The Montgomeryshire Express and Radnor Times

to a greater extent by the laity, said he | fjtuarnb they had done their be3t, and it must be re- iwtaWred that the latter Lad to face the bad timoa lite tiN clergy. Speaking on the question of the I jfllflpMefcions of parsonages he asked how the family of &,gtargyman who lived in a parsonage for a great BMiulirr of years were to put it in repair after his 4ea.th when it was so often the case that there was hardly Anything left for their own subsistence. He t £ fcoogifi gome fund ought to be raised to enable a gfrr £ 'jTirnn| newly appointed to a Jiving, to take, of his parsonage lree of cost to himself. jffedU aofc see how they could do anything during tie etergyman's lifetime. They could not go to him rb put in.q.1isitorir.1 questions it was not likely that ftw wouM submit to an examination by the squire, or tttxynr* elee. about hia mode of living and circum- MO&SIcot. The question was one surrounded with dif- iMevlif-- In a poor country like Wales people -could 1wot xiweyr, be putting their hands in their pockets, jfe ns* scire, however, that they would all recognisa .the fi)St tnat the clergy were doing their best, and .nt willing to further their good work to tne beat of IW,r power (cheers). J Ttu» diecasaion was crrried on by the Rev. Principal ,Owea, Col. Davies Cooke, Mr E. O. V. Lloyd (Berth), Jfew. lenkyn Griffiths (Rhyl), Rev. Griffith Jones 0I«v-tyr<), and Kev. David Jones (Liangyniew). The 9;SHOP, in closing the discussion, said he ghosmi im.,t like to say a few words with reference to .éat kad fajeu from the Viear of Mostyn as to I he whether the clergy ought to teach polirics. was no doubt their duty to impress upon tbeii Lwitioners the grave responsibility resting upon em u regard to their duties as citizens, but it be- 48«tt»<gailbe another question whether they had any ligic. w mike use or their position for purposes of natty politics (applause.) Every clergyman was of 40urae a citizen aad had a right to the exercise of his functions. But here there was another ae- Tject ssuder which they might legitimately use their io&tteij&t politically, and that was upon the tone in 8Lroå political controversy should be conducted. It itseir duty to impress upon their_ people that patit&c&L controversy ought to be carried out in a GbrUti&n spirit and without bitterness or angry grarde or feelings (applause.) With regard to the imnirri.T- of a settled pastorate, he quite agreed with the Vicar of Welsbpool that they could not havb mau pa roiling a sysfcjmatic course of study without ffc. They W%ZlLed i, learned clergy, and to that end a. aetded, pastorate was one of the conditions which wax enure or les-i necessary. lie should like to say a 1ró.d or two about the responsibilities of the settled They became all very eloquent when they fcoJfced about those advantages, but they must feice e-æe in their daily work they gave an object les- ell in proof of them. Let them for instance never 6.it t" pay regular visis to the National school, nor attie,&t, heir general pastoral visitations. He be. &v.Ad.dmt where puople did not realise the benefits Ot a settled pastorate it was the clergy who were a'. iknit they had not been loyal themselves to fttikara ministry. It they wanted to make the set- ted pastorate truly valued by the laity, they must be ministers of the Church. He wished to put the matter quite fairly before them. A good deal bovt tHen. aaid about coming events, but he found that qrhen layman depreciated the Church's work—took g& jo w estimate of it—it was because of the way in Which, the work of the Church was carried on in his petti-dz. Ho wished to bring home to their minds a a( their great responsibility and if they did dbtfir dntty, under the blessing of God, a settled pas- ibt would be maintained amongst them intact. 1h:t. ty must remember that the main responsibility va,ed upon them (cheers.) n* conterelice then adjourned. THURSDAY EVENING. A fwaeral meeting was held in the Public Rooms, writes the Karl of Powis presided. He was supported ,-W tbe Bishop of St. Asaph, Ven. Arohaeacon 'XMuut#, Sir Robert Cunliffe, Sir Pryce Pryce-Jones, J £ „P., k."noollor Trevor Parkins, Hon. Mrs Bulkeley- Liay Pryce Jones, Miss Williams, Mr Edmund Jfeef. Mr Davies Cooke, Mr Marshall Dugdale. Rev JfrwKiipal Owen, Kev R. Evan Jones. The CHATRMAN, in opening the proceedings, said r-Awt they ohould aek themselves what was the mean- ing' of the social work of the Chut ch. The Churoh lad tu divine mission given it. It was divinely and that mission was nothing more and SJ&ttic lees than the religion of the whole world, of -tIw. whole of mankind. It waited for the time when the kiajrdoms of this world should become the king- 4" ot our Lord (applause). They had learned to Iveht* that religion was a power not only affeofcing Some part of human nature, but also the whole of ffaam tlte whole body, the whole mind, and the whole ti (Applause). Religion must enter into and influ- 4 a<» e'llery detail of life. They might say this is ik'tutf but it was necessary to repeat these truisms in Ci-A queued of the partial ideas which many had fct of religion. Some of the speakers had t,ifet-ted to social problems. The air was full of gued4i problems. There was the great problem of Jfind capital, which they saw bo markedly iluuUJe.-toJ in the present strikes. Then there was Ak-ts (coublAm of popular education, the better housing of toff pour, and the question of temperance. All {&><; £ # astbjects sought solution. They did not look to fh",tt. yoliitinn to the rising of any great individual, But looked to the mass of society to combine aa 2* wLwIe to soive these problems (applause). They 1IaO.¡f,¡ lie worked out unaer the influence of christian Divide society must leaven the whole massof just as religious principles of individuals anifjt L'Ht-ven the whole individual (applause). He ««w^i»5"ao<i the subject of popular education, and they .1!'8 endgbted to the Church in times past for the tf&xMatton of the people, whether the upper or lower .it?it*iiii* (hear, hear, aud applause). From the time of iih-6' tAJ monks, a most down to the present time, ,Whatd. should they have been if it had not beea for &.y jh=ch P (applause). Now, more than ever, he tfboajj&t the Church should not relax her efforts in ifaee,, days of advancing education, but should .