The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-11-24 00:00:00

CHESTER DIOCESAN SOCIETY FOR BUILDING

CHURCHES

We have great pleasure in inserting the following circular,
which has emanated from the Committee of the Chester
Diocesan Society for Building Churches in the Manufacturing
Districts of Lancashire and Cheshire :
Sir,—The circumstances in which the Chester Diocesan
Society for building Churches and Chapels is placed, are at
this moment so peculiar, both with regard to the greatness
of the work to be done, and the inadequacy of the means for
doing it ; that we feel it to be our duty to bring them before
you in a more close and urgent form than has been hitherto
attempted. If the character of the present appeal therefore
differs in any respect from those which from time to time are
made to the Christian benevolence of the great and affluent;
we can only refer to the wants which it has been our lot to
ascertain, and which having ascertained, it is our duty to
bring forward, and to press upon public attention.
The society was formed in 1835. The sanction under
which it was proposed, and the objects which it was intended
to relieve, insured to it from the first the patronage of the
most distinguished individuals in the diocese; and the
economy and impartiality with which its funds have been
employed, have secured to it the approbation and support
of those who have had the best opportunities of watching its
operations.

The original plan of the society invited donations and sub-
scriptions in aid of the proposed object ; and it was hoped,
that donations proceeding from those, whose hearts God
should open from time to time to consider the wants of the
church, together with the annual income arising from stated
subscriptions, would raise an income corresponing with the
greatness of the call, and the importance of the measure con-
templated.

The committee do' not feel themselves justified in com-
plaining of the inadequacy of the supply that their funds
have met with. They rather believe that the disproportion
in supply arose from the extent in which the real want ex-
ceeded the expectation of the public ; and also from the diffi-
culty that is always felt in conveying to the whole body of
proprietors clear and sufficient statements of the destitution
under which the country labours. They deem it, therefore,
a subject of grateful acknowledgment, that they have been
able to see nearly £23,000 raised for the general purposes of
the society ; that they are able to say, that 26 churches, con-
taining 19,000 sittings, have been built, and are actually in.
use ; to the building or endowment of which they have sup-
plied the sum of £17,000, and the erection of most of which
must be ascribed to the interest excited, and to the assistance
given by the society, They can state, with the same feelings
of grateful acknowledgment, that ten other churches, calcu-
lated for 5700 sittings, are in progress, and will probably be
completed within the year; to which they have contributed,
or ate under engagements for, £5200 more. _ _ _

But the work which has been done is merely a fraction of
that which is to be accomplished. The insight that has been
gained into the condition of the manufacturing districts ; they
may add, the experience that bas been obtained, in the good
effects they have been permitted to witness resulting from
the churches already built and opened, compel them to de-
clare, that a great increase of exertion is required; and that
much must be done, and done without delay, if the duty
which we owe to God and to our fellow creatures is to be
acknowledged and fulfilled.

The committee having resolved to limit the grants that
they made to the means placed at their disposal, trust that
they shall be able to answer all their present engagements
without difficulty.

But in the mean time the wants of the diocese are pressing ;
an increase of not less than 40,000 souls is annually added to
the population ; and it seems absolutely necessary that some
immediate expedient should be devised in order to raise the
means for the supply of their spiritual necessities.
Of the various resources that have been contemplated,
there is none which seems so obvious as that of making a
fresh appeal to the benevolence and Christian feelings of the
public, on the ground of what has been already done and. of
the information which has been collected ; and of asking for
subscriptions on a scale better adapted to the amount of the
necessities which are to be relieved.

An appeal of this kind was made in the year 1837, to the
inhabitants of Liverpool, on behalf of the general purposes
of the society. On that occasion an hundred individuals
pledged themselves to give fifty pounds each ; and the sum
of X5OOO was raised by single effort.
By taking a wider circle, by extending a similar appeal to
the proprietors in the counties of Lancashire and Cheshire,
it is hoped that a number of persons might be found, who
under a deep conviction of the importance of the object,
would pledge themselves to the annual payment of a sum
bearing some proportion to the exigencies of the case, or to
their own stated expenditure ; and who would consent to be
considered subscribers to that amount.

The committee feel the difficulty there is in naming a
standard of subscription applicable to all, where the appeal
is addressed to persons whose circumstances are so widely
different. They beg leave therefore to refer to the printed
list of subscribers, and to direct attention to the few which
seem to approach the rate that it is desirable to establish.
Not one of those who give the most have felt that they have
given too much. On the contrary, the committee do not
hesitate to state their conviction, that the only regret felt
by their most liberal benefactors has been for the inadequacy
of the sums contributed, when they were compared with the
greatness of the wants to be relieved.

If the Society, for which the appeal is made, were a novel
and unknown institution, the committee might have felt that
they were presuming too much on the confidence of the pub-
lie in asking for such support in such a form of address as the
present. They would have thought it necessary to give in-
formation as to its operations by public meetings, and would
have endeavoured to substantiate its claims by statements
and argument. But they cannot think that these measures
are needed now, and they are unwilling to allow the waste of
time and labour which they imply. They feel that it is more
consistent with the position which the Society•holds in public
estimation, with the urgent nature of the wants to be relieved,
and with the known character of the persons to whom the
address is made, to adopt a simpler and less circuitous plan.
They wish to bring before the enlightened and benevolent
proprietors of these counties, the state of a million and a
half of their countrymen and neighbours. They wish to name
the necessity of making sacrifices to a larger amount than
have been yet required, in order to meet the peculiar demands
of the population; and to press for an immediate decision
where the eternal welfare of multitudes is at stake. They
are compelled to see that occasional contributions will not
answer the purpose, where the demand for assistance is con-
tinual ; and if the amount of subscription, which they feel it
to be their duty to ask, shall involve sonic personal or do-
mestic self-denial, they do not hesitate to say that such self-
denial may be amply re-paid by the strength given to public
security ; and will be more than re-paid in the comfort it will
afford hereafter.

We take the liberty of stating that a copy of this appeal is
to be forwarded to those individuals whose character and
wealth seem to render them the proper objects of such an
application; and we trust that we may be permitted to add
your name to the list of subscribers, which will now be
opened under this plan at the following Banking-houses :
Messrs. Williams, Granville, and Co., Chester ; the Bank of
Liverpool ; the Liverpool Commercial Bank ; and Messrs.
Lloyd, Jones, and Co., Manchester. The Subscriptions
will be considered payable for the current year, 1840 ; and we
beg leave respectfully, but earnestly, to solicit an answer to
the present application before the end of November next.
By order of the Committee,
Hc..
\Rv.ALIKAEwS,
'RENCE. Secretaries.
Liverpool, Sept. 14, 1840. ,

CASES OF DESTITUTION ACTUALLY EXISTING.
Church
Population Aecommodation
Roytod 7000
Lees 5500
Shaw .. B000
Oldham
Hollinwood 6600
Stockport 35000
Staley Bridgel
Dukenfielel. ..I' • • • MC*
Heaton 'Norris .... 1200
Cheadle