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to furnish remunerative employment upon the land to those who cannot obtain work in the mill or the factory , a terrible fate will that of industrial England be when the crisis comes from an overstimulated material civilization acting upon the remnants of antique feudalism ! Little do the advocates of " improved machinery" and the " industrial energy of the country " imagine how inevitably they are hastening the break-up of that society which they think it profanation to touch with the unsacred hand of criticism !
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THE BISHOP OF LONDON'S CHARGE . The Bishop of London delivered the charge to the clergymen of his diocese in St . Paul ' s Cathedral , on Saturday . After a long dissertation , upon the Gorham controversy , he -went on to say that there was no need of any fresh synodical declaration on the subject of baptism . Were any such attempt made he much feared that it would open the door for an endeavour to tamper with the Book of Common Prayer . Already a proposal had been made by certain individuals to expunge the Athanasian Creed ,
the assertion of baptismal regeneration , and some of the rubrics in the office for the Holy Communion . He adverted to the secessions to Rome which have lately taken place , denied that the Gorham decision furnished any excuse for the step the seceders had taken , and ascribed the movement rather lo the doings of the Puseyites in the Established Church . Turning from the superstitious side of public opinion , the bishop warned his hearers against a much more dangerous antagonist of the church—the spirit of free enquiry : —
" While we are looking to the dangers which impend over us in one quarter , let us not close our eyes to those which threaten us from another . A natural principle of antagonism in th « 5 human mind makes it probable that some , who fly off from Popery , will traverse the entire diameter of the rational sphere , and be landed on the antipodes of infidelity . I would desire you to consider whether some of those persons who are disgusted with the departures now too common from the soberness and simplicity of our devotional offices , and with the exaggerated notions which are insisted on as to the authority of the priestly office , are not too likely to take refuge , not in Low Church doctrine , as the term is but in the boundless of
commonly understood , expanse Latitudinarianism , a sea without a shore , and with no pole-star to guide those who embark on it but the uncertain light of human Teason . I cannot but think that we have more to apprehend from the theology of Germany than from that of Rome ; from that which deifies human reason than from that which seeks to blind or stifle it ; from a school which labours to reconcile Christianity with its own philosophy , by stripping the Gospel of all its characteristic features , and reducing it to the level of human systems , than from a church which rejects and condemns even the soundest conclusions of true philosophy when they are at variance with the determinations of its own presumed infallibility . The
theology , if it deserves the name , to which I allude , has been grafted upon , or grown out of the idealism of the German philosophers . It has exhibited symptoms of decline in its native soil , but 1 fear it is beginning to lay hold on the more practical mind of this country , and from it , in my judgment , more danger is to be apprehended , than from t / ie attemjyt to revive worn-out superstitions , and to shackle the understandings and consciences of memoith fetters which were broken and thrown off" at the Reformation . Morul evidence , historical testimony , inspiration , miracle , all that is objective in Christianity , in swept away by the writers of this school , its glory defaced , its living waters deprived of all their healing virtues by distillation in the alembic of rationalism .
11 , I fear that there are many persons who think that they may safely go to a certain length with these bold adventurers in theology without following them into all their extravagant speculations ; for instance , that they may deny the inspiration of Holy Scripture , as the Church understands it , without calling in question the evidences—that is , the historical evidences of Christianity ; that they may believe that Jesus Christ is the Son of Godand yet cast off what they term a
super-, stitious reverence for the text of the Bible . But 1 do not believe it to be possible for any one thus to undervalue and weaken the authority of the Apostles and Prophets , and so to undermine the foundations of his belief , without impairing : the soundness of the superstructure , and diluting his faith in Jesus Christ as his chief corner stone . To deny the inspiration of Scripture is one atop towards the rejection of the Gospel as a revelation from God .
