The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-03-30 00:00:00

shall apply, or sanction the application for aid, and shall fur-
nish to the Committee sufficient proof of the exigencies of
the case. The nomination of an Assistant shall always be
left with the Clergyman to whom aid is, given, the Committee
claiming only full satisfaction as to the qualifications of his
nominee, who, when approved, will be under engagement
only to the Clergyman by whom lie is employed."
He was then to be approved by the committee before he was
handed over to be supported by means supplied by the so-
ciety. In all fairness, then, no man who did not choose that
his nominee should be subjected to its approval ought to ask
for the the society's funds ; and if any man did ask for the
society's funds, and did proceed to nominate a gentleman to
assist him in his parish, and complained afterwards that the
committee did not approve of that gentleman, it was in all
fairness, and without any unkindness said, that en incum-
bent so acting was mistaken, that he had acted rashly in
having applied for funds from a voluntary association without
being willing to comply with the conditions. Then he turned
about and found fault with the committee for insisting upon
the observation of a rule which was printed before his eyes
before he made the application ! With regard to the test no-
thing could be simpler, more candid or more honest, than
the manner in which it had been set before the meeting. It
was not a test upon technical or disputed doctrines, but upon
the notoriety of a devout life, upon the notoriety of a con-
verted soul, upon the notoriety of being a wan born of God,
who could feel for the glory of God and for the salvation of
his fellow men. (Hear, hear.) And the society did not go
beyond scripture authoity when they said that no man who
was not born of God could feel for God's glory and for the
salvation of his fellow men. He might from other motives
feel :7 party spirit for the maintenance of some cause among
men, he might easily feel an ardour as to the pro-
vision for an established church ; but except he was
born of God by the renewing power of the Spirit, it
was not in him to feel for the divine glory, it was
not in him to be really interested for the salvation of men's
souls, as such, to the glory of God. The society knew this ;
they had felt this ; they believed that the natural man dis-
cerned not the things of the Spirit of God ; that he could
not understand them because they could only be spiritually
understood. (Hear.) The society believing this, willingly
took pains for accumulating funds for the purpose of propa-
gating truth. They would then be mad, they would be in-
consistent with their own principles, they would deserve no
man's confidence, if they could squander that money without
regard to the character of the individuals by whose instru-
mentality it was to be made available to the community.
The grand, indeed the only object of the society then was to
aid the church in carrying out the doctrines of salvation to
the ends of our land. (Cheers.) When he said this, lie said
what it was ea'sy to speak, and easy to listen to, but what it
was not easy duly to appreciate. (Hear, hear.) Every in-
dividual of the tens of thousands of our great extra-parochial
population, if lie might so call it; not geographically extra-
parochial, for our parishes included every nook and corner
of our i,land, but extra -ministerial, if he might so call it.
It was beyond the power of the ministrations of the minis-
ters of the land. Every individual of that teeming popula-
tion had an immortal soul, and was involved in aggravated
responsibilities. (Hear.) Who should dare to enter on the
question of comparative responsibility ? We knew, upon
unquestionable authority, that the responsibility of Choraziin

and Bethseda was of a very different charactei from the re-
sponsibility of Tyre and Sidon ; but among the dis-
tricts of a land blessed with the gospel as England was,
who should estimate the degree of awfulness that be-
longed to the neglect of the gospel? Who should
estimate the degree of inevitableness, if he might use
such a word that belonged to the neglect of its precepts ?
(Hear.) The responsibility, however, rested in an awful de-
gree, modify it as you might, upon the whole population of
the country. (Hear, hear.) But, with regard to this ques-
tion, it was consoling to the heart to feel that judgment was
committed to one that was the Son of Man, that all judgment
was committed to him, because he was the Son of Man, be-
cause he could estimate all the varying movements of the
human spirit, and could bring with the judgment all the va-
rying shades of human responsibility, all the degrees of wil-
fulness, all the errors connected with human ignorance, and
prounce an adequate, true, and righteous judgment, taking
in all the merits of every individual case. (Applause.) Great
was our thankfulness to God for the relief to the kindest
feelings of our hearts in these reflections of his love and
wisdom, that judgment was committed to the Son of Man,
to one whose heart felt for all the necessities of our fallen
species. (Applause.) Yes, this was comforting to us, but
not so that it should relax our exertions upon their behalf.
Our earnest desire was that all should know Him, from the
least to the greatest; our prayer was, that men might be
multiplied among us, who were taught of the Holy Spirit
to preach that Son of Mau, Jesus Christ the Lord, to pro-
claim the promises of God in Christ Jesus, to declare the
everlasting and sovereign election of his love, whereby be-
fore the foundations of the world were laid, he had designed to
bring those whom he had chosen out of mankind in Christ Je-
sus, unto eternal salvation; to tell of the faithfulness of.
God, that all who were chosen, should be called by his
spirit working in them, that through grace they should obey
the call, and be made sons of God by adoption ; be made
like to his dear son Jesus Christ, their dear pattern, and at
last, by God's mercy, attain everlasting life. These were
precious words. (Cheers.) They were enshrined in the
articles of our national church ; they were dear to the hearts
and precious on the lips of her faithful sons who loved her
testimony, the glory of her God, and the all-suffering of her
Saviour. (Cheers.) We desired to have these and kindred
truths reverberated through the land, in order that sinful,
helpless, fallen creatures, hearing of God's love, might find
what their necessities required. (Cheers.) It was not the
stern voice of authority, that the degraded and ungodly of
our population required ; it was not the harsh hand of the
law that could restrain that ungodliness. No. There lurked
• in man a principle of resistance against coercion, there lurked
in man a principle of resistance against threatenings. No
threatenings, no coercion, no law, no punishment could ever
reach the turning point of man's character, and win him to
be a new man. It must be by the planting of love in his
soul. Only love begat love ; and this was the secret of the
gospel, let the law be proclaimed among men, let all the
thunders of Mbunt Sinai be arrayed before his eyes, and
carry alarm into every heart; except it were followed by the
still small voice of love, except pardoning love ruled over
the conscience, no permanent effect was produced. (Hear.)
It was pardoning love that changed the heart and ruled
the feelings ; and only pardoning love could touch the breast.
The gospel was one, and man's necessities in the last resort
were one ; the evil was one and the remedy was one ; the
is one and love above was one. Adam was one, and
s Claist was one ; tia..aaLion was ane,andsahatioa was

