The late Bishop of Chichester (as well as the present, a Vice Patron of the Society), in supporting the Resolution, bore his testimony to the excellent effects produced by this Society, not only upon the country at large, but upon that sphere of Christian action over which he had the superintendence.
There is but one Layman whose testimony I shall quote; for I know not where I should find another worthy to be added to the above list, as an equally devoted and energetic friend of the Church, and of this Society. It is not so much Lord Ashley as President of the Society, I quote, as Lord Ashley known and esteemed in every relation of life, public and domestic, in office and out of office,—by the Court, the statesman, the operative, and the Christian. At the last public meeting, Lord Ashley speaks thus:—
“Perhaps in the history of all the Religious Societies, there was no parallel to the sudden rise and rapid progress of that which they were that day celebrating; no one on which the blessing of God had more immediately and more manifestly been bestowed. It was the very thing demanded by the exigency of the times: and had accomplished, in proportion to its means, the entire object for which it was instituted. Of its holy and beneficial effects on private life, wherever its labours extended, he would say nothing; they were amply and nobly recorded in the periodical Reports; but he would assert his firm and conscientious belief, that the operations of the Society had mainly contributed to abate the hostility that had raged against the Church of England; by making her known among those by whom she was little known, to render her honoured and beloved, and to enable her friends in another place to fight, under God’s providence, the great battle of our civil and ecclesiastical constitution.”
Here my labours might appropriately end, Dear friends and supporters of the Church Pastoral-Aid Society! with giving you the voice of the highest authorities of the Church in our favour. All, therefore, I shall permit myself to add, is an appeal to Dr. Molesworth himself—as one to whom we bear no ill-will; as one who has not injured us at all, but rather himself, by his late attack—warning him not again to peril his respectable name on such an unjust and injudicious tirade (for I can call it nothing else) against this Society;—a Society so shielded from his attacks, that he can only injure it through the sides of the Church, of which this Society is as a specimen of the young wood, and vigorous growth, from that old yet glorious stem, planted by the hands of the Apostles, and rooted in Christ. I exhort him to lay aside his prejudice and his opposition, and join the Society—as many of our members, I hear, have joined his; when we will work together, “the Lord being our helper,” to make the Society as perfect as we can. Then, surely, he would learn to look at things in a more cheerful aspect, and with less jaundiced eye, than to be raising a cry of “schism” (p. 9) in the Church—a reproach which could hardly be expected, and would certainly be untrue (according to any definition that I have heard of the word), even in the mouth of a bigoted Dissenter. I would appeal to the Most Reverend Prelate from whom Dr. Molesworth’s preferment was derived (and whose known gentleness should have taught the Clergyman whom he had preferred, “a more excellent way”), not to suffer this unseemly widening of breaches in the Church, if there be such; or, as I think, opening them, where they would not exist without. Is this “the comprehensive, healing, uniting spirit of the Articles” (p. 15) which Dr. Molesworth loves? If it is, I hope he will pardon me for saying (for I wish we might part friends), that his is the most abstract love of the principle of which I can form an idea. For my part, I have never either made or acknowledged party distinctions in the Church; nor will I be provoked to do so now. The Church I have ever wished to regard as one body, with that mixture of unworthiness in members which is consequent upon the imperfect condition of all things here below: and I trust I do honour the Church too much, lightly to foment her distractions, or expose her troubles to her numerous foes. Yet do not mistake, Dr. Molesworth;—I value the Church for the sake of the Gospel, not the Gospel for the sake of the Church;—I value both Church and Gospel for their own sakes, and, by God’s blessing, will support and defend both, according to my poor ability: but it is a truth I am not ashamed to confess, that if by ‘Church’ is to be understood the outward frame-work of this or any other Church, I value the everlasting Gospel even more, and much more than I do the Church.—The Vicar of Rochdale may have time for controversy: I have not. I have given him once for all what appeared to me to be a full and satisfactory explanation of the points at issue: let the Society—those to whom I address myself—judge. I was quite unwilling that the Committee should follow Dr. Molesworth to the field: I felt, therefore, the more ready to give him the meeting myself.
I am, &c. Caleb Whitefoord.
Hamilton Terrace, St. John’s Wood,
January 5, 1841.
Note.—“We feel some difficulty in adopting the nomination, not from any doubt of Mr.—’s moral character, or of his activity in his ministerial duty, but because we do not see that evidence which we desire to receive of the orthodoxy of his preaching:—that we are deeply convinced that activity in the ministry can only be useful so far as it is connected with the promulgation of those doctrines which are taught in Holy Scriptures, and exhibited by the Church as the prominent truths of Divine Revelation. We do not mean to impute to Mr. — deficiency in this respect, but we wish to be satisfied that his instructions are such as, under God’s blessing, will promote the great end for which our Society has been established—the salvation of souls through the instrumentality of ‘faithful and devoted men.’”
N.B. A specimen of the “hide-and-seek phraseology,” from the Collection of the Church Pastoral-Aid Society, presented by the Rev. Dr. Molesworth.
Printed by Richard Watts, Crown Court, Temple Bar.