The Liverpool Standard, and General Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1854-07-25 00:00:00

TO THE EDITOR OF THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD

Stn,—Some apology would seem to be due, both to
yourself and to your readers, for continuing to comment
so long after date upon the speeches delivered at the last
meeting of " the Working Men's Church Association ;"
and, had it been possible, I would gladly have concluded
in a single letter, while the matters treated of were fresh
in the public mind. But that was impossible : and equally
impossible to permit such attacks as we " Tractarians"
were then subjected to, to go unnoticed. I proceed, then,
to the remainder of the speech delivered by Mr. Pollock.
The defence which he made of the course pursued by the
Bishop with reference to " the proposed Free Church," I
pass over, as not wishing even to appear to attack my
spiritual superior ' • only observing that, if the language
which he put into the Bishop's mouth—" I will not have,
under certain circumstances, the peace of the Church
broken, if I can avoid it, in this part of my diocese"—if,
I say, this really sets forth the motive upon which the
Bishop has acted, he will, I fear, find himself grievously
disappointed by the result. Peace is not to be, and shall
not be, attained in the Church by forcibly suppressing the
honest endeavours of those who would fain present to the
people the Church's system in its entirety. Mr. Pollock
next, after commending the course pursued by the Bishop
in this matter, after declaring " we 'ought all to thank
him most heartily, and to say, You have done your duty,"
goes on, with wondrous consistency, to express his own
approval of each separate feature of the plan proposed by
the promoters of the Church in question ! Of daily
prayers and weekly Communion he says, " God speed the
work !" If thirty people in his own district wished for
them, they should have them ; though he forgot to say
why three have not just as good a right to them ' • and, as
regards the daily service, he forgot that the Church re-
quires him to say it privately, if he cannot succeed iu
inducing two or three to join him. However, he• approves
of these things. He even asserted that "we cannot too
often celebrate together the feast of the Holy Communion
of the body and blood of Christ." Why, then, I ask, does
he not endeavour to bring his people to a like mind on
these points ? He is popular among them ; and it is in-
credible that his efforts should not be crowned with Dome
success ; that none should be brought to regard frequent
public prayer and Communion in the same light as him-
self. But, "if we have not these things," he continued,
"it is simply from the circumstances of the times, from
the pressure of other duties, and from the fact that every
man, and even woman, at present is so incessantly occu-
pied. We are all working-at such a high pressure, that
really people have no longer, as it were, an opportunity of
going together into onrchurches." In other words, the
age is so intensely worldly, every one is so bent upon
pleasure or temporal profit, that religion is thrust into a
corner, except for a few hours upon one day in seven ;
and thousands make precisely the same excuse for ignoring
it even on that. So far as all this is true, so far is it
the duty of the Church to protest against it ; so far is it
the duty of the Church's ministers to endeavour, by an
means, to bring about a reformation, by inducing their
people to give the first place to religion, and to lawful'
business or pleasure the second' ; or rather to show them:
how- religion, while it ought to take visible precedence,.
should pervade and sanctify every act of their life. And
if the world persist in altering its hours of business or re-
fection, then is it the duty of the Church to alter her
hours of worship, and so still hinder the one to clash with
the other. But Mr. Pollock's representation is only par,
tially true, for there are hundreds in all ranks who have
ample' time to avail themselves of the Church's services
without interfering with any ordinary occupation of busi-
ness or pleasure, and a few at least who would gladly do
so were the opportunity offered. Under any circumstances,
there can be no good ground for withholding from our
people' the opportunity of communicating weekly. The
great practical difficulty which stands in the way of a
revival in this respect is the- inordinate length to which
most of our popular preachers extend their sermons. A
little self-denial of the caeoethes loquendi, and the exci-
sion of two or three unauthorised hymns, would enable
them, to have a weekly celebration without any perceptible
addition to the length of the morning service.

