Papurau Newydd Cymru

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HINTS AND COMMENTS.I

JfijxriljaXX ntdligcna.

------------------------------DENBIGH.…

| RUTHIN.

BRYMBO AND BROUGHTCIT.

CAEEGWBLE.

CORWEN.

HOLYWELL.

LLANGOLLEN.

- NORTHOP.

i———— RHYL.

* ST. ASAPH.

---__------THE CHURCH CONGRESS,

Newyddion
Dyfynnu
Rhannu

THE CHURCH CONGRESS, Sermons were preached at Swansea, on Tuesday, by the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of Winchester, introductory to the proceedings of the Church Congress. The inaugural address was delivered by the Bishop of St. David's, who spoke of the general scope and value of such Congresses, of the necessity to avoid the danger of making them the. battle-ground of different classes of thought in the Church, and of the peculiar position of the Church of England in Wales. In the evening the Bishop of Winchester read a paper on the causes of, and remedy for, dissent. HIGHER EDUCATION IN WALES. The Bishop of St. Asaph delivered an address on this subject. In the course of it, his Lordship remarked:— The student who had neglected, or been deprived of an early training, iinds it difficult to concentrate his atten- tion on a given subject. In no country has the truth of these remarks been more sadly illustrated than in our own. Far be it from me to depreciate the advantages conferred on the Principality by the old grammar schools. To them the Church in Wales was indebted for some of its ablest ministers. But as the same teachers had to supply the intermediate and such higher education as was then received, it cannot be wondered at that their deficiency should have ap- peared in such strong light to Bishop Burgess and his fellow-workers as to induce them for eighteen years to set apart a tenth of their income to provide a remedy. The foundation of St. David's College, Lampeter, was the result of their efforts. Its lecture rooms were soon filled by men who had received their preliminary training at the grammar schools. But the supply was ere long exhausted. Parents were deterred from sending their sons to the grammar schools when they found that they could not be ordained without a further course of education at the college, the expense of which was beyond their means. Under these circumstances the college had to choose one of two altenlatives-diminished members, or the admis- of unprepared students. Various expedients were tried to promote the efficiency of the institution. Royal charters were granted, and an increased endowment secured, and the power of conferring the degrees of B.A., and B.D. given, "With the view of provid- ing that the course of education should be extended so as to be equivalent to the ordinary course for a Bachelor's degree in the Universitits of Oxford and Cambridge." But, notwithstanding all this, the results have not been what might have been hoped for. It may be well to inquire what is the ordinary standard reached by those who win scholarships, and what encouragement the friends of higher education may derive from the success which attends such a provision. The principal of Jesus College, Oxford, an ardent promoter of higher educa- tion, tells us that the holders of such exhibitions and scholar-hips at Jesus College find themselves at a disadvantage in the university, and that little credit is attached to their position as scholars that the college loses both intellectually and socially on their account. To remedy this the authorities of the college have even proposed to throw open to all comers half the scholar- ships and exhibitions now restricted to candidates from Wales. The principal readily admits "that young Welshmen, who enter the university well prepared, have won, and are proud of their honours." But they are few and far between. W hen men of education and scientific training are called for to till important oiiices in their own country, it too frequently happens that no Welshmen are prepared to respond to the call. Can we wonder at this when we consider the difficulty which a young Welshman of average ability, but of limited means, has to encounter in obtaining that higher in- struction which is within reach of so much larger a number of young Irishmen and Scotchmen. He has not an equally fair start. He is too heavily weighted in the race. He consequently lags behind, and is debarred from many a sphere of useful labour for which he might have been fitted if he had enjoyed equal advantaged with his neighbours. If the competition between different nationalities or individuals is to be heaithy and fair, tney muct be equally equipped. Except on this ground it is impossible to account for the back- ward state of so tiiriity, careful, industrious, and shrewd a people as the Weisli. The only remedy suggested by some is to multiply schools, increase their efficiency, and prepare students for the English universities. If it were only the few, and not the many, who stood in need of a higher education, this might meet the difficulty. But while it is true that a very small portion of ttie Welsh people can atford to send their sons to Oxford and Cambridge, the vast majority are too poor to avail themselves of the advan- tage. If the same classes in Wales were to receive higher education as enjoy that Denefit in Scotland (and I do not propose to discuss the question with those who do not approve of the extension of higher education in Wales as far as is practically the case in Scotland and Ireland), not only mu-t Wales have a university to her- self, but that university must provide instruction at a cost which they can meet. The discussion was carried on at some length by Dr. Harper, Jesus