The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-07-24 00:00:00

THE .LivEr.rooL STANDARD

THE

tiberpoot =,tatibattl.

TUESDAY, JULY 24, 1855

THE CHURCH AND THE POOR

THE Gospel is not preached to the poor. A strange
judgment to pass on this Church of England, in an age
when we are told that the growth of true religion was
never so rapid, nor its empire so universal. When we
hear that a " faithful ministry " of the Gospel never
fails to attract crowded congregations; and movements
got up against papal aggressions and new articles of
faith manifest how large a portion of each man's life
is occupied by other than material interests. And yet
this is a fact which we must look closely and boldly in
the face; it suggests the existence of an unhealthy
element in our condition, which prevents the Church
of this country from rightly fulfilling her mission,
and points to the danger there is of a speedy removal
of that tree, 'which, if it do not increase its fruit, may
be found only to encumber the ground.
It is but an illustration of this fact, that the earnest-
minded incumbent of a suburban district deemed it
fitting, the other. Sunday, to substitute for his own
pulpit a rostrum in the Exchange area, in the hope, we
presume, to find some of that class which is wholly
excluded from the Church in which he ministers.
And as this case is in itself, and its attendant circum-
stances, an instance of present evils, and the ineffi-
ciency of popular remedies, we shall use it for our
present purpose.
We said last week that churches, now-a-days, are
not built for the poor ; and here we find the case of a
clergyman, enjoying a very high reputation for the
oratorical exercises of the pulpit, for whom a large
church with an unusually liberal endowment has been
built, in which, such has been the facilityformakingmer-
chandise of its accommodation, that absolutely no space
has been left for the reception of those who must have a
Gospel " without price," or none at all. Distressed,
no doubt, with a position which very frequently trus-
tees impose upon the incumbent, he is moved with a
desire to carry the Gospel to the poor. Accordingly,
for the afternoon of one Sunday, he emerges from his
exclusive position, to declare to a more mixed audience,
that the message with, which he is charged is ad-
dressed to all, without difference and exception—to
the poor equally as to the rich. The rostrum is
then descended, the preacher departs for the privileged
communication of the evening to cushioned seats and
barricaded pews, and the mission to the poor is
finished. Feelings have been, perhaps, roused in'the
breast of many a hearer, which he knows not how to
direct, inquiries suggested which he knows not how to
solve, vague hopes excited, of which he looks about in
vain to discern any chance of fulfilment, resolutions
formed which he is left alone to develope into action
and life. They lead to nothing ; they end a very
short distance from where they began ; the man has
heard doctrines, and received them into his intellect,
but no living organization snatches him from the world,
takes him into itself, and so presents him to his
Divine Deliverer,

Now, for the credit of the popular religion of the
day, we wish to suggest whether, amid so much appa-
rent devotion, and so many signs of zeal, there may
not be at the root of the evil we are deploring some
subtle cause which does not directly impugn the ge-
nuineness and worth of this seeming anxiety for the
Gospel. Surely we must not take as an evidence of
the religiousness, or the irreligiousness, of the day,
this practical indifference to the heathenism of our
towns, this spectacle of a Church powerless to fulfil
her mission to the many " outcasts from the common-
wealth of Israel"—of whom one day account will have
to be given—through her inability to offer a free Gos-
pel to the people ; this vast moral ruin of a disor-
ganised society, of class alienated from class by the anti-
pathies of a money-loving age, and the Church herself
practically vindicating the distinctions of class at the very
steps of the altar, and, with the Gospel of reconciliation in
one hand, demanding a pecuniary consideration for her
spiritual services with the other. If this is to be ac-
cepted as a reproach upon modern Protestantism, it
seriously behoves Protestants to ask whether that can
be a religion of_ Christ which neglects the poor of
Christ, and fails to fulfil a most important branch of the
mission which Christ committed to His Church. If
it will one day be the condemnation of professing
Christians that they saw the poor in want and failed
to relieve them, surely it will be the condemnation of
a Church that it saw the poor wanting the Gospel, and
_filik&t.Q. preach it. We are answered, it is all very
well to mark out your plans for Church extension, but
where are the means for putting them into practice ?
We highly approve of your suggestion to form a dis-

trict, appoint a staff of clergy, and build up the living

Church preparatory to the material establishment of
the Gospel organization ; but who will come forward
with the money for so necessary but expensive a work ?
Yes ; this may be a true rejoinder, but it leaves us

where we were, it leaves us still to find the best alter-

native of two eyplanations of the state of things we are

investigating.

