The Chester Courant and Advertiser for North Wales

CHESTER DIOCESAN CONFERENCE. 10 THE OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH. SENSIBLE SPEECH BY THE DUKE OF WESTMINSTER. The annual Conference of the clergy and laity of the Diocese of Chester was held in the county town on Wednesday and Thursday. The attendance was as large, if not larger than on any previous occasion, and the discussions throughout were of wide interest to all con- cerned for the welfare of the Church. The pro- ceedings commenced on Wednesday morning at 8 o'clock with matins in the Cathedral, followed by Litany and a choral celebration. The opening session was held in the Music Hall in the afternoon. The Lord Bishop presided, being accompanied on the platform by the Duke of Westminster, Chancellor Espin, Archdeacons Barber, and Woosnam, Canons Gore, and Mait- land Wood, the Revs. W. H. Cogswell, D.D., and Hylton Stewart, Mr. Duncan Graham. &c. Among those in the body of the hall were the Mayor"of Chester (Mr. B. C. Roberts), Messrs. R. BrooUebank W. Congreve (Burton Hall), George Barbour, W. H. Churton, C. P. Douglas, &c. In the galleries there was a large gathering of ladies. THE BISHOP'S ADDRESS. The BISHOP, who was received with applause, delivered the following address :-The Annua Ifirabilis now drawing to a close has been crowded with incident, and every incident, every aspect, has been already touched by those who touch only to adorn. It has been a year of rejoicing, but the heart of the empire has profoundly felt that it should rejoice unto Him with reverence.' Thus, what might have been cruda exultation has, we trust, been steadied and refined by solemn thankfulness and a quickened isense of responsibility. The year, like every year, has also had its signal losses. For example, Dean Vaughan and Bishop Walsham. How cara et venerabilia nomina, after long and golden service to their generation, have by the will of God fallen on slc-ep. For such lives as these—and not forgetting those whose faithful service has been rendered within our own diocese-we bless God's Holy Name, and5 pray that we may have grace to follow in their steps. With regard to the LAMBETH CONFERENCE, I should like to remark that: (a) No one who attended it, especially, as in my own case, for the first time, could fail to be impressed with the honour of belonging to such a body, and also with its value as ministering to imperial federation and indeed to the federation of the English-speakiug world. We gratefully • i. *-u ^1 i n ta u/nH int.t::u. "C:l:iUUle {.Uai. llH::aO (:111.'0 VLI"L lacings. But we submit that the Anglican episcopate, with all it represents, is destined to play no secondary part among the influences that make for world-wide peace and goodwill. (b) Appreciation of the Lambeth Conference will best be shewn by studying and giving force to its counsels. Hence for my word in season I would borrow that which determined the crisis of St. Augustine's life, 'Tollege;' Take up ;md read.' I have already suggested that incumbents might read the encyclical letter from their pulpits. Let me now suggest that the bouk of the conference, containing the ^solutions and reports, as well as the letter, j, rRpay perusal by both clergy and laity. 18 a, store house of well-considered informa- tion and advice on subjects of pressing and abiding importance, (c) To one only of these will I make special reference. On pages 18 and 19 it is gail, We propose to form a CENTRAL CONSULTATIVE BODY jor supplying information and advice. This body must win its way to general recognition by the services which it may be able to render to the working of the Church. It can have no other than a moral authority, which will be developed out of its action. We have left the formation of it to the Archbishop of Canter- bury, who already finds himself called on to do ^ery much of what is proposed to be done by ^is council.' Mark the words moral authority,' that high authority which comes from special learning and experience, working °^erly) but freely, under the auspices of official authority. The aim of this authority "111 be, not to bind but to guide-to supply the clearest light, the surest leading through the and obscurities by which we are ^ten beset. What loyal, what modest Church- an, wouid not welcome such guidance as this, j^stead of that anarchy, tempered by Church articles, that thinly-veiled indi- 1duaiidI11( calling itself sometimes Protes- antism, sometimes Catholicism, which is said to not unknown, though, of course, not within he borders of this diocese. I am convinced that 0 vast majority of Churchmen in all dioceses e»ire earnestly to learn what is right, and then Jo walk accordingly. It is worth noticing that he Upper House of the Convocation of York, h its sessions of February last, anticipated as regards principle and method, though, of bourse, on a much smaller scale, this plan of the ^mbeth Conference. Three questions were Referred to committees, on the distinct and nanimous understanding that those com- ittees should have power to call in expert opinions from outside, for instance, from the Geological faculties at our Universities, and ''om the professions of music and architecture. Ahe three questions were—first, as the legal Representation of lay members of the Church, J*ith special reference to the resolution adopted that such representation, together with the reform of the House of Convocation, must pre- cede all other SATISFACTORY LEGISLATION ON ECCLESIASTICAL KATTEBS. I ventured myself to suggest that the assistance of historical and theological experts should be invited, and his Grace the president was good enough to say that the principle suggested by the Bishop of Chester was one which had sanction for it from the very earliest times, and that it was one from neglecting which we had often suffered loss in our own day." The second question was as to the obligation in our own Church of the Fast before Communion. On this subject the Upper House of the Convoca- tion of Canterbury adopted a few years ago the Report of a committee, which included the late *hd the present Archbishop of Canterbury, and the present Bishops of London, Oxford, Lincoln, Southwell, and Salisbury. Unfortunately this Report is little known, and it will be the privi- ieRe of the York Committee to recall it to the Remembrance of Churchmen. The third ques- concerned