The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-09-18 00:00:00

CHESTER DIOCESAN BOARD
OF EDUCATION,

IN CONNIZCTION WITH T 1!

kTIONAL SOCIETY

Yesterday the second annual meeting of the above society
was held at the Ampitheatre. The hour announced for the
commencement of the proceedings was eleven o'clock ; but
long before that hour, the whole of the immense building
was nearly filled with a respectable audience. The boxes,
the pit, the circle, and the galleries, were crowded with ladies
and gentlemen, of whom the former predominated consider-
ably. A raised tier of seats at the back of the platform was
also fully occupied ; whilst on the platform a very numerous
body of the gentry and clergy of the diocese were assembled.
The building was brilliantly illuminated, and had a most
imposing effect.

The following were among the gentry and clergy present :
W..E. Gladstone, Esq. ; Sir J. S. Salisbury, W. Hutton,
Esq. ; J. Rigby, C. Groves. Esq. ; J. Clare, Esq., War-
rington ; G. Greenall, Esq., Warrington ; Colonel Scarlett,
John Ireland Blackburn, Esq., M.P. ; P. Ainsworth, Esq.,
M.P. ; P. Greenall, Esq. ; Dr. Jeffries, T. B. Horsfall,
Esq. ; C. Bouttlower, Esq. ; Duncan Gibb, Esq. ; I'.
M. Gladstone, Esq.; B. Wilbraham, Esq., M.P.;
Bryant, Esq. ; Ellis Akliton, Esq.; P. E. Lee, Esq. ;
Hon. and Rev. Horace Powys, Rector of 'Warring-
ton ; Hugh M`Neile, Thomas Byrth, D.D., Rector
of Wallasey ; T. Tattershall, D.D. ; Henry Carpenter,
J. H. Stewart, F. Iliff, D.D. R. P. Buddicom,
Revs. \V. B. Molesworth, R. L. Townsend, J. Gaitskell,
Thos. Corser, G. E. Larden, T. Tadwinter, W. Williams,
T. L. Claughton, C. G. Dritlield, E. Girdlestone, W. FlorubT,
It. Parkinson, J. Pedder, Alexander Walton, John Smith,
W. Fox, W. H. Boulton, Archdeacon Austin, Jas. Hassan,
Robert Leicester, J. S. Coles, S. E. Wentworth, Richard
Appleton, Thomas Brancker, B. A. Marshall, Edward Mor-
gan, David James, Robert P. Crockett, Eccleston, Prescot ;
Edmund B. Chalmer, Gt. Crosby ; Richard Symes, Cleave
Yatton, Somerset ; W. Coombs, Prescot ; G. J. Driflield,
Fellow of Brasennose College, Oxford ; Arthur Rim Prin-
cipal of the Training Coll. ; Alex. Dallas, Rector of Wonston,
W. P. Halton, Rector of St. Bridget, Chester ; W. M`lver,
Secretary; C. .D. Wray, Vice-Dean of Manchester; W.
Falloon, Smith, St. James's ; Nelson, T. France,
J. S. Wood. Jos. Baylee. R. Badnall. Halton, W. Raw-
son, J. E. Bate, S. P. Boutflower, J. M. Lynn,W. Hesketh,
J. H. Stafford, C. Wray, J. 11. Macguire, Ellis. Ashton, G.
Salt, Robt. Mayor, W. Badnall, Wavertree, Thos. Gardner,
St. Ann's, West Derby, T. Bold, E. Bickersteth, It. Wil-
liams, D. Anderson, J. May, W. Wannop. T. Eaton, H. W.
Bellairs, W. IL: King, W. D. Long, C. K. Prescot, 13. H.
Berks, C. J. Hamilton, B. L. Witts, I. Wood, R. C. Clifton,
D. Roberts, T. S. Grinishaw, Hesketh.

The CHAIRMAN.—It is one of the rules of the society we
are met this day to support, that all the meetings of the Di-
ocesan Board shall be opened with prayer, according to the
wish of the Lord Bishop of the diocese. I will, therefore,
read one or two collects of our church, before we commence
our proceedings. Let us pray. (Prayer having been offered
by the rev. chairman, he proceeded to address the meeting
as follows.) In opening the business of the present meeting,
I have, in the first instance, to express my regret that I am
called upon to till the office which would have been so much
better filled by the Lord Bishop of the diocese. It so hap-
pens that his duties required his attendance, where he is now,
at Durham, which place he will not be able to leave till the
beginning of the ensuing month; and he has desired me to
express his deep regret that any circumstances should have
prevented his attendance at a meeting in which his heart is
so deeply concerned, I do not know that I can discharge
the duties of the situation I am called upon to fill this day,
in introducing the subject to your notice, better than by
stating, as concisely as I can, the circumstances that gave
rise to the institution upon the subject of which we are this
day met. It may be very well in the recollection and in the
knowledge of all of you, that the subject of the education of
the lower classes of society in this country—of the general
education of the country—is one which has attracted a deep
and lively interest among all ranks of the community. The
question now is no longer whether the great hotly of the
people shall be educated. That has been some time settled.
We may now say, they will be educated ; and the question
for us and for all reflecting persons in the country is how
they are to be educated—what direction is to be given to
that education ; for, according to the direction given to it,
it may be an instrument and an engine either of good or of
evil. It occurred to several gentlemen in London and the
neighbourhood, who felt a deep interest in education itself,
and more especially as it was connected with the established
church of the country, that some steps ought to be taken in
order to ensure to the established church that prominence
and lead in the rank of education which it has hitherto always
held. In consequence of this, I believe in the year 1838, a
communication was made by these gentlemen to the National
Society, in which they expressed to them very fully and freely
their opinions upon the subject. The National Society im-
mediately took the measure up ; and the result war, 'that a
committee was appointed, consisting of members of their
own board, of members from the different cathedral esta-
blishments of the country, and also of a certain number of
members of parliament, of whOm I think one of the members
for this borough, Lord Sandon, and the honourable gentle-
man whom I see near me now, Mr. W. E. Gladstone, were
members. (Cheers.) They took great pains in deliberating
upon and well considering the subject ; and they pre-
sented to the National Society an address, a report of
their opinions upon it. They considered that the best plan
would be to make use of the machinery which the established
church of the country presented to them, for the purpose of
forwarding the education of the great mass of the people.
They saw that that machine was ready for working, and it
only required an application of power to put it in motion.
(Cheers.) We bad our ecclesiastical districts, our diocesan
and parochial divisions well filled with good and intelligent
persons who were aide to carry out any measure that it might
thought desirable to introduce. Their recommendation was
that these should, be made use of for the benefit of the public
at large, and tor furthering the progress of sound education
upon the principles of the established church. The objects
which they defined as being most desirable to accomplish
were three. The first was to provide a better class of teach-
ers by improving the education, the condition, and the pro-
spects of schoolmasters. 'They felt that it would be in vain
to go on with the progressive education of the people if they
did not endeavour to improve upon the intellectual attain-
ments, and the moral and religious principles of those who
had to carry that into effect. They felt also there had been
great difficulty experienced throughout the country of obtain-
ing fit and proper masters for the different schools at present
in action ; and one of their leading measures which they
thought ought to be adopted, was to provide training schools
in connexion with every diocese in the kingdom, where per-
sons should be fitly brought up and properly instructed to
undertake the office of schoolmasters in the country. A
training school of that description has been established in our
own diocese. I am happy to say, as you will hear from those
gentlemen who will speak to the resolutions, it is going on
with great prospects of success ; that the demand already,
when a few months only has clasped since its establishment—
is seven or eight times greater than we could have means of
suppleing if all those in the school were ready to go to their
situations. (Cheers.) The second object they had in view
was to ascertain and bring into notice such improvements in
the management of schools as might be with advantage intro-
duced into those in which the national system is followed.
Here again they observed that the mechanical part of instruc-
tion had certainly been brought to a state of great perfection
by the exertions of Dr. Bell, of Madras. There was no doubt,
that as far as mechanical system went, there could be little
improvement in that department ; but still it was felt there
was great room for improvement in other parts. This very
system was apt to teachtoo much by rote ; it did not furnish
ideas ; and we know that the valuable part of instruction to
' the mind of the people is to furnish them with ideas ; and the
mechanical is now a secondary object—a means of carrying
it through into effect. It was thought desirable therefore
that any improvements which might be discovered where
they might be found, that there should be means
of carrying them into all the schools connected with the Na-
tional Society or the established church of the country ; and
it was considered an establishment in every diocese in the
country where that must be done, and a regular system of
instruction, riot with an intention of wanton interference in
the management of schools, but with the express view of
carrying from one to another any improvement that might
be found would be the best mode of enlightening the whole
body, and of bringing the system of education under the
established church to something like perfection. The third
object was to offer to the middle class, upon moderate terms,
a useful general education based upon the religious principles
of the church. I think there is no one who hears me, who
will not agree with me in saying that this is a deficiency a
long time lamented. We have plenty of provision made by
our public schools for the education of the higher classes of
society. That lies entirely in the hands of the established
clergy. We have also a great provision made, though I
cannot say it is sufficient, for the lower classes. Individual
benevolence and individual exertion has planted in almost
every parish in the country, a school for the education of the
lower orders, Where the population has greatly increased,
that individual benevolence and individual exertions has not
upon, all occasions been able to keep pace with it. It was
therefore desirable an united exertion should be made, that
the co-operation of all persons connected with the established
church who loved the Bible and revered their God, should
join together in this important work. The middle classes,
however, during the whole of the operations of this society,
has been the class of all others the most neglected. I believe
till lately, there has been no schools whatever under the
superintendence and management of the established church
of the country in which the middle classes of society might
be able to obtain such an education for their children as was
consonant with their wants. In London, the Bishop of Lon-
don has lately established what he calls commercial schools,
particularly adapted for that class of society. They have
been received very gratefully by that class ; and I believe
they are now doing a great deal of good. It was thought
therefore most desirable that that very class from which, be
it remembered, there are greater defections than from any
other in the country from the established church. And why
should we be surprised at that, if the established church has
constantly 'neglected them? There is no class of society
among whom diesente prevails so generally as among the
middle classes, Surely, therefore, it was most important
that the established church of the country should take the
matter up, and in due time supply a deficiency which
had been so seriously felt. (Cheers.) These then were the
three objects which they had in view, and which in their ad-
dress they particularly pointed out to the National Society.
That society heartily agreed to co-operate with them in their
views. They consulted the bishops of the establishment,
and the consequence was that they determined upon a simul-
taneous movement throughout the country. The Archbishop
of Canterbury directed letters to the bishops of the several
dioceses in the country, requesting them to call the attention
of the clergy and laity throughout their dioceses to the wants
declared so necessary to be supplied, and establish at once
throughout the kingdom diocesan hoards of education, in
which these different objects should be attempted to be
brought towards that developement. The consequence was,
• that the bishop of our own diocese called a meeting for the
purpose. At that meeting there was only one opinion, that
the matter should be immediately commenced and carried
into effect. Early in last year, the first public meeting was
held in Warrington, and many of you here may perhaps re-
collect that meeting, for I believe many from this town were
present upon that occasion. It was a meeting that produced
considerable effect, and was felt to be gratifying to all those
who attended it and took an interest in the subject. (Cheers,)
It has been thought advisable that these meetings should be
held annually, as the annual report was in preparation ready
to come out; in different parts of the diocese, in order that
all might be acquainted with the circumstances connected
with the plan, and may each use their efforts when they feel
they are convipced of the necessity as far as they possibly
can, in giving aid to carry such desirable objects into effect.
It is that which has produced the present meeting. From
Warrington last year we have come now to Liverpool to the
first annual meeting; to lay before you—the friends of the
established church—in this great and populous town, the
exertions which we are making, and are willing to make in
this important cause, to request your aid in sanctioning and
in promoting it ; and from you we shall go to other parts of
the diocese as the years pass on. I believe' have now stated
to you every
thing necessary to give you information as re-
gards the origin of this society. It is not my business or
duty, in the situation I am in to-day, to touch upon those
subjects which the gentlemen have kindly promised to bring
forward the different resolutions will have to explain. (Hear.)
I shall therefore now call upon Mr. Powys, our excellent
secretary, and request him to read the report ; but before I
do that I must state to the meeting that letters have been re-
ceived from the following gentlemen, expressing their regret
at not being able to .attend this meeting—it is unfortunate' •
that the meeting of the British Association for the Advance-
ment of Science, which commences at Glasgow this very day,

has deprived us of the attendance of those gentlemen—Lord
Sandon, Lord Francis Egerton, Mr. Wilson Patten, Mr.
Cresswell, Mr. Pemberton, Mr. Adam Hodgson (who is at
Buxton, from illness)—all expressing deep regret at not being
able to attend here, but assuring us of the lively interest they
take in the success of the society, and their anxiety upon all
occasions when it Ely in their piwer to forward it in every
way they can. (Cheers.)

