That we teach that every one that doeth evil is good in the sight of the
Lord, and He delighteth in them (Letter VIII.)
That we hold our office to be that, not of showing men how to do their
Father's will on earth, but how to get to heaven without doing any of it
either here or there (Letter VIII.)
That we neither profess to understand what the will of the Lord is, nor
to teach anybody else to do it (Letter VIII.)
That we pretend to absolve the sinner from his punishment, instead of
purging him from his sin (Letter VIII.)
That we patronize and encourage all the iniquity of the world by
steadily preaching away the penalties of it (Letter VIII.)
That we gather, each into himself, the curious dual power and
Janus-faced majesty in mischief of the prophet that prophesies falsely,
and the priest that bears rule by his means (Letter VIII.)
That we do not exercise discipline by keeping wicked people out of
church (Letter VI.)
That we do not require each member of our flocks to tell us what they do
to earn their dinners (Letter IX.)
That we encourage people in hypocrisy, by inviting them to the
authorized mockery of a confession of sin (Letter X.)
I cannot examine the evidence which Mr. Ruskin possesses in support of
these charges, as he has not produced it in these Letters. Neither can I
attempt to refute the accusations. To prove a negative is always
difficult; it becomes an impossible task when the indictment is laid not
against any individuals mentioned by name, but against a whole order. I
will only observe, that even if all these charges be true, the people of
England are not in such evil case as Mr. Ruskin fancies. The laity of
England possess the inestimable advantage of not being dependent on the
sermons of their clergy for either doctrine, or correction, or
instruction in righteousness. Even though a clergyman should never
utter certain doctrines of Christ from the pulpit, or reprove certain
sins, he is obliged to do so at the font, at the lectern, and at the
altar. Although from the pulpits of the fifty hundreds of clergy whom
Mr. Ruskin heard, he never heard so much as _one_ clergyman heartily
proclaiming that no covetous person, which is an idolater, hath any
inheritance in the kingdom of God, he must have often heard this
proclamation from the altar, in the epistle for the third Sunday in
Lent, and from the lectern whenever the fifth chapter of the Epistle to
the Ephesians is read for the lesson.
Again, if any clergyman teaches from the pulpit that for the redemption
of the world people ought to be thankful, not to the Father, but to the
Son (Letter V.), he is obliged to publicly contradict his own teaching
as often as he says the General Thanksgiving, and the collects in the
Book of Common Prayer.
Again, if any clergyman teaches from the pulpit that any one who does
evil is good in the sight of the Lord, or that there is any other
salvation except a salvation from sin, he is obliged to publicly
contradict that teaching by everything which he says in the church out
of the pulpit.
Again, if any clergyman preaches away the penalties of sin (Letter
VIII.), he is obliged to publicly contradict his preaching every Ash
Wednesday, when he reads the general sentences of God's cursing against
impenitent sinners.
Mr. Ruskin asks (Letter III.), "Can this Gospel of Christ be put into
such plain words and short terms as that a plain man may understand it?"
I answer that the English Church has tried to do this in the Catechism,
in which every baptized child is taught in very simple and plain words
the gospel, or good news, that God the Father has, in His Son Jesus
Christ, adopted him or her into His family, and therein offers him or
her the continual help of the Holy Ghost.
Mr. Ruskin complains that the clergy do not teach the people the meaning
of the Lord's Prayer (Letter VI.) He must assume that the clergy neglect
to teach children the Church Catechism, in which is an answer to the
question, "What desirest thou of God in this prayer?" It is an answer
which would probably satisfy Mr. Ruskin. He would see that "Hallowed be
Thy name" does not merely mean that people ought to abstain from bad
language. And in the explanation of the third commandment, he would see
that something more is forbidden than letting out a round oath (Letter
VI.)
Mr. Ruskin complains that the clergy do not prevent the entrance among
their congregations of persons leading openly wicked lives (Letter VI.)
Before this can be charged on the clergy as a sin, he should show that
they have power and authority to do this. In the service for Ash
Wednesday he will find that the clergy express their desire for a
restoration of the godly discipline of the primitive Church, which Mr.
Ruskin also desires. But he ought to know that such restoration must be
the work not of the clergy only, but of the whole body of the faithful.
