mind and habits, say of navvies, could never properly deal with them. This observation is especially true as regards seamen; and I venture to say that the gentlemen connected with the seamen's mission, and as you yourselves can judge by the chaplain from Hong Kong, are well selected and well qualified for their work. I have myself been connected with many of the agents of the mission: Mr. Burkitt, who worked at the entrance of the Waterford Harbour, when I held a living in the neighbourhood for a short time; Mr. Edgar Lambert, who has made a reputation for himself, spread throughout the whole country; and our Welsh Chaplain of the Port of Hull, who has crowded services every Sunday, and who has immense influence among seamen and fishermen. I hope the observations which have been made by the gentleman who has been chaplain at Hong Kong will have due and legitimate effect. We all know how the way in which English tourists and residents have observed the Sabbath has made a very great change in the habits of people on the Continent. I recollect well the state of things which existed abroad, especially in Switzerland. Nearly every shop, five-and-twenty years ago, was open in Lucerne on Sunday, and now this state of things has been entirely altered, because the English have set their faces against the desecration of the Lord's Day, and a large proportion, especially of the better shops, are now closed. I trust Convocation will use its influence in reference to this matter, or that some measure will be adopted to reach the ministers of the Crown; because we must not only remember that the seamen themselves benefit from the due observance of the Lord's Day, but also that the people abroad will begin to ask how it is that this day of rest is observed, and ultimately there will come the answer-and it is an answer we ought to be proud of-that we observe that day because it commemorates the resurrection of our Blessed Lord from the dead. In Hull, I am glad to say, there has been a movement in a better direction. I say better because a few years ago we were in a most unsatisfactory condition. I wish publicly to state that Mr. Charles Wilson has come forward and has generously erected, at his own cost, a mission-hall in Postern Gate. There was a little tumble-down place in Postern Place which, at one time it is reported, was occupied by Sir George Rooke, who captured Gibraltar for the honour and glory of England. I regretted that that old building should have been destroyed; but if destroyed, nothing more suitable could be erected than a hall for the benefit of seamen. It seems to me that, on the ground of duty, for we are bound to minister to all classes of the community; on the ground of gratitude, because of the benefits we derive from sailors; and on the ground of patriotism, because sailors are representatives of our great country abroad, we ought to do all in our power to further the temporal and spiritual welfare of the seamen of our home and foreign ports.

The Right Rev. the CHAIRMAN.

WILL you please attend to me for a few seconds while I give you a few concluding words. The one purpose for which I came to this Church Congress at Cardiff was to say a few words about the efforts which are being made to promote the moral and spiritual welfare of seamen in foreign ports. If the work is needed at home, infinitely more is it needed abroad. And for this reason. Abroad, sailors lose most of those restraints from vice and those supports to a godly course which they possess at home. My diocese, which extends from Bilbao, Oporto, and Lisbon on the west to Constantinople and Odessa on the east, contains about 30 or 40 important harbours frequented by British sailors in vast numbers. And, to form an estimate of the numbers I may tell you that last year no fewer than 140,000 British sailors touched at Gibraltar, 120,000 at Malta, 30,000 at Genoa, 20,000 at Marseilles, 40,000 at Constantinople, and 20,000 at Odessa. No sooner had I been made bishop, now fifteen years ago, than I visited the foreign seaports, and I found that nothing of any systematic nature was being done to aid our sailors in their tried and tempted lives. The ships were never visited by chaplains, and there was not a single institute or sailor's home in existence. But while our Church was asleep the agents of evil were not asleep. An organized conspiracy exists in every seaport for the degradation and ruin of British seamen. No sooner has a British ship cast anchor in a foreign seaport than she is at once boarded by English-speaking "crimps," who are hired for the express purpose of supplying our men secretly with drink, enticing them ashore, and then decoying them to haunts of vice and infamy. You have only to visit a naval hospital to discover the appalling havoc, physical and moral, that is being wrought

