L E T T E S 
 
 : i 
 
 ON THE 'I 
 
 I 
 
 1 I 
 
 HOME MISSIONARY WORK : 
 
 OF THK ; I 
 
 i 
 
 |)rotntant episcopal C^ttrt^, | 
 
 A\n THE 
 
 REPORT OF THE LAY COMMITTEE 
 
 'J'O THE : 
 
 §mst 0f Clerical m)i f epfo,| ^ 
 
 ON THE SAME SUBJECT. ! | 
 
 PHILADELPHIA: 
 J. S. McCALLA, PR., 237 DOCK STREET. 
 
 1863. 
 
LETTERS 
 
 ON THE 
 
 HOME MISSIONARY WORK 
 
 OF THE 
 
 Irolfstaiit episcopal Cljiirclj, 
 
 AND THE 
 
 EEPORT OP THE LAY COMMITTEE 
 
 TO THE 
 
 louse 0f Clerical m\)i ^aj Replies, 
 
 ON THE SAME SUBJECT. 
 
 PHILADELPHIA : 
 J. S. McCALLA, PR., 237 DOCK STREET. 
 1863. 
 
Philadelphia, January 2d, 1863. 
 
 My Dear Mr. Welsh: — 
 
 I have been deeply interested in your letter. 
 Its facts and its suggestions are of the most important kind, and reach 
 down to the foundation principles on which Lay co-operation is based, 
 and through which it can be supported and made efficient. 
 
 I feel more and more that, we have not yet developed the full working 
 power of the Church. It has resources and capacities, with principles of 
 action involved in them, which have not yet been brought out and ap- 
 plied ; and I rejoice in any movement which will awaken these dormant 
 energies, and give direction to these hitherto neglected agencies of the 
 , Church. 
 
 It is my sincere desire that you should publish your letter, so that others 
 who desire to work, but know not exactly how to do it, may be guided 
 by your counsels, and those wise suggestions of our beloved Diocesan, 
 whose views accord so much with yours, and in accordance with which 
 I hope ever to labor, in fostering and giving vigorous action to the Lay 
 element in the Protestant Episcopal Church. 
 
 I remain very sincerely yours, 
 
 Wm. Bacon Stevens, 
 Astaistant BisJinp nf the Diocese of Pe.nn.ii/lvania. 
 
 Wm. Welsh, Esy. 
 
Philadelphia, January 1st, 1863. 
 To the Members of the Committee on Lay Co-operation 
 appointed by the Souse of Clerical and Lay Deputies, at the 
 session of the General Convention in 1859, and continued by 
 Resolution at the session o/' 1862. 
 
 As Secretary of the Committee, it becomes my duty to send 
 you a copy of the Report, made at the late meeting of the 
 General Convention in New York by such members as were 
 then present. Their Eeport, with the Address issued by the 
 Committee in the Spring of 1860, was ordered to be entered on 
 the Journal of the House of Clerical and Lay Depirties, and it 
 was resolved that the Committee should be continued. There 
 is, therefore, still resting upon us the responsible duty "of 
 devising and carrying out such means and measures as we may 
 deem advisable, calculated to reach the hearts of the Laity," 
 " and incite them to holy zeal in the cause of Christ," " that 
 they may earnestly and actively employ their time and means 
 to the best of their ability in supporting and invigorating the 
 Christian efibrts of the Church in all its departments." Each 
 Bishop may still fill any vacancy in the Committee which 
 may be created in his Diocese by death, removal, or otherwise ; 
 and it was early resolved by the Committee itself, that each 
 member should be requested to act, in his own Diocese, in such 
 manner and to such extent as he might, on conference with 
 its Head, deem best calculated to promote the important ends 
 which the House had in view when the Committee was 
 created. 
 
4 
 
 But, inasmuch as a free interchange of views and experi- 
 ences among the members may contribute to develop impor- 
 tant facts, and to correct errors, while it can hardly fail to 
 deepen our interest in the subject, I hope we shall still continue 
 by occasional meetings and by correspondence, to co-operate 
 in the good work. As an earnest of my own readiness to do 
 this, .! take the liberty of laying before you some results of 
 my experience for the last twenty-five years, as an humble, 
 but not uninterested or inactive laborer in the Sunday 
 School and Home Mission Departments of our Church work. 
 The great problem which, during that period, has occupied 
 much of my thoughts, as it has the thoughts of many of every 
 grade in our Church, is How ly the use of the GhurcKs system 
 and instruments to draw men, and especially voorldngmen and 
 those living without Religion, to Christ? 
 
 It has been felt by most of our Clergy and Laity, that our 
 Church had not hitherto succeeded in enlisting the attention 
 and interest of the great mass of our countrymen ; while at the 
 same time it was felt that, by her method of worship and of 
 training for the young, she was pre-eminently fitted to edify 
 them. By some, it was thought that all attempts to do this 
 would be abortive, and that she must be content with minis- 
 tering to a small fraction of the population. By others, who 
 could not forget that when the Saviour sent His Church into 
 the world, it was to preach glad tidings to "every creature," 
 various expedients have been proposed. On the one hand, it 
 has been proposed to drop, in good part, our liturgical worship 
 and all distinctive teaching, when dealing with the young or 
 the poor in Missionary Work. By others, the plan of free 
 , churches, of a richer and more decorated ritual, of larger alms- 
 giving, has been relied on. It cannot be questioned that mtich 
 
5 
 
 good has thus been done. In proportion as these measures 
 have been united with kindly intercourse and with ministra- 
 tions from house to house, they have been the more blessed. 
 But of themselves they can effect little, and what they do ac- 
 complish is at the expense, on one or the other side, of what 
 is distinctive of our Church. 
 
 We have erected, in our larger towns, many Mission 
 Churches. When unendowed they have languished for want 
 of adequate pecuniary means — when endowed, they have 
 too often been entrusted to Ministers of impaired health, or 
 to those who are disqualified for active Missionary Work, 
 by general inefficiency or by paramount taste for study. 
 Another difficulty in their way has been, that they were' asso- 
 ciated too exclusively with the poor in the minds of the 
 independent and self-supporting; and have, in some cases, 
 fostered a chronic pauperism by giving alms too freely and 
 too indiscriminately. And yet another, and in some instances 
 still greater, hindrance to their success, arises from the unwill- 
 ingness of cultivated Christians to leave their old parish, with 
 its pleasant associations and ministrations, and incorporate 
 themselves permanently with the Mission. Unless they 
 identify themselves with it, their services lose half their value 
 to the enterprise, which at its outset needs earnest and 
 enlightened Lay help at every step and in every part of its 
 work. 
 
