The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1864-11-08 00:00:00

ANNUAL MEETING OP THE CHURCH
PASTORAL AID SOCIETY AT WIIIBORNE.

The annual meeting of the Wienborne Auxiliary
Branch of this Society was held in the New Town.
hall, on Wednesday. It was fully expected that
the Earl of Shafteabury would preside, but un-
fortunately be was summoned to London to attend
the general meeting of the Commissioners in
Lunacy. The Townhall IVY well filled, the princi-
pal of the audience being ladies. The chair was
taken by the Rev. Robert Moore, rector of St.
0i1..'., and on the platform we noticed the Rees. C.
Bridges, Reginald Smith, (Stafford.)H. P. Cookesley,
and the deputation, the Rev. J. Kelly. There were
Mee present—Sir Ivor Guest, Lady Sehrieber, Major,
Mrs.. and Moe Portmam, the Hon. Mn. Benham,
J. B. teen., Req.. bus. Parke. Willett L. Adye,
Esq., White White, Esq., sod Lb. Rem C. P.
Phuin, J. R. Quirk, F. Tracy, L Wilkinson, T.
Petry, R. Plumtree, and H. Good, Sc.
. . . .

The Rev. H. P. 614Mb:3Ln said that it was with
extreme r fret he had to ann. once to the meeting
that the Earl iif Shaftesbury, who was ezpected to
preside, was unavoidably presented. He then read
a short note from the noble earl, in which be stated
the rearm), and in which was • cheque for £2
towards the objects of the meeting. In the en.
avoidahle absence, of Lord Shaftesbury, he (Mr.
(inokesley) proposed that the Rev. R. Moore should
take the chair. This having been carried,
The Ce•leetan called upon the Rev. H. P.
Ciokesley to engage in prayer. After which, the
Chairman said that on no occasion had be stood before
an audience with great regret or more consciousness
of inability to supply tbe place of another than on
that lexasiou. There was no society in nhich the
Earl of Shaftesbury took • greater interest, or on
-hose behalf he threw the full vigour of hi. mind.
His abeam* front that meeting was very much
lamented by him ; but he °fluid not by any means
be present. es the Act of Parliament compelled his
attendance at the meeting in London that day. As
be (the Chairman) had been celled upon to supply his
place, he would first call their attention to that
which particularly struck Ws attention on coming into
the town. He saw a number of bills about, headed
" Home Missions." There was something pees.
liarly sweet in the word " Home," and everything
connected with the welfare of home must be a
subject of interest to every Englishman. It bad been
formerly, and perhaps justly, charged upon the
Christians of England that whilst they sent forth
minionariee to evaiigelize the heathen, they suffered
• very large portion of their own people to grow up
in ignorance and sin without putting forth any
effort for their reclamation. This charge could not
he brought forward now. But when the Church
Pastoral Aid Society was first established, through
the van increase in the population, and from other
causes, it was too true that a large portion in the
principal towns and cities, and especially in the Metro-
polis, were little cared for. Those who firstbegan this
good work were men who for themselves searched
into the evil, and by them the Church Pastoral Aid
Society was formed. They were God-fearing and
wallowing men, few in number, but earnest in their
work. The rev, gentleman then referred to the
reports which had been iswed year after year as •
proof that the work thus began was owned and
blessed by the Great Head of the Church, It
must not, however, be supposed that because • great
deal had been done the work was finished, far from
it. At the present time there were 500 additional
labourers required for London alonig and one million
of the inhabitants were anprovided with aooommo-
dation either in churches or chapels. The society
had provided flfty-three additional curates and
fifty lay agents for the Metropolis, but they
were far from being adequate to reach the
vast numbers who were thus destitute of the
means of grace. At the present the greater part
of the wealthy merchants of London resided in the
outskirts, and the people were in consequence thrown
more upon the incumbents, and this society had
greatly assisted sock. It had been alleged as a
ground of objection to the society that it was •
party one. He, for one, was glad to find himself in
good company ; for the two archbishops, nineteen
bishop", and eleven Colonial bishops were among
those who supported it. From the very fact of the
assustanos given by the latter he inferred that the
society was considered not only valuable for home
hut also for foreign minions; and if these men took
each an interest in its welfare, surely we ought to
feel more so. The speaker then referred to the lay
agency employed. At first they were reproached
for using such ; hut now all agreed that • very large
proportion of the population in London, Manchester,
Bristol, and other large towns, amid not be reached
without such agency. In era°, of this the rev
gentleman related an anecdote of poor boy, who,
speaking of the clergy, said that they were "too big
sweeps to go up the chimney" (laughter) ; meaning
that they could not accommodate themselves to the
poorer and lees educated classes of society. The
Chairman then adverted to the rule of the society
which required that Gaon offering themselves as
candidates should undergo 4111111ina,100, not only by
the incumbent and bishop, hut also by • clerical
committee, and gave it as his opinion that if ever
there wail • time when such strict mastication wee
neceseary it was the present, in which, unhappily,
there was evinced on the one hand a strong tendency
to Romanian:l. and on the other to denial of the
truth of the Inspired Volume. (Cheers.) After •
few further remarks the Chairman called up= the
secretary to read the report.
The Rev. H. P. COOKISLIT said : Through the
good hand of our God upon us, your secretary is
enabled to present a very favourable report for the
past year. A larger sum has been remitted to the
parent society than was ever before contributed.
The total amount raised was £7O 10.. 9.1., to which
our esteemed brother, the Rev. Carr Glyn added
.E5O, making altogether £l2O 10s. 9d. (Cheera) For
this success the friends of our association are bound
to be specially thankful. For the value of the
Church Pastoral Aid Society is more than ever felt—
not only for its direct work of evangelizing what
may be termed the heathen manes of our population,
but in its important bearing upon the critical times
in which our lot is cast. More than ever does the
society now feel the value of the much.asseiled point
in it, constitution, "The Scriptural right of veto,
which enables it to secure the services of those who
Live Christian truth, and renouncing all false delicacy
or spurious charity, refuses to make provision for
each men as explain away the great doctrine of the
Atonement, mid deny the plenary inspiration of
Scripture, or would lead us hack to the principles
and practices of the Church of the middle ages. The
greet point to be attained is the faithful preaching
of the truth as it lain Jesus. This is the aim and
object of the Church Panora! Aid Society ; and
believing as we do that the Gospel proclaimed in its
fulness is God's remedy for man's ills, social and
moral, we again commend this money to your
cordial sympathy, substantial support, and increasing
myna" —The rev, gentleman then read the various
sums collected, which woe as follows :—After annual
meeting. £l7 10. flit.; after sermons at St. Giles's.
£3 lBa 7d.; Witchampton and /Uniting, £2 18s. 6d. ;
Corte Mullen, £1 la M. ; Hinton Martell, £9; ool-
!ening cards, £33.. 6d.; box at Rev. It. Plumtree's,
3d,;2. Donatioas, £3 3a,; mann satecriptiona,
£36 2.

