The Sun.
London, England, 1835-01-29 00:00:00

THE SUN, LONDON, TFIURSDAY, JANUARY 29, 1835.

offices connected with cathedrals than are actually ne

cessary for the performance of cathedrpl
we
ap-
prove of their
..-.,:ention in that respect. But then
cnose offices could not be called sinecures, in the pro-
per sense of the word. .Thoiigh iio parochial duties
attached to them, yet still there would be duties, and
those of a useful description. We would have the
cathedrals—the splendid monuments of early piety,
and taste, and genius—preserved, and still used as
temples where the daily service to the Deity is per-
formed, independently of all parochial considerations ;
but we would not hate them converted into the gilded
dormitories of stall-fed pluralists.. Vital piety should
minister at their altars, and its voice be heard subdu-
ing human hearts to the pure dominion of the Gospel
within their venerable walls.—Morning Herald.

We cannot express ourselves in terms of praise
too exalted for the occasion, when we speak of a meet-
ing held on Tuesday last at Birmingham, the object ,
of which was to .promote the building of Churches hi
the diocese of Lichfield and Coventry, to extend the
benefits of religious instruction to the lower classes of
the people without stint or exclusion, and to call upon
the kingdom at large to imitate the example which the.
worthy and excellent men who composed this meeting
presented to its view. Our readers will find in. the Morn-
ing Post of this day a very full report of the interesting
and gratifying proceedings of this assembly, over which
the learned and pious Bishop of the Diocese presided.
It is truly delightful to see the spirit which pervaded this
meeting in active operation in England at the present
moment. The. Church, ithas been said, is in danger, and
the truth of this would be manifest, if we regard only the
industry, the zeal, the rancour, and the power of its
enemies, avowed or disguiSed. But when we read of
what the friends of the Church are doing for its preser-
vation and support, when we recur to such proceedings
as those which took place at Birmingham the day be.
fore yesterday, we feel that we have the fullest warrant
to deny the danger of the Church, and to proclaim that
the Church is not only safe but triumphant. Sir Ro-
bert Peel gave to Mr. East and the Dissenting Depu-
ties of Birmingham, when they assailed his Admims-
. tration for -the purpose of assailing the Church, an
appropriate and severe rebuke, a rebuke .the more ef-
fective that it breathed the calmness of an exalted
statesman, and the urbanity of an accomplished Gen-
tleman. Dissenting bodies in various parts of Great
Britain and . Ireland punished the coarse insolence
and the rabicl violence of their infuriated brethren,
the. political and religious incendiaries of Birming-
' ham; by formal and express disclaimers of all par-
ticipation in their senseless rage. But the most
effective rebuke and the severest punishment yet
remained to be administered ; and administered it
has been by men—thinking little of Mr. East and his
confederate—by men intent only to uphold and invi-
gorate the Church, not by means of controversy, not
by reciprocating terms of reproach with Mr. East.and.
his, associated Dissenters, but by their own direct ef-
forts and spontaneous sacrifices, seeking honestly and
earnestly to maintain, purify, and strengthen that ec-
clesiastical establishment of which Mr. East and his
colleagues are. the natural and the implacable foes.
Not a day passes in which we are not reminded of the
difficulties which surround the question of Reform in
the distribution of the revenues of the Church and the
regulation of its internal discipline. These-difficul-
ties are indeed in themselves of appalling magnitude,
and while the enemies of the Government and the
Church, labouring in their natural and.proper vocation,
strive to increase them, and, if possible, to render them
insuperable, it cannot but be perceived that some
who call themselves the friends of the Church and of
the Government, and who probably are so in reality,
contribute essentially to the same end, by pro-
yoking baseless, premature, and most unprofitable dis-
cussion. But these difficulties, great as they are, mul-
tiplied and'enhanced as they have been, alike by the
enemies and the friends of the Government and the
Church, are stripped at once of whatever was most
formidable in their character, when we witness such a
scene as that of the Birmingham Meeting, and behold
the zeal, alacrity, and devotion with which Churchmen
of all ranks and classes rush forward in advance of an
Administration which they know meditates an exten-
sive reforth of the Church, upon the principles of ho-
nesty and piety, and by the employment of their own
energies and resources expedite, and even anticipate,
the most important and valuable of all the reforms
that are by any party of honest Reformers deemed
really desirable. It may now be truly said that what 7
ever is most beautiful and precious in the substance and
essence of Church Reform is produced spontaneously
from the very bosom of the Church itself,-.—Morning
Post.

