means of knowledge may be said to have been brought within reach of most of the lower classes. The faculty of reading, and understanding what they read, owing .to the improved system upon which they are generally taught, is no longer confined to their superiors. There are few who do not, or may not, possess it. This acquirement has created in them, as might naturally be expected, a desire for information, and the SOCIETY FOR PROMOTING CHRISTIAN KNOWLEDGE, with a provident foresight of their wants, has not left them to "run here and there for meat, and grudge if they be not satisfied," but at the same time that, from its permanent list, it provides them with a plentiful supply of spiritual food in the Holy Scriptures, and other works of a purely religious character, presents them, also in its Supplemental Catalogue, with a judicious selection of works of a lighter cast, as a source of moral entertainment. The Committee, sensible of the expedience of combining amusement with instruction, will be happy to afford every facility in their power to the formation of Lending Libraries. They hope to see the day when every School, if not every Parish within the District, is provided with a Library of this description*. The advancement of the Dean of Chichester to the Bishoprick of Gloucester has deprived the Committee of the superintendence of a President, under whose auspices it has been raised to a degree of efficiency and importance, which few similar Institutions have hitherto attained, and none have surpassed. The Committee could not contemplate the dissolution of a connection which had been productive of so much satisfaction to themselves, and of so much benefit to society, without some memorial of their gratitude and respectand accordingly at the last Quarterly Meeting (which was attended by his Grace the Duke of Richmond in the chair-the Right Hon. Lord Selsey, Lord G. Lennox, Sir Thomas Brooke Pechell, Bart. M.P. Sir James Brisbane, the Venerable Archdeacon of Chichester, the Canons Residentiary, the Prebendaries, and the principal Clergy and Laity of the District) the following Address, moved by Lord Selsey, * With a view to promote the establishment of Lending Libraries, the Committee undertake to supply any School or Parish, where such Library is formed, with a copy of the SOCIETY's Family Bible at the cost price, and to be at the expence of the binding. "Called as you have been, under the guidance of Divine Providence, to the high and arduous office of a Bishop in the Church of Christ; We, the Vice Presidents and Members of the Chichester Diocesan Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, of which you have been for many years the zealous and active President, cannot but rejoice in your elevation; and, as Members of the Church of England, look forward with pleasure to the good effects, which under the Divine blessing, we are persuaded will result from your labours in a more extensive field for their exertion. With the voice of gratulation, however, will mingle that of regret, when we reflect that your promotion will deprive this institution of a President, to whose zeal and unremit ting attention it owes so much of its present prosperity and success. We pray that the Divine Grace which has called you to this great work will comfort and strengthen you in the discharge of it, and with the most sincere wishes for your health, happiness, and welfare, we subscribe ourselves, &c. &c." To the foregoing address, signed by the noble Chairman, and nearly eighty other. Members of the Committee, the following reply has been received by the Secretary. London, April 24, 1824. Rev. and dear Sir, You will have the goodness to communicate to the Members of the Chichester Diocesan Committee of the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge my ligh sense of the honour which they have done me in addressing to me their congratulations on my late promotion; and to present them (the noble Chairman of your Meeting, particularly, the noble mover, and the seconder of the address) my best acknowledgments and warmest thanks for this distinguished mark of their kindness and favourable opinion. Though the affairs of the Committee have succeeded beyond our expectations, during the time I have been honoured with the office of its President, I am conscious that it is in no respect indebted to me for its success. My residence at Chichester has been only partial: and the zealous exertions of the venerable Archdeacon, the Secretary, the Clergy of the District, and the Friends and Favorers of the Institution, have left me little opportunity of taking an active part in promoting its prosperity. Sensible as I am of the great importance of these Institutions to the promotion of Christian Knowledge and practice, I offer up my fervent prayers to the Almighty for the welfare and success of your Committee, and shall always feel the most lively interest in its charitable and pious Jabours; and I am confident that, under a more able and efficient President, it will continue to increase in numbers, revenue, and usefulness. The Committee may be assured that I am deeply sensible of the importance and difficulty of the situation to which I have been promoted, and I am truly thankful to them for the prayer which they offer in my behalf to the fountain of strength and wisdom; as yet I have but little experience of the burdens attached to my office in the Church of Christ, but I humbly trust to God's grace for assistance and support in the discharge of its arduous and momentous duties. " I cannot conclude without adding my best wishes and fervent prayers for the health and happiness of the individual Members of your Committee, and expressing my most grateful sense of the kindness, which I have uniformly experienced at Chichester in this and every other capacity. Believe me to be, Rev. and dear Sir, Your faithful Friend and Brother, C. GLOUCESTER. Rev. W. W. HOLLAND, Secretary of the Diocesan Committee, &c. Consolatory and cheering as is the view of the good already achieved by the Committee, and of the respectable patronage by which their designs have been fostered and advanced, they are conscious that much yet remains to be done.