Life Without and Life Within; or, Reviews, Narratives, Essays, and Poems.
tower was an act in which all orders of the community took part; for
when those cathedrals were consecrated, it was for the use of all. Rich
and poor knelt together upon their marble pavements, and the imperial
altar welcomed the obscurest artisan.
This grace our churches want--the grace which belongs to all religions,
but is peculiarly and solemnly enforced upon the followers of Jesus. The
poor to whom he came to preach can have no share in the grace of Grace
Church. In St. Peter's, if only as an empty form, the soiled feet of
travel-worn disciples are washed; but such feet can never intrude on the
fane of the holy Trinity here in republican America, and the Messiah may
be supposed still to give as excuse for delay, "The poor you always have
with you."
We must confess this circumstance is to us quite destructive of
reverence and value for these buildings.
We are told, that at the late consecration, the claims of the poor were
eloquently urged; and that an effort is to be made, by giving a side
chapel, to atone for the luxury which shuts them out from the reflection
of sunshine through those brilliant windows. It is certainly better that
they should be offered the crumbs from the rich man's table than nothing
at all, yet it is surely not _the_ way that Jesus would have taught to
provide for the poor.
Would we not then have these splendid edifices erected? We certainly
feel that the educational influence of good specimens of architecture
(and we know no other argument in their favor) is far from being a
counterpoise to the abstraction of so much money from purposes that
would be more in fulfilment of that Christian idea which these assume to
represent Were the rich to build such a church, and, dispensing with
pews and all exclusive advantages, invite all who would to come in to
the banquet, that were, indeed, noble and Christian. And, though we
believe more, for our nation and time, in intellectual monuments than
those of wood and stone, and, in opposition even to our admired Powers,
think that Michael Angelo himself could have advised no more suitable
monument to Washington than a house devoted to the instruction of the
people, and think that great master, and the Greeks no less, would agree
with us if they lived now to survey all the bearings of the subject, yet
we would not object to these splendid churches, if the idea of Him they
call Master were represented in them. But till it is, they can do no
good, for the means are not in harmony with the end. The rich man sits
in state while "near two hundred thousand" Lazaruses linger, unprovided
for, without the gate. While this is so, they must not talk much,
within, of Jesus of Nazareth, who called to him fishermen, laborers, and
artisans, for his companions and disciples.
We find some excellent remarks on this subject from Rev. Stephen Olin,
president of the Wesleyan University. They are appended as a note to a
discourse addressed to young men, on the text, "Put ye on the Lord Jesus
Christ, and make not provision for the flesh, to fulfil the lusts
thereof."
This discourse, though it discloses formal and external views of
religions ties and obligations, is dignified by a fervent, generous love
for men, and a more than commonly catholic liberality; and though these
remarks are made and meant to bear upon the interests of his own sect,
yet they are anti-sectarian in their tendency, and worthy the
consideration of all anxious to understand the call of duty in these
matters. Earnest attention of this sort will better avail than fifteen
hundred dollars, or more, paid for a post of exhibition in a fashionable
church, where, if piety be provided with one chance, worldliness has
twenty to stare it out of countenance.
"The strong tendency in our religious operations to gather the rich and
the poor into separate folds, and so to generate and establish in the
church distinctions utterly at variance with the spirit of our political
institutions, is the very worst result of the multiplication of sects
among us; and I fear it must be admitted that the evil is greatly
aggravated by the otherwise benignant working of the voluntary system.
Without insisting further upon the probable or possible injury which may
befall our free country from this conflict of agencies, ever the most
powerful in the formation of national and individual character, no one,
I am sure, can fail to recognize in this development an influence
utterly and irreconcilably hostile to the genius and cherished objects
of Christianity. It is the peculiar glory of the gospel that, even under
the most arbitrary governments, it has usually been able to vindicate
and practically exemplify the essential equality of man. It has had one
doctrine and one hope for all its children; and the highest and the
lowest have been constrained to acknowledge one holy law of brotherhood
in the common faith of which they are made partakers. Nowhere else, I
believe, but in the United States--certainly nowhere else to the same
extent--does this anti-Christian separation of classes prevail in the
Christian church. The beggar in his tattered vestments walks the
splendid courts of St. Peter's, and kneels at its costly altars by the
side of dukes and cardinals. The peasant in his wooden shoes is welcomed
in the gorgeous churches of Notre Dame and the Madeleine; and even in
England, where political and social distinctions are more rigorously
enforced than in any other country on earth, the lord and the peasant,
the richest and the poorest, are usually occupants of the same church,
and partakers of the same communion. That the reverse of all this is
true in many parts of this country, every observing man knows full well;
and what is yet more deplorable, while the lines of demarcation between
the different classes have already become sufficiently distinct, the
tendency is receiving new strength and development in a rapidly
augmenting ratio. Even in country places, where the population is
sparse, and the artificial distinctions of society are little known, the
working of this strange element is, in many instances, made manifest,
and a petty coterie of village magnates may be found worshipping God
apart from the body of the people. But the evil is much more apparent,
as well as more deeply seated, in our populous towns, where the causes
which produce it have been longer in operation, and have more fully
enjoyed the favor of circumstances. In these great centres of wealth,
intelligence, and influence, the separation between the classes is, in
many instances, complete, and in many more the process is rapidly
progressive.