We may still ask, are we to ascribe

the public apathy you complain of to the power-

lessess of the religion which you affirm to be so
Popular and wide-spread P
You might say, that this in an irreligious age ;
-men will not listen to our teaching ; " Evangelical
religion" is at a low ebb. But you do not say so,
nay, you often extol the Christian liberality of the
public. They to build churches, and provide ministers;
the mischief is, that these are not for the poor. And
we think it might be right, in a logical point of view,
'to leave the case in your hands for explanation ; to
call upon you, who professedly have religious posses-
sion of the town, to prove that your religious teaching
is not impeached by its apparent fruit or want of
fruit, in this direction. Is it really from a want of
real religion, that people build churches from a motive
of attachment to a particular minister, but that they
have no thought of giving them to Christ through His
poor, or of any special offering of devotion in the act ;
that churches are get up rather to produce a par-
ticular interest for the money laid out, than as an act
of free charity; an aspect which is not changed by the
fact, that that interest reverts to the minister, for the
ininfster's services are the things pre-arranged to be
paid for, and those services are for the good of the
payers themselves ; that, taking the most favourable
type of the popular Church system, viz., a church
where a "faithful ministry" draws crowded audiences,
it is yet impossible to see in the House of God a
closer picture of the world, provision for the poor
-being accounted a very secondary consideration, and the
gradations of wealth and " respectability" marked out
with the decorum of the concert-room or the theatre ?
We are much concerned, then, to find out a way of ac-
- counting for the defect in popular modes of further-
ing Christianity without denying the growth of' true
religion, the " prevalence of a preached Gospel," " the
----lal-ana-fidelitY” of the clergy, or the sincerity and
willingness of their flocks. It is clear there is some-

thing wrong somewhere, and in discarding the more
invidious solution of the question, we are surely chal-
lenging attention to the explanation we have to offer,
That explanation, to which we can do no more this week
than make the barest reference, will be, that the
Church's office in the propagation of the Gospel is not
—in some particulars which have a very serious in-
fluence on the mode of its administration—appre-
hended with full and entire distinctness, and that,
therefore, failure in her missionary work may consist
with very laudable intentions and much unsimulated
zeal. And that it must be a question of great signifi-
cance, low we employ the agency of the Church in
the propagation of the Gospel among heathens or
what we may call Christian aliens, needs no enforce-

meat, if we believe that she is divinely appointed for
this work,
In the meanwhile, we trust that Churchmen of
every grade of opinion will receive our statements
in that spirit of candour which is the invariable at-
tendant of earnestness and sincerity. It is easy to ma'ke'
things pleasant for each other, and to avoid differences
by repressing the discussion of questions upon which
great interests depend. But let us think that while
we are patching up theories of peace, that theory
waits to be constructed by which the heathenism of a
Christian country shall be converted to Christianity.
That while we are building castles .in the air,
the throes of an earthquake heave beneath our
feet. That while we are paltering in the courtesies
of religious conventionality, we are on the very
edge of a precipice in which our Church
threatens to be engulphed. We have been too self-
satisfied and too self-commendatory in the midst of
these difficulties and dangers. We have shut our
eyes to the little cloud till it has overspread more
than half our horizon, and are still in danger of
reposing lazily beneath its shade. Impavidurn
ferient ruince may be a good character for a stoic,
but it certainly is not for a Christian.