the position of organs in Urches. You may remember that, after the ession of Convocation, I was enabled to make fcown jQ a ietter to the Times the opinions of "VVaHent experts like Sir John Stainer and Sir still I* Pa"att on this subject. More recently jj u' Sir John Stainer has expressed to me his the matter will be well considered, the matter will be well considered, sid°r'- he Writee> is °* real importance, con- enormous sums constantly being chi u away for thoroughly inconvenient 0jj. rche8." You will understand that my Dot f ln re'erring to these three questions is tf f° advocate this or that answer as the jne' ^ut to illustrate the principle and reo • wbich, on the large scale, has just f the sanction of the Lambeth Con- corff106' we can learn thus to submit our cenfVer8ie8 to the 'moral authority' of a 8tr consultative body, we shall be in a P°Bition, not only towards our fellow who differ from us, but in our and 8 Churchmen to prevail on employers arh ffemPloyed to refer their differences to arbitration. They may resent our exhortations, may consider that they understand their te n business best. But they can hardly jj eQt or resist the example of a Church which th e8^ablished, and which loyally recognises p 6 Moral authority of its own Boards of *e DCl^ati°n. While on this topic let me 1^—with reference to a suggestion that I °uld issue a special prayer for our thftf LABOUR TROUBLES— T °Ur ordinary prayers, and in particular the itany> are {uU of potions to the Author of fullCe and Lover of Concord,' which, tbought- la 1 used, will express the righteous and iot« 6 desire. Thus we surely pray for con.rnal 68 wel1 as external unity, peace, and among all nations; we pray that we tor ^ivered from those evil passions and icea which are the chief obstacle to in 1 a^e aQd harmonious settlements; we pray chil!?l0re ^an one shape for the wives and esf sufferers too often in mind, body, and strM, who are the most pitiable victims of es. and lockouts; we pray for those m thft UQder the Queen, the Board of Trade, wig 'Lglatrates, that they may discharge with and justice their delicate and most Darn duties towards the contending and also, let me emphatically add, towards the deeply concerned but two little regarded community. If we would but make full proof of our Prayer Book we should feel little need for special prayers. On other inviting topics I can touch but lightly. Several will come before us in the resolutions. The laymen of this diocese, led by the Lord Lieutenant, the then High Sheriff, Mr. Brocklebank, and Mr. Graham, determined to form a DroCKSAN CLBRGY SUSTENTATION PUND, as the independent but cordially co-operative auxiliary of the Central Fund. It was under- stood that this was a layman's matter, and I thought it my duty to follow rather than to dictate a policy to such laymen as those I have mentioned. But, far from grudging, I shall rejoioe over any contributions that go to the Central Fund in aid of other, and perhaps even more severely tried, dioceses. As will have been seen from their circular, this is also the mind of the Diocesan Committee. In spite of multitudinous Diamond J ubilee rivals, our fund is already able to distribute about PAOO per annum. One distribution has been made, though not yet to the full amount, and the recipients will, I think, bear me out when I say that the matter has been managed with an utter absence of red-tape and inquisitonalism. I do most earnestly recommend this funa to all who have the power to give. We have started with a solid nueleus. But in this case the beginning is not one-half of what the whole ought to be, and we confidently trust will be. I am not deaf to the pressing demand for further Church accommodation in several parta of the diocese. I am particularly anxious to see a noble Basilica built by some large- minded, large-pocketed founder. But to build up the attenuated incomes of the clergy is a duty with which no brick-and-mortar perform- ance can vie in urgency. Another and very important aspect of the same subject will come before us in the resolution which deals with the oppressively inequitable incidence of local taxation on clerical incomes. I pass to EDUCATION, PRIMARY AND SEONDARY. Our Diocesan Schools Association got smoothly and swiftly to work, and its recom- mendations are now in the hands of the Educa- tion Department. We do not pretend that they are perfect. It is no easy thing to build a new coach, and get together a new team of horses, and travel over a new and difficult road on very short notice. The governing body will turn its work out with more finish next year. But even thus far, I am bold to say that con- summate toil and skill has been spent on the estimates and returns, thanks to the Local Advisory Committees, the Revision Committee, and, not least, to our honorary secretary, Canon Maitland Wood, of whom it may be said that he has 'laboured terribly.' We miss, it is true, on our governing body some of the oldest and staunchest friends of education in the diocese, lay and clerical. They were not elected by their localities, because it was taken for granted that they would be co-opted. On the other hand, the governing body, embarrassed by the wealth of ability and experience from which its selec- tion is to be made, has contented itself thus far with the most modest use of co-option. In the meantime, the veterans to whom I refer are serving on the Board of Education, which continues, and will continue, its invaluable work for the diocese. Its special concern will be with our training colleges, the religious inspection of schools, and school building. These things the new association cannot touch, and yet they are of essential importance. Let none, therefore suppose that the day of the Education Board has gone by. It is, if possible, I of more importance now than ever before. The Diocesan Schools Association at once encourages and stands in vital need of its effective co-operation. The Board of Education was once picturesquely termed'The Bishop's Brass Band.' Unfortunately, 'brass' has been just the one thing it lacked. Experience, zeal, self-sacrifice, organisation of these it had abundance. But of brass'-as our treasurer will bear me witness-it has always had far less than its deserts and its needs. Let us hope that now, at length, in this HOUR OF EDUCATIONAL OPPORTUNITY and responsibility that