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716 THE! 'kfc&D'B&i ' [SA^RDAYi
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_ ^ y It \* j^ntlltt Itfl* \
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we should do our utmost to encourage the...
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II. September 10, 18—. Ekgi<xshmen seem ...
Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
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Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.
Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.
Elegant Extracts From Modern Muses. Whim...
" The haven ' s rich to where we fly , Brimful of love and living ladies ; In spite of every stormy sky We'll strive to die among the ladies . " If we had not bound ourselves to deliver no opinions , -we should be inclined to say that the Muse of the first gentleman on our list was the nearest of the seven to Parnassus , and that the Muse of the last gentleman was the nearest , of all the mad Muses we ever yet met with , to Bedlam . But we are pledged to make no comments ; and as the surest way cf redeeming tLat pledge , we will only remind the gentle and purchasing reader that the names of our poets' booksellers will be found at the bottom of the pagethen wipe pur heated brow , and say no more .
716 The! 'Kfc&D'B&I ' [Sa^Rdayi
716 THE ! 'kfc & D'B & i ' [ SA ^ RDAYi
_ ^ Y It \* J^Ntlltt Itfl* \
^ nrifaltn .
We Should Do Our Utmost To Encourage The...
we should do our utmost to encourage the Beautiful , for the Useful encourages itself . —Goethe .
Ii. September 10, 18—. Ekgi<Xshmen Seem ...
II . September 10 , 18— . Ekgi < xshmen seem to be impressed with the conviction that dulness is inseparable from , religion . They certainly take great pains to instil the notion into the minds of their children . Towards the close of the last century , a certain Mr . Raikes , of Gloucester , opened a Sunday school in that city . I had always been taught to look upon this man as a benefactor to humanity . I had been told that it was impossible to exaggerate the good effects which had flowed from the introduction of this novel element into the religious organisation of a Christian country . I do not question , for one moment , the sincerity of Mr . Raikes , nor the capabilities of his discovery , but I am persuaded that the method by which it is attempted to religionise the infant mind , in many families and many parishes , is wrong and cruel . I only ask the good people who are so earnest in the cause of religion , to realise if they can the sensations of a child at the close of a " well-spent" Sunday . To what condition has he been reduced ?
I was what nurses call a " naughty" child . That is , I strove with all the might of a precocious rebel against their petticoat tyranny . My governesses fared no better ; and , before I had escaped from their clutches , I became profoundly convinced that the whole business of education , as carried out in . these days , is a gross sham . It was a system of restraint . The thoughts that leaped within my brain—all outbursts of natural feeling—^ were denounced as " naughty . " It was bad enough on week days , but no language can describe the intensity of horror with which I looked forward to the recurrence of a Sunday . Of course I dared not so much as breathe a murmur ; but I often thought how strange it was to call that a holiday which presented only one round of irksome occupation . There were hymns and collects to be learnt—prayers to be repeated—it was a heinous offence to
gather flowers , or to seem to enjoy any one sensation in the world . I was forbidden to walk , except to and fro from church ; and if I tried to take refuge in reading I was in perpetual danger of being caught with what was not a " Sunday book . " I was taken twice a-day to church , and how shall I record the weariness induced by services which I could not , for the life of me , comprehend ! It was so dull—that narrow pew—that sleepy voice that wonderful talk about Hell and Heaven ( especially the former ) that cold , gray , stupid eye of my governess , watching as if to revenge on me the humiliation of her position—will ever live in my recollection . Oh , with what satisfaction did I scamper off to bed , hoping , if my digestion happened to be in good order , that I should some time attain to the perfect sainthood of the fine ladies who repeated the responses in an audible voice , and looked
at their neighbours' bonnets . For my own part I like naughty children , and I think they are oftener in the right than the very good ones , who turn out such terrible bores or such hopeless profligates in after life . People in the higher classes are growing more sensible in this matter , and I devoutly trust that few children now-a-days are condemned to pass so wretched a childhood in respect of Sabbath observance as I have . But , in the name of common humanity , think of the treatment you inflict on the children of the poor . Young ladies who love your church , you are beautiful as angels , you are the homes of guileless innocence , you were sent to purify , refine , and elevate humanity , you have noble instincts and loving hearts , but , to tell the truth , you are the dupes of clergymen . They are sad fellows those clergy , be they old or young . Very pleasant it is , no doubt , for them to be regarded with such devotion by 'beings so bright as you ; but let me show you the other side of the picture . You think it a very grand thing to spend a few hours in a Sunday school , instructing the children of
the poor . Oh yes , it is your mission , it smooths your way to heaven ; but do you know what you are about ? Those children of toil and sorrow have emerged , from an atmosphere that would well nigh choke you . It is a great relief to the parents to got them out of the way , else certainly they would never be " in your class , ] ' gaping at your costly dress , and -wondering what you mean by your flue storiea about not caring for appearances . For six days in the -week they have been cooped up for as many hours in a stifling atmosphere . Look at their faces 1 If you were physiognomists you would very soon close your book , and fly away with your little band to the green fields and the fresh air . What lessons you could teach them ! It wn $ not in
close rooms , but by the sea shore or on the mountain top , that He whom you worship used to toaoh . And why again will you take these wretched babes to church P They do nob understand it . Of course they " look about ' as you call it , eat lozenges , and " fistic ' on their seats . Did not you do all this , and don't you know that it would bo simply unnatural if young life could ever woar tho habits of the old . Often have I stood before three hundred children , stricken almost dumb with shame ! Why I heard once fx-om tho lipa of a dying child thoughts that would have made tho fortune of a , Christian poet . Tho babo had fashioned its own beautiful creations out of tho hints it had gathered from the world-worn sayings of men . And yet in that schoolroom have I stood , a jaded master on one side , and you , with your earnest but
