The Dorset County Express and Agricultural Gazette.
Dorchester, Dorset, England, 1867-12-10 00:00:00

erckslastical intelligmcs.

THE PROTESTANT PARTY IN THE CHURCH
OF ENGLAND.
Now that the 'rest question ia to be decided, whether
the Church of England is Protestant or not, it is de-
sirable that the poaition of the great Protestant party
within it should he clearly known. Seventy years age
if any one looked for real energy and wal In the Church,
he could only hope to find it among thole who were
eontent to be called Chtivinists, hl-thodists, or atiema.
timed with other names of reproach. Bishop Towline
did not hesitate to pui lieh a refutation of Calvinism,
giving that name to a fanciful creation of his own brain,
and heaping together all the extravaganciss and absurd!.
ties that prejudice ever devised, and willing ignorance
ever accepted. What the 1 ashionable prelate alandered,
the world learnt to ridicule, ani the atop took up the
theme, and helped to pour contempt upon the only
members of our church that showed any religions
energy, without leaving her ormutunirrn. Neste.,
Scott, and Venn, with such laymen as Wilberforce,
were the representatives of the Protestant feeling in oar
church; they upheld those truths for which we have
now to contend, no longer against the ridicule and
contempt of a earldom world, hut against open and
defiant ussrdotalisen and supers lon. These were ti
men who laid the foundation of those works which aro
nowt the glory and strength of our church; they com-
menced the Church Missionary Society, which sow
exhibits a• its fruits the Church of New Zealand, a
self-supporting Church in Sierra Leone. sad the vast
diiitriet of Tinnevelley in South India, as much Chris-
tianised as any county in England. They did this in the
face of bitter opposition. Where were the good old
fashioned High Churchmen then? Looking on in perfect
indifference. Where were the bishops? With two en.
oepfions, all opposed to the work. At the first meeting
in Bath, the Arclideseon came into the room In his
robes and in grand array forbad the meeting to be held.
Whet was done abroad. was reflected back on our own
land, and in every part, and especially in our own
country, • work of reformation commenced. Whim
nothing better resulted, decency at least in the per.
form me* of the service of the church MY forced upon
an uteerly careless clergy, by the exentple of one or other
of theme Gospel odufeters. Even y objoet of charity
found in them ready helpers; and thus they continued
increasing in influence and number, until about 1830,
when unfortunately they became _
. .

From that date they have not gained ground as they
might have dune, for two reasons. Active opposition
without, and unfaithfulnese within. On the one hand
theiesuccees stirred open ontanised opposition, whieh de-
veloped itself in the "Tracts for the Times": on the other
their enemies led to formality and con national i.m,rateteed
of the bard, earnest, practical spirit of the fathers of this
second Reformation. Thi• falling RIVIIy 'hewed itself
In an effeminate and diluted style of preaching, very
different from the praetical and argumentative style of
floott, Venn, and Newton. Among the laity there
IMMO into favour a most unsatiefactrary style of religious
litersture —pretty little book. in which aentimentality
took the place of spirituality. and elegant language
peered for argument, became the fashion, and the good
old Bible became an almost forgotten book. Thus the
minds of the Protectorate became thoroughly emascu-
lated' nor can we bare • more painful proof of the want
of realPy in the teaching of that period, than the feet
that the new School of Traeterises was largely
recruited from the ranks of the so-called Evangelical..
Sick of the twaddle of their own friends, they turned
in disgust to anything that appeared sand and pew:diced,
even though it were mile in appearance ; their mind.,
enervated by diluted teaching,. were an easy prey lath.
. .

sophistries and iniewtaiements of a Newman and a
Pussy, while they revelled in the plausible mail-
menteliem of Keblm