 For the voluntary and unpaid labors of Christian men and 
 women in carrying the Gospel to the destitute, there seems to 
 be no substitute. We have tried Deacons of limited educa- 
 tion; expecting, but thus far in vain, that they would be 
 willing to' " use that office" through life. In England, they 
 have tried paid and licensed Scripture readers ; and there is no 
 
G 
 
 doubt that, with the established habits and homogeneous popu- 
 lation of that country, they have done mtich good, especially 
 when laboring under the auspices of the National Church. 
 In this country we have used largely the colporteur system ; 
 but the visits are only occasional and brief, and if made in 
 connection with no church organization, do not lay the foun- 
 dation for ih&i parochial life which seems to be essential to the 
 permanence and growth of Eeligion among men. Preaching 
 in the open air, in Theatres and Academies of Music, has been 
 tried, but with only transient efi'ects. Our Clergy have been, 
 in many cases, models of Missionary zeal, visiting the poor 
 and afflicted with untiring assiduity ; but unless sustained by 
 a band of earnest, persevering Lay workers, they have not 
 accomplished results proportioned to their efforts. The full 
 and sympathizing intercourse, the ready assistance in time of 
 pecuniary or domestic difficulty, the nameless acts of good 
 will which ought to obtain between established Christians and 
 the weak and wandering members of Christ's fold, cannot be 
 performed by Ministers alone. In many cases the Laity are 
 better fitted to perform them ; in all cases, by assisting in the 
 work, they gain inestimable blessings to themselves, while 
 they render great service to their Pastors and to the objects of 
 their beneficence. 
 
 We have many signs of increased zeal and activity. Our 
 Hospitals, Orphan Houses, Church Homes, and other like 
 Asylums, attest the growth of a large hearted charity. But 
 do we not need effort to make the homes of our people more 
 neat, and comfortable, and Christian ? Are we not too apt, in 
 providing for the sick and destitute, to withdraw them from 
 family associations and family influence? Do we not need 
 that the wives and mothers of working men, in our cities and 
 
7 
 
 towns, sliould be inspired with higher hope and ambition, 
 should strive to make their meals and evenings at home 
 attractive, and by books and other innocent and exhilarating 
 means, be able to counteract the attractions of the beer saloon 
 and the dram-shop ? Do we not need to demonstrate, by our 
 personal labors in the houses of the poor and in drawing them 
 to our churches, that our Eeligion is the copious fountain of 
 good to body, and mind, and soul, and that it is under the 
 shadow of our churches that they can be most truly men. 
 Here is work, I venture to think, to which every follower of 
 Christ is, or may become, equal. It is work for which there 
 is "ample room and verge enough." It is work which, if 
 neglected, must entail upon us untold loss and shame. 
 
 Many of the best minds in our Church are now deeply 
 exercised with the consideration of a fundamental principle, 
 that underlies much of the Missionary Work, that we are 
 attempting in our large cities. It has become a very grave 
 question, whether there is much permanent value in any effort 
 to reach persons who reside within a reasonable distance of a 
 church, unless they can be grafted into it. That some good is 
 effected by the mere contact of zealous Christians with 
 neglecters of their souls, cannot be questioned ; but persons 
 with evil surroundings, who have for a long time yielded to 
 sensual appetites, or even to indifference, need the constant 
 Christian watchfulness, counsel and sympathy, that can only 
 permanently emanate from Christ's organized family. It is 
 believed by many of our city Clergy that the Church cannot 
 perform its true functions until one or more free services on 
 each Sunday are provided in every parish for the poor and 
 the indifferent, that they may be thus drawn into the Fold of 
 Christ. 
 
8 
 
 The following extract from the address of the Bishop of this 
 Diocese to the Convention, shows the importance, in his judg- 
 ment, of Christian Churches taking hold of Missionary "Work 
 in their organized capacity : 
 
 " The collateral and subsidiary agencies, which are being 
 employed in some parishes to reach those who are alienated 
 from proper religious influence, multiply and are very useful. 
 Cottage meetings, Bible classes for adults of both sexes, 
 mothers' meetings, and other assemblages, in which in- 
 tellectual, and, perhaps, industrial improvement is combined 
 with Christian instruction, and with kindly social intercourse, 
 are fountains of blessing to many a weary and sin-sick soul. 
 In this way the influence of the Clergy and zealous Laity inter- 
 penetrates masses of people who, before, were not reached at 
 all, or were reached but feebly and fitfully. 
 
 " I am persuaded that it is by such means alone that we can 
 deal successfully with the great problems of pauperism and 
 crime, which have so long vexed the Christian and the States- 
 man. If by friendly intercourse and generous offices we can 
 bridge over the chasm which too much separates the educated 
 and godly members of Christ's body from the reckless, or 
 dogged, or ignorant ; if we can cheer the desponding by words 
 and deeds of hearty, cordial sympathy; stay the declining 
 steps of the unstable and the tempted, through better associa- 
 tions ; lend a helping hand to the struggling poor, not so much 
 by alms as by teaching them self-help ; multiply prayers and 
 acts of friendly assiduity round the most hardened and the 
 most depraved; we need not despair.- Love — expansive, 
 never resting, universal — is God's grand instrument for re- 
 deeming a world. Its saving power can be known only by 
 those to whom it is carried through his people — and it is 
 
9 
 
 more by deeds than by words, more by a constant flow of 
 kindness and faithfulness, than by money, that it is to be 
 done. 
 
 "Experience teaches the insuificiency of all measures to 
 relieve the poor which are compulsory — where the givers are 
 moved merely by the exactions of law, and receivers think 
 themselves entitled to even more than they get ; where there 
 is no interchange of kindly and gracious affections between 
 the parties, and the assistance is doled out by hired officials, 
 rather than by warm-hearted brethren and sisters in Christ. 
 Hasty and indiscriminate alms-giving by individuals is hardly 
 more satisfactory or more xiseful. And mixed associations for 
 relieving the poor, where Christians of different names co- 
 operate, are attended by serious difficulties. 
 
