The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1850-09-17 00:00:00

perfect Babel of politico-religi'us absurdity—a

no way exaggerat

:ed, of the unanimity of a Convocation

But permit me to ask, have you made up your minds,
good casuists, as to how many signatures would justify

ure can be fully fried) to an existing state of the law
vhich yourselves declare to be at variance with the law of

" Your present desire," you say

" is, to ascertain to

the statute law is felt : and:your future intention is, if
circumstances shall justify your hope, to endeavour to
prevail on some members of the Legislature to undertake
the conduct of this grave and momentous question."
You have not stated what your intention is, in the
event of circumstances not justifying your hope : neither
have you defined or intimated what circumstances would,
and what would not, have that effect.

Are we, then, at liberty to conclude that your con-
sciences will be permanently relieved by having publicly
declared, that your sense of the Royal supremacy is differ-
ent from, nay irreconcileable with, what is now proved,
defined, and established to be the existing state of the
law ?

Or, is this only a temporary expedient, pending, first,
the trial whether you will obtain signatures enough to
justify your attempt upon the legislature ; and second, the
fate of such an attempt in the next session of Parliament ?
Or, is the attempt to be continued through successive
nd successive Parliaments, and your consci-
thv. de anno in annum, kept at ease in the

sessions

reception of the revenues and the performance of the
duties of an institution at variance, on your own showing,
with the law of Christ?
Or, is the attempt to be relinquished on finding that
the signatures are not sufficient to justi-
And what then? Is the existing state of the
Is your Declaration that it is at variance with the I

LW to stand?

of Christ, to stand ? And are you still to stand, before
your parishioners, and your country, and the world, and
the Judge of the World, as ministers and mercenaries
of this anti-Christian Establishment?

Surely, if you wish to retain the ordinary respect of
mankind, which may be continued to men who are sincere
even in error, but cannot, to men who are insincere in
anything ; you must either withdraw this Declaration, or
withdraw yourselves. _ _

I have not here entered into the merits of the question
at issue. Your Declaration is not in my opinion entitled
to a grave and detailed argument. You should define
distinctly what you mean by the temporal accidents of
spiritual things. It will then be soon enough to eluci-
date, for ycur edification, the inspired law addressed by
Saint Peter to all Christians, clergy, and laity, k 1 st Peter,
ii., 13-16,) and the xxxvii.,Article of the Church of Eng-
land ; contrasting them with this canon law of him who is
what fancifully called Peter's successor—" Impera-
ores debent Pontificibus subesse, non prceesse." _ _

If you feel that I am unjust in what I have said, and
that you are not involved in spy such alternative as I
have described; pray let us hear how you vindicate
your present position in connexion with this Declaration
and Circular. You are the aggressors in this matter, and
cannot now take graceful refuge in silent dignity. If you
answer fairly and satisfactorily, I shall rejoice to apologise
for having thought and written so harshly of you. If you
cannot so answer, none, I think, of your party can, and I
wish to retain confidence in your manliness that you will
dare to be consistent. If you do not answer at all, judg-
ment must go by default, and your fellow-countrymen,
including your parishioners, will form their own opinions,
whatever amount of forbearance may be tenderly mani-
fested by your bishops.
Believe me, it is with unfeigned concern that I write
this letter. I grieve most sincerely to think how the ene-
mies of our holy religion make unhallowed sport of our
" unhappy divisions." But you have left us no option.
In disregard and defiance of the judgment of her Majesty's
Privy Council, of the decisions of all our courts of com-
mon law, and of the solemnly rec)rded opinions of both
our archbishops, you are continuing to agitate the Church
and the country. It is most unseemly. We can no lon-
ger entertain any hope from your sense of propriety, and
are therefore compelled to appeal to, what seems to us,
the shame of your inconsistency.
You will please to take notice in your reply, that this
charge is not grounded upon any conduct of your's, in
opposition to any interpretation of mine; but on your
conduct in defiance of your own interpretation : on your
continuance by oath and subscription bound to a state of
law, which, you say, you "do not, and in conscience can-
not"—these are your words—acknowledge to be in accor-
dance with the law of Christ.
I am, venerable and reverend sirs, faithfully your's,

HUGH M'NEILE

Liverpool, 9th Sept. 1850,

CHURCH MissioDrs.—The annual sermons in aid of
the Church Miaionary Society were preached in St
Mary's Church, Bitkenbead, on Sunday last, by the
Rev. Charles Hodgs( n, rector of Barton-le-Street, York-
shire, after which the liberal sum of X 54 6s. was collected.
On Friday evening ► ext the annual meeting of the Bir-
kenhead Auxiliary to this society will' be held in St.
Mary's Church, when the same rev. gentleman, in con-
junction with others, will detail many most interesting
and encouraging facts connected with the operations of
the society ; and on the following morning Mr. Hodgson
will deliver, in the same church, an address intended
especially to awaken an interest in this important work
among the younger members of the Church.