The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-12-07 00:00:00

LETTER 111

GENTLEMEN,—" Faithful are the reproofs of a friend, but
the kisses of an enemy are deceitful." There are deceitful
enemies endeavouring to kiss you into a compromise; listen
then, once more, to the voice of your old and trusty Achates,
who writes with the unembarrassed liberty of conscious
kindness and unaffected respect.

It is known to you, Gentlemen, that when the Christian
Church in England, under the government of her legitimate
rulers, purified herself from the corruptions in doctrine and
practice which commenced upon the continent of Europe,
and were gradually introduced into England, obscuring the
fair face of her primitive Christianity ; there were certain
schismatics who, adhering to those corruptions and recogni-
zing the primacy of Rome, as opposed to that of Canterbury,
separated themselves from the Christian Church Catholic in
England. The descendants of those schismatics adhered to
the schism, and perpetuated the corruptions of their forefa-
thers. The ecclesiastics of those separatists have, it seems,
addressed you, modestly calling themselves "the Catholic
Clergy of Liverpool,"and announcing, respectfully of course,
that they cannot concur in an arrangement which it was un-
derstood to be in your contemplation to introduce into your
schools.

They complain—" that it is in contemplation to discard
the Douay version of the Bible entirely from the schools, and
to require that all the children shall use the authorised ver-
sion of the Established Church."

This is skilfully worded, as if their objection lay not to the
use of the Holy Scripture as such, but only to the exclusive
use of one translation of the Scripture rather than the other :
and an impression is conveyed by it to the minds of unwary
and uninstructed readers, that these gentlemen have no ob-
jection to the use of the Bible in a translation of which they
approve.

This seems fair and reasonable, but this is not the question
at issue. In rejecting the Douay Bible, Christians are not
influenced by the mere matter of translation, (although in
many passages they cannot approve of it,) but by the doc-
trines and traditions of men which have never yet been sepa-
rated from it.

There is, I believe, no such thing as a Douay Bible bona
fide without notes or comments of man, and also purified
from those apochryphal hooks which were never received as
Scripture by the Jews, nor enrolled in the sacred canon by
the primitive Christian Church. When such a copy of the
Douay Bible shall be prepared for general use, the question
between it and our authorised version will be narrowed into
a question of translation. As matters now stand, it is im-
portant that it should be clearly seen and known, that to
plead for the use of the Douay Bible, with its notes and
interspersed apochryphal books, is to plead for the distin-
guishing peculiarities of the Roman schism.
To give one instance. St. Matt. iii, 2. Our authorised
version is "Repent ye for the kingdom of heaven is at
hand." The Douay version is, "Do penance: for the king-
dom of heaven is at hand." Such is the difference in transla-
tion ; but this is not alt; it is magnified into an irreconcileable
breach by the Douay note, which is this—

" Which word according to the use of the Scriptures and
the holy Fathers does not only signify repentance, and amend-
ment of life, but also punishing past sins by fasting, and such
like penitential exercises."
On this I wish you to observe, in the first place, the utter
hopelessness of combining, in any educational system, the
Christian Church and the Roman schismatics. The letter
above quoted is an official declaration that by enforcing the
use of the Sacred Scriptures upon all the children, and the
practice of prayer in the school, you will exclude the
schismatics. And you are already in possession of sufficient
proof, that, by NOT enforcing these things you will exclude
the Christian clergy of the town. In my last letter I quoted
for you the bold and manly declarations made in the Amphi-
theatre Meeting by the Rev. Jonathan Brooks and the Rev.
Augustus Campbell. I might have quoted largely similar
declarations made upon the same occasion, and on other oc-
casions, by the Rev. Hugh M'Neile. These men may be
said in a general way to represent all the clergy of the town.
These are not men to say one thing on such a subject as
this in 1836, and another thing in 1841, and therefore I think
you may feel assured that they will remain in their present
dignified distance from your schools, and reiterate their
Christian protests against the system, unless you do what
the Romish priests say they cannot concur in, and more also.
Thus, gentlemen, it appears that the alternative you have
to determine, is not whether you will, or can, combine all
parties in one system—that is impossible—but you have to
choose which you will have. Five years ago the council
chose the Roman schism : we have confidence that now you
will choose the Christian Church.
Our confidence is indeed somewhat shaken by what
took place in your meeting of last Wednesday. 'We were
grieved to see your Education Committee betray their
own weakness and disunion, and still more so to see so
many of you (without any explanation of why you did
it) joining your common adversaries to defeat that com-
mittee, though it be but for a time. There is an ap-
pearance, at least, of indecision about it, which arms your
opponents with the hope that by skilful management and

professions of moderation, they may succeed in continuing

perhaps increasing, your disunion ; so as practically to neu-
tralise your ostensible majority, so far as this great question
is concerned. True, the report of the Education Committee
recommended a sweeping measure : true, they were con-
victed of not having formally read for the purpose the reso-
lutions which they proposed to rescind : true, they were shewn
to be disunited ! What then ? That political opponents
should avail themselves of such topics for embarrassment is

