The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1865-10-17 00:00:00

ADDITIONAL CURATES' SOCIETY.

A meeting on behalf of this excellent society for
providing additional clergymen in populous places was
held at the Townhall last Thursday evening. There
was a numerous attendant*. C. B. Skinner, Esq., of
Came, presided, supported by the Rev. C. T. Prooter,
the Rev, A, Codd, Vicar of Beatninster, the Rev. R. G.
Watson, the Rev. F. Baker, of Godmanstone, and the
Rev. H. 0. Francis, of Weymouth. The Rev. R.
Gregory, of Lambeth, was the deputation. The as-
sembly comprised Andrews and play from Csine,
the Mayor Af Dorchester (Dr. Aldridge), Mr. Aldridge,
junr., Mr. Hodges, the Misses Hodges, the Rev. B. L
Watson and family, the Rev. R. Keddle and Mrs.
Keddle, Mrs. Gans, Mrs. and the Misses Manley, Mr.
and Mrs. H. 'Lock and family, Mrs. Griffis, Mr.
Andrews, Mr. Rumsey, Mr. and Mrs. A. Spicer, Mr.
G. Greening and the Misses Greening, with the principal
inhabitants of All Saints' parish, Isc., &o.
The devotional service was conducted by the Rev,
C. T. Procter.

The CHAIRMAN, in opening the prornedings, indicated
the method upon which the operations of the society
are conducted, noted the acknowledged fact that the
number of clergymen in populous pleoes is totally
inadequate to the requirements, and, while not °vet-
looking the necessity that cibtaima for chureh ettension,
he pointed oat that the existing churches might be
"utilised" by the providing of additional curates,
which would enable an incumbent proportionately
to imrease the number of services in his church, besides
more efficiently doing the parochial work. As an in-
stance of this, he mentioned that at a London church,
where there were four clergymen, the servicee were
multiplied to such • degree that the number of oommu-
nicants at the high festivals of the church, and notably
on Easter-day, exceeded by 50 or 60 the number the
church would accommodate. This society he considered
to be doing the work of the Church in the present day.
Li conclusion he briefly eciverted to the important* of
the chttrehtis MAW freely thrown open to the poor.
The Bev. C. T. PEOCTIIR stated that last year the sum
of £44 Hs. 7d. was contributed to this society—nearly
half the stipend of a curate; of that amount upwards of
ea was the proceeds of offertories and collections after
sermons at All Saints', and VS 7s. was given at the
annual meeting. He then spoke of the kindness of
some absent friends, and especially mentioned Mr. G,
Troyte-Bullock. .
The Rev. ALFRED CODD, dioceian Secretary and vicar
of I:W4mb:tater, said they wbuld all reeolleot that on
Sunday last a spittial form of prayer was used, in which.
they entreated Almighty God that He would stay the
pestilence at present abroad in the land amongst cattle,
and defend themselves from the greater pestilence of the
cholera with which they were now threatened; but, it
appetr;d to hiin that there was another pestilence of afar
more grievous charsoaer, which they did, ht iufficiently
realise, that had Men rof years past, and was even now,
working amongst he meant the moral pestilence
which exists in the large towns and populous plao-s, to
which this society would send additional ourat a.
That pestilence was nothing lees than the constant
working of infidelity, or, at all events, irreligion to
an extent that very nearly approtched to it and,
as a necessary ocatartintince, there wits iminorality,
and then, as t e nett stept I idat amount of crime.
Thorns Wee things, vit , irreligion, immorality, and
crime, eenatituted the pestilence which was constantly
at work amid the half-henthenish masses congregated in
our large towns; and, depend upon it, they wield not
have a moral plyne of that kincdesteting in the verY
midst of them srithoti the leery life-blood of this great
people tieing Pii ibioned y it—they could not prevent the
ettension of its Influence to these quiet rural places,
through the going forth in search of werk and returning
again of the people belonging to them. "If any member
of the body suffers, the whole body must in n manner
suffer with it." How had this stet, of thines Come to
pals? for it they ascertained that they might ,find out
how to cure iI It had elistrly arisen; like tide all
pestilennes in the physittal World, through neglect.
