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 "A WEEKLY CHURCH NEWSPAPER 
 FOR THE MILLION." 
 
 A PAPEE 
 
 READ AT THE 
 
 CHURCH CONGRESS, 
 
 PLYMOUTH, 
 OCTOBER, 1876, 
 
 BY 
 
 GODFREY THRING, B.A., 
 
 PREBEKDARY OP WELLS, AND 
 
 RECTOR OF ALFORD WITH HORNBLOTTON, 
 
 SOMERSET. 
 
 TO WHICH A PREFACE IS ADDED. 
 
 PRICE THBEE'PENGE, 
 
 CASTLE GARY: 
 
 rSDf TED BY 1. 8. HOORE, PORE STRBBI.
 
 Tinitli, simple truth is all I seek. 
 To scatter truth where'er I fly, 
 
 That from the seed of truth may grow 
 A tree of Life and Liberty. 
 
 The NewUf/idii,'
 
 PREFACE, 
 
 Owing unfortunately to my having made a mistake as to 
 the time, I was only able to read the practical part of the following 
 paper at the Church Congress, whereby not only those portions which 
 were most adapted to a public meeting were omitjted, but also several 
 important points as well. I therefore repubhsh it, not merely from 
 percjonal considerations, but because I think the subject of it is a matter 
 .of the greatest possible importance, and one which has been hitherto 
 unaccountabl}'' neglected. I am glad however to think that from the 
 letters I have received since the fragment of my paper was published, 
 [ the stone has been set rolling, and whether my scheme be carried out or 
 not, yet that it has been the means of turning people's thoughts to the 
 subject. But as many perhaps may read a few lines of preface, who will 
 not take the trouble to read the paper itself, although I hope that after 
 Reading it they may be indiiced to go farther, I wish in the first place to 
 guard myself against a misunderstanding which has arisen as regards 
 my object, partly from the fragmentary report of the paper itself, partly 
 perhaps that I may not have expressed myself yith sufficient clearness, 
 and partly from a leading article in The Times on the subject, with 
 which personally I have every reason to be satisfied, but in which after 
 the first dozen lines or so, my scheme, unwittingly perhaps, was so 
 mixed up with another, as to make them in the end appear almost 
 identical ; whereas they are entirely different, and have totally different 
 objects in view. I have not a word to say against a daily Church 
 journal, if rich men can be found to spend their money on such an 
 object, though I think it might be better spent in the endeavour to win 
 back the 'alienated classes" in the way that I propose, and at the same 
 time that it would be much more likely to prove a commercial success ; 
 siill I wish it well ; but as far as I am concerned I am fairly content 
 with the Daily Pressas itis,beingasIbelieveittobethebestinthe world; 
 for though I may not altogether agree with this or that paper, and 
 though some of them are at times very one-sided and unfair, yet the daily 
 press, is as a whole, both very able, and eminently respectable ; and the 
 higher classes have a hundred different ways of knowing the truth, an(J 
 forming their opinions ; but this is not the case with those below them, 
 they only have their weekly papers, all of which nearly are, even when 
 Respectable, decidedly anti-church, many of them giving an entirely
 
 false view of things and events, whilst some, and perhaps those that 
 have the largest circulation, are utterly unprincipled. Now, it is to meet 
 them on their own ground, to give the readers of them something as or 
 more entertaining and as much suited to their wants, that I propose 
 that a weekly secular newspaper should be started, so secular indeed 
 that I look to its gradually taking the place of the others in the beer- 
 shops, and many of those places where now only papers of low tone of 
 morality are generally found; it is not, as has been erroneously supposed, 
 to be in any sense, what is called a religious paper, which would entirely 
 defeat the object I have in view ; it is intended to be simply an ordinary 
 *newspa.per, with this only difference, that, as far as religious questions 
 are concerned, when such subjects are introduced, a church instead of 
 an anti-church tone will be given to them ; so that there will be nothing 
 either in its title or outward appearance which may prevent its finding 
 its way into all sorts of nooks and corners, where a merely religious paper, 
 even if advisable, could never hope to gain an entrance. 
 