high-sounding title will be resourcefully realised. We are promised a Secondary Education Bill. Good news, but very anxious news! Churchmen, through the Convocations and otherwise, are on the alert, but we cannot be too keenly on the alert. Remember what the operation of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act has been ? Well meant by its Conservative authors, well-working in some of its results; but as regards Church schools, within an ace of making havoc of them altogether. Nothing but the firm and just interposition of the House of Lords has saved the Church endowments that have been saved, and has defeated the insidious attempt—counten- anced, I regret to say, by the Charity Com- missioners-to bring the religious instruction and the family worship of 'boarders' (whom the Welsh Act itself left just as they were before) under the aggressive grasp of undenomi- nationalism. Scheme after scheme was most righteously sent back by the House of Lords to learn fairer dealings. And yet weak-kneed wiseacres, posing as representative Churchmen, have been good enough to suppose not only that they could loftily call to order the leaders of the Church in Wales, but that they could teach Lord Salisbury the legitimate interpreta- tion of his own Act of Parliament! Pace such sagacious critics, I shall always rejoice that it was my privilege to have some share in getting two of those Welsh schemes sent back to purge them of their dross. And I am still more glad to say that, quite recently, the UNWARRANTABLE ATTEMPT of the Carmarthenshire Education Committee to lay hands upon Llandovery School, of which one of my own chaplains is warden, and which has the advantage of a most able and dis- tinguished body of governors, has been com- pletely foiled. Be sure that a careful study of the operations of the Welsh Act is an indispen- sable part of our preparation for the impending Secondary Education Bill, and our losses of Church endowments in Wales may to some extent by converted into gains, if they put us unitedly on our guard against corresponding mistakes and misadventures in England. To turn for a single moment, and in conclusion, to a very different and even more congenial topic. I desire to make public acknowledgment of the courteous and considerate hospitality which now, for nearly nine years, I have met with from clergy and laity, in every shape and in every part of the diocese. It is a constant source of regret that one can with such utter inadequacy requite all this kindness. Here, as everywhere, the petty done, the undone vast,' stares me reproachfully in the face. But Dean Vaughan taught me many years ago that one must learn to recognise and patiently put up with one's own inevitable limitations. Only I would ask my hosts and hostesses throughout the diocese to believe that in grateful and sincere appreciation at all events I know no bounds. (Applause.) THE CAUSES OF SUNDAY DESE- CRATION. The Rev. W. PAIGE Cox (Rock Ferry) moved That, considering the great importance of the due observance of Sunday, in the interests of reli- gion, morality, and the wellbeing of the nation at large, it be respectfully suggested to the Lord Bishop that a pastoral letter from his lordship would be of timely service, both in calling general attention to the matter, and in assisting the clergy in their efforts to maintain a right standard of Sunday observance in their several parishes. He argued that if the ordinances of religion were not duly regarded, religion was bound to suffer; and when religion suffered morality suffered, and when Sunday generally was not observed as a day of rest both for soul and body the wellbeing of the community was affected in several important particulars. They could not have failed to remark how much people were giving themselves to worldly amusements on I Sunday in a way not customary, at any rate, 10 or 20 years ago. It was a very common thing to see people bicycling on Sundays at all times of the day, going driving partios and organising picnics, while they heard of entertainments being given on a large scale, in private houses, and people did not shrink from playing games of various sorts. Another thing was that shops, not simply refreshment and tobacco shops, but as he heard lately with regard to Liverpool, grocers', bakers', and butchers' shops were being opened on Sunday in certain quarters at any rate to the middle of the day. The whole Church of Christ had been of one mind, that no kind of common or servile labour should be done on the Lord's Day. It was well known that SUNDAY TRADE of any kind was prohibited by lavig but the penalty was so small, being only something like 5s., that it was no deterrent. He was told that in Liverpool-he knew it was the case in Birkenhead and in certain parts of his own parish—a great number of the working people spent Saturday evening in the public- houses; they did not leave the public-houses until they were closed, and then the poor wives had to go and get from them what money they could. The consequence was that shops were kept open until sometimes' three or four o'clock on Sunday morning. He had been told by a respectable tradesman in his own parish that that unfitted them for the proper observance of the Sabbath, and they wished something could be done to stop it. He had no doubt tradesmen in Liverpool had said they might just as well open their shops from ten to twelve or one o'clock on Sunday morning instead of keeping them open in the small hours. It had been proposed that it should be recommended to employers to pay their em- ployes as much as possible on Fridays instead of Saturdays, and he had also been told that people would be glad if an Act could be passed closing public houses at eight o'clock on Satur- day evenings. That might cause Saturday night not to be observed so riotously, and thus enable better preparation to be made for the proper observance of the Sabbath. (Hear, hear.) Referring to the bicycling craze, he said the clergy as a body were not prejudiced against bicycles, for they were to be seen careering on them throughout the diocese; they were most useful machines, and he dared say many of the clergy did not think it wrong to BICYCLE ON SUNDAY. He would go further and suppose that some of them were in the habit of going to church on a bicycle if the church was far from home, and he thought they would