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CHESTER DIOCESAN CONFERENCE.

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CHESTER DIOCESAN CONFERENCE. ♦ THE BISHOP ON DISESTABLISHMENT- PROPOSED REFORM OF CONVOCATION. SPEECHES BY LORD CREWE AND LORD HUGH CECIL.1 [BY OUR OWN REPORTER.] The annual Chester Diocesan Conference was opened in the Literary Institute, Altrincham, on Wednesday morning, when there was a large attendance of clergy and laity from all parts of the diocese. The Lord Bishop pre- sided, and he was supported on the platform by the High Sheriff of Cheshire (Mr. B. C. Roberts), the Earl of Crewe, Lord Hugh Cecil, M.P., Archdeacons Barber and Woosnam, Canon Gore, Colonel Dixon (chairman of the County Council), Messrs. H. J. Birch, J. Gooddie Holmes, the Revs. C. Hylton Stewart and J. G. Elstob (hon. secretaries), &c. At the far end of the room .there was a large number of ladies, among whom were Mrs. Jayne and Miss Jayne. Apologies for absence were received from Earl Egerton of Tutton, Lord Newton, Lord Stamford, Mr. George Wyndham, M.P., Mr. Bromley Davenport, M.P., Mr. Yerburgb, M.P., Mr. Henry Tollemache, M.P., Sir Elliott Lees, M.P., Mr. Joseph Hoult, M.P., Mr. J. W. Sidebotham, Mr. J. R. Thomson, Mr. White Ridley, Mr. Beresford Melville, and Mr. Joseph Chapman. THE BISHOP'S CHARGE. The Bishop, who was cordially received, remarked at the outset of his charge that at all times, and never more than now, the central need of the Church was the need of men—men inspired and inspiring, labourers numerous enough and strenuous enough to meet the urgent demands of the widening and whitening harvest fields of the world. Christian Im- perialism was at bottom a question of men. After a reference to the work of the S.P.G., his Lordship alluded to the character and policy of the present captain-general of the British forces in South Africa, under whom the grandson and successor of their admirable Duke of West- minster had been laudably serving his apprenticeship in chivalry. (Applause.) He claimed for Lord Roberts that he was essentially and conspicuously a Christian missionary-a promoter of the kingdom ot righteousness, mercy, and peace. Referring to LAY AND CLERICAL LABOUBBBS his lordship said: Have not laity and clergy been sent forth, as it were, two and two before our Lord's face into every city and place, whither He Himself would come? To speak first of the lay labourers, what cause for thankfulness and en- couragement there is in the work they have done, the work they are doing, the ampler and more fruitful work they are, please God, destined to do. Think, for example, of the highly gifted labourers in the field of literature. Can we fail to see in not a few of the poems of Tennyson and Browning and in the Recessional of Mr. Rudyard Kipling (how tempting it is to lengthen the list) nothing less than Christian prophesy- ings—utterances of no common inspiration-to the heart and mind and conscience of Church and nations. And are not our libraries rich in prose works which splendidly answer to Dr. Arnold's desire for, not so much professedly religious books, but ordinary books on all subjects written in a genuinely religious spirit? The debt we owe as Christians to lay authors of this stamp is immense. Think, again, of the soldiers and sailors, the civilians and adminis- trators and men of business, who, as representa- tives of a Christian Empire abroad, in India and Africa and elsewhere, have adorned the doctrine of God our Saviour by their example and influence. The Indian frontier has been rich; not only in heroes but in saints. The Indian Civil Service has exhibited to millions the Christian virtues of righteousness, beneficence, truth and devotion to duty. Turn, next, to the lay labourers in the fields of science, surgery, medicine —men who, in tending the body, have never allowed themselves to forget that it is the marvellously fashioned shrine of an immortal spirit, or who, in patiently penetrating the secrets of nature, remain devoutly conscious of what lies beneath and beyond and above Nature- the Life giving source of the mystery of Life— the First and Final Cause of all development- who, With Lord Bacon, had rather believe all the fables in the Legend,' and the Talmud' and the Alcoran' than that this universal frame is without a mind." Can we, again, forget in these days of centenaries and bi-centenaries what laymen of different professions have done for Christian education and missionary enter- prise at home and abroad? Let Lord Guildford, Justice Hook, Sir Humphrey Mackworth and Colonel Colchester-the four laymen who with Dr. Bray founded in 1698, under Royal Charter, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge- stand forth as representatives of a goodly com- pany. And how can I even enumerate the host of those who as Churohwardens and Sidesmen, Organists, Choristers and Bellringers, School Managers and Teachers, Deaconesses and District Visitors, Sisters and Nurses, and in many other ways are striving to promote the Kingdom of Christ? Nor must I omit mention of those, who by conscientiously discharging the duties of "the daily round in the ordinary occupations of life, are making even drudgery divine, and thus quietly but most effectively serving the same cause. Take down your Fuller's Holy State— that mine of quaint wit, wisdom and piety— borrow his headings, the good Judge, the good Physician, the good parish- ioner, Merchant, Yeoman, Handicraftsman and the rest,—fill in under each head the names of those whom you yourself have known as answering to the description-and what an exhilarating list you will have compiled! Then add to them the pathetic roll of good Sufferers, those for whose comfort it was written They also serve who only stand and wait." Whose rank in Holy State is higher than theirs! Sorrow, said Mahmoud, is a reverend thing. I bow myself to it as King to King." As the last specimen of lay labour I take those who will be much under consideration this afternoon-the Lay members of Church Councils, parochial, Ruri- decanal, Diocesan and Provincial. You all know well how profound my belief is in the value, the necessity, of such fellow-workers unto the kingdom of God "—how steadily, to the utmost of my power, I have tried to encourage the policy which enlists, welcomes and finds real employ- ment for them. Can we improve that system, place it on a firmer basis, make it more interest- ing, so that it may command and keep the very men we most desire to have? This is a large part of the question we are met to consider. Let me say for myself that I am not one of those who despair of the House of Commons. For ecclesiastical business the House of Commons will be very much what the Church makes it. A Church that does not know its own mind, that speaks with two or more sharply conflicting voices, that cannot claim for its Convocations and Lay Houses the weight which a complete and well- proportioned representative system gives-such a Church is not likely to find smooth sailing for its measures in the House of Commons. The fault, dear Brutus, is not in our stars, but in our- selves." Let us begin by putting our own house into better order. This is just what we are trying to do, and it may be assumed that Parlia- ment will look favourably upon and facilitate our reasonable endeavours to make the Conciliar System of the Church more truly and effectively representative of both Clergy and Laity. If our Lay Houses are not only to obtain, as they have obtained, but to keep the best men, they must- and the sooner, the better-have such real powers and functions entrusted to them as will employ their best energies. They soon tire of what seems to be mere talk. I say seems to v? discussion that helps to educate and consolidate opinion is much more than barren talk. And it would be easy to shew that the talk of representative Laymen in our various Church assemblies has told strongly upon that current of opinion which, when it has reached full flood, carries legislation with it. VALUE OP. DlOCMAN CONFERENCES. Taking our own Diocesan