The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-01-20 00:00:00

CORRESPONDENCE

ANGLO CATHOLIC CHURCH,

AND
ROMAN CATHOLIC

APOSTACY.

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

In this confident assertion the priest is mistaken. No
rubric of our church recognises the validity of his ordination.
If there be any such rubric, let him produce it; let any of
his friends who set a value upon his veracity produce it.
Sir, it cannot be produced; and the priest's statement be-
trays either ignorance of our rubrics, or recklessness of his
own character.

Some of our bishops have, indeed, received Roman priests
into our church without further ordination; but it was done
on their own responsibility, and without the sanction of any
rubric, or article, or canon of our church. It was done, too,
be it observed, after the priest had publicly renounced the
Roman apostacy as idolatrous; and abjured the authority of
the see of Rome in this realm as an usurpation.
There are other assertions in the priest's letter demanding
animadversion, but let this suffice for the present. Where
is the rubric of our church which recognises the validity of
his ordination? Advisedly, 1 say no where. Let us wait
for his answer, or the answer of any of his friends. The
question is not one of polemical discussion, but of matter of
fact. Where is the rubric to which he refers ? If no answer
be given to this, the public will know to what to ascribe it.
I have the honour to be, Sir,
A MEMBER OF THE ANGLO CATHOLIC CHURCH,

AND
A PROTESTER AGAINST THE ROMAN
CATHOLIC APOSTACY.

Liverpool, January 113, 1843

" ARE PAPISTS CATHOLICS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST.4INDARD.

Strt.,—The question between the Churchwarden and Mr.
Wilkinson is a question of principle, and not a strife of
words. The word Catholic, in its primary signification,
means universal; and so the Christian Church was called
Catholic, in distinction from the Jewish Church, which was
confined to a single nation. So, the Catholic Church means
all the churches in the world under their lawful bishops : a
Catholic Church means a branch of that one great society.
But in ecclesiastical history, the word Catholic is made to
signify orthodox ; and a Catholic Christian means an ortho-
dox Christian, as distinguished from heretics, named from
their sectarian heresiarches, such as Arians, Socinians, &e.
Hence the absurdity of calling Papists Catholics. Papists
belong to a peculiar society, who receive the doctrines which
the Council of Trent has added to the Bible; and when we
call them Catholics we call ourselves Heretics, because we
admit them to be orthodox ; and they boast of this foolish
admission of ours, and turn it to our disadvantage. They
have, however, no right whatever to this title. The English
Romanist is a Romish schismatic—a schismatic from the
Anglo-Catholic Church, and not a Catholic in any sense of
the word. I thank the Churchwarden for his vindication of
a principle.—Your obedient servant,

