fore, are now left entirely to dependence upon Providence and their own exertions.-AN ENEMY TO PoPERY, BUT NOT TO ROMAN CATHO LICS. REFUSAL TO TAKE THE OATH OF SUPREMACY.- -Sir Valentine Blake, M.P. for Cork, has refused to take the Oath of Supremacy, as he does not admit that the Pope has no spiritual jurisdiction in these realms. REPRESENTATION OF WESTMINSTER.-Mr. Wyse has declined standing for Westminster, on the plea of his apprehension that his religious opinions as a Roman Catholic would be a bar to his success.-Church and State Gazette. GUNS OR FOOD, ETC. [To the Editor of the 66 Times."] Sir, Allow an English reader to inquire if the Irish people eat guns? In this country, when a man is starving, and obtains work and money, he purchases food forthwith. Not so the Irish. A month's wages are hoarded for the privilege of shooting a landlord. Again, I would ask, in what century was it that a murderer was brought to justice in Ireland? and, are not at least nine-tenths of the victims Protestants? Once more, do not the pen of history, the wellknown Secreta Monita, and the pictures in romance (Le Juif Errant, Hawkestone, &c.) tell us that such secret and deadly compacts are successfully made and carried out only by the Society of Ignatius Loyola? -Sir, your obedient servant, SAXON. PEEL IN 1838, IN CONTRAST TO PEEL IN 1845.-POPERY AND PROTESTANTISM. The following extraordinary document deserves particular attention. It is a declaration made by Sir Robert Peel in reply to a deputation from the Church of Scotland, who visited London in 1838, in reference to church extension. The memorandum of this remarkable declaration was made on the spot at the time by Dr. Buchanan. It has been now given to the world by him on the occasion of the half-yearly meeting of the Synod of Glasgow and Ayre, in recommending petitions against the Maynooth grant : 66 -- Independent," said Sir R. Peel, on Saturday, the 24th of March, 1838, "independent of thus rousing the English Members, and England generally to the importance of the Church extension question, he thought it was of the highest moment that the English and Scotch Establishments should unite in these days on the common ground of the Protestant faith in resisting the encroachments of the Church of Rome. It is impossible, I think (he said with great earnestness of tone and manner), to look at the progress Popery is now making, and the efforts it is putting forth, without anxiety and alarm. The establishment of the order of the Jesuits in most of the countries of Europe, the movements in Prussia and Belgium, the increase of Popish chapels and seminaries in our country, show us too clearly what we have to dread; and I am persuaded (he continued) that we shall ere long see a struggle arise, in which we shall have again to determine the question whether Popery or Protestantism is to have the ascendancy." CABINET. THE writings of good men may be lawfully used as little rills flowing from the sacred fountains of inspiration, but woe be to that Church or people who substitute them for the blessed spring itself. It is a never-failing mark of a fallen Church when human traditions, or human systems, are raised above, made equal with, or set in opposition to, the revealed Word of God. NEWFOUNDLAND. THERE is a land where darkness reigns, Come, lend your heart and ope I plead for distant Newfoundland! Did ever mother love her child? Then England love this region wild; For sure her sons are all thine own, And boast of British blood alone. Oh! succour, then, this kindred band, Nor cease to love your Newfoundland! There Deists point the road to hell, And Romish Priests disguise it well; And oh! how few, with purer leaven, To mark the narrow road to heaven. Then can you, Christian friends, withstand The righteous claims of Newfoundland? Behold how vast the flock to keep; How few the shepherds for the sheep: And many a Christian man deplores He ever left fair England's shores. For many a year no Pastor bland Christian Brethren, ere we part, And bid them starve in New- L. L. consists of letters published towards the close of the last century, on subjects then considered of vast importance, but which now are of a more pressing nature than then. At page 58, Mr. M'Neile thus ob serves: "Your Lordship will excuse my earnestness, when I assure you, that And more, much more. I sincerely believe all I have written. I have confined my observations (perhaps too exclusively) to what is Anti-Social in the Romish system, as more immediately demanding your Lordship's official attention. My own mind and heart are much more deeply exercised by what is Anti-Christian in that system: because this involves not England's welfare as a nation only, but the everlasting salvation of Englishmen, and in one sense I may add of all men in all nations; for if Romanism become dominant England, there remains no barrier against her universal domination. Shrink not, my Lord, from the voice of the preacher. Everlasting salvation is indeed involved, though the scoffers of these last days may at in The above lines have been set to music for the benefit of the Newfoundland and British North America School Society. Air by Beethoven. Price 6d. Sold by K. J. Ford, Isling-tempt to laugh it to scorn; and the ton. NOTICES OF BOOKS. Aunt