The Express.
London, England, 1862-05-08 00:00:00

[Stamped, ad. Additional.]

THE LIBERATION SOCIETY.

The Conference of this society re-amembled yes-
terday morning at the Freemasons' Hall, under the preei-
dency of Mr. COLEYAN. of Norwich. The atteodince
wu
my large.
After the routine business,
Mr. Wairwmanr, of the Ballot Society, suggested that
the hwitings was one of the best platforms that could be
selected by nonconformists for the propagation of their
principles, and reommeoded that whenever an election took
place a Liberation Society advocate should stand ups
make a speech for the purpose of bringing the princip
the society before many, even of al:adding, %toners.
The Rev. T. Pam; Abesdam, used tbat the pulpit
should also be used much more than at present for the in-
struction of the people In their principle•
The Rev. J. MunichA, el Keeteriagi gad W. Giurrlrtne,
of Dailey. teak the ems vises at the sebjecti
A resolutios was thsni, -urging tha importance of
as largely m pewalle- the Trim at the preetet
time and the eltakeimei "Mat the example set W
the Anti-Oies-hi
mlsseps of distributing pamphlefe by the
post should be Wined.
Mr.% nun. espiMbilrimpreiseeltemen the mks& of the
delegates the blellseriF es* hidieideele lie leg
bffile„) die. gee mem Tor the purpose Og
the pekreiples et Ike am-
. al hems .giest rmalmoses en the part et
gl tried mid end laerelßy edereeme to the use
LIJMOIIed batter. W paithimen of "modershe competeecy,
prii=to do sousethlag with a vie* to advance their
mwsuid egad ewes& creel eßge it the q 01408168.
and persevering endeavour to circulate literature in this
way the utmost good would be effected. Re believed that
they bad pissed more depseelesoe then they ought to have
done upon pest machiaery.
The Rey. W. H. Penurious, of Rochdale, mad a paw'
on certain aspects of the St. lethradoffeew.eahratioe,
which
A monition was. moved by the Rev. E. Warm, which
addreseed itself espemaDy to the quatioa of the
to the Prayer.book Icy the various geckoes of the =Ma
church, with a view to show that there was great inoem
eistemy on all sides.
The Rev. S. G. Oarog, of Rawdon College, Tea a piper
meet serge is lb. church of England bearing upon the

-n-ntiatete church googlies.
The Rev. J. /karma, of Min Church, moved a reef,
Intim open this subject ; sgoooded by the Rev. J. G.
of Bradford.
The v. W. BROCK mid that though neocoeformists had
been called upon to come out from the Liberation Society
he did not intend to regrod to that cull. To his own mind
there was an unmistakable difficulty in jughfrlng =to:7lr
tion to the formularies of the church of Eagles& with
honesty and unrighteous There was meet in the church who
were as honest and upright as himself ; he made so
spied the body of clergymen of wilful dishonesty, flaT
believed they had no thought of esailking truth or compro-
mising their ainsiesees.
Mr. Mau, quite concurred with Mr. Brock that minister
in the church of England ought not to be charged with
being dishonest ammeters, but at the mere time, though
they might not intend to deceive themselves, their snlisenp-
tion was an act of dishonesty, unless they believed in the
full extent of that to which they subscribed. He thought
it very important that this &audios should be kept in
mind. A man might be a Christian man, sod yet ttnwit-
tingly doe very unchristian set.
The Rev. C. Naval" rector of Ilawtry, expressed the
pleasure with which be had attended the meeting of the
Conference, and said that 10 was glad to heir the remarks
just made by the Rev. Hr. Brook.
_His own =misses
convinoed him that there wee so much diversity of N
meet in the Prayer Book that rams subsonlied to it in
all honesty. It was not surprise's to him that many re-
mained is the church who were conscientiously emceed to
many things contained in the wireless, remsrabgriog the
circumstances under which they sobered the church.
He had himself laboured far many years to reform
theme iisrvioes and in ardor to piss himself ia a
better position to carry on that work he had given
notice to the bishop of his intentioo to resign the
two family livings which he had held for many years. He
was in favour of repealing the Act of Uniformity, and of
opening the pulpits of the establishment, being convinced
that things conic' not goon for many years upon the preset
footing. He besought the friends of the Anti-State Church
movement to endeavour in all their diacusaions to separate
es far as passible the system from the men.
Mr. S. KOMAR strongly deprecated the charging et say
clergyman with dishonesty or falsehood. It was not for
dissenters to judge them by their own standard, but to pro•
chum to the world the principles which the ttiessees
had retained, leaving every man responsible to his Maker.
Some formal resolutions and a vote of thanks to the
chairman, moved by Mr. Sheriff Cockerel and wooded
by
_Mr. W. Edwards, concluded the proosidings of the
Conterenos.
THE SOIREE.

