The member for Workshire: or, Church and State. A political novel

Preface

I dedicate this book to the people of England and her great dependencies beyond the seas. The facts and arguments here developed and enforced are the result of many years' careful thought and reflection. The main object of the work is to preserve the Church of England from disestablishment and spoliation; not by an attitude of uncompromising hostility to all existing Christian denominations, but by resorting to the more blessed arts of conciliation; by removing all objectionable features from the services of the Church, and by making her portals sufficiently broad and com prehensive to include the various religious forces of the nation which are now excluded and alienated. There is no concealing the fact that, sooner or later, the existence of the Church as a National establishment will be sub mitted to the test of numbers at the polling booths.

If the representatives of Ireland, Scotland and Wales are to have an equal voice with the representatives of England, the result may be disastrous, unless some such means as those I have here pointed out are adopted. The question is, therefore, of paramount importance — Shall we have conciliatory expansion, or dishonour and financial disaster ? Disendowment is always the accompaniment of disestablishment. If the Church of England be disestablished, at least thirty millions of her own property will be ruthlessly sacrificed. It is worth an effort on the part of her true disciples to avert such a catastrophe.

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. IV The subjoined extracts will be read with interest as bearing on the main principles enunciated. THOMAS ASPDEN. Imperial Institute, London, S.W. The late Earl of Beaconsfield, addressing a great meeting in the Free Trade Hall, Manchester, on April 3rd, 1872, said : — " The wisest sovereigns and statesmen have ever been anxious to connect authority with religion — some to increase their power, some, perhaps, to mitigate its exercise. But the same difficulty has been experienced in effecting this union which has been experienced in forming a Second Chamber — either the spiritual power has usurped upon the civil and established a sacerdotal society, or the civil power has invaded successfully the rights of the spiritual, and the ministers of religion have been degraded into stipendiaries of the State, and instruments of the Government.

In England we accomplished this great result by an alliance between Church and State, between two originally independent powers. That Union has contributed for centuries to the civilisation of this country. There is the same argument against the Church of England and the union be tween Church and State as there is against the Monarchy and against the House of Lords. " It is said that the existence of Nonconformity proves that the Church is a failure. I draw from these premises an exactly contrary conclusion; and I maintain that to have secured the blessing osa national profession of faith, with the unlimited en joyment of private judgment in matters spiritual, is the solution of the most difficult problem, and one of the triumphs of civilisation. It is said that the existence of parties in the Church also proves its incompetence.

On that matter, too, I entertain a contrary opinion. Parties have always existed in the Church; and some of them have appealed to them as arguments for its divine institution, because in the services and doctrines of the Church have been found representatives of every mood in the human mind. " The Church is a powerful corporation of many millions of Her Majesty's subjects, with a consummate organisation and wealth which, in its aggregate, is vast. Controlled by the State, so powerful a corporation may be only fruitful of public advan tage; but it becomes a great question what might be the conse-

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. V quence of the severance of the controlling tie between these two great bodies. I doubt whether it would be favourable to the cause of civil and religious liberty. " I foresee yet trials for the Church of England, but I am confident of its future. I am confident of its future, because I see in the Church, as I believe I see in England, an IMMENSE EFFORT TO RISE TO NATIONAL FEELINGS, AND TO RECUR TO NATIONAL PRINCIPLES. THE CHURCH OF ENG LAND, LIKE ALL OUR INSTITUTIONS, FEELS IT MUST BE NATIONAL, AND IT KNOWS THAT TO BE NATIONAL IT MUST BE COMPREHENSIVE.'' The Marquess of Salisbury, K.G., in addressing the Devonport Conservative Association on the 4th June, 1884, said : — " I have heard, and I have heard, I think, for the first time, a distinguished member of the Wesleyan connexion answer for the toast of Church and State.