 " The principle on v/hich they act necessitates the suppres- 
 sion of distinctive religious teaching, and the ignoring, to a 
 considerable extent, of the parochial relation. Many think 
 that they entitle themselves to more consideration, by dis- 
 claiming all church connections, and the almost inevitable 
 tendency is to divorce charity and Christianity — not certainh^ 
 in the minds of those who give, but practically in the hearts 
 and lives of those Avho receive. 
 
 " I must renew here the expression of my opinion that the 
 wants of the poor and neglected will never be adequately met 
 by spiritual or temporal relief, till the Christian churches take 
 hold of the matter in their organic capacity, and devote them- 
 selves to it, with all the agencies, Clerical and Lay, Parochial 
 and Missionary, that they possess. That such agencies must 
 be animated with a spirit of fervent and indomitable love, and 
 be conducted with prudence as well as zeal, need hardly be 
 said. Nor need it be added that multitudes who work 
 2 
 
10 
 
 according to otlier methods, are impelled by the loftiest 
 motives, and are great benefactors of mankind." 
 
 The two following are among the collateral and subsidiary 
 agencies referred to by the Bishop as efBcient aids in Parish 
 Missionary "Work. As they are rather novel and can be availed 
 of very generally, without any increase in the expenditure of 
 a church, or of the strength of its Minister, I will refer to 
 them somewhat in detail. A large number of little vagrant 
 girls are, on each Saturday morning, gathered into some room 
 in the church, to receive instruction from ladies in sewing and 
 other handy work. Personal neatness is part of the instruc- 
 tion, with as much religious teaching as the peculiarities of 
 their condition and creed will allow. As their parents are 
 grateful for the evident improvement in the manners and 
 industry of their children, visits of teachers to their homes 
 become agreeable* and profitable. Christianity then, perhaps, 
 for the first time, seems to these godless parents to have a 
 practical value. 
 
 The Mothers' meeting, referred to by the Bishop, gives 
 promise of being the most valuable Lay agency that the 
 Church has availed of since the introduction of Sunday 
 Schools. Indeed it is the complement of that system — for the 
 Sunday School reaches the homes of the scholars very imper- 
 fectly, whilst these meetings and the visits of Christian women 
 to the mothers of scholars, change the character of their 
 homes. 
 
 Meetings of mothers on one evening of each week are held 
 in many parishes. Sometimes the meeting is commenced on a 
 large scale, with a regular organization of ofiicers, &c. ; then it 
 usually decreases until a true basis is reached. The most 
 successful meetings are commenced on a small scale ; the Eector 
 
11 
 
 quietly selecting a Christian lady of good practical common 
 sense and ready sympathy to begin the work, and afterwards 
 to guide and control it, under his direction. She commences, 
 by seeking out and drawing, into some room in the church, 
 women who are not frequenters of God's House ; first visiting 
 mothers who either have children in the Sunday School, or 
 the Saturday sewing school, or whose names are recorded on 
 the Baptismal Eegister of the parish. Several friendly visits, 
 neither condescending nor patronizing, are often necessary to 
 overcome the reluctance of some women to move out of their 
 well beaten path of daily drudgery. But when the visitor 
 wins their confidence and affection by little acts of kindness, 
 the cords of love draw them away from home cares, into a 
 little circle of kindred spirits, where they spend a social 
 evening with mutual profit. The women bring their sewing 
 or knitting, or the matron provides them with work, as the 
 social character of the meeting is thus increased. 
 
 Instruction is given in cutting and mending, and advice in 
 home duties ; the ideal is that practical Christian sympathy 
 will elevate and ennoble them so as to induce thrift and lessen 
 the alms-giving of the parish. This ideal has been fully 
 realized in a large parish — even to dispensing with an active 
 Dorcas Society where the children of the improvident and the 
 intemperate had been regularly clothed every Autumn. 
 
 The matron also receives their savings, and when any 
 calamity causes an unusual demand for money, she is able to 
 relieve them from their own savings. She often buys ma- 
 terial for clothing, advantageously, and allows the women to 
 take it instead of their deposits of money. In extreme cases, 
 materials for clothing are furnished in advance, and the women 
 repay by work or money in small instalments. 
 
12 
 
 As tlie matron knows the weaknesses and trials of these 
 neglected women, she adapts her Bible readings, religions 
 instruction and prayers to their known requirements, or she 
 fu rnishes the Rector, at his visits, with such information as will 
 enable him to teach them intelligently. 
 
 Whilst the meeting is small, some book or essay of a 
 sprightly and pointed character is read aloud, as the women 
 are sewing; but much reading is not profitable after the 
 number in attendance is large. 
 
 Visiting the absentees is necessary. Therefore when twenty 
 or thirty women are collected, one or more assistants are 
 sought out by the matron and appointed by the Eector. 
 Instruction in reading and writing is also given' with much 
 interest and profit. 
 
 Some of the women are very soon prepared to act as under 
 assistants ; those who have learned mantua making, millinery, 
 making boys' clothing, caps, &c., are quite willing to impart 
 their knowledge to others. Intemperate and dissolute women 
 are frequently drawn in, though there is often found the same 
 disposition to shun their society that our Saviour experienced 
 when on earth. Some of the women however manifest deep 
 Christian sympathy, in raising up a fallen sister and restoring 
 her to the assembly of mothers. Interesting and instructive 
 books are loaned at these meetings, and it is gratifying to see 
 the deep interest some women take in selecting agreeable 
 reading for their husbands or sons. 
 
 When mothers' meetings were first brought to my notice, I 
 classed them with the many ephemeral projects that had 
 passed away with the waning zeal of their projectors. Their 
 steady growth and extension from parish to parish led me to 
 examine their principles and operation closely, resulting in 
 
10 
 O 
 
 the firm conviction that this is a most valuable Missionary 
 movement, and one that is specially adapted to our Church's 
 system. 
 
 In August last I was asked to be present at the second 
 anniversary of a mothers' meeting in a parish "where its effi- 
 ciency has been fully proven. I found one hundred and fifty 
 women there, with many infants and small children, brought, 
 as is customary when there is no care-taker at home, and again 
 on the evening of Thanksgiving Day, there were one hundred 
 and forty-one women and fifty of their children. Of these 
 women very few had been reached by the ordinary means of 
 grace, and scarcely any ever attended the regular Wednesday 
 evening lecture. In this parish, the matron or principal has 
 four assistants, who visit in a defined district, and aid in the 
 great work of extending kindness to and watchfulness over 
 these mothers. 
 
