LAY AGENCY.

Extract from the speech of The Rev. W. W. Champneys, at the meeting of the Church Pastoral Aid Society.

AND I will venture to say, that if those who look on from their chambers, where there is little knowledge of what the world is, will take one year with the poor of Whitechapel, with its 34,000 or 35,000, they will be at once convinced. I know that this Society was not the first to take up the principle of lay-agency; it was felt and regretted before, that the gifts which God had bestowed upon many lay members of our Church were not employed for that Church; and in truth the Church of England was working with one arm in a sling, for fear of being too strong. But though this Society was not the first to put out the principle of lay-agency, this we owe to it, that it has held it up as a standard before the eyes of the members of the Church of England, embodied it, given it "a local habitation and a name,' and that which was floating in the minds of many as a theory, is now registered as a matter of experience. I look to the work of the layagent, and I can bear my testimony to its efficiency for the last four or five years. I have had lay agents, who have mastered work, which it would have been impossible for us with all the desire and will in the world, in our overgrown parish to overtake-a work, too, of such a peculiar kind, so different from that of the ministry, that it seems only suited to the Christian layman, and to be efficiently and successfully pursued and carried out by none else. There is a district in my parish, one of the most degraded in London, so bad that a female could not go down it without a policeman; we made three several efforts in vain to establish cottage reading in it, and gather together out of this abandoned neighbourhood a few who would "worship God in spirit and in truth." A Christian layman, an Irishman, whom, since his death (in putting to press a little account of his history), I have discovered to have been the teacher of 20,000 Irish to read the Scriptures in the Irish tongue; this admirable man, who worked with me till the moment when he was called to receive from the hand of that Master he dearly loved, a bright and glorious crown, was led by Divine Providence to put forth simple, but energetic efforts, and produced the effect, after which we had been trying in vain. A congregation was gathered from the rooms of the sick whom he had visited, and over whom he had gained an influence; and when he had broken up the fallow ground, so that the minister might not sow among thorns, then he drew the minister's attention to the case and said,-"Now, if you will go to them, they are in a state to receive what you say.' I found this man, and many others who worked with me in this capacity, to be pioneers of the Gospel; persons who break up the fallow ground, make the valleys smooth, and pull down hills as it were, and make the moral way for us to go on more easily, saving us in point of time and efforts what might have been unavailing. feel that this Society, by embodying in its rules directions for the conduct of laymen, has shewn that it is possible for a Christian layman in the Church of England, to be a good sound Churchman, and at the same time devote himself energetically to be a helper of his minister; and if the Society had done no more than that, it would have rendered a great and important service to our Church and country. When I see that the conviction is gaining ground in high

EXTRACTS FROM THE CHAPLAIN'S REPORT ON THE PRESTON HOUSE OF CORRECTION.

I have alluded, in a former part of this report, to the criminality born or nourished in the concert room of the gin-palace, and at such dramatic representations as Jack Sheppard; and to exemplify the guilt and misery flowing from such panderings to weak and depraved natures, I will give some details connected with a case tried within the last year. Three boys, of a class much superior to that in which young offenders are generally found, were indicted for three distinct robberies. The mother of one of them, a woman, I believe, of exemplary life, at an interview which I had with her, said, "My son had a typhus fever; and before he was quite well the older apprentice took him to the play, to see Jack Sheppard, and for a long time after I thought he was not quite right in his head (owing to the fever), for he was always repeating the strange words and sayings which he had heard in Jack Sheppard." The boys pleaded guilty to the indictments against them, and afterwards gave me an account, of which the following is an abstract:

I was

The first boy, S., said "I am 17; my parents attend chapel as regularly as possible; my mother is a very religious woman. never punished for doing wrong by my parents: they never had any occasion to punish me. I can read and write. I have read much since I left school-among other books one called 'Gilderoy,' which gives an account of robberies and escapings out of prison. I have only been three times to the theatre, and sometimes to the theatre in

(a low place). The second play I saw at the theatre was 'Jack Sheppard,' and the third also was 'Jack Sheppard;' it was also performed at. I thought Sheppard a fine sharp fellow. The first place we broke into was (Here follow the details of seven cases of shop and warehouse breaking.) H. often compared us to Jack Sheppard and his comrades; he said we had very near gone through as much as Jack Sheppard. H. always seemed to have Jack Sheppard in his head. He painted his (Sheppard's) name on the shop beam, same as Jack does when the first scene of the play opens. My wages were 5s. per week. I have three sisters and one brother. We lived in comfort at home. I had food and clothing enough, and kind parents. My parents used to talk to me, and caution me against bad company. I always thought they could see something going wrong. When my parents knew that I had been to see Jack Sheppard, they gave me a good talking to, and said I could not have gone to see a much worse thing."

The account given by the second boy, H., is as follows:-"I am 18. My mother died three years ago. I have been four years apprentice to Mr., cabinet maker. I lived with my father and two sisters, who kept the house. My father is a very sober man, and attends public worship regularly. My mother was a good woman, and endeavoured to give me religious principles. If she had been living, I should not have been here now. I attended the day-school, and assisted in teaching in the day, and the master taught me at night in return. I learned reading, writing, and arithmetic. When I left school I went to, the bookseller: was there two years. I had good opportunities of reading then: voyages, and such like. I read the life of Jack Sheppard. After leaving —, I went to, the cabinet maker. I had just entered into the fifth year of my apprenticeship, and was to receive 7s. a week. I saw Jack

Sheppard played twice. It excited in my mind a desire to imitate him. The play was well acted. I read how he got into places, and I had a mind to try if I could do the same. The play made the greatest impression on my mind. A few weeks after I saw the play, I committed the first robbery. When the scene is hoisted he (Sheppard) is carving his name on a beam which goes across the shop. I wrote 'Jack Sheppard' on the beam at our shop, just as it was in the play. It occurred to my mind that his trade was like my own—a carpenter. I often thought about it when I was at work. S. and me was always thinking and talking about it at the shop. Sheppard used to follow carding; and that set us agate." (Here follows an account of their various robberies.) "We continued talking about Jack Sheppard, and said we were getting like Jack and his companions. I am quite convinced, that if I had never seen the play, I should never have got into this trouble. The play did me far more harm than the book. We did these robberies for the name of the thing. I have made up my mind to make a reform. I think the playhouse does a deal of mischief. I have known apprentices to steal money from their masters to go to the play.'

