The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-11-05 00:00:00

sent stirring occasion, and that the
e will all act with promptitude and

I am, Reverend Sir

Your obedient servant,
A PROTESTANT LAYMAN."

THE Whig Government, in the session of Parlia-
ment which is drawing near, will have to grapple
with a question more full of peril to the stability of
their rule than has yet presented itself. The In-
come Tax, imposed as all the world knows for a
temporary object, must either be renewed during
this session for another three or five years, or the
deficiency of five and a half millions, created by its
removal, be filled up by the imposition of some
other levy upon the resources of the nation. Which-
ever may be the course attempted to he pursued, it
is tolerably certain that it must result in the open-
ing up of the whoje question of our present system
of taxation; and that a demand will be made, so
just in itself that we cannot see on what ground it
can be opposed, to have that system remodelled to
meet the altered circumstances of the people. Al-
ready we are met, to whatever quarter we turn our-
selves, with increasing impatience of the onerous
of both public and local burthens. The
reduction of the tea duty is loudly called for by an

has been carried on at a positive loss to all engaged
in it.

The policy then, to enable us to carry out which
the income
.tax was originally imposed, has not
brought about the results anticipated from it. We
believe firmly that it will never bring about these
results ; and we are disposed therefore, to repudiate
altogether the counsels which would advise us to
persevere in hoping for such results. We have
now to decide virtually upon the alternative—it is
no use blinking the fact—" is this tax, with all its
admitted inequalities, to be a permanent one, or
shall we, like an honest and sensible people, set
ourselves to the task of devising a new system of
taxation, which will alike satisfy the requirements
of the state and press equally upon the resources
of the people i" It is a well-known fact that all
the modifications of our system of late years have
been made upon no fixed or equitable principle.
We have net remitted particular taxes because their
pressure upon particular classes was unjustly one-
rous, but rather because we could afford to spare
the precise amount which they produced. We all
know, too, the hap-hazard manner in which many
of our taxes were originally imposed to meet press-
ing emergencies. The imposition of a window
tax, for example, nothing but a state necessity could
have induced any people, advanced at all in civili-
zation, to have submitted to. The malt and hop
duties are as distinctly taxes upon the land of the
country as would be a tax upon wheat in any of
the stages which it assumes before reaching the
consumer. The legitimate answer, therefore, to a
Government, seeking a perpetual system so unequal
in its pressure, would be to say " take the amount
you require, but before doing so, revise your mode
of levying it ! Treat no class with favouritism ;
and, in marking out your new system, bear in mind
that you have yourselves deliberately changed the
relations formerly borne by some classes towards
the remainder of the community, and materially
altered their respective powers of enduring the
burthens which you_seek to impose I"
. .

In the decision of this question, the agricultural
body, at present flouted by the free-trade organs,
must exercise a most potential voice; and may be
found by our Whig rulers to be no contemptible
opponents. Originally the bulk of the taxes im-
posed upon the people of this realm have been
borne by the agricultural interest. The local taxes
especially hear heavily upon the owners and oc-
cupiers of the soil ; and taxation generally, as is
pointed out in an article in Blackwood's Magazine
for the present month, must be borne by the pro-
ductive power of the country, and goes to swell
the price of every article raised from the soil, or
the labour of our industrious classes. Can it be
fair then that one-half or more of our entire taxa-
tion, direct and indirect, should De levied from
these classes, exposed as they now are to competi-
tion with the foreigner who is subject to no such
taxation ? In this country, as the writer in Black-
wood well remarks:—
" More than one-half of the fifty-five millions which
constitute the public revenue—twenty-eight and a-half
millions—arise from taxes imposed on the following
articles :—Spirits, malt, tea, tobacco, and soap. All
these are consumed principally by the labouring classes,
and must be paid for out of produce in the shape of wages.
Consequently, in addition to the prime cost of produce
and the profit of the grower, the consumer has, or ought,
to pay that portion bo'h cf direct and indirect taxation
which is leviable according to justice, and distinctly levied
by the State on the article which he lynches s. To make
this matter more clear, let it be understood that every
quarter of w'aeat grown in Great Britain, before it is
brought to market, is charged with a port on of the
direct taxes which we hare enumerated ab ne, and also of
the indirect taxes which come through the labourer; and
that these are positive burdens levied by the state for the
public service and the pyment of the national obligations."
Again, the same writer reminds us that :