érnC' to flil men's minds with spiritual know. without which much learning was only too apt Ho afttzice men mad (applause). With regard to the imis,wt,lucc- of the education of the young, it was jgfc&ui £ £ how many parents negleoted the education of 4b«-tir children. He did not say it of one class more .-&" another (hear, hear). What, after all, more tiBxsmd duty was there than the education of children .$phoee»K He had only just touched upon these ifpifrJriiiW?. and he left it to other spoakers to enlarge the subjects. Mr f. MARSHALL DUGDALE then delivered a very £ oatioii address upon the social work of the Church, tiuttking over what he should say, he came to the which was not all a nice, in fact it was a <Ji«»grseAbie one, which was, that the best way to "ia in Church work was to begin with yourself .fJ.ter and appl- use). It was 80 extremely easy to ,eri.Wise your neighbour, and some peopie took a great ui noticing their neighbours' faults. Let G'lnsider what a good work would be done gbe tne Church and the world if everyone said, "I ,.(tt begia myself by setting a good example" .Amos"tAe). The leading principle of his address that wimid be the force of personal example. They kiM**y far instance, how children copied their elders, &04V ild would copy your walk, your talk, even forte &re&s, so that they put on their habits exactly Aoyau&o. Mr Dagdale then referred to the import- am* dt religious training in the home and especially agdr.=iiy prayer. They could not, of course, expect idftfKM&ftOg man to have family prayer when he had to gp to work at 6 o'clock in the morning, but there irom a great number of families in which it was per. ifgc-ig practicable, and one of its good effects was to gemmate a. feeling of unity amongst the members of Msuue family. The higher the position of a man iSi*b<e £ ter the example he onght to set. Let them fitygia at home and try to set a good example to their ban behold Then religious education ought to to* gjireu in our schools. He was not speaking merely schools, people were getting more care- tas* About religion aud church going. We wore fctfcfig into a bad system, we did not pay respect to «Kipe>iors, but, us far 118 ho understood the teach- ;&iig 4 tiik-, B.ble, it incubated to children obedience to thc-ir parents, and to those set over them. The 4Lv»lrtt<r t-Uiit one man was as good as another naB ,spr.ng through the whole of society. A boy of ■tiamtee was apt to think he kMW more than a man of ,aicty (lwisthter). P,rents might help very much in fugh work by taking care to send their children to 4SB«4a where religious education was given. A ggauit deal of nonsense was talked about Noncon- to not liking to send their children to National oe"i,Lit because religion wan taught in them. He had load ttt do with Church schools all his life, and had Staott told by the late Canon Williams of Llanfyllin tkat number of leading JSTonconforuiUti sent their CWI to the National school, and that in no instance iMidhfcsygiri been withdrawn from religious instruction 4e4egi*a*v). Only the other day the Quarter Sessions Mgemi. to instruct the police to be strict in bringing -Of anybody who used obscene language in the mw&ka. That fiot alone showed how necessarv it to take pains that religious teaohing shoala b^ mftt&ii&A for children in our schools. He would ask 4&4 _ry to make the national schools more popu- Ur. We were living in very democratic days, when everybody HW the morning papers, and there mvm Many people in small towns who were parfeotly gieqpored toutidertake the government of the country Owmmdcro- (laughter). He should like to see parents lIted on tho managing body (hear, hesr). They 464ftw ignke their -shouat something like Board arinrrW iu one respect so that parents might feel fjtxf had a real interest in them, and might be in. Jtmiti to use their influence to secure punctuality in <b»4Mlcndvice of scholars. Very great aare should be ia the choice of schoolmasters and school- for children copied their teachers. U tMug laid -Arst-claiss scbooloaafters and Bchoolmis- toneijronid be iap&rtad to tba school 7! and proper discipline maintained. Mere teaching was not everything. Teachers must get to know their children, care for them, study their characters, and should endeavour, if possible, to join in their play. Many people little knew how much good could be done in the playground. It was also of great im- portance that school children, in elementary schoole, should be taught habits of thrift by collecting their pennies to be deposited in the Post Office Savings Bark. Habits of thrift thus inculcated often created a feeling of independence which lasted throughout their lives. It was an excellent thing to have a little bit of a garden attached to the playground, by which means boys might be induced to take an interest in gardening, and some of them might in consequnence bee -)me I)rofess;onal gardeners, a class of men who 0 jmmanded good wages nowadays. He now came to a most important matter, the subject of Sunday acho JIS. He had the greatest admiration for Sunday school teachers, who exercised a spirit of self- denial in giving up their time to the work of Sunday school teaching By companionship and fellow- ship between teachers and scholars many a boy and girl might be saved from going to the bad. It was also a goud thing to have a Sunday School Clothing Club, and it was a great in. ducement to children to save. The better cluss of children should be encouraged to work for purposes of charity, and one w-y iu which they might do so was by joining the" Pinafore Ctub for the bauefit of the poor children of London. Another,most use- ful organization was the Boys' Frieudly Society, aud ha specially referred to this suDject because