agree it was better to go to church on a bicycle than in a carriage or on an omnibus. They would hardly be accused of bigotry if they said although in the abstract they did not condemn bicycling on Sunday they did condemn the substitution of cycling for attendance at public worship. (Applause.) Sunday was especially needed in these days in order to prevent us from being too much occu- pied, and being as it were characterised by our ordinary occupations and amusements. There was this to be said about bicycling, that it did not involve others in the desecration of the Sabbath, and one could not say that about driving parties, and the giving of dinners on a large scale. We must look askance at any use of Sunday which might tend to deprive others of the rest due to them. He attributed the non-observance of the Sabbath in some measure to the sheer self-indulgence and want of self-discipline so characteristic of the age. This was due to several causes, among them being our commercial prosperity, which had led to the increase of wealth, and had raised the standard of comfort and luxurious desire, and also to the habit of travelling, which had become so common. One noticed that people as a rule were more careless about their religious habits when they were away from home than when they were at home. Then the manner of this country had also been somewhat affected by our intercourse with abroad. He would not commit himself to say- ing that the state of things he had been remarking upon very seriously affected the community at large. On the contrary they noticed that Christianity was becoming a greater power than ever throughout the country their church services were never more heartily attended, and there never was greater interest shewn in good works of all kinds. (Hear, hear.) As a means to the better observance of the Sabbath, he suggested that they should call up the large number of Christian people to use their influence in the right direction that they should endeavour to make the work of their servants as light as possible on Sundays; and that they should not go out for walks or bicycle rides during the hours of divine service. It would be well also to ask people not to take in Sunday newspapers or to read ephermal litera- ture on Sundays. THE DUKE'S SPEECH. The DuJtE of WESTMINSTER, after remarking amid laughter that he did not think he could dispense with his Sunday paper sometimes, said there could be no difference of opinion in an assembly of Churchmen such as that, that the due observance of the Sabbath in the interests of religion, morality, and the well- being of the nation at large, was an object of the very highest interest and importance. (Hear, hear.) But he supposed there might be some difference of, i opinion as to what 'due observance' might mean. Some might be of opinion that the day should be observed as mainly one for fasting and prayer; others that it should comprise innocent amusement and recreation. He ventured to hold that in this, as in so many of the affairs of this world, the middle course was the best, and that having given our first and principal duty to God in prayer and praise, some part of the day might well be devoted to recreation, exercise, and amusement. He ventured to intervene for a few moments to say a word, as he was under the impression that the higher classes some time ago received rather hard treatment at the hands of the bishops as to their manner of keeping the Sabbath. Judging from his experience of life in London, he held that the classes in the main held the Sabbath in due reverence, and that they kept it properly and well. There must alway be exceptions, and the Jewish element, which obtained somewhat largely in London society, was a disturbing influence no doubt, but the Jews could hardly be expected to keep two Sundays a week. But he could confidently assert that the classes, so-called, did set in this respect an example that might well be generally followed; and, considering the leisure that they mostly commanded on other days of the week, it would be a matter for strong animadversion were it otherwise. He thought the entire absence of horses and carriages in London on Sunday was a very satisfactory and remarkable circumstance. It was difficult for them, many of whom Had everything to interest and amuse them, to dogmatise as to what ought or ought not to be allowed to others in the amount of liberty of action or of conduct they might think it right to pursue on that day. The circumstances of the labouring classes and those of the wealthy classes were so varying, and there must be many who, labouring all the week, desired nothing more than physical, others mental, rest. There were some who thought that THE CLOSING OF PUBLIC-HOUSES on that day would act as a panacea, and he thought there could be no doubt that there was much to be said in its favour—mooted and discussed for years it had found very general acceptance from public opinion and among those who were most interested in the question. The Lords' Committee nearly 20 years ago, though at that time of opinion that the time had hardly arrived to warrant legislation in that direction, though forseeing a ripening of opinion in its favour recommended closing except for two hours in the day, but they could have very little doubt that as a result of the sitting Commission Sunday closing would before long be an established fact following slowly in the wake of the example of Scotland and of Ireland and of Wales. In this event the relief to the trade,' by giving rest to the workers, would be very great indeed, and would be only carrying out the precepts of the fourth commandment. When that happier time arrived (and he only hoped that the hours for Saturday evening drinking might be further restricted, as being even of greater importance) it would be more than ever necessary that fuller attention should be directed to the question of innocent means of recreation, especially in large towns, so often so dreary in winter, and especially for single men and lodgers whose lot was not of the most cheerful; and he did not see why reading-rooms and institutes should not open their doors on Sunday evenings (especially in the country districts), as the clubs did for the wealthier classes. He was glad to know that some con- siderable advance had been effected by the opening of museums and national collections