WHAT IS THE SPIRITUAL COT^DITION OF OUR 
 
 METROPOLIS? ANJ) WHO IS RESPONSIBLE? WC^ 
 
 A SERMON 
 
 PKEACHED BEFORE THE UNIVERSITY, AT 
 ST. MARY'S CHURCH IN OXFORD, 
 
 ON 
 
 THE FEAST OF THE EPIPHANY, 1860. 
 
 ROBERT GREGORY, M.A. 
 
 OF COErUS CHRISTI COLLEGE, AND PERPETUAL CURATE OF ST. MARY-TUE-LESS, LAIIBETII. 
 
 JOHN HENRY and JAMES PARKER. 
 
 i860.
 
 LONDON: 
 Printed bj* G. Barclay, Castle St. Leicester Sq.
 
 A SERMON, 
 
 IsA. Ix. 2. 
 
 For, behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and gross darkness 
 the people : but the Lord shall arise ujwn thee, and His glorij 
 shall be seen upon thee. 
 
 The propliecies of Isaiah seem to indicate very plainly, tliat the 
 manifestation of Christ's presence was to be permanent and 
 perpetual under that better dispensation which His advent in 
 the flesh was to usher in. It was not to be confined to that 
 half-seen, half-hidden display of His glory, which we this day 
 commemorate, or to those general exhibitions of His power and 
 holiness which were placed before the men of Judea, His con- 
 temporaries, or to those brighter and clearer manifestations 
 which were vouchsafed to His personal followers ; but rather 
 the prophet's words would seem to indicate that, like the ad- 
 vancing tide, the influences of His presence should flow on, till 
 the whole world was covered ; that, like the dawning of the day, 
 they should spread, till the remotest corners were illumined. 
 For we read, " Behold, the darkness shall cover the earth, and 
 gross darkness the people : but the Lord shall arise upon thee, 
 and His glory shall be seen upon thee : " and then the effect 
 of this was to be, " the Gentiles shall come to thy light, and 
 kings to the brightness of thy rising ; " and this extension of 
 blessings from the new dispensation was to proceed with ap-
 
 pavently mcrcasins force, until " violence shall no move be 
 heard in thv land, wasting nor destruction withm thy borders; 
 but thou slmlt call thy walls Salvation, and thy gates Praise . . 
 Thy sun shall no more go down; neither shall thy moon with- 
 draw Itself: for the Lord shall be thme everlasting light, and 
 the days of thy mourning shall be ended. Thy people also shall 
 
 be all righteous/' * . . • i . .1, „« 
 
 The manner in which the high anticipations raised by these 
 sure words of prophecy shall be fulfilled, is more than any can 
 fully comprehend. Our Lord's manifestation m the days of 
 His flesh was a disappointment to nearly the who e of those by 
 .-horn He was seen. It did not realise what they expected 
 It was not at all like what they had imagined. It had none o 
 that outward, sensible, tangible glory, of which they had 
 dreamed. It is therefore to be anticipated, that the dispensa- 
 tion which He ushered m, and of which such ^^^ndrous thmgs 
 were equally foretold, should produce a similar feeling upon those 
 by whom it IS seen. If, when He came, '' m whom dwelleth 
 ail the fulness of the Godhead bodily," t it seemed to those by 
 whom He was beheld that He had -no form nor couieliness 
 and when they sa^v Him, " there was no beauty that they should 
 1 • « Mim"^ it can excite no wonder or surprise that tne 
 C>:::b ' ;;Hd:\;H. boay, t.e fu^ess of H™ .U. m.^. a,l 
 in all "S should seem " wretched, and miserable, and poor, and 
 blind and naked." If, when the Sun arose in H,s pnre and 
 dazzl n.- splendour, men conld not discern His brightness or 
 toti°se His beauiy, it is only to be cpected when this same 
 Li-ht has to be seen hidden by the earthiness and many 
 frdlties of those through whom it is manifested, that it should 
 fail to be discerned, and ofttimes seem altogether quenched 
 
 Thus much has been said to guard myself agamst bemg 
 supposed to doubt or deny the reality of Christ's presence with 
 H s Chnreh. In that presence I fully believe ; whds , as a rue 
 and loyal son of the Church of England, I as fully beheve that 
 in no branch of the Church Universal is it vouchsafed in a richer 
 and a fuller measure than in our own. But whdst saymg this, 
 .I.a..i.9. t Col. ,1.11. !lsa.lm.-i 5 Epl.. i. 23. 
 