the subject of the Girls' Friendly S iciety would be dealt with by Miss Williams. There was a Bays' Friendly Society in his part of the county, and it was per. fectly wonderful to notice the way in which the ladies could manage the young men (laughter). Another good thing was to encou age football and cricket. There was nothing bad in either game, and a guod example might be shown of forbearance in taking defeat good humouredly. He understood that they in Newtown were celebrated both for foot- ball and cricket (applause). Then if they wanted to keep the workingman of the villages away from tha public house they must establish village clubs, and provide him with good healthy amusement and good healthy reading. They must also encourage their men to join beuefit societies. He himself employed a certain number of farm labourers, and he insisted that every man he permanently employed should join a ben-fit society. With regard to the subject of temperance it was a great thing to avoid putting wurkingmen in the way of temptatioa, and he him. a If had tried to put an end as far as he could to beer being given in the harvest. He asked his men to try th., experiment of having so much a day in harvest time instead of harvest beer, and it answered admir- ably. It was an excellent thin? both for employer and employed. He had given his men to drink during harvest time a substitute for beer, and ttie men said they likad it, better because it enabled them to put more money in their pockets at the end of the week. He oonfeosed he had only told them things ttiey all knew, but there were many people who did not know what amount of good they could do until they tried. The motto of President Lincoln to keep pegging away was an excellent one, and by doing their duty perseveringly in that spirit they would be sum to accomplish-good social work for their Church. The Hon. Mrs. BULKKLEY-OWEN read an exceed- ingly able paper on Women's share in the social work of the Church." She said she would cotfiue her remarks to three portions of women's work, th mothers' union, women's tecnperancu union, the Church of England Temperance Society, and on ho pitals. Women's work dated bacs to the earliest period of Christianity. She houed an 1 beiieved there was a grand future before Wales, but she thought tha., future rested in the hands of mothers. They had the training of the future mm and women of our country. It was once the proud boast of an ancient family that all its sons were brave. anJ all its daughters pure. Would that that wore the boast of Cymry, the most ancient in this land (ehocr.). The mother's union was founded about eleven years ago by Lady Mary Herbert, Lord Powis's mother, who began the work in the diocese of Lichfisld iu 1882, and to-day it numbered more than 60,000—a vast army of women, a great power for good. It was for all classes. It was suggested that there would be a great difficulty in getting the richer mothers to join the union, but could mothers of the richer class look back on their own liv. a, and Bay they had never failed in the guidance of their child- ren, that they hid never made any mistakes? The masters of some of the public sotioolf3 said there was a great lack amongst boys of a knowledge of first principles of Christianity it was the want of more definite teaching of the faith that led to Unitarian- ism and infidelity. Who was to blame for that? Tile mothers The heads of ladies' schools had said, that the girls' knowledge of scripture was Jess than, that of any other subject, and far behind that of an average National School child. Who was to blame for thai ? The mothers They had the first word with the children, the foundations of all religious teaching must be laid by the mother, and it nas qui.e possible to teach the faith to a tiny ciiild in simple words, long before it could master the Church Caie- chism.' They were bound to teach the Creed, the Lord's prayer, and the ten Commandments intelli. gently to their children and any women who failed to realise her enormous responsibility and her high privilege was not worthy of the sicred name of mother (loud cheers). Cauld they say that there was no need for the Mother's Union amongst the upper and middle classes, so long as there was a legal de- partment of the State called the Divoro Court, and so long as there was that black column in every news- paper, unfit for a Christian to read? Morality was terribly low amongst them. They wanted to realise that those things affected each one of them. There was much need of a higher standard of purity in tb.s diocese. Much of the sin around them was attributed to overcrowding. To prove that they hud o ay to look to Ireland with its crowded cabins and, high standard of purity. If morality was possible in the crowded cabins of Ireland, it was more possible in the cottages of Wales. They heard much of federa- tion. L"t the women of England and Waiea combine to guard the purity of home, to make the home what God meant it to be," a reflection of tho heme above. The lady speaker then appealed to allladieB to come forward and heip in the work, especially I those who could speak Welsh. She believed in the immortality of the language of the Cymry, and she did not wish to see the lauguage of her forefathers die out. Passing to the Women's Temperance Union, she said it was started 12 years ago iii order to cope b3tter with the increasing drunkenness amongst women. Years ago it was a disgrace to see women enter a public house, now it was a common sigtit. Medical men were of opinion that it was far easier to cure a man of drinking than a woman. One great reason was that many women drank of set purpote- teoretly. Drinking, like other things, was the work of time, and although they could not look into the future and see what would become of their children, yet he asked mothers to train their children m habits of temperance. Never accustom them to spirits, and never let them learn the habit from example. With the work of the Women's Union she joined the Band of Hope, and in this work the