The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-02-17 00:00:00

CHURCH PASTORAL AID SOCIETY.

The annual meeting of the friends and supporters of
this society was held last evening, in the lecture-hall of
the Collegiate Institution, which was crowded to excess
with a most respectable audience.
A few minutes after six o'clock, the worshipful Henry
Raikes, Chancellor of the Diocese, accompanied by a
number of influential gentlemen, entered the hall, and
was received with loud cheers. Having taken the chair,
he called upon the Rev. Thomas Nolan, who opened the
proceedings with an impressive and appropriate prayer.
The Worshipful CHAIRMAN then proceeded to ad-
dress the meeting, but in consequence of the position in
which the reporters were placed, not one half of what
was said could be heard by them. We understood him
to say, before he proceeded to call upon the Secretary to
read the report of the operations of the society during
the past year, he felt it due to himself to explain the cir-
cumstances which led to his appearance in that position
that evening. There were many reasons why it was
most gratifying to see a layman in the chair ; but
in consequence of Mr. Horsfall being prevented from
attending, it afforded him an opportunity of showing his
adherence to, and approbation of, the cause. (Cheers.)
At the same time he felt, upon these occasions, in that
society, the chair could never be so properly filled as by a
layman ; for it was formed by laymen for the benefit of the
clergy, and the good of the church at large. He, therefore,
rejoiced at seeing the chair filled by a layman, in order
that the clergy might have an opportunity of testifying to
them the warm feelings of gratitude by which they were
actuated for the assistance and support of their lay bre-
thren. (Applause.) But he might take the liberty of
saying that, when deprived of the assistance of a layman
to occupy the chair, they could hardly find amongst its
members a warmer friend to the society than the humble
individual who then addressed them. (Cheers.) He was
therefore willing, upon the present occasion, as he had
always hitherto done when an opportunity presented
itself, to bear his testimony to the usefulness of the so-
ciety. Had it not been for the operations of this society,
the church, in this diocese at least, in its endeavours to
supply the spiritual wants of the population, must have
met with such an amount of inefficiency and difficulty as
almost to overwhelm it. (Hear.) Through the agency
of the Pastoral Aid Society they had met the difficulty in
part, and let the society only be supported as it ought to
be, and there was hardly any thing it would not be able
to accomplish. In truth, he trusted he spoke to those
who felt the value of its operation—in fact, their com-
mon interests were concerned in its success—laity and
clergy were bound 'up in one common cause ; the clergy
were but labourers 'in their master's service—they were
but agents for the good of the laity, and just in propor-
tion as they both acted together would success attend
their efforts. {Lend cheers.) Before he sat down he
hoped they would allow him to observe, that whilst the
present aspect of affairs presented much cause for
apprehension, and much fear for future consequences,
he wished to impress upon all the importance of the so-
ciety. It pleased the Almighty disposer of events to
work by means, and whenever God had an object to pro-
mote—whenever there was an end to be accomplished—
means we're to be used, and such means as were most likely
to accomplish the end in view. Thus, when the increase of
the population had almost bid defiance to theefforts of the
Church to meet it, the wondrous but simple machinery of
this society was set to work, a few individuals met, the plan
was formed, and when he looked at its operation he could
not refrain from concluding that God had blessed the
means, and that it was the purpose of God, by means of
it, to-cnlarge the usefulness of the church, and to show
how wonderfully it was adapted to meet the wants of
the Topulation. He loved the society not merely for the
good it had done in what was to be expected from it, but
in elligher sphere of action, as a sort of pledge from God
that be would still make the Established Church a bless-
ing 'to the land, a security for the ,happiness and welfare
of the people. (Loud cheers.) The 'Worshipful Chair-
man concluded by calling on one of the clerical secrete-
-ries to read the report.
