The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-04-14 00:00:00

it at raturc.

NOTICES.

The S =dal of Permitted Heresy, and a Violated Dis-
cipline. An address by the Itev. Cecil Wray, incum-
bent of St. Martin's Church, Liverpool.
This " address" was delivered in St. Martin's Church,
on Sunday week, on the occasion of the secession of the
Rev. Mr. 'Wells, curate of that church, to the Romish
communion. The perversion of that reverend gentleman
to Pe„ -ry is evidently considered a sore point, and the
object of this " address" is to explain his " sudden depar-
ture," after having for two years ministered io St. Mar-
tin's Church, and, of course, during that period having
bad almost uninterrupted opportunities of listening to the
teaching and expositions of the incumbent. After an-
nouncing the step which Mr. Wells has taken, our author
sets out with a very formal end somewhat ostentatious
avowal of his attachment to the Church of England " in
the terms prescribed to the clergy when nominated to a
benefice." .To our minds this declaration carries with it
some misgiving on the part of Mr. Wray, for we cannot
but think, that after so many years ministration in the
congregation it ought to have been superfluous. We are
then favoured with a strongly-expressed protest—though
we see no force in it on such an occasion—against non-
conformity to the prayer-book--with the most pointed
allusions to several most excellent clergymen—with un-
meaning insinuations about the "robbery," "dishonesty,"
"rebellion," and " heresy" of others who are denounced
as "traitors," (hard words—alas for union and catholi-
city, if all who " wait at the altar " considered it their
duty to use in their pulpits such separating language to-
wards their brethren)—and at last we are brought to the
reasons which are stated to have led to Mr. Wells' seces-
sion :
" Brought up," says Mr. Wray. "among the evangelical party,
he was a constant attendant in early youth at the Protestant meet-
ing in Exeter-ball. There he would lea: to slight the authority
of his mother church, to believe slanders against the Church of
Rome, and to exercise his private judgment upon the bible. The
conduct of the Church of England has not been such as to restore
his confidence in her authority ;—the detection of the slanders
against Rome disposed him to take her part, and to discredit even
well-founded charges against her;—and the conscientious exercise
of his private judgment has, we see, led him to the belief that her in-
erpretatiou is the only sound one. Such are the fruits of l'uritani-
cal training, which furnishes no medium. between Calvinistic as-
surance and Popish infallibility ; and the latter is clearly the most
reasonable conclusion of tie two. for this is, at least, belief in
a church, whereas the former is but confidence in one's self."*
These hackuied statements—repeated with determined
perseverance, relative to the perversion of Mr. Sibthorp
—are too great a task on even our common sense, to need
any serious refutation. It is too well known that none of
the "Evangelical party" have gone over to Rome before
they left that " party " and its principles, and had been
schooled in the discipl►ne, doctrine, and ceremonials of
Tractarianism—the high road to Popery, in this and " a
hundred and fifty instances," in the case of persons
who, on the confession of Mr. Wray, "have deserted
from our fold within a brief space" and in "a thousand
times that number," who "will be constrained to follow
their example if things are allowed to continue much lon-
ger as they are."
These anticipations, to say the least, do nut augur very
favourably for strong attachment to the Church of Eng-
!arid in these persons; and, indeed, Mr. Wray's language
in this discourse, on more occasions than one, does not
bespeak great reverence or love for her. He enumerates
several of what he calls her " inconsistencies"—he calls
her a " luxurious and obsequious church"—and says that
" she does not speak with confidence as an authoritative
expositor of God's.word." How any man can utter such
sentiments as these, and at the same time " distinctly
avow that he has no wish that the language of the c:lurch
should be altered or qualified," it is not for us to say ;
but it would have been well had some of the words, which
have been spent in dealing out anathemas and persecuting
threats against those who, while they reasonably differ
from him, not merely continue amongst her teachers, but
do all they can to maintain and spread her principles and
doctrines, been used for the same blessed and holy pur-
pose. Appeals to the Ecclesiastical Courts are swords
with two edges, and it is, in our opinion, most lamentable
to find a clergyman solemnly exhorting the people from
his pulpit (and afterwards deliberately printing that advice)
" to cite into the Ecclesiastical Courts" those " who
watch for their souls," whom the Scripture teaches us to
"obey" and " esteem very highly," and to whom the
Church teaches her members from their earliest years du-
tifully to " submit" teems. Ives.
We should certainly not have said so much had this
been the first time that our author had circulated such
—we see no reason for withholding the word—slanders
against his brethren ; and he has only himself to blame
that we have felt it our duty to show that those who wish
to monopolise the title of the Church's friends are not
-always her warmest adherents or her best defenders.
* The italics are Mr. Wray's own.

Blackwood's, the Dublin Unirersity, Frazer's, and
Church of England Quarterly Magazines, and other pub-
lications received, must lie over this week, the state of our
columns prezluding notice.

The Fortunes of Furlogh O'Brien, a Tale of the Wars
of King Tames. JamesM`Glashan, 21, D'Olier-street,
Dublin. W. S. Orr and Co., London.
We have the first number of this work, which promises
to be of striking interest. The times, incidents, and cha-
racters to be broueht upon the scene afford excellent scope
for the display of talent, of which the writer has thus far
shown himselt far from deficient.

The Knight of Gliiiiiine;—ii7Ta7e 'Of the Time of the
Union. By Charles Lever. London Chapman and

all, 186, Strand.
We have now reached No. 4 of this new production of
Mr. Lever's graphic pen. and look forward with great in-
terest to its progress. The period of the story is a stir-
ring one ; and many of the characters are drawH as only
Mr. Lever 6an depict and only Ireland could have pro-
duced. To the bulk of the present generation the pro-
ceedings which he depicts, as connected with the carrying
of the great measure of the union, although but too truth-
fully described, will savor more of romance than of histo-
rical fact. The illustrat.ons in this number are very ex-
cellent.

Sharpe's London Magazine, vol. ], Nov. 1845 to April,
1846. London : I'. B. Sharpe, 15, Skinner-street,
Snow-hill.

The first volume of this cheap and excellent periodical
is now before us, substantially got up in cloth boards, and
from its excellent management, and the taste and liberal-
ity of its conductors, we fully expect the work to become,
as it deserves to be, a favourite with the public. •We may
state, for the information of those who have not yet seen
the past numbers, that the object of this undertaking has
been to provide a cheap, amusing, and instructive miscel-
lany, combining pictorial with literary and typographical
excellence ; and thus far it has been perfectly successful.
The artists and engravers employed are of the highest rank
in their profession, including, in the present number, the
names of Franklin, Meadows, l'hiz, &c. amongst the
former, and Dalziel, Linton, Branston, Nicholls, &c.
amongst the latter ; and the illustrations are in profusion.
The size of each weekly number is the same as that of
Chambers' Miscellany, and the price is only three half-
pence.