The Stourbridge Observer, Cradley Heath, Halesowen & District Chronicle.
Stourbridge, West Midlands, England, 1879-05-24 00:00:00

MR. GLADSTONE ON HOME.MISSIONS.

A densely•crowded meeting in support of the Society for
the Employment of Additional Curates was held at Willis's
Rooms, London, on Monday; the Archbishop of Canterbury
In the chair.

Mr. Gladstone, in moving the adoption of the re-
pbrr, drew attention to its strong claims upon the sup-
port of Churchmen. The Church had had many
difficulties to contend wit, and might have more;
she had had controversies within and without, and
they could not. hope that the voica of controversy
would all at once be lulled. The Church of England
had still a great work to perform for herself, for the
people, and for Christendom at large; and they were
justified in earnestly beseeching those who become
acquainted with what takes place amongst us to do
their utmost and their best to enable her to discharge
this portion of her work.—ln the course of his speech
Mr. Gladstone made the following observations on
-Home Missions : _ _ _ _

"lam greatly struck with the propriety of the title
now adopted by the society of a home mission. It is
not a mere supplement to the establishment, but it is
a continual invasion of new work constantly offering
itself, and ever requiring to be assaulted afresh. It is
strictly in the nature of a missionary work; it is its
aim to occupy fields never yet occupied, and fields that
are from year to year progressively extending, In
these circumstances let us look again a'; the very
brief but significant story of this balance. Thirty-
six thousand pounds of contributions from the cen-
tral fund and £37,000 or £38,000 more locally raised give
a total of £74,000. But with that total the society stands
pledged to an expenditure of £78,000. No man haa
a greater amount of financial ingenuity than my right
hon. friend Mr, Hubbard, bat neither he nor any one
here can adjust any system by which out of £74,000
you can spend £78,000. (Laughter and "Hear, hear.'')
This is a question of simply keeping up the present
engagements, and let this meeting well understand
that the first and most urgent point is that the gentle-
men who manage the society are under the necessity of
receding from the engagements under which they lie,
unless you come to their aid, and of making known to
the country—which God forbid—that some portion of
the bounty hitherto extended to the incumbents to
enable them less inadequately to face their duties
must abs)lutely be withdrawn. (Hear, hear.) But
this is not the whole of the case. Igo back to the re-
port of last year, in which I find these words

'lt need hardly be said that it is with the deepest regret
that the committee have been compelled to postpoLe the
consideration of a large number of applications at present
on the unaided list.'

In 1877, then, the society was linable to face its
work. Its undertakings were undertakings it was
able to fulfil, but it was not able to undertake all it
ought to have undertaken; so that, instead of gaining
ground you have lost it. The hat of unaided cases, I
suppose, remains longer than ever. But besides that
fact you are in a position in which you are called
upon to issue the unhappy and ill-omened notice
to incumbents, that what has been done for them
in many cases hitheito cannot be done for them here-
after ; and I need not say that even that statement
of the case, unfavourable as it is, takes no cognizance
of the fact that you live in a country with an annually-
increasing population, and at the same time you have
to report this disagreeable circumstance, that the
income of the society has slightly receded. Now, there
is no justification for that recession. (Applause.) It
must be remembered that in this country, although we
speak very truly of depression in trade, yet still a
period of depression for the country at large, when
compared with what we call a period of prosperity,
only means a perio iof retarded progression, (Cheers.)
This is a country of constantly and incessantly grow-
ing wealth and of constantly and incessantly growing
responsibility, and what is wanted is to find the way
to a greater number of hearts and minds, and boldly
and courageously to say something ought to be done
out of this progressive and unoeasing increase for
the glory of God and for the good of man ; and
there is no way in which it can be better and more
effectually done than by aiding the at present rela-
latively feeble resources of this society. There
is one particular, my Lord Archbishop, in which
I cannot help rejoicing—forgive me if I seem para-
doxical—that the difficulties of the society increase.
I do not now mean merely on the ground of that old
saying, which has grown almost to be an adage, that
no society is really flourishing except when its balance
is on the wrong side. (Laughter.) I believe there is
some truth in that saying, because what you want is to
give force and point to your.appeal—and certainly an
appeal is much more pointed when you have a de-
ficiency than with a surplus—but I mean that you are
compelled to pay more for the commodity you want,
It seems in the course of the forty years since the
society was founded the average stipend of a curate
has risen, and now, instead of ranging between £BO and
£l.OO a year, it ranges between £l2O and £l5O a year.
This, at first sight, seems a new difficulty in the
society's way, I must say I rejoice in that difficulty. I
think there is no labour given in this country by any
class which, looked at in an economical point of view,
is cheaper than the labour of the curates of the English
Church. (Hear, hear.) It is one of the most pleasing
and satisfactory incidents of the increased remunera-
tion of labour it, almost every class of the community
when we find that this has affected the clerical class,
and that it is no longer our practice, as it was some
time ago, to.dole out stipends so miserable to geiatle-
men, of whom we demand that they shall pass through
a costly education, that they shall submit themselves
to the restraints imposed upon them by their ordina-
tion vows, that they shall come under the authority of
a stringent system of laws, and that they shall devote
themselves with their whole hearts to objects involv-
ing the general renunciation of what is most agreeable
to the world and the fl9sh. (Applause.) As a work,
then, of a Home Mission, this work ought to be COm.
mended to the favourable notice of the British public.
It is not in this as in many cases, that a great portion
of the money given is absorbed in expenses, but one
has the comfort of knowing that every pound sub-
scribed to the central fund opens local fountains.
'raking an external view—and it is not for me to ascend
higher—and looking at the acknowledged excellence of
the society's object, at the total absence of objection on
any ground, at the comprehensive spirit in which the
design has been worked out, at the respect which the
sockty pays alike to the feelings of all, and at the
directness with which its contributions go to the per-
formance of the highest of all works—l mean the
spiritual work of the Church—l must say that if we
have really reached the point at which any great addi-
tion to its income can be made no longer, we have
reached a point which marks a great defect in our
faculties of applying means to ends, and at which our
illiberality would deserve to be stigmatized through the
world as a scandal, (Cheers.) I hope this crowded
and attentive meeting may be taken to convey a hope
of very different things."