The Sun.
London, England, 1845-08-07 00:00:00

VI
ATION OF THE BISHOP OF
y, ORCESTER WORCESTER.
MONDAY AFTERNOON.— The Lord
bishop of Worcester held a visitation at the Cathedral
ill this city to-day. There was a very full attendance
of the clergy, and the wardens of the church, by whom
I'reas expected that his Lordship would, in his charge,
advert to the recent dissensions in the Church.
, °ening service commenced at eleven o'clock, prayers
ig read by the Rev. A. Wheeler, precentor. The Rev.
-L!• J. Stevenson, honorary canon of the cathedral, and
chaplain to the Lord Bishop, then preached an excellent
sertaon from Acts x., v. 42 and 43, "And he commanded
us to preach unto the people, and to testify that it is he
deb° was ordained of God to be the judge of quick and
nd- To him give all the prophets witness that through
le
sta tiatne whosoever believeth in him. shall receive remis-
m-on of sins."
The Reverend Preacher's discourse from the above
text had reference entirely to the duties and obligations
of the Christian minister, the Reverend Preacher ob-
serving, that the consideration of these duties was at
le present time of excitement, a:arm, and suspicion in
divided eehurch, of the utmost importance. He then
his discourse under three heads, considering
first, the origin and offices of ministers of the Gospel,
t
rnal eing the origin of their ministrations to the Foun-
i"in of all Wisdom in the command delivered to Peter
clia the mount, "Go thou and teach all nations ;"
lieecaldly the Rev. Preacher dwelt upon the nature and
deseriptio9n of the offices ot Christian ministers as minis-
ters and witnesses ; and lastly on the objects of their
.•
; concluding a most appropriate discourse,
le exhortations to his broiler clergy and the laity, the
oilier to cultivate mutual charity in their ministration,
Vid the latter to receive God's Word from them, not as
from men but from Gud, adding nought thereto, neither
diminishing anything therefrom.
The Bishop, accompanied by Chancellor Philliracre
nral other officers of the court, the clergy and parochial
lerchwardens, then proceeded to the court behind the
'" tar when the names of the clergy and churchwardens
14'ere called over, after which his Lordship took his seat
s'ithin the communion railings and delivered his charge
to the clergy-
His Lordship's charge had reference almost exclu-
sively to these matters which have recently agitated the
Church—viz., the question of, the revival of obsolete
forms and usages. His Lordship observed that the
first matter which had presented itself to his mind,
as most calling for remark from him on this occasion
°t his triennial 'visitation, was important, not only on
account of its effect, but of the specious grounds on
which it rested—he meant an undue regard for anti-
quities which had latterly been manifested and dwelt
upon by theological writers, and which extended not only
to the forms and ceremonies of the Church, but related
also to architectural matters ; and he proceeded first to
eonsiiler whether there were sufficient grounds for
such reverential observances of these antiquities. Here
he found that scanty as were the books which had
reached us written by authors living in the first century
of the Christian era, and invaluable as those works
Were in establishing the fact of the early circulation
of the Scriptures, they did not assist in clearing those
?milts which now agitated the Church. Not only. was
It Unsafe to appeal to those authorities, because so few
records had reached us, but also because there was reason
Lome
believe that in those early days the Church had
ueeome much corrupted ; and it might be doubted whe-
ther the early fathers, while engaged in refuting the
errors which had crept into the Church, had
n" really really been imbued with their latent heresy.
41ence we were struck with the differences which
eXist between the doctrines taught by the inspired
followers of our Lord, and those inculcated by
Lha ancient fathers of the Church. By the former they
Were taught that the expiation of sin was through the
'vicarious intercession of Him who sacrificed himself for
en uPon the cross ; and by the latter they were strictly
joined to expiatory penances and fasts. But if the
Paucity of writers in the three first centuries of the
Christian era rendered it unsafe to trust to them, he
heed should they be more successful if, abandoning
se, they had recourse to the writings of the fourth
and following century ? Much stress had been laid upon
the writings of the fourth and fifth centuries of Chris-
tianith°lacy as authorities not to be questioned regarding Ca-
doctrines ; but here errors much more fatal to
e",ristianity were found to prevail. The contest between
~pristianity and Paganism finally ended in the victory
the former, though that victory was not won without
sacrifice. His Lordship then alluded to Roman
tholic processions as in use in Italy, and their
'l,!lllilarity to the Pagan rites. All these ancient autho-
rities were contradictory one to another ; if, therefore,
edet, were to regard antiquity, it became a question
hel!eh of the fathers they should adopt. Should they
irre some who affirmed that the blessed should live for
e„.."msand years in Elysium, or should they treat that
as others of the same day had done—viz.,
1111,11 the idle dream of a child. "In short," said
Cs Lordship, he who trusts to antiquity will find
th nlludi diversity of opinion among those styled
fathers of the Cnurch,' that he will so be
;:' "d about upchoron th
for his soul iwn ese troubled atersthe midst of th a? to search in
ljr,,ti for worseonly
useless ? Ile answered, by no means. No
Ithle they most valuable for the sentiments of piety
the contained, but as corroborative of the Scrip.