We learn, from a s:-,Urce on which we can place
implicit relianc,:, that however much Ministers may
affect to 'tie pleased with the result of the elections, his
I_-ajesty makes no secret of his disappointment with
it. He was made to believe, before the dissolution
of the late Parliament, that so great was the extent
to which a re-action had taken place, that the re-
turn of a very large Conservative majority
might be
looked on as a matter of absolute certainty. If re-
port speaks correctly, he has expressed himself in no
very flattering terms on the subject, to those who de-
ceived him. His first suspicion that matters would
not turn out as he had been taught to expect, was
occasioned by the result of the metropolitan elections.
For this fact we can vouch—that when the elections
for the metropolis were concluded, he sent for one of
his leading Ministers, and told him that this was a
very awkward and unpromising commencement, and
that Conservatism did not appear to be so flourishing in
the country as had been represented to him. The an-
swer cf the Minister was to this effect, if not in the
precise words :—" Sire, the elections in the metropolis
afford no fair indication of the feelings and principles
of the nation, as intelligence, property, and loyalty
are there overpowered by the low class of voters
created in all large towns by the 101. clause ; but
your Majesty will see how differently the respec-
table constituency of Middlesex will act." It was
added, that the metropolitan ccunty would have
far more influence on the elections throughout
the country than the city and boroughs of London.
-.His Majesty observed, in reply to this, in a very ,
sig-
nificant manner, " I am glad to hear it; we shall see."
From this moment, it is unnecessary to say, the issue
of the Middlesex election became a matter of the very
highest importance to Ministers ; hence the extraor-
dinary exertions which the Tories made to oust Mr.
Hume. What the mortification of government must
have been when so signally defeated, we may safely
leave to the imagination of our readers. Of this we
are assured, by an authority which we cannot doubt,
that the Duke of Wellington would much rather that
forty Tory Candidates had been unsuccessful in other
Counties, than that Mr. Hume should have triumphed
in Middlesex.—Morning Advertiser.
A child under the rod is always told, but Atever
convinced, that it is all for his good. The Church,,
under the shadow of Reform, receives the same sort
of assurance ; but, like the child, it will not be per-
suaded, and kicks and roars lustily. There are al•
ready signs of the rising wrath of the Clergy ; and, as
some one has observed, the D makes a Church in
anger a " Church in danger." At a Tory dinner at
Barnstaple, the Rev. Archdeacon Barnes poured forth
the troubles of his mind:—
Certainly (said he) at no period within the memory of
those around us, have the Clergy of the Church of England
been more zealous, or have more actively applied themselves
to their sacred duties, than at the present.—( Applause.)
But, gentlemen, we are fallen on times when your exertions
and ours are imperiously called for. Never was the Esta-
blished Church brought to so awful a crisis a 4 at this moment.
The next few months cannot pass without some changes being
effected, and, in fact, the point determined whether we shall
have an Established Church or not. But if you, gentlemen,
who constitute that Church, of which we are the ministers,
shall, as I feel assured you will, do your duty, and we, the
clergy, do ours, I am confident it will be impossible
.for any
Ministry, however much they may threaten it, to overthrow
that Establishment."
The good gentleuan is troubled with vain fears.
Who threatens to riwrzthrow the Establishment ? 'Who
imagines that t‘.ne point will be mooted, much less
determined, -Rhether we shall have an Established
Church or not ? How prepared must the clergy be
for I,tee orm, when the bare idea of it, and from friendly
har fills them with such unreasonable and wild ap-
erehensions " Heaven and earth are coming toge-
ther," cried Swift's spider, when the broom approaclied
its cobweb. Yet Archdeacon Barnes has his own no,

ions of Ra---
....vim, and promises to lend his assistance
to a change, provided the doctrines and property of
the Church are preserved inviolate. Nay, he goes
farther, and declares his anxiety to co=operate in any
plan " to mate the paynierits have a gleater degree
(if certainty," and to render the collecting less