 Now one of the speakers at the Congress who followed me, though 
 evidently with great misgiving as to the soundness of his advice, pro- 
 posed that the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge should take 
 the matter up, — I can only say, that if they do, it will infallibly be a 
 failure, for putting aside for the moment the certainty that the paper 
 would be of that uninteresting type which could not possibly find favour 
 with the classes whom I desire to reach, they would never be able to 
 resist the temptation of printing in a conspicuous part of it, "published 
 
 BY THE SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE," which notice, CVCn 
 
 if the paper were everything that could be desired, would be quite deci- 
 sive against its ever being bought by the persons for whose especial 
 benefit it is intended. 
 
 Another speaker expressed his opinion that my scheme was 
 "Utopian," I can only say that it is Utopian in no other sense than that 
 it may be Utopian, I am grieved to think, to expect churchmen to move 
 in a matter that so deeply concerns them : but if instead of only reading 
 newspapers, &c. of their own views, they would now and then buy some of 
 those that circulate amongst the above-named classes, they would, I 
 think, awaken a little to what is going on in a different world from their 
 own ; — for I believe that there is not one in a thousand who has ever 
 seen any of these papers, and perhaps never even heard of their names, — 
 and they would then see that the end at which these violent opponents 
 of the church are aiming, is not only the destruction of the church, but 
 of all property ; for they think that if they can but get rid of her, as 
 being the great obstacle in their way, the rest will certainly follow. I 
 commend therefore my scheme not only to Churchmen as such, but to all 
 lovers of order. 
 
 *The London Sun "in many respects an excellent paper, attempted to do something in 
 the direction I have pointed out ; but made the absolutely fatal mistake of starting as a strong 
 party organ ; for there can be no fireater error than to suppose that all good Churchmeu 
 must be Conservative in their politics ; not only is it not true, but it is a blunder, for if a 
 paper takes a strong party side in politics, it is as a rule, only taken in by persons of the 
 same views, whert-as our object is that the Church should make her way amongst people of 
 all ways of thinking, more especially perhaps amongst Liberals ; and the great aim therefore of 
 a newspaper of this kind ought to be, to show (as is the truth) that the Church is the Church 
 of no political party, but of the nation, and that Couaervatives and Liberals alike can be 
 equally good cbuicbmeu. 

 
 Kow pages after pages of many of our religious papers, month 
 after month, are taken up "with matters of controversy ; but we seldom 
 or ever see anything on, or any help given by them to, even when the 
 subject is touched upon, any proposal for getting hold of the masses, who 
 OEce were, and ought to be still, the very backbone of the Church of 
 England. I wish, if possible, therefore to try and awaken both church- 
 men in their individual capacity, church newspapers, and periodicals, to 
 the necessity of doing something in this too long neglected direction; 
 even, if as I have said. Churchmen will not subscribe to support a scheme 
 of the kind I propose, I trust that my appeal will not be altogether in 
 vain, but that editors of some of our county papers may take a hint, for 
 there are in the western counties, that part of the country with which I 
 am best acquainted, many admhable ones, which, if their editors would 
 publish a weekly edition of the character I have suggested, and have 
 them hawked round in the different country towns and villages, would 
 soon obtain a large circulation in their own neighbourhoods, that would 
 grow or not, according as their paper was well or ill done : but still I 
 believe my scheme is both practical and practicable ; for a weekly paper 
 is much easier to establish than a daily one, and does not require half the 
 capital ; so I yet hope that it may be undertaken, and that a newspaper, 
 the great educator of the day, and the only means by which thousands 
 of our countrymen, who read nothing else, can be reached, may be no 
 longer so strangely neglected by the members of our church ; but two 
 things are absolutely necessary, one, that it should be a wetos-paper the 
 other, that it should he hrouglit to the doors of the people for a penny ; 
 and then I believe it will be found to be not the least efficient means of 
 recovering the "alienated classes," about which so much has been said, 
 but for which no such practical or simple a remedy as a newspaper has 
 been thought of ; and I am quite sure that it will do more towards 
 strengthening the Church of England and raising the moral standard 
 amongst the people, than all the speeches that can be made, or the tracts 
 that are given away, put together.
 
