The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser. — Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1852-11-16 00:00:00

INTOLERANCE OF THE CHURCH On ROME. LECTURE BY THE REV. WHITE. VERNER M Last evening, a lecture on the Intolerance of the Church of Rome, as evidenced in the case of the Madiai, imprisoned in Tuscany on the charge of being " guilty of the crime " of Proselytism, was delivered in the Concert-hall, Lord Nelson•street, by the Rev. Verner M. White, Presbyterian minister of this town. The lecture was intended to prove that this act of persecution was illustrative of the direct tendencies and inevitable results of Popery, and a very modified embodiment of the essential and deliberately recorded principles of the Church of Rome. Long before the hour announced for the proceedings to commence, the hall was densely crowded. At half. past seven o'clock, the lecturer, accompanied by Mr. A. T. Ritchie, the Rev. John Walker, Alnwick, and the Rev. Alexlnder Cromar, Liverpool, stepped upon the platform. Mr. RITCHIE having taken the chair, expressed a desire that the proceedings should be conducted with the greatest possible quietness. As he had come to hear the Rev. Mr. White deliver his lecture, he had no in tention to take up the time of the meeting ; he consi dered it necessary, however, to state a few facts in con nexion with the sufferings of the Madiai. They were met upon the same case upon which our forefathers met many times before, in the cause of liberty, oppressed by an impure religion. They need only to carry their minds to Lombardy and Tuscany, and especially to Florence, in Tuscany, one of the most beautiful cities, perhaps, in that country, to witness the sufferings of two people, Fran cisco Madiai, who had fo,merly been a public courier, but, after marrying, he entered upon a small hotel for the accommodation of strangers. His wife, Rosa, had been for nearly seventeen years an English lady's maid, where probably she became acquainted with the Scriptures. He bad also been in England, where he had, no doubt, be come acquainted with the Scriptures. When married, they studied the Scriptures together. They made no attempt to proselytize, but lived a life of holiness. The parish priest took it upon himself to inform azainst them, and in August, 1851, they were accused by him ; and the government was not slow in throwing them into prison, where they were detained ten months. In June last they were placed upon their trial, which was conducted with closed doors, no one being admitted into the court but those whom the government chose. They were condemned at the expiration of seven days, and the man Francisco was condemned to fifty-four months' at the galleys, and his wife Rosa to forty-four months, for the sole " crime" of reading the Scriptures.—(Loud cries of " Shame.") They appealed to the Court of Cas sation, and the case was again tried in August last. but a decision was given against them. They then appealed to the clemency of the Grand Duke. who stated that he was obliged, out of " conscientious feelings," to support the decisions of his courts. He considered them properly condemned, and would not therefore release them ; and they are still in the galleys, performing their " pen ance." They all knew who kept the " conscience" of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. An endeavour had been made by the Court of Prussia to obtain their release without success ; and since then a deputation from England, Holland, Switzerland, and France, had in terceded with the Tuscan Government for the pur pose of endeavouring to have the decision reversed, or some cessation of the punishment, but this had been attended with no better success. These facts proved the tendency of Popery. John Knox, our reformer, they knew, was condemned to the galleys, in 1547, for a similar crime. That punishment was now happily abandoned in England ; but in the Grand Duchy of Tuscany there are still galleys in 1852. (Hear, hear.) After a few more observations, the chairman called upon the lecturer to enter upon the object of the evening. The Rev. Mr. WHITE, on rising, was received with ap plause. He said,—Mr. Chairman and Christian friends, I do not feel that I have any apology to offer in standing before you on the present occasion. Francisco and Rosa Madiai, two of the servants of the living God, are pining at the galleys in Tuscany ; and I will not insult a British audience by supposing that any apology is necessary from any minister of the Gospel in coming forward to state their trials, and to expose the character and conduct of their per secutors. (Applause.) L , 1 . , them rather come forward and offer an apology—(hear, and applause)—who, when the cause of justice,religion, and humanity are trampled under foot, willhold up the hands of the persecutor, and endeavour to keep the public in ignorance of the case. Sir, you are no doubt aware that a short time since I published a letter, addressed in the most respectful terms in which T could express myself, to the Priests of the Church of Rome, statedly officiating in Liverpool. My letter contained a very brief statement of what I considered to be the facts of the case such as T should lay before the meeting this evening,—and then three propositions, which I shall after a while read as arising from, in the way of effect to the case, the persecutions of the Madiai. I have received two replies to my communication addressed to those gentle men, the one from a priest of the Church of Rome, and the other, I presume, from a layman who I know nut, but by the letter which he has addressed to me. The follow ing is the reply which I received from the priest :-- "The Rev. Mr. Kelly, in acknowledging the receipt of a circular addressed to the Catholic Priests of this town, regarding a lecture about to be delivered in the Concert-Hall, on the Imprisonment of the Madiais,' does not feel himself called upon by any means to minister to the ambition of Mr. Verner M. \Vhite, in his endeavours at obtaining an unenviable notoriety. The Rev. Mr. K. would however direct Mr. White's attention to the reports of the case, as contained in the Morning Herald, &e., as contradictory to the statement in the circular upon which the lecture in question professes to be grounded. - - " 16, Boundary-street, Kirkdale, Nov. 12th, 1852." Now, air, I have just three remarks to make upon this letter. In the first place, this rev. gentleman informs me that he does not feel called upon by any means to minister to my ambition in obtaining an unenviable notoriety. (Laughter.) Well, of course, I acquit him in the matter, because I have examined carefully the Taxes of the Apos tolic Chancery; and I find that, although there are there most grievous and fearful crimes recorded, which are in the power of a priest of the Church of Rome to ab solve, there is not any heading which would properly include under it the ministering to the ambition of a Nonconformist minister in seeking for an unenviable notoriety. (Laughter.) The second remark 1 have to make from this letter is that it is addressed to " Mr. Verner M. White." Now, sir, 1 care very little whether a man addresses me by the title of Rev. or the title of Mr. It will neither make me more or less useful in the calling to which Providence has appointed me. But I remember very well, and you will remember, that a certain class of gentlemen in this country raised a very loud outcry of religious persecution, because the laws of this realm, and the people of this country would not permit them to assume territorial titles (hear) con ferred upon them by a foreign and independent monarch. And yet one of this class comes forward, and at the very time that he calls this religious persecution to refuse him the title which a foreign prince has conferred territorially upon him, he denies to me the personal title which courtesy, custom, and the laws of the realm have uniformly given to the ministers of all denominations. (Deafening applause.) My third reply to this letter is this. He says I have not truly stated the facts of the case. Now, the other gentleman, whose letter, although I know not the man, I am bound to say, is expressed throughout in language which becomes a gentleman. The other gentleman refers me, informing me that the Catholic priests are too busy with their spiritual duties to attend to the matter, (laughter) —to extract from the Catholic Standard of last Saturday, (the Saturday after which my letter was pub lished), which he says " is generally considered the organ of the Catholics in this country on such matters." Now the extract I will read is as follows. It is taken from an article under the head of " Religious Equality :—" " It was not through religious intolerance that-these unhappy perverts were prosecuted. They are the victims of revolu tionary principles, encouraged by Protestant England, and against which the Italian sovereigns feel it imperative to wage war in defence of religion, of order, of law, of life, and pro perty,—in a word, of society. We shall rejoice at their release from prison, because we are convinced that Catholic states cannot do better than leave religious persecution to Protes tants," &c., &c. Well, then, the satr e statement will be the subject of my third reply to the priest, and my entire reply to this gen. tleman, J. 0. Wooi, viz., that I have misstated the case ; and I must ask you to exercise a little patience till I have this evening laid before you my statement of this case. _ _ _ Now, the order I propose to observe is the following, which is, indeed, named by the letter :—First. I will give a brief statement of details, and