On this page

• Text (2)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    NpvBSfBER 26, 1853] THE LE^OP. (1139

  • 

    CHURCH POLITY : OUR POSITION". We have b...

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    The Bad Bourbons Conspiring ; Again. How...

    tlie truelieir , the Duke de JN emours the son of tjie last or * the JJourbons . They have united claims of course for the purpose 01 re-occupation . Now we never countenanced the claims 01 Louis Jfapoleon , nor on the other hand are we prepared to deny that in many respects his present policy appears to be advantageous to France and to Europe . It is conceivable , indeed , that a truly ¦ oatriot Bartv mierht set him aside , arid might

    establish some better rule in that great country . But tlie idea of disturbing him—a man at air events of vigour , of sagacity , and of a large ambition , in order to replace him either by the friend of the puke de Praslin , or by the young gentleman with a wen upon his neck anda very ancient bee in his bonnet , would be about the silliest and wickedest act that could be committed . Yet there is

    reason tp suppose that such a substitution is not only in the mind of both tliose gentlemen , but in the minds of others who possess some power to bring it about ! The claims of the two men are not quite so competitive as might be supposed . Sacred as he may be , Henri Cinq is now understood to anticipate that he can have no issue . Should he attain

    to the throne it will be but a personal occupation , no son of his succeeding . The Duke de IS ' emours is not heir of Louis Philippe , though lie is the most ambitious and . astute man of his family . We do not know whether he is acting for himself - —it may be for his nephew—his own share of the proceeds being a regency . It is thus apparent that the claims of Chambord . Nemours , and the

    Count of Paris , are all reconcilable- Now by whom is the meeting of these two worthies countenanced ? They meet on the territories of the Emperor of Austria , who professes to be partly in alliance with France , — -that is , the Emperor Napoleon— -on the subjeet of Turkey and the peace of Europe . Yet that same Emperor affectionately receives this insidious Nemours , introduced to him by the legitimate Chambord . The fusion of the two branches of the Bourbon was .

    if not originally proposed by M . Guizot , vehemently advocated by that statesman-historian M . Gruizot was the minister of Louis Philippe , and we never shall forget the cold reprobation which he cast upon the people when they shook off the rule of the king or the umbrella . The coldest man in Europe is M . Guizot , and the harshest calculator . He has recommended this fusion , and he conducts that paper in Paris called the Assembly Rationale , which is the devoted organ of the Russian policy . From this we have

    indications of a conspiracy , which comprises the heir of / Charles X ., the heir of Louis Philippe , the Emperor of Austria , the Emperor of Russia , and the doctrinaire party in Paris . The fusion has also been supported in London by journals which have been distinguished for the consistency with which they have magnified the merits of llussia and disparaged tlie rights of Turkey—journals which aro understood to represent tlie views of our prime minister , " ce chcr Aberdeen" of Louis Philippe . While some dynasties revive , others fall . The

    unhappy Queen of Portugal has just gone to her account , and we trust that she will be able to put in many a pica of " extenuating circumstances ; " for she has been indeed an ill-used woman , the sport of dynastic intrigues and national revolutions , of illregulated passions , and official manoeuvres . Ifc is calculated that since Portugal is relieved from a queen who was fat but neither fair nor forty , its fortunes may be redeemed by the worth and abilities of her son , Pedro V . —a youth sixtoen years of age . Upon suck sorry bases do dynastic politicians found their calculations . Now , instead of anticipating salvation for Portugal from the mccohsion , of a boy , we rather anticipate new intriguos ,

    and therefore now disturbances—the more sineo KingFordinandhas proclaimedhimsolf regent , lias already boon fool ) ly dallying with intrigue , if not coquetting with rovplution . That king , however , is ft prince of tho Coburg family , cousin to our own JPrinco Consort , and it would" bo consistent with Usage in auoh matters that tho people of England should bo callod upon to provido snips , men , and money , to rescue from tho consequences of his own statesmanship tho Portuguese King Consort , should ho bo in trouble . Wo have- before suhtainod tjio throne of that country , which wo onrich l > y taking its wine , though ifc refuses us oven au . equitable tariff .

