SECTION II.

MEASURES SUGGESTED FOR THE RESTORATION OF THE PAROCHIAL SYSTEM.

THE facts adduced in the last section, show plainly that a monstrous evil exists among us. It has grown up silently and unobserved, as in the darkness of the night, until men look one upon another with equal astonishment and awe, and find themselves surrounded with a population, which, except in name, can be regarded as little better than heathen. And it is surely a token for good, that the fact, as soon as it has been made known, has awakened so great interest and attention. In this view we may hail the attempts which have been made to apply remedies, which must we know be delusive, because devised on unsound principles. They show at least that men are awakening, and although their eye has been caught not by the sun itself, but by the painted clouds which herald his rising; they are at least looking in the right direction, and are no longer content to lie still and slumber while thousands are perishing around them. Yet we must not shut our eyes to the fact, that some of these undertakings are of positively injurious

tendency, and others, although highly useful, are only fitted to hold a subordinate place, and must never be esteemed the primary instruments for reducing our population to the obedience of Christ. For projects' wholly independent of our Diocesan and Parochial system, which regard our cities or counties as a heathen mass, out of which individuals are to be snatched by desultory and irregular labours; however well-intended, cannot but be hurtful in the end. They are so, because they substitute a faulty for a sound principle, and divert us from the only means from which we can hope for large and beneficial results. And again, when individuals or associations labour to supply the deficiency of pastoral superintendence in a parish of thirty, fifty, or sixty thousand souls, (as is the case with our District Visiting Societies and the like,) they do well indeed for the season; they afford an aid which the pastor cannot but hail thankfully; yet after all it is but a temporary expedient. The remedy is inadequate; not because the labours of the laity, and of every one of Christ's people are unacceptable to Him, or useless to His Church; but because their place is as fellow-labourers in aid of the appointed ministers of God's word and Sacraments, not (as they are practically in these cases) to be substitutes for

1 Such as the "City Mission," "Home Missionary Society," &c.

them. If God has promised His especial blessing on His own ordinance, the priesthood and ministry of His Word, our plans will prosper, as they are blended into, and subordinate to this. Our steps must be retraced; and as the evil has arisen from the neglect of our ancient parochial system, the remedy must be its restoration. We must supply to the dwellers in every street and lane and cottage of our land, efficient pastoral superintendence, and the public ordinances of the Church; and having done this, we shall still find abundant scope for the labours of every layman. "He that gathereth most shall have nothing over."

And the work by God's blessing is already begun. New churches have arisen in every part of our land, and are everywhere rising; so that a consecration is sure to meet our eyes in every periodical report of our ecclesiastical proceedings. The augmentation again of the number of the labourers in God's vineyard is at this moment the object of the most strenuous exertions. What we have already done is invaluable as a pledge of greater things, although in any other view it would no more deserve mention than a drop taken from the ocean. For instead of absorbing the multitudes which had outgrown the capabilities of our old churches, we have not yet succeeded in providing fully for the annual increase of our population. After all our exertions, our church room, and our parochial ministry are less adequate than they

were twenty years ago. Should we now abandon the work, every church already built would witness against us, for we need them now more than ever. May it go on and prosper!

The first practical step towards the greater exertions which are still necessary, will be to measure the work before us. That it is great, very great, we well know; but how great it is we still need to be informed. Men are not roused to a true sense of their responsibility by vague and general statements. We must be told what we have to do, and in particular, how many additional churches and pastors are required. This can be shown only by exact local information detailing the wants of our several towns and districts. Whatever pains have already been taken in collecting and publishing these details

1 This statement has frequently been repeated; it may however be illustrated by one example taken from each of the great divisions of our population. And first the town parish of St. Pancras. In the year 1815 its population was stated by Mr. Yates (Church in Danger, page 68,) at 46,333, with church room only for 400, leaving a deficiency of at least 22,766. In 1835, the church accommodation (according to the report of the Ecclesiastical Commissioners,) had been increased from 400 to 5000; but the population meanwhile had reached 103,548, leaving (on the same calculation as before,) at least 51,774 unprovided for. Again, it is stated by the Lord Bishop of Winchester, that to absorb the annual increase of population in the rural parts of that diocese would require the erection of ten churches for 500 each. Meanwhile in six years from 1830, church room has been provided for above 29,000; a little less than the required proportion.

have been abundantly rewarded. The recent plan of the Lord Bishop of London, which forms an æra in the history of the English Church, owes much of its value to the statement of facts on which it is founded. But the greater part even of this preparatory labour remains to be performed. Our Church statistics should be more uniform and systematic. Let it be established as a principle that the population of no parish should exceed some definite amount', perhaps three thousand; and let us then ascertain how many churches must be erected in each diocese, before the towns shall be thus far provided. And again, whatever standard be applied to our villages; if we determine, for instance, that no hamlet of three hundred souls ought to be two miles from its parish church; let us be informed how far we are from realizing the principle so laid down. The more accurate our knowledge, the better will our work proceed.

1 The proposed maximum may perhaps be thought too great; especially when it is remembered that the old parishes contained on an average less than 650. (See Yates's Church in Danger, page 44.) It is certainly more liable to this than to the opposite charge; but it should be remarked that every such parish ought to have at least two resident ministers, and that in proportion to the diminution of pluralities, such a nursery for curates will be urgently needed. Although therefore 3,000 souls are unquestionably too many for one pastor, they may not, when concentrated in a town, be thought too many for one parish served by two or more. By the efforts of our new societies and other means, we may hope that the requisite aid may generally be obtained.