The Rev. C. W. LAWRENCE then read the report, of
,which the following is the substance :
The committee expressed their 'thankfulness to God that
'the funds collected in this town would fa'.l only a few pounds
short of the returns of the preceding year, a donation in
1844 having swelled the returns of that year to an extent which
they feared would not be realized this year. They were labour-
ing not only to increase the number of ministers, but to main-
tain those already employed in necessitous cures. There were
parishes containing thousand, and tens of thousands of souls,
which, if they satisfy the eye of a benevolent man when he com-
pares the shepherds with the dimensions of the fold, only do so
while the hand of the society supplies the means of subsistence,
and should that hand withdraw its aid, the nice proportions are
gone, the lights will fail in the prospect, and the darkness of
death rest upon the moral landscape. The committee adhere
to the principle and plan of the-society. It was at this conjunc-
ture of the church that men were wanted to enter upon the
fields white for harvest. The society has been the means of
sending, not only the ordained minister of God into the vine
yard, but the lay agent; and it was her privilege to contend for
the employment of humble but devoted men, who, simply, but
under the orders of the incumbent, might warn the unruly, com-
fort the afflicted, and instruct the ignorant, and it is now her
privilege to see a society instituted for the same specific purpose,
sending forth similar men into the streets of the metropolis,
under the high sanction of -the Diocesan. As much depen ed
on the character of a-minister, the society were careful whom
she employed, and sent such only as gave guarantee to walk in
the stemand preach the Gospel of the Lord. If the open Bible
be the privilege of the Protestant—if the power to understand
its contents be recognised in.the laity of the church—it there be
a wholesome result, as we should expect, in attending to the
Lord's command to the, people, "Take heed what ye hear,"—
then was that procedure of'the society as scriptural as it was
wholesome, by which the spiritually enlightened ear and eye of
the laity of the church are brought to bear upon the character
of those ministrations which they are instrumental in providing
for their fellow countrymen, and transmitting to their children.
There are few better preservatives from the leprosy of popery
than the just resentments of the people at large, when directed
into such channels as that society presented, which, true to the
church of which she is the scion, esteems a protest against error
an essential feature of an h :nest allegiance and of truth. The
committee rejoiced that the Dish p of Oxford, the son of Wm.
Wilberforce, had.cordially expressed his approbation of the so-
ciety. In Liverpool the society supported ten curates and two
Scripture readers. One incum bent says " Our Scripture reader
had not been long at work before the effect was visible in the
seats which are assigned to the poor. He is now engaged in
visiting others who yet feel a reluctance, or who are kept back
by want of clothing. The filthy courts, the wretched habita-
tions, in which a large mass of the population lives, the un-
wholesome atmosphere they breathe, the sickness and distress
which abound, render his labours as difficult as self-denying.
Yet good is doing, and the clergyman discovers that the lay
agent has a much easier access to the poor than he can possibly
have—that they are mere communicative with him than him.
self—and that through his instrumentality he learns mete of
their actual condition, their wants, their knowl dge, and their
ignorance, that; he ever knew by personal visitation " On the
subject of third services in churches, your c mmittee think it
would be well if such more frequently occurred, as the wants of
many might thus be supplied who cannot attend the other ser-
v ces. In St. Simon's the grant received was £lOO, and the
amount returned 450. In Edgehill, the grant £5O, the amount
returned £B5, so that in the latter case there was a gain. At-
tention is next called to a plan of increasing the parent socie-
ty's funds, which-had this year fallen short by nearly £lOOO as
compared with the previous year. It had been proposed by the
Rev. H. M'Neile (whom the committee highly compliment), to
raise .t'soo, by obtaining promises from individuals of donations
to the amount of such a sum ; such promises not to be called
upon till the sum promised amounted to the sum proposed. A
sum of £270 had been promised, and it remained for the friends
of the society to complete the promises in behalf of the object.
The report concludes by an earnest scriptural appeal, and a
prayer that it may be effectual to the setting forth of the glory
of God, and the increase of His kingdom.
THE Rev. Canon M'NEILE then rose to move the
first resolution, and was received with loud and continued
cheers. When they had subsided, he commenced by ob-
serving, that whilst the Chairman was speaking, a multi-
tude of thoughts crowded into his mind on the subject of
the Pastoral Aid Society as an auxiliary to our church.
Its name sufficiently expressed its objects. It is an aux-

iliary to our Established Church in one of its most im-
portant functions,—the supply of competent and efficient
pastors. Our church requires such help, because the po-
pulation to whomit is a debtor for scriptural instruction,
and pastoral superintendence, has largely overgrown her
original and stated xesources. They were aware, none
more so, that vast multitudes in our large tootle, and in
our manufacturing and mining districts, are int condition
utterly deplorable in a land called Christian—they have
not the opportunity, if they bad the will, of receiving
Christian instruction ; they are as sheep scattered abroad
without a shepherd. He was thinking that the skeleton
frame-work of a nationalchurch was still scattered over
the land, whilst the principle of a national church is vir-
tually repudiated in much that concerns the spiritual wants
of the people, and thrown upon the voluntary principle.