    Wo can only guoss at these things . Wo observe that wretched families , allied by marriage hope and there witji princes who could not kocp their thrones , like Charles X . andLouia Philippe :

    or with hereditary idiots like the hereditary perjurer of Naples , are manoeuvring to keep or recover their footing upon the necks of nations . We know that professional diplomatists , form the love of art , and trading statesmen * , from the love of lucre , will help them . We know that great armies are at the service of Bureaux and Princes , and we know , as we deplore , that the educated classes in most of the European countries , who might , if they pleased , control this universal mal-appropriatidn of public means , look on . in positive supineness and wink at the confiscation of States for the benefit of kings and their creatures . To set up a young gentleman with a wen on his neck , or a friend of the Duke de

    Praslin ' s , not only may France be disturbed by civil war and . invasion , but Europe may be convulsed , and the people of England may find their means , their power , and the pride of their country sacrificed . GPhey may find it out when all is done— 'for the arrangements carried on to these ends are always conducted in secresy under the double veil of official and confidential diplomacy , and we never know what England has been doing until the mischief is irrevocable . We only know that members of this intriguing Orleans family have been received at our court , and that we are

    still in alliance with that Emperor of Austria , in the precincts of whose authority these two men have met .

    Npvbsfber 26, 1853] The Le^Op. (1139

    NpvBSfBER 26 , 1853 ] THE LE ^ OP . ( 1139

    Church Polity : Our Position". We Have B...

    CHURCH POLITY : OUR POSITION " . We have been accused , with some show of plausibility , of refraining , through fear , from making attacks upon high churchmen and high church absurdities , and our advocacy of high Church claims has been set down to the mean desire of compensating for our heterodox opinions , by tagging ourselves to a " respectable" cause . It may also be urged that our course has been destructive ;

    that under the pretext of combating for high Church rights we have really contributed somewhat towards the destruction of the Church ; and that we have nothing to offer in its stead . Of the former * accusation we should have said nothing , had not respected correspondents drawn our attention to it ; of the latter we have something to say , in order to obriate the necessity of future explanations , and to set down a brief outline of our point of view in matters theological .

    Had we desired to be trimming and " respectable" we should have imitated journals like the Guardian and the Oxford Herald , and have advanced principles which we should shirk in the hour of trial . We should have urged the revival of Convocation as desirable in itself , and talked big about Church princi p , but when Convocation was sitting wo should have given it the cold shoulder , alarmed at the thunders of poworful journalists . We should have contended that

    clergymen , ought to bo judged for heresy in boiuo fitting Court of tho Church , but when Mr . Maurice was dismissed for heresy wo should have endorsed the decision of Dr . Jolf , and admilted the competency of tho petty Sorbonne at King's College . Wo should sneer at tho Evangelicals one week , and defend Dr . M'Neill from the Edinburgh Review tho next . In fact , wo should trim .

    Such lias not been our course . Wo lent our humble support to the demand for Convocation in 1851 , because wo believed that the State Church had a right to her Pa , rliament , whilo a State Church she remained ; and because wo believed that such was the only honest policy for churchmen . Wo believe m still . Tho Church ia one , or who is not at all ; the Church has doctrines or flho has not . If bIio bo not one but many , thon she is a protonco ; if she have not ono homogeneous doctrine , or set of doctrines mutually dopendent on each other , but several incompatible doctrines , then she is an imposture . National health demands that she should bo honest and

    consistent above all things ; for she is still tho perplexed Queen of millions of consciences , and nor example in fatal to national honoHty ; for if tho Hpiritnnl guides err why may not the flock follow ? Who ia a state establishment not in unison with tho state authority ; for aro there not Catholics , Nonconformists , Unitarians , and what not in ( lie Supremo Legislative Assembly of tho realm P It is not fitting that tho mixed secular assembly should take thought for tho Clmreh . She ouglit to have a Court of her own . Hor wide-spread rankling discords are known from tho meanoflt hamlet up to tho mighty metropolis . Why doofj who not sot herself straight with tho nation , or

    perish in the attempt ? Why does she permit the charge to go unanswered , that her strongest bond is property P Perhaps she cannot answer it ; perhaps she finds the state-connexion convenient , inasmuch as it secures the property ; if it were not so , would she not sever her connexion to-morrow ? It is for the Church to show that this reproach is unjustly levelled at her , by asserting her independence . It is for the Church to show that she is independent , by obtaining unity at all costs . If she cannot do this , still it remains our duty to urge it upon her- and if she fail to do it

    , still we are bound to insist upon her endurance of the consequences . And it is because there is a party in the Church anxious to assert her independence , thus making the bond something more than property , and willing to take the consequences , that we have supported that party . And on the same principle we give , and shall give our support to whatever party may endeavour to infuse honesty into our national life , to promote out-speaking , and to make practice accord with profession .

    In material affairs , in war , in trade , in politics , it is permissible to . look to consequences before commencing actions ; but compromise in morality and ' religion is not permissible . Professor Maurice must believe as he does , and publish his belief ; and Dr . Jelf must eject him for the same . It is not permitted either to Mr . Maurice or to Dr . Jelf to calculate the consequences of their conduct . It is wicked to talk of compromise where absolute truth is at stake . The Church of

    England must reconcile herself to herself , must suppress or cast out what is alien to her doctrines and rites , or surrender for ever the claim she so ostentatiously makes to be the only true Church of Christ . In no other way can . . she fling back the flagrant reproach bo justly aimed at her , that she is a fascicle of sects , whose only bond is property , whose prestige is tJie tradition of an elder Church , and whose internal contests are the scandal of the ace . -

    Thus we have not proceeded with merely destructive views . We do not pretend to predict the consequences which may ensue from their accomplishment ; sufficient be it that they aro right . All we desire is , tliat truth may prevail , and with it a spirit of meekness and charity . We hold ourselves bound in duty to accept and follow out that truth wherever it may lead . If it should turn out that the doctrines of the Church of

    England , and the other foi'ms of those doctrines existing collaterally with her , are not reconcileable to truth , surely every single-minded man will rejoice that truth is found , conscious that no institutions , no forms , no faiths , are of the least moment , in comparison with the truth . But as it ia only from outspeaking and honcsi ; speaking that the truth , can be ascertained , wo look with , less regret at tho spectacle of religious

    dissension before us . All we would stipulate for in tho conflict is , that tho apoaking bo free , and the opinions spoken honest ; . And thus , in this profoundly discordant period , in and out of tho Church of England , we find tho beat guarantee of tho future . Looking doeply into tho heart of tho matter , wo shall see that the conflict in imposed by inevitable necessity ; and that it ia a conflict of

    which norio now living will sec the end . As the art of printing , tho study of tho . Bible , 'and tho corruption of tho Papacy , made Luther find tho dogmas and tho system of Homo too narrow— - that ia , not sufficiently true for him , so the thoughtful and tho single-minded of tho present day , jiving as they do in a Hood of intellectual light , compared to which tho brilliant ago of the ' Reformation was darkness , find tho baais of the

    religion of tho fleets too narrow for them . They feel an Profefisor Maurice appears to feel , perhaps unconsciously , that religious truth w not to bo ascertained while the dictates of tho groaf ; heart of our common humanity are excluded and condemned . Tho modern BVBtem of belief tlothronoH the human heart , and proclaims tho Hovoreignty of tho intellect ; for does not tho body of relitribuH doctrine consist of logical

    inferonoofl from a supposed revelation direct from GodP Whatever is contrary to those inforoneos , although it be supported by tho strongest testimony human nature is capable of comprehending , is declared untrue ; and thiiH religion ia ervHtalizod , and remains in a moehanical shape , producing no practical effect upon tho mafw of men ; belief , vital belief , ia replaced by a form of words , mechanically repented and mechanically assented to ,

• Citation
  • Leader (1850-1860), Nov. 26, 1853, page 11, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/l/issues/cld_26111853/page/11/