Untitled - Electric Scotland

1857-59] ISLINGTON CHURCH BUILDING 253
at hand in the case of Ireland. Garrisons were in former times
stationed at intervals throughout that land, and fortresses were
built for them to reside in ; and yet no real conquest took place,
for the inhabitants only retired to their fastnesses, and there
remained unsubdued. And so it may be with the Church :
additional churches may be merely the towers which contain the
garrison, and the people whom we wish to bring within the pale
may remain at a distance. It will therefore be wrong if we
mistake the erection of churches for the spread of the Gospel
throughout the land. It will, above all, be necessary to place in
the churches faithful ministers of God s Word. And we must be
very careful to use every means to bring in the poor. It is the
upper and the middle classes who form the church-goers through
out this country ;
and a vast mass of the population are estranged,
not only from the Church of England, but from the Gospel
itself. Both in our crowded cities and in our remote country
districts there is a very numerous body of the poor who cannot,
and another who will not, enter the churches. Under these cir
cumstances, when asked to preside at this meeting, I inquired,
first of all, whether the churches are, as much as possible, made
available, whether there are as many services in them as can well
be performed, and also whether attempts are made to build up
the Church spiritually as well as materially."
He went on to press the need of local sympathy and co
operation in the new endeavour, and promised to sub
scribe 600 as a pledge of his anxiety for its success. 1
His next public act involved him in some controversy.
It was announced by the Vicar of St. Alban s, Wood
Street, that on New Year s Day, 1857, the Holy Com
munion would be celebrated at a quarter before seven in
the morning, and the Bishop of London would deliver an
iiddress to the members of the Young Men s Christian
Association. The Bishop immediately received letters
from clergy and others, urging him to refrain from attend-
1 The amount of this subscription to the local fund for a particular parish
was of course exceptional, being more than one-tenth of his total income for
the year, while he was at the same time encouraging many other efforts with
almost equal liberality.