Transcribed from the 1862 William Skeffington edition by DavidPrice.
A PLAIN SERMON
ON
THE LANCASHIRE DISTRESS.
BYTHE
REV. JAMES GALLOWAY COWAN,
MINISTER OFARCHBISHOP TENISON’S CHAPEL, REGENT STREET.
LONDON:
WILLIAM SKEFFINGTON, 163,PICCADILLY.
1862.
Just published,cloth, 5s., by post, 5s.4d.
Plain Sermons. ThirdSeries. Containing a Course for Advent, for Lent; alsoEpiphany, Easter, and Miscellaneous Sermons.
Also, just out, price 1d., FOR DISTRIBUTION, or 6s.per 100, A Few Words to all on thePresent Distress of our Brethren in Lancashire. II.Cor., viii, 14.
Galatians, vi., 2.
“Bear ye one another’sburdens, and so fulfil the law of Christ.”
There are certain burdens which every man must bear forhimself, which none can bear for him. Such are the burdensbrought upon him by sin—fear, remorse, punishment. Such again are the burdens of responsibility which belong to hisgifts and opportunities from God. Of these it is not the Divinewill that he should be relieved by others. Rightly is hemade to eat the fruit of his own wilful doings; rightly is heaccountable to God for all that hasbeen lent to him, for all that he has been commanded to do. It is true indeed that the co-operation or opposition of othermen may, in some measure, affect the bearing of these p. 4burdens; butstill mainly, if not entirely, is it a question betweenhim and his God—withwhich a stranger intermeddleth not—what he shall suffer,what reckoning shall be made with him: “The son shall notbear the iniquity of the father;” “Every man shallreceive his own reward according to his own work;”“Every one of us shall give an account of himself toGod.”
These burdens may be considered appropriate andpeculiar to the individual or class of individuals uponwhom they are laid: so that you may anticipate, almost withcertainty, the judgment which imposes them; may observe withoutwonder or questioning who have to bear them; may trace back theeffect to its cause, the duty to its obligation, and justify andapprove the law of their imposition.
But there are other burdens which seem to light“hap-hazard” upon their bearers, incurred by nospecial misconduct, corresponding with no particular powers andopportunities. There is no reason that can be discerned whyp. 5thesemen should have them, and those be free from them. Nay, there seems every reason why it should be otherwise: theback is weak upon which the heavy weight is laid; theun