 Seventy-five of them have become communicants of the 
 church since they were brought there by sympathizing 
 Christian hearts, and others are now preparing for confirma- 
 tion. 
 
 These results could not have been attained and this once 
 estranged people cemented to the Church, if the Minister had 
 refused their strong desire for a free service at 9 o'clock, A. M. 
 This service has been held for two years, and I can testify 
 to its increasing interest and efficiency; the gain in attendance 
 much more than counterbalancing heavy losses by enlistment, 
 and also by removals, since many cotton mUls have ceased 
 working. 
 
 Mothers are there who have never been absent since their 
 infants were three weeks old ; the doors of the Christian 
 Church had been virtually barred against them for years 
 
14 
 
 before, because they had no care-takers for their babes, and 
 because with them they were not welcome visitors at the 
 church. 
 
 Many wives now attend the early service, because they can 
 reach home in time to provide a comfortable dinner for hus- 
 bands and children who on other days are absent at their 
 work. Servants are there, whose masters and mistresses desire 
 to attend at the regular church services. 
 
 In some cases half of the family are at the early service and 
 the others go at 10^ o'clock ; one shawl and bonnet sufficing 
 for both mother and daughter. As the Christians who attend 
 these free services are willing to dress plainly, the working 
 people and the poor go in such garments as they would 
 not appear in, when a more fashionable congregation as- 
 sembles. 
 
 I cannot refrain from referring to our Sunday School System, 
 for although it is effectively worked in many of our parishes, 
 and through its agency praise ascends from many lips that 
 would otherwise be used in cursing, yet it is mournful, to find 
 that so few boys are by it induced openly and faithfully to 
 assume their baptismal vows and witness a good confession. 
 When it was ascertained that catechetical teaching was too 
 formal or too cold to attract children to the church and attach 
 them to the Minister, rushing to the opposite extreme was 
 natural, and in too many cases the Sunday School has become 
 partially divorced from the Church. 
 
 Our Bishop brought this subject before the last Diocesan 
 Convention, and a committee of experienced clergymen and 
 laymen was raised to consider it and to prepare a report. I 
 make the following extract from that portion of the Bishop's 
 address which was referred to this committee : 
 
15 
 
 "The Sunday School system has much power and is in 
 many ways doing much good. But its capacities are imper- 
 fectly developed, and its practical working often falls far short 
 of the ideal to which we should aspire. "Where the Minister 
 does not identify himself with the school, and is not regarded 
 by the teachers and the children as its proper head and ani- 
 mating spirit; where the instruction and discipline of the 
 school are not conducted in connection with and in subordina- 
 tion to the general work of the parish ; where more pains are 
 taken to gather in large bodies of children, and to amuse them 
 with stories, exhibitions and festivals, than to train them in 
 the principles of the doctrine of Christ ; where the teachers 
 who are placed over them compare most unfavorably with 
 those to whom they recite in the day school ; and where they 
 are not accustomed to attend the worship of the church, and 
 have in it no recognized place, we cannot anticipate the per- 
 manent good effects to be desired." 
 
 This suggestion is important and miist result in good, for 
 surely some plan can be devised by which the children can, 
 before they are wearied with a Sunday School session, be 
 instructed openly in the Church, according to the rubrics, and 
 still retain all that is of value in the more modern Sunday 
 School system. The Church can thus avail of the loving link 
 that teachers form between her and her adopted children, and 
 also cement the parental tie, by inducing parents and children 
 in every condition of life to worship together in the House of 
 God. This desirable result has been partially attained in 
 several of our city parishes by convening the members of the 
 Bible classes and Sunday Schools with their teachers, parents 
 and friends openly, in the church on one Sunday afternoon in 
 each month, to unite in our service, sing hymns that they have 
 
16 
 
 thoroughly practised, and listen to a sermon or address pre- 
 pared by their minister expressly for the young and the 
 ignorant. 
 
 Few adults would like to be subjected to the test that is 
 often successfully applied to these children; for many of 
 them are able to repeat the text and the heads of the sermon 
 delivered at the previous monthly meeting. The church is 
 crowded at these free services. Instead of teachers driving 
 or dragging children into a Sunday School gallery and there 
 standing guard over them, making Sunday a weariness to all, 
 they come to church as cheerfully as little ones go to their 
 happy infant school. We may well ask, if children would 
 have so loved and glorified Jesus when He was on earth if He 
 had preached to them as we preach to grown people, and if 
 He suited His instruction to children, why should not we 
 strive to do likewise. Some children say, we love our 
 teachers, for they speak lovingly to us and Ave can understand 
 their teaching, but when we are tired and therefore restless 
 in church during a sermon that we cannot understand, the 
 Minister sometimes scolds us, and because we cannot sit still, 
 calls us wicked children ; how then can we learn to love him 
 or the church, or even Sunday ? 
 
 They say, " Teacher, does God's Spirit keep you from 
 getting tired in church when you cannot understand the 
 preacher, and do you then love to be at church after you have 
 been in the Sunday School room and are tired ?" Such ques- 
 tions are not often fairly answered, as the usual reply is that 
 when converted they will be good children and then they will 
 love Sunday and the Church and the Minister and through 
 them their God and |Ieaven. 
 
 Most valuable resuUS to the Missionary and Sunday School 
 
17 
 
 work may ■with certainty be looked for, wLen all of our 
 churclies have one or more free services every Sunda)^, with 
 simple Gospel instruction. 
 
 A monthly experiment of this kind has been fairly tried in 
 several churches. In one parish a free service on each Sun- 
 day has been most successful for more than two years. Pew- 
 renters still occupy their accustomed seats at the regular ser- 
 vices, thus paying all the current exj)enses of the church, 
 and uniting perfectly the pewed and the free system. 
 