Church must confess to her shame that she had been very behind hand in Wales. In some parishes, even now, it was taken up in a very half-hearted way. Hsro the Nonconf >r- mists had set the Church a great example. The Montgomeryshire Tempertnce Union was ms.inly formed of Nonconformists. Temperance should be- long to no palitical party (applause). Lastly, Mrs Owen referred to hospitals, and concluding by ex- horting mothers to teaoh their girls, whatever their Eosition in life might be, something useful, something y which the world might be made better, remember- ing that all work was an ennobling thing (loud cheers). Miss WILLIAMS, president; of the St. Asiph Girls' Friendly Sooiety, resd a paper on the social work of the Church and men and women's share in it. She said the usual work of the Church was to forge a id draw closer the links of love which should bind together all the members of Christ's family on earth, making them one, not only in their deepest feelings, but on the surface of We also — n every day duties, careH, sorrows, joys and pleasures. Having touched on tho work done by the Girls' Friendly Society, th.) speaker went to epe.k of whit the society was endeavouring to do in working out the motto, Bear ye one another burdens." Sht) said that when they tri-nl to heip girls at ho>ne the.7 were moBt careful not to disturb the natural relations of mother and daughter, as one of theirflrst objects was to encourage dutifnlness to parents (cheers). If a girl had to look forward to keeping herself it was most important that she should choose the career for which she was best fitted, and should have thi best possible preparation. This was wher9 a friend that look, at things from a wider standpoint and had h-.d perhaps a great ;r experience of life, may be of special service. This question of training was too often neglected, with the lamentable result of poor' and unsatisfactory work. Girls were often puzzled as to what kind of work to tike up, aad shy at offer- ing their services. Older friendi wno lud already found their own work in the world may save them much time and many mistakes (cheer <). When girls had left the shelter of homo the advantages of be. lonifing to such a society were mnre obvious. Think of the puptl teaoher in some distant parish, the 0.)1. lpge student, the hospital nurse, the young woman in business and in service, and others in great towns and abroad, then you feel the value of a link which con- nects them with the old home. You must all recog- nise the, fact that at the present day there are I special temptations to unnecessary self-indulgence to l oombat, with which they must try to cultivate habits of temperance in body and mind, of systematic thrift and wise expenditure (oh--are). Having poiuted out the r,'a«oa why the society was classed among the or- ganisatiops in fcbe Churoh, the speaker showed that •at of 200 parish** in the diocese over 120 could boast ii QS.H* Th* perfection of organisation desired, r ■■ lVHT .'V and therefore to be aimv^ "or* -vJ3^ its friends, was this that ^ould be impossible for any of the members to go t,) any place where they could not at once be ?.i an associate of the society. It a P">° £ o £ need of Bome such society that 10 1^8 4lP seventeen years it should hav* ,OT<?r greater part of the civilized world, -no' ° m f country aud its colonies and Americet, b ° the countries of Europe, and its sooce.-ates being counted by thousands, with the Qaeen And incess of Wales at their head. This society could not 1h. intro- diiced into any parish without the sanction ot the clergyman, and the reason it was not started in mainy parishes was because of the inability to find laaiet willing to undertake the associate's work. There, was one way in which the difficulty might be overcome that was to take one or more of the associates from other parishes and visit members in districts where they had no resident associate, and hold classes, &o. (cheers) Sir ROBERT CUNLIFFE said it was the social side of life which the Church as an organisation ought to touch, and he would give the heads of a few political question, although he did not mean to touch on controversial questions. There was the question of pensions for the aged poor, the temperance question, the betterment of the poor, allotments, sanitation, and the Eight Hours Bill, these all had a. strong social side to them. The Chureh might evercise a powerful influence without- becoming identified with either political party in the country (cheers). He submitted for the consideration of their brethren, the clergy, that it would ba a good thing if they could endeavour to find work and responsibility for mem- bers drawn fram the more numerous classes in the Church (cheers). He had been a churchwarden him- self for some years, but he would like to see, whenever practical, and whenever it could be done, those who held such office drawn from the more numerous classes in the country. When men came to work together for Church purposes the link was drawn tigliter, and the influence of the Church was wider aud deeper. He would now pass to the subject ot sanitation, which was a thing that came home to the daily lives of tbe people. He wondered how many of them present that evening knew of one single parish where there were no cottages which ought to be puiled down (laughter and cheers). That was a matter on which the influence of the Church might De brought to bear Their law insisted that cottages should be well attended to, but there were places where landlords osuld not or would not attend to it. It must be the wish of every one in that room to raise the tone of domestic life in that country, and how could they when they had houses which were not tit to live in. Both the great parties in the State had given their adhesion to the Oarish Councils Bill,, and he hoped some good and moderate plan would be I arrived at, and then the people woald take into their own hands the question of sanitation, and then they would have a decent and wholesome house over their heads. Sir Robert