The Hon. and Rev. HORACE POWYS then read the report.
The Rev. Chancellor RAIKES, in rising to move that the
report be adopted, said,—Mr. Chairman, though it is with
a deep consciousness of my own inability adeuately to dis-
charge the duty that has been intrusted to me', it is a great
satisfaction to me to feel that the resolution I have to move
commends itself to the minds of all who are here present,
and that the least possible that can be said by me will be ne-
cessary to ensure its cordial acceptance. I have likewise
great pleasure in moving this resolution, for having had, by
my residence in Chester, an opportunity of watching the pro-
gress of the institution. I can appreciate the delight of my
reverend friend, Mr. Powys, in seeing the blessing • vouch-
safed to his neighbours, and the. result that seems at last to
be opening to his view. And beyond any pleasure that I
might derive from this source, there is likewise another feel-
ing pressing on my mind : I mean, a deep sense of gratitude
to God, that amidst all the difficulties we have had to en-
counter, and that must attend any great measure like the
present, we are able to see a foundation laid for an institp-
tion, which will prove, I trust, the source of light, end
warmth, and peace, and happiness to succeeding generations,
—(cheers,)—an institution which shall conciliate the affec-
tions of the rising generation to the Established Church, and,
by strengthening their attachment to that church, shall give
the surest pledge to the government for continued peace and
uninterrupted prosperity to the kingdom. (Hear, and cheers.)
Nor let me be suspected of falling in at all with the insinua-
tions that have been thrown out,
.from time to, time,
against the National Society, to which allusion has
been made by the chairman and in the report. Let it
not be thought that I wish to cast any imputation on
the past proceedings of that society, or to argue. that that
society had in any degree been falling sort of its duties, or
acting in any manner inconsistent with the pledge which it
had given to the public. On the contrary, I feel that the
very circumstances in which we stand, the very institution
we have to bring forward, serve to strengthen the claims the
national society already possesses on the gratitude of the
community at large. What is all we have to mention now
or to anticipate hereafter but an enlargement, an expansion
of the plan originally. sketched out by the founders of the
National Society. (Hear, and cheers.) There are some cir-
cumstances to which I should really wish to call your atten-
tion, and which I think it is right to mention, in order to
.vindicate the claims of the National Society to the gratitude
of the country at large. And though I trust I never should
be ashamed, if found.guilty of hanging back in that vvhichis
my proper duty; of receiving the suggestions of • another,
whether friend or foe, and quicken my pace to meet his ex-
pectation of what ought to he my rate of motion, there
,are
circumstances belonging to the National Society which, may
well plead her justification if she did not alter that slow and
steady progress which marks all the great works of nature,
and which gives, perhaps, the surest pledge of the permanence
of the results to which it' is conducting. The individulals
who are so ready:to accuse the National Society of beck-
wardness in the great work of diffusing education through
the land, are perhaps not aware that they themselves gave
special occasion to that very accusation which they are so
ready to bring against us: (Hear, hear.) And if the National
Society did not at once grasp at the proposal of enlarging her
plan of education and of embracing all objects within the
scope of her operations, there were good reasons why she
should have been jealous of the proposal, and not given it
that immediate and cordial reception to which they may think
it was entitled. The acceptance of every gift, it will be ad-
mitted by all, depends in some degree on the knownetherac-
ter -of the persons from whom the gift proceeds, and the sup-
posed purpose for which it is uttered. The purest, tho ho-
liest, the best things, if coming from an exceptionable source,
or from a questionable quarter, derive danger and suspicion
from the very circumstance of proceeding from such a quar-
ter. I doubt not that many of the individuals before me will
remember, that when the Spaniards, soon after the discovery
of America, had taken possession of the island of Hispaniola,
and had nearly extirminated the native population, began to
amuse themselves, when the first thirst of slaughter was
abated, by an endeavour to convert the miserable remnant
of the inhabitants, the friars employed in the work of mercy
complained with astonishment of the reluctance the natives
showed in accepting the gospel. (Hear.) Surely they ought
to have felt, that even the Gospel of Christ, if brought by

hands still stained with the blood of their relatives, Was not
likely to be viewed in any other than an unfriendly light by
those to whom it was offered. I confess, that if any scruples or
doubts as to the truth of revelation had ever occurred to my
mind, I should much fear that a Dominican friar, just

emerging from the cells of the inquisition, would be very
likely to convince me of the reality of that truth. (Hear.)
Thus those gentlemen who object to the National Society
that she was cold, and backward, and suspicious, and wished
to perpetuate public blindness, and to hinder the march of
intellect, as they are pleased to call it. They should remem-
ber that she had opportunities of knowing that the whole
system was based on imposture, and that, to offer art educa-
tion such as they proposed would have been to perpetuate a
bondage which they professed themselves desirous to remove.
(Locheers.) Let me ask what is education? Is it simply
the enlargement of one feature or quality of the human
mind ? Is it merely to expand the reasoning powers? Is it
merely the enlargement of the faculties of calculating, or
some other single, isolated talent ? Unquestionably, real
education, like the growth of the human body, is a simulta-
neous expansion of every power of the human mind, until the
whole body of intellect, "knit and compacted togetiser by
that which every joint supplieth, may groW up into :a whole
man, to the edifying itself in love." (Ilear.) But to ex-
pand one portion, and to leave the others in a state of
stunted deformity, is at best to inflict on the intellect one of
.the greatest curses to which it can be subject. To consider
man merely as a creature of intellect, and to forget what his
moral constitution is—to hold up purely intellectual educa-
tion as the object to be desired and pursued, and to lose
sight of the moral responsibilities of man, the duties he owes
to his Maker and to his fellow-creatures, is a perversion
of things deserving the execration instead of the approbation
of all wise and good men. (Loud cheers.) I remember to
have heard, a long time ago, an anecdote of the late Lord
Stanhope,—it moan whose extraordinary talents, as combined
with his extraordinary eccentricities—a man who might have
been one of the luminaries of his age, yet who came to be
one of the butts against which the flippant wits of the news-
papers is levelled—who has left his example as a beacon to
be avoided, rather than as a direction to others in the way of
peace and happiness. This exquisitely ingenious man con-
structed an image capable of reasoning. (Hear and a laugh.)
Literally a reasoning image. You were introduced into a
rcom, and saw the figure of. a Arlan. A certain number of
propositions were written on hoards, and you took any one
you chose, lifted up the ear, and
.introduced the proposition
into the mind. Certain screws were turned, certain strings
were pulled, a sort of mysterious noises were heard in the
interior of the image—the process of digestion was evidently
difficult—(a laugh)—and at last the lips opened, and out of
the mouth was ejected an answer to the proposition put in
at the ear. (A laugh.) It was a reasoning figure. But
would you have been content to have taken that as an exhi-
' Waist' of a man? Would you.not have said at once, "• He
may reason, but he cannot feel : there is no warmth, no spi-
rit, no.life : after all, it is but an idol, and, like other idols,
I doubt not it ha's long since been cast to the moles and to
the bats." But I contend that such as that image was, such
a • representation of human nature as it gave—would be
the creature man formed by education, if education is to be
directed solely to the cultivation of the intellectual powers,
to the neglect of the moral qualities and the responsibilities
of man. Real education consists not merely in the cultiva-
tion of the intellectual qualities, but most of all in establish-
ing the supremacy of conscience over all, in regulating the
motives of man, by well-ordered and well-grounded princi-
: pies; and this formation of principle, this regulation of heart,
can come from nothing but religion. (Hear, hear.) if you
attempt education distinct from religion, you will but form
an intellectual monster, and send him out into the world to
astonish it for a period, and then to involve himself and those
around him in the ruin and desolation befitting the end of
such monstrous productions. (Cheers.) But I must con-
tend that the National Society was not only justified in with-
, holding her confidence from friends who came forward with
this sort of suspicious recommendation of their systems of
education, but that, in her simple course, she has adopted
that which ever will be found to be the truest, the soundest
way to happiness and peace, and all the blessings that belong
, to a well-regulated education. We must be aware that there
,• are certain features in education—certain results which edu-
cation proposes to produce, for which, to use the common
' expression, there is, a demand in the market of the world.
The market of the world will always have a demand fOr'the
skill of the artisan, for the correctness of the accountant, and
for all those other qualities which feed the aspirations of com-
niercial enterprise, or contribute to the welfare or the enjoy-
• ment of man. Therefore, you may safely rely that the world will
always provide for its own wants, and that there will be always
such a demand for these objects as will effectually secure a sup-
, ply com men serate with the demand. The world will never allow
itself to suffer from the want of the things that minister to
its own purposes. But beyond this, there are certain other
features in education for which the world has no demand, or
one so cold, so lack, that it never will produce, never will
create a supply. It will require the skill of the engineer, the
taste of the designer, the activity of the account, and will
take care, by high rewards, to bring forward talent of these
peculiar qualities, to answer its own peculiar purposes: but
all that is within the man, all that which shall regulate his
temper, decide his course towards' the God that made and
the God that redeemed'hitn, that shall make him valuable in
domestic life, all that shall make life a blessing to the man
himself, for this the world has no value, and for this there
is no demand in the market of the world. (Hear.) There-
fore, unless a society can be found to anticipate that dernand,
or rather to create that supply for which there is no demand
in the world, the supply will fall short ; and white the world
is ready to give a high premium for the production of certain
qualities which contribute to its.ovvn comfort, it would inevi-
tably leave to perish, for want of a demand, those qualities
which lies at the foundation of all human prosperity, and
without which other qualities are. like the varnish that
covers the rottenness beneath. (Loud cheers.) These
qualities, I need- hardly •mention, are the peculittr produc-
tion of the gospel, brought home to the heart of man
in infancy, and rendered almost instinctive, by close, par-
ticular, individual application. And unless the National
Society had pursued its silent but most honoured course—
more honoured because silent—most honoured because it did
not court the plaudits of the world, but contented itself with
the applause of its own con-science, and in the anticipation of
the blessing that God would pronounce on it from above.
(Hear.) Unless it had thus gone on, laying a foundation of
national advancement in national religion—unless it had sent
forth into the world a supply of Christian feeling and Chris-
, tian principle, depend upon it, all that might be accounted
right, active, distinguished in the world, would have been but'
like a deceitful vision, placed before the eyes for a time, and
then fading away and leaving us, as it were, in outer dark-
ness. (Cheers.) Thus 'I do contend that the National So-
ciety is specially entitled to our best regards, because, instead
of meeting the popular appeals by hastily sending out into
the world some crude productions of secular education, a set
of petty philosophers, of infant engineers, of pseudo mimics
of all that is to be practised in the world, they have been
contented to send out a body of young Christians, taught to
know God from the commencement of their lives—to fear
him, and hint alone, and to lay the foundation of future use-
fulness in the early reception of Christian principles and 'no-
morals. , (Hear and cheers.) Here let me enliven that which
may to many seem a dry and abstract discussion, by men-
tioning a conversation at which I was present, and the result
of which seems to bear immediately on the subject. I was
once in company with some men high in rank in the' navy,.
distinguished by all that can distinguish British seamen—
men to whom the country once looked for her defence, and.
to whom she may again look in perilous times. They were
discussing the character of the men under their command,'
particularly those who are commonly called " youngsters"—
the midshipmen. The question was, whether it was desira-
ble, on the whole, to admit men, who had derived a certain:
practical knowledge of seamanship from having served in other
capacities, or to take such as commonly offered—lads who'
possess that indescribable mixture of elevation of mind, cor-
rectness of taste, self-control; and' decision of character,
usually supposed to constitute the gentle Man. Some said
they would like the . seaman :, others took the opposite
view. At last a friend of mine, a man whose name, if I chose
to mention it, would give the greatest possible weight to his
opinion, summed up all, and put an end to the discussion, in
these remarkable "Words : " Give me a gentleman : if I have
a gentleman, I will undertake to make him a seaman ; but
if I have only a seaman, I do not know whether I could. make
him a gentleman or not." (Cheers.) Make your rising
population Christian ; and then having the Christians, make
them engineers, or what you like. Only make this the foun-
dation. Depend upon it this is the only foundation on which

you can have an engineer to be depended upon, a clerk to be
trusted, an individual in any station of life who shall be really
a blessing to those connected with him. (Cheers.) With
regard to any backwardness as to the pursuit of learning in
connexion with the church 'at large, the insinuation is too
vague, too false, too empty, to deserve a moment's consider-
ation. My friends who are around me will doubtless bear
their testimony to what they know of their own ahua mater,
Oxford. Let me be permitted to speak of Cambridge. I
may fearlessly demand whether there was ever such a mass
of intellectual attainment ever congregated in any one place
as is to be found within the walls of that university at pre-
sent. How large a portion belongs to the church, and is de-
rived from the church, it is hardly necessary for me to men-
tion. The very individuals now assembled in Glasgow, the
individuals whose presence we so much miss, are, I doubt
not, now listening, from the mouths of clerical speakers, to
the development of those great and mighty truths to which
their ahem mater conducted their inquiries. Their powers
are not a whit t:ie less extensive because applied originally to
the study of the word of God, but rather they are what they
are, because they drew from that source of everlasting life
the same elevation of mind, the same expansion of thought,
which once made Newton the wonder of the world,
and which, I trust, will long continue to make England the
centre of christianised literature. (Loud cheers.) I ant un-
willing to trespass longer on the time of the meeting. I
will sum up all in one single sentence, one single illustration.
You have heard much of knowledge, and knowledge separate
from religion : permit me .to show you what knowledge sepa-
rate from religion is, by an illustration so trite, so manifest,
that it ini

ght come home to the comprehension of a child.
We are familiar in the world with two species of light, the
light of the sun and the light of the moon. In the light of
the sun you know that warmth and light are inevitably and
essentially connected, and every ray proceeding from the
great source of light cheers with its warmth and gladness.
Every ray from the sun, while it spreads over the surface of
the globe, and is reflected from every surface it touches with
that beautiful variety of colour which the eye is enraptUred
to behold, that same ray carries to every surface it visits the
warmth that brings out and matures the fruit, that expands
the animal frame, and sureads the blessings of plenty and en-
joyment over every creature that moves on the surface of the
earth. From the blessed influence of that ray the vine takes
its colour, the grape assumes its sweetness ; thence comes.
that wine that maketh glad the heart of man, and the oil that
was designed to make him of a cheerful countenance ; thence
the wheat derives its nourishment, and all animal life its ex-
tension and existence. Such is knowledge when combined
with religious truth ; and wherever it thus comes, combined
with religion, and sanctified by the combination, it quickens
those whom it visits, and gives life as surely as it conveys
light. (Hear and cheers.) But there is another species of
light, the light of the moon • picturesque, we may admit, in
point of effect, but pale, cold, and spectral : alight which
falls with as healthy influence on the body of many, but is
supposed by some to have a mysterious power to carry blight
and sickness where it falls—which sends not man forth to the
cheerful exercise of his labour, but by which the assassin
plies his midnight work, and things not to be told among
men are perpetrated—which does not give colour to the
flower nor sweetness to the fruit, but gives expression
to the noisome fungus that hangs upon the wall—not the
light that calls animal life to that cheerful playfulness of
manifestation when we see myriads of tiny insects dancing
in the sunbeams, but a light under which things that creep
and crawl, that hiss and mutter, the toad and the serpent,
things hateful and rTangerous. come forth to do their deadly
work. Such, my friends, is knowledge when separate from
religion. (Applause.)-: Such is knowledge, however recom-
mended by circumstances, however represented to the
imagination, by the temporal advantages it promises, such is
knowledge, and such will it ever be found, when separate
and distinct from religion. And because this is my convic-
tion, therefore it is that 1 rejoice in the resolution which I
have the honour of proposing—because I rejoice to see the
foundation laid of an institution where knowledge shall have
an expansion to which no limit can be placed—where every
ray of knowledge shall come accompanied with the warmth
of truth, and God shall bless the work in which we are en-
gaged. (Cheers.)

