■■" '■ •'■•••.; ; 
 
 ■' . 
 
 £1 
 
 
 i 
 
 & 
 
 i 
 
 wm 
 
 tf 
 
 
 '.,
 
 Hp^hi rifeNSfe- 
 
 1 I B RA R.Y 
 
 OF THE 
 UNIVER5 ITY 
 Of 1LLI NOIS
 
 zc 
 
 "Come, over and help us." — Acts xvi. 9. 
 
 "Lord, what wilt thou have Me to do ?" — Acts ix. 6. 
 
 PAPEE 
 
 READ AT THE 
 
 WINCHESTEE DIOCESAN CONFEKENCE 
 
 4th NOVEMBER, 1880, 
 
 ON THE 
 OF 
 
 THE ARTIZAN AND HUMBLER CLASSES 
 
 IN OUR CITIES AND LARGE TOWNS AT THE PRESENT DAY ; 
 
 AND ON 
 
 THE MEANS TO BE TAKEN FOR BRINGING 
 THEM BACK TO CHRIST'S FOLD. 
 
 LONDON : 
 
 PRINTED BY G. NORMAN AND SON, 29, MAIDEN LANE, 
 
 COVENT GARDEN. 
 
 Price Twopence, or four copies for Sixpence,
 
 The following are the concluding words of the address 
 of the Bishop of Winchester to the Winchester Diocesan 
 Conference held at Winchester on the 3rd and 4th 
 November, 1880 : — 
 
 " The last question to be submitted for consideration at this Con- 
 ference — (being the subject of the following paper) — though it has 
 been more or less debated in this Conference before, is, and must be, 
 the great question of the day; I fear it will be for many a day to come. 
 It has long been foreseen by those who study the prophetic Scriptures, 
 and specially by those whose ' old experience' is prophetic, that the 
 danger of these latter days will be unbelief. The antichrist of St. 
 John, the man of sin (6 dvojiog, the lawless one) of St. Paul, have 
 generally been thought by those who interpret prophecy to prefigure 
 some great outburst of lawless infidelity before the coming of the day 
 of Christ. The signs of the time in the last century -and-a-half have 
 led to the same expectation. Former ages (the dark ages of the Church 
 as we are pleased to call them) were more favourable to superstitions, 
 these ages of scientific discovery and critical inquiry are more favourable 
 to unbelieving error. A few only have been far-seeing enough to 
 predict that with the outburst of infidelity there would be a great revival 
 of the principles and power of Rome and Romanism. I will venture a 
 prediction too. It is this. Unless some organization, sounder and truer, 
 but not less strong and close and vigorous than the organizations of the 
 Church of Rome, on the one hand, and of Communistic Agnosticism on 
 the other, can stand between them, those two will soon divide the 
 dominion of the world. And I can imagine no drearier outlook, than 
 that the only refuge from Atheism should be in Romanism. That mere 
 sporadic Protestantism should be able to stand is against all theory and 
 against all history. Witness Germany, Switzerland, and Holland. 
 Even Presbyterian Calvinism, one of the skilfullest devices of man, 
 has waned and even faded away in Continental Europe before Rome 
 and unbelief. That a great reformed Catholic Church may stand and 
 offer a refuge for error on all sides consists with reason and religion, 
 and is not yet contradicted by history. A Catholic reformation 
 throughout Christendom were, indeed, a consummation deroutly to be 
 wished. The promise of it is, alas, very faint now. We, at least, have 
 it in England, in our Colonies, and in our American daughter land. 
 We have, therefore, a signal blessing, and may cherish exceptional 
 hopes. But if we are to withstand in the day of battle, and having 
 done all to stand, we must cling closely to scriptural and primitive 
 truth ; we must keep strictly and zealously to our ancient historical 
 traditions and our unbroken historical life; we must strive and pray 
 for increase of unity in all things necessary, whilst giving large liberty 
 in things of secondary obligation; and we must open wide our arms 
 and our hearts to receive into them our brethren — brethren still, 
 though wanderers — if only we can win them back to our love and to 
 our home."
 
 (Copy) Paper read on the last Motion submitted 
 to the Conference — 
 
 u That in the opinion of this Conference it is 
 desirable to take special steps to meet the In- 
 fidelity and Indifference to Religion prevalent 
 at the present day. 11 
 
 The motion which I have to bring before you 
 this afternoon has for its subjects the infidelity 
 and indifference to religion of the present day, 
 followed by an invitation to take special steps to 
 meet these grave and widely spreading evils. 
 