than made some practical refer- ences to recreations, and said he would conclude in the hope that the influence of the Church, which as ha.d been said by more than one speaker, had led the way to reform, would be the greatest and most powerful influence in the life and social reform of the country (loud cheers). The Rev Principal Owen said his special subject in connection with the social work of the Church was with reference to young men, and he was sure the town of Robert Owen ought to be delighted that the whole Conferenc3 had been dealing with the social side of the Church's work. That was excel lent, but the worst of it was that they wanted in- spirants. They must not drop the individual when going in for social work, which was a warcing Mr Marshall Dngdale had well given them. He was so glad to see young men there. He thought that for young men living in lodgings it was a grand message for them that mankind was a brotherhood, with one Father. That was the message of Christianity- (cheers)-and let them press it (cheers). Another thing a yoang man wanted was to make money, and to get on, and to make the best of both worlds. He thought the Church ought to speak straight out on the materialism of the age (cheers). This was an age of commerce, and the Church should show the young men that wealth was a trust, and that if they had much of it they could do a great deal of good. Privilege was always matched up to the hilt by re- sponsibility (cheers). If they had much do not let them look down from a platform of pride on those who had not (loud cheers). The man who was proud because he had more than his neighbours, did not know the elements of Christian truth about gifts. He hoped there were young working men there be- cause if, on one hand there had been a pride, there was jealou sy on the other (cheers). Th«y must bear in mind that wealth was a burden as well as a gift, and why shouid tuey be jealous of a man because he had a heavier burden to bear than they (laughter). They were living in days of conflicts between capital and labour. If the Church had taught fifty years ago straight away the grand principles ot our Master they would not have been in the difficulty they were now in—(cheers) and the sooner the better that was done. Just let them preach the broad principles of Christian morality (cheere.) If they were going to work amongst young men they must care about them. First of all let them pray for them, then think about them and then let them look out not for their faults, but for their virtues-just for a change (laughter.) There was good and evil strangely mixed in th.s world around and inside us (renewed laugh- ter ) If they went looking for evil they would see it in plenty, bat let them make it a rule to go and look for good. If they did that they would not complain of want of sympathy. They believed in the teaching of the Church, don't let them pretend they did not (cheers.) There should also be patriotism. He ven. tured to hope that he was a patriot. He was a red hot Welsh nationalist in bis own way (laughter.) He was thoroughly in accord with the motto of Young Wales, "Up again with Old Waler. but he would a id to it, "Up again with Old Wales, and the Old Church of Old WaLss" (loud cheers.) He loved Wales a patriot was a man who loved his country, not one who dodged about to make his country love him (loud and prolonged cheers.) The RAV EVAN JONES, LUnllwchaiarn, also spoke, and the meeting closed with a vote of thanks to Lord Powis. FKIDIY'S PROCEEDINGS. On Friday morning at eight o'clock there was a celebratioa of Holy Communion at the Parish Church and at ten o'clock morning prayer was said. Tue Conference resumed its sittings at half-past ten, when there was again a large attendance of clerioal a id lay representatives. The Ven. Archdeacon Thomas presided, and stated that the Bishop bad not been abl« to leave Newtown on the previous night until 11-30, and aa the sitting on the previous day was a long one, he felt certain they would exoase the Bishop until mid-day, especially after the severe ill- ness throu«h which he had passed. — Prayer was offered by the Rector of Newtown, the Rev E. A. Fishbourne, and the hyma The Church's one foundation," was sung, the Rev T. Redfern, of Os- westry, presiding at the piano. THE SPIRITUAL LIFE IN ITS DEVOTIONAL AND PRACTICAL CHARACTER. The Rev CECIL HOOK, Vicar of Oswestry, in open- ing a discussion on this subject, said it was neces- sary to try and consider what the meaning of spirit- ual life was. It had its powers, the mealne of growth, it had its eyes to see, its ears to hear, its powers of assimilation, or he might say of digestion, and it had its possible death, though the death of the spiritual life suggested suicide rather than any other form. And thus they conceived that there fxistad in their personality a. duality of living—there was tijead.ritual life and there was the na ural life. Let them then follow out the analogy between the natural and soiritu tl life. It had its ears, which was the con science of man. What was it that raised the first blush in the child's face, or caused a child to blush when first thoughts of impurity were intr iduced into its mind, what was it? It was God Himself dealing with the spiritual life within. The highest approach t J the spiritual life of God was the Holy Eucharist, wherein we might plead the one great sicnfioe once offered tor our sins and the Rins of the whole world, while we mingled with it the acceptable incense of our petitions, our thanksgiving, our praise, and our intercessions. Such constant communion with God could not but resuscitate our spiritual life, and keep it near to and in accord with God. The Rev J. MORGAN, of Denbigh, having contri- buted to the discussion. I The Rev. J. JONBS, rector of Llanfyllin, next spoke. He stid the spiritual life of the true Christian was nothing less than a reproduction of the life of Jesus Christ. PrAY, let him not for o" moment be understood to mean that it was possible for fallible man to reproduce the perfect life of our sinless Lord. That was beyond human capacity. The life of the best and the most saintly was oniy » pate reflection of our Lord's life. And yet the out- ward, praotical life of Christ was the Christian s 9 andard and model, and the controlling power with- in was Christ himself. He proposed to ask two ques- tions viz. • How could they pne the existence of the gpiri t'ual life to tho test, and what was the range of its influenoe ? Its existence, strength, and vitality could only ba tested by its practical results. The gospel told them the spiritual life of the sool must reveal itself in act. and that it was a mu ake to sup- poae that they possess it, unless it made ltselt mam- test A life of active goodness was a living, walking &bte. The range of its influenoe was universal in its scope. It shomld be seen in every department of life Home was one area of its manifestation. 