with idolatry? - that Pagan and Papal superstitions have been too much sanctioned by us, whilst we have been timid in the cause of our Lord and Saviour Jesus Christ, who is the Prince of the kings of the earth, the blessed and only Potentate, the King of kings and Lord of lords? It may, perhaps, be urged that more good has been attempted and done by us than by any other nation; but it is to be observed that most of what has so been done has resulted rather from individual than from national efforts.

The various national, social, and individual sins by which

we are disgraced I may not stop here to notice.

They are great and many, and have been often repeated against warning, against threatening, and against mercy.

The Almighty, who putteth down one and setteth up another, seemed in his sovereign will and gracious providence to have raised up and to have blessed this nation that it might uphold at home and extend abroad the saving truths contained in Holy Scripture.

If so, and we prove faithless to that mission, on what ground are we to expect to enjoy the continued favour of the Most High? And, alas, how unfaithful have we been!

Thus is Popery, from which we were most mercifully delivered more than three centuries ago, now connived at and approved; not only so, but fostered, promoted, and endowed from the funds of this professedly Protestant nation, seeking to contaminate by its impurities the purity of our faith, and to sap the foundation of our nation's glory; while the Episcopal trumpet, which should have sounded the note of preparation and alarm, has too often been unblown, or, if sounded, has given forth so indistinct and uncertain a note, that few have prepared themselves for the battle.

And there, too, is the opium question! Oh! if that has been the crying sin-as certainly it has been one of our great and crying sins-and if, in connexion with Eastern affairs, and for the mere pur

pose of revenue, or commerce, that frightful traffic has been encouraged, how mistaken has been the policy, how fearful is the retribution!

The afflictive dispensation. under which we are now suffering in India is terrible indeed. Yet, as if commingling judgment with mercy, as if to indicate that the deplorable calamities have been sent or permitted for our amendment, not for our destruction, we have a bright line of prosperity gleaming through the cloud and storm of adverse circumstances, and the successes of our navy in China are chronicled side by side with "the Indian mutinies," and the disastrous consequences which have resulted from them.

Humiliation and repentance, whether as regards individuals, cities, or nations, plead powerfully, and oftentimes successfully, with the Father of Mercies, and many encouraging instances have been recorded for our profit.

Without vainly pretending to unfold the course of future events, this may with certainty be said, that if from the past any just inference may be drawn as regards the present or the future, there is room alike for

*The "Times," of Saturday, August 1, has seven columns giving Indian Mutinies," dating from Bomaccounts of the disasters of "The bay, June 28th, and eight columns giving an account of the brilliant achievement of our navy in China, by which the naval force of the Chinese has been destroyed; the latter communication dating from Hong-Kong, June 5th.