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    instance . In a parish not far from my own was a young girl , who had become imbued with what is called Puseyism . The leaders of that school ¦ were wise in their generation . Among them were consummate masters of human nature . Full of learning , ripe in . scholarship , of fervent piety , they could not but command the admiration of men . With men they argued . So far as it went , their logic "was stern ^ Etnd forcible , sometimes piercing to the very core of things , always clear and conclusive within its own limits . But how marvellously did they attract the devotion of girlhood ! Hotv beautiful was that picture of the early Churcl , with its perfect system , adapted to every want , a shelter for every sorrow , a home for every joy . Only

    think of some young creature , believing with the force of instinct , all the doctrines of Christianity ; to whom religion was a passion—all absorbing , all embracing . She whom I am speaking of-was in that position . She had never been at school , but had passed her sixteen summers under the eye of her mother . To use the common phrase , no pains had been spared with her education - Above all , she had been carefully instructed in religion . But this was not enough . A woman does not care to Jcnoiv . It was nothing -to her—that Church of which men talked—unless she could love It . She could not love an abstraction ; and assuredly she coulxl only shrink from that repulsive image presented by the establishment . How different was the Church of earlier times , in which woman had won sainthood ! She would

    lain see it revived ; fam become a part of that old Church whose mission ¦ was one of love . She thought that , in carrying out the precepts of her religion , she would find the realisation of her hopesy the satisfaction of her absorbing passion . ^ pw , why- is there no place for such in the Church of England . j ) o not tell me that you have Sunday-school teachers and district visitors . You are not attractive . You rouse ino enthusiasm ; you ; are cold , hard , and sternly practical . You cannot expect in yoifr votaries that intense deyotiori which can alone ensure success . You drive all earnestness toi Rome or Exeter . Is this wise ^? ' ' ' - ' ¦* £ . - : A . X ¦ ¦ ¦ .- ¦ -. ' ' : ¦ - ¦; : ¦ ¦ ' ; ¦ ¦ . ¦ : " .: ¦ ¦ ¦ . " ' ¦ ¦ ' ¦ J :- ' -September 7 , I ? --- ; - What icture of

    a p inconsistency , uncertainty , and disjointedness , was presented the Pther day ! A man , whose thought his produced a magical effect on his generatioh , was accused of unorthodpxy . He had denied the doctrine of eternal punishment , and a number of clergymen and laymen rriet together and decided that he had denied a doctrine of the Church , tie was dismissed frpm an pffiee which he held in connexion with a ¦ well-tno-wn educational institution . But , in spite of this sentence , he is still a teacher in the . Church , and , to this day , no recognised authority has determined whether ie was right or wrong . This is the more curious , since , whenever a clergyman wishes to be effective , he appeals to the fear of eternal torture as his strongest motive . * * * *

    Tp conoie to a practical test . TJnliess you admit that but few persons are to be saved—and to do this is to beg the whole question—what effect is the Church of England Pr , indeed , any other Church producing ? What is the life of nine-tenths of men in the very heart of civilisation ? In point of fact , how many believe ? What explanation can you supply for social difficulties ; vwhat remedy ; for social evils ? ; Can you check or destroy the seven deadly , sins ? Of the million hearts that beat in London , how many belon g to you ?^ Can you cure what : has been wel l described as the " great siip of great cities ?" ¦ Can you reclaim an outcast ? Christian women , does your charity go so far as to shelter—nay , as not to spurn—one who has violated social laws ? I know the difficulties of the case , lutl dare to speak a wordon behalf of millions who perish , while religion turns asidein disgust—at all events , unable to provide a remedy . He , whom you all revere , spoke somehard words on this subject . * . * * * I am very willing to admit that Christianity has produced the most astounding social results , and all I ask is , that you should let it have fair play now . T ) o not drive everybody away who will not receive truths which I know that hundreds of your clergy , in their hearts

    , reject . State your position proudly and independently , and you will be more successful as well as more respected . As it is , it seen » a a madness to talk of a religious country , in your sense of the word . I believe , with all my soul , that we are a religious people . We have splendid faculties , noble purposes , and we-work them out with all-conquering energy . We are deficient in imagination , we have no national love of art , and yre have not tried to cultivate it , but , with nil this , there is ho lack of religious feeling . We showed it _ long ago , when we built St . Paul ' s and Westminster Abbey . We show it now in the churches which rise on every side , in our charitable institutions , our Crystal Palaces , our enduring deeds , our self-development . Be wise , you are angry enough with men who strive to reproduce the Church of early days . Why , you are doing the same thing yourselves . You have been sleeping in your churches . With railway speed , the world hns stolen a march . It has entered upon a new phase of belief and existence . JTlow on with the tide , or stnmd like Virgil ' s rustic on the bank , and perish in your obstinacy !

    . , , , Soptember 10 , 18— . Among the remarkable phenomena in the Established Church , the popular preachor holds a prominent rank . He is to be found , for the most part , among the clergymen of the Evangelical School , one reason for which may be that the High Churchman puts more faith in the Services of the Church than in all the preaching in the world ; whereas the popular preacher depends for his success upon the might of his eloquence . I am astounded , beyond measure , at the effect such men produce . Their congregations—the weaker part , especially—arc at their feet . The splendid robes which form his Sunday costume , the cushion that soothes his aching brain , the footstool on which he rests his wearied foot , tho elaborate slippers and embroidered kerchief , arc tho offerings of pioufl gratitude . With what a lordly attitude he surveys tho assembled crowd . Ho it is who scans all hearts , and portions out to each his doom . You might hear a pin drop to the ground . Painful of

