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tal doctrines of the reformation.-(Cheers.) They, indeed, are the doctrines of God and of your Saviour, and the very gates of hell shall not prevail against them.-(Loud applause.)

The SECRETARY then read the report, which, amongst other topics, referred with satisfaction to the proceedings of the Metropolitan Operative Protestant Associations. Major BROCK moved that the report be printed.

The resolution was then adopted.

The Rev. ROBERT M'GHEE then came forward to move the next resolution, and was received with much applause, and delivered a most powerful and impressive speech; for which, we refer our readers to the pages of the Protestant Magazine for June. He impressed on the meeting the necessity of active exertion against all Popish efforts, and concluded by moving the following resolution :-"That from the statements laid The Rev. E. BICKERSTETH, in seconding before this meeting, and the satisfactory the motion, expressed his regret at the documents by which those statements have smallness of the income of the association, been established, it appears that the daring in comparison with the magnitude of its assumptions of the Pope, and the advances objects, and the large assemblies which made by the Papal apostacy to obtain spicomposed its meetings. He thanked Mr. ritual influence and temporal power in this Plumptre for the speech he had made the empire, render it the duty of all who are other night in the House of Commons in faithful to the cause of Christ's true religion reference to the Tractarians and their doc- established amongst us, loyal to the sovetrines, which he said the association were reign, and desirous to maintain the blessings going to publish.-(Hear.) Referring to of civil and religious liberty, to unite, in what had occurred at Tahiti, he called on his every station in which it has pleased God to dissenting brethen, who had shown such place them, to deliver our Roman Catholic Christian zeal on that subject, to remember countrymen from this anti-Christian yoke, also how much Popery was spreading at and to maintain the blessings of religious home, illustrating this spread of Romanism and civil liberty, which, under God, were by a reference to the active exertions of the established at the time when a Protestant Romanists at the Roman Catholic establish- sovereign was placed on the British throne." ment at Old Hall-green, in his own coun--(Loud and repeated cheering.) ty, and to a charge which had been put forth Colonel VERNER, M.P. briefly seconded last year by the Archbishop of Lyons, under the resolution, avowing his steady adherence the sanction of the Pope, containing the to Protestant principles, and his concurmost fearful blasphemy in the aggrandize- rence with every sentiment which had fallen ment and adoration of the Virgin Mary which from his valued friend who preceded him. it inculcated, and which shewed that the It was then carried unanimously. Pope of Rome ought to be opposed more strongly than ever, on the old Protestant ground that he was the Antichrist-the Man of Sin-and that Popery was the Babylon of the Revelations. (Hear.) The Rev. Gentleman also adverted to the semi-Popery in our Universities, which was exhibited in the growth of formalism of every shape. He did not like the name, either, of Anglo-Catholicism (Hear)-it looked too much like Roman Catholicism—(Cheers);-and the present Pope himself had described it to the life when he said (speaking of the Tractarians), "They want Popery without the Pope." (Cheers and laughter.) The country, however, would not, by the grace of God, suffer this to be; and the Protestant Association had become more than ever dear to him since this new attempt to unprotestantize the Church had arisen. He concluded by calling on the meeting, and on all Protestants, to unite to exalt the name of Jesus Christ, as the certain and only obstacle to the spread of Popery and Tractarianism, and every other opposition to the advancement of true religion.-(Cheers.)

The Rev. HUGH STOWELL next moved, "That in the present juncture of ecclesiastical affairs, the laity are specially called upon to ascertain their spiritual rights and maintain their spiritual liberties, since they are as deeply interested in the great struggle which is going on, within and without the Church of England, as the clergy themselves." The rev. gentleman said, I cannot, my Christian friends, promise to take you into the stirring and stimulant field of political Popery. I feel, with my rev. brother, that our share in the resistance to political Popery, if ever indeed it belonged to us to resist it, is well-nigh, if not altogether done; that there are events fast hastening to a crisis in the sister isle, and finding their sympathetic accompaniments in our own land, that will and must awake the attention of our legislators and rulers; and that we, therefore, the messengers of the Prince of Peace, will have chiefly to fortify the hearts, and to strengthen the faith of the people of God in the midst of the conflict and the tempest which are lowering darkly over our land. (Hear, hear.)-My purpose is, to

