The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-03-28 00:00:00

PRAYER 13001: AND HOMILY SOCIETY

The annual meeting of the members and friends of the
Prayer Book and Homily Society was held last evening in the
Music Hall, 80ld-street, and was numerously and respecta-
bly. A molig others, we observed, on the platform, the Rev.
Chancellor Raikes, the Rev. J. 11. Stewart, the Rev. J.
Jones, the Rev. li. APNeile, the Rev. J. Nolan, the Rev.
W. Falloon, the Rev. R. Davies, Mr. J. Howard, Mr. C.
Coteswortli, &e. &t. &c.
The proceedings having been opened with prayer by the
Rev. W. MAYNARD,
The Rev. Cit ANCELLOR RAIKES having taken the Chair,
observed that they were assembled to consider the prospects
of the Prayer Book and Homily Society, a society which.
though small and humble, and unassuming, had yet met with
a large degree of support in Liverpool and in the kingdom at
large. People had asked what could be the reason for the
establiishment of a separate society simply with the ob-
ject of distributing the prayer book and homilies of the
Church, seeing that the Society for the Promotion of Chris-
tian Knowledge circulated both? In reply to this he would
mention that there were circumstances in the church's his-
tory which might account for the necessity of introducing this
society into the Christian world, and for the measure of pa-
tronage and support it had met with. With regard to the
Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, he need not
say a word concerning it, inasmuch, as he greatly approved
of it, and hoped it would go on prospering, but at the same
time it should be borne in mind, in order to justify the pro-
moters of the present society in the step they had taken for its
establishment, that though the Society for Promoting Chris-
tian Knowledge did distribute the book of common prayer,
and the homilies, it was a fact that it accompanied that dis-
tribution, with the distribution of a great variety of tracts
and books which did not possess the same peculiar authority,
and certainly not the same peculiar merit. It was because
the promoters of this society wished to draw a line between
that which peculiarly and specifically belonged, to the
Church of England, and that, which, though professing to be-
long to the Church of England, might savour of the
tone and character of the individuals who belonged to it :
they wished to separate that which belonged to the church
from that which belonged to individuals themselves. On
that account the original founders of this society took a wise
and discriminating line of conduct when they commenced it.
There could be no doubt that when the society was instituted
the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge was
not in a satisfactory state. It certainly did distribute the
Prayer Book, but it was also a fact that certain essential
parts of the book were universally found wanting; the ar-
ticles were not there; the services for the ordination of
deacons and priests were not found there, although they were
integral and essential parts of it. It was only by the con-
stant exhibition of these services that the difficulties of
those who differed from us could be overcome, and where
they were wanting the character of the Church of England
was not represented as it ought to be. Thus the original
founders of this society had reason and justice to support
them in the steps which they took ; and it was also that
which justified us in following their steps, and the steps which
the meeting was taking on the present occasion.
The Rev. W. MAYNARD, of the Mariners' Church, then
read the report. After alluding to the advantages derivable
to the public from the circulation of the formularies of the
church, and to the circumstance of the society being the only
one to circulate those forinularies amongst the seamen, (the
society for promoting christian knowledge having declined to
engage in that part of the work,) the report stated that du-
ring the past year, 2500 vessels were visited and revisited.
The number of prayer books sold was 221, and the number
of homilies given to captains was 80. The annual subscrip-
tions of this auxiliary amount only to £33, and the loss en-
tailed on the parent society (by the sale of books at reduced
prices, and by other necesssry expenses) is upwards of £2OO.
Three clergymen in this town, during the past year, have
urged the claims of the society upon their congregations,
The report concluded with an earnest call upon the public
for support. The rev. gentleman concluded by mentioning
several instances of the success of the society's agents
amongst our nautical population, and their desire to possess
