The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-03-15 00:00:00

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, MARCH 15, 1853.

1161 6 0

"The only other point which need be touched upon in
this report, is the present relative position of two of the
above-mentioned societies.
" An alliance has just been formed between the Irish
Society and the Irish Church Missions, with the view of
obviating any danger of mutual embarrassment or incon-
venience, either in their missionary or financial operations.
With regard to missionary operations, the Irish Society
will, for the future, confine itself to the province of
Munster as its sphere of labour, while the Irish Church
Missions undertake to occupy the remaining three pro-
vinces of Leinster, Ulster, and Connaught. With regard
to financial arrangements, the Irish Society has consented
to make no further public appeal for funds in Great
Britain, on condition of a certain stipulated amount being
remitted to them annually from the Church Missions
Society.

" Your committee rejoice in this concordat ; not only
because of the Christian spirit evinced by the committees
of both those societies in bringing it about, the proof of
real harmony amongst us, which it must convey to the
public mind, and the increased efficiency which will, no
doubt, result from it to both their operations, but also for
the local reason, that it will enable the Protestants of
Liverpool to concentrate their energies, and pour forth
their contributions towards the direct work of evangelising
Ireland through one great channel.
" Had this meeting been called to separate the long
connection which has subsisted between the Irish Society
and the town of Liverpool under any other circumstances
than the present, your Committee would have met their
friends with feelings of the deepest regret. That society
has been made the honoured instrument for breaking up
the fallow ground, and sowing plenteously amongst the
Roman Catholics of Ireland the incorruptible seed of
God's Word. The devoted men who established it, and
the equally devoted men:who have been for so many years
carrying it on, bore the burden and heat of the day.
Their's was the arduous, and from man thankless, work,
of trying a new experiment in the face of almost insupera-
ble difficulties. Through evil report and good report,
against the shock of opposing foes, and the still more dis-
heartening coldness of friends, they steadily pursued their
course, trusting in the arm of the mighty God of Jacob.
And that arm has never failed them. They have seen, and
do see, the fruit of their labours ; and now that the harvest
is becoming too abundant for them alone to gather, they
gladly welcome the powerful assistance which God has
raised up for them in a younger society ; and they care
not who may divide the spoils, so long as the strong
man's castle is stormed and his captives delivered.

" Your Committee have always felt it a great privilege
to be instrumental in supporting such a noble society; and
in terminating, as they now do, under the circumstances
stated, their direct connection with it, they desire to ex-
press, in their own name and in yours, their sense of the
wisdom, perseverance, and zeal with which it has hitherto
been conducted, and their earnest hope that the blessing
of God may still continue to rest upon it in rich abun-
dance, carrying it on to still further conquests, and making
its efforts help forward still more effectually than ever
the real and only possible regeneration of Ireland.
"In conclusion, your Committee would earnestly entreat
you not to relax your efforts in this great cause, but
rather to increase them largely. In the Irish Church
Missions, which will occupy amongst us the position
hitherto held by the Irish Society, an agency is presented
to you which has already been wonderfully blessed, and
whose past history, though a short one, is sufficient to
inspire perfect confidence in the conducting of its opera-
tions. May a double measure of Elijah's spirit and a
double measure of Elijah's success rest upon Elisha ;
and while for the former the new society can only
look directly to God alone, for the latter may it
be indebted, financially at least, to its Liverpool auxiliary,
even much more than ever was the old original Irish
Society."
The Rev. PROFESSOR FOLEY, M.A., and the Rev.
ALEXANDER DALLAS, M.A., respectively moved and
seconded a resolution, in which the meeting pledged them-
seves to support the united societies. In their lengthened
speeches they furnished the most gratifying evidence of
the progress of the Reformation in Ireland.
The Rev. CHAIRMAN delivered a few eloquent remarks,
after which he pronounced the benediction, and at ten
o'clock the proceedings terminated.

we append the amounts of the several collections made
on Sunday at the churches where sermons were preached
on behalf of the Irish Society :—St. Michael's, Pitt-
street, £7 ; St. Jude s, £2O ; St. Silas's, £33 ; and St.
Paul's, Prince's Park, £95.

We regret that we are unable to find space for the more
extended report of the speeches at this interesting meet-
ing. which we had prepared.