The Sun.
London, England, 1861-05-30 00:00:00

mental reservation. It is given to all, and everything
contained in, and prescribed by the book of Common
Prayer, so that whatever we find within the covers of
that book, Calvinistic, or Armenian, Arian, or Trinitarian,
or Pelagian ; whatever we find Popish in offices, and rites
and ceremonies ; whatever el position there may be between
articles and services, every consecrated bishop, and every
ordained priest and deacon—to one and all of the doctrines
and offices have given their unfeigned assent and consent,
believing them as in the sight of God t 3 be all true. In ad-
dition to the above he must likewise subscribe to the three
following articles :-Ist, That the Queen's Majesty under
God is the only supreme governor of this realm. * * *
As well in all spiritual or ecclesiastical things or causes, as
temporal. 2d, That the book"of Common Prayer, and of
ordering of bishops, priests, and deacons, containeth in it
nothing contrary to the Word of God. 3d, That he acknow-
ledges all and every the articles, being in number 39, to be
agreeable to the Word of God. The following are the words
of the subscription :—" I, A. 8., do willingly and ex anima
subscribe to these three articles above mentioned, and to all
things contained in them." As a further security for ortho-
doxy and uniformity the 4th and oth canons enact as fol-
low :—Canon 4th, " Whosoever shall hereafter affirm that
the form of God's worship in the Church of England * *
contained in the book of Common Prayer * * * con-
taineth anything in it that is repugnant to the Scriptures,
let him be excommunicated ipso facto, and not restored but

by the bishop of the place, or archbishop, after his repent-
ance, and public revocation of such his wicked errors." And
Canon sth provides, "Whosoever shall hereafter affirm
that any of the 39 articles * * * are in any part sur ersti-
tious or erroneous, or' such as he may not with a good con-.
scienco subscribe unto, let him be excommunicated." No.
clergyman (and every clergyman professes to be a religious.
and truth speaking man) would dare to say, after having,
made these solemn declarations and subscriptions, that ha
looked upon it as a great sham—that it was a mode of de-
ceit and lying, by which alone he could get into the Church
—that he did not, and could not believe one-half of it—
that in a matter of social or commercial life he would
shun the doing of so vile and treacherous an act, but
that he was obliged, in order to get into the Church, to
deheeeives,tuaud and
upto t
lie(); anpreclach,
that
thehe wuausucgronesgcaitoiuos:
would see before them a man who in the most solemn act of
his life trifled with truth—was guilty of deceit—and before
feign,,hene
v t o e r
God and man for the sake of office and position deliberately
lied. •
I have, therefore, not as an act of charity, but of common
justice, a right to conclude, that every bishop and archbi-
shop, every priest and deacon, believes as he has solemnly
declared hedoes,everything in the book of Common Prayer;
and that nothing therein contained is repugnant to, nor eon_
trary to the Word of God. One word generally about the
Prayer Book before we beginto examine it. T am not about
t i raise any objections on triffiug matters : nor have I one
word to say against the style in which it is composed, It
is well for the English language, that before it beeame de-
teriorated, it had two such treasuries in which its noble
Saxon dialect could be deposited, as the English Bible and.
the book of Common Prayer. Of course there are some
obsolete and uncouth words that might be changed, both in
the one and in the other, but these books will ever remain,
alone in their grandeur, simplicity, and power.
After the Acts of Parliament prefatory to the Prayer
Book, comes the kalendar with the Saints' days; certainly
these have "no warrant from Holy Scripture." Lucian,
Fabian, and others, in January-14th of February---Valen-
tine: Bishop and Martyr—Bishop Blassius—and Agatha
the Sicilian Virgin and Martyr—lnnocents day—Purifica-
tion of the Virgin Mary—thus recognising the Romish doc-
trine of the perpetual virginity of the mother of Jesus—tho
Annunciation of our Lady—Saints' days for the Apostles_
for St. Michael and all angels—for the Monk Augustine,
first Archbishop of Canterbury—for Boniface—for St-Anne,
mother to the blessed Virgin Mary—for Cecilia,Virgin and.
Martyr—for Catherine, the same—for Lucy, the same,and
many others. All these are approved by every clergyman
entering the Church, however absurd, superstitious, and
unscriptural ; and however papistical the model from which,
they are copied. Certainly such a kalendar, and such a,
superstitious observance of days, can receive no sanction
from Holy Scripture.
t!, The next thing is a table of the feast-days, to be tsb-
served in the Church of England throughout the year.
Besides the Sundays there are some 29 or 30 feast-lays.
Among them,—the Circumcision of our Lord, the Purifica-
tion of the blessed Virgin, St. Michael and all Angels, the
Holy Innocents, and several others. There aro some 16
vigils to be kept, and there are fast-days, the 40 days in
Lent, 12 Ember days, 3 Rogation. days, and all the Fridays
in the year except Christmas day. Now, lam not reading
from the Romish missal, nor any mediawal book, in force
some centuries back, but from the Book of Common Prayer,
used in the Established Church, in the year 1861, to which
all clergymen have given their assent and consent, and
which the high Anglican party faithfully carry out, but of
which others are ashamed, and practically ignore the greater
part of such folly and superstition.
' We now come to the Morning Prayer, and the first thing
that is objectionable and unscriptural, is the absolution
pronounced by the priest; but our remarks on this we shall
postpone till we come to the Ordination service. "He de-
scended into hell" is one point in the Apostle's creed on
which the clergy differ very much, as on some others,
though by their assent and consent they unanimously de-
dare they believe it.

