The Sun.
London, England, 1850-11-04 00:00:00

N°.18,132.1] LONDON, MO N DAY
7 -
! NOVEMBER 4, 1850.
'
z 4 4.4 9 M

THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S,
• CHARGE.
It hiving been announced-that the Lord Bishop IS
London was to charge the Clergy of London. and it
having been expected that the Right Rev. Prelee
would advert,, at considerable length, to the recent
creation of a Roman Catholic hierarchy in this
country, and to the disputes which agitate the mem-
bers of the Church of Engl;,nd, a considerable number
of clergymen and laymen attended at St. Paul's
-arly as ten o'clock on Saturday. At eleven o'clock
the usual morning service was commenced, and after
the service a sermon was preached by the Rev. Mr.
I'Kenzie, M.A., Rector of S. Martin's.in-the-Ftelds.
The Lord Bishop of L rndon then commenced his
charge with a very lengthened review of the Gorham
controversy, and examination of the position in which
the decision of the Privy Council leaves English

Churchmen. After pointing out the insufficiency of
the plea of dissatisfaction with that decision for se-
cession, ',and thy greater strain on indivi lual conscience
which seceders would experience in the indefinite de-
mands on faith 'made by the Church of .Rome, the
Right Rev. Prelate proceeded as follows :
" a duty at all times incumbent upon the
members of our Reformed Church, especially upon
her ministers, to abstain from everything which may
seem in any way to countenance the
.errors of the
Church of Rothe, and lead any persoq to believe that
the difference between us is less than it• really is ; to
_ . _

forbear from imitating its peculinrities, from recom-
mending its books of devotion, from attending its
service, even through curiosity, in this country at
least; in short,. to shun all intercourse with it as a
Church. But this duty presses upon us with peculiar
force at the present time, when that Church is ad-
vancing its pretensions to spiritual dominion amongst

us with an arrogance hitherto unknown.
" It has been thought sufficient by all former Popes,
since the time of the Reformation, to provide for the
spiritual care of their adherents in this country by
the appointment of Vicars-Apostolic, exercising, in-
deed, episcopal authority over them, not as Bishops of
any English See, but deriving their titles from some
imaginary diocese, in partibus ividelium. The as-
sertion now first made of the Pope's right to erect

