(1870) Speech Delivered by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln at a Meeting Held at the Corn Exchange

8/9/2019 (1870) Speech Delivered by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln at a Meeting Held at the Corn Exchange

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I E) RARYOF THEU N IVLRSITYor ILLINOIS


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miul %BBmim for Stopng % Mi ofIntoxicating fiijuors on Simbng.

SPEECHDELIVERED BY THELORD BISHOP OF LINCOLN

AT AMEETINGHELD IN THE

CORN EXCHANGE, LINCOLN,ON MONDAY, FEB. 28, 1870.

PUBLISHED BY THE ASSOCIATION.Office: 43, Market Street, Manchester.

MANCHESTER

:

POWLSON & SONS, PEINTEES, BOW ST., JOHN DALTON ST.


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ADD ^E S S.The Bishop of Lincoln said he felt it a special

privilege in being allowed to be present and to presideat such a gathering, for such an object as that whichcalled them together. He felt it to be a privilege anda honour for various reasons. The cause whichbrought them together was one connected with thesocial and spiritual welfare of all classes in the land,and he felt it to be a special duty of those who werecalled by God's providence to occupy places in theChurch of England, not to be slack in lending suchinfluence as they possessed towards furthering such adesign. (Hear, hear.) It had been sometimes saidthat the Church of England was behind in these greatmoral and social movements, and he therefore thoughtit was very becoming on all ministers of the Churchto do what in them lay to disabuse the public mind ofsuch a prejudice. (Hear, hear.) For himself he mightsay that he attended here in order to pay a debt, andhe would explain what he meant by that.


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There was a certain body, perhaps not very wellknown in this place, he meant the Convocation of theBishops and Clergy of the Province of Canterbury.He had been told that Convocation was an old-fashioned assembly, and that its time was taken upwith theoretical disquisitions, instead of with practicaldesigns for ameliorating the social condition of thepeople. He (the Bishop) begged leave to deny thatassertion. Amongst all the documents put forward onthe great question of temperance, perhaps there werenone more instructive than that which emanated fromthe Convocation of this province. It had been referredto in many of the publications of the association underwhose auspices they had assembled that evening.It so happened that his (the Bishop's) venerablefriend, the Archdeacon of Coventry, who introducedthis subject in Convocation, requested him to secondwhat was proposed. If he (the Bishop) had re-mained in the Lower House of Convocation and hadnot been sent to Lincoln, he should have gone toCoventry. (Hear, hear, and a laugh.) It so happened,however, that he could not second his venerable friend,because he was sent to Lincoln, and he felt it better tocome here than to be sent to Coventry. (Hear, hear.)

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If they would look into the report of the Committee ofthe Lower House of Convocation on Intemperance,they would see that the second resolution was this :*'That it is desirable that all public houses, and otherplaces for the sale of intoxicating liquors, should beclosed on the Lord's Day." (Cheers.) He had beentold that these things were far better done in what ispopularly called ''another place," but he begged leaveto deny this ; for, if Convocation were allowed tolegislate, there would not be a single public houseopen on the Lord's Day.

He (the Bishop) remembered, forty years ago,walking in the streets of Cambridge with his friendthe then Chancellor of the Exchequer, Mr. Goulburn,who represented the University, and who had, as hethought, made a great mistake in passing the BeerAct. The keeper of a beershop came out and offeredMr. Goulburn a glass of his best ale, in gratitudefor the Act. But Mr. Goulburn lived to repent ofwhat he had done ; and he believed that of allthe curses of this country the greatest were thebeershops. He remembered, as he had said, that heand his friend were walking in the streets of Cam-bridge, when some of these beersellers came up and


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said: " See what excellent beer we sell, because ofthe act you have given us." But it was bad beer, andit was a bad act (cheers) ; and it so happened thatLord Brougham, who was instrumental in passing it,was one of the first to wish it repealed. The Legisla-ture sometimes made mistakes, and he had no doubtwhat would be done with beershops and with theSunday sale of intoxicating liquors if Convocation hadto legislate on this question ; and he earnestly hopedthat the English Legislature would not allow itself tobe outdone by Convocation in intelligent zeal for thesocial welfare of the people. (Hear, hear.)

