Графични страници
PDF файл
ePub

this from living instances. It were far from difficult to point out certain most important situations-situations of the greatest moment in a national point of view, the due qualifications for which could comprise the highest talents, and the intensest study, held by men who are notorious alike for their inferior ta lents, and their sluggish indolence; by men of whom it would, indeed, be false to say that they are tailors, and shoemakers, and street porters; but of whom it would unquestionably be true to affirm, that nature intended them to be tailors, and shoemakers, and street porters. Behold, then, the mighty power of servility, which is able to convert a shoemaker into a doctor of divinity-a tail or into a professor-and street porters into holders of double livings. Seeing then that the sure means of getting on is servility; that by this even men of the slenderest talents may confidently anticipate promotion-there is no one who can deny that this is necessary in those who look to the church; and, therefore, it would be absurd to blame them for want of independence.

I have hitherto spoken only of the necessity of submissiveness in the young men to the "most learn ed, grave, and reverend seniors of their own profession;" but it commonly happens that for the purpose of securing patronage, they enter into gentlemen's families in the capacity of tutors.

Now how much soever these persons may be inclined to render the situation of the young men comfortable, and how respectable soever they are in many respects, it is notorious that from being engaged in various pursuits, which have no tendency to improve the mind, and which it is unnecessary here to specify, they are far from being in general a well-informed and enlightened race of men; that, therefore, nothing like independence, or even

a difference of opinion, can be tolerated by them. No blame ought on this account to be imputed to that highly respectable class, the country gentlemen; since this is the necessary result of their exceedingly contracted education, which, it is well known, is often far inferior to that of many of the labouring clas ses.

Their ignorance may not be blameworthy, but it is very clear that the young men who live in their families in the capacity of tutors, must of necessity contract the most submissive habits. Thus it clearly appears that the training of young divines is such that they necessarily contract the most inve terate habits of servility. I have not leisure at present, neither is it necessary, to enter on a considera❤ tion of the power of habit. This is well known to all, and therefore candour requires that we ought not to censure servility in Rev. Gen. tlemen too severely, and that we ought to view with commiseration, rather than to blame, that submissiveness to their superiors for which they are so remarkable. But this will appear still more clearly, if we consider, in the second place, their circumstances after they have been appointed to churches.

It seldom happens that a clergy. man is placed at once in so lucrative a situation as it is possible for him to reach. Not only may he in general be transferred from a worse to a better stipend, but he beholds objects of ambition in pro fessorships, double livings, deaneries, &c. Now as servility is almost the sole means by which these can be arrived at, would it not be utterly unreasonable to expect him to pursue such a line of conduct as would infallibly cut off every hope of attaining these? and would not the acting an independent part, in his circumstances, be the very height of folly? Let men, I should

rather say madmen, say what they will, the loaves and fishes are, after all, the only objects deserving of an ardent pursuit, and he is the truly wise man who keeps them steadiest in his view, and adopts the most effectual means of securing them.

Of

This being the case, it is impos sible that those who rail at what they are pleased to call sycophancy, can be actuated by any but the vilest motives. Envy is undoubt edly at the root of what they say. But there are other advantages of which clergymen would deprive themselves by acting an independ ent part, which no one will affirm to be of small consequence. these the chief, perhaps, is the being admitted into the society of the country gentlemen of the mighty leaders of the church. It is no doubt seldom that these high personages deign to honour them with their notice. But rarely as this happens, it must be confessed to be a very high honour, and of this they would undoubtedly be de prived, if they had the audacity and folly to enter upon an independent line of conduct. Farewell from that moment to the enjoyment of good society, and (which is perhaps fully more important) to the occa. sional participation of a good din

ner.

In addition to all these great sa crifices which it would be necessary to make, clergymen, by acting an independent part, would subject themselves to the loss of that patronage of which their families in general stand so much in need, whereas, by what is called sneaking on their own part, and by training their children to habits of ser vility, they not unfrequently succeed in getting situations for some of them.