The Established Church was deeply indebted to
e Works of antiquity as furnishing corroborative evi-
dei,, nee of the book of Scripture ; but they would be
if danger of filling into the worst errors of Popery
they went beyond this in their regard to those
Works. The Bible, and the Bible alone, was the book
uPon which the Protestant depended in his faith. It was
.011 argument against the doctrines of transubstantiation
4
tinnd the adoration of the Virgin Mary, that they could
Dv:aces of them for six centuries of the Christian
should I:vit was it likely that such important doctrines
while thA vet, been transmitted from the Apostles
centuries'Y
Right ;It the
rid no traces of them until five or six
Was th after Christ ? In this negative sense it
true use of antiquity consisted. The
there everend Diocesan then went on to say that
the
attention
was another point to which he was anxious to call
ention of the clergy, as resulting from excessive
Attention to antiquities—a matter of very inferior conse-
quence as to doctrine, but which had its effects upon the
Ile alluded to the pedantry (if he might so
Calal,' it) of introducing into Protestant churches stone
altars instead of the communion table, a substitution for
a t
„Lending desk, sedilia, candlesticks placed on the
communion table, never to be lighted, and texts
ee, Scripture emblazoned upon the walls, in divers
be ours, and in Roman text, which never could
read. He objected to the revival of these obsolete
Is in the Church—not on account of the expense
attending them (though this was, under circumstances, to
beo regarded), but because be regarded them as having
teodency to convey a wrong impression of the pur-
poses for which they assembled in church. They did
"' meet to gaze with awe upon lighted tapers
Canted by priests ; but they assembled together in
rotestant worship, humbly to confess that they
had left undone many things which they ought to have
dune, and had done many things which they ought
not
~ to have done, to pray to God to forgive their sins
committed, and to offer up prayers and thanksgivings
tile throne of mercy. These were the spiritual exer-
ses for which Protestants assembled' together in the
ee;use of God. His Lordship then begged to offer some
Char,k3 in favour of an internal arrangement in
- renes, which had been made the subject of much
tuPeration. He alluded to that distribution of the sit-
tingsra by which each family in the parish was allowed to
ths'e, as it were a family congregation in the midst of
We general congregation. Such arrangements he observed
wii.° unnecessary in Roman -Catholic congregations,
but
the mass of the people assembled, not to pray
its" to gaze ; where the service was performed in an un-
th"ll language, and the whole was performed by
le Priests, the congregation taking little part in it.
%is Lordship expressed himself in favour of family
of angeRIORtS of the pews, and asked what father
family, who bad been accustomed to offer up his
prayersresign with his wife and children, would willingly
that privilege for a strict regard to ancient
erages ? He admitted that abuses of this privilege had ,„
es-Pt into practice, but such abuses should, immediately
ti•e• their detection, be corrected by the proper authori-
tera', His Lordship next alluded to the practice of
net "`ng to the east, which he said was now exercised,
Wet only during the recitation of the Creed, but even
1,011 the congregation united with the priest in prayer.
thels unquestionably a very ancient practice,
"ta Lordship here quoted authorities, who, in tracing
origin of this custom, had assigned the eastern
Li°ll of the universe to the Omnipotent, and the
Western to the enemy of mankind. On this point it
a.
Seevident that the fathers differed, and certain it was
;': no authority could be found for the usage in the
5.,,. tlPtures, which abounded in evidence of the univer-
.4u
thY of the Deity.' In the above observations, as also
eall.se expression of his opinion on other points, when
1184-" upon (his Lordship continued), he trusted he
his sufficiently testified that there was no leaning on
th Part towards the errors of Rome, no deviation from
preePrtinciples of the Reformation. He, therefore, 81)-
(14,fred with more confidence a subject upon which he
aliheed iu opinion from most of those around him. He
Nitt",:ed to his vote upon the grant to the College of
of I,ll°°th. It might be true that a bishop, as a peer
the arliament, was bound to give his vote according to
to dictates of his conscience, without being called upon
rincler an account to his clergy in justification
to Provennself ; but for his part lie was most anxious
to his brethren that he had not given his vote
favour of the Maynooth grant without the most
sid Galion
deliberation and upon good grounds. No con-
fer of expediency would ever induce him to vote
ter,measure which he could consider per se sinful. His
stated hip then proceeded to combat the arument ad-
.against this measure—viz., that it was. a national
lie' ne! would be injurious to the Established Church.
ques-
tion
d both of these positions, and said the ques-
Chril,N.:vas. whether they should contribute to teach
nity inculcated by Roman Catholics or
he Nether their fellow-countrym-n in Ireland should' not
to Lueucated at all. The education, he considered, must
ch'unreend contribute to the extension of the Established
fe,,euru• After some further remarks and arguments in
Missed uf the Muynooth endownment, his Lordship din-
g) in the usual form.

icAIIVERITSEAIENT.] —An Extraordinery Cure of
Nd kkased Knee of Ten Years' Standing, by Holloway's Pills
Ointment !--Mr. Edward Perryns, residing at No. 21,
..114,,aaitnned:sfar:tetfi.
j.\olllo,rtc, ester, is now cured of an abscess on the
which had been bad for ten years, indeed,
it 'e be was f urteen. He had lost from the knee joint
hid pieces of bone, one being two inches in length. He
and :teen under the mos• eminent of the faculty in Worcester,
INas !lst was told that his leg must be amputated, as a cure
stulte impossible! A perfect cure has been effected in this
opeless
tit,rni„ c-se by these wonderful medicines. Sold by all
a and by the proprietor, Strand, London.
Heouie n Sunday last some thousands of people from
.ts Y, Staffordshire, came to Liverpool by a cheap train.—
Hr finer.