Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

cast into British soil, sprung up and multiplied, and was sown again and again, till a beautiful plot in the garden was covered with wheat, waving in the wind, which had all come out of the one imperishable grain from the Egyptian mummy case. And if the seed of nature

be thus endued by its great Creator with such a kind of imperishable incorruptibility, how much more that seed, which is emphatically called "the incorruptible seed," whereby the children of God are born to immortal life and glory. I have no doubt that the Bibles in Manchester will do their work, and that fruit will be found in due time. And suppose we see no rapid change from Romanism to Protestantism; be it so, that these Bibles are now intended to arm and prepare for the coming struggle and conflict, as I am rather disposed to think, it is a blessed thing to remember, that even if Romanism attain secular place and power-which we see she is fast doing-even if she advance, until she unsheathe the civil sword against our spiritual liberties-even if she advance so far as to silence us, the witnesses of the truth, and to imprison us, and to burn us, as she did our fathers of old, if we will not be silent (and I trust in God there is a noble band that would gladly be burned, rather than they would be silent)-I say, if Romanism should even so progress, is it not delightful to think, that of the millions of Bibles that are planted on the Continent, in England, in America, and in Ireland, Rome could never get hold of them all to burn them-she could never silence them? So that if our tongues were silenced, they would still speak for God; and the voice of these lively oracles would still be Christ" all in all"-and not antichrist, the enemy of the Lord Jesus.

This is, indeed, a cheering and a gratifying circumstance; but having briefly glanced at what is past, I cannot but advert, for a little while, to what is before us in the future.

And what do I see in the future? In our high places of assembly, I see fresh concessions to Rome boldly contemplated and brought forward. I do not hesitate to say, that the three measures now before the House of Parliament: the Charitable Trusts' Bill-for that is a very doubtful and dangerous measure, and I wish every Christian man to be on his guard against it; the so-called Roman Catholic Relief Bill-the very word relief is ominous, and ought to awake every Protestant spirit: do not you remember the former Roman Catholic Relief Bill? I believe it was a measure that we shall have to repent of as long as we are a nation. And then that further Bill, which is being brought forward by the Lord Chancellor, though it go not quite so far as Mr. Watson's Bill, yet it goes far enough to strip us of some of the ramparts that are left around our common Protestantism.

I will just mention one strange inconsistency which will come from that Bill, if I understand it aright. It will so far modify, yet not absolutely repeal, the Oath of Supremacy, that it will place the Government and people of this country in this strange, mysterious, and contradictory position :—the Romanist will swear that the Queen is head in matters civil, and not swear that she is head in matters

ecclesiastical; while we

shall be required to swear that she is head in both. Which is right? If she is head in both, the Romanist should take the oath that she is head in both; but if she is not head in both, then we should not take the oath that she is head in both.

Oh! this strange Janus-faced legislation, which has got one aspect for the Church of Rome, and another for the Church of England—one for Popery and another for Protestantism-is ruining our strength. One would suppose, that some of our statesmen must have found before now that in tampering with Romanism, and in making concessions to her, they have been acting the part of the champion of Israel of old, who betrayed himself and his country into the hands of the uncircumcised, by allowing his mystic lock of strength to be shorn. And when the Philistines got him into their power, did they show him any mercy? Nay, verily, they put out his eyes. And then what was the result? He pulled down the building, where they were holding their idolatrous orgies, and perished himself, in the ruins which he brought upon his enemies. I would, with all deference and respect say, Happy, happy will it be for our statesmen, if that be not a parable, which shall be a parallel of the result to themselves! What have they gained by concessions to Rome? Have they satisfied her? have they made her their friend? have they united England and Ireland in closer bonds? have they rooted out the hatred of the Saxon? have they given Rome so much, that she says, "I want no more?" have they put down agitation? have they made Maynooth any better? And what will they gain? Hollow thanks,