draw your attention, not so much to what is passing in the political hemisphere as in the theological; not so much to what is acting beyond the borders of our church, as to what is at work within her own bosom; not so much to the duties of legislators, as to the duty of every man, woman, and child throughout the length and breadth of the good old Church of England.-(Cheers.) There is no Christian man that has calmly watched the progress and developement of a controversy, to which by name I need not allude, but must perceive that one of its directest aims and ends is to bring the laity down into a state of supine, sluggish, inactive subjection to the clergy; so that they are to be no longer a living part of the living body, but merely the dead inert mass on which the clerical order are to enthrone themselves, and to move, to rule, and guide, at their own will, and for their own haughty designs and purposes.(Hear, hear.)-But are the laity indeed so wanting in intelligence and freedom of thought, in acquaintance with the Bible and with the chronicles of church history, as to be imposed upon by modern mummeries, or duped by modern Jesuits in disguise? (Cheers.)-What, let me ask, are the rights of the laity? Why, they have a right to look upon themselves, and feel and act, as an integral part of Christ's holy Catholic Church, just as much as the clergy. For what is the head without its members? and yet I will not call the clergy the head; for we have one head in heaven, Christ Jesus, and we own no earthly head; there is but one that can hold the universal sceptre and wear the "many crowns."-(Applause.) Did not the laity in primitive times take part in deliberations even on questions of doctrine? Was not the apostolic council composed of "the apostles and elders with the whole Church?" and we will have no convocation without representatives of the laity. (Cheers.)-Were not laymen also admitted to all the early councils? And were the inspired epistles, alluding as they do to various ecclesiastical matters, addressed to the clergy only, or to the entire church? (Hear, hear.)-Further, the laity have a right also to co-operate with the clergy in the work of Christ, the spread of pure religion at home, and the propagation of Christianity abroad. The glorious enterprise was not at the first confined to the apostles and their coadjutors, the laity only contributing the money and the means; but all the church met together to pray for, and to hear of, the progress of the Gospel, and were present at the laying on of hands on the bishops, and are represented as "standing fast in one spirit, with one mind, striving

together for the faith of the Gospel."—(Hear, hear, hear.)-Again, you have a right to the exercise of your own private judgment and conscience in the sight of God; and if you once give up that right, you put out your eyes, and there are priests who are ready to bind their chains round you as the Philistines did with the fallen champion of Israel, and then they will make you grind for their purposes.(Cheers.) I am not arguing for the rash intemperate exercise of private judgment; nor are we fighting with shadows or men of straw, but with a fearful reality, when we take our stand against usurped despotism of the corporate body over individual conscience and understanding. (Hear, hear.) He who takes his Bible for his guide, and our church articles for his directories, will not be self-confident or rash; but the exercise of private judgment, guided and governed by the clergy, as far as they lead according to the "lively oracles," determined ultimately by the sole authority of the word of God, is the inalienable right and bounden duty of every Christian man.(Cheers.) Every man must give account of himself to God; in the last great day there will be no absorption of individual judgment in corporate judgment, consequently every man must now believe for himself, pray for himself, embrace the truth for himself.(Hear, hear.) Priests may tell you they will give you fixedness of creed and exemption from anxiety; but beware of that sop; it is a honeyed pill, but it is an opiate to conscience; it will give stillness, but not peace; unanimity, but only of the sepulchre the uniformity of the cold and motionless dead.-(Cheers.) Do not the Scriptures continually appeal to individual responsibility and judgment? (Luke xii. 57; 1 Thess. v. 21; and 1 John ii. 20, 27, were here quoted.) And what will be said by some of our modern innovators on the freedom of the laity, who conceive it the height of presumption for a Christian lady to say a word in defence of the truth, when they find the beloved disciple writing to an "elect lady," bid her, if a deceiver and Antichrist come with false doctrine, not to receive him into her house, nor bid him God speed?-and yet, when such a venerable and justly venerated name as that of "Charlotte Elizabeth"