"Agricultural produc. ion, estimated at the former
prices, was calculated to amount to .£250,f00,000
annually. That can no longer be calculated upon.
£91,000,000, according to Mr. Villiers, was the amount
of the deoreciation in a single year ; and as the net rental
of Great Britain and Ireland is under £59,000.000, it is
plain that, supposing all rents were abolished, the
tenantry must expect to draw £32.000,000 less than for-
merly, a depreciation which evidently would leave no
room for taxation whatever."

Can the agriculturist, such being the case, be re-
quired, in consonance with justice, to bear the
burthens to which he is subjected under our pre-
sent system ? It is madness to think of it ; and
gross inconsistency to hoot. We ask for cheap
bread ; and yet we are adding to its cost of produc-
tion by imposing an undue share of taxation upon
those who have to grow it! We say deliberately
to our agricultural brethren, "you shall be sub-
jected to competition with the foreigner; and at the
same time you shall bear a hurthen from which he
is entirely free." Absurdity and injustice so utter
as this can scarcely be conceived.
The course to be pursued by the agricultural
community is very distinctly chalked out, not only
by the writer in Blackwood, but also by Mr. Blake-
more, M.P. for Herefordshire, and Mr. W. Miles,
M.P. for Bristol. The taxation paid by the agri-
culturist must he balanced'by a revenue impost upon
the produce of the foreign agriculturist. We must
have, as well, a revenue duty upon every other pro-
duct of the industry of the country. Who can
deny the justice of such a proposition ? .No man
of common sense—no man who would hesitate to
run a race with his neighbour upon the condition
that he should bear a hurthen on his back from
which his neighbour should be free. It is all very
well for such organs as the London Times to point,
in mockery, at rent as the great barrier against the
farmer's sqccess in the competition which we have
invoked for him. It is more than a question of
rent which is now at issue; and the agriculturists
are not the only classes who will be found prepared
to agitate for a revision of our fiscal system. The
trading and industrious classes, with their profits
and wages reduced by the mania for cheapness, are
daily becoming more impatient of taxation, both
public and local. They are beginning already to
discover that the destruction of the home trade of
thee

try is not the direct path to prosperity;
and they may very reasonably he inclined to doubt
whether the confiscation of the property of the
landowner, and the pauperization of his tenantry,
will materially improve their case. It is with them
as it is with the agricultural body. They see
incomes, whether arising from labour or produce,
reduced one-third, whilst taxation maintains its
fixed money amount; and they will demand im-
peratively to have the balance readjusted.

