The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-10-09 00:00:00

THE

tiberpoot fitanbarb 4

TUESDAY, OCTOBER 9, 1855.

THE LATE VEN. ARCHDEACON BROOKS

A great and good man---great, because good---has
just been removed from among us ; and the funeral
procession, which accompanied his remains on Thurs-
day last to their final resting-place, bore ample witness
to the fact, that his character was duly estimated by
the people of Liverpool. For this purpose, indeed,
the demonstration, though convincing, was unneces-
sary, inasmuch as it had long been notorious that he
was both respected and beloved, we think we may
venture to say, universally so ; for, assuredly, we never
yet met the man who had not a good word to say of
'him. Few, we imagine, have ever lived so long in
one place, in positions of trust and authority, without
exciting some enmities by pursuing the line of duty,
or else meriting contempt and condemnation by
neglecting it : and we consider, that no higher praise
can be awarded to our late Archdeacon than by say-
ing, that he did his duty and yet all men loved him.
Those who knew him, or were brought into contact
with him, loved him upon their own knowledge ; and
those who knew him not, yet loved him upon the
report of others. Full of years and of honours has he
departed hence ; and though we repeat, that such a
demonstration as that of Thursday last was unneces-
sary for the purpose of proving the esteem in which
he was held, yet we rejoiced to see it for the credit's
sake of our fellow-townsmen generally. We would,
however, venture to express a confident hope that
-something more lasting and substantial will follow,
and that the people of Liverpool will not be content to
mark their love and respect for their late Rector, only
by folloiving him to the grave. The days of mural
monuments and marble tablets are, we would fain
hope, gone by. A past age has done more than
enough in this line, and has more than suffi-

ciently disfigured and dilapidated some of the fines'

- ecclesiastical structures in the kingdom. Long eulo-
gistic inscriptions surrounded by abnormal cherubim,
or, worse still, by heathen symbols—weeping cupids,
inverted torches, and the like---are simply abomina-

tions : atOwe need hardly say, it is by no monumen

of such character that we would see the late Rector's
virtues commemorated. Of late a custom has been
_growing up of inserting memorial windows in our

churches ; and Something of the kind may probably
be suggested in the present case. The painted window
is, undoubtedly, an immeasurable improvement upon
-the monumental system of our grandfathers, and in
many instances altogether unobjectionable. But, for
several reasons, we would not wish to see it adopted
just at present. In the first place, there is scarcely a
church in the town worthy to receive such a window ;
and least of all the parish church : and, secondly, its
cost, however beautiful, would be but a fraction of the
sum which would be forthcoming as soon as an appeal
should have been made to the public. Now, Church-
extension was one of the objects in which the late Rec-
tor took a deep interest---one of the many good works
which he busied himself in promoting. We well
recollect the appeal which he circulated, not very long
ago, for a new church in Vauxhall district, and how
he alluded to his own long connexion with the parish
of Liverpool, the probability of his removal at no dis-
tant day, and the comfort it would be to him to know
that that destitute portion of his flock were provided
with the means of grace. How, then, could the people
of Liverpool better or more appropriately record their
. love and respect for him, whose loss they mourn, than
by the erection of a church to his memory. The
thing would not be without precedent ; for, to mention
no other example, the good Bishop RYDEE'S memory is
perpetuated by a church in Birmingham, the most
populous town in his diocese. It has already been
proposed to rebuild the Parish Church upon its
present site, in such style as would fit it for the Cathedral
of a future Diocese ; but, though no mere utilitarians,
we confess that in a place situated as Liverpool is with
regard to church accommodation, we would rather see
an additional new church provided, than an old one
rebuilt : and we feel sure that no difficulty would be
found in raising funds for such a purpose, if the thing
were once fairly taken in hand. Not only Liverpool,
but the Archdeaconry, might be fairly expected to
contribute funds for such a purpose, and would do so
liberally.

The only shadow of reason for objecting to this
method of honouring our late Rector's memory is,
that the existing churches are not fully occupied. The
truth of this assertion we admit—they are not fully
oeqpied. Nay, more, we are not inclined to dispute
any of the figures connected with this point, which
appeared in one of our contemporaries on Friday week.
Indeed, we have not the means of doing so. The
number which is given of attendants at our churches
appears incredibly small, and may be incorrect ; we
cannot tell : but we are sure of this, that however
much room there may be unoccupied in those which
already exist, more are wanted. In the first place, it
is a well known fact that anew church soon collects a
congregation as large upon the average as that which
is found at'any other in the neighbourhood ; and yet
the numbers attending elsewhere are not sensibly
affected. Even granting, then, that the new church
is never above half filled, still that half is a clear gain.
'But secondly, we are convinced that the main cause of
churches presenting so many empty benches is the
system of appropriated seats, and seat-rents. Deduct
from the whole number of professed church-people
those who cannot afford to pay, and those who, though
not without all regard for religion, have not sufficient
regard to induce them to do so, and we shall have
comparatively few left : and yet these few will suffice,
if 'not more than suffice, to preoccupy all the rented
accommodation which our churches afford. The great
bulk of the people will be unprovided for ; and even
those who have some sense of religion will gradu-
ally relinquish their attendance at public worship,
because they are made to feel, upon every occasion
when they do attend, that they have no right there--
- that they are intruders. We would therefore suggest,
not merely'the building of a church in memory of our-
late Rector, but, that the church should be free and
unappropriated in every portion of it, for ever. Such
a church, with shorter and more frequent services,
would, we are.convinced, be well attended. The only
part of the statistical account to which we have alluded,
which can be considered at all satisfactory to the
parties concerned, is that which refers to the Roman
Catholies. The number of those who attend their
places of worship. is proportionally larger than of those
who attend at the churches, or at any of the various
meeting-houses in Liverpool : and they, be it remem-
bered, have frequent and short services, and free
accommodation for all. " Fas est et ab hoste doceri."
'lf they succeed in obtaining the attendance of their
people, let us, in default of any better plan, try theirs ;
and with God's blessing we shall not only succeed as
well in Point of numbers as they do, but infinitely
better with regard to the effects produced.

.
'TIBB IN A }RgNCH Puts° --The
i cause of the great fire
which broke out in the Penitentiary off, Poises;the other day,
and which probably would haven ll:erer
to the
had it occurred
night during the time, is attributed n
nation of a convict, 22 years
of
zpa , and
risonment
fortnight before, to undergo elevaegne,y,e.athrshoe, hadi only arrived a
criminal determi.
rc
establish-
ment
It appears who is said to have boasted to the very
ge
him in custody that he would rather set fire tor tTise who had
than stay there so long. that this young,
man watched his opportunity at breakfast time, and managed-
to throw some lighted matches on a heap of shavings the
joiner's shop, which, together with all the wards of the upper
story, the brush and shoemakers' rooms, and 150 beds, became
a prey to the flames. No lives were lost, but one of the pri-
soners nearly lost his -eyesight, and two soldiers were badly
burned. Only one of the prisoners attempted to escape
.during the fire, but was stopped in time ; the others laboured
manfully to get the fire under. According to the latest
accounts, the incendiary has •confessed his crime.—Paris
Paper.