He (the Bishop) would now refer to another greatevent. The sister kingdom of Scotland had set thema noble example. (Cheers.) The Forbes MackenzieAct was an illustrious precedent, and he hoped theywould soon have an act in England which would beattended with the same beneficial results. In 1854something like an attempt to imitate the act was madein England, and he thanked God it was not withoutsome results. He alluded to Colonel Wilson Patten'sAct. (Hear, hear.) By closing public houses, undercertain restrictions and limitations, on Sundays, theycould see what would be the result if there was a total


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close. It was intended to be no half-measure, but itwas frittered down by Mr. Berkeley, and deprived ofsome of its best provisions.

He hoped this Meeting would do all it could tofinally accomplish Sunday closing altogether. If theworking men were in earnest, Mr. Bruce would listen tothem, Mr. Gladstone would listen to them, and wouldbe thankful to do so, for it would save a great dealto the finances of England. But it meant more thanthe economy of paltry pelf ; Sunday drinking to menmeant misery, to women a wretched home, to childrenmiserable firesides, and, perhaps, infanticide anddestitution ; and to many people it meant miseryin this world, and eternal shame and sorrow in theworld to come. (Applause.) Many publicans them-selves would render thanks to them for being earnestin such a glorious work. Publicans had souls tobe saved, and they knew that their souls were inperil so long as they continued to sell liquors onthe Lord's Day. They knew that they imperilled thesouls of themselves, and of hundreds, by traffic on thatday, which resulted in spiritual lethargy and spiritualdeath. (Hear, hear.) He (the Bishop) was glad tofind that many publicans had put their names to


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petitions in favour of Sunday closing. And it wasthe duty of the public to protect the minority. Howcould they expect fifty publicans would shut uptheir shops when five hundred were determined tokeep them open, and speculate on the Lord's Day fortheir temporal advantage ? It was too much to expectordinary men to do it, and they ought, therefore toprotect the minority, who had a conscience, and knewthat they had a soul. It was really a grand question,financially, socially, morally, and religiously. Whatwas it that filled their workhouses ? It was intempe-rance. He had been told that seventy-five per cent,of the people in workhouses were brought there by in-temperance, and especially by intemperance on the'Lord's Day. And when they went from the work-houses to the gaols what did they find ? He (theBishop) had been told that statistics showed that ofone hundred prisoners in the gaols of this countr}^ atleast seventy were brought there by intemperance.What did they, the sober men of Lincoln, pay forall this ? We are all taxed for the maintenance ofour workhouses, and prisons, and lunatic asylums,which are filled by victims of intemperance.

If they were in earnest they might prevent this,


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and rescue the victims from their misery. (Cheers.)He denied that it would be a hardship to shut uppublic houses on the Lord's Day. Why should ladiesbe prevented from buying flowers and crinoline on theLord's Day? (Laughter.) Why should he be preventedbuying books, or they their butcher's meat? Butthey were prevented. Why, then, should it be said thatit would it be a great hardship not to allow drinkaye poisonto be sold on the Lord's Day. (Cheers.)All society depended on mutual sacrifices. All wererequired to give up something-, and the first thingwhich ought to be given up was the sale of intoxica-ting liquors on the Sunday. He (the Bishop) has justgot a letter from one of his daughters, who was anursehe was not ashamed to say itwho was a nursein one of the London hospitals. (Loud Cheers.) Shesaid they just received three men into an accidentward in King's College Hospital ; they were navviesand were grand fellows. One of them said he had nottaken a drop of intoxicating liquor for six years, andthat his health had been all the better for it ; and hewould not taste a drop, even if it were given him. He(the Bishop) was no teetotaller, but he rejoiced to hearit. He would not put such a vow on any man ; it


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might be a snare to him. These men were broughtto the hospital in consequence of accidents, but theywere likely to get better much sooner than some would?And why? Because they had good constitutions.(Hear, hear.) If they had been men suffering fromdelirium tre?nens, what chance would they have ofgetting better ? None. (Hear, hear.) Why theywouldremain there, until they were carried out as corpses.But there was a higher view after all, and it was this.They knew that even in the turbulent times of thiscountry's historyin the time of the great civil con-flicts of 1656that even he who sent troops to batterthe churches of Lincoln from Canwick Hill, even hepassed an act similar to what they now desired. He(the Bishop) was no admirer of Oliver Cromwell forbattering their churches, but he did admire him for thehallowing the Lord's Day. He believed that if therewas abroad a noble spirit of determination to sanctifythe Lord's Day, they w^ould not find the churchesempty and the public houses full. (Cheers.) It wasalmost useless for them to preach in their churches onSundays, when Satan was preaching in his beershopsevery day in the week. As Latimer said of old, Satanwas a bishop who was never out of his diocese ; he was


