This nation is in the most dangerous and extraordinary attitude of a physician, who is occupied with so many patients at the same time, that a deadly disease is preying upon his own vitals, which he is neglecting, and not only so, but he is actually conveying infection to the very patients, whom he is endeavouring to recover. Here you have England dealing with patients, some of them very hopeful, and some of them very necessitous; but no sooner does she establish her Christianity in a given direction of Heathen darkness, than the infection of her own complaint pollutes the sources of life; no sooner is she establishing herself, than her work is overlaid by Jesuits and by priests, educated and fitted out, aye, literally clothed, by Protestant funds. If she is applying the balm of Gilead to the wounds of diseased nations, she is spreading infection through the earth, at the same time. Now this is a most inconsistent state of things; and we shall never understand aright what our duty is, till we take the first step in the direction of the performance of that duty-unless we consider, that Roman Catholic idolaters are as much entitled to our sympathy and compassion, and are as deserving of effort on our part, as they would be, if the distance of the world's diameter were between us. Why should millions of Roman Catholics be suffered to exist in a country of missions, under sentence of practical exclusion from the means of grace, given up to their idolatry, while we are busying ourselves with missions to every nation under heaven. Let us uphold these missions; and would to God there were twenty, where there is one, and millions, where thousands are subscribed; but let not our Christianity be of that elastic character, that it can bound over the head of domestic idolatry. I say again, Sir, that what we want is a mission to Roman Catholics; and I trust this Meeting will carry away the idea in their minds, and that we shall, as far as it be possible, endeavour to do our first works ; that we shall, as far as it be possible, spread and diffuse that idea, until a national mission is established, for the conversion of Roman Catholics; until, in other words, the Protestantism of this country becomes aggressive, as Christianity is, in its nature, and essence, and design; until we have a something, which shall bring Christianity into contact with Roman Catholics, and revive the suspended work of the Reformation. Then, Sir, but not till then, shall we witness the same effects.

What discouragement is there in the way? Is not the moral constitution of man the same as it was in the days of Martin Luther, or Cranmer, or Knox, or Ridley? Are not the promises of God the same? Is not the power of "the sword of the Spirit" the same? Is not "the blood of the Lamb" the same? Is not "the word of his testimony" the same? Are not the promises of Scripture as encouraging to us, as they were to them? Oh! let us cast away from us all sordid political considerations, and let us try, in the strength of our God, to revive among us the suspended work of the Reformation.

The last clause of my Resolution is, “That in accordance with these views, this Meeting would earnestly urge upon every spiritual Protestant the duty of fervent, persevering prayer, for national awakening, national repentance, and national exertion, if so be that the Lord will pardon our past guilt, and revive in our long-favoured

land, not merely the spirit of the Reformation, but the holy and uncompromising exertions of the Reformers.”

Sir, the Roman Catholics, more consistent than we are, are provoking us to what is contained in this Resolution. They are provoking us to prayer, for they are praying for our conversion. Rome has issued bulls, in support of general prayer, for the conversion of the Protestants of this country. Now, Sir, we are invited to a challenge; and if we take up the gauntlet which has been thrown down, it will be just a renewal of the contest between Elijah and the priests of Baal; and we have merely to imitate the conduct of Roman Catholics, to shew to an intelligent universe who is on the right side. I would invite you, my friends, as in the sight of God, to keep this in your memory,—to give the conversion of Roman Catholics a place, not only in your closets, but at your family altars. There is no safety for this country, but in prayer to God, that he would produce among us a spirit of national awakening, of national repentance, and of a recurrence, not merely to the spirit of the Reformers, but to the uncompromising practices of the Reformers.

The Resolution was then put from the chair, and carried unanimously.

Rev. HUGH STOWELL.-I beg leave to move-" That it is the duty of Christian men, Christian statesmen, and Christian nations, alike in their private and public capacity, to promote the glory of God, and seek the advancement of His cause; that Popery is opposed to pure Christianity, civil freedom, and national prosperity; and that it is, therefore, incumbent upon Protestants of all denominations, as they value the blessings of civil and religious liberty, to use their utmost endeavours to prevent any endowment and encouragement of the Church of Rome; and that it is the solemn and bounden duty of electors to secure the return of those men to Parliament, who will oppose Popery, and support the Protestant institutions of our country."

