The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1832-12-07 00:00:00

tibtrpoot. Otanbarb.

FRIDAY MORNING, DECEIVE,ER'7„ 1832.

• , •
AT length we , have intelligence. from. Antwerp of the
eomiliencoment of hostilities, by the citadel firing (Spoil
the French troops, who were. making their approach to
that fortress somewhat- more .closely than.vvas agreeable
to the Old GOVernor. By accounts .up to Sunday, tit
appears that the French had not reiiilarly begun the
tick, and the firingfrom the citadel had been suspended,
it being the day appointed b!' the King 'of the Netherlands
to he observed as a solemn fast throughout his territorier.
We haie elSewhere given the Summons of the French
General to the GOivertior of the Citadel, with the answer
returned by Generar Chasse, and Marshal 'Gerard's re-
ply. From the latter document it is to .be inferred that
the neu'ralitv of Antwerp will not .be respectod,. and we
fear that noble city is, doomedto. suffer the horrors of a
bombardment, and will probably be laid in ashes.

IT is a far more agreeable °Mee toeulogise, than to de-
preciate to reconunend; than to oppose.: But, in the
present 'conjuncture of dffteim, we deem it a far more impe-
rative duty, • to resist the. elaimS 0:f Mr*.• • Therfiely, and
expose their unsoundness, than to •advance and support
those of any man whatever: ' ' •
'Mr. Thurnely: neat beeOnsideredaS the natural enemy
of ;the ksiablithecl Church of this-country. It is true,
that' Most of the , a,n quiies at :that Church, knowing the
great hold;whichits substance retains over the affections
of the community; profess , only a desire to reform it.
We leotriplaiti , of this dishonesty even. more. than their
bitterness :.because they not only seek a: foul object, but
seek it under a fair name.- ' '
Are, then, all these who-profess a, desire to remove the
abuses. of - the Church its euenlies ?' • • By ..no ;means :
those, who -desire such inodificatiorfi iif :externals, as will
terulto increase its etlicacy and Tender it yet more truly
national, we, count as friends, be thW:CtfOrehmen or be
they Dissenters... :But, unhappily,. there are-others who
mask their designs, and who When•once,- under:the sanc-
tion of -the to of Reform, they haie. gained the license
of innovation they require, will speedily unveil their ob-
ject, 'which is—we, have no desire to state; it in any exag-
gerated terms—to. take from it its.natiotial - support and
adoption, and' make it one sect amongst many. • n that
denuded state, we belieVe it would possess a greater as-
cendancy even than at }resent: 'it -is - not. with a -view to
the party interests of the church,' that we
.adkcate its
inattitenanee,,but rather-for the sake of its -influence in-
direct as well as direct upon the 'entire community, and,
la order thoroughly to., impregn.ate:tbe .character of our
legislation with the spirit of Christianity.
ietus only know. with whom We *have todeal. .Let
that portion of professing 'Church Reformers,- who are
.truly Chuich Destroyers, declare their sentiments honest:-
ly, and then we fear not the issue of the. conflict. It is
not their Strength that we fear, but their weakness—for
tbat leads many of them., to, supply the 'want of strength
. . ,
by
,fraud: • .
We do not accuse Mr. Thornely of being a covert ene-
my—but should rather set him doivn as.an.open one :
as g man whb must„ if he have a conscience, and the more
so inproportion as that conscience' Is more ,faithful and
acute—be radically and essentially hostile to the adoption
and propagation by 'the government as a government,
and the nation as a nation,- of what is in our estimation
Christianity,' but, unhappily, in his Idolatry.
We ,desire, therefore,. on 'the eve of .the impending
struggle to call upon the Christian-Dissenters in 'general,-
who -love liberty of conscience,
.who lament the rank su-
perstitions of
,Popery, but who slinidcler. ..at the hopeless
pterility of Socinianism, to weigh -well the fact, that the
English Church, , even with its blemishes on its head, is
neVertheless, Of all religious communities, by far the most