CLERICUS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD,

SlR,—Although you may be well content to "leave the
public to form their own judgment on the matter" at issue
between Mr. Churchwarden Birkett and Priest Wilkinson,
of the Edmund-street Mass-house, there are still some alle-
gations and assumptions in Mr. Wilkinson's letter (No. 4),
so glaring, as to force themselves upon a further notice.
To Mr. Birkett our best thanks are due as Protestants and
Churchmen, for his conduct throughout; his firm but
temperate refusal to acknowledge the usurped claim and
title of the Romish apostacy, while it affirms a vital principle,
appears also in advantageous contrast with the vulgar inso-
lence of Mr. Wilkinson's reply. The difference in tone and
temper, between the letters No. 1 and 4 of the correspondence,
illustrative as it is of the genius of the entire Romish system,
is worthy of remark. The fawning sycophancy of its first
approach, so long as there is an ulterior object in view, is
speedily laid aside for the savage ferocity of its real nature,
when that object is either attained, as in the case of the mis-
called " Catholic Emanciation Bill," or found to be un-
attainable, as with Mr. Wilkinson. 'Tis the same spirit
that actuates the whole
" Agitat molem, et magno se corpore miscet."
from the highest to the lowest; from Maur Cappelari.
(actuellement Gregoire Seiziene) down even to Priest Wil-
kinson himself. In his first letter he " begs respectfully to
lay before you, 8(c.," while the more congenial epithets of
" impertinent," " presumptuous," " bigotted," "intoler-
ant," and such like abound throughout the second. To Mr.
Birkett we are indebted for this expose.
Before proceeding to his assertions, (since arguments they
cannot be called,) I must first notice the compliment he
pays himself, at the expense of the Catholic clergy of this
kingdom, when he speaks of " better pay," and unworthy
motives influencing their choice of a profession. He surely
cannot have read Mr. O'Croly's pamphlet on the Ecclesias-
tical Finance of the Romish Church in Ireland ; he must be
a stranger also to the proverbial rapacity of the Romish
priesthood in that country, attested by the figures and facts
of that writer, himself a Romish priest, proved this very
month, by a meeting reported in the Castlebar Telegraph,
(a Popish journal,) of two parishes in that neighbourhood,
(within a few miles of the notorious Dr. M'Hale,) to pro-
test against the further payment of Easter or Christmas
dues to the priests. He can never have examined the evi-
dence whereby it has been ascertained that the whole church
property in England would not afford an income of £3OO a
year to each incumbent, without making any allowance for
the support of curates. These petty details he has doubtless
overlooked in his sublime haste to expose the ministers of a
church, which is indebted to tire " laws of the realm," for
nothing else than protection and support, a favour which she
gratefully accepts and amply repays. But I pass to his other
assumptions, and first with regard to the validity of his ordi-
nation, as acknowledged by the church catholic within this
empire, and the self complacency with which lie affirms the
eagerness with which any of our bishops would " at once
appoint him to a cure."

Jr.- O'Sullivan, in his learned work on " The Apostacy
predicted by St. Paul, (p. 235,) admitting the fact of Romish
priests being received as ministers into the Church of Eng-
land without re-ordination, accounts also for the anomaly :
" The book of Common Prayer, he says, lays down a rule,
(viz. the words, had
_formerly episcopal consecration, &c.,
in the preface, to the form and manner of ordaining, &c. &c.,)
according to which orders conferred in the Romish church,
should have been held valid in the Church of England. But
this rule was framed before the creed of Pius IV. had been
adopted by Romanian; as a substitute for the " CATHOLIC
FAITH."

This point I dwell upon, not simply for its importance,
but also because it is so seldom employed as it ought in ex-
posing the novelties and defeating the claims of the modern
Church of Rome. The publication of this creed is the single
neck from whence thetwelve heads of the Hydra shoot forth,
and the blow which history strikes at this cannot be parried,
and must be felt throughout the whole system. Observe
how easily and how fatally Mr. Wilkinson's claim to the
title " Catholic," for himself and Church, is smitten with
the edge of this fact. Previously to the promulgation and
adoption of this new creed, (which took place at Rome on
Sunday, 9th December, 1564,) the Papacy, not having, as
yet, foresworn, or departed from, " the Faith," was, not-
withstanding, the iniquity abounding, and the love of money
waxing cold, within it, still a branch of the Catholic Church,
and her orders, in consequence, were admissible by us; but,
since that, even on her own showing, she has become apos-
tate, inasmuch as the first canon of the Council of Trent, as
well as Dr. Delahogue, in his " Treatise we the Church,"
(which is a Maynooth class-book,) affirm the sufficiency of

the Nicene creed, as embodying " the Catholic faith." This
creed modern Romanism has effectually superseded by the
substitution of her own new one. Upon this I cannot for-
bear quoting a passage from a visitation sermon preached
before the Lord Primate of Ireland and his clergy, in Sept.,
1838, at Armagh, by the same eminent divine, whose aid 1

have called in already. "We are separate (he proceeds, p. 4)
from the altered, the modern Church of Rome ; but the cause
of separation is at her side, not with us. It is not in our
articles, in our liturgy, in our discipline. It is in her creed.
We are separate, because, after our reformation, conducted
on Catholic and Scriptural principles, was complete, Roman-
ism propounded a new creed, by which it became separated,
not from us alone, but from the Catholic, and even the Ro-