then submit to the meet ing three propositions. Well, the details are these. The country is Tuscany, a beautiful country, thoroughly Popish, in the immediate vicinity of the Pope himself. In the next place, the per sons are Francisco and Rosa Madiai, originally members of the Church of Rome, but, through the study of God's Holy Word, led to see the error o f its principles, and forever to abandon them—( applause)—respectively 48 andsoyears of age; Francisco by his callings courier and letter of lodg ings,asdescribed in the indict mentof the prosecutor. Their arrest took place on the 17th August, 1851; on the Sab bath Day, at half-past seven in the evening, the police entered their lodgings and found three men and one boy, whom they immediately took into custody, and seized all the Bibles and religious books they could find. Both Francisco Madiai and his wife were from home. He was apprehended immediately upon his arrival, and ten days after his wife Rosa Madiai was made a prisoner and sent into confinement. They were put into separate ce ll s , co ld, d am p dungeons—C' Shame") — so abominably filthy, that a correspondent from Florence positively asserts that the vermin were falling down upon their clothes and literally into their food. (Shame.) in this condition they remained for ten months, until, on the 4th of June, 1852, they were brought to trial. Now 1 come to speak of the accusation against them ; I am charged with making a false statement upon this subject ; and in order that my friends of the Church of Rome may not have to deal with me but with the public prosecutor in Tuscany, I shall state the terms of the accusation in the words of the prosecutor himself, taken from a report of his speech on the occasion of their trial. Their crime is formally designated "the crime of impiety." Now, in the first place, let me tell those gentlemen that there is no immoral of f ence against the Madiai, and here is the language of the public pro- Realtor : " The acts of goodness, natural probity and benevolence that Madame Madisi wished to urge in arrest of judgment, may cause one to grieve more over her separation from Catholicism, but cannot free her from the present crime and accusation, nor diminish the imputations cast upon her." I tell the public again, and all the priests of the Church of Rome in England and Ireland, that there is no political charge against them ; and again I quote from that speech of the public prosecutor : I must premi )f_ the Madiai that of direct political 'ers no trace. They figure ■eiigious -. allege, that the Madiai knowingly worked or organs of a p o liti ca l sec t ; b u t in this exists in reality the crime of attack upon the relig state, and is therefore indirectly political." Well, then, if they tell they were put in prison and Ls the instruments and in these facts condemned for political offences, let them go and settle the matter with the prosecutor of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. (Applause.) Again, priests of the Church of Rome, in this country, tell us they were not prosecuted for leaving the Church of Rome. They tell us that they might have left it if they pleased, and the laws of Tuscany and Rome would not and could not punish them for leav ing the system. Again, I call as a witness the prosecu tor of the Grand Duke of Tuscany : "It will be easy to gather that apostacy, heresy, and schism, as long as they are the individual defection of the Catholic citizen, cannot be judged and punished in a general way, as real crimes ; and that the most that can be done in similar cases is by admonition and other ecclesiastical recals. and afterwards bu implorirg the secular power, as a precaution, to send them into exile, lest contact with the erring should corrupt the good." (Laughter.) It is no crime, and vet they are to be banished for ever because of it ! Would the Roman Catholics of England consider it no punishment if they were sentenced to be sent for ever from England. (Loud applause.) Yet they have the boldness to stand forward and tell us it is no crime, while they drive the man from his country, his living, and his home, and make him a beggar upon the face of the earth, for what they promptly acknowledge is no crime. (Applause.) They tell us the crime really is proselytism. Now, on the subject of pro selytism, the public prosecutor speaks thus : "When dissent in religion proceeds from personal individua lity, and is declared externally with a view to the corruption of others, or by assuming the character of proselytism, all writers, even the most tolerant and liberal (except perhaps those who have been or are the voice of revolution), agree in recognising it as a crime." Peter and John said "We cannot help speaking the things which we have heard." Cardinal Wiseman told the English, in introducing that papal bull, which they hoped to fatten on the soil of England (laughter), their desire was to restore England to its orbit in the ecclesi astical firmament, in cther words to proselytise England. (Hear, and applause.) Well, they can come and proselytise us, but if we d re to go there and proselytise I hem, then it is something more than no crime —(loud applause)—then it becomes a real crime. You probably recollect that some time ago in Dublin, a meeting at which Dr. Cullen, then Roman Catholic Primate of Ireland and Arch bishop of Armagh, now Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin, presided ; and a Roman Catholic member contrived to put in a little word about civil and religious liberty. His grace put him down, and said it was a notorious fact that " the Catholic Church all over the world was the friend of religions toleration." (Laughter.) Now recollect Dr. Cullen lived many years in Rome—that he is a man of great ability—that he knows well the laws of Rome, and the customsand usages of the States of Italy. When, therefore, Dr. Cullen said the Catholic Church all over the world recognised civil and religious liberty, heknew well the customs of the Church of Rome in Tuscany, and therefore we are to interpret his statement by concluding that he gives to the word civil and religious liberty a meaning totally different from that which we put upon it. (Hear, and applause.) Now, in order to carry out this sentiment, allow me to make you hear what the public prosecutor of the Madiai says in giving his definition of civil and religious liberty : "We venerate equally with any one individual liberty of conscience as an internal sanctuary which cannot be violated by civil authority without the risk of disturbing the human race. We respect religious tolerance so far as the guirdian laws consent thereto, so far as it is compatible with civil good order; and this is tantamount to saying so long as tolerance exists, so long as it does not degenerate into license or indiffer ence, whence would arise that confusion, that clashing of dif ferent beliefs, which would end in the most deplorable civil disorder." They allow individual liberty of conscience. They are the friends of civil and religious liberty, but there must be no difference of belief,—(laughter ;)—because, if there is any difference of belief, it will necessarily end in " the most deplorable civil disorder." (Laughter.) Well, then, if any Roman Catholic stands up and tells you he is a great friend of civil and religious liberty, ask if it is in the sense of the prosecutor of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. There is only another statement which I wish to give, an extract from the speech in question, not bearing imme diately upon the case, but too important to he omitted. The Church of Rome sneers at our differences. Now, allow me to give you what the prosecutor says about dif ferent sects : "The dissenting or Protestant confessions, transformed and with various titles, though identical in substance, emerged from their hiding places or poured forth from America, Switzerland, and England into Italy and Tuscany, and worked hand in hand." There is the testimony of the prosecutor of the Grand Duke of Tuscany. Then if they tell us that here we are different and there agreed, either we must be different here and there, or else they differ a little in their relilious belief. (Hear.) The defence of the Madiai was, they had abandoned the Church of Rome—that that abandon ment was caused by their reading the Word of God. By the bye, this v:ell-informed prosecutor ascribes their con version to the Bible Society, and he supplied the court with this little piece of information,—that the Bible Society Wa3 originated in Frince, in 1792, by Johanna Soutlicot?. (Roars of laughter.) It is a positive fact —(laughter) ;—and it will furnish you with a sample of the information of the gentleman, and the character of the evidence upon which the Medial have been condemned to imprisonment. Their defence, as I stated before, was —they acknowledged they had left the Church of Rome ; that they really had been guilty of the awful sin of schism, and acknowledged that it was produced by the Word of God. They denied that they were guilty of proselytism, but admitted that they did give information to certain parties who sought it at their hands, and came to inquire. The sentence upon them is comprised in three thino's : imprisonment for, respectively 56 and 45 months—a fine imposed upon them, to bear the costs of the trial, and three years' inspection of the police afterwards. Now, perhaps I might tell you what the galleys mean —and really we do not know what they mean. The galleys is a punishment just es indefinable with us as transportation. It may be comparatively kind,— it may be worse than death—it depends upcn the characier. of their gaoler; and from the antecedents of the grand duke in this case I have no doubt he will put them in the hands of a safe gaoler. Then to be three years under the inspection of the police is as bad as imprisonment. An Englishman's house is his castle, a poor Tuscan's house his prison ; and any hour of the day, or night, in health or sickness, under any cir cumstances, the police may come and claim admittance, and have every document which they possess,—every apartment opened up and submitted to their inspection. I might tell you of their conduct after imprisonment. It was all that the conduct of a child of Goci should be ; but I must hasten on, as I have an extensive subject be fore me this evening. I shall have to trespass upon your patience—(applause)—and therefore I will content myself on the first point with this statement of facts : Now I come to my first proposition :—" That the whole case is a simple illustration of the direct tend• encies and inevitable results of Popery as a religious system." My friends, there are three ways in which you may judge of a man.