 The enemies of our Church say that her Missionary Work is 
 hindered by a cast-iron liturgy. In these days of doctrinal 
 instability, this fixedness in our public v/orship may be most 
 fortunate ; and as the usual morning service was originally cast 
 in three pieces, it may again be divided, as was the practice 
 when it was originally framed, and as is now the visage in 
 many congregations on holy days and communion seasons. — 
 This division of services is also sanctioned by the House of 
 Bishops ; as it was virtually by the General Convention on the 
 last day of its late session, when morning prayer was said at 9 
 o'clock and the litany and communion service at noon. Nearly- 
 all intelligent Christians admit that half of our morning service 
 used at one time is more profitable than the whole, to three out 
 of the four classes that compose our congregations. The young, 
 the irreligious and illiterate Christians are more likely to be 
 edified by the shorter than by the longer service, and if the ser- 
 vice is divided, the help of the mature Christian is needed on 
 both occasions. 
 
 Many of the Bishops and Clergy long for the speedy 
 advent of the time when our Church shall more completely 
 fulfil her divine mission. They manifest a readiness for the 
 proposed change, but I am deeply mortified to find that we 
 3 
 
18 
 
 of the Laity are the chief hindrance. Do suflEer me affection- 
 ately and earnestly to beg of you a prayerful examination of 
 this proposed division of our morning service, so that the Gos- 
 pel may be preached without money and without price to all 
 sorts and conditions of men at least once on each Sunday in 
 every parish. 
 
 The Home Missionary Work of our Church is considered 
 by some otherwise excellent Laymen as of so little value, that 
 they Avould rather sacrifice it than to allow a division of the 
 service, even where not one word is omitted. Others, who 
 ride daily in our street cars side by side with working men 
 and women in their soiled clothes, object to the use of their 
 pews on Sunday by the most cleanly of these people, although 
 they are then neatly dressed. The visit of Jesus to his house 
 brought from Zaccheus the dedication of half of his goods to 
 feed the poor. Can we of the Laity claim that Christ is in 
 his Church, if we refuse to his Ministers the use of our 
 church buildings at such hours as we do not need them? 
 No wonder that some of our spiritually minded people are 
 unduly drawn towards the Eomish Church, for she welcomes 
 the poor and the estranged at all hours when the pew rent- 
 ers are not in actual possession. 
 
 Some Sunday School teachers think that their department 
 has all of the vitality of our Church ; therefore the proposal to 
 have a church service for children, their teachers and parents, 
 in lieu of the morning session of the school, awakens fears that 
 if this concession to the Church is allowed, the Sunday School 
 system will ultimately be abandoned. 
 
 A little examination would enable zealous teachers to see 
 that the real danger to the present Sunday School system 
 arises from its want of union with the Church, and its ten- 
 
19 
 
 dency to separate children from their parents in public wor- 
 ship, unless little ones are forced to attend more services than 
 are profitable for mature Christians. 
 
 A word of explanation may be needful to show, that these 
 extra services will not unduly increase the labors of Clergy- 
 men. Even delicate Ministers say that they would rather 
 give a talk of ten or fifteen minutes at the early service, in ad- 
 dition to their present duty, if the Morning Prayer is divided, 
 than to read it all at one time. 
 
 In some cases the Rector superintends his Sunday Schools or 
 teaches a Bible class, and he always feels that he cannot neg- 
 lect the lambs of his flock. Therefore dispensing with the 
 morning session of .the school will afford additional relief. — 
 Ministers regret that they are compelled to employ in their 
 Sunday schools incompetent and inefficient teachers. This 
 arrangement affords a relief here also, as the Pastor assumes a 
 larger share of the religious teaching than he could other- 
 wise do. Fears have been expressed that a higher quality 
 of Lay help than can usually be found in most parishes 
 would be requisite in collecting the poor, the indifferent and 
 the vicious, and drawing them to Church ; but where it has 
 been tried it has worked successfully, with the assistance 
 of only a few ladies who were too diffident of their own powers 
 to offer their services, but whose peculiar fitness for the work 
 became most apparent after they had been induced by their 
 Minister to engage in it. It was also feared by some that an 
 early free service would cause the congregation at the regular 
 hour to decrease, and thus lessen the income of the church ; 
 but experience has shown that this fear was groundless, as 
 there is an increased demand for pews and seats, enlarging the 
 income of the church, as must always be the case where there 
 is life in a parish. 
 
20 
 
 The foregoing suggestions will, I hope, be received in the 
 same spirit in which they are ofi'ered — merely as presenting 
 for your consideration, thoughts that are passing through my 
 own mind. I am far from presuming to fault either Clergy 
 or Laity ; my only desire is to aid, with the experience and 
 observation of a Layman working in a very limited sphere, 
 such Churchmen as are striving to promote the great mission 
 of Christ's Church. I thank God that there are many now 
 ready to work in this cause ; and that our Church is better 
 iitted than any other to avail of Lay help extensively, and to 
 use it safely and effectively. A providential contact with the 
 sick and wounded soldier has awakened my sympathies fully, 
 and has drawn them out afresh towards a class of men our 
 Church has not yet reached to any considerable extent. 
 Think of more than half a million of families mainly depend- 
 ing on the small wages of the soldier, paid with almost 
 criminal irregularity. "What are they to do for spiritual food, 
 when it can rarely be had, except in expensive clothing and 
 with a further outlay for pew rent or class dues. It is true 
 that our Sunday Schools draw many children by the superior 
 education of our teachers, but frequently these children are 
 weaned from mothers who have other Church connections, and 
 they are not permanently grafted' into our own Church. Boys 
 especially, soon stray from the Christian fold. 
 
