To the Most Reverend the Archbishops, and Right Reverend the Bishops of the United Church of England and Ireland.

We, the undersigned Vice-Presidents and Members of the Committee of the Protestant Association, beg leave most respectfully to represent to your Lordships, that this Association was established some years ago for the defence of our Protestant institutions in Church and State, and that we have always regarded the Church of England as the great bulwark of Protestantism in this country, and have cordially_rejoiced in that continued protest against Popery, which is contained in her Articles, Homilies, and For

mularies.

We have therefore witnessed with great anxiety and alarm, the growth and spread amongst our Clergy of certain heretical doctrines of a Popish character and tendency, subversive of the fundamental principles of our Holy Religion; which have already produced effects most injurious both to the Church and to the State, and which threaten still more awful and destructive consequences.

We entertain a deep conviction of the imperative necessity of the exertion of all due authority, in all prudence, but with all energy, for the suppression of this fearful and rapidly extending evil; and we feel ourselves called upon, by the principles upon which the Protestant Association is founded, humbly to submit to your Lordships this expression of our earnest desire to afford whatever support may be in our power to such measures, in addition to those already adopted, as your Lordships, the Fathers of our Church, shall devise as most congenial to the spirit of the gospel, and the duties which it imposes, for the suppression of this deadly mischief.

We feel that the circumstances of the times require that special exertions should be made to "banish and drive away all erroneous and strange doctrines contrary to God's Word," and to awaken the Clergy and the Laity to a sense of the true nature and full extent of these anti-scriptural innovations, and to the necessity of co-operating with the heads of our Church in a work of such pressing urgency, in which the means hitherto employed have failed to accomplish the object in view.

And we devoutly pray that the spirit of the Lord may rest upon your Lordships, and direct your pious endeavours for the protection of the Church at this critical junc

ture.

DR. PUSEY'S SERMON.

ON this painful subject the Editor of a London Journal remarks: "We will only further observe, that we have been disapand as regards its style and matter it is pointed in reading this sermon as a layman, mystical and obscure, and leaves behind it the impression of a discourse written by one. who has no clear or definite perceptions of his rather than to express, his convictions. As a own views; of one who is striving to hide, composition too, it strikes us, as singularly deficient in vigor and perspicuity. The latter defect, if we are right in imputing it to the writer, may have been one of the causes why it was suspected of unsound Dr. Pusey seems to us to have been imdoctrine. Throughout the whole sermon pressed with the idea, that his expressions would be jealously scrutinized, and under that apprehension, to have rendered them as vague and ambidexterous as possible."

THE SPIRIT OF PROTESTANTISM.
THINK ye to quench the spirit

That's burning in our land?
O! the boon that we inherit

Bends not to mortal hand.
Go, curb the billowy ocean,

Drive back the rolling sea,
Then quench a high emotion

In bosoms bold and free.
The fire may sometimes quiver,
May seem almost to die,
But brighter far than ever

'Twill lighten earth and sky:
From hill to hill 'tis blazing,

It shines o'er ocean's breast,
And thousand eyes are gazing
Upon that bosom blest.
And dream ye, hearts once lighted
With freedom from above,
Can, from a world benighted,

Hold back that light of love?
The friendly beams ye cherish,
Which save from watery death;
This light warns souls that perish
In shipwreck of their faith.

INTELLIGENCE.

to be wrested from us; we wish there may be many found to follow so excellent an

THE Marylebone Tradesmen and Operative Protestant Association has just closed the delivery of a course of valuable and documentary Lectures in the neighbourhood of Somers Town. This part of the borough being the stronghold of Popery, they were the more necessary and desirable. Among the attendants were several Roman Catholics,

whose patient and marked attention to the statements of the various lecturers, proved the interest felt by them on the subject.

It is hoped that every Association will be thus enabled to bring their friends and members more frequently together.

