the pledge and evidence of the existence of that which we seek, and I dread lest we grasp a shadow and lose a substance. Especially would I warn this Congress against any attempt to conciliate Nonconformists by offering additional facilities for Dissenting Ministers to come over to the Church of England. If you knew, as I do, the way in which the men who come over to you are regarded by their ministerial brethren who remain, and the indignation with which the Nonconformist body, at large, regards the overtures which have been publicly made, and the assistance offered to those educated in Nonconformist Colleges, at the expense of Nonconformist Churches, to relinquish their charges, and to conform to the National Church, you would feel that there was no one point upon which it is necessary for our Bishops to act with greater circumspection and Christian delicacy, than in the admission of such men to the orders of the English Church. I happen to know a considerable number of these clerical "verts." I am quite sure I am correct in saying that those whom they have left do not regret their loss; while I am equally certain that those who have received them do not find that they have gotten much gain. speak without any reference to personal character, but in relation to their ministerial antecedents, and the necessities of their new position. If I could imagine that any word of mine would lend support to the counsels of the Bishop of Peterborough, I would say that this matter is pre-eminently one in which it is "better to let well alone." For consider what you do. You put a premium on the desertion, to your ranks, of men who are bound, by very substantial considerations, to those whom they now serve.

Much is talked, and perhaps justly, of the way in which Dissenting Ministers are treated by wealthy Deacons. I do not believe that any man of real character, power, or intelligence suffers in this matter more than the trifling annoyances incident to every calling in life. But on the other hand, these men owe to their denominations very much more than, as a rule, the Clergy owe to the Church, or to any institutions connected with it. Education, position, and what we may well believe they value far more, the opportunity of service for their Divine Lord and Master, have come to them for the most part through the liberality and personal kindness of the Churches of which they have been members; and for a Nonconformist Minister to conform to the English Church, whatever we may think about the wisdom of it on grounds of unity or usefulness, is on his part to turn his back on friends and benefactors who cannot enter into his views, and who, from this very inability, are disposed bitterly to resent his desertion. For every one such ministerial proselyte you deepen the feelings of distrust and dislike of 500 lay Nonconformists. If such men come to you voluntarily, and by conviction, after previous separation from the Churches to which they have been allied, no one could or would complain; but to seek them while in charge of Dissenting Churches, to facilitate their re-ordination because of their previous position, or in any way to court them, will be to widen and deepen the gap which lies between the Church and the great body of Evangelical Dissenters.

My Lord Bishop, I dare go further, and to say that, if the Clergy and Laity now present are, as the result of this blessed Congress, stirred up to do the work which lies before them by a more earnest witness to the Divine power and saving grace of the Church's Head, and this in a godly and spiritual emulation with those whom I have been delighted to hear recognised on all hands as Christian brethren, we shall find the spirit of unity in the midst of our diversities, and may be content to relinquish vain attempts after an unattainable uniformity.

The Right Rev. the PRESIDENT.

We have now come to the termination of the very interesting, united, and I hope useful discussions of this Congress. May God's blessing be given abundantly to them; and may the result be greater wisdom in

counsel, greater unity of purpose, and greater vigour in action. It only remains that we should go through the formal business which always finishes these meetings of Congress, bearing in mind that there is the pleasant Soirée which will afford a little relaxation, and help to wash in the drawing which has been so admirably prepared.

VOTES OF THANKS, ETC.

The Right Hon. W. F. CowPER-TEMPLE, M.P.

SAID they had now reached the close of those controversial topics upon which there had been-as he thought there always would be-great difference of opinion. He was permitted, however, to broach a topic and to propose a resolution, upon which he confidently expected the most complete and cordial unanimity. The unqualified success of that Congress, which would make it joyfully and gratefully remembered by most of them for many years to come, was due to nothing more than to the manner in which its proceedings had been conducted by their right reverend President. Among the remarkable features of the Congress were not so much the great learning with which the various topics had been handled, nor the great ability and eloquence displayed in discussing them, as the kindly feeling which had pervaded all who had taken any part in it, and this perhaps was its most characteristic and gratifying feature.