Conference as an example, t is encouraging to find on examining the records, how many of the things—local and general—which we have discussed and resolved to promote have actually come to pass. Here is an instance. In 1895 the Con- ference met at Stockport. It dealt with the just claims of Voluntary Schools to further financial help; with the inequitable incidence of local taxation; with the Reform of Convocation; with what could be done by Poor-Law administration and charitable agencies, in concert, to improve the position of the deserving poor and aged; with the formation of a Diocesan Spiritual Aid Society. Of that agenda paper how large a part is now an accomplished fact; and the remainder is rapidly coming to pass. Surely our lay labourers did not on that occasion give their day and a half's labour in vain. The mention of Voluntary Schools compels me to say, in passing, that they have as yet received only an instalment of justice. The aid grant and still more, the Establishment of comprehensive and representa- tive associations has saved the situation for a time. But the strain is already in some districts becoming intolerable, and we must be girding up our loins for another determined effort to secure from the State even-handed treatment for the denominational and the undenominational con- science alike, so setting all energies free for united effort in that fundamental work, the education of the children of the people. I. have dwelt thus far upon the bright side of Lay Churchmanship. It must, however, be sorrowfully admitted that there is also a dark side. lhere are too many drones in the hive: too many of whom it must be said that they are lovers of pleasure rather than lovers of God and their fellow-men, too many who shew no sign of having been touched by that enthusiasm of humanity which should stir in the aoul of ewmv follower of Christ. The whole-beafted labourers among the laity are still lew. But what of the clergy, whose special business it is to engender, foster, and guide that generous enthusiasm among the laity? We are told that both as regards number and quality there is a falling-off in the supply of clergy, and it must be confessed that the statement is well- grounded enough to make those who care for the Church very anxious. To my mind the most sinister symptom is this, that the leading public schools, which educate the large majority of the sons of the titled, influential, and wealthy classes seem to be contributing year by year a lessening proportion of recruits for the sacred ministry. The responsibility for this unwholesome state of things lies not with the masters of these schools, many of whom are deeply desirous that a liberal percentage of their pupils should take Holy Orders. It rests mainly with the homes and social surroundings from which the boys came, and in which the claims of the Church as a profession are very imperfectly recognised and understood. You will find people lamenting that too many of the clergy are below the mark, and yet it never seems to occur to them that the remedy lies in part with themselves, and that if the upper classes cease to provide from their own families a fair share of officers for the army of the Lord, the blame and the manifold mischief of a deteriorating clergy must rest largely on their own shoulders. But here again let us be on our guard against exaggeration. The supply of clerical labourers for home and foreign service is undeniably too small, nor is the quality of those enlisted all that could be desired. And yet, in this as in other respects, "0 bassi graviora!" still applies to Churchmen. Read, for example, Hooker's sweetly reasonable remonstrance with the bishops of his day on their various short- comings, in particular their undue haste in ordaining ministers, "by reason whereof the Church groweth burdened with silly creatures more than need, whose noted baseness and in- sufficiency bringeth their very order itself into contempt." Even Sir William Harcourt, in his spirited remonstrances with the bishops of the present day, would not paint such a picture as this. For myself, when I look over our own diocese, I see throughout it a good average standard of culture, zeal, and efficiency; and, more than this, a very considerable proportion of town and country parsons who would, I am confident, be frankly and cordially recognised by the best judges among the laity as their own equals in mental and social qualities, in business capacity and gifts of leadership, in everything, except the merits of a long purse. The clergy of the Church of England to-day are no doubt very far from what they would wish themselves and their brethren to be; that there are weak spots and black sheep, it would be vain to deny; but I think it would be difficult to find a Deriod in the history of our country when the National Church was more devotedly and ably served by her ordained ministers. And yet the labourers are few, and we must admit the danger of their becoming fewer still. Why is this, and how can the downward tendency be arrested or reversed? CLERICAL INCOMES. Prominent among the causes of shrunken supply I should place what is in itself an altogether welcome and admirable result of Christian civili- sation. I mean the rise of a host of new pro- fessions and iempioymentSj which compete powerfully with the old professions, for educated gentlemen to serve in their ranks. Not so very long ago careers available for gentlemen were comparatively few. To-day, under the influence of a sounder and more truly Christian public opinion, they are starting up on every side, and this process of levelling-up livelihoods in social esteem is likely to continue. So far, nothing could be better. But all these young and attractive rivals compete keenly with holy orders for the educated and well-bred youth of our country and our colonies. They can offer pecuniary prospects which leave the majority of clerical stipends well behind. They do not involve the same restraints and obligations. They find scope for a variety of tastes and aptitudes. No wonder that they carry off many of those who in former days would have turned naturally to the sacred ministry as their field of life-service. We miss them, while we wish them a cordial God-speed. Again, the attenuated and lamentably inadequate incomes of too many of the clergy, especially of the tithe-dependent clergy, cannot but tend to deter parents and guardians, and young men who are choosing their career. Pecuniary considerations should not rank high among the motives for becoming a clergyman; but they cannot be left out of sight. Turn to the offertory sentences, and you will hear distinct voices of the New Testament on this point. For example, "Even so hath the Lord ordained that they who preach the Gospel should live of the Gospel." Other deterring causes are the degrading tone of too many of our ecclesiastical controversies; the unsettlement of men's minds with regard to the fundamentals of the Faith; and, above all, that old and enervating malady, on which Wordsworth laid his warning finger:- "The World is too much with us; late and soon, Getting and spending, we lay waste our powers; We have given our hearts away, a sordid boon! For this, for everything, we are out of tune; It moves us not." These are some, I do not say all, of the causes which tend to curtail the supply of candidates for the sacred ministry. What can we do to counteract these unfavourable influences? First, we must, not by jerks, but steadily and firmly, raise the standard of all-round requirement for entrance into Holy Orders. Better by far leave posts for a time unfilled than filled by inferior men. Quantity must be content to wait till quality has been secured. Vacant curacies will mean an awakened laity. For indeed the laity must realise more than, as a rule, they have hitherto done that a due supply of clergymen of the right stamp means a due supply of remuneration for their labour. "The labourer is worthy of his hire," but far too often nowadays the hire is unworthy of the labourer. I do not forget the splendid and considerate liberality of not a few lay Churchmen. I do not forget the millions contributed annually to Church objects. But I would emphasise the undoubted fact that people are apt to spend much too freely on the luxuries and adornments of worship, while they leave their clergy saddled with liabilities--curates' stipends, for example— which do not properly belong to them, and crippled for meeting those and other liabilities by painfully insufficient professional incomes. I wish it were possible for our Chancellor, before he grants a faculty for any new stained-glass window or other adornment of the material fabric, to inquire how matters stand as regards the net income of the benefice, and, should that be found inadequate, to read a lecture—and who could read more felicitously?