 The language of the motion, as printed in the 
 agenda, falls somewhat short of that originally 
 presented by me to the Committee, and while I 
 quite admit that in some respects the curtailment 
 of the original has been most judicious, and to 
 myself very acceptable, yet I must ask permis- 
 sion of our Eight Reverend and deeply esteemed 
 President to add to it the following rider. 
 
 " And that the Right Reverend President be 
 requested to nominate a Committee of 
 Clergy and laity, to take into consideration 
 the measures best fitted to attain that end, 
 and especially amongst the dense masses of 
 the artizan and humbler classes in our great 
 cities and towns, with power to at once 
 carry into execution the measures so to be 
 recommended, if approved by the President." 
 In requesting permission to add this rider to 
 the printed form of notice, I am influenced by a 
 desire that on this occasion practical results may 
 ensue from our present discussion, and that this 
 most grave question — the real "fore-front" ques- 
 tion of the day — may not, as in many other 
 congresses and conferences, begin and end in
 
 Body of 
 Home Mis- 
 sionaries. 
 
 Including 
 Laymen. 
 
 AWarden. 
 
 With Resi- 
 dential 
 College. 
 
 In the 
 Metro- 
 polis. 
 
 mere talk, but produce fruits not only for this 
 diocese, but for the nation at large, and that too 
 with the least possible delay. 
 
 When the stake at issue is the eternal welfare 
 of thousands of our fellow-creatures, made 
 equally with ourselves to be angels in heaven, 
 but who, for want of an outstretched loving 
 hand, are passing away to their account by 
 hundreds with each expiring day, this too after 
 an existence on earth void of all hope, and of all 
 peace, who can deny that the duty of action is im- 
 mediate, and not one to be any longer postponed ? 
 
 The leading features in the remedy I would 
 suggest are 
 
 I. The appointment of a body of home 
 Missionaries specially for this work. 
 
 II. That the laity should be admitted as 
 fellow-labourers in such Mission, and this 
 too without in all cases requiring them to 
 abandon their secular callings. 
 
 This body of Home Missionaries should be 
 under the charge of a Warden (a specially 
 experienced clergyman), and a fitting residence 
 or college should be provided for the accommoda- 
 tion of the Warden and the resident members 
 willing to give their whole time for stated periods, 
 such college to constitute the residential centre 
 of the operations of the Mission, but with power 
 to make use of the labours of laymen, who, 
 though not able to go into residence, are willing 
 to give their services, under due regulation, for 
 fixed periods. 
 
 Such centre, so far as the Metropolis and its 
 suburbs are concerned, to be located in or near 
 London, and the resident and non-resident mem- rfjf 
 
 4ttM ! 
 
 UiU<
 
 bers thereof to be employed within a given area 
 — say five miles from St. Paul's Cathedral — 
 without regard to diocesan boundaries. 
 
 The several Bishops of the different dioceses 5 pi ^ al 
 extending within that area — including the Arch- 
 bishop of Canterbury as resident at Lambeth — 
 to constitute an Episcopal Council, whose 
 sanction should be requisite for any action of 
 the Mission, until hereafter it shall be practicable 
 to have separate centres for each Diocese. 
 
 There should be a Bursar to take charge of A Bursar. 
 all expenditure, as the warden ought to be quite 
 free from all financial care. 
 
 And a Council of Clergy and Laymen, to raise General 
 the requisite funds, and to take charge of and 
 distribute the same, and generally to be respon- 
 sible for the administration of the property and 
 affairs of the Mission. 
 
 Such a system might eventually be repeated 
 throughout other dioceses to meet pressing 
 requirements elsewhere, always assuming that 
 at first start it shall not be objectionable to have 
 a missionary centre for more than one diocese. 
 
 It will be seen that I have at once rushed into 
 the second part of the motion — " the steps to be 
 taken" — without pursuing the more orderly 
 course of first proving the necessity of any 
 special action with regard to infidelity, or the 
 general irreligion of England at this moment ; 
 but I have done so under the impression that 
 this is quite unnecessary at a meeting like the 
 present, after the public testimony by our Archbis- 
 Primate, in his late comprehensive charge, to terbury!" 1 " 
 the fact that a wave of infidelity is passing over 
 England, and after the emphatic declaration by
 
 Canon Barry in his interesting and valuable 
 
 paper, read at the late Congress at Leicester, on 
 
 " The Religion of the Nation," that — alluding 
 
 to the present day — 
 
 Canon a Xhere never was a time when opinions 
 
 formally antagonistic to Christianity, and 
 
 indeed to all vital religion, were more 
 
 ruthlessly or more arrogantly advanced." 
 
