The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1882-03-28 00:00:00


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any spiritual provides whatever. That wee bud Age
of thlogs, but he ventured iuiak the slate of sears
St the present mument was emu mill masa tie had
come ben one of those large moues_ a population to
which the Chairman bed referred—Birmkgham—end
he felt it his duty, wherever be could, to bear hie
humble testimony to the value of this society. In the
year 1830, the population of the country was 16
millions, now it was 25 mildoes, sad this popuLetion
was Inc. easing at the retie of two millions • year. It
We. found that the population was increading In the
largo towels, and therefore they might expect that the
operatics, of the society would tell most la thosedarge
centred. In Birmingham in the year 1801, cligen wed
• Jki_p!dadon of °WY 73,0" Immo 1831 le wee
142,000 and to-day is tha bout itinzol farm=
alone it was 380,000 ; no that, mot them
In the suburbs. Me YoehilitbOrk Of Ihr oglamn was to-
day little snort of Italia-million. They mum masem.
net that them Wage 011134111. were passing through •
arida. In ainainichain sad other large Plum, the
wealthy pee& are Olivia( the towns; weil-W-rte
tradesmen, when they had made their mosey, west
out to live in the suburbs, and protessional men lived
in the suburbs; err thee the clergymen in • Large town
found himself, es tiros went on, with his responsibilities
inartlatitof every del and his pariehiouns buoiniag
poorer and poorer. twe in sub parishes as them
that the Church Pastoral ALI SottiOty stlietiad in and
readered such valuable help. He Sid not come
there with any varnished speech, but simply to tell
them wost it had does for lam and his people in
Birmingham. He went to the parish of Ali saints,
Birmingham, about six yams age sad be there found
the clergyman broken down ease 20 years' work—
quite broken down with diseptointamat. When that
clpgierngimens went there 20 years before, he found the
contained 5,000 people ; when (AL Scott)
went there it contained *OOO. - He found the church
practically empty, although it was capable of holding
1,300 people. On one Sunday they counted in the
church 45 pople. Everything was in debt, which was
not to US woedored at; so beset to wo, k and applied
to the society tor help. Most kindly they gave him
the stipend for • curate and • Scrip.ure reader. He
found himself in the largest perish in Birmingham;
with the acreage of a country pariah-500 acres—sad
the populaHon of • large town-27,800. It had same,
rieg in the middle of it, • workhouse containing 2,500,
end the borough gaol and lunatic asylum in the very
heart of the pariah. Vire. drink, death, and secularism
were busy, arid he found himself alooe. Ehink of the
discourager:nuts to a alergymea in • poeitioo like that.
The society granted him a curate and a reader, and
! that was the beginning of good; the church wee now
filled every &edgy, the thatch had been risteced,
stud the debts which then existed had been nearly all
wiped off. (Appleme.) He was thaelifib to soy sow
that every Mosley nights they had eaihiedus al
130 young V/001410, and every sundae, morning • clam
of 30 or 40 men; in the Sundey School there were
1,700 children, sod there were also few mothers'
meetings in different parte of the parish. Hejuat men-
tioned his to allow it could sot have been done without
the map of the Society. He then went on to speak of
the temptations to which the people were exposed.
Tog were terrible, and he asked them to
track of a clergymen in such surroundings. He did
not believe any mostouary in • heathers laud had more
difficulties to pass through than • clergyman In •
platelike that, acid he urged them to do all they could
to help clergymen in like cireumstenew. ['hey all
Wow the tialuiples of the society—they rejoiced in
taco, and if any society needed their help it was this
The men in the vmloy of the society were espeardif
,h,,sea, as far as pewits* for the work. 11 airy them
were as Lae present Llahl Woo undermined the greet
fundamenta Homed id Christ, and denied the autuo.
deg of Scriptures, and the iampLacion of God's Holy
Word, but WO !society tried to secure men whose
!kart§ Wire um], givea to God. It saw that the men
it seat out, as far ae it coud ascertain, had the love
of Hod its tear noose, whose one desire was to win
maw toe Canoe and titan were the coin who were
willing to give themselves up o • work of this kind.
This society had Luny claims Olson us; it Wee the
firm • °Hey which the Chorea of Eoglaed sarsedse a
borne minion ary owlet.. It was started at • time
, when the Church of Kuglasid wee very chary of lay !
help, but now this society employed • large number
of laity t s assist io Carrying ow its operations. It g
help to 30 parishes in Birmingham; supported 30
curatm th-re and 25 lay seine a, an animal expeudi.
tore of £4,600. They Gallia tbiref ore see west • noble
work the society wis, doing for Birmingham el •ne.
The extra staff provided in that town were the means
of 'wood ng 34 additional services every Lord'. Day,
30 weekiley services. 81 schoolroom service., 61 Bible
duos, besides visiting. (App'ans...) Only think
what Birmingham would be if that were withdrawn,
and he trusted they wool I try to realise what a work
the society we. doing in that and Mahar towns. He
earnestly asked them not to be indifferent in this
metier, but to see if they could not do sorniahlog, or,
perhaps, MOrll than they had ever done before, in
helping on this glorious work. As they valued their
Saviour be urged them in His name to do what
they could to help forward this society. (Applause.)
The Rev. R. O. Fowt.e next addressed the meeting
on the society's work. Referring to the Donetabire
branch, he mentioned there had been a decrease in
the amount sect up of E 65 from the year before. He
trusted they would endeavour to wipe off this deficit
sad raise it to £750, which wee the total two yews ago.
Mr. Lee Warner had informed him that they had col-
lected in Blandford about £7O this year, which was
very hopeful. He also refined to the Poole sod
Sherborne associations, which were both very gads-
fair ory, and remarked that at the latter place they
might rely on Mrs. Wingfield Digby maintaining It.
priteut high standard. Theo, thanks to their kind
friend, Mr. Schott, they bad every noun to hope for
• great increase at Weymouth. He assured them
Weymouth had always been a very axe point in his
memory for the last 18 mouths. They might now,
however, hope for better things, and cloth would rho;
again to the position which they might expect from its
numbers, wealth, and position. Dorchester and
Fordington collected £72 17s. 5d., which was rather
in re th .n one-tenth of whet was collected from the
county generally. He then gave an account of the
work in Liverpool and in other of our Larne towns,
and also in Wales. He commended the work ho their
prayers and their active help, and earnestly invited
every friend of the society who was present there that
day loses if during the next twelve months they could
not got eancioas else to take the same interest as they
felt.

