The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-11-28 00:00:00

tion. This he m(

such an argument be

Amitted, Qua

to maintain wal

no should we, as Churchmer

Romanist College at M

Our cons

I involved in the disposal of taxe

manded to " Render to Caesar the things which are
Caesar's, to God th

.e God's.

Having

ng con-

science, he proceeds to combat the fourth objection of the

Voluntaries, that every man should support his own reli-

By all means let those who have experienced the
benefits of the Gospel seek to contribute to its support—
but what is to become of the men of no religion ? Men
vvhn haves inaaPri nPrhang bePn bnntized. but who. with

at exception, ar

r from

anity, or t

ledge of As elementary truths, as the heathen who never
heard of the Saviour's name. Who will pay to have
religion brought to them, or are they, who most require
it, to be left destitute of the saving influences of the
Gospel ; and what is to be the fate of those who might,
indeed, be willing to receive it, if brought to them without
charge, but who find the battle of life too severe, sunk as
they are in the depths of poverty, to enable them to pay
for it ?

In reference to this part of the subject, he offers the
following observations, which are specially deserving of

attention. He says :

the free-trade principle in relie,

~ion will not do

It may answer very well in matters pertaining to
bodily wants or pleasures—as food, raiment, indulgences
—these may very safely be left to the operation of demand
and supply, and it
_were exceedingly unwise to interfere
with the wholesome reciprocal action which obtains
between these two elements, but in matters of religion,
the merest tyro in divinity, the most superficial observer
must be aware that the supply must precede the
demand—man by nature has no desire for religious
ordinances, although he has the urgent necessity. The
less he knows of God and his duty towards him, the
less he desires to know. The farther he is from God the
farther he would be from him ; and, therefore, if left to
himself the case is hopeless, he never would move one
step towards effecting his own improvement; so that if he
ever be reclaimed to virtue and morality, it must be as
the result of a movement towards him from without—a
movement of which he is the object, not the subject.
Christianity could never be propagated in this way, for
no man seeks Christianity until Christianity first seeks
him ; and as a matter of fact Christianity never has been
propagated thus. Our fathers did not first send for
Christian missionaries to turn them from their Saxon
idols ; nor do the heathen at the present day first send
for missionaries to Christian England.

The free-trade principle will suit very well where peo-
ple are both willing and able to pay for it, and on this
footing the vast majority of the churches of Liverpool
are, whether right or wrong, based ; but again I say this
principle will not answer in places where the mass of the
people are either unable or unwilling to pay, and this is
the case in the crowded neighbourhoods of our large
towns. What is to be done with such people ? Shall
those who most require the moralizing influences of
religion be left destitute ?—and has that Government
rightly discharged its solemn obligations to those outcasts
which contents itself merely with building gaols to
imprison them, but refuses to build a church to spread
around the healing influences of religion ?
Mr. TAYLOR then draws attention to what has been
done by the Church and by dissent for the religious in-
struction of the poor, and shows that while the former
has been extending her means of usefulness, the latter has
been retrograding and shutting herself up in exclusive-
ness. He points out the fact that in Liverpool, out of
60,000 sittings, there are 22,000 free ; while dissenters,
out of 46,000 sittings, have only 12,000 free ; and he ad-
duces several instances where meeting-houses, in crowded
districts, have been closed, and new ones erected in more
wealthy localities.
To a fifth objection, that there should be no compulsion
in religion, he observes :

We would not force any man to become religious,,nor
would we propagate Christianity with fire or sword, pains
or penalties ; but we would employ the public funds,
raised by general taxation, to extend religion and virtue
by moral means ; and we think the Government would
be at the least as much justified in doing so, e.g., in
printing Bibles for the prevention of crime, as in print-
ing Blue Books to record its onward progress. We
can see no ground for the objection of "compulsory
religion," in a State simply endeavouring, by reason and
argument, persuasion and encouragement, to dry up the
sources of crime and poverty, and spreading abroad the
healing and elevating influences of virtue.
He complains, with much force and truth, on the great
defects which exist in many churches, particularly those
on the proprietary system in Liverpool, in the provision
for the poor, and the neglect of the important principle,
that, in public worship, all persons are equal. In con-
cluding his work he proceeds to point out the remedy,
which should consist in a thorough Christian legislation,
and, by carrying out the state-Church
.principle to its
fullest extent, to bring the entire population, particularly
of our large towns, under an effectual pastoral superinten-
dence. On this point he says :

To this end, let a sufficient number of free churches be
built by grants of Parliament, the ministers moderately
endowed, and paid out of the Consolidated Fund, like Sir
R. Peel's district churches; let a proper district be
assigned to each, and let it be charged on that clergyman
that he seek to fill his church out of that district, and
not out of the town at large.
At present, the clergyman's time is taken up with the
charge of a general congregation, drawn from all parts
of the town by his superior talents it may be, or by the
peculiarity of his views, or by the mere whim of his
hearers; and if he visit them not, his hearers will not
continue to attend his church; they expect, and it
may be supposed not unnaturally, that their preacher
should be also their pastor.
We have now only once more to recommend that every
one will read the work for himself, and to express a hope
that some steps may be taken to realise the views which
Mr. TAYLOR has so ably set forth.