 UlUC
 
 it is impossible not to feel that the glories of that presence are 
 hidden ; that they are a matter of faith, and not of sight ; and 
 that, in the outward aspect of things, there is but little form or 
 comeliness to attract, but little beauty to lead us to desire it ; 
 for it is but too obvious that the impurities and imperfections of 
 the members of Christ, through whom His presence is mani- 
 fested, too often hide its light and its brilliancy, instead of so 
 veiling, whilst displaying them, as to attract others to gaze upon 
 their beauty, and to acknowledge the Divine Source from which 
 they oi'igmate. 
 
 It is, then, with the feeling that the Church, as the Body of 
 Christ, should resemble her Divine Head, and that she should 
 ever present the attractions of holiness to those Avho are still 
 sitting in darkness and in the shadow of death, that I would 
 invite you to consider with me her present position in our crowded 
 metropolis. It is under the conviction that it is her office so 
 to manifest the glories of her crucified and risen Lord, as to be 
 the light of the world, that men may see her good works and 
 glorify our Father which is in heaven, that I would venture to 
 call your attention to some imperfections by which her light 
 amongst us is dimmed and well-nigh hidden. For the faults 
 and the shortcomings of the Church are those of her individual 
 members ; her holiness is their hohness ; what most attracts 
 those who are "almost persuaded," or who are without, is the 
 virtue and sanctity of those within : so that the Church's 
 influence, and the benefits she dispenses, must depend to a great 
 extent upon the manner in which her sons and her daughters 
 are individually discharging their own pecviliar duties. And it 
 is only by considering how we are collectively fulfilling our al- 
 lotted task that we can distinguish oiu" failures, and be incited 
 to improvement ; it is only by ascertaining wherein we are 
 severally hindering or marring, if so it be, tlie complete 
 evangelisation of the world, that we can comprehend our 
 individual responsibility and turn from our error, and fully do 
 our part towards hastening that glad and happy day when " the 
 Gentiles shall come to Thy light, and kings to the brightness 
 of Thy rising," when " Thy people also shall be all righteous.
 
 6 
 
 they shall inherit the land for ever, the branch of My planting, 
 the work of IMy hands, that I may be glorified/^ 
 
 The point, then, to which your attention is now especially 
 invited is this, — What aspect does the Church of England pre- 
 sent in those crowded haunts of men which are confessedly the 
 most difficult to leaven with the influences of the Gospel ? and 
 where she must therefore, in a peculiar manner, be marked as 
 manifesting or retarding the advance of the kingdom of her 
 Lord; where she must be either dispelling some of the thick 
 darkness which ever broods over fallen men, or is herself being 
 hidden by the surrounding gloom. For, amid such myriads of 
 those whom her Lord died to redeem, she seems especially 
 bound to put forth all her strength, lest she should fail to mani- 
 fest His power and glory, and so delay or frustrate the conver- 
 sion of the world. 
 
 Before considering the question from within, let us inquire, — 
 What would be the impression produced upon a complete stranger 
 by the religious aspect of our metropolis ? Which portion of 
 our text would he regard as descriptive of our spiritual con- 
 dition ? Would he consider that darkness still covered it, and 
 that gross darkness still brooded over our people ? or would he 
 be constrained to confess that the Lord had arisen upon it, and 
 that His glory shone brightly upon them ? 
 
 In answering this, I am not driven to imagine what would be a 
 stranger's feelings ; because it so happens that, within the last few 
 weeks, I have heard from one who has passed the last seven years 
 in the East,* the opinion of some of the more thoughtful and 
 learned men of the countries in which he had sojourned — the 
 opinion of men who had visited this country to see if all the won- 
 derful things they had heard concerning it were true — of men 
 before whose eyes, it may be, a clear manifestation of the power of 
 the Gospel would not have been set in vain. And what was their 
 impression of England's religion, judging it by what they saw of 
 
 * There is no iutention to draw a comparison here between London 
 and any other city, much less between Christian and Mahometan civilisation ; 
 il is merely a statement of fact, of the impression produced upon certain 
 'fhuated Malnimotans by wliat tJiey saw in our m<'(ro]iolis.
 