1 here was one thing that all classes longed for, whether rich or poor, and -tikat- won a happy home. No homeocmW lay cUin to happiness which did not A'so l»y to the exercise of practical religion. Blessed indeed was the home of that parent whoss motto was As fer me and my hoase, we will serve the Low. Home was the place where the Christ-life began, and1 the life that begun with Christ was likely to be spent with Christ here and hereafter. Home was the place where the foundation of character was laid. The impressions of home followed a man not only to the great world of duty, but even to the grave. Parents should therefore place before their children a hifrh standard of conduct. Treat them always with I equity, for there was no wrong that a child was mora sensitive to than that of unfairness or injustice When firmness was needed let it be tempered with consideration. To the heads of households who had servantfi in their employ he said—remember that the basis of the relations subsisting between them and those in their service should be the spiritna lite. We heard in these days numerous complaints about domestic servants. They were teld that as a class tbe). had degenerated that they were not as respec fal, avd submissive, and faithful as they were; that they wei-e much more easily provoked, more preten- tious and wasteful; and that the things they seem to think most about were dress, finery, high wages, ample leisure, and the least possible work. Now if all this were true, what had brought about this change for the worse P Many causes might be mentioned. But were rulers of families quite sure that they were not to a certain extent responsible for this retrograde movement? Had they always ful- filled this branch of their stewardship wisely and judiciously? Servants, like other people, had their faults and frailties. Had those faults been corrected in a spirit of kindness and consideration ? Had the tone of the reproof been marked more by unchari tabi e severity than by Christian firmnessf The rev. gentleman then impressed upon master and mistress the need of setting a good eximple of a Christian life. They all knew that the home that ignored God could not expect the blessing of God. Let family worship have a conspicuous place in home life. The spiritna-llife should been seen in our evory day business. Religion should be the life of our worldly transactions; first of all, because every man's daily business was a divine calling. States- men, doctors, lawyers, tradesmen, and mechanics were as truly called by God to do their work as clergymen were to do the work of the Gospel. The life of a Christian man of business would be an intol- erable burden unless he felt convinced that he was doiag work which God had given him to do. God bestowed His approval upon every occupation that yielded honest gain. The spiritual life was not incon- sistent with political activity. It demanded a place in the conscience of the statesman. It should be a force niditpfir and influencing him in the discharge of his ali-impor';ant duties. Every statesman in a Christian country should be a Christian statesman, Public life and private character must stand or fall together. Purity of aim and honesty of purpose were infinitely more valuable in a statesman than dexterity of tongue. The first object of a godly statesman was to serve the best and high-st interasts of his country. Nothing excited his scorn more than the self-interest of the mere politician. The spirit of religion should govern social relations. Opportunities for helpiag others were never wait. ing. What an opportunity there was just now in t'lis country for men of God to exert their healing i .flaence! Let the Christian philanthiopist throw the whole weight of his influence into the arena of strife which was now going on between capital and labour. Let those who were the peacemakers as weil as the salt of society step forth and do what they could to put an end to those unhappy rela. tions between employers and employed which were producing such unseemly violence, paralysing all our industries, and causing suah wide-spread suffering and distress throughout the country. One more way in which we could oe of use to Christ socially was by cultivating self-denial and reality in our intercourse with one another, aud the spiritua.1 life should be seen in our recreation. The innocence, and purity, and manliness of the life of the spirit should be seen in all amusements. The PRESIDENT, on behalf of the Conference' thanked the lev. gentlemen for their addresses. THE MAINTENANCE OF OUR NATIONAL SCHOOLS IN FACE 0. PRESENT DIFFCULTIES. Mr Chancellor PARKINS, in introducing the sub- ject, &aid it was one of the importance of which they all agreed. He took it that there were many present who were aware of the immense importance of the National Schools. It appeared that in 1870 they numbered 7,000, in 1892 there were 1,200 more, which was an enormous increase, and the scholars numbered upwards of ?,200,000 (applause). Such a great institution he took it they were all agreed ought to be maintained, in order that the children of the eountry might have religions education. If