The Press.
London, England, 1858-06-26 00:00:00

PRESS, JUNE 26, 1858.

publication of simple sanitary rules for the
guidance of the ignorant. But we do earnestly
trust that the adoption of these palliatives will
not lead to neglect of the obvious duty of pro-
viding a permanent remedy. The Thames must
be purified, at whatever cost; and the sooner the
work is done, the cheaper will it be. Every
year's postponement accumulates doubts and
difficulties, whilst increasing the pressure of an
evil already scarce endurable. The expense will
be heavy no doubt; but it must be borne, be it
ten, or even twenty, millions. Nor need we
put off commencing the necessary works till it
has been arranged in detail by whom and in
what proportions the cost shall ultimately be de-
frayed. We do not see why the amended plan
of Dec., 1856, should not be adopted in its lead-
ing features. If the point of outfall requires
some further consideration (though, after all, the
great matter is that it should be far enough to
seaward), that need not prevent the early com-
mencement of the suburban part of the main
drainage. Above all things, we deprecate the
appointment of a new commission on this ques-
tion. It is not merely that it would throw away
the results of so much past labour (though we
should greatly regret the final shelving of the
plan so laboriously matured by the Metropolitan
Board of Works), but that it would hold out so
little substantial hope for the future. Two com-
missions had already been established, and had
successively broken down, before the formation
of the Metropolitan Board in 1855. Have we
any reasonable ground for believing that a third
would he more successful ? If not, why may not
Sir B. lIALL's lathes of last year be now re-
paired? Lord DERBY would acquire an addi-
tional claim on the gratitude of his countrymen
were this long-felt and (we earnestly repeat)
most urgent need for the purifying of our once
beautiful river to be supplied by the energy of a
member of the present Government.

DISSENTLNG GENEROSITY.
Iv is refreshing, amid the general selfishness that
pervades human society, to come now and then
upon an instance of the purest and most unmis-
takeable generosity. It is like a spring of cool
water to the traveller found in the midst of a
sandy desert. It seems to prove that, corrupt as
man is in his nature, there are some few sparks
of genuine goodness left in him, which need only
the conjunction of favouring circumstances to
bring them forth in their pure brightness.
A striking instance of genuine generosity is
presented to our notice in the conduct of our
Dissentins brethren just now in regard to Church-
rates. :No persons hold more thoroughly than
they do the doctrine of the total corruption of
human nature—its being "very far gone from
" original righteousness"—and yet they would
seem to belie it altogether by their practice. So
unselfish are they, so anxious to do a kind thing
for their oppressed neighbours, that they are de-
termined to get Church-rates abolished, nine-
tenths of which Churchmen willingly pay, and
from which they have no desire to be relieved.
Their charity goes beyond the range of recog-
nized ills, for they propose to relieve their fellows
of a burden which is not felt. "An oppressive
law," say they, "exists. It is essentially unjust.
It affects the whole country. It is true that they
that bear the chief pressure of it are insensible to
its weight, and make no complaint ; but it is our
duty, moved by the impulses of a loftier and
more enlightened Christianity than prevails in
the Established Church, to cut the cords which
tie this burden upon the shoulders of our bre-
thren, and to let the oppressed go free."
Let no one spa& or think ill of human nature
after this! Here is noble-minded generosity
We have emancipated the slaves in the West
Indies : in this the Dissenters took a forward
part. We have emancipated the Roman Ca-
tholics from civil disabilities : in this the Dis-
senters were not backward. They now propose
to emancipate us Churchmen from the law of
paying to the support of our own Church, in
order that we may enjoy the Rill blessing, which
they so much prize, of civil and religious liberty.
" Many thanks to you, kind friends," we might
say, "for your generous intentions ; but there is

