The Sun.
London, England, 1854-01-11 00:00:00

[ RICE SD•

much hesitation in reducing even this amount by fully one-
third. Yet these are the peoplo who must needs possess
themselves of an ecclesiastical hierarchy, with territorial
titles appointed by a foreign sovereign to governments
within this realm !

In striking contrast to such proceedings are the transac-
tions of the other congregations to which we referred at
the opening of these remarks. The Papists, with their
handful of followers, have done their best, to frighten the
whole State from its propriety ; the " Brethren," and the
" Irvingites," are scarcely, perhaps, known by name, and
still less comprehended in reality. Yet there is something
to he said for both these sects. The great principle recog-
nised by the " Brethren" is the true unity of all Christian
believers, and, while they exact a lively belief rather than
a formal profession as a condition of membership, they re-
ject all sectarian tests of doctrine or discipline. They
think that the Established Church, for instance, is too lax
in its regulations, as including in its body and receiving
into the most solemn acts of worship all the population of
a particular district or territory, without inquiry into
their personal faith. On the other hand, they hold that
Dissenting communities, by insisting on conformity in cer-
tain small particulars, exclude many Christians essentially
as good as themselves, and thus destroy the unity of
Christ's Church. They consider, in short, that all be-
lievers in Christ, that is to say, all persons professing those
vital truths by which Christianity is distinguished from
unbelief, should form one body, without distinction ; that
there should in this respect be only two classes of people—
Christians and non-Christians; and that the division of
Christians into sects among themselves is absolutely
wrong. It is for these reasons that they have abstained
from appropriating any peculiar denomination. They will
not allow that they are a sect, but call themselves
simply Christians, and as Christians, " Brethren.'
There is some speciousness in this argument, but
we wonder it has not occurred to the Brethren that
the unity which they make their chief object is cer-
tainly better represented in the English Church than in
their own congregations ; that the sole fault which
they impute to this body—that of indulgence—is a fault
on the liberal side, and that it is hard to decide who isnot
a Christian among those who perform a Christian's outward
duties. The number of chapels frequented by the bre-
thren was returned as 132, but this is considered to be
below the mark.

The "Irvingites" constitute in many respects a more re-
markable community ;. indeed, from the public poiition
held by one of their chief authorities, and the splendid
church which they have erected in the metropolis, • they
have acquired considerable repute. We use the term " Ir-
vingites," as conveying most directly the general informa-
tion which the reader would desire, but the congregations
themselves repudiate this designation, and with reason,
too. They call themselves the " Catholic and Apostolic
Church," not as claiming this title exclusilvey, but as re-
fusing to be called by any other, inasmuch as they espe-
cially profess to be Christians according to the Catholic
and Apostolic standard. It was at the commencement of
the present century, when the public mind had been con-
vulsed from its uttermost depths by the tremendous events
of the French Revolution, that some persons recognised in
these scenes the fulfilment of the saered prophecies denot-
ing the final epoch of the world. As a necessary incident
of this epoch they looked for the revival of miraculous
powers—for acts of healing and prophecy, and other super-
natural works. These expectations were thought to be sa-
tisfied by the " unknown tongues," in connexion with
which Mr. Irving's name will be remembered, and ulti-
mately "prophets" were recognised as a regular order in
the new congregations. Prophets designate "apostles,"
and apostles ordain. to the ministry chief pastors, or
"angels," in .accordance with prophetic nominination.
Generally speaking, the tenets of this community may he de-
scribed as those of the ancient Catholic Church, many of
whose ceremonies and usages they have restored. They di fror
f.om other Christian Churches chiefly in their reco,bmi•
tion of those supernatural gifts elsewhere thought to
be suspended—which gifts, together with the prophetic
and apostolic ministries, they consider necessary for pre-
paring for the second advent. They numbered at the last
census about 6,000 souls, and were said to be on the in-
crease. The members dedicate to the service of the church
a tenth part of their whole incomes of every description.
Such is " the Catholic and Apostolic Church"—a com-
munity whose claims would seem to admit of an immediate
and unimpeachable test. If their miraculous endowments
are real their views acquire Divine confirmation ; if not,
the only alleged distinction between themselves and others
vanishes at once.

