The After-glow of a Great Reign - Four Addresses Delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral
Ingram A. F. Winnington
English
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THE AFTERGLOW OF A GREAT REIGN
Four Addresses Delivered in St. Paul's Cathedral
by the
RIGHT REV. A. F. WINNINGTON INGRAM, D.D.
Bishop Suffragan of Stepney,
and Canon of St. Paul's Cathedral
London
Wells Gardner, Darton & Co.
3, Paternoster Buildings, E C
1901.
CONTENTS.
PAGE
I. HER TRUTHFULNESS
II. HER MORAL COURAGE
III. THE RAINBOW ROUND ABOUT THE THRONE
IV. THE LAW OF KINDNESS
The After-glow of a Great Reign.
I.
HER TRUTHFULNESS.
"Behold, Thou requirest truth in the inward parts."--_Psalm li. 6._
We stand to-day like men who have just watched a great sunset. On some
beautiful summer evening we must all of us have watched a sunset, and
we know how, first of all, we see the great orb slowly decline towards
the horizon; then comes the sense of coming loss; then it sets amid a
blaze of glory, and then it is buried, buried for ever so far as that
day is concerned, to reappear as the leader of a new dawn. In exactly
the same way have we for years been watching with loving interest the
declining years of our Queen, years that declined so slowly towards the
horizon that we almost persuaded ourselves we should have her with us
for ever. Then came, but a few weeks ago, a sudden sense of coming
loss, then her sun set in a blaze of glory, and yesterday she was
buried, buried from our sight, to reappear, as we believe, as a bright
particular star in another world. We do not grudge her her rest. Few
words can express more beautifully the thoughts of thousands than these
words just put into my hand--
"Leave her in peace, her time is fully come,
Her empire's crown
All day she bore, nor asked to lay it down,
Now God has called her home.
Let sights and sounds of earth be all forgot,
Her cares and tears
She hath endured thro' her allotted years,
Now they can touch her not.
From that fierce light which beats upon a throne
Now has she passed
Into God's stillness, cool and deep and vast,
Let Heaven for earth atone.
All gifts but one He gave, but kept the best
Till now in store;
Now He doth add to all He gave before
His perfect gift of rest." [1]
But, just as in the sunset a beautiful and tender after-glow remains
long after the sun has set, so we are gathered to-day in the tender
after-glow. And I propose that we should try and gather up one by
one--to learn ourselves and to tell our children, and the generations
yet unborn, as some explanation of the marvellous influence which she
exercised--some of the qualities of the Queen whom we have lost.
And let us first fix our minds upon something which at first sight
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