A CHOICE OF A CHURCH.
I have mentioned that I was educated as a Swedenborgian, or rather a
member of the New Jerusalem Church, as the followers of Emanuel
Swedenborg prefer to be called. As a boy, I was well read in his works,
and was prepared to tilt with all comers in his cause. But I grew less
confident as I became more conversant with the world and with general
literature. At the age of fifteen I was nominated a Sunday-school
teacher in a small Swedenborgian chapel in the Waterloo road, and
declined to act because the school was established with the object of
converting from the religion of their parents the children of poor Roman
Catholic families in that neighbourhood, which I thought an insidious,
and therefore an evil mode of disseminating religious doctrine. Of
course, this was a sufficiently conceited proceeding on the part of so
young a theologian. But the same feeling has grown up with me in after
life. I hold that Christians are ill-employed, who spend their strength
in missionary attempts to change the creed of other branches of the
Christian Church, while their efforts at conversion might be much better
utilised in behalf of the heathen, or, what is the same thing in effect,
the untaught multitudes in our midst who know nothing whatever of the
teachings of the Gospel of Christ.
It will, perhaps, surprise some of my readers to hear that Swedenborg
never contemplated the founding of a sect. He was a civil engineer, high
in rank at the Swedish court, and was ennobled for the marvellous feat
of transporting the Swedish fleet from sea to sea, across the kingdom
and over a formidable chain of mountains. He was also what would now be
called an eminent scientist, ranking with Buffon, Humboldt, Kant,
Herschel, and others of the first men of his day in Europe, and even
surpassing them all in the extent and variety of his philosophical
researches. His "Animal Kingdom" and "Physical Sciences" are wonderful
efforts of the human mind, and still maintain a high reputation as
scientific works.
At length Swedenborg conceived the idea that he enjoyed supernatural
privileges--that he had communings with angels and archangels--that he
was permitted to enter the spiritual world, and to record what he there
saw and heard. Nay, even to approach our Saviour himself, in His
character of the Triune God, or sole impersonation of the Divine
Trinity. Unlike Mahomet and most other pretenders to inspired missions,
Swedenborg never sought for power, honour or applause. He was to the day
of his death a quiet gentleman of the old school, unassuming, courteous,
and a good man in every sense of the word.
I remember that one of my first objections to the writings of
Swedenborg, was on account of his declaring the Church of France to be
the most spiritual of all the churches on earth; which dogma immensely
offended my youthful English pride. His first "readers" were members of
various churches--clergymen of the Church of England, professors in
universities, literary students, followers of Wesley, and generally
devout men and women of all denominations. In time they began to
assemble together for "reading meetings;" and so at length grew into a
sect--a designation, by the way, which they still stoutly repudiate. I
remember one clergyman, the Rev. John Clowes, rector of a church in
Manchester, who applied to the Bishop of Lichfield for leave to read and
teach from the works of Swedenborg, and was permitted to do so on
account of their entirely harmless character.
When still young, I noticed with astonishment, that the transcendental
virtues which Swedenborg inculcated were very feebly evidenced in the
lives of his followers; that they were not by any means free from pride,
ostentation, even peculation and the ordinary trickery of trade--in
fact, that they were no better than their fellow-Christians generally.
When I came to Toronto, I of course mixed with all sorts of people, and
found examples of thoroughly consistent Christian life amongst all the
various denominations--Roman Catholics, English Churchmen, Methodists,
Presbyterians, Congregationalists, Baptists, and many others--which
taught me the lesson, that it is not a man's formal creed that is of
importance, so much as his personal sincerity as a follower of Christ's
teachings and example.
I was at the same time forcibly impressed with another leading
idea--that no where in the Scriptures have we any instance of a
divinely regulated government, in which the worship of God did not
occupy a chief place. I thought--I still think--that the same beneficent
principle which makes Christianity a part of the common law of England,
and of all her colonies, including the United States, should extend to
the religious instruction of every soul in the community, gentle or
simple, and more especially to what are called the off-scourings of
society.
Looking around me, I saw that of all the churches within my purview, the
Church of England most completely met my ideal--that she was the Church
by law established in my motherland--that she allowed the utmost
latitude to individual opinion--in fine, that she held the Bible wide
open to all her children, and did her best to extend its knowledge to
all mankind. Had I been a native of Scotland, upon the same reasoning I
must have become a Presbyterian, or a Lutheran in Holland or Germany, or
a Roman Catholic in France or Spain. But that contingency did not then
present itself to me.
