The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1855-09-18 00:00:00

imminent—if wild speculations, such as distinguished
the railway mania, were rife, and if also the Bank re-
serve were lesi than half the present amount, there
might be some ground for putting on what is called
" the screw," and alarming capitalists into withhold-
ing their resources, so as to produce the evil pretended
to be remedied. As it is; we have nothing but an in-
crease of the minimum rate of discount by the Bank
of England, a measure which will not have much
influence on discount operations, should money become
more plentiful, and which was, no doubt, justified on
the part' of the Bank Directors by the demands for the
loans, a great part of which will be restored into cir-
culation for the payment of materials. It will be quite
time enough to raise the note of alarm when there are
circumstances to justify it ; but at present there is
nothing more in these Bank changes than what may be
legitimately accounted for.

THE LIVERPOOL STANDARD.

PROTESTANT -REFORMATION SOCIETY, AND
SPECIAL MISSION. TO ROMAN CATHOLICS.

MEETING LAST NIGHT.

THE annual meeting of the Liverpool auxiliary to the above
society was held last night, in the Clayton Hall, the Rev. H.
Carpenter, M.A., in the chair. The hall was crammed, and
amongst those upon the platform we noticed the Rev. W.
Clementson, secretary to the Parent Society, Revs. W. F.
Taylor, L.L.D., S. Minton, J. Blakeney, James, Matthews,
Ffolliott, and Messrs. J. K. Rounthwaite, P. F. Curry, B.
Darbyshire, &c., &c.
After the meeting had been duly opened by a prayer from
the Rev. J. BLAKENEY,

The CHAIRMAN made a few observations with respect to
the object of the meeting, and the principles of the society it
was designed to support, which, he said, were the principles
of the Bible itself, and must necessarily be salutary in their
influence and saving in their efficacy. The foundations of
civil and religious liberty were in Protestantism. (Hear, hear.)
Yet, there were many who were ready to receive the liberty
which was secured by Protestantism, but were also ready to
make light of Protestantism itself. (Hear, hear.) England
as well as Spain and Sardinia were instances of this. These
latter countries were at present in a state of transition, but
every step which they took towards civil and religious liberty,
was a step towards Protestantism. (Loud applause.) Speak-
ing of the operations of the society, he said, that one of tap
objects it pursued was the dissemination of Protestant truth-
in this and other towns, by means of lay teachers, books,
tracts, &c. He regretted that there was not a dept in Liver-
pool for the publications of the Protestant Reformation Society,
but he hoped, from his mentioning it in the presence of the
Rev. Mr. Clementson, that such would not long be the case.
(Hear, hear.) He then called upon
- - -

