Papurau Newydd Cymru

Chwiliwch 15 miliwn o erthyglau papurau newydd Cymru

Cuddio Rhestr Erthyglau

18 erthygl ar y dudalen hon

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TBE BLOCK IN THE AlERICAN…

AGRICULTURAL PROSPECTS.

ITEE RECTOR OF MERTHYR ON…

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Dyfynnu
Rhannu

TEE RECTOR OF MERTHYR ON THE CRURCH AND IEE PEOPLE. No. 11. The following ia a second contribution to the series of articles on tha above aubject, which, it will be remembered, the Rector of Merthyr intro- I duced in an article which appeared in these coiuiBBa on January 6 :— I tMnk everyone here will admit that nothing ia Jown clearer in the Bible that Jeans Chiist had a wonderful for "the pcor," in other wcrda, the people that ia, thosa whose dany life ia a daily for dti!y bread." When Jehu the Ba.pt:at sent prison two of Ida dieciplea to ask Jeaua, "Art Tho;i Ho thJot should come, or do wo look for another r" J aent for an answer a? cf t.h'3 BignB" th3.t Ee did and the Mid greatest "aign" of aU waa that "the peer had the Gospel preached to them,' as though this were something vry acd E.oet unssT.:al in that ago. Than, His very public ace after He had been baptiaed by John was a declaration of thia groat fact. Tne Spirit of t:e L0r is ::pon Me," He said, "became He h&6 Md to preach the Guapel to :ha peer." I mllJht quote many other matanoea, cite mary other texts, in order to ahcw yon, if it were r.ec.:saary, that tha whole leaning of H ia character waa mercy to the poor, comfort to the miserable. I thick, therefore, I waa fully juatined in saying in n: ylaat sermon that if this part of Hia miaaicn ia not ful&lled, can we aay that any of it ia fulnlled f la other worda, what ahall it pront ua to call cui selves Christiana if we have left undcBe those things that we to have done in order to make our :poorer neighboura Chriatiana aa well aa onraelvea Let us teat the Church we belong to by thia sign." Haa ahe done her duty to the peer in thia respect? Are the poor at thia moment in that condition apiritually which they ought to be in aa membera of the rioheet Church in the whole world f That ia the queation. Let ua see how the Church will atand thia ordeal. In the nr&t place, ahe claima to be and undoubtedly ia the Church of the Nation—the National Church, and until ahe ia diaeatabliahed no man can law- fully diapute her claim. Now what ia meant by a National Church ? Surely not a Church of the Srat-olaea people only, or the aecond.claaa, or the third-class, but the Church of all claaaea o* the people. A very remarkable letter on thia point haa been publiahed within the last week or two. It waa written more than 30 years ago by that KoJd man, the late Plineo Conacrt, to Dr. Wilberforce, who waa juat then made bishop of Oxford. Ic cennea what a biahop of the Church of England ought to be and what he ought not to bo, and a.lao what the Church of England heraelf ought to be. I It ie one of the moat atraightforward letters I ever read. Some of it, I imagine, could not have been altogether very palatable to that moat atirring prelate. It used to be aaid of him, that he could forgive a mac almost anything, provided he waa a Churchman." Thia doea not square with the advice given him here. Juat religious an&ira the Bishop cannot but taiM an active part m them." The Pficoo aaya:—" Bat let that be the part of a Christian, nox of a Churchman." It must been a rebuke to the man who thought everything. I am afraid there are a gcod nmcy people, including biahopa aa wel!, m thoM who reverae what the Prince pi.i.ja a ChuTchman far above a mere And ta3 ccnaequence :s, the Church of t,u!lJord, the Chmch cf the people, and a great deal of lak y-'o.?a from the p'evaieace of thi3 fechi.? beid tae ot the Pfiuce CUJHat i& c. He tfnt a. bishop cf <i:e ChuTcn cf l<.g¡'Ul, bo alwaya Church c'.ou?s to faHl' th&t i d,M no'- "'r ItF: >. h f.) the people ."orihecuE '.y, :i' t. tohava EC itim 'ht.n to i.