There may appear, Mr. Chairman and Christian friends, somewhat of antagonism between the sentiments of the Resolution, which I have submitted for your acceptance, and some of the beautiful sentiments, which I heard with so much delight from our veteran friend [Captain Gordon,] who once, in St. Stephen's, so nobly battled for the truth, and made one of the mightiest upholders of the system of error often quail before him; but in reality there is, I conceive, no discordance between the Resolution, and the sentiments which he has addressed to

us.

From my heart, I subscribe to those sentiments: I have often, though far more feebly than he has done, given utterance to them aforetime. I have always said, that if the Reformation had been carried out as it ought, instead of our having to fear Romanism, she would not have had one inch of ground within our dominions. But I am perfectly certain that he will admit, that Protestant Christian statesmen are bound to legislate for the glory of God, and for the maintenance of His truth among us; and that if so, Protestant Christian electors are bound to choose men who will accomplish these things. And I am equally certain that he will admit, that whilst we ought, primarily and pre-eminently, to address ourselves to the bounden task

of promoting and carrying out the Reformation, which has so long slumbered on its pillows, and so long smouldered in its embers, yet, at the same time, that we must ward off the impending destruction to the Reformation, in the high places of the national assembly. And, therefore, in addressing myself to my Resolution, I feel that I shall not be out of harmony with my revered friend, and that his sentiments, and the sentiments of my Resolution, are indeed in perfect agreement.

But there may be those present, (I am sure there are those absent,) who will regard the Resolution itself as too essentially political, to be moved by a minister of the Gospel of peace; and it does grieve me to the heart, in looking around me upon occasions like the present, to miss so many of the countenances, which on our Church Missionary platform, our Jews' platform, or our Bible platform, I love to hail,-who are there, with intelligence on their brow, and with zeal in their eye, to hearken and respond to the sentiments which are addressed to them; but when you come to the Protestant platform, where are they? But a few here and there can be found; and though their places are supplied by strangers, whom we love to welcome, upon such an occasion, yet we want the old friends, as well as the new, to be amongst us. Why is it that they are absent upon these occasions? I fear it is partly because we may have been a little unwise, and perhaps over-zealous. Nay, that is not possible; but we may have been unguarded in our advocacy of the sacred cause; and if so, we are willing to humble ourselves in the dust; it was our mistake, and not our intention; it was our weakness, and not our purpose. But why do not the wise, and the gentle, and the mature, and the deliberate, and the hoary-headed come amongst us, and act as the safety-valve, if they will, to our energy, or as the fly-wheel to our too rapid machinery. Let them not sit coldly in the distance, and shake their head, and say, "The Protestant Association goes too fast and too far; we fear it is doing more damage than good." "More damage than good?" I would ask my wise and revered friends, if it had not been for the Protestant Association, and the Reformation Society, and one or two despised and calumniated instrumentalities of this kind, where would have been the Protestant spirit of England at this moment? Where would have been the warning voice against the stealthy Popery, which has risen up like a snake nourished in the bosom of our Establishment? Nourished, I saynot begotten; Rome begat the reptile,-she was only nourished in our Establishment. If it had not been for such Associations as these, where would have been the opposition to the Maynooth grant, which if it did nothing else, at least served to put a drag upon the wheel, as it was going down the inclined plane to error and to ruin ?

Political! This is the word which is continually flung at all such efforts as the present. I would ask my friends, who are so fond of branding such efforts with the charge of being political :-" Do you hold, then, that politics have nothing to do with religion, and that religion has nothing to do with politics ?" [A cry of" Politics are dissimulation."] The politics of Rome may be dissimulation, but the politics of Christianity are truth. Since politics are whatever concerns the well-being of the community, and since Christianity concerns it

to its very heart's core, Christianity must have to do with politics and politics must have to do with Christianity. It has been because our politics have been getting dissevered from our Christianity, that our nation has fallen into such confusion, that such party-spirit and such partisanships have been engendered, that Ireland has been almost torn from her union with England; and one Administration after another has fallen from power, just through their pitiful attempts to divorce Christianity from politics. If religion has nothing to do with politics, then God has nothing to do with nations; and if God has nothing to do with nations, He has nothing to do with individuals, for nations are made up of individuals; and if He has nothing to do with individuals, He has nothing to do with the world. And thus that principle so often uttered, I marvel not by the godless statesmen, I marvel not by the covert Jesuit, I marvel not by the Tractarian driveller, but I do marvel from the lips of peace-loving and holy Christians, that religion has nothing to do with politics, is virtually launching us, (though they mean it not so,) on the stormy ocean of an utter scepticism and atheism. "The Lord God omnipotent reigneth ;" and "by Him princes reign, and senators decree justice;" and so long as it is so, we must have religion interwoven with our politics, and our politics subservient to our religion, or we forfeit the character of a believing and a Christian people.

