The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1843-05-30 00:00:00

UNIVERSITY AND CLERICAL NEWS.

At a congregation holden at Oxford; on Friday, the fol-
lowing decrees were conferred :

BACHELORS IN DIVINITY.
Rev. Charles Rew, Fellow of St. John's College.
Rev. Henry Hemming, Fellow of St. John's College,
MASTERS OF AETS.

Philip Sankey, St. John's College.
Edward Wilberforce Unwin, Pembroke.
BACHELORS OF ARTS.

John Anlv Carr, New Inn Hall.
Arundel C. St. John Mildmay, Merton College.
Edmund Williams, Scholar of Corpus Christi College.
John Boyle, Balliol College.
John Morgan, Jesus College.
Rev. John Foster, St. Mary Hall.
Christopher Fripo George, St. Mary Hall.
Hon. Richard Godolphin Henry Hastings, University
College.
Henry William Beckwith, University College.
Frederic Boyd, University College.
Eneas William Mackintosh, University College.
William Miton, University College.
Thomas Bell, Exeter College.
Philip Francis Dart, Exeter College.
James Simpson, Exeter College.
Charles Fuge Lowder, Exeter College.
William Williamson Kerr, Oriel College.
Charles William Forbes, Oriel College.
Henry Longueville Mansel, Fellow of St. John's College.
Leopold John Bernays, Fellow of St. John's College.
John Baines, St. John's College.
Henry John Rush, Worcester College.

Rev. George Ludford Harvey, 8.A., formerly of Sidney
Sussex College, Cambridge, to the Rectory of Yate, Glouces-
tershire, vacant by the death of the Rev. W. S. Goodenough ;
patron, Lee Thornton, Esq.
Rev. John East, Curate of St. Michael's, Bath, to that
Rectory, which has been recently constituted a separate In-
cumbency, the same having been resigned by the Rector of
Bath.

_........
Rev. John Dunn, late Curate of Marva', to the Vicarage
of St. Eval, Cornwall, vacant by the death of the Rev. W.
Kitson ; patron, the Bishop of Exeter.

RITUAL OF METROPOLITAN CHURCHES

CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN THE CONGREGATION OF ST
PAUL'S CHAPEL AND THE BISHOP OF LONDON.
To the Right Rev. Father in God the Lord Bishop of

London.
My Lord,—The importance of the subject must plead our
apology for thus trespassing on your lordship's time and at-
tention. The undersigned form part of the congregation of
St. Paul's Chapel, under the ministry of the -Rev. J. H.
Gaunter, and it is with feelings of the deepest regret they
have been informed from the pulpit by their amiable and re-
spected pastor that he has received your lordship's COlDlontniq
to make certain alterations in the service, which are. at least,
novelties to us, and we may add would nave been so to our
fathers; nor can we forget that the service of our church we
have been accustomed to has received the sanction of episcopal
authority for several generations, and is in accordance with
what the Protestant Church of England has enjoined and
practised.
It is not necessary for us to particularise these novelties,
or to inquire whether at a remote period they were in use ; if
it be said they are trivial and of no moment we see less occa-
sion to harass our feelings, and to widen that schism which
your lordship need not be told bids fair to shake to its centre
the Church of England ; but, on the other hand, if these al-
terations in the service to which we have been accustomed be
important, we cannot disconnect them from those obnoxious
and insidious doctrines which have been promulgated in the
" Tracts for the Times," and which need not be said are em-
braced by a large portion of the clergy of the established

