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The Seventh General Meeting. 



something of a moral and a patriotic character. "When we were 

 called upon as we were at the present moment occasionally to make 

 sacrifices for tho sake of our country, for the sake of our homes 

 and of our parishes, surely it was something to know that similar 

 sacrifices had been required of those who had gone before — that 

 similar stirring scenes had taken place — that there had been similar 

 apprehensions of an invasion — and similar gatherings together of 

 the people to defend their hearths and their homes. No man could 

 walk over the plains of Marathon and Thermopylae — no man could 

 tread the plains of Morgarten or Sempach, among the Swiss valleys 

 — no man could cross the fields of Cressy and Poictiers, without 

 having his soul stirred up to do and endure far more than he had 

 previously been inclined to do. His blood boiled as much as if he 

 had taken part in the strifes of those days. And so it was now. 

 He contended that the Society was contributing a great deal 

 towards keeping alive that v^hich would be to ourselves and to those 

 who came after, not only a record of the past, but an encouragement 

 to do and act a part worthy of the name we bore. In this grand 

 Volunteer movement which was now going on, there was an 

 emulation. No doubt love of country was the principle which 

 was at the bottom ; but that which stirred us up and encouraged 

 us to do our best was emulation between man and man. But there 

 was also an emulation between generation and generation, and that 

 was the business which had called them together on this occasion. 

 They wanted to fill their minds with a knowledge, not merely of 

 the general outline, but of the details of the suffering and work 

 which took place in this country years and years ago, and having 

 done so, he was sure that there was no man who would not be 

 rather encouraged to do anything which might be required of him 

 for the sake of his country. The traces of the Normans, the 

 Saxons, and others long gone by, shewed us that our ancestors had 

 to encounter foes, to endure numerous privations, and to make 

 sacrifices for that one cause — the love of country ; and therefore 

 he did claim for the Society that besides its being in the highest 

 degree a society of men desirous of cultivating a superior order of 

 intellectual research, their work was not altogether thrown away 



