The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-06-10 00:00:00

writer,

ancnymous, has seen lit to indulge in, and
a man of sense and kindly feeling. Now, in the
I cannot agree with him in saying, that he-

„ .
cause St. John's district, or any part of it, is inhabited
chiefly by Roman Catholics, that therefore I ought not to
perform what I believe to be my duty as one of the ap-
pointed ministers of the district. And if there are some
who do not attend the house of God, either from want of
will or from want of clothes, am I therefore to be deterred
from speaking to thenz, or trying to do them good, because
there happens to be a Romish chapel not far distant ?
But the writer may ask, was that your intention ? I can
honestly say, in the sight of God, it was. I did not go
down to Standish-street for the purpose of proselytising,
or to assail Romanism ; this I have avoided, and, with
God's help, will ever avoid, when speaking in the
” streets and lanes of the city." My only object was to
try and do the people good, and I think they appreciated
my motive, for they listened to me attentively for more
than a quarter of an hour, and would have continued to
do so, I verily believe, had we not been interrupted
As for the writer's statement that " I am an incarnation
of attacks upon Popery" and that with me " Christianity
is understood to mean Down with the Pope,' " upon
what authority he states this I know not; for myself I
repel the charge as a downright falsehood. Christ, not
the Pope, is the centre of my Christianity, and has ever
been the subject of my preaching. Again he states, "of
course," (why of course ?) "no man can suppose that if
his preaching and presence were tolerated for ten minutes
he would not approach his one idea." This is also false ;
in proof of which I can refer to the last time 1 preached in
Preston-street. There I preached for nearly an hour, and
not one word did I speak about the Pope or Popery ; and
though there were many Roman Catholics listening, they
heard me with great attention, and invited me to go there
again. As to Dr. Cahill's preaching in the streets to which
thewriter alludes only as a 'suppose,"l feel:persuaded that
if Dr. Cahill abstains from attacking Protestants and their
religion he would be permitted to preach the Gospel and
to explain the word of God unmolested, although every
one of his hearers were Protestants or Orangemen. Few
things, certainly, would give me more pleasure than to
standby Dr. Cahill and listen to him, or to any other
Priest, with the Bible in his hand, speaking of the Saviour
and his finished work, as the only hope for perishing sin-
ners. The writer speaks of my requiring " pity." I want
none of it. I did what I believed to have been my duty,
and, nothing daunted by the past, am prepared to do the
same again. He speaks of my intrusion on poor Irishmen.
Poor indeed they are, and therefore most anxiously do I de-
sire to bring them that which also can makethem happy, the
unsearchable riches of a free pardon and full forgiveness
through a crucified Saviour. In conclusion, let me assure
the writer that I do not intend to give up my right of going
into St. John's district, or into any part of it, at any time
I may judge fit; nor will I cease to do so until the fact is
established that the people if left, to themselves, whether
they be Protestant or Roman Catholic, are unwilling to
listen to the word of God ; and should any disturbance
arise, or should I be interfered with in the discharge of
what I believe to be my duty (which I do trust may not
be the case), I am thankful to be able to feel that the
fault will not rest with me, but with men who, taking
advantage of the ignorance of the people, stir them up
against those who try to do them good. Never, that I
remember, has a Romish priest been insulted or illtreated
when speaking or preaching to the people in the street by
any Protestant. Why then, in all fair play, should they
not extend to us the same privilege, especially in these
days when the Romanists are themselves the loudest in
their cry for religious liberty and toleration ?
I remain, your obedient servant,
ROBERT W. WOLSELEY,
Curate of St. John's.

POPERY-DISSENT.

MR. PITT TO THE BISHOP OF GLOUCESTER.

Mr LORD,—NOW my good lord, a sincere friend, as
well as open, will I know, be pardoned by you a free ob-
servation or two. The true sentiments of friendship
impel me to confess I wish one passage in the able tract*
totally expunged.
" If," you say, " the idea we have here given of
the test law be true, it is apparent that the general,
though not immediate purpose of the legislature, in their
law, was to provide for the safety of the national church,
from what quarter soever the danger might arise : at one
season it might spring from Popery, at another from
Puritanism ; but the various mischiefs were to be repelled,
as they sprung up, with equal vigilance and vigour."
Now, my lord, however this position seems qualified
by the distinction which follows in favour of the Dissen-
ters' errors, the passage nevertheless distinctly asserts
this opinion,—viz., that the errors of the Puritans, which
turn upon the use of the surplice, the cross in baptism,
and upon church government, are to be repelled equally
with the errors of Rome.—that is, equally with rank
idolatry,—a subversion of all civil as well as religious
liberty, and the utter disgrace of reason and of human

nature,
I agE
nea

repeat my hopes of pardon upon two matters so

my heal t,—a preference of the reformed religion,
even in this least commendable of its modes, compared
to the horrors of Rome, and the sacred liberty of the

October, 1762

* Doctrine of Grace, &c., &c

THE BISHOP'S REPLY.

PITT.

HONOURED Stn,—l hold myself infinitely obliged to
you for your goodness in your kind remarks on two im-
portant passages. In p. 272 I have certainly expressed
myself very ill (and will as certainly reform it), while I
am understood, by so accurate a judge, "expressly to
assert,—viz., that the errors of the Puritans, which tnrn
upon the use of the surplice, the cross in baptism, and
church government, ought to be repressed equally with
the errors of Rome ;" whereas my opinion is, and ever
was, that the state has nothing at all to do with errors in
religion, nor the least right so much as to attempt to
repress them. Mischiefs, indeed, I said should be re-
pressed ; but by this I meant evil mischiefs, arising from
religious quarrels : when two churches in a tolerating
country are pretty nearly equal in power (as I suppose
they would soon be without a test law), and are for
repressing one another's errors. The occasion of my
saying this arose from my observing, that the test law
was made to provide for the safety of the national church ;
a provision not for the sake of religion but of civil peace.
For if one church is to be established, and all the rest
tolerated, it is for the peace as well as honour of the
state, that the tolerated should be debarred the power of
disturbing the established, in the enjoyment of the legal
rights of an establishment. Just as we see the nearest
relatives of the same house, when they fall out, though it
be about trifles, the quarrel is generally prosecuted with
more acrimony and determined sentiment, than disputes
of moment between strangers. It was the sense of this
which made me say, that the civil mischiefs which might
arise from Puritanism were to be watched with equal
vigilance, 2nd repelled with equal vigour, as those from
Popery; but, with regard to the nature of the religious
errors of each, the difference was immense.

For the rest I have always regarded Popery rather as
an impious and impudent combination against the sense
and the rights of mankind, than a species of religion;
while the differences which divide us and the Dissenters
are of so trifling a nature, that their making a schism
rather than conform, and our hazarding one rather than
to indulge them in their scruples, will be the eternal
opprobrium of both the churches.
I have the honour
W.
. GLOUCESTER.
Prior Park, November 14, 1762.

SUMMER CIRCUITS.—The judges met on Thursday and
made the following arrangements for the summer circuits :
—Western Circuit : Lord Campbell and Mr. Justice
Coleridge. Home Circuit : Lord Chief Justice Jervis and
Mr. Baron Alderson. Norfolk Circuit : The Lord Chief
Baron and Mr. Justice Cresswell. Midland : Mr. Baron
Parke and Mr. Justice Manic. Oxford : Mr. Justice
Erle and Mr. Baron Martin. Northern : Mr. Baron
Platt and Mr. Justice Williams. North Wales: Mr.
Justice Wightman. South Wales : Mr. Justice Talfourd.
Jr. Justice Putteson will remain in town.