The most remarkable event which, within the last ten years, has affected the spiritual state of our own parish, has been the erection, in a district scarcely built upon before, but in the midst of a poor and now rapidly increasing population, of a spacious and splendid Roman Catholic church, with extensive school-rooms and the residence of a priest attached to it. My brethren, there are but few probably among us who would lament this measure, if its only design and its only effect were to provide for the instruction of that large number of Roman Catholic labourers who inhabit that and the contiguous districts. Shut out as they are, by the stern prohibitions of their own priesthood, from all access to our means of grace; taught to believe that all doctrine is heresy, and all instruction hurtful, which does not flow directly from their own communion; living among us, as they did, for so many years, like sheep having no shepherd, who would condemn the only provision being at length made for them, of which their unhappy state admitted? Nay more; may we not hope that having been left hitherto equally ignorant and fettered, ignorant of the commonest means of knowledge, and fettered and precluded from attaining it, the instruction now given to their children will one day become the blessed means of enabling them to throw off their fetters, and make an opening for the light of Gospel truth to shine upon their souls? But, alas! all that we see and hear forbids us to believe that the only design or effect of this measure is to enable the Romanists to provide for their own people. There is already too much evidence to show that it has all the character of an aggression upon the faith of the members of our Church. It is in full accordance with those measures, which within the last few months have happily awakened the Protestant spirit of our whole people, and have shown in its true colours the influence of that unscriptural and grasping Church from which they sprang. By devices the most insidious, our people are invited to witness the imposing ritual of this new building; while depositaries are opened, even at our own doors, for the public sale of cheap tracts, that tend, with bitter irony and gross misstatements, to discredit our institutions and to recommend theirs. [17a] What will be the actual result of all this conflict between truth and error before ten more years have passed, it may not be easy to say. If those among us who are spared to outlive them are enabled to “hold fast the profession of their faith without wavering,” [17b] they may not only save their own souls, but lead others, who can only view Him now through the mists of their corruptions, to honour the holy name of Him by whom we are called. But surely, with these facts before us, there is the strongest inducement for us all, not only to examine ourselves whether we are in the faith, but why, and on what grounds we are in it; [17c] while there is a motive created strong enough to induce all who have the means at their command to promote any well-advised plans for arresting the evil, or turning it, through God’s blessing, to good. [17d]
To conclude. The inquiry which will be going on to-morrow throughout the country is addressed to us all, as the heads of our separate households; each giving a return of the names, and ages, and birthplace, and occupations of those, who will pass this very night under his own roof. But surely the thought will occur to some among us, I would to God that it might be brought home by His Spirit to the hearts of all, that there are several other points of inquiry besides these, upon which the great Head of the Church may be expecting, and really does expect, an account to be rendered by us. We may have no power to influence the character or to regulate the habits of those large masses of the people whose irreligion, in the crowded districts that surround us, we may deplore. The influence which is to affect a whole nation falls within the power of very few. But that which affects the character of any family or household, (and nations are made up of families) depends mainly on the principles, aye, and even on the tempers and way of life of those whom God places over them; for this also is an allotment of His providence. Let us then suppose for an instant, that it was desired to obtain, as on this same day, a return of what might be called the spiritual statistics of England. Suppose, that laying aside, or rather looking beyond the mere considerations of civil or political economy, it were wished to learn by such distinct and palpable records as might be furnished, the actual state of religion through the whole extent of our population. I well know, indeed, that there are signs and marks of which no earthly inquiries could take cognizance; proofs of spiritual growth in some, and of declension in others; secret concessions to the corrupt nature in one class, or inward aspirations after holiness in the other; hypocrisies which no eye can detect among “the children of this world,” and spiritual conflicts in the “children of light,” which can only be known to the Supreme Searcher of their hearts. But when all this is allowed, we might lay down some distinctions in every case, the existence or the absence of which would go far to show, whether the master of that house, and those around him, were really serving God or not. If it were inquired throughout the land, or if, limiting the supposition to our own parish, it were asked in every house, Is family prayer maintained under this roof? [18a] Is the Sabbath observed by the master, by the servants, by the children, as “a delight, the holy of the Lord, honourable?” [18b] all work suspended which may be left undone, and every pursuit given up which is inconsistent with the real spirit of the day, as one of holy rest? Would the general answers to these questions be such as we could really ponder over with any comfort? Or again, if it were asked, How many Bibles in this house are diligently searched? How many of its inmates are not only permitted, but encouraged and invited, and if need be, urged to attend upon the public worship of God? Is there a servants’ library in this house, to which every one of them may have recourse for some edifying or self-improving reading during the leisure intervals of their service? [19a] How many communicants are there in this family among those who have reached the proper age of full communion with the Church, and with her living Head? How many of the children are really reared in the spirit of their baptismal vows, “virtuously brought up to lead a godly and a Christian life?” [19b] Are not these subjects of inquiry on which there would be too great cause for self-reproach to many among us; the reproach resting upon those who had all the means afforded them for their spiritual sustenance and growth, but have carelessly neglected to improve them?