Although upon that platform views of the most antagonistic character had been held forth with fearlessness and with frankness, it struck him that amid all their great and manifold differences there had been a most pleasing recognition of that great bond of union which bound them all together as members of one Church, and also a complete agreement upon the cultivation of all those Christian graces of character which are essential to the maintenance and the development of true spiritual life. Another feature which he was also pleased to notice in connection with that Congress was, that it had afforded a remarkable manifestation of the vigorous life existing in the Church of England. There was a time when spiritual torpor prevailed, and when the Church partook of that torpor. But life was now stirring in all branches of intellectual inquiry; and no observant man could at all doubt that there was a most remarkable wave of spiritual life now rolling through the whole Christian Church. And upon such discussions as those in which they had taken part he rested his hope that the Church of England would be able to remove from its body those bandages and swaddling clothes which were imposed upon it under the different circumstances of 200 years ago; that renewed elasticity would be infused into the rules and regulations, the rubrics and the statutes, which govern that Church; that means would be given her to absorb the spiritual life which was coming into her, and that so she might increasingly become a growing and a living Church, and not an obsolete or a dead one.

The qualities required in any one who presided over the deliberations of such a Congress were, he considered, an intellectual power of grasping every side of a question, and a sympathy and readiness to assist every one who belongs to the Church, who is honest in his searchings after truth and anxious to do his duty. Among the great and eminent qualities which distinguish the Lord Bishop of the Diocese of Winchester, every one would perceive that those which had been mentioned were peculiarly characteristic of him, and that Congress was indeed fortunate in being presided over as it had been during its deliberations. He therefore felt that they would be most willing and eager to join with him in passing a vote of thanks to the Lord Bishop of Winchester for his able, impartial, and fatherly conduct in the chair. And he desired

especially to make himself the mouthpiece of the members of that Congress in thanking his lordship for that very able and comprehensive introductory address, which struck the key-note that had vibrated so happily and successfully throughout the greater part of their deliberations.

Mr. W. C. D. ESDAILE

SAID he had been called upon to fulfil the very pleasing duty of seconding a proposition which afforded a most gratifying and complete climax to the growing and progressive unanimity of that great Congress. In asking their approval to a vote of thanks to the right rev.prelate who had filled the chair with so much labour and pains, and with such eminent advantage to every one present, he believed they would agree with him in the expression of his belief that there was no one single person who had been present at the proceedings which had taken place in that hall, who would not return from that great meeting with a thankful heart that he had been permitted to take a part in it. He was sure also that they would all go home infinitely the better for what they had gone through. The most practical mode of giving expression to their thanks, not only to his lordship but to other right rev. prelates who had been with them, was to endeavour in their various spheres of duty to carry out those sentiments of Christian charity and concord which had been so forcibly inculcated; and as the mouthpiece of the assembly he begged to express their hearty and deep gratitude to the Lord President, both for the labour he had performed in filling the chair, and also for the tone which he had given to the Congress.

The proposition was then put to the meeting, and carried by accla

mation.

The Right Rev. the PRESIDENT

SAID he thanked them most heartily for their very great kindness. He knew it was really the kindness of their own hearts, as it was that of his two friends who in their kind words had given so very pleasing a colour to his endeavours to do his duty as President of that great assembly. As he said at the beginning, no one person could by any possibility preserve its unity. It was for the meeting to preserve its own unity, and he was most thankful that it had done so. He did believe that great good, under God's blessing, would come from their thus assembling together, being able to listen to the calm statement of one another's views, and to observe the way in which speaker after speaker, who had launched forth some little barque of experiment and hope, had patiently seen it utterly demolished by some succeeding hand; how with placid resignation he had submitted to see each structure, which perhaps he had been thinking of all the year, and which to his own mind seemed complete, seized by the hand of the Bishop of Peterborough or some other hand, and ruthlessly sunk beneath the billows, there to disappear for ever; and yet that speaker perhaps would rise again upon the very next question, and with perfect equanimity launch another little barque only to meet with a like unfortunate fate. This, he thought, had been quite delightful; and to have had it carried out with such perfect good humour and with the exhibition of such brotherly charity in their differences showed that they must have gained a very great deal in their seeking after truth.

Again he most heartily thanked them—one and all-for their exceeding kindness towards their President. The Bishop then read a letter from Lord Henry Scott, which he thought the meeting should hear because it was so sincere in its expression of regret at his inability to attend the Congress through illness. Having read the letter he said he was sure they would regret equally with his lordship his not being there-not only because they would like to have had him there, but still more from the cause of his absence.

Mr. W. S. PORTAL

PROPOSED a vote of thanks to the Bishops of Salisbury and Oxford for their powerful sermons previous to the opening of the Congress, and to all those who had read papers or spoken during its sittings.

