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Leader (1850-1860), 14th April 1855, Edition 2 of 2, Page 16, Persia, it is said, has assembled 50,000...

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      The Tories And The Rjseliteb. Tub Mornin...

      teresting when Parliament reassembles to see where Mr . Gladstone will sit . The conduct of the Times towards the Feelites is not chivalrous ; or if chivalrous , it is after the rule of . the Derby order of chivalry , - . They want to keep a lien on them as Conservatives , and at the same time to ostracise them from office and cover them with abuse and insult .

      352 The Leader. [Saturday,

      352 THE LEADER . [ Saturday ,

      War And Peace. This Pause, While, Bleedi...

      WAR AND PEACE . This pause , while , bleeding from past wounds , we draw Spent breath , and count our losses , count that heap Of lives a Tartar winter laid asleep , And scan the haughty prize we battle for , — Horror at all the precious things we saw Lost in a fatal gulf dug ages deep , — Dreams of a peace which—all we died to keep Relinquishing— -would be but smothered war , — Let these not tempt thee , England ! to desert The rock to which thy face is nobly set ; With pity , awe , deep knowledge , yet fixt heart , We ' ve drawn the death-dyed blade we sheathe not yet , Till Freedom ' s Queen have done her queenly part , Blest by a world at peace , for that acquitted debt . March 26 , 1855 . WAR-MGHTS . When this great world with all its realms once more Safe-balanced , floats upon a sea of rest , Our hearts , in War ' s sublime result new blest , And strong from conquered rights , will not deplore That stormy sad magnificence , such pure And tender lights its purple beautified ; Martyrs who smiled at duty ' s call- —and died , — True iearts that almost broke and yet endure , ^ Deeds like bright flowers born in that thunderous air , Stars burning thro' its dark , like sacred charms , — A fiery love and holy hatred there Fused in the metal of our conquering arms!—Then faint we not with eyes on that first page Written in tears and blood—but on ! to crown the age . March 26 , 1855 . A . S . ~

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      [Is This D8pabimeni, As All Opinions, Ho...

      [ IS THIS D 8 PABIMENI , AS ALL OPINIONS , HOWEVER EXTREME , ABE ALLOWED AN EXPRESSION , THE EDITOR NECESSARILY HOLDS HIMSEI . F RESPONSIBLE FOR NONE . ]

      There Is No Learned Man But Will Confess...

      There is no learned man but will confess he bath much profited by reading controversies , hi 3 senses awakened , and his judgment sharpened . If , then , it .. be . profitable for him to read , jvThy should it not , at least , betolerableibr his " adversary xowriter—TilltTON

      Observance Of The Sabbath. (To The Edito...

      OBSERVANCE OF THE SABBATH . ( To the Editor of the Leader . ") Sik , —In the letter of your correspondent V ., on the observance of the Sabbath , there are one or two statements to which I am anxious to call attention . The reason assigned in the Book of Deuteronomy for the keeping of the Sabbath-day is not merely " that the Jews should not forget the years of bondage and affliction they passed in the land of Egypt . " No doubt they were to remember these , but it was in conjunction with another fact—namely , that God had redeemed them . They were to keep the Sabbath-day as a witness of their redemption , because they were a redeemed people . Nor is the motive—given in 20 th chapter of Exodus , viz ., that man is to rest because God rested—rejected by Christ , when he says , "My Father worketh hitherto and I work . " The rest of God did not consist in a cessation from labour or action—such as is necessary for us , owing to the frailty of our bodies—but in the complacency and satisfaction with which He looked upon all things as created or constituted in Christ—His beloved Son , in whom Ho is ever well pleased—without whom was not anything made that was made . What Christ is teaching in the passage referred to is , that

      God ' s rest was not inconsistent with , or opposed to , work . Because man is created in the image of God , he is to rest like his Maker , he is to enter into the Divine rest . If tho Father and the Son worked on the Sabbath-day , then tho resting on , or keeping holy that day , could not moan that man was to spend it either in idleness or gloom ; it could only mean that he was to bo a fellow-worker with God , and was so to enter into His rest .