in our large towns, useful for those who had no other opportunity of visiting them. Mr. Paige Cox had referred to bicycles. He (his Grace) ventured to think that bicycles were a positive blessing to thousands in this connection- always providing that the bicycles should not run during hours of service on Sunday. His Grace concluded by expressing the hope that, given a little more elasticity in the form of innocent recreation, especially in our large and sombre towns, they would do all that in them lay to avoid imitating what was called the 'Con- tinental Sunday,' and endeavour to maintain the due observance of the Lord's Day as a day of rest in the highest interests of religion and morality. (Applause.) Mr. HORSFALL (Macclesfield) supported the resolution, contending that they should en- courage the working-classes to take an interest on Sundays in the beauties of nature in our parks, and also in the works of art in our museums, and so on. The Rev. H. G. YOUARD (Whitegate) said he would like some pronouncement from the Bishop as to which of the many standards was the right standard of Sunday observance. In his opinion the right standard was indicated in our prayer book. The Rev. J. F. HOWSON (Chester) claimed that this was a matter of principle, and that principle was that the Lord's Day was a day of worship. (Applause.) The Rev. C. LANE (Wheelock) said he was told that the sale of Sunday newspapers was largely due to the interesting news they contained of the football matches on Saturdays. There was, be was informed, a great increase of gambling on Saturdays on football. Referring to Sunday closing, he remarked that he did not think the Bishop had advocated thatreform—(laughter)— but he did not see why public houses should not be closed on Sundays in England as well as in Wales, Ireland, and Scotland. The Rev. W. A. EDWARDS (Bunbury) championed the bicycle, observing that it was an instrument of infinite potentialities, and its religious potentialities were considerable. The Sunday use of the bicycle might be fraught with the very happiest consequences, for dwellers in towns might use it to take them on the Sunday morning to some church in the country. It had this advantage over a trap, that a man who went out driving might come home in a state of intoxication, whereas a man who rode a bicycle while intoxicated was not likely to ride a bicycle, or if he did so once he would not do so again. (Laughter.) The Rev. E. C. LOWNDES (Chester) complained of the tendency of the present day to ignore entirely the idea of worship as an act of giving to God, and simply of treating it as a matter of receiving. Now-a-days people went to a certain place of worship not so much to get good as to GET PLEASURE there. The idea of giving to God or of self- sacrifice to the worship of God was entirely eliminated. There was a tendency to lie in bed in the morning, and in the afternoon, after the public-houses had closed, to drop into a concert and spend the rest of the day in pleasure. There was also danger in the praatice of attending certain places of worship and paying a penny a week in the hope of receiving prizes tor regular attendance. The holding of evening services in so many mission-rooms and schoolrooms, and even of the popular nave service in our Cathedral had unintentionally led people to think it quite sufficient to give to God the fag end of the day, and to feel as a regular attendant at the Cathedral service once said to him that the Holy Communion and the morning service are not meant for the like of us.' (Hear, hear.) Mr. C. BUSHELL (Hinderton) argued that it was our duty to try to make every day, every occupation, every need, and every recreation rise to the Christian spirit and ideal. The Rev. H. E. NIXON (Oxton) said having lived on the continent for twenty years he wished to DEFEND THE CONTINENTAL SUNDAY. He only wished that he saw the same respect paid to the Lord's Day in England as on the continent. The reason most English people who had been on the continent formed mis- taken ideas with regard to the manner in which Sunday was observed there was that most of the inhabitants had been to church before the English visitors were up in the morning. They did not see on the continent the behaviour that was to be seen in the streets of Birkenhead and Chester on Sunday evening. If the clergy were now beginning to whimper that their churches were empty on Sunday, they were reaping as they had been sowing— they had not taught that the Lord's own service was the proper service of Sunday. (Applause.) Mr. CHAPMAN argued that bicyclists on the Sabbath were disregarding the Lord's Day as holy. It was a very great mercy that a clergy- man who had some distance to go to church should be able to use a bicycle, but he dis- approved of devoting the Sabbath as a general thing to cycling. He would like to hear the clergy preach a special sermon on the subject of Sunday observance; they might do some good then. (Laughter and ap- plause.) They might make special efforts to let people see what was God's standard, what God required off them all, and they ought not to attempt to raise up counter attractions to the observance of the Sabbath. He was not opposed to museums being opened, but he said the clergy were foolish to set up counter attrac- tions to their places of worship. Now that hours of labour were being so shortened, it was absurd for people to say they bad no time to go to church. He hoped when the Bishop issued his pastoral it would be brought before every cycling club in the kingdom. (Applause.) The Rev. C. HYLTON STEWART (New Brighton) strongly advised his reverend brethren not to try bicyclists' services on Sunday. The bicyclists would come and look on once and see what sort of service was being given, but they would not come a second time be the service ever so bright. The Revs. FISHER (Chester) and F. H. W ALBS and others continued the discussion. THE BISHOP'S 8UMMING UP. In reviewing the arguments that had been brought forward the BISHOP said, it had been made abundantly clear that there was need for a pastoral letter on the subject-though h<y~was far from saying he was the person to write it. He considered that one of his first duties would be to invite specimen pastoral letters. (Laughter.) It was quite obvious there was a considerable difference of opinion as to the true basis of the