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such near our own doors; and thanks be to God your Christian charity found and fed many such during the last winter. Yes, you sought out, and you relieved many of your poorer bre

to them a brother's hand, and showed to them a brother's love. Your minister will not, cannot forget those works of faith and labours of love, and (not in his own name, but in his Great Master's name) he blesses you for it. Nor he alone, for the blessing of many who were ready to perish came upɔn you, and shall be upon you.

nitor, down to the present hour, with all their skill, and all their eloquence, and all their piety, to do justice to my text. Yea, could I be allowedpoor, wretched, sinful man as I am― to address myself to angels, and hum-thren in their distress; and held out bly to present to them my suit and service, that they would take this glorious text-that they would let us hear from heavenly voices, and in heavenly language, those things that are felt in another world, connected with this subject, sure am I, that not one among them all, not only the sons of the earth, no, but of the sons of heaven, could do justice to such a theme as this. Here, then, is the glory of GOD, and the love of God in its manifestation. It was shown in what it suffered-it was shown by what it gave up-it was shown by what it endured-it was something more than words-as if to teach us all, that when we talk of the love of GoD we should be overwhelmed, and overpowered, and cast into the dust, and made to acknowledge, and made to feel, that GOD only knows the love of GoD. He only understands, or can understand it, in its length, and breadth, and depth, and height; and it is mystery, an unfathomable mystery into which the angels themselves desire to look.

But having noticed the love of GOD and its manifestation, I come, in the Second place to consider

THE SUFFERINGS OF OUR BROTHER -AND HOW THEY ARE TO BE MET.

You will notice that the Apostle goes directly and joins these two things together, "Hereby perceive we the love of GOD, because he laid down his life for us: and we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. But whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him." In a world like ours we need not go far to find a suffering brother. We may find

And yet there are some extraordinary occasions when extraordinary exertions are called for. Of such a description is the present distress in Ireland. I know not what would have become of our Christian character, if we had refused to have a sermon for our poor starving brethren, in the sister country. Yet was it some little time before this thing could be fully determined upon. We heard of other Christians exerting themselves, and at length we listened to the call which many of you made upon us, some in one way and some in another, to collect your Christian alms to our poor starving Irish brethren. It is proper, however, that you should be informed that the only cause of our delay was our having fixed for sermons for another work of charity. We were intending about this time to have made our annual appeal on behalf of the National Schools in this parish. Those National Schools, and our appeal for them, we now set aside, though but for a short time. British mercy and Christian feeling demand that we should. With this demand we have complied, and we come this day to bring before you our suffering brethren in Ireland, and the claims which they have upon our Christian sympathy. Could I this morning bring into this church some

wretched Iris amily, in their desti- | litic, have a mutual and tender care the tution, and in their misery, scarcely one for the other, that the body receive covered with clothes, and manifestly damage in nothing. Does any limb of in a state of starvation, some (though this great empire suffer? Let all the I hope but a few) might possibly be body feel the pain, and share the sufready to exclaim, "do you call us to fering; or if possible, relieve, and at acknowledge, as a brother, that poor length, by GoD's blessing, remove it. wretched creature in his rags and de- And this brings me directly to that gradation?" Yes, verily, I do so call appeal which I have this day to make upon you. I demand that you do so on behalf of poor suffering Ireland. consider and regard him. The same You are, perhaps, ready to require of GOD who made him made you. The the preacher, that he should give same atoning blood which redeemed you a short statement of the matter, you redeemed him; and if ever either together with some of the facts of the you or he attain to glory everlasting, case, that you may know how to act, it will be owing to the pity and grace and what to do on this occasion? of that God who is no respecter of Your request shall no sooner be known persons; whese tender mercies are than complied with. Hear then-the over all his works, and who hath facts are few and simple. They are made of one blood all the nations of these:-" The accounts which are men which dwell in all the world. daily arriving from the sister island present a picture of aggravated suffering which loudly calls upon us to stand forward in behalf of the starving population. The almost total failure of the potato crops, through the incessant rains, and a succession of violent gales of wind; the partial loss of the oats as well as of the hay, and these calamities aggravated by the destruction of the turf, and the consequent scarcity of fuel, have united in producing a degree of misery which it is appalling to contemplate." Mark My dear brethren, if Christianity uni- the extent of this evil and sufferversally prevailed throughout this great | ing. "The distress extends more or kingdom, you would see men united less along the whole of the northfar more closely to one another in holy west of Ireland, from Galway Bay to compacts, in bonds of Christian bro- Loch Swilly, including the counties of therhood, such as nothing on earth Galway, Mayo, Sligo, and Donegal, could break. It is the glory of the comprising a line of two hundred and Gospel, at least one point of its glory, forty miles of coast, and in many parts that it makes every member of Christ's penetrating into the interior. The pochurch to feel an interest in the other pulation of these counties may be estiif one member suffer all the members mated at six hundred thousand souls; suffer with it—and if one member be and in Mayo alone it appears, by very honoured, all the members rejoice recent returns made on oath to the Cenwith it. Now we are members one of tral Committee of that county, by intelanother, and as such let each part of ligent and respectable persons, that the the body spiritual, or of the body po- greatest distress prevails in forty-two