the scriptures.
The Rev. J. H. STEWART moved the first resolution, au-
thorising the printing and circulation of the report in a per-
suasive address, in the course of which he mentioned that it
was to this society the public were first indebted for a cheap
and complete copy of the prayer book.
Mr. C. COTESWORTH here read-a statement of the trea-
surer's accounts for the year 1842; from which it appeared
that the receipts amounted to £5O 10s sd, and that after pay-
ing all the. expenses a balance bad been remitted to the
parent society of £2l 14s.
Mr. SEWARD, travelling agent to the society, commenced
an eloquent address by observing it was a blessed thing that
all the formularies of the Church of England were founded
upon the Bible. The society, which had been spoken of as
small, was small only because of the smallness of its funds ;
enlarge them, and its efforts would reach the boundaries of
the earth. It had already begun to translate the liturgy into
foreign tongues ; and _ wherever the Bible was known who
would not wish that our admirable liturgy should not follow ?
They would then see that, although the society was small, its
objects were great, and in that it had a claim upon time
Christian liberality of the public. It had supplied all the
missionary societies with the book of common prayer, and he
held it to be a great benefit no less to the heathen than to
those societies so to circulate it. Look to the state of the
church in Germany. How important it was that our liturgy
should go-there, because he had heard that it was intended
by a certain society to revise the. German liturgy because it
was too Lutheran ! With respect to China, God had raised
up Dr. Morison, and endowed him with faculties to translate
the Bible into the language of that country, and to circnlate 4
editions, of 2006 each, of the book of common prayer. Eng-
land had been raised up as the scourge of that people ; she
had been made their conqueror; but it we hoarded up the sit-
ver which that country had sent us, without following out
God's will with respect to her people, by sending Christianity
among them, we • might expect a calamity to befal us.
Now, with respect to the Chinese prayer-book, as trans-
lated by Dr. Morison, we had a talent confided to us,
and the society were now collecting funds to reprint
the Prayer-book in that language, and send it to them. Mr.
Seward then shewed the fallacy of an objection which he had
heard made to printing the Prayer-book in Chinese before
there was a church there. He next spoke of the labours of
the society among seamen, and narrated several instances of
religious destitution among them, for the removal-of which
he strongly urged that the Chnrclt of England was alone fit-
ted, by sending among them lay readers and catechists. The
Christian public were greatly indebted to this society for
reproducing the- Homilies, and circulating them as single
tracts. Some might have thought that the Homilies were
obsolete, but it was not so ; and be mentioned that the so-
ciety d recently had many applications for them from
Lancashire, and he had reason to believe that they had done
much in the way of preventing the spread of irreligious doc-
trines. The committee ,of the society had been informed
that the punctuation of 'the Prayer-book had been altered,
and that apparently without authority, and that the alterations
were of such a nature that in some instances they perverted
the sense, more particularly with regard to what was termed
baptismal regeneration. They, therefore, had felt it impor-
tant to examine for themselves ; they had compared the Book
of Common Prayer, printed in 164 by the order of King
James, with one printed at Oxford in 1836, and they found
no less than 83 variations in the service for the public bap.
tism of infants, and 39 variations in the catechism. In the
first prayer used 'at the baptism of children, a prayer asking
the divine blesiing upon the ordinance, and asking an espe-
cial blessing upon the child to be dedicated to God, there
was a comma introduced between the pronoun " he" and
the participle " being," which made the sentence a paren-
thesis, and making it a declaration instead of a -petition.
The petition of the prayer was this—
" We. beseech thee for thine infinite mercies that thou wilt
mercifully look upon this child ; wash him and sanctify bim
with the Holy Ghost ; that he being delivered from thy
wrath may be received into the art of Christ's Church, &c. '
A comma was introduced after the pronoun he; making the
words thus—" That he, being delivered from thy wrath may
be received, &c."