Mr. Ruskin insinuates that the clergy have no clear idea of their
calling (Letter III.) If this be so, it is certainly not the fault of
the Church, seeing that the nature of the calling of a clergyman is
plainly set forth in the Offices for the Ordering of Bishops, Priests,
and Deacons. But if one may form an opinion from many published sermons
by English clergymen of various schools of thought, and from their
speeches in Church Congresses and elsewhere, and from their pastoral
work as parish priests, I should be inclined to think that they are not
quite so ignorant of the nature of their calling and of the Gospel of
Christ as Mr. Ruskin supposes them to be, and that of some of the sins,
negligences, and ignorances which, in these Letters, he lays to their
charge, they may plead not guilty, or at least not proven by Mr. Ruskin.
BARDSEA, ULVERSTON,
_November 3rd, 1879_.
DEAR MR. MALLESON,--I thank you for your letter, which I received this
morning. Second thoughts are not always the best. Your own first thought
about the motto which I prefixed to my notes was right; your second
thought was wrong. It never occurred to me that anyone could possibly
suppose that that motto was by me intended to be applied to myself,
inasmuch as in these notes there is no "wound" inflicted on Mr. Ruskin,
or even any "rebuke." On the contrary, I assume that he has evidence in
support of his charges, although he has not produced it. The "rebuke" to
which I alluded was _Mr. Ruskin's_ rebuke. _He_ is the "friend" whose
wounds are faithful, and whose smitings are a kindness. For I have not
the least doubt of his good-will towards the clergy, or of his earnest
desire to see them all performing their sacred duties with zeal and
knowledge. And it was as my acknowledgment of this that I prefixed the
motto. With you I firmly believe that the standard which he takes is
"lofty and Christian," and that it is one towards which we ought all of
us to aim. The object of my notes was to show that the laity of England
have, in the authorized teaching of the Church, a sufficient safeguard
against any erroneous teaching which they may possibly hear from the
pulpit or in the private ministrations of the clergy, and also a
supplement to any defective teaching.
Very truly yours,
EDWARD GEOGHEGAN.
_From_ JOSEPH GILBURT, Esq.
_Christmas Day_, 1879.
The words "Thy will be done" are generally coupled with resignation, and
very often with patience under chastisement. It is always to us a
sad-coloured sentence, and a sentimental illuminator of the Lord's
Prayer would in all probability make it so. Now, if we think for a
moment what the state of things would be if the will of the Lord were
done, we shall see it should be the brightest sentence we could
conceive. God's will is our weal. Aspiration, not resignation, is the
characteristic of its doing. There would certainly be no death,--that is
decidedly contrary to His will; and by-and-by, when His will is done,
there will be none. For the present, while His will is not yet done, we
have the sure and certain hope that death will be--nay, is--conquered by
anticipation.
If His will were done, all beautiful things would flourish, and all
minds would answeringly rejoice in them.
Our men of the piercing eye--Turners, Hunts, Ruskins, etc.--show us,
till we almost worship the state of things in cloud and mountain, river
and sea, in hedgerow and wayside, even in cathedral and campanile, where
God's will is done, and we are enchanted with their beauty. It is God's
will that stones should be laid truly and carven well, and aptly
described. And our men of the probe and the lens, the scientific openers
of nature's secrets, are daily demonstrating new beauties in which the
will of the Lord is done in the formation of bodies and working of
forces. It is mere truism to add to this that the will of the Lord being
done, none of the ills that are all of them indirectly or directly the
result of not doing it could occur, and resignation would have no scope
for exercise. There was One who always did it, and He for three years
made sundry parts of Palestine a heaven,--with what results a many
quondam poor folk testified. This leads me to say that I like to look
upon the word heaven as a participle instead of a noun, as the state of
being heaved or raised, rather than a place: and for this reason. The
experience of every one of us suffices to prove that we are never so
_heaven_, or raised in true happiness, moral dignity, and worth, as
when we are in the company of one greater, wiser, or better than
ourselves. Those who lead a humdrum life among mean persons, can testify
what a heaven it is to be transplanted for ever so short a time to the
company of a great and good man. Now the culminating, indeed
all-absorbing, attraction of the heaven we all look to, is the presence
and the companionship of the greatest and best; and the experience of
ourselves tallies with the promise of St. John that it will have the
effect of making us "like Him," when "we shall see Him as He is." Surely
being _heaven_, or raised like that, is superior to any Mahomet's
paradise that we can invent or distil out of the poetical parts of the
Scriptures.
_From the Rev._ ARCHER GURNEY.
