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Handout #231 |
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Evangelicals and the Poor |
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The lay leadership of the Evangelicals consisted mostly of
wealthy and influential men - hence their nickname the Clapham Sect', from
the fact that so many of them lived in the then fashionable south London
suburb of Clapham. Here William Wilberforce reflects, honestly if a little
patronizingly, on the gap between rich and poor, and defends Evangelical
theology from the charge of elitism:
It may perhaps be not unnecessary ... to add a few words in order to obviate a charge which may be urged against us, that we are insisting on nice and abstruse distinctions in what is a matter of general concern; and this too in a system which on its original promulgation was declared to be peculiarly intended for the simple and poor. It will be abundantly evident, however, on a little reflection, and experience fully proves the position, that what has been required is not the perception of a subtle distinction, but a state and condition of heart. To the former, the poor and the ignorant must be indeed confessed unequal; but they are far less indisposed than the great and the learned, to bow to that Preaching of the cross, which is to them that perish foolishness, but unto them that are saved the power of God, and the wisdom of God. The poor are not liable to be puffed up by the intoxicating fumes of ambition and worldly grandeur. They are less likely to be kept from entering into the straight and narrow way, and, when they have entered, to be drawn back again, or to be retarded in their progress, by the cares and pleasures of life. They may express themselves ill. but their views may be simple, and their hearts humble, penitent, and sincere. It is, as in other cases, the vulgar are the subjects of phenomena, the learned explain them: the former know nothing of the theory of vision or of sentiment, but this ignorance hinders them not from seeing and thinking; and though unable to discourse elaborately on the passions, they can feel warmly for their children, their friends, their country. Practical View of the Prevailing Religious Conceptions of Professed Christians in the Higher and Middle Classes in this Country contrasted with Real Christianity (1797). |