I ( Front the Morning Chronicle.) .
It will be remembered that, when the arrangements
were being made for the census of 1851, the Government
thought it desirable that advantage should be taken of the
opportunity for obtaining returns relative to the amount
of accommodation for religious worship provided by diffie-
rent communities, the' number of attendants, and other
particulars of a similar. nature. To the fertile imagination
of Lord Derby this innovation appeared pregnant with
evils of the direst character. The proposed inquiries were
"most inquisitorial and vexatious, and not at all war-
ranted by the statute ;" and, moreover, " an invidious dis-
tinction would be drawn "between Churchmen and Dis-
senters—inasmuch as the former were interrogated as to
their free sittings, while the latter were called upon only
for the area of standing room supplied by their chapels.
We have, however, great cause to rejoice that, in defiance
of the remonstrances urged by this zealous champion of the
Church, a precedent, in his opinion " most dangerous,"
has been established ; for the result has been to furnish us
with a volume which may, without any exaggeration, be
styled one of the most valuable contributions ever ade
'to the ecclesiastical annals perhaps we might say
the ecclesiastical history—of this country. Tho high-
est praise is unquestionably due to Mr. Horace Mann,
under whose able superintendence the vast mass of ma-
terials collected has been condensed into very moderate
dimensions; and he has prefixed to the returns a report
containing most useful information, not only as to the sta-
tistics of different denominations, but also, in many cases,
as to their distinctive peculiarities of doctrine, discipline,
or ceremonial. We have, in fact, a sketch of the Chris-
tian world, so far as its various divisions are to be found in
our own island, drawn by a competent and impartial hand,
and presented to us in a highly convenient form.
We shall best do justice to the subject by noticing first
the conclusion of the report, which states very briefly the
" prominent facts elicited by the whole inquiry." It ap-
pears that there are, in the whole, 1,644,734 inhabitants of
England, who, " if all who might attend religious services
were willing to attend," would not be able, on account of
insufficient accommodation, to join in public worship; and
the deficiency is, as might have been expected, found al-
most exclusively in towns, especially in large towns. In
order to provide sittings for this large number of persons,
the erection of about 2,000 new churches or chapels would
be necessary; and even then the provision would not be
sufficient without additional services. Of those able to
attend, and for whom accommodation at present exists, at
least once on the Sunday, it is estimated that five millions
and a quarter are, on the average, absent through the whole
day; and the able compiler naturally treats this melancholy
fact as a conclusive proof that a mere addition to the num-
ber of religious buildings would afford but a partial remedy
for the evil. . "The greatest difficulty," he says, "is to fill
the churches when provided, and this can only be accom-
plished by a great addition to the number of efficient ear-
nest religious teachers, clerical or lay, by whose persua-
sions the reluctant population might, be won." As the
figures above given, are founded, to a certain extent, on
calculation, and not on actual returns, it may be well to
show the process by which they have been obtained from
the data furnished ; and we shall here find it convenient
to deal only with round numbers—referring to the report
it elf for more exact statements.
The total population- of England, on the 30th of March,
1851, was eighteen millions ; and the actual Sunday at-
tendances were, in the morning, four and a half millions—
in the afternoon, three millions—and very nearly as many
in the evening. From the total population we may, in the
first place, deduct one-sixth for children under five years
of age. Next, as sickness or infirmity is usually estimated
as incapaciting 5 per cent. of the population for active
duties—and as " the degree of indisposition which usually
detains a prudent person from church or chapel is much
slighter than that contemplated in this calculation"— we
shall probably not err in striking off an additional million
under this head. The care of inhabited houses, of which
there are three millions, may account 'for an equal deduc-
tion from the number of those able to attend a religious
service at any one time • and lastly, a less definite allow-
ance must be made for those employed in connection with
various public couveyauces. Taking all these matters into
account, it may be assumed that about ten millions and a
half of individuals—or 58 per cent, of the entire community
—ought to be able to attend Divine service at a given hour
on the Sunday. If, therefore, only ono service were per-
formed in each religious edifice, we should at once know
the numbea of those who were, without sufficient cause,
entirely absent on the day of enumeration ; and we should
at the same time be able to judge of the accommodation
which ought to be provided. On both these points, how-
ever, the double or even treble services now used in our
own communion and in others, introduce some complica-
tion. First, as teethe actual fact—by what mode can wo
determine how many of the four millions and a half who
attended in the morning, again resorted to their place of
worship in the evening? All we positively know is ,ti t
the whole number present at any service must lie some-
where between the maximum attendance at any one ser-
vice and the aggregate attendance at all—thatis to say.
between 4i and nearly n millions. Perhaps we shall not
greatly err by taking the mean, and assuming that more
than 7,000,000 were present during some part of the day ;
and if we estimate at 70 per cent. of .the population the
total number able to be present at one hour or another, we
shall arrive at the conclusion before stated, viz., that five
this m yamillions who ought to have •been present
werewholly
ab-
sent. It is unnecessary to. observe that,
although
be the aggregate of non-attendance on any particular Sun-
day, it by no means follows that the aggregate is always,
or ordinarily composed of the same individuals ; but we
,
have not, and aro not likely to have, any data from which
the number of habitual or constant neglecters of public
worship can be determined.
In the next place, before we can judge as to the extent
of accommodation required, some opinion must be formed
as to the frequency of attendance desirable in each indivi-
dual case ; for it is obvious that a church calculated to hold
1,000 persons would sufficiently accommodate a district
containing 3,000 who ought to attend, if there were three
services, and if each made a rule of being present at one
service only. It will probably be safest to conclude, with
the able author of the repert, that there ought to be room
for all the population capable of attending at any one time
—that is to say, for about ten millions and a quarter; and
perhaps some readers may be surprised to find that, if re-
liance can be placed on the returns, we have already,
within a trifle, the amount required—the actual aggregate
returned being 10,212,563. If, therefore, the deficiencies
of one district could be supplied from the superfluities of
another, no grefit exertion would be required in order to
afford each individual the opportunity of attending some
religious service, supposing him willing to accept accom-
modation from Quaker, Jew, or Mormonite, as might be
most convenient. But although, as we are informed in an
early page of the report, "the Rev. Daniel Rowlands had
such a reputation that persons have been known to come
one hundred miles to hear him preach," the " prudent per-
sons" already-spoken of usually confine their Sabbath-day's
journeys within more reasonable liMits, and it is well
that they should. In this point of view, the comparison
between rural and urban districts, with which the Report
furnishes us, becomes of the greatest itaportance. Of th '
former, there are a considerable number in which th
whole population might find ample accommodation at eve
ri