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always at work and was always preaching in beer-shops and gin-shops. (Cheers.) And Satan preachedmore on Sundays than on any day. If they lookedat the committals for drunkenness, they would findthem four-fold as many on Mondays as on any othermorning. And even if the act of Charles II. had re-mained in force they would have something of thesame kind. They must remember that the Sabbathwas holy of the Lord and honorable. If they madethe Sabbath their delight, there was a special promiseof rest here, and of glory hereafter. The Sabbathwas the type and foretaste of that eternal rest whichremaineth to the people of God. It was on the Sab-bath, of all days, that God vouchsafed to give theplenteous dews of His Holy Spirit, and they mightdepend upon it that the man who spent his Sundayholily spent his week happily. (Applause.)

Think, friends, said the Bishop in conclusion, andI am speaking to some who are husbands, what ahappy thing it is to have the delightful company ofthe partner of your sorrows and your joys, and thepledges of conjugal affection, at your domestic meal,not sullenly skulking in the corner of an alehouse, but

making others partakers of your earthly joys, in the


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working classes of society. (Hear, hear.) He didto a great extent sympathise with what had beensaid, even in deploring the shortcomings of thoseassociated with himself in the Christian ministry. Hefelt that he had many shortcomings to deplore, manythings to ask pardon of Almighty God for, manythings which needed reformation ; but he trusted theywould never suppose that he had not a desire to do hisduty, whatever his ability might be. (Hear, hear.)In this great city they had an immense gathering ofintelligent operatives ; they had many hands unitedtogether, showing great material power, great inge-nuity, and no small amount of mechanical skill.When they looked at the emporium of Lincoln, andsaw that it was connected with a great part of theNorth of Europe ; when they saw that it sent forthfrom the port of Grimsby agricultural implements toDenmark, to Prussia, and to the mighty empire ofRussia ; when they saw the triumphs of its skill diffusedthroughout the greater part of Europe; then they sawthat the working classes possessed a great social,moral, religious, and intellectual power. How, then,was that power to be utilized, humanized, elevated,spiritualized, and sanctified ? He was sure that it


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could only be by self-control, by the denial of per-sonal, individual, indulgence,by, in fact, doing whatthey had done that night.* (Hear, hear.) He (theBishop) rejoiced to find that there were so many menin Lincoln who almost resented, with indignation andscorn, the allegation that they regarded the indul-gence of their animal appetite as the great purposefor which they were sent into the world. They did sobecause their nature recoiled against it, because they

knew they had a rational soul, a moral conscience,and a soul to be saved. Therefore it was that theywere not to be flattered ; the working men of Lincolnand of England knew that people who pandered totheir passions were their most inveterate foes, for theyknew that though an enemy lurked in ambush, he wasno less an enemy than if he met them front to frontin the field of battle. (Cheers.) He (the Bishop) wasglad to find that they were ready to denounce suchallegation as an insult to their moral being, that theyrepudiated it with all the power they possessed, andaffirmed that that was not the purpose for which theyexisted, but that they had higher aims and aspirations,

* At this crowded meetiug resolutions in favor of Stopping the Saleof Intoxicating Liquors during the whole of Sunday had been carriedunanimously.


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and that, with God's aid, they would realize thoseaspirations. Such being the case, they were indeed fitdepositaries of political power. If, unfortunately, hisappeal was to be like the appeal of old, ^* from Philipdrunk to Philip sober," if they thought the gratifica-tion of their animal passions was the main purpose forwhich they lived, they would not be fit depositaries ofpolitical power. He was glad that the franchise hadbeen accorded them, because he was conscious theyfelt it to be a high and a holy trust, and that theywould exercise it for the welfare of their country,that they would regard themselves as existing, not forthemselves, but for their country and for the world.(Cheers.) He (the Bishop) thanked Mr. Gates par-ticularly for this special appeal, viz., that they mighthenceforth have more frequent opportunities of meet-ing together, as they had met that night, and thatthey might think far less of those things on whichthey differed, and infinitely more of those things onwhich they agreed. (Applause.)

The Bishop then pronounced the benediction, andthe meeting separated.

rOWLaON AND SONS, PRINTERS, BOW STREET, MANCHESTER.


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(1870) Speech Delivered by the Lord Bishop of Lincoln at a Meeting Held at the Corn Exchange