 A WEEKLY CHUECH NEWSPAPER 
 EOE THE MILLIOJN^. 
 
 ^j&^^^r--?^ 
 
 ^'It is never too late to mend." Well may I 
 begin a paper on the subject of "Periodical Literature 
 and the Daily Press" in their relation to the Church 
 of England, with such a motto as this ; for those in 
 authority, whether our Church Societies or Church 
 Leaders, never seem to have awakened to the great 
 fact that for good or evil, more especially amongst 
 the masses, the Press is the educator of the day. 
 
 I am not going to enter now into any review or 
 history of the state of that press, being a practical 
 man, I mean to take a practical view of the question, 
 and address myself to that point alone, which is I 
 think of all others of paramount importance, viz. a 
 ^^Church Newspaper for the Million." Long have I 
 felt the crying want of such an organ, and about 
 two years ago I broached the subject in a letter to 
 the Nationah Church^ which was followed by a very 
 interesting private correspondence, as well as that 
 which subsequently appeared in that paper and in 
 Church Bells^ and from this I found that a true note 
 
 *} (If persons think [it too mucb trouble to buy now and then some of the papers 
 mentioned in the preface, they will find in the Natin?ial Church (which has already done good 
 service in the cause of Church Defence) much useful information regarding what one portion, 
 at any rate, of the Church's enemies are aiming at ; and wUl likewise be kept well posted up 
 in all their movements. 1 cannot too strongly recommend all cliurchmento subscribe to it, 
 and as it is only a penny a month, I think I may say it is within the range of anyone's pMket. 
 The office of the National Church is at 1), Biidge Street, Westminster,
 
 iad been struck, and that many others had had the 
 same idea running in their heads, and only wanted 
 an outlet for the expression of it. But here came 
 the pinch, for although I discovered that unknown 
 to myself there were others who had felt the great 
 want of some paper or periodical to counteract the 
 falsehoods concerning the Church which were being 
 spread systematically throughout the kingdom, yet their 
 ideas of the mode in which it should be conducted, with 
 some very noteworthy exceptions, were, in the most im- 
 portant points of all, entirely different from mine. I am 
 therefore very thankful that the Church Congress has 
 taken the matter up, and has given mo, most unexpected- 
 ly, an opportunity of placing the scheme before a larger 
 audience ; there is indeed only one other subject which 
 could, I think, have drawn me, country parson that I am, 
 out of the shell in which I have been long living. 
 
 There is nothing to my mind more surprising than 
 fliat this mode of meeting the great want of our church 
 at the present time should not long ago have been adopted; 
 but strange to say, not only have I found a difficulty in 
 impressing the few men in some position of authority to 
 whom I have had an opportunity of mentioning it with 
 its importance ; but even one of our leading Church Jour- 
 nals, whose columns were filled with dispussing a single 
 theological point in every conceivable manner for months 
 together, could not give up even half a column to its 
 consideration ; and yet it is the want of the day : we are 
 in danger of losing some of the masses, and fail altogether 
 in reaching thousands of others, simply because we do 
 not make use of the weapon of our times. I^ow everyone 
 reads a newspaper, even if they read nothing else, in my 
 own part of the country there is hardly a cottager who 
 does not take his weekly journal, of dissenting and radical 
 proclivities of course, in this instance a respectable one 
 of its class, not at all because it holds particular political 
 and religious views, but simply because it is regularly 
 brought to his door for a penny a week, contains the
 
