Navigating the Lower Saint Lawrence in the 19th Century.
| Her Majesty was also graciously pleased, as well as His Grace the
Duke of Wellington (on the reports of the shipwreck reaching
England), to express their approbation in very flattering terms of
the conduct of the regiment on this occasion. I cannot, perhaps, conclude this brief and imperfect narrative better than by adding a short extract from the "Soldiers Thanksgiving," a beautiful and impressive sermon preached by the Lord Bishop of Montreal upon the occasion of divine service held in the Cathedral church of Quebec, on the safe return of the right wing of the Royals to that place. "My brethren of the civil congregation of this church: It is a gratifying circumstance that the service for which we are assembled is held at the spontaneous desire of those gallant and hardy men, here among us, fresh from a scene of suffering and peril, who have not judged it derogatory to their gallantry or hardihood to be sensible of the mercy of their God. The feeling which has prompted them upon this occasion to pay their vows unto the Lord in the presence of His people is a feeling which originated purely with themselves, and appears to have animated all ranks alike. And I hope it may be regarded as one among many indications of the falsity of a notion found sometimes to prevail amongst mankind, that the profession of arms is consistence with the serious and earnest profession of Christianity, that the soldiers of an earthly sovereign are ill-fitted to be the soldiers of the Cross. Against such a notion we cannot too earnestly contend, especially on account of its dangerous effect upon the minds of military men themselves. As if expressly to guard against such an error, the new Testament (not to go back to the many instances of eminently pious warriors recorded in the Old) very prominently sets before us examples amply sufficient to contradict it. * * * * But, blessedbe God, we may appeal, in our own day, to numerous and unquestionable examples familiarly known. * * * * Nor can we fail to recognised an additional claim to our interest in the obligations which we lie under to the Queen's troops, and in a signal manner to this gallant regiment, for protection, by the Divine blessing, in dangers of our own, of no very remote occurrence, in this Province. The preservation of those who were thus our friends in need must be a matter of gratitude to us. As our friends, then, my miliary hearers, I address you, and with the voice of a friend I charge it upon you to remember to your dying day the mercy and the warning you have experienced. Oh, if there are any among you who in the imminent crises of your danger, brought to the verge of death and eternity, were untouched by the thought of your salvation, the sense of your dependence upon God, and the need which you have of pardon at His hand, or who, in the hour of your providential deliverance, lifted no vow of praise within your hearts, nor resolution of future devotedness to Him, let me conjure you to look back now upon the scene, and ask whether, if the elements, let loose by His pleasure, in their fury had swept you to destruction, you were prepared to go before Him. Prepare to meet thy God is a summons which we find recorded in His Holy Word; and it is not a summons sounded in our ears by all the changes and chances which we witness in this uncertain life, but sounded loudly, like a trumpet of alarm, in the perils which are encountered upon the raging deep! And having just escape from such a scene, will you not learn from it the lesson of the fear of God? The common contemplation of the power of God, in the control of the wilder elements of nature, serves to read you this lesson. Fear ye not me? saith the Lord. Will ye not tremble at my presence, which hath placed the sand for the bound of the sea? By that power, bringing you into danger to make you sensible of mercy, you are now alive and safe, and under the shelter, at this moment, of the sanctuary itself, paying your vows in the presence of God's people. You have seen the works of the Lord, and his wonders in the deep; you have seen at his word the stormy wind arise which lifteth up the waves thereof; you have experienced the terrors of tempest, and of shipwreck, in a bleak season, and upon an almost desolate shore, and you have been brought to a haven where you would there surely have said that you would thankfully be. Mark, then, the words of Psalmist which follow: O that men would therefore praise the Lord for his goodness, and declare the wonders that he doeth for the children of men!" I may here be pardoned for subtracting the following complimentary note from the worthy bishop's sermon, which was published, with his permission, by the officers of the regiment. "Nothing could exceed the pleasing and touching effect given to the beautiful services of the church, upon the occasion on which this sermon was preached, by the chanting and singing of a large choir of men and boys, formed within the battalion by one of the officers (Lieutenant Witmore), who has most assiduously and perseveringly devoted himself to this object. The greatest fondness for these performances pervades them all, and it can hardly be doubted that it is a practice which has had a happy influence, generally, upon the tone of character among the men, the exemplary steadiness of whose conduct, in the whole of the trying scenes through which they recently passed, as well as upon other occasions, has attracted much notice and admiration." "Since the foregoing note was written, arrangements have been made for employing the voluntary services of this excellent regimental choir, under the direction of the same indefatigable officer, and in concert with the organist, as the morning service of the civil congregation in the cathedral, during the stay of the regiment in Quebec. |
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| "In confirmation of what is said above respecting the presumed effect of this cultivation of vocal music upon the men (although it is not meant to say that there have been other circumstances of advantage which may help to account for their correct deportment), it may be mentioned, with reference to those amongst them who actually formed the choir, that in the hour of their most imminent peril there were several who evinced, in the most gratifying manner, their composed reliance upon the only hope of sinful man. These individuals, unprompted by each other, yet with a consentaneous feeling, called to mind, and repeated to the officer already mentioned, the commencing lines of a hymn expressing, in a manner directly appropriate to their awful situation, their trust in the protection of Christ: | ||
| "Why those fears? - behold, 'tis Jesus Holds the helm and guides the ship." THE END |
| G. R. Bossé©2001-03 | Page 28 | Chapter 1843 |
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