    most intolerant of priests hiuiself . He is the incarnate Church . He is the inspired authority—the appointed interpreter of the Sacred Book . You sit in the presence of a master ; let no syllable be lost ; treasure up the morsels which are to feed your soul . But it is no wonder that such men are vain and tyrannical . They must be sickened—none more—with the flattery they receive . When every member of the congregation is ready to offer incense can human nature refuse to accept it ; can the humility of a priest withstand ' such flattery ? I have written of the shams who would be a disgrace to any religion . I do not conceal my belief that there are many earnest teachers in the Establishment , preaching with success what they believe with all their souls—men who liave no reputation in the ecclesiastical world , but who , in spite of their position , and , as it were , unconsciously , are -working out great results . Nor do I denounce all popular preachers . I only loathe the men

    who batten on ,-while they pervert , the religious instinct of the country . They are selfish despots , and only lack the power to persecute . Another striking anomaly , of which the world is almost sick , is presented by the Bishops . It only excites surprise that the absurdity of the institution has not long ago destroyed it . Of course , the Church must have rulers , but why are they so encumbered with temporal affairs that they have no time for the discharge of spiritual functions . Altogether * until you think of her lands and money , you marvel that the Church exists . The doctrine has ceased to have any hold upon the national mind ; men are gone after other gods ; -and the Church , at once the wealthiest and poorest of human institutions , can only repeat , old words which have no meaning for the many . October 4 , 18— . lilpw , what , after all , is the upshot of the matter ? For the sake of its system must I uphold the ^ pman Catholic Church ? Must I . accept its superstition , its tyranny , its bigoted and . unconquerable intolerance ? Must I bind my soul in chains ; in order ibat I top may lord it over the human mind , slaying this one and that one with the breath of my priestly indignation ?; I trow not . Truth owns no limits—she is not wrapt up in the brains of Popes and Cardinals .

    Tou . know -what I think . of the position occupied by the Church of England ; halting ever between tivb opinions , serving Gpd and Mammon , founded in lust , nursed b y tyranny , supported by opinion . There is no other alternative . Face to face with the great fact of humanity I vsrill strive to solve the problem of existence . H .

    is iho / xercux ^ uo" silence , as , the preacher looka at this one and at that one , before I » e gratifies their quivering curiosity I What a position for a human being to command , and to what vile purposes isit degraded I What menu those rounded and portentous sentences ? It is very grand , no doubt , to listen to n torrent of words ; but how much bettor would it be if the words had sense ^ a well as noise . Your popular preacher will hoar no argument . Ilia religion lma nothing to do with logic . The pretensions of tho man are marvellous . Ho denounces and vituperates priestcraft , and , behold , ho ia the

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    . . . a ? : afeA < 8-W ; 38 m 3 §>® WS * - . ¦ : . The foe is leagues from our homes—who's afraid ? and Procrastinationwho takes off his cares with his clothes--pulls his night-cap over his eats and falls into a sleep as dull and heavy as that of the dead . But a terrible cry breaks the stillness of the night , and the great city is smitten with a sudden fear—the foe that all believed so distant is at the gates—nay , in the very heart of the careless town . What is to be done ? If

    you would not die in your beds be up and doing—buckle on your armour while there is time , and make ready your fighting gear , for to hesitate is to fall But where are our leaders ? Procrastination , who holds the keys of the arsenal , where is he ? Where !—here , mthe easiest of beds , in a cap whose red tape strings are tied so tightly that you cannot lif t it from his ears ; awaken him , and quickly , if you would make head against the foe . But , alas ! his brain is drowned in the most leaden of sleeps , and your efforts but elicit a snore .

    The foe has , indeed , possessed himself of the town ; the poor arc dying by hundreds a day . Cholera smites them beneath their rags , rejoices in their squalor , and leaves a corpse behind him each time he visits their miserable homes . " Alas ! " says Procrastination , looking up drowsily from his pillow , " things are very bad indeed ; but it was ever the rule of our family to leave for the morrow the work of to-day , and "—and with a weary groan he sinks to sleep again . Cholera , gnrwn bold with success , has ceased to recognise the difference in earth ' s clay ; yesterday , content with tatterdemalian Jack and slovenly unwashed Put , to-day he grows dainty in his diet , and raises a sacrilegious hand against a lord . The breath of the pestilence that lias swept so often over St . ( -Hies now falls upon St . James ; tho strawberry-leaves recognise tho dreadful presence , and droop before the poison of its breath , and the

    whiteness of the ermine is defiled by the pollution of its touch . Yes , " things arc very bad indeed , " and our rulers may sleep , no longer . Come here , and I will show you one of the many plague spots which man ' s wickedness and avarice have permitted to remain and poison tho air we breathe ; one of those hot-beds of fever , nurses of pestilence whkh abound iii this crowded town . We are standing in a London graveyard . Night , that " mother of dark winged dreams , " has cast her shadow over half tho world , and tho moon sheds its saddening light upon the teeming graves . At each step your feet sink deep into tho rottenness of the soil ; skulls crumble beneath your tread ,

    aud scattered bones protrude from tho bluck surface of the ground . There is no grass , no trees , but ono , old , aaplcss , and deformed , that stretches out its black misshnpon arms like some weird thing that cursos , instead of blessing the graves around . A damp , stifling , and pestilential atmosphere arises on all aides ; a heavy rain has lately fallen—fallen so heavily that it is still filtering through tho earth , downwards , over downwards seeking tho cold broast of tho corpse . Thorois a dreary silence though the churchyard stands in tho middle of a broad thoroughfare , and a hundred tall houses tower around ; a silence so complete that tho strained sense can almost hear the creeping worm and burrowing rat—tho rat thafc with sharp toeth gnnv / e through the stoutcat wood , and tho worm Tvuich faatons with its liplcss kiss

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    836 THEi LJSADEiRJ [ Saturday ;

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Sept. 2, 1854, page 836, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2054/page/20/