"Their succession of bishops without a succession of faith and worship is of little worth." The latter in a more general sense, though to the same purpose: "All boast of local succession is empty, unless a succession of true doctrine be likewise proved." We have thought it our duty to lay before our readers the true state of our position. The divisions which have appeared among us are greatly to be lamented, and we doubt not, as indeed we have heard, may have produced much exultation at Rome. More vigorous exertions than ever will now be required of Protestants, and the necessity will be more apparent of forming correct and scriptural views of the Papal apostacy as ANTICHRIST. We would particularly recommend a work, entitled, "The Protestant's Armoury," as containing a most useful collection of information on this great question; and we hope that the highly valuable sermon of the Rev. Edward Bickersteth, preached before the Protestant Association in London, and sold by them at a very low price, with important notes, will be widely circulated throughout the country. PRACTICAL MEASURES TO RESIST POPERY. THE animated scene of the Annual Meeting of Protestants in Exeter Hall has passed away, and we trust that the stirring appeals made by the eminent champions of the cause produced on the multitude which filled that lofty building something more than a short-lived excitement. We trust that numbers have returned to their homes, inspired with the deep resolve never to relax in their efforts till they have recovered their Country's freedom and re-established her ancient Faith. We trust that the sacred and patriotic feeling which was kindled on the day of that vast and memorable gathering will be communicated from breast to breast throughout the land, till not a village or hamlet shall be left which has not formed its rallying-point for the defence of the principles of Christian truth and British liberty. Well is our Country's work begun, Let us be determined to be content with nothing less, if we may use a favourite phrase of O'Connell's, than the Repeal of that fatal Act of Concession, which gave to the enemies of Christianity and social order the power of subverting our glorious Constitution in Church and State. Let us not rest until we have repaired the breaches of the venerable fabric, and restored it to its pristine glory and perfection. The injury which it has sustained was beautifully described by the Rev. Hugh Stowell, when he said, 66 My Lord, I conceive that the passing of that unhappy act inflicted a complete infraction upon our Protestant constitution. If it were not so, why did they guard the introduction of Papists with an oath, that they were not to subvert Protestantism as established by law in the land? Why did they preserve three columns intact and erect, that only told alas! how they were dismantled and shorn of their beautiful pillars, that ought in symmetry still to have supported and cemented the fabric? And, why have we the throne, the Lord Lieutenancy of Ireland, and the Lord Chancellorship, standing out the memorials of what we were, and what we should be, and never ought to have ceased to be? Yes, my lord, the simple reservation to Protestantism, of the Throne, the Lieutenancy of Ireland, and the Lord Chancellorship, evince and prove that those who passed that measure, did it more from a compliance with a bad and miserable expediency, than from a conviction of conscience, or a conversion of the understanding." Yes, as Englishmen and Christians, we must never cease to petition the Legislature for the restitution of the Constitution to its original and integral state in all its branches, by making both Houses of Parliament again subject to the same oath which still binds the Sovereign and the highest officers of state. If the Constitution be not thus restored and that speedily, it is impossible, humanly speaking, that the Throne or the Church can stand much longer in their present unprotected condition. The command which was given to the Jewish nation is equally applicable to ourselves, "There shall no strange God be in thee." As a Christian people we can make no truce or concord with Idolatry or false religion of any kind whatsoever. We may be told that we are proposing a high and unattainable standard. But it is nothing new. It is the same which existed and was found effectual for three centuries and upwards. The same under which Great Britain has arrived at its present glory and pre-eminence above all the nations of the earth. A religious test is indispensable for the maintenance of Christianity in any country. Whilst it continued in force amongst ourselves the blessing of God rested on the nation. Infidelity and Popery never found any footing, or acquired any power, as long as it was the law of the land. And let it not be supposed that the re-enactment of this high and holy test is a hopeless undertaking. The country already begins to be awakened to a sense of the necessity of the measure. Petitions to this effect are forwarded almost every day to be presented to parliament. That which lay for signature on the day of the annual meeting at Exeter Hall, received upwards of 700 signatures. And even if the standard should not be attained at which we aim, yet