106 |
The most conspicuous period in Mr.
Harness’s career commenced on his removal to London. He was at this time
private chaplain to the Dowager Countess Delaware, and became
successively morning Preacher at Trinity Chapel, Conduit Street, and Minister and Evening
Lecturer at St. Ann’s, Soho; appointments which proved how much his talent as a preacher
was esteemed. A note casually jotted down on the back of one of his sermon cases, in
commiseration of some country visitors, bears incidental testimony that even at this early stage
he commanded the confidence of the most eminent clergymen in the
metropolis:—“Sept. 7, 1823: I preached to-day at St. George’s, St.
Pancras, and the Magdalen, and was heard at each place by the same party from the country, who
went to St. George’s to hear the Dean of
Carlisle, to St. Pancras to hear
PREFERMENT | 107 |
Mr. Harness was, from this time, enrolled among the most able and popular preachers of the day. He had continually invitations to preach at neighbouring churches, and young clergymen attended to take notes of his sermons, many of which were afterwards printed at the express desire of the congregation.*
* In a letter to Mr. Harness, dated 1832, I find the following request, somewhat characteristic of the times:—“A friend of mine in a distant part of the country has been appointed by the bishop of his |
108 | SUCCESS IN THE PULPIT. |
His teaching was characterized by learning and moderation. “Our Religion,” he often observed, “is the Religion of common sense;” and he never was intentionally sensational, or attempted anything approaching to declamation. But he had a constant advantage in a soft, expressive voice and correct ear. At the commencement of a discourse he was occasionally somewhat too rapid in his delivery, owing to his being a victim to that nervousness from which so many eloquent men have suffered; and he was wont to say that at any time throughout his whole career he felt, on entering the pulpit, as though he might have been “stricken down by a feather.” But as he proceeded he became deliberate and powerful, and his consistent life and conversation gave weight to the nobleness of his sentiments. There was something in his manner which showed that he felt and practised what he taught—an excellence without which no preaching can be effectual. Sometimes, when speaking of the pain inflicted on sensitive natures by broken faith or false calumny, he was unable to
diocese to preach before the judges at the approaching assizes. He is apprehensive of not doing justice to the occasion, and desires me to endeavour to procure him the assistance of some gentleman of known ability. The advantageous terms in which I have heard my friend Miss Aikin speak of you has induced me to take the liberty of asking whether you would be disposed to give my friend the assistance of your pen.” |
DOCTRINE. | 109 |
The views he entertained with regard to doctrine were characterized by a just
veneration for the past. He had a high esteem for the piety and learning of the primitive
fathers, diligently studied their commentaries, and frequently enriched his discourses with
extracts from their writings. Speaking of these men, and of the reverence due to the great creeds
of which they were the authors or first expositors, “I differ,” he observes,
“from the Romanists; and why? Because they have added no less than thirteen articles
to the creed which from the time of the apostles to the Council of Trent (a space of no less
than fifteen hundred years) was the faith of the Church. I also differ from the Dissenters;
and why? Because, with the exception of the first article, which declares the existence of
‘God the Father Almighty,’ there is no article of the Creed which is not impugned
by some of them. Those persons,” he continues, “do appear to me to exhibit a most
insane ambition, a most capricious love of
110 | VENERATION FOR THE PAST. |
And again:—“As I stand within the venerable shade of some old
abbey—of Netley or of Kirkstall, of Fountains or of Tintern—and as I mark the
devastation which has befallen it, I lament the ruin of so much beauty and magnificence. I
feel as indignant as any can at the impiety of the barbarous and sacrilegious men by whose
command, or by whose hands, a temple so worthy the service of the Almighty has been despoiled
and desecrated. But the moral which such scenes suggest to me is very different from that
which the Romanist and men of his inclining would impress upon our minds. I see in them the
traces of the Divine judgment on the offending church of our ancestors; and I derive
ERA OF THE REFORMATION. | 111 |
Whilst Mr. Harness strongly denounced and reprobated the conduct of those churches which had fallen away from the early Apostolic faith, he bore noble testimony to the purity of the Church of England, of which he was always a staunch and consistent supporter. He speaks as follows of the age of the Reformation, and of the great men by whom the foundations of our church were laid:
“In acquiring the knowledge necessary for the accomplishment of this wise
and holy scheme of Reformation, Cranmer and his friends
applied for instruction to every quarter from which instruction might be gained. They not only
carefully weighed every intimation of the New Testament, but they consulted the writings of
the Early Fathers. They not only looked for information to the Epistles of
112 | ERA OF THE REFORMATION. |
LETTER ON CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. | 113 |
In a letter to Mr. Culling, a Dissenter, he thus combats certain objections made to the endowments of the Church of England:
“What a strange thing human nature is! and how very strange that
two persons who, I sincerely believe, both look for the truth of things, and nothing
else, should come to such opposite conclusions as you and I! Why should not the Bishops
have carriages and horses, as well as any Christian gentleman of the same income? And
why should deep learning, like that of the Bishop of Lincoln, or Lichfield, or
Peterborough, or Ely, or of the late and present Archbishops of Canterbury, be denied a
rate of income in the Church which it would have commanded at the Bar or in Medicine? I
cannot see any reason. And I can see many strong reasons why it should be so rewarded,
particularly the reason of old Bishop Jewel,
which is (I forget the exact words), ‘that men who dedicate themselves to the
Ministry don’t require such inducements, but they are wanting to induce parents to
educate their sons for the Ministry.’ Christianity has nothing to do, according to
my views of the
114 | LETTER ON CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. |
LETTER ON CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. | 115 |
“As to the sale of livings; those only are sold which are private property, and generally the private property of laymen.