—(Hear, hear.) You may judge of him by his general character, although you have never heard him say a word, and you do not know a a single act in his life. Or you may judge of that man, though you don't know his character and temper, by his words ; if you have heard him speak, that is enough. (Cheers.) Or, although you have not heard his words or know his nature, you may judge of him by his acts. Sometimes a man's words don't accord with his character or acts ; but when you find a man whose words indorse his character, and whose acts super indorse both—the man is wicked both in his words and his acts—the essence of wickedness. (Applause.) My first ponit is, that he character of the Church of Rome is persecuting ; the second is, that the words and principles of the Church of Rome are persecution ' • and my third point is, that the acts of the Church of Rome are persecuting. (Applause,) And I need say no more, if I have proved this, I have proved my case. Well then " the whole case is a simple illustration of the direct tendencies and inevitable results of Popery as a religious system." Now, my friends, I would take up three positions in connection with the system of Popery. You would say that is a poor enslaved state, whose head is a tyrant ; you would say again, that is a poor enslaved state that has no laws but the will of that tyrant ; you would say again, that is a poor enslaved state, because there is an executive there who, though the head be good, and the laws in the main be sound, who would corrupt any laws and destroy the efficacy of any principles, which would keep the people from slavery. Now, I say, taking the head of the Papal system, in its pretensions and powers, it is impossible that Popery can be anything but persecu tion itself. The Lord Jesus Christ is the Head of the Church ; He is appointed to he head over all things ; and He governs His Church by His Word and Spirit. He is qualified for the office. He was a man like ourselves, and yet God,—infinite in knowledge, Almighty in Power, and the perfection of His nature is the true antidote that He will never abuse His unlimited power. Now the head of the Papal System claims to possess the powers of Christ without the perfection of Christ's nature—to counteract those powers,—in other words, he claims to be another God on earth. There are two parties in the Church of Rome. There is what is called the Gallican section and the Italian, or the Cisalpine and ultra-montane. The difference between these is, one represents the Pope to be inferior to a General Council, which is the head executive; the other represents the Pope as personally infallible, and Lord of all things temporal and spiritual, a general council not excepted. But in this point they are both agreed, that in respect to the executive, whether the Pope be right or wrong in the meantime, as head of the executive, the Church is bound to obey him. Now, in the first place, that the Pope does really desire to be recognised as another God upon earth, is proved by the following state ments : Innocent lIT, in addressing King Richard, informed him, "That lie held the place of God upon earth, and without dis tinction of persons he would punish the men and nations that presumed to oppose his commands." The Canon Law teaches, " It is evident that the Pope, who was called God by Constantine, can neither bebound nor loosed by any secular power. for it is manifest that a God cannot be judged by men :" thus giving an embodiment to the blas phemies uttered by Clement VII. and his cardinals, when writ ing to Charles Vl,—" As there is but one God in the heavens, so there is not, nor ought to be of right, but one God or earth." Nor, my friends, are these mere theoretical preten sions ? They have been again and again exercised by the heads of the Papacy. 63 kings and emperors from time to time have been excommunicated and anathematised by 41 Popes. But you will say this is merely the spiritual sword. Well, I will tell you what it is. Then you can judge whether it is temporal or spiritual. There hap pened once to have been a Queen named Elizabeth, and there happened to be a Pope Pius the Fifth ; and I recollect a gentleman, a priest of the Church of Rome, on the stage of the Amphitheatre, who admitted that there was some delicate little matter between them. (Laughter.) The Pope excommunicated the Queen because she was a heretic, and favourer of heretics. His excommunication consisted of depriving her of her intended right and title to the throne of England, and all other rights whatever. He absolved all her subjects from their allegiance, and under the pain of anathema pronounced upon the Queen, he comman d - ed them no longer to acknowledge her authority. Well, now, if that was spiritual, I really don't know what is tem poral. (Lau;hter.) The Pope claims the power of putting a kingdom under interdict. Now, Protestants care little ; but the Church of Rome cares a deal. With the Church of Rome, their whole religion is in the hands of a priest, and when a kingdom is under interdict, the priests are not allowed to exercise any office, except to the dying ; and the state of the country is to them as if God, in his infinite wisdom, had been pleased to visit that land in temporal thirgs with the most wasting famine. And now I ask what are the characters of those Popes who claim those powers. You will not mistake me when I say that despotism is the best Government, if we had security that the despot was a perfect man. The govern ment of God is uncontrolled—thegovernment of God isbest, because he is perfect ; but that which is in the hands of the Omnipotent and living God is perfection, in the hands of a feeble and frail man becomes an indescribable tyranny. Therefore, you must take into account the characters of the Popes in connexion with their claims. Genebrand tells us that fifty popes, in 150 years, were aoostatical rather than apostolical. Baronius, in his annals, seems to labour for language to ex press the base degeneracy of the Popes, and the frightful de formity of the Popedom. " Many shocking monsters intruded into the Pontifical chair, who were guilty of robbery, assassi nation, simony, dissipation, tyranny, sacrilege, perjury, and all kinds of miscreancy." _ _ Those are not my words. They are the words of Car dinal Baronius; and any Roman Catholic present, and I know there are some, can settle their account with him. (Loud applause.) Now, my second point as to the system of Popery, is, that it is absolutely and indispensably persecution, be cause there are no laws that the people possess, or by which the people are governed. She begins by asserting her own absolute infallibility. " This one church," says the Council of Trent, " cannot err in the delivery of faith and discipline of manners, as she is governed by the Holy Ghost." Now, I say at once, if the church is infallible, the people are bound to obey the church, whatever the church says. It would have been murder in Abraham to kill his son under ordinary circumstances ; but it was duty when God commanded him. (Hear, hear, and loud cheers). It would have been robbery in the Israelites to spoil the Egyptians, but it was lawful when God enjDined them. And in like manner, if the Church of Rome is infallible, then, I say the people have no liberty. (Applause.) Whatever the church commands, they must do ; the un derstanding, will, conscience, and judgment, are bound by fetters of iron by the infallibility of the church. This infallible church not only lays the foundation of her in fallibility ; but when she has done so, she puts the Word of God under her feet—and very properly, if she wants to make herself infallible. •-•-----• In the year 1816, a letter was issued to Ignatius, Primate of Poland, in which his Holiness thus speaks of the Bible Societies: "We have been truly shocked at this most crafty device, by which the very foundations of religion are under mined." To remedy "this pestilence . . . this defilement of the faith, most dangerous to souls . . . we again and again exhort you that whatever you can achieve by power, provide for by counsel, or effect by authority, you will daily execute with the utmost earnestness." The Council of Trent permits a man to have the Bible if he has a written line from the priest. but if he has not he can make no confession or receive absolution till he gives up the Bible to the priest. Not merely does the infallible church nuttier foot upon the Bible, butshe raises other writings to equal authority. The Trent catechism tells us that Scripture is divided into the Bible and tradi tions ; and moreover enjoins people to receive the Scrip.: tures in whatever sense she chooses to put upon them. Therefore the Pope we are plainly informed can defeat the Scripture by the interpretation of Scripture. Now I ask you what state that country would be in the formation of the laws, in which the people had no part ? in the understanding of which the people must ex ercise no judgment—but must receive as perfect right or wrong, what is delivered to them by the infallible Church, without ever employing the judgment which God has given to them. (Applause.) That is my second point. The third is the executive or administrative part of the Church of Rome is such that there must he tyranny in the system. As to the adminis tration of the Church of Rome, I do not wish to speak disrespectfully, if I say that all tyrants have large armies. Louis Napoleon has from 600,000 to 700,000 men, — and the Pope also, in his way, has a large army. (liven Victoria can go to Sootland, or anywhere else, and her only guards consist in the loyalty and devotion of her people.