The Sun.
London, England, 1844-11-05 00:00:00

761tElt PkiTESTANT MEETING

A crowded meeting of the inembere of the Metro-
politan Tradeseien and Operative Protestant Asseeie-
tion, and others friendly
ye3terday veiling_ iti Eteter-liAll.
to Protestentigm, was held
The deinonstia-
tied, if AA it Wes intended to be (and the eve of the
i_i•Gunpowder" Plot would_ seem to imply it), was most
successful. The large room was densely filled, and
the platform was crowded
personages. with respectable and infitt-
entiall if not dietiligiiiihed
Among those present we observed the Rev. Mr.
Benson, of St. Saviour's ; the Rev. Mr. Thelwan, of
Bedford Chapel; the Rev. Tennyson Cuffe, of Car-
lisle Chapel, Kennington-lane ; and R. IL Binden,
Esq., &c., &c. •
The cair was taken by J. G. P. Smith, hml•
The Rev. TENNYSON. Curie opened the meeting.
withp raylleri.
The uxßm
Alt
said
that to-morrow was the anni-
versary of a great national deliverance--a deliverance
from tyranny—Popish tyranny and oppression; and
surely that deliverance was kgreater one than any
that could be obtained from any external aggres-
sion. That day was ordered, by Act of Parliament,
to be commemorated in after times, and they would
do so to-morrow, in the way most consonant to the
principles of God's word, namely,
by prayer and other
religious observances.
The Rev. A. S. THELWA,LL moved the first resolu-
tion. He had not intended to speak at that meeting,
but he held that, as a minister of the Gospel by law
established, he should be always teddy to advocate
Protestant prineiples, and that liberty which was dear
to every British bosom.--(Cheers.) He had, there-
fore, readily conceded to the wishes of the Committee
in coining forward to promote this resolution—
" That, in the opinion of this meeting, the spread of
Popery among the operative classes arises from igno-
rance of the real principles of the Church of Rome;
and that, therefore, it is of the highest importance to
prom ste sound Protestant information ..among them.
This meeting, therefore, earnestly desiring the in-
crease and prosperity of the Metropolitan Tradesmen's
and Operative's Protestant Association, pledges itself
to renewed exertions on their behalf, trusting that by
the blessing of God their labours may be useful in
bring'mg many back into the good old paths from
which they have wandered; of confirming in the
truth those who are halting ; and of arousing
in all that vigilant and prayerful spirit which,
under God, gained for us the Protestant Refor-
mation, and which alone can preserve it in our land."
The Rev. Speaker then went at considerable length
into an elucidation of the political domination which,
he maintained, had always been shown by. the Roman
Catholic Church. He contended that it was a prin-
ciple inherent in their tenets, and inculcated by their
priesthood, to persecute Protestants whenever they
had an opportunity. He cited the case of the Rev.
Robert Kelley, of Madeira, who had been thrust into
prison contrary to the Portuguese laws. And why ?
In the hope that the dungeon would do the work of
the scaffold or the stake.—(Cheers.) He also ad-
verted to the case of a female confined in the same
island. She was a victim of Popish persecution be-
cause she had renounced that Church for the soul-
saving truths of Christianity as explained by Protes-
tants. But he hoped they would that night and to-
morrow make a demonstration that would ring
through all quarters of the earth, and prove sufficient
to open the prison doors of that unfortunate sister.
Mr. A. V. ALLEN—It had been said by many—it
had been boasted by Roman Catholics—that the doc-
trines of their Church was on the increase in England,
and surely it was incumbent upon all right-thinking
Protestants to unite in preventing the further extens
skin of those baleful principles. That extension did
not arise from an influx of Catholics, but it altogether
had its strength in the apathy of Protestants them-
selves. It was time to arouse themselves, for now,
alas, Popery had been intruded into the Church of
England, and it would require much watching and
much prayer ere they could get the evil eradicated.
True, the " Tracts for the Times" were now done
away with, but the principles of these tracts were
yet in full vigour, for they had now, written by a
clergyman of the Church of England,• tracts entitled
" For the last day," and he would read them portions
of one, to exhibit the manner in which this clergy-
man spoke of that Church of which he was a member.
the speaker then quoted at considerable length from
the works in question. Let them not_ indulge
in vain regrets for the past, but, like true soldiers of
Christ, fight the Food fight of faith for the future,
and with the blessing of God their efforts would be
fUlly crowned with success.—(Cheers.) . He had
great happiness in seconding the resolution.
R. H. BINDEN, Esq., rose to move the second reso-
lution. Popery did not aim at destroying the spirit
of the Constitution only—it would destroy the Con-
stitution itself.—(At this time the Rev. Hugh Stowell,
of Manchester, entered the Hall, and was greeted
with enthusiastic cheering. Silence being restored,
the speaker proceeded.) Popery had been the same
in all ages. She was the same now that she had been
when expelled from this island to her own home—the
city of the Seven Hills.—(Cheers) Why had they
got rid of Popery ? Was it not that she tried to
make the, intellects of all, kings or vassals,
succumb to the power of a foreign mercenary ?