(Cheers.)—is coupled with the defence of articles of the faith, there is a burst of indignation, as if she were one of the darkest heretics that ever infested the church, and deserved to be burned at the stake in Smithfield? (Hear, hear.) The teaching of the Spirit of God, my lay friends, is not promised exclusively to the clergy, but to any one who, "lacking wisdom, shall ask of

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God" Yea, God says of his church, "all the church says, except as it is confirmed thy children shall be taught of God."(Hear, by the Bible, as our glorious sixth article hear.) And as it is your right and duty to declares. Holy Scripture is that sun that exercise your judgment meekly and prayer- shines amid all the clouds, the glorious fixed fully, so is it, when you find false doctrines rock that braves the blast and the billow, or unscriptural observances introduced into and which earth and hell, and Rome and the church, faithfully to withstand them and Tractarianism, never can destroy.-(Great denounce them. If, for instance, you find cheering.) My lay friends, these, your spiany, that in despite of her rubrics and in the ritual liberties, are in danger. I speak not face of her canons, would substitute a stone now of enemies without, though I might altar for a simple communion table; if you say, that no man can doubt that the repeal find any that represent the supper to be an agitation in Ireland is the forerunner of awful and solemn repetition of the sacrifice some dreadful conflict, that is intended to on the cross, and pretend that the clergy are involve England in its wake, and, perhaps, therein "making the body and blood of to hand us over to the tender mercies of Christ," and that the sacrament is to be France, or of no friendly powers across the adored in some indirect way as being the Atlantic.(Hear, hear.) But I rather refer present Saviour that we are to worship; then to our peril within. Let any man read Mr it is your duty, following the Saviour's own Goode's "Case As It Is," if he has the least instruction, to go and tell such an one his doubt that there is a large body in the fault between you and him; and if he will Church of England banded together to not hear you, tell it to the bishop (Hear, bring the laity into subjection to the hierhear);-thank God, we are not called upon archy, and to set up over us, if not the Pope to bow down to self-constituted presbyterian of Rome, an Anglican Pope in his stead.— bishops, but we have our spiritual rulers, (Hear, hear.) And if you ask me, what, and there is not a bishop on the bench that under these circumstances, are your duties? has declared in favour of all the mummeries I answer, do not be deluded or beguiled by that some would connect with the table of fair names and flattering speeches and vothe Lord. (Cheers.) And if the bishop luntary humility, but try men by their howill not hear you, I will not say turn dis- nesty and their adherence to their ordination senter (Hear, hear);-no, the good old vows. Are they indeed pious who are guilty Church of England is not to be abandoned of "pious frauds?"-(Hear, hear.) ―(Cheers);—it will be time enough for they pious who misquote the fathers?that, when the Thirty-nine Articles are (Hear, hear.) Are they acting fairly who changed, and the Breviary supersedes the offer a stronger or a weaker dose of innovaholiest form of prayer the church on earth tion, according to the character they are ever enjoyed (Renewed cheers);-and even dealing with ?(Hear, hear.) Are they inthen we would carry our primitive episcopacy genuous and honest who denounce Rome one and succession into some corner of the year, and retract their denunciations the earth, and we would not go over to Presby- next?-(Cheers.) I have read their writings, terianism, nor Congregationalism, nor Me- studied them, prayed over them, and I never thodism. (Much cheering.) My lay friends, met with writings of any set of divines more what said St. Paul, when he enjoined it on characterized by tortuous sophistry and unChristians to follow him? "As I follow fair dealing, than the notorious "Tracts for Christ." And, "if an angel preach any the Times,"-(Cheers)-with all their gueother doctrine" than the gospel, "let him rillas and light infantry, from "Bernard be accursed." This may not be in the canon Leslie " down to " The Warden of Berkenlaw of any earthly church, but there it is in holt," and the songs and ballads which the canon law of the perpetual Church of reverend divines are composing for the nurChrist in every age. (Hear, hear.) You sery and the cottage.-(Renewed cheers.) must therefore judge whether it be the very Let any upright jury be empanelled, to say Gospel which is preached to you. Take whether such writers are acting fairly and then your Bible in your hand when you go honestly, and what will be their verdict? I to church, hold it up, and compare what you deny not their sincerity; but they supply hear with what you read. Oh! I love to see another melancholy proof in church history, a forest of Bibles held up while the minister how any approximation to the fearful prinis preaching from the Bible.-(Cheers.) ciples of Rome darkens and benumbs the Hold up the Bible; not the unwritten word, mind, and makes it confuse falsehood and the shifting sand of tradition, that meteor of truth, good and evil.—(Hear, hear.) But, the marsh, that would leave you in the quag- my lay friends, do not fly off and recoil into mire to find you had followed a phantom latitudinarianism and dissent, in fear of high and grasped a lie. The question is not what churchmanship. He is the high churchman