It was this that made the gospel the universal remedy.
Let the Lord's love in his dear Son be proclaimed ; let man
be told that God loves him ; let him be assured on good au-
thority that He loves him ; let the bread of life be set before
him—" in this was manifest his love in that he gave his only
begotten Son for us that we might live"—there we saw the
hardened, wretched creature, that used to be dead to
it, lend a willing ear. The sound of it was so strange
to such characters—they were not used to love—they
were used only to hear of reproof, of unkind reproach ;
and when the minister of the gospel used to the 16va of God
in his own soul, told them without reproach or reproof, that
God loved them—loved them as they were even when they
were dead in trespasses and sins—that for " the great love
wherewith he loved them he gave his own Son"—this was a
charming sound. We knew its efficiency. (Hear.) His re-
solution spoke of the efficiency of the society, as well as of
the correctness of the system. He was pointing to the effi-
ciency of its practice which lay in this—that it proclaimed,
by converted men, God's love to fallen sinners. (Hear.)
This was its grand, final object, to the glory of God ; but as
Mr. Hodgson had observed, it had indirect objects. Some
of these indirect objects deserved calm consideration, not
only for themselves, but because they were reflected back

again upon V the increase of the means for its financial
object. The reverend and eloquent gentleman then,
at considerable length, and with much power, proceed-
ed to point out some of these indirect objects. One was
that in causing the gospel to be so faithfully preached, it
was prolonging civil and religious liberty, another that it was
cementing the stability of society, for withciut it there was no
basis for the stability of any human society. (Cheers.) What
stability was there in civil government, as such ? Let the
history of the world answer. Government after government
had been subverted, and it must be so They abused their
authority ; the people recoiled from the abuse, usurped the
authority, and abused it in their turn. Governors ty-
rannized ; the people rebelled, and successful revolutionists
became the fiercest of tyrants. History had told this
story over and over and over again. But what was
stable all the while? What was it that had a firmer
foundation than civil governments ? Why the Chris-
tian church ; because it rested upon principles which
were based in the heart of man—on principles that man must
love so long as he lived ; and even if she were overturned in
a revolutionary movement, she possessed in herself the sta-
bility. (Cheers.) Mr. M`Neile proceeded to establish this
truth, which he did in a manner that elicited general ap-
plause. He afterwards applied the general principles that he
had enunciated to the subject of the meeting and its collate-
ral branches, and ccncluded an admirable speech (for which
we regret our utter inability to find room) amidst cheers
from all parts of the meeting.
The Rev. DAvin JAMES, incumbent of Kirkdale, seconded
the resolution in a spirited address, in the course of which
he bore testimony, derived from personal experience, of the
necessity there existed for church extension in the west rid-
ing of Yorkshire, and in the many districts of South Wales.
He also ably vindicated the principles of the Pastoral Aid
Society against the attacks made upon them in the establish-
ment itself, and avowed his unalterable intention to defend
the society against all or any of its adversaries. The rev.
gentleman concluded a most animated speech, amidst the
cheers of the meeting, by seconding the resolution, which
was then put and carried.
The Rev. Mr. dories, minister of St. Andrews, moved a vote of
thanks to the venerable chairman and to the deputation from the
parent society. In meeting this proposition, the rev. gentlemen
entered into an explanation of the main points of difference be-
tween the Pastoral Aid Society and the Society for the Employment
of Additional Curates in Populous Places. He showed that these
were not antagonist institutions, but that they were both aiming at
the accomplishment of the same great end—the glory of God,
though by somewhat different means.
Mr. RI oay seconded the motion, which on being put, was
carried by acclamation.
Mr. Chancellor RAINES returned thenks in an impressive ad-
dress, mingled with affectionate Christian exhortations.
The doxology " Praise God from whom all blessings flow," was
then sang, the whole assembly joining their voices in it, and at ten
o'clock the meeting separated.