Sidor som bilder
PDF
ePub

vantage could be taken of them all: that what had been lost to the world for above three thousand, and to the Arabs themselves for so many hundred years, should be recovered in the brief interval between the first draught, and the final resumption of a work, from its nature fitted, and, from the concurrence of time and circumstances, in readiness, to receive them all. To those who acknowledge only what they are pleased to term "a general Providence," coincidences like these may be of little or no account. The case

will be different with those, who (with the authorities to whom it has been my privilege to look up and defer) see a special Providence in all things, great and little, which may affect the interests of immortal man.

In contemplating the providential circumstances which thus have placed, what seemed altogether beyond it, within my reach, I cannot be insensible to another coincidence, which is to myself cause for humble thankfulness: the circumstance that, at a crisis when Ireland would seem all but abandoned to the wretched sway of Romish ignorance and superstition, and when her ancient Church (one of the purest portions of the Church Catholic in Christendom) has been "shorn of half her beams," . . . that, at a crisis

..

such as this, when a question was pending respecting the interpretation of monuments seemingly undecypherable as "the handwriting upon the wall," ... monuments in quest of the key to which it was thought necessary to send to Germany, and after Germany had been sent to in vain, . . . the office of interpreter should have fallen to the lot of one, who, although, at Your Grace's call, long a highly-favoured labourer in the English branch of our United Church, yet never has forgotten (however unworthy to follow in the steps of those illustrious men), that he is the countryman of Archbishops Ussher and Magee, and was "the daily companion, and own familiar friend," of Bishop Jebb.

To look back to what the Church of Christ has lost in my departed friend, serves but to quicken the sense of gratitude for what has been preserved to her in a gracious living benefactor. Last August twelvemonth how did not the hearts of all true children of the Church of England mourn at the prospect, humanly speaking, then before her! But the prayers of many hearts prevailed. Nor can any true son of the Church of England doubt that, in this merciful Providence, the promise of Scripture has been fulfilled; that "the prayer of faith hath saved the sick, and the Lord hath

raised him up," ... as we may confidingly believe, for the further guardianship and guidance of the ark of His Church, in this land, through a season of unexampled difficulties and perils, and for the fresh elucidation, in unquiet times, of another Scripture, "In quietness and confidence shall be thy strength."

Amidst the private sorrows of that trying hour, may I be permitted to own a regret, which added sharpness to the pressure on the heart which I shared with so very many, ... it was the thought that he whom I so deeply revered might be no longer amongst us in the body, to honour with his censure, or reward with his approval, the labours which he had animated by his countenance and sanction. But in the little cares of individuals, as in the great concerns of his Church, God has been good to us. And I am granted once more the privilege which I so truly prize,

[blocks in formation]
[blocks in formation]
« FöregåendeFortsätt »