Are

who abides by his church as it is, every one sent her-what think you? The Breviary keeping in his place, laymen, clergy, and of the Church of Rome; and that young bishops, the bishop only primus inter pares; lady is now safely lodged in the bosom of -and I hope there is not a bishop on the Popery. (Hear, hear, hear.) It is idle, bench that would wish to be higher, for he is when they have led the poor confiding victim quite high enough. (Hear, hear.) There down the slope, to say, "Oh! we did not is nothing so beautiful in society as a gentle mean you to fall over at the end into the slope rising to the summit; broad chasms abyss."-(Cheers.) It is too late to stop; mar the whole; let us not have the clergy and if they were honest, they would go before grouped in the fine sacristy, guarded off from them, or go with them.-(Renewed cheers.) the profane vulgar in the outer court. No; Let me only add, at this late hour, two relet us keep our beautiful and gentle grada- marks. Be not supine. Events which used tions, which give us one common interest.- to fill a generation, are now developed in a (Much cheering.) In passing, let me re- year; they hasten after one another, like mark that I think we attach too much weight shadows in autumn over the waving cornand importance to Tractarianism, as if it ex- field; and there is no time to be lost. It tended further than it does; I can speak for may be-now or never: next year the cloud our good town of Manchester, and I can may have burst. Friends, be alive.--(Cheers.) speak for the great mass of the good old And finally, whilst alert, be not affrighted. Evangelical clergy of Bristol, though there It was beautifully said by a dying saint, may be two or three striplings and unfledged "There is no danger to the Christian." divines, who talk a great deal about bowing His daughter had whispered, tremblingly, to the communion table, and praying in this "You do not think there is any danger? place, and reading the Scriptures in that, "My child," he answered, " do not use such whilst I do not think their knowledge of a word; there is no danger to the Christian. Tractarianism goes much further.-(Cheers.) (Hear, hear.) Then there ought to be no If you were to take the great mass of the people, you would find a burst of righteous indignation against them; they would say, "If we are to have Popery, let us have barefaced old Popery at once; if you are right, you do not go far enough; and if you are wrong, you go too far.'-(Hear, hear.) It is true, sir. What do they mean by drawing our people down to the edge of the precipice, and then crying, "Oh! stop, stop; we never meant you to fall in!"-(Cheers.) I could name a young lady, who, whilst in a great state of anxiety on these subjects, applied to a distinguished doctor (I am ready to give his name to any one in private), and asked for some book to settle her mind; he

fear to the Christian. Let us be firm, not fearful; ardent, not anxious; calm, not cowardly; and, spite of the storm and the waves, we shall so pass through this troublesome world as to reach the land of everlasting rest. (The rev. gentleman sat down amidst enthusiastic cheering.)

It being now past five o'clock, the resolution was very briefly seconded by the Rev. W. CARUS WILSON; and it being carried unanimonsly, a vote of thanks to the chairman was passed in like manner, on the motion of Major-Gen. MARSHALL, seconded by R. C. GLYN, Esq.; which being courteously acknowledged, a doxology was sung, and the meeting broke up.

THE BIBLE THE GREAT FOUNTAIN OF LIGHT TO THE WORLD.

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CABINET.

Places or conditions are happy or miserable, as God vouchsafeth His gracious presence more or less.-Exod. xxxiii. 14, 15; Psalm xxiii. 4.