God made use of human instrumentality, and just as
the cholera and all physical plagues might be stayed by
their using best endeavours to be prepared against
attack, so it was in regard to the moral pestilence of
which he was speaking. During past years wherever
there had been a mine o nepliliz. new iron works 00111 z
meneed, Or other gteet en limit° iiiiiivenieng
ciffiiiitercial hide y lid aetilritY, there they
had seen vast populations drawn together, and instead of
those masses being proportionately provided with the
means of grace, as they might be in Dorchester, they
had been left almost entirely to themselves. The rev.
gentlemen gave instances of this spiritual destitution, and
said that the aVerge preportieq chop tq the popula.
tion of London at the Present time is something like one
to 6,000. The only way in WhiCh they Wahl meet the
wante of the sge was by Welding the psi) ffiaglebt Ind
endeavouring to make ameildt fer it by church
extension, end whee he said church extension
he Was not speaking of the church as an estab.
liAhment with which he was intimately connected
as an ordained clergyman, but as the spiritual
body in this lend which is the best fitted in every way to
co'e with the evil. He believed that if the resided were
to be leavened with phriatisp earn eitd truth, it Could
only be effected, Older God's providenoe, through the
ihetthinentality of the Church in this land, and for
these simple reasons; first of all, the Church has the
strongest hold after all on the great mawes of the people,'
and because he believed from his Inmost convictions thai
the Church contained* purest deposit of Divine Welk
and because he felt that the Church Is the
body In this land entreated with this *MU of .grald to
administer to this peoPle fob the healing of their sin-
i.chtle son*. As the Church in past years (he freely
admitted) had neglected her great work, her great
calling, her great reaponsibilities, ao it must be by that
Church awaking to a sense of thorn responsibilities, per-
formieg In °erupt the Work she had neglected, end
extlinnig Ureell and her ministrations throughout the
Irna, that the moral pestilence now in the midst of them
ctinidathe steed t, How *At ibis to be done. lq two W
H eys,
e h spoken ef t heethenish pffilulation of tbe
large septa The Maoist in than, of them Were
not even baptised, and the children were not sent
to school. At the present time he believed there were
two millions in the land, but mainly in the large towns,
who attended no school whatever. The first thing the
church bad to do was to send clergy amongst the half
heathenised maanes to do strictly missionary work--to
reclaim that which was lost, and to awaken than
sympathies which had long lain dormant—to get hold of
the people and find out what religious tendencies they
yet hod left, and lead them up to higher and better
things. But that was not all. When they manifested
a desire for bettor things they must be prepared to
build up the cherish in the midst of that population—
they must have schools where the children may be
educated, a resident clergyman to visit from house to
house, and • church where the people may freely
worship. HOW could this be done, except by sending
additional clergymen into throe towns? and that was
just the work the Additional Curates' Aid Society was
performing. It was thoroughly impartial ;it only took
Into consideration the simple need of the ease, and if it
were a pressing one, and the Committee bad funds at
command, • grant was made. That WM the right
principle. The society worked as the handmaiden of
the church, in subjection to the church's pas-or, for all
grants were passed through the Bishop's hands, or at all
evente, every application was made with his sanction.
There was no Inquiry into the particular tenets
of the incumbent of the ' applying for •
Frank Last - made, an in-
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number of grant. might be quadrupled anti more Vise
that. There were one or two Omelets' routine why he wotild
preta this society upon their support. First, boostere
they themselves had priv.leges so very far beyond what
the maws hod in large towns. Secondly, to show their
sympathy end interest in the mechanics and artisans
who leave our rural places for London, Manch« att r, and
other large towns, in search of work, and who find
themselves very often to be " strangers in • strange
land"—with no clergymen to go to ill I heir sorross, 01
to advise them in their perp'exity and distress, in con•
sequence of the vast amount of work the clergy there
ha' to perform. There was another reason why be
thought, at this particuler time, *bey were strongly
mind on to help this and kindred societies—it waa, the
• extraordinarily active intelligenc sof the artisans
and exechauics in the large towns, at this time
insnifeated in so remarkable degree, and who if left to
themselves, too often fell into the snares of agitators and
men who are always ready to teach io fidelity and other
baneful principles. They specially needed the personal
influence of a reoident Miner to be brought to bear Upon
them, with the Divine creeds of our Cld.reti, in order that
they might ba saved from infidelity, or something very
like it. There was one more reason; they heard
' persons constantly saying 'the English church is no
longer the church of the people," and, in a meremre,
they were hound to confess it was true—that there wen
a great disproportion between the great title of th-.