" Against this fatal heresy I would earnestly caution my younger brethren , as being one from which , in the present state of the human mind , we have much more to fear than from the encroachments of Popery . Rationalism , as its name implies , referring everything to man ' s unaided reason as the ultimate test of truth , rlattera the pride of his nature , which is revolted by the humbling but consolatory doctrines of the Gospel . Popery offends and disgusts the understanding by inventions opposed alike to common sense and to the plain letter of Holy Scripture . The latter ninis at the complete subjugation of the intellect to the authority of the self-constituted Vicar of Christ ; the former asserts the tuipremacy and infallibity of reason . It is manifest that this is the most likely to find favour wit A a trained and scicntijic generation , while the former can rest its hope of general acceptance only on the ground of nn unenquiring
ignorance . The true safeguard and preservation from both extremes is to be found in the general diffusion of sound scriptural knowledge , by means of education—in a sedulous inculcation of the doctrines of our Reformed Church , as drawn from the inspired word of God , and in a firm adherence to the Creeds , and Liturgy , and Articles . If these be cast aside , or if , while they are subscribed to in the letter , they are understood and interpreted in a non-natural sense , so as to explain away , on one side , the fundamental
truths of Christianity , or , on the other , the distinctive doctrine of Protestantism , we shall soon be afloat in , a sea of error , drifting helplessly among the shoals and quicksands of heresy , old and new . The Church will no longer be an ark of safety ; its ministry will be a ministry not of peace but of confusion ; and what the results will be we may learn from the example of the continental churches , which are now reaping the bitter fruits of their defection from Catholic truth and order , and of their separation of religious from secular education . "
In the midst of so many evils there was , however , one subject of congratulation . Within the last ten years no less than fifteen bishops had been sent to distant lands , to preside over the distant branches of the Church . He then said a word or two regarding the establishment of Sisterhoods of Mercy , to which he was favourable , warned the clergy that if the education of the people was ever taken out of their hands , they would have themselves chiefly to blame , recommended them to prepare sermons and bibles for the immense influx of strangers in 1851 , and wound up by an exhortation to union and active exe rtion in all good works .
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THE CHURCHES MILITANT . The following letter has been addressed to the Bishop of Durham by Lord John Russell . It will be seen that the premier seizes the opportunity of giving the Puseyites a bit of his mind . From the tone of the letter it would almost seem as if Ministers intended to take some step in opposition to the Pope : — To the Right Reverend the Bishop of Dukham . My dear Lord , —I ajjree with you in considering " the late aggression of the Pope upon our Protestantism " ' * insolent and insidious , " and I therefore feel as indignant as you can do upon the subject .
I not only promoted to the utmost of my power the claims of the Roman Catholics to all civil rights , but I thought it right , and even desirable , that the ecclesiastical system of the Roman Catholics should be _ the means of giving instruction £ o the numerous Irish immigrants in London and elsewhere , who without such help would have been left in heathen ignorance . This might have been done , however , without any such innovation as that which we have now seen . It is impossible to confound the recent measures of the Pope with the division of Scotland into dioceses by the Episcopal Church , or the arrangement of districts in England by the Wesleyan Conference .
There is an assumption of power in all the documents which have come from Rome—a pretension to supremacy over the realm of England , and a claim to sole and undivided sway , which is inconsistent with the Queen ' s supremacy , with the rights of our bishops and clergy , and with the spiritual independence of the nation , as asserted even in Roman Catholic times . I confess , however , that my alarm is not equal to my indignation .
Even if it shall appear that the ministers and servants of the Pope in this country have not transgressed the law , I feel persuaded that we are strong enough to repel any outward attacks . The liberty of Protestantism has been enjoyed too long in England to allow of any successful attempt to impose a foreign yoke upon our minds and consciences . No foreign prince or potentate will be permitted to fasten his fetters upon a nation which has so long and so nobly vindicated its right to freedom of opinion , civil , political , and religious .
Upon this subject , then , I will only say that the present state of the law shall be carefully examined , and the propriety of adopting any proceedings with reference to the recent assumptions of power deliberately considered . There is a danger , however , which alarms me much more than any aggression of a foreign Sovereign . Clergymen of our own Church , who have subscribed the Thirty-nine Articles , and acknowledged in explicit terms the Queen ' s supremacy , have been the most
forward in leading their flocks , " step by step , to the very verge of the precipice . " The honour paid to saints , the claim of infallibility for the Church , the superstitious use of the sign of the cross , the muttering of the Liturgy so as to disguise the language in which it is written , the recommendation of auricular confession , and the administration of penance and absolution—all these things are pointed out by clergymen of the Church of Enulaiid as worthy of adoption , and are now openly reprehended by the Bishop of London in his charge to the clergy of his diocese .
What , then , is the danger to be apprehended from a foreign prince of no great power , compnred to the danger within the pates from the unworthy sons of the Church of England herself ? I have little hope that the propoundcrs and framers of these innovations will desist from their insidious course . But I rely with confidence on the People of Englund , and I will not bate a jot of heart or hope so long as the glorious principles and the immortal martyrs of the Reformation shall beheld in reverence by the great mass of a nation which looks with contempt on the mummeries of superstition , and with scorn at the laborious
endeavours which are now now making to confine the intellecf and enslave the soul . I remain , with great respect , & <• Downing street , Nov . 4 . j . Russell . A meeting of the clergy of the east-end of London not subject to archidiaoonal jurisdiction , -was held on Tuesday afternoon at the rectory , Stepney , in consequence of a requisition addressed to the Reverend R . Lee , rector of Stepney , by a considerable number of the clergy , when it was unanimously resolved : " That an address be presented to her Most Gracious Majesty , expressive of the feelings of strong indignation with which the recent act of the Bishop of Rome
is regarded , as a practical assumption of the royal prerogative of creating dignities within her Majesty's realm , —a virtual excommunication of her Majesty and all her Protestant subjects , —a subtle evasion of the laws , —an implied insult to the Parliament of this realm , —an ignoring of the episcopacy , —and a denial of the validity of the orders of the English Church ; and praying her Majesty to take such measures as to her wisdom shall seem good for restraining this Popish insolence , and checking this unwarrantable invasion . " Addresses of a similar purport were carried unanimously to the Archbishop of Canterbury and the Bishop of London .
A large meeting of the clergy and laity of the Church of England was held at the Liverpool Collegiate on Monday evening , the ostensible object of which was to aid the funds of St . Aidan ' s Theological College , at Birkenhead , and to extend its benefits to the population of Liverpool . The most prominent topic , however , was the recent " usurpation " or aggression on the part of the Church of Rome , and free expression was given to that strong Protestant feeling for which Liverpool has long been notorious . The chief speakers were , the Reverend Rector Campbell , the Marquis of Blandford , the Reverend W . Pollock , and Mr . T . B . Horsfall , all of
whom spoke strongly against the aggressive movement on the part of Pius the Ninth and Cardinal Wiseman . A meeting of the clergymen of Liverpool and the neighbourhood took place at the Savings Bank , on Tuesday afternoon , at which an address to the Bishop of Chester was adopted , protesting against the attempt of the Roman Catholics to take possession of England . The Reverend Hugh M'Neile said the Roman Catholics laughed at those who talked of bringing the strong arm of the law to bear upon upon them . They knew too well that *• our statutebook had been gradually denuded of those arch-Papal acts which would have enabled us to grapple with aa evil like the present . "
In Manchester the annual meeting of the Operative Protestant Association was held on Monday evening , when the Reverend Canon Stowell delivered an oration on the late proceedings of Pope Pius the Ninth . He contended that the promulgation of the bull issued by the Pope was a direct infringement of the law of the land : — " The act of the 9 th and 10 th of Victoria , c . GO , repealed certain acts passed in the reign of Glorious Queen Bess to keep the Papacy in check ; it also repealed an act of Elizabeth ' against the bringing in and putting in execution of bulls , writings , instruments , and documents , and other superstitious things from the Bishop of Rome , ' so far only as the penalties therein mentioned , which
were pains and punishments as for high treason ( and , therefore , nothing less than death ) . But what did it leave enacted ? Why , these were the words : — ' but it is hereby declared that nothing in this enactment contained shall authorize or render it lawful for any person or persons to import , bring in , or put in execution within this realm any such bulls , wrivings , or instruments , and that in all respects , save as to penalties and punishments , the law shall continue the same as though this enactment had not been made . ' ( Cheers . )
Here was an act made in 1846 which distinctly declared it to be unlawful for any person or persons to bring in or enact any bull or document from the Pope of Rome ; and , therefore , they ( the meeting ) had the law in their favour , and , God helping them , they would compel any Administration to enforce the law of the land . Ami risrbt clad should he be if , when his so-called ' Eminence , ' Dr . Wiseman , landed in England , in his proud and arrogant assumption , he found a couple of policemen to walk him off . " ( Cheers and laughter . )
He characterized the Tractarian movement as the chief cause of the present deadly thrust at the Protestant Church . The whole of that movement was , from first to last , a movement towards Home—a Jesuitical attempt to un-Protestantizo England . But if the Pope fancied that , because a few raw , unfledged young men of the Oxford school had gone to them , and «« because Dr . Pusey was one foundationstone and Dr . Newman the other foundation-stone of an nrch across the gulf , that ,, therefore , there was a bridge over which all the Church of England was passing to Rome , ho was utterly mistaken . " There never was a time when the People of England were more prepared to die for Protestantism . An Anti-Popish memorial to her Majesty was
adopted by the meeting . Meetings of a similar kind have also been held in a number of the metropolitan districts , and in Coventry , "Wolverhampton , Ludlow , Hastings , and other towns .
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Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 9, 1850, page 770, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse2.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1858/page/2/
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