But how could IV-Ir. Pollock approe at the sometime
both the Bishop's veto upon the proposed church, and each
separate feature of the plan brought forward by its pro-
moters ? Surely there is an inconsistency here. Nothing
of the kind. By a peculiarly Christian process of ratioci-
nation, he had convinced himself, and endeavoured to con-
vince his auditors, that the clergy, when appointed to the
otn. h whcf. DOSSibly do some very naughty ,
things. He had heard that some of our clergymen in
Liverpool" had. pinned a print of the crucifixion on the
curtains of a dying man's bed. No matter that this
involved two misstatements he had heard it, and how
could he tell but that the clergy of the new church might
do the same ? "Another thing which may, perhaps, be
wished for is auricular confession." He had not heard of
anything of this kind in Liverpool ; but what then ? He
had only to go to Plymouth, and what had been done
there might be done here. And, lastly, a Liverpool
clergyman had told " a most intelligent and dear friend"
of his, that the Prayer-Book calls matrimony a sacrament,
and that he objected to two clergymen officiating at a
marriage, because in the administration of such a sacra-
ment one is enough ! True, it turns out, the clergyman
in question never made the former assertion (which no
one can vouch for with more certainty than the writer),
and that the " most intelligent and dear friend" never
even charged him with the latter. But no matter : the
tale was equally well adapted to engender a pious and
wholesome fear of what might possibly be taught, and
consequently answered Mr. Pollock's purpose every whit
as well as if it had been true.
But I have a word or two more to say upon these three
points ; and first, with regard to pinning a print of the
crucifixion to the curtains of a sick man's bed. Where is
Mr. Pollock's authority for condemning such a proceed-
ing ? He can produce none, and he knows it. Neither
canon nor article can be found to his purpose. Were such
a thing put up, and the sick man urged to worship it in
any sense or in any degree, we should want neither canon
nor article to justify its condemnation. Scripture alone
would suffice to condemn the whole procedure. But what
Mr. Pollock asserts .to have been done Scripture does not
condemn, neither does the Church ; and it is intolerable
that he should erect his private puritanical fancies and
prejudices into a standard, and endeavour to excite odium
against his brethren because they do not happen to con-
form to it. I have never used religious prints myself in
the manner alleged, because I have never been able to
afford them ; but I gladly would do so if I could. To a
sick person, unable to read, I see not why they should not
afford assistance similar in kind, though different in
degree, to that afforded by the Bible to those who can
read—that is, by bringing certain Scripture narratives
before the mind, and enabling it.to dwell upon them. It
is quite conceivable that in such cases they might be
useful ; and if the Anglican Church has condemned or
forbidden such use of them, I am very greatly mistaken,
and shall be glad to be set right.
Again, I would ask, when or where has the Anglican
Church forbidden confession ? She has not only not for-
bidden, but in certain cases she has recommended it, and
Mr. Pollock must know this. In this she may be right or
wrong; but this is not the question. Her most faithful
and consistent sons, from the Reformation downwards,
have deemed her right, and he may eat her bread and at
the same time deem her wrong ; but let him not denounce
as unfaithful those of his brethren who, while they have
the misfortune to differ from him, have the Church unmis-
takeably on their side. And why did he speak of
auricular confession ? Merely because he knew that his
audience would connect this epithet with something
Romish ; and yet he knows that auricular confession is
neither more nor less than confession made by word of
mouth, and heard by him to whom it is made—confession
such as is recommended in the exhortation in the Com-
munion office, and in the " Service for the Visitation of
the Sick." . .

