The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-05-09 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL NEWS,

-.-

The Rev. John Thomas, rector of Wyke Regis, has
been appointed chaplain to his father-in-law, the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury.
The Hon. and Rev. Baptist Noel spoke at the annual
meeting of the Wesleyan Missionary Society, in Exeter
Hall, yesterday week.
The enthronization of the present Archbishop of Can-
terbury was the first that has taken place in person for a
very long period ; enthronement by proxy having been
the rule for the last century or two,
The Rev. Philip Bliss, D.C.L., late Fellow of St. John's
College, and Registrar of the University of Oxford, has
been appointed to succeed the Bishop of Hereford as
Principal of St. Mary's Hall, Oxford.
The Rev. B. T. Hazlewood, Vicar of Ribchester, has
had presented to him, by his parishioners, a handsome
silver tea service, a silver pocket communion service, and
a purse of gold.
Dr. Graham, the new Bishop of Chester, will be con-
secrated at Lambeth on Saturday, the 13th instant ; but
it is not probable that he will finally leave Cambridge un-
til about Michaelmas. _ _ _

COLONIAL CHURCH SOCIETY.—On Friday the annual
general meeting of the members of this society was held
at Freemasons' Hall, J. P. Plumptre, Esq., M.P., pre-
sided. The report stated that the society sustained up-
wards of 400 missionaries and agents in the colonies and
dependencies of the British Crown. The income of the
year had reached £4500, but a much larger sum was re-
quired to meet the present engagements and the prospect-
ive operation of the society. The report was adopted.
The Bishop of Hereford has been requested to preach
the Radcliffe Infirmary sermon before the University of
Oxford, at the ensuing commemoration ; and the Vice-
Chancellor has appointed the Rev. Thomas Vores, M.A.,
late secretary of the Church Missionary Society, to preach
the sermon appointed for Trinity Sunday, in pursuance of
a recent endowment on the subject of Church Exten-
sion over the Colonies and Dependencies of the British
Empire."
In the report of the enthronement of the Bishop of
Hereford, the Herefordshire Times remarks on the sin-
gular appropriateness of various passages of the second
lesson for the day (Acts sxiv.) as having struck all present::
—" For instance, the speech of Turtullus, the orator em-
ployed by the Jews to accuse Paul, who spoke of him as
a pestilent fellow, and a mover of sedition, among all the
Jews throughout he ..corid, and a ringleader of the sect of
the Nazarenes ;' the reply of Paul, Neither can they
prove the things whereof they now accuse me. For after
the way in which they call heresy, so worship I the God of
my fathers.. Who ought to have been here before
thee, and object if they had ought against me.' It renders
the co incidence still more remarkable, that the right rev.
prelate had, in one of his published letters, quoted and
applied to himself the:former part of the apostles' reply, as
here given.
RELIGIOUS TRACT SOCIETY.—On Friday, the annual
meeting of the members of this society was held at Exeter
Hall. Thomas Farmer, Esq., presided, and in opening
the proceedings remarked that during the past year the
society had issued 22 millions of tracts and books. The
general grants made during the year for soldiers, sailors,
railway labourers, mechanics, schools, &c., amounted to
2,516,000, being of the value of £2664. Grants of libra-
ries for sch ools, 649 ;of the value of £1094. The total
number of libraries granted since 1832 was 4994 ; of the
value of £14,483. During the past year 235 new works
had been printed, of which 17,543,509 copies had been
issued. The total issue of the society amounted to 46
millions of copies of books and tracts, printed in 100 dif-
ferent languages and dialects. The total sums received
in subscriptions and donations during the year had been
£5846 14s. showing that the receipts for the benevolent
portion of the society were only £282 18s. less than last
year. The total grants made during the year amounted
to £BlBB, being £2llB beyond the gratuitous receipts for
the year, which sum had been defrayed out of the business
operations of the society after paying all the expenses of
that department. The sales during the year amounted to
£45,897, making the total receipts £55,736.—0n the mo-
tion of the Hon. and Rev. B. W. Noel, M.A., seconded
by the Rev. Dr. Henderson, the report was adopted.
CHURCH MISSIONARY SOCIETY.—The anniversary
meeting of this society took place on Tuesday at Exeter
Hall. The chair was taken at ten o'clock by the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury. The business of the meeting was
opened by prayer, after which the Archbishop of Canter-
bury said the reasons why he had been induced to occupy
the chair that day, at:the request of the noble lord who had
hitherto so ably filled that chair, were not because he con-
ceived the office more appropriate to a clergyman than a
layman. His motive for doing so had been, that he might
give this public assurance of what he believed to be the
duty and privilege of the office it had pleased God to call
him to. Ho believed this society to be one of the most
useful engines God had set in motion for the great purpose
of diffusing His Gospel through the world. Without
troubling the meeting with any further remarks, he would
call upon the secretary to read the report. The report
stated that the present was the 50th year of this society's
existence. With respect to the present time, the Bishops
of Manchester, Melbourne, and Cape Town, and Lord
Henry Cholmondeley, had consented to act as vice-pre-
sidents for the present year. The accounts for the year
ending March 31, 1848, stated that the general and special
funds paid into the society's hands amounted to £91,980.
Besides this, the local funds received and expended
amounted to £9312, making a total of £101,292. This
total, however, was less than that of last year by £15,534.
Of this deficiency, however. £9,165 were under the head
of legacies. This was to be accounted for by the very
