The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-01 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

Si n, —I perceive that some of your respected contemporaries
are not ashamed to reiterate the false boast of the enemies of
truth, that the Rev. Hugh M‘Neile of this town refused a dis-
cussion with the Rev. M. Maguire. The contrary is the fact.
I have before me the third edition of a correspondence between
the rev. gentlemen. At page 7 Mr. M`Neile says—
" I have, within the last few months, published a sermon on
the character of the church of Rome. Between 2,000 and 3,000
copies of it have been circulated in this town. Write and pub-
lish a refutation of its statements and arguments. I pledge my-
self to write and publish an answer to you. Do not object to
the press. The statements made in an oral discussion must,
after all, be committed to the press to be of any extended benefit.
" I challenge you, then, to a controversy in the press, and
throw down my sermon on the character of the church of Rome
as the first blow. You will there find your church proved to be
anti-scriptural, tyrannical, blasphemous, and persecuting.
" I arni sir, your obedient servant,
" HUGH 111• NEILE."

" Liverpool, 16th Sept., 18382'
Again at pages 8 and 9, he says—
" J. First, I call your attention to my letter of the 17th ult.
accepting your challenge.
".As the challenged party, I have an undoubted right to
choose my weapons, without assigning any cause; but I am
willing that you and the public should be in possession of my
reasons for preferring the press as a vehicle of theological con-
troversy. If my object were to display my own talents as a dis-
putant; to excite party contention; to rouse angry feelings of
opposition against my Roman Catholic fellow-countrymen;
,
wi
lt
fhnol darkenauthorities,
public
theor psruibvjaetcet; in au
and
nhdt
hd
obsyartohtea teixo
pn
es
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of truth,
tandati
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:a peace, ef ,
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eh, honest, y, sat )n,vt
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o
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h
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then I should probaby prefer the platform; but none of these
au-
thorised formularies of the church ofnot
form any part of my object. My object is to show that the
R bear, andthe thlight e superstthe
hes e, an
were apparent
sacred word of God; that what the church of Rome inculcates
ous practices founded thereon, will of
as the gospel of Christ was never inculcated by Christ himself,
or by his inspired apostles; and that, consequently, both priests
and people should flee out of the anti-scriptural apostacy, read
and believe the word or God, and be saved in the Lord Jesus
Christ with a free, full, present, and everlasting salvation.
Now, what is your object ? Is it to display your talents as a
disputant? Is it to excite party contention ? Is it to rouse an-
gry feelings of opposition against your protestant fellow-country-
men r Is it wilfully to darken the subject in hand by quotations
from fathers, and councils, and bulls, which contra-diet one an-
other as freely and flippantly as fretful children or angry women ?
Is it thus, at the expense of truth, and peace, and honesty, to
gain an apparent triumph in disputation? If these, or any of
these, be your actuating motive, I do not wonder that you should
prefer the platform. But if none of these be sour object—but,
if your object be to show that the authorised formularies of the
church of Rome are in accordance with the word of God; that
what the church of Rome inculcates as the gospel was inculcat•
ed by Christ and his apostles; and that, consequently, all here-
tics should see that they are guilty of the fatal sin of schism, and
thereupon return for salvation into the bosom of the mother and
mistress of all the churches; then, assuredly, both your object
and mine will be best attained by a painstaking series of writ-
ings.
".I prefer the press, then, because, first, bravado and bluster,
tive exceptreasonibnyg. sound
And, ineereparnetsaetion
and sophistry will go for nothing when on paper, and no perma-
nentattes
attested
facts,pres s impression
and will
ill
eo be
nse nt.ina e
se-
condly, such interpretations, facts and reasoniugs, will theri be
submitted, not to the impromptu suffrages of an excited and im-
patient assembly, (small at the largest possible amount of audi-
tors,) but to the calm, deliberate inspection of the United King-
dom, and the educated world."
And at page 13, in reply to Mr. Maguire's evasion, he says—
" My challenge to you also remains unanswered. Your letter
evades it wholly. Here, then, again, I call upon you to write
wbat you can upon interpretation, argument, fact, or evidence,
'in defence of what Popery is, and I will answer you. My reasons
for preferring the press are already before the public; and if
you, theliist aggressor in this matter, decline a controversy in
the press, the conclusion to be drawn from it will also be before
the public, and with a plainness which no man capable of reflec-
tion can fail to appreciate. You say, that "in a face to face
discussion' more can be settled in a day than could be performed
through the press in a month." I answer, there is no hurry.
No matter of real consequence can be settled in a hurry. A
gladiator for ephemeral victory may be in a hurry: a lover of
eternal truth need never be so. It is written in the prophets,
" he that believeth need not make haste."
" I shall direct my publisher to send you a copy of the second
edition of my sermon, in which your church, as exhibited in hem
own accredited formularies, is shown to he anti-scriptural, tyran-
nical, blasphemous, persecuting, and perfidious. Again t call
upon you to answer this if you can.
" You say I have mis-stated the tenets of your church. I ask
where and how ? And I beg to remind you of the facility of as-
' sertion without proof "
Mr. M'Neile's sermon on the character of the Church of
Rome remains unanswered. Who then has refused the discus-
sion?
An assertion upon this subject, in notorious opposition to
facie and evidence, appears to be the only retort by which Mr.
M'Neile's enemies can assail him, Why they assail him so
often is best known to themselves : though, indeed it can be no
mystery to those who witness his effective labours.
Will your contemporaries, who have so frequently printed
'the false charge, have candour sufficient to print this letter, and
with it, if they please, Mr. Maguire's letters on the occasion : or
will they be prudently silent ?
I am, Sir, yours,
S.CRUTA.TUR.
Liverpool, May 30, 1838.