The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1839-01-15 00:00:00

THE OXFORD DIVINES.

( From the Protestant Guardian.)
The London Record, ever alive to the interests of pure re-
ligion, and faithful to the trust which it has undertaken to
uphold and defend, takes notice of a work manufactured by
the "Oxford Divines," which has justly excited alarm and
called forth indignation. It is nothing more nor less than a
Protestant Breviary. The work consists of a select number of
Latin hymns, taken from various Romish breviaries. It is
"profusely adorned with crosses, crucifixes, representations
of cherubs, of the Virgin Mary, and other Popish symbols."
We cannot speak too highly of the watchfulness and exer-
tions of our London contemporary: and it is our earnest
desire to act in humble imitat►on of a journal, whoa,. indefati-
gable advocacy of Church of England principles has often
arrested our attention. We are very sensitive as to any
encroachment on the long-tried, pure, and scriptural princi-
ples of the church to which, from conscientious motives, we
are attached; and we are, therefore, constrained to expose
any and every attempt to desecrate or injure the hallowed
edifice of a sound form of faith, venerable from age, but more
♦enerable from its scriptural purity. Our readers will, no
doubt, start with horror and surprise, when we lay before
them a few specimens of the work to which we have made
allusion, and which is published under the sanction of a cler-
gyman of the Church of England !! ! The London Record
has done the business so well, that we shall, without any
apology, give a long extract from that uncompromising de-
fender of the faith, without any additional note or comment.
Let the beads of our University take heed how they coo niye
at such doctrines as are involved in the " Tracts for the
Times," and selections from lioinish breviaries :
" We shall now adduce a few looniness, taken at random,
of the errors to which we have alluded. The.tirst is lighter
thau the rest, if any error can be called light which has intro-
duced so much superstition into the church. The practice of
making the sign of the cross is called the sign of the Lord,
by which we protect our hearts against the intrusion of the
subtle serpent :
Nos ergo signo Domini
Tutamur claustra pectoris,
Ne serpens ills callidus
Intrandi tentet
"Of the Jews rejecting the incarnate Saviour, the hymn-
Writer says :
' If they did not believe their own prophecies, or the Hea-
then si;9liine verses—

Si non suis vatibus
Credat, vet gentilibus,
Sibyllinus versihus
Hvc prmdicta,'
"But these early forgeries, these pious frauds, are favourite
authorities with the hymn-writers. We have them again in-
troduced along with the Psalms of David, as foretelling the
day of judgment :-
4 Teste David, cum sibylla.'
"In a hymn on the Eucharist by SAINT Thomas Aquinas,
we are expressly told that the recipients eat the Lord.'
'0 res mirabilis, mat/ducat Dominuin
Pauper, servus, et huniltis.'
"The old schoolman certainly meant his language to be
taken in its most literal meaning.
"Of the direct invocation to saints and angels the instances
are numerous where the gross idolatry cannot be palliated
by explaining them away as poetic hgui es,' or 'rhetorical
apostrophes.' The apostle, who said, if an angel from heaven
preach any other Gospel than what he had delivered, let
him be accursed,' is thus addressed :
Egregie Doctor Paule more; instrue,
Et nostra tecum pectora in ccelutn

"The heavenly host are described as celebrating Joseph
the husband of Mary—
'Tx, Joseph, celebrent agmina ccelitum,
Te cuncti resoneut Christianum chori,
Qui clarus meritis, j u net us es inclytie,
Casco fcedere Viigini.'
"'I am the door," ' said our Saviour. "'Thou art the
gate of heaven,"' says one of the hymns to the Virgin Mary :
Intrent ut astratlebileg,
Cali recludis cardines.

Tu reyis alli janua.'
"But what shall we say to the profane idolatry of the
hymn which invokes help Irons Jesus, as the Redeemer of
the world, and in the next line calls on the Mother ofGod'
to ask salvation for sinners?—
' Jesu salvator seculi,
Redemptis ope suhveni,
Et pia Dei genitrix,
Saluiem ponce miseris.'
"The next verse calls on the angelic hosts, patriarchs,
and prophets, to entreat pardon for us:—
Ccetus omnes angelici
Et patriarch= eunei,
Etprophetarum merita.

Aobts precentur ventum.'
"And then John the Baptist, the heavenly key-bearer,'
with the other Apostles, are called on to contribute their
assistance :

' Baptista Christi prmvius,
Et clat•iyer cethereus,
Cum cmteris apostolis,
Nos tolt•anl Ite ru criminis.'
"But the whole hymn proceeds in the same manner. Of
all the corruptions of Popery the doctrine ‘shich represents
the Redeemer as requiring to be propitiated by the Virgin
Mary is the most grossly unscriptural. We find it broadly
asserted in the hymn immediately subsequent

'Christe Redemptor omnium,
Conserva tuos famulos,
Beata: semper Virginis
PLACATU3 sanctis precibus.'
"We have given but a few specimens of the contents of
this strange volume' but surely enough to excite attention to
the attempt thus made to recommend to public favour super-
stitious forms, heresy, false doctrines, and direct idolatry;
and all too, under the sanction of a clergyman of the Pro-
testant Church of England."

Captain Napier has been appointed to the command of the
Powerful, 84, now fitting out at Portsmouth, and destined for
the Mediterranean.

RAILROAD LEGISLAT lON.-44 It would be a good thing,"
argues one company of speculators before the legislature,
"to grant us a railroad here ;" fine
"It would be a very
thing indeed, argues another self-interested body of engineers
and attorneys, "to give us one there." The prayers of both
are conceded!—and thus have monopolies been granted for
over to different inexperienced joint-stock, zig-zag compa-
nies, who, strange to say, are to settle at what hours the
British public is to travet—at what rate it is to travel—and,
Uptt, a cerbain point, at what price it is to travel. —Q. Review.