190

CHARACTER OF THE TWO MEASURES.

20,000l. per annum;* those of the Metropolis Churches Fund 280. per annum, being in the proportion of 70 to 1. The advantage resulting from the augmentation of 856 benefices, at the rate of little more than 50%. on an average, by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners, can hardly be considered in the light of a compensation for the monstrous disproportion which these data exhibit, between the expense incurred and the results produced. But in addition to this, let the sources from which, by either measure, the means of effecting these results were attained, and the general character of the two measures, be taken into account :-in one case, the patrimony of the Church, devoted to the service of God by the piety of former ages, transferred from its freehold tenure by ecclesiastical persons to the hands of a State Commission, subject to the control of the political Government, which, during the greater part of the time has proved, and bids fair to prove in an increasing degree, hostile to the Church; involving, moreover, the diversion of property given for pious uses from the objects contemplated by the donors, in other words, a breach of faith

*From the manner in which the accounts of the Ecclesiastical Commission were kept, it is impossible to ascertain from the published documents what was the annual cost of the working of the Commission down to the end of 1843. From 1844 a different mode of keeping the accounts was introduced; and for the eleven years, down to 1854, inclusive, the published documents present the following aggregate amounts:—

Parliamentary Grants for Salaries in the

Civil Service Estimates

£ 36,011

General Charges of Management defrayed

out of the Funds of the Commission Payments to Solicitors, Surveyors, Architects and Agents

78,162

97,493

£211,666

Being, on the average of the eleven years, an annual cost of

19,2427. per annum.

towards the dead; the reduction of the cathedral establishments, the proper centres of Diocesan action, to the minimum of support consistent with their continued existence; and the degradation of the Episcopate from the rank of an independent estate to the dependent position of stipendiaries on a public fund administered virtually by the State:-in the other case, the voluntary offerings of pious persons, devoting a portion of their substance to the service of Almighty God, after the example of the piety of former ages; involving no spoliation, direct or indirect, no breach of faith; not impairing the efficiency, nor undermining the security and independence, of any portion of the Church's fabric; but simply diverting a certain amount of private wealth from the uses of this world to the purposes of the Kingdom of Christ, to His purposes Who is the Giver of all wealth; and in the act of doing so, calling forth the exercise of some of the chief graces of the Christian character by those who felt it a privilege to take part in so good a work:-let all this be considered, and there can be little doubt which of the two expedients for relieving the spiritual destitution of the people was the more accordant with the principles, as well as with the true interests, of the Church; little doubt which of the two was eventually contemplated with the greater comfort by the mind of Bishop Blomfield, who, while under the pressure of a great difficulty, and the delusive hope of extensive and permanent good, he had acquiesced, and at one time actively concurred, in the one, had the satisfaction of having originated the other.

CHAPTER XII.

Insufficiency of the Provision made by the Metropolis Churches Fund-Enormous and Artificial Increase of Population-Noble Example set by Bishop Blomfield-Failure of Duty on the part of the Large Proprietors and the Trading Community-National Mammon Service-Practical Heathendom of the Masses-Continued Demand for Church Extension-Importance of adherence to Church Principles-Salutary influence of New Churches and Parochial Districts-Testimony of the Churchwardens of Bethnal Green-Visitation Charge of 1846-Expenditure for Penal and Reformatory Institutions-Refusal of State Assistance to the Work of Church Extension-Duty of the Church towards the Neglected Populations -Missionary Character of the Work-The Wealthy Laity Rebuked-Last Visitation Charge- Church building a Principal Feature of Church Extension-Other Measures for Evangelising the Masses subsidiary and preparatory — Dangerous Illness of the Bishop in 1836-Remonstrance against Excessive Labour-The Bishop's Reply-Death of Dr. Burton-Dr. Hampden appointed Regius Professor of Divinity at Oxford—Five Bishoprics vacated by Death-The new See of Ripon Royal Control over the Episcopal Patronage of the Crown.

COWEVER favourable the light in which the Metro

polis Churches Fund appears, when contrasted with the Ecclesiastical Commission, it must be admitted, and by no one was it more deeply felt than by Bishop Blomfield himself, that the measure failed to effect all that the spiritual condition of the metropolis required. But this is assuredly no argument against the course pursued by the Bishop, when he issued the appeal which

INCREASING SPIRITUAL DESTITUTION.

193

called that Fund into existence. It is true, no doubt, that the number of new churches created by the Fund was not quite one-third, the number of additional sittings provided little more than two-fifths, of the number required to meet the existing destitution of parishes containing a population of 10,000 and upwards, when the appeal was issued; and it is true, moreover, that while the accommodation provided by means of this Fund fell thus lamentably short of the actual wants of the population at the time when this remedy was first suggested, the increase of the population, at the rate of about 600,000 during the eighteen years,-amounted to double the population for which the means of grace were provided; thus leaving, at the end of the eighteen years, a larger amount of spiritual destitution than existed at the beginning of that period: but neither the inadequacy of the sums eventually raised to the object for which they were required, nor the gigantic increase of the evil which it was proposed to remedy, can with fairness be objected against the design itself, or against its originator. As regards the increase of population, it cannot even be alleged that it ought to have been calculated upon; inasmuch as the increase was not a natural but an artificial increase, produced by the position of the metropolis as a great centre of commerce, and by the feverish activity of commercial enterprise. And as regards the inadequacy of the sums raised, the obvious answer is, that if the example of the Bishop had been followed,—if the wealthy inhabitants of the metropolis, the great owners of the soil and other large proprietors, as well as the merchants, manufacturers and traders of all kinds, for the increase of whose gains those masses of population are drawn together, had all, during those eighteen years, given of their substance in the same ratio as Bishop Blomfield gave in proportion to the revenues of his See, that is, about one-tenth of the whole, the funds collected would have been more than sufficient, not only to relieve the

194

THE SORE OF MODERN SOCIETY.

pressure of spiritual destitution at the time when his appeal was first made, but to provide for all the subsequent increase of population. As long as the laity, with rare but highly honourable exceptions, continue, in their individual, not less than in their corporate capacity as represented by Parliament, to turn a deaf ear to the voice of the National Church, which calls upon them, instead of living in luxury and hoarding up wealth, to deny themselves for the promotion of the kingdom of Christ, and the salvation of souls,--on the idle, not to say the hypocritical plea, that the resources of the Church are ample, and only require to be more carefully husbanded and more equally distributed, so long must we expect that the noblest efforts of individual churchmen, whether they be bishops, priests, or laymen, will fail to touch that deep and dangerous sore of modern society in our land, the irreligion, the practical heathendom, of the masses. And fearful, indeed, will be the responsibility incurred by those on whom it devolves, whether in the metropolis or in the country at large, to carry on the great work of church extension, so nobly taken in hand by Bishop Blomfield, if they should be found to disparage his labours, because through the intensity of our national Mammon-service they produced inadequate results; if, instead of boldly rebuking, as he did in his day, the national sin, they should do homage to the spirit of the age, and devise for the spiritual supervision of the people methods inconsistent with the principles of the Church, with the Ordinance of Christ,-methods recommended mainly by their cheapness, and deriving their sanction from the popular sentiment of an unbelieving age.

But in whatever way this great and vital question may hereafter be dealt with, the truth, the justice of history require that the eminent services rendered to the cause of religion by Bishop Blomfield, in the establishment of the Metropolis Churches Fund, should be recorded and ac