College, Oxford; Rev. D. J. Davies, Rev. Chancellor Phillips, the Lord Bishop of Llandaft, Lord Aberdare, and otliers. THE CHURCH IN WALES. On Wednesday an important discussion took place on The Church in Wales." The question was dealt with in different lights, and papers were read by Canon E. Lewis and Prebendary Davey, and the principal speakers were Canon G. Griffiths and Archdeacon Griffiths. There appeared to be a general opinion in favour of the clergy in Wales being acquainted with Welsh as well as the English language. On Thursday "The past and present condition of the Church in Wales was discussed. The Bishop of BANGOR read the irst paper, in which he proposed to contine his remarks chiefly to the period which followed the Revolution of 1688. It had been a common thing to discover that the Church of the people the Church which ought to have instructed them, failed to do so. There was no want really of power, but it was the care which was necessary, and the desire to do good which was wanting. Indeed, they were told in earlier periods that in the Principality the old superstitions which had been handed down from the times of heathenism were allowed to linger, because the Church took no pains to remove them and no trouble to point out the then existing errors in many Churches. No sermon was preaciied for years together, unless they were learned English discourses to an ignorant Welsh population. They had, it was true, the Bible and Common Prayer-book printed in their own lauguage, which they could turn to for instruction, but wiiat they wanted was to hear the living voice preaching the Gospel of our Lord. Such was the state of things when Griffith Jones sounded the alarm and succeeded in striking a chord which went deep into the hearts of the Welsh people. He succeeded in establishing circulating schools; he went from town to town teaching the people; he founded a training college for schoolmasters; and the results of his labours just as they were would have been far greater had they been better supported. Hungry souls came to him from parishes which were not under his care. Others came not, and the question arose whether he ought to go to them. He did not like to break down the parochial system, which then, as now, was good in theory, but was not sufficient to insure the religious teaching of the people; but Griffith Jones, as did Owen Harris, lived and died in the Church; so did all the earnest and gifted men who joined in the movement from 1709 down to 1811, when the formal separation occurred. The violent opposition came chiefly from the people themselves. Abuses of great magnitude existed. There were incum- bents holding several livings, and caring little for their flocks, who were left in the charge of poorly-paid curates. All they really cared for was the revenues of their parishes. He was satisfied that the Welsh people were most devout, and if they preferred a sermon to prayers, it was simply the fault of the clergyman, and the slovenly and unimpressive way in which the latter were read. He was glad. however, to observe the marked improvement which had occurred during the last 30 years in this respect. It was easy to pull down, but not so easy to build up, and what they really wanted was, men, good, earnest men, whose desire was not to give all their time to the rich, but were willing to minister among the poor people of Wales. He would only say, in conclusion, that the attempt to stint the Welsh language by introducing the Engiish was absurd in itself, and was disloyal to the Church. (Cheers). The Dean of BANGOR read the next paper. He said that the wording of the subject was significant. Until the 12th century the Church was the Church of Wales, but Norman force subjected St. David's to Canterbury, and changed the Church of Wales to a Church in Wales. (Hear, hear). In 1715 there were 35 Nonconformist chapels in Wales. The Stuarts imported into the Principality numbers of strange Churchmen, who knew not and cared not for the people, and the fountain hearts of religious lite in the Church became frozen. Then earnest Nonconformist ministers arose, Baptist, Congregational, and Methodist. New fountains were opened in the wilderness, and in time the 35 chapels became 3,000. (Hear, hear.) The water forced itself outwards when its true channels were choked. The worshippers belonging to those bodies above 10 years of age numbered 686,220, of whom 656,000 worshipped in Welsh. It was said by some that, these were paper adherents of dissent, but paper adherents did not give money, and the Nonconformists of Wales con- tributed over £300,000 a year. (Cheers.) The Church had lost five-sixths of the Welsh-speaking people. In Wales there were published 12 newspapers 16 uui&azhies, » and a large number of books, and the jreat majority of these were written by Nonconformists for Nonconfor- mists. were facts which some might wish oo aide, and which he would be declared, perhaps, a very unsafe man for disclosing; but he b.dieved' in the principle of truth against she wodd. (Cheers). To con- •'P aililielits not to eurd disease, but to pernetuate lhe Church should be judged ast lie Churc'n of the A elsa-speaking psople, and not as the Church of the '•;il disu xxesiaents of the Priiicuxuity. He did not y-^pair of the future of the Church.' It h id a great future before it but there should arise in earnest body of pastors who were to speak with power in their own language to the warm hearts of the religion-loving Welsh people. Let them have men able and willing to go direct to the hearts of the people, and they would find the spring of dissent drying up.

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