The Sun.
London, England, 1840-05-19 00:00:00

!:VEN-ING EDITION.

THE PRAYER BOOK OPPOSED TO
THE CORN-LAWS; OR, WHO ARE THE
NON-CONFORMISTS. BY THE REV. THO-
MAS SPENCER, M.A.

It has been asserted by a Bishop, in a recent cor-
respondence with one of his clergy, that it there be
any portion of the services of the Church which a
clergyman cannot conscientiously read, that clergyman
is bound in honour to give up his preferment. Let this
teat be applied to those who support the present Core-
laws, and thousands of Non-conformistmaust leave the
Church. The object of the Corn-laws is to keep up
the price of bread. The owner of land declares that
high prices are necessary, in order to enable the farmer
to pay his rent. The owner of tithes declares that high
prices are necessary, in order to keep up the value of
Church property. But what says the Book of Com-
mon Prayer? 1. The minister, in the name of the
congregation, prays, " Give us this day our daily
bread." The Church Catechism explains that, by the
terms " Give us," are to be understood, " to m© and
to all people ;" and that by " daily bread," we under-
stand " all things that be needful for our souls and bo-
dies." In many parishes the poor cannot get bread to
eat ; and in most parishes they have not as much as is
needful for their bodies. There might be twice the
quantity purchased for the money now spent in bread,
if Parliament would permit the importation of foreign
wheat ; and yet the minister who offers this prayer,
petitions Parliament not to allow this importation. He
asks of God one thing, and of Parliament he asks the
very opposite. 2. In the Litany he prays, " That it
may please thee to give and preserve to our use the
kindly fruits of the earth, so as in due time we may
enjoy these ;'' and yet by those Corn-laws the kindly
fruits of the earth are locked up in bond to prevent
men from enjoying them ; and, instead of being pre-
served for our use, have frequently been spoiled or
thrown into the Thames to escape the warehouse
charger. 3. For a season of scarcity—that is, when,
as at present, bread is at so high a price as to prevent
the poor from obtaining a sufficient supply, the prayer-
book contains the following prayer, " 0 God, heavenly
father, whose gift it is that the rain doth fall, the
earth is fruitful, beasts increase, and fishes do mul-
tiply, behold, we beseech thee, the afflictions of
thy people, and grant that the scarcity and dearth,
which we do now most justly suffer for our ini-
quit's, may, through thy goodness, be mercifully
turned into CHEAPNESS and PLENTY." 4. When to
the hungry inhabitants of Samaria the prophet Elisha
predicted a speedy change from scarcity to plenty, " a
lord, on whose hand the king leaned, answered the man
of God and said, Behold, if the Lord would make win-
dows in heaven might this thing be. And he said,
Thou shalt see it with thine eyes, but shalt not eat
thereof." And when the abundant supply was brought
in from the tents of the Syrians, " so it fell out unto
him : for the people trade upon him in the gate, and he
died." To this event allusion is made in the following
prayer : " 0 God, merciful father, who in the time of
Elisha the prophet, didst suddenly, in Samaria, turn
great scarcity and dearth into PLENTY and CHEAPNESS,
have mercy upon us, that we, who are now for our sins
punished with like adversity, may likewise find a season-
able relief." There is a similar seasonable relief in the
present instance ; will the Clergy ask that divine Pro-
vidence shall find a supply, and not use the means to
obtain it ? Will they use the means to prevent it ? 5.
When also there is abundance of food in the country, the
landowner and the tithe-owner complain of the ruinously
low plates, whilst, at the same time, the Church, of which
the tithe-owner is the ordained minister, has inserted
in the prayer-book a form of thanksgiving, " for having
turned our dearth and scarcity into cheapness and
plenty." The Rev. Mr. Head was censured by the
Bishop of Exeter for holding sentiments not in accord-
ance with the prayer book. A clergyman has been
recently travelling through Cornwall, addressing public
meetings in favour of the Corn-laws, and defending dear
bread as essential to the agricultural interest and to the
clergy. Ought not the same Bishop, in whose diocese
Cornwall is situated, to require this clergyman to recon-
cile his conduct with the prayers and thanksgivings of
the Church ? 6. The prayer-book sets forth, as the
principle of action, the consideration of the wants and
wishes, the feelings and the prosperity of others. It
says—" My duty towards my neighbour is to lore him
as myself ; and to do unto all men as I would they
should do unto me." But when his neighbour, the
manufacturer, or the merchant, asks for leave to pursue
his honest trade, and give food and employment to °pe-
rceives at home, and clothing and employment to
labourers abroad, the clergyman says,—" It is
for the selfish purpose of money-getting ; and thus
to comply with your wishes would involve the
ruin of the Establishment." 'I he clergyman has a
neighbour receiving nine shillings a week, with which
to support himself a wife, and five young children.
The whole saes is required for bread and potatoes,
leaving nothing for rent, fuel, clothing, or the education
of his children ; whereas, if he might buy food of the
foreign grower, he would have two or three shillings a
week to spare for these purposes. In this case, what is
tile meaning of the words, which the minister teaches
his neighbour's children, "to do unto all men as I would
