Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1860-02-18 00:00:00

SWEARING IN OF THE WELSH
VOLUNTEER CORPS.

This interesting event took place last evening, in the
Welsh Schools, Russell-street. Alderman John Buck
Lloyd occupied the chair, and there were also present
Captain Bousfield, Captain Chambres, of the Wallasey
Rifles, Mr. John Roberts, E. Griffith, H. Jones, &c.
The volunteers having been marched into the room, the
chairman addressed them as follows :—I have consider-
able satisfaction in appearing here to-night, in, I may
say, two capacities—first, as the chairman appointed at
the meeting which took place a few months ago to in-
augurate the wen VolunLoca Ogrpo; And, secondly,
as a magistrate of the borough, to take the oa,:t—
of those who have so patriotically enrolled them-
selves in the corps which I now see before me. I can
now say that it has given me considerable satisfaction,
in looking over your ranks with Captain Bousfield, to
express my belief that there is no corps in Liverpool
that will less disgrace the name you bear, than the 1
Welsh Volunteers. We have known in the army what
the Welsh regiments can do and have done. I *would
observe that the volunteer movement is not one of offen-
sive war, but of self-defence, and I do hope that in join-
ing any of these corps it will not interfere with the time
necessary to gain a livelihood, but that they will merely
occupy leisure time in drilling, &c. He then went on
to say that he-observed the movement with satisfaction,
although himself too old to serve in the ranks. The
movement has been recognised by the Queen, who had
conferred upon that corps the name of the 39th ; and he
was of opinion that the volunteer system was a good one.
—Captain Griffith was then called upon to read his
commission, after which Mr. Roberts addressed the
meeting.—ln the course of the evening Captain Bous-
field put the corps through some evolutions, and ex-
pressed his high opinion of their efficiency.—The pro-
ceedings terminated with a most enthusiastic vote of
hanks to the chairman and the ladies.

CONSECRATION OF ST. AIDAN'S CHURCH,
BOOTLE.

Yesterday morning, the Lord Bishop of Chester
attended the Church of St. Aidan's, Bootle, for the pur-
pose of consecrating it to the service of God. The church,
which is a remarkably neat little building, was, on this
occasion, well filled by a respectable congregation. The
lessons were read by the Rev. Archdeacon Jones, and the
prayers by the Rev. Richard Dandy, the incumbent of
the church. The Sermon, preached by the Bishop of
Chester, was from Matthew, chapter 9, verses 36. 37,
and 38. In the commencement of his discourse the Lord
Bishop pointed out the tenderness and compassion which
the Saviour exhibited while on earth. The words of the
text, however, had not been called forth as the expres-
sion of sympathy to a human being, but they were
spbken in connection with the object of Christ's spiritual
mission. The Jews, who were God's chosen people,
had a particular form of worship and a proper order of
priests. Yet there were still multitudes of Jewish
people in a state of spiritual destitution without any
teachers at all, or with teachers who had defiled the
purity of God's word with additions of their own. Now,
he would not say that the people of Liverpool were in all
respects, or in the main, in a similar condition ; but he
thought that their own case did present some features
of similarity. They enjoyed great spiritual blessings;
they bad a revelation of God's love, they had an open
Bible in their own tongue, accessible to all. They
had an Established Church well adapted to the
purposes of devotion and edification; in its substance in
harmony with the doctrines of God's Word; in its forms
in keeping with that sobriety which marked their national
character. There was nothing in the Liturgy that was
in any way fantastical or oat of place. He hoped that
God would long preserve this simplicity in their public
worship, and that the public would continue to have the
same good sense in this matter as they now possessed.
Referring to the parochial system, he said it was
another advantage which the people of this day had
in a spiritual point of view. Each division of the
country was portioned. out into so many com-
partments, and thus by appointing a shepherd
for each sub-division the whole country was watched
over. Notwithstanding, however, all that had been
done, there was still room for more labourers ; and the
church they were assembled to consecrate had been built
for the purpose of supplying a great spiritual want of
the district. The church had been built three years
ago, and during that time he understood that the
minister had met with the greatest success. Some
repairs, however, were necessary, and their contributions
would be applied to the purpose of making those repairs,
together with other alterations to the church. He con-
cluded by wishing the church and its ministers success.
At the conclusion of the sermon, a collection was made,
which amounted to £l5.