church.
We have been bred Protestants, and glory in the name,
which the writers of these tracts so unequivocally condemn,
and we further believe there is not, and cannot be, any rest-
ing place as it were between Protestantism and Popery.
As to the alterations your lordship has commanded to be
made, it is notorious that the episcopal bench is divided in
opinion, on the doctrines contained in the "Tracts for the
Times," and also as to the prudence and wisdom of making
any alterations, or introducing novelties into the service of
the church ; we need, on this point, only refer to the charge
of the Archbishop of Canterbury. • We have said, your
lordship has commanded these novelties in the church we
frequent : it is not improbable the next bishop who presides
over this diocese may be of a different opinion to your lord-
ship on this subject, and countermand the order now given ;
we cannot consent to hold one religious opinions on so solemn
a subject by such a tenure, and respectfully entreat your
lordship will allow the congregation of St. Paul's Chapel to
have the church service as preached to their fathers, without
mutilations or additions, which, though they may appear
trivial, the undersigned can only view as the insidious ad-
vances of those doctrines which they firmly and conscien-
tiously believe could only lead, if adopted and enforced, to
the re-establishment of Popery and the overthrow of the
Church of England.
We pray your lordship to avert the evil, and not increase
dissent and danger to that establishment which it is our wish
to honour and to belong to,—We have the honour to remain
your lordship's obedient servants,
[Signed by 73 of the congregation holding pews ,and
sittings in St. Paul's Chapel.

London House, May 24, 1843

Sir,—l have the honour to acknowledge the receipt of a
memorial addressed to me by yourself, and other members of
the congregation who attend Divine service in St. Paul's
Chapel, on the subject of certain alterations, made by ray
directions, in the mode of performing the church service.
Those alterations are not particularly specified; but I sup-
pose them be-1. The reading of the prayer for the church
miltant, as enjoined by the Rubric ; and 2. The giving out
of the singing psalms by the officiating clergyman.
With respect to the first of these charges, I beg to assure
the memorialists that I entirely concur with them in the
wish which they have expressed, that the service of the
Church should be read " without mutilation or addition ;"
and it is with a special reference to that object that I have
urged upon the clergy the duty of reading the prayer for the
church militant, which in many churches has never been dis-
continued, and which ought not to have been omitted in any,
when the communion service was read.

With respect to the second alteration, its advantage, in
point of propriety and decency, as well as of conformity to
the Rubric, is so obvious, while the change itself •is so very
trifling, that I nerd not offer any remark upon it.
Upon ihe whole, I trust that the memorialists will, upon
further reflection, recognise the duty of a compliance, on the
part of the clergy, with the plain directions of that law which
they have solemnly promised to observe.—l have the honour
to be, sir, your most obedient humble servant,
(Signed) C. J. LONDON.
Sir W. Baynes, Bart.
To the Right Rev. Father in God the Lord Bishop of
London.
My Lord,—The undersigned, on behalf of the congrega-
tion, have to acknowledge the honour of your lordship's
communication in reply to the memorial of the congregation
of St. Paul's Chapel. Your lordship adverts to two of the
alterations in the service of which we complain—viz., the
giving cut of the singing psalms by the officiating clergyman,
and the reading of the prayer for the church militant. The
order for the collections to be made from pew to pew, in-
stead of as before at the doors, the observance of saint days,
and the interdicting the hymn sung by the charity children
at the commencement of the service, all which we are in-
formed from the pulpit were included among the changes
made by your lordship's command, are not noticed.
With the exception of the command for collecting the alms
from pew to pew, which we believe would in practice have
been found to defeat its own purpose before, as we believe it
will effectually do at the present moment, we are free to ad-
mit the changes are trifling in the abstract, but connected as
they are with the tenets of the Tractarian school, and ap-
pearing at a time when their doctrines are spreading the
poison of discord where there was peace before, we cannot
but reiterate the repugnance we feel to their adoption.
The alarm, my lord, we feel on this subject, is not
assuaged (we look in the first instance to the heads of our
church for protection) by an examination of your lordship's
late charge to the clergy of the diocese, for we find in that
charge the praise and censure of the" Tracts for the Times,"
their authors, and the doctrines contained in them, to be so
nearly balanced, that we regret, painfully regret, to say we
rise from the subject with our minds perplexed.
We beg to call your lordship's attention to the painful
situation in which we, the congregation of St. Paul's Chapel,
are placed. Long previous to any commands on the subject
from your lordship, we had been warned by our respected
minister from the pulpit to beware of false doctrines end
false teachers, and of the adoption of forms and ceremonies.
which, though trifling in themselves, could be recognised
only nt the present moment as the symbol- of that party who
would join tradition to Scripture, proclaim the sacrifice of
.he mass, or something unintelligibly allied to it, sanction a
reserve in dispensing the Bible, and in a word, as they boldly
avow, unprotestantise this kingdom ; and we now find the
minister obliged to deviate from that form which has so lonz
received the sanction of episcopal authority, and adopt, as
we believe, against his own conviction, and ours also, what
he bad before taught us to avoid.
Can such a state of things, connected witlrour church,
long continue without alienating the affections of its members
and undermining its foundations ? We think not ; and most
earnestly do we entreat your lordship to pause ere it be too
lase. While other churches in this diocese were open to us,
we should have found, as some have found, in St. Paul's
Chapel a place of Protestant worship free from these innova-
tions, hut now that your lordship's commands are universal,
where arc we to turn ? We will not contemplate the reply
to such a question, and again most earnestly and respectfully
bring the subject before your lordship's serious attention, for
we conscientiously believe we speak the sentiments of thou-
sands, we may add tens of thousands, in the diocese of Lon-
don.—we have the honour to be, your lordship's most obe-
dient servants