But I think there are not a few among you who, were you to behold such a wretched family, would be ready instantly to recognize its connexion with yourselves, not merely by the ties of nature, as made by the same GOD, and by those of grace as redeemed by the same Saviour, but as living under the same laws, as subjects of the same crown; and though in a distant part of the empire, yet united to you by bonds which ought never to be broken.

parishes, and that no less than one hundred and forty-eight thousand and fortyone persons are now suffering under the agonies of hunger. The total number in a state of actual want and starvation must therefore, at the most moderate computation, be three hundred thousand; and when it is remembered that the new crops will not begin to come into use for nearly two months, it is obvious that there is a loud call for the most prompt and energetic exertions." Here, then, you have the origin of this distress-you have further, the places where it is felt-the line of country or coast along which it extends--and you have further, the returns made on oath to the Central Committee, of the number of persons in one county alone in a state of destitution and starvation. Let me bring forward further testimony on this point. The Inspector General of the Coast Guard for Ireland is the next authority I would quote. He observes, in a communication recently made, that " at this moment there are hundreds of human beings nearly dying from starvation; many are living on sea-weed, and such shell-fish as they can procure; and should warm weather set in, I have little doubt but that fever will follow, and carry off thousands. The snow remained an unusually long time on the ground, the fodder was soon exhausted, and the cattle are now dying by hundreds; one person I know lost the week before last twenty-five head of black cattle."

Another person, a minister of our holy religion, writes thus-and awful indeed is that scene of wretchedness (the wretchedness be it remembered of our brethren) which he depicts :-" I am placed in a situation of extreme pain; from an early hour in the morning until late at night, my time is wholly occupied in this cause. When Iget up in the morning, I have some

hundreds round my house seeking relief. I cannot describe adequately the depth of misery and utter destitution that almost covers the whole face of Conemara: two-thirds of the population are in actual want-several protracting existence on the shell-fish and sea-weed they pick up on the strand ; I know not where to turn, that the most agonizing distress does not stare me in the face,—some old men, who have once been in decent circumstances, are crying with hunger, as I sit down to write this letter. The people are quite patient, to a degree beyond all praise; here, in the midst of starving people, my outward doors are not locked or barred at night. I cannot but admire the resignation with which they bear their sufferings, though, I must admit, my own patience is often put to a severe trial."

But let me for a moment alleviate your sorrow by stating, that in one case a communication was addressed to the committee, which stated as follows: "Hundreds, by your bounty, have already been saved from death!" Do any ask, then, this day, where is the collection going? We reply, going to save from death our poor starving brother. And, verily, my beloved flock, it is worth all that you will give this day, to feel a good hope, that not a few, by your bounty, also shall be saved from death. And yet it must be mentioned, that though much already has been done, yet unless British Christians exert themselves upon an increased scale, and that without delay, the difficulty and danger cannot be met; for it is expressly stated, "Let it be remembered, we have two months of the worst time to come." This letter, indeed, is dated June 9th, and let us hope that only one month of this worst time still remains. It may serve further to encourage you, and ought, that, as special mercy from God, in those parts where

the greatest distress abounds, the crops seem particularly fine, and likely to be singularly productive. And does not this circumstance seem to speak and to say, silently but pointedly, "Ah, cruel man! whether you care for your starving brother or not, I care from heaven, my dwelling-place; whether you think of him or not, I behold him in his sufferings, and will send him, after a while, corn to eat, and to be thankful, and to bless the name of the Lord. Your suffering brother shall not cry to heaven in vain."

It is, however, incumbent upon me to point out to you the care with which your alms will be administered, and to show that nothing will be lost, but that every thing will be made to go as far as it can. In a letter from the Rev. Sir Francis Lynch Blosse, secretary to the Mayo Relief Committee, he says, "If we can get only twopence ahead daily for our wretched people, none shall perish from famine."

CHRISTIANS, WHAT DOES ALL THIS SAY TO YOU? It speaks for itself. Our brother has need. But what if we shut up our bowels of compassion from him? or refuse to help him? or treat it as only a fiction? and turn away our eyes from seeing our brother's misery in this the day of his calamity. Why, then, the text declares we have not the love of GoD in us. It does not say, we have not common humanity; we may have that, but yet not have the love of God in us; even that love which led to exertion, and to enterprize, and to sacrifice.