I cannot tell you the pleasure with which I heard that utterance, because it is an indication that the best and most enlightened of the Wesleyan body — may I say perhaps of other Christian bodies as well ? — are beginning to recognise that the new controversies which have arisen, and the new dangers which threaten us, are of a kind to strike ap prehension into the hearts of all good patriots and good Christians, whether they conform to the Church of EngLmd or not, and that, in defence of our dearest rights as citizens, and the fundamental truths in which as Christians we believe, we must, in political matters at least, subordinate small differences to the great and surpassing coinciding interests." Mr. BALFOUR, the leader of the Conservative Opposition in the House of Commons, took part on Saturday, June 16th, 1894, in the proceedings connected with the laying of the foundation stones of new Wesleyan Sunday Schools at Beswick, Man chester, amongst those present being the Rev. H. J. Pope, president for the year of the Wesleyan Conference.

In the course of his speech Mr. BALFOUR said :— " I am proud to have the opportunity of aiding you in the admir able work to further which you have met. I am present to support no new or untried experiment, but rather with the object all the Wesleyans of Beswick have in view — to make a great work, which has already been carried on successfully for many years, even more VI

PREFACE.

. successful than it has been in the past. Their object is to build new schools because the old schools have proved insufficient to accommodate the scholars for whose education they have been erected. This must be a subject of profound gratification to all who are interested in the religious education of the younger members of that congregation. "The Wesleyans have always been most honourably dis tinguished by the earnestness with which they have advocated the view that the training of the young in matters religious can not and ought not to be left wholly either to the family or to occasions of public service and public worship. Beyond those two great instruments of education they require the school ; and those who think the school is intended only for secular purposes, and that they can venture to ignore those subjects of education which all admit to be of greater importance than secular learn ing — those who think that the higher subjects can be safely omitted from their scholastic training make in my opinion one of the profoundest mistakes that can possibly be made.

That, at all events, is not a mistake of which the great Wesleyan body can feel that it has been guilty. I am informed, marvellous as the figures are, that the number of Sunday scholars in the Wesleyan Schools have been increasing during the last ten years at the rate of some io,oco scholars a year ; in other words, that 100,000 Sunday scholars have been added to the rolls in the course of the last ten years. Of course, I do not mean that every year 10,000 have been added ; but that there has been an average increase, one year with anoiher, during thc last ten years, of 10,000. In the year which is just passed I believe a sum very little short of ,£100,000 had been spent in furthering this particular machinery for effecting religious education. I think you will all feel that when a work of that kind is being done it is their business to further it.

You can judge of its fruits, you can make some estimate of the effect which it produces, you can form some judgment of the great results that may be anticipated from it ; and it is with no seeling of diffidence, with no feeling of doubt as to the value of the effort which you are now called upon to make, that I ask those who are present to subscribe liberally to the erection of the new schools, and to do what they can to interest others among their friends in the great work. I know I have the sympathy of all whom I am addressing, whether among the leaders of the Church or among the congregation, when I say that, however that object is carried out, the object itself is one of pressing and paramount importance (applause). Depend upon it, those who have as their ideal of education nothing beyond secular learning are themselves little better than Secularists. I do not think it is wise or safe to trust in religious matters simply to home train-

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. VII ing, any more than it is safe to trust to home training for teaching those other subjects which form, no doubt, the great burden of educational work thrown upon the great elementary schools of the country (hear, hear). I am here to preach no special doctrine, to advocate no particular plan, to further no special crotchet of my own ; but I join myself with those I am address ing in the desire to further an effort which has for its object the giving of scholastic training in religious matters. I am con vinced that, unless they consent to that in one way or another, their whole education will be itself but a mean and imperfect training for the young, and one wholly unworthy of a great and civilised community." Mr. Balfour, on Thursday, June 21st, 1894, addressed a large and influential meeting of the Nonconformist Unionist Associa tion, held at the Memorial Hall, Farringdon Street, London, E.C. ; Mr. H. M. Bompas, Q.C., presiding.

Mr. Balfour, in the course of his speech, said : — " In the eloquent speech to which we have just listened with so much agreement, and with so much sympathy, your chairman has reminded us of the circumstances which have led to a result which perhaps ten years ago might have been thought the least probable result in the world, namely, that I should be addressing a great Nonconformist meeting in the Memorial Hall (cheers). He has reminded you that it was with no light heart that he and the majority of those to whom I now speak have sundered a life-long connection with the Party with whom they used to act, and that, in obedience to conscience and to principle (cheers), they have joined that great Unionist Party to whose common exertions we owe it at the present moment that the first, though I admit not the last, great battle on the subject of Home Rule has been fought and has been won (cheers).

