The Express.
London, England, 1867-05-29 00:00:00

HIGH WATER AT LONDOIC =IDOL

DAY —Morning, llb 601a......Attarrioce. lob. 804
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LONDON, WEDNESDAY, MAY 29.

THE Archdeacon of MIDDLESEX is holding a
visitation, and on Monday delivered • Charge
which reads for all the world like a lecture by the
Baron DE CAMIN, Or Mr. WILLIAM MURPHY, of
Wolverhampton fame. So direct, persistent, and
spontaneous an attack on the Church of Rome
has not been made by a dignitary of the Church
of England for many a day. The Archdeacon is
satisfied that there never was a time when it was
more necessary to keep in mind what Popery is, in
respect of doctrine, worship, and morals; and upon
this provocation he seta to work to " show up " the
morals of the Church of Rome by extracts from
its casuistical writers. The works of Sarscusz,
Stunts, ST. ALPHONSO DE LIGUORI, with those of
less known authors, such as HENRY HENRIQUZZ,
ANTONINOS DIANA, and HERMANN BUSIIIHAUSI,
are among those thus overhauled, and the process
having been completed, the ARCHDEACON reaches
the desirable conclusion that the Church of
Rome is a corrupt communion, and its
pretensions are utterly unscriptural and un-
tenable. If we suggest a doubt whether such
an exhibition as this is altogether for the
honour of the Church of England, it is not
because there is any uncertainty about the casu-
istical propositions which Archdeacon SINCLAIR
has set in so strong a light. They are, in fact,
detestable. The ARCHDEACON gives evidence of
an accurate knowledge of his countrymen,
by placing in the foreground those maxims
which attack the right of property. DIANA, it
appears, commenting on the sin of theft, lays
down that a man of respectability, vir honestus,
to whom mendicancy would be highly painful, and
who has no other means of supplying his neces-
sities, is at liberty to steal. He then proceeds to
a very curious inquiry, what is the smallest sum a
man must steal in order to be guilty of a mortal
sin, and he determines that • man of opulence
must " steal " about 60 Roman coins, a man of
moderate fortune about 20, and a poor man about
seven. Similarly, &maims ex, having laid down
the maxim that "an extremely poor man may
" steal what is necessary for the relief of his own
" want," continues—" And what any one may
" steal for himself, he may also steal for any
" other extremely destitute individual." Ex pede
Hen-11.km. Those who can remember the old Maynooth
debates, and the speeches of the late respected Mr.
SPOONER, with their quotations from Par= Dears,
will have a good idea of the extracts which make
up the staple of this charge. We gather from
the Archdeacon's language that perversions to the
communion of DIANA and BUSEMBAUM are taking
place in his Archdeaconry to an extent to call for
this loud note of warning. Under thesecircurnstances

we should have expected that some deprecatory
allusions would be made to that work of prepara-
tion for the Church of Rome now taking
place in the Church of England. Although
casuistry has 'undoubtedly attained a develop-
ment within the Roman Catholic Church
which it has never reached elsewhere, it
does not follow that that religion must always
promote a casuistical habit. Casuistry seems
to attach itself, like a disease, partly to na-
tional character, and partly to country, having
flourished more in the South of Europe and among
the Latin races than elsewhere. It is doubtless
encouraged in many cases by the practice of
auricular confession, although it really belongs to
the larger practice of spiritual direction, which is
not so exclusively a Roman Catholic practice as
some speakers and writers assume. We have
had distinguished English casuists, who never set
up for confessors, men like Samosasox, Jaunty
TAYLOR, and even BArres. Undoubtedly, how-
ever, the corruptions of the system, as Arch-
deacon SINCLAIR exposes them, spring from
the application of the doctrine of absolution and
the necessity of assigning penances. If the prac-
tice of confession should ever regain a footing in
the Church of England, it will probably do so by
the inculcation of a mystical and ascetic piety in
the first instance, but its downward course towards
the mechanical and servile is inevitable. The
English character must lose some of its best
qualities, especially its love of truth, its preference
of principles and aims to rules, and the inde-
pendence of judgment which is so favourable to a
sense of responsibility, before it can accept either
the yoke or the indulgences of casuistry.

Ir any of the countrymen of the Sun and
Moon who, as Paris correspondents assure us,
have this year crossed seas and continents to
study Western civilization, should make ac-
quaintance with our English Newspapers,