Oldalképek
PDF
ePub

Ministers remain in power, and until the House of Commons is purged of Papists, Socinians, and every enemy of our Civil and Religious Liberties. We therefore pray to the Giver of every good and every perfect gift, our dear and gracious Lord, that He will be pleased to have mercy on our nation, giving strength and zeal to those who are contending earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints, and as a means of maintaining it, a Christian Executive and Senate to Great Britain.

PROTEST OF THE BISHOP OF EXETER AGAINST THE PASSING OF THE MUNICIPAL CORPORATIONS (IRELAND) bill.

Dissentient,

1. Because no sufficient proofs of delinquency or misconduct were adduced against the Municipal Corporations of Ireland, to justify so sweeping a measure of destruction, in contempt of the sacredness of ancient charters, and in defiance of those principles which, till within the last few years, were wont to distinguish the legislation of the British Parliament, and especially of this House.

2. Because, in the admitted absence of such proofs of delinquency, the plea on which the measure was mainly rested, the exclusive character of the existing corporations did in effect establish the fidelity of those bodies to the one great end for which they were all alike created, the maintenance of the British interest in Ireland; the more ancient corporations having been founded as fortresses and fastnesses to protect that interest against the rebellious attempts of the native Irish, and the descendants of the earliest English settlers; the more modern combining, with this great common object, the still greater and more sacred purpose of maintaining the cause of true religion against the unceasing efforts of the Papists to re-establish the domination of their own priesthood in its greatest and most revolting form.

3. Because, if it be true that the continuance of bodies in practice exclusively Protestant be no longer consistent with the policy which seeks to deal with all distinctions of religious faith, as equally unworthy of peculiar favour in the political institutions of the empire, common sense and common justice alike point out the only proper course to be pursued the simple abolition of those bodies, when the cause for which they were created is supposed to have ceased.

4. Because the adoption of a measure, which is admitted by all to ensure the establishment of bodies of Roman Catholics equally exclusive as those which they are made to supersede, is not only contrary to common sense and common justice, but also to the spirit of most solemn promises and engagements' repeatedly made by those who advised, and ultimately carried, the Act for the Relief of Her Majesty's Roman Catholic Subjects in 1829. The leaders in that great and perilous experiment pledged themselves to propose to Parliament the re-enactment of the statutes which were then repealed or the adoption of still more stringent restraints, if the parties, who were freed from the restrictions before imposed, should prove (as they notoriously have proved) themselves unworthy of the confidence then reposed in them, and should renew their attempts against the Protestant Church in Ireland. If any unhappy concurrence of circumstances has prevented the

literal redemption of that pledge, yet the least and lowest obligation. which it can justly be understood to have imposed was, the duty of a resolute and firm resistance to every new proposition for increasing the power of so bitter, so unrelenting, and so perfidious an enemy.

5. Because, although it was declared by high authority, on the second reading of the Bill, that it would be unworthy of finally passing into a law, unless such amendments were introduced as should give security against the establishment of other bodies equally exclusive with those which are abolished, yet the amendments actually made not only give no such security, but do not even attempt nor profess to give it, their only object being to mitigate the acknowledged mischiefs of the measure, and in some trifling degree to limit the power with which it arms the Popish Democracy of the cities and towns in Ireland to tyrannize over the Protestant and more opulent classes of the inhabitants, and to extort from them funds for the more speedy and effectual execution of their own unhallowed designs.

6. Because there is strong reason to believe that the final passing of the measure was the result rather of considerations of party convenience, than of any large and liberal views of national policy-none of those who had it in their power to decide on the ultimate fate of the Bill venturing to pronounce it a measure either just or safe in itself, or worthy of favor on any other account, than that it put an end to a question which could no longer remain unsettled, without dividing public men, who, from the purest motives, wish to continue to act together. Thus were the greatest interests of the country forgotten in personal considerations-the end was sacrificed to the means, and the only plea which can justify the combination of statesmen, the more effectual assertion and maintenance of a great common principle, was here openly abandoned.