—(Loud applause.) The Pope has an army both temporal and spiritual, — no Italians , he cannot. trust them—(applause)—he gets Swiss. They have seen too much of the Pope presiding upon the pontifical throne, therefore he gets Swiss soldiers; and Louis Napoleon is very willing to make the Pope the tool of his ambition. He keeps a force in Rome, and flatters the priesthood that civil despotism and ecclesiastical tyranny may go hand in hand for the destruction of liberty in Europe.— (Loud applause.) Now the Pope's army is the priest hood ; and I ask you to consider the priesthood first of all in itself. I ask you first to consider their numbers. Now, there are some people who are quite frightened when they meet a gentleman in a long black coat, and stiff cravat (laughter); and there are those who, if they meet some ladies with long black veils, are ready to send for the doctor (laughter) ; but, suppose you calculate what the power of the Pope is by the priesthood all over the world,-218,000 parishes and 44,000 monasteries. What an army of administration he has in his hand. Then look to their orders,—there never was an army better disciplined than they. And then again look to their celibacy. (Laughter). They have no family ties. (Loud laughter and applause). At least they ought net to have. They serve their master in any country ; and, when times of trouble arise, they can just quietly pack up theirknapsacks and go elsewhere. (Laughter and applause). Then again look at this priesthood in their sworn attachment to the head of the church. I don't mean to say that every priest is a disloyal subject ; but I say I know it is impossible for any man to take the oath of allegiance to a foreign prince, and at the same time be loyal to his own prince. There is the oath of the bishop, the oath of the priest, and the secret (Atli of the Jesuit, by which they are bound neck and heels, body and conscience, to act out the orders of the Pope, and to receive and believe the decisions of the fathers and the decrees of the councils. (Sensation.) They are not without their reward either. (Laughter.) We make them pay income-tax, if they have £l5O a year, in England ; but the law of the Church of Rome says they shall pay no taxes, and I could prove it. The Pope indeed tells them that if at any time the state should come into trouble, they may make a subscription, and hand it over as a donatioo. —(Laughter.) They are not to appear before a civil tri bunal. Not long ago we heard a good deal of a dispute between Sardinia end the Court of Rome on the subject. —(Thar,hear.) i have facts to prove that, for their fidelity, they have unlimited indulgences in sin.—(llear, hear.) I have shown you the numbers, the order, and the discipline of the Pope's armies, and their blind attach ment to the Bishop of Rome ; and I want now to show you how they can carry these things into effect amongst the people. I mean to say that the doctrine of the presence of the body and blood of Christ in the Eucharist is one of blasphemy. For a man to repeat the words hoc est corpus meum—to say that it is the body and blood of Christ—what is that ? (A voice: " Blasphemy.") But what is it in the eye of the Church of Rome? The man that rejects the doctrine, despises the priest; the man who receives the doctrine, must worship him as God ;—nay, he is more than God, and he is the creator o f the untreatable God. (Loud applause.) Then, again, look at the priesthood, how they are connected with men in every stage and history of their lives. A child is born, and, of course, the priest sent for, to exorcise the d ev il out, and breathe the holy spirit in, otherwise he cannot be saved. When he becomes a man, he desires to he married, as most men do, or ought to do—(loud laughter)—except the priests of the Church of Rome. (Renewed and prolonged laughter.) They could not serve the Pope so well were they to marry. (Laughter.) When the man comes to be married, the marriage sacrament cannot be performed without the presence of the pries , . And, finally, when the hour of dissolution comes, before he dies, he must have the sacrament of extreme unction performed, and extreme unction can't be performed without the priest. Therefore, there is a man in the eves of the people, little less than God, — necessary at his birth, necessary at his marriage, necessary at his death. And then we have this thing they call the confessional : Council of Trent decrees that : " If any one shall deny that sacramental confession was instituted or is necessary, by divine right, to salvation,. or shall say that the practice of private confession to a priest is foreign from the institution and command of Christ, and is only a human invention, let him be accursed." (Hear, hear.) The priest " must enquire into every circumstance of the most proflizate life. Men and Women, the young and the old, the married and the single, are bound to describe to the confessor the most secret actions and thoughts, which are either sinful in themselves, or may be so from accidental circumstances." (Hear, hear.) My friends, do you suppose that if I knew every secret of your hearts, and especially your faults, would you dare to disobey me ? Then there is the abso lution. What will not a man give for the salvation of his soul, if he can purchase absolution by putting his hand into his pocket ? (Laughter.) What is the decree of the Church of Rome-upon this point ? "Although the absolution of the priest be the dispensation of a benefit belonging to another, yet it is not merely a naked ministerial act, of either announcing the Gospel, or declaring that sins are pardoned, but it is equ►valent to a judicial act, wherein sentence is pronounced by himself as judge. They do as the ministers of God truly absolve them ; the same thing which God himself does, who is the Author and Father of grace and righteousness." When a man is absolved there are prayers and al m sgivin gs. (Hear, hear.) And then there are those little things called indulgences. (Laughter.) A very satisfactory thing it is to a jolly Englishman, when, having committed some sin, and the priest calls upon him, before granting absolution, to walk, with his gouty feet, with peas in his boots, if he can, by the payment of a certain trifle, obtain the indul gence of having the peas boiled before deposited in his boots. (Loud and prolonged laughter.) Then again, sir, when a man has quietly departed from this world, and when his mourning friends have, with all respect, laid his remains in their last resting-place, all his cares and sorrows are past—past with respect to every one but the priest of the Church of Rome. When the slave dies, he has ended his days of slavery ; but the priest pursues his victim into the world of spirits, agonizing the minds of surviving relatives, by stating that the tortures of purgatory are the same as the tortures of hell. (Hear, hear.) Thus, by making superstition work upon the affections, he tears from the sidow and the orphan their last mite, in order to save the soul of a beloved husband, brother or child. (Hear, hear, and loud cries of " Shame.") Now, my friends, this is Popery. I have stated it in its first and second features—l have shown that the people are required to submit to the laws, without having a voice in their interpretation, and without having any power in their regulation. I have given, in the third place, the priesthood, their orders, their numbers, and wealth, and that, in the undivided attachment and obedience to the head of the church, the Pope, they possess an uncontrolled power over the people; circumstances which are unparal leled in the annals of the world. These three • things combined stamp upon Popery the brand of being the master-piece of Satan, in the enthronement of tyranny, and in the extinction of the rights and liberties of the people. (Vehement cheering.) That is my first proposition. I ask you whether I have proved that the case of the Madiai is, after all, but a sample and illustration of the direct tendency and inevit able results of Popery as a religious system.—(Renewed applause.) I fear that I shall weary y o u before I have concluded.