SPEECH OF THE VERY REV. RICHARD MURRAY, D.D., DEAN OF ARDAGH,

AT THE ANNUAL MEETING OF THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION.

SIR, In seconding the Third resolution, so ably moved by my Reverend Friend, I am naturally led to the consideration of those "institutions of the country," which appear to be threatened with destruction, and those bulwarks of the constitution which ought to have been "upheld and strengthened." It is an important and interesting fact, that the Reformation in England, proceeded from the nation, and that their representatives in parliament, and in convocation, were made the honoured instruments in God's hands, of recovering the nation from the ignominious bondage of papal superstition, and restoring to our forefathers, their lost rights of civil and religious liberty.

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As a proof of what is now stated, it may be remembered, that Cardinal Wolsey, was found guilty of a Premunire," under statutes which had been in existence upwards of two hundred years before, against all persons who should execute any commission from the court of Rome, without a royal licence. The matter was debated in convocation, and it was clearly perceived, that the whole body of the clergy were equally guilty of a breach of the same statute with the Cardinal. In this dilemma the convocation agreed to submit their case to the King's clemency, or in other words to plead guilty; and in their address to the King, they acknowledged him as the protector and supreme head of the Church of England, as far as agreeable to the laws of Christ."

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Now if anything can place in a strong and overwhelming light, the fact, that the exercise of the papal authority in England, was a usurpation both in Church and State, and directly at variance with the spirit and letter of the constitution, it is, that the whole authority of the Pope was destroyed at one blow, by the revival of statutes which

had been in slumbering existence for hundreds of years, so that, through that long period, and as far back as the reign of Alfred the Great, the constitution of England had been Protestant, in other words, the policy of the constitution, was, that no foreign prince or potentate ought to have any jurisdiction within the realm of England, and that what occurred in the reign of Henry VIII., was only a revival of that Protestantism, which existed in the British constitution, even in the darkest period of Romish despotism.

On the assembling of parliament, the king perceiving the evil which resulted from a foreign jurisdiction within the realm, sent for the Speaker of the House of Commons, and addressed him in these words, "That he had found, that the chief clergy were but half subjects, or something less, for that every bishop and abbot, on entering upon his dignity took an oath to the pope, inconsistent with that of his fidelity to his king, a contradiction which he desired might be remedied by parliament."

In consequence of this, the matter was seriously debated in parliament, and so treated that shortly afterwards, it led to the final settlement of the question. In 1535, the parliament of England passed the ever-memorable act, which placed the topstone on the pinnacle of political Protestantism, and that act was comprehended in one idea, "The bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England."

The next event of superlative importance, which, to lay the foundation of religious Protestantism, was the translation of the Bible, and this sprung also from the same source, as that which gave rise to the first act of political Protestantism, the convocation of the clergy. The great event then of Henry's reign, was the establishment of political Protestantism, of which he must be considered as the founder. He was the first political Protestant, and at the same time a religious Romanist.

In the reign of Edward VI., the basis of religious Protestantism was laid in the promulgation of the ever justly celebrated Forty-two Articles of Religion. These Articles were revised afterwards and reduced to Thirty-nine, in the reign of Queen Elizabeth. In these Articles were included the principle of religious Protestantism, contained in the Eleventh Article, or in other words, the simple idea by which the illustrious Luther, as with a lever, upset the Romanism of the half of Europe-justification by faith only; and then to point out the indissoluble union that existed between both; the principle of political Protestantism, we find included in the Thirty-seventh Article, in the very words of the Act of Parliament, "The bishop of Rome hath no jurisdiction in this realm of England."

The principles of civil and religious Protestantism being thus fully established in the realm, the Parliament congratulated the Queen, (Elizabeth) on the restoration of the true religion, the happy government of the kingdom, and its deliverance from foreign enemies."

I shall now proceed to prove to demonstration, that from the period of the blessed Reformation to the present day, whenever the principles I have now laid down were upheld in their primitive purity,

the country became prosperous and happy, and on the contrary, whenever these principles were either separated from each other, or not acted upon, defeat and discomfiture abroad, and distress and misery at home, followed as a matter of course.

Queen Elizabeth was a noble example of the glorious effects produced by Protestant principles when properly worked out. Eight attempts were made on her life, and many more concocted at Rome. She was excommunicated, and as the natural consequence of such a proceeding, her dominions were given away by the bishop of Rome to the King of Spain, then the most powerful monarch in Europe.-The massacre of the Protestants on St. Bartholomew's day in France— the dreadful persecutions in the Low Countries-the invincible Armada within sight of her shores, to take possession of her kingdom. Yet notwithstanding all these, she stood as firm as a rock, trusting in the righteousness of her cause, and using those means of protection which God had put into her hands. When reviewing her army with all the skill of a veteran soldier, she concluded her address to them in these words, "I know I have but the weak and feeble arm of a woman, but I have the heart of a king, and of a king of England too." And what was the result? "In almost all the kingdoms of the world," says a modern writer of our day, "she enlarged the boundaries of commerce, and produced extensive privileges for the encouragement of her merchants. Her navy enlarged beyond former example rode triumphant over the seas the dread of her enemies, and the safeguard of her Isle; and to crown all, in the midst of the most unheard of difficulties, she established the rational and eternal principles of political and religious Protestantism, and bequeathed them in all their excellency, to future generations, to be upheld by them, with the same firm and unyielding magnanimity, and to be considered as unchangeable as they are unimpeachable."

JAMES I.

In the former period of the reign of James I., he appeared to be impressed with the idea of governing his kingdom in the fear of God, and for the benefit of his people. The Gunpowder Plot was the powerful means of keeping him in the way in which he should go : but latterly his moral character had greatly deteriorated, he became vain, deceitful, fond of pleasure, imperious, arbitrary, the slave of favouritism.