My brethren, I commend these remarks in all faithfulness and affection to your private meditations and your prayers. And may your own consciences, enlightened by the Spirit of God, guide you to some profitable application of them! May it be given to each of us to feel this day, that we are supplying a return of so many beings, not merely connected with us by the ties and duties of an earthly relation, or a short-lived existence here; but of those who are travelling on quickly with ourselves to an eternity of bliss or woe; precious, never-dying souls; the objects equally with us of the Saviour’s love, the Spirit’s teaching, and the Father’s care; called equally with us to be members of Christ, children of God, and heirs of the kingdom of heaven. What “I say unto you I would say unto all, Watch! for ye know not when the Master of the house will come” to reckon with us, whether at the close, or the middle, or the opening of this new decade on which we are now entering.
But this we know, that when the Lord does come the second time from heaven, then will be the great numbering of the nations: not the mere periodical census of a single kingdom, which, with all its boasted wealth and enterprise, is but a mere speck upon the surface of our earth; but a numbering of all the myriads that have ever peopled it, from the family of the first man until there “shall be time no longer;” [20a] “the sea giving up the dead which are in it; and death and the grave delivering up the dead” [20b] which are in them; and all distinctions of age, or rank, or learning, or riches, or power, lost and sunk, in the simple but everlasting distinction between those who served God, and those who served Him not; those whose names are written in the Lamb’s book of life, and those not to be found there. And then will these inquiries and such as these, which your ministers urge upon you now in “the foolishness of preaching,” [20c] but which too often reach only unwilling ears and careless hearts, then shall they be enforced by “the voice of the archangel and by the trump of God.” [20d]
Let us then “walk circumspectly, not as fools, but as wise, redeeming the time, because the days are evil.” [20e] And may we be found so far faithful to Him who calls us, that out of these our earthly households, some may be continually gathering to join that “multitude which no man can number,” [20f] who, on the sea of glass and before the sapphire throne, are worshipping Him that sits upon the throne, and casting their crowns before Him, and saying, “Thou art worthy to receive glory, and honour, and power; for thou hast created all things, and for Thy pleasure they are and were created!” [20g]
NOTES.
Note A. (P. 17.)
During the evenings of the late winter months a series of scenic representations, twice in every week, was displayed in the school-room, which is near the church; and the admission being free, they were attended by large numbers of the poorer class, Roman Catholic and Protestant. On these occasions the priest always attended, and explained the subjects represented, which were uniformly taken from the Scripture. And he lost no opportunity of inviting his audience to hear the same subjects enforced in the church which thus interested them in the school-room.
The following extracts from some of these tracts, which are all announced upon a large printed placard in the window of the house where they are sold, as having received
The “approbation of his Eminence Cardinal Wiseman and all the Catholic Bishops,”