ST. AIDAN'S COLLEGE

MEETING AT THE COLLEGIATE LAST NIGHT

A meeting was held in the theatre of the Collegiate In-
stitution last night, for the purpose of initiating measures
for the erection of a theological college at Birkenhead, in
furtherance of a design long since promulgated by the
Rev. J. Baylee, and which has met with the patronage of
numerous distinguished patrons of education and reli-
gion. It is proposed to render this institution something
more than a mere theological school ; by its aid it is pro-
posed to supply the dearth of religious instruction at pre-
sent existing in Liverpool; a large number of curates will
be sent forth from the halls of the College on a mission of
evangelisation through the crowded courts and alleys of
Liverpool. By this means the benighted population of
this town will be instructed in their duty to their God
and their neighbour, and it is but fair some effort should
be made on their part to secure such inestimable advan-
tages. It is therefore hoped that the masses may be in-
duced to contribute their meed, however scanty, in the
furtherance of this pious object.
The meeting was well attended, and on the platform
we noticed the following clergymen and gentlemen :
Rev. A. Campbell ( in the chair), the Marquis of Bland-
ford, M. P., Revs. W. Pollock, J. S. Howson, Joseph
Baylee, D. D. Stewart, A. M'Conkey, P. W. Brancker,
G. W. Warr, H. M. Mosse, C. J, Hamilton, H. Hamp-
ton, T. W. Moeran, J. C. Prince, W. D. Long, T. Ro-
binson, Dr. Poggi, D. Hirsch, —Simm, Godfrey Massey,
and P. Homan, Messrs. W. Jones, T. B. Horsfall, Adam
Hodgson, J. Torr, T. Littledale, T. Bold, J. Bennett,
Elias 'Arnaud, J. Longton, H. Moore, P. M. Dove, R.
L. Jones, Thos. Chilton, J. Bouch, H. Winch, E. Jones,
P. Wright, F. Messiter, H. Cole, W. St. George, and
G. St. George.

The chair was occupied by the Rev. Augustus Camp-
bell, one of the rectors of Liverpool. After a prayer had
been offered up by the Rev. H. Hampton, the reverend
CHAIRMAN rose to address the audience. He briefly
referred to the object of the meeting, and observed
that he had attended an evening meeting, contrary to his
usual habits, from a conviction of the importance of the
subject on which they were met, and his earnest desire to
further his friend's (Mr. Baylee) design. He went on to
say that the question before them was one deeply inter-
esting to them as Christiana, and as citizens : as Christians,
they were constrained by the love of Christianity to pro-
mote the coming of his Kingdom upon earth ; as citizens,
with families to protect, and homes to defend, they were
constrained by the love of social order to save the com-
munity, with which their happiness was identified, from
the fearful consequence of lawlessness and crime. When
they thought of the countless numbers in this nominally
Christian land living wholly without God in the world,
by whom the name of Christianity was never uttered but
as an exclamation of blasphemy, and to whom the human-
ising influences of the Christian faith were utterly un-
known, they must feel their responsibility but, if that
responsibility rested upon those he was addressing, with
how much greater weight roust It rest upon the local