The Unionist Party came into being, under the stress of a great public danger, under the threat osa great public wrong, in the year 1886, and all through the Parliament which lasted from 1887 until 1892 the Conserva tive Government received from the Liberal Unionist members of the Unionist Party a support as loyal, as fervent, as able, as disinterested as the history of any constitutional country shows an example of (cheers). Those eight years have borne a necessary and, as I believe, a permanent and beneficial fruit in the arrangement and distribution of political parties in this country. "The Unionist Party was born in reference to one great public topic of controversy. But the Union has been made, and

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. I do not believe that now that it has been made, and has been tried through years of office and through years of opposition, without being strained in a single link or without showing the slightest fissure or crack in any of its main buttresses and sup ports (cheers)—/ do not believe that a Union so formed, so tried, and so tested is destined again to be dissolved (cheers). Therefore, I ask myself, not as one speaking merely to those who agree with me, and who have acted with me in reference to one single topic of public debate, but as those who have proved themselves faithful friends and allies in many a hard contest, and who will prove themselves faithful friends and allies m many a contest yet to come (cheers)— I would ask them to-day not to re-debate the old arguments on which we have already had so triumphant a victory, but to use the pause intervening between the two engagements, the pause after our last victory and before our next battle, to consider generally the position which we occupy, not merely as members of one Party, aiming at one common end, but as citizens of one Empire — (cheers)— resolved not -merely to preser-ve inviolate and indissoluble the unity of the Empire, but to work together for the good of every one of its citizens, whether they be or be not members of the same Political organisation as ourselves (cheers).

" I know what difficulties are thrown in our way by the in evitable system of Party Government. I say nothing against the system. I believe it to be absolutely necessary, if you are to have any kind of firmness or unity of administration ; but when you turn from administration to legislation, then the evils of the Party system make themselves apparent, and undoubtedly it is difficult — it is, perhaps, impossible — to avoid appeals being made for electoral purposes which have no substance of truth behind them, no real practicability, no real prospect of improv ing the lot of any section of the community (cheers). From that great danger we are not, and we cannot be, wholly free, but if the educated elements and the thinking elements, from whatever class they may be drawn in the electorate, will set themselves to work really to think out the problems which require solution, and if those who ought to lead them will con sent to lead them, then / believe the next ten or twenty years may not only see our external Empire grow and flourish, may not only see us bound by still closer lies to our Colonies (cheers), may not only see us carrying on our great -work in India with ever-increasing success, but will see finally and forever laid the ghost of separation and the phantom of Home Rule (cheers), and may see each Party striving with an honourable rivalry not to outbid the other by empty promises and sham professions (hear, hear), but striving to do its duty, each in turn as it is called to the helm of the State, to benefit every class in the com-

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. IX munity without inflicting injustice, and, therefore, disaster, upon any class, or upon the community as a whole (cheers). 1 hat that should be our object, and that that object may be attained by the Unionist Party as at present constituted, is my most fervent desire; and I am convinced that it is a desire which everyone who has heard me shares with me to the full." LORD R. CHURCHILL, addressing a meeting of Conservatives at the Birmingham Town Hall, on the 15th of April, 1884, said :— " I would urge upon you not to lend yourselves too hastily to any project for the demolition of the Established Church. I see in the Church of England an immense and omnipresent ramifi cation of machinery, working without any expense to the people, and daily and hourly lifting up trie masses of the people, rich and poor alike, from the dead and dreary level of the lowest and most material cares of life, up to the comfortable contemplation of higher and serener forms of existence and of destination.