The Ifon. BOOTLE WILBRAII AM said,—Had I consulted
my inclination, Mr. Chairman, I should much rather have
remained silent. But having come here as a matter of duty,
in order, as far as my presence could conduce to that end, to
afford all the countenance in my power to the object for the
promotion of which we are convened, and having been unex-
pectedly called upon to take a part in the proceedings, I feel
that I could not refuse to undertake that part, and to offer
few observations on the report to which my resolution refers.
I shall first call upon you to remember that the operations
of the hoard of education with which we are connected have
boen but a very few months in progress. But, I
think, from the report which has been read by my
reverend friend Mr. Powys, you will be of opinion with me,
that so far as we have gone we have every reason to be satis-
fied. I would also remark, that it must depend upon our
own exertions, and the support we give to those gentlemen
who have so strenuously exerted themselves in the formation
of this board,—it depends, I say, upon the assistance we are
disposed to render. in this good cause to mature the seeds
which have been sown, to ensure that the fruit shall not dis-
appoint expectation,—to provide, in short, that the admirable
and Christian plan which has been set on foot shall be pro-
ductive of the greatest possible amount of public usefulness.
(Cheers.) And in further saying, that I do trust that we
shall still go on from day to day increasing the number of
our subscribers, and that throughout every part of this ex-
tensive diocese the views which we profess to hold out mill
pe more thoroughly understood, I beg also to call to your no-
tice the conduct of our respected honorary secretary. (Ap-.
plause.) To him a tribute is due for the unwearied zeal, the,
extreme personal interest he has taken in the whole of
this business ; and with you I may congratulate him on
the SUCCC3S with which his efforts have been already of-
tended. (Hear, hear.) I have known him for years.
and I can confidently say, that no man has his heart and soul
more entirely engaged in the subject of the education of all
classes, on a scriptural and truly Christian foundation.
(Cheers.) It is the object of his peculiar care in his own
sphere, and I do sincerely thank him, and those who labour
with him, for the pains they have taken to spread that
knowledge throughout the whole of this diocese. (Hear.)
shall riot further trespass upon your time than to say that I
am glad we are receiving, and likely to receive, aid from the
national board, and also that the grants from parliament are
likely to be a benefit to us, by the removal of the difficulty
which in the first instance might have been supposed to ex-
ist in the way of our acceptance of that grant. (Hear.) Still
I would repeat, it is mainly to our own exertions that we ar3
to look for the carrying out of this noble design, a desk
fraught with unspeakable benefits to the present and futut•
generations. (Hear.)

The Rev. R. P. BUDDICOM rose to move the next resole.

tion. The business, he said, that had brought them together.
was one of no common moment and' importance to thew,
selves, individually, to the class of which they formed a parts,
and to the community in general. It was the business or
education—the education .of the country. That education:
had occupied and was occupying, the minds of all men in
greater or less degree as a suhject of prominent importance.
It had been well called, in the present state of it—the retnarY•
was exceedingly applicable, and it would be still more appli-
cable if it continued to advance—an appeal to the multitude,
to the ostracium of the people. If the people, then, as bed
been well said when they spoke good spoke with the voice of
God, the voice of God would be in this question, and it would
go on well ; but if they did not speak in holiness and righte-
ousness, it would be the sound and signal of all kinds of con-
fusion—it would be the cry of letting slip the dogs of war
and of hell. The education to be given to them was not to
be confined either to that part of it which had reference to the
objects of sense—to those things that ingenuity might com-
bine, which the artisan might pride himself upon, or to that
intellectual portion which might enable men to discharge the
functions and relations of social life ; but it was to be ex-
tended to, and to have an infusion of that highest and holiest
of principles which could alone enable it to be useful to and
a blessing upon the country. It was to he an education to
conformity with that very first and dearest of all obligations
which God had laid upon man when man was baptised 11,
the Christian church, and made a partaker of Christian
privileges. Therefore no man was to be educated for himelt.
for the interests of time, or for the passing circumstances of
this life, no man was to rest satisfied with what arithmetic
might compute, or merely with what geometry might mea-
sure, but he was to extend himself into all the relationships
which he had entered into with God, and re-
member he was not his own, but bought with a price. He
should, therefore, glorify God with his body and with his
spirit, which were God's. Any education which came short
of this could not, by possibility, answer the great end for
which than had been sent into the world. If he were ad-
dressing a company of unbelievers, of philosophical infidels,
or of mere latitudinarians, he should of course feel himself
unable to carry on this argument with any thing like a pros-
pact of success ; but addressing himself to his fellow Chris-
tians, to those who had taken upon themselves those obliga-
tions, and who remembered also that they were not their own,
he felt it was his duty, as a Christian and as a minister of
the church of Christ, to take the matter up upon the higheit
ground, and to impress it upon his own mind, and the minds
of others, as far as he was able, upon that ground. The
Chancellor had mentioned a very amusing anecdote of the
late Lord Stanhope, a man of remarkable talents and of re-
markable eccentricity, and he had stated one of the results 01
that talent and of that eccentricity. He (Mr. Buddicom)
might perhaps be allowed to relate another anecdote of the
tame noble lord. He (Mr. Buddicom) believed there was in
the musical scale a certain measure of discord, called " the
wolf," which it had been deemed well and wise to expand
over the whole scale, so that there should be as small a por-
tion of it as possible upon each particular note. It was one
of the objects of Lord Stanhope to change the whole of this
plan, and to place this amount of discord in as small a cow'
pass as he possibly could, when it would be entire and abso-
lute harmony. Well, there were certain tones that might be
played with great beauty and entire harmony, but there were
others in which the discord was absolutely intolerable. and
they were a large portion of the whole. So it was with the
plans of the liberal educationalists, with those who
would leave the Bible and the will of God out of the
question, who would forget that man was a creature
born not merely to confine himself in the limits of tune.
Some of these tones in the way of education might
be played perhaps, as far as regarded the things of time, with
very little discord ; but play them upon the other key—let
religion enter into the matter, let man be regarded with re-
ference to his duties to God, and the obligations arising to
him out of the claims which redeeming love had made upon
his soul and conscience, and the. whole would then be made
to discord. We had better, then, have some defect, when
the whole of the scheme was to be carried on with regard to
a future world, than to have some portion of harmony and
great deal of discord and division. The resolution he had in
his hand was to the effect that the education of the middle
and labouring classes ought to engage the undivided atten-
tion of the established church. Sure he was there was ne
heart in that meeting that did not respond to the resolution
with a deep, and he trusted a holy, sense of that obligation--
a sense which should not lose itself in generalities, but which
should be brought to a practical issue, and bear upon the
education of the poor. Great need was there that we should
so educate them. We had educated them in the a.h.e.d-
grian system, and with some measure of scriptural instrue"
Lion, but we had done very little comparatively, either one
way or the other, in the learning and study of that know-
ledge which maketh wise unto salvation through Jesus
Christ. . It was his full persuasion that they had not done
anything, because they had not given the poor an education
so decidedly scriptural as they ought ; for in the same pro-
portion as they mingled the most intellectual of all books
and studies—the word of the living God—with the instruc-
tion we communicated concerning matters of present, pass"
ing, perishing utility, in that proportion should we commu-
nicate knowledge and understanding to the people, which we
could do upon no other ground. Indeed, if we were to con-
fine ourselves to such an education as was proposed by those
who set all creeds and catechisms at naught, we should
entirely fail in our object of arousing the poor from
that moral level to that religious and spiritual level upon
which .we desired to place them. We most of neces-
sity mingle the two together, and it was only thus we cold
meet the occasion of the day, and neutralise the effects o
that charter which it has been well said is treason against
man, and that socialism which was treason against God;
It was only by these means we could stand in the brese'
against that wide and overspreading torrent, and restore
the people to that healthy state in which we would have
them, and in which, as Christians, we would have OW'
We might indeed do what we pleased with such an clues,'
tion for time, but suppose the little period should be passe'
suppose we had enabled man to save himself from sown fe
hours of labour in the day, and to obtain something more!,
ease and comfort for himself—suppose we had nursed gal
nestled some of those petty and minute philosophers 0.
whom such eloquent mention had been made, suppose 0.
made them altogether things of time, but those things 0'
time, and time itself, would soon be no longer ; the
what would they have ? " have taken away my G

to
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which >< have made and what have I then ?" But educate
them with reference to both worlds, for heaven as well as
. earth, and then, when time and change shall have passed
away You have prepared them for eternity, in which you
ope henceforward to be fellow-dwellers with them, and
in the sight of that eternal being in whom was the full-
ness and the perfection of their happiness. But the reso-
lution went on to say the meeting were .called upon to
educate as members of the Church of Ragland the middle
classes of society. here he contested at once a strong
sense of duty with sonic mixture of *shame for whilst he
believed that the church to which he 'belonged was
the first daughter of Christ's holy catholic church, and
thizever well others might have done, she bad surpassed
all, he still thought there was something in which she
had been deficient with reference to the education of the
middle classes. Let us remember the great importance of
the middle classes—what they were—that they stood be-
tween the lower ranks and the higher—that the lower were
continually pleasing themselves into the middle
class, and
t slih•od
tulfrom the middle class were continually arising those who
occupy stations in the higher. In short, the middle
•F.lasees were the shaft of the column, the lower orders were
the Pedestal itself, and the higher orders, as told by the
groat master of eloquence, were the Corinthian capital of the
umn.
If the capital was to stand, and if the pedestal was
not to he a mere ruin, the shaft itself must be strong—polishlV you please, and flute it, but let it be strong—.
such materials as you find, but work them as well
ttliYOU cat', otherwise that which was intended to he
at? ,soaport of them, one to stand upon the other, ths
""oie would be'hu inharmonious object, the beauty would be
ilon_aosightly and ruinous affair. lie hoped he might be al-
lowed to express his conviction, that if an education suitable
to the
the middle classes was to he provided for them, it must be.
something like our ordinary and old-fashioned grammar.h
a;i't?°lB.l Uppn which should be engrafted such improvements'
he lama Strides in science made necessary, and as was due
'to the
a'dv'ancement o( the age. Such an education as used
be given but which was now almost passed away. He
farmers and
coulduld remember the relics of that former age, and men
ners
!!rought up in thtte grammar-school in thenorth of England,
pey states Men, who could: take their Horace
cut at dinner time, and. their geometry, and solve quadrate
poations under a hedge, and who were not a whit less fit, as
130ralets and citizens, for their duties. That race of men had
Meaath • a)*
da • • Those men ranked with the Sauriana and
try 't etutnie of other days: the were gone, but we must
sorts
f'
0 gdet:e
atireoemn
nust back.b Nay: musta Itliaovne—sao urp such
tcul as tali''leadnudcarteiolii!
fectionsf which would not allow use a fashionable
generait°ileL:Re"
ec,location, but demanded the thoughts, minds, and af-
°ester) themselvesl t ( into thevague and vagrant
tirtaeensical ttoiswina.nd\e‘r,in the darkest regions of theoretical and
Powerful eete must have a spiritual . charge,
.with
tlal education, which by a sweet arid curious but
convergency- should direct all to • the great point of
love God. It was thus we must act. We /oust not allow
there to iiiVe7 education • which would carry " every man
11Pott the wingi of his own selfishoess, whither those wings
ight carry him, but which would make the counnunity just
like God's people, when journeying through the wildernese
when each arranged h inself under•the standard of his tribe
and all around the ark of God. ;het
the • •
Y stopped, and when
;efore them, so the whole
towards the promised land
stet's- Such he said was
14) give to the middle els
Which, if he might be allowed the expree—
sortie antagonist development to those developments which
were how so continually brought before us. Those deaelop-
',lents concerning either the lower passions and appetites, or
sarhething relating to the intellectual faculties ; •and :these
were being brought forward and exhibited and developed, tu
to the danger and detriment of others of far higher moment
And we must call out the benevolence, and the hope, and-t)
conscientiousness., and .
give beauty, to exhibit the beauties,
and so on ; language if you pleased.