clergy, to whom the mass of spiritual destitution was
nominally consigned; and if the weight of that solemn
responsibility pressed heavily upon him, when youth and
health made him more equal to the burden, with how much
greater weight must it be felt now that youth had gone
and strength had begun to fail ? When the silver cord was
about to be loosened, and the golden bowl perhaps speedily
to be broken, and the dust returned to the earth, and the
spirit to the God who gave it. Well, therefore, might he
pray to God, well might he call upon them to help forward
that work of God. But how was that work of God to be
done. How was that spiritual destitution to be provided
for, how was that moral pestilence to be stayed ? It could
not be done by the public ministrations of the Church, for
its public ministrations could not reach the cause • it must
he done by carrying the gospel to the doors of ihe poor.
(Hear, hear.) An archdeacon of a southern diocese goes
so tar as to say—" I cannot avoid expressing the convic-
tion that, under no circumstances whatever, can churches
he so multiplied, or incumbencies so formed in our dense
population, as to effect the purpose of bringing the gospel
home to the doors of the lowest of the people. A church
is the place for a public, not a domestic mission. The
gospel must be preached in courts, and alleys, and facto-
ries, or the church bell will sound in vain." (Hear.)
Whether this is true to the full extent or no, at least
while there are so many neighbouring churches for the
oublic mission, we should first try the domestic mission
by extending the Parochial Assistant Association, and
then build a church when the want of it is undeniably
ascertained. The pressing want of the present day
was the want of more labourers in the vineyard of the
church, rather than the want of more churches. The
harvest truly was plenteous, but the labourers were few.
They must therefore pray to the Lord of the harvest to
send forth labourers into his harvest ; and as the
Lord of the harvest would not bless its increase
without the labour of the husbandman—as the mer-
ciful Saviour, when he fed the multitude in the
wilderness employed his disciples to distribute the food
which he multiplied with miraculous abundance, so they
must exert themselves by employing missionary labour to
distribute the spiritual food which God had entrusted to
them amongst the perishing souls around them. The
command to preach the gospel to every creature, to preach
the gospel to the poor, was not confined to those to whom
it was originally given, it was the duty, or rather the pri-
vilege, of every Christian, and by no surer means could it
be accomplished than that which was proposed for their
acceptance by his zealous and never-tiring friend, of whose
zeal in the service of our Divine Master be could not speak
too highly, and whose sincerity in the maintenance of the
pure and undefiled religion of onr protestant church, he
answered for it, was surpassed by none. Into the details
of the plan, of course, he need not enter, as that would be
done by those who would address them on that occasion.
He should there have brought his observations to a close
if another subject of deep and momentous interest—(loud
applause)—were not pressed upon him by the exigencies
of the times. They were all aware that he was usually
no controversialist ; those who had thought it worth while
to mark the course of his ministry in this town and
neighbourhood, for now, he believed, twenty-five
years, were well aware of that fact. But recent
events—(loud applause)—had convinced him that the
time had come—(renewed applause)—when silence, or
consenting silence, would be a crime. (Applause.)
So long as the Bishop of Rome confined himself to the
spiritual purpose of supplying the mere spiritual wants of
those whom he calls his subjects in this country, by the
appointment of Vicars apostolic there was no ground of
complaint, because there was no assumption of spiritual
authority over any :subjects of the English Crown but
those of his own communion ; but now, with an unparal-
leled and audacious usurpation he has abrogated the
ancient ecclesiastical divisions of the English Church, and
presumed to convert this ancient and illustrious kingdom,
this free enlightened Protestant kingdom of England, into
an archepiscopal province, dependent, forsooth, upon his
foreign Bishopric in Italy, and according to the openly
avowed opinions of his adherents here, and the well-known
intolerant doctrine of his court, all who have been bap-
tized are subjects of the Church of Rome. He has, by
dividing our land into pretended dioceses, and appointing
over each an intrusive Bishop declared officially that all
baptized persons in this kingdom, Protestant or Popish,
without exception, are obliged to submit themselves to the

aforesaid intrusive Bishop, in all ecclesiastical matters
under pain of damnation ; so that you, my friends, and I,
and every Protestant man, woman, and child, in this
great community, who refuses fo submit to their new
Romish Bishop of Liverpool, and our gracious sovereign
herself, if she refuse to submit to the new Cardinal Arch-
bishop of Westminster, are inevitably damned, when such
audacious heresies as these are openly proclaimed amongst
us, perhaps you will think that it is time for Protestant
spirit to be roused, and Protestant blood to boil ; (loud
cheers ;) our hearts may be hot within us, the fire may kin-
dle, and at last the meekest of us' may be provoked to speak.
And how is Protestant spirit to manifest its just and