I would mention, as a singular fact, that Puritans cannot
allude to this subject of confession but their imagination
must straightway run riot in sins connected with the
seventh commandment ; and more nastiness connected
with this subject has been brought forward by them upon
public platforms within the last few years than has been
listened to by all the priests of the Anglican Chutch in
the same period. I would ask Mr. Pollock a simple ques-
tion. If one troubled in conscience on account of sin,
comes to me for " the benefit of absolution, together with
ghostly counsel and advice," what right have I to prohibit
him or her to speak of any one particular class of sins of
which he or she may have been guilty ? If he is so un-
accustomed to visit what Dr. Wiseman calls the back
, slums as not to know it, I can, from painful experience,
tell him that vast numbers may be found, whose moral
sense is so utterly blunted that it is necessary to enter
with them upon subjects of the most painful nature, and
that without any confession upon their part. And nothing,
to my mind, more completely justified the accused clergy-
man in the Plymouth enquiry than the proof which was
given, that the sins confessed to him were of an almost
unheard-of character. All honour to his noble-hearted
bishop, who did not fear, in spite of popular clamour and
prejudice, to uphold him in the faithful discharge of his
duty ! It will be recollected that the Puritan party here
held a public meeting at the Amphitheatre upon this in-
delicate subject, and forwarded an address to the Bishop
of Chester ; and I do not think that the public have ever
been informed what answer they received.
It has often been asserted that the Puritan party, as a
body, are excessively ignorant; and that a good divinity
training generally makes a man a good Churchman : and
certainly, so far as Mr. Pollock individually is concerned,
the former of these assertions would seem to be borne out
by the horror which he evinced at hearing matrimony
called a sacrament ; for this horror he could not honestly
have manifested had he been tolerably acquainted with the
writings (I say not of ancient, but) even of post-reforma-
tion divines. Not only the Homilies directly, and the
Articles indirectly, admit more than two Sacraments ;
but Cranmer, Taylor, Seeker, Overall, Mason, Calvin, and
the Confession of Augsburgh and its Apology, besides a
host of other authorities, might be cited to the same effect.
And now, Sir, I have done with the meeting at St.
James's school-room, and am perfectly ready to comment
upon any future proceedings of the same kind if the pa‘rty
please to give me an opportunity. Hitherto we have
submitted to Puritan aftacks with contempt : for the
future we will try, whether the love of fair play, prover-
bially attributed to an English public, will give us a fair
hearing and do us justice.
I am, Sir, &c.,

K, MA.CIiENZIE PUGIIE

Liverpool, July 20th, 1861

ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCR,

PREFERMENTS AND APPOINTMENTS

Rev. J. Bedingfield, M.A., Rector of Bedingfield, near Eye,
to the Rural Deanery of Hoxne.

- ---....
Rev. J. B. Burne,, 8.A., to the Perpetual Curacy of Alder.
maston,Berks.

Rev. E. F. Cla) ton, to the Curacy of Stapleton, Lear Bristol.
Rev. T. H. Clark, M.A., to the Curacy of Tidenham, Glou
cestershire.

Rev. J. B. Cobham, M.A., to the Rectory of Dingley,
Northamptonshire.

Rev. W. J. Dampier, 51. A., Vicar of Coggeshall, Essex, to
be a Surrogate.

Rev. H. Hardy. M.A., Curate of Jurby, Isle of Man, to be
Diocesan Inspector of Schools in the Diocese of Sodor and
Man.

Rey. R. Harrison, 8.A., to the Curacy of Christchurch
Bristol.

Rev. J. Haskoll, M.A., to the Rectory of East Barkwith,
Lincolnshire.

Rev. J. R. Hogg, M.A., Incumbent of Lower Brixham, to
be Secretary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel
in Foreign Parts for the Arclideaconry of Totness.
Rev. R. W. T. Hunt, M.A., to the Rectory of Ryton, near
Presteign, Herefordshire.

,
Rev. W. Jackson, M.A , Curate of Hurstnaonceaux, to be
Secretary for the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in
Foreign Parts for the Archdeaconry of Lewes.
Rev. E. J. Jonas, late Incumbent of St. Kiaran's, Camp-
heltowa, to be Curate of St. John's Church, Greenock, in the
Diocese of Glasgow and Galloway.

Rev. W. Jones, M.A., to the Rectory of Bedwas, with the
Incumbency of Ruddry annexed, near Caerphilly, Mon,
mouthshire.

Rev. H. W. Long, 8.A., to the Rectory of Hilperton, near
Trowbridge.

Rev. JAleredith, M.A., Vicar of Abergele, Denbighshire,
to the Rural Deanery of Rhos.
Rev. H. D. Millen, M.A., Third Master of the Collegiate
School, Leicester, to be Chaplain to the Blahy Union.
Rev. G. Morgan, M.A., Curate of St. Paul's Church, Poole,
Dorset, to the Incumbency of that parish.
- -

Rev.',A7. Mears, 8.A., to the Curdcy of Burstow, Surrey.
Rev. C. H. Newmarch, to the Curacy of Brockworth, Glou-
cestershire.