 What an unspeakable comfort it would be to the soldier 
 who is hazarding his life for our defence, or who is suffering 
 in some Hospital, to know that the Lord had taken up the cause 
 of his mother, wife and* child, by providing free Missionary 
 services in a church where they can find Christian sympathy, 
 and keep alive the love of Jesus in the heart of parent and 
 child. Most of these men Avho seem to a casual observer to be 
 
21 
 
 rude and rough, are found to have hearts as tender as those 
 of children, when they are induced to speak freely of the 
 mother that bore them, and that now yearns and prays for the 
 soldier son : and they can often be restrained from excesses by 
 the bare suggestion that their mothers would be grieved by 
 the knowledge of stich wrong doing. The fact that our sons 
 of toil have such mothers is often witnessed to me by men with 
 quivering lips and tearful eyes, and I have thanked God and 
 taken courage for my country, and have resolved that what 
 could be done by one man should be done to make our Church 
 their home. That many warm hearts are ready to spring to 
 the aid of the Ministry in this work is abundantly proved in 
 this city, by the untiring devotion of men, and especially of 
 holy women, in Hospitals, in temporary Asylums for the sick 
 and wounded, in Soldiers' Eeading Eooms, in Eefreshment 
 Saloons, and in Ambulances for conveying the sick gratui- 
 tously to Hospitals. Soldiers in large numbers attend daily 
 Bible readings where the instruction is given by ladies, thus 
 testifying to their teachableness, and assuring each Eector who 
 has even one intelligent Christian woman in his parish, that 
 he has a Lay helper who can under his direction draw in many 
 that are now estranged. A letter was just shown to me, written 
 by a poor cotton spinnei-, who by want of work was very 
 reluctantly forced away from a parish where a Christian lady 
 had drawn him from the dram shop into the Church. He 
 writes from the village to which he removed, "I went to 
 church as you bid me, and I gave your husband's card to the 
 minister ; but there is no early free service, no Bible class for 
 men, and no mothers' meeting. The church says come, the 
 minister says come, but there is no mother here like you to 
 fetch them." 
 
Is it not possible to have a free missioBary service on Sun- 
 day in eacli cTiuroh, conducted in a spirit as truly catholic as 
 that in which we approach the heathen who live in other coun- 
 tries ? In addition to the regular teaching at stated hours, surely 
 we can afford to have one simple service that shall be wholly 
 free from Church or party politics, and from anything that 
 might wound a weak brother trained in the peculiarities of 
 any other Christian body — Christ crucified being the only 
 theme. Our Foreign Missionaries are careful to avoid ex- 
 citing the prejudices of the Chinese and Africans, that they 
 may reach their minds and hearts with the knowledge and 
 love of a suffering Saviour, thus giving them power to break 
 away from superstition and fleshly lusts; and should not we 
 be quite as lenient towards our own brethren, who are often 
 prejudiced against the Christian Church by parental harsh- 
 ness, by the dogmatic teaching of some Ministers, or by the 
 inconsistency of many members ? In conducting Foreign 
 Missions we study the difference between the written and the 
 spoken language, but in this country we are not so careful, 
 therefore we often fail to reach the heart, and excuse our- 
 selves by saying that, the people should be educated up to a 
 higher intellectual level. 
 
 Many working men have never felt any other tender 
 emotions than those that were aroused by mother, wife or 
 child, using the simplest Saxon words set in homely phrases. 
 Our Saviour availed himself of these inlets to the heart, al- 
 though the Jewish Eabbis scorned to use them ; therefore the 
 common people heard him gladly. 
 
 I have witnessed the effect of simple teaching at such fi-ee 
 services- as I have described, where half the Morning Service 
 was used with the utmost regularity. Men have gone from 
 
23 
 
 that parish to other cities, to England, and even to Australia, 
 and yet they evince in their letters a yearning to return to the 
 place where this simple teaching first touched their hearts, 
 or drew them back from a state of indifference into which they 
 had fallen. Soldiers who came hack from the army, either 
 sick or wounded, hobbled to the early service on their crutches 
 the first Sunday after their return ; and others who had but a 
 day's sick leave from a neighboring Hospital, brought wife and 
 children to the early service to unite with them in prayer and 
 praise. 
 
 Our Church addresses all men who visit her courts as "dearly 
 beloved brethren." Are we not bound, then, to welcome stran- 
 gers cordially, and to aid in testifying that Christ's organized 
 Body and Eepresentative is still imbued with His own Spirit, 
 still bears some resemblance to its Lord and Master ? 
 
 Yours, truly and respectfully, 
 
 WM. WELSH. 
 
24 
 
 Extracls from ihe Journal of the House of Clerical and Lay 
 Dipulies, October, 1859. 
 Mr. S. B. Euggles presented tlie following resolution : 
 
 Resolved, That the present state of the Church, and of the world around 
 it, emphatically appeals, not only to the Clergy, but to the Laity, earnestly 
 and actively to employ their time and means, to the best of their ability, 
 in supporting and invigorating the Christian elTorts of the Church in all its 
 departments. 
 
 Mr. Conrad proposed to append the following, which was 
 adopted by Mr. Euggles : 
 
 Therefore, Resolved, That a Committee, consisting of one Layman from 
 each Diocese, of whom five shall be a quorum, be appointed, who shall, 
 during the recess of this General Convention, devise and carry out such 
 means and measures as they may deem advisable, calculated to reach the 
 hearts of the Laity of this Churcli, and to impress upon them specially the 
 imperative wants of the Church ; of Ministers, who must be supplied from 
 their body ; of money, which is more ueeded than ever, to meet the increased 
 expenditures of the Church ; of earnest and holy zeal in the cause of Christ, 
 which is needsd most of all, and which, if aroused to its proper tone, will 
 insure the supply of the other two needs referred to. 
 
 The resolutions were successively put to the House for their 
 action, and both adopted. 
 
 On motion of Mr. J. IST. Oonyngham, 
 
 Resolved, That the great subject of the Christian education of the youth 
 of our Church, as well in the family as in our own Church-schools and Col- 
 leges, be referred, as a special matter of interest, to the consideration of 
 the Committee of the Laity appointed at the present Session of the Con- 
 vention. 
 
 On motion of Mr. "VVm. Welsh, 
 
 Resolved, That each Bishop be authorized to fill any vacancy that may 
 occur in the Committee in his Diocese during the recess of the Convention, 
 and that he be earnestly desired to aid this Committee by his advice and 
 co-operation. 
 