- Charch of tbepeopLe. i.e; there be, therefore, no calling for her rijhte, prirJege! gran t&i, &0. j b..t aha. the Z-3 and capacity of the Church to atretch her and capabilitief to the utmoat for the fal- tiJmellt of her aac'ed dutiea to the people in tciDiaterujg and teaching." Ascordijgto my idea it M impoeaible to denne what a Na.aonal Church ought to be bettor than thia, or in more foroi. ble language. It ia her privilege, her moat sacred daty, to miniator to aad teach the people. Well. then, doea ahe do it ? That ia the queation we have toanawer. If ahe doea do it, no man can nnd fault with her. If ahe dooa not, every aubject in theae realma haa a perfect right to aak and know the reason why. Her wealth boionga to the nation. The cation gave it; to ht? at the Refor. mationfortheexpreea purpcae uf apiritualiaing the people j ie" aa the Prince Conaort aaya, miniatetiBg to, and teaching the people." If ahe haa not succeeded ia doing thia, then the aame power that gave it to her haa a perfect right of taking it away from her. Now, let ua aee how our Church will aland thia teat. A few yeara ago, one of our Church pa.pere published wee&ly fcr acme time certain reeuita. which were obtained after much inquiry, aa to theapproximatanumbar of the wotkiBg people that wens to any ple of worahip at all on the Sabbath Dy. The roturna were something very atrikiBg, indeed quite appalling. At Brat sight they would aeem in- credible. Bat an inquiry into the state of our large towns, from London, Liverpool, Manchoater, Ac., down to towns of 5,00.) and t!, 000 inhabitaa:a, or even leaa—even small vùla.,¡es in many placea— that ia, an actual aurvey cf each town showed that the great bulk of the working people of preaant day really went nowhere. Thac they were. in fact, thoroughly godleaa aa a body. And o?e:i in Waiea they are. aa we know, oeaaing to be a chapel-going people. They never were a Cburch,gOÙlg people, nor are they now. The great Nonconformist body of Walea, the Methodieta, discussed thia queation. North and South, at their great anneal aaacciationa laat year. They paaaad reaoluticna deploring the fact, and calling upon all miniatera and deacons everywhere to exert their !Ei!neBce to prevent the people giving up tDeir epjritua! plivilegea. If it ia so in Walea— rpUgicaa WaJes—what muat it be among the people of England who never were religious ? It ia said aa a fact that in England aa many aa 95 per cent. of the working people never go to any place of worship at all! Now, if that be ao, and every man acquainted with great citiaa must know it to be so, what haa the Church at England—the Church oi the cation, the Church of the people- to say to this? What have the bishops, the arohbiahopa, the deans and chaptera, the deacon a and the archdeacons, the priests, the vioara, and rectors, to aay to all this ? Here ia a spiritual army, receiving spiritual pay, claiming to be the Church of the nation. the Chmch of the people, and yet it ia computed that 95 per cent. of the people never go to any place oi worahip at aIL Surely thia ia aome- thmg beyond being appalling. It ia more. It ia threatenmg. It is M though tite Church and Mate wera grounded on a volcano, which an erup. tton among Uie people might blow at any moment: to atoms. Ramember, the people have now the power. It is fairly aDd irrevocably laid in their handa. Suppose they were to wake up aome nae on)]J11 and Me thiaga exactly aa they are. That ia, that this great ulsUtution.onginaUv intended M much for their order aa for the two orders above them, brought them now no Rood whatever. What then? I'.ducattoa ia making ranid sMidea among them. They ozly who live in their midst, and are part Mid parcel of them, can alone tetl how rapid it M. And it ia of that sort, too which ia not godly. Well, and what then ? Waac might happen ? Can yon for a moment fail to gueea? Why. what else but that which a great man once said of the Irish Church when he l<jet hie seat in Parliament, su will they s&y 'De!e?Mta est Carthago," Down with her with her! eVfn to the ground in one year after taa triah Church ..tas disestablished. Let no one it 19 wrcBg—it is dangerous to tJk au. Ktthor it ict far more wrong, far mere dat!ff:r 'ud, n id pi),i. uveiy wicked, to pursue an bko po i-y, which will not took t&e evil !)')Jl:1 it; the fce and lIe1; a. remedy for tor 'jiet see; in tlle me, >vail., wi:at ie the. Church doin<!? Wnat i.) C<!nvocatÍon doiDg''—the representative of the j Church. Ccnvoca'ioc, indeed' Way. Cj'tvoca I tion has been sitting 'n deep cooncil tur Mree Years ever a moat momentous queotUoD, as-' b OBly juft settled it. aiüd uf clothes