we are convinced that a great and extensive advancement in religion will be gained by working the principle and agitating the question throughout the country. Christianity we hope will be diffused, and the people will be taught to distinguish betwixt Popery and true Religion, and that the only true Conservatism is that which rests on Christian principles. We consider that the Protestant cause has been highly favoured and promoted by the progress which Lord Stanley has succeeded in making with the Irish Registration Bill. We conceive that this Bill if it should pass into a law is calculated more than any other to break the power of the great Popish oppressor. But after the unprincipled conduct of Her Majesty's Ministers in supporting Popery by their conduct with reference to Lord Stanley's measure, we hope that we shall see the whole country rising as one man to pray Her Majesty to remove them from her councils. "Lord John Russell, the leader of the Melbourne Administration "in the House of Commons, adopts in this instance," (as the Times justly observes,) "the whole scheme of O'Connell for making corruption, fraud, perjury, and priestly intimidation the rule of "Government in one third of the United Kingdom." How are we to reconcile these proceedings of Lord John Russell in the House of Commons with the denial lately made in the House of Lords, that there existed any connection or confederacy betwixt Her Majesty's Ministers and Mr. Daniel O'Connell ? In the midst of this mighty conflict let us ever bear in mind, the paramount and essential duty of Prayer, without which we can never hope for any blessing on our exertions. 66 Restraining prayer we cease to fight, Prayer makes the Christian's armour bright." And before we conclude, we would recommend the exercise of the kindest feelings of benevolence and Christian charity towards our Roman Catholic fellow-subjects, especially in Ireland. Let us always remember, that it was by England in the reign of Henry II. that the baneful source of all the woes of Ireland was communicated to that country. Let us then endeavour to make the best amends in our power for the injuries we have inflicted by imparting to them a share in those religious principles which we ourselves so largely enjoy in England. In particular we would earnestly recommend to Christian benevolence and support the different Institutions and Societies established for the purpose of diffusing the light of the Gospel over the face of Ireland. Among which we gladly reckon, The Achill Mission, The Connemara Mission, The Irish Society for instructing the natives through the medium of their own language, The Irish Church Education Society, and the London Hibernian Society. And with regard to that blessed and reformed Religion which has been transmitted to us down the stream of so many generations, let us say to our Popish and Infidel invaders, in the decided and unhesitating language of Naboth the Jezreelite to the tyrant Ahab :-" The Lord forbid it me, that I should give the inheritance of my fathers unto thee." HISTORICAL SKETCH OF PROTESTANT ASSOCIATIONS. (Continued from Page 141.) BEFORE we pass on to the date of the formation of the Protestant Association now in existence, our attention must be detained for the purpose of recording two circumstances properly belonging to the notice of the fatal event of the year 1829. The first is the pious and earnest effort of a faithful minister of our church, to avert the approaching evil by his pulpit prayers before the face of his congregation; and the second is an anecdote evidencing the "O thou infinitely great and blessed God, whose love and compassion are commensurate with thyself; this glorious truth is revealed to us in the most comprehensive manner in the gift of thy Son, to deliver and redeem us from this world, and to communicate the gift of thy Spirit, to invest us in a love which is to raise us from all the ruin and depths of the fall, and to preserve us in a state of purity and holiness, and consequently of peace, for ever and ever. May these sublime truths constitute the delight and glory of our lives. We have been too long feeding on the trifles of time and sense, enable us to ascend above them and to live in thy presence; forgive us the wickedness of our past lives, and do thou be pleased, in the spirit of true religion, to lead us into the recesses of our hearts, to weep over our own sins and the sins of our nation, and at the same time to repose implicit confidence in thy promises, in thy mercy, and in thy love. Enable us to make a holy and wise use of all thy providential dispensations. Bless us at the present moment; and, O thou God of Heaven, be pleased to have mercy upon Britain; make her depart from iniquity, and cause thy church in every part of her to fall down before thee in dust and ashes, throwing themselves upon thy covenant mercy, and raising a mighty bulwark of prayer for their land. O forgive us, we beseech thee, and let us not see the crown of England robbed of its brightest jewel, and thy enemies taking the lead in our councils. We dare not prescribe any means—at present we see none; but thou canst still disperse the dark cloud hanging over our heads. O preserve to us the constitution of our