meetiog dosed with pram, and a collection
was made in isid of the funds of the society.

At the evening meeting, in the same Hall, thin WIIII
a much better attendance. The Rev. T. W. Knipe
presided.
The Rev. W. E. Cowes:ix having offered I
prayer,
The CakILIUM referred to the society's work.
the course of his remarks he said when it was first I
instituted it wee not, as he feared was sometimes
thought, instituted for party purposes. It was simply
the outcome of the c invicdona of those who seemed to
awake to the fart that here was England increasing
millions up in millions in its population, and that the
Church of England held that that was the church of
the nation, sad that every man, woman, and child
were members of it, and entitled to be received into it
and to regard themselves as members of one fold,
parish, or anything they pleased to cell it. It became
obvious that this was simply theoretical, and that the
Church of England oould not overtake the spiritual
wants of the growing mouse of the country' Places
that had only been lived in by a sparse and scattered
population had become crowded cities, with streets
sad lanes teeming with their thousands of people,
and that in many places the Church of England
representing the largest parts of these localities, was
utterly incapable of carrying on the worn I. its
fullness. A clergyman in • pariah of 20,000 could not
poaibly do the work of that parish, could not make
himself known amongst the people, and could not an
organise the pariah as to make them feel there was •
church in their midst. Good friends were led by
God's Spirit to form a society for siding the
peewee of the Church of England, by providing
curates and Scripture readers, and that those men
should be good men and true. In this way the
solely had laboured from that hoar till today.
Mier further remarks he earnestly pleaded for support
in this good work.
The Bev. J. G. Kmrsteriv, late of St. George's.
Birmiegbarn, and DOM curate of hleloombe Regis,
gave • telling account of the work in Birmingham.
The Rev, E. G. Powell, also addressed the meeting,
which closed with the Benediction.