 The President here announced the following as the Com- 
 mittee of Laymen : 
 
 Mr. S. B. Euggles, Neiv York, Mr. Alex. Duncan, Rhode. Island, Mr. Samuel 
 H. Huntington, Connecticut, Mr. W.asliiugton Hunt, Western New Yorh, Mr. 
 .T. C. Garthwaite, Neiv Jerse.i/, Mr. Kobert H. Gardiner, Maine, Mr. Simeon 
 Ide, Neio Hampshire, Mr. Edward A. Newton, Massachusetts, Mr. Isaac H. 
 Redfleld, Vermont, Mr. Wm. Welsh, Pennsylvania, Mr. S. F. Du Pout, 
 U. S. N., Delaware, Mr. J. Mason Campbell, Maryland, Mr. D. H. Conrad, 
 Virginia, Mr. .losiah Collin;!, North Carolina, Mr. R. F. W. AUston, South 
 Carolina, Mr. James Potter, Georgia, Mr. George R. Fairbanks, Florida, Mr. 
 Robert T. Bunker, Alabama, Mr. George S. Yerger, Mississippi, Mr. W. N. 
 Mercer, M.D., Louisiana, Mr. E. B. Nichols, Texas, Mr. Francis B. Fogg, 
 Tennessee, Mr. A. H. Churchill, Kentucky, Mr. Bellamy Storer, Ohio, Mr. 
 .Tas. Morrison, Indiana, Mr. Daniel Hough, Missouri, Major Martin, Kansas, 
 Mr. H. P. Baldwin, Michigan, Mr. A. L. Pritchard, Wisconsin, Mr. B. B. 
 Richards, Iowa, Mr. H. T. Wells, Minnesota, Mr. Edward Stanley, Cali- 
 fornia, Mr. L. B. Otis, Illinois. 
 
The Committee of Laymen appointed by the Souse of Clerical 
 and Lay Deputies at its last session, to whom certain resohi- 
 tions were referred for consideration and action, heg have to 
 Report : 
 
 That they have given to the matters referred to them such 
 attention as the state of the country, their professional and 
 personal engagements, and the remoteness of their residences 
 have allowed. They have held two meetings in the city of 
 Philadelphia. At the first were present Messrs. D. H. Conrad, 
 of Virginia ; S. H. Huntington, of Connecticut ; S. F. Dupont, 
 of Delaware, and Wm. "Welsh, of Pennsylvania. At the 
 second, the above, with the addition of Messrs. Wm. N. Mercer, 
 of Louisiana ; G. E. Fairbanks, of Florida ; James Potter, of 
 Georgia ; E. F. W. AUston, of South Carolina ; Josiah Collins, 
 of North Carolina; J. W. Stevenson, of Kentucky; E. A. 
 Newton, of Massachusetts, and S. B. Euggles, of New York. 
 
 Mr. B. A. Newton, who represented the Diocese of Massa- 
 chusetts, and Mr. James Potter, of Georgia, have since been 
 taken to their rest; and from others with whom we took 
 pleasant and profitable counsel, we are separated by the hard 
 necessities of war. These meetings led to a full interchange 
 of views, both personally and by correspondence, in respect to 
 the position of the Laity in the Church, and the duties imposed 
 by their baptismal vows, and by the condition of the world, 
 and especially of our own land. 
 
 At the second meeting, the appeal, which has been printed 
 and widely circulated, and which is herewith transmitted, was, 
 4 
 
2G 
 
 in its main features, agreed upon. The members present at 
 this meeting also resolved that, God being their helper, they 
 ■would rise to higher views of their duty as members of Christ's 
 Body, and would endeavor to provoke others to greater zeal. 
 How far they have succeeded, it is not for them to know ; nor 
 can they flatter themselves that any very important results 
 have yet followed from their labors as a Committee. 
 
 They have, however, great satisfaction in knowing that, 
 owing to God's blessing upon various means, the three years 
 just closed have been marked by unusual activity on the part 
 of our Laity in works of faith and labors of love. Their con- 
 tributions to Church charities have hardly declined; their 
 gifts to benevolent and patriotic objects have greatly increased. 
 With great prostration and derangement of business, in the 
 midst of frightful civil agitations and of wide-spread and 
 wasting war, the heart of the people has not grown sordid or 
 cold. Christians have lost neither their courage nor their 
 devotion to Christ's great work.. The sick and wounded have 
 been cared for ; the spiritual and temporal well-being of the 
 poor and vicious has received increased consideration ; those 
 estranged from the Lord's House and Day have been sought, 
 and in continually increasing numbers have been reclaimed. 
 The God of nations is trying us as by fire. May we so receive 
 the chastisement that a more and more entire consecration of 
 our persons and of our substance shall be the result. 
 
 In all parts of the Chtirch there seems to be awakened a 
 deeper interest in Christianizing our home population. Lay- 
 men co-operate with the Clergy in carrying the influence of 
 the Gospel to the lost sheep of the Christian Israel— minister- 
 ing from house to house. Such efforts, steadily continued, con- 
 ducted with judgment, and crowned with fervent prayer to God, 
 
cannot but bless those who give, as well as those who receive. 
 They strengthen and animate our faith; they enlarge our 
 charities ; they lift us above the vanities and the sordid cares 
 of life. In whatever degree they become general among our 
 people, in like proportion shall we prepare for the advent of 
 a brighter day for the Church, and the introduction of Church- 
 men of a nobler and more purely Christian type. 
 
 In the pamphlet marked No. 2, which accompanies this 
 Report, will be found some record of labors of this kind, con- 
 ducted under the advice of a judicious and earnest Ministry. 
 It has probably met the eye of many members of this House 
 already. It rejoices the hearts of your Committee to know 
 that in many places, and under the supervision of many 
 parishes, similar efforts are being made, and that nothing but 
 prayer and effort are wanting to make every Church and con- 
 gregation the centre of a Missionary influence as active as it 
 will be holy and benign. 
 
 Respectfully submitted by 
 
 EOBEKT H. GrARDINER, Maine, 
 SlMEOlT Ide, New Hampshire, 
 Isaac H. Eedfield, Vermont, 
 Samuel B. Euggles, New York, 
 Washington Hunt, W. New York, 
 H. P. Baldwin, Michigan, 
 Wm. Welsh, Pennsylvania. 
 
 The following Eeport of the member of the Committee from 
 Pennsylvania having been read, it was unanimously Resolved, 
 That it be appended to the Eeport of the Committee. 
 
 New York, October 7, 1862. 
 
28 
 
 The members of the Committee of Laymen appointed by 
 the House of Clerical and Lay Deputies, being too widely 
 separated to act efficiently in a body, beyond the publication 
 of an address, passed the following resolution : Resolved, That 
 it be recommended to the members of this Committee, each in 
 his respective Diocese, with the advice and consent of the 
 Bishop of the same, to take the most active measures to 
 organize associations, with the view of carrying out and 
 advancing the spirit of the resolutions under which they act, 
 and the recommendations set forth in this address. 
 
