Northern Times.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1859-02-15 00:00:00

TIM= tiOittllEßN TIMES, TUESDAY, FEBRUARY

CHURCH PASTORAL AID SOCIETY.

In accordance with:a .previous public ,announeement,
the annual .meeting of the, above society was held in tho
Collegiate Institute, Shaw-street, yesterday evening. Mr.
Gregson was called to the chair., Tile 'meeting having
been constituted by'praYer—
The "Chairman said : lie thought it right to inform
theni that the -Bishop *as to take the chair, but eircum-
stances had intervened to prevent him from doing
.so:
lie then-said, they were aware that 'the society was first
formed in 1836,' having for .its objects the supply' of the
wants of
,the increasing and overgrowing population;
it became apparent, to a number, of clergymen and others
that it was entirely impossible for any minister to do the
half or the fourth of what was for him to do. This
.subject took the attention of ma.ny-of .these men, and they
bethought theniselveS what they, ought, to do, and.they
took the subject up in a pitctical manner. They-did
not wish to make any organic change in .the church, but
thought, • with 'the Bishop 'Of Londen,:ihat, instead of
discussing qUestions on referm, it was -far better tntake
the church as it was, - and try and -mike the best of it
These men saw that the strength and glory of the church
consisted •in its parochial system; ;and, therefore, they
made that the great„ principle e 4 the society. Thb
labourers were to be of two elasses—ordained clergymen
and lay agents, or Scripture-roaders, Many. people
opposed this, movement, and said they .would :give all
their weight anti support to the society if they would give
lap lay agencies. But they knew that lay agency was
the working purtiun of the society,:ind it bad proved
to be so. lt was now establighed so firmly : that few
sveuld -be found that would' try to dispute its
,efficieney. There WAS a Selipture-reafier's society
both in Liierpool and LOndon. It was much
desired by the society to secure the iright kind Of
It.becume those who really. wished to, have the

gospel truth a irculated:to take precaution as to who. they
mpleyed. It was rather more than twenty years. Once
the society was established, and during that time it had
employed 520 different labourers, 370 "of whem were
citrates, and 153 'laymen. In their own diocese there
were 54. incumbents who were aided by the society.' Ira
Manchester there were 51, and many of these- had
double crants. This showed how much good bad
be: regarded

society migh

Not because it

got even

•
evangelical sense of the word, it .was a •
truly national
society. He then gave an account of the• labours
of the 520, "which consisted of visiting the sick
and the dying, endeavouring to reform the drunkard
and the sabbath breaker, and teachihg such. people
to'look from the lusts of the flesh to the welfare of their

- -
done so much for. Liverpool, it had done so • little for the
society but.he believed a better day was dawning. on
them. He concluded by calling upon akir. Hank, the
secretary, to read the following

" In presenting their nineteenth report, the committee
have again to notice that little or no advance has been
made during the past year by, the Liverpool Chinch
Pastoral Aid Society. This is, perhaps, seacely to be

wondered at, when the 'circumstances of the time are
considered; yet it is a serious reflection, that while our
means of doinggood remain stationary, the spiritUal
destitution to be :remedied is constantly .and rapidly

increasing

" It is stated in Dr. Ilume's valuable pamphlet on the
condition of. Liverpool that the special and •undisputed

field of the Church.of the town nowcom-
England
prises 304,000 persons ;and that our population increases
at the rate of 12,000 souls in each year. -

" To meet this annnal increase, -no additional aid has
been supplied by the Church Pastoral Aid Society for
the last three years, The grants are still only for 20
clergy and 10 'lay agents ; and our returns are still £BOO
below what 'we receive.
" As there is nothing.remarkable in our' local position,'
and as the real want here and elsewhere is a fuller appre-:
elation of what the Pastoral Aid Society has done, and is'
d0in..,,,r the committee think it well to draw attention to
the following brief statement,of its claims, from the pen
of our valuable AsSociation Secretary :—The Church p,as-
toral Aid Society arose at a period of critical emergency,
when the existence of the National Church, if not of the,
national Christianity, was imperilled by the presence of
vast heathenish masses in England- and Wales. It has
removed a great reproach from the members of the
• Church, and has showed that when their attention was
directed to their responsibilities, and a channel provided for
the flow of their liberalty, they were ready to make
sacrifices in order to furnish what government had.
neglected or refused—a large increase of pastors
and teachers for a largely increasing population.
It has drawn forth to the help of the National Church
a sum of about' £600,000, the voluntary offering of
her own children ; and by leading to the establishment
of another society for the same purpose, supported also
by churchmen, about half as much more, or £900,000 in
twenty-two years. It has solved the problem 'of the safe
and advantageous employment of lay agency in subor-
dination to the ordained ministry, and thus provided
scope. for the labours of many excellent men, the
bone* of whose zeal must otherwise have been lost to

