CHAPTER XIV. THE CHURCHES.
In my young days eloquent preachers were still much in the fashion, and attracted large congregations, but the building of churches and appointing to them preachers of eminence as a financial speculation had happily ceased. The church in Liverpool was largely recruited from Ireland, and we had certainly many able men, who were not only eloquent but whose discourses were also very lengthy. The hearing of sermons was not merely an act of devotion but a form of religious entertainment and enjoyment, and a short discourse would not have been appreciated. I remember one very eloquent divine, to whose church it was impossible to obtain admission unless you were at the door a quarter of an hour before the service commenced, being when advanced in years removed to another church. He continued to preach the same sermons with much of his old fire and vigour, but he emptied the church, for people would no longer tolerate fifty minutes every Sunday of the old fashioned controversial discourse. We had in those days many eminent divines, Dr. Lowe at St. Jude's, Dr. Taylor at St. Silas', Dr. Falloon at St. Bride's, and Mr. Ewbank at Everton, and most eloquent of all, Dr. MacNeile at St. Paul's, Prince's Park. He was a great power, both in the pulpit and the platform, and in the press. Clergy and laity, rich and poor, were stirred by his eloquent appeals. I never heard him preach, but his speeches to the boys at the Collegiate on our prize days still linger in my memory as marvels of eloquence. His presence was very dignified, and he was stately in manner. He had a profusion of snow-white hair, which added impressiveness and solemnity to his handsome appearance. He wielded a giant's strength in debate, and some thought he used his power without mercy. He died in 1879 at the age of 83.
In the 'seventies Dr. Forest, who afterwards became Dean of Worcester, Mr. Lefroy, afterwards Dean of Norwich, and the Rev. Nevison Loraine, were among our most prominent and eloquent divines; nor must I forget the Rev. John MacNaught, of St. Chrysostom's, our first broad churchman, earnest, eloquent, and courageous, but looked upon with much misgiving and some suspicion.
The Bishops of Chester were unable to devote much of their time to the Liverpool portion of their diocese. The result was that the leaders of the evangelical party became little autocrats in their way. Under these conditions church life became dormant, and the church narrow and formal, and wanting in spirituality. Her liturgy and the devotional part of her services were sacrificed, and made secondary to preaching. This was the state of things in 1880, when the see of Liverpool was founded.
Two great influences were, however, quietly operating in the church. The school of the Oxford tract writers gave prominence to the sacramental system and corporate powers of the church, which enlisted a new class of energies in her service, and the publication of Essays and Reviews, although they gave a temporary shock to church people, was productive of good, by broadening the theological outlook, and inviting that higher criticism which quickened more interest in the truths of the Bible, and deepened the reverence for the wider conception of the love of God.
Dr. Ryle, our first Bishop, was a recognised leader of the evangelical party, and a prolific writer of church tracts. He was an able preacher, a good platform speaker after the old-fashioned pattern, and had a very imposing and apostolic presence.
Dr. Ryle's work as our first Bishop was a difficult and arduous one. He tried to be fair and just to all parties in the church, but he was urged by some of his evangelical followers to take action in restraint of the high church practices which prevailed in some churches, and to give his episcopal sanction to the prosecution of the Rev. J. Bell-Cox. He consented with reluctance. The Bishop at this time frequently came to my house and I know how unhappy he was at this juncture; not that he in any way sympathised with the practices sought to be checked—they were most repugnant to him—but he appreciated the self-sacrificing work of the high church clergy, and thought that other and gentler means and methods might be adopted to bring about the desired result.
In his later years his Lordship's ecclesiastical views became broader and more liberal. In face of many difficulties he did an excellent and most successful work in building churches and schools. Beneath an apparently haughty manner he had a big and kind heart, and those who were privileged to know him best loved him most.
I am sometimes asked are church people as good and zealous as in the days gone by. I think they are more so. They are more devout, more earnest, more spiritual. They may be less emotional and do not crowd the churches to hear sermons, but they are to be found in their hundreds at the Lord's Supper. The church, which was formerly locked up all week, is now open for daily prayer. The Holy Communion, which was only administered on the first Sunday in the month, is now administered every Sunday, and frequently twice in the day. Strong language and swearing are less frequently heard, and there is in life a diffusion of light and sweetness, which can only come from the influence of holy things and the power of love which has taken a stronger possession of our thoughts and actions.
The church is broader, has a wider mission, and it stands upon a higher pinnacle in men's minds. We recognise that men are differently moulded in temperament and thought, that a national church must within limits provide the means of worship suitable to all; and that while the simple conventicle may to some present the most suitable temple of God, others are happier if their prayers are winged to His Throne amid beautiful surroundings and to the sound of choral music.
The nonconformists have always been active in Liverpool, and have had many able ministers. The most influential of these churches has always been the Unitarian. I remember Dr. Martineau only as a name, but the Rev. Charles Beard I knew and greatly esteemed. He was a power for good in Liverpool, and much of the uplifting and purifying of Liverpool in the 'seventies was due to his influence. He had powerful supporters amongst his congregation in Renshaw Street Chapel: the Holts, the Rathbones, Gairs, Mellys, Gaskells, Thornleys, etc.
It has often been said that our University had its birth in Renshaw Street Chapel. It certainly found there its warmest and most active supporters.
Hugh Stowell Brown was another bright light among the nonconformists, a robust and rugged preacher, who did not neglect his opportunities of advocating higher ideals of civic life and duty. The Rev. C. M. Birrell, of Pembroke Chapel, was stately in figure and highly cultured; he won the respect and esteem of all Christian communities. The Rev. Charles Garrett was a power in Liverpool and the country, as the great apostle of temperance.
In the Roman Catholic church there is one remarkable outstanding figure, Monsignor Nugent, or as he preferred to be known, Father Nugent: priest, philanthropist, and friend of all, but particularly of the outcast boy and fallen woman. I could write pages of this worthy priest's great goodness, his big heart, his wide and tender sympathies, and his work among the wreckage of society. His memory will linger with us as an incentive to all that is noble, all that is loving and tender.
We must not forget the many laymen who have helped forward church work in Liverpool: Charles Langton, Charles Grayson, Christopher Bushell, Hamilton Gilmour, Charles Groves, the builder of churches; Clarke Aspinall, who spent all his leisure in assisting the clergy in their church and temperance work; and the Earle family. Among the nonconformists we had W. P. Lockart, a merchant and an ex-cricketer, who took up evangelistic work in Toxteth Park, and exercised a wide and great influence among young men. I have elsewhere mentioned the Rev. Dr. Lundie, and his influence upon the temperance movement; and I must not omit Alexander Balfour, Samuel Smith, and Thomas Mathieson, all prominent and most active lay nonconformists.
To the active efforts of our clergy we owe much of the improvement in the social condition of our working classes. Their exertions on behalf of temperance are worthy of all praise; in training the young in habits of self-control and self-respect, they are saving the child and making the man who is to control the future destinies of the empire.