The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-07-15 00:00:00

TIIE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

give unqualified liberty to the priests to teach. all the errors of
their persuasion, to teach the doctrine of the worship of the
Virgin Mary, as the mother of God, and ofthe saints and angels,
the adoration of the wafer in the mass as God Almighty, and the
doctrines of purgatory and penance, the insufficiency of the
death of Christ to atone for sin, extreme unction, human merit,
and all the other false doctrines of that " persuasion." Now, I
think the mere exclusion of the scripture lessons a very light
objection indeed in comparision with giving every facility and
"encouragement" to teach such errors as these. I do not be-
lieve in the doganas of the church of Rome. I believe they are
soul-destroying errors, therefore I cannot but lift up my feeble
voice in urging the christians of England to endeavour to put
down this awful evil. It is establishing the Romish church in
Ireland by law. It is to all intents and purposes connecting the
church of Rome and the state of Britain together. Yes, sir, this
is what it is to do; it is to connect the church of Rome and the
state of Great Britain together; and are we come to this ?
(Loud cries of " No.") But perhaps it will be said it is not to
connect the church of Rome and Great Britain together, but
only an extract of the church of Rome. (Laughter.) An Irish
extract of the church of Rome with the state of Great Britain.
No wonder that when a right rev. prelate moved for a return of
these schools in the House of Lords, the prime minister
refused to let those returns be produced, so that the Bishop of
Exeter could not procure them. (Cheers.) No wonder,
then, that his Majesty's prime minister refused the returns
if that system for which the country is paying, and to
the inspection of the returns of which the country has a right.
By whomsoever that refusal was dictated, and by whomsoever
it was given, 1 shall only say, " that he that death evil hateth
the light, ueither cometh to the light lest his deeds should be
reproved." (Cheers.). In a late debate, the Earl of Wicklow
commented thus :—" He was also surprised, considering the
reflections which his right rev. friend had shown their lordships
were cast upon the proceedings of the commissioners of the
board of education, that all parties in the state had not united
in one common call for examination into the working of the
system which those commissioners were appointed to carry into
execution. He should have thought that all parties would have
united in the common cause for inquiry—not only those who
thought the construction of this board vicious in itself, but also
those friends and supporters of it who declared that it worked
well and was highly beneficial. He was surprised that the sup-
porters of this system of education had not gladly embraced
the opportunity afforded them of showing to the country that
their statements were correct, and that those of his right rev.
friend were quite the reverse. It was quite clear that if the
statements of his right rev. friend were well founded, this board
ought not to be continued ; whilst it was equally clear that if
those statements were destitute of foundation, they ought to
meet with a public exposure,' refutation, and denial. (Hear,
hear.) His right reverend friend had said, that in direct oppo-
sition to the regulations of the board itself, altars•had been
erected and mass had been practised two hours daily in a great
number of its schools—and this, too, if not with the sanction,
at least with the knowledge of the board itself. He had read
in the travels through Ireland of a very impartial and ingenious
man, which, thought not published, were now in print, that on
visiting one of the schools of this cociety he had found that the
prayers used in it were expounded to the children by a Roman
catholic master, and the children were in the habit of singuing
themselves with the cross during the time of their examination.
When this traveller asked the Roman catholic master this ques-
tion—" If you had protestant children in your school, would
you carry on the same system of instructing the children in
these religious tenant ?"—the man answered—"l should feel it
my duty to do so; but I should consult Father Williams, the
priest of the parish, before I did so." Now, ho asked the house
whether such a national system of education could be sane-,
tinned by a British and protestant House of Parliament ?"
Now, sir, instead of accomplishing the union of the children of
Roman catholics and protestants, instead of attaining this end,
the fact is, in the only country where the system has been
tried, the event has been directly the reverse. it has separated
those who were previously united, instead of uniting those
who had been previously separated. And, sir, it took some
time to make this plain in Ireland, but it has taken no time
at all, " less than no time," as we say, to do it in Liver-
pool. (Cheering.) Now, I refer to the contents of these
books, some of them are excellent; they could not be extracts
from the bible in any sense, without containing many perfect
sentiments. But they contain faults also, and these faults are
rendered more pernicious by the extended circulation which
will be procured for them by their connexion with scriptural
extracts. Mr. Blackburn accuses us of searching for faults
with such anxiety as could only be exempled by that exhibited
by the feline species searching for their prey. We plead guilty
to this watchfulness over the integrity of the umnutilated word of
God, We do search professed extracts from the scriptures with
that intention. And as such we did not expect, but to find many
excellencies contained in this book, for excellent they are
wherever they do not vary from the scriptures. But we search-
ed for faults. 'What do the conservatives of your public inter-
ests in your various banks? Do they expatiate on their paper
of the various notes presented to them and on the quality of the
printing? No; but having this, they examine for forgery—
they
"mouse for faults." (Great cheering.) And, sir, you
theft,
commendh
othhge
hi r
tdhi lei g
de
entceec
taiao
nd
bfidelityyi nddetecting tt ho e
tintended
.
tc°Whernef searched for faults, and 1 for one, glory in the charge, that
we are quick to catch faults in the book that purpcses to quote
extracts from the bible. We are instructed in the scriptures for
the purpose—we have an instinct to know scripture, and an in-
stinct that knows the paraphrase of man's words. I will, in exami-
nation, confine myself to the passages which are already before
the public. The first of these passages is the celebrated prophesy
in the third chapter of the book of Genesis, it is translated in
these extracts: "I will put enmity between thee and the woman
and between her seed and thy seed; it shall crush thy head and
thou shall lie in wait for his heel." It shall crush, ipsa she
the woman; so divers of the fathers read this place conforma-
bly with the Latin ; others read it ipsem, namely, the seed. The
sense is the same, for it is by her seed, Jesus Christ, that the
woman crushes the serpent's head." Mr. Blackburn said, that
Mr. M'Neile said the object of the note was " to sanction and
encourage the worship of the Virgin Mary, a practice to which
the Roman Catholics were said to be addicted, but he (Mr.
Blackburn) contended that its tendency was directly the re-
verse." When was it ever said? Where was it said? When?
Excellent charity ! Excellent love of souls that can deal so
tenderly with poison! Oh sir! this is not the purity of Hhn
who gave his blood to cleanse us from our sins, and set his face
like a flint to arrest the iniquities of men, while his heart bled
because of those iniquities. Oh sir! this is not the charity that
rejoices in the truth and rejoices not in iniquity ; but this is the
charity that rejoices in present peace, in ease ; this is the
charity that. cries " let me alone and keep to yourself ; "
—this] is the charity that enjoins present carelessness at the
expense of everlasting ruin. (Great cheers.) " However,
the argument of the matter remains," he said, " the sense is
the same". The same thing whether the woman crushes the
serpent's head by her son, or whether her seed the Lord Jesus
Christ crushes the serpent. 1 pray you to observe Mr. Black-
burn advances no argument. He merely repeats the sense
of the note " the sense is the same". 1 wish it to appear to
this meeting that the sense is not the same. Suppose we
read in a modern history, " the Corsican conquered Eu-
rope," and suppose a note, reading Corsica in the feminine,
that is the island, as some historians read it: others follow
the masculine ; the sense is the same, for it was by the
son, Napoleon, that Corsica conquered Europe. (Great
cheering.) What is this but to take the crown from the
conqueror's brow, and place it on the soil that gave him
birth ? And what is " Mary," but the soil that gave
the Redeemer birth. But says the honourable council-
man " it is the same thing", and-forty-five honourable council-
lors, say it is the same thing, and, therefore, surely in
these days of tyrant majorities, it must be the same thing, and
we must be content to admit that it is the same thing whether
the Son of God, or a poor sinful woman of Nazareth of Gallilee,
be our Redeemer. The second passage is from the fifteenth
chapter of the first epistle to the Corinthians, this is the
passage which I had not meutioned in the sermon which these
honourable councillors did meso much honour to notice, the first
of my sermons they have done me the honour to notice, I be-
lieve. (Hear.) "The first man is of the earth earthly, the
second man of the heaven heavenly" instead of, " the second
man is the Lord of heaven, as given in the authentic version.
He then goes on to refer to a number of Greek manuscripts,
none of which he names, (laughter) and be acknowledges en
passant that he is not any great Greek scholar; and he winds
up by telling us that the commissioners in accordance with the
testimony of learned men on the subject, had given the passage
as it ought to be translated. Now, 1 will tell Mr. Blackburn
the reason why I did not mention this passage in my sermon,
and the reason why I have never adduced it as any charge
against the board. fn the first number of their extracts the pas-
sage occurs at page 17, and is translated thus, " The first
man is of the earth earthy, and the second man is of
Heaven heavenly." This had not escaped my notice, sir, but
I happened to be acquainsed with those various Greek manu-
scripts to which reference has been made; I happened to have
read carefully a book which I would strongly recommend to
the perusal of biblical critics, I mean " Dr. Magee on the Atone-
ment"—and after careful examination of the charges brought
against Marcion, by Lindsay and Mail, on introducing the
Greek word Kurios, 'Lord, in the substance of the text. He
gives, in the 221st page of the volume, this candid statement :
" The Greek of this text runs thus, o seatfeo; risOisvan ire yii;
vioco; I Et:/iEEO; ,i'vOrectuoc I x6;.0; o?Jeavol;.. But, front the vari-
ation of MSS. Griesbach is induced to think it probable, that the
word Kurios is not genuine; and that 0k:so- should be followed
by 6 ouraneous. The received version, abiding by the Greek,
renders the passage, ' The first man is, of the earth, earthy : the
second man is the Lord from Heaven.' The vulgate reads
' Primus home de terra, terrenus secuudus home de cal°, ccelestis:'
—to which the old version of Wick/'adheres, "Phe firste man
of erthe is ertheli. the secunde man of hevene is hevenli."
Whether we decide by the Greek or the Latin reading of this
text is of little consequence as to the main point. in which they
perfectly agree, namely, that the words !x oy;is, express the
origin of the first Adam; and the words 1E or3easoi4 express the
origin of the second Adam.' " Now, knowing this, sir, I dared
not dogmatize about the translation of that verse ; and en my
further searching I find in the first number of the extracts
of the board on the New Testament, the passage is again intro-
duced. It is translated thus :—" The first man is of the earth
earthy, the second man is of the Lord of Heaven. (Loud
and long continued cheering.) The board have translated it
so the second time they haVe used it; they have altered it from the
manner in which Mr. Blackburn would say it ought to be trans-
lated. The passage is brought twice before the board; in the
first case it is translated one way, in the second case another
way. And I feel that there does hang some little obscurity in
this p usage which makes any dogmatic continent on it out of
place. I am happy to give my approbation of the candour of
the board in this case,_ very properly giving both translations
where doubt was in the text. 1 scorn to suppress this, because
it tells in fivoui of the board. I would not take a journey as far
as the " Three Taverns," though I could carry my point all over
England. (Cheers.) I will give a lesson in a few words, the

nhild Jesus. The sense of those verses were condensed faith-
fully in a short paragraph, and yet the 11ev. Mr. M•Neile lifted
up his eyes and hands in astonishment and exclaimed, Here is
a statement that it contains the whole Gospel of St. Like, and
these eight verses are omitted !' " Mr. Blackburn says it might
be a matter of opinion about the appearance of these eight
verses ; 1 do not exactly understand the meaning of this, but
the dis-appearance is plain if you open the first volume of the
extracts. (Loud cheering.) But he says their meaning was
condensed in smaller type, between brackets. Now we protest
against this chemical method of condensation. It is remarkable
that in this eendeusation some of the important ingredients have
been lust, fur there is a considerable and most important part of
the ten verses the meaning of which is left entirely out of the
condensation. The passage is this, "Ile shall be great, and
shall be called the Son of the Highest: and the Lord God shall
give unto him the throne of his father David; and he shall reign
over the house of Jacob for ever, and of his kingdom there shall
be no end." There is not a hint of this in the condensation ;
therefore, we say, they are guilty of a mutilation of the Scrip-
tures (cheers.) And when compared with that mutilation I
read this passage " that it professes to contain the whole of the
Gospel of St. Luke", I will employ my friend Mr. Rathhone
to tell them what they are guilty of then (loud applause which
was repeated.) The fourth and last passage which was alluded
to by Mr: Blackburn, is thus stated in the report of his speech,
" Great stress was laid on another circumstance. There was a
note which said that Christ appeared " first to Peter," and as-
signed as a reason for His appearing first to Peter that he
might " console that Apostle in his deep affliction", for having
been tempted, and fallen, and for his denial of our Lord. The
circumstance might be capable of a different construction".
Capable of a different construction ! " but they were told that
the Lord appeared first to Mary Magdalene, and that, there-
fore, it was an error tending to favour the Catholic doctrine of
the supremacy of St. Peter to say that Christ appeared
first to Peter." Mr. Blackburn says, " they were told he
appeared first to Mary. This is the way in which the
holy gospel by St. Mark is spoken of—they were told !" This
is too serious a matter to be got rid of by a mere ebullition
of popular feeling; it is an awful thing. " Now," he added,
" it was clearly the intention of the translator to say that it
was to Peter amongst the Apostles that Christ appeared first:
for the Apostles were assembled together, and it was told to
them that Lord had appeared to Simon. It was clear that He
did appear to Peter first of the Apostles, and it was therefore a
perfect trifling and playing with words to say that the object
was to represent-the fact, as if Christ had appeared to Peter be-
fore any other person whatever." Why, we have here a most
profound Doctor, who knows not only what men have written,
but what they have intended to have written and did not write. •
(Cheers.) Undoubtedly, intimacy with the board gives a man
great advantage in commenting on theirpublications; but as I do
not boast the honour of such intimacy, I must take passages as
they are written, and not as they are intended to be written,
' and I find this book says this, "the Lord appeared first to Pe-
ter;" and St. Mark says, the Lord appeared first to Mary Mag-
dalen"---I am afraid to finish the sentence, (addressing ,the
• Reptlifers.}=gentlemen; von may report what you please.
(Tremendous applause, which was thrice repeated.) I have
now gone through the four passages which have been brought
before the town, in that speech of high commendation, and I
will only advert, and that briefly, to another passage which I
brought forward the same sermon, and commented on. at some
length; but it was not touched on at all on this day week
in the council. It is the most important of all, because it
was the grand turning point of the Reformation, and what Lu-
ther called the grand tufning point of a standing or falling
church, the doctrine of free justification through the Lord Jesus
Christ, without any intermixture of virtue or uprightness
in the justified sinner. (Great cheers.) I think it is high
time now to come to a conclusion. (Loud cries of " No, no.")
The question which has been brought forward this day is not
merely a local matter: He would he a very shortsighted ob-
server of passing events who could be prevailed on to imagine
that the proposal to introduce this system into Liverpool is a
mere insulated local accident of comparatively insignificant
importance. No, it stands connected with the progress of a ge-
neral movement of the principles which the enemies of our esta-
blished institutions are earnestly endeavouring to disseminate.
However, it by no means follows that the parties who are in-
strumental to the introduction of it here should be fully aware
of the remote consequences that must attend that introduction.
I do not, sir, charge the members of the town council, or any
of them, with willingly introducing it with ulterior objects. It
is highly possible, sir, for men to be made the tools of a supe-
rior intelligence. (Hear, hear.) There are persons of such
narrow views, and of such overweening self importance, that
if judiciously managed they can be made to toil in the harness
of a task master, while they are left to suppose in charming
self-complacency that they are each independently urging on his
own chariot. (Cheers.) The master spirit may be of unseen,
but of paramount influence, managing the springs of the muni-
cipal machinery. I have no means of knowing—l am unwilling
to suspect the enlightened representative of a neisy section of this
respectable borough. Not that I can by possibility after what
has passed deny his willingness, but that it would be doing
violence to the dictates of our common reason to suspect him
of the capacity. But, sir, it will be remembered teat he has
lately formed an alliance with the commander in chief of the
movement troops, and it is within the bounds of possibility
(1 de-sire to speak with caution)—lt is within the bounds of
possibility that in the soicety of a great leader this honourable
representative may have become acquainted with souse of the re-
verend patrons of a system that has worked so well amongst the
nuns and friars of the "Sweet Isle of the Ocean." It is within the
bounds of possibility that their reverences may have inspired
the honourable member with a judicious hint to send down to
his valued and influential constituents, that it would be very
wise to put an end to the exclusiveness of this', scriptural
teaching, and introduce a more liberal system, which would
give opportunity for reference to the fathers in the notes,
and something more. (Great cheering.) But in saying this
I am imagining let no facetious Reporter represent me as
having stated this as a matter of fact. (Cheers). I wish to
leave it on record that I did not repeat it as a matter of fact,
but am willing to indulge in imagination a little. But in tracing
the connection between the priest and the member, the member
and the council the council and the schools—l did but imagine
—I did but follow the example of the Prince of Denmark, when
indulging his imagination he said, "To what base uses may
we come Horatio? Why may not imagination trace the
noble dust of Alexander till he find it stopping a bung hole."
"As this; Alexander died, Alexander was buried; Alexander
returneth to dust; the dust is earth; of earth we make loam;
and why of that loam whereto he was converted, might they uot
stop a Beer barrel ?" (Great cheering.)
Imperiou.s,Cmsar,.dead, and turned to clay,
Might stop a hole to keep the wind away;
0, that that earth, which kept the world in awe,
Should patch a wall to expel the winter's flaw.
(Tremendous applause and clapping of hands). I did but
imagine, sir, about the Prince of Denmark. He reminds me
that guilty characters have been caught at a play; Imagination
is a very troublesome commodity- Certain it is, that in a large
and comprehensive view the question to be decided is not a
local. question. The question is this : is England so in-
fected with the poison of a liberal philosophy as to become care-
less and indifferent to revealed truth, to such an extent as
tamely to submit to the invasion of this pro-popery system.
(Loud cheering, and cries of " no, no.") I say that if this
meeting—if this appeal to Liverpool shall have no other
good effect, it shall at least do this, for which every
respectable member of society ought to thank you; sir,
it will at least put the plague-ship into quarantine. (Loud
cheers.) Liverpool has been selected us the arena for trying
this question, and what is Liverpool's answer? The masters
and mistresses answer, "we resign." (Cheers.) The clergy
of the established church answered, " we protest," (continued
cheering); the laity have rallied round the standard of scriptu-
ral education, and here, sir, are 5,000 voices, and twice 5,000
hands which are ready to join and say, "No Popery." (The
Rev. Gentleman sat down amidst a round of applause, cheering
and clapping of hands, which lasted several minutes, after
having spoken exactly two hours.)
The CHAIRMAN put the resolution, which was unanimously
carried.

Mr. SANDS rose to propose the third resolution—" That a
committee be formed for the furtherance of this important pur-
pose, and to solicit subscriptions, and adopt such measures as
may be deemed expedient to effect it in the best and speediest
way, and that the committee consist of the following gentlemen,
with power to add to their number, and that James Aspinall,
Esq., who has kindly consented to accept the office, be appoint-
ed treasurer."—He would say that a more noble object could
not occupy the attention of a respectable meeting like the pre-
sent than the one on which they were Met. He trusted that
not only would that meeting respond to the call which was
made on them, but the public eenerally. (Hear.) It could
not be too deeply impressed on their minds, that the Bible was
the best gift of God to man, because it taught us those things
we could not otherwise learn. It taught us the saving truths of
the gospel. lie would denounce what had occurred at the
schools as a diiect interference with the rights and privieges of
the rising generation. ( Hear.) They should be guilty of a
breach of trust if they withheld any part of the word of God
from their children. He concluded with moving the adoption
of the resolution.

Mr. SAMUEL Hot.sre seconded the motion. He should owe
an apology to the meeting for presenting himself before them
had he done so unsolicited, and the remarks he might offer
might possibly weaken the effect produced by the brilliant elo-
quence and the thrilling statements of those who had preceded
him. But he stood there in a twofold capacity; not merely 'a
respondent to the call which had been made upon him, but in
some degree as the representative of a large body of his fellow-
tradesmen, whose opinions were entitled to no small degree of
attention. (Cheers.) He could not, if he were su disposed,
adopt the language of the orator of the Dublin Corn Exchange,
and in the proud display of physical strength 'say, in presump-
tuous confidence, " We are seven millions;" but he could
rejoice in representing a large moral force, and in saying we
are 800. (Cheers.) And, from conversations that he had had
with many of the humbler classes, who from the nature of their
employments were unable to sten upon a platform and speak
for themselves, he was convinced that he was a respondent to
vast numbers of loyal and right-minded operatives, who felt
themselves deeply interested in this vital question. (Loud
cheering.) The present town council had been elected upon
the plea of liberality. Freedom of thought and freedom of ex-
pression had always found in the majority of that body their
most strenuous ad;ocates; and, standing upon their own ground,
and in the name of the large body to whom he had just alluded,
he protested in the most solemn manner against the vote of
Wednesday last as an unjust invasion of the rights and privi-
tecrea of the poor, and as a gross libel upon the moral character
of the town of Liverpool. (Loud cheering.) No man or body
of men had a right to mutilate the word of God. • If the mutila-
tion of the human body by the loss of a member rendered that
body necessarily imperfect—if the edifice, however splendid,
but wanting one stone, was consequently incomplete, how much
snore was the blessed word of God rendered imperfect and in-
complete when garbled extracts were put for the whole! (Ap-
,thmse.) But this part of the subject had been so ably handled
by his friend, Mr. M'Neile, and those who had preceded him.
that he passed on to other topics. He believed that many of
the council (of whom he wished to speak in terms of the highest
respect) had been deluded into the present system, and were
ignorant of its ultimate effects. An unseen power was behind
th the scenes
by ,
pbelieved was popery. (Cheers.) Did he fear popery in the
But thatthe wires, and that power he sincerely
abst act ? NO.
attack the Church of England openly exerted its baneful influ-
ence specious power which did not dare to
earantd pulling
ing upon the balance of parties, and so made
itself influential where, abstractedly, it would have been power-
less. No, no; they knew well that the Church of England was
the grout bulwark of protestantism, and with it the conservator
(
of rent civil and religious liberty (of which phrase, by the way,
there was much misunderstanding in the present day); and
they, knew that, if their attack was open and undisguised, ten
thousand noble spirits would rise in its defence, and their insi-
dious designs would be vanquished. (Loud applause.) But
they tried the sapping and mining system, having first marked
well her bulwarks and found them invulnerable. It was the
fashion in the present liberal age to look upon history as an old
almanack ; but he would have the meeting draw lessons of wis-
dom from historical facts which bare upon the present subject.
It was in the recollection of many then living, that when the
,Corsican with his victorious cohorts had overrun Egypt, and
was continuing his career throutth Palestine—that interesting
• sand once trodden by the feet of the blessed lierleether--a soli-