It was, however, a good thing to have the frame. work,
because every new church, school, or pastor which was
established came immediately within the range of that
frame-work. But it was deplorable to see a number of
vacant spots on that frame-work, the more so because
they were not altogether empty. There was something is
those places congenial to the condition of man. There were
men in this country, as in all countries, anxious to upset
the present state of things in order to better their own con-
dition. Such persons were not scrupulous about the means
they would use. Weapons which they themselves despised,
if successful, were used without scruple. Hence it was
that infidelity was wielding superstition with great effect,
whilst she was looking with contempt and scorn upon the
iglitorance that could be acted upon by such instrumen-
tality. (Hear, hear.) The society, then, in whose behalf
they had met, was an auxiliary to the ch.ureh in sending to
the people the only efficient remedy. There was, and
could be, no efficient remedy but in the gospel of the
grace of God, and as it bad pleased him to adopt human
instrumentality for the spread of his truth, therefore they
might truly say, there could be no remedy but in the
adequate multiplication of competent pastors. This
was the only remedy which could reach the real
state of man's disease, in our most thickly populated
districts. Nay, more, in carrying out the sacred medicine
of the Gospel to the bed-sides of the sick and dying poor,
the Church Pastoral Aid Society was a proved and tried
friend. (Loud applause.) It was simply on these grounds
they presented it to them for their support. (Continued
applause.) He was thinking on these things when he found
that be had undertaken a very difficult task, and that was to
move the adoption of the report without making a speech.
The rev. gentleman then read the resolution as follows :
" That the report now received be adopted, printed, and
circulated, under the direction of the committee; and
that the following gentlemen comprise the committee for
the ensuing year." He looked to the other side of the
paper but found no names. (Laughter.) He looked to
his reverend brother, the secretary, and found lie
had no names. He was so satisfied they were so
well acquainted with the Society that they would re-
collect the names of those who formed the committee
for the past year, and therefore he had left the list at
home, (Laughter.) They would, perhaps, naturally
ask why he came under such a very ticklish engagement.
He would tell them. He was lately at Cheltenham for
this very society, and at Cheltenham, they made him the
LlON—(cheers)—and therefore he made a very long
speech. It would not become him to say it was a good
one, but the people of Cheltenham seemed to think ro.
(Applause.) Now the Cheltenham lion had come to Li-
verpool, (Loud and continued cheers.) And be was
content on the present occasion to be a much smaller,
animal, he would ko the mom that nibbled the es n, that

loosed the net, that freed the lion: (Tremendous laugh-
ter and cheers.) Before he sat deevii he wished to tell
them that this noble animal would not only address them
that evening, and in giving that notice he desired them to
forget all that was amusing in what had passed, whilst he
told them soberly and solemnly that the Rev, F. Close
would on Wednesday evening preach in St. Michael's
Church. (The reverend gentleman resumed his seat
amid loud cheers.)
The Hon and Rev W. MONTAOUE VILLIERS, Rector
of St. George's, Bloomsbury, one of the deputation,
seconded the resolution. After a few words of introduc-
tion relative to the foregoing speeches, and that part of
the claims of the society respecting which he had ven-
tured to speak in his sermon on the preceding day, and
which were very indistinctly beard at the inconvenient
corner where the reporters were placed, the reverend
gentleman said, that in addressing a Liverpool audience
he was well aware that he was addressing a people ieti-
mately acquainted with figures, and to whose minds it would
be easy, by their assistance, to convey a clear and distinct
idea of a few important and startling facts bearing upon the
claims of the Pastoral Aid Society, upon their esteem
and support. There were few persons, he would venture
to say, who knew better than the rev. gentleman who had
just sat down, how to combine the amusing with the solid,
and never transgressing propriety.;—(applause)—and he
believed there were few towns which possessed more
eloquent preachers, or more churches in which the
Gospel was preached ; and they would agree with him
that it was a solemn subject to speak of such immense
numbers of their fellow-creatures who were in an uncon-
verted state, without God or hope of salvation, and without
any knowledge of the blessed Saviour; and having, then,
to speak on those points, he entreated their kind conside-
ration that night. (Applause.) The course of events
now was different to what it was some years ago.