Mr. Ruskin's view as to the duty of basing all upon the Father's love is
essentially sound and orthodox; and he is also right in bidding all men
lead self-denying lives,--in this sense, that they should give up time
and labour to the endeavour to help their brethren; but he fails
utterly, hopelessly, to realize the Incarnation and its glorious
consequences, how all human life and love,--how art, science, knowledge,
enjoyment, are sanctified by God's becoming man; sharing this human life
of ours,--not to trample upon it as an unholy thing, but to consecrate
it to God's service. Such is our call. We must enjoy the beautiful to
vindicate enjoyment. We do not please God by casting all His choicest
gifts away. To give all we have to feed the poor is the way to make men
poor, and is false charity. Use rather the mammon of this world to God's
honour and glory, and when ye fail, the good works that you have done
shall plead for your entrance into everlasting habitations; for the way
to clothe the naked and feed the hungry, permanently, is to teach men
and women to help themselves, and to find employment and reward for the
exercise of their powers and energies.
_From the Rev._ J. H. A. GIBSON, _Brighton_.
To Mr. Ruskin, then, asking us to define ourselves as a body, I reply,
We are presbyters and deacons, deriving our authority from the
episcopate, who themselves form links in that spiritual chain which
binds both ourselves and them, by perpetual succession, in one communion
and fellowship, with the Apostles, and to whom has been committed the
office of consecrating and sending forth labourers to work in the Lord's
vineyard.
But Mr. Ruskin proceeds, "And our business as such." Our business as
such! Well, if we have in any satisfactory manner proved our first
point--_that_ is, the authority with which we act--we may fairly say to
Mr. Ruskin, "Do you put this question, 'What is your business?' to your
lawyer or doctor?" Does he ask the same question of the clergy of any
other portion of the Catholic Church? We shall not wish to insult Mr.
Ruskin by attempting to explain to him the duties of the priesthood,
with which, doubtless, he is well acquainted.
But he asks, "Do we look upon ourselves as attached to any particular
State, and bound to the promulgation of any particular tenets?" We are
undoubtedly attached to the particular sphere to the which we are sent
by those whose office is to provide the various parts of God's vineyard
with labourers. The Anglican Church is the legitimate representative of
the Catholic Church of Christ in England; and we, as clergy of this
Church, minister for the most part to our countrymen at home, and only
in other countries as the necessities of our colonists and others may
require. And, as subscribers to the Prayer Book and priests of the
Church of England, we are certainly bound to teach faithfully and
honestly her doctrines, neither adding to them nor taking away from them
according to our own individual idiosyncrasies.
_From the Rev._ CANON GRAY.
WOLSINGHAM, _October 13th, 1879_.
MY DEAR PENRHYN,--Will you please to thank Mr. Malleson on my behalf for
the Letters on the Lord's Prayer? I have ever admired Ruskin, and learn
much even when I most differ from him. But if I had the good fortune to
be with you to-morrow, I fear that I should constantly be demurring to
his teaching,--_e.g._ (Letter III.) his supposition that the Thirty-nine
Articles were meant to include a summary of the Gospel; (Letter V.) his
belief that there is need now to warn men against being thankful not to
the Father but only to the Son,--a remnant of the teaching of his youth;
(p. 20) his hard way of speaking as to the Son of Man, Whose human soul,
as that of perfect man, received its knowledge in steps according to His
own will as perfect God; (Letter VII.) his confused distinction between
the Kingdom of God and the Kingdom of Christ (see Eph. v. 5 in the
Greek, and remember "_tradendo tenet_" on 1 Cor. xv. 24); his belief
that because no one knoweth the hour of Christ's coming, it cannot be
hastened by prayer; (Letter VIII.) his seeming identification of
claiming interest from a poor man who is in need and necessity, and from
a railway company who borrow money to make more,--speaking, as far as I
can see, of money as if it had no market value like other things;
(Letter X.) the belief that we clergy are not awake to the guilt of sins
of omission; (Letter X.) the inability to see that the nearer and nearer
by God's grace we come, in answer to prayer, to purity and holiness, the
more we _realize_ our distance from them; and that his objection to our
Liturgy might be adapted into one against the Lord's Prayer, in which we
pray daily for forgiveness of sins, and deliverance from evil, showing
that we never shall be so delivered as no longer to need forgiveness;
(Letter XI.) the supposition that any one state of life is necessarily
more full of temptations than another, as though the fruit of a tree
were not to Eve what the glory of the world was to the Son of Man, at
least in the eye of the Tempter.
I am ashamed to jot down thus obscurely the points on which I should
have liked to speak, and I know that our brethren can fully deal with
them. On the other hand (Letter VIII.) there is much to move us, and
lead to searchings of heart. As to the timidity and coldness with which
the Church is attacking the crying sins of our day, one often feels how
we need some among us to speak as the prophets did to the men of their
generation, and we may be thankful to have our shortcomings brought home
to us by words like Ruskin's.