 8 
 
 news that he wants, and all the advertisements of the 
 country round; and this, and in very many cases, infinitely 
 worse than this, is taking place all over the country, and 
 yet while the Liberation Society, the Agricultural La- 
 bourers' Union, and the Secularists are distributing their 
 publications by the million, our Church Leaders and 
 Societies, thinking I suppose that such a thing as a news- 
 paper was either beyond their province, or beneath their 
 notice, have sat by and seen the ground which they should 
 long since have occupied, quietly overrun by the enemy. 
 And when I speak of "enemy" I think I had better, at 
 once say that I do not mean the Nonconformists as a 
 body, but only those, who, whatever be their views, are 
 endeavouring, either from political or selfish motives, or 
 from their holding sceptical opinions, to destroy the 
 Church as the great teacher and preserver of the faith 
 of Christ in this kingdom. But better times, I trust 
 are coming, and the very fact that the subject has been 
 brought forward by the managers of this great Congress, 
 is a signal proof that people are awakening to the neces- 
 sity of doing something in this direction; but before 
 giving details of the scheme I may just mention that my 
 aim in proposing it is not only that by degrees I should 
 hope such a paper as I suggest may obtain a circulation 
 in those quarters where only bad and meretricious papers 
 and periodicals now circulate, but that I want, in the 
 first place, a good honest weekly newspaper of a high tone 
 and character adapted to the wants more especially of 
 the lower middle classes as well as the poor, of artisans 
 as well as labourers, in both town and country, which 
 shall be bought by them for its intrinsic merits, the 
 quantity of news it contains, and the interesting and 
 entertaining manner in which it is conducted. 
 
 And to show how this object may be efi'ected I will 
 point out seriatim the main characteristics which should be 
 kept in view, in order that they may not be overlooked 
 in a cloud of words ; and I earnestly hope that at any 
 rate they may be well weighed by those who have
 
 the power of putting such a scheme to the test, before 
 they think of embarking in it, as I am perfectly certain 
 that the success of it will entirely depend upon some of 
 the most important points, at any rate, being rigidly 
 adhered to. 
 
 1. — It must be a weekly penny paper and not a daily. 
 With the class I wish to reach one meal of such food as 
 I would give them is quite sufficient, indeed except in 
 large towns, where there are working men's clubs, the 
 weekly paper is the only one that is read by thousands, 
 and even there, I fancy, it is the one that is most thumbed. 
 
 2. — It must be a bona fide newspaper with the best 
 and latest news, giving news of every sort, home and 
 foreign ; it must not be content with picking out little 
 bits here and there, but must give all the news that the 
 best London weekly papers give without stint ; 
 at the same time it should give, on the first page, a 
 good summary of the news of the week. 
 
 3. — Lest I may be misunderstood, and it be thought 
 that police reports, trials, coroners' inquests, murders, 
 and such like, should not come under the term ^^news" 
 in such a paper as this, and should therefore be excluded 
 as demoralizing, I unhesitatingly answer, No. If the 
 paper is to be read by those who we wish to read it, and 
 to pay, and it is needless to say that without being read 
 it cannot pay, and unless it pays it mast die, all these 
 things must, as in the papers we read ourselves, be in- 
 cluded ; but there are two ways of doing it, one, in a 
 sensational manner as an incentive to crime, the other as 
 a repellant, and as mere ordinary news. 
 
 4. — Besides the above general news to be found in all 
 newspapers, there must be a considerable part of the paper 
 devoted to everything that may interest the farmer and 
 the labourer, the tradesman and the mechanic in their 
 several callings ; farming and gardening, manufactures 
 and inventions, cricket, boating, and athletics, horses, 
 dogs, cattle, poultry, rabbits, pigeons, and their treatment; 
 lessons in natui'al history, and taking anecdotes relating
 
 10 
 
 to animals.* To these must be added housekeeping, re- 
 marks on health, sickness, and accidents, Tvith plain 
 directions to be observed in each ; cooking with recipes 
 of the simplest description, interesting and short extracts 
 from well-known authors, secular and religious ; an en- 
 tertaining tale perhaps as occasion offers ; a corner for 
 poetry (not original), and for jottings from Punch, Judy, 
 or otlier comic and amusing sources ; stuffed in fact with 
 everything that may tend to make the paper entertaining 
 as well as useful. 
 
