Queen at Sea in the Steam Yacht, on Queen Dowager, on a Pincushion pre- Sibthorp's, the Rev. W., Return to Sonnet on hearing a beautiful Anthem Things of Heaven are sure, the, 500 "Thy faith hath made thee whole," Traveller's Diary, Extracts from a, 224 Vendean Maiden's Lament, the, 233 Wales, a Sabbath Evening in, 10 Agency of Satan as the Author of Bedell, William, D.D., the Life of, Bible, the Child's Guide through the, Biblical Literature, Cyclopædia of, 537 British Society, Thirteen Tracts of Calabria and Sicily, a Pedestrian Charge to the Clergy of the Archdea- Christian Morals, a Review of Pro- Christian's Privilege, the, 484 Church of Scotland, the History of Church of Scotland, the People and Church, Two Treatises on the, 483 Council of Lateran, the Statutes of Cross, the Doctrine of the, 606 Duelling, a Plea for the Abrogation Egypt, a Pastor's Memorial of, 798 Eight Sermons, by the Rev. Robert Germany, Howitt's Rural and Do- Gideon, Seven Lectures on the His- Girolamo Savonarola, the Life and Hebrews xi., Exposition of, 729 Inaugural Lecture at the British and Inferno, the, of Dante Alighieri, 476 Intellectual Powers of Man, Essays Ireland, the Real Monster Evil of, 541 Papal and Hierarchical System, the, compared with the Religion of the Poems, Original and Translated, 731 Protestantism, on Right and Wrong Pusey's, Dr., Sermon, an Answer to, Purgatory, the Doctrine of, and the Relation in which the Moral Precepts stand to each other, an Essay on Religion, Considerations on, 726 Reuchlin, John, the Life and Times Second Coming of Christ, a Few Sermons, by the Rev. E. Manning, 348 Sick Room, a Companion for the, 542 Soul, a Treatise on the State of the, State Services, the Authority of the, Story for Rich or Poor, a Short, 600 Things of God and the Soul, Brief Tractarianism compared with the Wilberforce, William, the Life of, 406. Ashley, Lord, M. P., Letter to, on the present Defective State of National Berkingholt, the Warden of, 129 Children, Ancient Hymns for, 132 Christian Unity Stated and Enforced, Church History, Simple Sketches Church of England, the, her Excel- Church, the Discipline of the, in the Clergy, on the Dress of the, 65 England and her Interests, 277 Glyphography, Palmer's Patent, 282 Health of Body and Mind, on the Pre- History of the Church, True Stories Holy Land, a Voice from the, 283 Interment and Disinterment, 280 Milles, the Rev. Isaac, the Life of, 67 National Holy-days, a Plea for, 279 Pianoforte, Six Melodies for the, 61 Portraits of Messrs. Williams and Moffatt, the Missionaries, 543 Prophecy, Lectures on Subjects con- ECCLESIASTICAL INTELLIGENCE. Bangor and St. Asaph, the Bishoprics Bath and Wells, the Bishop of, 735 Cambridge, St. Sepulchre's Church, 71 Charge of the Bishop of Down, Con- nor, and Dromore, 609 Charge of the Bishop of Lincoln, 607 Charges of the Bishop of Calcutta "Tracts for the Times," 671 Church Extension and Clergy En- Church of Scotland Schism, the, 423 Church, the Prospects of the, 210 Colonial Bishoprics, the, 67, 137, 284 Co-operative Society for Building Dublin, the Archbishop of, Annual Ecclesiastical Courts, the Proposed Ecclesiastical Report, 67, 132, 210, 284, 353, 413, 484, 544, 606, 675 Foxe's Acts and Monuments, 143 Incorporated Society for Enlarging and Building Churches, &c., 71 Lichfield, Death of the Bishop of, 736 London Clergy, Practices of the, 144 London, the Lord Bishop of, and his Oxford, New Professorship at, 71 Peel, Sir Robert, and Church Exten- Pusey, Dr., the Suspension of, 488 Syria, Christian Education in, 360 Temple Church, the, 71 Testimonial to the Memory of a Cler- gyman, 142 MISCELLANEA. Accouchement of Her Majesty, 358 "British Critic," the, 739 Burning of Bibles by Romanists in Cambridge, the Royal Visit to, 741 Dissent, Decrease of, 144, 212 Factory Education Bill, 285, 422, 484 National School Society, the, 677 Stoddart and Conolly Fund, the, 737 THE CHURCHMAN, A MAGAZINE IN SUPPORT OF THE CHURCH OF ENGLAND. [NEW AND ENLARGED SERIES.] JANUARY, 1843. SELF-SUFFICIENCY OF NONCONFORMITY. DR. WARDLAW'S SOPHISTRIES. THE fourth lecture, which is an outrageously prosy one, opens upon this wise : "In the discussion of the question committed to me, it is not required that I should enter into peculiarities of different establishments, except in as far as occasional reference may serve the purpose of illustrating those general principles that are essential to them. all, or to throw light on their common operations and results." It may be all very well for Dr. Wardlaw thus to throw dust into people's eyes, that the web of his sophistries may not be seen through; but, dust and all into the bargain, we really do not believe that people are so blind or stupid as these Nonconformists seem to suppose them to be. The leaders in Dissenting affairs have a strange propensity and talent for taking men's ignorance for granted, and conceiving it to be much greater than it is, or they would not attempt to address them as they do. What a depth of low cunning is manifested in the generalship of such journals as the Patriot, Nonconformist, and Dispatch! Does not every editorial line of writing in them betray a profound contempt for the person to, and for whom, the weekly tissue of inflammatory stuff is served up? Does not each paragraph palpably set forth the impression of the scribe, that he is catering for a set of numskulls; that whatever he may pen down, be it true or false, abusive or respectful, profane or serious, vile or commendable, it will every atom of it be digested with avidity; that his patrons are wretched noodles; and that all he has to do, from week to week, is to play the fool before them? The quantity of garbled history, miserably inconclusive reasoning, and defective representation, with which these papers are crammed is truly amazing; and it can only be accounted for upon the supposition that the conductors of them take the ignorance of their readers for granted (not without sufficient data, we venture to say), and secretly laugh at the same. And, to do the author of these lectures justice, he presumes largely on people's mental darkness. B In his own opinion, he was not required, in these lectures, to enter into "the peculiarities of different establishments;" that is, if we understand the expression, the peculiarities of the different things established, or that had been, or that are now, established. A very easy method of lessening his own labour, certainly, not to use harsher terms; but certainly not the method of conciliating or satisfying the public mind. "Not required to enter into the peculiarities of different establishments!" Why, in our humble estimation, nothing was more imperatively required of him than this; nay, we might, in one sense, cast the whole of the controversy upon this enquiry into peculiarities. The Doctor admits that peculiarities exist in various things that are established-we, as in duty bound, admit the same; but then, if, instead of dismissing these peculiarities without entering into them, we do enter into them, we may find, that while the peculiarities of one thing may be so many cogent arguments why that thing ought not to be established, the peculiarities of another thing may, with any reasonable man (we do not say any reasonable Dissenter; for, as at all times, so particularly at this, Dissenters, though men, are very unreasonable), be as many cogent arguments why that thing ought to be established. The Doctor might have spared some of his sweeping denunciations, had he condescended to enter into peculiarities. As it is, however, the diffusion of error demands, above all things, that he who diffuses it should study the art of making proper distinctions as little as possible; indeed, the secret of the success of error depends upon a thorough confounding of distinctions. The lecturer set out with confounding the most manifest distinctions, and he resolutely adheres to his precedent; and we are bound to say it, and we say it deliberately, that the sentence at the opening of this lecture betrays one of these three things-though each of them is equally discreditable to the author: it betrays either great notional confusedness, deplorable misinformation, or supercilious contempt. The former two it would be tantamount to impugning our own credit to impute to the Doctor; the last, therefore, is what we must look to: and we ask any sensible person, whether it does not wear the aspect of supercilious contempt, when we see Dr. Wardlaw, more than once, twice, or thrice, in these lectures, expressing no better an opinion of our national Church than to place it upon a level with any and every system of religion, true or false, which may have been set up in the world? If this be not supercilious contempt, what is it? The Doctor goes on to ridicule the argument which has been drawn from the analogy of the relation which a king bears to his subjects, and the relation which a parent bears to his children; and here it is that the clever sophist's ill-disguised disesteem, not only of the Church, but of the monarchy, peeps out. It used to be a favourite notion, with men quite as wise as this speechifier, that the king is the father of the people, and that it was his duty to act as a father to them in every respect; but they never supposed, that in acting as a father to the people, the king was to cast off every ves |