Episcopal Sees in this country appears to me to be
not only an intentional insult to the Episcopate and
clergy of England, but a daring, though powerless,
invasion of the supremacy of the Crown. The Act
of Parliament which restored that supremacy provides
that, No foreign prince, person, prelate, state, or
potentate, spiritual or temporal, shall use, enjoy, or
exercise any manner of power, jurisdiction, supe-
riority, authority, pre-eminence, or privilege, spiritual
or ecclesiastical, within this realm ;' and although,
while the law in this respect remains unchanged, the
pretended erection of a Bishop's See in England, by
the Pope's authority, can have no legal effect, it is
manifestly the assertion, on his part, of a right to do
that which the laws of England have forbidden. I
cannot, therefore, but regard it as a measure against
which not only the Cburcb, but tha Government of
this country, is bound emphatically to protest. It is
evident that the Bishop and Court of Rome entertain
very sanguine hopes of the conversion of this country,
and of its return to the bosom of their Church. The
sad falling away of some, who seemed to be the most
devotedly attached to the Church of England, has
awakened expectations not unnatural, indeed, but
destined to certain disappointment.
" I believe that the very boldness of the preten-
sions now put forth by the Bishop of Rome and his
agents will prevent their success. They may dazzle
and confound a few weak minds, or captivate some ar-
dent imaginations, but they will be instinctively re-
pelled by the common sense and right feeling of the
people at large. Popery, as demanding an entire pros-
tration of men's intellect before an authority which
attempts to substantiate its claims, not by proofs, but
by gratuitous and inconsistent assertions, cannot long
retain its hold upon the mind of a well educated
people, embued with a knowledge of Holy Scripture.
Its fundamental principle is, that men are not to exa-
mine, but to believe; and at the present moment, by
the re-assertion of superstitions which the more
learned writers of the Roman Church have long ago
exploded, and by the revival of legends suited only to
an age of the grossest ignorance, it seems to be push-
ing that principle to its very utmost length, as though
its maxim were, that the more incredible a doctrine or
history may seem, the more merit there is in believ-
ing it. And this fearful contempt and defiance of com-
mon sense has its effect upon some uninformed and
humble minds, overpowering them by the very
audacity of its pretensions. while the authority
which displays it offers to relieve them from all the
trouble and anxiety of a search after truth, assuring
them that it is at once their duty and tbeir happiness
not to inquire, hut to believe. But the Church of
Rome employs different agencies and instruments to
different classes of men. For those Whose education
and habits of mind require something like argument
and evidence, she has her subtle dialecticians and
persuasive orators, who do not fetter themselves with
a very strict adherence to the canon of doctrine laid
down by the Council of Trent, but insinuate, if they
do not expressly teach, various modifications of it,
adapted to remove what they term the prejudices of
their Protestant hearers, especially of those who are
members of the Church of England. You will
readily understand me to allude to the Oratorians, as
they are called, and I name them principally for the
sake of expressing my earnest hope that none of you
will give the least countenance to their proceedings,
nor run the risk of impairing the strength of your
own convictions, and of weakening your attachment
to the Church of which you are members, by attend-
ing any of their services, or listening to their
lectures.
"But while we are looking to the dangers which
impend over us in one quarter, let us not close our
eyes to those which threaten us from another. A na-
tural principle of antagonism in the human mind makes
it probable that some, who fly off from Popery, will
traverse the entire diameter of the rational sphere, and
be landed on the antipodes of infidelity. I would
desire you to consider whether some of those persons
who are disgusted with the departures now too com-
mon from the soberness and simplicity of our devo-
tional offices, and with the exaggerated notions which
are insisted on as to the authority of the priestly
office, are not too likely to take refuge, not in Low
Church doctrine, as the term is commonly understood,
but in the boundless expanse of latitudinarianism—a
sea without a shore, and with no pole-star to guide
those who embark on it but the uncertain light of
human reason. I cannot but think that we have
more to apprehend from that theology of Germany
than that of Rome; from that which deifies human
reason than from that which seeks to blind or stifle
it ; from a school which labours to reconcile Christi-
anity with its own philosophy, by stripping the
Gospel of all its characteristic features, and reducing
it to the level of human systems, than from a Church
which rejects and condemns even the soundest con-
clusions of true philosophy when they are at variance
with the determinations of its own presumed infalli-
bility. The theology, if it deserves the name, to
which I allude has been grafted upon, or grown out
of, the idealism of the German philosophers. It has
exhibited symptoms of decline in its native soil ; but
I fear it is beginning to lay hold on the more practi-
cal mind of this country, and from it, in my judg-
ment, more danger is to be apprehended than from
the attempt to revive worn out superstitions, and to
shackle the understandings and consciences of men
with fetters which were broken and thrown off at the
Reformation. eloral evidence, historical testimony,
inspiration, miracle, all that is objective in Chris-
tianity, is swept away by the writers of this school, its
glory defaced, its living waters deprived of all their
healing virtues by distillation in the alembic of
rationalism.
"Now, I fear that there are many persons who
think that they may safely go to a certain length with
these bold adventurers in theology, without following
them into all their extravagant speculations ; for in-
stance, that they may deny the inspiration of Holy
Scripture, as the Church understands it, without call-
ing in question the evidences—that is, the historical
evidences of Christianity; that they may believe that
Jesus Christ is the Son of God, and yet cast off what
they term a superstitious reverence for the text of
the Bible. But Ido not believe it to be possible for
any one thus to undervalue and weaken the authority
of the apostles and' prophets, and so to undermine the
foundations of his belief, without impairing the sound-
ness of the superstructure, and diluting his faith in
Jesus Christ as his chief corner-stone. To deny the
inspiration of Scripture is one step towards the rejec-
tion of the Gospel as a revelation from God.
"Against this fatal heresy I would earnestly cau-
tion younger brethren, as being one from which,
in the present state of the human mind, we have much
more to fear than from the encroachments of Popery.
Rationalism, as its name implies, referring everything
to man's unaided reason as the ultimate test of
truth, flatters the pride of his nature, which is
revolted by the humbling but consolatory doc-
trines of the Gospel. Popery offends and disgusts
the understanding by inventions opposed alike to com-
mon sense and to the plain letter of Holy Scripture.
The latter aims at the complete subjugation of the
intellect to the authority of the self-constituted Vicar
of Christ ; the former asserts the supremacy and in-
fallibility of reason. It is manifest that this is the
most likely to find favour with a trained and scientific
generation, while the former can rest its hope of gene-