 5. — As occasion offers, there should be chapters on 
 the histcry of the Church of England, showing how 
 much of our political freedom and learning, as well as the 
 high place we have taken among the nations of the 
 w^orld, is due to her influence ; also biographies, and 
 anecdotes of eminent churchmen, written in an enter- 
 taininc^ manner, and of men who have risen from the 
 ranks by their own energy, perseverance, or genius. 
 
 6. — In politics it must be independent, giving its 
 support to all measures for the good of our church and 
 country from whatever side they may emanate, for the 
 Church is the Church of England not of a partf/. So also 
 as to its religious views, it should utter no shibboleths- 
 on either side, but should be marked by a good, honesty 
 straightforward Church of England tone, as declared in 
 her prayer book and articles ; for the Church is the 
 L'hurch of a nation not of a sect, 
 
 7. — In its leading articles, it should not be constantly 
 harping on Church matters ; for if it does, it w411 never 
 touch the fringe of that great multitude, whom I hope in 
 the end to reach ; all that is wanted is, that there should 
 be a church tone about it, iustead of an anti-church one, 
 as is the case now with nearly all the newspapers that 
 circulate amongst these classes ; its articles should there- 
 fore be chiefly on the political and social questions of the 
 
 * I do not mean, of course, that everything contained in this paragraph should 
 neiessaiily be coniained in each and every nun:!icr; ;tntl should haidly have thout;titit worth 
 while to make the reniaik, had not some oveiwibe ciiiics objejlcd to il on these grounds.
 
 11 
 
 day, moro especially as they affect tlie working man ; politi- 
 cal economy and trade ; church news and church articles 
 being gathered chiefly from other papers, conservative 
 and liberal, so that all appearance of cramming "Church" 
 down people's throats may be avoided ; and above all 
 things they must be kept clear of a "goody" style, and 
 the everlasting pointing a moral. Correspondence should 
 also be encouraged, and a column devoted to extracts 
 from articles of the London press. 
 
 8. — And this is one of the most important points of 
 all, if, as is my great object, it is to make its way in the 
 country ; it should be in union . with editors in all the 
 counties of Enghmd who shall have their own sheets of 
 local news, fairs, markets, and advertisements, ready to 
 be added that it may be sent out by post on the Fridays, 
 and hawked round to the farm houses and cotta2:es on 
 the Saturdays ; for no paper that has not the local news 
 of the different country towns and villages of the neigh- 
 bourhood, will be bought by the people, and not even 
 then, unless broKcjht to their dnors. 
 
 9. — It should be a great medium for advertising, 
 from which, of course, its main income Avould be derived, 
 and for which it will have exceptional advantages, as 
 there will not only be the advertisements on its main 
 sheets printed in London, which will be cii'culated 
 through every county in England, but those of each 
 particular locality, printed by the editors of the county 
 editions in their several counties. 
 
 10. — As to the name: What's in a name? Everything ! 
 No name must be given which, as is often the t;ase now, 
 shall act as a bar to those f<jr whose benefit it is intended, 
 buying it. "The IS'ews of the Week" will, I think, be 
 as good a name as any, as simply expressing what is 
 Avanted and giving no appearance of "goodyism" or 
 clerical influence. In size and shape it should be large 
 foolscap, v»ith a portrait of some man of mark on the 
 ilist p.ige. 
 
 ii. — The Editor must be 3. laijman oho^QU for his
 
 12 
 
 sound churcli principles, large sympathies, and know- 
 ledge of the world, with a good staff of young men, and 
 not subject to a clerical committee ; for we clergy, as a 
 body, though wide in our sympathies, are, though not 
 more so than other professions perhaps, somewhat 
 narrow in our views. 
 
 Lastly. — It must, in fact, be conducted on the prin- 
 ciples of common sense, 
 
 Now this perhaps may seem to some persons a large 
 scheme and they may ask where is the money to come 
 from to start it ? I answer, is the Church of England so 
 small a body that it cannot afford to raise the money to 
 do, what in a small way half the little sects, and almost 
 every trade are doing already in their own particular 
 interests ? Can the liberation society without difficulty 
 raise £100,000 to destroy the Church, whilst the mem- 
 bers of that church cannot subscribe a quarter of that sum 
 to defend it, and let its true principles be known amongst 
 the toiling millions of this great nation ? 
 
