The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1853-09-06 00:00:00

'TMERCIAL

ORIGINAL CORRESPONDENCE.

THE PROPOSED NEW CHURCH IN LIVERPOOI

TO THE

ITOR OF

THE LIVEEPOOL STANDAE

SIR,—I was much pleas&

week on the proposed new church in Liverpool, and I am
sure that I express the opinions of every true Christian in
saying, that I trust they will meet with a cordial response.
It is not, however, for the advantage—confessedly a great
one—that more church accommodation would be afforded
to the busy thousands of this great commercial port, nor
the still greater advantage that the opportunities for
divine worship will be more frequent than heretofore, and
the service performed with an order and regularity which
might prove a beneficial example for other churches.
These are benefits of no ordinary magnitude, and suffi-
cient of themselves to entitle the proposal to
approbation ; but they would be far outweigT

general

expectation should be realised of the new church proving
a means of healing the unhappy differences which, we
would fain deny, now separate our Zion into parties.
Why should High Church be so high, or Low Church so
low, that neither can discover any good thing in the
other ? It is a grievance which should excite the deepest
feelings of humiliation, and if any means could be devised
by which the breach should be healed, and unity restored,
I feel certain that the event would be hailed by Church-
men, of all ranks, with joy unspeakable. My letter was,
however, intended to call attention to your remarks re-
specting the proposed choral aid to the services of the
church. Why should music be withheld from any part
where it can be appropriately introduced, or the practice
of intoning forbidden when it serves so well to keep the
congregation together, as they audibly join in the re-
sponses ? Music is the very language of heaven, and can
never be out of place, whether for the purposes of prayer
or praise. Of course I do not mean the elaborate compo-
sitions by which the Church of Rome seeks to please the
ear and gratify the taste of her worshippers, but the
simple, yet sweet melodies—the plain, but noble chants,
and the other choral accessories which the pure Church of
England has sanctified to the purposes of her devotion.
These can never be out of place. The words used in sing-
ing should, I think, also be confined to the Scriptures and
the Book of Common Prayer, for I view with great ob-
jection the introduction of doggerel rhapsodies, which,

-under the name of hymns, are in Coo many of our
churches. I trust no apology is needed for this brief
trespass on your valuable space.—l am, &c.,

A cn" ußclimAN,

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

—ln this age of church extension, it is not very

surprising to find an appeal in behalf of a new church in
Liverpool; but the manner and matter contained in this
address are somewhat unusual, and the grounds of its
claims to public support are so extraordinary, that some
observations respecting them may not be out of place.

That a serious want of church accommodation exists in
Liverpool, no one can deny who has taken the trouble to
make even a cursory examination of its enormous popula-
tion, teeming as it does with thousands of the poorer
classes, most of whom are quite beyond the reach of
pastoral care.
Districts, containing some 8,000 souls, are found with
church-room for, perhaps, 1,000, and two clergymen are
probably appointed to minister among such a multitude,
while 1,000 souls are assumed to be the greatest number
that one active and zealous minister can properly take into
his charge. Churches are then undoubtedly required,
where the poor can hear the glad tidings of salvation as
set forth in the Gospel of Jesus Christ, pointing as with
a sunbeam to that blest yet rugged path in which the
wayfaring men, though fools, shall not err. In a recent
appeal for this church in the London Times, and partly
in the Liverpool papers, the proposed building is denomi-
nated a "poor man's church ;" and it is, moreover, said,
that the greater number of those who desire so much to
see the Rubrics and the Prayer Book "justified," and the
churches fitted up with architectural correctness, are—
the poor! It also states that the rich and influential are
satisfied with things as they are ; and, after a specious
preamble about bringing (not the Bible but) the Book of
Common Prayer frequently before the people, calls upon
those very rich and satisfied people to aid the cause which
they are said to disregard. Surely this is nothing more
or less than a scanty garment of humility to hide a worth-
less and base deception.
Can any one believe that the poor and uneducated man
has any taste or desire for subjects of which he has never
even heard, such as correct architecture, fast and feast
days, daily services which he never could attend, and ru-
brics which are to him as an unknown tongue ? And is
the wayfaring man to be a critic of stained glass and en-
caustic tiles and piscinas, credences, five-crossed stone
altars, and rood screens ?

Far be it from me to depreciate correctness of style and
arrangement in our churches, but I maintain it to be a
fallacy and popular imposition to seek thus to pin the pure
faith of Christ to things having no possible connection
with doctrine at all.

