The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1844-10-01 00:00:00

ROMANISM AND DISSENT.

On Tuesday last Ilis Grace the Lord Archbishop of
Canterbury held his visitation of the clergy of his diocese
at Maidstone. In the course of his lordship's charge we
find the following important observations :
I look forward with hope, though 1 cm not altogether
free from anxiety, to the future destinies of cur church.
It is not from direct violence from without, or from dis-
sension from within, that I apprehend immediate danger,
but what may eventually be the result of her external
dissensions, and the differences now existing within her
own bosom, if they should ever proceed to extreme lengths,
it is painful to contemplate. " If ye bite and devour one
another, take heed that ye are not consumed one of an-
other," was the warning of the Apostle to the Galatians.
I am far from asserting that that language is applicable in
all its significancy to the state of our own church, but I
fear there is enough of division to weaken those resources
which, if applied in conjunction, might much more effec-
tually aid the common object of promoting the glory of
God and the happiness of our fellow-countrymen than
they can be promoted whilst that division is to be found
which, unfortunately, it is notorious does exist amongst
us. By these indications of discord the hopes of the
Romanists have been raised—without any sufficient ground
I fully believe. From the extent of resources at their
command, and from the unity of purpose which marks
their proceedings, they have succeeded in making an im-
pression in our colonies; but, notwithstanding the gigan-
tic resources which they possess, their success in this
country will probably be limited to a few converts. At
the time of our separation from Rome it was satisfactorily
shown that we could not partake of her communion with-
out partaking of her sins ; and, as no material alteration
has taken place in her system, and as her doctrines are
unchanged, and, in her own estimation, are unchangeable,
it may be presumed that few persons who have considered
the grounds on which our reformers were justified, will be
disposed to return to her communion. Among the Dis-
senters, within the last few years, so far as 1 can judge
from some of their writers, and the expressions employed
at their meetings, a feeling of dislike to the church ap-
pears to be gaining ground. After reasonable allowance
is made for temporary excitement, I see enough to con-
vince me that serious designs are in agitation for the sub-
version of our national church. Under the circumstances
alluded to above, I see no reason for alarm, but much to
regret in the partial estrangement of the people from the
church, as well as in the defeat of measures by them useful
to society ; the successful opposition, for example, made
to the plan proposed by the government for the education
of children employed in the mining and manufacturing
districts affords a melancholy proof of this. The principles
of dissent indeed appear to me to be essentially faulty, as
they open an inlet to errors of every description, and act
directly in opposition to that spirit of unity which Christ
acted upon when he founded the church. In this latter
principle of unity the strength of the church consists.
While she has unity in herself there is little dread from
external violence, but she may suffer irremediably from
divisions within herself. What is wanted at present to
insure her efficiency is peace. In speaking of peace, I am
far from recommending the compromise of principle with
indifference, or the sacrifice of the truth—that peace which
alone can be lasting and useful is to be found in the church,
and in the determination of her ministers to act cordially
together in the discharge of the duties assigned them, ab-
staining from unprofitable controversies, or from an in-
dulgence in rancour, through slight differences, (for differ-
ences must needs exist,) but discussing them with temper,
and with no desire than that of elucidating the truth. In
speaking thus of the church, I do not deny the existence
of piety or the hope of salvation out of its pale; but, as
all revelation proceeds from our blessed Lord, I can hardly
be wrong in the belief, that He who brought down the
word to the church from on high has also provided the
means of transmitting it to all generations. Those who
view matters in this light will readily admit that it implies,
if nothing more, a want of faith to seek elsewhere for the
means of grace than in the sanctuary which the Lord has
built—" built," as He himself bath said, " upon a rock,"
and the perpetuity of which He has insured to the end of
the world. The various figures under which this question
is described in the Scriptures point out the connexion be-
tween it and the Lord. It is designated as a kingdom
erected by Christ, and by Him directed and governed—as
a fold under His peculiar care, in which the flock are pro-

tected against every enemy, and are supplied by Him with
abundant pasture —as a household, of which our Lord
himself is the ruler. From these significant images we
learn the immediate connexion of Christ with those who
are within the pale of the church, as their sovereign pro-
tector defending them by his power, providing for their
wants by his bounty, and leading them to salvation by his
holy word through the appointed means of grace. A still
closer connexion is intimated where our Lord speaks of
Himself as the vine of which He is the root and we are
the branches deriving life from Him; and when He is de-
scribed by Paul as the head of the church, of which He is
the body and we are the members; if such were the ap-
pointment from the beginning, as appears from ample
testimony, is it not reasonable to imagine that a disbelief
of the church is next to a disbelief in the Gospel ? If the
truths of the Gospel be necessary to the salvation of man-
kind, the arrangement of which the Gospel is reserved for
our use can hardly be of less importance. If nothing
more be said for the church than that it is the institution
of Christ—that he laid the foundation of the building, and
that it was completed by the Apostles under his holy
spirit, surely we ought to be cautious before we meddle
with what he has established, and we may be sure that
his word is not to be improved by man, and that from
his providential wisdom and most perfect knowledge of
the disposition of his creatures, he alone knew what was
right.