 I do not want to stuff the Church down people's 
 throats, I only want the truth to be known, and then we 
 have nothing to fear ; for the ignorance regarding her 
 history and the influence she has exercised in forming 
 the liberties of which all Englishmen are proud, even 
 amongst her own members, is only surpassed by that of 
 the stump orators and political writers, who make h(^r the 
 object of their attack ; the horizon of whose knowledge 
 is bounded by a period of about one hundred years 
 beginning in the middle of the last century, and ending 
 in the middle of this ; whilst multitudes of otherwise 
 well-educated men have no higher idea of her origin 
 than that which dates from the time of the reformation. 
 Some, I know, think that all this will right itself, though 
 I am at a loss to imagine how, unless steps are taken 
 for the purpose, others, that it is a subject more fitted 
 for the pulpit, the platform, and the school ; all I can say 
 is, that good as these different means are, if properly 
 used, up to a certain point, they do not go farther ; it is
 
 13 
 
 the daily food that supports a man, and a good newspa- 
 per finds its way into the public house and all sorts of 
 nooks and comers which no lectures, and no tracts, even 
 if these answered the purpose that some think they do, 
 will ever reach ; and if only a tithe of the money now 
 spent in weak but well meaning publications were to be 
 spent on a real and ably conducted newspaper with a 
 Church of England tone about it, more would be done 
 towards maintaining and increasing her influence, and 
 raising the people of England to a higher level, than by 
 all the tracts that were ever given away put together. 
 
 But, I repeat once more, it must be a neivspaper. 
 Human nature is human nature, and men are not child- 
 ren, and it is folly to treat them as such ; but this is the 
 way in which those who have had the management in 
 these things, have hitherto treated them ; instead of really 
 studying the wants, tastes, and requirements of the 
 working-man, they have only considered what from their 
 own point of view they think would be most for their 
 good ; hence the number of little tracts which proceed 
 from our Church Societies, and good but short-sighted 
 persons, who, separating religion from real life, would 
 treat all sinners as saints, and saints as sinners, and which 
 may be given away indeed, but are seldom read, and 
 never bought by the people for whom they are intended ; 
 so that the million, and church people among them, go 
 elsewhere to get what is suited to their wants, which is 
 plentifully supplied by other hands, some indeed morally 
 respectable, but still anti-church, some marked by a 
 general low tone, and others utterly vile. "Why do you 
 take in such a paper as that ?" I said to a very respectable 
 man and good churchman, naming a weekly London 
 paper of the second class : "Because it contains so much 
 news^^ was the immediate answer ; I need hardly add, 
 under present circumstances, I had no reply. Equallv 
 applicable to the other point, of the necessity of 
 having a newspaper to counteract the machinations 
 of the Liberation Society and other enemies of the
 
 14 
 
 'Church, was a remark made to me by a farmer's wife, 
 who, quite in a state of alarm said to me "Why they say 
 Sir, that they are going to do away with the church, can 
 it be true, do you think sir?" and upon my laughing and 
 trying to reassure her she said "Why scarce a week passes 
 that they do not say something about it in the paper." The 
 paper was to her the only source of information from the 
 outer world, as it is with millions of others, and that 
 paper, I need hardly say, was of the usual type. Now 
 such instances as these are worth a hundred arguments, 
 and though both happened in my own little village they 
 are but typical of what is haj)pening, more or less, (to say 
 nothing of the immoral garbage whiah inundates the 
 towns, ) in every parish in England ; and yet the church 
 authorities and well-meaning people are continually 
 pouring forth from the press heaps of moral tales, very 
 good inrleed, many of them, for good people, which 
 seldom reach those for whom they are intended, and 
 leave to private energy to do what, in another line, men 
 like Mr. Erskine Clarke have already done because they 
 did not do it, find wholesome food for the million suited 
 ito their real wants. 
 