they. should do unto me ?" This, perhaps, may be ap-
plied by the clergy to their rich neighbour ; and where
there are conflicting interests, certainly there must be a
choice between the two. 7. Of their Master they read,
in the evening service, " He bath filled the hungry with
good things, but the rich he heth sent empty away ;"
eut they hale chosen to defend the cause of the wealthy.
Ds. Adam Smith, in his " Wealth of Nations," says,
"Toe clergy naturally endeavour to recommend them-
selves to the sovereign, to the court, and to the nobi-
lity and gentry of the country, by whose influence they
expect to obtain preferment ;" and he adds, " they are
very apt to neglect altogether the means of maintaining ,
their influence and authority sk ith the lower ranks."
Whereas, the Christian is told to " mind not high things,
but condescend to men of low estate :" and, as a
preacher, his commission expressly states that be
is "to preach the Gospel to the poor." Will the poor
receive the laws of God from him who supports the
Corn-laws ? Will they look for spiritual food to him who
kreps back part of their daily bread? The founder of
our religion was himself poor, and he dwelt among the
poor. He commended to the especial regard of his fol-
lowers the interests of those who were too poor to make
any return. He pronounced the good Samaritan to be
the best of neighbours, because he undertook the cause
of the man who fell among thieves ; and his words to
his followers are—" Go and do likewise." 8- Such ought
to he the chief care of Christians now, if the langu.ige
of the homilies of the Church be regwded, rather than
ti:e interests of ecclesiastical persons. The language of
cnc of then.) is very striking—" In relieving their hunger,
ye relieved mine ; in quenching their thirst, ye quenched
nape is clothing them ye clothed me ; and when ye
leeriest:sled' them ye lodged me also ; when ye visited
them, being sick, or in prison, )e visited me. For as
lie that receiveth a prince's ambassadors, and en-
te rtaineth them well, doth honour the prince
- from whom those ambassadors do come ; so he
that receiveth the poor and needy, and helpeth
them in their affliction and distress, doth hereby
receive and honour Christ their master, who, as he
was poor and needy hitnscif whilst he lived here
amongst as to work the mystery of our salvation, so at his
departure hence, he promised in his stead to send unto
us those that were poor, b;' whose means his absence
should be supplied ; and, therefore, that which we
would do unto him, we must do unto them." 9. In
the communion service the Church enjoins the com-
municant " to be in perfect charity with all men."
Commercial intercourse promotes charity among na-
tiohs, whereas commercial restrictions, with their pre-
ventive soldiers, partake of the nature of war. Abun-
dance of work and of food promotes charity at home,
whereas want of employment and dear bread cause
discontent. The foreign merchant has a ship laden
with wheat, and he wishes to take back clothing in ex-
change ; the English merchant has a warehouse full of
clothing, and he wants food for his operatives • the
landlord forbids the exchange ; the Church has
suffi-
cient influence to be a peace-maker, and to persuede
rn
tale unjust
landlord to forego his
elpaairmtises;, abhudt this
g
would promote charity among the
Church joins with the landlord, beats the drum ecclesi-
astic, trumpets to the world that there is danger to
religion, and thus arc bitter enmity and strife produced.
10. If the desire of ministers of religion were
to execute the commission to "go into all the
everyfor crea-
ture," and preach the Gospel to
they would advocate free trade ;
ships go, missionaries may go, and bibles may be wsehnetre,
but unfortunately the character of the evangelist is
merged in that of tithe-owner, and appeals of that na-
ture are useless. Nothing moves the man whose self is
his god, but an appeal to his fears. The Corn-laws, it
is true, protect the wealth that is deposited in the eccle-
siastical treasury ; but they provoke an impoverished
people to place a powder magazine near that treasury,
and when it ie too late it will be found that the determi-
nation to keep all has caused the loss of all.

There is more danger from the Corn-laws than from
the self-adjusting system of free trade. There is a ge-
neral feeling of discontent amongst the industrious
classes ; and although the folly of physical force has
brought the Chartist agitation into disrepute, yet a
better agitation will soon rise in its place, and by moral
mesas accomplish the overthrow of every unjust mono
poly. Already the question is openly discussed, before
intelligent audiences, whether the Established Church
is useful or injurious—already have able writers be-
gun to solve the problem—What is to be done with
ecclesiastical property ? Already is it suggested to
apply it to the purposes of national education, or towards
the liquidation of the national debt. Already are men
of a prophetic turn describing the Episcopal Church that
shall take its station among the religious denominations
of England, similar to the Episcopal Church of the
United States. Anothor bad harvest would probably
bring the affairs of our country to a crisis ; we cannot
much longer pay gold for wheat ; and when a com-
mercial panic or a monetary embarrassment arrives,
then will the clergy learn that there are dense masses of
people in oar manufacturing districts that are unem-
ployed, hungry, desponding, and that will ultimately
become desperate A letter lately received by the