The number of sittings per thousand of the population was, at the different periods, as follows:—

according to the abovetable.

According to Mr.Mann’s Table.

Church.

Dissent.

Church.

Dissent.

1801

340

240

482

99

1811

303

247

424

120

1821

264

269

363

145

1831

248

285

323

181

1841

258

282

300

238

1851

297

273

297

273

Thus it will be seen that every inference drawn from Mr. Mann’s tables has proved false.

Dissent has not, during the half century, supplied four times as much new accommodation as the Church—if it has supplied any more at all, the excess does not amount to a fourth.

Dissent has not, during the last 20 years, supplied three times as much accommodation as the Church—it has barely supplied half as much.

Dissent is not advancing at a pace twice as rapid as the Church; on the contrary, the Church is advancing at nearly three times the speed of Dissent.

Dissent has not improved its position, and the Church has not lost position since 1831; on the contrary, the Church has gained, and Dissent has lost, ground since that year.

Finally, as churches, save only where there is an excess of accommodation as compared with the population, are at least as well attended as dissenting places of worship, the charge of comparative inefficiency which has been so rashly brought against the clergy proves to be utterly without foundation.

Here, then, the present inquiry might be brought to a close; and yet it would be palpably unfair to the Church to rest the case upon a mere comparison of the additional sittings supplied by her rivals and by herself. A new church, generally speaking, means a very different thing from a new meeting-house. It means a substantially built and even highly-decorative structure, the freehold of which is the property of the community to which it belongs; it means decent and becoming furniture for the performance of divine service; provision for a properly educated minister in perpetuity; service performed at least twice every Sunday, or even twice every day; a house for the resident minister; a day-school, or rather a group of day-schools; and a host of other benevolent and educational agencies. If the establishment of the day-school be taken as a criterion how far the parochial machinery has been completed, the following table from the report of the Educational Census will be instructive:—

Day Schools Supported by Religious Bodies.