Rev. S. A. Pears, 8.0., one of the Assistant Masters of
Harrow School, to the Head Mastership of Reptor! School:.

Rev. C. 13. Penrice, to the Rectory 01-Bracon Ash, Norfolk.
Rev. E. 0. Phillips, M.A., to the Wardenship of the Llan-
dowry Institution, Carmarthenshire. _

Rei. R. Smith, M.A., to the Vicarage of Kirkby Fleetham,
Yorkshire.

Rev. H. Twells, M.A., St. Peter's College, Cambridge, to
the Mastership of St. Andrew's House, Mells, Somerset.
Rev. F. Young, 8.A., to the Curacy of St. Paul's Church,
Ball's-pond, Islington.

DIOCESE OF CHESTER.
PREVEUMENTS.—The Rev. John Blucher Wheeler has

been instituted, by the Bishop, to the Rectory of Coppen-
hall, in the county of Chester, void by the death of the
Rev. John Cooper, on the presentation of the Lord Bishop
of Lichfield,. the Patron. Value £216, with a house.—
The Rev. Robert Curteis Hubbersty has been licensed, by
the Bishop, to the Perpetual Curacy of Cartmel, in the
county of Lancaster, void by the resignation of the Rev.
Thomas Remington, on the nomination. of the Right Hon.
William, Earl of Burlington.—The Rev. Edmund Edwards
Allen has been instituted, by the Bishop, to the Vicarage
of Millom, in the county of Cumberland, void by the
death of the Rev. H. Pickthall, on the presentation of the
Queen, Patron in right of her Duchy of Lancaster. Value
£lB9, with a house:

ORDINATION.—The Bishop of Chester will hold his
next Ordination at Chester, on Sunday, the 2Ath Sept.
nest.

CONSECEA.TIONS—MarpIe.:7The Piece of Land re-
cently added to the Churchyard of Marple, near Stockport,
in the county of Chester, is to be consecrated, by the
Bishop, on Friday next, the 28th inst., at one o'clock.
Mee, Cheshire.—The Church of Lice, which has been
entirely rebuilt, will be consecrated, by the Bishop, on
the 15th of August, together with the addition to the
Churchyard.

THE WIGAN CHURCIC-RATE.—The opponents of church-
rates at Wigan have triumphed. It will be remembered
that when he was defeated by a show of hands at the vestry
meeting, the Hon. Mr. Lindsay demanded a poll, but, late
on Saturday night week, a placard appeared, announcing,
on the authority of the rector, the withdrawal, by Mr.
Lindsay, of his motion, for the adoption of a church-rate,
and signifying that therefore no such rate will be• laid.
SENTENCE IN TIDE ST. SIDWELL'S "CREDENCE
TABLE" CASE.—The Rev. Chancellor Martin delivered
judgment in this case on Friday. He said that the defen-
dant, Mr. Palk, was clearly in the wrong, as he himself
had admitted, and admonished him not to commit the
like offence again. The costs were ordered to be divided
between the incumbent and the defendant. No order was
made as to the restoration of the table.
BISHOPRIC or THE. MAITRITIITS.—The Queen has been
graciously pleased to sanction the erection of the Mauritius
and its dependencies, including, probably, the Seychelles,
into a separate diocese. The Society for the Propagation
of the Gospel has appropriated the sum of £3,000 out of
its Jubilee fund towards the endowment ; and the Society
for Promoting Christian Knowledge has voted a grant of
£2,000. The name of the Rev. Vincent Ryan, principal
of the metropolitan institution at Highbury, is announced
as being destined to be the first bishop.
CANADA.—The Toronto Chronicle contains an appeal
to the Churchmen of the province to return at the next
election members. opposed to the secularization of the
Clergy reserves, and. a petition from " the Bishop, Clergy,
and Laity of the Diocese of Quebec, met together in Con-
ference," protesting against the measure in question, and
setting forth other grievances to which the Church in
Canada is subjected.