 I should, had time permitted, have wished to have 
 entered a little more fully into the way in which such a 
 paper should and should not be carried on, and the- rea- 
 sons why those of the class to which we all object obtain 
 their large circulation, giving, at the same time, illustra- 
 tions by which I could have made my subject iftuch more 
 entertaining, but I have preferred to enter into details 
 and give a somewhat prosaic but precise sketch of the 
 scheme which I have at heart, as I am convinced that 
 upon the carrying out the main features of this scheme, 
 •depends the success or lailure of the undertaking. 
 
 I know that there are many who think such a scheme 
 involves great risk, but "nothing venture nothing have," 
 and in my opinion the risk is exceedingly small, the only 
 thing wanted is a little common sense to direct, and suffi- 
 cient capital to keep the paper afioat, till it obtains a
 
 15 
 
 largo enough circulation to make it self supporting, antl 
 if properly managed, it Avill not take long to do this ; 
 ibr there is a great gap yet unfilled, and it only remains- 
 for those who have the power to act, as well as the know- 
 ledge to understand how it ought to be filled, to step in 
 and fill it. Thought in this busy and restless age is A'ery 
 busy likewise even amongst the uneducated, and- we 
 cannot stifle it, neither ought we, if we could, but we 
 can guide it, and it is one of the great duties of the 
 Church to do so ; and remember that this is no mere 
 clerical question, but one that pre-eminently belongs to 
 the lay Churchmen of En,i]^land, who I believe as a gene- 
 ral rule have no conception of what is taking place 
 amongst the classes below them ; The gulf is so wide- 
 between them, that iJicf/ understand as little of their 
 thoughts and aspirations, as the artisans and those that 
 are e.dled working men, in turn do of theirs ; if thev 
 would but read a few of the i)ublieati()ns that circulat(^ 
 amongst them they would I think open their eyes at tho 
 fearful doctrines which are being spread amongst, ay ! 
 and believed in, by many of them. I am not speaking 
 now of mere anti-church views, but of doctrines subver- 
 sive of all religion of every kind, of mere animal pleasure 
 and utter selfishness as regards this life, of utter unbelief 
 as regards that Avhich is to come. Doubtless the in- 
 fluence of these papers amongst the working men at 
 present may be exaggerated, I should be glad to think 
 that it is, but this does not alter the fact that they exist, 
 and that their supporters are straining every nerve to 
 increase it ; and the writers in them are, mind you, 
 not the riff raff, writing for the riff raft', but clever men 
 who appear miracles of learning to their less informed 
 readers, with that half-knowledge* which is the most 
 
 • Only a short time since, I read a irost virulent attack 0:1 Christianity in one of 
 these papers on the passage "Take no thought, &c." Matt, vi., 25.; the wiiter of which was 
 equally ignorant of the original Greek, as he was of the changes that had taken place in our 
 own language since the Bible was translated ; so that his argument being founded on false 
 premisses was, of course, lalse from beginning to end, hut would be, nevertheless very 
 mischievous, if read by persons as ignorant or more so than himself.
 
