The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-07-20 00:00:00

CON7'EMPORAR Y. PRESS.

THE CHURCH—ITS FRIENDS AND ITS
ENEMIES. 7
(From the Morning herald.)
There is one important circumstance relating to the
present administration which mustexcite the suspicion
of every good man, and give Oise to well-founded
alarm in the mind of every sagacious politician. The
circumstance we allude to is simply this, that the in-
fluential friends of the administration are the perse-
vering enemies of the established church. No intel-
ligent man, whatever his religious opinions may be,
can avoid the conclusion as a politician, that this dis-
location of the frame and order of British government
must be fraught with danger. No man of forethought
can doubt that the continuance of such a strange dis-
cord in the course of British polity mustproduce weak-
ness and confusion, and eventually, revolution.
Even they who are unfriendly .to the church esta-
blishment—as doubtless a very numerous body of dis--
senters are—cannot believe that the conductors of the
government are faithful to the established principles of
the monarchy, when they earn the applause and sup-
port of the enemies of the church. They may believe
that the. ministers are conducting the government
upon a Plan which is better than the old plan of the
British monarchy, identified as that monarchy is with
the Protestant Established Church ; but they must be,
lieve, at the same time that it is not honest for men
who profess to be faithful to the monarchy, to govern
as if that monarchy had been revolutionised, and to
allow influences to prevail which are hostile to an es-
tablishment essential to the constitutional throne of
these realms. _

We conclude from this, that while the enemies of the
established church support the government, they are
very far from having any esteem for those who conduct
it. They look upon them either as weak and dull men,
who are unconscious of what they are doing, or as men
who are doing one thing while they hold power upon
trust that they will do another. In either case, the
political danger arising therefrom is very great. If
the friends of the government be persons who are
merely using the governors as a temporarymay be made
co„ eni.
eace,"for the sake of the evil which they
the instruments of inflicting upon the institutions
which they are by their situations bound to defend,
the storm will be found to burst as soon as these raj_
nisters have served their turn, and the strength ac-
quired from their weakness will be mercilessly used
against the betrayed and dismantled citadel of " church
and state." We must repeat that even they who think
the phrase of "church andstate" an offence, signifying
a combination which was unwise in its origin, and as
opposed to " the spirit of the age," must still, if they
speak the truth, admit that, according to the British
constitution, church and state is combined, and that the
minister of state who knowingly permits injury to be
done to the church betrays his trust. A man who is
not a servant of the state may honestly contend for
revolution, if be does so within the limits of public ar-
gument permitted by the law; but the trusted and paid
servant of the British monarchy cannot be a party to
any attack on the combined political fabric of church
and state, without thereby acknowledging that he is
either devoid of sense or devoid of honesty.
Now, the instances are not few in which it might be
shown that the members of the present government
directly and unblushingly abandon the church, and,
upon the pretext that, under all the circumstances, they
cannot help it, join their exertions (such as they are)
to the exertions of the declared and notable adversa-
ries of the establishment. But that which, perhaps,
makes a more general, though not cn each occasion so
marked an impression, is the language of the public
journals which support the administration, and are un-
derstood to be in some way or another influenced in
the expression of their opinions, by the views and sen-
tinierrorwirtetrprevnttemoug the-mlnlsters themselves.
In these journals the most laboured praises of the ad-
ministration, and the bitterest vituperation of the es-
tablished church, are continually to be found mixed up
together, as if on purpose to disgust and offend all
lovers of the constitutional-harmony which ought. to
subsist between the civil government and the ecciesi..
astical institutions of the nation. From such publica-
tions nothing but discord can ultimately flow. Such
are the habits of the people of this country, that they
judge of the principles and intentions of government
far more from the journals which espouse its cause,
than from any other ground upon which a judgment
might be formed. The friends of the constitutional
monarchy, therefore, who read the libels that every
day are poured forth from the ministerial journals, na-
turally lose all confidence in those who now conduct
the government, and are filled with indignation, not

merely at the miserable error of the policy which it
appears to them the ministers have espoused, but at
the base betrayal of duty which the desertion of the
church by the ministers of the crown appears to them
to involve. On the other hand, they who are by these
journals influenced to think favourably of the measures
of the government, are, at the same time, fed with
fresh fuel of acrimonious hatred towards the church,
and become more confirmed in the habit of regarding
the government as beneficial and salutary in propor-
tion as it weakens and undermines the union between
church and state, which, in consequence of the nature
of the bond between ministers, the crown, and the
people, no government can honestly do. Hence there
comes a confusion of distrust, dismay, rancour, and
wrong, wholly subversive of the political tranquillity
and happiness of the nation. And though the persons
whose principles are most offended, and whose alarm
is most excited under the present order of things, be
not of that class who make known their grievances in
the clamour of public meetings, or in the angry essays
of party newspapers; yet it is not less true that dis-
turbance and anxiety are the wretched results of the
anomalous and dishonest system of government which
now prevails. A monarchy with democratic ministers,
a Protestant monarchy, whose government is ruled
over by a Romanist enemy of the Protestant esta-
blishment, is a monster in political combination, and
cannot come to good.

THE VOLUNTARY PRINCIPLE.
(From the Lincoln Standard )
Amongst the estimates voted on Monday night, we
find, as usual, a sum of money granted for dissenting
ministers, who, it appears, very gladly received it,
notwithstanding their theoretical notions about the
voluntary principle and the unlawfulness of state grants
for religious purposes, and in spite of the grumbling
of the leading dissenting agitators who find it rather
annoying to have the reception of this government
grant thrown in their teeth, when they are advocating
their foolish system, a mere rope of sand. With the
voluntarieS, however, as with other unprincipled men,
theory is one thing, and practice quite another. And
we should not like to give these voluntary gentry an
opportunity of quietly slipping into the various pieces
of church preferment, because we know how much
they feel the evils of their own system, and envy the
advantages and blessings of ours. But the best of the
joke was to hear O'Connell say, that "he would de-
cidedly vote against the grant, and in doing so, he
would vindicate his uniform advocacy of the voluntary
principle." With what face even this lying Papist
can stand up before any company of intelligent beings
and talk of his "uniform advocacy of the voluntary
system" we cannot conceive, for it was only the other
night, when this identical O'Connell,this very Daniel
himself, asked the government to give a portion of the
Irish church property, which he has a hundred times
designated state property, to Irish Papists for spiritual
purposes— yes, for spiritual purposes. Is this " uni-
form advocacy of the voluntary system It is Popish
uniformity, no doubt, for O'Connell knows well that
public money is regularly granted to the building of
Popish mass-houses in 'lreland, besides the grant of
Mavnooth, and the salaries regularly paid to the Po-
pish bishops and priests which curse our colonies.

A POPISH VERSION OF SCRIPTURE.
( From the Dublin Record.)
In the year 1686, the New Testament was translated
into French by the "divines of Louvain," and the
translation was made with the sanction and approba-
tion of Louis, Archbishop of Bourdeaux. The work
was executed in so accommodating a manner, that a
Roman Catholic might find in it explicit statements of
the peculiar tenets of his church. A few quotations
will, at once, illustrate our position:—
, In the summary of "contents" of Matt. xxvi., Mark xiv.,
and Luke xxii., it is said that these chapters contain an
account of the "Institution of the Mass" !! !
Acts xiii. 2 is thus rendered : "As they offered to the Lord
the sacrifice of the Mass, and fasted," &c.
In Acts xi. 30, and other places, "Elders" is rendered
" Priests."
Luke ii. 41 is rendered: "And his father and mother went
every year in pilgrimage to Jerusalem."
"'tradition" is thus introduced, 1 Cor. xi. 2: " Ye keep
my commandments, as I left them with you by tradition."
1 Cor. vii. 10: "To those who are joined together in the
sacrament of marriage, I command," &c.
2 Cor. vi. 14: " Do not join yourselves in the sacrament
of marriage with unbelievers."
Hebrews xiii. 16: " We obtain merit towards God by such
sacrifices."
" Purgatory" could not be introduced but by a direct
interpolation. 1 Cor. iii. 15: "He himself shall be saved,
yet in all cases as by the fire of purgatory."
Luke iv. 3: " Him only shalt thou serve with Latria."
Heb. xi. 30: " After a procession of seven days round it."
2 Peter iii. 17 : " Beware, lest being led away with others,
by the error of the wicked heretics," &c.
1 John v. 17 : " There is some sin which is not mortal but
venial." ,

. Rev. iv. 4: "And round about the throne there were 2-
thrones, and on the thrones 24 priests seated, all clothed witl
albs."

But the most barefaced interpolation occurs in
Tim. iv. 1-3:

" Now the Spirit speaketh expressly, that in the latter
times some will separate themselves from the Roman faith;
giving themselves up to spirits of error, and to doctrines
taught by devils; speaking false things through hypocrisy,
having also-the conscience cauterised; condemning the sacra-
ment of marriage, the abstinence from meats," B.:c.
The late learned Bishop of Ferns makes the follow-
ing just remark, in reference to this abominable trans-
lation:

" We recollect," says his lordship, " that the edict of
Nantes was repealed in 1685. Mr. Charles Butler (a Papist).
in his Reminiscences, has stated that Louis XIV. caused
0,000 Testaments to be printed at that time, for the• use of
the Huguenots. This fact augments to the utmost the guilt
of corruptions such as those which I have stated."

The bishop adds, that—
" Copies of this infamous produption of bigotry and fraud
are preserved in the library of The Duke of Sussex, in the
Bodleian, in the Library of Trinity College, Dublin, and in
Marsh's Library, Dublin."

Here we have no bad specimen of the frauds which
lie at the door of the Church of Rome, and which
would, no doubt, be renewed and multiplied in this
country, if the cheat could be practised with impunity.
The vigilance of Protestantism operates as a check
to such unhallowed proceedings; but we cannot too
often remind members of the reformed faith, that Po-
pery, in spirit and principle, has undergone no change,
and that although the " Beast" is in some degree un:
der control, yet whenever a fit opportunity occurs, all
the abominations of the dark ages will be revived, and
the thunders of the Vatican will roar with increased
animosity, strength, and vigour.
" Naturam expellas furca, (amen usgue recurret."
Let Protestants, then, to whom are "committed the
oracles of God," and who are blessed with a pure
translation of the Scriptures, not only appreciate this
heavenly gift themselves, but use every energy for its
circulation throughout the length and breadth of our
land. We have reason to believe that both the Eng-
lish and the Irish Bible have, with God's blessing,
dispelled the darkness of Popery from the minds of
many of our countrymen; and we look upon-this inte-
resting fact as a happy omen for good. The Lord .of
Hosts is with them who love and read their Bible, and
He will not fail to give strength to those who, being
taught of God that "it is good to be zealously affected
in a good thing," wage incessant war against sin, er-
ror, idolatry, and superstition.