—on the old theme, "Men, not walls, make the city," a truth that holds eminently good of the City of God. I confess that when I am invited to dedicate costly church prettinesses in places where I know that the stipend is mean and sorry, I am tempted to invent a little commination service to suit such a cart-before-the-horse piety. It is not that I love the adornments of the material temple less, but that I love the builder of the spiritual fabric, the parson, infinitely more. "These (the essentials) ought ye to have done, and not to leave the other undone." Thirdly, and in the same con- nection, I should like to see the prizes of the Church (to use a somewhat unlovely term) increased as a point of legitimate policy. For example, we have our honorary canonries. I would have these converted into canonries with an honorarium. THB LATE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER'S KINDNESS. I am permitted to mention that my last correspon- dence with our great benefactor, the Duke of West- minster, was on this subject. I submitted to him that we had done almost enough in the way of church building, and ought now to devote u' an ourselves to clergy building. I ventured to suggest that he should endow a new canonry under the Act of 1873, to be held for only a limited term of years, and in connection with some special duty. I think I proposed JS200 per annum as a minimum stipend. With his invari- able kindness the Duke promised that the subject should have his attention as soon as he had carried out certain plans of increased munificence towards the three London Dioceses. There the matter ended, for in less than two months the 'diocese of Chester (and how many dioceses besides!) had lost its incomparable friend. The correspondence I have mentioned left behind it of course not the slightest shadow of an obligation. I allude to it, partly, because it illustrates the Duke's never-failing readiness to consider any pro- ject that had the promise of doing good, and, partly, that I may bring before the wealthy lay- men of the diocese at large my respectful suggestion that some of their wealth may most judiciously and fruitfully go in this direction. Let me say here that the munificent contributions of the Duke of Westminster have been carried on by his successor to a far larger extent than we were justified in expecting. (Applause.) It is well to provide exhibitions that promising men aiay be assisted to take orders; it is well to raise stipends to a decent average level; it is well to nti £ C°?ri. ^di^dual clergymen in any hour of 18 a^so most deirable to nave some- substantial than "fine feathers" as e wh° have done, and are doing, for thfa <<T «StuV1C?"i There is Apostolic warrant ] eiders that rule well be counted I^L°<Ldn°Uble h2n?ur (i-e-, as Dean Alford explains honour and honour's fruit'), especially those who labour m the word and in teaching And to spend a scarcely-missed thousand pounds or two in attaching to an honorary canonry something of "honour's golden fruit," is a form of investment worth considering by those who year by year see around them so many pathetio illustra- tions of the ancient by-word, "he heapeth up riches, and cannot tell who shall gather them." While I am on the subject of honour, let me further sug- gest that among the families of our upper classes it might well be made a point of Christian and patriotic honour to encourage one representative of each family to enter the ministry of that pure ari9 Apostolic branch of the Catholic Church which has been established in these realms, Encouragement and sympathetic influence is what we ask for. And, if precedents are needed, they may be speedily found in the most illustrious houses of the land. We need for the sacred ministry representatives of every class, as of every race. But noblesse oblige that the leading classes, and the great schools where their sons are educated should give a worthy lead. The men- tion of schools invites me to point out that, with all its drawbacks and deficiencies, the position of an incumbent compares in some respects very favourably with that of many assistant masters, not of first or second-rate ability, in our grammar and intermediate schools. Far, indeed, be it from me to disparage the office of a school- master. Rightly considered and faithfully dis- charged, it is a most important branch of the pastoral office. But the prospects of a very considerable proportion of those who enter this profession do not grow brighter as they get into the forties. Men of marked ability or of capital have, no doubt, an interesting and sufficiently lucrative career still before them. But the pro- fession is overcrowded; freshness is looked for; and the assistant master who is growing stale may have reason to look longingly towards the position of even a poorly-paid incumbent, or that of not a few assistant curates. Two more remarks, and I shall have done. DISESTABLISHMENT AND DISENDOWMENT. First, if the sacred ministry as a career is not to undergo further depreciation, we must learn to think and speak soberly on such subjects as Disestablishment and Disendowment, and our ecclesiastical divisions. Disestab- lishment, whatever its counter-balancing advantages may be, will undoubtedly strip the Church of her time-honoured character as the National Church, will plunge her into the vortex of competing denomina- tions, and will also deprive the nation of its recognised spiritual ally and organ. Can we think it likely that such a convulsion as this will render the clerical profession more attractive, and tend to increase and improve the supply of clergy ? Further, Disestablishment, of course, involves a more or less trenchant measure of Disendowment. Are we justified as trustees for the children of both Churchmen and Non- conformists, in lightly regarding the alienation of a large section of dedicated property from religious uses P It is all we can do with endow- ments and voluntary contributions combined to meet the vast and ever-increasing claims upon the Church. Shall we not be something worse than rash if, out of pique or impatience or pseudo- philanthropy, we lend ourselves to plausible schemes for building up a prosperous ecclesias- tical future on the poor ruins of the temporalities which we hold in solemn trust P Voluntaryism has indeed worked wonders. All honour to those who have made it so fruitful. But even voluntaryism takes kindly enough to new endowments as they flow in; and religious people of all communions will perhaps be better employed in considering how they can husband and develop the all too scanty resources available for the highest of purposes, than in sacrificing to the reckless spirit of dissension any part of what has been handed down by our forefathers for the worship of God and the service of His people. Our religious divisions have done, and are doing, mischief enough already-though not, I gladly admit, without a provi- dential admixture of good. They mean waste of buildings, money, zeal, and, above all, of men. Good an4 gifted men, who ought to be labouring together with one heart and one soul, are too often employed in thwarting one another's efforts and vexing one another's spirits. Hence comes dishonour to the cause of Christ, and great loss of prestige to every branch of the ministry