effectual opponent-of both Popery and Socinianism.
We-have said 'the fact : for such it easily-shown to be
—atpresent we can only touch briefly on its evidence.;
To prove the former part of the assertion, we need
oak refer to the sentiments evinced towards the Church
of ogland by the heads of the Church of Rome. It is well
known that the high Roman Catholic party,- and spe-
cially the,,Court of-Rome, look most anxiously to the
overthrow of the Church of England, as a necessary pre-
parative to the re-establishment of their own' despotic
rule. It is said that On 'this account they looked 'with
apprehension to the Relief-Bill, aScalculated to alienate
many sincere but:. moderate Catholics from-this project,
end reconcile them to the established regime of this coon..
tty. And, confessedly, thd Papal influence tends not to
allay, but to foment, the spirit of insubordination in Ire-
land, notwithstanding the danger if incurs itself at home,
from countenancing revolutionary doctrines abroad.
Their view is, that if they can oVerthrow,the Anglican
Church, whose influence tends powerfully to mitigate the
vehemence of theological' controversy, and to check doc-
trinal eccentricities, .a peried of unbounded' license of
opinion, of hideous variety of sects, of polemical discus-
sion lashed into absolute fury, will ensue: -that thisiever
must necessarily destroy itself, and be 'succeeded,' in the
national mind, by a period of marked religious lassitude
and indifference. During thaf,lethargy resulting from
the fatigue 6tiinhearthY excitement; •the Romish Church
proposes to step -in, and tempt- the, natural' indolence of
Truman kind-into- a retUrnto her communion, by offering
to them the privilege 'of an absolute .refuge. under her
doctrine of'infallibility, and disiaissing Irma. the mind
the load of solicitude caused ,y. .the respowalitities of 1
Ll:ate , inqpiry, when stripped- of the: pleasures. of excl. J
it was 'thus that; :a" fe:-.actien : Nigf..towards Popery,
towards unbelief,' and towards profligacy-, .took place in
this conritry, after the overthrow -of Itte .Church,, and the
reign 'of tine sects under. CroinwelL : It'T ii:thzt4-: as they
hope, that a new; and mare effective -re-action will again.
take place, when they have completed a. more entire dis-
organisation, by arieans_a some ef. the :Dissenters as
their, tools, of the existing Establishment. .
irlielP are me14041,01Y-.- 63067-4.44 Atte ' warning 'we
trust. ill be taken in time. . -, - ,
Again: the Sochaisis naturally re gard the Church of Eng-
lan&as their deadliest foe, because by her creeds and other
formularies, directly and pointedly oentletnning them; slie
opposes an msuperAlp bar to For
I)4lrwiqq of the terri-
tories of the Christian Church. For it .must be remem-
bered, that these invasions are atvfays• covert : . Socinian-
ism makes. way by gaining a corapiPlUW..ar . the true doe,
trine, as a ste antecedent to the substitution. of the falser
In the gpgii 1 elitireh"that-trne'doctrnes never can be
hushed, fur a ochuan in holy ordergi'mws periodically de.,.
liver froth _the reading desk the sentence of- his own cob-
detnnatlon, . which he has no power to blink tin to evade.
Are not these remarks,horne-ont. by.
.theevidence of
facts ?.

Dciubtless, heresies And plagttes have orept into the
Church *of- England from time to tiMe-7.46at; neveetWess,
has she not, toa greater degiee than any other Chriffian
community, been Spud:thin thg ihyVibll bf,fhat dead-
liest And mtit hopeless woe De. all, Bwinianitm?' •
Within her rely: it has.liever made way. lint every
one knows that it has Prgyailed 'mi. the Church of SCot-
land to an alarming extant : that the. Chapels founded
nearly two centuries.agoin Englandby eminent, learned,
and pious non-oonferinists; arenow almost universally
tenanted by Socinians, or even by Infidels : • and thotCie
same „fatal ~doctrines have gained •• ground .svondtatfully
aua' one th 6 once orthodox Presbyteriana 'OrAtnerica. It
is perhaps, riot s64,:enerall:y knOwrkthat in:the-Church old
which- did ' not -adopt • the • Biome - cautious and