NEW Bisnornic IN AtTSTRALIA.—The Society for the
Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts has contri-
buted the sum. of £3,000, and the Society for Promoting
Christian Knowledge will at its meeting in October grant
£2,000 towards the immediate establishment of a Bishop-
ric of Perth in Western Australia, the extensive See of
Adelaide being subdivided for that purpose. The sanction
of Her Majesty's Government to the formation of the new
diocese has been obtained,

TESTIMONIAL TO THE REV. WILLIAM QUESETT.—The
Earl of Aberdeen having appointed the Rev. William
Quekett, M.A. (incumbent of Christ Church, St. George's
East), rector of Warrington, Lancashire, a numerous
meeting of his friends was held on Mondaiv last week, at
the schools in Johnson-street, to witness the presentation
of a candelabrum of silver, bearing the following inscrip-
tion—viz., "Presented to the Rev. Willi= Quekett,
incumbent of Christ Church, St. George's East, by many
of his. congregation and parishioners, as a memorial of the
sincere attachment of those to whom he had endeared
himself through a faithful ministry of 24 years, upon his
preferment to the rectory of Warrington, Lancashire,
July, 1854." The rev. gentleman feelingly returned
thanks after the presentation for the additional mark of
respect and regard which had been evinced towards him
on vacating the sphere of usefulness in which he had
successfully laboured for nearly a quarter of a century.

WARMING AND VENTILATION 07 CHURCHES.—TO
warm and ventilate has ever been a great difficulty,
because the two seem incompatible. But, as regards
churches, the difficulty is not so great ; because the
church is not, or at least ought not to be, occupied by the
congregation for more than two hours, and less than that
would be better. To warm is the main question ;to
ventilate is easy. The church should not be warmed by
stoves inside the church, but by some apparatus that
would diffuse warmth over the whole building, and of
sufficient power to raise the temperature to 62 degrees ;
and this should be watched by the wardens, and not left
to the church servants. The doors should be double,
about 6 or 10 feet apart, with springs ; so that when the
inner door is open, the outer door shall be shut, thus
keeping out a great rush of cold air, upon the principle of
lock-gates, keeping back the main body of the stream.
All the windows should be close ; but the church should
be lofty, so that the foul air that would accumulate
during two hours should not be sufficient to be offensive, and
from the roof I would have means of clearing off the bad
air between the services. By this means warmth would
be secured, draughts prevented, and the ventilation would
be sufficient—Builder.

THE NEW BISITOP OP SODOR AND MAN.—In conse-
quence of the Hon. and Rev. Horace Powys, for twenty-
three years past the rector of Warrington, having been
appointed to the vacant bishopric of Sodor and Man, on
Thursday, between 300 and 400 of his parishioners assem-
bled in the upper room of St. Elphin's schools, adjacent
to the parish church, to make a presentation of plate to
him, as a token of their esteem and high regard for his
services during the long period he had resided amongst
them. The presentation consisted of four silver corner
dishes, and an elaborately-wrought silver salver, made by
Mr. Mayer, of Liverpool, at a cost of upwards of £l5O.
On each of the dishes and on the salver there was en-
graved the arms of the Bishop of Sodor and Man, im-
paling the family arms of the Hon. and Rev. Horace
Powys, and in the centre of the salver there was engraved
the following inscription :—" Presented to the Honourable
and Rev. Horace Powys, D.D., Rector of Warrington, in
token of the esteem and attachment of his parishioners at
the close of his earnest labours for their spiritual welfare,
on the occasion of his elevation to the bishopric of Sodor
and Man." Mr. S. Hill, the senior churchwarden, was
called on to preside, and amongst those present were Mr.
Gilbert Greenall, the member for the borough ; Mr. Peter
Rylands, Mayor of Warrington; Mr. Perrin, deputy-
mayor • Mr. J. F. Marsh, town-clerk ; Mr. J. Nicholson,
Mr. Reynold, Mr. Isaac Picton, Mr. Owen, Mr. Goulden,
&c. The presentation was made by the Mayor of War-
rington, after which the Rev. H. Powys acknowledged the
compliment paid him in suitable terms. Dr. Powys will
be consecrated in York cathedral, this day (Tuesday), the
festival of St. James. His Grace the Archbishop of York,
assisted by the Bishop of Manchester and probably the
Bishop of Ripon, will perform the sacred rite.