The Rev. W. P. TAYLOR, LL.D., who was received with
loud cheers. He commenced by observing that he was always
ready, upon all occasions, to speak in support of Protestantism,
to the prevalence of which in this country he attributed the
possession of all our national blessings. Referring to the
largeness of the meeting, he regretted there was not a larger
show of what the world would call " greatness" on the plat-
form. Where, he asked, were our great merchant princes of
Liverpool? He saw but one or two amongst them, and he
judged from that circumstance that the great majority of them
were not philosophers—that they did not look to moral
sequences; for if they did, they would come forward and sup-
port more earnestly the cause which secured them so many
privileges. (Hear, hear.) [The speaker then made a slight
digression to refer to a contradiction made by a Roman Ca-
tholic working-man at one of their controversial meetings,
that Milra er—an acknowledged Roman Catholic authority—had
admitted that there were at one time three rival popes. The
rev. gentleman read the passage from Milner confirming
the existence of the rival popes, and invited the attention
of the person in question (who sat below the plat-
form) to it. A short discussion took place, but eventu-
ally the Roman Catholic was compelled to admit that he had
been mistaken, and he then sheltered himself under the
argument that the three rival Popes had not been acknow-
kdged as Popes at Rome. The rev. gentleman advised him
to attend and state his views at the next controversial meet-
ing.] Mr. Taylor then proceeded to expose the delusion
under which the lay members of the Roman Catholic Church
were labouring. As _an instance of this, he produced slime
powder which he hadobtained from a poor Roman Catholic,
who assured him that it was part of the ashes of a
certain Father O'Hanlon, who was buried at Glendalough,
and was "a -certain cure for all the ills that human flesh
is heir to." (Laughter.) To prove the pernicious influ-
ence of the Romanist priesthood, he quoted largely from
the parliamentary digest of the evidence given before
the Maynooth commissioners, using the very words spoken
by some of the witnesses to prove his point. He showed
how the priests, according to their own volunteered evidence,
held &power of influencing voters at elections in Ireland, and
he quoted the words of Mr. Lucas, editor of The Tablet, to
demonstrate that the constituency was really and virtually in
the -hands of the bishops and Roman Catholic priesthood.
Referring to the doctrine Of reservation, he maintained that,
according to the views of Romanist writers, it was quite im-
possible to administer a binding oath to a Papist. Therefore,
Romanists were unwisely trusted with political franchise while
they remained under the influence of their Church. He did
not wish to deprive them of the franchise, but he wished to
free them from the influence which he had pointed out. With
_this' view he cordially -supported this society. (He resumed
Ails seat amidst loud cheers.)
The Rev. Mr. CL&ENTSON next addressed the meeting.
He said the Church 'of Rome might be regarded in two as-
Itects—as apolitical organisation and us a religious system;
the one affecting man as a creature of time, the other,
the religious aspect of Popery, affecting him as 'one des-
tined to enter the'future life which would.endure for ever and
ever. Both of these were important aspects, the last, of
course, most important. The reverend gentleman then
proceeded 'to • dilate upon this topic, maintaining that the
treachery of the Church of Rome was an erroneous
one—a teaching of doctrines not of salvation but of
damnation—sending souls, not to heaven, 'but to !As
such doctrines .he viewed .the interdiction of the use of the
Bible amongst the laity, by the priests of the Roman Catholic
Church, 'and the doctrine of the "Immaculate "Conception—a
doctrine which' ad not dared to be promulgated until the
9th of 'December, in the middle of the .19th century. To
prove_ that the-Bible was interdicted, he read from a pamphlet
written by Cardinal Wiseman. He then.maintained that
the Roman Catholic Church, as. a•church, had never published
a Bible for: the use of its lay members. It had only a Latin
version.reuponaread
fo
the r
arß_Tigilable;D;bnuuta.ty version was not an authorised one—at
_
fe.lldl;.r'bernot
interpret .its ul-solacing
truths for falai/elf. This was like a father wheno
asked' him for a fish, giving him a serpent—when he asked
for bread .giving him a stone. (Applause.) Me • dared any
one .stand up and say that the Churth -of Rome
encouraged her people to read' the Holy Scriptures! (Cheers.)
While we hate -Popery we' love -Roman Catholics. It is the
principle, and not the people, which is and ought to be the
object of our opposition. The Society had twenty-fourmissions.
There are many of them in'London, but she had them also in
different localities,. as in Birkenhead, in Liverpool, in Hull,
Birmingham, Bradford,.Leeds, Leicester, Preston,Northamp-
ton and other, places. The laboursof the servants of Christ
in ?hose places .have been manifestly blessed. In -Liverpool
above a hundred Roman Catholics have openly renounced
Romanism, and many others are aow proposing to take that
step. The miselonary. meetings and classes are attended by
large numbers of inquiring Romanists. In the course of his
address, the -speaker gave numerous illustrations of the ,
benefits which have attended the. operations of these mission-
aries. The Protestant character of Liverpool has been long
and well established; and the list of contributions -to the
:auxiliary branch of-this society proves that that character has
snot been unworthily bestowed. (The.conclusion of the Rev.
:gentleman's address was received with the Kentish fire and
~cleers.)