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August 5, 1854.] THE LEADER. 741
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lenge their doctrine , sit in judgment r > n their teaching . In short , according to the theory which only a few have the courage to deny , they are invested with no authority . And yet , I dare to ask any clergyman in the world , -whether his practice is in accordance with this theory . Among the numberless duties I was called on to perform there was none which so humbled me in my own eyes as that of visiting the sick . I remember , with vivid distinctness , being called in to visit a sailor who was in the agonies of death . The disease was dropsy . He had passed through dangers the very mention of which would appal you . Often and often he had stood in the presence of death , but he had never flinched from his duty . In the face of destruction he had never lost his nerve . He had obeyed the
orders of his captain , when he knew that to obey was to run the risk of perishing . He was full of courage , and yet his heart was like a woman's , lull of love and sympathy . You talk of the British sailor , but you never know him till you see him in his home . Believe me , the lion can be tamed . He is not the swaggering , reckless roysterer that you imagine . I have seen the tear scald his cheek , I have seen him bowed down to very childish sympathy , subdued by a single word , although he had spurned the power of the elements . Well , this man was dying . You may have heard of the physical torture inflicted by dropsy when it rises to the heart . "When I entered the room I heard a howl of pain : the man was literally ¦ wri thing . His wife was rocking , in wild grief , upon a chair : the room was crowded with womea . I went up to the bedside , and took hold of his hand . He had scarcely recognised me when all sense of physical pain was numbed by
the consciousness of spiritual torture . " Thank God , sir , " he said , " are come . Why did they not send for you sooner ? I see hell flames before me . Look there ' the devil has me in his grip . Priest , save me ! I know you , I have heard what you are . You have power . They told me that in the Sunday-school . If you are a man , take me out of Jiis clutches . " He fell back , exhausted with the efibrt . He was speechless , but he stared at me with his glassy eyes * beseeching , with dumb but awful eloquence , that I - —a man—would save him from divine wrath . I knew that he looked upon me as a saviour . He could not live more than a few moments , and I gave him , with rny own hands , a peaceful sedative . He was conscious enough to listen while I prayed . Had I been a Roman Catholic priest , had I even been a priest according to the theory of High Churchmen , I could have absolved him . I , of course * was not in full orders , and could do nothing ; but even if it had been , otherwise , according to the theory of the school in which I had been brought up , rnv services would have been practically
null . As it was I could only ask him , rapidly , a few simple questions , and tell him that if he believed , he was saved . I mention this as an extreme case . It is a px * oof that if one has not power to confess and-absolve one ' s ofliee is wellnigh useless . Gentlemen ! why will you not face facts ? You know that you must either claim supernatural authority , or lose your power . I insist , most strongly , that the only method of dealing with dying men , so as to satisfy them , and give them peace , is to confess them . Good God ! are you ignorant of human nature ? Do you think that they who framed the system of Catholicism were anything short of masters in the science ? They knew the comfort of pouring out a tale of sorrow into the eai's of one ready to listen and able to apply a cure . They took advantage of this , and became masters of mankind . They wrung out every sin from the tortured breast . " With authority from Heaven they gave absolution . Can you marvel that you are babes in comparison with such giants ? Either strike out from your services all passages which seem to recognise this Catholic theory , or carry them into effect . * * * * .
