The Sun.
London, England, 1822-11-27 00:00:00

-FOR THE SLtNi:,:,

PROTESTANT LJBERALITY.
MR. EDVCOR--Tile Old 'Tunes Oide.Sun, Nov,
20,) seem•very much alarmed because two Irish
Prelates have declared that POPERY is a Church
' without a. Religion ! They are afraid that the
Papists may be Offended ; but have they forgot
Pastorini Y Have they forgot that it is a stand-
ing tenet of the Papists that Protestants have no
religion ?—that we are all Heretics, and that we
ought to be burnt with fire and faggot in this
World, and d—d to all eternity in the next ?
This tenderness towards therapists is something
like the sentimental outcry about the durance of
BUONAPARTE at St. Helena ; but have the Times
forgot hif conduct towards our Detcnus in France,
the,privations of British Prisoners at Verdun, or
their sufferings in the 'dungeons of the fortress of
Bitche :2

Now, Sir, to spew that, notwithstanding the
alarm of the Times, there really is some libera-
tity in the Irish Protestant Church, I send you
an extract from a recent Charge of the Arch-
bishop of GA-siiEL, and remain your's)

" In our intercourse (says his Grace) with the world, we
have a difficult and a delicate line of etenductate pursue as mem-
bers of society ;
.neither is the duty which. we haye to discharge,
as members of Christ's 'holy Catholic Churae, much less ardu-
ous. We cannot, perhaps, better prime. our sincerity in this
respect--better prove ourselves the true disciples of Him who
lived and died for all men, than by, . endeavouring to abstain
from every excess of party spirit. Men cannot and will not
think alike upon points,. which deeply interest their feelings,
and influence their judgments; but when we. differ in opinion
with each other, the common charities of life require thet we
differ with mildness, and express our dissent Without-harsh-
ness and severity'. - This is our duty as men ; but, as Chris-
tians, we are still.further bound to banish
.far from us all cla-
mour and evil speaking, and to have a conscience void of of towards God and towards man.
" We live in, a world, where a defect in the ardour of opi-
nion is too frequently deemed indiflerence, and where modere-
tion is sometimes denominated lukewan-nness. But wisdom is
justified of her children. And if, as men abstinence from all
excess of party spirit becomes us, upon topics which alone con-
cern the welfare -of this life ; abstinence surely of the same de-
scription, upon topics relating to :the interests of the life to
come, in a much higher degree becomes us as Christians.
• "We embrace that peculiar code of faith, and adhere to that
particular religious community, to which God has attached us,
and of which our conscience approves ; hut in'the house of our
heivenlY Father there are many mansions. .On speculative
points, speculative men will differ ; bqt ;whatsoever zeal may
be displayed in the support of specific tenets, that zeal shotild
never be stimulated to excess by ah overweening conceit in our
.own, or by an uncharitable contempt of eveey other opinion.
Are we not all called by the name, and do we not all profess the
Christians ? Have, we not'all one Lord, one faith. Os followers -
of Christ), one baptism, one God and Father of all, who is
above all, and through all, and in us all ? Disciples .of the
Cross, the characteristical badge of our profession affords us
one common bond of union ; but the pertinacity of opinion
upon inferior points has 'distinguished us fr6ro each other by
various denominations. In the heat -and pride of argument
men are sometimes disnosed to shut ,the gates of mercy, against
those who do not think- precisely as they themselves' think;
and permit the vanity of doginatizing tb obliterate every libe-
ral, and even every charitable sentiment,. Almighty God, how_
ever, we may be assured, will exercise judgment upon us in
righteousness and with mercy; nor will he punish us for the
unavoidable errors of our heads, but for the wilful depravity df
our hearts.
" At, And even since, the period of the reformation, the Ca-
tholics of the Roman communion consigned Protestants, and
Protestants in their turn consigned Catholics,. to eternal perdi-
tion ; neither among the Protestant Clapoles themselves has
there been any deficiency of sects, who individually assuming
that infallibility, which they jointly denied to the Church
Rome, alternately anathematized each other, without remorse,
and without commiseration. But, ever Lie it our boast, while
we maintain with 'firmness, and support with dignity, the doc-
trines which we approve, to withhold from none the hope of sal-
