The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-07-13 00:00:00

THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND SCHOOLS.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STrIND.4RD,
Slll,--I am very sorry to learn that there is to be no pub-
ic meeting this year in aid of " the Church of England
School Society," and no public protest against the anti-
bible system of education, introduced into this town by our
liberal, popish, and dissenting Town-council. I am, quite at a.
loss how to account for this. Surely our clergy are not be-
coming lukewarm in the cause ? Surely they are still alive
to the best interests of the rising generation, and still see the
necessity of lifting up their voice like a trumpet, to show
the people the sin of giving any countenance or support to
the introduction of a system into the seminaries of our youth,
(under the specious plea of blending all shades of differences
in one harmonious whole, and grafting on the sectarian
spirit of the age, that boasted unanimity, which, it is
avowed, liberal principles and enlightened reason will pro-
duce,) which excludes God's holy word. These are no times
for the watchmen, on the walls of our Zion, to slumber at
their posts, for the enemy is at the gate, and is sapping the
very foundations of our time-hallowed institutions. The
united forces of liberalism, infidelity, and popery, are sur-
rounding our citadel; and shall our clergy, the men who
have solemnly pledged themselves to "be ready to drive and
banish away all false doctrine contrary to God's word, shall
they blush 'at their posts ?" Oh! sir, it was while man
slept that the enemy came and sowed tares amongst
the wheat; and while our clergy are cold and indif-
ferent, the enemy is sowing the seeds of liberalism and irre-
ligion: therefore, I feel, with many others, quite disappoint-
ed and grieved, that those heart-stirring meetings which we
have witnessed for the last two years, are not to be continued
annually. It is now becoming a national question whether
the poor are in future to have a scriptural or anti-scriptural
system of education : therefore, not only should the clergy
of Liverpool, but the clergy throughout the length and
breadth of the land, rise up as one man, and protest against
it. I hope, then, our Rectors (for they, of course, ought to
take the lead in Liverpool,) will see the necessity of sticking
true to their colours. Let their motto be, "No surrender,"
no tampering with the enemy, no compromise, no falling
back. But alas! I have my Tears, though I am willing to
hope the best, for our clergy in general are too luke-warm,
too modest, too retiring. This will not do in these times.
But, thank God, there are a few honourable exceptions—the
Irish clergy are bold and determined soldiers. Oh, that we
lead more M'Neiles, more McGhees, more Greggs—if our
English clergy had the energy or zeal of these men, with
God's blessing, we should have nothing to fear for our dear
country; we might then smile at all the rage of our enemies;
our beloved church would then maintain her standing as the
bnlwark of our land, "fair as the moon, clear as the sun, and
terrible as an enemy with banners:" the children of the poor
would not be robbed of their undoubted birthright, the unmu-
tilated word of God; but the enemy would be driven back,
and "peace and happiness, truth and justice, religion and
piety would be established amongst us." But if our clergy
will not stir themselves, the enemy will make advances upon
us—the affections of the people will be alienated from our
echutrich—erngiceinoeursaptirainn_cipalneasrweb3,
ill.beeeinnnstfialileend intoand the minds
fie rising
will cover our once happy land, and Godjwill give us up as a
nation for ever.

Yours, &c.,

CANDOUR.