the church. It did not rest satisfied with providing
remuneration for the discharge of certain duties, but
endeavoured to take security that those duties should
really be performed, by the e.nployment of men suited to
the work before them,
.and giving themselves wholly to
that work. In fine, it has been the means of preventing
several millions of. British people from passing through
life 'without ever hearing the. Gospel of Christ; and there
are ample proofs existing in all parts of the country, that
to great numbers of these the Gospel has been the means
of moral and social elevation as well as of spiritual life
to many of them. The committee would only add, that,
in all the benefits conferred by the society, Liverpool has
largely shared ; and. they hope that, at the next anni-
versary, their report may coptain a cheering announcement
of positive progress, instead of a mere negative statement
that there is no-actual decline."
Mr. Lawrence moved that the report be printed and
circulated; and' Mr. Bayne seconded the motion.

Tho Rev. T. Cowan y moved the following resolution :
" That the Church Pastoral Aid Society has powerfully
aided in working out the religion of the Church of
,England at home, and has done good service in making
known the spiritual wants of the people." He believed
that the time was coming when reformation or altera-
tions of no common kind would be made in
the church, but with that the society did not
meddle but would make the best use of the present state
of matters, by working religion where it could be wrought,
and not allow, as some:would, religion to sink till there
would be an outburst of feeling which must bring about
a great reform. The society felt that they dare not play
with the wilds of men in that manner. Changes were
going on daily among the population, but this was not
the case with the churches, for they remained in the old
boundaries, when the population was spreading far and
wide over new districts. The church wanted to be made
pliable ; the church must be made flexible to adapt itself
to the wants of the people. It was to meet that want that
the Pastoral Aid Society had been formed. It had
been so with Englishmen always, and always would be
so. As, in the case of India when the mutiny broke out,
.the men gathered themselves together in little knots, and
resisted ; so, in Liverpool, when a hundred thousand
Irish crowded the streets, little knots of En4Ahmen met
0
together, and built churches for their accommodation.
He continued to observe that when a system was adopted
by the society it wanted means to carry it out, and that
means was 'found among the evangelical body. This
society would not leave the appointment of men for its
work to the Bishop, but they kept a look-out of their
. own. They knew that they had been entrusted with the
money of other people, and they thought they would do
their duty as trustees, and choose the right men to
do the work that was wanted to be done. Long before
the society had been started, there were lay agents
throughout the country, but that society had firmly
established the system. That society had been far more
successful than the Additional Curates' Aid Society,
from that causer and because they had kept the trustee-
ship in their own hands. He then gave a statement of
the manner in which the money of the society had been
expended, and judging the proportion given to Liverpool,
he thought that it should give the society a more liberal
support. He suggested that the best possible means of
getting up the subscriptions would be by five or six active
men, who would take the matter up, and work. it well in
every congregation. He hoped that, on the next year,
they would come forward with a more encouraging state-
ment of what Liverpool had done for the society.
Mr. Cocking, of Birmingham, secondit the reso-
lution, and, in a lengthened speech, giving some
valuable statistical facts with regard to the in-
creased population during the last fifty years, in
which he said London had increased at the rate of 147
per cent., or for every hundred in London 50 years ago
there were now 247. Manchester had been increased by
170 per cent. ; West Reading, 132 ; Birmingham, 216 ;
and Bradford even so much as 700 per cent. He could
not say anything about Liverpool, as he had not seen
what was the population in 1801, but he supposed it was
increased in proportion with the others. He gave as his
reason for mentioning this, that people were so fast
gathering into large cities, that he wished attention
drawn to the fact that there was not sufficient pastoral
attention to be given to the fast increasing demand for
it, Ile then gave an account of the ignorance which
prevailed in the country districts, and the good that had
been done in the place under his immediate care, Ile
concluded amid applause.
Dr. 111'Neile was then called upon to move the no
resolution. He was received, as usual, with great a