ral acceptance only on the ground of an uninquiring
ignorance. The true safeguard and preservative from
both ,extremes is to be found in the general diffusion
of sou•id scriptural knowledge, by means of educa-
tio7—in a sedulous inculcation of the doctrines of our

teformed Church, as drawn from the inspired word

oe God, and in a firm adherence to the Creels, and

ind
Liturgy, and
what
is t
A ti l e
e.
I
lesson which the actual condi-
tion of our own Church is calculated to teach us ?

Menaced by clingers of opposite kinds—on this side
superstition and spiritunl tyranny ; on that side
r with infidelity and pantheism in its train
—are we not bJund to pat away from us, as far
our duty to the truth will permit, all dissensions and

controversies between ouraelvef, to rally round the
vital truths of the Gospel, and to study with much
self-inquiry and earnest prayers to realise our
S tviour's precept—' Have salt in fyourselves, and
peace one with another.' Whatever defects we may
believe to exist in the constitution of our Church, hs

viewed in connexion with the civil polity of this
country, let us devote our energies more resolutely
than we yet have done to the fulfilment of
our own • individual duties as • ministers, of
that Church; each in his proper sphere of
action ; and •we shall find in the more rapid growth of
true religion, in the extension of the Church's boun-
daries, in the daily in-gathering of those who are to
be saved, and in the moral and social improvement of
the people at large, abundant evidence of our belong-
ing to a true Church. Let us rally as dutiful sons
round our spiritual mother in the time of her distress
and perplexity ; repair the breaches of our Zion as
effectually as God may permit us to repair them, and
possess ourselves in patience and prayer, till, in. His
own good time, He shall see 'fit to perfect the work.
There are still other topics which seem to require
some notice from me, but I can only touch upon
them very briefly.
" The question of establishing Sisterhoods of Mercy
in our Reformed Church is one respecting which
opinions are greatly divided. That such institutions
may be productive under due regulation, of much
good, cannot, I think, be doubted. They are, in
fact, originally Protestant institutions. Eighty years
before the formation of Sisterhoods of Mercy in the
Church of Rome by Vincent de Paulo, the Protestant
Sisterhood of Sedan and the ladies of Rochelle set the
example of those associations for pious and charitable
objects. That it is possible to conduct them in ac-
cordance with Protestant principles is proved by the
institution of deaconesses established in Paris in
1841, and carried on with continually increasing suc-
eess under the truly paternal care and wise discre-
tion of M. Vermeil, Pastor of the Reformed Church

of Paris.
" This institution has from the first been carefully
guarded from the errors and abuses of the Church of
Rome. It has associated together Christian women,
constrained by the love of Christ, and desirous of
being permitted to do his work more effectually than
would be done by their detached and isolated effurts.
But it has held out to them no inducement nor facili-
ties to desert the duties laid upon them by their
domestic relations. No vow of celibacy nor engage-
ments binding their consciences—no violation of the
liberty wherewith Christ has made us free ; the
character of the establishment is not that of n
monastic community, but of a great Christian family.
It any sisterhoods can be formed in this country an-
swering to this description, I should hail their insti-
tution as calculated to increase the efficiency of our
Church, and to strengthen it against the machina-
tions of Rome. But I strongly deprecate the esta-
blishment of any religious or charitable society of
females which shall have almost every peculiarity of a
nunnery but the name. I fear that this is the case
with some which have been already formed. I have
reason to believe that, in more than one instance,
young women have been encouraged or permitted to
enrol themselves as Sisters of Mercy or Charity,
against the earnest wish of their nearest relations, and
to neglect one clearly prescribed duty for the sake of
undertaking another, which is certainly not of
positive obligation.
" The question of national education is one which,
on this occasion, I must pass by with a simple re-
mark. After all the discussions which have taken
place with regard to the intentions of the Govern•
inept, and the duty and claims of the Church, I am
persuaded that, if the education of the people at large
be taken out of the hands of the Clergy, it will 131:

mainly their own fault. They stand on a vantage,
ground from which, if they are vigilant and active, ic
will hardly be possible to dislodge them. But they
must take care that the education which they offer is
one which•deserves the name, one adapted to the pre-
sent state of human knowledge and of human society
On this subject I retain the opinion which I stated in
my Charge of 1834. It was, therefore, with great
pleasure that I gave my sanction to a plan suggested
by some of the London Clergy, and carried into effect
by themselves, with the assistance of several lay mem
hers of the Church, of giving evening lectures on
different branches of literature, art, and science, to
the young men of London, with a view to their ine•
provement, moral, intellectual, and spiritual; affected
as they are by the peculiar temptations of a great
city, the modern practice of early closing, and the
advancing spread of knowledge, the benevolent efforts
of the committee have been crowned with a large
measure of success. They have now commenced the
first term of the third year with 48 classes in 17 dif.
ferent parishes, and numbering about 800 students,
most of them clerks or shopmen in commercial houses,
some Scripture readers, and some national school-
masters. It is scarcely possible to estimate too highly
the good which this measure is calculated to produce.
Its moral and social effect is to be calculated, not
merely by the improved tastes and habits of the stu •
dents themselves, but by the influence which they will
exercise upon those around them, their fellow clerks
fcatmreilmieasinasndtothbeeirnaoctiqcuedainbteafnocrees.i
and
Oneshop mother
tshuebi
jre
conclude. The great Exhibition of Works of Art am)..
Industry, which has been announced for the year
1851, will cause an unprecedented influx of strangers
into this metropolis from all parts of the world, but
especially from the continent of Europe. It is for
others to consider in what manner that vast multitude
is to he provided with lodgings and the conveniencee
of life. It is merely a duty incumbent upon the
ministers of the Gospel to devise, if possible, some
mode of furnishing them with the means of wor-
shipping God, and of profiting by the opportunities of
the Christian Sabbath. Let us not welcome them to
this great emporium of the world's comm erce as
though we looked only to the gratification of our na-
tional pride, or to mutual improvement in the art-
Present
which minister to the enjoyment of this
present life,
and take no thought of the spiritual relation which
subsists between all mankind as children of God,
whotu he desires to be saved through Jesus Christ.
Let us not incur the guilt of Ilezekiah, who displayed
to the Chaldean messengers the house of his precious
things, the silver and the gold, and the spices and the I
precious ointment, and all the house of his armour,l
and all that was found in his treasures; but forgot, as
it seems, to set before them the glory of the true God,
Prayer,ge ntdr
ea
rn_s •
and the beauty of holiness in his law, and in his wort I
ship, and the history of his wonderful works. Wel
the -Bible, and, where it
should endeavour to provide for them the means of
m e tho do
fo ffehe
feeling
common worship, and to distribute amongst those who
may be willing to receive it,
asperityCyaphurch by our may be done, the Book of Co
lated into the language of their respective countries.
Common
nt
toen
" In conclusion, Reverend Brethren, I would again
ing suggestthe woundsto y o ,
inflicteds t h e
upon most
thelt i
hkseoe
in-
testine divisions—of softening
which religious controversy is
and of bringing us by degrees to a common under..
standing upon questions of %Rai importance—is foe
every one of us, in his proper sphere of action, ho-
nestly to fulfil the duty laid by the Church upon all
ministers. See that you never cease your labour,
your care, and diligence, until you have dore
ir all that
lieth in you, according to your bounden duty, to
bring all that are or shall be committed to your charge
unto that agreement in the knowledge and faith of
God, and that ripeness and perfectness of age in
Christ, that there be no room left among you either
for error in religion, or for viciousness of life. I cannot
but think that if every clergyman were to direct all his
energies and endeavours to the task of feeding the Lord',
family with the wholesome food provided for them in
the Bible and the Church, to the instruction of the
ignorant and the conversion of the sinful with earnest
prayer—the study of God's word, and a devout and
punctual observance of the Church's rule, confining
his efforts, except in special cases, to the field of la•
hour which has been assigned to him, he would df,
more to tranquillise andstrengthen the Church than he
could effect by stepping out of his allotted station to
enlist himself in the ranks of angry polemics under
other banners than those of the Church her..
self unfolded by the authorised standard-
hearers. There are three promises which you
have all male before God, and in the face of his
Church. The first—' Will you be ready, with all
faithful diligence, to banish and drive away all erro-
neous and strange doctrines contrary to God's word?'
I will, the Lord being my helper.' The second—
' Will you maintain and set forward, as much as
lieth in you, quietness, peace, and love, among all
Christian people, and especially among those that ern
and shall be committed to your charge ?' I will 80
do, the Lord being my helper.' The third—' Will
you reverently obey your Ordinary, and other chief