it. In following out this cleverly-concocted sketch of his pUb-
lic actions, he, with no inconsiderable amount of skill, con-
trived to drag in a parallel to his own repugnance of office in
the well-known desire for retirement evinced by. Lord
ALTEIORP ; and canonized in some degree the penance he is
now suffering in losing place by an ingenious reference to the
calumnies raised against Lord RAGLAN. His lordship con-
cluded his well-contrived defence by challenging his opponent,
and daring his worst wrath. The exhibition of Lord JOHN
having been brought to a close, the champion of the opposition
prepared to run his tilt but, from the careless manner in which he
made his movements, it was obvious from the first that the fight
was meant to be a "draw." He 'proceeded with no small amount
of grave make-believe to show the importance of the motion
which he had given notice of his intention to move. As no
one ever entertained the slightest doubt upon this
_subject, the
explanation of it was felt to be only so much waste of time,
people generally entertaining an opinion, however fallacious
it may be, that a legislator will not, or at least ought not, to
waste the public time by the tabling of motions which are of
no use. The second step in the honourable baronet's process
was to review the recent history of Lord Joint RussuLL, and
in dissecting the moral structure of his lordship's actions, he
exhibited no small amount of anatomical skill, operating with
great dexterity in such a way as to avoid the vital points, yet
to inflict severe gashes on the most sensitive. This, however,
has been done so frequently of late, that, except in so far as
it displayed the surgical skill and neatness of the operator,

it was felt to be a work of supererogation, and as such fell

flatly on the ear. In drawing a contrast between the frank
and manly tone which pervaded the conduct of Lord CLA-
BENDON, and the plain and straightforward style in which his
State papers have been drawn up, as compared with the fluc-
tuating views and hesitating counsels which had marked the
proceedings of the rest of the Cabinet, and particularly those
of Lord JOHN RUNaELL, Sir E. B. LYTTON made his great
point ; and while it was being uttered the only haltinitiated
and the wholly ignorant in the arrangements of the tournay
were led to expect some serious purpose on the part of the'
orator. In- this they were disappointed. The motion Was
withdrawn. An explanation of the "round-robin"-Portion of
the intrigue, or at least a part of it, was volunteered by Mr,
BOUVERIE. His treatment of the subject, and the mode in
which it was received by the House, was an 'excellent il-
lustration of a proverb which is current among the ho-
nourable gentlemen's constituents, to the effect that "it is
best to let the sleeping dogs lie." The part he and his friends
had acted in the matter had fallen out of notice, and the deri-
sion with which the houserectived the member for Kilmer-