The Rev. ARTHUR BRADLEY

SECONDED the proposition, which was unanimously agreed to.

Earl NELSON.

ACKNOWLEDGED the compliment, and then proposed a vote of thanks to the Bishop of Peterborough for his coming sermon on the morrow at Winchester. When, having been requested to do his best to secure the presence of the right rev. prelate at the Congress, he (Earl Nelson) obtained his consent to read a paper, he then asked him if he would preach a sermon as well; but his lordship replied, "With all my work, you must really give me one or the other." He (Earl Nelson) decided on the sermon; and then he was brazen enough to ask his lordship to speak at the Working Men's Meeting, as he was not going to give them a special paper upon any of the subjects. To that request a willing assent was given. He could therefore bear witness to the great kindness which had brought the Bishop among them, and they could bear witness to the great help he had been to the Congress which he had honoured with his presence.

The Rev. MARK COOPER, Rector of St. Mary's, Southampton, SECONDED the vote of thanks; and, referring to the gratifying character of the Congress, said he had been told by a right rev. prelate, who visited him on the previous day, that at no former Congress-and he had attended several-had he witnessed so much Christian temper, and so much cordiality of feeling, as upon this occasion. To him (Mr. Cooper), as a Southampton clergyman, this was peculiarly gratifying; and for it they were greatly indebted to the skilful guidance of their right reverend diocesan. Whether the unity and the union, of which so much has been said that day, would ever be realized, time alone could determine; but let them re-echo the advice given by Bishop Burnet, of Salisbury, many years ago, when treating of the mode of attracting Dissenters, and which he laid down in the triple injunction,-"Out-live them, outpreach them, and out-pray them." If these three great rules were carried into effect, it would be well, not only for their own happiness, but also for the Church of God.

The President. Bishop of Peterborough. Bishop of Ohio. 385

You are now asked whether you will give expression to that which has been said to be the highest kind of gratitude, and which is implied in the expectation of future favours from the Bishop of Peterborough.

To this there was a most cordial and enthusiastic response.

The Bishop of PETERBOROUGH

SAID, in the launching of these little boats-a whole fleet of which they were now sending to sea-after the sitting of the Congress, there was considerable difficulty about the lading, as that invariably was sugar! Now sugar was an exceedingly sweet and luscious fruit: but it was heavy, and required some skill in the loading and unloading. It was his difficult task, however, to do both these at once-to unload one freight, and to load another. He had to stretch out his hand gratefully, to receive his own little portion of sugar, so gratefully and delicately administered to him by Earl Nelson, and the very hearty—indeed, he must say too grateful-proposal of thanks, for what they were yet in expectation of receiving. And having conveyed to them his very hearty and sincere thanks for that which they had given him credit for, and assured them of the very great pleasure it had been to him to come to that Congress, and to see what he had seen, he would proceed to load the next little boat, with the intent of obtaining their thanks-which he was quite sure would be most warmly accorded—to the Executive and other Committees, without whose long and patient and arduous labours that Congress could not have taken place at all. If they were grateful-as they seemed to be-for favours to come, he was quite sure that they would be doubly grateful for the favours they had received. He knew a little of executive committeemen. They were not always as they appeared upon such occasions. To do their work effectually, an amount of experience, judgment, and tact, was required, of which those who only judged by results could have very little idea. It was impossible for them to be too thankful for the patience, judgment, and energy, which must have been put in force by the Executive Committee for months before the assembling of the Congress, and which had ended in the exceedingly happy and useful results of which they had had experience. Therefore, he was sure they would heartily join with him in returning thanks to the Executive and other Committees, coupling with them the names of Mr. Wyndham Portal, Earl Nelson, and the Mayor of Southampton (Mr. Alderman Perkins).

The Bishop of ОHIO

SECONDED the proposition, desiring to add his thanks for the wise and impartial arrangements which had been made and carried out by the Executive Committee, and his personal acknowledgment of the gratification and profit he had derived from attending the sittings of the Congress. It was the first Congress he had ever attended in England, although far from being a stranger to many of our ecclesiastical proceedings. If he were to mention any one of the subjects discussed which commanded his special sympathy, it would be that of promoting unity between the Church and Nonconformists. As a bishop of the American Church, he desired to tell them that they always loved to remember and to speak of the Church of England as their beloved and revered Mother Church; and though there was no allegiance between them except that of love, they in с с