-The powers of the human mind have within a few years awakened, as it were, from a long sleep. The lower orders of the Community, who intent upon their worldly pursuits, with little either of leisure or ability to study the Scriptures, used implicitly to rely upon their Teachers, now learn to read and think for themselves and as was to have been expected, and by no means to be deplored, scan with some jealousy those doctrines which they heretofore admitted with little or no examination. The change is most important to the cause of Truth, and consequently to the interests of Morality and Religion, The Church of England, with her ready reference to the Bible, as the fountain of all her doctrines, with her constaut appeal to the precepts and practice of Christ and his Apostles, as the model of all her rites and ordinances, has nothing to fear, but exery thing to hope, from this advancement of the faculties of the human mind, and from the spirit of investigation to which it has given birth. But the popu lation of the kingdom has been progressively increasing beyond the capacity of her Churches and Chapels, and to keep pace with the times, she must erect new places of worship, as well as provide all the other means which it may be in her power for the religious education of her people. * Of the Clergy, animated as they generally appear to be, to supply by National and Parochial Schools, by catechetical lectures, &c, the increasing demand for Christian Knowledge, it cannot be expected that their natural powers will suffice, under the most regular attention to their ministerial functions, and by the most unwearied parochial visitations to complete the edification of all the persons committed to their charge by oral instruction. They must have the means presented to them of aiding their own labours by an increased distribution of the word of God, and of that excellent formulary of Christian worship, which the Church of England has founded thereupon. And, as the enemy of souls is still permitted for the trial of human virtue, to roam the earth: as it is his unceasing endeavour to beguile the senses and captivate the judgment, and to make, as in the case of our first parents, even the thirst for knowledge a snare for those who may not suspect his specious wiles, other means are required to check his insidious progress. To remove the obscurities which have in process of time gathered over the sacred volume, to set in their proper light those holy truths which the passions of man are ever inciting him to misinterpret or to misapply, further expositions of the letter of the sacred vo lume, and written illustrations of its spirit, become necessary in furtherance of ministerial exertions. These expositions and illustrations, composed principally by the Clergy, but in a few honourable instances by their lay brethren, the Society have long and abundantly supplied in various Books and Tracts, now amounting to *The Committee have great pleasure in announcing that arrangements have been made for rebuilding the Parish Church of St. Bartholomew, in Chichester, which was totally destroyed by the Paramentary Forces in 1642. several hundreds; and, as has been before intimated, are constantly issuing new Treatises adapted to the changed, and perhaps improving, taste of modern times. To insure, therefore, the uninterrupted issue of Bibles, of Prayer Books, and of those approved Treatises of Christian instruction and Moral entertainment, the Committee respectfully, but earnestly solicit, their present Friends not only to continue their subscriptions, but to advocate with unremitted zeal, the cause of the Institution in their respective neighbourhoods. Thus will they be the happy instruments of “turning many to righte ́ousness," who might otherwise be lost to peace in this world, and to happiness in the next-thus will they enjoy the glorious opportunity of snatching ingenuous and unsuspecting youth-and uninstructed age, as forlorn and pitiable, from the dangers which every where surround the path of life-thus will they save them from those fatal errors which spring from unwarranted interpretations of holy writ, which mislead the moral sense, and teach the soul to repose in a fallacious security; but, above all, thus will they effectually guard them against that spirit of infidelity which seeks at once to intercept from fallen man the light of Heaven, and to disqualify him for its pure felicities. (By order of the Committee,) W. W. HOLLAND. SECRETARY. ACCOUNT of BIBLES, COMMON PRAYERBOOKS, TRACTS, &c. distributed by the COMMITTEE, between the AUDIT of 1822 and the AUDIT of 1823. ples of the Established Church, was held at the Central School, Baldwin's Gardens, on Thursday, June 3. Present-His Grace the Archbishop of Canterbury, in the Chair; the Archbishop of York; the Bishops of London, Worcester, Gloucester, Lincoln, Oxford, and Exeter; the Dean of Worcester; Rev. Doctors Walmsley, Inglis, D'Oyly, Burrow, Hawes, Wordsworth, Crane, aud Hollingworth; the members of the General Committee and many others of the Clergy and Laity. As soon as the Chair had been taken by the Archbishop of Canterbury, the Secretary, Dr. Walmsley, opened the business of the meeting, by reading the Report of the proceedings of the Society during the last year. The Archbishop of