The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-09-20 00:00:00

DIOCESE OF CHESTER

CONSECRATIONS.—On the 30th ultimo, the additional
burying-ground of St. John's Church, Workington, in the
county of Cumberland, was consecrated by the Bishop of
Chester ; and on the 4th instant, that of the parish church
of Ulverston, in the county of Lancaster.

BARDSEA NEW. Cnuncm.— The new church of the Holy
Trinity, Bardsea, in the parish of Urswick, in the county
of Lancaster, was consecrated by the Bishop of Chester,
on the sth instant. It was built at the expense of the
Rev. Thomas Edmund Petty, of Wellhouse, in the said
parish, upon a piece of land conveyed by him for that
purpose to Her Majesty's Commissioners for Building
Churches, and has been duly endowed by him with a com-
petent maintenance for the minister, in addition to a
portion of the pew-rents, and with a repair fund. The
patronage has been vested in Mr. Petty, his heirs and
assigns. The church has accommodation for about 230
persons, and 125 of the sittings are set apart as free. The
ground surrounding the church was at the same time con-
secrated as a cemetery or yard to it.

PREFERMENTS.—The Rev. Joseph Bush, late chaplain
to the West Derby Lunatic Asylum, to the vicarage of
Ormskirk, in the county of Lancaster, void by the resig-
nation of the Rev. W. E. Rawstorne, on the presentation
of the Earl of Derby, the patron. Value, £367, with a
house.—The Rev. Coote Charles Mulloy, to the stipendiary
curacy of St. Peter's Church, Newton-in-Mackerfield, in
the county of Lancaster, on the nomination of the Rev.
Peter Legh, the incumbent.

VisiTiTios.—The Bishop of Chester held a Visitation
on Wednesday last, at the parish church of Nantwich, of
the clergy of the deaneries of Nantwich and Middlewich ;
on Thursday, at Macclesfield, of the clergy of the deanery
of Macclesfield, and part of the deanery of Frodsham ;
and on Friday, at the parish church of St. Peter, in Liver-
pool, of the clergy of the deanery of Warrington, par-
ticulars of which will be found in our columns.—
Yesterday and to-day his lordship would hold Visitations
of the clergy of the deaneries of Chester, and Malpas, and
Wirrall, and part of Frodsham respectively.
_ _

ORDINATION.—The examinationaof candidates for ordi-
nation, by the Bishop of Chester, on the 25th instant, will
commence at the palace, on Thursday next, at ten o'clock.
CONFIRMATIONS.—To-morrow week, the 26th instant,
the Bishop of Chester will resume his Confirmations
through the remainder of his diocese. The order on that
and the succeeding days will be as follows :-26th, Chester,
St. Mary's, eleven a.m., and Backford, three p.m. ; 27th,
Chester, St. John's, eleven a.m., and Pulford, three p.m. ;
28th, Birkenhead, eleven a.m.

TRIENN_TAL VISITATION OF TAT,
BISHOP OF THE DIOCESE.

TnE Lord Bishop of Cheiter held his triennial visitation
for this portion of his diocese on Friday, in St. Peter's
Church. The usual morning service, which commenced at
eleven o'clock, was read by the Rev. Augustus Campbell,
senior rector. The sermon was preached by the Rev. Jno.
Jones, M.A., of Waterloo, rural dean. He selected for his
text the concluding verse of the fourth chapter of St.
Paul's Ist Epistle to Timothy :—" Take heed unto thyself,
and to the doctrine. Continue in them ; for in doing so,
thou shalt both save thyself and them that hear thee."
In the course of his sermon, the reverend gentleman al-
luded feelingly to the losses sustained by the Church since
the last visitation ; and then, addressing the younger cler-
gymen, he urged on them the necessity of attending to
the discharge of their duties,—not with a perfunctory and
merely routine application, but to enter into them with
heartfelt energy and vigour. He was urgent against
growing careless, through familiarity with their daily mi-
nistrations ; and expressed a hope that no pride of learning
would be permitted to lead them from the true sphere of
their duty ; but that they would, by constant watchfulness
and prayer, prove themselves to be not only good ministers
but good citizens, remembering that the mere office does
not sanctify the man. " Like priest, like people," was an
old saying; and they would do well to remember, that the
conduct of the congregation depended in no small degree
upon that of the priest. At considerable length he im-
pressed on his hearers the necessity of taking the scriptures
as the sole ground of faith, and rule of life,—as the best
safeguard against all errors of doctrine.—At the conclusion
of the sermon, the names of the clergy were read over by
Mr. J. W. Parry, the bishop's secretary, when about 200
answered.

