We have already seen the system of extensive combinations carried on in defiance of the laws;—organized bands and tumultuous assemblages of peasantry, extorting money, and enforcing their demands with threats of violence;—wanton destruction of property, in the breaking of machinery, in attacks upon private houses, and in the far more horrible crime of the nocturnal incendiary;—violence and excesses in many towns;—and riot, pillage, and arson, defying for some days, in a great city, municipal authorities and military force.
Now when all these fearful evils are viewed in connection with the general increase of crime, more particularly of juvenile delinquency; with the abuse and profanation of the sabbath, and neglect of the public ordinances of religion, and with the unsound views in faith and morals which extensively prevail—the shades of the gloomy picture gradually darken. But it is capable of receiving some further tints, and then the moral state of the kingdom, which has been studiously kept as far as possible distinct from the political, will stand forth, it is believed, under such an appalling aspect as to satisfy men, of all parties, of the necessity of prompt and vigorous exertion, of strong and efficient remedies. Amongst the great body of the people have sprung up contempt for antiquity, disregard for established usages, disrespect for rank, love of innovation, clamorous discontent, and fierce desire of change, which impel them forward with blind and presumptuous confidence in their own wisdom, and with reckless indifference as to what may be the consequences of their precipitation and rashness. The public press, which exercises a fearful despotism—and political leaders, whose authority is scarcely less absolute—urge forward an already over-excited people, instead of attempting to allay the rising storm which threatens to involve all in the common ruin of social order, public property, and national credit.
The urgent importance of the question, What is to be done? cannot but force itself upon the attention of the most supine—of the most indifferent to their country’s safety and welfare; and surely only one answer can be returned—repair any injuries which time may have caused to the goodly edifice of the Church, or to the fair fabric of the Constitution, striving, at the same time, by a general diffusion of true religion, sound learning, and useful knowledge, to secure the eradication of heretical and infidel opinions, and the reformation of public morals; and by the blessing of God, the storm will pass away, and leave the Church and Constitution unscathed. True Christian wisdom revolts from any concession of principle, but not less so from any defence of error; it yields not to popular clamour and threats in matters of duty, but it thankfully receives the admonition given in the spirit of kindness, and profits even by the warning of an enemy, to remove any slight blemishes, which, affecting not the foundation of the Church built on a rock, appear externally, and tempt the rash and rude hand of bold and unhallowed reparation.
It is the height of political wisdom to know when to refuse, and when to concede popular claims. To refuse just claims is equally wicked and unwise; it is not only an act of injustice, as debarring the people from their rights, but it destroys confidence and respect—it produces fierce discontent, exasperation, and vindictiveness towards their rulers; and, in the end, if the claimants be powerful, that is extorted as a right which was first asked as a boon. To concede unfounded claims is equally weak and unwise; it stimulates the eager and grasping spirit of demand, it rarely conciliates for the time, but never satisfies; it causes that unsettled expecting and excited state of the public mind so unfavourable to national contentment, happiness, and prosperity; and if the system be long continued—and every new concession, by weakening the strength of the yielding party, will make it more difficult to change the system—security after security, privilege after privilege having been surrendered, the petitioners will become the framers of the laws—the claimants, the dispensers of privileges—the governed, the governing power in the kingdom. At the awful crisis at which we have arrived it is the bounden duty of all men to forget party distinctions, to divest themselves of party spirit, to have no object in view but the honour of God and the general good. Let, therefore, the claims of the people be dispassionately and impartially weighed; not, however, abstractedly, but with relation to the general good; and let these claims be conceded so far as they may be granted consistently with the rights of property, the integrity of the constitution, the interests of religion, and the welfare of the empire. And having made every concession which justice demands, and which the real interests not only of the claimants, but of society at large, sanction, let the whole energies of government and the nation be directed to crushing the seditious and blasphemous associations which are actively employed in exciting discontent and insubordination, and in corrupting the principles of our agricultural and manufacturing population; and let every means be employed to calm the agitation of the public mind—to restore it to that peaceful, healthful, and contented state, which once so much distinguished the people of England.