—(Loud cries of " No, no, " "Go on as long as you like.") The second proposition that I have to advance is, "That the case of the Madiai is a very embodiment of THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD, TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 16, 1852. the essential and deliberately recorded principles of the Church of Rome." Dr. Butler says : "It is most true that Roman Catholics believe the doctrines of their Church to be unchangeable; and that it is a tenet of their creed, that what their faith ever has been, such it was from the beginning, such it is now, and such it ever will be." (Book of the Roman Catholic Church.) The late Bishop Walmesley says, " When a dogmatical point is to be deter mined, the Catholic Church speaks but once; and her decree is irrevocable. The solemn determinations of General Councils have remained unalterable, and will ever do so." The Bishop of Aire asserts that "the principles of the Catholic Church, once defined, are irrevocable. She herself is immutably bound by chains which of no future period can she ever rend asunder." The late Archbishop Troy declares that " the religious opinions of the Catholics, being unchangeable, are applicable at all times." Well now, if any man says the Church of Rome has changed and can change, he must keep in his mind this extract that I have read, and by which members of that Church are bound : In the Theological Lectures of Maynooth, it is broadly laid down "as the most certain doctrine of the church, confirmed by the consent of the fathers and the decrees of councils, that schismatics, even although they do not err in the faith, by the simple fact of their schism, are without the church and the way of salvation." In the second place, the Church of Rome asserts that heresy is the worst crime of which a man can he guilty, because it is treason against God ; and that, therefore, other crimes against man must give place to it. To illustrate this, I may state, that a man \vas once taken before the Spanish Inquisition, charged with treason against the King, and with a spiritual offence also. The Ecclesiastical authorities demanded his surrender to them, inasmuch as the spiritual offence, according to the com mon laws, was greater than the temporal. He was tried and condemned for the spiritual offence : The following extract from the introduction to the process and sentence will best exhibit the light in which the Church of Rome regards heresy, as compared with other crimes: "So that the execution unto death may sutler no delay in a cause which, attacking the Divine 21kieslo, calls before anything else for vengeance on the person of the delinquent, and which in seine measure swallows up, and, so to speak, allows no more to appear, the temporal offences, let them be ever so enormous." _ - In the third place I assert that a member of the Church of Rome is taught that faith is not to be kept with here tics. Let me explain this. I don't mean to say that a member of the Church of Rome may not be an honest man ; and that when he makes a bargain he will not honestly fulfil it; but I do say that if 1, from ignorance or malice, had sworn an oath to take away the life of ano ther man, and if Gad spoke to me through his Holy Spirit, and told me that the deed I had sworn to commit was a violation of his law, and accounted the crime of murder, it would become my duty to break my oath, and not com mit the murder. (Hear, hear.) Niw the Church of Rome says she is infallible, and the Pope says he is in the place of God. If a member of the Church of Rome, either from ignorance or policy, takes an oath by which, it appears afterwards, the Church will be endan gered, and he will break her laws, that man is bound to perjure himself, so the Church teaches, rather than in fringe the laws of an infallible Church. (Hear, hear.) _ _ That is the meaning of not keeping faith with heretics. Toe strength of this statement will be sufficiently shown by the following extracts : The Bishop of Symancha, on the constitutions of Gregory IX., writes thus Governors of forts and all kinds of vas sals are by this constitution freed from the bond of the oath whereby they had promised fidelity to their lords and masters. Moreover, a Catholic wife is not bound to perform the mar riage contract with an heretical husband. If faith is not to be kept with tyrants, pirates, and other public robbers, who kill the body, much less with obstinate heretics, who kill the soul. Faith promised against Christ, if kept, is verily perfidy. Justly, therefore, were some heretics burnt by the most solemn judg. ments of the Council of Constance, although they had been promised security." Urban VI., when elevated to the Pontifical chair, A. D. 1378, issued the following declaration on this subject :—"Seting that such confederations, agreements, bonds, or conventions, made with such heretics or schismatics after these are effected, are rash, unlawful, and legally null, (although, perhaps, they were entered into or made before their lapse into schism or heresy,) even if they should be confirmed 1w oath, or faith pledged. or strengthened by Apostolical confirmation, or by any other security, after, as premised, these are effected." Benedict XIV., 1768, in the letter of his Nuncio to the Bishops of Irelan d, in reference to that clause of the oath of allegiance which hears upon keeping faith with heretics, most pointedly declares that the doctrine which that oath repudiates is held and contended for by most Catholic nations, has been frequently practised by the Roman Pontiff, and that the oath of allegiance was in its very nature unlawful,and could not bind or oblige the conscience." (Hear, hear.) The Second Lateran Council briefly and, emphatically de clares that "all oaths against the interests of. the Church of Rome are perjuries." The Catechism of the Council of Trent speaks thus; "If any one promise a thing unjust or immoral, he both sins in swear ing to do it, and heaps sin upon sin by fulfilling what he hath promised." And again : "A just man, whatever he may lawfully promise or swear, shall never change.—UNLESS, the circumstances of things being changed, the engagement may begin to be such, that, by keeping it, he would incur the dis pleasure and hatred of God." The Canon Law openly publishes that "They are not to be called oaths, but rather perjuries, which are attempted against the benefit of the Church. It ought to be so understood, that it should not oppose a right ; otherwise, as being a rash oath, it does not oblige." " From the words of the same Gregorian constitution, it is manifest that a heretic forfeits his title to all kinds of dominion whatsoever; natural, over his children, who by his heresy become their own masters ; civil, over his slaves, who are thereby set at liberty ; and political, over his subjects, who are no longer obliged to obey him." In the next place. the Church of Rome teaches that social intercourse with heretics is to be suspended The General Council of Lateran is still more gull and explicit. It says, "If any believer, receiver, defender, or favourer of heretics, being excommunicated, does not satisfy the Church within a year, he from thenceforth shall be infamous, and shall not be admitted to give testimony, or to public offices. He shall have no power of making any will, or succeeding to any inheritance. No man shall be obliged to answer him in any cause, hut he shall be compelled to answer others. If lie be a judge, his sentence shall be null and void ; nor shall any cause come before him. If he be an advocate, he shall not be per mitted to plead. If a clerk or notary, the instrument drawn by him shall be of no moment." Robert, Kine of France, was excommunicated by the people, and every servant of that monarch refused to ent meat after him from his table, but cast it to the dogs, declared that the very dishes were so polluted that they must be purged by fire before they could be used again. (Laughter.) The Church of Rome, in the next place, teaches the natural rights and privileges are absorbed by heresy. A parent, becoming a heretic, possessed no authority over his children •, the slaves of a master guilty of heresy, became free ; and the people under the authority of a prince who had fallen into heresy. were absolved from their allegiance. •-••--- --- Then the Church of Rome teaches that heretics forfeit their property : The canon law enacts, that "the gc,ods of heretics are for feited by the fact of their heresy; all alienations by gift, sale, or otherwise before sentence are null and void, and all contracts for that purpose are rescinded ; children, heirs of heretics, are deprived of their portions, even though they be Papists : he with whom a heretic bath deposited anything shall not be bound to restore it to him, but to the exchequer." The General Councils of Constance and third and fourth Lateran decree respectively, "The goods of heretics shall be confiscated." The Church of Rome decrees that heretics shall be put to death : Bellarmine, no small authority on Church matters, thus writes :—" If it were possible to root out heretics, w ithout doubt they are to lie destroyed, root and branch." The canon law decides " that the person who (loth not abjure his heresy, and immediately return to the orthodox faith shall be g iven up to the secular judge to receive the proper punishmen t of his crime ; that they be publicly burne I alive (` decriminus ut vivi in conspectu hominum comburantur flamarum commisi judicio'). _ _ . • The bull In Ccena Domini, the object of which, as de fined by Pope Paul, is " to preserve the purity of the Christian religion, and to maintain the unity of the faith ful," thus speaks :—" We excommunicate and anathematise, in the name of God Almighty, Father, Son, and Holy Ghost, and by the authority of the blessed Apostles Peter and Paul, and by our own, all Hussites, Wickliflites, Lutherans, Zuing bans, Calvinists, Anabaptists, Huguenots, Trinitarians, and apostates from the faith, and all other heretics, by wli ,tsoever name they are called, and of