The Bev. Rectitam &urn said it was • bright
day for the prospects of the Church Pastoral Aid
Society when Mr. Cooksaley became connected with
it. Previous to that time, about eleven years, very
bale interest was taken in the operations of the
society in that neighbourhood. He considered that
far from being discouraged by the vast amount of
work to be done, they had cause, not only fur grati•
&ration and thankfulness, but of encouragement to
renewed exertion in the work. As London bad
been alluded to by the Chairman, he would lint re-
mark that because there were then so many
thonaands without the means of grace, they must
not suppose that London gentlemen and merchants
did nothing for their own people. He had lately
reoeived • letter from • friend of hie, which he
stated that, through the maniSoenrie and interest
which one gentleman in his district had shown,
three new churches had been built, and the Marquis
of Westminster, who bad a large amount of property
in London, had lately subscribed £lO,OOO to the
Bishop of London's fund. Has munidomme, however,
had even bees exceeded by the Duke of Newcastle,
who had given during the pest year more than £lOO,OOO
for °bora building and other religious purposes.
But notwithstanding the large amounts so raised,and
the building of many additional churches and other
planes of worship, the eltursh Pastoral Aid Societe
still carried on it. week, and increasing demands
were made upon its Sande. The remarks mails by
the Chairman showed that there was Jost as..
need for the opsesiieas of the &misty aow as Obese
woo pars sgs. This WO be br sew ow