The Bishop then observed that he had next to read his
charge to them ; ant, although he hoped it would not be
found a very long and tedious one, yet still it would be
extremely inconvenient for them to stand in the chancel
while he delivered it. If it was agreeable to them to re-
sume their seats in the body of the church, he would go
to the reading-desk. The suggestion was complied with,
and his lordship began :—My dear brethren, in meeting
you officially again, I wish to express my grateful sense of
the kindness which I have continued to receive from you
during the time that has intervened since my former
visitation. Such proofs of kindness and confidence on
your part make the duty light on me ; but what most
lightens my task and cheers my heart, is the zeal which
you manifest in fulfilling your sacred charge, and the con-
cord with which you co-operate for the great work of your
Christian ministry. I bore happy testimony to this union
and concord when I visited you before, and my subsequent
experience has confirmed the sentiments which I then
expressed. So long as we continue thus diligent and thus
united, we may confidently hope that, under God's bless-
ing, the church will retain and strengthen its hold on
the affections and hearts of the people. Amongst other
proofs of the zealous devotion of the clergy to their duties,
I may especially mention that which has been afforded to
me in the long course of my visits for confirmation. The
behaviour of the candidates on those occasibns has not
only been marked by a sedateness and decorum of manner
suitable to the occasion, but, I venture to think, by some-
thing more than this—by a reverential interest in the
performance of the ordinance. This, under the blessing
of God's grace, can only be ascribed to the great dili-
gence which the clergy everywhere have used in pre-
paring and instructing the candidates, and impressing
them with a real sense of the importance of that step
in their Christian life. With regard to the children of
the poorer classes, I am willing to think that the clergy
are gradually finding the labour of preparation light, by
the effect of education in the parochial schools. The re-
ligious knowledge imparted there is a groundwork on
which the clergyman may found such more extended in-
struction as the occasion requires. There are at least the
ideas upon which he can proceed to work. In my notices
of confirmation, I have mentioned fifteen years of age as a
suitable limit, below which candidates should not in or-
dinary cases be received ; but, as I have received many
letters on that point, I wish it to be understood that this
is a rule to which the clergy are at liberty to make such
exceptions as they, in their discretion, may think fit. A
very general and very proper feeling on this point is, that
candidates should have attained such an age as fits them
for following up their confirmation by presenting them-
selves as communicants at the Sacrament of the Lord's
Supper. Provided that a due regard be had to this con-
sideration, I do not think that a rigid adherence to a nu-
merical limit of the age should exclude candidates who
fully comprehend the nature of the ordinance and earnestly
desire to be admitted to it. When I addressed you on
my former visitation, I directed your attention to two
subjects of great practical importance—the extension of
church accommodation for the people, and the extension
of education for the children of the poor. lam happy to
say that in both these directions a cheering progress has
been, and continues to be, made. Since my former visita-
tion, nineteen new churches have been consecrated in the
diocese ; five others, already complete in their structure,
are open for Divine service by license until the necessary
preliminaries for consecration are settled ; eight previously
existing churches have been entirely rebuilt, in most of
the cases with a large increase of accommodation ; others
have been restored, enlarged, or improved in their in-
ternal arrangements ; nine more new churches, at least,
are actually now in the course of erection. All this has
been mainly accomplished by the voluntary liberality and
Christian zeal of individuals, aided in some .ases by
grants from the Incorporated Society for. Building New
Churches, and other old diocesan societies, namely,
the Society for Building new Churches populousin
rural
towns, and the Chapel Building Society for districts.
In my former visitation I took the oPPorttunt' of ear-
neetly recommending thee* ameties to your furOurable