      But , sir , the Fourth Commandment is no longer literally binding upon us ; we no longer keep the Jewish Sabbath . If the Fourth Commandment be literally binding upon us , pray , why is not the seventh day of the week kept ? Where is the authority of the Christian Ciiurch for changing the day fixed by our express enactment ? When was a second , corrected edition of this commandment delivered ? The first day of the week—which is universally observed by Christians—is the Lord ' s day ; it

      is a festival—not a fast—kept in commemoration of the resurrectiou of Christ , and , therein involved , the complete redemption of mankind and of the universe . It rests upon no express enactment ; though we keep it for reasons similar to those which were assigned to the Jews for keep ing their Sabbath , viz ., as a witness of our redemption , as a witness that He who entered into death , the grave , and hell that He might free us from their thraldom , has ascended into heaven , for us , that with him we may enter into the rest of God . It tells us that all the barriers of the

      old Jewish religion are done away ; that now we are to regard nothing as " common or unclean ; " that every work of nature and of art is redeemed , holy unto God ; that we may worship Him in the Crystal Palace or the British Museum as well and as acceptably as in the church or the meeting-house ; in the admiration of the works of genius which He has inspired , as much as in listening to the harangues of a privileged priesthood , which too often give evidence of a very different origin .

      They , therefore , who fancy they are doing God service by using this day as a means to prevent the intellectual and moral improvement of those whom their own shameful neglect has hitherto deprived of the most sacred right of every human being—a good education—prove themselves utterly ignorant of the true spirit of the Gospel * establish their right to be considered the legitimate successors of the Pharisees , who looked upon our Lord , when he healed on the Sabbath-day , as a breaker of the Fourth Commandment . They , in fact , deny the redemption of mankind by Christ , and-convert the day which testifies of it into an assertion that we are not redeemed .

      If I have pointed out what seempto me mistakes in your correspondent ' s letter , it is because I thoroughly sympathise with its spirit and acquiesce in its conclusions . I would beg to refer every one who is anxious to understand the true doctrine of Scripture on this subject , to a small volume of Sermons on the Sabbath-day , by the Rev . F . D . Maurice , published by Parker and Son , West Strand . I remain , yours , & c , A Clergyman of the Church of England .

      Have We A Rule Of Faith? (To The Editor ...

      HAVE WE A RULE OF FAITH ? ( To the Editor of the Leader . ) Sir , —There are many laymen who call themselves members of the Church of England , who yet disobey her injunctions , and absent themselves from her services . The Church exercises great toleranee towards these disobedients , being restrained from punishing , more by want of power than by a spirit of mercy . She is always benevolent except on money matters , being excited to wrath in an instant by the non-payment of her rates and tithes .

      Apparently she is now sinking into a state of unconscious torpor , for she extends her spirit of forbearance even towards the clergy . She allows every one to form his own opinion on the efficacy of her principal doctrines . Low Church and High Church meet with equal favour in her eyes . She respects the one party because of its rubrical conscience , the other , by reason of its faithful adherence to tho Thirty-nine Articles . She suffers Tractarians to neglect the articles , and Low Churchmen to dispense with the rubrics , feeling satisfied with the knowledge that they believe all her doctrines amongst them . If Mr . Gorham will not-beliove in Baptismal

      Regeneration , Archdeacon Denison believes it for him ; and on the other hand , Mr . Gorham ' s views on the subject of the Real Presence are orthodox enough to make up for Archdeacon Denison ' s delinquencies . Such at least would bo the case , had not the personal hostilities of Law and Ditcher brought the Archdeacon ' s doctrines before the commission . Again tho High Churchman holds tho daily services , and the Low Churchman celebrates those from " Parliamentary Services , " that go against tho conscionco of his brother clergymen . Thus all the days of observance ore kept somewhere , and tho Church is satisfied .

      Not so tho clergymen . Tho Uev . Mr . A . thinks it just and right that he , should be allowed his own opinion , but does not see why tho Rev . Mr . B . should bo granted the same indulgence . ' Some clergymen consider themselves bound by half tho rubric , and

      we know one who gave the inmates of his house no dinner on the 30 th of January , but who would noc return thanks on the 5 th of November for the deliverance of our Church and nation by th e arrival of King William . Yet both these services are equally enjoined by the Queen , and sigue'd , by her Majesty ' s command , by Lord John liussell . We have heard of certain Low Churchmen who , in anger against the Queen , omitted from one of the prayers her titles of " religious" and " gracious , " thinking her ungracious towards them , and consequently

      irreligious . Nay , more , we know from certain testimony that a clergyman read a different chapter of the Bible from that appointed in the Prayer Book , not accidentally , but designedly , because he disapproved of that particular lesson . A man who disapproves of one chapter of the Bible , might with equal justice object to the whole book , and we should recommend every clerk to put a copy of Vanity Fair in the reading-desk , so that if the officiating clergy . man disapproves of the Bible , he may find some book at hand to supply its place .

      But to put jesting out of the question , whither will this lead ? The C hurch promulgates certai n doctrines , and yet allows her members to hold them or not at their option—she sometimes contradicts them herself . The consequence is , that when Archdeacon Law wishes for revenge on Archdeacon Denison , his best way of proceeding is to arraign him for teaching & doctrine that the Church allows but which she does not hold . The Bishop of Bath and Wells decided that the archdeacon might hold that doctrine , but might not teach it . Does not even thi ? decision imply a certain open disunion in the Church ? In the Church of Rome they have a different mode of dealing : they assert positively what doctrines are to be believed , and denounce with

      equal positiveness all who do not believe them . Thus all the unbelief there is private , and there seems to be a certain union in a divided Church . The English Church goes on the princip le of having all its disturbances made public . By this custom she causes scandal to many of her members , and lays herself more open to the insidious attacks of Rome , whose secret religion is safer against outward enemies ^ and can only fall by its own errors . " What can be more absurd , " remarked a Roman Catholic to us the other day , " than to hear on Sunday morning a clergyman state the necessity of believing baptismal regeneration , and to hear on Sunday afternoon that very doctrine pronounced a damnable heresy from the same pulpit ? " What can our Church reply to such attacks ? - ¦ :-

      It is evident that no man can hold two contradictory beliefs . But as the Church of England refrains from laying down any decided o pinion on some of the mo st important points of faith , who can say which line of conduct will meet with her approbation ? To believe all her doctrines is an impossibility , she allows- so-many . One thing is certain , that if your belief is to be left to your own choice , you should not be he ld liable to punishment for thewishes ofanother If

      choosing against-- - , party . there is to be a rule of faith , it should be vital , and should be enforced upon the clergy ; but it would be better to have none at all than an obsolete rule , to be used only on certain occasions , and to rest at other times in the darkest closet of the ecclesiastical courts . What we want for the Church is something definite ; not a monstrous delusion that perplexes every one , and leads to endless bewilderments and disturbances in the national religion . I am , sir , your obedient servant , Ecclesiastic us .

      Persia, It Is Said, Has Assembled 50,000...

      Persia , it is said , has assembled 50 , 000 men on tho Turkish frontier . This suspicious position is attributed to the hopo held out by Russia of tho cession of tho Turkish province . SiairHEnoPOL . —A private letter from Suni > heropoi , published in tho Vienna Presse , and dated March 8 , mentions amongst other matters , that the city is almost but soldiers

      entirely converted into a jilace d ' armes ; none are to bo seen . Tho high prices of provisions are quite beyond the means of tho civil officials , -who can only aftbrd to purchase provisions absolutely indispon . inblc Tho churches are thronged with suppliants , who pray fervently for peace . "I saw a young woman iroin Sobastopol , " continues tho writer , " who hnd occn kneeling all tho morning , praying God to end tlio war quickly . In tho meantime , threatening cloud * arc gathering in tho horizon , and our enemies intend carry nib on tho war with fresh force . " .

      , „ Lono . s Cardigan and Lucan . — Lord Luciui wnto to the Tiniea of Friday , roasHorting most poaiUvel \ ti »» ho sent a , message to Lord Cardigan on tho famous J . ifi \ m Cavalry occasion , convoying a reproach for not nn \ n « made a proj . or use of his forces . Lord Cml . gau nj previously written to tho Times , denying that ho lioa received this letter , and also that he had sent a ""' W by Captain Maxso , objecting to tho positjon oi n » brigade . Tho fact that t » ° message was received , now ever , is confidentl y assorted by Lord Lucah .

  • Citation
    • Leader (1850-1860), April 14, 1855, page 16, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_14041855/page/16/