Notice. The Marylebone Association will hold a meeting (D.v.) on Tuesday, August 8th, at half-past 7 o'clock, in the Fitzroy School Rooms, 12, Grafton Street, Fitzroy Square. The subject for consideration will be, "The urgent necessity at the present time for Christian union, to oppose and counteract the progress of Puseyism and Popery.

Tower Hamlets.-A large and highly respectable Protestant meeting was held at the Eastern Institution, Commercial Road, on the Evening of Tuesday, the 18th July. The Right Hon. the Earl of Glengall, Patron of the Association, in the chair, supported by the Earl of Feversham, The Chisholm, &c. Proceedings having been commenced with prayer for the Divine blessing, the Chairman addressed the meeting; and after the annual report was read, the Rev. C. Day, the Earl of Feversham, The Chisholm, Rev. Peter Frazer, Rev. R. Barber, Rev. T. Cuffe, and the Rector of Stepney, moved and seconded resolutions in speeches of great power and interest.

It was gratifying to see two Peers of the Realm thus patronizing an Association which has for its object the preservation of that which, as men and Christians, as mortal and yet immortal beings, we justly esteem too dear to be trifled with-too sacred

piety, moderation, firmness, and high toned assembly, pervaded the whole of the metroreligious principle which animated that polis-the whole country-the whole empire

yea, the world itself. Though that may not be just now, yet the prayers and labors of faith will be answered. The day will shall burst forth from angelic voices, procome, when triumphant shouts of hallelujah claiming to a renovated earth, "The kingof our Lord and of His Christ; and he shall doms of the world are become the kingdoms reign for ever and ever."

A crowded meeting of the City Association was held in the British Institution, City Road, on Monday Evening, July 24th, Joseph Crisp, Esq. of Liverpool, in the chair. Subject-The Popish and disloyal character of Puseyism. The speakers were, the Rev. Joseph Irons, and Messrs. Eades, A. V. Allen, W. Allen, J. Scott, and J. Callow. There were upwards of 1000 persons present, and the most marked attention was paid to the truly Protestant and stirring addresses of the various speakers.

The Sermon preached by the Rev. R. J. McGhee, in St. Luke's Church, Old Street, for the City of London Operative Protestant Association, on Wednesday, July 5th, will be published by the Association early in August, and may be had of the Secretary, Mr. Allen, 120, Bunhill Row, or at 11, Exeter Hall.

NEW PUBLICATIONS.

The Protestant Association has just published two very interesting and useful little volumes of their series.

Thoughts on Popery, by the Rev. William Norris, D.D., late Pastor of a Church in Baltimore, U. S. A. Revised by Isaac Taylor, Esq. author of "Natural History of Enthusiasm," "Ancient Christianity," &c. &c.

The second work is The Life of King Edward VI. by the Rev. R. W. Dibdin, A.M.

A REMARKABLE TRIAL. As we are commanded by Scripture to "try the spirits, whether they be of God," in order that we may 66 'prove all things, and hold fast that which is good," it has appeared desirable to some friends of Revelation, to re-print the minutes of a trial, the perusal of which may interest and benefit our readers.

It having been stoutly maintained that men are to believe, on pain of eternal perdition, what contradicts the evidence of their senses, as well as the SAVIOUR's express words" Ye have the poor always with you, but Me ye have not always;" and it being a matter of great importance that the subjects of the GREAT KING should know how far they are justified in believing what Scripture and common sense plainly declare, it has been deemed good and expedient to bring the MASS to trial in the Four Courts of ANTIQUITY, SCRIPTURE, REASON and TRUTH. He was accordingly brought up, and examined before the bar of ANTIQUITY, as follows:

Question-How old are you?

Answer-I think I was born about the ninth century, or perhaps sooner, but I came to full maturity in the tenth, when bells were baptized, and people began to pray with Beads and Rosaries, containing 15 Pater Nosters and 150 Ave Marias. About this time

VOL. IV.

half the Lord's Supper was taken away from the laity, to whom the bread alone was administered. In 1515, when I was making a great noise in the world, by the sale of Indulgences, I received a considerable shock for a time, through the exertions of the Protestant Reformers; but the Council of Trent set me up again, and so I continue till the present time.