So I entered the Church of England; was confirmed by Bishop Strachan, at
St. James's Cathedral, in the year 1839, if I remember rightly, and have
never since, for one instant, doubted the soundness of my conclusions.
On this occasion, as on many others, my emotions shaped themselves in a
poetical form. The two following pieces were written for the _Church_
newspaper, of which I was then the printer, in partnership with the
Messrs. Rowsell:--
HYMN FOR EASTER.
"CHRIST IS RISEN."[14]
"Christ is risen from the dead and become the first fruits of
them that slept. "For since by man came death; by man came also
the resurrection of the dead. "For as in Adam all die; even so
in Christ shall all be made alive."
Christ is risen! Jesu lives;
He lives His faithful ones to bless;
The grave to life its victim gives--
Our grief is changed to joyfulness.
The sleeping Saints, whom Israel slew,
Waking, shall list the joyful sound;
He--their first fruits--doth live anew,
Hell hath a mighty conqueror found.
Paschal offering! spotless Lamb!
For us was heard thy plaintive cry;
For us, in agony and shame,
Thy blood's sweet incense soar'd on high.
By erring man came woe--the grave--
The ground accurs'd--the blighted tree--
Jesus, as man, for ransom gave
Himself, from death to set us free.
Christ is risen! saints, rejoice!
Your hymns of praise enraptured pour--
Ye heavenly angels, lend your voice--
Jesus shall reign for evermore!
Hallelujah! Amen.
THE SINNER'S COMPLAINT AND CONSOLATION.
Oh for a conscience free from sin!
Oh for a breast all pure within--
A soul that, seraph winged, might fly
'Mid heav'n's full blaze unshrinkingly,
And bask in rays of wisdom, bright
From His own throne of life and light.
Peace, pining spirit! know'st thou not that Jesus died for thee--
For thee alone His last sigh breathed upon th' accursed tree;
For thee His Omnipresence chain'd within a mortal "clod"--
And bore _thy_ guilt, to be as well thy Saviour as thy God:
Aye, suffered anguish more--far more--than thou canst e'en conceive,
_Thy_ sins to cleanse--_thy_ self-earnt condemnation to relieve.
And did He suffer so for me?
Did HE endure upon the tree
A living death--a mortal's woe,
With pangs that mortals _cannot_ know!
Oh triumph won most wofully!
My SAVIOUR died for me--for _me_!
And have I basely wish'd to make this wondrous off'ring vain;
Shall love so vast, be unrepaid by grateful love again?
Oh! true affection never chafes at obligation's chain,
But hugs with joy the gracious yoke whose guidance is its gain;
And such the Saviour's ardent love--His suff'ring patience--these
Most unlike human bonds, are cancell'd by their own increase.
Rejoice, my soul! though sin be thine,
Thy refuge seek in grace divine:
And mark His Word--more joy shall be
In heav'n for sinners such as thee
Repenting, than can e'er be shown
For scores whom guilt hath never known.
* * * * *
In explanation of my having become, in 1840, printer of the _Church_
newspaper, I must go back to the date of Lord Sydenham's residence in
Toronto. The Loyalist party, as stated already, became grievously
disgusted with the iron grasp which that nobleman fastened upon each and
every person in the remotest degree under government control. Not only
the high officers of the Crown, such as the Provincial Treasurer and
Secretary, the Executive Councillors, the Attorney-General and the
Sheriff, but also the editors of newspapers publishing the government
advertisements, in Toronto and elsewhere, were dictated to, as to what
measures they should oppose, and what support. It was "my
government,"--"my policy"--not "the policy of my administration," before
which they were required to bow down and blindly worship. There were,
however, still men in Toronto independent enough to refuse to stoop to
the dust; and they met together and taking up the _Toronto Herald_ as
their mouth-piece, subscribed sufficient funds for the payment of a
competent editor, in the person of George Anthony Barber, English Master
of Upper Canada College, now chiefly remembered as the introducer and
fosterer of the manly game of cricket in Toronto. He was an eloquent and
polished writer, and created for the paper a wide reputation as a
conservative journal.
About the same time, Messrs. Henry and William Rowsell, well-known
booksellers, undertook the printing of the _Church_ newspaper, which was
transferred from Cobourg to Toronto, under the editorship of Mr. John
Kent,--a giant in his way--and subsequently of the Rev. A. N. Bethune,
since, and until lately, Bishop of Toronto.
Being intimate friends of my own, they offered me the charge of their
printing office, with the position of a partner, which I accepted; and
made over my interest in the _Herald_ to Mr. Barber.
[Footnote 14: Easter salutation of the Primitive Church.]