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Leader (1850-1860), 30th June 1860, Edition 1 of 2, Page 611

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    • PAROCHIAL DISSENSIONS.
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      Untitled Article

      happiness . Poor misgnided individuals- can find it nowhere , thou gh they go far afield for it , into foreign places , venturing * ' even unto the -uttermost parts of the earth , " as the Orientals phrase it ; because happiness inhabits no place , but is a state of mind which , If a man find , he must find it in himself . A certain wilful-ness is , after all , an essential element . of heroism . A man-must have a way of his own , and . " . a ' -determination to have it at all risks . An example of this , we have been accustomed to recoe-nise in our acquaintance , DEStETKirs . The -education " of modern times greatly increases the class to which he belongsthe race of individuals who live by their wits . We remember the time when a man who was reported to be living" by his wits was the horror ' -of decent shopkeepers ; nay , they would identify

      him without previous report . They would know- him by his exterior deportment , his personal advantages— -which he was at pains to display , his style of dress—which was as carefully selected as a woman's , and his clever conversation , suspected in the same proportion in which it was attractive . Here was a man made up evidently for sale—an adventurer , with no particular pursuit , but ready for any that did not involve hard work , and might he accomplished , with a moderate amount of " brain in the hand , " as a modern sajre has defined '' cleverness " to be . Fifty years a < ro the trader would look on such a person with dread , and general society ¦ wi th contempt . Intellect , however , even in this low form of it , is now-a-days respectable ; and its possessor may make a fair start in life . But still it is surrounded with ' . dangers ; . the chief of which

      is not the true heroism . This , for the niost part , resides with those who would preserve a good name with adequate means ; - — the patient and industrious middle-class , who are frequently poor , and dare not appear to be so . Among them may the fictionist profitably seek for genuine examples of the Heroism of the Hearth .

      is the necessity of taking "' , the initiative at every step . Demetbitjs had no recognised occupation , and had to make his work before his work could made him . His task was to do just what he liked , and compel others to pay for it , whether they liked it or not . Imagine a penniless man rising- in the ¦ morning * with his task before him ; and then think of the heroism required to support the position . Imagine such a man with a wife and family dependent on his exertions under such conditions , and the case of Demetrius may be then faintly conceived . Buthe had the necessary will , and resolved to succeed—and did . To his credit , be it said , that he likewise resolved to be honest , and also succeeded in being- that , notwithstandingserious obstacles and pressing 1 temptations . His prosperity , Therefore , was placed on a solid basis . Honest arid diligent by the strength of will and the force of conscience ,

      Demetrius commenced every mornintr with the faith that the proper labour of the day and its remuneration would be provided . It was . in perfect sincerity that he demsrnded work , and , an if by a spell , it j ^ ame — not always , however , before , hope was well-nigh exhausted , and the despair of the evening" foreshadowed only tomorrow ' s trouble . Gri these occasions Demetrius rose wfth the urgency , and" sometimes becaTne positively magnanimous . An inherent greatness shone out of the man ; and an energy that was indomitable revealed itself .. To detail the circumstances and plans by which his life was marked , would be to write a romance that might make three interesting volumes—a task not to he attempted here . Suffice it if the sketch of tl » e character be intelligible , and the heroism implied in it readily appreciable •¦ the reader ' s fancy may easily , supply enough of probable incident to serve the purpose of illustration .

      To have a way of one ' s . own , and to make it respected , is the main secretrof-rlie-h proi < rcharae terri HsHhe' -rn-ani fesfced-person Hli + y-of-t-he will . If genius be properly defined , as we have seen it defined , " a strong will determined in a certain direction , " something" like genius may be predicated of such character . An amount of native aptitude is indispensable ; a degree of capacity is required , without which the impulse to the character would be wanting " . It must be set going ; and we should seek for the motive-spring rather in nature than in education . It would be hard to teach a man heroism ; nature truly generates heroes , offspring , like the ancient Titans , both

      of heaven and earth . Heroes are like poets in this respect . But , as Ben Jonson says even of Shakespeare himself , " a good poet's made its well as born . " Precept and example are good both for the bard and the brave , and both may bo considerably improved by cultivation . What they are in the rough is one thing ; what they are when made good , or better , is another . Not in vain , therefore , will the matter have been discussed * if it . lend to reflection and assiduous endeavour after a complete development . The whole difference between the lowest aptitude and the highest genius in the result of conscious efforts , by which more instinct is converted into intelligent art .

      Before concluding- this paper , it is expedient to guard ngninst an abuse of the principle that would find the heroic ! in the familiar which has grown into modem literature . That species of romance and drama which seeks its heroes among the criminal population is to be avoided . It degrades the heroic without elevating 1 the individuals or classes to whom it is applied . It is an ofl ' enco to decency , to morality , and an outrage on the manners of the ngc . The authors of these works have sometimes been influenced by feelings of benevolence . They have regarded the " scamps" of socieJtY . asthe . crentures . of tkp . ^ ; and

      their desire has been to implicate society in their crimes , that it might be shinned into a more mciviful consideration of the outcusts that it had produced . Tlio effect , however , cannot have fulfilled the expectation of the writers . It liaa confounded distinctions , browbeating 1 respectability without reforming rascaldom . It goon far to destroy the faith in virtue , nnd reduce it and vice to the same level . We breathe an ntmosphero of hypocrisy and cunning ; and all that is noble in our being is discouraged . The moral ot such works is an apology for theft mid violence , and no doubt induces criminality . The heroism of the prison und the gallows