of His Church. Let not these unhappy divisions and collisions have this further sin laid to their charge that they have short-sightedly dissipated pious endow- ments, and dislodged the National Church from a position of usefulness which no other religious body is prepared or qualified to occupy. The question of a better supply of clergy is, when you look into it, very largely a question of improved relations between ecclesiastical parties and communions. OUR LORD'S REMEDY. Lastly and chiefly, we must remember our Lord's own remedy for the fewness of His ministers Pray ye, therefore, the Lord of the harvest that He will send forth labourers into His harvest." Send forth "—the Greek word is more forcible. It expresses a cogent and mighty impulse of the Holy Spirit. In St. Mark's Gospel it is translated "driveth"- "and immediately the Spirit driveth Him (i.e., our Lord) into the wilderness." Nothing less potent will meet the urgencies of our need. Which of us can say that we have honestly, perseveringly, faithiully tried the Lord's own way? Which of us, till he has so tried that way, can presume to complain that the labourers are few ? (Applause.) INADEQUATE CLERICAL STIPENDS. Mr. H. iiatt Cook (Northwich) moved:- That the conference desires by this resolution to address the churchwardens and lay representa- tives of each parish in the diocese, and to urge them to make the support of the assistant clergy entirely a lay duty in their respective parishes, in view :-(1) Of the fact that the inability of the clergy to obtain assistance is in some measure due to the lack of organised support on the part of the laity, and (2) of the further fact that the income of most of the livings in the diocese is in- sufficient for the incumbent himself and should not therefore be taxed to provide additional help necessary to meet the needs and requirements of the laity. He remarked that it was not easy to persuade laymen who had great difficulty in making both ends meet that they ought out of their limited incomes to find something to give away to other people, but there were many who understood that the clergy had had a peculiar and permanent claim on what they were able to give away. They might make a man under- stand that he ought to be generous, but it was difficult very often to make him feel that the clergy of his parish had the first claim upon him. The resolution lie had moved would, he hoped, have some effect in bringing that about. He contended that we were too fond of simply making use of our local clergy, and complained that there was a tendency on the part of some fathers to bias their sons against entering holy orders. Dealing with the inadequacy of the incomes of the livings in the diocese, he men- tioned that in the Middlewich deanery the average nett income of the livings was under £ 200 a year. Roughly speaking there were 14,000 parishes in the country, and 7,000 of these had an income of less than X130 a year. Many clergy were in dire distress and poverty, and how could they expect a man who was in debt in his parish, or a man who was worried and anxious to keep out of debt to boldly face the great questions which the Church had to face to-day ? How could he, for instance, reason with his parishioners on temperance and the disgraceful housing of the poor, when all the time he was bound down by debt ? It was the sweating syatem, and nothing short of it. (Applause.) It was not right when they saw a man pressed with shortness of means, through no fault of his own, to ask him to face these questions. It was asking him to do an utter impossibility. (Hear, hear.) There seemed to be a rooted objection on the part of the clergy to publish their official incomes, and it was essential that information should be obtainable on this subject, because the statistics were most misleading. He urged the clergy to take their parishioners into their confidence in this respect. (Hear, hear.) Mr. W. J. Crossley (Bowdon) seconded, and complained that our great parishes suffered from absenteeism on the part of those who were able to subscribe. They went to live where they could get better air, and the poor Churchman was left to struggle alone. If a clergyman had to go and beg for his own stipend or the stipend of his assistant, he was putting himself in an undignified position. It was most important that our clergy should preserve their inde- pendence. (Hear, hear.) He contended that the Church of England did not make sufficient use of her laymen. He thought more use might be made of the laymen, aud that if the laymen were to charge themselves with a matter of this sort—if in each parish a com- mittee of laymen would say to the vicar" We will make ourselves responsible for the stipend of the curate he thought it would be beneficial to those laymen themselves; it would give them more interest in that curate. (Applause.) Mr. F. £ B. Lindsell (Altrincham), in sup- porting, suggested that there were some details which might be worked out before the resolu- tion was sent out. Any fund of this kind must, as far as possible, be general and not individual, and he thought a central endowment fund was necessary. (Hear, hear.) It would be impossible to work a resolution such as that satisfactorily throughout the dioeese unless the rich districts helped the poor districts. He urged that any help of this sort should be so arranged as in no way to clash or interfere with the Easter offer- ings. Unless that was done they might be in the position of taking away with the one hand what they gave with the other. (Applause.) Canon Upperton called attention to the work of the Spiritual Aid Society, and explained that want of funds prevented the society from giving anything like the assistance it wished to give to the poorer clergy. Mr. Hargrave (Birkenhead) moved as an amendment that the resolution should be altered so as to read that the Conference desired to address the churchwardens and lay representatives of each parish in the diocese, and to urge them to make the adequate sup- port of the clergy a primary lay duty in their respective parishes." A proper sustentation fund was wanted for the whole Church. (Applause.) They ought to see that their clergy had a real living wage; that they had not to pinch or screw, and that if they had been educated as gentlemen, they should be able to live as gentlemen and educate their children properly. (Applause.) The amendment having been seconded, Canon Weatherhead (Wallasey) asked what was the use of telling churchwardens in poor parishes to undertake this responsibility, when the only result would be that they would get no one to accept the office of churchwarden. If they sent a resolution such as was proposed to the poor parishes, it would be perfectly use- less it would be an insult. (Laughter.) Mr. Bulkeley Allen alluded to the work of the Church Building Society and the Spiritual Aid Society. Canon Gore said this question had been betore Diocesan Conferences again and again. The very first time the conference met under Bishop Jacobson the subject was the augmenta- tion of poor benefices, or as the Bishop would have it, inadequately provided benefices. The society then instituted bad been an immense benefit to the diocese at large; it had raised diocesan money, but it had required local parochial effort to call out that diocesan money. That society prospered so well because it was not simply and solely a diocesan society. They would lose a great deal if they lost the idea of individual parochial action in tbit. matter. He was certain the people in poor parishes were more than willing to help their clergy. If they wanted to shelve this question altogether they must turn it into a diocesan question. The laity would help the man they knew; they knew their own parson, and the laity, if properly approached, would not allow their own parson to be in distress. He hoped the resolution would be kept as strictly parochial as possible. Canon Cooper Scott (Chester) expressed the opinion that the resolution in its original form was definite and valuable. On a division the resolution