 Wshop of ^he P nases °f infidelity adverted to by the 
 
 York. Primate and Canon Barry — as also by His Grace 
 
 Preben- J J 
 
 dary Row. of York, and Prebendary Row, who contributed 
 valuable papers on the same subject at the 
 Leicester Congress — were Pantheism, Positive- 
 ism, and Agnosticism ; these, however, are too 
 refined and too scientific for the artizan and 
 humbler classes of our seething populations in our 
 cities and great towns. The power which attracts 
 and engulphs them is called " Secularism," 
 having not only its Lecturers, but a weekly 
 periodical called u The Secular Review," the 
 circulation of which I have been informed already 
 reaches 50,000, and is rapidly increasing. 
 
 Secularism is simply atheism, and utterly 
 denies the existence of a future state or personal 
 responsibility to any but earthly authority. I 
 
 IarReview" nave nere a number of the " Secular Review," 
 dated the 28th August last, and column after 
 column utterly repudiates all belief in a God, 
 with a considerable pretence to logical reasoning 
 in support of this denial. Prominently in its 
 advertising columns is an advertisement of 
 " Tom Paine' s Age of Reason, price One 
 Shilling," and on the second page of this num- 
 ber is put forth (from an American journal) a 
 fearful travesty of the Apostles' Creed, while on 
 
 Secular- 
 ism.
 
 the first page will be found the following painful 
 passages : — 
 
 u The two great forces of opinion created in 
 this age by Freethought are what are known 
 as Atheism and Materialism. Atheism de- 
 prives superstition of its ancient standing 
 ground, and compels Theism to reason for 
 its existence. Materialism, by teaching that 
 the forces of nature are ascertainable and 
 calculable, has given birth to science. 
 " The other great force of opinion in Europe is 
 Christianity, which arose out of the insur- 
 gency of freethought among the Jews. It 
 owes its existence to the pertinacity of one of 
 the Working Class, a young Carpenter, 
 named Jesus." 
 Such language is too awful to admit any other 
 comment than " expressive silence." 
 
 Where poison such as this is being scattered 
 amongst the masses, with consequences so 
 disastrous to their welfare, both on earth and 
 hereafter, continued inaction to rescue them may 
 too possibly hereafter entail upon the indolent 
 lookers-on those terrible words, t; Inasmuch as 
 ye did it not to one of the least of these, ye did 
 it not to me." 
 
 Happily our church dignitaries seem to be 
 thoroughly aroused to the sin and danger of 
 continued inaction, and the congress and con- 
 ferences of this autumn echo and re-echo that 
 all ought to be up and doing. 
 
 The following: are the heart- stirring; words of Bishop of 
 
 Peter- 
 
 the Bishop of Peterborough in his opening address borough. 
 at the late Leicester Congress. 
 
 " Yes! the one great Church question of our 
 time, before which all others fade into in-
 
 significance, is this : Round about Church 
 and Chapel impartially indifferent, or im- 
 partially hostile to both, lie the masses of 
 our great town populations — the scattered 
 units in our country parishes — for whom life 
 has no higher, no better meaning than that of 
 a daily struggle for the means of a joyless 
 existence, uncheered by the hope of a happier 
 hereafter, undignified by the consciousness of 
 Divine descent and heirship of immortality. 
 What can the Church of England do for 
 these 9 — these masses on whom in their fast- 
 growing might, some are looking with timid 
 fear, and others with sinister expectation, 
 but on whom the Church should look only 
 with yearning and affectionate desire, as her 
 truest wealth and her most precious Catholic 
 heritage. This tangled, trodden, earth- 
 soiled harvest, into which her Lord has 
 sent her to toil and reap — can she gather 
 this? Can she so enlarge her barns as that 
 they shall hold this ? Here, believe me, lies 
 the one supremely urgent question for which 
 we have to find an answer, and that speedily. 
 And in the answer to this question, if she 
 can find it, lies the secret, not only of the 
 Church's duty, but the secret also of her 
 strength and her security. Her path of 
 duty is in this aspect what it has always 
 been — the path of safety too. 
 a It is to learn hoio far she is doing this, and 
 how she may better do it in the future, we are 
 gathered here to day." 
 Who can listen to such stirring words with- 
 out secretly ejaculating, u Lord, what wilt thou 
 have me to do" ?
 