one question which as Churchmen we should like
first to ask—Where is the justice of all this
We bought our property subject to this impost ;
we paid so much the less for it in consequence of
this drawback. We do not quite like the idea of
having this put into our own pocket. Change
the mode of making or collecting the rate if you
please, but pray do not seek to enrich us at the
price of sacrilege. We have a conscience."
" Conscience ?" we can imagine the Dissenter to
reply, "your conscience is not enlightened. I
conscientiously object to pay a tax of which I
disapprove. I demand its abolition in the name
of civil and religious liberty." "It is a part of
my liberty," the Churchman may answer, "to be
subject to law, as well as to be protected by law
from the encroachments of others."
Dissenters always take great credit to them-
selves for having been forward to help in break-
ing down oppressions. But when they remind
us of the part they took in slave emancipation,
and urge this as a ground for agitating against
the general impost of Church-rates, we may re-
mind them, in our turn, that this was not done
without compensation. And even in regard to
the removal of Roman Catholic disabilities, in
which they also took an active part, the State
thought fit to provide certain securities, that the
Church should not be perilled or injured.
Nothing is more noticeable than the great
advance which the Dissenters have made within
the last few years in political morality. Time
NFU when they, in the persons of their fore-
fathers, not only thought it the duty of the
State to provide for the upholding of a National
Church, but denounced as wrong-doers all who
refused to pay its legal demands. And this they
did as a matter of conscience, on the ground in-
sisted on by the Apostle :—" Ye must needs be
" subject not only for wrath, but also for con-
"science sake. For for this cause pay ye tribute
" also render therefore to all their dues: tribute
"to whom tribute is due: custum to whom
"custom," &c.
The plea of "conscience " for the course they
are now pursuing, is about one of the most
absurd and self-condemnatory pleas they could
possibly urge. For by urging this they are con-
demning thi very founders of their own several
sects. Had they no conscience, or were they,
poor men, in Egyptian darkness? They certainly
recognized no such principles in regard to the
State Church as those which Dissenters now
advocate. Whence, then, comes this new light ?
It will not be difficult to show, we think, that
it comes from the region of essential darkness,
and is itself only darkness under the name of
light. Dissent, in the slumberous days of the
Established Church, has made great advances
within the last half-century among the po-
pulation. It has begun of late years to lift up
its head, and to put on an imposing aspect, in the
form of new chapels, almost rivalling our parish
churches in their architectural grandeur. With
this change in the outward and visible form of
their profession, Dissenters have grown proud
and jealous. As envy affects only those whose
pretensions are nearly equal, they cannot endure
any longer to see one Church in the country en-
joying immunities and distinctions from which
others are excluded. To reach the social elevation
of the Established Church, while it continues to
be the Church exclusively patronized by the
State, they see to be hopeless. To get on the
same level, the only way is to bring the Estab-
lished Church down. They must disconnect it
altogether from the State. This is not the sus-
pected—it is the avowed object of anti-Church-
rate agitation. This is but a beginning to an
end; and that end is the overthrow of the Es-
tablished Church, in order to bring it down to
the vulgar level of Dissent.
It is vain to argue with men in a passion, or we
should be disposed to argue with Dissenters on the
dangers to themselves of the course they are now
pursuing. In order to level, some certainly must
be brought lower but to bring others lower is
not really to elevate ourselves,. Neither is it the
way to secure greater , Anection. To hew down
the lofty wide-spreading tree that casts its ample
shade over all the smaller trees and shruba and
protects them from storms,is
than
to moregiliikeeltyhemto
crush them to the ground
gbyreattheermeselelretNionb.ut Soasnatchet;rin gs ea
are
protected
others. This we verily believe to be the case
with the Dissenting bodies, as antagonistic to the
nnotstabny d'

T

gigantic power of the Church of Rome. No-
thing but our Established Protestant Church
can ever present a sufficient bar in this country
to the advances of that colossal system. Over
throw the Established Church, and Popery has a
clear field. At least, the petty obstacles of dis-
senting sects would no more impede its progress
than the bushes in a country the march of a
victorious army.
Dissent owes much more indirectly to the Es-
tablished Church than it is willing to acknow-
ledge. Possessing, as the Established Church
does, a highly-educated and independent clergy,
she obliges by her example even Schism to be
comparatively learned and decorous, while she
forces even Superstition to be comparatively
tolerant and pure. Her ministry is open to the
sons of Dissenters as much as to others, and the
more talented and respectable of them are con-
tinually being drafted into her ranks. To at-
tempt, therefore, to deprive her of her dignity is
only to cut off the head of every one among
themselves who is a head taller than his fellows,
and to dwarf the whole population. This Re-
publican spirit may pollard the nation, but it cer-
tainly will not improve its appearance. It would
give it only the frightful uniformity of a forest
of firs.

But it is on public rather than on private
grounds that we would argue in favour of the pre-
scriptive mode of upholding the Established
Church by a general rate levied from the whole
people ; or rather, in favour of this as the only
safe means of upholding a National Church at all.
A National Church is a general blessing. It pro •
ides spiritual instruction and comfort for the
two classes that most require it, and who either
cannot or will not receive it elsewhere—the igno-
rant poor and the miserable great. By having
an independent clergy, who are neither slaves to
the populace nor stipendiaries of the State, it be-
comes the great safeguard of liberty. But this
it can continue to be only by the fixed nature of
its property—from its enjoying the protection of
law. Once throw it upon the Voluntary prin-
ciple for its support, and it loses some of its best
and most salutary elements. The conclusion we
arrive at then is, that it would be as foolish as it
would be impolitic
_ to trust the great religious
interests of the nation, as a whole, to that to
which we trust no part of our civil, or military,
or public service—that is, to the fickle and pre-
canons contributions of individuals.