The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-11-16 00:00:00

THE PROCESSION.

At about a quarter to eleven o'clock, the procession moved
'rom the Town-hall in the following order, along the west
oot-walk of Castle-street :
Police•-officers to clear the way.
Four Parish Constables in dark brown,
with red collars.
The Blue Coat School Boys.
The Regalia, carried by the Sub-Bailiffs.
The Water Bailiff and others.
The Sergeant at Mace.
The Sword Bearer.
The MAYOR, in a black gown, and bearing the white
wand , supported by the two Rectors.
The TOWN-CLERK and his DEPUTY.
The REv. J. B. MONK and T. G. LEIGH,
of St. George's Church.
MEMBERS OF THE COUNCIL.
A long line of gentlemen
- - - -

t was intended, we believe, that the parties should walk

foor and four ' • but such was the crowd of anxious spectators
throughout the route, that it was impossible to preserve such
an arrangement, and we uoticed rows of from two to five,
the average being probably about three. It was, therefore,
impossible to count the whole number who walked with ac-
curacy, but, making the fairest possible computation, they
may be stated at considerably above five hundred gentlemen.

The procession reached the tun length of Castle-street.
Amongst the members of the council present we observed,
Messrs. Robertson Gladstone, T. Sands, Richd. Houghton,
Raymond Houghton, John Holmes, James Moon, James
Lawrence, Jos. Cooper, H. Copeland, C. Bushell, R. Rigby,
E. Rae, Jas. Parker, T. Toulmin, J. Aspinall, D. Hodgson,
Isaac Holmes, Richd. Ilarbord, 11. and J. Holmes, William
Preston, Robt. Jones, H. R. Sandbach, James Proctor, Rd.
Griffiths, J. Edwards, William Shuttleworth, B. Ellis, and
others.
Amongst the gentlemen not of the council we noticed,
the Rev. F. Moss, of Walton, Sir T. Brancker, Dr. Brand-
reth, Sir G. Drinkwater, Lieut.-Col. Sir Ewd. ust, Messrs.
John and D. Maddock, Lieut. Vickers, Gist Regiment, John
Wright, R. Dawson and Son, S. Stainforth, S. Sandbach,
M. D. Lowndes, T. B. Horsfall, Rt. Horsfall, Charles
Horsfall, Robt. Birkett, T. Moss, J. A. Kaye, J. Mawdsley,
Rawson, J. D. Case, Wm. Dixon, Rt. Heywood, Charles
Turner, N. Robinson, T. Muncaster, Samuel Holmes, P.
Wright, E. G. Deane, Myers (2), G. Dyson, P. Leather,
Riehd. Leyland, C. Bullen, F. Shand, Jas. Lawrence, Geo.
Ormerod, W. Shand, Chas. Okill, T. Tobin, and many other
distinguished individuals of the town and neighbourhood.

As the procession moved onwards down the south side of
,ord street, the congregated masses of well-dressed indivi-

duals, including many ladies, became more a •d more dense,
and the whole of Church street and considerable length of

,s approaches from_the northward, were so densly crowded,

that it was with difficulty that space could be made for its
comfortable passage to the caurch, the yard of which was
surrounded on all sides by multitudes of spectators. The

greatest respect was manifested throughout, towards the
whole train ; with the most decorous absence of all cheering
or demonstration of peculiar political opinion, either in the
streets or from the windows of the houses. It was, indeed,
a glorious revival of Christian feeling, altogether devoid of
intolerence which excited no little enthusiasm in the bosoms
of the friends of the trne churchmen, and roused no un-
pleasant feelings even in those who dissent from her
doctrines.
There are some interesting historical and local reminiscenes
which the occasionn was calculated to call forth. The sacred
edifice to which the procession advanced to offer up the
prayers, was the second parish church in the town—finished
and consecrated in 1704, shortly after Liverpool was made a
distinct parish from Walton, St. Nicholas's (the only m.her
church) having up to 1699 been merely a chapel of ease under
the church of Walton-on-the Hill. At that period the
" pool," which formed a little creek on the site of the old
dock, and now of the Custom House, and was called the
" Sea Lake," ran up on the site of Paradise street, White-
chapel, and Byrom street, to the bottom of Dale street, and
Show's Brow, then called "Townsend." There was a
bridge, or mound with a small archway and sluice at the
bottom of the pool below near the site of Cooper's Row.
and another at Townsend on the road to Prescot. A bridge
had also been built in 1672 at the bottom of Lord street,
leading to a " road over the common," (now Church street)
on the east bank, but this had fallen into desuetude
and on the rmains of it now stands the shop of Mr.
Gillham, the hatter. Till a considerable number of years
after the building of St. Peter's Church, the mayor and
corporation were wont on going to worship within its walls,
to be ferried across from Lord-street, a distance of about 200
feet. The whole space thus covered by water was upwards
of 50 statute acres, and now redeemed from the sea, forms
the site of several of our best thoroughfares. The Blue Coat
Hospital (in behalf of which the collection made on Sunday
last is appropriated) was established only four years after the
building of the church. The town then contained under
10,000 inhabitants, and a comparatively insignificant amount
of shipping in small craft. It is a proud reflection that the
" good old town" fostered in its commerce and enterprise by
a protestant government and protestant institutions, has, in
little more than a century, risen to her present magnitude—
second only to the metropolis itself in maritime importance,
and yielding to none in enterprise and intelligence.
THE SERVICE.
The church, as might be expected, was crowded to excess,
many parties—including not a few of those who had joined
the procession—being unable to obtain admittance. A con-
siderable number, in consequence, went to St. George's
Church, where an excellent sermon was preached by the
Rev. Mr. Monk, and Handel's coronation anthem was sung
in commemmoration of the birth of the infant Prince.
After prayers (at St. Peter's) the Rev. Jonathan Brooks,
senior Rector, ascended the pulpit, and delivered the follow-

SERMON.
144th Psalm, verse 12

" That our sons may be as plants grown up in their youth;
that our daughters may be as corner stones, polished after
the similitude of a palace,"
Or as it is expressed in the version of our Prayer Book—
" That our sons may grow up as the young plants : and
that our daughters may be as the polished corners of the
temple."
There is no part of the sacred writings better• calculated to
minister to the improvement and to the edification of mankind,
than the book of Psalms. It abounds with those instructions
which are of so much value to man, for securing his improve-
ment in virtue and knowledge, for the advancement of his
piety, and for the confirming of his faith. Do we wish to
discern the difference between wisdom and folly, between
holiness and sin ; would we be alive to the consequences to
which they respectively and inevitably lead, would we have
our joy and gratitude awakened by a lively display of the
goodness of God, and the wonders which he is continually
doing for the children of men ; and would we have our sor-
rows soothed amidst the vicissitudes and clouds of life, by
the contemplation of his mercy, would we trace the redemp-
tion of man from the first advent of the glorious Redeemer
to the scene of his last sufferings, and carry our view forward
to his final triumph at the great consummation of all things
—we can find these circumstances presented to us in a form
so perspicuous and so attractive, that they cannot fail, when
diligently studied and rightly understood, to interest the
affections, and to reach the heart. They present an inex-
haustible variety of the noblest matters that can engage our
attention. " Calculated" says one of their ablest commen-
tators "alike to profit and to bless, they inform the under •
standing, and they elevate the heart. Indited under the
influence of Him to whom all hearts are open, and all events
foreknown, they suit all kinds in all stations, grateful as the
manna which decended from above, and conformed itself to