the clergy are to WE-fir f. that is tJ1 i.deil Convccaticn haa cf tbe <ofk of the Church. Convocation nvt,b!Z!g cf tha @rre'\t eeething masa cf ucgcdiineea t<) '>etor.uå evctywhere, teeterio; in car TO"n.t., Ita !gT!o'arce in thia matter i? it !or doicg liotbMg. ConMcting oBJy of a bt of courtly pKiatea and country clergy, what cao it ksow of the deep sea of crime and ein and devilry heavis<? aed surgiBg in great citiea ? Liviag in tine pa'acea, aiid in Arcadian wilde, they know of the roBgh aide of I:fe. Nn' ccme back to the PriBce Consort's dennition of -ha J:r.7b11J; "sd t8¿,t :h:t by .3'! thiq The Frirce Th'j. 8h is the of th"' ptOpIe. ehe -:c': 1101; oxis: lor b' for the ¡:,w: Ie aù(. for b.c ooun'.ry. Fimt B''e tü h&?e no cr no ma'her a:m tti..c ;he is .o "reto-i bar powers to the u'mcat for tha fufl:ment o! nor pecple That is what lha Páncô says. Albarc the (ked..E;.t he who tana may and aeo that the people everywhere arc taught Eor miniatered to t They are left to themselves .0 Etew m their own gravy. Waa,t, then. be cornea cf the question—la the Church of Ea?. laid doirg her duty to the people ? It is the most 6eriona question that she haa ever been Gcd grant that she may ba able to answer it,andtha.teha!:t:t about answering it eooa. It will avail Ler little to say any more aho cannot <?o Eo urieea the well-to-do laity hotp her. Th'j people will rot take that answer. It ia too 8tla. iht:y can now read, mark, luz:, &i.G inwardly cjacerna them, and they do it, effectually. Thia question ia becoming more aud iLpre a question and w:Il very scon be ripe for When a Church has an ancual iccump of over four miihona of money—the people are very hard-headed—they will want to know what ahf doea with thia money. How dees ehe epend it ? Where are the spiritual reeult6—tho harvest cf souls ? How ia it there are Dot more preachers, and better proaohora, mec brought up to the business—worknun.like men f And how it aqme paraona are ao rich, liviEpingrsnd "palaces," clothed in purple and Sue linen, and faring sumptuously every day, while others are so poor that they cannot actually keep body and aoul together without begging from every charity in the kingdom, aye, and begging even for old clothea and old linen to keep out the cold frcm wife and children ? And yet theae hard-headed people aay, "Your income ia over four miiliona of money!" Now, who geta it ? Ccme, ll ua, what ia done with it ? Wo aa a people have a right to know. For the Parliament cf EiBg Henry VIII. took it from the Pope, and gave it to yon on certain conditions, which you are not fulnlimg. Yon muat answer and you must turn over new ler, and keep to the conditions or, to be plain with you, we shall take all thia mocey away from you That will be the anawer to the plea of more help from the well-to-do tally." Beeidea, the laity, both well-to-do and not well-to-do, are opening their eyea more and more every day. They eee clearly now that there ia ecough money in the Churoh to do everything that in wai-tfd to bo done, if it were only properly I¡Ildl<;d. One little word only covera the whole question—Inform. Acd any one of the high and n;;ihiy pre'atea who occupy the four and twenty in the Rouse of Lords might, if ha had the courage, 'Lova fur it any day aye. and carry it. Pa.rhi1.a:ent and the whole country voald ?rp{.cit him. The Chunh then be aaved. Then the Prince Consort's dencition of a National Chaieh, b: of the people, woald be fcl. Sik-d—" that ahe ahould aim at nothing higher, as beirg her moat aacred duty, than to teach &ud to minister to the people." Indeed, looking at th& i€Bnlta practically, her highest aim now aeema to be to cover the land with grand cathedrals, grasd palacea for her biahopa, houses for her < e')i.a and chapters, churches and chapels which the people" will not enter—a vaat mafa of brick and dortar, very nne, very stately, very magni. ncent, no dcubt: as works of art they are imma- culate—but the people want bread, they want spiritual life—their never ceasing cry ia "Bread bread I"—and the Church of England, the Church cf the people, givea them a stone!

THE FORTHCOMING SOUTH WALES…

GALLANTRY AT SEA.

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OFR LONDON LETTER,1

MYFYR MORGANWG, D.e.L.

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