The Sun.
London, England, 1841-05-27 00:00:00

TORIES AND

METHODISTS.

Sir Stephen Glynne, Bart., Member of Parliament for
Flintshire, has recently given an instance of the notion
which certain feudal landowners of this country enter-
tain of their position with respect to their tenants, and
of the spirit with which the supporters of another church
would uphold her pretensions, if they were not met by
bold and powerful opposition from those who know and
value their constitutional rights and the rights of con-
science. We gather the particulars of Sir Stephen
Glynne's extraordinary and most tyrannical proceeding
from certain letters and some editorial remarks Which ap-
pear in the Chester Chronicle, of Friday last. It appears
that, on Sir Stephen Glynne's estate, in the village of
Broughton, some of the inhabitants of the district have
been accustomed to assemble, for social religious worship,
according to the manner of the New Methodist Con-
nexion, at the house of an individual who is a tenant of
the Tory Baronet. The poor people who thus dared to
worship their Maker after a form unrecognised by their
landlord had no notion of the paternal control which that
individual thought he had a right to exercise over their
consciences. Sir Stephen, acting on the notion that pro-
perty has its rights, directed his agent imperatively to
prohibit the exercise of such Christian and religious
liberty, and the services were, in consequence, discon-
tinued. The Rev. John Bakewell, minister of the New
Methodist Connexion, at Chester, hearing of this man-
date and its effects, wrote a letter to the Baronet, request-
ing his candid and serious consideration of the matter.
The Rev. Gentleman writes in the most respectful tone,
representing that the services were not held during
Church hours, and, therefore, could not directly hinder
the inhabitants from attending the Church service ; and
that the object of their labours was to make the people
sober, industrious, upright, and peaceable,—to teach
them to be lovers of God and lovers of their fellow-men.
He remarks, that the Church has so many advantages
over the Dissenters that she is surely able to prove her
sufficiency without resorting to compulsion. The first
sentence of the Baronet's reply is as follows :—" My
agent acted under my authority in ordering my tenant, at
Broughton, to discontinue the assemblages lately held in
his house, at Broughton, for sectarian purposes." He
then, thoughilie is addressing a regularly licensed minis-
ter, terms the worship of the poor people alluded to
" unauthorized religious services, ' and says, they were
" incurring the guilt of schism, which is undoubtedly
the case with those separating themselves from the
communion of the Church." here is a sweeping con-
demnation for the Wesleya,ns, Baptists, Independents,
and all those who entertain conscientious opinions not
accordant with the doctrines of the Establishment !
" The Church," says this tolerant landlord, " being the
divinely-appointed channel of grace, it would ill become
me, as a consistent Churchman, to sanction the existence
of sectarian assemblages upon my property; and, accord-
ingly, I am resolved always to act in the conviction that,
by thus inculcating the duty of allegiance to the Church,
I am also acting most kindly towards those who appear
either ignorant or negligent of their duty." Such pro-
ceedings and such sentiments speak for themselves, and
we should think the constituency of Flintshire will re-
member them when the next appeal is made for their
suffrages.—Liverpool Albion.