The Sun.
London, England, 1841-08-16 00:00:00

ADDRESS TO ENGLISH

The c, of ;_': .H 771, Sidmouth are at
hanti. Tl;feringF ' 7 We for
bread;--,..1.!3 give us stone
Prance, Prussia, even Spain have freed themselves
from the crushing load of an enormous Church Estab-
lishment. We alone are Church crushed. Other nations
have found in the useless wealth of the Church means
for lightening the public burdens. All the children of
the working classes of England might have an education
equal to that of Prussia placed within _their' reach with
that wealth which now maintains in splendour the ene-
mies of the people. The Bishops and Deans have been
fighting for this wealth, and the Deans had 'the worst of
it. Why cannot the clergymen be governed as the army
is, by one commander-in-chief, with an office in London ?
The sum thus gained for the real improvement of the
people is incalculable from its great amount.
Let us look at these prelates. See them in the court
of George the-Fourth, wearing their mitres where John
the Baptist could not wear his head. Look at them in
the senate, arranged against the rights and liberties of
the people. The length of their lives averages three
times that of a Sheffield grinder. The Bishop has nothing
to trouble him. He has secure enjoyment of his palace,
and his park, plate and paintings, the title of a Peer, and
the income of a Prince. One dies at last—he has cleared
two hundred and forty thousand pounds. Another lives,
brother to the Marquis of Ely,—seldom to be found in
his (,diocese, but enjoying his sinecure of ten thousand
n-year in Ireland, where the peasant digs from sunrise to
sunset for sixpence d-day. Compute the value of
Church property belonging to Lord Stanley's family,
and you will not wonder at his zeal for the Church.
The Church of England is the richest prize for
which the worshippers of Mammon could strive. For it
they raise their riots, such as that of Lord George
Gordon in London, and such as that in which the house
of Priestly was burned in Birmingham, when that emi-
nent philosopher had to fly for his life, and found an
asylum in America. For this Church they plunged ns
into costly and bloody wars. For this Church they pass
the laws which hold us in degradation. It was the re-
sistance to this Church thatmade Scotland what she is.
It was the cruelty of this Church that sent the finest of
our ancestors to people the wilds Of America. From this
Church come all the woes of Ireland.

And do we confound this incubus with Christianity,
the last and best of the gifts of God to man. Look at
Jesus. The carpenter talks to his poor countrymen and tells
them the blessedness of poverty. He tells them he brings
tidings to cheer andraise the poor. He tells them truly that
he himself is poorer than the birds, poorer than the
beasts; that he has neither nest nor den, he has not where
to lay his head. He wants a shilling to explain what
he is teaching—he has to borrow one from a hearer. He
and Peter cannot raise half-a-crown to pay their taxes—
he is obliged to send Peter to fish. He cannot bear to
see the many hungry—he gives them bread. He is hated
by his countrymen for not being rigid—they consider
hun a man of no religion. He did not make the Sabbath
a time for death-like inaction and mere ritual obser-
vance, but an opportunity for acts of kindness, a rest
and a blessing. In every innocent pleasure of man
he cheerfully joined. His first miracle gave additional
wine to a feast, and one of his last speeches vindicated the
use made of perfume by a grateful poor woman. He sees
merit in a poor widow, in afflicted Lazarus, and even in
the nation and sect most hated by his countrymen, in a
Samaritan. He paints the future woes of the selfish and
heartless rich, he satirises the priests, and denounces as
doomed the religious party, the oppressors of the poor.
Dying, he leaves his mother a burden to his friend John,
a poor fisherman. He taught us to call no man " Mas-
ter," no man " Father in God." The Lords and clergy-
men joined and had this reformer crucified for sedition.

Listen to Paul the tent-maker, when speaking—" For
my own wants, and the wants of those who were with
me, have worked these hands." Stretching out—not de-
licate hands from lawn sleeves—but the hard hands of
honest industry.
Such hands have we. Let us unite, and with hand,
head, and heart show ourselves to be men. Christianity
was given by God to man ; poor men were sent by him
to give it to poor men. It was not to make us tremble
before man, to hate, nor to crouch. It was to enlighten
and to cheer us poor men. Let no man deceive us, nor
make us believe that it is our duty to be submissive,
starving slaves.
It has pleased the monopolists to place the Church in
the front of their battle with us. They deafen us with
their shouts of triumph. Is the battle really over ?
AN ENGLISH MECHANIC.
Liverpool, Aug. 14, 1841.