the cause of Protestantism. They might influence public opinion in their neighbourhood by occasionally, when need required, writing well-digested letters to the local papers, and by writing and circulating tracts bearing upon the principles of the Reformation. Electors should know that what made Romanism more dangerous than any other religious system in the country was the political element by which it was characterized-the history of the Church of Rome showed that in proportion to her political power have always been her religious influence and mischief-that the Papacy is a politico-religious system never satisfied with the spiritual power without the temporal. If Romanists had their way, Queen Victoria would not be on the throne of this country, the Pope would tyrannize in her place; our judicial offices would be filled by members of the Romish communion; there would not be a Protestant member in the House of Commons (and Honourable Members of that House should bear all these facts in mind); all our magistrates and the chaplains in our gaols and workhouses would be Roman Catholics; in fine, the whole kingdom, with its landed property and vested rights, would be handed over to the tender mercies of Rome. He (Mr. Irvine), thought that if Romanism be making way in this country, the clergy of the Church of England who believe in the soul-destroying character of Romanism, should begin at home, and that in the National School, in addition to the Church Catechism, a Protestant Catechism should be introduced, so that in England as well as in Ireland, our children may be able to give to every man an intelligent reason of the hope that is in them, and why they are Protestants and not Papists. "Give me," says the Jesuit, "the schools of the country, and you may take all besides." We should understand his meaning and early indoctrinate the youth of the country with the saving principles of a true, as opposed to a spurious Christianity, and then we should have some guarantee that, when we are gone, our children shall faithfully and effectively fill our places. He trusted that when the election approached, every clergyman who believed in the controlling power of God, and in the efficacy of prayer through the Redeemer's exclusive name, would offer up his earnest prayer that those men might be returned to Parliament who would watch over the interests of the Church of Christ, defend the cause of Protestantism, and hand it down to posterity as the religion of this country. The Rev. H. STEVENS, in moving a vote of thanks to the Chairman, said he thought his Rev. Friend who had preceded him was a little too sensitive with respect to the remarks which had been made on the occasion to which he had alluded. When he (Mr. Stevens) was the evening preacher in the Abbey Church at Bath, he preached two sermons on the occasion of some of the members of the Sunday League coming down, and the result was that the walls of Bath and Bristol were covered with placards announcing that a reply would be delivered. Mr. Magee, whose sermons had gone smoothly along, remarked, “I quite envy you; you must have done the enemy more harm than I did, or you would not have had all this trouble." (Hear, hear.) In the same way what his friend (Mr. Irvine) had said might have been productive of great good. (Hear.) The Motion was seconded by Major WILLOUGHBY MONTAGUE, and supported by the Rev. H. WARD, Incumbent of St. Barnabas, King'ssquare, Goswell-road. The Resolution was adopted, and the proceedings were closed with prayer, by the Rev. B. CASSIN, Incumbent of St. George's, Battersea. ROMANISM IN ENGLAND. HERE the progress is not upward, but downward and backward. The number of Romish institutions is steadily and rapidly increasing; also the sectarian patronage bestowed on them. The Papists receive aid from the national treasury for the support of three hundred and eighty-five (385) primary schools in England and Scotland. Of course, these are under the control and instruction of Papists. They receive support for numerous so-called reformatories for juvenile offenders, conducted in the same way. is attempted without the Bible. What is the result? That, among the boys In these, reformation released from them, the percentage of reconvictions has been almost four-fold that of the boys released from similar Protestant institutions; and of the girls released from them, the percentage of reconvictions has been nearly double that of girls dismissed from like Protestant reformatories! Recently Parliament has allowed Roman Catholic chaplains, paid by Government, to be appointed for poor-houses and prisons. The money which goes from the British treasury into the hands of Papal priests, to be expended by them for schools, colleges, reformatories, chaplaincies, &c., exceeds 1,500,000 dollars annually. Monasteries are forbidden by English law, and every monk liable to banishment; yet England alone now contains fifty-six of these institutions, and they are undisturbed. Of nunneries, in England there are one hundred and seventy-three, and thirteen in Scotland. Indeed there has been a commencement of nunneries in the English Established Church. One is connected with a splendid church built not long since at the west end of London, in the most gorgeous style and at a fabulous expense. Here ladies take vows truly Romish in form and purpose, and enter upon that course of cloister life which has wrought, on the Continent for ages, such unspeakable evil to piety and purity. This