WHY DO THE WORKING CLASSES APPEAR SO LITTLE INFLUENCED AND INTERESTED BY THE PUBLIC MINISTRATIONS OF RELIGION? At the Lancashire and Cheshire Provincial Meeting, held at Chowbent, June 21, this paper was read by the respected Minister of the Congregation, the Rev. Archibald Macdonald, M.A. It gave rise to considerable discussion. The excellent and true-hearted Author has obligingly placed it at our disposal. Without admitting altogether the existence of the state of feeling which occasioned the article, or pledging ourselves to the accuracy of all the assigned causes of its supposed existence, we think the subject deeply deserving attention and thought. We cannot but think the corruptions of Christianity, with the oppressions and bigotry they have induced, have had great power in alienating men's minds from the Religion of Christ, and that these causes should have been more fully brought out.-EDITOR. Ir is probable that there is some foundation for the expression of opinion which is heard from many quarters, that the Public Ministration of Religion fails, to a large extent, to interest and attach the great Mass of the People. This discouraging fact is confessed at public meetings, deplored in our religious periodicals, and discussed in weekly journals. It has been referred to oftener than once, in my own recollection, at the annual meetings of our own denomination. Assuming then, that there is some ground for a complaint that is so general, it becomes interesting to ascertain the reasons of such a state of things, and to consider, if possible, how it may be remedied. True, it is a very wide topic, and one on which great diversity of opinion may prevail; and the remedy for it may not be easy to be found and applied. Yet, surely, if there be time for it, it is very worthy to engage the notice of this Provincial Meeting; and even if little aid should be contributed toward ascertaining the causes, or the cure, it is yet something to have it marked out as an object of attention; that by the effort and concentration of thoughtful minds, light may be struck out, and a corrective may be gradually and effectually applied to a state of things that all must deprecate. It is less with the view of suggesting anything new, than with the object of starting the topic and bringing it before this meeting, and in consequence, also, of a promise given, perhaps too readily, in another place, that I, with great deference, submit these too brief hints, or fragments of ideas. The state of things to which reference is now made, is not the result of one cause but of very diversified causes. 1. Religion, under one most comprehensive aspect of it, may be regarded as a process of Spiritual Self Education. It is appreciated, felt, understood, and acted out, only as our intellectual and moral nature is cultivated and exalted. Now, in how few, comparatively, of the race, or the community, have man's nobler powers received any adequate development? There are, on the other hand, the pressing wants of the animal nature, earliest felt, constantly repeated, accompanying us ever. If the great things of God are to be spiritually discerned, it is not difficult to see how those, who with a nature little cultivated, and faculties little unfolded, and having, for the most part, to struggle for a bare animal subsistence, should have, perhaps, little opportunity, and less inclination, for attending to the higher interests of the mind. It is not forgotten that of old, "to the poor was the Gospel preached;" but it still remains true, that that preaching will take effect only with the advance and growth of our moral nature; and most of those who have made the trial, will confess the difficulty of introducing spiritual thoughts and principles among the unspiritualized masses. Only the most crude and rudimentary lessons can be imparted, while the culture of the general mind remains so much in abeyance. 2. The spread of what are called Infidel Publications among such masses, is another very powerful cause of irreligion. A cheap press has given them a wider diffusion than was possible in former times. Then it is so much more easy to remember a doubt, or an objection, briefly and pointedly expressed, than to retain the answer, which is generally longer and more elaborate. The impulse given to Unbelief, by the first French Revolution, has, perhaps, not yet spent itself. To say nothing of the false doctrines that have been offered to men in the name of Christianity. There are so many things, particularly in the Old Testament, as commonly read and interpreted, which invite objection, that we need not wonder if an unlettered, superficial, uncritical infidelity is found among the multitude. 3. The tone of that part of the press which claims, more especially, to represent the Working Classes, is, to a large extent, opposed to Religion, to Christianity, and more particularly to the Clergy administrators of religion. The schism between the Upper and Lower Classes has aggravated this opposition; and the "animus" of Socialist and Chartist Lecturers, in so far as they have possessed any influence with the many, has been commonly in the same direction. The struggle which has been maintained for the political enfranchisement of the millions, has been, on the whole, probably, unfavourable to the tranquilising and loftier tone of religious spirituality. So much of the time and attention has been occupied in the excitement of political contest, that men have become indisposed for the quieter themes and objects of the religious life. 4. A vague impression of the illiberality of the Clergy, and of their general hostility to the political rights of the Working Classes, has, somehow or other, extensively established itself. The Clergy, instead of being regarded as friends of Free Inquiry, Education, and Progress, are generally set down as timid and hesitating advocates of whatever would remove the old land marks, transcend their existing standpoint, or war with the temporal interests of their profession. A Clergyman's advocacy of religion does by no means tell for so much as that of a layman; he is viewed with the suspicion that attaches to a special pleader; complete frankness and honesty of avowal are not expected of him; he is considered to be under professional bias, and as belonging to an order of men not moving in the van of Inquiry, Progress, and Liberality. The suspicion which attaches to the retained advocates of religion, unfortunately is extended to religion itself. Of the three professions usually classed as learned, it is generally believed that the Clerical is the latest to admit any fresh ideas, or any improved modes of acting. 