But more than this: I would appeal to those beloved friends, whom I miss on such occasions as the present: how can you reconcile it with your conscience, how can you bring it into harmony with common consistency, that on the one hand you should be giving your thousands and tens of thousands to evangelize the world, and on the other, (as has been suggested by Captain Gordon,) you should be allowing your Christian Government (Christian in name and theory at least,) to be giving, not its tens of thousands, but its hundreds of thousands, and if we are to have the priesthood of Ireland endowed, its fifteen hundred thousand in order to propagate error? So that, on the one hand, you are striving and sacrificing, in order to spread Christianity, and on the other hand, you are conniving and winking at the propagation of antichristianity, by means of funds, which come, through the taxes, from your pockets. And if the law of the land bring in the accessory guilty, next to the criminal, will the law of God clear you of guilt, if you refuse to protest against such inconsistency?

But it may be said, (and I dare say it will be replied,) "Are you not met to agitate against the existing Administration? Are you not come together, in order to oppose the powers that be?' Are you not met merely as Conservatives, or as Tories ?" Sir, I have renounced, and I believe the whole Protestant Association has renounced, all such names as Conservative, and Tory, and Whig, and Radical. We are Constitutionalists; we want to maintain, nay, more, we want to restore the glorious Constitution, which our martyred forefathers have transmitted to us. In this great subject we desire to merge our minor party differences; we desire to get rid of our selfishness and our sectionism; we desire to lose them all, in our common zeal to maintain "the truth as it is in Jesus," and "the ark of God," that it be not carried captive by his enemies. And therefore we

are no more met to oppose the present Government, than we formerly did, when others were in power. But we have learned a lesson, (and perhaps we needed it,) not to forsake the arm of him who will not fail us, and "go into Egypt for chariots and for horsemen." We have learned, (and I hope we shall not forget the lesson,) that party politicians are creatures of expediency, and not the servants of principle; that they see everything through the discoloured lens of their own party-purposes, and not in the clear daylight of Christian truth; that they wish to keep themselves in place and in power, and to do this they will concede, whether it be to Romanism, to Socinianism, or to Infidelity, if it will accomplish their own secular ends. So far from being met to oppose the present Administration, for my part, I would rather have an honest Whig, than a dishonest Tory; I would rather have the man, who comes forward, and says, "I intend to endow the Romish priesthood, I intend to increase the grant to Maynooth, I intend to repeal the protections which we yet have against the mummeries of Popery parading our streets, and insulting our people;" I would rather have that man, than him who comes into office, in some measure, with Protestant principles, and hatches in his own nest the cockatrice' egg, from which comes out the perfidy of a Maynooth grant.

My Christian friends, it is not with men, but with measures; it is not with party, but with principle, that we have to do. And I can only say, for one, that if the present Premier would but haply remember, that the name of Russell was once emblazoned on the escutcheon of British Protestantism; if he would only remember the Russell of other times, and stand forth to support our Protestantism, he would carry with him the hearts and the hands of those around me, and they would show him, that no party name, of Whig or Radical, would scare them away from the man, who could stand true to the blood-bought principles of our Protestant constitution.

We are not met, therefore, my Christian friends, either to oppose one party, or to support another party. I trust and believe, that we have already the elements developing themselves among us, even in the high places of our empire, as in the National Club, the Protestant Association, and other kindred Societies-the elements of a great confederacy, which shall fling mere party and mere prejudice to the winds, and shall rise up, in the might of faith, and union, and prayer, in order to maintain and restore the Protestant Christianity of our nation.

If this be the case, we may yet, through God, have hope. But let me remind you, that whatever we do must be promptly done. Alas! it has been the sad mishap of our Protestant movements, that they have been just too late-that we have not, like the skilful mariner, seen the gathering storm in the distance, marked the first curl on the surface of the ocean, and heard the first distant moaning of the approaching tempest; but we have allowed the tempest to be rising, and the billows to be gathering around our bulwarks, before we have set ourselves to undergird the ship, to prepare the sails, and to guard the compass, and to set the helm. The storm has come upon us; we have made the endeavour; but it has been too late, and we have