wilderness,

eta in beautiful and exac
whither th

:t order

ere directing 66

e education we were called upon
ses. It nuts

e an etincatio

,n, would give

necessary, nut merely to

they were dangerous

and give

rract them wheilsoevt
thew their true directions and noblest impulse whenever th
were Properly directed. If this were our duty with r
to the education of the middle and lower classes of
't Must be asked what was the • instrumentality wl
we should do this wor
ipentality of the church.
1-'4l he mean something vague and undefined, something of
Au etherial nature and an invisible and impalpable, cha-
racter, something ofwhich there must be a high and grow-
.
estimate formed in the mind as of many other unsub-
stantial realities, but which- no man could grasp and pass
through their fingers like quicksilver? Did he speak- of
ruething which the Son of God had himself ordained,
Pounded upon himself as the chief corner stone, upon the
Apostles and prophets, himself being the chief corner stone
institution meant to shew that God had a kingdom
upon earth, and to bring man into it, not as a kingdoui of
meat and drink, but which was righteousness, peace, and
3And °Y, in the Holy Ghost? This was the object of the church.
what was the church ? Not the bishops and arch-
were
bishops, and clergy, the priests_ and deacons merely : they
effectually and necessarily part of it, but it had been
Well observed by the Bishop of London, it was the artisan
inhis workshop, the merchant in his office, the pleader
the court of justice, it was every man and woman in
every place in their station, from the Queen upon the
throne to the lowest peasant in the land. (Cheers.) This
was the church—the catholic church, and that portion of the
catholic church which Christ had established in these realms
'the Church of England. (Hear.) She was called upon
to be the ark in which the truth of God was placed, even as
the tables of the covenant were placed in the chest beneath
the mercy seat in the Holy of Holies ; therefore it was her
duty to spread the kncwledge of that truth. Oh! if they
could send as ministers a greeting every man of them to their
households and their congregations respectively, an address
to the church in that house' it would be a very easy thing
to educate the people. We should then find that every man
would be a prophet, a priest, and a king in his own family—
that he was doing. the office of prophet according to God'st
ordinance to teach them the way of life, and the truth, as
well as useful learning ; of priest, to carry the intercessions
of pity and love to the throne of grace; and of king, to go-
vern the family according as the laws which God had appointed.
It would then be delightful to go and enter that house, say-
ing, " Peacc be upon this house," knowing that the blessing
of the Son of Peace rested upon it, and that it was go-
verned according to his laws and regulations. And then
we should see that every family duty would be made
wore endearing by the spirit in which it was discharged,
and every family trial lessened: by being borne in con-
formity with the will of Christ ; family enjoyments would
be doubled by being so assimilated, and family divi-
sions would be held as it were as a kind of schism in the body
of Christ, which men would shun and shrink from. But it
was not so ; and as the church ;vas the depository of the
truth, it was her duty to extend that truth; as the witness
for God, it was her duty to extend the knowledge of Jesus •,
and as she was the mother into whose care was committed
every child received into her embrace and pale by baptism.;
so it was her duty to hear continually God's word, which
said, " Nurse this child for me ; not merely for a trade, for
An occuration, for a scientific discovery, for place high in
letters or arms, or whatever ground of distinction you please ;
but nurse this child for me, and I will give thee thy wages
in that child's present comfort and usefulness as it grows up,
In its suitable and- fitting membership with the great body of
Jesus Christ, and in its future prospects as an heir of glory—
nurse this child for me." This was the langua generally,
of th
Church of England with regard to her children generally,e and certainly so with regard to the education which was to
prepare them, as consistent members of her body, and in an
especial manner of the body of Jesus Christ. Now religion,
which was the mistress and superintendent of all right in-
!Yuction, according to what. they had heard from the
k;hancellor's recital, must also be the superintendent of
general education ; and he would ask, into -whose hands
should that education be most fitly entrusted ? Should it
Shur be entrusted as to its supervision to the clergy of the
hof England ? He spoke as one of them, and so with
reference to the common good of this great matter, would
l&agnify his office. Should it be said that the clergy of the
untch of England should feed, according to the Saviour's
can:lnland, the sheep of the fold of Christ, and not also feed
theyiambs of Christ, according to the same command? If
""ey were worthy of being ministers, to supply the grown
r°Ple with the stronger meat of higher gospel truth for prac-
and experimental religion, should they not also be
thought worthy of supplying the milk whereby the babe
should be freely nourisned up to its high destination? He
I.,ePudiated the charge brought against the clergy of the
,Lhurch of England, of being hostile to the advancement of
stnowledg,e. The advancement of knowledge had been de-
"1;0 from our universities—from those universities one of
Wnieh had educated the lion. gentleman near him, who had
expressed his hope that she might be a fountain of blessings,
spiritual, civil, and political, to the present and future times,
to this and other lands.- From this and the other university
which the Chancellor had mentioned, his own beloved Alma
ifate, , was owing the protection and extension of knowledge;
through many a slumbering century they were the cradles in
which that knowledge was nurtured, and now, they. wished to
jeomniunicate it throughout the length and breadth of the
'and, under the blessing of God. The rev. gentleman then
Proceeded to comment most eloquently upon the efficiency of
,the church as an instriiment of education—a position which
he clearly established ; and lie concluded by moving the re-
solution.

Iwered it was the instru-

What did he mean by the church

GLADSTONZ, Esq., M.P., then rose amidst very
Marked and lengthened applause. He said—The resolution
which I have undertaken to second, in the presence of this
great and influential assembly, has been already read to you
by the rev. gentleman who preceded me, to the effect that
the education of the middle and labouring elasses•ought to
engage the diligent attention of the established church. Now,
this is a proposition which, in the eyes of some of those pre-
sent, and at the present stage of the business, may have the
appearance almost of a truism ; and yet, notwithstanding, I
Will venture to say that it is one containing a sentiment which
involves every question now contested between the friends
and opponents of scriptural and religious education. (Hear,
hear.) It is not held by any great or influential party, that
education ought to be communicated to men without the ac-
companiment of religion ;—we have not yet arrived to such
a height of audacity as that any party maintaining such a pro-
position, should meet with any considerable amount of ac-
ceptance from Englishmen. On the other hand,
_we have
not now to contend with the honest prejudices of some of those
Who were once inclined to believe that we are to seek, in-the
ignorance of the people, for the safetY and permanency of our
institutions. We do not believe that man can be benefited
bY the continuation of ignorance—that good can be generated
by_ the torpor of those faculties which God has given to us.
'4O where we will, we find it generally admitted that the peo-
I IC ought be educated, and religiously educated too, The
'question at issue—the question on which the result of all
these schemes of education depends—the question on which
fangs the alternative, whether education shall issue in the
reatest blessing or the most terrific curse that can befal man-
kind, is whether religion ought to be treated as a single and
isolated science, as a mere matter of scientific attainment, or
Whether it ought to be a vital principle pervading every ele-
ment and topic of instruction, as the soul to which every other
topic is as the body. (Cheers.) Now, it is because we main-
tain strongly the one of these alternatives, and because we.
deprecate the other, that the resolution I am. now speaking to.
IS to-day proposed to this meeting. If it be true, as it is often
asserted, that religion may separated from the general matter
°f instruction, then, indeed, it does not appear on what ground
° venture to assert that education ought to engage the at-
'-ention of the church. It is said by many, whose delusions
°,ll this subject I have ever deplored, " let the church teach
Lttat which belongs to her; let her not intrude into a pro-
tvilPee which does not belong to her ; let her instruct.
° People in the doctrines of genuine Christianity, but
vot attempt to engross in her own hand the general educe-
,:t°to of the kingdom." A more plausible sophism was never
t* 'ere& It comes attended with many winning considera-
ul,°P, with promises of peaCe and harmony on the one hand,
1u with a representation on the other, that if we persist in
woentendinz for the union of religious and general education,
eau shall be persisting in maintaining among the people a
irudti of perpetual discord. I am not insensible to the
84,7"ug nature of this representation; but, nevertheless, I
give
that to that cause which is the cause of truth we must
of e, the first.consideration, and that that which is the cause
thattruth will likewise be found to be the cause of peace, and,
titaj, that which promises to be the cause of peace and cha.
an:, and which disregards those principles from which peace
the parity can alone flow, will ultimately be found ono of
aftii arkest delusions with which the human mind was ever
pia.eted. Why is it that we are called upon to resist the
slautibility of those who contend for the division of religious
the',general education? Nothing can be wore equitable than
s,tanftentions of many among the number of those who con-
gener °t* the division ; nothing can be more perilous than the,
reago_a! argument they urge, because it is just that degree of
ti theinng that is likely to take those who pay little attention
withu, subject. They do not say that education should be
at religion.; but they say; 4, Let the church give to the

children of the church that education which she thinks pro-
per ; only let her confine herself within certain bounds, and
leave the rest free from her influence." That is plausible ;
hut it is what we ought to resist to the utmost extremity.
(Much cheering.) I will not attempt to go at large into the
reasons on which that opposition ought to be grounded; but
I will endeavour to give these two reasons for the course

which I have recommended. In the first place, I admit that
in certain branches of culture knowledge may be communi-
cated without religion : that, for instance, to make men phy-
sicians or- engineers, or to instruct them in many useful

branches -of learning, is a thing that may be done without
any direct reference to religion. But even this is not true
of the highest branches of secular knowledge. While speak-
ing of things inanimate, of the powers of nature—how they
may be subdued, and enlisted into the service of man, you
may escape, though through great injustice, from any refer-
ence to religion; hut is impossible that you can escape from
a reference to Nature's God.' But when- you come to the
sciences which involve the nature of man—when you
come to the sciences which involve his destiny—when you
teach man to learn the lessons of wisdom from the re-
cords of experience—when you come, not into the regions
of moral philosophy, but of history, you are then reduced to
one of two alternatives, either you must have the pupils in-
structed by those who have a sense of the truth of Christi-
anity, or you must abandon theta to practical' infidelity. It
is in vain to teach men history, 'or anything concerned with
human hopes and destiny, on principles ,of neutraiity.
(Cheers.) The experiment has been tried, and a greater
failure was never exhibited. It must be taught with a sense
of religion, or they will be irreligious. But that it should
be taught with a direct mention of religion may be inferred
from one of the precepts which have been given for our gui-
dance, namely, that whatever we do, we are bound to do it
to the glory of God. (Cheers.) I say that if we are bound
to do small and mean things to the glory of God—if we are
told even to eat and drink to the glory of God, how ranch
more does the command -hold good when we talk of subduing
the powers of nature, healing disease, or of putting into ac-
tivity the benevolent operations of art—above all, when we
ascend from the regions of matter to mind, and deal with
the faculties which God leas conferred upon us, and with
respect to which man was declared to be made in the image
of God. To refuse o recognise religion in these branches,
is at once t 6 deny that allegiance which we owe to this supre-
macy. (Applause.) Now, the principle on which I contend
that religion ought to pervade all systems of education, and
that no system of education can permanently raise either the
intellectual or physical condition of man, which is not con-
nected throughout with religion, is the principle which not
only approves itself in the abstract to our understandings,
but has ever been acted on since the foundation of the Chris-
tian church. I defy any man to name a period since the
christian church existed, at which she has not been the great
promoter of education, (applause,)—and in saying this, I do
not except from the proposition even those ages of darkness
when the mass of men were 'almost wholly destitute of in-
tellectual culture. Even then, small as the amount of exist-
ing knowledge was, the great portion of it was to be found in
the seminaries of the church. I say, without fear of offence,
that the monasteries, which afterw'ards became sinks of pol-
lution and corruption, were in their. origin 'established for,
and in some degree effected, the maintenance of learning and
civilization; and that through a long and dreary period,
when the generality of mankind were enveloped in darkness,
those 'monasteries did rear and send out some of the
greatest men that the world had ever knOwn. But I now
come to a more popular arid obvious illustration, derived
from the reformation; and I ask, what was the effect of the
reformation on the measures which were then taken for the
cultivation and advancement of knowledge? In the first
place, it is fair to say that the reformation gave a facility to
those measures, by the revival of learning; and I refer to
that as a proof of a proposition of no small importance to
maintain and keep in mind, that the revival of learning was
eminently favourable to the maintenance of Christian truth.
But what followed the reformation with respect to the re-
vival of learning? If we study the subject of endowments
in this country—and a very curious one it is—we shall find,
on the whole, that this is the case. At the period of the
reformation, so far from a check being given to religious
benev:dence, the benignant stream, on the 'contrary; for a
century and a-half afterwardl, flowed more freely and fully
than for the preceding century and a-half, but that it took a
different direction, namely, the founding and endowing of
schools—the very object on which we ourselves are this day