And whatever notional objections may lie against the practice, I can see none in theory
or in expediency; but just the reverse. If a young man, who has spent several thousands
of pounds on his education, purchases a living of £180 a year (like that mentioned,
in your advertisement), from which he will not derive perhaps above £8 per cent per
annum on the purchase money, it is a guarantee that he has an independent income, and
that a gentleman is going to reside in, and take the duty of, a remote agricultural
parish, who will be employing, and spending money among the population, as well as
attending to their spiritual instruction. As a dissenter, you have no notion of the
immense amount of private property which is thus brought into the Church and scattered
over the country by persons who love their profession and are careless of its
emoluments. I had, the day
116 | LETTER ON CHURCH ENDOWMENTS. |
“I am ashamed to have bored you with this long letter; but, as the French philosopher says, ‘I have not time to write a short one;’ and I did not like you to remain unanswered.
“We shall, clearly, never agree on these Church matters; but
there is one matter on which we are perfectly agreed: Mrs.
Barbauld’s prose is, I think, much better than her poetry. But she
lived in a good age of prose writers, and at the end of a good,
CONCILIATORY VIEWS. | 117 |
The views which Mr. Harness entertained on Church subjects were essentially moderate and unassuming. Many passages in his sermons showed that he had no sympathy with Ritualism, or that “morbid delicacy of sense which requires that the sight may rest on graceful forms and emblazoned ornament and an ever-changing picture.” “Nothing histrionic,” he observes, “can be consistent with the spirit of our services.” But he nevertheless desired to assuage the bitterness of party spirit, was willing to grant a certain latitude to those with whom he differed, and considered that the unhappy contests in our Church were generally about unimportant or obscure matters. He longed to see unity among Christians, and exhorted to forbearance and brotherly love.
“If there be any to whom the magnificence of architecture and the charms
of music afford valuable assistance to devotion, is it fair that we whose imaginations are
pleased by a more simple worship,
118 | CONCILIATORY VIEWS. |
“How really trivial are the questions about which differences are raised!
With what astonishment and pity do you read of the disputes which agitated the controversial
leaders of early times; the unintelligible subtilties of their theology; their presumptuous
attempt to subject the essence of the
ON CEREMONIAL QUESTIONS. | 119 |
Mr. Harness was in every sense a minister of peace.
Exhortations to mutual forbearance and consideration-formed a leading characteristic in his
teaching. He inculcated this duty not only with reference to political and religious questions,
but also to those smaller and apparently unimportant
120 | DUTIES OF PARENTS. |
He frequently warned parents of their responsibility with regard to the education
of their children, and of the influence which example and precept exercise upon the young.
“You may in words,” he observed, “teach your children that they ought to
believe and obey the Gospel; but unless you yourselves practice what you teach, the lesson is
in vain. You sow the good seed with one hand, and the seed of tares with the other. But the
weed is cast more strongly, and received on a more congenial soil, and it strikes root and
grows up and thrives and fructifies, while the good seed only rests upon the surface and dries
up and perishes away.” In continuing the subject, he observes that a child is
instructed by its parent, that Heaven is the only object worthy of pursuit, and that he should
exert all his energies to attain it; but how is this excellent truth enforced upon the young?