it was beginning at the right end, and that he approved so
much of encouraging people to help themselves, that so
soon as £5O shall have been contributed to this fund by
the working-classes, he will meet it by a corresponding sum
of £5O towards the sinking fund. I shall take the liberty
of mentioning his name, our well-known and highly-re-
spected townsman, John Naylor, Esq. He has already
shown his interest. in St. Aidan's College, by a sub-
scription of £2OO to the new building, and by be-
coming Treasurer to the Liverpool Committee. His
example will, no doubt, be followed by many others.
An important question connected with this proposal is
the machinery by which it is to be carried out. And to
this, by the good providence of God, I am enabled to
give a satisfactory answer. I am honoured with the pa-
tronage and co-operation of the Rectors of Liverpool and
some of the clergy in the place which I am about to lay
before you. First, th t there be five trustees to the fund,
with a secretary and treasurer, of whom the Rectors of
Liverpool are to be ex-officio members. The other three
to be elected by those clergymen who give an annual
sermon in support of the fund, and to be chosen annually
from amongst such clergymen. That the Principal of St.
Aidan's College, with its Board and the Divinity students,
be the executive for raising the funds in co-operation with
the clergy of the respective districts. Nothing to be done in
any district without the sanction of its minister. The
students of St. Aidan's College are not to collect sub-
scriptions, but to make known in the respeztive districts
the objects of the fund, to assist the minister in finding
suitable collectors, and to act as district secretary and
treasurer, bringing the contributions monthly to the
Board of St. Aidan's College, who will pay over all
monies quarterly to the trustees, by whom all disburse-
ments, lodgments, and endorsements are to be made.
By this means a gratuitous and effective machinery will
be provided, a large number of earnest minded persons
will be interested in the operations of the church, and we
may trust that an untold amount of good will be effected.
Mr. Bsylee then proceeded to ask, where, if they had all
the necessary funds in the bank, were the two hundred
men who would be found ready to consecrate themselves
to this labour of love, and,if we had them, are they prepared
for the office ? He hoped he was not presumptuous in say-
ing, that St. Aidan's College had gone very far towards
providing an effectual remedy. He had numerous testi-
monials of its efficiency, and, within the last month, the
Archbishop of Canterbury wrote for a student suitable for
a very important post, and his grace added, " All your
men are going on to my entire satisfaction." At an ex-
pense to Liverpool of about £6O per annum, S . Aidan's
College has provided for the stated visitation of 2500 of
her population ; and, if the students increase in the ratio
of the last three terms, the college will soon provide
visitors for 100,000 people. The college arrangements
are such that, for a sum of £2OO per annum, we could
provide that 100,000 people would be regularly visited
every six weeks. St. Aidan's is framed upon such a
system that there can he no intrusion upon the
parochial rights or duties of any Liverpool clergy-
men, and yet that we can offer efficient help to all who
desire to avail themselves of our aid. The Paro-
chial Assistant Association of Liverpool consists of
those clergymen who choose to avail themselves of the
assistance of the college, or who are otherwise favourable
to its objects. No student can regularly visit in Liverpool
until approved by the committee of that association, and
even then only in the district to which its iacumbent
invites them. Each student visits nine hours in each
week, including the time which it takes him to go from
the ferry to his district. He must visit at least 150 fami-
lies every six weeks. In the meantime he is receiving at
the college a regular theological education, and is thus
combining the practical and the speculative in religion, in
such a way as to provide a well-finished minister of Christ
by the time that his studies are completed. The result of
nearly four years' experience has answered, if it have not
silenced, the objections of those who doubted the possibi-
lity of contriving the two objects. And I trust the added
experience of successive years will prove the soundness
and the efficiencies of the system. The college consists
of two departments—a senior and a junior. The senior
are all divinity students ; the junior receive a general
education. In the senior department there are lecturers in
divinity, and in the junior a head master and two assistant
The whole is un lertheconstants
The difficulty of o

o perform the
laborious and self-denying duties of pastors in such a
population as ours would be greatly obviated by a clerical
aid fund. If an annual sermon for this purpose were
preached in all the churches of Liverpool, the proceeds
would amount to a sum sufficient to assist in the education
of at least twenty divinity students annually at St. Aidan's
College. As the number of candidates for such assistance
would be considerable, the managers of the fund would be
able to select a very superior class of men, and thus, at a
very trifling expense, the efficiency of the church would
be greatly increased. The difficulty in the way of the
clergy is their unwillingness to add to the number of
appeals to their people

