ADDRESS TO THE Parishioners of St. Mary's, Nottingham, ON THE OCCASION OF COMMENCING THE BUILDING OF A SECOND EDIFICE FOR ROMAN CATHOLIC WORSHIP IN THE PARISH : "I believe BY THE VICAR. Wilkins. * * * The Holy Catholic Church; the Communion of Saints."-Apostles' Creed. "I believe in one Catholic and Apostolic Church."-Nicene Creed. LONDON: J. G. J. AND F. RIVINGTONS; NOTTINGHAM: B. S. OLIVER. MDCCCXLII. 1123. AN ADDRESS. MY PARISHIONERS AND FRIENDS, The Roman Catholics, as you know, soon after I had completed the building of St. Paul's Church in the Parish, erected, directly facing to it, a sacred Edifice of considerable magnitude, for the worship of the few in their communion then resident in the Town. Their number, chiefly limited to foreigners engaged in the lace trade, and to some few Irish and others, has never been, as I understand, such as to need more accommodation than they already possess; yet have they, to rival the efforts lately put forth by our body, in the erection of a second District Church in the Parish, determined upon the building, not of a similar Edifice to compete with this newly-consecrated Church; but of a Structure which is to exceed, at least in its interior area, although hardly in external dimensions, the noble fabric of the Mother Church-St. Mary's itself! The question has again and again been asked of me; and, in all probability, you yourselves are desirous of repeating it," What is the object on the part of the Roman Catholics in erecting a second place of worship while their present edifice, it appears, is more than sufficient for their numbers: or, if not sufficient, why a building of so vast an extent as that which is now rising from the ground before us?" As this projected fabric is designed to occupy a place, here amongst us, in the Parish where I have ministered in the Mother Church now for nearly a quarter of a century, I will endeavour, as a duty I feel called upon to discharge, to answer this enquiry, with a view not only to satisfy that curiosity which, in this case, has very naturally been excited; but to put you upon your guard against the attempts now made to allure you from your Church to the adoption of that superstition and those errors which, since the Reformation, and until late years, had obtained little hold upon the inhabitants of this part of the kingdom; and which encouraged by an overstrained act of liberality and excessive toleration, (the consequences of which were never anticipated,) have thrown open the portals of the Romish Church to the reception of all whom its Priesthood would compel to enter them. It is far from my intention to give expression to any unkind feeling towards any who differ from me in religious belief or practice. What, therefore, I am about to say to you, has no reference to any individuals beyond what relates to the general practices and peculiar doctrines of the Romish Church; practices and doctrines which I repudiate simply on the ground that they have no foundation in the revealed word of God; and as such, are erroneous and superstitious.* I would not be misunderstood -I am the advocate for the fullest extent of rational toleration * I must here insist, that this Address is not levelled against any individual, much less against the respectable Roman Catholic Priest stationed in this Town, whose character for mildness of manner, and charitable activity is admitted by all. It is not, therefore, against any individual, but solely against the system which that individual feels it his duty to support, that my observations are made, in thus offering a caution to my parishioners against what I most conscientiously hold, and they, also now as conscientiously believe, to be erroneous. in matters of religion-of a toleration which yields to an unfeigned conviction of the truth rationally and conscientiously deduced from Scripture: but then the reason and the conscience exercised must be, with respect to the one, (the reason) such as is approved of by the general consent of men; and with respect to the other, (the conscience) such as is believed to be most agreeable to the will of God-in other words, Scripture as interpreted by the soundest minds, and its truth as held by the purest hearts. It is of so much consequence to society here, and to yourselves hereafter, that your consciences should be correctly exercised, that I will give you the prudent and wise caution of a late eminent Prelate, and of another able Divine, against the sin of setting up a false plea of it. "There is no sin in separating from an Established Church, where the plea of conscience can be urged. But since in every society, whether civil or religious, divisions among its members are always injurious, and may be ultimately fatal, the authors of such divisions are responsible for the consequences when created without necessity. They are not indeed responsible to man, who is unable to penetrate into motives: but they are responsible to God, who searches all hearts; who knows whether the plea of conscience operates or not; and if it does not operate, will punish the sin of schism. For, as, on the one hand, no evil arising from the abuse of religious liberty can be compared with the evil of a preventive which enslaves the conscience, so, on the other hand, when the plea of conscience does not operate, there is no inconvenience which an individual can sustain from continued communion with an Established Church, to be compared with the evils arising from secession."* "The mere pretence of conscience," says Dr. Sherlock, "is not a sufficient justification of any action, unless we can produce * Bishop Marsh's Comp. View of the Churches of E. and R. p. 194. |