met. (Cheers.) Trace the history of those grammar
sohools which have done so much for the intellectual culture
of this country, and you will find that while few were founded
in the reign of Henry VII., more were founded in the reign
of Henry VIII., very many more in that of Edward VI.—
that they went back in the reign of Mary, and advanced in
that of queen Elizabeth—(great applause)—and through the
whole.of the 17th century there was a constant course of
benefactions directed to that great and valuable purpose,
thereby testifying the sense of those who were attached to
the reformation, as it was seen in the Church of England,
and their strong conviction that learning ought to be aided
in connect on with the church. In the constitution of the
church there were embodied regulations which show how
completely this principle had been accepted and recognised
throughout her whole progress. Even when the chapters
were founded, it was considered one of the duties of the
clergymen there assembled to devote themselves, not only to
the teaching of scientific theology, but to the general educa-
tion of the people. And afterwards, when it was found
necessary, instead of dividing the task amongst many, to
concentrate it in one person, an officer was appointed in
every chapter, one whose duty it was to advance the instruc-
tion of the people. And that officer was—and there is a
peculiar propriety in referring to it, from the fact of there
being one gentleman present on whom the title has been
appropriately conferred—the chancellor of the diocese.
(Cheers.) And I must say that if we are to take the speech
which he (the Rev. Chancellor Raikes) his this day deli-
vered as a specimen of his general intentions with respect to
education, or as a specimen of his powers in pleading its
cause before a great assembly, we cannot but be satisfied ;_
o(a
fr thel;
its
sdl
(Applause.)
isareetvsr.it tg,
ivlbeite.ha,
been
nti
hna
ene
oyot
pintbrfl eeeottstorieetf ridohs
neiosentuar
officei
nyh
acfnoi
mrrseotpahlszieoee
nsap
:le rot
uwhf osahroami
enthadhneacbfealoe have
been urged, and in opposition to tf.
theo precedents which I have
cited, those who disapprove of our principles, and
, advocateve
on
thethe f
a tasubject
doctrine of education,
that
r erlshallsi o o
ought
procureugt t o a
be
rm
nationalvel
separated from secular instt uction, and that separate cultiva-
tion ought to be given on some general principle common to
all religions, or without reference to the religion of the
church, then it is my_firm persuartion that in vain shall we
attempt to maintain religion as a separate science. - Revela-
tion was not given by God as a speculation ; it was given
that it form the foundation' of the character of man, and be
the guide of every action ; and if it is to be regarded iu any
other light—if it is to be treated as a merely speculative
thing, it becomes no better than an antique curiosity—one of
those monsters of bygone days which were referred to'by the
reverend gentleman (the Rev. Mr. Buddicorn), and we might
as well renounce and repudiate it altogether, as to say that
we can retain religion by separating it from the rest of know-
ledge, and base the rest of our life on other principles than
those of the Christian religion. We may well say that the
institution of these diocesan boards come to us commended
not only by an abundance of reasoning, which our own minds
can supply, and of authority which is derived from universal
practice ; and I, for one, am perfectly persuaded that these
institutions will extend, that they will remain, and that all
those theories which go to the inculcation of knowledge with-
ont religion may also remain, as evil is not to be banished
entirely from the world • but that they will never overcome
that true principle on which we stand, that a Christian coun-
try can have no stable advantage which is not penetrated and
pervaded by religious education. It is true, indeed, that the
interest and excitement of a meeting like the present do not
avail to overcome the difficulties which lie in the course of
those who have an interest in this great work. We, who ap-
pear before you to-day, and lend our humble efforts to this
cause, are not•those on whom the heat and burden of theday
falls. It falls on the humble schoohnaster in the remote vil-
lage, it falls on the clergyman in his cure, on such
gentlemen as the one who has undertaken the super-
intendence of the training college of this diocese, on such
men as my honourable friend the secretary, whose
unwearied energies are supported by the hope of your ap-
probation, as well as of future and more enduring rewards.
(Cheers.) Let them persevere in the task which they have
undertaken. Knowledge, I admit, may do something ; I
admit that scientific pursuits, apart from religion, may do
something to restrain the grosser excesses of vice. But it is
in vain to apply a palliative to the evils of human nature • it
it is in vain that we resort to other ways than those which
the Divine authority commands, and whatever may be done
for a time, however we may be deluded by partial successes,
in•time the old disease of humanity recurs with increased
violence, and in a more obstinate and aggravated form. To
that disease, we earnestly and humbly desire to apply the re-
medy which God appoints, not because it is the one which we
deem right and expedient, but because it is the one which He
has appointed. And because it is the one which God has ap-
pointed, we are not to be discouraged by opposition, preju-
dice, or lukewarmness, even if that bad been greater than it
has been, but are to persevere in confidence with the work
undertaken according to the will of God, through the in-
strumentality of that organization of the church which He
himself has ordained—that work which has received the uni-
versal sanction of the wisest men in all countries and through-
out all ages, and which however obscured by temporary dif-
ficulties and obstructions, in the end must be successful in
that measure and in that time and degree which God himself
has ordained. (Great applause.) •
The resolution was then unanimously carried.

The Rev. CHAIRMAN mentioned, that in the list of gen-
tlemen who were absent from. the meeting in consequence of
prior engagements, he had not read that of Lord Stanley, the
reason for which was, that the noble lord had no previous
engagement, but had a full intention and desire to be present.
He, however, was absent through illness. He was confined
to his bed yesterday, when he had lost his voice; but he did
not till the last moment forego the intention and pleasure of
attending, thinking that he might that morning (Thursday).
be so far-recovered as to be able to be here. That hope and
expectation, he (the Chairman) was sorry to say, had been
disappointed ;'but he was glad to•say.that another gentleman
had kindly undertaken, on the spur of the moment, to sup-
ply his lordship's place : he referred to the hon. secretary.
The Hon. and Rev. HORACE Powys, Rector of Warring-
tqn, then stood up amidst applause, which, having subsided,
he raid,—Was there ever, I may ask, a more unfortunate se-
cretary ? • My hon. friend (Mr. Gladstone) says that I have
to do the-work behind the scenes, and it now seems that I
have also to do something before 'the scenes; for I have to
come forward, as on the last occasion, under circumstances
most extraordinarily trying. Last year, I had unexpectedly
to fill the place of Lord Francis Egerton, who, with Lord
Stanley, was to have been here on the present occasion, but
has been prevented ; and now that it has been announced
that my noble friend (Lord Stanley) is too ill to come among
us, at least with his voice—and to haie him here without his
voice would be still more painful—l am again called upon to
fill the situation of an absent speaker. I hope, therefore,
that you will make all necessary allowances, if, on the spur
of the moment, as the chairman sayi, I rise to take a resolu-
tion which was not originally intended for the ; and you must
excuse me if I scrupulously avoid, as I intend to do, all those
exciting topics which are usually most popular in a public
meeting, and come down, in the office of secretary, to the
mere explanation of facts, and put my audience in possession
of the details of this society, the principles of which have
been so largely put forth, and which, in the resolutions
passed, you have declared your willingress to support; by
promoting education in connection with religion, and to let
that religious education be in connection with the established
church ; by not confining that education to the labouring class,
or any particular class ; but at the same time declaring that the
middle classes demand and deserie from the church,the greatest
degree of attention. The resolution which I have so rashly
undertaken is this—[The speaker read the resolution, which
was to the effect that well-trained teachers and an improved
system of taition were requisite for carrying out the plans of
the board.] Are we, then, to conclude, from the necessity
of such a resolution-being proposed to such a meeting as the
present, that there is a deficiency of well-trained teachers to
conduct education on well-grounded principles? Whether
you may be disposed to go with ma or not, I cannot say ; but
the conclusion I have come to, from some little acquaintance'
with the matter, is, that there is a most lamentable deficiency:
of well-trained, spiritually-minded teachers. It may, then,.
be very naturally asked, " Who is to blame for this?' We
have a church, that, u you say, is commissioned to teach
Christ's lambs.; and that church has to-day been spoken of
as ever willing to undertake the duty imposed on her by her
Divine head. It was also intimated that there has been for
some time in connection with that church a National Society,
of which the head of the church.is a leading member ; but in
spite of all that, it is a lamentable fact, that there is a great
and deplorable deficiency -of 'competent and spiritual-minded
men and women to undertake the management of the church
schools. Do I say that the blame rests on the National So-
ciety ? for the deficiency has been talked of, not only in the
present day, bait in bygone times. I answer, in the name of

the society,—" No ; the blame does not rest there." The
National Society has been placed in this position :—lt has
had to supply' the great educational needs of the country;
but her means have been so limited that it was totally impos-
sible for her to undertake more than the mere multiplying of
schools, trusting to the clergy and local managers to conduct
them on church principles. The society has done its best,
and if the blame lies any where, it lies on the shoulders of
the nation at large, which has not, either through its repre-
sentatives in parliament, or by private contributions, afforded
means to the society to work out the plan which was originally
de% ised. This plan of the diocesan board, is, in fact, the
original plan of the National Society ; and therefore, you are
now called on to carry out that which would long ago hare
been done, except for the lack of funds. The society has
multiplied schools to an amazing extent, and even within
this very district. I believe I speak correctly when I say
that within the diocese of Chester, within a very few years,
she has distributed upwards of .£37,000. (Hear, hear.) But
some persona may perhaps be disposed to say, " You are too
hard, Mr. Secretary, . when you pass so sweeping a condem-
nation en a .very large number of schools and of school
teachers." I hope I am ; but I must tell you that I rather
glory in being " the schoolmaster abroad." I am constantly
inquiring into the character of schools and schoolmasters,
and consequently into the effect of teaching, in the results of
the schools inquired about; and I am perfectly certain if I
were to state here the facts which I know,:and which rest on
the most indisputable testimony, you would not only be con-
vinced of the truth of my statement, but be alarmed for what
is going on in the schools of which you may have so very
good an opinion. My search has brought me to this conclu-
sion, that there can be no practical separation of religious
and secular education without wedding secular education
with infidelity ; and I could prove, from the very place in
which I speak, that through the opinions of the schoolmas-
ters, through their practices out of school, and through their
known infidel opinions, perhaps. not expressed in schools,
but certainly out of them, they openly propagated rank blas-
phemy and moat deliberate infidelity. There are institutions
throughout the country, high in the estimation of the public,
in which there is actually a restraint placed on those who
were the teachers in those schools, so that they were bound
down, in accepting their offices, from teaching those truths
which they in their consciences believed to be inseparable
from salvation. Perhaps you will be startled when I tell
you that in one of the most wealthy schools in this country
—I believe I may say the most wealthy—the master, a cler-
gyman, was hound in a written agreement with the trustees
not to teach Christianity. What do I mean ? I mean that
in that town—for it was not in this—there being a large
number of the Jewish persuasion, who wished to have the
benefit of a good education for their children, it was deter-
mined to admit them into this school, and-the master was
bound down not to teach Christianity to them. Whether,
' on the other hand, he was bound down not to Judaize the
Christians, I cannot say. Schools such as this were princi-
pally for the middle classes ; and in this diocese, from in-
quiries which I have made, I have ascertained the lament-
able fact that the education of the middle classes is for
the most part conducted by persons holding Unitarian
or Socinian opinions. It is also act that the schools in
connexion with the church are enty as one to four in com-
parison with those not connected with the church. The mid-
dle classes know and acknowledge this ; but they say that
they must have for their children an education suited to the
requirements of the age, and if the church will not provide
it, they must send their children where they can get it at a
reasonable rate. •The consequence is, that they have fallen
into places where, if they are not brought up in the religion
of the church, they are brought up in no religion at all, or
tutored in infidelity. Then, if you come down to the national
schools, I can tell you that. you see before you a national
schoolmaster. I came into my parish to teach Christ's lambs;
but 1 could not ; I had no school. I raised a school. Year
after, I got master after master; and year after year, I con-
tinued to look too closely into their conduct—for themselves
I mean—and year after year I was obliged to dismiss them.
Sometimes they complained that, being efficient teachers, I
had no right to dismiss them, and said that I had nothing to
do with their conduct out of doors. But the result was, in
my own parish, that the children, instead of being brought
up in godly habits, in veneration for the church, and re-
spect for the clergy, were completely neglected on those
points, and I had to suffer, from year to year, the great-
est and most grievous disappointments. -Hence 1 myself
became an inquirer, and from an inquirer a •schoolmas-
ter, and from that I became a 'little anxious to examine
into systems of tuition, and I found what is here stated
in the report, most boldly and plainly, that what is called
Bell's system of education, was most lamentably deficient in
establishing truth in the minds of children, and bringing them
up in holy and righteous practices. For instance, I went into
my own schOol, as I have gone into many others—but 1
would rather show up my own school than that of any one
else—and I took a class and made them read the parable of the
Prodigal son. They had read it so often that they knew it
by heart ; and at last I told them to put down the book and
answer a few questions. I put the most simple interrogato-
ries to them, but they could not answer one. I found that
they had been taught by rote to answer " Yes" or " No ;"
so I got one of them, and said, " Conic, my little boy. shall
I tell you? The young son said to his father, I am hungry,
give me a great lump of bread. Was that it ?" Yes, sir."
I followed up this systern, to convince myself beyond a doubt
that they were not properly educated. " Well, a book and a
piece of bread are the same thing, are they not ?" " Yes,
sir." So I took bold of the boy and said to him, " Here,
my little man, take this book and cat it." This brought hint
to his senses, and he began to feel that he had been taught
mechanically • and when I explained to the whole class that
most beautiful story, and the instery of love involved in it,
I never saw children more affectionately bend their minds to
receive the first precepts of Divine truth. Now, this is only
an illustration which I have given you, because I thought it
might interest mechanicalrona
l ti efrxiaemndins.ati(oEilleaor,
n
the whole school, that they had been taught to read and
aa
cheers.)
e ourer s.
write ; but when I asked them what they believed, or what
)Pb° I refrouahndd, f
practically led to, they were utterly destitute of
point out the path to it. Hence I became a schoolmaster,
tthhaeitrkbneollwelfedge which was to lead them to salvation, or to
and then the secretary of this society ; and, having had so
much experience, I recommended to the hoard, and they
wisely adopted the suggestion, that before they erected
schools or obtained school-rooms, they should procure a
number's( persons well qualified to teach, and to ground the
children in religious belief. What, for instance, would be
the use of your building in this town so many churches, if
you bad not such a body of clergymen as you have to offi-
ciate in them ? What would be the use of your building, if
you had inefficient or immoral clergymen? Would it do
good ? No ! harm ; for it would bring disrepute and dis-
honour upon the service of God, and lead all who knew them
to dishonour God with them. Would a master of a family
say, " I want there to have my offspring educated ; I care
not about the principles of the tutor or of the governess;
let them have a great deal of knowledge, and bring up my
children to play well, and to behave like gentlemen and
ladies, and I shall be satisfied ?" Would not the man who.
so spoke be called insane? And shall we treat the children
of the poor in a way that we would not treat our own
children? (Cheers.) Would we say, " Never mind the
principles and practices of the man that is to teach
these poor lambs, so long as he is able to arrange his
class,and to make his monitors do the drudgery." The thing
would be insane; and therefore we have in the first instance
turned our minds anxiously to them who alone can carry out
our efforts—to the education of those who hereafter are to
teach. We have now laid the groundwork for introducing
throughout the diocese an improved system of education, in
lieu of this monitorial system. Don't misunderstand me ;
don't think that I condemn the system altogether, because
what is mechanical in a school, may very well be conducted
by monitors ; but what is spiritual must come from agents of
a spiritual mind. The heart of a teacher must be in his
work. if he would make spiritual children, the master must
be spiritual himself. What little boy is tit to teach those
divine truths which are to lead souls towards heaven ? There
must be some more effective mode, if we are to lead boys to
comprehend those things which are to lead them to everlast-
ing life. And if a clergyman himself is not able to under-
take-that himself, it is the more necessary for him to provide
in his place a man or a woman in whose religious principles,
and in whose consistent religious practices, he can conscien-
tiously and fully depend, ere he commit to them the training
of the lambs under his charge. The step by which we have
endeavoured to provide for the religious wants of the church
in this diocese is, firstly, our training school, which is
our first and main object, and we have endeavoured to
establish that at Chester. This site has been objected to
as inconvenient, and on this point I would make a few
remarks, by way of public answer to the objection. I do
not think that any one would think an inhabitant of London
a very wise person, who said, I derive no benefit from the
Thames, because I do not live at the source ;" nor do I
think that an inhabitant of Liverpool would be disposed to
exchange the advantages of his position, at the sea end of the
Mersey, for one situated at nearly the source. It is not al-
ways those who are at the source who derive the advantages
they themselves wish for. At Chester will be the educational
establishment of those who are to teach. Our next object is
to establish in every portion of the diocese, in the most ac-
cessible portions we can find, schools in which those educated
at Chester can carry on the education of the district schools.
It is not at Chester you will see the fruits of all this, but in
your own neighbourhood, where the trained pupils will come,
and where they will be licensed to teach. Now, in obtaining-
this institution at Chester, the report has stated that the plans
have been drawn, anti that a site has been very nearly ob-
tained. That is to say, the building committee have been
attempting to enter into a contract with the owner of a piece
of ground there. Since the report has been published,
I am sorry to tell you that almost all hope of obtaining
that site is et an end ; and I think it is either the
sixth or seventh site which has been snatched from us
,almost at:the moment when we thought we were beginning to
build. A price was asked, in the instance referred to in
the report, which the Diocesan Society thought that they
were not able to meet. Having said so much on the words •
of the resolution, and knowing that there is a great deal in.
the shape of business to be brought forward, but which will
fall into abler hands than mine, I shall now leave the reso-
lution, by first of all reading to you the opinion of the Na-:
tional Society with regard to the difficulties-with which this
board may be expected to meet in the progress of the work
which it has undertaken. [The rev., gentleman read the ex-
tract referred to, which stated that the chief difficulty which
would have to be encountered would be the impatience of the
people to see the sudden results from the great pechniary
grants which had been made, when those results ought not to
be expected but in the course of years.] Let me, then, now,
leave business matters, which I know.must.be very dry to the
audience, and appeal to you one moment as a christian
people, and a church people, whether this shall be the danger
with which the National Society has to contend—which shall
cloud,. and perhaps thwart our efforts. I trust that the
response from this town will be ire the negative •, I trust that
the old saying will be remembered, • that " Rome was not
built in a day.', I trust you will not think that the Dio-
cesan is doing nothing, because it does not at once place
schoOls in every town and district, as by a miracle but I
trust that you will examine the principies on which the board'
is founded, a board whose aim is to extend education, secu-
lor and religious, both in connection with the church ; and I
pray you to have faith, not so much in us, who are working
out these principles, but faith in those principles them-
selves, trusting in God for their success; which Christ
has promised to bless if acted upon, saying that he
will be with his church, if she fulfils her duty, to the end
of time. (Cheers.) But let me • also remind you, and
not so much in the shape of appeal as in the shape of ad-
monition, from a weak instrument indeed, but one who is
ordained to speak, on the highest authority, to those who
ought to maintain everything connected with the temporal
as well as the spiritual welfare of the. church—suffer me to
admonish you, in days like the present, not to leave your
clergy to fight the good fight of faith—not to leave to us
alone the work, as it is our duty and not our honour to work,
though honourable as it is in his service for whom we per-
form all our duties—suffer as not to bend all our energies in
your behalf in vain ; but remember that that is a high and
holy talent with which we are entrusted, and that if we ne-
glect those committed to our charge in this world, their blood
must, in the next world, be, upon our heads. Remember,
also, • that talents are committed to every member of the
church, high and low, rich and poor; and do not let it be'
said, in this diocese, that the Chester Board of Education is
not able to carry out the great design on the principles they;
were determined to act. upon, for want of those means Which
ought to flow in on her almost without asking, from a
Christian population. I call on the inhabitants of the
town of Liverpool, in the name of the Diocesan Board,.
and in the name of the church, to pour out of the abundance
of their -wealth- some talent, which may be but a trifle, but
which, if many trifles are put together, will enable us, hug
j manly speaking, to do Ml we Want: When first the &Mins of
this board first advanced before the public, I calculated
that, if, only in this diocese, taking the poor and the rich to-
t gether, we could average £5. only, we should have enough
to do a good portion of what we undertook to do. gut after ,