forefathers, O thou God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob-thou hast commanded thy church to call upon thee in the day of trouble. Be with us then and preserve us; lead us into our own bosoms, and make us remember that the sins of thy church are the most provoking and insulting to thee,—that judgment begins at the household of God,-that thou chastisest thine own family before thou hurlest thine enemies into destruction. If we are to smart for our sins, O lead us into the glories of true religion, pour upon us thy Holy Spirit, as a spirit of grace and of supplication; dispose thy church throughout Britain to wait upon thee, to be ceaselessly engaged in prayer. Hear us, O thou blessed and merciful God, whilst we ask everything in the name and for the sake of Jesus. Amen."Feb. 8, 1829. “O Lord God Almighty, thou hast commanded us to pray. It is thy delight to answer the prayers of thy family,-to answer them with everything good, temporal and spiritual, even with everything best for them. May we have such faith in this truth, as to lead us to trust in Thee, in the noon of night as well as of day, and to look up perpetually to that God who has been the rock and refuge of his church in all ages, and will be so to the end of time. Do thou be pleased to be with us this morning, and to convince us of the awful and at the same time lovely realities of true religion, that we may be as conscious of death, judgment, and eternity, as of our own existence. O keep the truth alive in our hearts by thy Holy Spirit, that we may ascend in it perpetually to Thee. O hear us for our reluctance with which King George IV. gave his consent to its accomplishment.* It was not until the growth of an unconstitutional and unscriptural theory, namely, that the State has no concern with the religious opinions of its members, nor until the increasing influence of Popery in the councils of the nation was perceived, nor until manifest and cogent proof of its ambitious aspirations, in Ireland especially, was supplied, that recourse was had to the important and we trust, with the Divine blessing upon its exertions, powerful agency of a Protestant Association, for maintaining Protestant principles in the policy of our government and in the hearts of our fellow-countrymen. Before its formation, several important though desultory attempts were made to oppose the progress of evil. In 1832, country, and whilst this dark cloud is hanging over it, which we fear is charged with thine indignation, O fill thy family here and elsewhere with the spirit of grace and of supplication, that the blessings we have hitherto enjoyed under an exclusively Protestant government, may be continued to us and our posterity. Lord, at the present moment, we know not what to think nor what to do; but we know that trifles in thine omnipotent hand can overthrow empires and establish kingdoms. We desire then to commit ourselves and our country into thy hands, and ask all in the name and for the sake of thy beloved Son, our gracious Redeemer. Amen."-March 2, 1829. "O Lord God, thou hast commanded us to wait on thee and to call on thee in the day of trouble, and thou hast promised to hear and answer us. Do thou be with us at the present moment, and visit thy church in Britain more than ever. O Lord God Almighty, may we know, through the rich influence of thy Holy Spirit, what thy holy religion is, that we may unite in one spirit, and that all little differences may be passed over in an affectionate silence. Dark as our present prospects are, we have no reason to sink into despondency. Arm us with thy truth and with thy spirit, and then without any human aid, we shall know what it is to triumph over all our enemies. Be our sun and shield, that if Popery is destined to gain the ascendancy in our land, we may be armed to meet and triumph over all its attendant evils. May we remember that not only from seeming but from real evils thou canst and wilt deduce good,—that in leading thy church triumphantly over all our enemies, thou art glorifying thyself whilst thou art preparing her for thy presence above. Arm with the lamb-like influences of thy holy religion, that we may present ourselves to all in thy image; and then if man be against us, the Lord of Hosts will be with us, to cause us to triumph over all our enemies, now and for ever. Amen."-April 5, 1829. Prayers of the late Rev. William Howels, as delivered before and after the Sermon, at Long Acre Chapel. 12mo. London 1835. * It has been related upon good authority, that when the Roman Catholic Relief Bill was brought to the king to receive the royal assent, the king, as soon as he had signed it, threw the pen angrily to the ground; and upon some one of the attendants proceeding to pick it up, he exclaimed, “Let it lye.-No man can tell what may be the consequences of that act." And the recollection of that which George III. would have deemed a breach of the coronation oath dwelt upon his mind to the last. In the words of one who was admitted to his friendship, "It broke his heart." It should be mentioned, that the number of petitions against the Bill was 2953; whereas the number in favour of it was 918 (642 of which were from Papists); leaving a majority of 2035 against the Bill. |