ministers, unto whom is committed the charge and
government over you, following with a glad mind
and will their godly admonitions, and submitting
you-selves to their godly judgment." I will so do,
the Lord being my helper.' Whatever dangers may
threaten us from without, if there be amongst. us a
spirit of firm adherence to the scriptural doctrine and
apostolical order of Our Church, of mutual candour
and kindness, and of cheerful obedience to legitimate
authority exercised within reasonable bounds, a zea-
lous devotion to our Mister's work, and a simple re-
liance upon Him for the will and the power to per-
form it, he will assuredly bless and protect his
Church.: nod the gates of hell shall not prevail
against it."

CHARGE OF RAPE AGAINST A

CLERGYMAN.

BRENTWOOD, SATUSDAT.—For several days past
an extraordinary sensation has prevailed among all
clas,es in this part of the county, in consequence of a
very serious charge having been preferred against a
clergyman, of considerable influence in the Church,
and who, for some years, has held a lucrative living
as rector of a parish adjoining this town. The name of
the defendant is the Rev. R. A. Johnstone.

The offence imputed to the Rev. Gentleman is no
other than the violation of his servant girl. In the
early part of last month the daughter of a decent
labouring man, residing at Ingram, entered the
service of the rector. Within a week after she
quitted the parsonage and returned to her parents'
cottage. in the course of a few days the girl's
flight became known in the village, and strange
rumours were buzzed about as to the cause. Even-
tually, the alleged true .story reached the ears of a
magistrate, who is a clergyman, and he communicated
with Mr. Coulson, the superintendent of the Essex
constabulary, stationed here, and that officer was in-
structed to make inquiries as to the truth of the alle-
gations. Mr. Coulson proceeded at once to the
residence of the parents, and returned with them and
their daughter to the police-station of this place. Two
justices being procured, the depositions of the com-
plaining party and her mother were taken on oath,
of which our reporter has obtained verbatim copies.
The girl being duly sworn said—My name is Mary
Ann Doe. lam 15 years of age, and live at Ingram.
On the sth of October I went to live with the
Reverend Gentleman, and on the Sunday morning
following he came into the kitchen, and patted me on
the back and gave me a kiss. On Tuesday morning,
the Bth ult., he was in the kitchen when I came down
stairs. He gave me the keys of the two doors. His
plaid was on the floor near the fireplace. He took me
round the waist and threw me down upon it. The
witness then proceeded to detail particulars which
went to substantiate the charge, but which are quite
unfit for publication. She was for some time insen-
sible. Witness continued—After I came round, I
went upstairs and brought my clothes down to go
home, and Mrs. came, and I told her what had
happened. and she gave me some medicine to revive
me, and I wished to go home, but she would make
me take my clothes upstairs again, and as soon as I had
an opportunity I brought them down again and went
home, and told my mother what had happened.
Sophia Doe, wife of John Doe, labourer, said—On
the 9th. ult Mr. Johnstone came to my house, and
asked me how Mary was. I said, very sadly; he
said he was very sorry at what had happened, but he
must own that he was very resolute with any child.
He asked me to let her go back again, and said it
should not happen again. He brought some medicine
in a bottle, and gave me 25., and my other daughter
Is. 6d., and asked me to go to his house in the even-
ing to see Mrs. —. I did so; and she wanted my
daughter to go back again, but I refused, and said I
should not feel happy for her to be in the house. Mrs.
Posterfield was in my house when my daughter came
home, and I told her what Mr. Johnstone had been

