VERY " SPECIAL RELIGIOUS SERVICES."
Tnotroirrsui. readers of the public journals cannot have over- looked the unsettled state of " the religious world." In the same week, we have chronicled the riots at St. George's-in-the- East, the resignation of Canon Wodehouse, and the .petition of 460 clergymen praying for a revision of the Liturgy. If these and similar ecclesiastical phenomena seem to indicate a decay of the power of religious formularies, a long list of "special efforts," of a different order, go to show ;bat it is not vitality which is wanting, for there seems to be an increase in the action of reli- gious professors in the direction of the non-church-going part of the community.
But the cause of these movements does not lie for inspection upon the surface. We cannot give credit to the mobs of St. George's for an enlightened apprehension of " Protestant doc- trine," nor any lively. sympathy with the Church " as by law established." The resignation of the reverend Canon is only another instance of the oppressions which tender consciences suffer under binding creeds, and his voluntary surrender of his emolu- ments, however honourable to him as a man, does .not seem to he necessary, for 460 of his brethren simply content themselves with petitioning for a legal removal of the same and similar shackles upon thoughtful devotion. Nor can we at once see the reason for the voluntary-efforts, plus the ordinary services of the churches. The tabernacles were not filled to overflowing. The success of Mr. Spurgeon might possibly excite, in the minds of •clergymen, a desire to prove that the shibboleth they taught was as capable of being proved acceptable to the people, as that form of faith which John Foster called " the morass of Dissent." Other Dissenters might possibly be stirred up to a rivalry partly sectional, partly professional, and perhaps also partially, or sometimes wholly, in a missionary spirit. The idea attempted to be expressed by that contradiction of terms, a " revival of religion," will not account for the special efforts (for if it be true that religion is a develop- ment of spiritual truth, it is and cannot be revived, and if it were not true it could not have an original much less a revived exist- ence) for the extension of Christianity. The cause lies still deeper.
In its simplest form, and yet its most faithful exposition, re- ligion appeals equally to the heart and the understanding, and, with cultivated affections in love and charity, ought to produce the religious life. But our present practice only produces a re- ligions profession—a very different thing. Christianity, too, in its original appearance, was largely a social development, intended to round off " worldly " angles of selfishness and aggressive ac- quisition. But whatever the original, or even intermediate state of religious profession, modern arrangements have compelled re- ligion to copy "the world" phraseology, distinction, and division of labour. Hence we have a largely endowed and numerous ministry ; arrangements for the government of churches, partly clerical, partly laical, and in some instances, a struggle between the two for the supremacy. But little cares the world for the
internal struggles, for it has no interest or next to none, in the primary object. People object to become church members, not so much from any antipathy to religion, as from a fear of involve- ment in -trouble, in which not spiritual-mindedness, but human littlenesses are mostly exhibited. The continual struggles be- tween incumbents and churchwardens, conferences and people, as- semblies and courts, the well meant, but often unwise, inter- ference of church officers—elders, leaders, and deacons, produce an internal state of things in churches, as fruitful of mischief to the success of the first object of all religious communion, as the system of Austria or the Pope in Italy. When the people com- plain, the reply is ready that all such regulations are intended for tile benefit of the people. But that is the reply not only of unintentional oppressors but of intentional, and is ever ready in the months of wrongdoers.
But the world is not without justification also. It narrowly scans the life of the professors. And when as unhappily is not unfrequently the case, we have misconduct i
in morals or in com- merce, which is not to be justified by a lower law of morals than even that of theDecalogue, the world cries out, and hastily, but illogically, confuses the conduct of hypocrites as a sample of the fruit of the doctrine. But even granting the want of discrimination shown in such an idea, still sufficient remains to justify a man refusing to become an unit in the active community of professors. He fears that by his entry he might lose the spirituality he has, and so is content to have less than he might obtain. The internal arrangements of religious communities are not, as they ought to be, inviting to the lower sections of the people. There is too much patronizing offensiveness in the continual suggestion of " special services for the working classes," as if in- deed any class, or that class in particular, were necessarily the objects of religious efforts. The middle classes have happily cushioned themselves in the sanctuary, (and like an ostrich -burying his head in the sand, thinking to escape observation,) they imagine their seats there give them a right to be considered sufficiently good. But the world without looks on askance. The merchant who has rigged the market ; the tradesman who has adulterated his goods ; or the manufacturer who lowered the wages of his workmen, are all noted and despised, additionally, for their i profession. What the world looks for is religious life in invoices and contracts, weights and measure, and in conversation on com- mon things. If in these matters the true ring of religion is heard, but without pretence, the world will assume the existence of true religious life.
When the Church forgets its own formulated existence, and comes out of itself to meet the world in the Theatre or the Music- hall, the world gladly hastens to reciprocate the courtesy. The trappings and bandages of the church are left behind, and so happily is also the cynicism of the world. The two meet on equal terms. They understand each other. Each comes to confer a favour on the other, and both parties, beginning by being pleased, may profitably end their weekly intercourse. The attendance is so voluntary as to preclude weariness. And the world, at last, fed with its needful spiritual aliment, on its own terms, will by degrees learn to respect, perhaps adopt, the principle from which all this action proceeds. But let such preachers avoid being vul- gar; the instinct of the people detects the difference between plainness and vulgarity. No good can be achieved by announcing " Who's that knocking at the door ?" or "Wind and tide wait for no man." The title may attract asmile, but will never produce a conviction.
We think, then, that a wise departure from church exclusive- ness is productive of the present activity, and corresponding suc- cess. Were proof of this fact wanted, we might argue from the course as exhibited at St. George's in the East, and, indeed, every- -where when forms have either been increased or insisted upon with unnecessary earnestness. If Mr. Bryan King thought to ex- tend religion by chasubles, genuflections, and intonings, he must by this time be convinced, against his will, that he has taken the wrong course. The people will not have the form substituted for the hie, and although we must not be understood as in the slightest degree approving of the late proceedings, we yet fearlessly say that it were better that St. George's should be closed for ever, than that there should be a risk of a repetition of such violence. No person can read such accounts without a certain feeling of degradation, and yet it is impossible to separate from it the cause.
Certainly the mob in St. George's, setting priests and police au- thority at defiance, and equal crowds in the Victoria, Garrick, and Britannia Theatres, listening quietly on the same day, yet i merely assembled by voluntary invitation, and requiring no au- thority to preserve order, (having no offensive forms presented for intellectual acquiescence) gladly listening to public teachers, is a curious contradiction. If to spread trim religion we must leave the mere church behind, the sooner we examine what are the ex- crescences, and where they exist, the better. Certain prejudices • may have to be given up, but that is no great sacrifice. If re- ligion can be shown forth in the life, no human impediment should be suffered. We may have to give up many cherished crotchets to meet the views of our fellow-countrymen, but we shall reap the reward of a higher morality, increased affection, and an universal charity. There was no system of human order indi- cated in the Sermon on the Mount; the nearer we get to it, and the less we depart from it, the better.
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