7. Because, the House of Lords having, since the passing of the Act for the reform of the Commons House of Parliament, been practically deprived of what was wont to be deemed its constitutional share of control over the executive power of the Crown, was yet enabled, till the present disastrous session, to retain, and to assert, its legislative independence; and, by the wise and efficient exercise of its just privilege, or rather of its highest duty, in the correction or rejection of bad Bills, had continued to earn and to enjoy the grateful veneration of the English people. That lofty position it has, in this instance, voluntarily surrendered; and has thus, by its own act, gone far towards realizing the prophetic declaration of Sir William Blackstone, that the Constitution of England would be destroyed, and could only be destroyed, by one of the three branches of the Legislature losing its constitutional weight, and submitting to the domination of the other two.

8. Lastly, and above all, because, by this wilful and deliberate abandonment of the cause of true religion, and of the security of the Church in Ireland, to which the fundamental laws of the Constitution, the Act of Union, the oath of our Sovereign, and all the most sacred duties of subjects to their ruler, and of men to their Maker, alike bind us, we have provoked the justice of Almighty God, and have given too much reason to apprehend the visitation of Divine vengeance for this presumptuous act of national disobedience.

H. EXETER,

PETITION AGAINST THE CANADA CLERGY RESERVES BILL.

To the Right Honourable the Lords Spiritual and Temporal of Great Britain and Ireland, in Parliament assembled.

The Petition of the undersigned Members of the Committee of the Protestant Association,

Humbly sheweth,

That your petitioners deeply lament the alleged necessity for the introduction of a Bill now before your Lordships' House, for the seizure of part of the property which by a Statute passed in the reign of His late Majesty, King George the 3rd, was settled on the recognised "Protestant Clergy" of Upper Canada.

That your petitioners earnestly implore your Lordships to consider well the truth of the allegation that that necessity exists, and to pause in so remarkable and flagrant a violation of vested rights, and so large an alienation of Ecclesiastical property; but, if such a measure must pass into a law, if it cannot even be postponed till the excitement produced by the revolt in Canada has subsided; your petitioners intreat your Lordships to alter the clause which enables the Governor in Council to distribute a portion of the confiscated property of the "Protestant Clergy" among any of the professedly Christian Denominations which at present derive support from Government funds, not excluding the Papists.

That your petitioners can assure your Lordships, that they and a very large body of Her Majesty's faithful subjects are greatly distressed at the countenance and aid which already are enjoyed in the Colonies by the teachers of Anti-christian error, and that they entertain the greatest alarm lest the heavy judgments of Almighty God be experienced by this nation, on account of her criminal alliance with principles offensive in His sight and hostile to the doctrines of His gospel.

That your petitioners do therefore earnestly beg that your Lordships, in alienating the property vested in the "Protestant Clergy," will at least provide that a still greater evil be not inflicted, by enabling the executive Government of Canada to appropriate that property or any part of it to the support of Bishops and Priests of the APOSTATE CHURCH OF ROME.

And your Petitioners will ever pray, &c.

"THE Treatise (Bishop Newton's) on the Prophecies, serves a double purpose; it not only proves the truth of religion in a manner that never has been and never can be controverted; but it proves likewise that the Roman Catholic is the Apostate and Anti-Christian Church so frequently foretold both in the Old and New Testaments. Indeed so fatally connected is the refutation of Popery with the truth of Christianity, where the latter is evinced by the completion of the Prophecies, that in proportion as light is thrown upon the one, the deformities and errors of the other are more plainly exhibited."-Cowper's Letters to Lady Hesketh. Grimshawe's Life of Cowper, vol. 1. p. 4.

ENGLAND'S RELATIONS WITH TURKEY.

"Say ye not a Confederacy to all to whom this people shall say, A Confederacy; neither fear ye their fear nor be afraid. Sanctify the Lord of hosts himself, and let Him be your fear and let Him be your dread.”—Isaiah, viii. 12, 13.

