Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

Law, perhaps, in existing circumstances, may be good if we use it lawfully, but surely the Church does not authorize us to surrender the education of her little children, or the care of her poor, to the state. If the Church rule be tried as a mere experiment, probably there may be, as there ought to be, a failure; but if it be perseveringly observed, as an essential part of the Church-service, it will prove its wisdom by its results. The habit of reading the offertory sentences has had a most salutary effect upon my own mind, and certainly it must go towards confirming the faith of all in the apostolic character of our Church, by shewing how she inculcates the apostolic precept, REMEMBER THE POOR. Truth will spread by degrees; the responsibilities of property, wherever invested, will be more readily acknowledged; conscience will more frequently levy a proportionate alms-tax; and though many will evade the duty and lose the reward, yet the gracious promises of Scripture to those who consider the poor and the needy, will be more and more seen and felt to have a real and substantial meaning. The Church will appear the real Friendly Society, with the offertory and the poor-box for the treasury, and the curate and churchwardens for the almoners. We shall have the Gospel for the rules, and those who have much must give plenteously; those who have little will still give their little; while the present societies2, which virtually

2 Most persons would acknowledge in theory that the chief part of the fund raised for supporting the poor in sickness ought to be provided by the rich. Compare the amount raised in clubs by .

reverse this equitable rule, will by degrees be dissolved, and give way to a purer system.

But the observance of the Church rule will also improve our feelings in all matters relating to the poor. The cottager will always have a garden. The shepherd or the herdsman will be thought to have earned by his lengthened services, not merely a two-guinea premium from an agricultural society, but rather a cottage free of rent for his life, and an annual pension of an adequate amount3. To the amateur agriculturist, not the stall and condition of the ox, but the dwelling of the peasant, and the condition of his family, will be the real lion of the farm. Then we shall have the real village feast, rioting and drunkenness not so much as named amongst us, but landlord, tenant, and labourer in innocent conviviality at the same social board, the fare consisting, not of tea, and bread, butter, gruel, and soup, but rather of Irish potatoes, King Arthur's plum puddings, and the roast beef of Old England, the scene enlivened with the village band; the day commencing with the merry peal of church bells, carried on with the service of the Church, and concluded with the sport on the village green.

the subscriptions of honorary members, with that raised by the payments of the free members, and it will be seen that the practice is the direct reverse of the theory.

The late Montague Burgoyne, Esq. of Mark's Hall, in the county of Essex, on changing his residence in the year 1819, settled on the labourers who had worked on his estates, pensions amounting in all to between thirty and forty pounds a year.

Fasting for the rich, and feasting for the poor, are now become unfashionable: the one are to observe a perpetual Lent, and the other to celebrate a perpetual Easter. The poor do not share the blessings of our increase*.

Our charity, at its highest range, only goes to relieve the necessities of those around us. We make our feasts for our equals, for our associates, for our companions, for those who can repay us in some form or shape. But why do we not give the poor some enjoyment in our hospitality? They have the feelings of human beings; they like good dinners as well as good books; and occasional feastings, so far from doing harm, encourage virtuous habits, where a good character for honesty and sobriety is necessary for admission. For the care which we bestow on the poor, partial improvement, both in ourselves and them, will be the immediate reward, and the prospect will be still more cheering in the distance. We are, indeed, a degenerate race; so far from treading in the footsteps of our forefathers, we have been abusing those

4

See this principle admirably treated in "Hammond's Practical Catechism." See also Bishop's Wilson's practice of laying by certain portions of his income for the poor, in his Life prefixed to his works. (Crutwell's Edition, Bath, 1782.) No act of the Legislature can enforce this principle; but, as the good Bishop observes, "Every one is bound to help the poor, not as he is assessed by human laws, but according to his ability, as God has prospered him; and if he will do no more than he can be compelled by law, he will have but a bad account to make."-Sacra Privata (Tithes).

charities which they had bequeathed to the poor'. But we should do better if we could but shake off the trammels of this modern philosophy, and measure our deeds by an ancient standard. Acts of parliament require the clergy to reside upon their livings, and the law of conscience may again remind non-resident landlords, that they cannot delegate their duties to resident tenants, and that no agents can be the adequate representatives of themselves. On the parochial feeling as a basis, perhaps, we may be enabled to raise attachment to our country as a superstructure. Then there will be not only an annual Spitalfields' ball, but a decided preference to home manufactures, upon the principle that fellow-citizens owe duties to each other in times of peace as well as war. The Church expressly speaks of some of the duties we owe to "our neighbour," and, by implication, bids us rightly adjust, and acknowledge in practice, the respective claims of parish, neighbourhood, and country.

The Church system also, if I rightly understand it, by reminding us of our close bonds of union, and of our obligations to afford mutual assistance to each other, contains within itself the true principles of colonization. But, assuredly, the Church is furnished with the best storehouse of political wisdom. She is the real "Society for the Diffusion of Useful Know

* See a pamphlet by James Hine, Esq. Secretary to the late Commissioners for Enquiring into Charities, " Observations on the Necessity of a Legislative Measure for the Protection and Superintendence of Endowed Public Charities." London, 1842.

B

ledge," and stands out in proud and striking contrast with her spurious rivals. For it is her business to inculcate by training, as well as teaching, the principles of charity, fidelity, justice, honesty, truth; and she corrects the mistakes of statesmen, by reminding them that "security against fraud is (not) free competition," for we are under the moral government of God, and none but the honest will see that honesty is the best policy, or "discover the preference which, in the long run, the honest trader must gain over the fraudulent dealer "." These speculations, coming from an "ecclesiastic," are not likely to meet with any favourable reception, but I wish that statesmen would consider Church principles with reference to these results. At all events, as things will never be set right by any theories of free trade, by any alterations in the tariff, or by any continuance of a Poor Law Commission, our very difficulties we may hope will turn thoughtful minds in the right direction; and we may yet learn that there is no cure for our social evils, without an increased attention to our social duties.

I remain, my dear Sir,

With every sentiment of esteem and respect,

Your sincere and obliged friend,

CHARLES MILLER.

Harlow Vicarage,

1842.

June 28,

• Sir Robert Peel's Speech. Debate on Mr. Ferrand's Motion,

April 19, 1842.

« ElőzőTovább »