      Untitled Article

      rPHEBE is nothing so hot as religious zeal ; and it is . both natural - *¦ and logical that it should be so . A . man ' s faith , the sheet anchor of his eternal hopes , should be of all things dearest to his heart . When he is a truly earnest man it will be so . He will suffer anything- for his creed . In proportion to his nerve , or his physical vigour , he will patiently undergo martyrdom , or die fighting for the cause . Nothing will so keenly hurt his feelings , or so quickly sting him into passion , as a desecration of what he regards as sacred and holy . In such a cause he-feels himself thrice armed in the possession of an approving conscience . It is necessary to have a clear apprehension of these mainsprings of action , in order properly to appreciate the character of the reiiir'ous war which has raged so long and so fiercely in the parish of St . George ' s-in-the-Kast . When Sunday sifter Sunday we hear of the riots which take place in St . George ' s Church , of the interruptions to the service , of the hisses which . greet the clergyman , and of the . struggles to dispossess the choristers of their seats , , we are apt to regard the proceedings simply as an ebullition of low ruffianism , instigated only by a love of mischief . If , however , we Look at the matter calmly , by the light which recent judicial investigations have thrown upon it , it will be found that this war is really a religious one—a war of feeling—a contest in which the ruffianism exhibited is the result of a strong sense of duty however mistaken , on the one hand , and exasperated zeal on the other . A great many charges for assaults committed in the church have been investigated before the

      aiiagistrates , but in very few cases has it been shown that the disturbances have been created by persons who have had no feeling in the matter . It is true that a madman and a few thoughtless boys have at times assisted hi the disturbances , as it is the disposition of madmen and boys to do on all occasions ; but in the main ,-the riots have been practically the audible protest of the congregation against the ceremonies introduced into the service . The best proof of tiiis is ; to be found in the fact that , on several of the most riotous Sundays , the congregation hehaved with the greatest decency and propriety , so long as the clergyman abstained from the practices of iiltra-PuseyTsm . It was not until he intoned some part of the service , or bowed towards the Eastj or exhibited the cross upon his back , that they , vented expressions of disapprobation . The dispute being' narrowed to this ' -simple issue , itjust comes to this : that if the Rev . Bkyan King would cease to intone the servict :, discontinue his genuflexions , preach in a black gown , and leave the altar undecorated , the disturbances iu his church would immediately

      cease . It is , however , in vain to hope for concession on either side . Mr . King has had ample opportunity of ascertaining the feeling" of his congregation ; He has seen that their riotous conduct has been inproportion to the provocation offered ; ; md he must ere this have saiisfied hjui . . lf that he has only to discontinue lu \ s objectionable , practices to restore peace . But instead of offering conciliation , lie haa proceeded to increase the irritation by pushing his peculiar ' ceremonies ' -to the very extreme . We should be utterly wanting . in . charity , and equally wanting in the capability to appreciate moral courage and conscientious resolution , if we were to ascribe these exhibitions to pure obstinacy and dogged opposition . We see no reason to deny his the merit of and

      either to Mr . King or . congregation Hiiiuerity conviction in this matter . Nor are we prepared to say that the Tinbrie does not sanction all which Mr . King has done . We may , on the one hand , wonder at the creed which regards show and ceremony as essential to Divine service , —or pity , on the other , the unpoetieal natures which see harm in a cross or a bouquet of flowers . But such being the position of . iitthirs , there is . but one solution of the difficulty , Jind neither Mr .. King nor his parishioners will have made . the-least sacrifice for the cause which they respectively uphold until they adopt this final and deci .-ive . course . It is either for Mr . King to retire from the position of pastor to a Hock which rejects his ministrations , or ' for . his flock to gather themselves into the fold of some other shepherd .

      Englishmen who feel uncomfortable in thu bosom of tlieir Church have the example of Scotland before Ilium . The Free Church , established in that country in the year 1843 , was the immediate result of an isolated dispute exactly Niinilur to that which is now raging in Cannon Street . In Scotland it was not . a question of doctrine or of ritual , but of patronage , which interfered with the free choice of the people . In the celebrated Audit cnirder case , the Heritor endeavoured to force an objectionable pastor upon the parishioners . ' They began by flocking to thu church to protest , as the parishioners of St . George ' s have protested , liy hooting ,

      liitisingT i » nd nitoiTuptim who hud been forced upon them , that it required a dotiu-hineut of soldiers to overawe thuni and koop't'hn peace on the dn , y of his induction . On that very d ' ny the banner ol revolution . was unfurled in the Scottish Church . Tito buttle against patronage wnrf {' ought hard in the Court of Schimoii mid in the Imperial Parliament , ju . st as the battle turiiinat what ia called PiutoyiHiu has been Ibiight in the Ecclesiastical Courts hero ; but in tlio ond , when tile Sottish iionintrusioninta , iib they were culled , could obtain no relioi , they tooic tho only manly and straightforward couiyo open to tliem—tliey

      Untitled Article

      June 30 , I 860 . ] The Leader and Saturday Analyst . 611

      Parochial Dissensions.

      PAROCHIAL DISSENSIONS .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), June 30, 1860, page 611, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2354/page/11/