He was not going to re-echo what had been called an old
woman's tale, namely, that there were no times like the
old times, or even that the old times were better than the
present ones ; but he must allude to a difference in the
present times with regard to its treatment of popery,
ahich favoured in some degree the progress of the fatal
superstitions of that religion. In t mes gone past it was
considered fair and right to speak of things by their right
names, and if they found anything worthy of censure, no
man was blamed for speaking in truthful terms of it.
But now, by a kind of bastard philanthropy, their mouths
were closed. It, in speaking of Rome and her abominations,
any allusion was made to Sodom or Babylon. it was stig-
matised as unkind or uncharitable; but he had not learnt
to be more charitable than the word of God. (Applause.)
He desired to speak the truth, but he would do it in love.
Let them look on the manner in which the question of
Maynooth was received last session, as an exemplification
of this fact; and the Protestants, both laymen and clergy,
ought to unite to truthful men, who would proclaim the
Gospel as it was in Jesus, to the winning of souls from
that system which had destroyed so many souls. (Cheers.)
With this carelessness of speech there was combined an-
other fact; and that was the increased exertions making
by the Papists at the present time. He had no doubt
there was as much increased exertion made by them in
Liverpool as he perceived in his own neighbourhood.
He could scarcely stir abroad without meeting, two by
two, their sisters of charity. or of mercy, or nuns, or
whatever they were, with their baskets on their arms,
visiting the sick, ministering to their temporal wants,
and never failing to excite their superstitious fears and
feelings ; and he could not but help feeling some re-
spect for their zeal and earnestness. This was only to be
met by more zeal among themselves, and he looked to
the Pastoral Aid Society, in sending out godly men, to
feed the people with the true milk of the word ; and those
who had to spare of this world's goods should take better
care of the bodily wants and comforts of the poor.
(Applause.) In order to show the great usefulness of this
society, he would now go to another point, which had been
alluded to before, namely, the great increase of the popu-
lation. With that increase there had been some ad-
ditional means—how much be would shortly tell—but he
believed it was totally inadequate to the population. All
that had been done during the last five years had not even
met the increase of the people during that period. He
would 'first mention a few facts with regard to London.
Some would perhaps think it very unnecessary for him
to come to Liverpool to speak of London; but if they re-
collected themselves, they would find few families which,
indirectly or directly, were not connected with London, or
which had not sent some poor youth filto that great Ba-
bylon, or, perhaps, they themselves were in the habit of
visiting it. It therefore became a matter of great import-
ance to see what amount of spiritual instruction there was
provided for those youths or for themselves. Take Lon-
don as it is marked out by parliamentary enactment, a
district of eight miles around St. Paula, and, in 1841,
its population was two millions, or rather more. This
'more than doubled the amount of population in 1801,
and showed an increase since that period of 30,000 a year.
Let them mark that fact, that there was added to the po-
pulation of London every year, a number equalling the
whole population of the city of York. Let them take
all the cathedral towns in England and Wales, where
the churches were pretty thick and the clergy pretty
numerous, and their whole population amounted but
to 678,943 ; this would perhaps give them a very great
idea of a population of two milllions. If they added to
the episcopal cities all the country towns in the kingdom,
and add to them the populations of Liverpool, Manches-
ter, •Birmingham, Leeds, and Sheffield„ they would
then only have a population of 1,100,000 ; not much
more than half that of London. Having given them some
idea of the vastness of London, he would show them how
it was provided with spiritual accommodation. The
whole amount of accommodation in 1843, taking churches
and dissenting chapels, was but sufficient for 601,418.
so that of five-eights of the whole population which might
be reckoned as able to attend a place of worship, more
than one-half could not, for want of room, if they would.