institution of the Lord's Day. His endeavour would be to work simply back to fundamental principles, and try to apply them to the circumstances of our own day as far as possible. He ventured to say that those of them who had a large experience of domestic life would not in an ever rigid way call upon people to do what they could not reasonably be expected to do or make them feel wrong in con- science, because they were not able to bear the burden that the clergy were placing upon them rather than God. (Applause.) The Lord's own service should be the central service of the Lord a Day, and they could not say that too clearly. Whatever they did, however, he urged them not to run down evening services because it might end in them not getting people to go to church at all. They ought not to look askance at the nave service in the Cathedral in the evening. (Applause.) The resolution was then carried unanimously. EVENING SESSION. CHURCH DEFENCE. SPEECHES BY LORD SELBORNKAND MR. WTNDUAN. The evening meeting in the Music Hall was crowded. The Bishop, who again presided, was accompanied by the Mayor, the Bishop of St. Asaph, the Earl of Selborne, Mr. George Wyndham, M.P. Mr. DUNCAN GRAHAM moved:- That this Conference requests the Lord Bishop, with the aid of the Diocesan Committee, to urge upon the Parochial Church Councils, or other equivalent organisations of the diocese, the importance of making Church defence in the broader meaning of the expression a recognised part of their work, availing themselves for this purpose of the assistance provided by the Central Committee at the Church House. He contended that the Church need not fear an attack from an openly avowed enemy. It was more likely to be menaced from within than without. The best form Church defence could take would be such reform in its adminis- tration as would render it more fitted for its work, and conciliate more and more the loyalty of the laity for whom it existed. Weak points where Church defence might be strengthened lay in the lamentably inadequate incomes of the clergy, the question of patronage, the inequitable incidence of taxation of clerical incomes, and the enormous amount of lay energy which was running to waste. (Applause.) The laity had during the last few years shewn a distinctly increasing interest in the work of the Church, and they were only anxious to be shewn how they could most efficaciously aid the clergy. The Rev. S. A. BOTD (Macclesfield) seconded. The EARL OF SBLBORNE, in supporting the resolution, said the original object of the Arch- bishops of Canterbury and York, when they entered the arena in defence of the Church in 1893, was to show that the best defence of the Church was the INSTRUCTION OF CHURCHMEN AND WOMBN in the history of the Church, the history of the origin of her property, the facts as to her work to-day, and the use she was making of that property. Their aim should be to establish machinery for this purpose in every diocese, rural deanery, and parish. If those responsible for the work of church councils would add that object to the present sphere of their work, all they asked for was accomplished. He asked them to defend the Church against ignorance, especially the ignorance of their own sons and daughters, against abuses in every form, and when they were forced to do it against political attack. (Applause.) It was a false modesty, and false self-coasciousness, as the last speaker had pointed out, that led some excellent clergymen to say they could not appear as defenders of their owninterests. The interests were not theirs, but those of the Church, for all time, and the living Church- women and men of any time were the trustees of the Church. (Applause.) Our forefathers did not endow the Church with the magnificent endowments she possesses in order that their posterity might say, We are too diffident to defend what we know is our own, although we know our failure to do so may cripple the work of our Church for generations to come, and rob our children of what was their inheritance for ever." (Applause.) If they were false to their trusteeship they would have to answer for it. The trusteeship lay, he admitted, more upon the laity than the clergy, because the time of the latter was more than occupied already by the far more important sphere of spiritual respon- sibility. The Church found herself to-day in a democratic state; it was the first law of politics in a democratic state that no interest, however important, was safe unless that interest bestirred itself and looked after its own interests. If the Church did not safeguard her own interests no political party could do it for her. He had heard it said again and again Why need we bother, have we not a Unionist party in power, with a majority of 150 ? His advice, however, was: Do not put your trust in any political party." (Applause.) The Church ought to know, and did know NOTHING OF ANY POLITICAL PARTY. (Applause.) She only touched politics when politics touched her, and when politics and politicians left her alone, or listened to her just demands, then she took no interest in politics. If the Church wanted to be left alone by political parties, and have her just demands respected, she must be in a position to enforce them. She must formulate her demands after careful consideration, and the de- mands must be the demands for all practical purposes of the whole Church. His opinion was that if the Church had not organised herself, so as to form a Church Parliamentary Committee, and if the movement inaugurated by the archbishops had not taken place, the education question would not have advanced to the position it had. He entered the House of Commons twelve years ago, and one of his first recollec- tions was of Sir William Harcourt chopping Lord Cranborne in his best style, for what he regarded as Lord Cranborne's ridiculous pro- posal that Church schools should be relieved from paying rates. The whole of Sir William's party laughed in chorus, honestly considering the proposal one of the most ridiculous ever brought before the House of Common?, oi there were very few on the Conservative benches who thought the proposal would ever receive sympathy in the Houses of Parliament, but a good deal had been done since then. The moral he wanted to draw was that what had happened never would have happened if the Church had not bestirred herself. Thev must