. - ......,C Lima ao not over-
righteous indignation ? Not by crafty clamour or re- estimate the liberality of Liverpool in saying that such
proachful controversy, but by calm, deliberate Protestant an additional appeal would be heartily responded to.
union, similar to that which, in the 17th Century, drove It is exactly four years since the plan of St. Aidan's Col
a Romish Sovereign into the panic of abdication, and lege was agreed upon by a large body of the Liverpool
placed a Proiestant Sovereign upon a Protestant throne ! clergy, at the head of whom were the two rectors. I
And, when 1 speak of Protestantism, I do not mean a trust I shall be excused if I enter somewhat into detail
negative nonentity. Let it not be forgotten what part in narrating the leading facts of its history. As it was an
was taken by the bishops of our chureh in that great untried plan, I felt that it was better to test the system
struggle for religious liberty. Let a shout be raised simi. in an individual effort, before any appeal should be made
lar to that which struck with terror on the infatuated to the public for any large pecuniary aid. In doing so,
monarch's ear when the intended victims of arbitrary therefore, although favoured with the valuable counte-
power were rescued from his will by the verdict of a jury nance of the rectors of Liverpool and a few of my breth-
of free Englishmen. Let us adapt the language of our ren amongst the clergy, I was left to my own resources in
great dramatic poet to the exigency of the times, and say, the pecuniary part of the effort..,. Almost every one pre-
This England never shall dicted that it would be a failure. I felt, however, that
1
Lie at the foot of a proud conqueror; I the need was urgent—that the object was undeniably
Nought shall make us rue, good—that the system was calculated to prepare
If England to herself do but prove true."
experienced pastors and teachers—and that, there-
But, my friends, in order to contend successfully in this fore, the blessing of God would rest upon perse-
most righteous ground, we must not look to legislative vering patience, industry, faith, and prayer ; and I
protection. We must not cry to Jupiter, but help our- have not been disappointed. It has cost more than
selves. We must recruit our armies. We must re-enforce £1,600 to finish the College. The annual expenses
our garrisons. We must send Protestant mil- sioriaries, for rent, taxes, and salaries, amount to £1,350,
not armed with the carnal weapons of secular warfare, and yet,
_by the blessing of God, the college is able to
but with the sword of the Spirit—the Word of God meet every engagement. More than thirty men have
—to meet seducing Spirits, armed with the Word of been ordained from it, and in most cases the students
Tradition, whatever shape they may assume with their obtain nominations the moment they have completed
profane and old wives fables, speaking lies in hypo- their course. Experience has thus proved the value and
crisy, forbidding to marry, and commanding to abstain the soundness of the system. I trust I shall not appeal
from meats with all deceivableness of unrighteousness by in vain to the inhabitants of Liverpool to come forward
the direction of him who sitteth in the temple of God and aid a great work which has already conferred so much
as if he were God himself, with signs and lying wonders practical benefit on the town, and which I have shewn to
exalting himself above thrones and empires as the Lord of be capable of accomplishing the evangelization of our
all. As Christians I call upon you to help the preaching teeming population, as well as of furnishing well trained
of the gospel by an increase of preachers. As Protestants ' ministers at home, and missionaries for every part of the
I call upon you to help the preaching of the Protestant world. A committee has been formed in London to carry
gospel by an increase of Protestant ministers. As citizens out the objects of the college by raising £lO,OOO to erect
I exhort you to defend your wives and families from the suitable buildings, and give it a council and permanent
awful consequences of infidelity. As subjects I exhort government. It consists of men not only of the highest
you to augment a ministry which will teach your fellow-
rank and station, but what is of far greater importance they
subjects to fear God and honour the Queen when the days are men well known and highly valued for the soundness of
of darkness are coming on and the strength begins to fail, their religious views and the earnestness of their Christian
when the silver cord is about to be loosed, and the golden philanthropy. Thenameofthe patron, the venerated Arch-