“Does the parent, as the child grows up, direct him to follow the example of pious
and self-
DUTIES OF PARENTS. | 121 |
And not only did he inculcate mutual confidence and consideration upon those who
were members of the same family, but also upon all who lived under the same roof. “He
who has known the worth of an honest and abiding servant, knows that no price can be adequate
to that servant’s value, and that there is more of grateful affection mingled with the
122 | MASTERS AND SERVANTS. |
Mr. Harness had a great affection for tried and faithful
servants; so much so that he erected a stained glass window in his church to the memory of his
aged nurse. He loved to recall the times when servants and masters lived together as members of
the same family, with mutual respect and common interests; and in a passage in which he deplores
the change which has now taken place, he sketches a pleasing picture of their former confidential
relations:—“Worldly circumstances used not to sever classes. A little more than
fifty years
DOMESTIC SOCIABILITY. | 123 |
124 | DOMESTIC SOCIABILITY. |
DOMESTIC SOCIABILITY. | 125 |
In another passage, he deprecates the tendency of the present day to estimate
intellectual abilities above private virtues:—“Every age has its peculiar species
of idolatry, and intellect is the idol of our own. Discoveries in science, success in art,
reputation in literature, power as a public speaker, are the first objects of popular
admiration. To attain some such triumph is the great aim of our ambition. And if a man be thus
intellectually distinguished, that is quite sufficient. The actions of his life (unless
flagrantly scandalous), or the qualities of his character (unless socially offensive), are
126 | ‘OLD WAY.’ |
In ordering the performance of Divine Service, it was Mr. Harness’s care that it should be conducted with simplicity and
decorum—in the “old way” to which he had been accustomed when young. Several
persons endeavoured, on various occasions, to introduce into his church emblematic devices and a
more effective ritual; but he systematically resisted such attempts. Novelties in religion were,
in his opinion, self-condemned. In one respect he carried
PSALMS OF DAVID. | 127 |
“David is introduced to us as a shepherd lad having
charge over the few sheep of his father. His only occupation during the long solitary day was
to keep his flock together, to prevent their wandering, and to defend them against harm. This
light employ, though not devoid of its cares and dangers, abounds in leisure. He devotes his
companionless and unoccupied hours to familiarizing his hand with the rude harp of his
country; and so perfect a mastery does he attain over it, that when music is required to
soothe the passion-troubled mind of his sovereign, none other can be found whose skill is to
be compared with that of David, the shepherd lad from the mountains of Bethlehem. And to what
themes does he make the melodies of that harp subservient! Its notes are tuned, its strings
are touched, to the highest of all arguments—the praises of Jehovah. As he passes his
lonely hours with his flock; as he leads them to their pasture grounds at morning and at
evening; as he reposes with them in the shade during the sultry hours of mid-day; as he keeps
watch over
128 | PSALMS OF DAVID. |
Some minor reasons for his objection to the introduction of other psalms
were—that it rendered the Prayer Book insufficient for the service, and that it
necessitated the selection of one of those Hymn Books, none of which he considered alto-
STATE OF THE ENGLISH BIBLE. | 129 |
Nevertheless, on some Church questions Mr.
Harness was in advance of his age—especially with regard to the revision of
the Bible. Writing in the Edinburgh
Review he notices
“the mischief that has ben inflicted on the sense of the inspired writings by the mode of
breaking them up into chapter and verse;” and, speaking further of the translation, he
observes that the phrase of the Hebrew language is retained to a most confusing extent. He cites
such instances as the following, “the covenant of salt,” meaning “a friendly
contract.” “They are crushed in the gate,” for “they are found guilty in
a Court of Justice.” “The colour of the lips,” for “praises and
thanksgivings,” “I have given you cleanness of teeth,” meaning “extreme
scarcity.” “Such are,” he observes, the sort of Hebraisms of which Selden says, “what gear do the common people make of
them?” He also objects to the combination of all the books of Scripture into one volume,
rendering it either small in type or inconvenient in size. “If a man would fain take his
evening walk into the fields, with the
130 | EDWARD IRVING. |
One of the most remarkable circumstances connected with Mr. Harness’s cure in St. Pancras was, that he was brought into close proximity with the celebrated Edward Irving, who was then attracting many followers. The Scotch church was on the opposite side of Regent Square, and the performances which took place in it were so distasteful to Mr. Harness, and led astray so many weak brethren, that—although with great reluctance, for he disliked polemical discussions—he preached a sermon (afterwards published) in which he pointed out the utter groundlessness of Mr. Irving’s pretensions.
He showed how different were the unintelligible rhapsodies of the Irvingites from
that Divine gift of foreign languages which was so necessary for Gospel missionaries in the early
centuries. “There is nothing,” he observes, “so frugal as Providence. What!
persons inspired to speak languages unknown to others and unintelligible to themselves! As a
blessing, a gift, a grace, an illumination from the Almighty to His saints, there is nothing
parallel to this to be met with in the whole range of the
EDWARD IRVING. | 131 |
The influence which Mr. Irving exerted, not only over a large section of the laity, but also over some of the clergy, is thus casually alluded to in a postscript to a letter from Dr. Milman to Mr. Harness:—“Can you send me a good, steady, humble-minded curate? I have just parted with one after three months, who will be a follower of Irving in three more—the acting of the Strand Theatre with the reasoning faculties of St. Luke’s; d’ailleurs, a good kind of young man.”
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