whatsoever sect they be. as :Ilso their adherents, receivers, favourers, and generally all defenders of them ; together with all who, without our authority, or that of the Apostolic See, knowingly read, keep, print, or any ways, for any cause whatsover, publicly or privately, on any pretext or colour, defend their books con taining heresy or treating of religion." This bull is read at Rome every day before Good Friday ; and if any of you should go there on that occasion, you will see the Pope, arrayed in a most gaudy manner, fling a lighted torch into the square, to give effect to the ana thema, while a cannon will be fired, for the purpose of making every heretic in Christendom tremble. Had it been Good Friday, I should have said that it was the report of the cannon we heard in Liverpool the other day. (Renewed laughter.) Now these are the principles of the Church of Rome; and I ask you if 1 have not proved my second proposition, that " the case of the Medial is a very modified embodi ment of the essential and deliberately recorded principles of the Church of Rome ?" (Vehement cheering.) My third proposition is, " That, as an act of cruelty, the case of the Medial is in complete accordance with the uniform practices of the Church of Rome whenever and wherever she had the power honestly to work out her designs." Having proved that her principles and prac tices are persecuting, I think my case upon this point is also established. (Hear, hear.) Let me, however. observe that is impossible, in the limited time at my dis posal, to give anything like a fair representation of °the persecuting tendencies of the Church of Rome. Foxe's folios are, after all, hut mere selections of the persecu tions of Rome. (Hear, hear.) God's Holy Word de scribes her as " Drunk with the blood of the saints and martyrs ;" and the history of the world proves the truth of the prophecy. (Hear, hear.) Let me ask you to con- Bider the numbers of those who have been put to death by the Church of Reme. The calculation lies been made that Within the space of 40 years from 1540, NINE HUN DRED THOUSAND Protestants were slain for their religion in different countries in Europe, among whom were 230 barons, 148 earls, and 39 princes. It is stated that during the four years of the Pontificate of Paul IV., the Inquisition alone disposed of 150,000; and since the date of the rise of the Papacy, 1.200 years ago, not less than FIFTY MILLIONS have been put to death, FIFTY MILLIONS! ! t. e., upon the average, close upon FORTY THOUSAND A-YEAR, or BETTER THAN ONE HUNDRED A-DAY ! (Sensation.) Then, my friends, T ask you to look at the variety of punishments which have been called into requisition by the'Church of Rome. It has been said that some of the Roman emperors went to such an extravagance of luxury, that they offered a reward to any one who would discover a new pleasure. The same may be said of the bishops of Rome in another sense ; for they have so exhausted the modes of cruelty as to render it a matter of no ordinary difficulty to invent new methods of torture. (Vehement cheering.) Upon this subject I will read the following extract, as showing the various methods by which Protes tants have cruelly been put to death : "They have been shot, stabbed, stoned, drowned, beheaded, hanged, drawn, quartered, impaled, burnt or buried alive, roasted on spits, baked in ovens, thrown into furnaces, tumbled over precipices ? cast from the tops of towers, sunk in mire and pits, starved with hunger and cold, hung on tenter-hooks, sus pended by the hair of the head, by the hands or feet, stuffed and blown up with gunpowder, ripped with swords and sickles, tied to the tales of horses, dragged over streets and sharp flints, broken on the wheel, beaten on anvils with hammers, blown with bellows. bored with hot irons, torn piecemeal by red-hot pincers, slashed with knives, hacked with axes, hewed with rhinal._ maned with planes. pricked with forks, stuck a water, lime, rags, or from head to foot with pins, ch.,.— - - mangled pieces of their own bodies crammed dow n their throats, shut up in caves and dungeons, tied to stakes, nailed to trees, tormented with lighted matches, scalding oil, burning pitch, melted lead, &c." (Great sensation, and cries of " Abominable.") Now, I venture to assert that there is no solitary punishment specified there that has not again and again been carried into effect by the Church of Rome. (Hear, hear.) In order to make out my case, I must now give a few general statements. You have all heard of the Albigenses and the Waldenses. (Loud and prolonged cheering.) You have no doubt heard how Mahommed gained vic tories by the fanaticism of his soldiers, created by his making them believe that those who died in battle earned an immediate passage to Heaven. The Pope also gave indulgences to those who fell in Palestine ; and on the same grounds he granted absolution to those who fell fighting against the Waldenses. A large army was thus collected together, and the Waldenses, driven to the last resource, —for while it was death on the field of battle, it was worse if they fell into the hands of Pope's mercenaries, in which case the gibbet and the stake awaited them,—flew to the mountains, and defended themselves in the best mode they could. You may judge of the slaughter when Ber trand, the Papal legate, writing to the Pope, implored him to put a stop to the struggle, as no less than 300,000 soldiers of the Papal army had fallen in the effort to exter minate the Waldenses. If such was the slaughter of the troops on those blood-stained fields, what must have been the amount of destruction upon men, women, and helpless children. (Hear, hear, hear.) Then I do not need to ask von whether you remember the massacre of St. Bartholomew. Now, the unsuspect ing French Protestants were beguiled tothe capital, where, under the darkness of midnight, the work of destruction began, and how faithfully it was executed. (Cries of " Shame.") One man afterwards boasted that he had slain 400, and another that he had murdered 150. (Sensation.) Nor was this an act performed unsolicited. The. Church of Rome was identified with the massacre ; for, when the news of the slaughter reached Rome, the 7'e Deem was sung, a grand procession was held at St. 1 3 ,ter's, and Pope Gregory had a medal struck in commemoration of God's kindness for ridding France of 100,000 Protestants. (Great sensation). What does Cardinal Wiseman say about this act of butchery ? I should have thought the word " Bartholomew" would freeze upon his lip ; but he comes to the capital of this Protestant country, and states that it was, after all, a question—the Protestants should kill the Papists, or the Papists the Protestants. (Laughter.) I ask whether the members ; whether the character; whether the creed of the Protestants justifies this assertion ? (Loud cries of "No.") Taken in connection with the question, the principles of the Church of Rome, and the whole proceeding was consistent with its tenets and practices. Ar.d again, if we come to England, our own land, we find the Spanish Armada, with respect to which we are told that " no harm was done." There was no thanks to the Pope for that. — (Laughter.) There were one hundred and thirty ships in that expedition, twelve of them being called after the names of the Twelve Apostles. There were on board 100 priests and jesuits, with Cardinal Allen at their head. Be fore the expedition sailed, the Pope blessed the banners : and when they returned, foiled by Him who holds the winds in his grasp, Philip demanded of the Pope his share of the expenditure incurred. His Holiness refused to advance the money ; and Philip reproached him, telling him that it was in consequence of his urgent requests that he fitted out the expedition. This shows the true spirit of the Papacy, in its antagonistic form against Protestan tism. (Hear, hear.) You have all no doubt read about a certain thing which took place on the sth November — (laughter)—called the gunpowder plot. (Renewed laugh ter.) You have no doubt heard Roman Catholics say that they had nothing to do with that. But there was a certain Jesuit named Garnett—(hear, hear)—who had to do with it, and he was executed for it, and that Jesuit is now worshipped as a saint, and his name is enrolled in the calendar of that Church which appears to eschew the deed of the sth of November. (Cheers.) Then we might go across the Irish Channel ; and I might tell you of the days of 1641, when 150,000 Protestants were massacred, the priests exciting the people to the bloody deed, by telling them that the Protestants were worse than dogs, that they served the devil, and that, therefore, killing them was a meritorious act. and a rare preventative against heresy. (Loud and indignant cries of " Shame.") _ _ Time will not allow us to go into the history of the Holy Inquisition. That tribunal, instituted for the ex press rurpose " of forcing heretics to return to the body of the Catholic church, and punish the contumacious with all canonical pains," officially sanctioned by Inno cent 111., Honorions IV., and other Popes, and the ar ranging of the details of which constituted the principal business of the Council of Toulouse, and the decretals of Gregory IX.,—that holy tribunal, which Paul IV., the Vicar of the Saviour and the Prince of Peace, commended to the Church with his dying breath, " as the best means of destroying heresy, and the chief support of the Pa pacy." I shall not detain you with its mode of proce dure in the investigation of charges against accused per sons, nor with its sickening details. I shall only make the statement which I feel satisfied