But I press not the matter further. Oh, well is it declared in the text, that we ought to lay down our lives for the brethren. I never found you needed pressing; if I had, I should always have stood before you an unwilling advocate on charitable occasions, and should have delegated that task entirely and exclusively to others. Your Christian liberality has

often cheered the heart of your minister in moments of despondency; nor will I conceal from you, that this is a most anxious day to him who now addresses you, for he has this day to see whether your Christian principles are producing their legitimate effect-in other words, how far your faith worketh by love.

I have but one thing more to state, and that by way of conclusion, and then after mentioning one single fact, I shall leave you to do as the Lord may put it in your hearts to do. I have indeed ventured to express my confident hope concerning you, that through God's mercy, you will this morning reach one hundred pounds at least. I may have been mistaken-I may have miscalculated either your means or your inclination, or both: though I am not ashamed to say, I believe I have not miscalculated neither, and, in truth, have the fullest confidence in you all. I trust you will show this day that you have not forgotten the words of that text on which I have grounded my appeal on this occasion.

The fact I promised to mention is, if well authenticated, as I believe it to be, one of the most distressing things, I will not say that I ever read of in modern times, but that I ever remember to have heard of in times either ancient or modern. In a poor Irish family during this misery, the father awoke in the morning, and what did he see in his wretched cabin? His wife dead beside him, and his little child at her breast sucking, instead of a mother's milk, a mother's blood, but unconscious that its mother was dead, and wondering that it could not obtain its usual supply from the breast, yet glad to obtain anything. Oh, for a father to see a wife and a mother's breast bleeding, and his child sucking its mother's blood!! It is enough to melt a heart of stone, and I am de

ceived in you if you can send away | joy and with a lively air, and with a

poor wretched Ireland, when poor Ireland appeals this day to your Christian mercy. "Whoso hath this world's good, and seeth his brother have need, and shutteth up his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of GOD in him? My little children, my beloved people, let us not live in word and in tongue, but in deed and in truth." We began this service* with

It being the King's accession, the people were played into Church with the National anthem. The organist, however, shewed

prayer for our gracious Sovereign, (whom God preserve to us!) but methinks we may now retire from this place, rather with feelings of sorrow and mourning, when misery and death seem thus painfully presented to our notice.

his good taste in playing them out with a solemn and mournful air, which seemed completely in unison with the feelings excited by the distressing anecdote with which the sermon concluded. The collection exceeded one hundred and twenty-two pounds.

A Sermon

DELIVERED BY THE REV. W. DALTON,

M.A.

AT ST. JOHN'S CHAPEL, BEDFORD ROW, IN AID OF THE MORAVIAN MISSIONS, JUNE 10, 1831.

Acts, x. 34-44.--" Then Peter opened his mouth, and said, Of a truth I perceive that GOD is no respecter of persons: but in every nation he that feareth him, and worketh righteousness, is accepted with him. The word which GOD sent unto the children of Israel, preaching peace by Jesus Christ; he is Lord of all; that word, I say, you know, which was published throughout all Judea, and began from Galilee, after the baptism which John preached : how GOD anointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Ghost and with power; who went about doing good, and healing all that were oppressed of the devil: for GOD was with him. And we are witnesses of all things which he did, both in the land of the Jews and in Jerusalem; whom they slew and hanged on a tree. Him GOD raised up the third day, and shewed him openly; not to all the people, but unto witnesses chosen before of GOD, ecen to us, who did eat and drink with him after he rose from the dead. And he com manded us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he which was ordained of GOD to be the Judge of quick and dead. To him give all the prophets witness, that through his name whosoever believeth in him shall receive remission of sins.”

THIS is a very short but a most comprehensive sermon delivered by the special power of the Holy Ghost, and blessed to many souls, both those who heard him then, and those that have read it from generation to generation. May the Lord give us this night the same Spirit, and we shall be able to value and rejoice in this message of peace by the Lord Jesus Christ.

The sermon of Peter ought to be specially valuable to us, as Christians, as Gentiles, and as persons occupied in the missionary work ;-as Christians, because it contains a short epitome of

the Gospel, presenting in a few verses every truth important to the souls of men ;-as Gentiles, because it was the first sermon preached to the Gentiles. Cornelius was the first fruits among the Gentiles, and then, and not till then, the Apostles saw for themselves that God was no respecter of persons, but that He had his chosen people in every nation, tribe, and tongue, and that every one who feared GoD and worked righteousness by his grace must be accepted of Him. And the sermon is valuable to us, as persons engaged in the missionary work, be

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