bowl to be broken, and the dust to return to the earth as bishop of Canterbury, is of itself a sufficient guarantee to
a Liverpool public for the purity of its principles. The
it was, and the spirit to the God who gave it. (Applause.)
The Rev. J. BAYLEE, Principal of St. Aidan College, honoured names of such Chsistian noblemen as the Earls
then rose to address the meeting. He commenced by of Harrowby and Denbigh. Lord Ashley, and Lord Robert
alluding to the 400,000 inhabitants of Liverpool, and to Grosvernor, and one who has privileged me with his inti-
the responsibilities attaching to the town in consequence mate friendship, the Marquis of Blandford, are a confir-
of her position is almost the centre of British influence. 'nation, were a confirmation needed, that his Grace, the
He then contrasted the present condition of this town Patron, has not misplaced his confidence. To these lam
with her houses of profligacy—her domestic scenes of dis- thankful to add our venerated Archdeacon, and our
comfort—with the influence she might exert were she a I Chairman, to whose unwearied kindness I am most deeply
city of saints, and if the gains of her commerce were con- indebted. From the Uciversity of Oxford also the Col-
secreted to the Lord. Our town has increased its churches; lege has the high honour of having upon its committee
but are their benches filled with worshippers ? Is vice the Rev. Dr. Symons„ late Vice-Chancellor of Oxford,
becoming less frequent ? To the Church, through her and the Rev. Dr. Cotton, Provost of Worcester
ministers, has the Lord Jesus entrusted the great College. To these I am most thankful to add the
work of producing pastors for the sheep of his pasture. names of the Liverpool committee merchants of the
(Hear, hear.) And now, said the Rev. Speaker, let us first eminence, and among them I would name our inde-
ask ourselves what have we done ? Fron., long personal fatigable secretary, J. Torr, Esq. To the Liverpool clergy,
experience I know the duties and the opportunities of the and to the truly excellent Chancellor Raikes, I am also
pastoral care, and my brethren of the clergy will bear me greatly indebted. Mr. Baylee then proceeded to make a
witness when I say that there are 250,000 souls in Liverpool public declaration of his principles. Tractarians had
beyond the reach of pastoral ministrations, not only of the called him a Puritan. Others bad taxed him with Trac-
clergy, but of the ministers of any Protestantdenomination. tarianism. He was, however, a whole-hearted Church-
Speaking in round numbers,thereare4o churches in Liver. man, which was the most honourable name for 3 sincere
and consistent Christian. He believed Romanism to be
Ipoooo,lofooor aRt
olemansnt
i4sotso,oaonod poeothpeler.
DLisseetnutsedrse,dauncdt from and
the great predicted heathenizing of Christianity, and Rome
to be the Babylon foredoomed of God to utter and speedy
men.ma in 300,000 souls
from top a
ibnef n el a
personalred for b
experience
peraboutien
eSeO
whenclergy-
Idestruction. Tractarianism he believed to be equally far
say, that with the other demands upon a clergyman's from the truth. It was Romanism in most inconsistent
time he cannot be an efficient pastor to more than 1000 separation from Rome. It was antagonistic to Scriptural
people. Indeed, I might make the number less. Let simplicity and intelligent appreciation of true spiritual
me ask you all what is the meaning of the pastoral care ? worship. But our religion was not a negation. He had
In the exerc ses of a perplexed conscience, or of a endeavoured to enable the students entrusted to his care
bowed spirit, or of a bruised heart in all the sore trials of to declare honestly and intelligently their unfeigned as-
life and all the harassings of daily needs, what would you sent and consent to all and everything contained in the
wish for in the pastoral relationship ? Should not the Book of Common Prayer, which was the best human ex-
man of God be with you to cheer, to comfort and to bless ? position of divine revelation that was ever composed by
Should he not know how your children are going on, and man. He then reviewed the contents of the Prayer
how yourselves are progressing ? It is God's voice that has Book in a very instructive manner. How strange that
said, " Should not the shepherd feed the flocks ?" The such a Book should be accused of compromise and semi-
good shepherd came "to comfort all that mourn." How is popery. What, sir, are we to be told that those practices
the duty fulfilled 1 How can one individual in the midst of and principles are not Protestant, which were meditated
