The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-06-19 00:00:00

Tilt: LIVERPOoIi siPANDAVD

TRUTIi versus POPERY.

TO TIM EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL ST.4NEMRD,

Sin,—The correspondent 44 the Liverpool Journal, who as-
sumes the signature of a Protestant Larn:in, seems to possess an
unaccountable antipathy to pulpit eloquence: The persuasive
powers. of the orator may be exercised, in all their uncontrol-
lable energy, at the bar; the genius of pathos may triumph
'OVerour feelings on the stage; the senator may pour forth, in
an uninterrupted flood, his keen satire, his brilliant metaphors,
his strength of argument, or his startling invective, accom-
panied by suitable and dignified gesture; the well-delivered
extract, the polished verse, or the graceful cadence, may shed
a _charm over our social existence; nay, even the unprincipled
agitator, bent on his nefarious designs, may affect to wield the
thunder of Demosthenes before the gaping and ignorant mul-

titude; but when the christian preacher—the plenipotentiary
of heaven— stands up to unfold the treasures of divine wisdom
—to address his perishing felloW-creatures on affairs of eternal
moment—to proclaim the sanctions of the violated_ law—or to
whisper to the conscience-struck sinner the soothing words of
joy and reconciliation, the ban of proscription is placed upon
the use of human eloquence. The itinerant propounder of trea-
son—the reckless political incendiary—the brawling pot-house
legislator—may severally employ a means of influence, from
which the duly qualified religious instructor, whose duty'it is to
inculcate peace and order, is debarred. This is strange, truly;
but quite in keeping with the other foolel•ies of this writer.
For my own part, in common with every individual in St.
Jude's congregation possessed of a grain of taste, I should be
very sorry to see Mr. M'Neill decline his present style of
preaching or manner of delivery. Would that we had iu the
church a few men such sons of Boanerges!
A Protestant Layman augurs truly in supposing that Mr.
M'Neill will not condescend to reply to his ridiculous trash.
I should be sorry to suspect him to be capable of anything so
derogatory to Isis personal character. But it is rather too un•
reasonable to complain that the rev. gentleman reserves all
his sentiments for extemporaneous delivery, while authorised
editions of many series of his discourses have been published.
Messrs. Rockliffe and Duckworth will, I dare say, supply them
to order. Let this Layman attack these, if he can.

This writer charges the protestants of by-gone days with
persecuting the catholics, enacting penal statutes against them,
confiscating their property, and curtailing them of their pri-
vileges. Without seeking to invalidate his statements, for
bleb, however, no historical proofs are adduced, fshall simply
marry--ef the catholics, in-those troublOd times, were
most dangerous characters, conspirators against .the public
weal, capable of the most diabolical outrages—witness the hor-
rible gunpowder plot—thirsting for revenge, desirous of re-
gaining lost ascendancy, even by employing the poisoned
chalice, or the dagger of the assassin. Against such, severity
was justifiable. A misplaced tolerance would have cherished
into vigorous life a viper, which would have infused its deadly
influence into the very vitals of Britain's prosperity. Nor
must we forget that much of the harshness displayed naturally

arose from that reaction produced in the public mind by the
sudden release from popish tyranny, and all its attendant hot-
rors. If a ruffian gave a Protestant Layman a twist in his cra-
vat, and, while in a prostrate condition, gave him a sound
pummelling, would he not, on regaining his legs and his
liberty, feel a powerful impulse to knock the lelloW down? I

take this to be a striking illustration of what the people of
England felt in the glorious transition from Ro►uish slavery
to protestant liberty.

Whatever a Protestant Laylran may think, protestantism is
not cotnpromised by the apparently harsh proceedings of those
who have politically assumed its profession. Persecution 'is
not a constituent principle of protestantism—it is of popery.
The duty of burning heretics is an article of faith with the
catholics. It is avowed—but not acted upon—only because,
being outnumbered, they find it expedient to abstain from the
practice.

I confess that it was an act which tarnished the episcopal
church of England to exclude the 2000 non-conforming minis-
ters from, her bosom; but this Layman will derive no benefit
from the concession, if he is told that these identical men were
antitypes of Mr. M 'Neill in their zealous opposition to popery.
A Protestant Layman asserts that the property of the church
was fraudfully" transferred from the catholics to the pro-
testants. Whether illegal or not, no such transfer ever took
place. The property has uniformly been vested in the esta-
blished church, which certainly ceased to be a popish church.
Its possessors changed their religion—the property remaining
in the same hands.