-- -
The annual soirée was held in the evening at the
Whittington Club, Strand ; MAIM ROBIRTSON, Esq., of
Liverpool. in the chair. Among the gentlemen present
were the Rev. John Burnet, Daman IPLaren, Ern., H. 0.
Wills, Req., J. Cripps. Esq., E. MO. Esq., Rev. Professor
Newth, Bev. B. W. Dale, Rev. J. Fleisher, Rev'. J. G.
Mist!, Rev. Chas. Seville, H. Tweivetress, Faq., Bet. H.
Richard, Rev. Mktg lenses he.
The Crursun said be felt it an honour to be at any
time called upon to preside at the anniversary of a society
in whose proceedings he bad always takes the deepest
interest, and which had always oramantied hie.=
ration ; but be felt it particularly an boson, or this
occasion, when the society had become the best shooed
of all societies in the three kingdoms, The altered tootles
of their oppoimti, who bad Mthtiabed church institutions.
defence weeteuena and ocemitlises of helpers—were hope-
ful *in ; they betokened inquiry and (smellier, and the
consequence certainly would be the speedy attainment of
the object which this association bad in view.
The Rev. Mr. Dais, of Birmingham, mid he believed
the real expLnation of the effect which the society was
able to reduce was that there was something deep down in
the hearts of Englishmen which regrinds& to their appeal.
The great element of their power wag this, that
the old English spirit vu on their side. And, above
all things, in this age of increasing religious ac-
tivity, there must be • conviction deepening and
strengthening in the hearts of hundreds of thousi who
stood aloof from all their public movements, that the true
way of serving Christ wag to serve Him with • true heart
and loving spirit under the control of His own laws, and
not under the compulsory inSuenos of any human govern-
ment. (Cheers.) He begged to offer this as an explanation
to members of church defence associationa all over the
country, who envied their genius, and would be glad to copy
their machinery in order to rival their results. (Hear,
hear.) He believed that the true strength of their
society would lie in adhering constantly and un-
flatteringly to the object for which it was constituted—
namely, the liberation of religion from State patronage and
control. (Applause.) By pursuing this policy they would
prevent this great movement from being confounded with
the special principles or interests of any religious sect, and
it was equally important that they should endeavour to
make it felt that the movement WAS not identified withany
particular political party. (Hear.)
The Rev. JOHN GRAHAM, of Craven Chapel, said he was
one of the so-called moderate dissenters who had never
before appeared on the platform of the Liberation Society.
But if moderation implied indifference to the principles of
the society he never wished town the title. In early life
he was connected with the church, and he had been
brought out by the force of conviction, and he
believed that the bicentenary discussions would lead
a great many other Christian ministers to identify them-
Wyss with tins movement. There were a great many
" moderate dissenters" in the churches who required to
know more of the great nonconformists of put times,
and he believed that the effect of this bioentuary cele-
bration would be to advance the interests of the church
of England itself, and that the Evangelical ckegy would
feel when the controversy was over that they owed a deep
debt of gratitude to the nonconformists because of what
they had done. He did nor believe that any enmity was
felt by those present to the Episcopal church, but they were
convinced that its separation from the date would be both
for its own and the nation's welfare. (Cheers.)
The Rev. H. W. Parkinson (of Rochdale), the Rev. J.
Kilsby Jones, Ir. William Edwards, the Rev. Joseph
Fletcher (of Christchurch), and the Rev. Dr. Thomas (of
Pontypool) subsequently addressed the meeting, and the
proceedings terminated.