 16 
 
 (lanp:crous, and which, as that kind of knowledge, unac- 
 companied l)y religion, always is, puffed np with most 
 inconceivable conceit, with the idea that the Avorld lies 
 at their feet, and that it is made for themselves alone ; 
 shrewd, hard-headed men whose teaching must be coun- 
 teracted by articles of originality and power, yet without 
 bitterness, and not by broad and well-meaning platitudes. 
 It is then, I say, pre-eminently a question for the laity 
 as well as the clergy, and I hope that before long they 
 will see tlieir way towards suppljdng such an antidote 
 as I have suggested, to the immoral, infidel, and secu- 
 larist publications which are endeavouring to undermine, 
 not only the church, but the faith of our country ; for 
 we must remember that the Church is the guardian of 
 that faith, and if the one falls, it will be no long time 
 before the other falls too, property will go next, and all 
 that has made England great, glorious, and free. I have 
 however no fear, if churchmen will but move ; only let 
 there be no false starts, every effort of the kind made on 
 wrong principles, besides the delay and disappointment, 
 only makes it more difficult to supply what is really 
 wanting. The Church is indeed in many respects, stronger 
 than she ever has been, and this is what makes her 
 enemies so bitter, but she is in danger of being weakened 
 amongst a large class, simply from want of knowledge, 
 their only means of information being taken from the 
 false representations of her enemies ; it is to give them 
 this knowledge, and to raise them in the scale, as Chris- 
 tian men and women, that a newspaper of high tone 
 and so and church principles is so much needed. The 
 people of the present day are much given to all sorts 
 of associations, societies, and brotherhoods, but many 
 are apt to forget that they are members of the most 
 glorious brotherhood that the world has ever seen or 
 shall see, The Catholic Church of Christ, and that 
 pure and apostolic branch of it, our time-hallcwed and 
 liberty loving Church of England.
 
 17 
 BY THE SAME AUTHOR, 
 
 HYMNS AND SACKED LYRICS, 
 
 (London :-Hexry S. King & Co.) Price 5s. 
 
 "Many of the Hymns in the charming volume before 
 U8 have been already published in the principal Hymnals of 
 the day, a proof as we take it, that they have become popu- 
 iar, and that their merits are not superficial or ordinary ; . . 
 ..There is an inexpressible charm of quiet and soothing 
 beauty in Mr. Thring's verses which we cannot resist if we 
 would, and would not if we could, and what is still better, 
 80 penetrating and peaceful is the devotional spirit which 
 breathes through his poems, and from them, that we feel all 
 the better, less in a worldly frame of mind, and more in a 
 heavenly mood, after reading them." English Churchman. 
 
 ...."We delight to make known the protest of one 
 poet against 'editing,' which all Hymn-writers are subjected 
 to, and Mr. Thring is a poet and a true one." 
 
 Puhlisher's Circular. 
 
 ... ."Mr. Thring has real poetic fire. He is not a 
 mere Rhymester. There is a remarkable hymn for use at 
 synods and conferences; our favorite is one of great beauty, 
 on the Epiphany, which we would fain quote, did not space 
 forbid us." John Bull. 
 
 "The place which Mr. Thring's hymns have won in 
 the principal hymnals of the day, not in tho«eof his own 
 church only, but in those of the Free churches, is a sutficient 
 attestation of their merit. • . Mr. Thring's hymr.s are smootH 
 in iheir poetical form, and have that instructive touch wkich 
 liberates religious fteliiig, as well as tenderness of sympathy 
 and beauty oi expression for the embodiment of it." 
 
 British Quarterly Review. 
 
 "Mr, Thring's poetry will find a welcome from all 
 lovers of genuine poetry, and from all sincere and devout 
 Christians. His fervour and devotional tone remind us 
 muchofKeble, but unlike Keble, he never allows his imagi- 
 nation to get the better of his judgment, and to become 
 involved in an intricate maze of language. .. .The vividness 
 and singular aptness of his muse reminds one, at times, of 
 Wordsworth. . . . We hope these poems will be read far and 
 wide, and all of them will win the immense popularity a- 
 chieved by some which have already found their way to the 
 principal hymnals of the time." J^ublic Opinion. 
 
 "Some of the Hymns before us have already obtained 
 a favorable lodgment in the popular mind, and deservedly 
 80. . . From these delightful h>mu8 we select the following 
 •pecimen." Standard. 
 
 "Thehyn.ns in this little volume are real hymns, as 
 no one who enjoys reading hymns will hesitate to say," 
 
 Spectator. 
 
 "That Mr. Thring is highly successful as a writer of 
 hymns, is as certain as any proposition of the kind can be, 
 his verses will bear both reading and singing; they are 
 capable of recommending thenittelves in solitude and of 
 adaing fervour to the devotions of tbj congregation, &c. 
 
 Guardian.
 
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