Judging the Nation: Early Nineteenth-Century British Evangelicals and Divine Retribution

Abstract

Long had the ‘still small voice’ been spoke in vain,But God now thunders in an awful strain!Commercial woes brought down our nation’s pride,Our harvest fail’d, and yet we God defy’d:But now the ‘voice’ cries loud to all the Land,The ‘Rod’ is felt, Oh! may we see the Hand.’Tis God who speaks – ’Tis He who ’points the blow,’Tis God who’s laid the pride of Britain low!In these lines, written in November 1817, a lady member of a Newcastle-upon-Tyne Nonconformist congregation unambiguously attributed the death of Princess Charlotte to specific divine intervention. This conviction reflected that of her minister, James Pringle, in a recent sermon preached on an Old Testament text widely expounded at that time, the chastening rod (or voice) of God in Micah 6: 9. Such a perception of adverse national events as divine retribution for sin, comparable to prophetic interpretations of the history of Old Testament Israel, was a noticeable strand in early nineteenth-century British evangelical discourse.

From Divine Judgement to Colonial Courts: Missionary ‘Justice’ in British India, c. 1840–1914

“…One preacher in Newcastle, claimed that the recent local 'pestilence' was 'a "scourge particularly in the hands of the Almighty, to punish ungodly, unthankful, and wicked nations", citing Biblical examples such as the last plague of Egypt' . 47 As the historian of religion, Peter Wolffe, has explored, 'the sense of collective responsibility for the perceived sins of the nation' engendered by such discourses could be so strong as to infiltrate into national consciousness, forming part of the fabric that bound the nation together stimulating a 'sense of participation in the nation as 'imagined community' . 48 But in the colonial sphere, 'judgement' could also consolidate separate identities and operate as a discourse of othering.…”

Plague and Humiliation: The Ecclesiastical Response to Cattle Plague in Mid-Victorian Britain

“…20 Instructions for the observance of a fast in 1849, however, included: seclusion, self-examination, confession of sin, resolution of amendment and intercession for others. 21 Prayers might have been read from the Book of Common Prayer. Praise could well have included psalms, but by the mid-1860s hymn singing was well established in English churches, with musical accompaniment provided either by gallery musicians, or a harmonium or organ installed during the previous three decades.…”

‘Tremble, Britannia!’: Fear, Providence and the Abolition of the Slave Trade, 1758–1807

“…23 Moreover, numerous studies have found the idea of national punishments thriving deep into the nineteenth century. 24 The most systematic analysis of eighteenth-century providentialism is provided by Nicholas Guyatt. He maintains that 'Even the "enlightened" intellectual elites of Britain's principal cities -London and Edinburgh -were willing to apply providential logic to contemporary history and politics'.…”