church of England and the facts of the ca,e. There
were millions at the present time, who were the mere-t
nominal members of the chnrch—millions who never
ettdided upon her means uf grace and, more than that,
who, supposing they wished to attend, could not fiod
churches to receive them, cr schools where th ir
children might be educated, or clergymen in sufficient
numbers to minister to their spiritu .1 wants. It was
• feet that there ousted that disproportion between the
title, the aims, the purposes, and the professions of
the church and her actnal state. How was th,s to be
rectified? It rested with themselves. They were met
together as church-people to support • church society,
and it rested with them and other members of the
Church of England. If they only were earnest and
vigorous in their efforts for supplying more abundantly
the church's ministrations, they would, under the grace
of God, so bring home the ohm,* to every individual
member thereof, that it would in every deed and in
tiuth become the church of the English people.
The Rev, R. Gelooar, the deputation, then ad-
draped the meeting. He remarked there was an old
proverb that "a house.going priest makes a church-
going people," and proceed,d to show how that was
exemplified negatively a century ago. Still, in those
days, the relationship of the upper classes to those
under them was greatly paternal in its character, and
was highly beneficial. Now, all that had passed away,
arid the consequencie was that the Massa the working
closes had lost that high feeling of self-respect which
they had when intimately connected with their em-
ployers. The speaker grephioally described the life of
the poor in the crowded parishes of London, end 'Wed
that be believed scores died in Lambeth every winter
through the effects of starvation. In such places the
clergyman was required to be "the squire" as well as the
parish priest. If he «mid not visit and help them, and
nobody else lid, when they were ill and starving, could
it be wondered at that the poor came to hate the
classes above them, grew hardened in heart, doubted
God's providence, and longed to die, though they had
made no preparation for judgment? He set forth the
utter impossibility of • single clergyman in such • parish
meeting all the demands made upon him, and said the
prov ding of additional curates would render it possible
tor these poor people to be visited and eared for. It
was a want that appealed to them as litigant, before
the greater appeal as Christians. It was estimated
that not two per cent, of the labouring classes of London
living on the south si .e of the Thames attended • place
of worship, and be greatly feared never said • prayer,
and thus had become practically heathen in • Christian
land. He concluded with an eernest appeal to the
meeting to help the Additional Curates' Aid Society.
The Rev. C T. Procter commented on the humiliat-
ing nature of the facts that had been stated relative to
the half heathenish state of the 13111,18,18 in large towns,
and said he thought that even in the parishes of towns
like our own theta *as nothing to boaet of in
that regarch That there were generous and loving
hearts amooptthe working-classes and desires for
all that is of good report no one recognised
more cordially than he did, but he thought that
even in such towns as this they. had cause for
humiliation on account of them. He then spoke re-
gretfully, in his own earnest way, of the very few
working men that as a rule attended the celebraton of
the Holy Communion, which, he said, ought to be the
service of the Church. The rev. gentleman deprecated
"the pernicious pew system," and said there was now a
great movement amongst Churchmen in regard to it, and
many were beginning to feel with him that they should
never get the working 01488811 to attend the services as
they could wish until the churches were freely opened to
all. He spoke with gratitude in regard to his own
churchwardens for having of coo officiated as pew openers,
whereby many who would otherwiee have been turned
away were provided with :eats. He felt that the only
way to make the church of England the ehorch of the
people was by opening it to all free; He regarded these
Meetings as a means of reminding them of their respon.
sibilities, and of awakening them to the realieation of
the fact that they bad a work to do in their day, for
which they would have to give an account. They
needed to make their religion more practical. In con-
clusion, he made • heart-stirring appeal on behalf of the
society, . .

The CHAIRMAN, in concluding the proceedings, directed
attention to one statement in the report that there were
200 cages entered on the society's books waiting for aid,
and said he trusted all were ready to afford some portion
of the help required.
A hymn was then sung, led by the choir df All Saints',
under the direction of Mr. J. lioliinsdn, who presided at
the harmonium, after which the Vicar tit Beaininater
pronounced the benediction, and the meeting terminated.
The collection amounted to Ell. 14e.