158 "DO YOU SEE THAT?" "The power of Nonconformity," I replied, "lies in its Scriptural simplicity and its evangelic pulpit. Remove these, and its glory has departed. Obscure these by the symbols of worldly pomp, and a cloud eclipses its ancient light; or attempt to buttress these by material grandeur, and you may retain the body, but the soul will depart." 66 66 Why, you are getting serious," said my friend, smiling; you would really do for a Quaker, so far as plain meeting-houses are concerned." "I am serious. Meeting-houses need not be plain— that is, in the sense of studied plainness; but they should not be extravagant, until the poor of the land have the gospel preached to them, and, especially, when the claims of the rural population suffer in consequence of those costly erections." "But I see no possible connection between the two things." "I do, though, and I will illustrate it by a fact. I know an excellent and laborious country pastor, who has toiled long, and been greatly blessed in his labours. Wishing to erect a school-room for the neglected children of his village, he went to London, a year or two since, to seek assistance, his flock being utterly unable to raise the trifling sum which was required. His case was well authenticated by names not unknown in London circles. He received the following answers from three gentlemen, on whom he successively called,-three gentlemen, who had hitherto been known for their liberality. The first said, 'I cannot help you, for I have just given five hundred pounds to our new church.' The second said, 'I am unable to assist in this case, for we purpose building a new place, and it will cost a great deal.' The third, pointing to a cathedral-looking building in the opposite street, said, 'Do you see that? If dissenters go on in that fashion, I will never again give a shilling to chapel or school.'" A JEWELLED GENTLEMAN. 159 At this point I resume my personal narrative, which will exhibit, incidentally, the claims and wants, the virtues and vices of the rural population, if the village in which I lived may be taken, as I think it may, as a specimen of most others. Having received an invitation to spend a month in Willowfield, and to preach on probation during that time, I left by the stage-coach, early on a cold frosty morning, in the month of February. I had nearly two hundred miles to travel, which could not be accomplished in one day. The prospect was, therefore, a cold one, especially on the outside of the old Velocity," which, as is generally the case, did not literally justify its name. I had, during the early part of the first day, a solitary companion on the front seat, a young man about five-and-twenty, well-dressed, but rather over-adorned with seals, rings, and chains, which might have been of the precious metals, and might have contained real gems, for aught I could tell. He exhibited these valuables freely at first; but as the biting easterly wind began to take effect, he found it it expedient to hide them all under a rough overcoat. For some time we sat in silence, excepting the original information we had imparted to each other, that it was "a cold morning;" or, to speak correctly, I had first ventured on that opinion, which he politely corroborated. Before we had travelled many miles together, however, I found that this was the only sentiment in which we were agreed. A discussion, warm and earnest on both sides, sprang up; and, if it had no other effect, it tended to the circulation of the blood-no small comfort in such weather. I believe the movement of the "Velocity" was somewhat accelerated by it too; for the rubicund coachman, who sat before us, overheard every word of the debate, and became so far excited by it as to telegraph the horses to that effect. I do not intend to report our controversy. It is enough to say that my 160 A NEGATIVE CREED. jewelled companion in travel had a remarkably negative creed, with here and there a positive principle by way of cement, to keep the detached negatives from rolling in all directions. He did not believe the doctrines of the Bible; he did not think its writers inspired; nay, they were not even possessed of common sense, for they did not understand geography, nor astronomy, nor mathematics, nor the laws of mind. He did not believe there ever was such a person as Jesus of Nazareth; or, if there was, he did not believe He was the Saviour of the world, for the world did not need a Saviour, seeing it was not guilty or sinful, as parsons taught; the only object of the aforesaid parsons being, not to save souls, but to feed their own precious persons. He did not believe that Deity took any notice of men; and he was sure there was no heaven, no hell, no day of judgment, no hereafter, no immortality! The few positives which held these wayward negatives together were these: he believed the world was eternal, man the result of development, chemical laws the cause of the seasons, human reason the effect of electricity, and the size of the brain the standard of intelligence! What I said to all this, any intelligent man may easily imagine. At last, my neighbour, having reached his destination, left us; and I was gratified by the spontaneous proof that the coachman had taken some interest in the discussion. After changing horses, and starting for another stage, he glanced towards me, and said— "Look'ee here, Sir! I've been on this here road, off and on, for the matter of twenty years, and I've heard many strange talks, but anything like that never afore." So saying, he administered a gentle cut to the leader. "Sir, you floored that there gemman, you did!" "Well, coachman," said I, " that was not a difficult matter. When common sense and religion pull one way, you know, like your leaders there, one gets on." |