I attended once an old woman who was dying of age . She was a Dissenter—a Wesley an , I think . When I first saw her , I said very little . She had a great deal to tell me about her misei'ies , the unkindne ' ss of her friends , the wretchedness of her situation , the want of common comforts . When I reminded her that I wished to talk on the subject of religion , she told me that she knew as much as I did about that . J ' o listen to her , you would believe that you were in the presence of some eminent minister . Afterwards , when I came to examine her more strictly , I . discovered that she had not the remotest conception of the meaning of her own words . She used the ordinary platitudes about justification and the rest ; but , although I did my best , I failed to get from her , in her own language , the shadow of an explanation . Obviously , she did not know
what she said . She told me , very frankly , particular sins she had committed , but when I came to apply the doctrine she was at a loss to discover the relation between that and the sins . This is one among many cases . The Church of England has no remedy . It can only say , u It' you believe , you are saved ; " i . e ., it cannot accept the act of confession for repentance . Oevtuinly , it recognises the connexion between repentance and faith , but it does not enforce it as it ought to be enforced . Depend upon it , a priest without tlio twofold power of confession and absolution is no priest at all . Now , do you boliovc these doctrines or not ? If you do , preach them . If not , you have lost the key to your system . Ignorance cannot comprehend abstractions . It must see a living priest in the place of an absent God . Use the knife , probe the wound , claim absolute , dominion , and you may still be lords , for a while . I only ask you to bo consistent . You profess to hold certain doctrines—wliy not tako the best means for en fording thorn ? * * * January 10 .
lnis is one of tho moat dangerous coasts in the north of England . Scarcely a winter passes but it is strewn with wrecks , nml this winter has been marked by an unusual amount of destruction and death . Yesterday it blow n terrible gale from tho north-oast ; tho waves rose lileo huge mountains , dnslungdown upon the beach in -wild tumult . Already six vessels had failed in their attempts to gain tho harbour , and had boon flung upon tho shore , in the sight of thousands of spectators , who could offer no help . Towards night , a largo . Norwegian bark appeared in tho oiling . She struggled fiercely against her fate , but , within a few minutes after she had come within sight , she was lifted up on tho crest of a giant wave , and thrown , with resistless ) violence , upon tho beach . It soomod as if tho waves had lashed thomsolvos into liny for a last great oflbrt . In an instant they recoiled , and tho vessel was loft in tho shallow surf . I cannot describe tho scone that followed . Tho cargo , consisting of casks 01 wino and cotton , was thrown about in all directions . As if the darkness
of the night was an excuse for the wildest excesses , hundreds of ruffians rushed through the surf , and began their work of plunder . Cask after cask was dragged on shore , and broken open . You might have seen half a dozen savages drinking from the same cask till they rolled away in stupid intoxication . All restraint was gone . Women were employed all night , sometimes in drinking , sometimes in carrying off their plunder . It was as if so many demona had been let loose from hell * * * . * . Now it was to these people that I was to talk about religion . Why , they did not know what it meant . Many of them I had seen in their own homes . Some of course were the outlaws of society , who live by crime . But several were in the receipt of large wages , and had no motives for committing any open excesses . And yet , they were simply brutes . Their language was that of savages , —they could not understand any but the simplest words , and such as expressed common wants . When they were children , they had learned something about religion , and the words came back to their recollection , but without conveying any distinct idea . The only exception to this was their apparent belief in hell . They were possessed by a vague terror of physical pain ; and I found that it was the common practice of religious teachers to work upon this feeling , and to glory in the excitement produced by such a process . But it was very clear that such persons could derive no benefit from the services of the Church . I sometimes introduced the subject of Christianity , and they listened as if the act of listening were enough . But I never produced any impression ; I never felt that I touched their hearts until I addressed them from quite a different point of view . I never asked tliem to come to church . But they knew that I was a clergyman , and I first tried to show that religion had not unhumanised me . From the Christian point of view , even , the first thing was to awaken the consciousness of sin . But I certainly never followed the example of some ¦ . clergyman who tried to produce a rapid conversion , by burning his " patient ' s" finger in a candle , in order to give her some notion of the