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names which have long been household words in Ireland, although hitherto we may have never seen the honoured bearers of these names with our bodily eyes.

And, as it has been in the preparation of the work of the Congress, so I trust it will be in the conduct of its business to the end. For myself, I hope to maintain that perfect impartiality, which is the simple duty of one occupying this chair of mine; and so long as I do this, I ask that hearty support from this assembly, without which a Chairman can effect so little.

I need not, I am sure, remind you that, as there are certain obvious duties which the very conditions of a Congress impose on those who prepare and conduct its business, so no less upon those who speak, and on that larger number who hear; on those who speak, that in the midst of the fullest freedom of speech, no word escape them to irritate or to wound another; and on those who hear, that nothing which they hear move them to a more marked dissent than that of silence. We may all possibly hear some things from which we entirely dissent; it is possible some things which we earnestly disapprove. If so, then, should God have given to us the gift of utterance, let us assert, in our turn, truth which may seem imperilled; if not, let us leave the matter with confidence in the hands of those better capable of so doing.

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On the special objects which a Congress such as ours proposes to itself, I might have spoken more at large, were this its first meeting, or its second; but with these objects we are now, all of us, more or less familiar. We also know the limits beyond which it does not attempt to travel. The most rapid oversight of the programme now in your hands, will make plain to you that it exists for the setting forward of Church-work, by which words I understand the bringing home to the greatest possible number of human beings that great message from heaven, of which the Church is the bearer and the guardian. I remember one who passed from us some thirty years ago, but who has left his mark upon his age, saying of the Church's system that it was stiff and weak, whereas it ought to be elastic and strong. The words were severe, but they were true. Something has since been done for the rolling away of this reproach, but much remains to be done; how to adapt ourselves to new needs, to meet the evershifting forms of opposition to the truth which the world presents. It is for this that we come together in a Congress-to see whether we cannot learn from one another how all this may best be accomplished. The world has its periodical Exhibitions, setting forth in these all the newest discoveries, all the latest acquisitions which it has made; and spreading the knowledge of these over all the earth. The Church may surely have like gatherings of its own; like and yet unlike; for these last are for the interchange of commodities infinitely more precious than the costliest that the world can boast. And if in the interchange of these we come to

understand one another better, to perceive that divisions, though real, are not so wide as we had imagined, to reverence the earnestness and devotion of those from whom, in some things, we may be compelled to differ, much will have been gained by the way. Once more I desire, in the name of many, to bid you heartily welcome. We trust that, being once safely on this side of St. George's Channel, you will not leave us till you have seen something of the actual working of our Irish Church. I can honestly say that we desire to be better known, that we think it will prove for our advantage to be so; that knowing us better, and, despite of many weaknesses and shortcomings, you will still confess that we are no moribund Church, but one showing itself alive by many infallible proofs.

Let me add, before I conclude, one solemn word. We of the Irish branch of our common Church are deeply conscious of the immense importance for all our future in those difficult times approaching, which these four days of Congress must possesshow much good will have been done, if all prospers, as we have reason to hope and believe that it will prosper; what incalculable harm, if any other spirit but that of unity, peace, and concord should at all reveal itself among us. All has begun well. We have listened to a sermon, which when I call noble in its tone, I am using no haphazard word, but the only one which would express my feelings about it; surely a sermon to give the key-note to all which on these days shall be spoken or done among us. I take the liberty in your name as in my own, to thank the Very Rev. preacher, and to ask that the sermon may be permanently placed within our reach. We have gathered in almost unparallelled numbers at that Table of our common Lord, where assuredly our prayer has been that we all might be one in Him. I beseech you again to ask that His most excellent gifts, that gift above all, without which all other gifts are nothing, may be poured out on us all, may rule in all our hearts, may inspire all our words; so that if any standing by in the spirit of mockery should say, What do these feeble Jews? we may be bold to answer, We are seeking to build up the walls and streets of our Jerusalem in troublous times; we desire, above all things, to see it a City at perfect unity with itself. We have come together in the hope a little to set forward so blessed a consummation; and by God's good hand upon us we believe that we shall not have been utterly defeated in this hope.

OUR RELIGIOUS SOCIETIES-HOW THEIR ECONOMICAL AND EFFICIENT WORKING MAY BEST BE PROMOTED.

THOMAS TURNER, Esq., read the following Paper:

I have been asked to read a paper to this Congress, on the subject of "Our Religious Societies-how their economical and efficient working may best be promoted." The application was made under circumstances which rendered it, I thought, my duty to comply, though I could have wished that the task had devolved upon some more able and fluent pen.

Addressing an assembly of Churchmen, I do not consider it necessary to dwell at much length upon the importance of our religious societies, the extent of the sphere of action which they embrace, or the position which they occupy relatively to the other agencies of the Church. A brief survey of these topics may, however, be a useful preliminary to the investigation of the question before us.

Let me, then, remind you of the part which these societies have had in carrying on the work of the Church, both as regards its outward growth, and its internal development. Respecting the former, you will observe that, the whole of the Heathen missions of our Church, in whatever part of the globe they are to be found, are indebted exclusively, both for their origin and maintenance, to one or other of our Missionary Societies or Associations. And, although the Church Establishments in our colonies and plantations trace their foundation, for the most part, to the action of the home government and of the local administrations, there is not one of these Churches, whether in Districts now or heretofore included within the British dominions, that will not recognize in the fostering care and support of a religious Society in England, one of the principal sources of its vitality and strength. Nor should it be overlooked that the extension of the Colonial Episcopate-through which the Churches in the Colonies have sprung, as it were, into new life, and advanced with a rapidity previously unprecedented-is in no small degree attributable to one of these Societies, within which the scheme originated, and from the leading members of which it has mainly drawn its supplies.