vation, conscious that the thoughts -of God are not as our
thoughtS, nor his ways as our ways. As men we have a duty
to discharge towards that society of which eve are members ; as
ministers of the Established Churcha we are. bound by the most
intimate ties of reciprocal regard. to those who are 'within the
pale &her holy communion ; but as Christians we owe to all
who are deSignated by that' blessed name, by which we our-
selves are designated, fraternal affection, and to mankind in
general, without distinction of persons, or of' creeds, universal
benevolence.
." I should indeed he grieved, 'iny: Reverend -Brethren, if I
thought that any who now hear me, could so far for ,=et the
precepts of their benignant Lord and 'Master, as to refuse the
right hand of fellowship to one Class 'Of ChriStians, because
they believe more,' or to another class, because they believe
less, than we ourselves believe. If the gracious Father of all
makes his sun to shine, and his rain to descend on the; just and
the unjust how much more must he he disposed to shed the
light of his countenance and the dew of his blessing upowevery
Christian df every denomination, whbseeks.his, favour with
simplicity, and who endeavours to obey his ,heavenly will with
sincerity ? Shall the withered hand 'WhiCh Christ has made
whole, be lifted up to restrain the mercies of Him who restored
it ? Or shall the dumb man's tongue, which he has" rescued
from the bonds of Satan, presume to control the power that set
it free ; presume to say, thus far Shalt thou go, but no farther ;
and here shall the progress of thy love,be stayed ?
" But we do not merely participate in the common blessings,
and common Christianity, of our country ; we are also mini-
stem' of the Gospel of Christ; as taught in the Established
Church of this United Kingdom,, and being such, are bound to
the discharge of peculiar .functions: In this respect, then, it
may be asked, cap we become tobactive or too zealous? Ti
repress the ardour of Official zeal; where - neither its object is
illiberal, nor. its effect problematical, would indeed be not less
singular than culpable. But is it not possible,. by misspend_
ing our activity, and by exhausting our zeal upon points of ie.
ferior consequence, to bring the more important ones into dis-
credit or contempt ? Some of us, perhaps, are old enough to
recollect a period, when the. Clergy of the establishment, con-
templated as a body—for it, no' other view is it either just or
reasonable to contemplate them—needed more of the spur than
the leridie,, in the discharge of their. ministerial ;duties. But we
have since witnessed no inconsiderable change feu. 'the better in
this very important respect. Those whb now censure them as in-
dolent and inactive, cenenee them without any accurate informa- -
tion, or unfairly draw general conclusions from particular in-
stances. That all are equally diligent in their office, and correctin
their conduct, it would be as absurd to assert as to expect. The
Clergy are men, and, like-other men, may fall into acts of ne-
gligence and of crime. ' But to charge um the 'whole body ' •
the faults of individuals, 'must either prOceed from went of
knowledge, or from want of charity.e
" Admitting; however as..l most cordially do admit, that
the clergy, thus contemplated, endeavour to acquit themselves
with fidelity in their O cial character, I would nevertheless
suggest; that some discretion is requisite in the exercise of that
fidelity; some • caution, .not to represent as essential to salYa-
don the mere external form, nor to mistake the true internal
spirit of genuine Christianity,
" When our Reformers compiled the excellent Liturgy,
which we still possess, they
,selected.its component parts with a
judgment, and expressed themselves in a language, which has
excited the admiration of every subsequent period. The offices
of Our-Church are distinguished. by a characteristical pre-emi-
nence, of which we have been long and justly proud ; nor have
they yet sunk under the cbrnbined attacks of enthusiasm and in-
fidelity. Estimable, however, as they-doubtless are, and higaily
as we venerate them, still it should not be forgotten, 'that:they
are but farms, and that, as forms, they cannot constitete the
substance of religiOn, and should not therefOre be elevated into
the rank of essentials to salvation."

" Ought the withered hand, which Christ.has restored and
made whole, to be lifted up against him?
\Or should the dumb
man's tongue, jtiselonsenedfrom the bonds of silence, blaspheme
the pOwer that set it free ?"-,-Sherlock's SermOni,' vol. 1. Senn.
1.p..14, L:4. 1764. ,