teach Churchwomen and men, by lectures and otherwise, the true facts as to the history of the Church, for the only danger arose from ignorance. It was very easy to say that all was not perfect within the Church, and that we must have reform. The danger came from people who talked vaguely, and did not know what they wanted. If they permeated the electors with the proper spirit, the electors would permeate their candidates, and they would find that the Church would never be attacked, because it would not pay any political party to do it. (Applause.) MR. WINDHAM'S VIEWS. Mr. GEORGE WYNDHAM, M.P., who was warmly received, said he was there as a lay Englishman, and therefore as one who must be pro- foundly interested in the Catholic Church of England. (Applause.) Even if he were not as he was glad to be, a member of that Church' and therefore bound to it by ties of religion, he should still simply as an Englishmau be bound by other ties national, humanitarian, historical, and even artistic. The opera- tive part of the resolution seemed to be that they urged parochial church councils to take up Church defence as an important part of their work. That was a very interesting pro- position, and in the main he agreed with it, but it seemed to him a proposition which should be very carefully framed in words. He wanted to see the scope of this church defence work, in which the clergy were to be associated with the laity circumscribed within the limits which would seem to be appropriate to the largely clerical character of such bodies. (Hear, hear.) Referring to the Welsh Disestablishment Bill, he remarked that they might apply to some of the promoters of that Bill the bitter saying which the great Lord Bacon applied to the opponents of our Church in his day, They want two small things, knowledge and love." I (Applause.) It was certainly wise to take steps to give to the people of England knowledge in the sure hope that love and sympathy would spring, aa they ever did out of sympathy. For his part he as a counsel of perfection wished the matter to stop there. He wished that these combined efforts should be confined to what might be called purely EDUCATIONAL WORK, as opposed to controversial work; he should like it to be educational in its nature and historical in its method. All work done for the Church was Church defence, if it were properly done. He would divide Church Defence under three heads; under the first head he would put the instruction to be given by the Church in the truths of Christianity and in the inculca- tion of moral law. He should like to see that done by the clergy alone without the laity, or if with the laity, only with the assistance of duly authorised laymen. Under the second head there was the teaching of Church history, and he did not only mean the|teaching of the history of our Church during recent years, but the teaching of all its ancient history, and he believed that work might best be done by the laity with the assistance of historical experts. Under the third head he would put the very proper and very necessary work to be done in defence of the establishment of the endowments of the Church, and that work he should like to see done for the Church by the laity. (Applause.) He would not have the Church's garment soiled by the dust of the arena which Lord Selborne and he had to breathe; it was not for the Church to defend her endowments on utilitarian lines, nor was it for the Church to plead for justice. That work came under the head of that which should be done for the Church by the laity, just as the purely religious work under the first head must admittedly be done by the clergy for the laity. In an ideal world the energy of the clergy must rest there, so that the Church should SPEAK ONLY BY HER WORKS; so that we might apply to her the words which Shakespeare applied to beauty:- Beauty itself doth of itself persuade The eyes of men and needs no orator. But this was not an ideal world; it was a world of hurry and confusion, which bred ignorance, and of ignorance which bred hostility. Let the Church and laity therefore combine under some such scheme as that put forward in the resolu- tion, to do the work of removing this ignorance by education. For the Church to embark on defence by putting pressure on voterB and on members of Parliament, would be repugnant, and also he believed in- effective. 'To abandon argument and supply information' were the principles of the Navy League and of the South African Association. Referring to the ignorance of the people of this country with respect to the history of the church, he contended that the popularity &f such books as Robert Elsmere,' and such plays as the Sign of the Cross' was due to the fact that the public hoped to find in them short cuts to critical and historical knowledge of which they were consciously ignorant. (Laughter.) It was for the clergy to argue the merits of dogma; it might well be for the clergy and the laity to teach, among other things, the HISTORY OF THE CHURCH. There would be scope in that for any amount of industry, and also for the exercise of two virtues. If we were to employ the historic method, our standard of devotion to truth must be as exacting as the historian's. The enthusiasm, the courage, the invincible belief of the church historian, must not be used to sweep an audience into accepting the probable for the proved, but only to arm himself with sublime confidence in stating the historic case simply as it was. There would be scope also for courage. The truth in these matters, owing to our own remissness in the past, would seem so strange to many as to excite the hostility which ever attended the unfamiliar. Those who merely stated the history of the Church must expect some hard knocks, but for their comfort they might remember the words of a clever critic, that Popularity was never yet the prize of those whose only care is to avoid offence.' (Applause.) The Rev. J. F. HOWSON (Chester) did not agree tha £ the British layman admitted his ignorance for if, there were two subjects OIL which he thought he was endowed with pro- found intuition they were politics and theology. (Laughter.) CUBIOU8 SPEECH BY A CHESTER CLERGYMAN. Minor Canon BIRD (Chester), in opposing the resolution, said every Churchman must neces- sarily approve of Church defence in the abstract, and it was only when they came to the