Rock's re-awakening of it must have convinced him, .with
tingling ears, that he had far better have' let that 'sleeping
dog lie." His explanation was- laughed at by all parties.
Lord PALMERSTON, with even more than his ustudacerbity of
manner, and with, at least, the full amount of customary
acidity of ingredient, diluted and analysed the statements of
Sir E. B:. LYTTON, whom he accused of gross ignorance,. or'
wilful: insincerity, as displayed in the mode in which he had
distinguished' the conduct of Lord Cris.Msimozr from. that of
the government of which he formed a part. The tone' of
angry petulance in which he addressed the house and eriti--
cised the address- of Sir E. B. LYTTON was felt to be' un--
worthy of the first minister of a great country like Bri--
tain, and, ere long, the moral recoil-' it is sure to pro--
duce will have much more damagihg effect on Lord
PArarsafrron- than it can have on the' honourable and!
accomplished barenet. The philipic of his 'lordship re,-
ceived just castigation, from Mr. Drsa.ux.r,- who designated:
it as-apiece of worthlesz-rhodomontade, undeserVing of. com-
ment. In thecourse of his-speech, the right honourable gentle,
man' asserted that the whole British Government were, for
some hours if not' days; 'eorisenting parties to the proposal of
Lord Jonrr Russant, and:expressed his belief that; if Parlia-
ment listed so long, within six months this statement would
be verified. In terms- of fierce acrimony, Mr:- ROEBUCK
accused, Lord PAIiMEBSTOTr of having deceive& him; and
boldly asserted that Lord Jong' RUSSELL had notdOne his
duty to that house or the eountry. A good deal!of angry
sparring of a .similar character passed with ready celerity from
one honeurable• member to another; and, after n sufficient
quantity of• powder had been burnt in the sham:fight, the
combatants- were withdrawn, and the battle ended.. No 'one
however,is•satisfied with the result: Too much haa-lieen said
without anrpractical result. The characters of publietraenhave
received a rude -shock, from the -damaging effect: of (which
they will not speedily, and perhaps• never whollY, retover;
while no tangible- good has resulted Ito any party, . If the
national interests have been sacrificed ;and its honour- com-
promised by the: incapability and moral turpit.v.do of the
Ministry, the-same men are still:left in 'possession of; power.'
True, indeed, _Lord JOTEN RUSSELL haa been politioally and.
personally "diihed ;" but the "squashing" of him pis =but a
sorry compensation for the suspicion which has been indis-
criminately thrown•on • the Government; and no
'of which mnst attach to the leaders-of Him M.S..rasaves oppo-
sition, who cannot be . held guiltless, if, after repeatedly
making grave charges-and all but !proving their case against
Ministers, they.suddenly " dodge k' eut of the prosecution,
and leave the -culprit in possession -of his damaged :repu-
tation, and full-power of mischief: _ If they since?* believe
the allegations they bring forwardiaa honest men an& patriotic
citizens they- are bound to prosecute to a full conviction; if
they have doubt of the truth of the charges, or misgivings as
to the policy of-prosecution, let them "bide their time." After
the fate of 'Sir E. B. LYTTON'S motion;-that of Mr.. Ressircx,.
created comparatively little interest. On all sides-it was felt
to be more an opportunity offered for the exchangeof personal.
altercation and -individual bitterness,._ than an, event upon
which the character of the national :counsels %val.-likely to be
dependent. The debate with which< it began, and the vote-
with which it ended, were alike: understood and canvassed by
anticipation.. The former was-tolerated and drawled on rather-
than enjoyed: and participated in ; .the latter gave ministers-
a majority of. /07in-a house which numbered 4n members
present. Everybody appears-now to consider- that the gladio-
torship of the session has been expended, _ and that such
portions of,the- public business as .are indi4ensable will. 1)a,
proceeded-with as rapidly as-possible ; that is,. that they will
be pushed through the legislative .chambers.. as - fast., as -the-
forms of parliament will permit, without- a - very stringent
considerationef the real purport and vale of rthe measures:
enacted._