I see in the Church of England a centre and a source and a guide of charitable effort, mitigating by its mendicant importunity the violence of human misery, whether mental or physical, and con tributing to the work of alleviation from its own not too super fluous resources. And I urge upon you not to throw that source of charity upon the hap-hazard almsgiving of a busy and a selfish world. " I view the Church of England eagerly co-operating in the work of national education, not only benefiting your children, but saving your pockets; and I remember that it has been the work of the Church to pour forth floods of knowledge, purely secular and scientific, even from the days when knowledge was not; and I warn you against impairing the diffusion of knowledge inspired by religion amongst those who will have devolved upon them responsibilities for the government of this wide Empire.

" But I own that my chief reason for supporting the Church of England I find in the fact that, when compared with other creeds and other sects, IT is essentially the Church of religious liberty. Whether in one direction or another it is continually possessed by the ambition, not of excluding, but of including, all shades of re ligious thought, and all sorts and conditions of men; and in standing out like a lighthouse over a stormy ocean, it marks the entrance to a port where the millions and the masses of those who are wearied at times with the ways of the world, and troubled often by the trials of existence, may search for and find that peace which passeth all understanding. " I cannot and will not allow myself to believe that the X

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. English people, who are not only naturally religious but emi nently practical, will ever consent for the petty purpose of gratifying sectarian animosities ; or for the wretched purpose of pandering to infidel proclivities, to deprive themselves of so abundant a foundation of aid and consolation, or acquiesce in the demolition of an institution which elevates the life of the nation, and consecrates the acts of the State." The Pan- Anglican Conference held at Lambeth Palace passed a resolution in favour of " Home Reunion" with the Noncon formists, and the following letter from the ARCHBISHOP OF Canterbury, on the subject of the Church in Wales, gives an indication of his Grace's view on the subject : — "Lambeth Palace,/«/v 5, 1S94. " Dear Sir, — Perhaps it would be scarcely respectful for me to state, as you kindly wish, ' what steps the Nonconformists should take' upon the question of Welsh Disestablishment But I have always been in friendship with many Nonconform ists, and on kindliest terms with many more.

I have found them very able to convey their impressions of what was right and good without prompting. And although any form of appeal which I may have made on this subject has been mainly ad dressed to members of the Church of England, it is not from any want of confidence that the leaders of English Noncon formity are able to read history, that they are able to judge whether or not the Church of England has been an originator of and factor in all that is best in national life, and as well able to reflect what the loss would be if its present activities were suspended or crippled. / never supposed that Nonconformity in its entirety is ranged against the Church. I do not consider that to be even the meaning of the name of Nonconformity, much less the key to its religious action or its interest in the national life. — I am, sir, yours very faithfully, "E. Cantuar." In the Nineteenth Century for August, 1S94, Mr. Gladstone wrote a paper entitled "The Place of Heresy and Schism in the Modern Christian Church."

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. XI The whole bent of the closely reasoned argument of the ex-Premier is, to show that the sin of schism is not the same at all times and places, and that in the existing condition of religions and religious belief it may perform even a useful func tion. Mr. Gladstone begins by the assumption that the Founder of Christianity commissioned the Aposles and their successors to "carryforward the great work of the Incarnation," and that the Church so instituted was to be the "great standing witness in the world for Him and for the recovery of lost man kind." He proceeds to show that in two instances the "laws of religion" have been modified by circumstances ; one is the case of making of pictures or images of God, the other that of usury ; both denounced in the Old Testament, both now under certain safeguards permitted and permissible.

Is there, then, any analogous mitigation of condemnation in the case of heresy and schism ? A review of the massive, permanent, and by no means merely controversial Protestantism of Northern Europe with the Catholicism of Southern Europe leads to the conclu sion that " there must be some profound and subtle difference in the causes which have issued in such a signal contrariety of result." Protestantism as a whole cannot be, in the face of its permanence and goodness, wicked schism ; is English Noncon formity in its relation to the Anglican Church wicked schism ? Mr. Gladstone declares that " at periods not wholly beyond my memory it has appeared as if the hands principally charged with the training of souls for God were the hands mainly or only of Nonconformists. Abstractly, English Non conformity is difficult to justify ; but as a fact it must command our respect and sympathy.

