The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-03 00:00:00

PRAYER BOOK AND HOMILY SOCIETY

Last night the annual meeting of ti-k6Veriltiol Auxiliary to
this excellent Society was held in the Commercial hall, Glou-
cester-street, the Rev. T. TATTERSHALL, D.D., in the chair.
The Rev. W. MAYNARD having opened the proceedings by
offering an appropriate prayer,

The CHAIRMAN said that though he always rendered with

pleasure every facility in his power towards the arrangements
of every meeting held for the purpose of promoting the cause of
God, and especially those connected with their own Church ;
yet his pleasure on that occasion was considerably alloyed, be-

cause he found himself standing in the place which they had
hoped would have been occupied by one to whom they had been
for years in the habit of looking up to with the highest venera-

tion, and whose presence always was regarded with the greatest
delight, the Chancellor of the Diocese,—one of the oldest and
firmest friends of the society and of the interests they
were met to promote, who would have been present but
for a pressing and important engagement. The Prayer Book
and Homily Society was one which he (the Chairman) had
long held in the highest esteem, and regarded as most
valuable, not only for its direct, but for its indirect opera-
tion. To say the truth, if he wished to direct a person where
to find the best defence of our Church and Liturgy, he would
point at once to the sermons preached for that society, on an-
niversary occasions, in London ; and he would mention in par-
ticular two of the number, which were most masterly produc-
tions—one bythe Rev. John Scott, and the other by Dr, Dealtry.
But the society was of exceeding utility in its indirect operation;
and he would observe amongst the other benefits derived from
it, that by the instrumentality of this society the ordination
service was now printed in the Prayer Book; at least, the
example was first set by the society. He thought that there were
few Prayerßooks now which did not contain that important and
Scriptural formulary. That was not the only society which
distributed Prayer Books and the Homilies, but it was the only
one which professed to publish the other authorised formularies
of the Church. It was also the only society which, acting as an
auxiliary to the Church Missionary Society, supplied copies of
the Liturgy in the language of the country in which the various
missions were stationed. That was a feature of great importance.
There was another of not less importance, which must be
regarded with immense interest by the inhabitants of Liver-
pool; the society made it one of its principal objects and studies
to distribute the Prayer Book and the Homilies among the
seafaring portion of their countrymen. In this work agents
were employed to visit the ships, and large numbers were dis-
tributed in that port. The Reverend Gentleman concluded by
calling on the secretary to read the report for the last year.

The-Rev. Mr. MAYNARD read the report. In this document
the Committee called attention to the sphere of labour under-
taken by the Society, (which in this respect stood alone,) inas-
much as it embraced an object beyond that of the parent So-
ciety. It laboured amongst seamen and boatmen : it laboured
at home; and it laboured abroad. Its labou

rs amongst sea-
men had been blessed. Many a captain had been induced to
assemble his crew on the Sabbath, and to join with them in the
worship of Almighty God. The parent Society's report on this
point was deeply interesting, and indeed affecting. The circu-
lation of the homilies, too,from house to house, in the way of
loan, had also been resorted to with great success? by setting
before the people the scriptural character of our hturgy, arti-
cles, and homilies. The labours of the society had not been
less abroad. Some of the most useful homilies had been cir-
culated in no fewer than twenty-seVen languages, and accounts
had been received from missionaries in all parts of the globe,
bearing strong testimony to the benefits produced. With re-
spect to the auxiliary Society in this town, they regretted that it
was in a languishing state from want of general support. One
reason for this was the mistaken notion that its operations were
the same as those of the Christian Knowledge Society. The
two societies were, however, altogether distinct. The object of
the former was to circulate Bibles and prayer books, and tracts
on religious subjects of general character, and to those who ap-
plied for them at the repository. But the object of the auxi-
liary society was (according to one of its laws), to visit the sea-
men on board vessels, also the boatmen, flatmen, and barge-
men,and to circulate amongst them the Society's addreses,calling
their attention to the importance of prayer : also to supply them
with prayer books at a reduced price, and with small books of
select homilies gratuitously for the crew. In fine, were it
not for the society, the seamen frequenting the port would be
left comparatively destitute of the means of grace when at sea-
The good done was only known to Him who worketh all things
after the counsel of his own will. It became their duty to go for-
ward in faith, relying on the promise that " their labour should
not be in vain." The report of the parent society showed that
during the past year 4,550 vessels had' been visited and re-
visited, and of these 166 held divine- service regularly at sea,
wind and weather permitting—being an increase of 66 in the
past year: The number of prayer-books sold on board during
the same period was 457, and the number of homilies 184. The
committee lamentea that the funds of this auxiliary society'
were in a depressed state. The amount of the annual subscrip--
tions amounted to only about .W 25, which was inadequate to
meet even the current expenses, while, at the same time, there
was a loss to the parent society from the sale of prayer-books
at a reduced price, and for grant of books, from time to time,
of upwards of £228. Surely, in such a town as this, such a
state of things should not endure; and it would not be so if
the clergy, shipowners, and merchants supported it as they

mignt. ine report concluded by strongly appealing to the
clergy to bring the subject before their congregations, many of
whom comprised the mercantile part of the community ; and
a hope that, if this were done, the laity would not be back-
ward in doing. their part, so that the parent society would be
materially assisted in carrying out its labours.

