CHARLES DICKENS-WHAT THE WORLD THINKS OF HIM.

Thames Star, Volume VII, Issue 1929, 10 March 1875, Page 4

CHARLES DICKENS-WHAT THE WORLD THINKS OF HIM.

Some months ago, one of the ardent admirers of the late Charles Dickens, the Rev. C. Clark, delivered a lecture on the Thames upon the works of this, one of the greatest of modern authors. That lecture was ably treated, and disclosed an ability and address very much above the. common order. But we could hear little of Dickens in a discourse of two hours' duration; and, if I may be permitted to say so, as a sincere though humble admirer of the "master of laughter and tears," Mr Clark might have made more judicious selections from the works of Dickens than he did upon that occasion.. Being possessed of this idea, ittasi occurred to that, at the present time, the publication of some thoughts about DickeW and his writings may not be deemed unfit, or uninteresting. I. purpose, therefore, to devote these present, lines to a discussion of one great question raised by those who are professed pnbelievers in the merit of Dickens, namely, " The absence of religion in his works." Nay, some go so far as to say that he is a scoffer, and would advocate the suppression of his books, which they declare to have a misleading and injurious effect upon the minds of men. To those who are acquainted with the subject, and have devoted to it any thought, it will at once have been apparent that the class of goodie people above alluded to have not taken the trouble to seek for themselves, and do, consequently, betray a lamentable ignorance of that upon which (in the true spirit of narrow-mindedness) they are so ready to pronounce their condemning judgment, i■.:■' Carlyle wisely tells us somewhere that to find the harmony of all things created by God, man must dive beneath, the surface. There, onwfcaving mastered the depths of nature, he can contemplate iti beauties and find tuneful music to answer to the longings of his soul. Shakespeare pictures to us a life, which, —^Exempt from public haunt Finds tongues in trees, took* in the running brooks, I Sermons in stones, and good in ererything. j

Dickens 1 was t^e true spirit of religion. His guide was his Bible. (Of this we have numerous instances in evidence of Ms private life:) He believed in deeds— no^t words. Words are empty where the spirit is wanting. Precept is good; but example is better. Thus thought our Saviour, who taught humility by being Himsel|jthe humblest of men, and endeavored to sow the seeds of human sacrifice by submitting Himself to martyrdom. The enemies of Dickens, as an author, level their attacks chiefly at his caricatures of gospel preachers. His Stiggins ii looked upon by them as a gross libel on the cloth, when he is in truth but a slightly exaggerated t^pe of a class of men who turn religion into an unseemly traffic for the satisfaction of their worldly desires; whose stock-in-^rade is cant, cant, cant, by which ihey beguile the simple and impose upon the ignorant ;• whose counsel leads ; to Hell, and not to Heaven. With priests such as these to guide the halting footsteps of erring man, the goal would be such as you and I would never wish to enter.* That there were such men as these typified in the person of Stiggins,, and are such aowy he has little experience of the world who will deny. # It was to stem the current of the spreading evil that Dickens drew such pictures; it was i£ possible to eradicate the evil altogether that he aimed; and to him in this as in the subjection of many otlier abuses, we owe much to Dickens, which I shall be able, J trust, to prove ■atisfactorily in future articles. An ample reason for all that Dickens has written of the Stiggins genius will appear in the following words, written with all the noble and sorrowful indignation of a great soul:—

" Mr Stiggins did not desire his hearers [Bam Weller, his father and mother] to be upon their guard against those false prophets and .wretched mockers of religion, who, without sense to expound its first 1 doctrines, or hearts to feel its first principles, are more dangerous members of society than the common criminal; imposing, as they necessarily do, up^>n the weakest and worst informed, casting scorn and contempt on what should be held most sacred, and bringing into partial disrepute large bodies of virtuous md well-conducted persons of many excellent sects and persuasions. But, as he leant over the back of his chair for a considerable time, and' closing one eye, winked a good deal with the other, it is* presumed he thought all this, but kept it to himself." •

I have frequently heard it asserted that Charles Dickens never drew the picture of a true servant of God. Nothing could he further from the truth. It is. in his admiring and eloquent description of worthy members of the sacred doth, as opposed to the unworthy, that he betrays so, deep a feeling upon the subject of religion. It is but necessary for the purpose-of my argument to refer readers to the Ker. Stephen Eoase Hughes, of Llanallgo—the Christian clergyman whose name Mr. Dickens has rendered famous for his patient exertions, and self-sacri-. ficing care of the yictims to the wreck of* the Boyal Charter; which foundered off* the little Welsh village of which he was the pastor, "with her treasure of at least fire hundred human lives, and has never stirred since!" Of this true disciple of Christ, Dickens says :— "As I rode along, I thought of the many people, inhabitants of this mother country, who wonldmake pilgrimages to thechurchyard in years to come : I thought of the many people in Australia who would hare an intereit in such a shipwreck, and

would find their way here, when they -risit the Old World; I thought of. the writers of all the wreck of-letters I had left upon the table (Dickens refers to the letters of thanks sent to the clergyman by bereaved friends of the numerous dead); and I resolvei to place this little record where it stands. Convocations, Conferences, Diocesan Epistles, and the like, will do a great deal for religion, I dare say, and Heaven send they may! but I doubt if they will ever do their Master's service half so well, in all the time they last, as the Heavens have seen it done in this bleak spot upon the coajt of.Waks.'* 1 r - . . : :/■. ■ ■■< :' : .'c

Pot»B Joe.