The war in the Critnea continues to drag its c& slow,
length along" without masked variety in the circumstanoss. by
which,_ fora considerable, number of months past, it has sbe,ou
characterised in its general features. The works contiuu to
make steady progress. en the,.part of the Allies, whose. ad-
vances. are of course, interrupted from • time to tioie and
occasionally checked by sorties and other means of aggressive
defence on the part of the enemy.. The • allied 'troops. are in
gpad health, notwithstanding the great heat au&tlw severe
toils to which they are exposed; and,their general: spirits are
represented as excellent, althouglt, like their countrymen at
home, our soldiers manifest considerable impatience for the
day which shall see the allied banners mare in :triumph over the
walls of Sebastopol. The Russians.within the • city are said
to be suffering. great privations. The supplie.s• which the
enemy can threw into the pinee arenow, it is-known, greatly
circumscribed, and• the reinforcements- which leave been io
long and so largely promised are now, it, ikbelleved, unlikely
to be forthcoming, in any great numbers. That the garrison
must succumb, and the town fat. into the hands of the
Allies er.e long, IS,nOVI. a matter of general; belief in the army,,
as well, as at home ; and, judging by the. expression of feelirg,
which, is everywhere. manifested in metropolitan circles, tho.
warlike spirit of the. country has. not undergone the sligh.st,
abatement. In the Baltic, too, deeds of desultory daring Faye,
been successfully executed in various instances ; and, so Ar as,
the harrassing pinch of war is. concerned, without doubt the
Russians are severe sufferers. Wherever complaints dare be.
uttered among the serf-subjects of the Cala, the evils. of the.
conflict in which he is. engaged are loudly complained. of.
Trade is,, and has len been, all but absolutely aunibilated7—
the exactions. to which all classes are subjected for the. purpose.
of carrying on the war are exhausting and oppressive, and
numerous millions. mourn in sadness and in sorrow the mod
ambition of a wayward Sovereign.
In the absence of more exciting, if not also, more profitable
game to hunt, the metropolitan " best public instructors," as
COMETT used sneeringly tq call the press,, are making the
most of the food-adulteration committee's inquiry and its
astounding :revelations. Many years ago, ACVM, or, as he
was wont to be called, "Old Death in, the Pot," contrived to
" fright the isle from its propriety," not by showing us
" what to eat, drink, and avoid," but by letting us into the
secret, that, eat what we liked, or drink what we might,
we were sure to be ingesting a villanous array of most dele-
terious compounds ; and that, in point of fact, the only way to
escape being murdered by the poison administered to us through
the agency of bakers,brewers, and butchers—of grocers and pie-
men, and that most iniquitous of all classes, the compounders of
London milk, was to commit suicide by voluntary starvation.
He, it may be remembered, was taken in at the British Museum,
and has no doubt been long since gathered to his fathers.
Whether he is now converted into an ornamental mummy
or not, is now of little consequence ; but it is certain that his
mantle of horrors has fallen pat upon the shoulders of the
Food Adulteration Committee. In their investigations they
go further than Acutedid, and, like many who go further,
they fare worse. Luxuries and necessaries, matters pleasant
to the eye and seemingly good for food, to the eyes of those
scrutinizing gentlemen present only a mass of foul and fester-
ing corruption—water, the hope of the teetotaller, and the

last refuge of the abandoned drunkard, at least in the metro-
polis, and they shrewdly extend their suspicions to the same
commodity in all great towns, they describe in such terms
that all prudent people will enter into a combination to omit

allusion to it, and adhere rigidly to a resolution to " never
mention it." Pickles in the view of these worthies are made
chiefly of copper. Lavender-water is said to be produced
largely from the scourings of the London dairies (?) Eau de
Cologne is understood to be a product derived from dray-
horses. Flour to exist in, and be extracted largely from, the
bones of the mastodon and megatherium. They do not credit
the popular belief that raisins grow on vines, or that cauli-
flowers are garden produce. Everything they touch they find
to be a sham, each article they see is proved to be a delusion.
That a large portion of their averments is true cannot be
denied ; and that much good may result from their labours
is greatly to be desired. Whether the exposure of the ras-
calities they have detected will lead to a permanent mire of
the evil out of which it arises, may well admit of doubt.

ST. PAUL'S CHURCH.—THE SECOND MINISTER
and the RADICAL PARISH CHURCHWARDENS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
Sin,—As your columns are ever open to the recital of any
grievance that affects the welfare of the Church, I take leave
to detail to you a few of the shabby tricks to which men,
calling themselves members of our communion, condescend
to stoop at the bidding of a party. A certain sum has been
for many years voted by every Vestry, save the last, for the
cleaning of the parish churches, St. Nicholas's, St. Peter's,
St. Paul's, and St. John's. The present wardens, however,
have discovered a cheaper mode of effecting this object, and
they send paupers from the Workhouse every day to clean
these edifices, leaving the parties sent to provide dusters,
brooms, water, &c., as they best can. They have even had
the modesty to urge the wardens of the churches to supply all
these articles whilst they withhold the funds.
_ _