doing.
The magistrates considered the issuing of a sum-
mons sufficient, calling upon the Rev. Gentleman to
appear before them on the next bench day (the fol-
lowing Tuesday) to answer the complaint of the girl.
The summons was duly served, and on Tuesday the
rev. defendant appeared before the bench, Mr. Shaw,
the clerk to.the magistrates of the Billericay district,
accompanying him as his legal adviser. We are un-
able to detail the exact proceedings, as the magistrates
thought fit to conduct them with closed doors, but we
understand that the girl was not in attendance, and on
the police being called upon for en explanation, they
stated that they had ascertained that the girl, with her
father and mother, had, on the previoMs day, been
hurried up to London by some party.
The magistrates determined on remanding the
case. and liberated the defendant, on two sureties of
250/. each and himself in 5001 Yesterday being the
day appointed for re-hearing the case, the rev. de-
fendant surrendered before the magistrates, who were
sitting in petty sessions at the White Hart Inn. Tho
justices present were—Mr. J. Disney, Mr. C. J.
Tower, Mr. R. C. H. Hind, the Rev. Mr. Robinson,
Rev. R. N. Lubey, Rev. Mr. Pearson, J. H. Lewis,
and the Rev. J. English. The court was much
crowded.

Mr. Clarkson, the barrister, with Mr. Shaw, were
present to watch the proceedings for the defendant.
The Chairman (Mr. Disney) inquired whether the
complainant was forthcoming.
Mr. Coulson, the superintendent of police, replied
that she was not, but from information he bad re-
ceived he had no doubt that if another remand was
allowed he would be able to produce her.
After some discussion the bench decided on again
remanding the case for a week.
Mr. Clarkson then made an application to reduce
the amount of bail. He doubted whether it could be
demanded, inasmuch as the defendant had voluntarily
come tor ward.
The Chairman declined reducing the amount, and,
being tendered and duly received, the rev, defendant
left with his friends.—Weekly Dispatch.

[PRICE SD.