If religion be a creed of piscinas and high pitched roofs,
and open seats, and even of prayer books, and yet not of
the Bible and of Christ, what is its value? It is a faith
of man's invention, of man's mind, of human taste, and
not of Christ.
I have thought it my duty to say thus much, in order,
if possible, to influence the liberal and influential of our
town and neighbourhood to extend their generosity in
such channels as will best promote the well-being of man
and the glory of God.
I will therefore subscribe myself no Puseyite, although
for years
A MEMBER OF THE CAMBRIDGE CAMDEN SOCIETY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
have rend with great interest your article on
" the proposed new church in Liverpool." I participate
very largely in the `hopes with-which you regard the pro-
ject, and shall rejoice to see the day when an accessible

-dal& service shall be

tablished in this town

Any one

who has resided in—l will not say a cathedral city, be-
cause, happily, the daily service is not now confined to
cathedrals, and, unhappily, all cathedrals are not, as they
should be, models of church observance to their several
dioceses—but any one who has resided in a place where
the daily service could be resorted to, and who has valued
and used the privilege, must feel that its absence is a
heavy loss. Surely of the thousands who, at this port,
take leave of the land they love, and enter upon the perils
of the deep, there must be many who would be glad that
some portion of their last hours here should be passed
within the house of God, and that the feelings which are
then uppermost should find expression in the prayers and
benedictions of the Church. So, too, of those who return
hither after long absence, or who, after encountering dan-
gers which seemed to exclude all hope, have ultimately
reached in safety." the haven where they would be." What
more natural, in the devout mind, than the wish at once
to return thanks to God for His mercy, by joining in
the services of His temple ; and what more chilling to
such a feeling, than the denial of the opportunity !
It often happens, moreover, that Liverpool is the first
place to receive, and the last to part with, eminent
members of our own and kindred communions, on holy
mission bound. Archdeacon Sinclair and Mr. Hawkins
lately embarked here on their voyage to visit the Alm-
a rican Church. The Bishop of Fredericton, on the day of

his last departure hence to his diocese, did receive 'the
Holy Communion at St. Philip's Church ; as did the two.
American bishops who visited this country last year, at

less craved: and blessed is the work which aims at pro-
viding it for such as he. Then, as to the home and
resident members of the Church. Consider the number
of clergy and devout laymen who visit Liverpool, or reside
for a while in the neighbourhood, during the summer
months. Is it not a reproach to a town like this, if it can-
not afford them the same spiritual advantages which they
enjoy at home ? Look, also, at that portion of the popu-
lation who are en►aged in pursuits which • exhaust the
Mental energies, disturb the equability of the temper, and
leave no heart for intellectual effort ; but which do I

an earnest craving for the calming, comforting influence

of Divine worship. lam not picturing an imaginary case.
To speak of one class only—one, however, of which the
description just given is eminently true—l have known
the jaded schoolmaster betake himself habitually to one
'or other of the metropolitan cathedrals (St. Paul's and
Westminster Abbey) during the precious hours of his half
holiday, there to seek Him who has promised to the weary
" rest for their souls." For such the excitement of preach-
ing would be quite out of place,: what they want is the
soothing and the comfort of common prayer.
With you, I do most earnestly hope that nothing may
be done, in connexion with this noble design, to awaken
the strife of controversy. That is an evil which I dread
and deprecate with an intensity I cannot describe. 'My
business, however, is not with details : I only write to
express my joy at the project which has been formed, and
at the prospect of its accomplishment, trusting that it will
be well and wisely carried forward to a successful issue,
and with all my heart wishing its promoters God speed.
Liverpool, Sept. 1, 1853. LAICUS.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

Sin,—Your ' excellent remarks upon the proposed new
church will be well appreciated by all sound Churchmen,
and will doubtless be of good service to the praiseworthy
object of erecting in this town a church, in the services of
which " nothing is to be omitted which may tend to the
decency, devotion, and solemnity of the Anglican wor-
ship, and in which a good choral service may be com-
bined with a hearty congregational response."
Your suggestions as to the mode in which the services
ought to be carried out I heartily agree with, excepting
your opinion that the prayers should be "read," and not
" intoned ;" this opinion, with a little consideration of
the relative merits of the practices, I think you might be
induced to abandon.

Reading the prayers is quite inconsistent with a good
choral service ; in fact, when prayers are read, the service
can only be semi-choral ; and what argument in favour of
the people's responding heartily in unison with the har-
mony of a choir would not be destroyed, if you deny
to the congregation the practice of intoning. If they re-
spond heartily in unison, and so as not to spoil the
harmony of the choir, they must intone ; and unless they
adopt one tone, they cannot with one voice glorify God.
And why should the clergyman be denied the privilege of
assisting in worshipping the Lord " in the beauty of
holiness" by only being allowed to read instead of saying,
i.e., intoning the prayers ? If, as I said before, the use of
one tone is necessary for the people, how are the people
to get it ? Surely, by the use of the same tone by the
priest, who would then lead the ONE 'VOICE of their sup-
plications before the Throne of Grace.
You can only have " a hearty congregational response"
where the practice of intoning is adopted by priest and
people, where the one leads the other, whether the ser-
vice be choral or not. By the use of one tone by the
priest, and response in the same tone by the people, no one
is afraid of hearing his own voice, it being in unison with
that of his neighbour ; and the indistinct muttering of the
responses in every variety of tone which we now hear in the
churches of our popular preachers would be got rid of.
You rightly say that " innovations of all kinds should
be strictly eschewed ;" reading the prayers is an in-
novation, and one to whose charge may be laid the
persent state of congregational worship in our churches.
Where shall we find in the majority of them any approach
to what you call the "magnificent simplicity of the ritual
of the Church of England ?" The prayers are read to the
people "distinct" enough, truly, in the cold, colloquial
style and they =teat thew elves mostly With