 its influence upon nien^s lives^ and measuring it by a Mahom- 
 etan's standard? Tliey had come to spend months in the 
 investigation of what England was, and they left it after weeks, 
 because they feared to remain longer in a land which seemed 
 to them to be ever tempting God's sorest judgments by its 
 misdeeds : their feeling was, that if there was justice in heaven, 
 a doom similar to that by which Sodom and Gomorrah were 
 overwhelmed must speedily be its portion, and they hasted away 
 lest they should be involved in the overthrow. They beheld 
 crowds of paupers in the streets, undeserving of the alms they 
 solicited, and the wealthiest city in the world taking no eifectual 
 measures to distinguish the unfortunate from the profligate, and 
 really to relieve the miserable want by which so many of its 
 inhabitants are oppressed; and they contrasted this with their 
 own land, where food is asked as a right and not as a favour 
 by those who need it, and where such an appeal is never re- 
 jected. They beheld the streets swarming with prostitutes, and 
 they were horrified at the sensuality and the sin which such 
 scenes suggested. They saw in the manifold dealings of trade 
 trutli almost entirely banished, whilst falsehood had ceased 
 to pay even the tribute of a blush to the virtue on which it 
 trampled. And so they fled, terrified and amazed at the spec- 
 tacle : instead of being attracted by the outer manifestation of 
 England's religion, they thanked the God they worshipped, and 
 the false prophet by whom they had been misled, that this 
 religion was not their religion. 
 
 And was such terror on their part altogether vain and un- 
 founded ? was it foolish and absurd ? did it arise simply from a 
 diff'erence between their own customs aiid those which they now 
 encountered for the first time ? We are so apt to hear the 
 sweetly-soothing sounds of self-satisfaction at our superiority to 
 others, that it is likely to seem all this to us; but I fear, that the 
 more we look beneath the surface the more cause we shall find 
 for trembling, lest after all su.ch a notion should not be so 
 unreal and imaginary as we would fain believe it. But here I 
 will speak not from hearsay, but from personal observation and 
 knowledire.
 
 8 
 
 What, then, is the spiritual state of the inhabitants of our 
 poor London parishes? They are in a condition of practical 
 heathenism; religious observances of evei*y kind are neglected; 
 the form and the spirit have alike fled ; there is little avovred 
 unbelief, but nearly universal indifference; it is no question of 
 Church or Dissent, or of religious opinions, by which we are 
 assailed, (though differences have helped to produce the result 
 over which we mourn,) but whether there shall be any i-eligion or 
 none ! An immense majority of the people — certainly not less 
 than four * out of every five, never enter any place of worship 
 from year's end to year's end ; and very few, indeed, of those who 
 neglect public worship, I have reason to know, ever kneel down 
 to say a prayer, or, so far as man can judge, have any real 
 sense of awe for a higher Power. They live, like the brutes, 
 a mere animal life ; their thoughts are bounded by what has 
 relation to this world ; they rarely commit great crimes ; they 
 make no profession of unbelief : but the only creed in which 
 
 * The Census returns give the population of the parish of Lambeth as 
 139,325 ; the Church accommodation as 22,589 ; that of Dissent, 11,580 ; but 
 this includes the wealthier districts of Kenniugton, Norwood, Brixton, and 
 StockweU. Exclude these parts of the parish, and the provision for the 
 teaching of the people is comparatively reduced, whilst the attendance is in 
 an inverse ratio to the wealth. The poorer the place, the fewer the people 
 who enter any place of woi'ship. This is illustrated by the fact, that whilst 
 in the whole of Lambeth the pro\"ision by Church and Dissent is for 1 in J:"07 
 of the population, in my parish, which is unmixedly poor, the prorision is for 
 1 in 5-82; our population being 15,187, and the church and episcopal chapel 
 seating about 1,400, the two dissenting places of worship about 1,200. The 
 Census returns for Lambeth give one-third of the sittings as always empty; it 
 would be more than this in the poorer parts of the parish. 
 