SPIRIT of the PUBLIC JOURNALS.
TIN! ES.—The Bishop of London has not overrated
the earnest and reverential attention with which a very
large proportion of the thinking population of these
islands follows the important controversies and discus-
sions of a religious nature kindled or revived in our
time.; and it is certainly a remarkable character istic of
the age that an episcopal charge should be sought and
perused with as much avidity as the last harangue ot a
Prinie Miuister, while popular meetings and addresses
are loudly expressing. in every wish in the realm, the
detestation ot the nation for the foreign power which haft
openly usurped a spiritual authority ever the minds ef
Englishmen. The vehemence with. which such contro-
versies may be conducted, and the intolerance they may
engender, are, no d; übt, just subjects of regret; but,
when the Church of England is assailed as we see her
assailed by the direct aggressions of her worst enemies,
we cannot but rejoice to witness the earnest zeal of the
country for the truth 'and the authority committed to
her charge; and we are less afraid of the strong grasp
of conviction than of the nerveless touch of indiffereeeto
On this ground, then, we may notice the charge de-
livered on Saturday' in S'. Paul's Cathedral by the
Bishop of London, as it partakes of the nature of a
political event. It contains the solemn, opinion and
declaration of the prelate and ordinary of the most itn-
portant diocese of England, not only on souse disputed
points of doctrine, bet on the most momentous question
of church, government; and it may be esteemed a fortu-,
nate circumstance that the visitation of the clergy of
London coincided in point of time with the attempt to
place the metropolis under the spiritual jurisdiction of a
priest of the Church of Rume. If it were our purpose
to draw a contrast between these authorities, or if any
comparison could be instituted between the appropriate
language of an English bishop and the letter which
recently found its way to this country through
the Flaminian- gate of Rome, we would - simply
point to the vigorous logic, the terse diction,
and the Christian eloquence of the Bishop's
charge, in opposition to the gross assumptions, the rhe-
torical artifices, and the corrupt jargon of Cardinal
Wiseman's production. The Romish priests have
not yet learnt to speak to Englishmen in the
freedom of our vernacular tongue, and there is a
taint of impurity in the very expressions they,
employ to emit the decrees of their outlandish autbority.
The Bishop of London has thought it his duty to enter
very fully in this address to his clergy upon the theo-
logical questions which have recently been raised in the
Gorham controversy, and to support with great fierce of
argument and felicity of illustration from our elder
divines the doctrine which Mr. Gorham is said to have
impugned. Into this discussion we have no intention to
follow our Right Rev. Diocesan, and we certainly do
not regret that the doctrine of baptismal regeneration,
as held by the Church of England, should have been
defended and expounded with all the power of Bishop
Blomfield's authority and learning. But, as applied to
the judicial proceedings between Mr. Gorham and the
Bishop of Exeter, we venture to think that this recur-
rence to a matter now set at rest was not called for, and
may be regretted. The Bishop himself formally declares
that the doctrine he rightly upholds was never in any
degree impugned by the Judicial Committee of the
Privy Council, and that the opinions ascribed by him
to Mr. Gorbern were never senctioned or approved by
that body. Indeed, the discussion can never be brought
to an issue on this point, because, from the looseness of
the pleadings in the cause, it never was dis-
tinctly averred or proved what portion of Mr. Gor-
ham's opinions actually is heretical; and, while the
Judicial Committee extracted from the volume of the ex-
amination one statement of these opinions, the Bishop of
London adopts and argues' upon another. With such a
divergency in the view taken of what must be called the
facts of the case, it is hardly possible that the same in-
ference should be drawn from two different impressions;
and, though the Bishop of London fastens with theolo-
gical zeal on doubtful passages as susceptible of confu-
tation, the minds of English judges were perhaps more
disposed to construe doubtful and obscure expressions in
favour of the accused party, rather than against him.
We are now informed of the grounds on which the
Bishop of London withheld his approval from the report
of the Judicial Committee to the Queen, btit we are not
aware whether he pressed the same arguments with equal
force on the Court of Appeal, which he was bound by
her Majesty's commands to assist with his counsel, and,
unless he actually failed in the attempt to render that
report more consistent with the opinions he now ex-
presses on the subject, it may be doubted whether a sort
of protest delivered nearly a year after the event in St.
Paul's Cathedral is entirely consistent with duty and
discretion. Looking to those essential principles and
paramount opinions which constitute the strength and
union of our national Church, rather than to the
controversies which divide it, it is satisfactory to
obtain from the Bishop of London a positive con-
demnatioze of those " histrionic practices" too
fttquently introduced of late into the English service
under the form of innovations or pretended r..vivals of
ancient Church observances, which are eminently re-
pulsive to the great body of the laity in this country,
and the more so ftom the associations they now awaken
with the impure ritual and aggressive policy of the
Romish priisthood. Nothing is more to be deprecated
than the introduction of any form or usage by the