"There are crowded religious congregations composed so exclusively of
the wealthy as scarcely to embrace an indigent family or individual; and
the number of such churches, where the gospel is never preached to the
poor, is constantly increasing. Rich men, instead of associating
themselves with their more humble fellow-Christians, where their money
as well as their influence and counsels are so much needed, usually
combine to erect magnificent churches, in which sittings are too
expensive for any but people of fortune, and from which their
less-favored brethren are as effectually and peremptorily excluded as if
there were dishonor or contagion in their presence. A congregation is
thus constituted, able, without the slightest inconvenience, to bear the
pecuniary burdens of twenty churches, monopolizing and consigning to
comparative inactivity intellectual, moral, and material resources, for
want of which so many other congregations are doomed to struggle with
the most embarrassing difficulties. Can it for a moment be thought that
such a state of things is desirable, or in harmony with the spirit and
design of the gospel?
"A more difficult question arises when we inquire after a remedy for
evils too glaring to be overlooked, and too grave to be tolerated,
without an effort to palliate, if not to remove them. The most obvious
palliative, and one which has already been tried to some extent by
wealthy churches or individuals, is the erection of free places of
worship for the poor. Such a provision for this class of persons would
be more effectual in any other part of the world than in the United
States. Whether it arises from the operation of our political system, or
from the easy attainment of at least the prime necessaries of life, the
poorer classes here are characterized by a proud spirit, which will not
submit to receive even the highest benefits in any form that implies
inferiority or dependence. This strong and prevalent feeling must
continue to interpose serious obstacles in the way of these laudable
attempts. If in a few instances churches for the poor have succeeded in
our large cities, where the theory of social equality is so imperfectly
realized in the actual condition of the people, and where the presence
of a multitude of indigent foreigners tends to lower the sentiment of
independence so strong in native-born Americans, the system is yet
manifestly incapable of general application to the religious wants of
our population. The same difficulty usually occurs in all attempts to
induce the humbler classes to worship with the rich in sumptuous
churches, by reserving for their benefit a portion of the sittings free,
or at a nominal rent. A few only can be found who are willing to be
recognized and provided for as beneficiaries and paupers, while the
multitude will always prefer to make great sacrifices in order to
provide for themselves in some humbler fane. It must be admitted that
this subject is beset with practical difficulties, which are not likely
to be removed speedily, or without some great and improbable revolution
in our religious affairs. Yet if the respectable Christian denominations
most concerned in the subject shall pursue a wise and liberal policy for
the future, something may be done to check the evil. They may retard its
rapid growth, perhaps, though it will most likely be found impossible to
eradicate it altogether. It ought to be well understood, that the
multiplication of magnificent churches is daily making the line of
demarcation between the rich and the poor more and more palpable and
impassable. There are many good reasons for the erection of such
edifices. Increasing wealth and civilization seem to call for a liberal
and tasteful outlay in behalf of religion; yet is it the dictate of
prudence no less than of duty to balance carefully the good and the evil
of every enterprise. It should ever be kept in mind, that such a church
virtually writes above its sculptured portals an irrevocable prohibition
to the poor--'_Procul, O procul este profani_.'"
LATE ASPIRATIONS.
LETTER TO H----.
You have put to me that case which puzzles more than almost any in this
strange world--the case of a man of good intentions, with natural powers
sufficient to carry them out, who, after having through great part of a
life lived the best he knew, and, in the world's eye, lived admirably
well, suddenly wakes to a consciousness of the soul's true aims. He
finds that he has been a good son, husband, and father, an adroit man of
business, respected by all around him, without ever having advanced one
step in the life of the soul. His object has not been the development of
his immortal being, nor has this been developed; all he has done bears
upon the present life only, and even that in a way poor and limited,
since no deep fountain of intellect or feeling has ever been unsealed
for him. Now that his eyes are opened, he sees what communion is
possible; what incorruptible riches may be accumulated by the man of
true wisdom. But why is the hour of clear vision so late deferred? He
cannot blame himself for his previous blindness. His eyes were holden