church was established by the very rich as a model, and is resorted to, every Sunday, by double the number that can gain even a standing place within its walls. This shows a popularity of Romanism very different from the feeling of those who had suffered from its domination under the "bloody Mary" and the stupid James II. How is all this growing power attained? By a skilful management of the ballot-box. Cardinal Wiseman, in his speech at the Mechlin Congress, explained the process. He says: "Being thus placed, the principal object of our efforts has been to procure the necessary support of Parliament. are only a small group, a family, so to speak. And how were we to procure But we a majority in Parliament? All England only sends one Member to the House of Commons. Yet we did not despair. Catholics observed that the electors were divided between two parties, and they found by combining their strength and bringing it to bear in favour of one side or the other, they could cause that side to succeed which appeared the more disposed to do them justice. Thus have we taught the two parties in the State to count the power of Catholics as something." Here is the true secret, selling their votes to the highest bidder-the price being special favours to them as a sect. They are not citizens of England, but of Rome. They cast not their votes to promote the good of England; but SELL them in the interest of Rome. May not Papists become dangerous to the liberties of any country just in proportion to the freedom of suffrage in that country? Thinking men in England and Scotland are becoming painfully conscious of the danger, and are beginning a system of effort for self-protection. "Pro testant Electoral Unions" are forming for the purpose of sending to Parliament those who will oppose pecuniary grants for special Popish, sectarian purposes; also "Protestant Reformation Societies," with classes of young men under instruction on the great points of Romish error, are diffusing much light. In Edinburgh, a Protestant Institute has been erected at an expense of ten thousand dollars. In this, are to be delivered lectures by the ablest men on the dangers and errors of Popery; also classes are formed which, aided by a suitable library and instruction, are to study and master the whole subject Popish history and Popish delusions, and be prepared to meet and refute Popish sophistry. Dr. Duff writes thus: "To me, the present aspect of affairs at home is ominous-I mean in reference to the wide-spread influence of the 'Man of Sin-quite enough to alarm the whole of Protestantism respecting the future of Britain. Colenso and Renan are mere meteors compared to this. To me, it is surprising to see how men's minds appear to be so easy on the subject which affects the destiny of millions. But of course I am comparatively ignorant of the efforts which are being made to arrest the progress of that soul-destroying delusion. I have always thought that our senators erred in the Catholic emancipation. The Catholics are the subjects of a foreign prince, whose grand object is to make religion and politics bend to his power. They live now who, I fear, will live to see this accomplished." -New York Christian World, July 6. Miscellaneous. DR. WYLIE in the Preface to his work just published, "Rome and Civil Liberty or, The Papal Aggression in its Relation to the Sovereignty of the Queen and the Independence of the Nation," thus expresses his own views as to the present position of the Romish question: "The Author does not conceal his opinion that the civil liberty of the country is at this hour in very great peril,—in more immediate peril, perhaps, than its religious liberty; for it is the policy of Rome to strike at the latter through the sides of the former. The Papal aggression, in the author's judgment, was a violation of the Constitution of the kingdom as settled at the Revolution; and to the extent to which that aggression has been carried, to the same extent has the throne been betrayed, and the rights of the subject invaded. His charge is not that our statesmen have tolerated the religion of the Pope, but that they have sanctioned the authority of the Pope: not that they have permitted the spread of another faith, but that they have permitted the erection of another Government. "Of all earthly possessions, liberty is the most precious: it is bought at a greater price, and preserved with greater watchfulness, than any other. Tyranny comes with muffled foot; it steals upon us like the night; it deposits, while a nation sleeps, the seeds of arbitrary rule; and, under pretence of redressing wrong, or of advancing liberty, it strikes a fatal blow at justice and freedom. A somewhat jealous mood is at all times one of the best bulwarks of a nation's liberties; but at the present hour, when the causes of alarm are so imminent, we can scarcely be too watchful against apathy in regard to the public interests, or too alert to repel the inroads of a tyranny of all others the stealthiest and the basest. The Protestantism of Britain, we are told, is sound, and will bestir itself when the crisis comes. The crisis is now-what will come is the catastrophe. "The author earnestly solicits from every lover of liberty, and especially from every lover of the Gospel, a careful consideration of the facts and reasonings presented in the present volume. The cause is pre-eminently the cause of our country at this hour; and, if the cause of Great Britain, the cause of the world." |