clergy a hich tends to sever them from the lay members
of the church. Whatever is true, whatever is right, is
common to all classes ot Christians, and it is impossible,
without the most fatal consequences to the whole eccle-
siastical body, for the clergy to indulge in flights of en-
thusiasm which the sense and piety of their countrymen
refuse to accept as the reformed religion of England.
In condemning those who have " advanced step by step
to the very verge of the precipice," and again, those
" who have thought it prudent to make some concessions
to the meretricious tastes" of a certain class of worship-
pers, the Bishop of London may not have called to mind
the ceremonies in which ho himself consented to take a
part at the consecration of St. Barnabas, Pimlico; but it is
a matter of general regret that he did not avail himself of
that occasion to restore that and other churches of his
diocese to the simplicity which their character and pur-
pose seemed peculiarly to demand. No doubt these ex-
ternal departures from the habits and the worship of our
forefathers have materially contributed to embolden the
Romish priesthood, and to deceive the world as to the
true religious spirit of the people of England ; and all
experience, from the first statute of Elizabeth down to
Cardinal Wiseman's last pastoral, shows that if this
country is to maintain the Church of England and the
Protestantism of England as the palladium of our free-
dom of thought, of action, and of government, we can-
not render a worse service to that sacred cause than to
mimic the histrionic ceremonies of Rome. The arrival
of a bevy of Bishops iu all the pomp of their Burnish
attire may seasonably remind some of our clergy that
the se performances are the badges of a foreign allegiance,
or the marks of a degrading superstition. It has been
said that the recent edicts of the Pope are no more than
the customary acts of authority of a sovereign over his
spiritual subjects, and that, as we cannot re-enact per-
secuting laws, nothing is more impracticable than to
cope with this spiritual authority. We contest both
these propositions. The re-establishment of an
entire hierarchy by Papal authority, without the
assent of the existing Government of this nation, is
not one of those acts which the mere bead of a sect
can reasonably take; it is an act of sovereignty, or it is
nothing; and we have great doubts whether such sove-
reign power can be exercised with safety and impunity
by a foreign Court in this country, whether under pre-
text of religious supremacy or any other. Far from
yielding a blind and absolute submission to all the de-
mands and pretensions of Rome, there is no Catholic
State in Europe which has not insisted upon some con-
trol over these powers, and the French Government
especially enjoys and exercises that control by virtue of
the concordat, backed by strong repressive laws. Having
no terms of agreement with Rome, we lack these provi-
sions; but what we do not care to ask of her we can
exact for ourselves. Even where Acts of Parliament
are powerless, and Royal prerogatives set at nought,
there is another and a loftier barrier to the spiritual
despotism of Rome in the public opinion of a free and
religious people. To that power we are confident that
we do not appeal in vain. They will remember, to-
morrow, as the anniversary returns of the twofold deli-
verance of England from Popish conspirators and a
Popish Court, that the annals of the country, and even
the pastimes of our children, mark that day, in memory
of the great principle of national independence and reli-
gious liberty; and we repeat, as of old, the prayer, that
" such as turn religion into rebellion, and faith into fac-
tion, may never prevail against us or triumph in the
ruin of Thy Church among us."
POST.—It is a curious fact in the history of the Ro-
man See that the power of the Popes has been derived
more from the weakness of mankind than from its own
inherent strength. A tyrant with the defenceless, and
a cringing hypocrite with the bold, the Pope of ne,
in his arrogated claim to universal rule, has occupied
the anomalous position of one whose spurious rank is
rather conceded by courtesy than recognized by right.
He has inherited honours which were clogged with con-
ditions at variance at once with the principles of Chris-
tianity and with the obligations of temporal authority.
His accession to the triple crown may be said to devolve
upon him the necessity of prompting Divine truth by
usages ss hich are consistent only with a barbarous and a
savage age. Whatever his own opinions, the existent
Pope has been always cut off by the acts of his prede-
cessors from exercising the right of private judgment in
secular affa're, to an t xtent almost as great as his own
subjects in matters purely spiritual. It is scarcely ne-
cessary to observe that no other Government in the his-
tory of the world ha: acted upon a principle so outra-
geeusly absurd and injudicious—a principle that no
reasonable man can contemplate without a smile at the
vanity from which it sprang, nor without a sigh
at the lamentable consequences to mankind to
which its universal adoption would inevitably
give rise. Examined by the established rules of phi-
losophy—although far be it from us to apply the wit of
man to things which are beyond mortal ken—the sys-
tem of the Papacy is a violation of every rule which holds
good in every other rank in society, for it seeks to spit!),
unchangeable laws to changing circumstances;oer,_::
other words, to adapt man to the law, and not sth
to man. No human institution founded upon
unhealthy false a
os
basis can exist, but by an undue and in
concession on the part of those who are called upon to
obey, nor without a gross and violent neglect of recipro-
cal responsibility by tam wbo is called upon to govern.