eight or ten thousand people do all this ? The thing is upon by a Ridley and a Latimer in the dungeon, and
impossible. The remedy is within ourselves, as I shall. testified too by those blessed martyrs at the stake ! The
now lay before you. Of the 400,000 inhabitants of Liver- Church of England presents to us the Word of God as
pool more than 300,000 are willing to receive the pastoral the only infallible teacher of revealed religion. To that
ministrations of the church. Deducting from these the
members who are unable to contribute anything, there are Word she subordinates creeds and councils, much more
individual churches and teachers. She is Protestant in
at least 216,000 who are in comparatively comfortable cir- her opposition to Romish error. She is Catholic in her
cumstances. 216,000 souls are about 41,000 families; if maintenance of Scriptural truth. Walking on earth,
each of these subscribed 2d. a-week to a Liverpool Pa- her home is in heaven. May all her ministers, and
rochial Aid Fund, the total sum would be £20,800 a-year. all her sons, imbibe her spirit, believe her truth,
This would provide 200 deacons for the existing churches, and walk in the light of her heavenly hope. Mr.
and leave a sum of £BOO per annum for incidentalexpenses. Baylee concluded as follows, by referring to the
These added to the present number of the Liverpool chief objects of the meeting
:—The masses of our
clergy wouldS give one pastor for every 1400 people, in- people need pastoral care. I have shown that God
eluding all classes of the population, Oh how mighty has given us abundantly the means of providing
a change would this one effort make. And is this for them. In my own name, in the name of the board of
effort impracticable ? Are indeed the service of God
machinery
and the faith of Christ—the hopes of heaven and the the gratuitous, and I hope I may say efficient,
mactixious
fear of hell so little thought of that an added expense to raise the needful funds. Idoso in the earnests,taa
coin.
St. Aidan's College, and of its divinity students. T offer
of twopence a week would not be contributed by the bap- hope that the co-operation of all classes of soeevta
(Hear,
tised members of Christ's body. But whatever apathy munity may accomplish so blessed an
there may be, I think I can show you that the plan can-
have demon-
not be a failure. Let it be supposed that only one in ten permanent the college itself. Four year p
U to this point,
of those members of the Church, who are able to do so, sleeted the practical value of its system.
its existence in
would subscribe, and even then twenty new pastors would efforts almost individual have maintainedf
the institution be
be provided, and forty thousand additional souls placed continually 'increasing vigour.
But
acknowledged need,
unner the pious care of the Church. Doubtless, many of public utility, if it has
hear.) I appeal to you also to give us your aid in making
persons would gladly contribute a larger sum than two- if it has accomplished a large a
pence a week. 1 would propose that all sums above two- not that there is a plea far
pence be paid into a sinking fund, to provide endowments an individual. But, sir, I
it now exists is but the germ
for the new congregations. Every £2OO per annum paid more urgent. The college as
into an institution caps-
into this fund, at tour per cent. interest, would provide of
what may easily expandedl.
A very moderate assistance a permanent endowment of £lOO in ten years. Two nle of benefitting millions..sy to improve its education, and
thousand pounds a year, thus collected, would endow would enable us tire
ten new incumbencies every ten years. How fearful se its numbers. (Hear.) That increase
not to be left dependent upon them health and strength of
largely
colonieswell the
a responsibility rests upon the possession of property, of numbers would enable us to send efficient mission.
when so small en effort would so amply provide for the aries to our neglected_ as as to
wants of' Christs' Church. lam permitted to make apro- heathen world. (Hear, and cheers.) While Liverpool
posal, this evening, which will have no small effect illen- itself wuuld :he gre.atly blepsed by the labours of such men

. .
couraging this effort. Ilaving explained the plan and its
mode of operation to a gentleman, whom God has blessed
with the means of helping such an object, and still more
with willingness of butt to assist in it, he observed that

during their training for the ministry. The College would
he continually sending forth a stream of ministers accus-
tomed to the most difficult. and by far the most important
Rad of tie ministerial office, the pastoral care. The