I have seen and known and could, too, easily quote cases in which the Christian side of political controversies has been largely made over by the members of the English Church to the championship of Nonconformists." As a corollary to these arguments, Mr. Gladstone attacks the spirit of proselytism as "a morbid appetite for effecting conver sions, founded too often upon an overweening self-confidence and self-love." The two things that must be done are to " dis tinguish markedly between the ringleader in a heresy or schism and his followers ; and to distinguish still more markedly be tween the first generation of their followers and their descen dants." Advancing to the subject of denominational education, the writer brings forward the case of the non-Episcopal Protes tants in England and America, who hold that the belief in Christ is the one important matter, and all adventitious teaching should be eschewed.

What, then, is "undenominational re ligion " ? Mr. Gladstone declares that the fact that almost every sect of Christianity recognises the Trinity and Incarnation as the two central truths of the Gospel is a "blessed subject of

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. XII contemplation." Mr. Gladstone concludes with an assertion that "creation is groaning and travailing together for a great recovery, while those opposed to it are banded together wuh an enhanced and overweening confidence." The extension of wealth and multiplication of material wants is darkening the light of religion ; so that " while the adverse host is thus con tinually in receipt of new reinforcements, it is time for those who believe to bestir themselves and to prepare for all eventual issues by well examining their common interests. The Rev. Henry S. Lunn, President of the Grindelwald Conference, contributes the following as a result of the delibera tions of the various divines : — " The response which greeted the 'Appeal to the Churches' issued by the Grindelwald Conference of 1893 in September of that year has encouraged the undersigned to issue a second appeal this year.

" In the appeal of 1893 it was suggested that Whit-Sunday should be annually set apart for special Services for the pro motion of Christian Unity, and that this practice should be accompanied by : (a) An interchange of pulpits as far as it is practical ; (b) The united attendance of all believers within any given district at Holy Communion ; (c) The delivery on the part of Christian ministers of at least one sermon in the year, calling attention to the good works of some branch of the Church other than their own, especially those whose many ex cellences are obscured from the observation of their fellow Christians by the prejudice and suspicion engendered by centuries of strife. " It is with profound satisfaction that the undersigned re cognise the fact that the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Arch bishop of Dublin, and other prelates issued special encyclicals to the clergy urging them ' to use in church with the Collects, on Whit-Sunday, the prayer for Unity from the Accession Service.' The suggestion of the Conference was further supported by the Moderator of the Church of Scotland, as well as the President of the Baptist Union, the Presidents of the five Methodist Conferences, and other influential Nonconformists.

" The undersigned further record with gratitude the many in dications on both sides of the Atlantic of the continued progress of the Reunion movement. They would especially refer to the rapid growth of social unions and city councils, for the purpose of taking concerted and collective action for the promotion of

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. XIII those social, philanthropic, and public objects of Christian en deavour which can be most effectively dealt with by the co operation of all Christians within a given area. " Amongst other indications of the growing force of the movement represented in the Grindelwald Conference, they would refer to : (a) The remarkable action of the leaders of Congrega tionalism in New England with reference to the acceptance of the Lambeth proposals, (b) The recent encyclical of Pope Leo XIII., which, whilst full of the haughty assumption of Rome, does nevertheless include Protestants within the great Christian Brotherhood in a manner new to such encyclicals, (c) The decision by an overwhelming majority in favour of the organic union of the different bodies of Methodists in Australia at the General Australasian Wesleyan -Methodist Conference held recently.

" In conclusion, they would respectfully urge upon the Churches of Great Britain and Ireland : (i) The importance of continued intercession on Whit-Sunday for the outpouring of the Spirit of Love upon the troubled waters of our religious differ ences. (2) The further formation of Social Unions with the object of concerted action on the part of different Christian Churches for the solution of the great problems which confront earnest Christians everywhere on principles common to the whole brotherhood of believers. (3) The adoption of periodical conferences between all Christian ministers in given districts for purposes of counsel and encouragement, with the special object of discouraging waste of effort by the overlapping of Christian agencies. (4) The earnest cultivation of the belief that by frank and brotherly conferences differences may be overcome, mutual concession may be made, and such a desire for real unity culti vated among all Christians that we may see our Lord's Prayer fulfilled, that all His disciples shall be one, even as He and the Father are One."