will meet with a re sponse hi every breast, that the case of the Madiai, in all its flagrancy, sinks into utter insignificance at the very mention of the Holy Inquisition. (Hear, hear.) We shall now take a very brief view of THE PRESENT TIMES. We may be told, probably. that the periods we have just been considering were the dark ages of the Church. The following quotation from a speech delivered by the Rev. Mr. Noble, of this town, in the Music-hall, on the 17th March last, will best inform the Protestant public in what light Romanists are taught to regard these dark times. Speaking of these very periods, he thus ex presses himself, " called, perhaps miscalled, the middle ages, certainly not the dark ages of the Church." The Church of Rome cannot change, and she has not changed. Look to Portugal, and learn her spirit from Dr. Kelley and Madena. Look to Spain, and you will see by the late concordat with the Pope, that that kingdom, for the present at least, is, as it were, hermeti cally sealed against the Bible and liberty of conscience. Look to Italy, and Count Giuciardini, the Madiai, and multitudes of others, will be the reply. Look to Ireland, poor, unhappy, priest-ridden Irelan I, the land of my birth, and, with all its faults, of my warmest affections. Thank God, a great work isgoing on there. (Cheers.) Conversions are taking place, not by units, but in numbers, as a meeting in another place on this evening will, doubtless, prove; but it will also prove that the persecuting spirit of Popery is not yet dead. True, we hear much of " soup and meal converts," and many Protestants appear as if they believed it. All I can say is, they know little of what the poor converts must encounter, who encourage such a calumny. Job says, "All that a man hath will he give for his life;" but if he had lived in the present day, and believed the reports which Romanists give of Irish conversions, he might have said with much more force, •' All that a man bath, friends, freedom, social intercourse, yea his very life itself, and 'after death his immortal soul, will he give, for soup and meal." (Laughter.) Have you ever heard a priest's curse ? if not, go to Ireland and you will hear it from many an altar, north, south, east, and west. Have you ever seen a perfect pic ture of misery ? Go and see the object of that curse; his oldest, and nearest, and best beloved friends, will neither speak to him, nor eat, nor work with him, and if they meet him in a market or fair, they fly from him. as they would from the very devil incarnate. These are not flights of fancy, but hard facts—not in the burning sands of Africa, but in the glens of Antrim—not under the ignorance of the fifteenth century, but in the light and intelligence of the nine teenth—not told on a missionary platform, but sworn to in the Court of Assize, in the year 1846, by credible wit nesses, before a respectable jury, who gave a verdict against a priest of the Church of Rome for seventy pounds damages and costs, thus proving that in the United King dom and in the present times there is such a thing as a priest's curse, and there is found a priest to utter it, and a people to receive it, and a man who in his temporal cir cumstances has been utterly ruined by it. (Hear, hear.) I might go on further, but I forbear. Enough and more than enough has been said to es'ablish my third pro position, namely, that as an act of cruelty the case of the Madiai is in complete accordance with the uniform prac tices of the Church of Rome, whenever and wherever she had the power honestly to work out her principles. (Ap plause.) I shall not venture to make any application of these facts, but perhaps the following extract from a letter signed " Catholicus," which appeared in a local print of the second of this month, may not be out of place : " We have divine authority for the fact that the tree may be known by its fruits. Of what nature, then, is the no-popery tree, so zealously cultivated by a section of the clergy of the Established Church, and of dissenting ministers of almost every class? Such being its fruits, to me it seems beyond question that the roots of that tree must be in hell—that its proprietor is the devil—and that to those who are so indefatigable in its culture, from 31`Neile— , ,vehement applause, accompanied with the Kentish fire, which was again and again renewed) — downwards, or upwards, just as people niay think fit to adjust the scale, the devil may well sr.y, patting them on the back the while, • Well done, you good and faithful servants.' " You will probably be anxious to hear what replies the Church of Rome gives to tF.ese arguments and statements. They may be divided into four classes : first, those who assert that the times have changed, and that the Church has necessarily changed with them, arid that we are not now in the fourteenth century when darkness everywhere prevailed ; and 'why refuse to the Church of Rome the advance in intelligence which is given to everything else ? We reply, her own acknowledged doctrine of infallibility, and, consequently, of immutability, supplies the answer. Any change would be an abandonment of her very fun damental article, the pivot on which the whole system turns, and with which Popery must cease to exist. She cannot change : other things may be reformed and re modelled, but that which is infallible as God himself, if it change at all, can only change for the worse. She is, therefore, in the word of God, destined to be destroyed utterly and for ever. Secondly, they may meet us with a denial that she teaches what we aver; this is not only a frequent reply but in accordance with her policy in other things; the clergy tell her so, and she must believe them. They tell her that flour and water by the simple repetition of a few Latin words are transformed into the body and blood, the soul and divinity of the Lord Jesus Christ ; and against the continual testimony of all hersenses she believes them. Now,uponthesame principle, when they tell her that t h e is not the, and a n d is not and, against universal observa tion and the common acknowledgrnentof all, she is bound to submit. Wecan onlygive what thechurch teaches according to thetestimony of oursensesand the universal rendering of language. We take the quotations from their own works, we pledge ourselves not only to their substantial accuracy. but in most instances to their Weral correctness as quota tions from those councils and authorities which in other matters Romanists proclaim as infallible and unchangeable. But then the priests instruct them to deny their truth, and in opposition to our senses we must submit to the voice of the church. Their third reply is, that Protestants have persecuted as we ll as they, and thus, with their usual tact, seek to turn away the war from their own camp. Now we admit that in some instances they have, and in such cases Protestants have ever been the first to confess it and condemn it. But is persecution, therefore, to be identified with Pro testantism ? As well rnieht you confound christianity with treachery and covetousness, because there was _. Judas among the twelve apostles. I have stated that Popery requires its tretnbers to render absolute obedience in all things to the church, and therefore the mass of those whom she regards as martyrs were condemned and ex ecuted as traitors t 3 their own country in the service of the Pope and the church. For examnle. Garnet. the worshipped as a saint In the Romish calendar they take the same view of the subject as we have Will they venture to assert that the gen'us of Pro tism is persecution ? Do we not at other times them tell us the very reverse—it must be suppressed be- Am Cause it is latitudinarian and indifferent. Wil l "e'e d ture to assert that our principles teach persecutiond, WA Is that in all ages and countries our practices loc i° la? not the very opposite the admitted fact all o ver the woe We see Protestant countries free, and in Popish °II Romanism and tyranny working hand in hand. ever Or, they meet our charges by throwing the onus no upon the temporal rulers, as in the faithle ss martyrolee, of John Huss, and the persecutions of th e Mediae s TIA_I, reply is, the canon of the intallible Council of Const r ot the decisions of which are irrevocable an d binding uP the church in all ages. The Council of Constance enjoins, that "all ArchbishnoßFJ Bishops, and other persons chosen for this work shall achnosolsrill and require all emperors, kings dukes, princes, Itc.,lofe%ing of the Catholic faith, also all other Ellell professors exercl,,,o_ temporal jurisdiction, and exhort them by the Apostolic Sulu rity to expel from their kingdoms, provinces, cities, Ste.'Bo4:l heretics, as morbid sheep infecting the flock of the Lord, 00 not to permit them to preach in their distri cts, to Pe' en c oa lF yl e ai t i l ,n i u t l i sa z in s niet t sy o s, ow r r e i side, to enter into any contracts, to car gos In conclusiL he , athl wKoeredps,• 't T he spirt • r church of Rome deserves little at your hands , hu t Is e ' v ' e l r re "Vengeance is you i t n h e e , I examplewi l repay, of f Lord deserves much, and as you love him hearken t° beware enegfwa, faithful." ri o lef r u t io o . n a j o retaliatory e t t h a e l i c a o t m o r f o y r contracts, of the o reviled, reviled not again, but gave blessings for cost s ; and prayers for persecutions. Thenaturaleffectof thisevo`st ing's subject isto excite hostility to Romanism. Ber' s e e ere it extend not to Romanists. The former is the e ffect Te e . s t to produce ; as to the latter, I do beseech you watch Il t ee it, strive against it, prdy against it. The only weapon on e an d church is the sword of the spirit, the Word of G,' o ho the only aven zerof thechurch is the head of the chu b r i e; b l e g a t is the God of vengeance. N one, even of the of his people, has suffered without his knowledg: f permission. Their tears are all in his bottle. Th e ,,, c i,"ee ° o the souls under the altar long delayed handnve, the foreotten, and awful will be the reckoning feo hl e i re d confusion when the brazen harlot that has so long usurped the place of the lamb's lawful bride shall aPPes;:aeess Him whose omniscient eye will detect in her eau" That the blood of the unnumbered martyrs she has slain. e n) hiro day he has reserved for himself. Beware how you 115 ., vyttlOvrAß, the prerogatives of your great Redeemer. Instruct thenwa; pray for them, forgive them,—but at your peril d° retaliate upon them. g ot t ° Secondly. Beware of riving any encouragem-egver this unhallowed system—lieht and darkness eau "web coalesce—Christ and Anti-Christ can never serve The al! her movements has recently originated comfort and confidence together in the same army!" ises Church of Rome, with that wiliness which c l ea ve.