The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-05-16 00:00:00

PRINCE ALBERT AND • THE CLERGY.

The festival of the sons of the clergy took place in St.
Paul's Cathedral, London, on Wednesday. Prince Albert
attended, and, after a sermon by the Archbishop of Can-
terbury, a collection was made amounting to £960.

In the evening a dinner took. place,-a.eeording to cus-
tom, in the fine hall of the Merchant Ilailors Company.
Upwards of 450 noblemen, prelates, diviiies, and laymen
sat down to table. The• Lord Mayor presided, and the
Prince Consort honoured the company with his presence.
In acknowledging the. toast—" His. Royal Highness
Prince Albert, the royal, steward of theear, Albert, Prince
of Wales, and the rest of the Roy& Family"—Prince
Albert said—My Lord Mayor, allow me to return you, on
my own behalf and on.that of the royal family, my best
thanks for the manner in which you have proposed our
healths, and to your- gentlemen, for the cordial response
which you have made to the toast I am, indeed, highly
gratified to have been,a witness to the 200th anniversary
of the festival, testifyingt as it does, that the people of
this country do not relax in efforts which they have once
undertaken, and do .not forsake-the spirit which animated
their forefathers., 'When our aneesters purified the Chris-
tain faith and shook. off the yoke of a domineering priest-
hood, they felt that the keystone of that wonderful fabric
which had grown:tip in the dark times of the middle 'ages
was the celibacy of the clergy, and shrewdly foresaw that
their -reformed faith and newly-won religious liberty
would, on thacontrary, only be secure in the hands of a
clergy united with the people by every sympathy—national.
personal, and. domestic, Gentlemen, this nation had en-
joyed for-300 years. the blessing of a church establishment

which rests.upon this basis, and cannot be too grateful for
the advantages afforded by the fact that the Christian
ministers not only preach the doctrines of Christianity,
but Dye. among their congregations, an example for the
discharge of evefy Christian duty as husbands, fathers,
and masters of families—themselves capable of fathoming
the• whole depth of human feelings, desires, and difficulties.
While we must gratefully acknowledge that they have, as
a body, worthily fulfilled this high and difficult task, we
must bear in mind that we deny them an equal participa-
tion in one of the actuating motives of life—the one which
among the " children of this generation" exercises, per-
haps of necessity, the strongest influence—l mean the
desire for the acquisition and accumulation of the goods of
this world. Gentlemen, the appellation of " a money-
making parson" is not only a reproach, but a condemna-
tion for a clergyman, depriving him at once of all influence
over his congregation. Yet this man, who has to shun
opportunities for acquiring wealth, open to most of us,
and who has himself only an often scanty life-income
allotted to him for his services, has a wife and children
like ourselves, and we wish bim to have the same solici-
i tude for their welfare which we feel for our own. Are we

not bound, relieVe his mind
from anxiety, and to preserve his children from destitution
when it shall have pleased the Almighty to remove bin
from the scene of his labours ? You have given an answer
in the affirmative by your presence here to-day, and,
although this institution can do materially but little,
morally it gives a public recognition of the claims which
the sons of the clergy have upon the sympathy and libe-
rality of the community at large, and, as such, is of the
greatest value. May it continue for further hundreds of
years as a bond of union between clergy and laity, and on
each recurring centenary may it find the nation ever ad-
vancing in prosperity, civilisation, and piety. I have
received permission from the Lord Mayor to propose the
healths of his Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury and
the Right Hon. Lord Denman, the president and vice-
president of the Corporation of the Sons of the Clergy.
Lord Denman is unfortunately obliged to be absent on
this occasion, but the Archbishop of Canterbury we have
the pleasure of seeing at this table. I beg to propose his
good health, and, if you will allow me to be your spokes-
man, I beg to return his grace our warmest thanks for
the very eloquent and feeling sermon which he preached
this day in St. Paul's Cathedral.—The Archbishop acknow-
ledged the toast.
The treasurer read the financial report, which announced
that his royal highness had contributed 100 guineas, that
talmteonnllt3insg ttewoar3,soo,of the festival had handed in the lists
that the collection at the cathedral
doors was £690, that the subscriptions at the dinner gave
a sum of £3,145, that an estimated sum of £3,600 might be
added as the proceeds of sermons preached in aid of the
funds, that the Dowager Lady Willoughby de Broke had
given a donation of £5OO, and that the receipt for the
year W 0414 KOWA to £12,050,