 In the Kev. Dr. Hume's evidence before the Lords' Committee on Church- 
 rates, he says, " In Southwark there are OS per cent who attend no place of 
 worship ; in Lambeth, OOJ." — Report, p. 135. Take into account the dis- 
 crepancy between the rich and tlie poor parts of the parish mentioned above, 
 and the proportion of non-attendants in the poor districts will be larger than 
 I have stated it. 
 
 " The united Committee for providing special religious senices for the 
 working classes, especially in the eastern and souiliern i^arts of the metx'o- 
 polis," give as one of their reasons for opening theatres for the pui-pose, " the 
 deploi-able si>iritual condition of the woi'king classes in London, as shown by 
 the estimate, that only about 2 in every 100 of the working men are found to 
 :ittond anyplace of worship." — (^iicular, dated Dec. 17th, 1850, and signed 
 by L'lril Sliaftcslnirv and otlicrs.
 
 they really believe, and by w!ift!i tliey act, is, " Let us eat 
 and drink^ for to-morrow we die/' 
 
 But surely, it may be said, all this arises from ignorance — 
 from their not knowing better — from their having never been 
 taught ? For years I hoped that such was the case, but every 
 day's experience has helped to convince me more and more, 
 that such a plea would be only partially true, and that it cannot 
 absolutely be urged in their behalf. They do know something 
 of religion — enough to be aware of its truth and of its im- 
 portance; there are, comparatively, very few who have never 
 been at some kind of school — though^ in most cases, it has been 
 for a very insufficient time ; there are scarcely any who could 
 not tell you that Christ came into the world to save sinners ; 
 very few, indeed, who do not believe in an eternal future of 
 happiness or of miseiy : but they think that a few prayers upon 
 their death-bed will effect all the conversion necessary to prepare 
 them for God's presence. They see friends and neighbours, who 
 lived as they are living, die without any special pain or agonies, 
 without any sign to mark that they would be lost for ever, 
 and it may be, as it often is, calmly, without a fear concerning 
 their own eternal future; and this has satisfied theni : it makes 
 them speak confidently of the happiness of those who have 
 passed away ; it causes them to feel perfectly secure about their 
 own. Shallow views about religion, popularly promulgated, 
 have helped to eradicate all sense of duty : for they have come 
 before the unhappy many in such a form as to have no influence 
 irpon life or conduct; the promises with which they abound 
 have been made the most of, whilst their scanty requirements 
 have been practically ignored. 
 
 But concerning the causes of this it is needful to say some- 
 thing, as those causes widen the extent of the evil over which 
 we are called upon to mourn. Holy Scripture likens the Church 
 to the human body, of which Christ is the Head — "from 
 whom the whole body, fitly joined together and compacted by 
 that which every joint supplieth, according to the efi^ectual 
 working in the measure of every part, maketh increase of the 
 body, unto the edifying of itself in love."* This figure reprc- 
 
 * V\.h. iv. l(i.
 
 10 
 
 sents the several parts with their distinctive functions^ and the 
 •general good of all resulting from each discharging its own 
 oflBce. Bones, or sinews, or joints, or flesh, or veins, would be 
 useless in the human hody unless joined to the other parts. 
 And so it is in the social body : if one class of society is com- 
 pletely severed from the others, a very similar result ensues ; that 
 is, if we regard the social body in relation to the higher functions 
 it is called upon to fulfil. The ruler ceases to be powerful when 
 he has no sympathy with those he governs ; the wealthy become 
 hard and sensual when they are quite estranged from their poorer 
 brethren; and what do the poor become when they are left to 
 themselves ? They are like children, lacking the self-restraint 
 and self-respect which intercourse with their superiors produces 
 — they have the ignorance and weakness of childhood, with the 
 passions and stronger wills of riper years; and so their faults 
 are those of overgrown, undisciplined children — they drift into 
 thoughtless, self-indulgent ways : without intending harm or 
 evil, they become slaves to their appetites. I am speaking, of 
 course, of the mass — of those who have no clear, definite aims of 
 their own — of those who do not rise above the many, either from 
 religious convictions or from natural ability ; for amongst the few 
 with such definite aims we have to rejoice over some who realise 
 that they are " called to be saints," and \vho shine like lights 
 amid the surrounding darkness, whilst we observe others labouring 
 assiduously for some earthly object. Watch the mass care- 
 fully, and you will see unnumbered indications of what I am 
 advancing. Take as an example the way in which they spend 
 the Lord's day. Generally it is wasted in aimless sloth ; they 
 rise late ; it is too much trouble to dress carefully, and so 
 they lounge through it, sitting at home or strolling out to 
 purchase what they may require ; eating the best they can pro- 
 cure; occasionally looking at a newspaper; perhaps drinking, 
 for Avant of other occupation ; now and then tempted out to 
 walk; possibly, if they have been religiously trained when 
 they were children, taking a Bible or some religious book 
 into their hands for a short time. It is a mistake to imagine 
 that it is chiefly the poorer portions of the labouring com- 
 nninity who throng our railways and public walks on the
 