was carried by a large majority. The Bishop regretted that Mr. Duncan Graham was unable on account of the state of his health to be present with them. Mr. Graham had written him a letter on this sub- ject, in which he said, It is hardly necessary to labour the arguments in favour of the pro- position so tersely put forward in the second clause of the resolution, for it is, unfortunately, only too notorious that the average income ot the holder of a living is insufficient for the reasonable and decent requirements of himself and his family, and yet, out of this income he is often expected to contribute largely towards the cost of the additional help required as a conse- quence of the rapid increase in the population of the parish, as compared with what it was when he was inducted, when he required no assistance. In byegone times livings were not infrequently so bountifully endowed that the incumbent might not unfairly be called upon to provide at his own cost that necessary assist- ance, but those times are gone ic may be assumed for good. The remedy lies entirely with the laity." (Applause.) This concluded the morning sitting. PROPOSED REFORM OF CONVOCATION. On resuming after lunch, Canon Gore moved That this Conference of clergy and laity of the Diocese of Cheater approves of the Bill for the Reform of Convocation, and for constituting Houses of Laymen in connection therewith, intro- duced by Sir Richard Jebb into the House of Commons, and respectfully requests the Lord Bishop to communicate this resolution to the Prime Minister, the Right Hon. A. J. Balfour, and Sir Richard Jebb.' The Bill, he remarked, had three objects. The first was to remove doubts which existed in regard to the power of the convocations of Canterbury and York to reform their con- stitution by amending the representation of the clergy. The second purpose of the Bill was to enable the Convocation to devise a scheme for the constitution of lawful Houses of Laymen, that was Houses of Laymen recognised by law. The third object of the Bill was when once the Houses of Laymen had been constituted to enable the two Convocations with the Houses of Laymea to meet together as a national assembly, and to deliberate and transact their business together. It was worth while, he thought, to consider what the Bill did not propose. It did not propose to touch the Royal supremacy, which would remain exactly as it had been up to the present. They knew that the Convocations could not attempt to pass canons without first the licence, and subsequently the assent of the Queen in Council, and that assent would still be necessary. Furthermore it would be necessary that any scheme that had received the Rayal assent should be laid on the tables of the Houses of Parliament for forty days, during which time it would be in the power of either House to present a petition to her Majesty praying her to withhold her approval from the scheme. Therefore all the present safeguards would continue to exist; they were not at all touched by the present Bill. It would in no way sever or weaken the relationship between Church and State, and it had no tendency whatever towards Disestablishment. Dis- establishment must be argued, when it was argued, on its merits, and it was not a question for them now. There was a new restriction upon which be thought the whole meaning and working of the Act would turn, if it ever became an Act. The Houses of Convocation were able, in their own fashion, to legislate, if they obtained first the licence to do so, and sub- sequently the assent of the Queen in Council. Such legislation would be in its essence clerical legislation, because the Convocations consisted of clergy; but under the Bill, as soon as the Houses of Laymen were established, the Con- vocations pruper would not be empowered to oass a canon, or constitution, or ordinance without the advice and consent of the Houses of Laymen, so that any future legislation of that kind would be the legislation not of the clergy but of the Church, her clergy, aud her laity combined and co-operating together in a powerful national assembly. He took it that the two interests were identical. (Hear, hear.) The clergy desired to be more adequately represented in their Convocations than they were at present. The crux of the question was as to the franchise of the laity. They heard of a communicants' franchise, but he considered a matter of this kind must be regulated by a man's belief and not by his practice; it must be a franchise of men who were entitled to go to the table of the Lord. They must not go to a man and say, We will re-enact the Test Acts; you shall not have your vote unless you prove your church- manship by communicating three times or once a year." (Applause.) Nothing could be more disastrous or more deplorable. He suggested that the franchise of the laity should be exercised quite freely. They must not elect members of the Houses of Laymen through the Diocesan Conference; the laity of the Church must have direct representation, and it would be necessary to have defined constituencies, and have the registers carefully revised from time to time. The question was of supreme import- ance, and he thought the time had come when they might give not absolute, but well-defined and limited autonony to the Church. She was the Church of England, and she was more- she was the mother church of many churches, daughter churches in the Empire, and these daughter churches already possessed what they now claimed for the Church. The Church of England could not remain first among them if she was to remain tied and bound while they were living and acting freely. We could not any longer be content to admire her statuesque beauty, looking on her as we would on Ii. piece of marble cr ivory. We must let her live, let her breathe, let her move, and she would be pregnant with blessings to the kingdom and to the Empire, and, in bar and through her, all the ends of the earth would yet see the salvation of our God. (Applause.) Mr. J. H. Grafton (Altrincham) seconded. LORD CREWE'S CRITICISM. Lord Crewe agreed that the question of the Disestablishment of the Church did not arise in the scheme itself, but that the question might arise out of the terms in which it was framed. Convocation had existed in its present form for at least 600 years, and it was not surprising that it should be somewhat moth-eaten. It appeared to combine some of the principles of the ancient Republic of Venice with some others belonging to the more modern Republic of the Transvaal. (Laughter4 Criticising the proposals for the representation of the laity, he urged that any system of registration among the laity to be com- plete must be a somewhat difficult and ex- pensive matter. They had no ratepayers' lists which would tell them who was entitled to vote, and to establish a communicant's test would be to return to the worst days of the old tyranny which disgaced the relations between the Church and the State. (Applause.) They would also run the risk of encouraging people to do what of all things would be the most unworthy and painful with a view to securing the franchise. (Hear, hear.) He did not see what was to constitute the franchise when every man and woman was a member of the State Church, unless they elected to be something else. The moment they in- formed anyone that he was or was not a member of the Church of England that Church could not be considered in the full sense a National Church, which would be most deeply to be regretted. To have two classes of membership, one a distinct membership accompanied by a vote, and another a nondescript membership not so accompanied, would be taking a step towards the denationalisa- tion of the Church. (Applause.) One argument against admitting the laity to convocation was that they were already represented in Parliament. The admission of a lay element as members of convo- cation would distinctly lead to further discussion of Church questions and problems, and if it was hoped that it would lead to the prevention of further discussion in Parliament of ecclesiastical