mistaken zeal , before me—the grand old sun , too , pouring his divine light through those grim windows , and lighting up the story that I could read on the faces of those pauper children . . How could I hope to catch their attention ? Oh ! it was cruel . God knows I am not writing against religion . I would do everything in my power , if I were a parent , to develop the religious faculty in my children , but I would not cabin and confine their young souls . Let nature lead the way , and do you follow humbly in her track . _ November 20 , 18— . The Church of England is an unhappy compromise . The Roman Catholics manage things much better . They boldly assert that their priests are possessed of supernatural powers . They are the instruments of communication between man and Heaven . The Pope is the vicar of
God—standing in His place , the appointed medium of spiritual influence—in short , a God upon earth . To a man wrestling with himself , goaded b y temptation , wandering up and down , " seeking rest and finding none , " the Church of Rome must be a very city of refuge—that is , if he can once accept the fundamental dogma ; otherwise , I do not see how he can escape the only other alternative of refusing all human aid , and of speaking face to face with God . Now say what you may of the doctrine of Apostolic succession , it forms no portion of the creed of the Church of England . The priests in that Church are men , and yet , according to the ordination service , they have been " called" by the Holy Ghost , and-are invested by the Bishop with
the terrible and responsible authority of forgiving sins . This doctrine isstated in as many words , and the power is conveyed by the imposition of hands . Was there ever such a mockery ? The young priest is told that he has the power of absolution , and he is forbidden to exercise it except by asserting , what everybody knows , that the Deity does pardon sins . The priest is , therefore , powerless , for , most assuredly , I believe that , with the exception of the High Church section , no clergyman would dare to teach that he is clothed with any power beyond that possessed by the humblest member of Hs congregation . Hence , we are all m a false position . Why not openly acknowledge the fact , instead of aiming at a fatal compromise between the two extremes ?
November 27 , 18— . It was decided the other day by high legal authorities—only think of judges , not bishops , deciding points of doctrine—that the Church of England _ does not believe in baptismal regeneration . And yet the liturgies and services directly assert the contrary . At least , whenever I baptised or christened children , I said , " Seeing that this child is regenerate . " The practical effect is that baptism is a fashion , and , as a rule , the parents and sponsors have no more faith in the spiritual effects of that ceremony than Voltaire or Rousseau had . Except that it assists the registry in establishing the legitimacy or illegitimacy of a child , I know as a fact that very few persons believe that it serves any purpose in the world . High Churchmen hold a contrary opinion , and in this , as in many other respects , they are the
only consistent men in the Church of England . Another consequence is , that many clergymen of the Evangelical school , are placed in . a very false position . Here is one instance . To-day I was sent for to bury a child . The appointed hour was four o'clock . It had been a thick , foggy day , and towards the afternoon a drizzling rain had set in . I waited for three hours at the church . It was not till seven o ' clock that the sexton told me that the people had come . * * * * An old hag—a hired mourner—came in to register the child . I went into the desk to read the first portion of the service , and saw , besides the clerk and myself , two persons in the church . One was the old hag whom I have mentioned , the other a counterpart of herself . The dull flickering of half a dozen gas-lamps spread an unearthly glare , and my voice echoed mournfully through the aisles and galleries . I went out into the churchyard , and saw , to my intense horror and disgust
, that these two creatures had brought the child to be buried in a candle-loo : * * * * Had I obeyed the ritual , 1 should have asked if the ^ child had been baptised . I felt certain that it had not , and if I had asked the question I must have refused to have performed the service . I learnt , afterwards , that the child had been still-born . It was brought , not to be buried , but to be registered , in order that the parents might receive their wretched mite from a burial club ! To this alternative are we reduced . We must either violate our professed belief , or countenance a fraud . In early times it was different . Christians believed in the reality of the Sacrament , and the whole system was harmonious . NW all is discord , confusion , and practical unbelief . Religion has degenerated into a fashion . * * * * I find that very few persons think it necessary to partake of the Holy Communion . This shoves that the religion of tho Church of England has lost
its vitality . It is impossible to conceal the fact that belief in the communication _ of spiritual influences is fast dying away . The second Sacrament is administered in this parish about fifteen times in the year I The congregation ought to number about 1500 ; out of these there are , in general , scarcely a hundred communicants . I know that this is an exceptional case . In many churches the Sacrament is administered more frequently , and the communicants are more numerous—but , as a rule , there is an obvious want of faith m sacramental efficacy . And yet , as it seems to me , partaking in this bacraraent i 8 tho only test by which ono can decide whether there is any living faith in tho whole Church system . * * * * Is it true or false that the millions of people who novor enter a place of worship are condemned to eternal perdition ? If true , what a fearful doctrine ! If ittlso , why is it perpetually taujrht ? Tho other Anv T wonh * W > / W , i- tn
door through ono of the most wretched districts in the town . As a clergyman of the Established Church it was my duty to inquire into the spiritual condition of ovory soul in my parish . Hero is a scono I witnessed : In a room , about eight feet square , I found four women and a man : one of the women was lying , hulf-drossed and in a drunken sleep , upon a filthy bed , tho others were lounging about on chairs . A " dirty" fire was smouldering m the grato , near which the man sat with n short pipe in his mouth . A torn hat was crushed down upon tho back of his head ; hia eyes wore bloodshot with drink ; there could bo no mistake about tho matter , ho was sunk in tho very lowest depths of animal degradation . Tho women greeted mo with a bewildered utaro , tho man turned round as soon m I entered , t \ ml I shall never forget tho intensity of bate with which ho oyed mo . He burst out into a volley of imprecations , and franticall y ordered mo to leave his
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Citation
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Leader (1850-1860), July 29, 1854, page 20, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_29071854/page/20/
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