A TREATY, which has been very unexpectedly brought to light, has it appears been made between

England, a Protestant State,

Russia, a State professing the Greek faith,
Austria, a Popish State,

And Prussia, a nominally Protestant State,

for the protection and security of Turkey, a Mahommedan State, which formerly under Solyman the Great endangered all Christendom by her successful invasions, and which ever since has been distinguished above all countries in Europe for hostility to the truth and the grossness of her perversions of the worship of the One True God.

Such a treaty would not be noticed by us, if it were not so plainly a confederacy of an Anti-christian character for Antichristian purposes. We therefore deeply lament it; and we sincerely believe that God's blessing will not and cannot attend its designs. Success indeed may be secured to the immediate plan of the Alliance, but success in such a case can never be beneficial in its effects. "The Prosperity of Fools shall destroy them."

It is no excuse for the treaty that it is made for the destruction or repression of a Mahommedan power-Egypt; because that is to be effected only to add dignity and strength to another more bigoted Mahommedan power-Turkey. Nor does it appear to us to be any apology for the treaty that is to be made to support that which has been for so many ages the fruitful source of wars and disasters to Europe-"the Balance of Power." If peace cannot be preserved in Europe but by the restoration of the power of a Mahommedan country, certain we are that neither by that means can it really and permanently be secured. Or if carnal wisdom and worldly expediency did dictate such a course as the only means of obtaining European peace, still we should object to it, for "the end can not sanctify the means."

On these grounds we humbly and earnestly protest against the treaty, and against the war into which as its first fruits it appears possible that we shall be plunged. War at any time is to be deplored as an evil of the greatest magnitude, the cause of misery and desolation, of crime and ruin wherever it reaches. The time will come when men shall not learn war any more; for that time we long and pray. But we own that there have been times when in necessary self-defence, and for God's purposes, wars have been carried on, and such occasions may occur again. But this is

not such an occasion, and as England is already engaged in a distressing and unjustifiable war with China, we deplore most earnestly the present prospect of a war for the purposes of giving effect to the New Quadruple Treaty.

It may be, and we believe will be, that in God's good providence even this unholy confederacy will prove for the good of the Church of Christ. The events in the East are pregnant with matter for deep and interesting reflection, and for ardent prayer to all who take heed to prophecy as a light that shineth in a dark place. Probably these events may give rise to hopes than an opening is likely very speedily to be made for the restoration of God's ancient people to their own land. May the Lord hasten that glorious time, when "the receiving of them (the Jews) shall be as life to the dead!"-Romans, xi. 15. But this anticipation can not at all justify the new treaty, and only serves to show how the Almighty God may overrule man's follies, and cause "man's wrath to praise Him." And therefore we deem that those "who sigh and cry for the abominations that are done in the land," should pray to the Lord to avert from our rulers and our country the judgments which our alliance with those who deny or blaspheme Him so justly merit.

THE CHURCH OF ROME CHARGED OF HIGH

PRESUMPTION,

AND GREAT CRUELTY, IN DISARMING THE PEOPLE OF THIS
SWORD OF THE SCRIPTURES.

(From Gurnall's "Christian Armour.")

Is the word the sword of the Spirit, whereby the Christian vanquisheth his enemies? Then we may justly charge the church of Rome of cruelty to the souls of men, in disarming them of that weapon with which they alone can defend themselves against their enemies that seek their eternal ruin. It is true they have some fig-leaves, with which they would fain hide their shameful practice, making the world believe they do it in mercy to the people, lest they should cut and wound themselves with this weapon. We see (say they) how many errors and heresies the world swarms with by the mistakes of the vulgar; yea Peter himself they dare subpoena as a witness on their side; who saith "that there are some things hard to be understood in Paul's Epistles, which they that are unlearned and unstable wrest, as they do the other Scriptures, unto their own destruction." 2 Pet. iii. 16. And therefore the Scripture, which is so dangerous for ordinary people to meddle with, they judge it is safest to lay it out of their reach, as we do a sword from children, though they cry much for it. See what a fair glove they draw over so foul a hand. But did Peter, because some unlearned and unstable

« ElőzőTovább »