The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1835-05-26 00:00:00

LITERATURE.

The British Magazine, for
,May. London :
,Rivington
and Co.

• -We take from this.excellent,publicatien the following
extract from an article on "Church Matters," at the
same time recommending the whole of it, and the con•
tents.of the magazine generally, .ta the attention of 'our
_readers:—
..j.,he people of England have a great matter to determine,
in'whieh right and equity are put out of the question, and the
. appeal is to power. 'the matter for decision may be very shortly
stated. Is it the wish of the people of England to retain -a
national church, which shall have dignity, influence, and weight;.
,pr to let worldly politicians strip it of dignity, influence, .and
weiglit, :reduce its. ministers to pensioned-paupers, and give the
luny, which anables them to promote the cause of religion
_apt charity, to any purposes which the caprice or the cry of the
moment may dictate ? Is it the wish of the people of England
,tp,see.the.national church plundered of it; property—to-day to
„promote .popery, to-morrow to promote education •without reli-
;mien, the thitrlT day:to supply the wants of this or that new insti-
Jetion„and the fourth, (it is Just possible, as experience sug-:
,grits,) to supply the .wants, not of the itodies;,hut of individuals!
,e-,-to,fnrnisll,an,estate to some illustrious house?
" Let it not be said, 'No such thing is proposed for England.
It is only for Ireland that it was. proposed one day to take a per-
.tion,of the church.prpperty, and divide it among all.sects;.and
,that thenext day, it was.resulved to alter the destination olthe
and
.giVe .it over ,to ,what is called general education.'
-.Wha.cati hedeceived such,ananswer ? What has the reso-
liition which is. Pecnliar torireland ? •The resolution is to-this
'sect, that whereas the chinch in Ireland 'has more than is
wanted to give a competent income to its tuinisters, the surplus
1:1ZI.11go (on one day), to all setts, (on the next) to general edu-
eatioo! What is there in this which is not just as applicable to
Scotland as to Ireland, or to England as either.? If this is
Carried into effect, as the new prime minister tells you. it shall,
it is-quitt clear that the. whole is done. Whenever the papist
-.• party, or the infidel party, or the radical party, are,pleased to
say, ,that £2OO per annum, or 490 per annum, or ..a.9 per
annum, or EIO per annum, is a.copepetence forttbe
clergy, this.resoltition devotes the rest of the church property
to popery, or infidelity, or ':rail-roads, or .private
Nay, we need not stop. to argue this. Let us bear .what Mr.
Fowell Buxton says, and thus hear, Out the extreme
nor the papist, nor the infidel, but one of a yen' common
very large efasS, of .'which the world is thought .too happy:to
possess so many, the acute, money-gettingmen, who respect all,
the decencies of life,
.and possess an
,earnest .care to religiOn,,
and who, in a word, contrive most successfully (in the estiina-,
tion of all the world) to servo 'God and mammon together.
This YerY respectable representative of ;this large anilyery; re-,
apectable elass tells you, in so many words, that he is not only;
ready, but most anxious, to apply this .prineiple.to .Englaqd,.
and 'wherever there is a non-resident clergyman, notjtoaansupel.
him or his successor to reside, and give their flock the spiritual
benefit of their Presence, and.the temporal advantage of haying
the inoue.y which accrues from Alm soil .spent among them, hut-
to
seize .fne,reyetthe of the Jiving .for. ever, and devote all he
yowl what the non-resident • gives to,his.deputy to the purposeS,
of education. This.respectable gentleman assures you, in the
spirit Andrwith the wisdom of the day, that the money, of which
they, whom he represents, are labouring to get alp that they
can, is-an exceedingly bad thing for the church, and that there
is no hope of the gospel .till the clergy are poor. Rich clergy
have been tried, and failed. The only.rernedy is.to.have them
poor—as unlike Mr. Fowell Buxton, in their outward condition,
at all events, as thev.can be. When, then, we know what the
papist party, and the infidel party, and. the radical party* mean,
and we .find that the •large and powerful class .of respectable
men, like Mr. Buxton, openly avow that they,. too, are ready-to
take.from the church all that can be wrung from it, after leaving
a .poer, and therefore pious, clergy the means of existence, the
cause need be argued no more. All is clear and plain. We
are come, in so many words,ao church robbery; and the simple
question is,---will the people permit this? 'Let them weigh
these plain statements.
To raise the cry of no popery, or the church in danger, is
denounced as the height of wickedness and folly. Let not
such wickedness and fully then be committed. But there can
be no barns in plainly stating plain facts. And no one can
deny that, at the demand of Mr O'Connell, the leader of .the
papist party, 4t .resolution has been passed to seize church pro-
perty. Far be it •frem any one to say that it is any triumph
for popery to have carried a resolution for seizing church pro-
perty. Far be it ,from any one to.say that seizing church pro-
perty,puts:thenational church in danger. But so it is, that the
papist party hare dictated to parliament a resolution to seize
chinch property, in order, as Lord John Russell says, to
strungtheu.pnitestantism, or, as Mr. Bitxtnti puts it, in his ex-
treme and pions horror of money, to fOrward the cause of the .
gospel. The question then, he it repeated, is,—do the people
oft England wish to see the church plu,edered by the papist, the
infidel, the -fanatic, or the radical, as this or that faction is
uppermost ?
"But again, hit there be no kind of debate or doubt as to
• what the papists mean, nei.as tO,the.reckless cruelty With which,
in their anticipation of a .triumph ,over the enemy wham they
hate, they intend to proceed. Mr. Sheil, one of the leading
Papists, aud one of the leoers of wilo,e4elleFl The
late
.o's:eau/lent, and support the new one, tgives optiee. of
notion ;to this effect, that in fottire every ,one who takes
seisicin L'ene.lee 'is tn:take it with an uricrei:standing
Ice yin 1;414 no.roin.penv.ation't-ilien it is _suppressed. 'l us, hn,i
ing,M; al. so:11ton
.0 take a snrplui, ift4ere is,ane, thepapists
are ,restsVuedan.inake a surplus, and begin Cenfiscationat
Beer j is, ye TaoteAtanlS, and doe tit as to what ia ,atieut. ,te
pen.! 4.)outit as to what is your (tete!"
thiog.ciiiiiiLue.uteeSsaiy to pzeye their inten!ions,l
the ,if,.rasai.*rcolees jt. Mbar paper says, in so many woid!, *at=
the vial* acef., rid .not. .or lie, establishment ‘.lt) CV
land ms thagilo‘iiiknce, auit.thatit ratist:he.abolished.''