 And here I may very fitly quote equally 
 earnest utterances, first, from the opening address 
 of Bishop Lightfoot at his address at his inau- 
 guration of the late Conference of the Diocese of 
 Durham, and secondly, from the Yicar cf Leeds, 
 Dr. Gott, at the Leicester Congress, as to the 
 steps to be taken for evangelizing these masses. 
 
 " It is— says the Bishop of Durham — a matter Bishop of 
 of common observation that Nonconformist Durham * 
 communities are for the most part more 
 forward than ourselves to utilize the zeal 
 and energy of their lay members. It will 
 be remembered also how Lord Macaulay, 
 in one of his essays, emphasizes the greater 
 wisdom of the Eoman Catholic Church in 
 adopting the irregular zeal of its laity, and 
 converting into foremost champions those 
 whom toe should make our most dangerous 
 enemies. Thus the lesson is pressed upon 
 us from opposite sides. This seems to me to 
 be the great practical question which our 
 Church is invited to solve in this age. 
 Nothing but a lag agency — anal this on a 
 very large scale— will meet these varied needs. 
 What organization is necessary for this 
 purpose, — what orders or offices should be 
 created or revised, — what functions should 
 be assigned to them, — what recognition 
 they should receive, — what qualification 
 should be imposed, — what form of admission 
 should be instituted — these are the questions 
 opened for discussion. And with the lar^e 
 increase of numbers which would thus 
 accrue to the Ministry of the Church, comes 
 the possibility of more frequent, more widely 
 spread, more diversified, more flexible services.
 
 8 
 
 Never in its long progress through centuries 
 has our Church encountered a fiercer com- 
 petition than now. 17 
 The Rev. The following words of Dr. Gott close my 
 
 Dr. Gott. . to 
 
 quotations : — 
 
 "The generation which has found three 
 
 thousand Clergy, able and willing to leave 
 
 a country to convert the heathen, is not 
 
 likely to be wanting to itself or its children, 
 
 when the terrible fact is once really felt 
 
 that half England is a heathen land, and 
 
 that tens of thousands of our bravest and 
 
 most industrious men are a wandering tribe 
 
 in every sense of the word. The time has 
 
 come when we should found a new preaching 
 
 order, either diocesan or national, under a 
 
 Bishop or Vicar-General of its own, in whose 
 
 ranks shall be found Missionaries gifted and 
 
 experienced, whose lips the angel of the 
 
 Lord has touched with a coal from the 
 
 altar of Heaven." 
 
 May I not hope that I have laid before this 
 
 meeting abundant justification for the resolution 
 
 I now submit with the rider thereto? and if 
 
 1 so, then I trust that this Conference will not 
 
 hesitate to urge that such Committee proceed 
 
 to carry into effective action any steps for the 
 
 end desired which may have their approval and 
 
 the sanction of the Right Reverend President ; 
 
 and above all, that, if practicable, the movement 
 
 to be made be not for this Diocese alone, but for 
 
 the whole of England, 
 
 R. FEW. 
 
 Wolsey Grange, Esher. 
 
 All Saints' Day, 1880.
 
 Resolution passed unanimously by the Conference upon 
 the reading of the foregoing paper, after addresses in 
 support thereof by Major- General Lewis, of Southampton 
 (who seconded the motion), and the Rev. Canons Hoste, 
 of Earnham, Wilson, of Rownham, and Ernest Wilberforce, 
 and the Rev. Edgar Jacob, of Portsea : — 
 
 " In the opinion of this Conference it is desirable to take 
 special steps to meet the Infidelity and Indifference to 
 Religion prevalent in the present day ; 
 
 " And that the Right Rev. President be requested to 
 nominate a Committee of Clergy and Laity, to take 
 into consideration the measures best fitted to attain 
 that end, and especially amongst the large masses of 
 the artizan and humbler classes in our great cities and 
 towns, with power to at once carry into execution the 
 measures so to be recommended, if approved by the 
 President." 
 
 " The Harvest truly is great, but the Labourers are few. 
 Pray ye therefore the Lord of the Harvest that He 
 would send forth Labourers into His Vineyard. " — 
 Luke x. 2. 
 
 «' Go out quickly into the streets and lanes of the city and 
 bring in hither the poor and the maimed, and the 
 halt and the blind. 
 
 " Go out into the highways and hedges and compel them 
 to come in, that My House may be filled." — Luke 
 xiv. 21, 23.
 
 t 
 
 ■S,hfl 
 
 * 5. 
 
 "V 
 
 M 
 
 -■4W 
 1"J 
 
 ■ 
 
 ^■CS^"'