The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-10-27 00:00:00

CHURCH PASTORAL AID SOCIETY.

The following report of the speech of the Rev. Hugh
M`Neile at Bristol, on Tuesday, in aid of this valuable
society, we take -from the Bristol Mirror.
The rev. gentleman, referring to the terms and tone of
the preceding resolution, said—lt invited them to humble
themselves before -God ; it invited them to look at His
dealings with them ; it called them to a penitential state
of mind, and from that position, where alone a fallen
creature could gather strength, it invited them to rise up
and serve Him mole faithfully, more devotedly. There
were' two sorts of sorrow spoken of in scripture. The
sorrow of the world which worked unto death, and a
godly sorrow which worked repentance unto salvation, not
to be repented of. They should learn that their present
afflictions, which are but for a moment, worked for them si
far more exceeding and eternal weight of,glory, when they
were looking not to the things which were seen, but to the
things which were not seen. The rev. speaker proceeded
to say that there was nothing existing upon earth in which
evil was not mixed with the good. A national establish-
ment and endowment of religion was a good, a great
duty on the part -of a government, a great blessing to a
-country. But it was not an unmixed good. Where
in such a world could they find one? It tended to pro-
duce an evil and a very serious one. It had caused this
country for many years to consider that the ordinances
of religion were matters with which no persons had
any concern to procure or supply; that it was a matter
for the state entirely; that it was the duty of govern.
ment to supply churches and ministers; and English-
men had grown up with the feeling that there was no
necessity for their doing anything individually, since it
was all done, or ought to be done, by the state.
The national church was national only in name;—
it had ceased to be national in its character. Its
power of expansion was not adequate to meet the growing
wants of the population. What had been the result ?
While the state, by the operation of extraneous elements,
bad been prevented making national grants, the people of
this country, long used to have the means of grace provided
for them, had not awakened to the necessity of providing
for themselves. Therefore the members of the church of
England, its proportion to their wealth and numbers, had
done less, by means of voluntary contributions, than any
others. The Church Pastoral Aid Society had come at the
right crisis to invite them to do what was their duty.
Suppose no Dissenters had arisen,no Romanists,tbat there
had been no clamour to open the legislature to such people,
and the legislature had remained as a body of churchmen,
into which no man could be admissible who had not re-
ceived the communion of the English Church, there
would have been no difficulty in obtaining grants from
the legislature to build churches and supply pastors, and
they would not have to be called upon to make efforts, and
voluntary exertion would have been required only for dis-
tant countries. But the demand of the Church for rigid
uniformity had estranged thousands of valuable men from
her pale. The stringent provisions of the Act of Uniformity
had deprived 3000 parishes in England of faithful pastors.
It was impossible but that dissent must grow up after such
a proceeding. If the managers of their National Church,
at that time; had been wise enough to perceive that there
might be unity without conformity ; that men might work
together for a great object, without all doing so in the same
way ; that men might love one another without being like
one another ; that hearts might beat together when
countenances would- not measure together ; that there
might be co-operation without similarity—if they learnt
this they would have known how to deal with enthusiasts
without driving them out of the pale. Thefact, however was
that dissent had grown up in. the land, and the National
Church was national only in name ; they could pot disguise
the fact. All that now remained was to strive, if it was yet
possible, by individual liberality, to keep up even an ap-
pearance of nationality about .her. If they were deter-
mined to have a National Church, they must put their
shoulders to the wheel, and their hands in their pockets.
If the church was to be maintained tbey must do it. Par-
liament would not. Parliament was a mongrel set of
Papists, Socinians, and all sorts of Dissenters. There
were men in it who loved the Church, and men who hated
it ; men who respected it, and men who detested it. All
were mingled together, and the enemies of religion were
louder than its friends. Good and respectable men had
characters to lose, and therefore acted with something
like moderation, but there was a generation who had no
character to lose, and therefore cared not what they said.
Such a Parliament they had and must have. It would
prove worse rather than better, and therefore they could
expect no endowment for the Church from Parliament.
The reverend gentleman then went on to speak on the
topic of lay agency. He fully agreed with the remarks of
the chairman on that subject. There ought to be a
stated and regularly ordained ministry, whose sacred
office it was to administer the sacraments in the church,
a doctrine and view of duty) which was according
to scripture, and ought ever to be maintained. The
idea graduall and erroneously came to be entertained
that the lay embers of the church were not to instruct
their neighbours, and fellow countrymen, and fellow
sinners. Not only was there no valid objections to this,
but he considered it to be the duty of Christian laymen
to preach the gospel. He wanted not only lay agency, but
female agency. He wished that the ladies would take ex-
ample from the Romanists; they sent their Sisters of
Mercy to the dwellings of the poor, with their little
douceurs of tea and sugar, for the purpose of more readily
insinuating the subtle poison of their principles. He ur-
gently pressed upon Protestant ladies, the young ladies
especially, to go to the dwellings of the poor, and whilst
they ministered to their spiritual, not to neglect their tem-
poral wants. It was so easy to take little luxuries from
their own table, in their baskets and reticules, which
would be most gratefully received. Of all the enjoyments
man was capable of there was no thrill of such ecstatic
rapture as that which arose from the consciousness of do-
ing good to others. Bad as they were that was still left
in them. Fallen as they were that yet remained in man.
The secret satisfaction of seeing happiness conferred on
another far exceeds anything which they ever had or ever
could desire from selfish gratification. Mr. Mc. Neile
further urged upon ladies not to neglect the spiritual wel-
fare of their servants.

OPENING OF THE PORTS.-SCARCITY AND
DEARTH OF FOOD.

The Provost of Pollokshaws has received the following
letter, acknowledging the receipt of the memorial of the
inhabitants of that burgh to Lord John Russell, praying
for the opening of the ports, and prohibition of distilla-
tion from grain
:
Downing-street, 16th October, 1846.
am desired by Lord John Russell to acknow-
ledge the receipt of your letter of the 25th ult., and of the
memorial of the inhabitants of Polkabaws which accom-
panied it.
Lord John Russell is deeply sensible of the calamity
which now presses so severely on the poorer classes of
the United Kingdom, owing to the almost total failure of
the potato crop ; but he trusts that the measures which
the Government will adopt, and the exertions of pro-
prietors on their own estates, will tend very greatly to
mitigate the distress.
I have also been instructed to inform you, that it is not
the intention of government to prohibit the distillation
from grain.—l have the honour to be, Sir, your obedient
servant, (Signed) R. W. GREY;
William Hector, Esq., Provost of Pollokshaws.