But the appropriation of the presumed surplus, arising from
:he funds of the Irish church, to purposes essentially sectarian,

would be a robbery, under whatever mask it might be perpe-
trated. If a Protestant Layman asserts that the arch-impostor
and his tail have a right to dictate the application of a penny
arising from this source, for the maintenance of a narrow-
minded, bigoted system of education, which every true episco-
palian. repudiates, he hazards his claim to sanity. The pro-
perty is evidently held in trust by the national church, for pur-
poses of which that church alone ought to be cognizant.
This writer, in another paragraph, charges the ignorance of
the Irish peasantry upon the psotestants

" Risum teneatis, amici?"

Can we really suppose him to be so stultified as to make this
assertion in sober earnestness? What! the protestants impli-
cated in the barbarous ignorance and consequent infatuation of
the Irish poor? Who, then, have systematically impeded, and
endeavoured to frustrate, the benevolent designs of the pro-
tectonic, while seeking to civilise the teeming population of
Ireland ? Who have denounced from the altar all the efforts
which the protestants have made for the instruction of her chil-
dren in the humanising truths of christianity ? Who have
closed up the fountain of pure knowledge, and sealed it with a
curse? Who have snatched the book of life. from the trem-
bling hand of the inquiring peasant, and infamously consigned
it to the flames? Who capable of such abominable proceed-
ings' but an infuriated popish priesthood ? They have barred
the avenues to the temple of truth, and held the sword of ex-
communication over the heads of those who would enter within
its hallowed precincts. They have there, as in other countries,
secured the perpetuity of their dominion by the prostration of
the intellect.

This most sapient correspondent of the Journal says that a
man does not become a better christian when he apostatise,. In
plain English, he maintains that a heathen, Mohamedan, or,
what is worse, a Roman catholic, when he changes his religion

for protestantism, does not become a better christian! I can-
not stand this. I must have a regular guffaw.
We next stumble upon a string of childish questions. Some
of these 1 shall quote, with appropriate replieS. " Why is the
communion table placed in the east end of the church?" This

is rot always the case, as the map of Liverpool will prove
The only plea which can be offered for this custom is architec•
tural precedent.

' "-Why should the eucharist be received kneeling in our
church?" Let every thing be done decently and in order, is an
apostolic direction. in conformity with which this mode has
been preferred. Where the posture of the body is a matter of
complete indifference, the most devout attitude may be reason-
ably prescribed. „.

c.‘ Why do the deacons, priests, &c., wear certain peculiar

vestments ?" I should like to have the cranium of a Protestant
Layman submitted to the inspection of a shrewd phrenologist;
I think he would find the bump of order very sparingly de-
veloped. It would be quite as pertinent for me to inquire why
he does not go to St. Jude's decorated with a cap and bells?

If my conjectures are correct, by so doing he would not make
himself a whit more conspicuous than by making ugly faces
at Mr. M'Neill, to the great discomposure of his fair neigh-
bours, significantly reminding them of the physiogronaical con-
tortions clan owl in the gripes.
Why are certain ceremonies resorted to in the coronation
of the king and queen?" Why does a Protestant Layman "rub-
licitate" such inanities?

" Why does the church forbid the parents of a child to be-
come its sponsors?" There is uo such interdict. 1 have
myself stood in that capacity for two of my children.
"The church of England derives her authority from a church
which she stigmatises as idolatrous." She does no such thing.
She traces her pure and proved origin to the primitive church
established in this kingdom long before the days of monkish
innovation.

"The church of. England has borrowed her ritual from the
Roman catholic formularies." So far as the church of Rome
has copied from the bible, or manifestly constructed her ser-
vices in accordance with the word of truth, the church of Eng-
,land has imitated her, rejecting only the straw and stubble of
her unscriptural superadditions.
A Protestant Layman. threatens Mr. Wtieill with a third let-
ter. I anticipate it will contain his farina! recantation of protes-
tantism, and an account of his cordial admission to the privi-
leges of the holy mother church. His extravagant eulogies of
popery justify me in thus expressing myself. But before I
have done with him, I will propose the following morsel of
logic for his digestion:—
The psalmist says, "Thou wilt not suffer thine holy one to
see corruption."

The church of Rome says that the bread and wine in the
eucharist, are converted into the body and blood of our saviour.
But the elements so asserted to be changed are liable to, and
do undergo the process of putrefaction.
Therefore the church of Rome contradicts the psalmist.
Let this be explained away, if possible, without having re-
course to metaphysical niceties about accidents, virtual sub-
stance, &c., which is done designedly to envelope the subject in
mystery.—l am, &c. CY Al 110.

THE SPANI.SH ExPEDiTioN.—A contemporary states that on
Saturday morning, Colonel Evans, in answer to a gentleman
who waited upon him to know his intentions with respect to his
seat in parliament, said, "t shall not resign; it is not neces-
sary I should do so, for I shall not quit the country just yet, and
before the next session I shall be back again. My constituents
will sustain no injury by any absence." Volunteers for Spain
are to apply to Colonel E vans, under whom the force is to act ye.