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amongst British seamen by the vice prevailing in foreign shipping ports. counteract these evils I established a few years ago a society called the Gibraltar Mission, of which our Queen is patron, and to which the Prince of Wales is a liberal contributor. The primary object of this mission is to supply the religious wants of British seamen in foreign ports. Chaplains and Scripture-readers, to whom the mission gives a small grant year after year-two of them come from Cardiff-are instructed regularly to visit the ships, and, whenever they have an opportunity on the Lord's Day, to give the sailors a service either on board ship or on shore. The mission has also founded sailors' homes or institutes, nine of which at the present moment are supported by the Gibraltar Mission; and I hope in the course of a few years there may be established a network of sailors' homes or institutes throughout all the ports in my wide diocese. In March last I had the pleasure of opening one at Seville, and, in the spring of this year, I had the pleasure of attending concerts at two of these institutes, one at Palermo and the other at Genoa; and, I am sure you will be glad to know that our countrymen at those two places take the liveliest interest in the welfare of our sailors, and give them suitable amusements and concerts once a week. The rooms on both of these occasions were crowded. The sailors sang their songs alternately with the English residents, and evidently the sailors appreciated the entertainment, and the interest which it betokened in their welfare. It would be impossible to exaggerate the importance of the aid given by those sailors' homes and institutes to the cause of thrift, sobriety, and orderly conduct. This Gibraltar Mission is distinct from The Missions to Seamen, which has been so ably represented this evening by Commander Dawson. It is also distinct from another excellent society, called the Waterside Church Mission, but it works in harmony with both of those societies whenever they have operations in foreign ports. Last year it received help to the amount of £90 from the Waterside Mission, and between £300 and £400 from the Missions to Seamen. But, if I depended solely on those two excellent societies, by far the larger part of the work which I have in hand would have to be left undone for lack of funds. By begging year after year I raised between £1,000 and £2,000. The work has been well started, but how is it to be maintained? The duty belongs mainly to our great merchants and shipowners. It is our great merchants and shipowners who make their fortunes by the hardships, perils, and labours of our seamen, and it is for them, therefore, to provide for the moral and spiritual wants of those men. Some of our merchants and shipowners are fully alive to this duty. Liverpool gave me the other day a sum of £1,200 spread over five years. The Messrs. Wilson, of Hull, year after year give me twenty-five guineas. Hitherto no help has come from Cardiff, and yet the chaplain of the Civil Government in Malta tells me that two-thirds of the sailors whom he visits in hospital assure him they hail from Cardiff. The chaplain of the Civil Government at Gibraltar tells me the same story, that one half of the sailors at Gibraltar hail from Cardiff. If there be any merchants or shipowners of Cardiff here this evening, I tell them my purpose in coming here is to lay the claims of this mission before them, and ask them to give me their sympathy and support. One word I would say on the question of Sunday labour. In the reports which the chaplains send me twice each year, they state that the greatest hindrance to them in their work is Sunday labour, which prevents them from holding services for sailors either on board ship or on shore. Merchants at home can hardly be aware of the great extent to which Sunday labour is now carried. They themselves at home no doubt show respect to the Lord's Day. They themselves accompany their wives and children on Sunday to the church, and they themselves I am sure would be the first to acknowledge that the privilege of rest and worship on the Lord's Day belongs no less to the British sailor abroad than to his employer at home. Most earnestly, therefore, I appeal to the merchants of Cardiff to discourage and diminish Sunday labour so far as they have the power, and to restore to the Lord's Day the honour and respect due to it from all Christian nations.

The Right Rev. the PRESIDENT.

The subject for discussion this morning being the Church in Wales, I think it will be appropriate and not unacceptable to this audience if we precede our discussion by singing a Welsh hymn.

The hymn "Fe welir Seion fel y wawr

was then sung.

The Right Rev. the PRESIDENT.

I desire, before this discussion commences, to thank my English friends for the attention they paid to one part of my address yesterday, and still more for having obeyed the monition which I then delivered to them.

PAPERS.

J. T. D. LLEWELYN, Esq., Penllergare, Swansea.

THE enemies of the Church in Wales describe it as an "alien" Church, and state that it was forced upon the Welsh people by the English Government. Such assertions are utterly groundless, and are evidently put forth for want of better arguments. On the contrary, it is universally admitted by ecclesiastical authorities that a Christian Church has existed in Wales from the early days of Christianity, and that it was in full working order when S. Augustine arrived in England. The names of the Welsh saints, to whom a large proportion of the parish churches are dedicated, is an interesting proof of the antiquity and national character of the Church. The Welsh archiepiscopal see was removed from Caerleon to S. David's in the sixth century, for the more peaceful and effective discharge of the duties of the Metropolitan. Previous to the days of the Reformation, we have a list of between fifty and sixty Bishops of Llandaff, and while the interference of Rome was strongly resented, a genuine union with the English Church was not accepted until a prince of Welsh extraction occupied the throne, in the person of Henry VIII. The House of Tudor encouraged the Welsh Church; appointed Welshmen to the sees and benefices; and their example was followed by the Stuarts.

The Church flourished, and Welshmen rose to eminence in the State. The Bible was translated into Welsh by Bishop William Morgan, who was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff in 1595, and translated to S. Asaph in 1601. His wish, expressed in 1588, is in the following words:" If any imagine that it would be better, for the sake of peace, to persuade our nation to learn English, instead of translating the Scriptures into our language, I would urge them to beware lest they would drive away religion by it. Besides, unity of religion would tend more to peace than unity of language. How unwise to suppose that to refuse God's Word in our own tongue would induce the people to learn another language! Religion will be a dead letter if not taught in the common language of the people." Dr. Richard Davies, in submitting a translation of the New Testament to Queen Elizabeth, refers to the unwillingness of the Welsh people to accept the Roman religion, and thanks Her Majesty for giving them the Word of God in their own tongue, and then breaks out, in the language of the Hebrew prophet-"The people which sat in darkness saw great light; and to them which sat in the region and shadow of death, light is sprung up."

