Impressions of England; or, Sketches of English Scenery and SocietyCoxe, A. Cleveland (Arthur Cleveland)
History
Impressions of England; or, Sketches of English Scenery and Society
Coxe, A. Cleveland (Arthur Cleveland)
England -- Description and travel
The solemn octave of the Jubilee included Sunday the 22d of June, on
which day special sermons were preached in many pulpits, in London, and
collections made in behalf of the Society. I received an appointment to
preach at Bow Church, and accordingly did so, taking as a text Genesis
ix. 27, and endeavouring to show that the existence of our own Church,
in the Western World, is a fulfilment of the prophecy, “God shall
enlarge Japhet, and he shall dwell in the tents of Shem.” But a greater
privilege awaited me in the evening of the same day, when it was my
happy lot to perform a similar duty, in the Temple Church, standing in
Hooker’s pulpit, and preaching to a congregation of the highest
intelligence and character, upon the spread of the Church in America. It
was a fine afternoon, and that glorious Church was filled with such an
assembly as I had never before seen gathered together on an occasion of
ordinary worship. Besides the Bishops of Winchester and Edinburgh, who
happened to be present, with the Master of the Temple, and other clergy,
the benchers were numerously represented, and the finest legal talent of
the empire was undoubtedly there collected. To judge by the large
attendance of ladies, (some of them of the highest rank,) the Templars
were also accompanied by their families: to whom, I suppose, the music
furnishes a powerful attraction, as it is justly celebrated; and the
organ, though selected two hundred years ago, by the critical ear of the
bloody Judge Jeffreys, is of a tone proverbially sweet. The attendance
of strangers, drawn together by the same attraction, was also very
large, the round church as well as the choir, being apparently filled. I
was much moved by the anthem—“Tell it out among the heathen that the
Lord is King”—and when it was time for me to ascend the pulpit, and to
preach to such an Areopagus, it may be imagined that it was not without
feelings of emotion, such as I had never before experienced in the
performance of my official duties. That old historic spot, where Hooker
had struggled to preserve the falling Church of a single kingdom, was
now occupied by my pilgrim feet; and coming from a new world, I was to
attest, before such an assembly, and in the presence of God, the
blessings which that noble struggle had secured, not to England only,
but through her to the wilds of America, and to the unborn generations
of a new and mighty people in another hemisphere. The text was the
prophecy of David, (Psalm xlv. 17,) “Instead of thy fathers thou shalt
have children, whom thou mayest make princes in all lands:” and it was
my effort, (as I trust I may say, without too free a personal
confession) to improve so interesting an opportunity, in commending my
country to the respect of those who heard me, while confessing the just
claims upon her gratitude, of the Mother land, from which she is proud
to derive the blessings of the Gospel, and the institutions of
enlightened freedom, guarded by the supremacy of law.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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