a year and a half of no inconsiderable exertion, I am bound
to say that the average has not come up to anything like that
sum. Now, will the town of Liverpool hear a statement like
this, and go away, and say, " We have heard one or two good
speeches from so and so ; we are sorry that we have not
heard Lord Francis Egerton, and more so that we did not
hear Lord Stanley, and therefore the meeting was less inte-
resting than we expected ?" I hope not; but that you will
go forth from this place, and say—" The church calls on
every one of us for support ; she is acting on high and good
principles : she and her clergy will work oat what is most to
our own advantage; and she is in want of assistance. But
look on the side of our opponents, and see who is against the
church ; there, however, you will find no lack of money."

Politica will sometimes' 'draw out money, when principles
will not. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers.) Here stands the
church upon her own foundation, anxious to make no com-
promise of principle with any party—nay, determined not to do
so, but leaning on faith for success ; and on the opposite
side stands—who ? Note church, not those agreeing on any
one church principle, but those who have a hard and fast
bond of union—opposition to the church, and a determina-
tion to destroy her if they can. And when we see, as we now
do see, protestant dissenters, members of the true catholic
church of Christ, shaking hands, politically and cordially,
with those who have separated themselves from. the church
of Christ, and so clothed themselves with incrustations of
error, that' you can scarcely trace anything like a proper
principle of religion amongst them—need I.say that I allude
to the Romanist dissenters ?—and when we see protestants;
and those who speak against popery, and yet, in the matter
of education, say, " No; the church shall not have that ; we
will cut off from the church that source of influence and
power, and thus enable us to pull down the church itself,"
is it not incumbent upon every one of us to exert ourselves
to the utmost ? An Unitarian minister at Bath said, " Give
me the choice of the schoolmasters, and I will soon work any
reform I please in the church." Come to our aid, then, all
who value truth ; come to our aid, all who would wipe off
error; join hands with the church, which has been the great
breakwater against error and infidelity; come to our aid,
all who Value the religious education of the country—all who
look to the exaltation of the nation, which shall grow, by di-
vine permission, out of righteousness ; give your hands to us;
hold fast sound spiritual truth ; give us of your money ; sup-
port your church liberally ; act on your principles of faith,
and wait to see the result; but, oh! let us not fight, in
Christ's name, the spiritual battle alone. (Loud cheering.)
The Rev. Mr. PARR. vicar of Preston, seconded the resolu-
tion. After a few appropriate introductory remarks, the rev.
'gentleman said—l think it my duty in seconding this propo-
sition, to declare. my full concurrence in the terms of it.
These are not times, ladies and gentlemen, in which any busi-
ness or any body of persons can afford to stand still. " For-
ward " is the word upon every side! " Advance! Advance ! "
is the cry, and that with a rapidity unprecedented in any
former times. We are not desirous to stand still ; we are
desirous to go forward ; but we cannot go forward without
asking " where are we to go, in what direction, in what road ?"
If heavenward, if in the- direction to which truth and religion
point forward, if you please, as soon as you please, and as fast
as you please; but we must consider in what direction you
are propelled. Again, we must consider whether we are to
go forward in a manner becoming the church. If we are to go
forward let us go with caution and consideration against
the dangers and the difficulties of the way, and with that
provision for attaining the end we have in view, which has
characterised the church in all ages. 'Well trained teachers
and an improved system of education are essential to the ex-
tension of an useful education. It is time that the efficiency
of a school must depend entirely upon the teacher •, it is not
enough that it should he connected with the church, that it
should be well superintended, that it should have books and
methods of teaching that arc approved. It must have a
living'soul to animate it. Intellect must speak to intellect,
heart to heart, and the master must be able to give in the
school an impress of himself. If so, he must be a sort of
man whose impress it is desirable we should have—he ought
to be the model to his scholars ; therefore it is important to
secure such persons to be instructors in the schools of this
board. The rev. gentleman, after a few further remarks
seconded the resolution, and it was carried.
The Rev. HUGH M'Nemx, on rising to second the,reso-
lution, was received with several rounds of enthusiastic
applause. He spoke as follows—Mr. Chairman, I am a
participator, and a sincerely grieving participator, in the
disappointment which we have experienced to-day—l mean
the unexpected and much deplored absence of my Lord
Stanley. (Cheers.) lam personally grieved in this matter
in common with your secretary, for I had hoped, as will be
seen by the managements for the meeting, that the noble
lord would have proposed the resolution now entrusted to
me and that I should have been called upon merely to
follow up his descriptions of the plans adopted by the Chester
Diocesan Board, as to its operations and principles. lam
called upon to. move, instead of second, the following reso-
lution—" That the Chester Diocesan Board of Education,
in connection with the National Society, has adopted a plan,
which in its principles and operations is eminently calculated
to secure, under God, the diffusion of true religion and useful
learning." In contemplating the success in any project it is
necessary to look not only at the means
mx . at the
e
employd, but _ _

. .
terials upon which those means are to be employed. Now,
sir, much has been said to-day upon the subject of some of
the materials in question. namely, the middle classes of
society ; too little, I think, has been hitherto said concerning
a large, class, which it shall be my duty, a painful one, to
bring under the consideration of the meeting—l mean that
class rapidly increasing by thousands, I might almost say by
millions, in our large towns and cities, and in the manufac-
turing districts of this county, who are in the very lowest
stage of moral degradation—masses where vice has spread all
her temptations, sensual pleasure all her seductions, folly all
her allurements—where guilt is encouraged by the prospect
of impunity, where profligacy is fostered by the frequency of
example. Sir, the statements laid before the public with
regard to the mass cf the community to whom I now refer
are truly appalling ; they have served to arrest the attention,
and to awaken the interest alike of the philanthropist, the
politician and the Christian. We hear, for example, from
our most accurate inquirers, that a tenth part of the popula-
tion of London are paupers, and that about 20,000 persons
rise every morning, in our metropolis, without knowing
where they are to lie down at night ; 're learn that about
30,000 persons are every Saturday evening in a state of brutal
drunkenness in the city of Glasgow ; we learn that 60,000
persons passed through the fever hospital of Dublin in one
year; and a celebrated foreign,examiner of our statistics has
put it upon record that, within the last thirty, years,, the
number of persons accused of serious crimes nas increased
in England five times, irk Ireland six times, and in Scotland
twenty-nine times. Sir, it is impossible for men, actu-
ated. by Christianprinciple, tamely to behold this state of
things, and, like the priest or Levite in the parable, carelessly
pass by on the other side; and it' is equally impossible for
such men to. confine their efforts to legislative restraints and
penalties, whereby they, indeed, may, in some degree, guard
the more orderly persons in the community from the spread
of the contagion, but leave the masses of human corruption in
all their inward depths, without even an attempt at ameliora-
tion in this life, or preparation for a better. Efforts are called
for—strenuous efforts—wise in their design and arrangement
—vigorous in their adoption—perseveriug. in their applica-
tion. To penetrate the mass itself ; to contemplate its com-
ponent parts with compassion rather than with indignation ;
to approach them kindly ; to take advantage of parental feel-
ings on the one side, and infantine docility on the other; to
awaken what remains of tenderness in a father's or mother's
heart, 'and snatch their beloved offspring from the vortex of
the destroyer ;—this, sir, is an enterprise worthy of the high-
est ambition of Christian heroism, and in this enterprise it is
our high and animating privilege to be engaged. (Cheers.)
The plan adopted by the Chester Diocesan hoard is mainly,
as to any thing that distinguishes it in operation, to bring
christianity in the pure, plain, scriptural aspect in which it is
presented by our church, to bear upon those masses of the
community. (Hear.) I hope, sir, to be able to show, by
another line of argument, somewhat different from those
'various and valuable strains to which you have already
listened, that it is only the application of christianity to the
mass that can penetrate its depth, that from the nature of its
component parts it is impenetrable to any other application,
and that consequently, only the plan adopted by this board
and by the National Society, viz., the church plan, can take
the first step towards the diffusion among that part of the
population I now refer to of true religion or useful learning.
I feel, indeed, the justice of many of the remarks and argu-
ments of those who say we cannot meet the exigencies of the
case by the best education we an give carried to the greatest
extent we can carry it. I believe, sir, that left to the agency
of such associations as the National Society and the Diocesan
Board, supported by voluntary contributions, or even assisted
by the state to the amount of doubling those contributions,
we never can succeed in bringing even the outward appli-
ances of our educational system to bear upon more than a
fraction of the population. The evil consequences of this de
not confine themselves to mere numerical deficiency. They
extend in the shape of vastly increased difficulties experi-
enced with those whom we do reach. The influence ex-
ercised by the school has to contend not only against the
propensities of our fallen nature in the individual children
attending the school, but also against the overwhelming tide
of contaminating corruption in the surrounding multitudes
who attend no school, but are ready daily to mingle with the
schoolchildren the moment they are dismissed to their wretched
homes. A national system of education, I mean a system vi-
gorously made national in deed, and not in name only,would re-
move these extra difficulties, and would in one way greatly re-
duce those opposing influences whereby our educationalefforts
are now hindred from having fair play. But, sir, even if this
were done, and If numerical deficiency could no longer be
complained of,—even if we were supplied with the means for
extending our efforts over the whole length and breadth of
the population, and for penetrating the masses already refer-
red to,—even so it is impossible we should meet the exigen-
cies of the case in any other way than by strictly Christian
education ; and for this reason, application to the under-
standing of men only will never meet the exigencies of this
ease. The bulk of mankind have a very melancholy- medi-
ocrity of understanding compared with the vehemence of their
passions. There is, in uncultivated, unconverted man. a
practical ascendancy of the animal instincts over the sugges-
tions and the claims of reason. The gratifications of the ani-
mal instincts are immediate, and the pain consequent upon,
their excess, though'certain, is remote. The suggestions of
reason do not wear the aspect of present gratification, but of
threatening restraints. Her claims, instead of 'inviting to
Present enjoyment, demand a *Sent sacrifice. Now this is
precisely what the bulk of mankind resist, yes, and even re-
sent. They cannot make such a sacrifice. Obliged by the
necessities of their condition to endure bodily toil every day
to a certain hour, the instantaneous reaction at that hour is
to bodily indulgence. This assumes various aspects of ani-
mal enjoyment in various individuals ; and what I am pre-
pared to maintain is this, that it is impossible successfully to
combat enjoyment by restraint.
" Naturam expellas furca, temen usque recurret."
I give this as a classical comment upon the eloquent speech
of the honourable member, with whose address you were
all delighted. You cannot control present indulgence by
restraints, or the prospect of good, which gives no pre-
sent enjoyment. The thing is lodged in the basis of human
nature. Before intellectual knowledge can become an
enjoyment, many a painful sacrifice must be made, many
an hour of hard study must be undergone. Intellectual
enjoyment is the result of intellectual cultivation ; but
how, upon the mass we are now speaking of, is the process of
cultivation to begin? How are you to approach their intellect?
They are preoccupied ; they are engaged in animal enjoy-
ments, and their mind will not receive an application which
is simply intellectual. This reasoning applies not only to
the scheme of scientific and intellectual attainments, but
to all cold, forced systems of ethics. It applies to all
bargaining systems, miscalled religion, which require the
performance of duty, or the endurance of suffering, as pre-
requisites for the enjoyment of peace. But, sir, it does not
apply to the gospel of the spirit of God. The gospel of
Jesus Christ brings present enjoyment. It creates a new
affection. It originates a first love. It achieves its purpose
by transforming the man, not by demanding those penalties
which, however powerful to irritate, are impotent to reform ;
but it transforms the man by communicating gracious enjoy-
ments, instantly carried home, warm upon his heart, by the
immediate energy of the Lamb of God. In the language of
Scripture, " the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by
the Holy Ghost given unto us." There is a meaning in what
David says that this refers to, " My heart and my flesh cry
out for the living God." There is an enjoyment in religion
true religion—that comes even into the animal part of
man. I am bold to say there is a present enjoyment which
- will' combat, and which alone will in the first stage success,
fully combat, the cravings for animal enjoyment in the
masses I allude to. It is very possible that those who have
never experienced anything of this enjoyment of Christianity
May.be tempted to an incredulous smile, at the enthusiasm
of saying that it possesses sufficient Owes to counteract the
animal instincts of the poor. But, sir, its efficacy is no
longer a matter of opinion ; it is matter of history—it is
matter of fact. We have read, we have heard, we have seen
its power. We have observed it in the haunts penetrated I
believe oaf?, or nearly so, by the ZIV, who draw titan