But with the Revolution came an evil day for the Welsh Church. It is a remarkable fact, as stated by Hallam, that Wales was, at that time, one of the strongholds of the Church and of Royalty. A new method of governing Wales was adopted. The Welsh language was condemned, and Englishmen were appointed to Welsh sees and benefices, who were mainly non-resident. Mr. Gladstone referred to this period in a speech delivered in the House of Commons in 1870, in defence of the Church in Wales. He said :— "William III. looked on Welsh-speaking clergymen as no friends to him and his new political system. It was thought good policy and good statesmanship to place every office of weight and influence in the hands of those who would Anglicise the country. The people of Wales were the staunchest of Churchmen, as long as their Church was administered in the spirit of sympathy to their national feelings. Only two Welshmen were made Bishops in Wales for over two hundred years. It was to the cruel and irrational course that was pursued, in regard to ecclesiastical appointments, that the rise and growth of Dissent is to be attributed."

What is known as the revival of religion in Wales was the work of pious clergymen of the Church of England in the early part of the last century, who saw the deplorable condition into which the common people had sunk by reason of the neglect of the ordinary ministrations of the Church in their native tongue, and who were fired with zeal for the glory of God and the salvation of souls. Griffith Jones, Howell Harries, Daniel Rowlands, and Thomas Charles-the founders of Methodism were members of the Church of England. These good men never thought of separating themselves from the Church, but intended solely to revive religion within its fold. The people were enjoined to attend their parish churches, and observe her sacraments. It is inscribed on the tombstone of Howell Harries, at Trevecca, that "he remained a faithful member of the Church unto his end." Daniel Rowlands exhorted his son, on his death-bed, to "stand by the Church, even unto death." And it is recorded in the life of Thomas Charles that "the Methodists were considered part of the Established Church.

None but episcopally-ordained ministers administered the Lord's Supper among them, and their children were baptized by the clergyman of the parish in which they lived." When these good men died, their successors formed themselves into a religious body, but so careful were they to respect their origin and traditions that the Articles of the Church of England were made the basis of their creed. So late as the year 1834-when politics were beginning to be mixed with religion -the following resolution was adopted at a meeting of upwards of five hundred preachers and elders, from all parts of the Principality, on the motion of the celebrated John Elias :-"That we deeply lament the nature of that agitation now so prevalent in this kingdom, and which avowedly has for its object the severance of the National Church from the State; and we enjoin upon every member of our Connexion to meddle not with them that are given to change."

When the English Government adopted a change of policy towards Wales, some fifty years ago, the Church revived, and the people gradually responded to her call. It was at this period that the Liberation Society was formed, whose action was largely governed by the activity and success of the Church. From that time the progress of the Church has been uninterrupted, and growing in strength and influence year by year. The following statistics show the rapid strides the Church has made:-In 1831, there were 700 clergy, ministering in 847 parishes. In 1888, there were 1,434 clergy, ministering in 987 parishes.

There were spent on Church Restoration and Building, from 1840 to 1874-On Cathedrals, £114,219; Churches, £1,301,972; in one single year (1884), £107,000. From 1851 to 1885, 353 churches were built or enlarged. In the ten years from 1877 to 1886, there were 65,284 persons confirmed. The ratio has largely increased in the last three years. In some parishes it has increased 400 per cent. The Bishop of S. Asaph stated in his diocesan address, a fortnight ago, that he had confirmed over 2,000 during the months of June and July of the present year. The proportion of communicants to the population is greater in Wales than in England.

The enemies of the Church have been accustomed to assure their English friends that Churchmen were to Nonconformists as 1 to 13, at other times as 1 to 9, 1 to 7, and as 1 to 5. As the Nonconformists object to an official religious census, there are no authentic data upon which reliance can be placed. There are, however, certain returns which furnish an indication of the relative strength of Churchmen and Nonconformists. The election of 1885 was fought on the question of Disestablishment, and the result was as follows-four constituencies being uncontested:- For Disestablishment, 98,593; against 67,560showing a ratio of three Nonconformists to two Churchmen.

The burials, perhaps, show more truly than any other test the true sentiment of the Welsh people towards the Church of their forefathers. No complete returns have been made for the whole Principality, but it was ascertained in 1886 that in 272 parishes in North Wales, there had been, since the passing of the Burials Act in 1880, 1,441 funerals under the Act, and 20,598 by the clergy of the Church.

The general conclusion, from the foregoing figures, is that Welshmen vote for the Church and attend the religious worship in the Church as 2 to 3; while 20 to 1 seek the rites of the Church and the services of