God draweth straight lines, but we think, and call them crooked.-Ezek. xviii. 25.

What unthankfulness is it to forget our consolations, and to look only upon matter of grievance; to think so much upon two or three crosses as to forget an hundred blessings.-Psalm lxvi. 8-17; lxviii. 19; ciii.

POETRY.

SONNETS ON LUTHER. By a Member of the Cork Protestant Operative Association.

I.

A STUDIOUS Monk was in the Convent cell,
Wasting his midnight lamp with ancient lore,
When on a shelf, which had conceal'd it well,
He found a Book he had not seen before,
Cover'd with dust-forgotten and despis'd;
He took the volume in his hand,
And read, that he might understand,
And in his heart its glorious truths he priz'd ;-
It was the BIBLE, GOD's own BLESSED BOOK,-

The Monk was LUTHER; and to him it prov'd
So great an engine, that the world he shook,
While on its Rock of strength he stood unmov'd;
And was, while back on Rome her darts he hurl'd,
"The foremost man of all the Christian world!"

II.

He was a burning and a shining light,

Endued with boldness from the sky,
And with the eagle's soaring eye,

In storms and darkness blazing still more bright.
No threats could daunt him, and no labours tire,-
No dangers turn him from stern duty's path;
No storms could queuch his burning spirit's fire-
He dreaded nothing but JEHOVAH'S Wrath;
Thus to the Diet at WORMS he boldly went,-

Even if devils were as numerous there,
As tiles upon the houses' roof tops were,-
Convinc'd that he was God's own instrument.
Thus, after passing thro' deep floods of strife,
He gain'd on JORDAN'S BANKS a CROWN OF LIFE.

INTELLIGENCE.

"PRAY WITHOUT CEASING."-1 Thess. v. 17.

The Jesuits.—The Protestant Association have just published a valuable work, showing from their own writings and the undoubted records of history, what the principles and acts of this dangerous body have been from their formation. We recommend it most cordially as containing information most important to be known in the present day when Jesuits are so active and numerous.

Child's Book of Martyrs. We again recommend this most able and valuable little work; especially to any of our readers who may be engaged in the delightful occupation of Sabbath School teaching. It is most appropriate as a prize or reward book.

The

Tower Hamlets.-The Tower Hamlets Operative Association held their Annual Meeting on Wednesday Evening, May 24th. Edward Dalton, Esq. in the Chair. following took part in the proceedings: Mr. Sibley, Mr. A. V. Allen, Mr. R. Binden, Mr. Callow, and Mr. Chapman, a convert from Popery.

Belfast Protestant Operative and Reformation Society.-This society held its usual weekly meeting on Tuesday evening, May 16th, in the school-room attached to the Methodist Chapel, Donegal-place. Ninety-three new members were enrolled, a considerable number of whom were electors of the borough. A letter was read from James Emerson Tennent, relative to the petition on the repeal of the union, which was lately forwarded by the society to that gentleman. A report was read from the committee on "exclusive dealing, and the exclusive employment of tradesmen and labourers ;" after which the following questions were ably and eloquently discussed ;-"Is the Church of Rome immutable, unchanged and unchangeable?" "Are the laws still unrepealed, under the influence of which twenty millions of human beings were most barbarously slaughtered in a few years, simply for being Protestants?" "Is the decree of the Council of Constance still in force, which enacted, that no faith was to be kept with heretics, under which John Huss and Jerome of Prague were burned, 1414?" "Do the Romish bishops, priests, &c., still continue, at their ordination, to swear to root out, exterminate, and destroy Protestants?" "Who was the first person burnt in England for being a Protestant?" "How many Protestants were slaughtered in Belgium in one year for being Protestants?" "How many Protestants were slaughtered in Ireland on the night of the 23d of October, 1641?" "Has Popery ever neglected an opportunity to persecute when it had the power?" "Can a Papist consistently with the principles of his church, be a good member of society, or a loyal subject in a Protestant state-a good master to a Protestant servant, or a faithful servant to a Protestant master-a good husband to a Protestant wife; or can a Papist woman be a good wife to a Protestant husband?" During the proceedings the room in which the society hold their meetings was

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