ANGLICAN.— J. J. S. Worcester; *Francis Pigou, D.D., Dean of Bristol; William Lefroy, D.D., Dean of Norwich; *George A. Chadwick, D.D., Dean of Armagh; F. W. Farrar, D.D., Archdeacon of Westminster; *H. W. Webb-Peploe, M.A., Prebendary of St. Paul's; tR. M. Grier, M.A., Prebendary of Lichfield; S. A. Barnett, M.A., Canon of Bristol ; Maurice Neligan, D.D., Canon of Christ Church, Dublin; tW. S. Swayne, M. A., Vicar of Walsall; H. C. Shuttleworth, M.A., Rector of St. Nicholas, Cole-Abbey; Frederic Relton, Curate of Chelsea. Presbyterian. — J. Monro Gibson, D.D.; T. M. Lindsay, D.D. . . „, . CONGREGATIONALIST.— W. D. Mackenzie, Chairman of the

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. Scottish Congregational Union ; Charles A. Berry, D.D. ; Alexander Mackennal, D.D.; W. T. Moore, D.D.; F. Herbert Stead M.A. Baptist.— John Clifford, D.D.; Richard Glover, D.D. METHODIST.— Thomas Scowby, President of the New Con nexion Conference, 1893; John Stephenson, President of the Primitive Methodist Conference, 1893; James Woolcock, Presi dent of the Bible Christian Conference, 1893; Samuel Wright, President of the Free Methodist Conference, 1893; Percy W. Bunting, M.A.; Hugh Price Hughes, M.A.; Henry S. Limn, M.D.; W. E. Moulton, D.D.; Mark Guy Pearse. * In assenting to the " Appeal to the Churches," we under stand the third recommendation in such a sense only that our responsibilities as clergymen of a National Church are not thereby compromised. t Prebendary Grier and Mr. Swayne sign this appeal with the exception of the third recommendation.

CONTENTS CHAP. PAGE I. Dangerous Encounter in Middleton Park- Suffering and Sympathy— The Recognition of Religion by the State Scene in Belgrave Square — Proposal and Rejection — Bishop of Sunnyside on the Necessity for the Church widening her Portals — A Definition of True Love— A Message from the Rejected - A Union of Hearts and a Pledge of Affection — Free Trade versus Protection — The Indei II. 14 III. pendence of Working Men, and the Extension of the Franchise .... On a Channel Steamer during a Storm — Love Episode at Dieppe — Church and State in France — Secularism and Anarchy versus Christianity and Stability ... Carriage Accident — The Rich and the Poor — The Church and the Religious Denominations — Inclusion or Exclusion ? - - 26 IV. 39 V. 49 VI A Lady's Soliloquy — Fever and Delirium — Bankruptcy and Poverty — Necessity for Personal Effort — Can a Man Live on ,£100 a Year?

Lives of the Poor — Outcast London — Death 59 VII from Starvation 70 VIII Accident to the Limited Mail — Death osa Lord — Destruction of Letters — Love knows no Law — A New Political Programme - 77 IX. Discussions at Whitehall — A Lover's Quarrel Love at Lake Como ... 96 X. 105 A Contested Election at Stormtown XI XII 114 Innocent Mode of Love Alienation — Hard Legislative Work — Egypt and the Soudan — Man must have all a Woman's Love or none - 123 XIII. Frantic with Despair — Sudden Call Home — Woman must bide her Time - I3i XIV. Spending the Recess at a Palace — Cogitations of the Member for Workshire — Scheme for the Reform of the Church - 139 CONTENTS. XVI CHAP. XV. PAGE Return from the Continent — The Height of Effrontery— Might is Right— Change of Name as well as of Fortune — Interview with Swindells and Gammon - 150 XVI A Friend well met— In the Army, Education or Courage ? — Robbery and Utter Ruin - "Follow Love and it will flee"— Effect of a 1 64 XVII Newspaper Announcement — Visit to London General Agreement— Baptismal Sanctification — A Thunderstorm - - - - 175 XVIII 182 The Services of the Church 1 89 XIX.