Court-Prisoner at the Bar, Antiquity is against you; you are only a novelty. The purest ages of the Church knew nothing of your pretensions; and, as you have mentioned Indulgences, I wish to ask another question. Do your manufacturers receive payment for those Masses, which, they say, are offered up for the living and the dead?

Answer-Yes; we have carried on for some centuries a very lucrative traffic in that way, for we have Masses at all prices, in proportion to the wealth of the deceased and the credulity of the living; and even so lately as the present year and the present month, we adhere to the principle of " No pay-no pater noster;" for when sermons were preached in recommendation of my merchandize in this city, half-a-crown, a shilling, or at least, six-pence, was charged for admission.

Court-Is this consistent with the free and

gracious principle of the Gospel: "Freely ye have received, freely give?"

* Limerick, in the year 1837.

Answer-If it should 'even contradict the Gospel, yet, the Church being infallible, we are bound to believe whatever she says.

The Mass being condemned at the bar of ANTIQUITY, and the sentence being appealed from, the cause was next tried at the bar of SCRIPTURE; and upon this occasion, the twelve Apostles were requested to look at the prisoner, and to say if they recognized any thing at all in him like the Lord's Supper, instituted by their Divine Master. After looking at him for some time, they all declared they could not perceive one feature of resemblance. They were then respectfully requested to answer the following questions:

Did you fall down and worship the Bread and Wine when it came from the hands of the Great Redeemer?

Answer-No; but agreeably with the inspired record, nothing of that idolatrous kind of worship took place.

Did you leave any injunction for those who should come after you, to carry the Bread in procession, and compel persons to fall down in the streets and worship it?

No; this would be an abominable act of oppression, and quite foreign to the institution of the Lord's Supper.

Did the Saviour lead you to suppose, that when giving the elements, he was at that time offering a real though unbloody sacrifice?

No; but he commanded us, "Do this in remembrance of me, to shew forth his death. Did he sanction the withholding the Cup from any of his true followers?

No; he instructed our beloved brother Paul to teach the Church of the Corinthians the very reverse of this; and when some improper conduct needed to be corrected in that Church, no blame was attached to the members for partaking of the Cup equally

with the Bread.

(To be continued.)

TEXTS FOR THE TIMES.

No. 3.

verbs iv. 14.

"Watch thou in all things."-2 Timothy iv. 5.

"Lest by any means, as the serpent beguiled Eve through his subtlety, so your minds should be corrupted from the simplicity which is in Christ."-2 Cor. xi. 3.

"Thus saith the Lord God, thy Redeemer, the Holy one of Israel, I am the Lord thy God which teacheth thee to profit, which leadest thee by the way thou shouldst go."-Isaiah xlviii. 17.

"Be strong and of a good courage; be not afraid, neither be thou dismayed, for the Lord thy God is with thee withersoever thou goest."-Joshua i. 9.

"Thine ears shall hear a word behind thee saying, this is the way, walk ye in it—when ye turn to the right hand, and when ye turn to the left."-Isaiah xxx. 21.

"As many as are led by the spirit of God, they are the sons of God.”—Romans viii. 14.

"As ye have therefore received Christ Jesus the Lord, so walk ye in him.”—Colos. ii. 6.

"Rooted and built up in him, and stablished in the faith, as ye have been taught, abounding therein with thanksgiving."— Colos. ii. 7.

If ye be reproached for the name of Christ, happy are ye, for the spirit of glory and of God resteth upon you."-1 Peter iv. 14.

THE INQUISITION IN ITALY. How long will it be before we have to read

of the Inquisition in ENGLAND? To the dark dungeons of the Inquisition, what tales of horror and cruelty belong!Who is there that does not shudder at the thought and recollection of them!-How many sighs and groans and piteous shrieks, witnessed by the bare walls alone, have been uttered there !

