They preached the gospel to the poor

In December 1860, in a long magazine article which is essentially a scathing attack on evangelicals in the Church of England, the anonymous critic makes one notable concession:

"But the Evangelical party is redeemed by the working of its parishes. It is to its credit that it is foremost in united schemes of charity. It is to its credit, to some extent, that foreign missions have so increased and spread. But that which saves it from wreck, which atones for its arbitrary social maxims, which partly conceals its obnoxious polemic organisation, is the fact that the Evangelical clergy as a body, are indefatigable in ministerial duties, and devoted, heart and soul, to the manifold labours of Christian love. The school, the savings bank, the refuge, all the engines of parochial usefulness, find in them, for the most part, hearty supporters and friends...

"It is not necessary to dwell long on the subject; it is patent and easily appreciated. But when the history of the Evangelical party is written, it will be told of them, that with narrow-mindedness and mistaken traditions, with little intellectual acquirements and ill-directed zeal against their brothers in the Church, they worked manfully in the pestilent and heathen by-ways of our cities, and preached the gospel to the poor."

[Macmillan's Magazine, Dec 1860 emphasis added]

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