natural enough ; hut that political friends should at such
a moment join their opponents. and affirm by a majority that
they have no confidence in their own committee, is painfully
unnatural, and excites serious apprehensions for the future.
That it was done with yood intentions, I do not for a mo-
ment doubt ; but this increases the alarm, because equally
disastrous measures may be carried with equally good inten-
tions ; and, when our friends have injured us, it will be but
poor consolation to be told that they were all the while con-
scientiously intending to do us good.
If you could not conscientiously support your own com-
mittee, neither retire before a division : but if, on the con-
trary, you were conscientiously constrained to oppose your
committee ; it must, one may fairly suppose, have been for
very strong reasons : and surely, gentlemen, those reasons
should have been distinctly stated at the time, and the ne-
cessity, in your judgment, for such a step made plain to all.
But no reasons were stated, and, consequently, the division
was well calculated, not only to embarrass your friends, but,
also, to encourage your opponents. Hence, we are not sur-
prised to find, upon the summons for the meeting of the
council, for Wednesday next, the following motion, of which
notice has been given by Mr. Councillor Bolton :
" That it be an instruction to the Education Committee,
that the children of Roman Catholics shall not, in the cor-
poration schools, be required to use or read any book what-
ever, against which their parents or guardians may have
conscientious objections."

Can you wonder, gentlemen, that we should be grieved
that a majority, returned, as you have been, should have so
acted and spoken as to leave yourselves still open to such
an assault as this, with the slightest hope of success ?
Excuse this bold remonstrance. It is the boldness of faith-
ful affection, and the exigency of the crisis seems at once to
demand and to justify it. I conclude for the present, as I
began—" Faithful are the reproofs of a friend, but the kisses
of an enemy are deceitful."—Yours,
FIDUS ACHATES.
Liverpool, Mc. 4, 1841.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL
STANDARD.

Liverpool, 61h Dec., 1841

Sin,—The Editor of the Journal having refused to insert
the following, in answer to a letter of Mr. Rathbone's, I take
this opportunity to forward it to you, trusting you will find
room for it in the Standard of Tuesday next.
AN OLD SCHOOLMASTER.

TO THE EDITOR OP THE LIVERPOOL JOURNAL

SlR,—Allow me to make a few remarks on a letter, pub-
lished in " The Liverpool Journal" of Saturday last, on the
subject of education, and bearing the signature of Wm.
Rathbone, who avers that the leading doctrines of the Bible
(or words to that effect, as I quote from memory) should be
taught to the children attending the corporation schools, ir-
respective of any particular creed : this would be very well if
it came from one who himself believed in the fundamental
doctrines of the Bible ; but, I confess, that I am utterly una-
ble to conceive what a Unitarian can have to do in teaching
the doctrines of Christianity, the saving influence of which
he disbelieves, and, consequently, rejects the grand and fun-
damental doctrines of the Bible,: in consequence of his dis-
belief in the divinity of Christ. Yet so it is, for we find Wm.
Rathbone gravely talking about the right and justness of
teaching children the leading doctrines of the Bible, the
essence of which (either Protestant or Catholic) he, as a Uni-
tarian, rejects as spurious.
Now, sir, the man who thinks that he can consistently at-
tach any importance to, or lay any stress upon the necessity
or propriety of imparting to children (who are incapable of
judging in such matters) the leading principles of a religion,
the essence of which he disbelieves, would do well, in my
humble opinion, to read, and apply to his own particular
case, the following language of scripture, which he will find
in the 50th Psalm :—" What bast thou to do to declare my
statutes, or that thou shouldest take my covenant in thy
mouth? Seeing thou hatest instruction, and castest my
words behind thee. These things halt thou done, and I kept
silence ; thou thoughtest that I was altogether such a one as
thyself ; but I will reprove thee, and set them in order before
thine eyes. . . . .

I say how any one can consistently insist on, or wish to
instil, into the minds of children, doctrines which he himself
disbelieves, is a question, the solution of which, I hope, he
will favour us with at his earliest convenience.

As regards the future management of the schools, I think,
notwithstanding the exclusive rule the tories are likely to
follow, the whigs can have little cause to complain, seeing
that during their five years' reign they have done nothing
more than open (as they call it) the two schools under their
controul to the children of Papists ; this simple, yet just act,
having afforded them sufficient matter to boast of and quarrel
over ever since. _ . .