From what I have said, it clear. ly appears that it is the true wis dom of clergymen willingly to sa. crifice their independence, as they

can gain nothing by it, but must, to a certainty, be great losers. In consequence of this, I regret to hear it rumoured, that a spirit of independence, is spreading among the younger members. Nothing could happen more to be deplored. I hope their prudence will increase with their increasing years. It is with the deepest pain that I have observed, even in those more advanced in life, a certain forgetfulness of that entire prostration of the mind, which it is their true interest to render to their superiors. Never was I more astonished and shocked, than to observe, on a late occasion all the members of the Venerable Assembly show a most irreverent want of attention to a certain Learned Lord, when he uprose

[ocr errors]

"As who should say I am Sir Oracle,' "And when I ope my mouth, let no dog bark-"

and delivered a speech, which appeared to himself most argumentative and conclusive. When such a personage rises in future, I hope to see nothing but "gaping wonderment," through the whole of the Venerable House; and I conclude by conjuring the Reverend Gentlemen to reflect seriously on what may be the awful consequences, if they shall again forget that obeisance which they owe to one who is in every respect so worthy of their homage.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE CHRISTIAN INSTRUCTOR.

SIR,

No subject of prophecy is more clearly and more beautifully stated in Scripture, than that glory with which it is foretold, the Gospel

[ocr errors]

shall overspread the earth in the latter days. The inspired prophets seem to dwell on the topic with congenial delight, and to view the happy period with joyful anticipa

tion.

But though mankind may be ready enough to admit the truth of the prophecy, they are ever apt to forget the certainty of its fulfilment; and while they know that it must one day surely happen, they in the mean time put carefully away from them all idea of their own active and immediate agency, and expect the event from the operation of causes foreign to themselves. The smooth and uninterrupted course of nature in the external world, will not permit them to cherish the expectation of a miracle; but still there is e nough in their conduct to justify the conclusion, that they never reflect on their own part in the plans of Providence, nor their instrumentality in fulfilling the prophetic announcements of an omniscient God.

That period, when there shall be only one Shepherd, and one great sheepfold, is yet hid in the darkness of futurity. But surely we need not be told our duty as rational, responsible, and immortal beings. If there be a pursuit calculated to exalt the dignity of our nature, it is to keep always in view that great object which must, by some means, be one day accomplished, and to make all our feeble efforts tend to promote its approximation and accelerate its approach.

Much has been done in the present day, and much is doing, to carry the blessings of a free salvation into the wilds of moral darkness, and obscurity, and ignorance. And much reason have an enlightened and religious British population to rejoice, that many a heart, throughout the wide expanse of uncultivated regions, is made to beat in unison

with theirs on the most important of all subjects; and that, through their means, the wilderness is about to become a fruitful field, and the desert to bud and blossom as

the rose.

But is there nothing, in regard to this great and glorious object, which it is yet requisite for us to do at home? I speak not of extending to the poor the means of religious knowledge-of training the destitute young to religion and virtue-of exploring the haunts of ignorance, and illumining them with the light of truth. These are great objects, but they have long since attracted the attention, and received the support, of the philanthropic in the land. I speak of turning away the hostility of those among the rich and the learned, who, inimical to every thing which bears the form of religion, engrossed by earthly pursuits, and clustered into worldly combinations, taint, as with pestilence, the moral atmosphere in which they breathe, and spread around them the virulence of death.

Our island may be deemed the chief source from which the knowledge of religion is to flow to those parts of the earth which are still unillumined by the light of truth. All enmity and opposition on the part of those whose authority gives weight to their opinion, have a tendency both to pollute and parch up this source. The great, therefore, and the learned, those who dictate by domination, and those who teach by the consent of mankind, should estimate the worth of their example; and if from every one shall be demanded a faithful account of what he has enjoyed, the guilt of those must be increased in a fearful ratio, who, with every opportunity, not only do no good, but set aloft their baneful precepts a light to dazzle, to al lure, and to destroy.

Those men surely have no claim to the forbearance of the Christian world, who have already, by their actions, sufficiently demonstrated that they have no regard for the happiness of the species; who shew us, that if they once speak, it is in the language of deceit, that if they once move, it is as the puppets of interest. They prowl among mankind as their victims; they mark and fasten on him, who will afford the richest spoil. Their course is marked with devastation. They only leave their victim when he is bloodless. They urge onwards perpetually for the aggrandisement of self, and unfortunately for society it too often happens, that their interest is ever at variance with the peace and welfare of others.

I make these remarks in reference to many combinations, whether supported by popular approbation or not, whose manifest object is to oppose religion. And I do so because I think that they deserve to be exposed.

The usual charge may await me, that of intolerance. But let the rich and proud brand me with infamy. They cannot subvert truth, nor quench the risings of injured virtue. One privilege we enjoy of which they cannot strip us; though we have no authority to ridicule any man's faith, we have right to expose his practice, and if he will injure himself against warning, we are not obliged to let him injure us without remonstrance.