there were no national schools they would be compelled to fall back on the Board Schools. The present system of religions teaching in Board Schools was not satis- factory to Churchmen. Even if the Board Schools did so they shouid teach it more than they did at present, but even then it wouid not be satisfactory to-fohurchmen, because a distinctive religious teach- ing was the only one that would secure them the teaching of morality on a permanent basis. They knew that at the present moment considerable oiffi-1 cutties had arisen with regard to the National Schools, and, ae the Bishop had said on the previous day, an authority had arisen which did not recognise the voluntary system. The question for them was by what methods they were to meet the present diffi- culties. They w-re all agreed as to the duty of maintaining the National Schools. He took it that nothing satisfactory cou d take their place, not even the Sunday school. Whatever good the Sunday schools did they could never take the place of the N.ti,Dal Schools. In the first place a great many children did not attend the Sunday school, and the time given for re.igious teaching there was very little. He felt that Churchmen ought to maintain the full efficiency of the National ochools of their district. At the present time about half the educa. tional expenset3 of the schools were made up by means of grants. Up to two years aeo m>6t of the expenses were provided by the children, but now they had no fee grants, and ubout three-quarters of the expenses of the National Schools came from the annual grant. As the Goverument now supplied part towards the expense of the schools, the require- ments had increased in proportion, and they pressed more strongly about them, and although the grants had relieved the parents of the children it did not give a. permanent assistance to the schools. Cou d any scneme be devised for obtaining, money to relieve them from their difficulties? It seemed to him that +.he difficulty of the question was extremely great. It was, however, their duty to d i what they could to maintain the National Schools; it was their duty to act together; and it was their duty to see the schools wore maintained in the interests of the whole Church. There must be some combined action (applause). T'nere was one religious body which had very definite views indeed k about distinctive religious teaching, the Roman Catholics. It had been repeatedly said that the Roman Catholics had not lost a sintrle school; their bishops acted together as one body, they met to- gether and laid down certain rules, aod they maintained that their schools were entitled to a fair share of the rates. The Church of England was very much stronger than the Romau Catholic body, and if tha Church imitated its example, banded together and formulated a common plan and acted upon it, he had no doubt whatever that their National schools would be thoroughly preserved. With that view he proposed "That this meeting of the St. Asaph DioceBan Conference respectfully urgeo upon his Grace the Archbishop of Cinternury toe desirability of conferring with the Archbi-hop of York and the other bishops, with a view to the adoption of a e .rporate policy on the subject of religious education in public elementary SChOOIIll" (loud cheers). The Rev. ELIAS OWEN having spok n, The BISHOP said they should imagine a Noncon- form at living in a parish where there was no School Board He ob] cted to the religious teaching of the Church of England in the school that was there, and ye-, he was carefully protected by the law, and his child need not receive any religious teaching from that National School if his parents thought fit. But let him take the oth-n- side of the question. Let them imagine a Churchman living in a country parish where there was a School Boiri, aul no Natioual School-(hear, hearl-in which the Bible wa* read but not explained, and if the Bible was not explained how could it inspire the children with knowledge or reference ? When they talked about totera ion and liberty, let them remember that Church people requir d toleration, for they were undqr tho. most intolerable oppression, in i his opinion (loud applause) They did not, like some people, say they would not pay the school rate, but Raid You Lave got yoar S :hoo Bo ird, and we con- tribute towards the rate iikA peacoabie citizens, and we are detenoined we shall have the rirht to main- tain our schools at, our own cost." What aid tne frienis of toleration do? They said, You shall not pay for your own schools." His Lordship desired to put the put the position fairly. tie had heard a greit educationalist in Wales say that every school .would be balltied nVHr to the School Board. What had happened in WAle" since the pa-sing of the For. ster Act F The Church hki almost donbled her atten- dance in the National Schonli;. During the last four years that attendance ha < increased ovpr 1.400 (loud ipplauee.) Let tb" fariaeis know the truth of these thing- (applause.) The secular education of the children was looked after quite as well in the National School as iu the Boa, d School. ple used the rates rather freely, but he did not know thiw wati any great advantage to education. He should like the farmer* of the country thoroughly to understand the question, and thoroughly msoier its financial re- iialm (ehoors.) He knew they would pull together, 1 they had got into the habit of doing so in that diooese (appl,use) -to raise sufficient i. <eet the difficul- ties of the situation (loRd applause.; AFTERNOON MEE1ING. In the afternoon the Conference re-met: Arch- deacon Thomas presided, and was supported by Mr Trevor Parkins, and Capt. D. H Mytton, the Rev D. Grimaldi Davie, of Welshpool, and the Rev Canon Owen. The report of the Standing Joint Committee was received. Capt. MYTTON, in movinsr the adoption of the report, said the report referred to the various! measures which had been, and were to be, brought! before Parliarrent. With regard to the Suspensory Bill, which had excited so much attention