He spoke in the interests of no special creed.

Whether in the so-called Popish days of Henry VIII and his ancestors, or in the so-called Protestant days that had followed, the state of society had required that spiritual teaching should be supplied from funds fixed and devoted to the purpose.

The increasing intelligence and population of the country made this no longer desirable,--or, if desirable, no longer possible.

Could these endowments be increased to meet the needs of the increasing millions?
Was it not the fact that even among members of the Church of England they were altogether inefficient to supply the wants of our great towns?
Did the people of Tankerville believe that the clergymen of London, of Liverpool, and of Manchester were paid by endowments?
The arguments which had been efficacious in Ireland must be efficacious in England.

He said this without reference to one creed or to another.