From that date to the present time the whole party
has been disorganised—a rope of med. There have not
' been wanting among them individual of greet energy and
power, but there has been no real union, and therefor*
no
real strength. The Tractariana have boamted as if
they were extinct, and gloried In their own more perfect
organisation; but their very boasts have been gradually
sweating • soul:tier and more practical feeling among the
Protestants. As the dandy ofileer of the guards.
apparently • most useless being as he lounges about St.
James, comes out in the (see of the enemy, in the
trench« or under fire, a cool and collected soldier; so
in the facie of the enemies of our Church and of the
Reformation, the Protestant and Evangelical party
have taken up a new position, and have chews
that they have among them the real old spirit of their
forefathers. The conferences at Willis's rooms have
effected their perfect onion, and we believe that for the
third time they will chew themselves the preservers of
the Choreh of England.
As for their real principles, they have been so mis-
represented and studiously slandered, that it is
neciesary to declare them openly. None are more
attached to oar Church. none mote reedy to hes every
danger in her behalf. In this diocese who are the uses
who hare boldly protested against the Bishop's Charge
and its pernicious teaching? Not your good old
fashioned High Churchmen : they don't like it, they are
afraid of it, but they dare not open their lips. The
la.ty ese this, and are disgusted at their cowardice
Where were they when Lord Shaftesbury presided at
the meeting in Doreltemter Out of the way. No, there
are no men so bold or sea-denying in their love for the
Church, none whom the laity can follow safely at the
present time, but the Protestant and Evaneeliesl men.
But it is maid that they are net good Churchmen.
Where do they fail? Is it in the decency with which
their services are performed? The history of the
present century tells plainly that they were the men
that first set an example of an bermes. in the
number of the Beryline, and of decency in the per
formanee. Look at Dortheater : what were the @anises
here forty years ago? by whom were they Increased?
and that in the fees of obloquy and opposition ? but by
the men who were content to be sailed Dimities-a,
Calvinists, and Methodists ; but whatever they were
celled, the fact remains the same. And if any pro-
fessing to beloog to that party is careless or indifferent
in reading and eondoctitig the service, he does not
understand the principles he professes.
Do they dislike the Prayer Book The beet defenders
that book ever bed hare come from their ranks. They
love it because they understand it. A few individuals
who do not understand it may wish to have it altered
and revised, but they are not rosily members of the
working body of the Protestant Churel.men, nor osn
they be until they lay aside their crotchets.
Do they depreciate the Sacraments? far from it. No
persons have so high a reverence for them ; but they
refuse to turn them into idol. ; they prefer treating
them, sa the Bible treats them, sa incense( grass. They
think they beet honour the Lord's sapper by raising as
high as possible the standard of responsibility in those who
attend it, rather than by encouraging the worldly and
woke*, the drunkerd and the profane, to partake of
it as an atonement for their daily habite of life. We
feel that the following passage from an admirable work
by Dr. Daniel Begot, Dean of Dromons, entitled "Th.
Sacrament of the Lord's Supper," is an admirable
exposition of the Protestant teaching on this 'abject
We are far from desiring or Intending to advance any
superstitious or extravagant view. 1 t I. Sacrament, to
represent an attendance on It as operating like • magical dorm,
or to "leak of the mere external commemoration of the Lord's
Supper as of necessity produeng grim; but we should be
careful not to go to the other extreme, and to look upon
this Meg holy Sacrament as nothing more than an empty
and formal ceremony of commemoration, unproductive of any
reel or spiritual blowing to our snub. Than ant great sod
Important benaliticernected with • due pztitein falba of the
Lord's Supper, w
the langcag
of our Chureb—" The etrengtbsoind and refreshing of our
Is by the body and blood of Christ, ss our bodies
are by the brand and wine." Now, to explain this, we should
notice that our souls are not represented a. being strengthened
by rho bread and wins; tor are our bodies represented as
receiving and feeding I the body and blood of aria; but
o rmer' said to he streogthmed and refretiwid by the
kfsly wo
wed blood of Christ, as our bodies are by the bread and
wine. Tbe whole man is made ono( soul and hod,; and when
the Christian draws new to the Lord'. Table, he comes both
in and and body ; his soul having spiritual life in It;
Ind ble body 'lowing &Mimi life In it, and there
II "soothing in this aserentent which belongs and ellimertaine

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