throughout throughout the country, they, as Churchmen, con- tended that they had repelled this preliminary attack upcn the Cbaich. They must not forget, as the Committee had pointed out, that the House of Commons had passed the second reading of the Bill by a iarze majo ity. He thought the way in which it had been dropped showed thit at last Church p ople were aroused to the danger which beteo the Church, through the attitude uf the present Hou>e of Commons towards it. The r*>por' also referred to the abuses of the Church, and the efforts which had been to reform them. Those efforts had been to a great extent frustrated by the Mou-e of Commons. Thit fact proved that the enemies of the Church were strong in Parliamer-t. and « ere determined to do all they could to destroy it. With regard to the Parish Ceuncils Bill, h-? tnought theie coulil no be two opinions that something of the kind was very much needed. At the same time it must be remetu- brrea that the Parish Councils Bi ll was promote on sttong party lines, and he thought that SOue of io provisions were very much to be depreca-od, as Üt-y affected the Church deeply, and were urottiy to ill" disadvantage. The act ion rf the Committee in point ing out these thing. to the Conference would, he hoped, arouse every Churchman throughout trle country to do his utmost to defeat tkese attempts, and to see that the interests of the Church werr maintained intact. He had muc'i pleasure m p: o. posing the adoption of the report, (cheers). The Rev O. A. NARES, Vicar of Keriy, in second- ing the motion, referred to the suspensory Bill. They had great hopes tbat they should hear no more of it. At the 8ime time, they must be prepared to face a more vigorous and hostile onslaught on t' e Estabiisbmant. He thought that Conference Lat1 furnished a fair proof that Churchmen uf all shaoes of opinion were prepared to repel that attack whrn it catne. He trusted that the tactics of th. ir opponents might be deprived of a cons- derable portion of their sting when they read the verv foicible rpinaiks uttered by the various speakers wirh regard to the measures alluded to in the report. The object of the Parish Councils Bill was to a great extent similar to that of the Suspensory Bill. The object of the latter was to disestablish the clcrey, while that of the former was to disestablish the churchwardens. In future the custodians for these charities were to be elected by personq directly un-ler pariah control, in accordance with the prevalent fashion. With regard to the high prerogative which the clergy had enjoyed in the past of presiding ex-officio at vestry meetings, he thought it was one which they weald not care to c ing to tenaciously. Principal OWEN referred to the defeat of the Sus- pensory Bill, for defeated it was (cheers). He believed that its defeat wa.. owing to the fact that Churchmen and Churchwomen worked heartily together to repel the attack made upon the Church. The number of signatures to the petitions which were got up astonished both Churchmen and Liberationists. He was quite ready to admit it was possible in some cases that people had forgotten to put a cross in front of their names, but he diJ not think anyone had proved, and he wouid go further, and say he did not think anyone could prove, that there had been anything more than a technical violati n of the rules with regard to petitions, or that any of the signa- tures were not really genuine. liven if they eii-i put a little discount upon them in that respect the tact remained that an enormous portk-n of the popul.ti. i of Wales had declared that they were not going to have the Welsh Church treated iu tht way. While he was very loyal to their Bishop, and did not wish to say anything wh oh might have the appearance ot disagreement with him in his remarks about the clergy and party politics, he stid thought tbat be- tween now and the next general election io was ihe duty of every Churchman who was convinced that Disestablishment and Di-endo w ment wxuid be unjust and injurious to the interests of the Church and their country, to do what he could to resist tne attacks made upon them (cheers). The report was unanimously adopted. THE SPIRITUAL WANTS OF WELSHMEN IN ENGLAND. The Committee brought up a report on this subject the adoption of which was moved by Archdeacon THOMAS.—Rev Chancellor RICHA-EDSON seconded, and the motion was carried. VOTBS OF THANJE8. Mr TREVOR PARKINS moved a vote of thanks to the local Secretaries and Committee, and snid the work had been done exceedingly well. The wcrk was exceptionally difficult that year, as copies of the programmes were sent to every member of the Con- terence, and it was no easy work ta send out 700 or 800 letters correctly. The Rev D. GRIMALDI DAVIES seconded the motion and it was carried, and in reply, tho Rev F. M. HAMILTON said they in New'.own were glad that the Conference had been a success. The Rev H. HOLBSCH moved a vo4e of thank? to the people of Newtown for the hospitable way in which the members had been raeeived. The Rev T. REDFERN seconded the motion, and it was carried. The Rev E. A. FiSHBOURNRre-'pon'ied, remarking that Churchmen and Nonconformists had been ready to welcome them. Votes of thanks were passed to the Bishop, Arch- deacon Thomas, and Chancellor Parkins, after which the conference broke up. THE WOMEN'S UNION. At three o'clock a meeting of the Women's Union, arranged bv Mrs Evan-Jones was held in the Peiy- gloddfa National Schoolroom, when the Rev R. Evan-Jones, after feeding prayers, introduced the Hon. Mrs Bucklev-Owen, woo was well received, and she with other ladies addressed the meeiing on the subject of women's work. The arraufiremei.t.-t for the conference were aà- mirably carried out by a local conitn tue, composed of the cnurchwardens and by delegates of the rarisbe-) of Newtown I.nd Llai.llwchaia.rri. T:ie Rev E. A. Fi-hbourne worke.i energetically ne chair-na" and the Rev F. M. Hamilton and Mr W. B. Poet- Jones performed the offices hon. see. in a very credit- able and praiseworthy manner.