fires of hell . Only think of any one being scorched into religion . If you will not make slaves of your people , you must ineet them on some common ground , speak a language they can understand , begin ¦ with the religious instinct which is never totally obscured , but , above all , never forget to show that you are human . * * * '¦* . . ' What can we hope to effect with the lowest classes , when those above them in the social scale are , in many respects , on the same level ? I do not mean that they are actually so ignorant , but , for their position , they are quite as little open to new influences . It is astonishing , until one comes to know it , that a . man can live in these days with open eyes , in the thiek of everything , and yet remain as dull and narrow-minded as if society had not advanced a jot since the middle ages . Perhaps , indeed , it has not advanced so nvuch as we are inclined to think . But I certainly was surprised to find what suspicion I excited iis soon as I went out of the beaten priest-track . It happened that a Roman Catholic chapel had been built in —— a short time before I arrived . The priest was a cultivated man , having received his education partly at Douay , partly at Rome . He knew not a soul in the place . His congregation was composed of the poorest of the poor . He went about his work with the stern , straightforward resolution that seems to chai'acterise all the priests in that Church . He had no -want ^ of occupation , and his chapel was filled every Sunday ; but there was no friend who could enter into all his thoughts , or talk with him on subjects that he knew and loved . He was a stranger to human intercourse , except ¦ with the poor , to whom he was nothing more than a priest . I made his acquaintance , and we used frequently to meet in our walks through the parish ; but 1 never could visit at his house , nor he at mine . The scandal was bad enough as it was . Heaven knows what would have happened had I been so imprudent as to enter his lorao . And yet this man had the courage to tell his congregation to receive my visits . He knew that I was no proselytising priest , hunting converts , and disturbing faith . God knows I often envied the simple belief of many a poor Catholic . * * * * The great event in the year is the meeting of the Missionaiy Society in a neighbouring town . At this season there are meetings everywhere in this district , but is the capital , and a great centre of attraction . These travelling secretaries of religious societies seem to look upon themselves : ia the victims of self-denial . Thoy come into your houses with the air ot martyrs . You will recognise the picture at once . You have ordered a sumptuous entertainment . The town of is to be enlightened on the subject of missions to the heathen ; and so the clergy of the neighbourhood have been invited to dine . Incumbents and curates are assembled in your drawing-room . Being only humble provincials , they await , in anxious trembling , the arrival of the eminent Londoner , who has struck fear from tho hearts of thousands with his eloquence . Ho is late , and you arc painfully nervous lost your dinner should be spoiled . Presently , tho rattle of wheels is heard—an impatient cab stops at the door—all is right , for the popular divine is come . He enters smiling and condescending . He shakes your hand with a truly Christian grip . He bows to all tlie clergy , oven to tho shy curate who has slunk into a chair in tho corner . How does ho
command attention as ho speaks , with audacious confidence , of the secrets oi Court and State ! I never met ono of these travelling secretaries who did not know everything that passed in tho Royal nursery . Then enmc refreshing and delightful nnecdotcs about the conversion of tho blacks . Surely , wo began to think , tho days of miracles arc not gone ! And ns tho blood was warmed with wine , tho interpositions of Providence wore multiplied , it was quite charming to witness the triumphant joy awakened in every heart by the London preacher . 1 fully expected , sometimes , to see a whole company of women rise from the table , nn < l take shi p to Coronmndct or Tingaroo . Good creatures , that the } ' wareI believe that if tho London
, preacher had but demanded the sacrifice , thoy would have willingly ^ thrown their jewels at his feot . I could not suflieiently admire tho quiet satisfaction that sat on tho features of this martyr . It wna obviously a terrible effort to travel about , at the expense of a Society , to bo entertained sumptuously , to bo worshipped by tho roligious public in ovory town that ho visited . Ho eat and drank of tho best ; he slept ; on downy beds ; but it was all under protest , all because society would havo it so . Now do toll mo why you cannot give your money to tho liuathcu -without all this trouble P If you nro roally anxious for their conversion , you need not send for a . London preacher to toll you how to pny for it . 11 .
August 5, 1854.] The Leader. 741
August 5 , 1854 . ] THE LEADER . 741
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), Aug. 5, 1854, page 21, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_05081854/page/21/
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