The Rev W. MAYIVARD- stiled that he had received a very
kind letter from Chancellor` Raikes, and others from the Rev.
Messrs. Barry, Hunter, Knox, &c., excusing themselves from

attending,

The Ifev. J. H. STEWART, on coming forward to move the
adoption of the report, was received with loud cheers. Fre-
quent as it was his lot to attend the meetings of various religi-
ous societies, there was scarcely one which he felt it more a
duty to attend than that of the Prayer Book and Homily So-
ciety. He had heard that the society was in a languishing con-
dition ; but it should never go down to the grave without a
groan on his part. It was a matter of deep sorrow and- regret,
that this great town could not keep so useful a society afloat ;
but he trusted there would be too many groans from.the Lord's
praying people to allow it to be extinguished. It might be in
deep waters, but an all-powerful God had said, " When thou
passest through the deep waters, I will be with thee ;" and he
trusted the floods would not be permitted to overflow that ex-
cellent society. That was a time, above all others, when they
ought to carry the society forwards. They were about build-

ing a princely-house as a home for their sailors, and could they
not raise the small sum required to keep the society from fill-
ing. (Hear.) It would be much to the dishonour of that great

town, winch had been favoured by God with such an abundant
measure of his gospel, if they permitted that auxiliary to be a
burden instead of a blessing to the parent society. The speaker
then quoted from the report, in proof of the usefulness of the
society, some interesting particulars respecting its operations
at Yarmouth, where out of 1500 ships visited before the society
had been there, only eight were in possession of a copy of either
bible or prayer book; lately, however, the scene had changed,
and out of 858 ships, 353 were well supplied, and prayers were
offered on board every sabbath, (applause) while the sacred
volume and the prayer book were regularly read by the men,
He instanced a case in which, by means of the society, the
mate of a vessel had been converted, had left his ship to study
at Cambridge, and was now a preacher of the eternal Gospel of
the Lord Jesus Christ. He then referred to the operations of
the society in Jerusalem and among the Jews, and it was de-
lightful to reflect that they united every Lord's Day with the
Lord's ancient people on Mount Sinai itself. After dwelling at
some length on the Indian and other Foreign operations of the
society, he alluded to the fact that on the day her present
Majesty was crowned, the society distributed many hundreds of
the coronation service, a service which every Protestant in
Britain, who cared for le Protestant faith and its preservation,
ought to delight in .—(Applause.) The rev. gent. concluded
with an animated appeal to the auditory on behalf of the funds
of the society, and resumed his seat amid loud cheers.
Mr. SEAWARD, the visiting Secretary of the Parent Society,
in a long and eloquent speech, full of the most interesting
details and anecdotes, illustrative of the good effected by the
society, which we regret our limited space precludes us from
giving, seconded the resolution. _ .

The Rev. CHAIRMAN then put the question, which was
carried unanimously.