Canterbury rose to move that the Report then read be adopted and printed. His Grace said, that after the clear and satisfactory account which they had just heard, there remained little with which he could have to trouble them; but he could not help congratulating them that he saw around him the same persons as were engaged the day before (at the Society for the Enlargement of Churches) in the same cause; for it was obvious that the one undertaking without the other would be but an imperfect work. At the last annual meeting the Society was in want of money, but it did not discontinue its work then in progress; it even ventured to incur a debt, but it has now a fund which not only completely exonerates it from the burthen of its engagements, but ensures new vigour and efficacy to its widely extended operations. His Grace added, that he had himself witnessed the very great advantage which had been derived to the lower ranks from the diffusion of the National System of education, as it was manifested in the candidates for confirmation. The difference between the last and preceding confirmations, in respect of the due qualification of the young people was most marked; and no stronger or more gratifying evidence of the benefits arising from religious education could possibly be given. General Thornton fully concurred with the Report on all the topics which had been mentioned in it, especially on that of the King's letter; but lamented that the boys were not instructed in some useful works of industry, and expressed his apprehension that to the omission of some mode of teaching the children to earn a subsistence after they have left the schools was to be attributed the lamentable fact of so many juvenile offenders being brought to justice for their crimes, of the streets and prisons being filled with youthful depredators, and of the shocking scenes of depravity and destitution in which so many children were continually discovered. The General concluded by moving, "That it be a special recommendation to the several National Schools to devote half the time appointed for school hours in the employment of boys as well as girls in some sort of labour or business." After a pause, during which no one appeared to second the motion, the Bishop of Worcester remarked, that as there was no seconder, he presumed the motion must fall to the ground. The Archbishop of Canterbury then rose and said, that there was one part of the General's speech to which he felt himself called upon to offer a reply, because it was of the greatest importance that the fact alluded to should be rightly understood, and he was sure that it could only arise from a misunderstanding of the real circumstances of the case, that the General had thought it expedient to urge the arguments he had used. He had charged upon the mode, or at least on the deficiency, of education received in National Schools the crimes of the children, whose deplorable conduct and condition excited so much disgust in the mind of the public; but his Grace had the high satisfaction of being able to assure the meeting that this charge was altogether groundless, that the very contrary was proved by experience to be the truth. And this assurance he gave upon the authority of those who were best qualified to ascertain the fact, of those who had professionally been enabled to pay the strictest attention to the subject; and who unanimously declare, that the establishment of National Schools has not only not contributed to crime, but has very materially lessened it among those classes, who, without such education, are usually found to be the most profligate. The Bishop of Exeter wished to add to the foregoing testimony, the fact which had been stated, and remained uncontradicted, that not one child educated in a National School had been brought to justice. It had, indeed, happened that in a few, and a very few instances, children had been committed, who were said to be from National Schools; but it had been discovered upon due investigation that either they had been dismissed as incorrigible, or had been so very short a time in the school, as neither to have imbibed the principles there instilled, nor to have cast off the lawless habits they had acquired be fore their admission. Lord Calthorpe begged permission to move the thanks of the meeting to the most Reverend President for his great kindness and condescension in devoting so much of his valuable time to the business of the Society, and for his unwearied zeal and exertions in promotiong its interests. His Lordship was not unprepared to admit that some of the observations which fell from General Thornton were deserving of the consideration of the Society, though he thought them premature, and such as ought rather to be referred to the Committee for discussion in a less official manner than introduced upon an occasiou like the present. His Lordship was not insensible to the dangers to which the rising generation was exposed in an age of luxury and dissipation. It was a melancholy fact, that in the calendars of offences, and in the prisons so great a number of juvenile delinquents are to be seen; but were it not for this institution, he was perfectly persuaded, the number would be far greater. The Church of England would have been unfaithful to her character, and would have acted inconsistently with the cordial spirit of humanity and Christian zeal, which she is wont at all times to display, if she had abstained from using her best endeavours to rescue the rising generation from the danger to which it is exposed. The labours of the institution are to be the more appreciated, because the schools under its direction are in general peculiarly well managed. The instruction which is furnished in them is