affairs, he feared that hope was not well founded. (Laughter.) It looked as if some hope existed that Parliament might make some formal renunciation of its desire to interfere in Church matters, but he did not think Parliament would do anything of the kind. It was impossible for them to get rid of the massive figure of Henry VIII. (Laughter.) It seemed to him that a measure of that kind left them in this dilemma. If the measures passed were such as Parliament approved, those measures would equally be ap- proved by Parliament under present conditions; if the proposals of the reformed convocation were such as Parliament did not approve-whether they were excursions to Rome or Geneva did not matter-Parliament would say so, and would not be in any way debarred from stating that opinion because they had those elected laymen acting in convocation. (Applause.) That would only tend to sever the link between Parliament and the Church. If the Church wanted to bring in measures of which Parliament did not approve it would be simpler for it to disestablish itself first. If it desired to bring in measures of which Parlia- ment did approve, why not bring them in under existing circumstances? (Applause.) LORD HUGH CECIL'S VIEWS. Lord Hugh Cecil said the Bill certainly did not propose the autonomy of the Church, although it might be the first step towards it. Whatever was the purpose of Convocation now, plainly it would not serve a worse end if it were reformed so that it represented the clergy properly, and added to a reformed house of clergy a properly representative house of laity. (Applause.) There was no sug- gestion of avoiding either the supremacy of the Crown or the control of Parliament. What they feared was not the majority of Parliament, but the minority. (Applause.) The true reason why it was so important to proceed by a scheme, and not directly by a Bill, was because of the possible destruction of a Bill by a minority who extended the deliberations of Parliament so that it was impossible to pass it through. (Applause.) If they were to hope to see the Convocations of Canterbury and York really representative of the whole body of the clergy, and having a real assembly of laymen speaking in the name of the laity of the Church, it must be done by somebody preparing a scheme and submitting it to the final verdict of Parlia- ment. (Applause.) That would be a perfectly legitimate control for the purposes of a majority, but not an appeal which gave a minority any opportunity to wreck the Bill by obstruction. (Applause.) Convocation at present fulfilled a very useful function, apart from its great consti- tutional function, by giving an opportunity for discussion in an authoritative manner of Church questions. (Applause.) It would perform a still greater work if all the world knew that Convoca- tion was really and thoroughly representative of the clergy and laity of the Church of England. (Applause.) The only thing that measure would do would be to extend the moral authority of Convocation, which would depend upon the wisdom and sagacity of that body itself. (Ap- plause.) It was necessary to go to the State for legal authority, and it followed that the State should lay down conditions. Churchmen of all views agreed upon the necessity of reforming the clerical house and the desirability of establishing a lay house of convocation, and he could not see that the Bill was either a sacrifice of Church independence or that it fell under the suspicion of Erastianism. (Applause.) He could not agree with the views expressed as to the communicant test. (Hear, hear.) The only thing it would do would be to remind people that the duty of receiving communion was one of the primary duties of the Churchman and Christian. (Ap- plause.) Not the most advanced Church reformer desired to get rid of Henry VIII. (Laughter.) They proposed to leave to the Parliament all effective control over Church legislation, and that was why he was anxious to see the House of Lay- men constituted on different principles to the con- stitution of Parliament. They wanted that reform for very much less controversial matters than those suggested-for matters relating to the working of the Church for which they could not get through Parliament for want of time. (Ap- lause.) They might hope for good, results on matters of Church doctrine and discipline from the possession of a better and more representative body to speak the mind of the Church. (Ap- plause.) They could not hope for perfect peace, but that there might be an opportunity of speak- ing the mind of the moderate man, who was so very little heard—(hear, hear)—of the great body of moderate men who lay between the extreme parties. (Applause.) Let them not suppose that by improving the machinery of the Church they could give vitality to such an organisation as theirs. That depended upon the inward and spiritual life. (Applause.) They must learn first of all to be charitable, to practise those principles of give and take, which perhaps they might call the principles of brotherly love, so often upon the lips of clergymen in the pulpit, but which did not always mark their action in ecclesiastical controversy. (Applause.) He was very much in favour of the Bill, but hoped it would not be pressed upon Parliament unless it was approved by Convocation. (Cheers.) The Rev. Arthur Symons (Tabley) was puzzled to know why they should have any doubts as to the representative character of Convocation. He was not prepared to vote in favour of the resolution, and he thought, after the discussion, it ought to be withdrawn. (" No.") The Rev. H. W. Green considered the Bill was a step in the right direction. It would increase the efficiency and earnestness of men, and that was a step in the right direction. (Hear hear.) The Bishop, in expressing their indebtedness to the Earl of Crewe, Lord Hugh Cecil and Canon Gore, said he believed he made it clear in what he said in the morning that he believed it to be reasonable for the Church to put herself in the most effective state to make her opinions known to Parliament. (Applause.) The resolution was carried with only one dissentient. EVENING MEETING. THE KIND OF RELIGION WANTED. In the evening a meeting for men was held in the Institute, which was presided over by the Lord Bishop. There was a crowded attendance. Archdeacon Goldwyer Lewis, who first addressed the meeting, said that in his work in India he had learned what kind of religion young men of to-day wanted. What men asked for to-day was not a now religion, but an adaptation of the old religion to the new cir- cumstances of modern life. They were asking for a robust and manly religion. They were asking for a religion that would be a pulsating force in every single detail of their daily life. Why were they asking that? Because that was the religion of Jesus Christ and the dogma of the Incarnation. Never until this was realised would England become a Christian nation. There was no possible distinction between the secular and the Christian life. Religion was a practical thing in the life of a man, and was not emotional, although there was the emotional side of religion. He asked them to look at social questions in that light. He did not believe that Parliament would ever solve the crying social evils of the day. An Act of Parliament would not make the country sober, pure, or honest. That was the work of every individual man in the country; it could only be done by men doing their duty and living a good life. (Applause.) Lord Hugh Cecil, M.P., spoke on "The National Church." He sketched the early rise and progress of the Church, and said that the Church greatly failed in its duty at the time when it was the supreme power in the land, and from that time could be traced many of the troubles and difficulties that beset her at the present moment. In a wider sense we still lived in the Reformation period, although a great many people thought that the Reformation was an event that saddenly took place. As a matter of fact, it was difficult to say when the Reforma- tion began, and it was still more