The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-07-15 00:00:00

Etteraturr.

-1.-----
N OTICES.

Popular Lectures on the Werences existing between
the Church of England and the Church of Rome. By
the Rev. Edward Thompson, M.A. London : Hat-
chard and Son, Piccadilly.
This is a very seasonable volume. We have of late
been so much impelled by circumstances to regard Rome
as she is politically, that we seem almost to have forgot-
ten her religious character, and that she bears impressed
upon her the marks of error dangerous to man and revolt-
ing to God. So many sincere Protestants have consorted
with her followers on platforms and hustings, and sympa-
thised with them in political opinions, until they have in-
sensibly imbibed the feeling, or at least act as if they had,
that the differences are not wide—not material—which se-
parate her from the truth. Mr. Thompson's lectures are
well calculated to bring back such Protestants to a know-
ledge of their true position and the dangerous character
of the enemy with whom they are coquetting. They are
written in an excellent spirit, without any undue asperity
of tone, yet firmly and fairly stating the differences be-
tween the two churches ; and we should rejoice to see
them attain an extensive circulation.

As a specimen of the author's style we quote the fol-
lowing remarks upon the all-sufficiency of Scripture for
our direction here and salvation hereafter :

" If there were no rules in Scripture to be found that
were capable of guiding men in their relative and moral
conditions of life—if the parent was not shown the duty
of loving his child, and the mode of instruction by which
he should be brought up—if the son were not taught obe-
dience to the father, and the husband and wife faithful-
ness and loving-kindness to each other—if brothers and
sisters were not exhorted to unity, and peace, and affec-
tion, and every man to love his neighbour as himself ;
and oh ! if there were not full disclosures of heavenly be•
nignity exercised, and abundantly diffused through every
mercy over the universal mass of human beings who in-
habit our earth—if there were not a way opened to
heaven, and a light set up in the world, equally visible
and glorious to the far-off and the near—if there
were not a full manifestation of the Divine scheme of re-
demption, and an assurance of an ample supply of means,
emanating from the bounty of God's grace, and consola-
tion for every distress fitted for the mind, and hopes full
of realities, and encouragements full of promises, and just
so much of the description of New Jerusalem, and of the
eternal blessings, as the finite mind can conceive, and the
veiled eye can recognize ; oh ! if there were not these
things to be found in revelation, and much more in every
respect, equal for the mind to receive in its most exalted
and spiritual condition, then might we look elsowhere
than in the oracles of God for the way in which we are to
work out our own salvation. Thus then may we conclude,
just as we profess to serve the living God of heaven, in
our public worship, and in our private devotion, and in
our ordinary actions; so are we bound to accept the
Scriptures as necessary to guide our endeavours to secure
eternal life. If we reject them, or mutilate them, or gar-
ble them, or add to them, we virtually reject the means of
our salvation, disparage and disobey the Great Author and
Promoter of our Peace, since those Scriptures testify of
Him. Oh ! what if Ibe called upon to enter the cell of
the condemned criminal—if I he summoned to the bed-
side of expiring mortality, or be consulted by the awakened
sinner, am I to carry with me the oral traditions which
have been in the keeping of frail men, and add them to
Scripture, as if the Scripture were not sufficient
to guide the unfortunate objects of my visit to hea-
ven. Am I to tie the dead to the lining—the cor-
rupting carcasses of mortality to the pure spirits of
eternity ? Am Ito carry the lamp of the foolish virgins
into the dark prison-house of a languishing brother, and
fondly expect fire from heaven to descend for the purpose
of dispelling the 'gloom before me, when I have already
one lighted—one full of lustre, full of beauty and bril-
liancy ? Am Ito carry men into the puddles of supersti-
tion and invention, when I c in wash them in the pure and
unadulterated fountains of living waters? Am I to gi, e
them poison to quaff, when I can from the loveliest
flower, extract the sweetest honey? Am Ito give them
death when Icon fir them life? Or when lam draw-
ing near to my own grave, am I to lean upon a rotten
staff, or bending reed ? or trust to human ingenuity,
when I can lay hold of a rock, whose foundation is
deeper than the seas, and whose existence lies beyond all
date? And at that trying moment, am I to b queath to
my children the dross of the world, when I can leave
them the gold of heaven ? Am Ito leave them to an un-
certain guide, and a fallible director, to wander over the
oaths of earth, when the parental teaching has ceased,
and the sweet companionship is broken up, when I can
enlist them in the service of a Captain, who is " the way,
the truth, and the life," who " is the same yesterd,y,
to-day, and for ever?" Am I to leave them the anathema
when I can leave them the blessing, or substitute the
cypress for the palms of the celestial spirits? Decide
these questions by your own judgment, and determine the
verity of that decision by God's holy infallible, and all-
sufficient word."