 The undersigned, in accordance with this recommendation 
 of the Committee, acted in the Diocese of Pennsylvania under 
 the advice of Bishop Potter, and with his most valuable and 
 cordial co-operation. 
 
 His attention was given to the four following subjects, 
 which were presented to the Committee for their earnest con- 
 sideration : 
 
 First. — The Christian education of the youth of our Church 
 in the family and in Church schools. 
 
 Second. — The best means of supplying the present impera- 
 tive want of Ministers. 
 
 Third. — How the increasing demand for money in our 
 growing Church can be most steadily supplied. 
 
 i^OM?-ifA.— The infusion into the Laity of more earnest and 
 holy zeal in the cause of Christ. 
 
 1st. In examining the extent of Christian education in the 
 family, it was ascertained that very many of the parents of 
 baptized children, of the working class, were not reached by 
 any means of grace, and that in such cases, religious instruc- 
 tion at home was very much neglected. Several successful 
 experiments have been tried, to test the power of the Church 
 
29 
 
 to reach witli her holy ministrations this hitherto neglected 
 class of parents. 
 
 In some cases this work was commenced by assembling 
 neglected children weekly, under the auspices of the Church 
 for instruction in sewing and other useful employments. The 
 Christian ' women who engage in this work can soon gain a 
 ready access to the homes and the hearts of the parents. 
 
 Large numbers of mothers, who rarely entered the Church, 
 are now drawn by the Christian sympathy of the ladies, to 
 weekly meetings, where they unite in worship after they 
 receive instruction in useful employments. 
 
 When the Christian Church thus increases the usefulness 
 and promotes the happiness of children and their mothers, it 
 is comparatively easy to induce the father and husband to join 
 suitable Bible classes, and to accompany his family to free 
 Sunday services in the Chapel or Church, at hours not usually 
 selected by us for public worship. On these occasions it 
 has been found profitable to divide the morning prayers 
 between a service at 9 and that at lOJ- o'clock, and, at the 
 early service, to make the address or sermon, short, instructive 
 and simple. Where parents are thus reached by the Church, 
 there is a marked improvement in the Christian training of 
 their children. 
 
 In some cases Eectors have found it profitable to select 
 Lay people, who are skilled in training children for Christ, to 
 give private instruction to parents of the working class, before 
 they present their children for holy baptism, and to watch 
 over the home-training of these lambs of Christ's flock. Our 
 Church enjoins her Ministers, to give public catechetical 
 instruction, and although this is very valuable in conveying 
 the great principles of our faith to the mind of childhood, yet 
 
30 
 
 in our larger parishes, the aid of the Sunday School teacher 
 seems equally necessary to awaken Christian sympathy, to 
 watch over the early developments of youthful piety, and to 
 make the Christian Church a happy home for her little ones. 
 
 In examining our Sunday Schools, it was ascertained that 
 the teachers were too often untrained and unskilful, whilst 
 the teachers in our public schools were well trained and effi- 
 cient — thus leading children to foi-m a contrast veiy unfavor- 
 able to the extension of Christianity. 
 
 The Bishop of Pennsylvania, endeavored last winter to 
 provide a remedy for this defect, by arranging a course of 
 partial lectures addressed to Sunday School teachers by Clergy- 
 men and Laymen. He hopes to follow the subject up by 
 establishing in the larger parishes Normal, or Training Schools, 
 in which Christians will be helped to acquire the art of 
 imparting religious instruction, simply, clearly and efficiently. 
 From such schools our Church can also draw a supply of 
 efiicient teachers for the parish schools. 
 
 2d. The imperative want of Ministers is very apparent, but 
 their need of a more thorough training in the school of expe- 
 rience, has been made still more apparent by the ill success of 
 many of the army Chaplains. If the Laity are trained to teach 
 and are thoroughly practised in it by their Ministers in the 
 large field now opening so widely in connection with our 
 Church for this class of service, it may be reasonably expected 
 that much latent talent will be thus developed, and dedicated 
 to the work of the ministry. 
 
 The want of success of many Ministers has discouraged 
 other Christian men from entering that holy office, when the 
 fault may often be fairly chargeable to those who certified that 
 the candidate was apt to teach, before his powers had been 
 tested. 
 
3d. The ease witli whicli money lias been freely poured out 
 in our Churcli, by children and adxilts, to aid the suffering 
 soldier, evinces a willingness to give bountifully when appro- 
 priate means are used to awaken an interest in the object. 
 
 Our military Hospitals afford some touching illustrations of 
 the best mode of developing the Missionary spirit in the hearts 
 of children. Little ones are constantly bringing offerings that 
 cost them much, in time and money, and they seem perfectly 
 delighted at the privilege of benefitting the body and soul of 
 the soldier. If parents, pastors and teachers will interest 
 children in some Missionary work, over which they can watch, 
 a Missionary spirit will be cultivated that will in due time 
 reach the most distant fields. Childhood must have some- 
 thing tangible to give reality to an appeal, and then the object 
 awalcens a ready sympathy, that will naturally flow out as 
 from an open fountain. 
 
 4th. In the Diocese of Pennsylvania there has been an 
 endeavor to awaken more earnest and holy zeal, by convening 
 the Clergy and their prominent Laymen to confer together 
 freely on this important subject. 
 
 A circular was issued by this meeting and it is believed 
 that it has been very useful. As the Clergy are increasingly 
 disposed to avail of Lay co-operation, intelligent Laymen are 
 more willing than heretofore to give it. 
 
 The present war is opening a very wide door for this 
 species of Christian duty, as the suffering and sorrowing ones 
 should be sought out, comforted with Christian sympathy, and 
 incorporated into the Church. 
 
 Many of our sisters in Christ have recently been tried so 
 severely, that they are ready to bring forth abundant fruit if 
 their pastors will develop and give a right direction to their 
 
latent powers. The Hospital and' even the battle-field testify 
 to the readiness of Christian •women to work most efficiently, 
 and in proportion as the Chnrch avails herself of their gentle 
 but winning agency, she will be able to reach all sorts and 
 conditions of men. 
 
 EespectfuUy reported to the General Lay Committee by 
 
 William Welsh, 
 of the Diocese of Pennsylvania. 
 
 Philadelphia, September 80th, 1862.