The Wheeling daily register. [volume] (Wheeling, W. Va.) 1864-1878, 1871-10-31

well as beyond their limits, show tina
there is nothing to which our fallen ma
ture is more fearfully inclined than thu
worship of the creature rather than tn.
Creator. And this propensity to evil
has always found its most attractive
Development in q sensuous disposition
70 deity and adore the tenderness and
love Of womanhood." The error Of
which we speak has arisen chiefly from
this propensity of our nature, and il
found its apology in perverted view o!
the veneration due to her whom "all
generations are to "call blessed"
There is no Gin more continuously and
decisively marked by the signal dis
pleasure Of God than that OF idolatry
in It's manifold varieties. Hence,
although we do not anticipate general
prevalence Of tendencies u Mariolatry,
which some have done go much to en-
courage, we nevertheless feel that the
slightest indication demands our ilnmedi'
ate and decided Reproduction. The bare
suggestion that the intercession Of the
Virgin Mary, or any other Saint, is in
any way to be sought in our approaches
to the Throne Of Grace. is an indignity
10 the One only mediator and interces.
sor which we, His Apostolic witnesses,
cannot too strongly nor distinctly for
bid in His holy and all-efficient name.
DEPARTURE FROM THE LITURGY.
As fostering tendencies of what we
regret to see any tokens among us, we
must not fail to point out the danger
arising from devotional and doctrinal
books, alien in their character to the
whole spirit of our liturgy, which have
OF late years been insidiously multiplied
in England and America. Such works
are chiefly borrowed from sources con-
fessedly hostile to our communion, and
only to weaken and undermine the
loyalty Of our people, and especially Of
oursyouth, to the primitive faith and wor-
ship Of our church. Moreover, let it be
borne in mind that the rare treasury of
our own devotional authors is full ofall
things that minister to edifcation, while
the inspired Psalter and other Holy
Scriptures, too little studied by most Of
us in this age of hurry and unrest. leave
wholly ,oithom excuse this disposition to
seek such aids as we here pointedly
condemn.
The books just mentioned are not the
only ones against which our people must
be warned. Publications are scattered
through our parishes, the whole aim Of
which is to undermine the legitimate
authority OF the chief pastors Of the
church. to inculcate irreverence, to stir
up strife, to excite suspicion, to advocate
"the factions maintenance Of groundless
opinions" to lead to division or schism.
1t was the solemn counsel Of St. Paul
to mark those that cause divisions" in
the church, and TO avoid them and their
teachers.
Nothing is more unreal than the pop
ular idea that our church is q middle
way, deliberately contrived as a compro'
mise between opposing systems. But
in the nature Of things, as a witness TO
primitive truth, she is always the sub
ject, as was the church in the days of
the Apostles, to opposing lines ofassault.
On the one side is the temper OF the
Jew, and on the other that Of the
Greeks. Our conflict on tn eright hand
and on the left is and must. continue to
be with superstition, lawlessness, irrev-
erence and unbelief.
Now, though little alarm is felt in
view OF disposition on the part of some
to detract from the testimony which we
are ever to bear to the faith once de-
livered to the saints" and it not to
mutilate, yet to fall below the language
OF our liturgy, and to undervalue its
doctrinal teachings, we must never
forget that the peculiar dangers are
those of irreverence, lawlessness and
unbelief, and that all such detractions
minister directly to the worst influences
Of the irreligion that cloaks itself in
pretenses of science falsely so called. "
Their negative character, indeed, &C
counts for the fact already noticed that
errors in this direction excite little
anxiety, and the habits OF our people,
formed necessarily under the imperfect
miuistrations of our ecclesiastical non
age, are naturally the reverse Of sensl-
tive to omissions and neglect in carry,
ing out the system of the Book Of
Common Prayer. But, with increase
Of opportunities and OF ministers. these
things are less excusable. We hold
that, if nothing more than what is
clearly viudicated by our rubrics is to
be permitted in one direction, we are
bound in the veriest justice to condemn
any counterpart Opposition to diminish
in any manner from their prescriptions
az to order and worship.
IRREvERESCE AND LAwLEsSNEss.
These crying evils OF irreverence and
lawlessness are setting in through many
currents and from opposing quarters
they are, in truth, 40 closely connected
and so invariably 90 hand-in-hand that
they may well be spoken OF together.
The irreverence which lightly esteems
holy mysteries leads directly to lawless
violations Of the order Of their admins
tration; the irreverence which scorns
the due authority ofthose whom Christ
has sent for the government OF the
church leads as directlyto open disobedi-
ence and the reception Of solemn vows
and binding obligations. "Despising
dominion" and speaking i'll of digni-
ties" are counted in Holy Scripture as
sins Of no ordinary magnitude; and
they are not less sins to-day than they
were in the apostolic age.
Cultivate, then, beloved in the daily
walk Of your Christian life, in your
houses and by your firesides, above all,
in the Temple OF God, where His holy
name is worshiped-such a spirit of
reverence as shall manifest itself in word
and act, and such temper OF submits
sion and obedience to what is duly or
Io;naJ q nj Amounted as NAV make for