Kate's Story about the Vicar and his Family. By ANN THORP. Bristol: James Martin. Pp. 64. THIS is an interesting little work, and well adapted for little children, for whom it is intended. It is written with much taste and feeling. The State in Danger; a Letter to the Right Hon. Lord John Russell, M.P., First Lord of the Treasury, &c., &c. By the Rev. HUGH M'NEILE, M.A., Honorary Canon of Chester, and Incumbent of St. Jude's, Liverpool. London: Hatchard and Co. Liverpool: A. Newland; H. Perris. Pp. 60. THIS letter is a very seasonable publication. The first six and the last fourteen pages are from the pen of Mr. M'Neile. The other portion of the work, as he himself informs us, one only way of salvation is involved, though latitudinarian philosophers, in the plenitude of a charity which costs them nothing, may pronounce it monstrous bigotry. "However it may suit the present convenience of ungodly men to plead impartial dealing among their fellows, in excuse for wilful disobedience to the plain commandments of God; or to deify indifferentism in the Senate and the Council Chamber, on pretence of confining religion to the closet; the solemn hour of retribution is at hand. God will not be mocked. "Whatsoever a man soweth, that shall he reap." There is immortality in man, and veracity in God: and threescore years and ten bear slight comparison with eternity. "I need not add to your Lordship, that there is no name given under heaven among men available for a happy eternity, but the name of Jesus Christ, the one and only Mediator always, with the one and once offered sacrifice, and only once,—and that if any man be in Him, he is a new creature. Unseen things are to such a man real things. God is not an abstraction to the mind of such a man, but a living present Person; and the politics of this world, though an arena for such a man's duty, supply no home to his heart. "I must conclude. And now, my Lord, whatever reception this publication may meet with, from your Lordship or others, I shall have in my own bosom the satisfying and tranquillizing assurance that I have made an honest effort in the service of my country and my God, in what I believe to be the right direction: and if I thereby incur any personal unkindness, or worse than unkindness, from the enemies of Our Church and nation, I shall have the further satisfaction of cordially forgiving all such attacks, and sincerely praying for God's best blessing, his converting grace, upon all my assail ants," INTELLIGENCE. ISLINGTON. A Lecture was delivered by James Lord, Esq., in the National School-rooms, Liverpoolroad, on the evening of Monday, the 30th of Nov., the Rev. J. Hambleton, A.M., in the chair. The subject of Mr. Lord's address, which was intended chiefly for the members of the congregation of the Chapel of Ease, was the encroachments of Popery, and the duties of Protestants. On Friday evening, Dec. 4, a Lecture was delivered in the Schoolrooms in Church-street, the Rev. Daniel Wilson, the Vicar, presided, and a very numerous audience was present, and deep interest appeared to be taken by all who were present. Mr. Lord, in the course of a lengthy address, pointed out the progress of Popery, and the spirit in which Popery was to be opposed. BATH.-We hear that Lord Ashley has declined coming forward to represent this city at the next election. READING.We are greatly rejoiced at the movement going on in this town, which gives convincing proof that the Protestant spirit there, as elsewhere, has been dormant, not extinct. In a constituency of about 1,200 electors, more than 300 or 400 have already signed a pledge, that they will not vote for any one who will not pledge himself to oppose any measure in favour of endowing the Romish priesthood in Ireland. Supposing that not more than 1,000 of the electors vote, then it is clear that those taking this pledge amount to nearly one-third of the constituency. The proceedings in this borough have been the subject of remark in the local papers, and also in the London papers; amongst which the " Morning Herald" has taken up the question. The "Times" also contains, from the "Berkshire Chronicle," a very important letter from Mr. Walters, of Bearwood, on the question. Mr. Lord, at the request of some of the inhabitants of Reading, delivered a Lecture in the Town Hall, the evening of Monday, the 14th of December, on the Protestant character of the British Constitution, and the duties of Protestants. Dr. Cowan, a physician of the town of Reading, presided. MANCHESTER.