[Signed by a portion of those whose names
were Affixed to the first letter on behalf
of the congregation.]

May 26, 1843

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INFLUENCE OF THE CHURCH

Within these few days a remarkable, and, says the John
Bull, as we think, most important disclosure has been made,
which emphatically warns us not to lower the position, abridge
the authority, or circumscribe the influence of the established
church ; a disclosure of such a character that we declare,
most solemnly, were all other reasons for making the church
the teacher of the people set aside, this alone would be suffi-
cient. We allude to the report which was read on Wednes-
day last, at the annual meeting of the " National Society for
promoting the Education of the Poor," his grace the Arch-
bishop of Canterbury in the chair. Those portions of the
report to which we allude are the following. Among other
particulars it stated—
"':hat events occurred in the course of last year (the dis-
turbances in the manufacturing districts,) which most alarm-
ingly directed public attention to the religious education of
the poor as the great and only safe bulwark of social order ;
that with a view to ascertain at such a crisis, howfar the in-
fluence of the church and:church schools had been beneficially
exerted in support of law and order, an inquiry was set on
toot by means of a circular. The number of answers received
was about 150, all from different writers, and all tending to
the same conclusion, namely that the effect of education,
whether in Sunday or daily schools, was salutary in prOpor-
tion to its completeness, and that whereever the means of
Church instruction was provided, there the efforts of the dis-
affected were least successful ; that in whatever districts
church principles predominated no outbreak took place, how-
ever grievous the privations of the people, except in cases
where the rightly disposed inhabitants were overpowered by
agitators from a distance.
This would be enough ; but this is not all. The report
goes on to quote several of these answers:—
" The incumbent of the district where the disturbances
originated declared that, as far as his observation extended,
not one churchman had taken part in the turn out, or had
at any time been concerned in any unlawful proceedings in
the neighbourhood. Several -.writers confirm this statement.
One of them declared that, although the turn out was com-
mencd a few miles from hi, o a single churchman had
taken an active part in promoting it. Another observed,
that not one parent of his church Sunday scholars, amount-
ing to 700, took any part in or was present at any of the
tumultuous meeting, which had been held in his parish. A
magistrate of Lancashire stated, that during the riots be
called a public meeting to consider the best plan for pre-
serving the public peace—that the church people universally
nttended it, and eheetitilly enrolled themselves as specitil
eartstaftte3, di dim did MI ivOicri 41 the !Wirth Aiinfihir
Moat lb It thnis,'