The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-11-20 00:00:00

TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 20, 1855

THE DUTY OF ENGLISH CHURCHMEN
TOWARDS THE EASTERNS.

AT present, and for some time past, the eyes of all
in England have been anxiously turned towards the
East ; and the ears of all anxiously open to receive
tidings of our brave soldiers and sailors there engaged
in resisting Russian aggression, and in propping up
the somewhat decayed fabric of the Turkish. Empire.
The war in which we are engaged has already proved
both bloody and expensive ; and is likely, for all that
appears to the contrary, to cost us much more, both in
men and in money, than it has yet done, before it is
brought to a conclusion. That some few disapprove
of what England has done, and is still doing, is a
well-known fact ; but it is equally well known that no
war was ever before entered upon with more hearty
concurrence upon the part of the people generally.
They had decided that the late Emperor of RUSSIA.
was a merciless despot, determined per fas et nefas to
seize the possessions of his weaker neighbour ; and
that the success of his schemes involved deadly peril
to the cause of European civilisation generally, and to
the commercial greatness of England in particular :
and, having arrived at these conclusions, they were
impatient of the delays which were caused by the
attempts made, in the first instance, to avert the war
by negotiation, and by the various diplomatic forms
customary under such circumstances. They would
have been well pleased had war been declared at
once upon the passage of the Pruth by the Russian
forces ; and, when the long-looked-for declaration at
length appeared, it was received with enthusiasm
throughout the length and breadth of the land. The
popular gratification was all but universal. Now,
while we concede to the very small minority, who took
a different view, a perfect right to form, and give
expression to, their own opinions, we think that we
have a right to expect from them credit for a generous
and chivalrous impulse in behalf of the majority. The
people were not anxious for war for its own sake—(in
that sense we are not a military nation, and God forbid
that we ever should be)—but because they believed
that it was necessary, in order to protect the weak from
the injustice of the strong. Even the opponents of
the war—those who deem it to be utterly unnecessary
—must regard its advocates as acting upon a generous
impulse, though they may think it one originating in
misconception. What is wanted, however, is, that the
people generally, who so earnestly advocate the war
against Russia for the protection of Turkey, should
take some little interest in that portion of the Greek
Church which exists under the temporal government
of the SULTAN, and also show some anxiety to diffuse
the light of the Gospel among his Mahomedan subjects.
Here are two distinct fields, inviting the labour of
British Christians, viz., the Christian and Mahomedan
population of the Turkish Empire. The former need
our assistance to elevate and enlighten, the latter to
convert.

Yearly upon Good Friday, the great day of atone-
ment, the Church of England prays solemnly in behalf
of all Jews, Turks, Infidels, and Heretics, that God
would have mercy upon them, and take from them all
ignorance, hardness of heart, and contempt of His
word ; and so fetch them home to His flock, that
they may be saved among the remnant of the true
Israelites, and be made one fold under one shepherd,
Jesus Christ our Lord. But are we to consider that
our duty is fulfilled when we have thus prayed ?
having thus prayed, are we to sit still, and fold our
hands, as if nothing remained but to wait patiently,
or rather idly, for God's answer ? Surely in this, as
in every thing else, common sense tells us that, while
we look to God to bless our efforts, we should work
with as much diligence as if' all depended upon our-
selves—while we acknowledge that God alone can
give -the increase, we should be just as careful to
sow the good seed as if the sowing were all that is
necessary.

Now we are quite aware that British Christians are
too apt to regard the Greek Church pretty much in
the same light as they regard the Church of Rome :
or rather, perhaps, while they dread and hate the
latter, they despise the former, regarding them at the
same time as equally and hopelessly corrupt. Still,
we think, a very little consideration will show that
they occupy very different positions with regard to
ourselves. The Church of Rome is aggressive, and
elaiins dominion over our faith. It would, if it could,
subdue us, in common with all Christendom, to him
who claims to occupy the chair of St. Peter. The
very reverse is the case with the Greek Church ; and
if it errs at all in this respect, it is in the opposite
direction, in not making sufficient effort to diffuse
such light as it possesses among those with whom it
is brought in contact. The Church of Rome shuts
out all reasonable hope of reformation ; while the
Greek Church leaves ground of hope, that whereinso-
tver she has erred, she may be induced to retrace her
steps. And, above all, the Greek Church is a fellow-
witness with ourselves against that monstrous claim
to supremacy, which the Romish Church so persever-
ingly urges in behalf of her chief Bishop. Nay, her
witness in this respect is even more valuable than
ours : for whereas we were for centuries subjected to

the See of Rome, she never was. We regard not the
submission wrung by the force of circumstances from
the last of the Palceologi. That he was induced by
the hope of Latin aid to barter the religious rights
and freedom of his people, may be a blot upon his
otherwise-noble character; but it affords no argument
in favour of Rome as against the Greek Church,
simply because the submission in question was not
the act of the Church, but was from the first pro-
tested against by her. True it is that Cardinal
Isidore, the Romish legate, subsequently said mass
within the walls of St. Sophia ; but he said it to the
walls. The crowds who commonly filled them stood
aloof, nobly determined rather to trust themselves to
the Moslem, by whom their city was then beleagured,
than accept temporal deliverance at the price of
spiritual bondage. In point of fact, we know that
the union between the East and the West, involving
as it did the submission of the former to the latter,
remained a dead letter ; and that the Greek Church
has retained it independence upon Rome to this hour.
But it will be said that, though independent of
Rome, it is equally corrupt. This we deny, but will
not now stay to argue about. Rather, while admitting,
for the sake of argument, that they are equally cor-
rupt, we would call upon our fellow-Christians to
compare their past opportunities. The arts, the
sciences, the learning, of the Wrest have been at the
command of Rome, and she has pressed them into the
service of superstition. She has shut her eyes to the
light, and sought to shroud herself in darkness. But
the Greek Church, if corrupt, has had corruption forced
upon her. Her children, whatever may be their con-
dition now, have been down-trodden by a grinding
despotism. Poverty and ignorance have been forced
upon them ; and ignorance has engendered, as it
always will engender, superstition. The wonder is,
not that the Greek Church has fallen from its first
estate, but that it subsists at all—not that Christianity
has become somewhat corrupted, but that it has
not been utterly extinguished. These considerations
amply sufficient to show that the Greek
are, we think,
Church has claim ti Von us ; and that her position
. different from that occupied by
towards 1- '•
as wideb
i• How we may best discharge
the Church of Rome. whose
our duty, even while warring. against a nation
tbership with her,
people for the most part claim men
the
we not
we shall endeavour to show when WC return to
subject. That we ought to do something:, we
anticipate that any one will deny.