To effect, however, this great object, the co-operation of that mighty engine of good or evil—the public press, is essential. When the information, the talent, the eloquence, which are so conspicuous in many of our leading journals are considered, we cease to wonder at the immense influence they possess over the public mind; for partly through indolence, partly through ignorance, a large proportion of men are disposed to adopt, without examination, opinions which come recommended by the authority of a name they have been accustomed to respect and value. How beneficial, then, would be the consequences to society, if the public press would use more moderation; if instead of swelling the storm which is raging through the land, it would pour oil upon the heaving and troubled waters; if, instead of advocating the interests of a party, the public good was made of paramount importance. It is melancholy to observe the pernicious influence of party spirit upon the public press of this country: it is not only that it excites rancour and bitterness of feeling, but even truth, viewed through the medium of its jaundiced eye, appears like falsehood—beauty, like deformity—virtue, like vice. Of this we have at present a too complete proof in the misrepresentations, the misstatements, the calumnies, which have been directed against the Established Church. The writers cannot be so ignorant as not to know the charges are substantially false,—they cannot be so dishonest as to give circulation to what they know to be untrue, and therefore, as they publish the most false and calumnious allegations against the Clergy, it can only be, that the mists of party distort objects,—the prejudices of party misconstrue motives,—the spirit of party perverts facts. Let it not be said that the liberty of the press has degenerated into such licentiousness, that many public journals have willingly and premeditatedly been guilty of the monstrous wickedness of traducing and vilifying, and holding up to public scorn and reprobation, the Clergy of the Established Church, but rather that, under the delirium of a political fever, they have unconsciously loaded with unmerited opprobrium, and most unjustly held up to public odium, the Clergy, who, as a body, are distinguished for their talents, their learning, their piety, and their zeal in their Great Master’s holy cause.
A deep debt of justice remains due to the Established Church; and to the sense of right, and to the good feelings of those who have joined in the cry against it, this appeal is made. There is not any disposition on the part of the Clergy to ask for undue favour or commendation:—no wish, that abuses, if they exist, should be spared,—that delinquency, if any case occur, should escape punishment. But they protest against the manifest injustice with which they have been treated. The most extravagant over-statements of a few valuable appointments have been industriously circulated, as a proof of excessive and overgrown wealth, whilst the poverty of some high dignities, and a large proportion of benefices, has been studiously kept back; the failings and offences of a few individuals, under every form of exaggeration and perversion, have been dwelt and enlarged upon with evident satisfaction, whilst no just meed of praise has been bestowed upon the body, to which rather the censure, due only to some few members, has ingeniously, but wickedly, been made to attach. All which misrepresentations apparently have in view one object,—that the charges of excessive wealth and extreme worthlessness may stimulate and justify spoliation and subversion. And yet no angry recriminations, scarcely any indignant remonstrances, have issued from the injured party: when they have spoken, it has been in the calm language of conscious rectitude; and the great body have forborn to reply to insult and invective, relying on the goodness of their cause, to which they feel assured the people of England will, sooner or later, do full justice. If aught could soften the harsh severity, could shame the cruel injustice with which the Clergy have been censured, vilified, and persecuted, surely it should be the Christian meekness and patience with which they have borne the heavy load of wrong that has been cast upon them. Full many there are who, unmoved by clamour, unprovoked by injuries, and unappalled by dangers, are pursuing the even tenor of their way, in the diligent and faithful discharge of their sacred duties. But silence under grievous charges is often interpreted into an admission of their truth, and meekness under heavy reproaches a proof of their justice. There are times, therefore, when the Clergy should raise their voice in self-vindication; not merely for their own sakes, but that of their flocks; for if they allow their office to be degraded, and their characters aspersed, without maintaining the one and defending the other, their influence will be seriously weakened, and their usefulness, in the same degree, diminished. Hence it has ever been the artful policy of the infidel school to attack religion through her ministers; and such is the course which is adopted now, and those ministers will aid and abet the cause of the enemies of their faith, if they repel not the darts which are meant to reach, through their bodies, the altars of their God. And would that that portion of the press, which has long assailed the Clergy with much unmerited severity and abuse, could be persuaded to make a tardy reparation for the wrong they have done,—for the injury they have inflicted on society! The public journals now reach the remotest corners of the island; and in many distant parishes, in which the incumbent alone spends the income drawn from the soil, alone dispenses his charity, visits the sick, instructs the ignorant,—even there the blighting influence