 11 
 
 Sunday. It is a more intelligent and better-paid class of 
 men who are found in such places, — young people in shops 
 and offices, foremen and their wives, skilled artisans, and 
 such-like. And then, after such a Sunday, there comes the 
 week with its unceasing toil, undertaken to support life, gone 
 through with no higher thought or care than simply to obtain 
 necessary subsistence, sweetened by no higher aspirations, 
 solaced by no interests apart from itself, cheered by no loving 
 sympathy from those in a higher position, and so life becomes a 
 perpetual round of slavish toil and sensual sloth. And then, 
 need we wonder that class is separated from class ; that there is 
 no loving bond uniting all together ; that the poor become more 
 and more estranged from God; that they are shortsighted in their 
 view^s, slothful and tricky at their work; that they entertain 
 feelings of envy and dislike towards their employers ? Whilst it 
 must be obvious to all observant and reflective persons, that all 
 this evil is greatly aggravated by that almost complete separation 
 of classes which exists in the metropolis, with its consequent 
 withdrawal of the very real, though in a measure imperceptible, 
 influence which the presence of those in a higher station would 
 exert. In their hearts all wish for the respect and notice of 
 their superiors, and w^hen the superior's eye is altogether with- 
 drawn in indifi'erence, men are apt to sink into carelessness and 
 apathy, if not into more open evil. I am quite aware that such 
 a motive as that to which I allude is of a very inferior character; 
 but with the mixed nature of man we need the influence of such 
 secondary motives, — we cannot altogether do without them in 
 educating for eternity the weak and the ignorant. 
 
 But when class lives apart from class, and I grieve to say 
 that in London this, evil is daily increasing, other mischiefs 
 follow. If the wealthier classes sec anything of the homes of 
 the poor, if they hear their sorrows and see their sufferings (as 
 see and hear they must to some small extent at all events, 
 if they live in the same neighbourhood), then the ever-ready 
 hand of kindness is stretched out to relieve want or suftcr- 
 ing, whenever it is really required ; and charity, as an ever- 
 flowing stream, gladdens the hearts that w^ould otherwise have
 
 12 
 
 been withered up. But when they live apart, then it demands 
 some special trouble or exceptional distress to lead those who 
 have grown habituated to the sight of constant and crushing 
 poverty to make known the hardships and wretchedness by 
 which they are surrounded, and which they cannot relieve. 
 Then, thank God ! in this country the cry for help never as- 
 cends in vain. It is at once responded to; a shower of assist- 
 ance refreshes the parched and dried-up ground : but such 
 showei's are only oceasional and capricious, whereas they ought 
 to be continual and systematic. They spring from a natural 
 kindliness of heart, and not from a deep and abiding sense of 
 personal responsibility, without which all efforts must be tran- 
 sitory and insufficient. 
 
 But stdl further, there is another point where this separa- 
 tion of classes presses very heavily upon the poor; and it is 
 one which seriously diminishes our hope of improvement in 
 another generation. We often boast, and with much truth, of 
 the great strides education has made in our own day, of its in- 
 creased efficiency and its extended area. All this holds good 
 of parishes where rich and poor live together ; but it is true in 
 a very limited sense of parishes inhabited exclusively by the 
 poor. Such parishes, situated though they may be in the imme- 
 diate vicinity of i-icher ones, call almost in vain for help, if there 
 is no direct tie of property to give force to the appeal.* And in 
 the I'ichest city in the world cases are to be found where child- 
 ren f seek to the clergy in vain for inetruction, where the very 
 limited schools are filled to overflowing, so that some of those 
 who would flee to them as to a harbour of refuge, have to be 
 driven back upon the vicious training in the streets, because 
 there is no place for them, and thus the efforts of the clergy are 
 
 * This is most strikingly illustrated by the different response which 
 attends a letter in the Times, setting forth a case of educational or religious 
 dt^stitution, and one of physical want. For the latter, natural kindliness is 
 immediately awakened, and large and liberal gifts flow in, as my parish has 
 liappily proved ; for the former, no sense of personal responsibihty is aroused, 
 and the appeal is made almost in vixin. 
 
 t Should any one doubt the truth of this assertion, I can state that such 
 lias been, and continues to be, the case in my own parish.
 