munificent legacy of Mr. Scott, last year. There were
also several other accidental sources of revenue last year,
and the deficiency in the regular revenue this year
amounted only to £3,788, which, considering the general
commercial difficulties, &c., was not of an amount to be
in any way discouraging. The expenditure of the past
year, however, apart from local receipts and expenses, ex-
ceeded the general receipts by £6,426, as they amounted
altogether to £98,408. The report then proceeded to give
an account of the general progress of the respective mis-
sions, for the details of which we are unable to find room.
In the African and north-west American missions, the ac-
counts from the missionaries stationed there are highly
encouraging to the members of the society. In the Bom-
bay and North Indian missions, with few exceptions, the
progress of conversion had also been highly satisfactory.
The same remarks apply to the Madras and South Indian,
the China, and New Zealand missions ; in the last, the
progress had been particularly satisfactory, and the ground
lost in the previous year had been in a great measure re-
covered. In conclusion, the report stated that in every
mission, not only had there been an advance and consoli-
dation of Christianity, but an increase, particularly in the
number of baptized persons and communicants. At pre-
sent 138 missionaries are in the field, including 14 native
clergymen, a number greater than at any earlier period.
The committee were, however, compelled once more to
advert to the pecuniary deficiency alluded to at the com-
mencement of the report. The committee felt that, how-
ever much they might desire to widen the sphere of the
society's usefulness, it was a point of duty not to contract
engagements they could not fulfil ; and while they would
not be discouraged by the falling off in the funds, thav
would not, until the capital account had been made up
again, be able to send out fresh missionaries, except in
some special and pressing cases. The Earl of Chichester
moved the adoption of the report, which was carried. The
meeting was afterwards addressed by the Bishops of St.
Asaph and Madras, and several clergymen and gentlemen.
THE BIBLE SOCIETY.—The 44th annual meeting of
this valuable society was held on Wednesday, at Exeter-
hall, which on the occasion was densely crowded. Among
those present on the platform we observed the Archbishop
of Canterbury, the Bishops of Norwich, Winchester, St.
Asaph, and Cashel, the Marquis of Cholmondeley, the
Earls of Chichester and Harrowby, Lords Glenelg, Mor-
peth, Teignmouth, and Bexley, Sir R. H. Inglis, Sir T.
D. Ackland, Sir J. Bathurst, and Sir D. Mackworth,
Archdeacon Hoare, the Hon. and Rev. M. Villiers, the
Rev. Stowell, &c. Lord Bexley filled the chair, but his
age and infirmities prevented his speaking, and in conse-
quence Mr. Brandram, the secretary, read, on his Lord.
ship's behalf, the speech he would otherwise have delive-
red. The secretary then read the report of the society's
proceedings during the past year. From that document
it appesred that the entire receipts of the year ending
March, 1848, were £90,146. The total sum applicable to
the purposes of the society was £43,956. The receipts
for bibles and testaments amounted to £46,189., the issues
of the society for the year amounting to 1,124,067, viz.,
from depositories at home, 837,361; from depilts abroad,
286,706. The total issues of the society now amount to
20,865,837. The expenditure during the past year has
been £105,042, being £14,896 beyond the receipts. The
liabilities of the society now extend to £41,800. The
Archbishop of Canterbury, who' was received with loud
cheers, said be was glad to be regarded with favour by so
many Christian• friends, but he should be exceedingly
sorry if any persons present thought that he had a greater
claim to that favour than formerly. 'I he Bible Society,
might confer honour on its members, but it could not
receive honour from them. (Hear, hear.) He had moved
the adoption of the report, and wished it was as easy to
have the report extensively read as it was to have it printed
and circulated, for he felt sure that nothing else was
necessary than that reports of the society 'should be read,
and that the world should know what God was doing by
their means, so that it might beeome a universal society
instead of a society formed from a portion only of their
fellow-Christians. As the sun wherever it shone not only
enlivened; warmed,-and nourished all,creation, so far more
true was it of the Bible, which was given to be the light
of the world, which enlightened, warmed, and nourished
whoever received it properly. (Cheers.) With' such
views of the Bible Society it could not be expected that
he should change his. opinions or practice. He had no
doubt that the society would • maintain its principles; and
he hayed himself to maintain his. It had maintained its
principles' from infancy, and he might say that he bad
done the same from.his youth also; for the society was
not more,than two or three years old when he • first be-
came a subscriber to its funds. It might happen there-
after 'that he might be less able than he had been to tske
an active part in' its proceedings, for he had been long
enough in 'lris new Situation to discover that', although' he
had always'been among the working clergy, and would be
so still (loud cheers), yet he found that he should have
occasionally to husband his strength, or he should not be
competent triwork, at all. If, therefore, he was not so
frequently with them in presence, he hoped they would
believe that 'he would ever be with them in spirit, and
that it would be his latest prayer that God might give
wisdom to the society, and discretion to all who were en-
gaged in carrying out such important operations. (Cheers.)
The meeting was afterwards addressed by the Bishop of
St. Asaph, Lord Morpeth, Sir Digby Nlackworth, Rev.
H. Stowell, &c.

LAW uT,ELLIGENCE.

On Friday 177 gentlemen were admitted to practice as
attorneys.
During the last four or five years the number of attor-
neys on the rolls is stated to have .increased.at,the.rate of
one handled a year.