most judiciously adapted to the age, the mind, and the abilities of the scholars; the improvement is gradual and certain; the system tends to cherish no principle of irregular mischievous exertion, no ungoverned impulse, but rather a sober, chastised prin. ciple of action, giving the character by degrees a steady, consistent, moral, and religious tone. We may surely anticipate that children so brought up will preserve their earliest impressions: it will be found that the Society enlists into the service of the Church the operations of their mature judgment, and that their feelings and habits will contribute essentially to its stability and strength. We may already observe that this effect is produced. Besides, the benefit of these schools is not a single one, it is not confined to the first and immediate object, but it is diffused on every side and through various channels. The connexion which the system tends to establish between the clergyman and his flock, bringing him into contact with the younger members of it, is of incalculable advantage to both parties. We may there. fore look forward with full assurance to the benefits to be derived to the Church from the establishment of National Schools throughout the kingdom. In presiding over such an institution the Archbishop of Canterbury confers a signal service on the Church and on the Christian community at large. His Grace could not more decisively demonstrate that anxious solicitude for its welfare, which he so often exhibits, and by which it is evident he is uniformly actuated, than by taking the active and efficient part, which he has taken from the very origin of the Society, in its deliberations, its proceedings, and above all, in its extrication from difficulty. "We must then," concluded his Lordship, "earnestly desire that his Grace may be permitted by Divine Providence long to watch over and uphold this excellent Society which he has hitherto so much honoured with his support and sauction." The motion was seconded by the Archbishop of York. The Archbishop of Canterbury expressed his sense of the cordial manner in which the motion of thanks to the President had been received. Thanks were then voted to the General Committee, the Treasurer, the Secretary, the Vicar and Vestry of St. Martin's-inthe-Fields. Mr. Davis, in proposing the thanks of the Society to Dr. Bell, for his inestimable plan of education, and unwearied labours in upholding the objects of this institution, he begged to be permitted to make some few observations on the expressions which had fallen from General Thornton respecting the conduct of the Central School. It was true that Dr. Bell's plan comprehended a system of industry or manual employment, and where ever the local circumstances of a school rendered such occupation practicable it might be attended with the greatest benefit. But considering the great number of children which were constantly passing through the Central School, it would be impossible to adopt any such scheme of work without incurring immense expenses. The Bishop of London seconded the motion, The Bishop of Gloncester desired to move a vote of thanks to the treasurers and secretaries of diocesan and district committees. His Lordship could bear personal testimony to the many advantages which the National Schools in Sussex reaped from the unceasing care and judicious superintendence ever bestowed on them by these gentlemen; and he was assured that in many other parts of the country the flourishing state of the schools in union was very much to be attributed to their exertions. This motion was seconded by Mr. Wat son. Two new auditors, Quarles Harris, Esq. and C. F. Barnwell, Esq. were then elected, and the Archbishop left the Chair. Society for Promoting the Enlargement and Building of Churches and Chapels. Supported entirely by voluntary Contributions. Ar a General Meecting of the Society, holden at the Freeemasons' Tavern on Wednesday, June 2d, 1824-His Grace the Archbishop of CANTERBURY in the Chair, the Report of the Proceedings of the last year having been read : It was unanimously resolved, upon a consideration of the state of the Society's Funds, that a Subscription should be immediately entered into, and an Address on the subject sent forth to the public. ADDRESS. The want of Church-room, so much felt and complained of in various parishes of England and Wales, led to the establishment of this Society in the year 1818. Since that time it has given assistance towards the building, enlargement, or improved internal arrangement of Churches and Chapels, in 316 cases. The result of this assistance is an addition of accommodation for 91,955 persons; and of this number, the free and unappropriated sittings, that species of accommodation which is most wanted, amount to 69,295. The fund from which these numerous grants have been made has been supplied by voluntary Donations and Subscriptions, amounting, in the whole, to about 64,000l. and that fund is upon the point of being exhausted. But much, very much yet remains to be done by the Society. Applications to it for assistance have been more numerous in the last than in any of the three preceding years. A very large part of the population, especially of the poorer classes, is still in want of Church-room. The Parliamentary grants do not in any degree supersede the necessity of this Society, which receives no share of them, but is supported entirely by voluntary contributions. Those grants apply only to the building of additional new Churches in parishes where the population exceeds 4000 persons. Parliamentary aid is necessary to supply the deficiency of Churchroom in these cases; and the encouragement and assistance of this Institution are no less necessary in other cases. |