Great Britain -- History -- 19th century; Victoria, Queen of Great Britain, 1819-1901
We have already spoken of the growth and development of social
philanthropic work in connexion with the great Methodist missions in
towns; there remains one most important movement in this direction to
notice--the establishment of the "Children's Home," which, begun in
1869 by Dr. Stephenson, received Conference recognition in 1871. It
has now branches in London, Lancashire, Gravesend, Birmingham, and
the Isle of Man, and an emigration depot in Canada. Over 900 girls
and boys are in residence, while more than 2,900 have been sent forth
well equipped for the battle of life; some of them becoming
ministers, local preachers, Sunday-school workers, and in many ways
most useful citizens. The committee of management has the sanction of
Conference. This "powerful arm of Christian work" not only rescues
helpless little ones from degradation and misery; it undertakes the
special training of the workers amongst the children in industrial
homes and orphanages; and hence has arisen the institution in 1895 of
the order of Methodist deaconesses, which is recommended by
Conference to Connexional sympathy and confidence, the deaconesses
rendering to our Church such services as the Sisters of Mercy give to
the Church of Rome. One example may suffice. A London superintendent
minister describes the work of one of the Sisters during the past
twelvemonth as "simply invaluable. She has visited the poor, nursed
the sick, held services in lodging-houses, met Society classes and
Bible-classes, gathered round her a godly band of mission-workers,
and in a hundred ways has promoted the interests of God's work."
Two events made 1891 memorable for Methodists, the centenary of
Wesley's death and its commemoration being the first.
The Conference decided that suitable memorial services should be
held, and an appeal made to Methodists everywhere for funds to
improve Wesley's Chapel and the graveyard containing his tomb.
Universal interest was aroused; all branches of Methodism were
represented; the leading ministers of Nonconformist Churches also
shared in the services. Crowded and enthusiastic congregations
assembled in City Road when on Sunday, March 1, the Rev. Charles H.
Kelly, Ex-President, preached on "The Man, his Teaching, and his
Work," and when the Rev. Dr. Moulton delivered the centenary sermon.
On March 2, a statue of Wesley was unveiled--exactly one hundred
years after his death--Dean Farrar and Sir Henry H. Fowler addressing
the meeting.
[Illustration: Westminster Training College.]
The Allan Library, the gift of the late Thomas R. Allan, containing
more than 30,000 books and dissertations, was opened by the
President; it has since been enriched by gifts of modern books from
the Fernley Trustees and others, and a circulating library is now
connected with it. Accessible on easy terms to ministers and local
preachers, and within the reach of many others, this library should
be a useful stimulus to the taste for study among ministers and
people.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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