sired a but he would remind
itschteniths.
ntigt the
„sr,
diposePurikguhitil ;of this country was
avery
and that fee many ears
coos ively little was done to meet the spiritual
y
wants of the people. It could not he said that the
society had failed, far from it. It had provided in
London alone 25,000 additional eittings. and
instruction to 100,000 children. The rev. gentleman
then took the supply of water to the Metropolis as an
tdhe6oomearmsali,ef
the munificence of Sir Heigh Middleton some
•islunl.pd:freramtedtia:nersofythagaededonirttsionra, besitailocndeTuallf nibe.rrieninanse"ciety.
By
millions of gallons of pure and wholesome water
were, through the formation of the New River
Company, added to the supply of London ; but since
that time no less thou nine additional companies had
been formed. No one would however depreciate the
kindness of Sir Hugh Middleton, because the supply
furnished through him was insufficient; and so it ass
with their society, and with all other societies which
bad been formed to supplement the general work of
the Church. But there was one thing to which be
wished to call special attention, and that was that
it was not merely quantity they wanted, but quality.
Here also the same simile would hold good.—lf you
were to examine you would find that according to
the purity or Impurity of the water supplied
to a district, so would the disease and
death-rate rise and fall, and that where
the water was impure disease we' sure to pre-
vaiL If, then, it was so essential to health that
pure water should be supplied, how much more so
that the water of life should be pure, drawn direct ,
from the foundation of truth? Some time ago, in ,
consequence of the impurity of the water the puhlic
companies were required to place filtering beds at
various places along the streams which supplied the
water; and en, in addition to the regular examina-
tion of the Bishop and the incumbent of the parish,
in which the services of an agent was to be employed,
the society provided additional means to test the
character, soundness of views, and fitness of thou
who offered themselves as candidates for the work.
The rev, gentleman then referred to the state of
Bethnal Green before the late Bishop of London
built his ten additional churches, and to the good
effects which had resulted from the same. There wee
not, be believed, a more important work going on
than that which was being done by the Church
Pastoral Aid Society, by which at least three million
people were brought under the infinetioe of religious
teaching, who otherwise would have remained in
entire ignorance of the way of salvation. After some
further observations on what the society had done
in other large towns, the rev, gentleman earnestly
solicited increased interest in, and liberality to, the
Church Pastoral Aid Society. (Loud Aura)_
The Ciutenedi then called upon the ttev. J.
Kelly to address the meeting, who said that the pre-
ceding speakers had, in a grant measure, gone over
the grounds on which be bad intended to speak.
However, as he had divided his subject under
three heads or replies to three questions, be
would make them the subject of bis remarks,
—let,—What have you done' 2, What
are you doing? and 3,—What ars yen in.
, tending to do I—ln reply to the first question be
would say that the Church Pastoral Aid Society
• first called attention to the vast number of the
population who were li•itig without the means of
grace, and elm that it was the duty of Churchmen to
care for the souls of those thus left in darkness and
sin. It was also the first society which revived lay
agency, and combined it with clerical work. It was
, somewhat strange that after On many years in which
,00h agency had been employed it was deemed
necessary to agitate for synodical action, so that
olauyt"yeaenrcayagmoighyhtthbee BeilenhPolp"Yt7fa•
Ll eTodhs aifl,wwalhop'Uinthted
at
time drew attention to the fact that there were not
mare than two or three clergymen to 20,000 souls in
the Principality. The rev. gentleman then described
the state of the Welsh population in those days,
and the very great benefits which they had
derived by the aid of the society, lie then
alluded to the statement made by the Bishop of
London as to the spiritual destitution in his diocese,
, and expressed his surprise that his lordship had not
acknowledged that it was through the aid of the
society he had become acquainted with that oondi.
tion. and for the way being prepared for his great
work. Be then gave a detailed account of what wee
being done through the agents of the society ; and on
the third head of his subject he stated that though
with their present income they were not prepared to
meet the wants of the masses, yet as increased
interest was being manifested in the work,
they hoped to accomplish even more good than
they had hitherto. He also stated that one
of the chief hindrances wee intemperance. The
rev, gentleman then referred to the statement
made by the celebrated Brother Ignatius, who
at a large meeting in the north said that
nothing would meet the wants of the people
but the revival in the land of the Order of St.
Benedict; and to the reply of ths Chairman at that
meeting, that the hearts' and affections of the people
would be far more likely to be won by the revival of
a system the garb of which was repugnant to their
fee in and wishes. (Loud ebewrs) rho description
given of Brother Ignatius's appearance among die
audience, and his sadden vanishing amid laughter
and hisses, provoked many smiles. The rev, gentle.
man concluded his address by commending the
society to the prayers and increased liberality of the
assembly. The Doxology was then sung, and the
benediction pronounced. The collection amounted
to £lB.