On 13 days of the year (to-day is ono of them) the Con-
fession of Faith, called the Creed of St. Athanasius, is to
be said or sung in every church or chapel throughout the
kingdom. Do not misunderstand my remat ks about this
Creed. lam not about to censure men for believing in
what is called the doctrine of the Trinity. I understand
religious liberty too well to censure any man for the exer-
cise of his right of private judgment, nor am I about to al-
lude to the endless varieties of definitions that prevail in
private among the clergy on this subject. I condemn the
Creed on the common grounds, on which hundreds and
thousands of those condemn it, who have, nevertheless,be-
fore God, given their assent and consent to it. The chief
grounds of condemnation are these : The wicked usurpation
of authority on the part of the compilers of the Creed, in
making and forging a term and condition of Salvation
entirely unknown to the Holy Scriptures. Not a word from
the lips of Christ, nor from the pen of one of the Apostles,
sanctions this wicked and blasphemous usurpation of the
Divine prerogative, of saying, as authoritative from God,
what neither God nor Christ, nor the Apostles even said or
hinted at.
The words of the usurped authority are these (and every
clergyman who uses, adopts them, and is responsiblefor ut-
tering them) : —" W hof oever will be saved, before all things
it is necessary that he hold the Catholic faith : which faith,
except every one do keep whole and undefiled, without doubt
he shall perish everlastingly." And then, after a mass of
illogical, scholastic jargon, unscriptural in its phrases and
doctrine, the compilers close it with these words:—" This
is the Catholic faith, which except a man keep it faithfully,
he cannot be saved." Every clergyman of the Established
Church has given his assent and consent to this usurpation
of tho prerogative of Deity ; dictating a condition and term
of salvation to their fellow men, unscriptural, illogical, in-
comprehensible, and utterly absurd.
Every beneficed or officiating clergyman has this day, or
he ought to have done it, pronounced unfalteringly on
every Trinitarian who differs from this representation of
the doctrine, and upon every one who does not believe in
the doctrine, that without doubt he shall perish everlast-
ingly ; and again, that he cannot be saved. Where is the
authority for bishop, priest, or deacon to make such a state-
ment ; deliberately, in the presence of God, to assume his
prerogative and utter as deliberately such a terrible false-
hood ! Some 13,000 or 14,000 clergymen ought, by their
vows, to have done this to-day. They have said they believe
it ; they have given their assent and consent to it. But do
they believe it? The common sense of thousands teaches
them to spurn the cruelty of the Creed, its uncharitableness,
and its unscriptural jargon • and they avoid the use of it
whenever they can. They know that one part of the Creed
is high Trinitarianism, and another part high Arianism.
They know that its phraseology is unlike to anything in the
New Testament, and that sending men to hell for ever, for
nit believing what certain ecclesiastics drew up in a party
warfare, is as uncharitable, wicked, and unscriptural as it is
blasphemous. Who would envy the intelligence, the Bibli-
cal knowledge, the bigotry of the men who can honestly use
this Creed ? and who would envy the conscience, the honesty,
utotdoiathtteh
isemselves, to theiroffice,
priest'sand the
opffie acceeaonfd mind
oorfs
etlhoefmberne
awd
,h
do ,e
of
loarr
e thet
hsealer e
assentofthe
thus
so upcgloahlnysyefnaritespe tCPre eNd ,0
twahfeenwionftthhesei re
a hnert
men,—whoottt
hh
their
God,—bitterly censure the Essayists and Reviewers. Let
him, however, who is without fault—in departing from what
he has promised to adhere to—cast the first stone at them.