 13 
 
 thwarted by want of the necessary machineiy ; and all for lack 
 of funds, which it is impossible for clergymen, working for the 
 most part with little or no earthly reward, to supply. And yet 
 no man feels responsible for this ; the property is not theirs, or 
 the people are not dii-cctly employed by them, or there are calls 
 elsewhere. And so it comes to pass that these poor unfortunates 
 cry for help and no man regardeth ; they are left to perish be- 
 cause no man feels it his business or his duty to provide for 
 their Avelfare, and souls are lost for ever because a grudging spirit 
 passed them by, unmoved by their sorrows and their dangers. 
 
 I might appeal, in support of what I have advanced, to the 
 records of the many plans which have been set on foot for the 
 evangelisation of our London poor. For, so far as I can gather, 
 these records show that in every case success has attended such 
 efforts in proportion to the sympathy and love exhibited. Men 
 and women of large hearts and strong affections have thrown 
 themselves amongst their poorer brethren, and they have been 
 warmly welcomed, their ministrations have been thankfully 
 received, and, I hope, have been instrumental in producing deep 
 and lasting impressions. But when the efforts have been of a 
 more general character, when they have consisted in addressing 
 the people rather than in mixing with them, in preaching rather 
 than in personal intercourse, then I believe the influence has 
 been of a most transient and unsatisfactory kind. 
 
 And who is responsible for all this ? There must be a deep 
 responsibility somewhere ; it may be concentrated in a few, or 
 diffused over many, but it must be somewhere, for our present 
 condition is not the result of accidental circumstances — it springs 
 from causes clear to be seen and easy to be understood. And 
 is it not the case, that instead of all fairly considering the 
 question, and all trying to roll away the reproach and the sin, 
 each man spends his labour in excusing himself, in limiting his 
 own responsibility, in showing that he is not bound to do any- 
 thing ? Is it not too true, that, with a few honourable and 
 gloi'ious exceptions, each man unbelievingly asks, " Am 1 my 
 brother^s keeper?" and is satisfied that it is no affair of his, if 
 the connexion is not too obvious to be denied. Moreover, this
 
 14 
 
 hardened determination of freeing self from responsibility is 
 fearfully fostered by the separation, in popular esteem, of a 
 man's personal goodness and the manner in which he fulfils 
 the higher duties of his station, so that little or no evil is dis- 
 cerned in those to whom God has committed ten talents, though 
 every talent lies buried in the earth, because they do not obvi- 
 ously violate the requirements of the Decalogue ; whilst few, 
 indeed, seem to consider whether they ai-e adequately employ- 
 ing for His service the gifts of influence or of property which 
 God has committed to their stewardship. 
 
 Ask then the owners of the land, whose barren fields the 
 crowded dwellings of the poor have converted into perennial 
 sources of wealth, if they are not responsible ? if it is not their 
 duty to show personal sympathy to the poor dwellers upon their 
 property, to do something to alleviate their sufferings or mis- 
 fortunes, to see that some provision is made for the education 
 of their children, and for their training for a better woi'ld ? and 
 they will, for the most part, scornfully excuse themselves, and 
 refer to the middlemen,* whom, for their own convenience and 
 profit, they have called into existence. Speak to these men of 
 the sympathy they should show, and the efforts they should 
 make for their poorer brethren, and they will tell how that the 
 superiors under whom they hold absorb all that is worth having, 
 whilst they are compelled to exact the uttermost farthing, for 
 that themselves are poor and need it. Appeal to the employers 
 of labom*, and, with some honourable exceptions, they will 
 excuse themselves by telling of what they do in the wealthy 
 suburb where they live, and where they must give to be seen of 
 their neighbours, but where they know nothing of the poor who 
 are about them ; whilst others will plead their position as units 
 in a large company, as such they feel no responsibility, and so 
 they do nothing, and therefore the poor are left to perish from 
 want or from ignorance, whilst those who eat th^ fruit of their 
 labour contentedly live on, unmindful of the wrath which they 
 
 * Scai'cely any cottage proi^erty in London is in the hands of the free- 
 holder ; there is a system of leasing and suh-leasing universally prevalent, 
 which is very prejudicial to the interests of the poor.
 