It was a well-known fact that every Sunday morning and
evening, a number of persons larger than the population
of the chief towns and cities of the kingdom, wilfully
absented themselves from any place of worship. If
'London was compared with New Zealand, it would
be found to be mostly inferior to it, in godliness and
religion. After some further statistics, showing the
spiritual destitution of London, a destitution which in
Westminster alone, it would. ake 45 churches, each capa-
ble of containing 1000 persons to supply, he described
the state of the manufacturing and mining districts,
which were in a similar dreadful condition. In South
Durham there had been an immense increase of late in
the coal trade, and new towns were continually springing
up, with populations varying from 1,000 to 5,000, entirely
destitute of churches, schools, and religious instruction
of any kind. In South Wales not one in 50 of the adults
c.e.ild read. In Bradford and Leeds, although the parents
expressed themselves anxious that their children should
be taught to read, they would not consent to deprive
themselves of a small portion of their earnings to give
them time to be taught. In Lancashire and Cheshire, it
was stated by Mr. Kennedy, few of the colliers attended
divine worship, and in general cared nothing whatever
about religion, being ignorant as beasts of the state of
their souls.; that the children never attended school or
a placeof worship, nor could read or write. One clever
lad, about eleven years old, stated that he had heard of
hell down in the pit; that he had never heard of Jesus
Christ,; that he had heard of God in the pit, when the
name was employed in imprecations to send the souls of
others to hell. (Great sensation.) In order to show that
something might be done e.ven with a class of people so
much in ignorance, he read a statement of the condition
of the Forest of Dean, in Gloucestershire, a few years
aco, from which it appeared that the miners led a clanish
and solitary life, that they were violent and debauched,
and the terror of the surrounding neighbourhood ; that
their Sabbaths were spent in several games or vicious ir-
regularities ; that there were neither churches nor chapels
except on the outskirts, and schools were unknown. Now
the gospel of Jesus Christ had been carried there,
and so great a change had been effected, that the colliers
were exemplary in every moral and religious duty.. The
task of reformation had been undertaken by the Dissen-
ters, whose perseverance had at length been rewarded by
a total change in the character of the people. The Dis-
senters had worked zealously, and raised the means to
build an immense number of chapels. These means had
been drawn from the pockets of the persons not usually
the most liberal people—from the small shopkeepers,
whose power in general circulated ; and:lrotly, from the
working classes themselves, by the adoption of a plan
which could quickly realise the £5OO promised to be
raised by their friend, Mr. M'Neile. The plan was by
penny subscriptions. (Applause.) They had thus seen what
the Dissenters had done, and he trusted the Establishment
had in it the desire to do as much or more; that they
would take the lesson, and remember the words of Him
I who said "Go thou and do likewise." (Applause.) He
must be excused for giving them.one or two more of these
statistical facts; he felt that they spoke more to the pur-
pose than if he gave them words of his own. Of the two
millions of inhabitants in London, a far greater number
than they would expect had no homes. They lived for
the most part out of doors, and at night they took up
their abode at a lodging-house, where they generally
paid about 3d. per night for part of a bed. In many,
many cases, there would be perhaps six in a bed. The
poor .man, by this means, saved a great portion of the
expense of separate lodgings, which generally cost
at the lowest, about 4s. 6d. per week. Thousands and
tens of thousands had no homes, except their lodging-
houses. In a report published some years ago, on the
best means of establishing a constabulary force in Eng-
land and Wales, these lodging-houses were spoken of as
the greatest obstacles to the morality of the people. They
were filled with the dregs of society and professed.thieves
and beggars, and were perfect hotbeds of vice for the poor
children taken to them by their parents. He described a
room in one athese lodging houses, a place 18 feet by 10
feet, with beds of straw arranged on each side as thick as
possible, in fact, the floor was like one great bed ; and in
that space the night before, the person from whom lie had
the description, visited it,:there were twenty-seven adult
malesand females,thirty-one children, and twodogs sleping
in it. In the top room of the same house were six beds,and in
these 32 human beings slept ; the windows in these places
were seldom opened, and the pesti'ential and noisome
atmosphere which pervaded these dreadful places actual),
compelled the visitors to retreat, and often produced vo-
miting. It might be asked what could t)e done with such
a class of human beings as this; thee were too bad for the
Pastoral Aid Society to reach; but he replied they were
not too bad, that they had been reached. There were a
number of laymen at work at the present time visiting
these noisome abodes, and reading the eternal Gospel of '
God to the miserable inmates; and many had profited by
the word read. He was quite sere, in that town, ccle-

br ated for jts ministers ; for its number of eloquent
men who preached the Gospel faithfully—(applanso_
it would be unnecessary for him to dwell on the power
which might ,ccompany a sinele sentence of the Word of
God ; to define how far it would go, or when it, would
blossom and bringforth fruit. He would, however, state
that during the last year there had been held in these
lodging-houses 132 meetings for the exposition of the
Scriptures, at which 1600 persons had been present; and
,he was happy to pay be knew of some parties, who, he