LONDON SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING

TIANITY AMONGST THE JEWS,

The friends of this society, resident in Warrington and its
neighbourhood, held theirannual meeting in the St. James's
Sunday School-room, Latchford, on Wednesday evening.
The Rev. James Wright, incumbent of Latchford, was
unanimously called to the chair. After the meeting had
been opened with singing and prayer,
- The Rev. C. T. QUIRK proceeded to move the first re-
solution. After pointing out the great good resulting from
conversion, and the interest which all Christians ought to
feel in converting the Jews unto the God of their forefathers,
he proceeded to dilate upon the great success that must of
necessity attend the exertions of a large and united body of
Christians having that object in view. The Jews were, in,
his mind, an extremely interesting people—Abraham, for in-
stance' was called of God, and from the beginning of the
world down to the time of our blessed Saviour, they bad
continued so. It was to them the world was indebted for the
sacred scriptures, as it was to them the care of the sacred
oracles had been consigned, and they were in themselves the
witnesses of its truth. Their conversion was an object of
unspeakable interest to the world, for they were scattered up
and down through all the nations of the earth. They spoke
the different languages, and could, if converted to Christi-
anity, be the means of spreading " far and wide" the know-
ledge of the truth and the glory of the Redeemer. He
therefore trusted that all persons who professed and called
themselves Christians would, by their prayers, exhortations,
and every means in their power, endeavour to brinc, about
that end.
The Rev. THOMAS ALDER, after alluding to the former
state of the Jews at the time they had the charge of the divine oracles, proceeded to draw a faithful picture of their present
that
deserted and scattered condition. They were kept
distinct
from every other nation, and, doubtless, God had great things
in store for them. They would not always be scattered,
bu
would again, in fulfilment of the words of prophecy, " t
os tfoEr egdy
pt to tbhoetior
noow
cnom apnadr.i's'
nt
to
t Theirhodel
deliveranceverance froth
the
Lo
larnredd-
would yet work out for them. They were to dwell in their
own land, and Messiah should reign over them. The still beloved for their father's sake, although at enmity irnr were
sakes. What, then, he would ask, was the duty of the
Chris-
tians towards them? They ought to go forward and preach
the gospel to them as commanded by our blessed Saviour.—
Where would the Christians have been had the scriptures
been withdrawn from them even` after the first, second or
third rejection? He considered that it was therefore the
bounden duty of every one to do all in their power by contri-
butions, and the sending forth of missionaries to aid the Fe
neral work of converting the Jews unto Christianity. Ihe'
rev. gentleman concluded his address by seconding the reso-
lution which was put from the chair, and carried unani-
mously_

The Rev. A. THOMAS, from the Parent Society, stated that
the society was now in its thirty-first year—many were tke
difficulties and storms it had had to contend wit , but he
blessed God it had overcome all the attacks that .ad'been
made against it, and that in point of funds, in tl 1,)
resent
year, the society stood better than it ever yet had dine. The
cause they had met this night to consider was the cause of
immortal souls sand the salvation of a nation amounting to
no less than fifteen millions of people. For what cause did
God call them to be his peculiar people? It was not from
their numbers, for Moses told them that they were few—it
was not for their obedience, for Moses bad told them that the
Jews rebelled against God, but, it was in the exercise of his
sovereign prerogative. He did not know which to pity them
most for—their belief or unbelief. They were always afraid
of death, and when spoken to on the subject, they said
" May we live a thousand years," and thus got rid of the
subject. On the other hand, the Christian knew there was
a house prepared for him not made with hands, and that
though passing through the valley of death, the Saviour was
with him and he had nothing to fear. The rev. gentleman
time banished the Jews in order to effect the salvation of the
next proceeded to point out the mercy of God in having for a
Gentiles, and to show the strong claims the Jews had upon
the sympathy and prayers of the Christian world. In con-
clusion, he detailed some highly interesting anecdotes
connected with the conversion of persons of the Jewish
persuasion to the pure faith of Christianity, and particu-
larly alluded to the Reverend Joseph Woolf, who, after
being made a deacon in America, had, on his return to this
country, been called to fulfil the duties attached to the office
of priest in the church of Ireland, and had had the degree of
doctor conferred upon him by Trinity College, Dublin, as a
token of their respect and admiration for his zeal in the mis-
sionary cause. He (Mr. Woolf) had, when preaching in.
Belfast, declared that he was well acquainted with the prin-
ciples of every religion upon the face of the earth, and had,
after much reflection Upon the subject, arrived at the conclu-
sion that the Christian religion was the best and most pure of
them all. The society whose claims he (the rev. speaker)
advocated, had translated into the Hebrew language the
beautiful liturgy of the church of England—had 45 mission-
aries engaged, 20 of whom wereconverted Jews, and also had
it contemplation to form a Christian church in Jerusalem, in
which the gospel would be preached in the Hebrew language.
The next part of the society's work was the distribution of
tracts in all the languages spoken by the Jews, which bad
been the means of converting many to a knowledge of the
Saviour. Since the society's commencement 23,000 Bibles
had been distributed, in addition to 700,000 books and tracts.
They had also a school for the instruction of Jewish children,
and only wanted funds to enable them still further to enter
upon the field of general usefulness.
Several donations were announced, and a liberal collection
was made at the door. The meeting broke up shortly before
nine o'clock, after singing an appropriate hymn.

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