The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1866-11-27 00:00:00

thing at stake. Therefore it followed that he we. not
only entitled to know what was going on, but it we.
most highly for the interest of all that the working man
ahould intelligently and rationally enter into these mat-
ters. He longed to see the day when the working men
of this *mute, would no read and think for themselves
that they should not be misgnilled by those who wore 1
seeking to be mob kinv, and then whey would examine I
for themselves the mein!, pelt I religious 1
questions of the day. He believed this would strengthen 1
the constitution of the esuntry, and many abuees would
, be swept away which they were now attempting to
grapple with and to remove There was another
important point. Men engaged long in manual labour
needed mere than others mental recreation, The studeot
was glad after long study to throw seide his books for
a time end dig in his garden, and the man who was
engaged in manual labour in the country would derive
not only great pleasure, but especial benefit, from
mental exemim. No doubt the great diflioulty we with
reepect to time. The man who left his work at six
eol.ck would not heye • great amount of time for read-
ing, and it was difficult to acquire a taste for study
tinder such circumstances. This consideration, there-
fore, must guide them in the selection of the library for
the reading-room, taking care to chrome books where the
information was presented in as condensed a form as
possible. They could also meet the difficulty by a good
selection of lecture., and he trusted they might be able
to getup a really interesting series of profitable lectures
on the manufactures and products of this country, on
geography, history. science, or social and prsotic .1
matters. He believed they might, by these means,
Increase the taste for reading smote working men, and
convey by half an hour's lecture to him, as much matter
as he could obtain by reading for several hours. lie
hoped to find many amongst the labouring men them•
selves who would come forward and help in this matter,
as some of the best lectures delivered in the large towns
were by working men themselves. A knowledge
of this might perhaps stimulate the younger
men to come forward as lecturers. Another
point was this, We lire in • day when we are
booed to find for each other wholmorne mental food,
because there is much poirion circulated at the present
time. There were eighteen publications of unsetiona
fiction, illustrated with pictures of the worst side of
human nature—philtere, that they ought all to loathe
and sicken at He had lately seen a statement that of
275 criminal. 215 had been students of such bietories as
Jack Shepperd, Turpin, and publications of that
eharsoter. He feared the tuts for this mart of literature
was spreading, especially among the navvies on many
of our railway lines, where the circulation of such
literature was perfectly prodigious. How important
then it was to supply themselves with pure literature,
calculated to improve their minds. With respect to
' infidel publications, he did not fear any attacks on the
Bible would sweep away God's word ; but they made
I shipwreck of man'. faith. He remembered seeing
frontispiece in Wickliffe'. old Bible, in which there was
• fire representing Protestant Christianity, and certain
interesting personages, such as his Satanic Majesty, the
Pope and his Cardinals, Mehemet, and infidelity, were
trying to extinguish the fire, and their cheeks were
puffed up by their efforts to blow it out ; but they might
blow on till the end of time, for the Bible was • God-
, enkindled flame that could never be extinguiskei. He
urged on the working classes to take an intelligent
interest in the Protestantism of the country,
and to feel that the purity of the gospel and
religion were things for which they ought to
contend, and in which they were deeply interested.
He looked to this reading-room to be the
centre of many useful things. He would like it to be
emaciated with a club for the working class and •
temperance society, Ice. He wished it above all to be
the means of increasing and reciprocating kindness be-
tween all chimes of seciety. He wished to see them
welded together in a compact. truth•loving, God-fairing
union. Selfishness was the great enemy they had to
fight against in all elms... Selfishness was the curse of
man in his fallen state, and it was more a curse where
men dwelt together in large masses. Travellers in the
vast forests of Brazil had mentioned the painful im-
pression they felt when eontemplatiog the restleseneas
and emulation, as it were, of the vegetation, every
tree and plant seeming to struggle for pre-eminence
and to out-do its fellow. Amoog the thousands of
parasitic plants, there was one called the "Murderer,"
whioh sprang up at the root of a tree, and entwined
its branches around, it so firmly as to stop the flow of
sap; the tree decayed, and after awhile both tree and
parasite fell together. Just such • painful feeling as
that experienced by the traveller in the tangled
forests of Fruit must be felt by the intelligent person
when he looks upon the mass of English society and the
ropulation of our large towns. There was the same
selfish struggle for existence, and life seemed stifling ,
life. A thoneand parasitic plants fastened upon the
bodies and souls of their human victims. How many
were there in this country who seemed to live for a time 1
on the rice, of the people, and then they fell into decay,
and from their ranks another rank of tempters sprang
up. The appearance of our English society to a (emu]
observer wu very beautiful. We bout ourselves very
much as a people; but we have less cause to be proud
than any other people. Think of a million and a quarter
of people who would be perishing but for parish relief ;
think also of our enormous taxation. and the enormous
amount spent in drink; think of the number who live
without religion—a malices who never eater • church!
There may be beauty spread on the surface; but there
was beneath a fearful amount of sin and misery. It
was wel they should look to these things, and, like their
Master who beheld the city and wept, they should
moralise upon the deceitful beauty spread like a thin
leaf of gold upon the surface of society. There was no
dire necessity, 'there was no stern law of God, that the
muses of our population should only haste° to decay.
He believed, by God's blessing, the vigour of life might
take the plue of decay; and, if our country had become
like the tangled tropical foments, it was because they
had not planted in the midst of it the Tree ef Life, the
leave* of which are for the healing of the nations. In
conclusion he asked the co-operation of his hearers
for the Working Men's Association. —After a few
words from the Rev. A. Davidson the proms ugs
terminated.