difficult to say when it ended. The actual beginning of the real Reformation might be dated at 1529. and the acute ending in 1689. Further considera- tion would convince us that even in the Queen's reign we had been doing a great deal of work which very closely resembled the work that was very prominent in the great Reformation period of King Henry VIII. During the last sixty years there had been a great advance in the standard of clerical life. As a matter of fact, we were now completing in our own day what our ancestors began. We had reason to be patient if matters in the Church ot England at the present moment did not go along so smoothly as might seem desirable, but we must not suppose that we had reached that period of quiet rest which was the natural and proper position for the Church. We were still working out the errors of the past, still paying, according to the inevitable law of the universe, for the sins of the past. We would have to go on paying them and remedying them, and doing the best we could for many years to come. (Applause.) Referring to disestablishment he said we could not deal with that question without also dealing with disendow- ment, and he asked those in the great urban districts to consider what a religious disaster disestablishment would be, how it would involve the religious destitution of great districts of this country, how such a city as London would have the establishment of Paganism instead of the establishment of the Church of England. Those who thought disendowment was to be easily put aside were mistaken, and if it were to come about, large portions of the country would lack the spiritual ministry they were now favoured with, and it was not Nonconformity which would profit by disendowment, but the forces of Paganism. (Applause.) THURSDAY'S SITTING. ARE MISSIONS A FAILURE? STIRRING SPEECH BY ARCHDEACON LEWIS. The business of the Conference was resumed on Thursday, when there was a much smaller attendance than on the opening day. THANKS TO ENTERTAINERS. Dr. Cogswell (Wallasey), in proposing a vote of thanks to their entertainers, said he did not remember any conference so fully attended as the present gathering had been. He thought that was largely owing, not only to the fact that there were very many interesting subjects to discuss, but to the fact that they all had been offered such kind and generous hospitality, and that promise had been amply fulfilled. Mr. Hargreaves (Birkenhead) seconded, and the proposition was heartily carried. DIOCESAN REPRESENTATIVES. It transpired that the lay representatives had on the previous day decided to submit the following names to the electors for appoint- ment as diocesan representatives in the House of Laymen :—Sir Horatio Lloyd, Mr. Bulkeley Allen, Mr. E. Chapman, M.P., Colonel Franoe- Hayhurst, Mr. J. H. Grafton, Mr. J. C. Horsfall, Mr. R. H. Joynson, Mr. Charles Bushell, Colonel Lascelles, Mr. J. H. Sidebotham, and Mr. Hargreaves. CONGRATULATIONS TO MR. GEORGE WYNDHAM. The Bishop, alluding to the political ap- pointments announced in that morning's press, said one of these appointments had reference to a gentleman who had spoken twice, at least, within his recollection, at their Diocesan Con- ference, whose career they followed for that reason with special interest, and who was now going to take up a very important and honour- able appointment in Ireland as Chief Secretary. (Applause.) He thought he should not be misinterpreting their feelings if he proposed that they sent Mr. Wyndham from that Diocesan Conference a very hearty message of congratulation and Godspeed, and he thought they might, if it were permissible to do so, con- gratulate Ireland on having such a capable Chief Secretary. (Applause). Mr. Joynson, in seconding, said the reward of hard work done was still harder work to do, and he did not think they could entrust a more difficult task to any man than the one Mr. Wyndham was about to assume, and he did not think it could be entrusted to any safer hands. (Applause.) The proposition was cordially carried. CONSTITUTION OF THE CONFERENCE. The Bishop announced that the following committee had been appointed to consider and report upon the constitution of the Diocesan Conference:—Archdeacon Barber, Canon Gore, the Revs. W. G. Armitstead, W. L. Paige-Cox, and S. A. Boyd, Messrs. R. H. Joynson, J.P., Hargreaves, H. Hatt Cook, G. Norris, and the Secretaries. MISSION WORK. Archdeacon Goldwyer-Lewis (AldEord) pro- posed :— That the Lord Bishop be respectfully requested to ask the Rural Deans to bring before their R. D. Chapters and Conferences the following Resolution passed) on the motion of the Arch- bishop of Canterbury, seconded by the Archbishop of York) at the Meeting in London of the Committee of the whole Houses of the Convocations of Canterbury and York: "That this Conference of the Convocations of the Church of England, sitting in Committee, earnestly commends to all members of the Church of England the imperative duty of pressing forward the great task of preaching the Gospel to the whole world." He remarked that during the last eight or ten months he had spoken almost continuously in some ten to thirteen dioceses in England, on the subject of missionary work. The first thing he observed about the resolution was that the Bishop and the rest of the members of the Convocation should meet in that great committee all together, and, he supposed, designedly ignore missionary societies, and he was very glad that had been done. His own views on the subject of missionary societies might perhaps be peculiar, but they were views which had gone on very gradually in his own mind after considerable experience. Missionary societies, if they ought not to be abolished, ought at any rate to be radically reformed; and that radical reform, he was persuaded, was impossible until the Church recognised in some adequate degree her own corporate responsibilities in the matter of missionary work. When that point was reached, no doubt they would find that the subject of missionary enterprise would find its place in the pro- grammes of the first day of the Diocesan Con- ference, and they might hope that the day was not far distant when that room might be filled with laymen as well as clergy, anxious to hear what it was the duty of the Church to do in this matter. His own view with regard to the operations and scope of missionary societies was not that which he found commended itself altogether to the popular mind. His own view was that a missionary society ought to exist for the selection and training of men who should be sent out when they had been selected and trained to the different dioceses where their services were required, and should be placed entirely under the guidance and discipline of their own Bishop, without any interference or any instruction from the Home Committee in London. As regarded the financial arrangements of those societies he considered that they should exist for the collection of money, and that money should be sent out to the different dioceses to be administered by the Bishop and his financial committee. (Applause.) He had noticed during his perambulations up and down Eng- land and Wales that certainly the flame of missionary enthusiasm had been kindled in a marvellous way during the last few years, and he bad also found that the spirit of unity between those who represented the different societies was certainly binding them closer and closer together. He ventured to think that that result was due to the institution throughout the county of branches of the Junior Clergy Missionary Association. He had found that wherever this association had been at work bad meetings had been made good and good meetings had been made better. It was a great triumph of organization and a great triumph of work, and he believed they were to look in future to the operations of this associa- tion as the very one force which was to press the subject upon the clergy and laity. Another cause for this enthusiasm was partly the cele- bration of the centenary of the C.M.S. last year, and also the celebration