John Bright on the Crimean War

98BULLETIN OF FRIENDS' HISTORICAL SOCIETY. turned, bringing a coffin with them which they placed on the stools, and again retired. The coffin having a breastplate of brass, I got out of bed to read the inscription, which was ' George Withy, Bristol, aged sixty years.' The recollection of this circumstance often seriously affected me, and more particularly when in America in 1822 ; for in the Seventh month of that year my sixtieth year commenced, and as I had then no expectation of leaving America for a year or two, I was very frequently beset with fear that I should die in a foreign land ; and considering how afflicting such an event would be to my endeared wife and children, I was often led to seek the protection of Him, without whose notice a sparrow falleth not to the ground. One day, as I was more earnestly seeking best help than at some other times, I heard an answer to my prayers very distinctly in this wise, ' If thou art faithful to what I require of thee in this land, I will add to thy days fifteen years.' Centering in a living sense of the Lord's faithfulness, my mind settled in calmness, having no more needless anxiety on a subject I could not solve." It is a remarkable circumstance that George Withy's life was prolonged exactly fifteen years from the time at which the relief which he thus describes was granted him. The Friend (London) , 7 mo. ist, 1861, N. S., Vol. 1, p. 169. JOHN BRIGHT ON THE CRIMEAN WAR. " Twenty-two years ago, in the year 1854, as you know, I differed from the Government of the day, and from what appeared to be the vast majority of the people, on the question of the war with Russia. I was overpowered, as you know. Numbers and ignorance and passion were combined against me; and I, of course, was outvoted, and declared to be unwise, and unpatriotic ; and I know not the list of unpleasant adjectives that were used in discussing my course and my position at that time. I do not know why I differed from other people so much, but sometimes I have thought it happened from the education I had received in the religious sect with which I am connected. We have no creed which monarchs and statesmen and high-priests have written for PENNSYLVANIA AS SEEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER. 99 us. Our creeds, so far as we comprehend it, comes pure and direct from the New Testament. We have no 37th Article which declares that it is lawful for Christian men at the commandment of the civil magistrate to wear weapons or arms, and take part and serve in the wars ; which means, of course, and was intended to mean, that it is lawful for Christian men to engage in any part of the world, in any cause, at the command of a Monarch, or Prime Minister, or a Parliament, or a Commander-in-Chief, in the slaughter of his fellowmen, whom he might never have seen before, from whom he had not received the smallest injury, and against whom he had no reason to feel the smallest touch of anger or resentment." From a speech at Manchester in 1876. Taken from The Friend (London), 11 mo. 1, 1876, New Series, Vol. XVI, 292. Note.—The paragraph referred to in the 37th Article of Religion in the English Prayer-Book, reads : " It is lawful for Christian men, at the commandment of the Magistrate, to wear weapons, and serve in the wars." The corresponding Article (37th) in the Book of Common Prayer of the Protestant Episcopal Church in the United States of America, reads: " The Power of the Civil Magistrate extendeth to all men, as well Clergy as Laity, in all things temporal ; but hath no authority in things purely spiritual. And we hold it to be the duty of all men who are professors of the Gospel, to pay respectful obedience to the Civil Authority, regularly and legitimately constituted."—Editor. PENNSYLVANIA AS SEEN BY AN ENGLISH TRAVELLER IN 1765. The City of Philadelphia is perhaps one of the wonders of the World, if you...