This paper is printed in obedience to the wishes of Lord Lawrence and others, who heard it. It was originally drawn up without any view to publication, and was read at more than one of the Conferences held in different parts of London under the auspices of the Diocesan Association of Lay-helpers. The writer could not but yield to the urgent request of those who asked him to print the paper, but at the same time he does so with a full consciousness of its defective and fragmentary character. Such as it is, he ventures to commend it to the charitable consideration of his fellow-churchmen, and trusts that it may, by God’s blessing, be a means of promoting the practical good at which the revived organization of Lay-help aims.

The Vicarage, Homerton.
Nov. 1870.