5. The unpractical nature of much of what is delivered in pulpits, its slight adaptation to the wants and exigencies of society, and to the everyday interests and duties of men, excites, as might be supposed, small interest among the millions. The antiquated nature of many of the topics which are among the staple of preaching, has even a soporific effect. The many are not interested in several of those antiquarian, minute, or metaphysical matters which engage the preacher, fresh from the halls of learning, or coming out of the chamber of his solitary studies. Controversial theology seems to have had more charms for our ancestors than for the hard working men of our day. And while the preacher may be very energetic in combatting objections, or forms of infidelity, which he has studied in books, the minds of those who take any concern in religion as an object of study, are applying themselves to altogether another part of the subject. The defences and statements of religion, written aforetime, fail often to meet the difficulty, precisely as it presents itself, now. It is unsafe to ignore this, and it is worse than dangerous to attempt to give it the go by. 6. Sectarian differences, and the battles of theologians, are of course, an old handle against Christianity, to say nothing of the deplorable spirit which they have often evoked. Spectators cannot but suspect the heavenly derivation of that, which is defended by weapons so obviously earthly and carnal. The mere fact of so much difference of opinion, is, however, to many who do not look beneath the surface, an unanswerable argument against the truth, not, indeed, of all religion, but against the truth and trustworthiness of what is offered as such, with every various phase of denominational zeal. "Let the learned gentlemen," say they, "settle the differences among themselves, and then we will hear them further of this matter." 7. There is also another stumbling block, yet more obvious, than theological controversy, antiquated topics, and unpractical preaching, namely, the inconsistent and unworthy lives of so many of the professors of Christianity. Christians, by profession, are so little distinguished from "the world that lieth in wickedness," by any mental or spiritual superiority, that people feel justified in asking, what good has their Religion done to them? Christians are not marked out from the world by that superiority which ought to distinguish those, who heartily feel, and believe, that they are in possession of a heaven sent religion. The question then arises, Are they in earnest? Is Christianity anything more than a profession? a traditional something, that has come down to us from our ancestors, like a bit of the true cross, or the seamless coat of Christ, or a mantle that may indeed hide a multitude of sins? The many are keen-sighted to detect insincerity. The term "Saint," originally Saint," originally so glorious, has now passed into a term of reproach and ridicule. So rarely do we see exhibited that most glorious of all arguments for religion, the living argument of a behaviour worthy of the Gospel. 8. Some have thought that they found in the general coldness of our services, the isolation in which each dwells by himself alone, the little interest that is taken in each other by members of the same religious society, a powerful cause of the alienation of the poorer classes. Wealth and Poverty, Education and Conventional forms, separate men in the world; but in the Church of God, where all should meet as men and brethren, there is desiderated more of the spirit of brotherhood. There may be something in this, but it is probably not among the most operative of causes. It is possible, too, that the form and manner of our religious ministrations may be capable of improvement, so as better to adapt them to our own time and state of civilization. On this no opinion is offered at present. 9. But one may clearly note among the signs of our times, a growing indifference to all mere forms; more directness and practicalness; an attempt, however little successful, to get at the root and spirit of things. In one of our learned Universities, it is true, an endeavour has been made to revive a defunct ceremonialism, and to put us off with dry bones, instead of the fresh and living spirit of religion. But this elaborate superstition, this solemn trifling of the college, has not found much acceptance outside, among the Working Men of England. Only it is not surprising, if, while such mere anilities engage the learned leisure of our University Doctors, that the Working Men, seeing Religion identified with robes, and ruffles, and beads, and baptisms, should smile at the whole as an excellent farce; and feel all the more strongly that this kind of thing can never bring a daily bread of wholesome nutriment for their minds. 10. There is one cause to which I have not yet adverted, but which appears to me, perhaps, the most powerful of all, in producing this presumed estrangement of the Working Classes from Religion. I refer to the mistake of confounding the Bible with Religion, the testimony with the thing testified. Religion denotes the sentiments and the conduct befitting our relation to God: it is apprehended by our spiritual and moral nature. Man's spiritual faculties, then, are to him the immediate ground of Religion. On the other hand, many suppose that the ground and authority of religion are to be found only in a book. Inordinate claims have been set up for this book. All degrees and kinds of Inspiration have been challenged for it, from that which is called Plenary, down to that which simply recognizes it as credible history. This has been very injurious to that Religion which is a reasonable service. Any cursory reader of the book may |