vexatious :
" Gentlemen, there are doubtless great changes to be made.
On account of those changes, I now visit this town, to meet
my brethren ; And t trust we shell ecuivince year that we shall
not be backward in rendering our services id snip ellatigei as
may be found sound and practicable, if in those changes the
doctrines of our Church, f,,unded on everlasting truth, are
kept inviolate, and our property; ,however much it may excite
the envy (f others, preserved inviolate, and applied to the sa-
cred purposes for which it was originally given. In that pro-
perty, you are aware, the lay body of the Church are intimately
concerned ; but if any thing can be done to make the payment
arising from it have a greater degree of Certainty, or to render
rile mode of collecting less grievous or vexatious, We should
he most anxious and ready to co=operate."
There is something very touching in that desire
for the inviolability of the Church property,
."how-
ever much it may excite the envy of others " It
reminds one of that passage in the Duenna, where
Falter Paul, as he munches his cake and drinks
his wine, so edifyingly observes upon the glut-
tonous longings and sinful envy of the lay bro-
ther. We thus see that the injunction against
covetousness has been observed with such extra-
ordinary effect, that the Church is a cause of
covetousness in others. As for the Archdeacon's sti-
pulation that the Church property shall be applied to
the sacred purposes for which it was originally given,
few will refuse assent to it : the question is, whether
the original purposes were to provide a few favoured
gentlemen with fine houses, handsome equipages, and
luxurious tables ; fortunes for their sons in the dra -
goons, and livings for those quartered on the Chttcli,
and portions for their daughters who dance at Almack's.
The question is, we repeat, whether these, or such as
these, are the pious uses. With respect to the Dissen-
ters' grievances, our Reverend Archdeacon is wonder-
fully liberal. There is nothing he will not concede to
them, provided only it does not interfere with the inte-
rests of the Church ; but then the misfortune is, that
the Archdeacon finds the vital interests of the Church
opposed even to so small a concession as the ad-
mission of Dissenters to the honours and privi-
leges of the Universities. While he declares this,
he takes occasion to lament that, with such
feelings (as he gives evidence of) towards the Dissen-
ters, they have not reciprocated. The Archdeacon
then proceeds to the somewhat startling demonstration,
that the admission of Dissenters to the privilege§ front
which they are cut off in the Universities would be
fatal to Christianity, inasmuch as the education of the
Clergy in a place exclusively appropriated for it is, in
his opinion, " the means of keeping alive Christianity
in this land." The Rev. Archdeacon, proceeding in
this mild and moderate train of reasoning against the
admission of Dissenters, emphatically avows his
anxiety that Christianity " may be tolerated ;" which
he evidently thinks would not be the case if Dissenters
obtained a footing in -the Universities. This senti-
ment most remarkably illustrates the Christian spirit
which is nursed in some reverend breasts by the boasted
exclusive system. We quote the passage as one of the
curiosities of the 19th.century :
" With respect to other grievances that are said to exist,—
and I more particularly allude to those by which our Dissent-
ing brethern are affected,--there is nothing we would not con-
cede, so far as their civil disabilities are concerued, provided it
does not interfere with the interest of the Established Church.
With such feelings towards them, I could have wished to have
seen displayed more friendly feelings towards us ; but it is with
pain I perceive the hostile feeling and rancorous hostility to-
wards the Established Church which is exhibited at this time.
I am the more pained, because I am convinced that that hos-
tility does not arise from mere religious scruples on mere mat-
ters of conscience,—the opposition of the present day partakes
more of political and party feeling. There is, however, one
claim made by the Dissenters, which I hope will never be con-
eecled,—l mean their admission to the honours and privileges
of our English Universities. I object to this, not so much for
the purpose of keeping up party distinctions, but because
I believe that the education of our clergy in a place ex-
clusively appropriated for it, is the means of keeping alive
Christianity in this land. I believe that if all religious points
of doctrine were done away with in the Universities, there
would be no Christian education whatever.—( Hear, hear.) We
do not stand in the way of education and instruction—our
labours in our several parishes prove that we arc desirous
of extending it ; but we do feel anxious that Christianity and
the religion of our forefathers may be tolerated. I trust, there-
fore, that in the contest in which we are engaged, you will
keep in view the necessity of an Established Church for the
purpose (91' maintaining Christianity and sound feeling among
us. It is said in the pages of everlasting truth, that Christianity
shall never fall ; but with sorrow we may say that we can look
around us and see places where the banners of the cross were
once unfurled, and waved triumphantly, where the Christian
may walk amidst darkneSs and ignorance ; this has arisen by
the;r falling off from religion, thereby causing the increase of
vice and the growth of infidelity. He (the Rev. Gentlemattl,
however, hoped that England would never be reduced to that
state, or be induced, under any circumstances, to depart from
those principles which had so long preserved it ; for it was quite
certain that Providence never deserted that Christian land
which never tampered with the principles of Christianity."
The Dissenters are less insulted than Christianity
by these disgraceful remarks. What must be the sys-
tem of patronage in which the utterer of such narrow
and bigotted opinions has found preferment ? The
improved liberality of the Church, and its disposition
to concur in an efficient measure of Reform, have lately
been much vaunted. Are we to accept Archdeacon
Barnes as a specimen ?—Morning Chronicle.