i86i.] 



CAIRO STREET CHAPEL. 



253 



endeavouring at the same time to avoid giving needless pain to 

 others, has on the whole approved itself to the general English 

 feeling of my fellow-townsmen ? " 



In April, he felt that it would be for the advantage of his 

 boy to send him to school with his friend, Mr. W. H. Herford, 

 of Lancaster. "I can't tell you," he writes to his sister, " what a 

 wrench it is to me ; for his old sweet nature and gentle love is 

 opening out so beautifully ... but he came back from his 

 Lancaster visit so much improved, that it would have been 

 wrong to have hindered his further improvement. ... I am 

 sadly ungrateful not to be able to be happy without him \ but, 

 after the ten years I lived at Warrington, and last summer, I 

 may be reckoned at fifty years old, and have not the power 

 that I used to." 



This midsummer (1861), Cairo Street Chapel was closed,* in 

 compliance with an order from Government through his friend, 

 Mr. P. H. Holland (see p. 77), Inspector to the Burial Acts 

 Office, who pronounced it injurious to health. The last time 

 Philip preached there was June 23rd, from Romans xv. 3 — 

 " For even Christ pleased not himself." He asked me to 

 preach a " farewell sermon to the old pews and dead bodies," 

 on the following Sunday : I had not suffered from them, as he 

 had done, and was glad to refer to the eminent men who had 

 worshipped there. The old chapel was beautifully adorned 

 with flowers, and there was a good attendance. I accom- 

 panied him to his outdoor meeting. He had written to Dr. 

 Henry (June 1) : " I have large audiences at the open-air 

 addresses, which I now give on Sunday evenings, and often in 

 the week. It is a comfort to teach those who want to learn. 

 I never feel at ease in the church, teaching those who know as 

 much or more than I." The schools still prospered, but some 

 of the ablest young men, who had received most of their 

 training there, were now much engrossed with a Co-operative 

 Society, which has since become a flourishing institution. 

 Philip at first helped, and advised them ; but when it was 



* The chapel, greatly altered internally, and much improved, was re- 

 opened the next year by his successor, the Rev. J. N. Porter. 