But the pointing of the Prayer nook in the old editions, ac-
cording to authority, was without a comma, and therefore the
sentence read as a petition. Then with regard to the mean-
ing of a sacrament—there a comma was omitted--" What
meanest thou by this word sacrament ?" 1 mean an outward
and visible sign of an inward and spiritual grace given unto
us, ordained by Christ, &c. The original mode of pointing
this passage was thus—" I mean an outward and visible sign
of an inward and spiritual grace, given unto us"—which
altered the sense as a declaration. This, however, was alto-
gether a clerical question, but it was so important that the
committee intended to represent these variations in the pro-
per quarter to ascertain by what authority the book of Com-
mon Prayer had been altered. Mr. Seward concluded an
able speech by calling upon the meeting to support the society.
(Cheers.) _

The Rev. T. NOLAN moved the second resolution, which
acknowledged the thanks of the meeting for the success
which had attended the labours of the society among seamen
and others.

The Rev. F. PARRY seconded the resolution, and it was
carried unanimously.

collection was here made, during whicn the meetieg
a hymn.

The Rev. HUGH IW/is:mu moved the next resolution,
which stated that the society was calculated to propagate
and maintain the sound principles of Protestantism, and
commended the loan and distribution of the works issued by
it upon the plan of district visiting, agreeably to the 9th rule
of the society. The rev. gentleman delivered a very eloquent
speech, in which he shewed,.with great plainness, the strong
expression given to the principles of Protestantism by our
forefathers; and slimed that this society, in circulating the
Homilies and the Prayer-book, was following in • the foot-
steps of the Reformers.. In the course of his speech, the
rev. ' gentleman took occasion to refer to the observations
made by Mr. Seward upon the punctuation used in the book
of common prayer. He should be excused for saying that
in the first instance of the two which he (Mr. Seward)
mentioned, the introduction of a comma'after the pronoun he
made no difference in the sense of the passage. The whole was
a petition, and Mr. Seward would see there could be no decla-
ration made concerning the existing state of the infant in that
prayer because it was antecedent to -the administration of
the office of baptism. The whole was a petition ; and wile.
ther there was a comma after he or not could not in his (Mr.
M'Neiles) judgment alter the sense of the prayer. In the
second case which had been introduced concerning the mean-
" I mean An outward and visible
'l
grace given unto us." .Mr. Sew-
ard understood, to the comma
asi
sign
n oo
obf t
eha
ne t e r
inward
s he (Mr.
r irt eu. t
after " grace," or rather to the want of a comma after
"grace," in that " given to us" ought, according to that
view, be referred to the sacrament and not to the grace.
But the original language in which the article was written,
nlie ew, oar and
d ‘language was in the femi-
nine, thereforegnamely, Latin, would not bear this construction because
the
utlsite.rLe
refer
to the grace. It could not
Latin
refer either to sacrament or sign ; it was " grace. given to
us," but the sacrament was the Outward and visible sign of
iven' in
m
the grace given to us, so that there was no fault in not
having a comma after grace. The rev, gentleman, after a
variety of observations neon the resolution, concluded
amidst loud cheers by moving its adoption.
Mr. JOHN HOWARD in seconding the resolution, addressed
the meeting us simply a larnan. and as such made some very
appropriate remarks on the rrayer Book, the beautiful con-
tents of which and their consecutive adaptation in Divine
worship, he feelingly .and forcibly explained. He particu-
larly dwelt upon the excellence of the Liturgy, and related
several affecting instances of its redeeming effects.
The Rev. Mr. DAvtEs proposed a resolution commenda-
tory of the increased labours of the clergy in the cruise
of
the Society, and conveying a record of thanks to the Rev.
the Chancellor, who had that evening presided, and whose
kindness and attention in the cause had been great and un-
wearied. He concluded by reading a lot of the officers for'
the year, commencing with the Diocisan us patron.
The motion was duly seconded, and On being put by the
Moyer was cordially seconded.
The Rev. CHAIRMAN said, that he was more than repaid
for anything he had done by the appearance of the meeting
that evening ; for it proved that the church was in a sound
and healthy condition. He trusted that all present Were sa-
tisfied with what they had learned of the objects and progress
of the society, and that every one would quit the room with
a determination to support it, aS one that would strengthen
the efforts' of the Church' of England, and enable it to
rniilti-
ply the blessings which the church was calculated to diffuse

amongst the people at large.
The meeting then separated

A return has been presented to the House of Commons of
the name and designation of every person convicted at the
last York Summer Assizes, or before the Special Commis-
sions at Stafford, Chester, and Liverpool, in October last.
The return was ordered to lie on the table.