Waterloo and Presbyterians in Philadelphia, Dick Whittington and Maryland: on cherishing old churches
On the Sundays of July 1815, churches across this Kingdom heard prayers and sermons giving thanks for the victory of Allied arms at Waterloo. In the words of ' The Form of Prayer and Thanksgiving to Almighty God ' at Morning and Evening Prayer on the first Sunday of July: O God the Disposer of all human events ... accept our praise and thanksgiving for the signal victory which Thou haft recently vouchsafed to the Allied Armies in Flanders. Grant O merciful God, that the result of this mighty battle, terrible in conflict, but glorious beyond example in success, may put an end to the miseries of Europe, and stanch the blood of Nations. The thanksgiving reflected the hopes of peace and stability after centuries of bloody conflict unleashed by the Revolution in France. In a sermon preached in the Grange parish church, in County Armagh, on that first Sunday in July, the curate, the Reverend Charles Coleman, gave voice to the understanding of the victory of Waterloo as a deliverance...