of the Bi-centenary of the society for the Propogation of the Gospel tbis year. He believed of the three parties in the Church each one was prodded on by the enthusiasm of the other two. He believed the High Churchman was distinctly helped by his Low Church and Broad Church brother, and so it was in missionary work. There was honest, honourable rivalry between the two great societies, and so long as one did I not frown at the other, iso long it was good there should be a Church Missionary Society and I a Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. (Applause.) How was it that laymen were not ready to speak at their missionary meetings ? They were ready to speak at other meetings, and they knew that the layman was not a dummy block if he had an object which was near his heart. He was driven to the conclusion that, so far, the laity had not got the question of missionary enterprise near their hearts. The laity must be made to understand that missionary enter- prise was an indispensable element of true patriotism, and that no man was patriotic unless he was keenly interested in missionary work. They had got to teach the laity that wherever the flag of England went, there must be the religion of England, and the missionary must be there also. It did not matter twopence whether the gunboat or the Consul preceded the missionary, or whether they followed him, but it was certain that in the programme of national work there must be a place found for the missionary and the national religion, and if the missionary was in danger it was the duty of the gunboat and of the consul to protect him. (Applause.) They were often told that the history of missionary enterprise was the history I of failure and very costly failure they were told that the results were by no adequate to the money which was expended- He was not concerned to answer the question directly; it seemed to him that that was not the time at all for counting up the results of their work, and it seemed to him on the other hand that it was impossible to value a soul by sovereigns. (Hear, hear.) It was undoubtedly true that missionary enterprise had bee" largely a failure, because the lives of Englisll- men and Englishwomen in heathen countries were inconsistent with the religion Englishmen professed. He was not one of thos^ who generalised from a particular; he was n° one of those who believed that Rudyard had told them the truth in his book riso Tales from the Hills." He believed he bsA libelled the country very much. He believed there undoubtedly were men who were impa* «, in India, but were there none in (Hear, hear.) He believed there were wolØeø in India who were frivolous, but were there none in England ? It was absolutely Pw posterous for a man to publish a book which lit sweeping phrases included every and Englishwoman who had left this country to dwell in our great dependency of India. (Hear, hear.) On the frontiers of he had come across men and women entirely from every English Christian privileSf who had been living the lives of and women whom he had been proud to oWIl brothers and sisters—(applause)—but on t# other had it was indisputable that the lives0 many Englishmen and women were inconsiste? with the religion which the missionaries preaching. Whose fault was that ? The faw, lay here at home; it lay in the lack training in our family life; it lay lack of training in our public schoolo; in our Universities, in our great military c0* leges. There was where we had to seek for, the reason of those inconsistent lives wbiøb stood in the way of missionary enterprise. Jø how many families in their parishes *.g there family prayers ? In how many where there were family prayers were the adolt sons expected, as a matter of duty, to be present ? In how many families in theJ parishes were there fathers who, while tlw would be shocked beyond expression to he^ that their sons had been guilty of embezzlemeJlt. winked at their immorality P In how Ino.1 families were the parents satisfied that tbeit children should observe the Sunday 'f>1 a mere formal attendance at morning service? If that was so with the rr ligion at home in England, what Vlgo to be the religion of those who left here they went abroad? He asked further 19' system of religious training was there in the1* public schools ? None. (" No, no.") He sa* what system was there. There were hundr of good masters who were doing their best as individuals, but in many of their larger school there was absolutely nothing in the shape systematic religious training, and so it with their universities, and with those military colleges at Sandhurst and If that was so how on earth could they eXP^ that their young men as soldiers, as sailors, civilians, as barristers, and merchants—ho could they expect that when they went to distant lands they would be the hand of assistance to the missionary iis his work ? If the missionary preached one thing and the laity practised another be did not see how they could expect the DativeS to accept the Christian faith. He felt strongV on that point, because it had fallen within bj* own view in the years he had spent in for«if?j* lands. Might he take it that this resolution implied that all this was to be changed all changed at once by the rural deans in the diocese of Chester ? (Laughter.) The Rev. J. H. Thorpe seconded. Mr. John G. Chapman (Birkenhead), in sup' porting the resolution, assured the clergy tb» „ the laity took a great interest in missionaw work, but he considered the subject was adequately appreciated by either clergy or I He complained that the work of supporting to t missionaries devolved upon the few, and ougb to be more generally taken up. They must SO plement their missionaries with medico missionaries. They would reach the heart of Mahommedan where frequently they could 120t reach it with a clerical missionary. Dr. Beach (Macclesfield) contended that church that had not been a missionary cbu?c had been a decaying and moribund churC"* (Applause.) Mr. Hargreaves (Birkenhead), ArchdeaCoØ Barber, and Mr. Joynson also spoke. The Bishop remarked that the clergy ) different parishes should be thoroughly informed on missionary intelligence. deacon Lewis would forgive him if he was quite prepared to be quite so severe regard to public schools as he was. (S0^r hear.) He thought they must be a li^« careful. He believed that the masters 0 schools were quite on a level with generally in desiring to bring their PuPrf under the best Christian influences, and b, thought they must recognise what they h done and were doing. (Applause.) The resolution was carried. SPIRITUAL NEEDS OF THE DEAF AND DUMB. Archdeacon Barber moved:- That the Lord Bishop be respectfully request84 to appoint a committee to consider the desirability of forming a church mission to the deaf and dutf" in the diocese. He remarked that they were told that one i: every two thousand of the population deaf mute, and on that basis there were persons in that diocese so afflicted. It quite true that deaf mutes did not attract fcb general sympathy that those who blind did, but when they what they suffered, and that the? were even more outside the range of wbso was going on around them than the blind, thought they would agree that they ought ™ do what they could to ameliorate their coJ1- dition. Leaving out two such large centres Crewe and Macclesfield there were according the census of 1891 278 deaf mutes in diocese, and in the neighbourhood of StockP alone there were 51. That shewed, he though' the necessity for forming a church mission 1 these unfortunate people. (Applause.) Mr. J. H. Grafton seconded, and the ptO" position was carried after some discussion. CHURCH PROVISION IN WALLASET DISTRICT. t The Rev. Hylton Stewart made a statePleD shewing the great need there was for funds to provide adequate church accommodation in t Wallasey district. People were being lost to the Church of God in that district, becauS there was no church accommodation for The Conference closed with a vote of to the Bishop for presiding.

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