The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

REV. lIUGH M'NEILE'S SERMON

A great outcry I,as been made ab.pur Mr. MlNeilt's
late sermon. We can understand tl.at the rile may have
staggered some persons of little discr;m'n,ticln ; but no-
thing is so easy as quizzing. How glibblj, for instance,
might the microscopic Momus, the fcol of the press, and
jester-general of literature, have turned into ridicule the
description of the Last Judgment in the 25th chapter of
Matthew. Such a travesty would show how easy it is to
satirize the most sacred subjects, and what a mere mouse
Punch becomes when he goes (?) to church. Mr.
M'Neile has only expressed thoughts and feelings which
would naturally arise in the mind of any pious person
who is accustomed to look with " Scripture's second
sight" on the events of Providence.

A vast assemblage of people suggests, without any im-
putation of profanity, the anticipation of the multitude
that will congregate at the general judgment. A royal
personage recals the thought of the Sovereign of the skies;
for, as Lord Bacon says, " A king is a mortal god upon
earth ;" and the arrival of that personage associates itself
with the coming of Him " by whom princes decree jus-
tice." This is the amount of what Mr. M'Neile has ad-
vanced ; and to show how perfectly natural is the line of
illustration be has employed, we may state, that when
the Queen first went to Scotland in 1842, the Rev. J. T.
Brown; now of this town, published a discourse, entitled
" The Visit of her Majesty contemplated under a reli-
gious aspect." A copy of this production the Queen was
graciously pleased to accept. It contains, amongst others,
the following allusions :
" Mark some coincidences, faint indeed, yet not unin-
structi/e, between the arrival of the Redeemer and that
of the temporal potentate. The Lord,' according to St.
Paul, shall descend from heaven with a shout, with the
voice of the archangel, and with the trump of God.' And
again, ' In a moment, in the twinkling of an eye, at the
last trump: for the trumpet shall sound;' and once more
he shall come in his glory, and all the holy angels with
him.' Were not these incidents recalled by the coming
of royalty ? When the sovereign appeared, it was the
daughter of a long ancestral line who attracted towards
herself the homage due to the valour of a hundred heroes,
and the magnanimity of a hundred patriots ; she was the
personification of territory, power, legislation, govern-
ment: All the worth and talent which minister to her at
home and abroad, seemed to hover around. This was
honour concentrating in the crown, and producing emo-
tions which, in some faint and distant degree, may be
held to resemble the reverence with which mankind will
behold - Him by whom kings reign and princes decree
justice.'

" What will be the sublimity of the shouts, what the
thunders of the trumpet, which shall shake the earth as
Messiah approaches, flaming on the horizon as his chariot,
all terrestrial sounds were weak to express. Dumb, in
comparison, were the crashing of a thousand battles, the
rending of a thousand earthquakes. But, as the feeblest
notes of some thrilling air will recall the vocal and instru-
mental swell by which we have heard it performed ; so,
to the ear of faith, and the heart of hope, must these
acclamations and intermingled melody, resounding from
shore and street, have suggested the mighty noise that
shall burst from the confluence of Time and Eternity.
" It was to gratify the longings of a dutiful cariosity
that the kingdom poured forth its population. All were
eager to behold. The thought of business was banished.
The only questions were, Whence shall I best see ? What
will be the most propitious moment ? How different the
coming of the Son of Man ! Pomp will bewilder and
state overawe, and acclamation deafen, and on a scale,
and in a style, infinitely transcending imagination's boldest
grasp and brightest colouring, there will be the sublimity
of festival and jubilee. But there will be nothing of the
gay leisure of a spectacle. An affair of overwhelming
importance awaits all. None shall have thoughts disen-
gaged for speculation about others. Even the Judge
shall be an object of secondary interest. Self, with its
special history, and sin., and trial, and destiny, shall
concentrate each emot,on. To catch a glimpse of the
earthly sovereign, v, inn siwiifices, what efforts ! None
need be apprehensive of missing a stedfast view of the
heavenly. From beneath the mountains and rocks that
cover them, He shall drag the wicked, and they must
stand and plead guilty at his bar. ' Say unto God, How
terrible art thou in thy works! Through the greatness of
thy power shall thine enemies submit themselves unto,
thee!"

Mr. M'Neile can well afford to pity his revilers; in-
deed, he may thank them for stimulating the sale of his
sermon to an extent almost unprecedented.
We give, in another column, the preface to the third
edition of the sermon, being the reverend gentleman's
reply to bis critics.