He even made war upon religious duty, and issued a licence to the common people to indulge in all common pastimes on the Sabbath after evening service. This licence was called "The Book of Sports,” as it enumerated the different pastimes which were allowed.

Nothing indeed can more forcibly display the unprincipled state of the King's mind, than this permission to trample upon the sanctity of the sabbath, except the limitations which accompanied it; no Papistno Puritan-none in short, who had not attended the services of their parish churches, were to be benefited by this indulgence.

*The Theocratic Philosophy of English History," by the Rev. J. D. Schomberg, B.A.

But the great and crowning sin of James I., was his determination to marry his son, the Prince of Wales, afterwards Charles I., to the Infanta of Spain. The Duke of Buckingham, whose licentious profligacy was ready to avail itself of any opportunity, which might lead to the gratification of his passions, ingratiated himself in the favour of the Prince, and representing to him the unsatisfactory method of being married to one he had never seen, induced the Prince to unite with him in a request to the King, for permission to visit the court of Spain, in order that he might have an opportunity of seeing and conversing with his future queen. The King at last was overcome by their importunities, and in granting permission shewed the weakness of his nature, the evil genius which counteracted and rendered void all the better qualities of his mind. The folly and rashness of the whole proceeding, was as forcibly expressed by the King's fool, on the occasion of their departure, as in the whole account of it, given by the Earl of Clarendon. The fool respectfully approaching the King, placed his cap upon his head, the King asking him the reason, he answered, because he had sent the Prince into Spain; "But," says his Majesty, "what if he should come back safe?" “Why then,” says Archy, "I will take my cap off from your head, and put it on the King of Spain's."

Nothing could exceed the joy with which the Prince was received in Spain. The whole people was moved as the heart of one man, and his marriage with the Infanta was carried by universal acclamation. The Queen welcomed him with magnificent presents. The King, Philip IV., one of the most magnificent monarchs that ever sat upon the Spanish throne, presented him with a golden key, which would unlock all the doors of his private apartments, into which the Prince might without interruption have access at all times. The ecclesiastics, induced by the openness and candour of his disposition, sedulously laboured to attach him to their religion. Even the Pope himself condescended to write to him, for the purpose of effecting such a glorious conversion." But the Prince was unmoved either by their flattery or their arguments, and stood firm to the principles of his religion, which he defended with great knowledge and ability.

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Whilst Charles and Buckingham were employed in seeking pretences, which might give some appearance of justice to their intended breach of treaty; (for the Prince had fallen in love with the sister of the King of France, when visiting Paris on his way to Madrid;) the dispensation from the Pope arrived in Spain. The day of the marriage was fixed. Preparations were made on such a magnificent scale, as Spain had never witnessed. The Infanta's household was arranged. Her dowry of two millions of money prepared, and her voyage to England determined, when, behold! the marriage proxy was countermanded from England, and at one blow, a treaty broken off, which for seven years had been the chief object of the King's solicitude.

Here we have a merciful interposition of Providence to preserve England and her throne, from the fatal consequences resulting from such a glaring violation of the fundamental laws of the constitution; VOL. VIII.- August, 1846. New Series, No. 8.

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but all was in vain. The King's fatal policy was working out for his house a fearful retribution. The growth of Popery during this period was extraordinary, and in spite of all the disadvantages under which it laboured, it was found by Parliament, that more than sixty places of power and emolument, were in the hands of its professors. The country swarmed with Jesuits and seminary priests; and such was felt to be the critical state of affairs, that the House of Lords was roused to unite with the Commons, in a formal Petition to the King, to put the laws into execution, and to bind him by his Royal word, that in all future treaties of marriage for his son, he would not stipulate to relax the execution of the laws against Romanists.

But the dissimulation of the King was soon to be made manifest ; for instead of attending to the wishes of his Parliament, or observing the solemn promise which he had made to them, he entered immediately into a negotiation with France, for the marriage of Henrietta Maria, sister to Lewis XIII., with his son Charles. Nor did he pay the least attention to his solemn promise, but made even greater concessions to the Romanists than he had done in his treaty with the court of Spain, and further, to shew his disregard of the wishes of his people, he received the Archbishop of Ambriun, who had been sent to England in disguise, with every token of respect and confidence. He held frequent conferences with this prelate, who was a person of great ability and experience; and if we could believe the French authors, who have written on the subject, the King declared himself fully inclined to a reconciliation with the Church of Rome.

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The treaty of marriage between his son and the Princess Henrietta, of France, was hastened to a conclusion, with a precipitation which is remarkable; as if it was determined by heaven, he should behold with his eyes an alliance, which was destined to involve his family in disgrace and ruin, and to bring his dynasty to an end. A fact which has been remarked by the author of the life of Cardinal Richilieu, who must be regarded as an unprejudiced witness; "As this match," he observes, was against all the maxims of good policy, so it drew upon his son, King Charles, all those mischiefs which, perhaps, never befel any king succeeding to an hereditary crown, and his sons born of that marriage, and seduced by their mother's persuasions, have been most unfortunate since his death." If this sad history had been written by the pen of Inspiration, the language employed would, perhaps, have been similar to that used by Samuel the prophet, addressed to Saul king of Israel, "Thou hast rejected the word of the Lord, and the Lord hath rejected thee from being king over England.” *

CHARLES I.

Such was the critical and alarming situation of affairs, on the accession of Charles I. to the throne of his father, whose fatal policy had laid the foundation of a struggle between the arbitrary principle and

* 1 Sam. xv. 26.