The Rev. HUGH Iq‘NEILE, on rising to propose the next re-
solution, was received with loud cheers. It was to the effect,
that, considering the important objects of the society with re-
gard to seamen, and what had been done for them by the
Parent Society, and the loss thereby entailed upon it, had espe-
cial claims upon the merchants and shipowners, and urged up-
on them, the clergy, and the inhabitants generally, the neces-
sity of more strenuous exertions in its behalf. The object of
the resolution, they would perceive, was to apply for funds, and
the simple and sound reason why funds should be supplied to
the society was to be found in the fact, that the society circu-
lated scriptural truth—to convey the one only source of real
happiness to fallen man, that was, the knowledge of God in
Christ Jesus. The Book of Common Prayer defined, the line
which our reformers drew • between two very important
principles—the one was, " Obey them which have the rule
Over you, who watch for your souls, as they who must
give an account," and the other was "We should obey God
rather than man." The first required of members of the
Christian Church obedience to the rulers of that Church,
If this gave any authority to the rulers or ministers of the
Church it could only be in those things where the Bible itself—
God's own Word—had given them authority. They required
nothing more than the Word itself, so far as the Word went,
and unquestionably it was the duty of all Christian people to
obey those who had rule over them so long as they ordered
nothing which God had forbidden. If they transgressed this line
and commanded anything in opposition to Holy Scripture then
they arraign their own character, for the Scripture gave
them authority, but not to oppose itself. Anciently our church
rulers had put together a number of prayers—they had given
direction about divine worship—things not found n Scripture
at all ; they had set down certain words, they had given certain
forms, they had prescribed times for service, different dresses
for the clergy,—different postures at different times of service,
and ordered certain creeds to be read. All these things, were
not found in the Scriptures. More than this, however, came
to be commanded, that images should be put up, that
holy water should have a. place appropriated for it in our
churches, in order that those who entered should bow
down to images and cross themselves with holy wa-
ter. (Laughter.) These things were ordered in the church
of England—(laughter)—and a great many more such things.
Then came our Reformers to the completion, as it was said, of
the Book of Common Prayer, and what did they do? They
drew a line. They said, "We must obey God rather than
man," and therefore all the men in the universe won't snake us
bow down to tte image. But they said again, Obey them
that have ride over you," and therefore they said, what God
has commanded we will obey, but what God has.forbidden we
will refuse to obey. Therefore they did not take it all and
throw all overboard, nor did they take all and use it ; they kept
that part of it which was good, and that which was bad they
eschewed and spit out. (Cheers.) That was a very simple his-
tory of the Prayer Book- To have taken it all. would have been
I to reject Christianity, and to have rejected it all would have
been a. great piece of petulance against church rulers,
and our Reformers were not guilty of such petulance. Here
was a commendation of our prayer book. Here was a compi-
lation of primative prayers, which were to be believed because
there was nothing in them contrary to Scripture.—(Hear and
cheers.) It was a very prudent thing. not to throw away good
and bad together, but to search the mixture and reject the bad
and keep the good.—(Cheers.) Our Reformers adopted this
method—they took a sort of middle way between Papists and
Dissenters, the Papists have kept the whole, good and bad, the
Dissenters have thrown away the whole, good and bad.—
(Applause.) We have kept the whole that was good, and
were neither Papists nor Dissenters.(Continued cheers.)
The reverend gentleman then referred to the conduct of
the creed of the Papists with respect to the Sacrament,
and proved what was the real belief of the church
of England, on the subject from the Rubric of the Visitation of
the Sick, and the 29th Article. He then proceeded to observe
that they had heard a good deal that evening about the
Homilies, but none had told them what was in them. He
would, therefore, read a few specimens from the Homilies.
The Rev. Gentleman then read an extract from the Homily, on
the "Reading and Knowledge of Holy Scripture," shewing its
sufficiency in all matters relating' to man's salvation. In this
part of the subject, he referred to the sermon of Dr. Pusey,
preached in Oxford, on Sunday :last, and placed the fathers
referred to by him, as Titian, Ignatius, and Chrysostom,
in contrast with the recommendation of the Homily, to " go
to the well of life, instead of the stinking puddles of man's
tradition." (Hear, hear.) He then referred to the doctrine
of the fall of man, as contained in another Homily, and pro-
ceeded to notice extracts from the same source of the
.protest
of the Reformers against image worship. In conclusion, the
rev. gentleman urged in eloquent terms the claims of the so-
ciety to the support and countenance of the shipowners and
merchants of Liverpool. (Cheers). Some meetings were good
for getting money, and some for preaching the Gospel. The
greet object of a meeting like that was to bring forwar d
the truths which such an institution set forth. Now, what did
the truths he would read from the Homilies teach them ? That
by nature they were utterly and eternally ruined, and if left to
themselves they must perish eternally. Oh, who could dwell
with everlasting burning ? Then contemplate the salvation

Feb. 3, 1846•

offered. God the Father's-mercy, God the S on's righteousness,
and God the Holy Ghost's grace in the heart. Oh, how haPP4
was it that they had an open Bible, where they could learn sq„
a glorious truth—where they could learn from that Word 'Alic',"
should judge them all at the last day. But w hat they want
was to send this glorious truth to others destitute of it. 'ry
they could not give much by way of subscription, but the
smallest subscription given with self denial was m ore blessed
to the giver than the receiver, because it proved the t there wa:
something real in religion ; and when a man was convinced that
there was something real in religion, there was the germ of trill
happiness. (Loud cheers.) The reverend gentleman conclud9
with seconding the motion, and resumed his seat amidst ion"
cheers.

Mr. JOHN EDEN seconded the resolution in a brief address'
The simple object of the society was to distribute the Prayer
Book and Homilies, and that, to o, chiefly amongst the seamen'
It appeared that about 10,000 had been distributed during the
last year by this auxiliary, and as this had been done at a loss,
he trusted that all who were favourable to the object would et'
tend their subscriptions. The society had a special claim V
the support of the shipowners and merchants, (as referr
in the resolution,) inasmuch as it addressed its efforts to •
great extent to seamen.
The motion being carried, a collection was made.
The Rev. Mr. MAYNARD proposed the best thanks of t?,l
meeting to the Rev. Dr. Tattershall, who had been a kind sk.'
zealous friend of the society from its commencement.
The CHAIRMAN returned thanks in a feeling manner.
The Rev. Mr. MAYNARD announced that on to-morrow
evening, (that is this day, Tuesday,) a sermon would be preached
on behalf of the society.
The meeting then separated.