Anthony Ashley Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury
This collect for those working for the poor and underprivileged is posted in commemoration of Anthony Ashley Cooper (1801-1885), 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, Philanthropist, Social reformer, Evangelical (source):
O merciful God,
who hast compassion on all that thou hast made,
and hast enfolded thy whole creation in thy love:
help us to stand firm for thy truth,
to strive against poverty,
and to share thy love with our neighbour,
that with thy servant Lord Shaftesbury, we may be instruments of thy peace;
through Jesus Christ thy Son our Lord,
who liveth and reigneth with thee,
in the unity of the Holy Spirit,
one God, now and for ever.
The Epistle: Hebrews 13:1-3
The Gospel: St Matthew 25:31-45
An evangelical Christian and Tory MP in Victorian England, Lord Shaftesbury dedicated his life to improving the lives of the helpless and unfortunate. He championed legislation limiting hours of work, restricting child labour, and improving public health, and he supported from his personal wealth hundreds of missionary and educational projects.
Almost immediately upon entering parliament at age 25, he became a leader in the movement to protect the mentally ill and reform lunatic asylums. Between 1832 and 1850, his political concerns focused on the conditions of the working class that had come into being following the Industrial Revolution. He joined the fight for the Ten Hours Bill in the face of strong and determined opposition from factory owners and senior politicians. Progress was slow at first but, in 1842, publication of a Royal Commission report into conditions in the mines shocked the nation. Women and children worked in darkness and appalling conditions for twelve or fourteen hours a day. The Mines and Collieries Act was passed in 1842, prohibiting work underground by small boys and females. After numerous defeats, the Ten Hours Bill was finally carried in 1847. Factory Acts followed in 1847 and 1853.
Lord Shaftesbury also led social welfare efforts outside of Parliament. He was an early champion of the Ragged Schools, established to provide free education to working-class children, and became chairman of the Ragged Schools Union. He chaired the Lord’s Day Observance Society, supported the foundation of the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge (SPCK) and the YMCA, and served as president of the British and Foreign Bible Society.
He regarded his parliamentary and social activities as his Christian duty. His journals and diaries show that he was also a great man of prayer. Here is one of his many written prayers:
God, the Father of the forsaken, the help of the weak, supplier of the needy; who hast diffused and proportioned thy gifts to body and soul, in such sort that all may acknowledge and perform the joyous duty of mutual service, who teachest us that love towards the race of men is the bond of perfectness, and the imitation of thy blessed self; open our eyes and touch our hearts, that we may see and do, both for this world and for that which is to come, the things which belong to our peace. Strengthen us in the work which we have undertaken; give us counsel and wisdom, perseverance, faith, and zeal, and in thine own good time, and according to thy pleasure, prosper the issue. Pour into us a spirit of humility. Let nothing be done but in devout obedience to thy will, thankfulness for thine unspeakable mercies, and love to thine adorable Son Christ Jesus, who with thee, 0 Father, and the Holy Ghost, ever liveth one God, world without end. Amen.
His funeral was attended by the privileged and the poor, who lined the streets of London as his coffin passed.
Source of prayer: Give Us Grace: An Anthology of Anglican Prayers, compiled by Christopher L. Webber. Anglican Book Centre, Toronto, 2004.
(This commemoration appears in the Church of England calendar, but not that of the 1962 Canadian BCP.)