If, again, turning from the labours abroad of such Societies as the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Church Missionary Society, the Colonial and Continental Society, the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, and the Bible Society, we direct our attention to the Mother Country; we find some of the same, together with others of our religious Societies, as the Church Building, Additional Curates, Parochial Aid and Scripture Readers' Societies,' all labouring in one way or another in the great work of building up and consolidating the Church at Home, and bringing its fertilizing influences to bear upon the spiritual

wastes of our own land. For much, no doubt, of the improve. ment that has of late been effected in the organization of our Church Establishment in this country, we are indebted to the exercise by the Ecclesiastical Commissioners of the powers which the Legislature has, so much to the benefit of the Church, vested in them. But without the preparatory labours and the continued cooperation of our religious societies, the efforts of the Commissioners would have been well-nigh barren. Nor must it be forgotten that it is to the agency of a religious Society exclusively that we are indebted for the initiation, and, until recent times, for the carrying out of the far-sighted and patriotic scheme of a national religious education for the poor.

Without going further into detail, this slight notice of the work of some of our religious Societies will be sufficient to recall to your minds how large that work is, and how important the question of the economical and efficient management of those institututions is to the Church with which they are connected. But the impression will be strengthened by the consideration, that our religious Societies are to be prized, not simply as being valuable instruments of the Church, but as constituting (which they in truth do) the only independent agencies which the Church, as a body, at present possesses. How significant this fact is, at a time when the manifest tendency of events is to throw the Church more and more upon its own resources, it is unnecessary for me to point out.

To come to the questions in the programme, I purpose to invert the order in which they stand, and to apply myself to the question of efficiency prior to that of economy. The discussion of the former question will indeed embrace most of the points which bear upon the latter. For it may be laid down as an axiom, that the most efficient system is, taking a comprehensive view, the most economical, and that, wherever there is a waste of money, there is a loss of power also.

How then can the efficient working of our religious Societies be best promoted? If the question is to be thoroughly investigated, we must begin at the foundation, and first of all examine whether the principles, upon which these Societies are founded, are sound in themselves, or supposing them to be so, whether they admit of improvement in their application. The enquiry into soundness can hardly be deemed superfluous, because, although in my preliminary observations I have assumed that our religious Societies are legitimate organs of the Church at large, there are not a few persons who deny this position, and who speak habitually of the action of the Church as one thing, and the action of Societies as another-not part of or included within the former, but separate and distinct from, if not antagonistic to it. And if this be a true representation, the first requisite to the efficiency of our religious Societies is to reconstitute them, and give them that Church basis, which they now want. But how does the case stand? As far as

I am aware, the objections are two-fold: first, that these Societies are voluntary Associations, not emanating from any legitimate ecclesiastical authority. Secondly, that they are not, to the extent that they should be, placed under the control and direction of the Bishops of the Church. Both these objections admit, it seems to me, of a simple and sufficient answer. As regards the former, the charge is not only no subject of reproach to the Societies, but is in truth a high praise. They are, and it is their glory to be, the volunteer forces of the Church, not obtruding themselves into the posts of the regular army, but manning positions and undertaking services, which that army is unable to occupy and provide for. The Church, as established in this country, has no individual officer nor any body of officers, whose functions embrace the work of the Missionary and other Societies, with which we have to do; and that work, if not done by the Societies, would not be done at all. But the work is specially that of the Church; and unless it can be shewn that the only means available for the purpose, viz.:-the action of voluntary Associations of Churchmen, is unlawful in itself, the necessary conclusion is, that the adoption of these means is an imperative duty. More reasonable, indeed, would it be to affirm, that the magnificent array of citizen battalions, which are spread over the face of the country, and which it is the boast of our nation to possess, are not a constitutional force, than to deny that title in an ecclesiastical and spiritual sense, to these great Societies, which have been called into existence to cope with more pressing emergencies, and under the impulse of still higher and purer motives.

To advert to the second ground of objection, the insufficient regard alleged to be shown by the Societies to the authority of the Bishops. Without pretending to assert, that there have been no instances in which the Societies have been obnoxious to the accusation, I am satisfied, that as a general rule, the charge cannot be sustained. Our religious Societies have been, and are founded and carried on by the united action of Bishops, Clergy and Laity. The sanction of the Bishops as Presidents and Patrons, and their counsel, as members of the managing Committees (over which, when present, they ordinarily preside) are, I believe, invariably sought. Deference is felt and shown to their opinions, and I think I may safely affirm, that the influence of the Bishops over the Societies is limited mainly by the amount of time which they are able to afford to the management of these undertakings. To say that there is no recognition of an absolute authority in the Episcopal Bench, is simply to declare, that the Episcopal authority is subject to similar limits in the management of our religious Societies, as by the constitution of our Church it is placed under in other matters.

Whilst maintaining, however, the genuine Church character of our religious Societies, I would by no means be supposed to assert that their constitution or government is all that could be desired.

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