man Church of all preceding ages. * * * We
would reject the creed of Pius IV., for doctrines such as
these, as well as because of the arrogance of its promulga-
tion ; because, a novelty in itself, it proposes a new rule of
faith, and constitutes the sect which has adopted and pro-
pounded it, even on the principles of Romanism, a new
Church. * * * Whenever it is said that ours is
the Church of Rome reformed, we should claim the honour

thus indirectly accorded to us, of high antiquity : we should
show that, at least,we can have no rival claimant ;—that that
ancient Church, except as it survives in a Protestant com-
munion, is extinct; and that the modern successor, which
has usurped its name, is essentially distinguished from
it in properties and nature." Such are the facts, as between

. .
Romanism, ourselves, and antiquity; and all the " travel-
lers,"journals, geographers, &c., &c., appealed to by Mr.
Wilkinson. can no more alter them than they can change his
own condition by designating him Bishop of Melipotamus,
or even Archbishop of Canterbury, in place of priest of St.
Mary's, Edmund-street, Liverpool.
I thought these remarks worth offering. I hope you will
think so too, and.print them.—l am, Sir, still your's,

LIVERPOOL
MUNICIPAL LEGAL APPOINTMENTS

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

Slll,—lt is rumoured that the situation of chief clerk to
the Town-clerk, and the other subordinate legal officers, the
appointment of whom has been recently conferred upon the
Town-clerk, subject to the approval of the Council, are to be
filled by London men. If this be true it is really too bad !
To say nothing of the unmerited insult which it flings upon
the younger branches of the profession here, who may fear-
lessly brave a comparison with the talent of any other part of
the kingdom, it holds out no encouragement to them to per-
sevare in their efforts to become masters of their profession,
and to conduct themselves with integrity and respectability.
• A steady adherence to such a course, and the circumstances
of their having been born and bred in the town, known to
most of the inhabitants, and of their having contributed, not
merely to the general burthens of the place, but to increase
the income of the Corporation, in the shape of Borough
Court fees, &c., might reasonably lead them to hope that,
whenever any local advantages were to be conferred, they
would not be altogether lost sight of in the distribution. To
many, the appointments in question would scarcely be worth
acceptance. To others, less fortunate, they would be de-
sirable, as holding out not merely a certainty in these days of
innovation, but a prospect of promotion. To all it cannot
but be most offensive that the chances of competition should
be withdrawn altogether from the town, stigmatising them,
as it unjustly does, with incompetency. But is it for the
public advantage that men, accustomed to and acquainted
with the local courts and usages, and with the peculiarities of
the business of the place, (so different to those of London,)
should be shoved aside, to make room for persons who will
have all these matters to learn before they can become effi-
cient servants of the public ? The question carries its own
answer. Away, then, with this sickly penchant for strangers,
which too much pervades our public bodies and private
establishments, to the discouragement of native merit. As
far as our Corporation is concerned, it will only be necessary,
to prove this, to advert to the appointments of Treasurer and
Head Constable, which, together with numbers in the Town-
clerk's office, and a host of other subordinate officers in va-
rious departments, including a great proportion of the police
force, are filled by strangers, who can scarcely be supposed
to be actuated by the same desire for the welfare of the town
as they to whom she has given birth,with whose earliest
asso-
ciations she is connected, who have stood by her through
good report and evil report, and to many of whose
_iese
progeni-
tors she owes much of her present proud position. T 1
things used not to be acted in the good old
days w
a Statham or a Foster at the head of affairs ; but
i.ean
change we had
has come o'er the spirit of our dream." "Tempera
tar, et nos mutamur in Wis. "We have ba the mutan-
' Municipal
Bill," God help us! and, poor " Dickey Sams" as we !w
ought to be:truly grateful for being suffered to learn that we

SIR,—In your paper of yesterday I observe a letter ad-
dressed to one of the churchwardens of this parish, by a
Roman priest resident in the town. The second paragraph
contains these words,—" Though I have not entered the
ministry by making the declaration required by the rubrics
of the Established Church, permit me, Sir, to inform you
that the rubrics of that church recognise the validity of my
ordination."