of calumny extends, and the work of Christian benevolence and charity is neutralized by the splenetic effusions, or foul and false charges of the public press. Oh! that the awful circumstances of the present times would teach forbearance, if not justice,—would induce silence, if not commendation. If they love not religion for its own sake,—if they respect not its ministers for their own sake,—let the value of both be admitted in stemming that fearful tide of sedition and infidelity which threatens to overturn the civil as well as religious institutions of the country. And there is another consideration not to be forgotten: in times of pestilence, the ministers of God have ever proved faithful to their trust, and a blessing to the sick and dying: that scourge of the Almighty is now upon the land; let the press then seek to heal the breach they have made between the pastor and his flock, lest by the baleful suspicions and hatred they have caused in the minds of the latter, they may be the means of intercepting the stream of Divine mercy,—of darkening the light of Divine truth.
Vain will be all the efforts of the friends of religion and order to counteract the present evils, which endanger the best interests of society, and to introduce a better order of things, if a large proportion of the public journals continue not only to excite the public mind, but to prejudice it against the Clergy, by imputing to them unworthy motives, and by bringing against them heavy and unsubstantiated charges. In many places at present, the plans of the Clergyman for the benefit of his parish are entirely frustrated; a large proportion of his parishioners being like men labouring under a fever caused by injudicious treatment,—the wholesome aliment, which would give nourishment and strength in a healthy state, injures rather than benefits; and even the medicines which should cure the disease are rejected, through distrust of the physician who prescribes them. But let those who have injured the patient, by supplying stimulants when they should have administered sedatives, by exciting suspicion when they should have inspired confidence, endeavour to repair the evil they have produced, and then the ministers of the Great Physician of souls will recover their proper influence, and will be able beneficially to exercise their important functions.
It is impossible to estimate the advantage of the ministerial office to society, until the aggregate of the services of men, who have all their allotted field of action throughout the kingdom, be well weighed. Let any one examine minutely into the benefit which one parish receives from a resident incumbent, who faithfully discharges the duties of his office; and if all do not so, it is the fault of the individual, and not of the system:—let him observe, not merely the general advantage derived by all from the residence amongst them of a well informed and well conducted man,—at once the scholar, the gentleman, and the Christian,—but of one who is the authorized medium through which abuses are to be checked and corrected, vice discountenanced and reproved, virtue encouraged and rewarded, relief administered to distress, instruction to ignorance, comfort to sorrow, and the light of the Gospel diffused amongst all,—its offers addressed to all, its consolation imparted to all. Then let him attempt to calculate the amount of instruction conveyed through “the alacrity, the zeal, the warm-heartedness which the Established Clergy have manifested for the education of the poor;” [149] of comfort derived by suffering in its hour of need and sorrow, from its faithful pastor; and of benefit imparted to all, either directly or indirectly, either temporally or spiritually, by the appointed and responsible teachers of the Gospel, throughout the parishes in the kingdom. And then let him form a judgment as to what degree of confidence is to be placed in the wisdom, what sense of obligation is to be entertained for the services,—not of those who are labouring with earnest diligence to “feed the flock over which the Holy Ghost has made them overseers,”—of those who by impoverishing the Clergy would deprive them of the means of affording temporal assistance to the poor and needy; and by calumniating the Clergy would impede the discharge and frustrate the efficacy of their spiritual ministrations. Alas! it is because the full value of the quiet and unobtrusive labours of all ranks in the Church is so little known by those who are actively engaged in public life, that plans are devised, which, possessing some plausibility, and coming recommended with much eloquence, are eagerly embraced by many, who would indignantly reject them were they aware that, if adopted, they would injure the present and endanger the eternal welfare of millions. As men, as statesmen, and as Christians, let all who have inconsiderately joined in the cry against the Church forbear, until they have ascertained for themselves, by minute and impartial investigation, whether it is as wealthy and proud, as grasping and worldly, as bigoted and intolerant, as intermeddling and domineering, as inefficient and corrupt, as its enemies have represented it to be. Could it be proved to be such, every sincere Christian, whether cleric or laic, would at once say, free it from the abuses which disgrace its character and impair its efficiency. But of the charges brought against it, the large proportion originate in the hostility, hatred, and malignity of its enemies; there may be some defects, but they are incidental, not inherent, and are at present occupying the deep and anxious attention of the heads of the establishment, who are most desirous to correct whatever may limit the influence or lessen the usefulness of that pure and reformed branch of the Church of Christ established in this kingdom.
