THE

CHRISTIAN REMEMBRANCER.

JANUARY, 1849.

ART. I.-Penitents and Saints: a Sermon preached in behalf of the Magdalen Hospital, by the Ven. Archdeacon MANNING. London: Rivingtons, 1844.

THE Church and her female Penitents.'-No one, we suppose, could even glance at these few words, which we have purposely tied together, without feeling how far the realities they represent have been separated from each other-how little the Church has even attempted to deal with her female penitents -how coldly she has turned away from her backsliding daughters, as though they had fallen into an unpardonable sin-how scant a measure of long-suffering and pity she has meted out to that hopeless multitude of wandering souls whom she once fed with her own milk-how many of her children she has suffered to sink into the burning flood, while she stood aloof in strange hard-heartedness, or not less cruel bashfulness.

It is best at once plainly to speak of this neglect; it is no time to be mincing words. Our very love, both of the Church and of the souls once new-born in our spiritual home, and now dying as it were before our very doors, constrains us to free our minds, and to show what portion of the high mission of the Church we have hitherto been unwilling to fulfil. To seek and to save that which is lost,' after the example of Him who ' receiveth sinners,' is one of those plain duties of the Christian Church, no mean part of her spiritual vocation in the world, which must not be partially carried out; that is, she must not for some sins, or for one sex, preach the doctrine of repentance, and be a recipient of penitents; while to sins of no darker dye, or to sinners of the weaker sex, no door is opened, no mercy shown. Neglected duties, it must be remembered, running through many years, bring in time their proportionate course of chastisement and woe; and unless the Church takes her post, as the voice of one crying in the wilderness to the lost sheep in strains of impartial entreaty, shall we not-must we not,-expect to suffer? We have neglected female penitents; we only state a sober

:

truth for ourselves, we will no longer shrink from speaking of this great neglect because there is something in the subject from which it is supposed to be delicate to shrink. Away with that false and conventional shame, which bids the curtain drop on the most woful and sinful tragedies of real life, now finished in the dark and behind the scenes, and which, in blushing inactivity, lets souls go down to death, because they perish by a sort of sin which it dreads to name. It is no time to be ashamed of saving souls; and because we do not see the victims writhe before our eyes, we must no longer think ourselves freed from the solemn duty of rescuing them from the toils.

These women are to be counted by thousands in our metropolis alone. We will not stop to test the accuracy of the various sums of this frightful arithmetic; whether there be ten, or twenty, thousand, daily living in a state of deadly sin, is a question we will not stay to decide. Taking from the statistics of London's iniquity the very lowest numbers, we are quite bewildered by the multitude of guilty wanderers. Think, what armies of living death are daily moving to and fro through the restless streets, preying upon like numbers of the opposite sex, and almost unchecked by the army of faith, by the heavenly companies of the Church. Recruits daily swell these ranks of sin, as they are quickly thinned; the young, scarce emerged from childish years, framed by God to gladden and adorn holy homes of humble men, wrenched for ever by one act of guilt, one plunge into the stream of sin, from their accustomed seat at home, recruits such as these, fill up those gaps which quick-footed death makes in the gaudy, yet heart-broken and short-lived, host. It is no rare thing for mere girls to be enlisted in this fearful cause, and at the age of fourteen or fifteen years, hundreds are found to be plying their guilty trade.

And yet, we repeat, the Church has scarcely moved. Scarcely has a hand been put forth to fetch back the wandering sheep,we might almost call them 'lambs,'-to separate the less defiled from the more hardened sort, to arrest the novices of vice in the earlier stages of their descent. Ask whom we will, what they have done in any degree, in any way, at any time, for the reformation of fallen women, and we have to 'pause for a reply.' Excuses, justifications, pleas of many shades may break the silence; but we appeal to our readers' consciences, whether, as a fact, this most momentous question has not been shelved, and put aside. Alas, our consciences cannot but wince, as those touching reproaches of the voluptuous poet, strange teacher of the Church! rise to our minds. How stern a sermon does this Saul among the prophets preach, not only to the sisters of the fallen, but to all; when, comparing the fate of the outcast

sinner to that of the poor chased wearied butterfly, he asks in those well-known lines,

Yes, our erring sisters, dying of their sins, and weighed down with ill-dissembled wretchedness, have been pitilessly passed by. Human mercy has stooped to all but these. For one great sin, the blackness of which we will not for a moment attempt to lessen, for the guilt of one weak hour, these seem to have been placed by themselves, far away, beyond the range and circle of all charitable thoughts.

But while thus in plain terms we speak of past neglect, we speak not without expectation of seeing the feet of awakened spirits, in these more wakeful days, hurry to occupy the neglected ground. We cast these words abroad, not without hope of fruit. We believe it to be a timely time for venturing on this hitherto forbidden theme. A real neglect, a real shortcoming has but to be fairly shown, and behold, thanks be to God! men rise up to do the omitted work. Warmer views of Christian mercy begin to be strongly felt, and livingly developed. Any subject, in which there is a plea for mercy, can at least attract consideration. There are hearts which will at least stop and see whether there is a cause.'