PROVIDENT CLERKS' LIFE ASSUR-
ANCE BENEVOLENT FUND.

The election of annuitants took place yesterday,
in the board-room of this association, Moorgate
street. The poll closed at three o'clock, after which
the chairman declared that out of the list of seven.
male candidates William Emery had been elected
to an annuity of £3O per annum, and that out of a
list of twenty-one female candidates annuities had
been granted to S. Jesty (3,396 votes), E, Husband
(4,306), and C. Sargent (4,035). Jesty's annuity
was £2O, and that of the others £l5. W. Emery
had 2,522 votes. Mr. R. H. Jones, the president of
the association, occupied the chair, and was
.sup-
ported by numerous directors and subscribers. A
vote of thanks having been given to the chairman,
Mr. Toole, one of the auditors, in supporting the
resolution, said that the condition of the unsuccess-
ful candidates was certainly unfortunate,lebut_e
would instance a case more truly lamentable. He
held in his hand a letter written by a
and buoyant
clerk to his wife seven days since.
the writer was in vigorous health
been three days
spirits, but, unhappily, he had
largenow family,
and his
leir that time
hadbut omitted i tpainful
ted t
in his grave. He had left
nement, was not
ofa confinement,
lesson to thou.widow, now on the eve
member of any provi.
compliment,
onlyn pecuniary
urei nhisg rliefaet,
distress,
aninec mental aalsane.o distraction,
t deceased
a .
might be 1
solation to the unsuccessful
was unanimously carried.
The chairman,
sdaenndtsf.unTd.he This
resolution
isil case
reees ending to the •do
offered considera ? that th •
by stating
improved their chances of SUCcesa
b materially next time by the
receipts 13
of the dinner on Thursday. He hoped the
proceeds of the dinner would enable the directors
to increase the number of annuitants, a consumma-
tion anxiously desired by the board.
candidates,
---- .

The announcement was made
yesterday of
-----
heavy Russian failure, which was reported some weeks
back to be likely to occur, but which was then prevente d
a
by the interposition of the Russian Government. The
disaster comprises the houses of Messrs. W. Brandt
and Sons, of Archangel; Mr. Charles Brandt, of St.
Petersburg ; Messrs. Brandt Brothers, of Riga ; and
Mr. Richard Brandt, of London, and the total
liabilities are believed to amount to £300,000. The
direct debts of the London house are, it is said, limited to
£70,000. On the first occurrence of difficulties the Russian.
Government advanced £lOO,OOO, but this proved insuffici—
ent, and an application for further help having been un—
successful, suspension became necessary, and the accounts
have been placed in the hands of Messrs. Quilter, Ball, and
Co. The connexion was one of old standing, and of great
responsibility, but it must not be confounded with the firms
of Messrs. William Brandt and Co., of St. Petersburg, and.
William Brandt, Sons, and Co. (formerly E. H. Brandt,
Son, and Co.), of London. The members of the latter esta-
blishments, although relatives of the members of the 1 fails
_
firms, are entirely separate and independent. UP t°_L,°
they were together, but since that time the housioN 91 Lae
two briM494 Of *0 family lum Wu distinct,