The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-04-08 00:00:00

of so monstrous and heaths

low our it

aracter as to unhal-
r .hares by it* con-
ernative would he to sever the cord which
two islands, nod rencedinz, if not a dis-
lea,t a distinct Parliament. leave them to
their own wills and consciences."

and to vo

binds closely it

tinct crow

Upon such reasoning as this we might as a na-
tion endow Mahomedanism, idolatry, or infidelity
itself, and yet he under no apprehension of the
Consequences of a violation of God's express com-
mands !

Our pamphleteer, however, is not content with
baying thrown overboard all acknowledgment of any

necessity of shaping our legislation in accordance
with the Divine Will ; hut proceeds to inform us
tint the Church of Rome is not an utterly apostate
church, and therefore may, even by statesmen who
admit such necessity, he safely and meritoriously
fostered. She holds, he says, the essential doc-
trines of Christianity, which our own Protestant
Church holds; and although " upon this substratum
of truth there is accumulated a mass of error and
Corruption, the fruit of mediaeval ignorance, as-
sumed infallibility, and zeal abused," still we are not
to set her down as "essentially anti-Christian," hut,
on the contrary, we are to give her increased power
to propagate her admitted error and corruption.
Strange logic enough! But the following plea in
behalf of the practices of Rome is still more so,
coming as it does from a clergyman of the Church
Of England, whose articles and liturgy directly cha-
racterise a portion of those practices as idolatrous.
" I believe it to be just metaphysically pnAgible for men
to use crosses. pictures, and imaces, in order to rouse the
memory or imagination. and to touch the heart with de-
votion ; yet to refrain from reeardine them with any idol-
atrous feeling. At the same time. I arknowledee it to be
unlikely, that the mere multitude will, for any leneth of
Cole. observe this distinction; and there is no doubt that
such symbols or means of excitement have often been
practically abused. While, therefore. this unlikelihood
would make me refrain, and adyi.e others within the little
sphere of my influence to refrain, on grounds of Christian
prudence, from •

istrurnonta so danyerous. the possihi'l'Y
of their innocent u'e would alloolotely impel me to re-
frain, on grounds of Cbri,tian charity, from enndemnine
those who profess to use them with spiritual arlyantace."
So we are justified in breaking even the Com-
mandments themselves, if we do so in order to work
Out some spiritual advantage !" It is " metaphy-
fitcally possible" for men to how down to images, in
order only to " rouse the memory or the imagina-
tion," although the practice is one of admitted dan-
ger in its consequences; and yet we ate to dissemi-
nate that practice, and, " on grounds of Christian
charity," to refrain from condemning those who nse
?t, and against whom God himself has hurled his
anathema! Why adultery, theft, and even murder
itself, upon this principle should be dealt with ten-
derly, and with the same Christian charity, if those
committing such crimes could only have the hardi-
hood to " profess to commit them for spiritual ad-
vantage"'
Nor

is the writer altogether without a sense of
the dilemma into which the line of reasoning which
be has adopted would lead him; for at the close of
the pamphlet we find him thus attempting to extri-
cate himself from it :

" If indeed we were required to act on abstract princi-
ples, and carry out the above course of argument to what
Fume persons will consider its proper eorisequence, namely,
the entire establishment of the Romigh instead of the
Reformed Church, we might naturally shrink back in
alarm. Ther. would be grace reasons; such as the ws-
session by Protestant proprietors of the !and from which
the tithes are derived ; the breach of faith we should per-
petuate towards the Protestants of Ireland, who have
certainly claims on our snonort ; and the chance of a dan-
gerous reaction npon the Established Church in England ;
why we should refuse to carry out a principle which would
only be just and necessary. supposing the whole population
of Ireland were unanimous in their adherence to Rome."

What, however, is any course of argument worth
•which cannot be carried out to its proper and ob-
vious consequence ? If we take " abstract princi-
ples" as the basis of our legislation ; if we take expe-
diency and temporary utility as our guide, throwing
aside altogether the authority of revelation, we need
not wonder to what strange and startling inconsis-
tencies of conduct we are brought.
We set out at the commencement of these few re-
marks with intimating that the pamphlet before us
was only worthy of notice as reflecting the views of
e portion of self-styled Conservatives. Of the utter
failure of the writer in his attempt to grapple with
the propositions of Mr. M`Neile we think we have
said and quoted enough to shew. The attempt, in-
deed, to defend the ministerial policy upon grounds
consistent with a recognition of the authority of
-God's word, can scarcely be said to have been se-
riously made; and mark how lamentably the writer
flounders in the effort to reconcile the teaching of
Revelation with his favourite " abstract principles"!
A layman might possibly have been successful in
vindicating expediency. He could have pooh-poohed
ail reference to scriptural command as the guide of
nations as bigotry and, to use the expression of Mr.
Williams, mediaeval darkness. Such a man would