The statement made by the third boy, C., is this: "I am 17-an apprentice to a baker. Both parents are living: my father is a master tailor, who employs two or three men. He has eight children in all, and seven live with him. Both parents attend the Independent chapel regularly, and they have punished me for not going. I went to a day-school for seven years-learnt reading, writing, and arithmetic, and a little mensuration. Can read well now. I attended chapel regularly up to the time of my apprehension. The first beginning of my bad conduct was seeing a play acted-and then we started a making it up how we could break into places. This play was about a highwayman; so we thought we would try to do as he did. H. was the first to begin talking about it. We thought it was a better way of getting money than working. We often talked about Jack Sheppard, and said we could like to be like him." (He then corroborates the two other accounts of the various robberies.) "We often said, we thought we were good Jack Sheppards. H. often said he thought we had done almost as much as Jack Sheppard. We saw Jack Sheppard acted at the Theatre in A great many lads and girls from the factories went to see it there. Whenever Jack did a clever thing at either of the Theatres, the people clapped and applauded. It was that clapping set me off a good deal.'

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In former reports I have considered it my duty to advert to the evils arising from the "concert rooms" connected with certain low taverns; and while those places continue to allure such numbers of the young into dissipation and ruin, I feel bound to persist in calling attention to them. The following statement was made to me voluntarily." I have been ruined by these concert rooms. For the last year or more I passed almost every night at the and also went two or three nights a week to the -, frequently going to both places the same night. My wages came to about 7s. 6d. a week, and I spent from 6s. to 9s. every week at the concert rooms. Every night I have gone the places were quite full, and on a Saturday night they are crammed as full as they can hold. I know many young men that have been ruined by going there; several that have been transported. There's many a hundred that rob their masters an d parents to go there. I know, of my own knowledge, four youn g

men that rob their masters regularly to go there, and their masters have no suspicion. One of these is with a shopkeeper, and gets both money and stuff from his master; two others are joiners, and they get their masters' tools and wood, and work up things which they sell. Both places are full of bad women and girls. The room will hold 700 people; the will hold 150. Although I only know myself of four persons that rob their masters to go to these places, I am sure there are hundreds besides, from the way they carry on. I am sure many more people are tried at the sessions in consequence of such places. I should not have been here if it had not been for them." The young man who gave this account was for many years at the National School, and for eighteen months was a teacher there! A nightly assembly of seven or eight hundred people, at places of the character described, will not assist the work begun at either the National, or any other well-regulated school.

LAY AGENCY.

Extract from the speech of The Rev. W. W. Champneys, at the meeting of the Church Pastoral Aid Society.

AND I will venture to say, that if those who look on from their chambers, where there is little knowledge of what the world is, will take one year with the poor of Whitechapel, with its 34,000 or 35,000, they will be at once convinced. I know that this Society was not the first to take up the principle of lay-agency; it was felt and regretted before, that the gifts which God had bestowed upon many lay members of our Church were not employed for that Church; and in truth the Church of England was working with one arm in a sling, for fear of being too strong. But though this Society was not the first to put out the principle of lay-agency, this we owe to it, that it has held it up as a standard before the eyes of the members of the Church of England, embodied it, given it " a local habitation and a name," and that which was floating in the minds of many as a theory, is now registered as a matter of experience. I look to the work of the layagent, and I can bear my testimony to its efficiency for the last four or five years. I have had lay agents, who have mastered work, which it would have been impossible for us with all the desire and will in the world, in our overgrown parish to overtake a work, too, of such a peculiar kind, so different from that of the ministry, that it seems only suited to the Christian layman, and to be efficiently and successfully pursued and carried out by none else. There is a district in my parish, one of the most degraded in London, so bad that a female could not go down it without a policeman; we made three several efforts in vain to establish cottage reading in it, and gather together out of this abandoned neighbourhood a few who would "worship God in spirit and in truth.' A Christian layman, an Irishman, whom, since his death (in putting to press a little account of his history), I have discovered to have been the teacher of 20,000 Irish to read the Scriptures in the Irish tongue; this admirable man, who worked with me till the moment when he was called to receive from the hand of that Master he dearly loved, a bright and glorious crown, was led by Divine Providence to put forth simple, but energetic efforts, and produced the effect, after which we had been trying in vain. A congregation was gathered from the rooms of the sick whom he had visited, and over whom he had gained an influence; and when he had broken up the fallow ground, so that the minister might not sow among thorns, then he drew the minister's attention to the case and said,-"Now, if you will go to them, they are in a state to receive what you say.' I found this man, and many others who worked with me in this capacity, to be pioneers of the Gospel; persons who break up the fallow ground, make the valleys smooth, and pull down hills as it were, and make the moral way for us to go on more easily, saving us in point of time and efforts what might have been unavailing. feel that this Society, by embodying in its rules directions for the conduct of laymen, has shewn that it is possible for a Christian layman in the Church of England, to be a good sound Churchman, and at the same time devote himself energetically to be a helper of his minister; and if the Society had done no more than that, it would have rendered a great and important service to our Church and country. When I see that the conviction is gaining ground in high