For this reason, I took leave, in my last article, to remonstrate with the legal profession as to some of those injuries which they have inflicted, and are still inflicting on the members of society. I hope they will see the prudence and necessity of turning the face of kindness to the human race. The profession is venerated in the eyes of the public. The people wait to

welcome those to confidence who have hitherto disgraced it. But if they listen with neglect, if their conduct is unreformed, their injuries unrepented of, then my parting advice to them is, to look a round them, and consider. Oppression can only be borne to a certain degree. The last struggle of suffering is always fearful, and sometimes pregnant with ruin. The people have before, and may again be known to rid themselves of tyranny by the destruction of its cause.

Is it not melancholy, Sir, that wherever we observe a combination of learning, it is, for the most part, exclusively to support some system connected solely with this present and fleeting world? To man, the creature of an hour, regal pomp and dignity, the government of an extensive and respectable realm, the adjustment of the power of princes, and all the varied movements of political machinery, appear great and magnificent objects. Viewed in a temporal light probably they are so in reality. But they are apt to affect with giddiness the heads of those who fix upon them their steady contemplation. Their splendour dazzles the eye of human littleness. Their perpetual variations support human curiosity in pleasing sus pense. They are pursued with anxiety, but they absorb the human faculties, and chain them to the earth.

Time, compared with eternity, can scarcely be reckoned the morn ing of existence. A short time hence, and all its interests, however great, shall have sunk unheeded into that shoreless ocean. And however politics may in the meantime attract the admiration, and command the homage of numerous votaries, yet upon all earthly things the stamp of perishableness has been impressed. And I hope those many great men who bestow upon them

their exclusive attention, will not be offended if I ask them, what provision, after their career is run, they have in store for the employments of eternity? Would it not exalt the dignity of human wisdom, to abstract its powers from the delusive phantoms of time, and employ them about the concerns of eternity, of which all the promises are sure, and all the pleasures everlasting?

[ocr errors]

But what, Sir, if I should now be a little more specific? In a city like this, so full of matter for immortality, it is surely of essential importance that the magistrates and council be patriotic and religious men. They have much in their power. On them much of the present happiness and the future prosperity of our country is suspended. The land is adorned with many skilful, many learned, and many excellent individuals, who, in every respect are admirably qualified to instruct the young in knowledge, and to train them to virtue; but how do these men reach the Chairs of our University unless they have interest with the Council? I sincerely hope that that body ever use this high privilege with becoming discretion; with honest zeal for the public welfare, and the promotion of private happiness. I hope that they never allow themselves to be turned into the path of dishonesty by the dictates of interest. I hope that, to serve some private end, to confer some personal favour, or to obtain some object of family aggrandisement, they never exalt as the teachers of mankind, men who are every way unfit for the important trust. The young look to them for instructors; the country looks to them for future rulers ; and if they ever for a moment permit themselves to forget their high responsibility, they may be assured, that all the infamy of a great nation's disappointment

VOL. XXIII, NO. VII.

shall stain the period of their baneful administration. We read in history of immortality, but it is not always that of fame.

The morals of the young are to be formed not by alone reiterating to them the precepts of speculative morality, nor by inculcating uponthem the facts or the maxims of philosophy unconnected with the authority of religion, but also by a living example of purity being exhibited to them in the person of their several teachers. There is no subject upon which they have so much penetration as upon this. Once excite their jealousy, and you make them vigilant. They pant for freedom though it should lead to crime, and if they perceive an opportunity they will not neglect it. If after hearing, probably with sufficient eloquence and splendour of imagery, the truths of morality laid down to them, they behold the men from whose lips they have fallen, in practice holding their own precepts in apparent contempt, the conclusion which they unavoidably come to is, that the whole matter is delusive and vain—a pleasing speculation or a fancy dream. If their conduct in future life is vicious, who is chiefly to blame? I know not, in fact, if this subject be attended to, but I know that, in justice, it should be.

But the cause of religion must depend chiefly at all times on its public teachers-the ministers of the Gospel. Here again, Sir, let us revert for a little to the Council. As patrons, their path of duty is marked clearly out if they choose to follow it. When they come to exercise this very important privilege, all they have to do is, without being influenced by private motives, to provide for the people the best pastor which the land can supply-one who will rightly divide among his hearers the word of life. And as to the future, this

3 M

« ПредишнаНапред »