Page:A Plea for the Middle Classes.djvu/9

 society. Yet this great mass is so linked together by common interests that it moves as one body to an extent scarcely credible. Now, from beginning to end, with how many of these is the Church, through either her Clergy or otherwise, brought into a healthy intercourse? Take London as an example. The Clergy scarcely think it either their duty or interest to be on very free terms with even the most influential part of their trading parishioners. For this practice there may be excuses offered, and some undoubtedly reasonable ones, but it does not alter the fact that tradespeople, as a class, although by far the majority of the Church's children, and the most able to do her service in times of difficulty, are yet neglected by the Clergy. Some will say, "familiarity breeds contempt," and that the Clergy would lose their influence by any intimacy with such persons. If it be so, the fault must rest with us, in forgetting the dignity of our calling as Ministers of. However, without dwelling on the amount of blame which attaches to us, this fact remains, with all its solemn reality, staring us in the face wherever we turn, that the great mass of the people, the real life and strength of England, occupy so anomalous a position that they can never enjoy the fatherly and friendly ministrations of their spiritual guides. One of this class, a good and excellent Christian man, who gives donations in large sums to all Church objects, complained to me, that while the Clergy of his parish would visit the poor readily enough, and frequent the tables of the upper classes, no one had ever done him the honour to go further than knock at his door and ask for a subscription. Another, whose occupation is that of a printer and publisher on a large scale, stated that his Clergyman had never at any time been in his house or offered to guide himself or family in any way whatever. The Clergy, however, are not alone to be blamed, and perhaps are to a great extent free from fault; for the evil has now proceeded so far that it is impossible to know how to meet it, or what to do. In ninety-nine cases out of a hundred, a Clergyman in London would find it impossible to gain an entrance to the family of his trades-people, and where he did succeed, it would put them out of their way, and cause them pain and inconvenience rather than any pleasure. This is the fruit of ages of neglect, which will not be remedied without great exertion and much patience. But the visible consequence is, that an unpleasant feeling exists between the Clergy and the mass of the people. They do not sympathise