 15 
 
 are treasuring up against the day of wrath; whilst otherS;, 
 again, contrive to remove themselves by a step from all direct 
 intercourse with those who toil for them, and reject all claims 
 upon their consideration, because they deal in the gross with an 
 employer, instead of in detail with the employed. 
 
 And so it comes to pass that our only hope must be in each 
 man's learning to feel personally responsible, as a member of 
 the Body of Christ, for whatever evil there is about him, which 
 he has not done all that he could to diminish or to root up. 
 This is the only manner in which Christ's work can be really 
 accomplished, for it appeals to a sympathy which is fi-om above, 
 not in any way to a selfishness which is from beneath ; its in- 
 fluence is wholly derived from a loving recognition of what is 
 due to the Divine Head, not from better feeling, too inert to 
 move of itself, but pushed into action by a calculation of what 
 will best advance its own interests, or by dread of failing to 
 satisfy the reqiairements of popular opinion. 
 
 And as this canker of isolation of classes, and denial or over- 
 refined measuring out of personal responsibility, is eating out 
 the heart of religion, and is thwarting the hopes and the efforts 
 of those who are labouring in the cause of Christ, whither shall 
 we look for help in combating such false notions, but to this 
 and the sister University, where so many of the noblest and most 
 influential in the land are trained? The remedy for this so 
 great evil must come from above, not from beneath ; it must 
 descend from class to class; it must proceed from those who 
 are placed over their fellows by rank or by wealth setting an 
 example ; for if they will discharge all the duties of their 
 station and condescend to men of low estate, if they will do 
 what they can to shame others into a full })erformance of their 
 several responsibilities, if they will do whatever they are able to 
 roll away the disgrace which now hangs over us through all 
 " seeking their own, and not the things which are Jesus 
 Christ's,"* — through each man being content with gazing on 
 the mass of evil and suffering, and then passing by on the other 
 side, — then might we hope that God's blessing would be extended 
 * rhilip. ii. 21.
 
 16 
 
 to us, that Hi^ promises would be fulfilled in ever widening 
 measure, until the Lord had risen upon us, and His glory had 
 been seen amongst us. But where shall we look for men 
 qualified for such a task ? for men willing and able to work for 
 this social, moral, and religious reform, if our ancient Univer- 
 sities fail us ? for it is not the stone of political reform we re- 
 quire, but the bread of social and personal improvement. As 
 yet, it must be confessed that darkness covers the land, and 
 gross darkness the people. We long for a fuller and a clearer 
 manifestation of the glory of our risen Lord, for some portion of 
 the bright visions of the Prophet to be fulfilled in oui* time, for 
 our hearts not to be ever craving for that by which they are 
 never to be gladdened. And as it is impossible for one member 
 to suffer without the other members suffering with it — impossible 
 for one portion of the Church to be in this perishing con- 
 dition, whilst the other parts continue healthy and vigorous, I 
 have brought this subject before you this morning, that you 
 may more clearly know something of the danger by which we 
 are threatened. For such a danger is the danger of us all : it 
 can only be overcome by the earnest, vigorous, and united 
 efibrts of every member of Christ ; and if, through the supine- 
 ness or neglect of any, the dark cloud be suffered to grow darker 
 and heavier, we may find that it will rapidly spread over the 
 whole sky, until the Sun of Righteousness is altogether hidden 
 from our eyes, until our glory as a Church and as a nation is 
 altogether darkened ; and then, instead of our rejoicing over the 
 knowledge of the Lord covering the land as the waters cover the 
 sea, w^e shall have to mourn that our teachers are removed 
 into a corner, and that our candle has been put out. 
 
 Loudoii : — Prir.ted by G Barclay, CasUo St. Leicester Sq.

 
 
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