The Sun.
London, England, 1860-08-22 00:00:00

increase of the population and their moral and

religious advancement are at once apparent, and
doubtless much is owing to the cause he assigned
for it—the neglect and indifference of our prede-
cessors. Happily the day of supineness and apathy
has passed away. Men of all classes from the peer
to the lowest of the respectable classes, from the
exclusive high churchman to the most opposite of
independent sects, are beginning to recognise the
vast amount of work that lies before them, accumu-
lated by the neglect of years ; they are awakening to
the fact, that instead of disputing over controver-
sial texts, and arguing out theological subtleties, it
were better for all to put their hands vigorously to
the work, lest it be left undone. As Lord DERBY re-
marked, it is in the great towns and their neigh-
bourhoods, that help is most wanted. " The im-
mense size of the parishes and of the townships/
said he, "and the immense numbers of the popula-
tion, baffle all efforts of the most zealous ministers,
whether belonging to the Established Church, or
to those numerous dissenting sects, of whom, widely
as I differ from them, I wish to speak with all
gratitude and all respect for their exertions in the
cause of education and religion." This well merited
tribute to the educational efforts of the Dissenters
did honour to so staunch a Churchman, and set a
worthy example to those who would fain discourage
any attempt to diffuse the blessings of knowledge
and religion, if not made in exact accordance with
the tenets of their own sect. After alluding to the
existence of a large class below the decent poor, yet
above absolute destitution, whom neither the re-
, formatory nor the workhouse school can reach, and
for whom no provision was made before the exist-

ence of ragged and industrial schools, Lord DERBY
proceeded to discuss the other part of his subject—
the objects of the proposed free church. His re-
marks on this point are well deserving of the atten-
tion, and merit the grave consideration of the
wealthier classes. Let those who so sternly de-
nounce the absence of the working man and his
family from their parish church on Sundays ; let
them ask themselves whether they would like to
have their poverty ostentatiously paraded on chairs
in the centre aisle, or to find their seats apportioned
to them in some distant corner where they can
scarcely hear what is going on. Lord DERBY assigned
two reasons for the non-attendance of large num-
bers of our lower classes at any kind of public
worship. The one being " the appropriation of the
greater portion of the seats in our churches, and
above all, the best seats, to the richer and easier
classes of society," the other an honest shame of
parading their shabby garments beside their better
dressed neighbours. There is certainly great need
for alteration in these particulars. If the arrange-
ments of the Church allow the wealthier classes to
secure every convenient place by means of money,
neither clergyman nor congregation have a right
to condemn the absence of the humbler parishioners,
who as Lord DERBY said on Saturday, " have no
means of paying for accommodation, and who have
an absolute right with the richest of the rich to
enter and worship God in the parish church, which
is not for the rich alone, but for every parishioner,
rich and poor." Were the services more adapted
to uneducated minds, and less wearisome to
those unaccustomed to habits of thought and atten-
tion, and were more regard paid to the convenient
and equal accommodation of the poorer classes,
there would not be so many complaints of their
indifference to public prayer, or their pursuit of
open air preachers and unusual places of worship.
Let those who censure them at least make the ex-
periment. But while the obstacles of custom, in-
terest, and prejudice stand in the way of reform, it
is well that there should be places of public worship
erected in connection with ragged-schools and
similar institutions, which shall at least afford the
most squalid and dejected poverty no excuse for
refusing to enter, and which shall bring the sound
of praise and prayer to the ears of those practical
heathens whom no missionary has yet reached; who
in this Christian land are as untaught and un-
enlightened as the inhabitants of those distant
islands whom our Gospel societies subscribe for
and lament over, yet who are as much children of
the Great Father, and for whose vice, crime, and
ignorance we may one day be held accountable.
With the earnest Christianity which distinguishes
him Lord DERBY expressed his conviction that
every seat in the proposed building should be free :
—" In this case, I say, it is most important, not
that there should be some free seats, but that
every seat in this church-school should be free and
equal, without payment of money or price, and
that no amount of poverty, of clothing, or squalid
destitution should be sufficient to exclude the very
poorest of the poor who are willing to enter and
worship in His house, in whose eyes rich and poor
are alike, and the distinctions of rank and title are
as nothing." After so earnest and impressive an
appeal to the sense of justice and the feelings of
humanity, we cannpt believe that the good work
proposed will not be satisfactorily accomplished.
Philanthropists of the present day are beginning to
perceive that it is by bringing down the means of
instruction to their level and capacity that the
lowest classes must be elevated. Abandoning
exalted and ideal theories, let us adapt our practice
to existing circumstances. If boys and girls have
no proper clothing, if their parents refuse even a
few pence a week for their schooling, let us admit
them to school-rooms where bare feet and rags are
no drawback, and irregularity of attendance is
overlooked. If the lower classes shrink from en-
tering church or chapel beside velvet and broad-
cloth, let us open to them the doors of a
place of worship where all are poor
alike. If they refuse these opportunities, let us
seek them in the theatres, the music-halls, in any
place where novelty will attract or space accom-
modate them, sure that nothing is so degrading
to the professors of a Christian faith, and the
followers of Him who taught by the seashore and
on the mountain, as the existence of large masses
living in what Lord DERBY truly calls practical
heathenism—a curse to society here, a charge to
account for hereafter. By reaching these hotbeds
of crime and destitution we are indeed laying the
foundation stones of a better and happier state of
things, and, in the concluding words of Lord
DERBY'S eloquent address, "so performing our
duty to that God who, as He would not that a
sparrow should fall to the ground without His
knowledge, would not that one of these little
ones should perish."

Two topics are at the present moment before the
public, which it would be well to look upon as
very closely connected--Volunteering and National
_Education. We hope that they will soon be
regarded as inseparable. Let it once be ac-
cepted, as it surely ought to be, that every man
ought to be ready to do what in him lies for the
safety of his house, and amongst the coming gene-
ration it will be held almost discreditable to have
acquired no aptitude for aiding in the work of
national defence. Men will be ashamed to see their
equals in age, health, and vigour contributing their
time and efforts to ensure the safety of the com-
munity while they stand by idle. Who, when
ivolunteering becomes the rule, will net blush to be
numbered only with the women and children ? We
may, it seems to us, reasonably expect this to be