yes into the depths of the moat degraded of die pcipula-
n, to tell this truth. We have seen it in. schools. You
hive heard an instance of it to-day. Yon have heard an
stance of how the preoccupied niinds of those little chil-
dren were arrested; how

Jew animal enjoyment was et

trolled f.r a moment, and a better enjoyment originated m
them, while their pastor expatiated on the tenderness of
Christian love, and upon the manifestation of God's love
towards the returning prodigal. Yes, wherever the gospel
has been plainly and faithfully declared, there have been
illustrations of what our Christian poet sang concerning the
success of the missions in Greenland
" The wretch who once sang wildly, danced, and laughed,

And sucke
Has wept a silent flood • reversed his wa
Is sober, meek, benevolent, and prays;
Feeds sparingly, communicates his store,
Abkors the craft he gloried in before,
And he who stole has learned to steal no more
Yes, Sir, Christianity is not a theory only addressed to roan
underst•inding, but a life incorporating itself with his re-

dizzy madness with

newed affections and active habits and most satisfyingenjO;-
*tents. lam well aware that this view of Christianity, that
this representation of it, as possessing a living, present,
power of enjoyment, has been too frequently decried and
avoided as something enthusiastic and sectarian ; and that
we have been considered more proper, more prudent, more
judicious, more orthodox, and more genteel, when we have
confined ourselves to what, after all, deserves nothing more
than the mere name—the ethics of Aristotle mingled with
language desecrated by the union. But in so treating the
gospel, we have been defeating our own object ; we have been
depriving it of its power to reclaim for time, as well as of its
power to save for eternity. Among the middle, and espe.
cially among the higher classes of society, where artificial
wants are many, and artificial motives strong, ihere may be
much that is orderly, and there may seem to be much that is
moral, without any Christian principle, and without any
Christian enjoyment : but among the masses of society to
which I have referred, and for whose improvement we are
now associated. Christian feeling—aye, Christian feeling, I

am not afraid of that word, though I know how it has been
abused—l say, Christian feeling, that dictated to the Psalmist,
" My heart and my flesh crieth out for the living God ;" that
Christian feeling which restores us to God, and is the only
effectual pioneer for the introduction of all that is valuable
among men. (Cheers.) These are some of the high grounds
upon which we ask for Christian instruction ; and, to make
the term more definite, and the meaning more precise, in
these days of doubtfulness, we ask for church instruction.
(Cheers.) Our church has never paralysed the gospel into
a frigid system of ethics—into a cold code of morals, thereby
depriving it of its power to impress the masses of the poor.
On the contrary, she presents it in all its warmth, energy,
and tenderness, in all the winning because pardoning love of
. .

the Lamb of God, which takethrtway the sins of the world.
(Cheers.) Our church has never prostrated her children
into slavish traffickers for righteousness ; thereby keeping
them at a distance from their father's bosom and the fatted
calf of their fatheris house, in the vain attempt to work out
for themselves a title-of admission there. (Cheers.) No :
she gloriously declares that " we are accounted righteous be-
fore God, only for the merit of 'our Lord and Saviour Jesus
Christ, by faith, and not for our own works and deservings."
(Loud cheers.) I need not expand this further, sir ; but it
is refreshing, in these days of accommodating compromise,
to reiterate these statements of truths, in defence of which
our glorious army of national martyrs willingly embraced
the stake, and patiently endured the burning faggot. (Loud
cheers.) But it may, and ought to, be said concerning
our church, as it is written concerning her Lord, that
" the common people hear her gladly." (Cheers.) To win
your assent, therefore, to the terms of the resolution, 1 think
it is sufficient you should he informed that you should he sa-
tisfied, first of all, that the plan adopted by the Chester Dio-
cesan Board, in union with the National Society, is, in its
principles and operations, strictly a Church of England plan.
We have all learned that the master makes the school, and
all our best friends will rejoice to hear how our Diocesan
Board describes her master, the only description of masters
the desires to employ.—[The rev. gentleman then read an
extract, but owing to the honorary secretary declining, as
stated above, to furnish us with it, we cannot print the pas-
sage, which we regret the more as it was interspersed with
some valuable comments.]—l think, proceeded the re`v. gen-
tleman, the observations I have offered are fully borne out
' as completely applicable to this plan, in its principles and
operations, by the description given here of the teachers (in
the Diocesan Schools.) They are men qualified to set forth
that living energy of the gospel which is, at once, the only
power to make the first impression upon man, and the sav-
ing power to carry on the impression, until man shall he
transformed into the image of his God. It is in the enjoy-
ment of God that the character of God's children is formed.
They are not called upon to form their character fitted for
that enjoyment, and then receive it. That is what the law
said ; but the law is weak through the flesh. They are in-
vited to come as they are, because God has come to them.
" Behold your God—this man receiveth sinners." The man
who will set forth Jesus Christ is bringing God to receive
sinners, in order that being received and enjoying communion
they may be transformed into his likeness, they may be blessed
into holiness—not driven ; that they may be in the enjoyment
of their Father's house. That is the man to go among
the poor, to win their hearts, to win them from the ale-
house and the gambling-table, and to win them to better
enjoyments. (Hear, hear.) But, sir, the members of our
church, and especially the clergy, have been accused, as has
been already adverted to, and in no measured terms, of being
enemies to the education of the people ; they have been ac-
cused of being hinderers of improvement, of being patrons of
ignorance. These are some of the-flattering titles we have
received. It is not enough in answer to these to refer, as
we have heard to-day to our universities, because the accu-
sation and the taunt is not that the clergy kept themselves
ignorant, but that it was their policy to keep the people
ignorant. What is the plausible ground, the only visible
ground upon which this charge is advanced? It is that for a
season we were comparatively inactive with regard to the
education of the people. Now, let it be frankly granted that
there was a period of comparative inactivity, and let it be
asked, who were inactive ? Did the inactivity of that period
especially characterise the church, or was it not equally cha-
racteristic of her accusers? (Hear.) All slumbered; and
almost slept together for a season : and when the wak-
ing time came, who, I ask, waked up first ? (Loud cheers.)
Who moved soonest ? (renewed cheers,) and who kept fore-
most ? (increased applause) when the government took an
education grant from parliament of £20,050 a year, and dis-
tributed it through the National Society -and the British and
Foreign School Society, in sums proportioned to their re-
spective voluntary contributions, who, I ask, got the bulk of
the money? (Immense applause.) And now that the same
system of proportionate distribution is to be resumed, who,
I fearlessly ask, will get the bulk of the money? (Cheers.)
The funds of the National Society are in process of rapid and
most encouraging increase. (Carers.) No sir, the charge
although industriously propagated and circulated, was utterly
unfounded. We have ever been friends, the tried and deter-
mined friends of the advancement of all useful knowledge,
especially which is moat valuable, because valuable for eter-
nity, the knowledge of the one only true God, as he is in
Christ Jesus. That is the crowning branch of the tree of
knowledge, which will bear fruit in endless light, and hive,
and glory. All other knowledge, without that, is, at the
best, but as the corruscations of a meteor, giving a deceitful.
and temporary glare, and ending in the blackness of dark-
ness for ever. (Cheers.) If there be any knowledge incom-
patible with the knowledge of God in Christ our Lord and
Saviour, we are enemies to that knowledge. If there be any
system of instruction which excludes, or neglects, or even
places in an aspect of secondary importance, the knowledge
of God in Christ Jesus, we are enemies to that system ; not
to everything which may be taught in that system, but to the
system itself. They may teach many things which are useful
in themselves, and such as we also teach, but by depreciating
what is most useful, they set us in opposition to them as
systems. Vie derive an illustration of this subject from the cus-
tom, in formertimes, for kings to lead armies. We represent
the whole circle of knowledge by such an army, under its royal
general. The king himself stands for the knowledge of God,
as given in the scriptures. His commissioned officers stand
for the higher branches of science, as astronomy and mathe-
maties,—the non -commissioned officers, for the lower attain-
ments of mechanics, geography, and the languages,—and the
privates, for the knowledge of the common handicrafts of
trade, and arrangements of domestic life. Our desire is to
teach the whole range, beginning with the general, and all
down the line keeping up, and pointing out, Me progressive
links of subordination under the general. In this connexion,
we are ardent lovers of the most universal knowledge. We
cultivate science in every branch; we urge forward every
practical improvement in mechanism ; we enlarge and cor-
rect our geographical observations; we study and impart a
variety of languages ; in every step, to the lowest link of the
chain, having paramount and practical respect to.the highest.
But, suppose a school, established for the purpose of com-
municating knowledge concerning every link, except the
highest; or, a school in which knowledge of the lower links
is made the main object, and dissociated from direct and
habitual reference to the highest,—a system such as the Lon-
don University, from which revealed religion is avowedly
excluded,—or a system nearer home sir, like the Corporation
Schools of Liverpool (cheers), where, after all that has been
denied on the subject, the truth still is, that the first and
grand link in the chain, the first source of authority, the
general over all, is kept quiet until evening, kept still till the
hour comes, when a man upon one side, who says his face is
black, and another, upon the other side, who says his face is
white, come, and both are allowed in the school; each takes
a section of the children; one of them tells what must be
false, for both cannot be true. It is impossible. I can show
you in a very few words, although I do not wish to be ver-
bally controversial, where the black is and where the white
is. Against such a system we protest loudly, honestly, un-
compromisingly. The whole system is one of insubordina-
tion and mutiny ; an army without a general, and can lead
only to ultimate confusion and ruin. Give us the ge-
neral over all, and his authority pervading all ; and we
gladly join in all the alacrity of obedient loyalty. But
remove the general, or disSociate his authority from the
ranks, and we separate and protest against the rebellion.
What, then, is our answer to those who bring this accuse- •
tion ? Are Nye enemies of knowledge among the people ?
No : by no means. 'Let-the knoWledge of God in Christ
precede and pervade altother knowledge, as it of right ought
to do, and we are friends of all knowledge, and cultivators
of all. But are we enemies Of godless knowledge ? We are :
vre never denied it, and I hope we never will. We are,
undoubtedly, determined and vigorous enemies. Godless
knowledge is what the devil delights in—a sharp instrument
by which he lacerates the unbeliever, hiving cultivated him
into an increased capacity of misery. But, sir, there is an-
other point on which, with your permission and that of the
meeting, Islesire to make a few observations. As the Dio-
cesan Board appeals only for private 'contributions, it may
possibly appear to some, that to make allusion, at a meeting
of this kind, to the duty of the state in the matter of educa-
tion, would be in some degree out of place. I do not think
so ; because the necessity for our appeals would be in a great
degree superseded if the state performed its duty in this
matter. (Cheers.) In the full foresight, then—or rather, I
should say, in the matured experience of most vehement
accusations of bigotry, I have no hesitation in affirming my
conviction that it is the duty of the legislature to decide upon
some uniform system of education—uniform in principle I
mean, and to supply means for making it national indeed ;
and that it is not and cannot be their duty to countenance
and support fundamentally opposing systerda. (Hear.) Our
petitions and arguments upon this subject appear to have
been misunderstood, and very clever replies have been given
to what we have never advanced.. I allude particularly to
language reported to have been uttered in the House of
Commons last session. A debate arose upon some petition
against the continuance of the grant to Mavnooth College.
The noble lord, her Majesty's Chief Secretary for Ireland,
is reported to have said—" They (the petitioners) started
with the proposition, that it was wrong to support a religion
of which they disapproved. That might be a very good opi-
nion to hold; but it appeared to him that any one who con-
scientiously held that opinion was bound to support the
•voluntary system. How any one could, in common candour,
say that it was wrong to support a religion which they thought
erroneous, and yet exact the very seine support for another
religion of others who equally thought that erroneous,—how
they could allow the great majority of the people of this
country to impose upon the vast majority of •the people of
Ireland the duty of supporting persons to advocate the tenets
.which the majority in Ireland deemed wrong, he could not
conceive. It seemed to him to be utterly at variance with
every notion of consistency, of candour, and of sense. In this
sense, the laws which required the payment of church-rates
from persons of all persuasions ought to be instantly repealed."
This was very clever against a certain opinion ; but who ever
held that opinion ? Who were they that ever held it was
wrong to support a religion of which they did not approve ?
I cannot, of course,'say.of which particular petition the noble
lord spoke, as, I am happy to say, there were a great many
of them • but I may say for the friends of the church, that we
never alleged it was wrong to support a religion, or a system
of education, because we disapproved of it. It was of this
the noble lord made 40 umciLi remove tiny saddle dem-

