The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1851-02-18 00:00:00

Pell. 18, 1851.

CORRESPONDENCE.

PAPAL AGGRESSIONS.

iktTER 111.-THE CHURCH OP ENGLAND, IN ENGLAND

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.
Slit,.--A third point, much overlooked and undervalued
in the discussion on the Papal aggression, is the very pe-
culiar existence of the Church of England, in England.
Putting aside for the present her abstract excellence, and
hew she is interwoven with everything that is national—
Our history, our literature, and our habits,—let us alone
consider the reason and object of her institution.
She was not the building of any one man, or of any
human leader, like Arius, or Luther, or Wesley. The
entire nation assisted at ber birth, or rather at her chris-
tening ; for although we had a pure Christianit; amongst
it had been so debased since the coming of Augustine
that it could hardly be known to be a true Christianity,
until the nation at large, speaking by her Parliaments,
had set its, elf with zeal, assiduity, and genuine piety, to
carry ont the required Reformation. Our ancestors, at
this time, thought it no irreverence to deal with the
Church for the public good ; and our Churchmen, like
true and freeborn Englishmen, aided the laity, and took
that`lead in their own reform which is the most healthy of
all "aMeliorations. They laughed to scorn the opinions
and threats of " Ultramontanism," and brought to open
shame the errors and corruptions, which worldly men,
from worldly motives, had foisted 'upon the people under
the guise of religion. They cleansed the visible Church
:of all that was offensive in thcancient visible Church.
They did not rear a new fabric, but pulled down all that
Was unsound or unwarranted, so as to restore the edifice,
as near as might be, to its old and just proportions. They
claimed Christianity to be the foundation of our polity';
and exalted it (so to speak) and incorporated it with the
State and Crown of England.
Granted, that in these proceedings there was still a
dissatisfied minority who adhered to the ancient form and
belief, and that this minority still remains amongst-us ;
Yet, to permit a creed and practice in religion, which the
nation has formally abjured, by its legally-constituted
voice and authority, to-come back again—to re-admit the
diseased member, thus-cut off, to a place of eqnality and
honour with the healthy body—to render nugatory the
hard struggles of three generations of Englishmen—non
sine puivere, is assuredly the very bathos of legislation,
the foolscap of toleration. It is to make "an old alma-
nack" of our history; to paint all our solemn delibera-
tions as a farce
terea of our Parliaments, as a mere /ma" et prce-
to ni4il, a piece of ricketty vibration to laugh at. It is
dig up and expose to obloquy, rather than to respect
the charred ashes of our martyrs, and the memories of
the great and learned men who have adorned the Church
of England by their doctrines and their teaching. If we
are ready to destroy the work of our own' hands at the
bidding of a minority, who are weak in influence and cha-
racter whatever may be their numbers, notwithstanding
the successful resistance which we mnde to the same opi-
nions, when upheld by men of great and deserved respect,
even in their errors,—who will be found to respect our in-
stitutions or our name ?
What anti if at the period of the Reform Bill, we had
allowed the minority, who were not insignificant either
ill numbers or- consideration, to have altogether seceded
themselves
the law'they had opposed, and to have constituted
tnetnselYes a separate state, as The State, availing them:
selves of the ancient rights and privileges of Old Sarum
and Schedule A, to constitute a House of Commons of
ttbheir eir 'Own. :If, at the same time, without withdrawing
,apal allegiance fro the Svereign, they had in a true
spirit sought m out the representative of the royal
!louse of Stuart in some Italian prince, and professed a
tegislaticn for themselves without any interference with
those who preferred Manchester, Birmingham, and the
metropolitan boroughs.—would such state of things have
been any caricature of the Romanistherarchy, contend-
-IP,g with the Anglican in the same dioceses ? Are the
llowards or the Petres a whit more respectable for the
distinction. than'ehandos or Pelhati ? Is a Wiseman to
IT placed in any juxtaposition with a Peel ? or is anything
in the Romish Church to be compared with the good old
relish Constitution ? The law, in its letter, may, it is
ful guar the carelessness and gross negligence of unfaith-
dians, be in a condition to be despised ; but, in its
it must oppose the right of any minority to set a
bee,ority of a kingdom at defiance. ',Our governors may
bmtukewarrn in the cause, as it is apprehended they are
tizey dare not be passive. Our legislation must be
ite-P:cted, and must assert its supremacy ; and not permit
vi pin child to be cut in twain because another's lacks
bZitY• Let not our decrees be superseded or nullified,
tii-e`"use, instead of affecting our commerce or our finance,
are intimately connected with our religion ; with all
our most solemn duties ; with all our best motives in life, "uour best hopes in death.—l am, sir, &c.

A CHURCH OF E

LAND MAN,

THE DOCTRINE OF INTENTION.