How many children bereaved of their parents, have execrated this tribunal and its darksome prison-house!-How many parents robbed of their children by the "Familiars" of the Inquisition, have been compelled to lament in unavailing sorrow their unhappy lot, in being cast in a land where under the name and sanction of religion such cruel tyranny prevailed.

How often has domestic peace been broken and destroyed-families, which should be united, set at variance and masters, servants, wives, husbands, parents, children, friends, by the approach of torture, from which frail human nature shrinks, been driven mutually to betray each other!-to accuse where there was no guilt, and ruin where they ought to save!

ocean;

Learning and bravery all fail here. The ordinary ills of life, (albeit they can only truly and profitably be borne by the christian who is a humble and faithful follower of the meek and lowly Jesus,) may yet be borne up against by a stern philosophy, and a high-toned moral principle; brave men, and even cowards, may face death in the battle-field, or unappalled by approaching danger contend for victory on the pathless but a slow-continued, protracted state of suffering and torture, quells the mightiest resolution, and tames the boldest spirit. With limbs, alternately set and dislocated with bodies, subjected this moment to extreme heat, the next to extreme coldor with bones, one by one racked and crushed upon the wheel-while now and then a cessation from these frightful cruelties is made, only to restore strength to the exhausted sufferer, to give him time for confessing what he does not know,-recanting what he believes to be true,-or accusing those whom he loves and knows to be innocent ;-what wonder is it that the innocent have accused themselves or their innocent relatives of crimes they never committed, never so much as thought of! Where is to be found the mind and body so constituted, so united, or constructed, that the health or sickness of the one shall not affect the other? Where is the man, who suffering or apprehending but a small portion of the often-inflicted tortures above alluded to, and but tenderly touched upon, threatened too perhaps with death instead of liberty after his disclosures that so the secrets of the dark prisonhouse might not be divulged,-where is to be found the man so nerved as to bear all with unshaken fortitude ?—to maintain collectedness and self-possession? and so animated by a living faith in the Son of God, who gave himself a ransom to deliver

him from eternal woe, as not to quail or sink beneath them?

We read of one, in inspired writing, who amidst less evil and danger fell away for a little moment, but was graciously restored. And we read of another of the same faith, and of our own country, whose faithful and loving spirit was so appalled by approaching suffering, that his hand signed what his heart did not assent to; but who alsograciously looked upon by Him, who himself is "touched with a feeling of our infirmities "-turned repenting, and wrote his repentance with a pen of fire.

But the bodily sufferings inflicted by the Inquisition form only a part of the evil. It is a malignant spot which pervades every part and spreads over the whole surface of society, destroying its healthfulness, its energies, and its peace- -a black cloud, whose adumbrations, as dark and pestilential they overshadow the country, keep out the light of heaven, and bear death and destruction on their wings.

Tyranny prevails, rendered more galling, more dangerous to the people, but more secure to those who move the machinery, by its secresy. There are none who may not be its victims; and when they have fallen, who knows how or why they fell? What wonder that bad men oftentimes resort to it? What wonder that where it prevails under the auspices of Rome, an uniformity of faith-which not conviction, but the fear of torture induces-should prevail? What wonder that suspicion, mistrust, should lend their influence to unhinge the framework of society?

But some will say, All this, if ever it was done, is not done now, will not be done again; if ever it was true, is not true now. Perhaps not; charity would bid us hope not, but facts are stubborn things; we may be allowed to differ. Certainly those who apprehended no extension of Romish power, nor any development of her anti-social and perfidious principles, have been sadly wrong; mistaken, no doubt, by believing things to be as they charitably hoped they were.

The Inquisition is the child of Rome.They owe much to one another. In her old age, the mother would lean upon the daughter for that support received from her in darker ages.

We commend the following to the attention of our readers and the public. It will we think tend to open the eyes of many; and unless awed by the public opinion of the most enlightened states of Europe, what should save the Jews from suffering at Ancona a repetition of similar wrongs and evils