and base perfidy-the hands of Esau, while the voice is the voice of Jacob! But what will Rome gain by these accessions? She will gain by them such a power, that will defy all their political expediency, and all their half-measures. Satisfy Rome ! Yes, when Rome has nothing to ask, and we have nothing to yield, then only shall we satisfy her. Protestant senators think they are wondrous wise and crafty and subtle; that they can veil their measures, mask their batteries, deceive the people, until they open the battery to destroy some fresh rampart of our Protestant citadel. But, let them remember, they have to do with persons far deeper skilled in subtlety and cunning and duplicity than they; they have to do with the body of Jesuitswith that Church, which is hoary in its subtlety and unfathomable in its delusions, with a whole system of lying from first to last. I know that I shall be branded as the darkest and most uncharitable bigot, but I do not care for it. Still, I hesitate. not to say, that there is truth at the foundations of Romanism—that the great truths of Christianity are buried under the mass of superstition and, idolatry, with which her worship abounds; but so far as there is truth in it, it does not belong to Popery, it belongs to us, it belongs to the Bible, it belongs to Christ.. All that belongs to Popery, is one vast fabric of falsehood and delusion. Our statesmen think, that because Romanists make assertions they are to believe them. Yes, if they make them as private gentlemen, in secular matters, and where their Church is not concerned; but as far as the Church of Rome is concerned, tell me what is their interest, and I will tell you what they will say. Why, in the House of Lords only a week or two ago, when the Bishop of Exeter brought:

[ocr errors]
[ocr errors]

forward a measure, which I wish was persevered in-a Bill, to cry through the House, "Let us know who are our friends and who are our foes, and not have half measures,"'-a Romish nobleman stood up and said, that the Doctors of Louvain solemnly declared, that the Pope's power could not be enforced over princes-that he had not ascendancy over them-that they denounced the doctrine altogether. Was there a peer so ignorant, as not to know that the doctrines of the Church of Rome cannot be altered but by her, in her corporate capacity, and that the doctrine that the Pope's power could be enforced over princes, is as binding as ever? Why, it would be as fair to say, that the Church of England holds Tractarianism,-as some of our Dissenting brethren with want of charity have said, and when any one asked the proof of it, to say, Why, Dr. Pusey tells us so"--and “A number of Oxford men tell us so,' -as to say that the Church of Rome is answerable for what the Doctors of Louvain say. Would you not answer, "Tell me not what individuals say, but what the Church says in her own formularies?" Now tell me not what the Doctors of Louvain say, but tell me what the Church of Rome says in her own authorized doctrines and Articles of faith. We there find, that the Pope is declared to be the head of the Church, that monarchs can be dethroned and deprived of their dominions by the Church of Rome, and that they can be put to death, whenever they presume to set up their authority in opposition to her authority. These things can be proved; Mr. M'Ghee, and Mr. M'Neile, and Dr. O'Sullivan have offered to prove them; they have given the challenge, but no one has ever dared to accept it, because they know it can be proved. It would be all very well to get up and make this declaration, and throw out this bold assertion, where there is nobody to contradict it, and nobody to take it up, as is too frequently the case in the Houses of Parliament; for good men are unable to get a hearing, or else, those who perhaps might get a hearing upon such a subject are so unacquainted with the real character of Romanism, that they are unable to give the opinion they ought to give.

My Christian friends, there is another prospect before us, which I assure you is not far distant; and that is, either the despoliation of the Church of Ireland, of the greater part, if not the whole of her revenues, or else the national endowment of the Romish priesthood of Ireland. I speak advisedly; I have reason to know from various quarters that the measure is seriously contemplated. We are often lulled into a false security and taken by surprise, by not preparing for a storm before it comes. Do you think, that if we had known the Maynooth measure was coming forward some years before, we should not have made an effort, and perhaps strangled it in the very germ? But we were taken by surprise. And shall we be taken by surprise again? Be assured of it, it is intended to endow the priesthood of Ireland, whatever party, Whig, or Tory, be in power; and, for my own part, I know not which to choose between them; but I do not care; indeed, I would rather that an open enemy meet us, than be betrayed by a friend.

And what is the pretext for doing this? We are told that Irish dig

nitaries have been wont to spend their time in Bath and Cheltenham in amusement, when they ought to have been toiling in their parishes; we are told of persons having derived large revenues from parishes, in which there were no Protestants. Be it so are the sins of past generations to be visited on the present? Are the clergy and bishops of this day in Ireland to be taunted with the faults of days gone by? Tell us what they are, not what they were; tell us what the Church of Ireland is at this moment, not what it was some years ago. I will venture to say, that there is not a branch of Christ's Church militant upon earth, that is more faithful in doctrine, or in conduct, more bold in the cause of Christ, or more successful in winning souls, than the Church of Ireland at the present moment. The hatred of that Church by Rome is not for the sins of the past, but for the sin of the present; it is not because it is so inefficient, but because it is so effective-not because so sunk in lethargy, but because so fraught with life, that Rome is losing her thousands, and cannot redeem them. What a strange and monstrous contradiction! When the Church of Ireland is dead, to put her into the grave because so dead; and now she is alive, to crucify her, because so much alive! The statesmen used to cry out, "The Church of Ireland is a sinecure, an incubus, a monstrosity-it is doing nothing; it never converted Ireland to Protestantism; it ought to be a missionary Church." Now that it is a missionary Church, and answering its high purpose by winning thousands to Protestantism, it is to be visited with unmitigable vengeance. Defend the Church of Ireland; spread the shield of law around the persecuted converts from Romanism; let the Protestant Church of Ireland have fair play; we ask no more; we do not ask legislation, one half for and the other half against Romanism; we do not ask for any petty restrictions; we simply ask for the Church of Ireland defence from assassination and falsehood; we simply ask, that there be liberty of conscience on the other side of the Channel, as well as on this; that the rusty manacles of Popish superstition be permittted to drop from the Irishman's arms, and that he may come forth into the liberty of truth, without endangering his family, his bread, or his life, because he dares to be free.