If the enemies of the Church, who profess to be the friends of mankind, are sincere, as we are bound to consider them, in the expression of their wish to benefit their fellow-men, they must not impede the operation of an establishment which every where diffuses a knowledge of that Gospel, the salutary influence of which extends through society, as the only cure of the ills to which flesh is heir. They may closely watch and severely scrutinize the proceedings of the Church; but, as men and Christians, they are bound to do it justice, and give it their support as a powerful agent, in lightening the load of misery which too often exists in this commercial country to a frightful extent. “Compare,” says the present Bishop of Chester, “compare the ignorant and unreflecting peasant, who moves in the same dull, and too often sinful track, with no ideas beyond the ground he treads upon, the sensual indulgences which he gratifies, and the day that is passing over his head;—compare him with his enlightened neighbour, nay, with himself, if happily he becomes enlightened, when he follows the same path of active industry, but makes it a path towards his heavenly Father’s kingdom;—and then perceive, by a visible example, what the grace of God effects through the agency of man; or take a case, too common, alas! too familiarly known to many who hear me. Take the case of those who see their occupation sinking from under them; their means of support annually decreasing, and little prospect of its melioration. Suppose that the views of these, and such as these, are bounded by this present world, what can they be but unhappy, restless, discontented; defying God, and murmuring at man; distressing the philanthropist, because he sees no comfort left to them; distressing the statesman, because he can devise no remedy for their relief; above all, distressing the Christian, who sees the future prospect far darker than the present gloom? Suppose the case of one thus circumstanced, having no hope beyond this world; and then contemplate the change which would be produced, if any of the means by which grace is communicated to the heart should inspire the same person with the principles and the faith of the Gospel; converting him from whatever is evil in his ways, and thus removing all the accumulation which sin adds to poverty: reconciling him to hardships and privations as the intended trial of his faith, the lot of many of God’s most approved servants; and lighting up the darkness of this world by the rays which precede that which is to come, the earnest of a brighter dawn.”
May those who have been so far misled as to become either hostile or indifferent to their Church now do tardy justice to her, which, through good report and evil report, is still true to her righteous and holy cause, and dispenses through the land the light and blessing of the Gospel of peace: may those who love, cherish, and venerate the religion of their fathers—the Church of their God—approve themselves zealous and faithful sons; our Zion requires active, stanch, vigilant, and experienced defenders: her enemies are numerous, persevering, powerful, malignant, implacable; their attacks are sometimes open, sometimes insidious, but always skilfully planned, and ably conducted; still, whilst the Church continues true to God and His Christ, she has nothing to fear, for “greater is He who is for her than he who is against her.” “The Lord is her shield and buckler,” and Christ has promised to be always, even unto the end of the world, with his Church, which is founded on the rock of faith, and against which “the gates of hell shall not prevail:” in humble, but firm reliance, therefore, upon Him, of whose mystical body she forms a portion, the Church of England, amid the strifes of political changes, amid the distractions of civil contentions, amid the storms of popular clamour and fury, remains stedfast through faith, and joyful through hope: