The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-06-23 00:00:00

awn, and it had become

These "tree thoughts,

" which are

only called such. we presume, because, the rev. gentleman
Las thrown aside the trammels of regular Thesis, and
grappled with his important snhjeet in whatever form, and
with whatever weapon, he has ju:lged it, at the moment.

. .
assailable, it' attentively pondered upon and carried out to
their conclu4ionl by the intelligent reader. are calculated
both to warn and instruct. They recapitulate the evidence
against Popery afforded by the history of its past malver-
sations—they shew, as well. that the intolerant spirit,
which prompted its past inroads upon the liberties of man-
kind—is not dead—is not quenched—but has only changed
its modes of working out it,t oijects— has only laid aside
the savage fury of the tiger to assume, for awhile, the
subtlety of the serpent. . . .

Mr. Gregg complains that the English mind is misled
with respect to the position and the influence of papacy in
Ireland ; that we regard its existence and the virtual
su-
premacy of its power there as an evil, against which there is
Most firmly we bvlieve. with the rev.
b'e mistake, based noon

no contending

•
Wilful blindness with respect to f ices and experience. Nay,
it is a blaspheo.ous error to 'suppose that the power of Go
in spreading his truth should he re,trieted to any land or
to any portion of the globe. We admit that the supersti-
tions of Popery—its shows, hs gaudy trappings, its pre-
tended miracles —have a peculiar hold upon the minds of

an imaginative people like the Irish. We know that its
ecclesiastical thunders and menaces have also a strong
hold upon the fears of such a people, exposed as they are
and debarred of adequate protection from the arm of the
law aeainst outrage and persecution. The Word of Gud,
and his blessin:z with it, have, however, prevailed against
stronger barriers than these ; and they will prevail, when-
ever the effort is made in a right spirit, and with ade-
quate energy and assistance.

of Mr. Gregg's views upon this portion of it, or upon
the important subject of his " thoughts" generally. The
volume should be perused by Protestants, and weighed
especially by Protestant statesmen. In all probability,
we are about to legislate upon the delusive idea that to
overthrow the fabric of popery in Ireland, or, in fact, to
do anything except to aggrandise and recognise it as a
national institution, is hopeless. Surely, we should pause
before doing this; we should listen to a man intimately
acquainted with the working of popery in Ireland—who
has proved the innate weakness (4 the system—who knows
the hopes, the aspirations, the fears of its clergy and its
laity ; and above all, is prepared with a correct estimate
of the amount of aid at our di4posal in the effort to settle
the distractions of Ireland, without forfeiting for England
the character of a Protestant nation, by recofftii4F.g and
endowing falsehood. We shall return to the" subjtet at
some future time, when we hope to do more justice to
Mr. Gregg's work, and to allow him to give expression to
a few of his own views.

The Layman's Prayer Book. London : F. Baisler, 121

Oxford

-s!reet

The author of the work before us is impressed with a
feeling of serious objection to many portions of the Li-
turgy of the Church of England, vt!,ich, he considers,

offer wumbling-b

ks to many pious and intelligent
ne from its pale into the
proper remedy for this
'rider the above title, a

Cbrit.tianq, bud tend to turn

arms of d'ssent

AR a qter

alleged evil, hi

new version, in which such pointy ef doctrine or of prac-
tice, upon which doubts may be raised, are withdrawn
from observation, by the expurgation of the passages
which suggest them, or expressed in language which it is
assumed will be mere intelligible to the mass of lay
readers

which the

fore, howev.r, exatrin;ne the manner in
bor_has performed his task, we shall qnote
rn of his views. given in a little tent
s Voice,"* prefixed to the book
sed to the laity of England.

his own

entitleo " The Layma

and in the preface, addre
The author says :
'• The Oxford Tracts have led persons to examine their prin-
ciples and scrutinise their Prayer-Look, which I find, with grief
of heart, to have many defects.

" The oftener I e

pear ; the more I