But we have been told that the Church of Ireland will be left alone, and that the Romish priesthood will be endowed. I regret to say, that this idea has had favour in the minds of many, where it ought to be repudiated; that there are many in place and power, who are sound on other points, but who are unsound on this. I will mention no names, but I have heard it come from men, from whom I never expected to hear it. And their mode of reasoning is this:-"Let the priests of Ireland be endowed by the State, and become dependent on the State; and the State can then control them, and keep them in check; she can then guide them any way she thinks proper, for their pay will be in danger, and though they have little regard for principle, they have a great regard for pelf." I fully subscribe to the latter premise, but I entirely differ from the conclusion. And do you think that the statesmen of Protestant England will be able to control the priesthood and get them into their power? I tell you, nay; as well was it for the Philistines to think to bind Sampson with green withes, as it is for them

to think to bind the priests of Ireland by any paltry pay that they may give them. I tell you that the priests of Ireland have a moral power and hold on the superstitions of the poor Irishmen, and that until you provide a Protestant scriptural education for Ireland-not a mutilated, mangled, half Protestant, half Popish, half Socinian education, but an education in which the Bible is taught, you will not be able to get the priesthood of Ireland under the power and influence of wholesome law and restraint. I appeal to the Dean of Ardagh, and every one acquainted with religious education in Ireland, whether the endowment of the Popish priesthood would destroy their power, and make them passive and submissive. I trow not; they have an allegiance to the seven hills, that is far paramount to their allegiance to Queen Victoria; they give a divided loyalty to the constitution of England:-the Pope first, the Queen next; and the Queen not at all, when the Pope says, "Obey me."

But, my Christian friends, the paying of the priesthood of Ireland, fatal as it would be in its results, and impolitic as a mere matter of State policy, is greatly augmented, when we view it in its spiritual character. If we are to pay and endow the priesthood of Ireland, we ought to restore the Church of Rome to its ascendancy and to its property in Ireland. If the Church of Rome is to be endowed as a true and orthodox Church, and confessed to be primitive and pure as our own Church, which in the eye of the State it would virtually then be, we have no reason to be Protestant; our State would become Romanist again. And I am much mistaken in the clergy and hierarchy of Ireland, if they do not declare that they will not endure the outrage and the insult to their common faith. It will be a noble thing, if the whole bench of bishops stand forth so wisely and so manfully against the system to which I have alluded; it will be worthy of the days of the Reformers, when the seven bishops went down your own Thames to the Tower, rather than give place to Romanism; and I trust it is a pledge of this, that when the measure for the endowment of the Romish Church in Ireland has passed the Legislature, if haply it should ever pass, and comes to be proposed to the bench of bishops and clergy of Ireland, they will rise as one man and say, "We can consent to be despoiled and persecuted and outraged, but we can never consent to sit down as a sister Establishment with Popery." It would be a noble thing, if the Church of England were to rise up, should such a measure pass, and to tell any Administration in power, "You must cease your union with the Church of Ireland, the moment you commence your union with the Church of Rome." I, for one, as an unworthy clergyman of the Church of England, hesitate not to say, that if the priesthood of Rome were endowed in England, I would do all in my power to get rid of the Establishment as an Establishment, much as I value the principle of a national Establishment, scriptural as I believe it to be, and of much moment to the nation; so that England's glory and England's day of prosperity would be over, the moment she gave up her Protestant Establishment,-much as I value it and contend for it, and would stand by it-yet this I can say, I would a thousand times sooner see the Church of England denationalized, than degraded; I would rather

« ElőzőTovább »