Now if they had established, in the above period, half a
dozen schools, in the most benighted and densely populated
parts of the town, they might then have
. had some just claim
to be styled " the friends of education" ; but their supineness
on this and other important questions clearly proves that
liberality of sentiment is with them only a name and nothing
more. They fondly, but at the same time falsely, imagined
that municipal reform brought with it lasting power to their
party, and that they should henceforth reign supreme over
their more hu nble brethren : the remit has evinced their

error, and shewn them that the only way to retain power, :is
to treat their fellowmen with that attention and civility which
integrity of character and a free and independant spirit entitle
them to. But independance in a poor man is a very bad thing,
and must be put down by all manner of means—no matter
what harsh treatment, he has received—he is expected to
pocket it all, and keep his independance till an election comes
round, and then he will be exhorted to exert it to the utmost,
and sacrifice his best interest by giving an independant vote
in favour of, and to gratify the selfish ambition of those, who
are utterly unworthy of such a sacrifice. Perhaps some of
your readers may think that this is personal : in reply, I beg
to state that I never had a vote to give, so that I was never
even solicited for one. I simply mention facts that have
come under my own observation, or otherwise, as a liberal-
minded and independant man.
To return : can it be possible that Mr. P.,lthbone intends
sailing into some political haven, by filling his sails with a
wind of expediency? He lately talks a good deal about the
duties of Christians; we had something of it in his address
to the electors of Great George-street ward ; and now again
in his letter to Mr. Lawrence. It looks odd.
AN OLD SCHOOLMNSTER.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL

STANDARD

Sise,—As you have fought for us and with us so long in
the good cause of truth, and for the promotion of the Word
of God amongst our children, let us, through your valuable
paper, protest against that false charity which pervades the
minds of some of our representatives. They had our assist-
ance, our time, and our labour; and now we see some of
these men doing what we sent them not to do. We protest,
then, that we are deceived in some of them. The great sti-
mulating cause which nerved our exertions at the recent
election, was that, if successful, we should get rid of the
popish-infidel schools, and the clergy of our apostolical
church would be enabled to superintend the teaching of our
children. These were the grounds on which we acted, and
these the views which our representatives professed to hold
on the day of election. Then, we say, gentlemen, be con-
sistent ; and if your sort of charity be now inconsistent with
what you professed when you sought our votes, resign your
trust again into our hands, and we will put in men that will
be consistent. We had no idea that gentlemen put in to act
as our representatives would be so duped as to vote away
our money to our greatest enemies. A meeting will be held
in Toxteth-liall to-morrow evening, when we hope to see our
representatives.

This, Mr. Editor, is the language of hundreds of Protes-
tant voters in the Park, who have done their duty, and are
willing to do so again when required.—Yours, &c.,

To:rteth-park,Dec. Cth, Hal

R. M. C

THE TOWN COUNCIL AND SCRIPTURAL

EDUCATION

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

take the liberty of writing a few lines to you on
he proceeding of your municipal body on the education ques-
Lon, for I assure you 1 take a very lively interest in it ; and

I may say, that both in Manchester and throughout the
country, the whole body of Christians that prefer principle
to expediency are closely watching their proceedings. Your
corporation have now the power to set an example to the
British nation. For what, may I ask, has been the curse of
our country for the last eight or ten years but a system of
expediency and vacillation, which amounts to infidelity ?
He that fears God rather than man will at once see his
duty, and will not hesitate to perform it. Now, if your
council will act on the motto of fearing God rather than man,

they will at once come to the conclusion ;of teaching the
children what they believe to be the truth, and leave the
teaching of what they believe to he error to others. Let
them act according to the directions of the prophet of old :
" Choose you this day whom you will serve ; if the Lord be
God, follow him ; if Baal, follow him." If the majority
will act on the principles of Messrs. Harbord, Hodgson, and
others, they cannot to wrong. Mr. Ilarbord said, all his
actions were based on religious principles ; and whenever a
man acted contrary to those principles, he was deceiving
himself and others also. And Mr. Hodgson said—in reply
to the plausible insinuation of one of the councillors that
they might hit on some plan as an expedient—that there was
no expedient where principle was concerned. It is my firm
belief, if the principles that are laid down in the two extracts
above be not acted on, the corporatio❑ of Liverpool will
again fall into liberalism and infidelity, which God forbid.—
I am yours obediently,

A CONSTANT READER,

Manchester, Dec. 4, 1841

TO THE COUNCILLORS OF ABERCRONIBY WARD

GENTLEMEN,—As one represented by you, I beg to call
your attention to the following short statement of my views
on the, to me, most important question of the management
of the Corporation Schools.
All power is from God : " the powers that be are ordained
of God." The individual receiving power, through the
appointment of His providence, is required to exercise that
power for the furtherance of His will. We have no revela-
tion of His will but in the Bible. It is there written—
" Train up a child in the way lie should go, and when he is
old he will not depart from it." Should I, then, be acting
in obedience to this command, if I were to provide facilities
for the training up of children in that which I feel to be
idolatrous, and, consequently, soul-destroying ? It is said,
" Charity requires that I should not turn the Romish chil-
dren, who most need instruction, upon the streets." I re-
ply, " Duties are ours; consequences are God's." Does
tle ever make it necessary that we should act contrary to
the dictates of His word, fur the purpose of benefitting our
fellow-creatures ? Such charity is not Christian charity,
however specious it may appear to those who do not take
the Bible for their rule : therefore I would entreat those in
authority to repudiate it.
AN ELECTOR OF ABERCROMBY WARD.