Would she not do the same still ? She would, for the
canons of the Church declared it.—(Cheers.) It was
her principle that the spiritual should coerce the tem-
poral power by every possible means.. Was-it not the
policy of Protestants, therefore, to confine her within
her present bounds.? It' Popery were once to gain an
ascendancy in this country, where would she. rest?
The speaker quoted from many Catholic works to
prole the intolerance of the creed, and then instanced
the experiences of many individuals as proving the
same. •If they had any love for their country or their
Queen—for Popery could not tolerate a Protestant Mo-
narch—they must withstand the spread of Tracta-
rianisrn, for what Papists were in the middle ages
Tractarians were now.—(Cheers.) The many mo-
nasteries and nunneries' that were 'now building in
many parts of England afforded ample evidence of the
active spirit of Popery, and, therefore; he said,
that it
behoved them to struggle as earnestly, and. the Lard
would assuredly be on their side to help them.—
(Loud cheers.) He proposed the second resolution—
" That.- the struggles of Popery in this country are
unprecedented and alarming, and call for the most.
strenuous exertions of all true members and friends
of our reformed Protestant Church to oppose and
counteract them.'^
The Rev. lIUGH STOWELL then rose to second it.
He said it was worth hastening from Manchester to
witness a meeting like that he had the honour of ad-
dressing. They, in the country, were accustomed to
look to the metropolis es the heart of the community,
and if the life-blood flowed healthily and steadily
through the heart, they were pretty sure that its cur-
rents would be felt even to the extremities.—(Cheers.)
Yet he could not conceal that there. was stagnation
among them. They trusted, he was afraid, too much
to an arm of flesh, and neglected that higher power
which could only lead them on to victory.—
(Cheers.) They trusted to party politicians, and
found that they leant upon a broken reed. They
found themselves deserted on the day of battle—for-
saken in the hour of need.—(Cheers.) But now
they had got rid of those recruits, and they had only
in their ranks sound and Protestant spirits ; they had
lost rank, and, it might be, talent, but they had re-
tained sound sense and religious consistency.—
(Cheers.) He would not diverge into party politics,
but he would say that the pious ministers of the
Church, and the noble-minded among the laity, had
their conidence in the present Ministry sadly shaken
when they saw that, despite the earnest remonstrances
of their Church, the Dissenters' Bill was passed, con-
cessions made to the agitators of Ireland, the
grant to the College of Maynooth doubled,
in spite of the eloquent- denunciations of a Sullivan
and a M‘Ghee.—(Cheers.) Well might a friend of
indeed doing all for them,
against them." Their tdhhaith
g "God
everything was
pe-
titionshanisdsmaya h
had been indeed slighted by a Ministry whose
governing principle was concession, but were those
petitions slighted at
a throne to which their earnest
entreaties should ever be directed ?—(Glieers.) They
were charged as wild enthusiasts, who produced more
schism than unity in the church of heaven ; but let
them remember that but a few clergymen carried the
Reformation. Let them think of Luther, who walked
forth alone with his Bible under his arm, against
an embattled world, and,
in the name of the
Lord of Hosts, fought and triumphed.—(Cheers.) Let
them take an example from their antagonists in their
industry, in their buildings of monasteries and of
nunneries iri the face of Protestant England; not
that he would compare these doings with what their
own Church had done, and what she would yet do.—
(Cheers.) But it was of interest to observe the bold
front that Rome now exhibited in old England. Time
was when a Roman Catholic procession dared not
exhibit their absurd paraphernalia in the broad light
of Heaven ; but now—as lately at Manchester—they
poured their long length through the streets, and on
the site of their intended church they planted a cross,
seven feet high, the emblem of their gross super-
stition. He would give them a scene which
occurred not long since in Manchester. It had been
announced that high mass would be said in
the chapel, and that prayers would be offered up for
O'Connell—(Cheers and hisses.) A detachment of a
regiment there were accustomed to go to that chapel,
and the officer in those circumstances took the advice
of his captain, who said that he must attend his men,
and if anything occurred. which they should not 'see or
hear, he was at once to march his men out. Well,
they went there, high mass was said, and then the
priest commenced an harangue upon the wrongs of
Ireland, and he went so far that he as much as said
that O'Connell ought to be King of Ireland.—
(Cheers and hisses.) At that moment the British
officer started up, and in a stentorian voice called out,
" Attention"—(Laughter)---" face about"--(Conti-
nued laughter)—" march ;" and then the measured
tramp of the men formed the fitting close to a
scene so ludicrously unexampled.—(Cheers.) When