And not only do we trust to this general feeling of mercy which is beginning with such increased vitality to stir the heart of the Church; but we suspect, that on this particular topic, there is at last a far-spread consciousness of neglect. This consciousness may not have been expressed, may not have found vent, may not have led to any definite course of action, nor even to any definite plan; but still we believe that men, apart from each other, each in the depths of his own heart, have felt qualms of conscience, and an uneasy sense of a neglected duty; they have not been able quite to stifle or suppress the truth, that the Church, and they as parts of the Church, have not boldly met the case of female penitents; we believe there have been many secret wishes that the painful and awful question should be taken up. Men, utterly ignorant that their neighbour's

pulse was beating with like thoughts, have turned over the subject in their minds, and wished to hear of some endeavours in so great a cause. Pastors of our great parishes, seething with sin, with the abodes of iniquity close to their very doors, who mournfully confess that they have never dared even to think of grappling with this monster evil, may take courage, if once the subject is openly mooted. This our belief we have formed on no imaginary ground; oftentimes, when we have privately brought the question before thoughtful minds, we have found our arguments foreclosed; we have not needed to plead; the little spark of a few words, has set fire to materials prepared to burn; and though there may have been various views as to the best means of dealing practically with the question, the importance of the question itself has not required to be argued out; it seems to have been at work in the chambers of many souls; and though rather floating there in an unformed way, there has been a forwardness to grapple with it more closely, the moment any sympathy in the cause has been exhibited. Over and over again, have we heard such remarks as these: I have thought of this 'subject a thousand times; it has often forced itself into my thoughts; I see that little or nothing has been done; I know 'that something should be done; there has been too much delicacy, too much false shame, stifling a matter which it is of 'the highest moment to meet; I thought I was almost alone and singular in my views, and not seeing the sounder portion of the ⚫ Church in any way taking up the case, I have often been minded, 'till better times, to aid those existing institutions which are in the hands of dissenters, or the dissenting portion of the 'Church.'

Such is the common tale which, in private agitation of the point, has met our ears; nor is it strange that it should be so, when we consider how widely youthful lusts have been indulged by thousands of the stronger sex, who now look back with bitter self-reproach upon a dishonoured youth. How many, by the undeserved grace of God, have been brought to the courses of a holy life after early falls? Is it strange that many burning and painful thoughts rise up regarding those of the weaker sex with whom they sinned? Can such enjoy the blessedness of a godly home, and all the privileges of the Church, without sometimes turning back to think of the awfulness of their prospect, and the anguish of their present state who were their companions in these sins? When they behold the strange diorama of real life, their own blessings and the miseries of those others, is it strange to find some strong desire to do something, by way of restitution, for that class of sinners, when individuals cannot be found or helped, or already perhaps have passed away.

If indeed we are right in supposing that there are many hearts-some among the pure of both sexes, others among the repentant of one sex-who yearn to see the Church throw out some Penitential Institution in which they could really trust; if all that is wanted is a vent, a channel for their desires, a definite plan, however imperfect and capable of being moulded into a better form, we must at once profess our willingness to supply at any rate a sketch, an outline of the sort of institution which seems to be required. It will be something for earnest minds to fasten upon and to discuss; it will be a step toward action; and if it can in any way lead to the formation of one Church Penitentiary, that one will in all likelihood be the parent of many others. To make a beginning is the great thing now. Alas, there is room and verge enough for many hospitals of penitence in the neighbourhood of London alone; we say 'many,' because it might be thought that one or two large Penitentiaries might be sufficient for any number of penitents likely to seek for aid. But, putting aside the multitude of wanderers who would be found to besiege the door of such a home, there can be no greater evil than large Penitentiaries. We should say that one hundred inmates is the very largest number that should be received into any single hospital. If then we take the number of abandoned women in London at either ten, or twenty, thousand, and bear in mind that the existing Penitentiaries can receive no more than between four or five hundred inmates, we shall see at once that more than one or two Penitential Institutions are required.

Let us, however, begin with one; and, in so doing, while we use the experience of those that exist, we may avoid their defects. Giving all credit for earnest intention, for zeal in a neglected cause, for endeavours crowned with a certain share of success, to those who guide the existing institutions, we cannot imagine machinery so rude, so imperfect, so little adapted to the work in view, as that which many of them possess. We are not speaking of doctrine, nor do we design to speak, though we feel how naturally imperfect doctrinal views are likely to fail in enforcing anything like system or discipline, or in admitting anything like stages or progress in repentance. Anything like a penitential system, anything like religious discipline, seems utterly wanting in a large number of the hospitals to which we allude. What good is done, is done in defiance of want of system. Put a certain number of such women in any house where they will be fed and clothed without having to earn their bread and clothing by their sins, and we believe that a certain number, by an awakened spirit within them, will be brought to a better mind. In such a manner do many of the existing