less, which so adroitly retorted upon it, becomes fiery harm-
It is not because we disapprove of it, or we say that it
to support it, but because it is opposed to tint word
If the legislature say to us, "Multitudes
Is deem it in accordance with the word
to decide between you and them ? our

of God

of your fellow-
of God ;" aud

answer, with all respect to the legislature, is, " You are to
decide ; you are providentially placed in a condition and sta-
tion of influence for the good of the country, iu which it be-
comes imperative upon you to decide many questidns con-
cerning which the population of the country are dilided. To
be able to decide is a part of your qualifications as senators
to use your best abilities, and your most anxious and perse-

ring inquiries, in order to qualify yourselves, is a part of
your duty, as a conscientious representative, a patriotic sub-
ject, and a honest man. Upon .nther subjects you do this.
You study the science of political economy, and take upon
you to decide in the matter of corn-laws, on which the people
are divided. You study the nature sad operation of munici-
pal governments of large towns, and come to decision upon
the subject of corporations. You examine the complicated
interests of our colonial union, and decide upon questions in-
volving the respective powers and privileges of local legisla-
tures and in the imperial parliament. In all things you de-
cide, and it is right you should decide. You are not kept
from decision by the indecision of the people, or by any dif-
ference of opinion, and I should' SHY' that any man who can-
not make up his mind because his fellow-countrymen differ
in opinion, because his constituents differ in opinion or from
any other cause, ought to give up his seat, (Loud cheers.)
We claim decision at your hands ; and if you answer—' Well,
the only way in which we can decide is by a majority and
are you prepared to abide by the decision bf a Majority in
matters of religion and education P. The reply is, ' Whether
we are willing or not it is your duty to decide. " (Cheers.)
We claim decision, even if that decision should be against
ourselves. We claim decision from the legislature, and say
to the country we demand it on all great questions. The ma-
jority, after all, must govern, right or wrong. They must
rule, though men shuffle fora time. (Cheers.) And the ma-
jority' would rule immediately if men were straightforward,
honest, and decided. (Cheers.) Better decision than hide-
cision. We invite decision, even though that decision should
he against ourselves, and against our church. Better have
the majority so decide, proclaim the nation infidel or idola-
trous, and place the church in the position she was under
pagan Rome, thus keeping clear and clean the lines of demar-
cation between truth and falsehood. (Great cheering.) Bet.
ter this, than by the present twister-4 of indecision and inoon.
sistency, to go on supporting oppoSing systems, voting money
for schools which teach the anti-Romanist formularies of the
Church of England, and with the other hand voting money
for schools which teach the peculiarities of the Church of
Rome. By deciding in any way, they will displease some
men : but by not deciding' at all they dishonour God by a
dereliction of their duty sunnortirw nimnsinn• tystpm,

they stultify their own enactment. They are the keepers and
trainers up from infancy of two bands, not only of theolgical,
but of moral and political gladiators. (Cheers.) Sir, this is
not too strong language. We charge the 'legislature with
being the fosterers of children from their infancy in opposing
systems, religious. moral, and political. They vote a grant of
money, a part of it for us who teach the christian doctrines ;
who teach the nature of sin ; and who say that the figment of
venial sin is opposed to the mind of God ; who are pledged
by our ordination vows to teach that the doctrines of purga-
tory, penance, transubstantiation, and all the other hetero-
geneous mixtures of the middle ages, which Romish rubbish
have heaped upon the gospel. (This sentence was inter-
rupted, and its termination lost by loud cheers.) They vote
money, also, for the training of children from their infancy,
and for the employ n:ent of teachers to train them, that purg
tete.. ir - . •

_ _ relics of
aints are to be had in honour; that-in a piece of bread there
is truly—and I desire now to speak in a serious manner—
preteut the body, soul, life, and divinity of Jesus Christ.
(Hear.) Our legislature are guilty, in the sight of God and
of man, of encouraging, by grants, both the " white" and
the " black"—the truth and the falsehood—the Christianity
and the anti• Christianity—the Church of Christ in England

and the apostacy of anti-Christ that is striving
place. (Loud Cheers.) They teach both—they eucoura
both—they endow. both. We turn upon them, and say,
" Gentlemen, decide. Why will you decide upon corn-laws,
upon laws for the amendment of the registration of voters."
Sir, I am sorry that we have not my Lord Stanley here—l
should have been very glad to have told his lordship of the
,nifestrition of your decision, nobly, boldly. Sly, ar

to usurp her

plainly shown, with only a few days _ .
tice, afforded us by the delay of the question for a week, in
this very place. (Loud cheers.) This house was the❑ more

Wo or three days' no-

ladies stud gentlemen;—(loud chee;s)--anci
/don animated the whole of •decision, decision. (Cheers.)
Let England cry to her senators, .decision. Let us have no
more indecision. Let us have no more Penelope-web legible •
tion. (Loud.cheers.) But, sir, England has decided. (Im-
mense cheering.) Look back at the decision of former times,
and be consistent with it. England has, by an immense ma-
jority decided, and the country is with the church, as the
church is with the bible. (Cheers.) The supremacy of the
bible in all legislation is the banner to be raised. The su-
premacy of the bible in all legislation ! Would that hon.
and right hon. members of parliament would not be ashamed
to attend to this, and not be ashamed to take a lesson from a

parson. (Cheers and laughter.) The supremacy of the bible
in all legislation ! This is the banner now to be raised, and
if raised in the proper hands, it will call forth such an expres-
sion and such a response as will cause the enemies of old
England, to the ends of.the earth, to quail before the powers
of the resuscitated giant. (Loud cheers.) It is for want of
this that our power is paralysed. It is because there has
been trimming instead of decision ; it is because there
has been shuffling instead of decision ; it is because
there has been evasion instead of decision that the giant
has been lulled upon the lap of Dalilah. The lock
has been discovered. The scissors of Anti-Christ have
been carefully applied. •Oh, sir, is the lock gone—is it
cut—or is it only discovered and threatened ? If it be
cut. England must fall, and, like the fallen giant al-
luded to, though may fall with her the pillars that
support the basis of. all society in this hemisphere and
through the world, though she may prepare the way for the
coming of the great King, who will set up a kingdom asid a
government that can never be pulled down, still her own
glories are gone. Ichabod is written upon her walls, if the
lock was cut by the act of 1829, if the lock was cut when the
protestant principle was taken out slf our constitution. But
I hope better things, and that the lock of Sampson remains.
I hope that the country has been awakened from her slum-
her, and that the giant is still able to put forth his strength—
that he is still able to go forth in the strength of God to corn-
bat his enemies, and to make the Philistines feel that still
Old England is herself again. (Loud cheers.) I have now
one word to what has been said by the hon. and rev. secre-
tary, that the people of this town will not suffer themselves
to do themselves the injury of allowing their consciences to
be lulled by the pleasure they have derived from the meeting
of this day ; but that they will follow it up, and remember
that the object in view, in making a
.question of this sort po-
pular, is to better the condition; to elevate the moral habits,
of the people around ; that this is to he done by means, and
that we throw ourselves upon the public for the means to do
it. Failing a national provision, waiting if, peradventure, we
should End .decisionin our legislature, we, in the meantime,
ask contributions from you, that we may be able to multiply
masters properly instructed, schools properly prepared, that
the children of the poor may come into those schools, and be
instructed by those proper masters. For this we ask help at
your hands. I would fain hope that you require only to be
reminded of this, and the difference between this and some
of the meetings that have been held here ; that, whereas you
have been addressed from the pulpits of many of our churches
on behalf of some institutions, and have assembled here af-
terwards, this is the only opportunity you have for this insti-
tution: The reverend gentleman, after a few further obser-
vations, resumed his seat amidst loud cheers.

P. KINSWORTH, Esq., M.P., rose to second the resolu-
tion. lie said,—l have been called upon unexpectedly,
Mr. Chairman, to second the motion of the reverend gen-
tleman who has just sat down.. As a churchman, I came
here with very' great satisfaction to support the present
diocesan schools of national education, in the principles
and doctrines of the established church. I come here free
from any political views. I understood that at this meeting,
and all meetings connected with these diocesan schools, no
reference should be made by any intlividual to politics; and
not wishing that the subject of politics should in any way
injure the cause of the established church, I came here solely
for the purpose of expressing my perfect satisfaction at the
manner in which this society is proceedinz, and to co-operate
with you, and with every individual in this large assembly,
in promoting to the utmost of my power, the mora 1 and
relieious education of the country, in the doctrines and dis-
cipline .of the established church of the country. (Hear,
hear.) After the various speeches which have been addressed
to you with so much eloquence 'and force, nothing, I think.
remains for me to say but this,, that I have great pleasure
in meeting this large and influential audience, and that at all
times, either in my private or public capacity, it will be my
pride and gratification to promote the interests of the society,
and the spread of the principles on which it is founded.
(Cheers.)
The CHAIRMAN, after putting the resolution, stated that
the business of the meeting was now concluded.

CHARLES HORSFALL, Esq., said, he was sure the meeting
would agree with him, that they ought not to separate with..
out acknowledging the valuable services of the chairman.
He would, therefore, move that the thanks of the meeting
be given to the Rev. Rector 4rooks, for his kindness in
presiding,, and for his conduct in the chair. -
The motion having been seconded, was put to the meeting.
by the Rev. H. Powys, and carried with much applause.
The CHAIRMAN said he begged to return them his heart-
felt acknowledgements.for the vote that had just passed. He
could assure them that it had given him great pleasure and
satisfaction to take titc chair on that occasion. He should
much' have wished that their respected dioCesin had been
there, to have taken it himself. lii the absence of the right
reverend prelate, it became his duty as rector, and it was no
less his inclination, to' preside. lie would only add one
word before-they separated, iti-feferenc'e to what had been
said -with regard to their support-of that society. He did
not doubt that they cordially apprOved of the principles that
had been advanced, and that they had experienced great gra-
tification from the manner in which they had been advocated.
He hoped and trusted that the feeling produced would not
be evanescent, evaporating with the meetinx. and vanishing
before the morrow, but that each and every one, as far as his
ability might extend, would gladly support the society by his
contributions, and encourage others, by his example, to con-
tribute also ---

,Hear.) He had to tell them that any one of
their clergy would gladly receive their names as annual sub-
scribers to the institution, and Ito trusted that numbers of
them would adopt this mode of enabling their clerical friends
to carry into effect those plans and purposes to which they
had that day given so emphatic an approval, and which were
so well calculated to improve the temporal and spiritual con-
dition of the great body of the people. (Much applause.)
The,meeting then separated, having lasted from eleven to
about four o'clock.

It will be perceived from an advertisement that the tiew
steamer Caledonia will leave this port to-morrow, for Halifax
and Boston. We wish her the same success that has attended
her predecessors.

New AMERICAN CONSUL AT LIVERPOOL.—The recent
American papers state, that Mr. Philip Schuyler, of New
York, has been appointed by the president to succeed Mr.
Francis B. Ogden, as MAI-icon consul at this port, who has
resigned the office. The commission of . the new consul
comes into operation on the 15th of October next.

•
•
RECRUITING FOR THE NAvr.—The walls of Liverpool
are ':overed with bills, inviting seamen to enter on board the
Britannia, of 120 guns ; the Howe, of 120 ; the Calcutta, of
86 ; and the Southampton frigate, all fitting out at Ports-
mouth, and Plymouth. Similar means are no doubt adopted
in other ports.. The Vanguard and the Rodney have both
been manned by volunteers thus collected from London and

the outports

We observe with regret that a portion of the land on the
south side of Cook. street is just about to be built upon on the
old line of the street, foundations being already commeneed.:
The indispensable necessity of widening this street 14as
seen many
years ago and one-third of the length beginning
at Ncirth John-street, opposite Temple-court, has been
widened. The convenience of the public would be much
prombted by continuing the line of improvement up to Castle-
street. It is understood, from the discussions that have
taken place in the council, that the expense of this improve-
ment is the sole obstacle ; the plain answer. to this is, that
the corporation owns the north side of Cook-street, facing
the whole length of the proposed improvement, and there-
fore the corporate-estate would benefit directly to the extent
of at least half the improvement. There is perhaps not any
street of the same length as Cook-street which connects such
tuportant parts of the town, situated as it is within so short
a distance of the principal docks, and the large traffic eon.
veer stet' in North John-sheet and its vicinity.