Last night, the Rev. Thomas Nolan, and the Rev. Henry
Carpenter, of this town, attended as a deputation the an-
nual meeting of the Ormskirk Auxiliary to the Church
Missionary Society.
SUICIDE.—On Sunday last, a young woman named
Judith Goulding was found dead suspended to the bed-
post of the room in which she lodged, in a house in
Greetham-street. There appears to be no doubt but
that this was an act of self-destruction; but the cause is
yet unknown. The inquest will be held this day.
ASSAULTS ON POLICE OFFICERS.—A man named
Patrick Clarke was yesterday fined by Mr. Rushton L 5
and costs, or to be imprisoned for two months, for a vio-
lent assault on police officer Parkinson, No. 32. Another
man named Christopher Murphy was fined in the same
amount for assaulting another police officer in another
part of the town.
THE APPROAeRING EXHIBITION OF PAINTINGS.—
We hear that a most superb exhibition is in preparation
by the committee of the Liverpool Academy. Not only
is the amount of first-class pictures greater than any
former year, but every exertion is making in every depart-
ment to gratify the taste and comfort of the public ; the
rooms are being newly carpetted ; the catalogues are to
be reduced to sixpence each; thus progressing with the
spirit of the age—better accommodation and less price.
We wish them every success : they well deserve it.
PRINCE ALBERT'S LATE VISIT TO LIVERPOOL.—
His Royal Highness Prince Albert, with the concurrence
of her Majesty the Queen, has directed to be forwarded
to tht; Mayor and Chairman of the Dock Committee pri-
vate copies of Winterhalter's portraits of the royal family,
as a mark of their joint satisfaction with the reception
given to the Prince in July last. They were accompanied
by a very complimentary letter from Col. Anson. Should
the Mayor or Mr. Bramley Moore have this most flatter-
ing present framed in Liverpool, most probably numbers
of their fellow townspeople will have an opportunity of
1 inspecting them.

STKALING CASKS FROM THE QUAYS.—At the Police
Court, yesterday, a man named Towel was charged with
stealing a tierce and two empty puncheons from the quays
of the Duke's dock, the property of Mr. M'Fee. The
prisoner and another man took them in a cart to the yard
of a master cooper, and offered them for sale. Some
suspicion was excited in the yard that they were not ho-
nestly come by, and they were requested to leave them
and call again for the money. Meantime enquiry was
made ; and the owner being found police officer Hassall
secured the prisoner on his return, the other man mak-
ing his escape. The casks were identified, and the pri-
soner was committed for trial. Nine casks in all had been
missed from the Duke's quays.
THE PACKET SERVICE AT LlVERPOOL.—Commander
Thos. Bevis, conducting the packet service at Liverpool,
it is reported, is about to retire from his situation, his pe-
riod of service having expired many years since, and
the Admiralty, taking into consideration the increasing
importance and responsibilities of this office, are about to
avail themselves of the opportunity of the retirement of
Commander Bevis, to appoint an active post captain to
the vacancy. Commander Bevis was appointed in Feb.,
1839, consequently he has held the post for seven years
and a half, which is longer than any other officer has held
a situation of the kind. Commander Mercer, who was
appointed to the Dover station in 1811, has also just been
superseded by Commander Baldock.

SMUGGLING TOBACCO.—Three men belonging to the
ship Wilsons, recently arrived at this port from Montreal,
were yesterday chargel by Mr. Brooks, of the Custom-
house, before Mr. Rushton, with having smuggled, or
brought with that intention, a quantity of foreign manu-
factured tobacco-2albs. of Cavendish and lilbs. of
cigars. Their names were George Holmes, the carpenter,
and John Scott and Frank Clarke, seamen. The tobacco
was found in the cargo part of the vessel, close to the
bulk head on the forecastle, and was found by removing
a board. They each and separately after the article was
found, acknowledged to being part owners, and they were
fined £lOO each, or to be imprisoned, with an intimation,
however, from Mr. Rushton, that as the quantity was
small, and they appeared to be ignorant of the weight they
could carry as sea stores, a representation would be'made
at head quarters to obtain, if possible, a mitigation of the
amount of punishment.

RECEIPT STAMPS.—In a case at the police court, yes-
terday, where a clerk in the office of a commission mer-
chant was charged with having embezzled considerable sums
of money from his employer, it appeared that in one or
two instances, evidence of payment could not be received
in consequence of the receipts not being stamped. One
of the amounts was for upwards of £95, and the stipendi-
ary magistrate commented upon the insecurity which at-
tended transactions so irregular, observing that the par-
ties were, in every case, liable to an information for a
nothing,
e but
theirsaidstamps
heavywerecoathadbad
beforecheaper,hepre-
vented
h
him many cases of the same description, and the practice
1 appeared to prevail to a great extent. The law, however,
ought to be regarded, otherwise inconvenience might
follow, for receipts mot originally stamped could not, like
other documents, be subsequently stamped on the pay-
ment of a penalty.
THEATRE ROYAL ADELPHI.—Last night the pet vo-
calist of the pet theatre of Paris charmed, fascinated, and
bewildered the crowds at this now prosperous place of
amusement by her brilliant singing and still more brilliant
acting in the opera, " the Black Domino," which Auber
considers his best, and which Jules Janin has pronounced
in his way to be "bon." The piece is of that melo-dramatic
musical character which carries an audience away ; the
complicated interest of the plot, and the multiplied sur-
prises would, anywhere, and more especially out of the
district of dilletanti, compensate for any deficiency in the
music or the musicians ; and, when to the dramatic excel-
lence are added songs that live in the memory for weeks
after single hearing, and a singer like Anna Thillon,
unrivalled for the clearness and sweetness with which
she displays her many resources, the only result of its
production, in a very efficient manner, at a Liverpool
theatre, must be success. Mr. Hudson proved himself use-
ful; and in the other adjuncts, personal and scenic, of the
Parisian prima donna, there was nothing to carp at. Mr.
Hammond has won every praise for the manner and style
in which he has put the opera on the stage ; and the plau-
dits received by his managerial creations, evince that his
exertions, governed always by a correct taste, have been
perceived, and will be rewarded by the public.

L STAllbArth.