question of the method to be employed that doubt and hesitation began to assert them- selves. He could not help but feel that parochial organisation for Church defence was open to suspicion on three grounds: first, because all direct methods of Church defence proceeded upon a vicious principle—(laughter) —in other words they would substitute for the quiet and regular work of leavening the world's three measures of meal, the offensive weapons of controversy and debate. They would cover and obscure the real issue with the froth of party politics, and would strangle conscience with the red tape of caucuses and wire-pullers. (Laughter.) Secondly, he asked was it too late to protest against the introduction of such influences into the sphere of our Church life? He would ask secondly whether this provoking strategy of leaflets and lectures was likely to convince any- one who remained unmoved by the far more convincing and world-conquering force of long suffering silence in well-doing ? What did they expect to be the result of allowing Church defence lecturers—these ecclesiastical drill sergeants with their paraphernalia of one-sided statistics and all the rest of the bag of tricks to manufacture party votes—(laughter and Oh ') —to come and quarter themselves upon them ? He said that such a procedure offered a gross insult to the intelligence of workingmen. (' No, no.') Thirdly, self-defence was unhappily a phrase tainted with its suggestion of self- interest. It suggested that while they might be disunited on a hundred questions of doctrine or of ritual, they were massed into a solid phalanx by one supreme dread-the dread of per- secution through the pocket. Did they care to rashly expose themselves to vile imputations ? Church work was terribly hampered at the pre- sent time by the pecuniary disabilities of a large majority, and by the glaring inequalities of clerical stipends. If they would conciliate the sympathy or win the more generous support of a business-like, hard-headed, but not hard- hearted laity, they must set about the equitable re-adjustment of those burdens they must prove their bona-fide zeal for Church defence by promoting that most important measure of Church reform which would tax well-paid incomes as they fell in and became vacant, for the benefit of the over-woried and miserably under-paid and under-staffed parishes. (Laugh- ter.) He moved as an amendment:— That the Bishop be requested, as the prime mover of Churoh defence, to appoint a committee to consider the available resources of the diocese in the shape of (a) clerical endowments, (b) charitable bequests and donations of whatever kind, and to formulate a scheme by which any undue surplus in one direction may be diverted and applied to meet the more urgent necessities which at present starve or impede spiritual ministrations. The Rev. WRAY seconded, and the dis- cussion was continued by the Revs. W. A. Edwards, F. S. M. Bennett, Powell (Over). Finally, Mr. Bird, amid laughter, withdrew his amendment, and the resolution was carried unanimously. The Conference then rose. THURSDAY'S PROCEEDINGS. On Thursday morning the Conference met in the Refectory, the Bishop presiding. MISSIONARY WORK. The Ven. Archdeacon GOLDWYER LEWIS (rector of Aldford, and formerly Archdeacon of Bombay) moved- That the Bishop be requested to appoint a com- mittee to consider the relation of the Church at home to the colonial and missionary churches, and to report upon—(1) The adequacy of the methods employed to supply men for work abroad (2) the status of colonial and missionary clergy, and the recognition of their work (3) the possibility of closer co-operation among missionary societies, with a view to greater concentration and economy both of management and of labour. He pointed out that a problem in India and other foreign countries was to obtain a supply of clergy who should deal with those who were not Government servants. The number of European vpsidents in India had largely in- creased, and how were they to supply their spiritual needs ? Clergymen would not go out there when they knew they were not to receive the same pay that Government chaplains did, and that they would not receive a pension as chaplains did, unless English bishops were prepared to count their service in India as in England. Then he did think they could get men to go out to India. The men who worked in India were perfectly capable of doing the work they would be called upon to perform in an English parish, and with regard to the third point, he complained of the tendency among the home missionary committees to dictate to the bishops in foreign countries. Until the home committees bad discontinued that practice he was afraid the desire for co-operation between the great missionary societies would be nothing but a dream. Mr. F. GREGORY seconded, and the motion was carried. THE UNFAIR TAXATION OF THE CLERGY. Canon BELL moved— That the Bishop be requested to appoint a com- mittee to consider the oppressively inequitable incidence of local taxation, as regarded the assess- ment of clerical inoomes, and to bring the just claims of the clergy before the Commission, which is now sitting, to deal with the question with a view to future legislation. He complained that while the clergyman was rated upon the whole of his income, his millionaire parishioner was rated only upon his house and garden. Mr. HARRY BARNSTON seconded, and the Rev. T. J. EVANS (Tarvin), Mr. R. T. RICHARDSON, and others spoke upon the resolution, which was carried. THE ADMINISTRATION OF BAPTISM. On the proposition of Chancellor ESPIN, the following motion was carried :— That this Conference requests the Lord Bishop to refer to the Ruri-deoanal Chapters for considera- tion and report to himself the practical difficulties connected with the administration of Holy Baptism, such as provision of sponsors, time of service, and the combination of the form of Public Baptism with the form of receiving a child into the Church. CHURCH ACCOMMODATION AT WALLASEY. On the motion of the Rev. Dr. COGSWELL, seconded by Mr. CHARLTON R. HALL, it was resolved:— That this Conference regards the seriously in- adequate church accommodation in the district of Wallasey as demandiMg immediate attention and respectfully requests the Lord Bishop to take such steps as in his judgment will best bring the urgent need before the Diocese.