- t o p " The Religious Equality Movement. " Knowing that in political matters she entertains muchin common with °l ot dissenters, she has been desirous to make it sPU est n e as she has sunk the religious element in the political of it would seem that some of the nonconforro\-bsee Britain have fallen into the snare, I would take theL' e ress of presenting one or two facts which cannot fail to tner t h them with the danger of forming any alliance:lee' are system so deceitful and unscrupulous. The Wre n s ee already aware that one of the secretaries, who is u` s ," 3 of of the principal movers in the project, is gr. L'''' t bet the Tablet—(hisses)—of whom it is enough to ss i t, sr e• he has publicly and deliberately endorsed the, ",.." lie less persecutions of the Madiai, and t°, 9 ' s uch has since in his paper published ths,', w hose endorsement has met with the approval of 8' the approval he cares to possess, namely. the Priests - pi , is Church of Rome in Ireland, of which class his s the principal organ. I would also set before the Pjob, fact, which, perhaps, they are not so well acquai n , fru e co° . that Mr. Duffy, the editor of the Nation, who. Of the siderable time might be regarded as the Chief n % n tel Young Ireland party, as opposed to the lat e . .'"gtiol l O'Connell and the priests, immediately after his like r „ t ies, from prison, in the third number of the revived .1;ov offered a most abject apology to the priesthood, sc g ad hedged his former sins and faults in opposing th enl ' wit h what sbe ja o ber , los t repeated a conversation with the convict Me which he thoroughly sympathised, that no Inulee and could ever succeed for ;he regeneration of Irelau:'deot that none should ever again be undertaken, wh ich "I D M a first been baptized in the old holy well. (Laughter./e ts to yet these are the two persons who are the chie fagS " The Religious Equality Movement." 5 , ou r Thirdly. Cultivate Protestant unity. (Hear.). A'segold, serable divisions, it would seem as if nothingo or remove them but the glorious presence and ki n g ° Dale our Lord himself. Essentials and circurnstantialst tel l become so commingled, that the very elect callrereb' o w t l i ii ie c r h ; are su e s s p se e t e i t t i i n al g s and which whichcircum s t a ntialst sac, men and Dissenters afraid of each other ; jealous fc, other; and ready beau geb down a fire from heaven upon each other, ol eS e og eh will not follow the other. Eplirairn Judah, and Judah vexing Ephraim, the Phi,o3' all the while looking on, and, without loss t°;pesii selves, permitting Israel's disastrous folly to ae c° 7geet 9 a ti r i e ei w r ,e g a l t o ,e r n io it u ig s v e i a c e t i o i r o y t . be T r h ; uteheitßiesastthawt iPtiriotseesvtaann.nagesfdarS and ten horns standing quietly by, and only waL ti p r o the convenient moment to slip in and devour ie,", t ioe Surely there is nothing inconsistent in each regi°,ceet, ing its officers, and uniform, and discipline , un t ie on e the hour of common danger, all toeether forrutiagr, grand square, and, side by side and shoulder to sh ° ," o3 ou presenting an impenetrable phalanx against the c ci L s ider acknowledge,fessions transformed,tha ` atnhde withD Dissenting e v n a t r i i n o go various foe of their Queen and country. Only let u s c " ed t°. what the persecutors of the Madiai felt constant in substance." (Hear, ,hear.) and If the love of God and the command of Christ , h boa beauty, and comfort, and efficiency of the Chu r r n eiel e . s h ,' no weight with us, remembering the nature, the P r :, Whi' and the practices of our common adversary , le t Pert t c : it is time, see it to be our interest to unite 8,11",,e, gether. There is one Lord, one faith, one °' baptism, one God and Father of us all—the au " our beloved is one titles, I ePsr,°atreestiacr en tice 1 .. Cor se lu Fourthly, let us be active against Popery• tbeco v. ' Meroz ; curse ye bitterly the inhabitants therem, o f the they came not to the help of the Lord, to the he i r ) of t be r Lord against the mighty. ' Such was t h e lau gueg,ff e ret i v Most High with respect to the lukewarm snd in`', l 0 11° e I amongst his people of old. Many condemn ° l t tlt o 4 preach against Popery. I am not ashamed to so/ h 60 4 aIG whit.l mi o m d os ,,i en i doomed a le l r n (i d t ) h nf o ot thosei ll ls tfoo w l sl ib o l destruction.'eerhdsoatvoice ~.15001; hoever feeble, it shall never be sile . nt a gainst th at 9. ¢ai ns C t e veriest blasPh e liia ti l . treason against man in e" . "l)it t ' e. be and relation, both for time and for etern'tl „ area 0 know, is the most I can do, but I remember ",,, r tiP ° , I l a l a S yY n e: t :Aninftiet:re'nll:l.'4ll' condemnation pronounced by our blessed Ml' sl .,;es P e ,i; one of old, without respect to the actual $ ,01- only for ned, " She bath done what she could." l' e ' If ' e t the language of prophecy, and the convictions eicle% church, but the forebodings of the world a nd th e . 0 0 14 1 pa s i ti g .oi n ,fae s ,si o sd f .t the kifn t o i s m wo ,etlsh,ecgaipnvoewoi,endrcyoonsfatryees, redeeming proofspeak ov , pects that every Christian will do his duty. bort ° • The rev. gentleman resumed his seat a midst a - . th e . , of Kentish firing, and vehement applause. A tO , g ei , A vote of thanks having been accorde"e%presCr CHAIRNIA X, he, in a few closing observation:44e, Alsi, the thanks of the meeting to the Rev. Mr. ~, 0 01 ",,' 0 had delivered an address upon the subject of a bili t y the end which could not have been surpassed for Its fa el l. ) the amount of information it contained, by a l e u c , e - r r iog" any one in the town or country. (Vehemen t cPw- /i h tt d a ro so Aenod characterisedw while . iii againstle ting then separated SPORTING INTELLIGEN`)--- THE CHASE op" - The CHESHIRE HOUNDS Will Me e Wre de w To-morrow (Wednesday), Nov. 17th, at.• • • ;." 0 10 0 10 0 8 '' Friday, Nov. 19th .. •• •930003 Saturday, Nov. 20th •. • Each day at half-past ten o'clocli• 17. 45 BETTING AT MANCHESTER. --"--1 WARWICK HANDICAP. , n 6to 1 agst Mr. Greville's Ariosto—ta""l:oo, to 1 Mr. Morris's Hungerford--tantt• Mr. R. Harrison's Lindrick--1,:lo to Mr. Barton's Little Fawn—t"uo. Mr. Osborne's Little Daviet3 Mr. Merry's Miss Ann--takerl' Mr. Moseley's Alonzo—taken• Mr. G. Drew's Odiham—takeo - Mr. Oliver's Ischia—tak en. Dame Tattle—taken. Mr. P4lmer's D.)nbt—tak e Mr. J. Shepherl's The Alr", Bto 1 Bto 1 10-to 1 10 to 1 10 to 1 10 to 1 10 to 1 10 to 1 12 to 1 LIVERPOOL AUTUMN MExi TUESDAY, Nov. 9 ` with 50 ad Ilej Champion Hurdle Race, of 5 sovs each , Mr. Saxon's Caurire, 6 yrs, lOst 10Ib. • Mr. Barton's Little Fawn, 4 yrs, Mr. Jackson's Labyrinth, 4 yrs, 9 3 t 71b. ' 0. eddy, Little Queen and The Sluggard a lso 0 0 pa S3fton Autumn Handicap, of 10 sovs each.with • I Mr. Palmer's Doubt, 6 yrs, 6st 121 b •• • :•. o lelr' 11r. Scott's Warwick, 5 yrs 7st filb • • ''c i ;a • cl ie irte Woolwich, Retail, Truth, Bla ck' Doctor, v i e,D Sir Robert, Kite flyer, C I d I Little and St. Michael ,i _ so 0 ster a e, I ran. ' dae ci• Selling Stakes, of 3 so e ach, with 25 'I 0 1 Mr. G. White's Snow 1 VS g 7 4 91b ‘.•• ` Grop, , yrII, , .... 3 Mr. Walker's Truegirl, 4 yrs, 93t Blb o ,' ' ill) '. Mr. Wilkins's May Blossom, 3 yrs' ° st i OW' 0 0 ' Augean, Mary Nobler, and Jupiter 1 3 s° 15 5 Tvro Handicap, of 5 sovs each, with 40 add eu• ~ Mr. R. Walker's Game TommY , gs t ' , , 3 1 Mr. Watter's Lord Fauconberg, Sst 21b. •' ' , V , ist 12Ib c.b.i•gi Mr. Shepherdson's Pastrycook , Snowdon Dunhill, Augusta, b y pomp gusts, c Free, T • wig, and Cognise, also ran. a, i aae "WEDNESDAY, NOV' 16. ,, 00 113 - 1 .;aidicap. of 3 sous each, with 2 0 .... 0 Mr. Grimer's Jupiter, 4 yrs, sst 101 b .. 51 6 . ... ` s ' Mr. E. Phillips's Herietta, 3 yrs, 6t .• • po i l Mr. Hudson nd Mire Hill, 3 Yrs' Gat I f.9.00?"' M a y-day, Little Davie , I y:ig, D" 0, The Gift, Augusts, ~ jje (3 ' Est 9lb . •• •••• ay Mickey Free, also starteu ~ ith •)" a ing Stakes, of 5 sovs each , s,Y,, •. 0 Tit 1 . zw .. .... 5 0, derson's Needle 3 Yrs. ,ir. .v.ker's Truegirl, 4' yrs, 8 •' ' "`-••• Snowdrop, and Shilroalier _ f 100,5.01', '',—,pole Chase, u 1 5 ELT Mr. Phillips's Henrietta, 3 yrs, 7st 12.16.,i,c;t.0.15°_r:89, Scurry I Emily, Jacob, Optio Wee We sovs eacu• The General, aged, Os t Slb.•••: 0 • i d k lesr'ictCrsesrsr,iga,gaegile.di3O:tos7tlb4l....::: 00 s Bourton, aged, lOst, ••• '. c e, .1 Entrat! .. ai r. Sroi a r s s ': 65 s Y t ri:l l 6 l t. e -1 0 2 r ; h br f .1 1 4. I 1;' Roya d Mts2 gym,