PREFACE. THE Authorised Report of the Fifteenth Church Congress, held at Stoke-upon-Trent, October 5-8, 1875, so far exceeds its predecessors in bulk, that anything like a lengthy Preface must be dispensed with. The Committee are too deeply indebted to those whose thoughts on many of the most difficult Church questions of the day are contained in this volume to make it a ground of complaint that some of the papers have outrun their appointed limits. But to this must be attributed both the delay in the publication of the Report, and a large additional charge by the publisher for excess of matter, which at this date leaves the account for the year unclosed. So much was said, and so kindly, by various Speakers at the Final Meeting as to the successful character of this Congress, that the Committee forbear adding anything to it, lest it should savour of self-praise. For all that was well done they desire humbly to thank Almighty God, Whose good Spirit was manifestly present in answer to prayer. All who attended the Congress will unite in acknowledging how much, under God, was due to the tact and courteous firmness of the Right Reverend President, Bishop Selwyn. He was happy in being able to say, before vacating the Chair, that "they had spent four whole days listening to words of wisdom, without a single word of strife or bitterness." Falling far below the four preceding meetings in the number of members enrolled, the Stoke Congress has enjoyed the preeminence in the number of Day and Evening Tickets sold. Perhaps no Congress has made its influence more widely felt in the town and neighbourhood in which it has been held, and none has attracted a larger attendance of the middle and working classes. The omission from the usual programme of the "Working-Men's Meeting," with free admission, proved no detriment; and the sale of Evening Tickets, averaging 1100 a night, showed conclusively the interest felt in the Congress by those who were employed during the day. In consideration of the peculiarities of the district, which contains several large detached towns, the Committee arranged a series of "Free Sectional Meetings," at which well-known members of the Congress delivered addresses on popular questions of the day; and these were held in Hanley, Longton, Burslem, Tunstall, Newcastle, and Silverdale, and were numerously attended. In the Parish Church of Stoke there were also Special Evening Services, with sermons by preachers of note. By these various arrangements every part of the district was identified with the Church Congress of 1875. To this must be attributed the readiness with which the Guarantee List was filled up. It was clear from the first that there must be a heavy deficiency, and the Committee appealed for a guarantee of £2000. The sum actually guaranteed, in various sums ranging from £100 to £1, 1s., was £1847, 16s. ; and donations were received amounting to £151, 18s. 4d. call for 10s. in the pound was promptly met by the Guarantors; and if it had not been for the unexpected charge already alluded to, the large expenditure of £2219, 12s. 1d. would have been fully covered. A It would be ungracious if the Committee omitted to record the generous hospitality which was forthcoming on all hands, and was offered by Nonconformists as well as by Churchmen. Indeed, the chief disappointment was, that there were not more visitors from a distance to avail themselves of it. These facts must always make the Stoke Church Congress a happy retrospect; and its effects upon the neighbourhood, stimulating Church feeling and diffusing Church information, will not soon be effaced. CHURCH CONGRESS, 1875. FIFTEENTH ANNUAL MEETING, HELD AT STOKE-UPON-TRENT, On Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday, October 5th, 6th, 7th, and 8th. Patron. THE RIGHT HON. AND MOST REV. THE LORD ARCHBISHOP OF CANTERBURY. President. THE RIGHT REV. THE LORD BISHOP OF LICHFIELD. Vice-Presidents. CLERGY. THE RIGHT HON. AND MOST REV. THE LORD ARCHBISHOP of York. The Lord Archbishop of Armagh The Lord Bishop of Glo'ster and Bristol. The Lord Bishop of Limerick The Lord Bishop of Tuam The Lord Bishop of Moray and Ross The Lord Bishop of Argyll The Lord Bishop of Edinburgh The Lord Bishop of Glasgow The Hon. and Very Rev. the Dean of York The Rev. Canon Curteis The Rev. the Earl of Mulgrave The Rev. the Hon. G. T. O. Bridgeman * Permanent Secretary to the Church Congress. viii Chairman: The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of LICHFIELD. CLERGY. Rev. the Hon. A. Anson Rev. F. G. Blackburne Rev. A. Clarke Rev. R. W. Corbet Rev. J. Ellerton Rev. T. F. Fenn Rev. G. A. Festing Rev. R. Hawes Rev. W. H. F. Hepworth Rev. Dr Huckin Rev. W. Hutchinson Rev. Dr Massingham Rev. W. P. Vincent LAITY. J. T. Arlidge, Esq., M.D. F. Stanier-Broade, Esq. |