-The Anniversary Meeting of the Tradesmen's and Operative Protestant Association was held on Thursday evening, the 17th of December, in the Corn Exchange, Hanging Ditch, the Rev. Hugh Stowell, the President, in the chair. The Meeting was addressed by several of the local clergy, and by Mr. James Lord, of London. Copies of the Protestant Magazine, price 5d., may be had at any time by order to the Publisher, and may be forwarded to any part of the kingdom. Macintosh, Printer, Great New Street, London. PROTESTANT MAGAZINE. FEBRUARY, 1847. THE NEW SESSION OF PARLIAMENT. PARLIAMENT has again assembled. It has assembled too, under circumstances most peculiar and difficult. Those well qualified to judge, declare that in the whole course of their experience, they have scarcely, or never known it convened at such an extraordinary and painful crisis as the present. What makes it so? We reply, the state of Ireland. And what makes the state of Ireland what it is? Evils are not likely to be remedied, unless traced to their source. Now there may be various causative agencies at work to produce any given effect. No doubt it is so as regards Ireland; and the famine which prevails there, whether it shall be ultimately for the good of that country or no, will be traced to various and conflicting causes in the estimation of many, according to the different light in which they view these matters. The failure of the potato crop may be the immediate cause of the present famine. But the cause of Ireland's suffering through centuries, is Popery-Popery that has blighted every country over which it has been permitted to spread its influence; and makes Ireland, and if we take not care, will shortly make England herself, a fresh instance of the truth of the assertion, that the Church of Rome may flourish in the country that it ruins. The names of parties which once divided the empire, are almost unheeded, or forgotten. The Whig and the Tory-nay, even the modern Conservative and Liberal, who respectively assumed their places, seem already like objects in the distance, fading from the view, and other parties are coming forward on the arena, and a different conflict is being fought-it is the conflict of principle. The parties are those who would uphold the Protestant Institution, on the one hand, and those who would destroy them, on the other. On the side of Popery, are some of the Whigs and Liberal party, who, under the idea of liberating Roman Catholics already free, far more free than Protestants are in neighbouring Roman Catholic states, would make themselves, their children, and their country, the slaves of Rome; and some also of the Tory or Conservative party, who, averse to dissent and democracy, seek in Rome a breakwater for "the noise of the waves and the madness of the people." These will, together with Roman Catholics, side with Rome. On the other hand, the spiritually enlightened of each party in D politics and sect in religion, behold in Rome, and the practical infidelity to which Rome leads, the grand antagonist of the Gospel; and resolve, more or less, according to their different degrees of light and energy, not indeed to persecute Roman Catholics, but to deprive Rome of the power of persecuting-not to propagate Papal nor Pagan idolatry, but the truth, "as the truth is in Jesus," and to contend earnestly for the faith once delivered to the saints. We do not mean to contend, that we as a Church and Nation have dealt wisely, kindly, or faithfully with Ireland, or her people. We suffer from not having done so. If Ireland starves, England must feed her. If distress prevails there, England must relieve it,* and do so even to the inflicting of hardships and privations upon her own children. Thus the welfare of each individual is bound up with another, and private persons suffer for the faults, the errors, and infirmities of their rulers. In the dealings of Providence the evils which one nation inflicts on another are, by a retributive justice, brought home to its own door, and the misruled rise up for the condemnation and punishment of those through whose fault they have been misgoverned. We have endeavoured to legislate for Ireland irrespective of the Divine will of the Almighty, as revealed to us in Scripture; and he now rises to vindicate for himself his claim to the allegiance of nations, as well as men. Let us not be misunderstood, nor thought uncharitable, for speaking of Popery as the cause of Ireland's sufferings. The dealings of Providence with regard to individuals cannot always be traced. In his inscrutable wisdom he sometimes permits a wicked man to prosper whilst the good man suffers, because in a future world each will receive abundantly, the one reward, the other punishment, but with nations it is different. "Because public bodies and communities of men, as such, can only be rewarded and punished in this world. For in the next, all those public societies and combinations wherein men are now linked together under several governments shall be dissolved. God will not then reward or punish nations as nations, but every man shall then give an account of himself to God, and receive his own reward and bear his own burthen."+ Nations as such exist not in a future state, and therefore, as Archbishop Tillotson observes, "All along the history of the Old Testament we find the interchangeable providences of God towards the people of Israel always suited to their manners. They were constantly prosperous or afflicted, according as piety or virtue flourished or declined amongst *The way in which Protestant England, both by her Parliamentary grants and private benevolence, has come forward to relieve the distress in Ireland, without reference to sect, or creed, or party, is a beautiful illustration of the Scripture which enjoins good for evil, blessing for cursing. + See "National Religion;" or, "the Advantages of Religion to Societies." By Archbishop Tillotson. A valuable Discourse, republished by the Protestant Association.-No. 32. Price Id., or 7s. per hundred for distribution. |