To their other dirty acts they have added one which, to
meet with the reprobation of all the parishioners, requires
only to be known. Near the termination of the half-year
beginning with January last, they gave notice to the wardens
of St. Paul's that they would not pay a portion of the salary
of the second Minister of that church, which had never been
disputed from the foundation of the church rep to that time—
a period of more than eighty years-. This act is most cruel
and unjust. The sum of which the labourer is time defrauded
in- a great part of this minister's stipend. To'refune payment
foe two quarters past, without any previous- notice—leaving
him to' meet hie engagements as he best can—is a deed which
only a Radical ctul4 perpetrate. It is said: the' two wardens
are hartufess and good-natured sort of mew—if so, their con-
duct only shows to' what persons will stoop, who' have sofa
themselves-to a party-

Trusting. Sir, that youtvrill permit me again. toirespass- on.
your columns; and say a, little• more on the injustice of thii
act of the wardens—at present I would only add',•that these
are the very men who would: form Romish priestrupowthe
Workhouse, and pay them from. the parochial rates.--tretnain;
yours, &c., A''• LOVER OF FAIR PLAY.
Liverpool, Jul 21, 1855:

GOVERNMENT AND THE BEN_E.PIII
BUIXDING SOCIETIES.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

StA—l beg to draw-the'attentioni or those of your readers-
wlioare members of Benefit Building' Societies to the par:-
ticulars-of a second attempt made by: the Government to,
deprive :nsch societies or the exemption, ftom Stamp Duties,
which they have enjoyed for nearly twenty years, on their
internal arrangements alonev-

On, the' t 6th June lawt;- the first attack (in a Friendly
Soeitiee Bill) was defeated in the House- of Lords by the
actit and unremitting exertions -of our /ate representative,
Lord Ravensntorth, aided by the Earl of Derby,. Marquis of
Saiisbury, Earl of Ellesmet-ey Lord Mouteagle, and other
noblemen:

Within tesvdays afterwards: the very clause •rejected by
the Muse •of Lords was introduced into the Howse of
Commons, ins a: Bill relating lie. Stage • Carriages,. zevidently
with the intention, of smugglinivit through Parliament with-
out attracting; the attention of • those interested.; this
manceuvre was-detected both by' our member, ..Thomas B.
}Breen, Esq. 6 and. by William: Seholefield, Escf,„ 3L.P. for
Blintingham ::the latter . divide& the house upon it,. -bat was
defeated by 65 'votes: td 39.

Om .learning this, and in the emergency havingreceived fun
powers from. our Liverpool Benefit Building Sotieties-to. act
inltheir name,' I proceeded to London, and (witilaome assis-
tance from Manchester and other places) mcceeded in
organising a formidable oppositions.
The result was,. that on Monday nighlt 'last, the 18th-inst.,.
when the bill wentinte. committee,,Mr Horsfall succeeded in
expunging .the clause, which wouldi lave deprived.ath such
societies of their exemption from stamp duties. The Claus-
al:dint, of __tha Esaheauer g,,,l;.sep b.
attempted to procuroda adjournment, bat, failing in this). he
was compelled to, withdraw the cl.,ause;, to avoid the< defeat
which he saw was inevitable.

cannot eulogise-Mr. Horsfall's exertions better than by
stating. that, had it not .been for his- perseverance and' influ-
ence-in .procuring_us-additional support,lve could not, have
placed, the Government-in a minority •on the question. I
trust-that the members of our Liverpool. Building Societies
when the opportunity offers, show their appreciation of
valuable services).- hy rendering` their assistance unitedly
towards placing him.at. the head of the poll at our next. gene-
raL whichmay not be far distant.
" Mr. ITorsfall's motion had the abatis* support of
11~r~ .Liddell, Load, Robert Cecil, Lord. John Mannerss:. and
many. others who are, or have been,: connected with our: town:,
including Messrs. Swart and; .J.. Bramley-Moore;: also
'the members for,- South Lancashirei.. South Cheshire,, Sra...—
lours,,respectfully,,

- - _
JOSIMI HOSKING,
Chairman of the General Commiltiee.of the
Liverpool Building Sociest.
Brunswick-street, July 23, 1855.