The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1841-08-20 00:00:00

PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION

A lecture was delivered last Wednesday evening, at Tox-
teth Hall, by James Lord, Esq. After prayer, and a few
introductory observations from the chairman,
Mr. LORD arose, amidst much cheering, to address the
assembly. He felt gratified, he said, that at so short a no-
tice so many of his fellow-Protestants had assembled to
declare their unabated attachment to the Protestant institu-
tions of this country. It was a gratifying feature in the
present time to behold the increased interest taken in such
proceedings as the present. (Cheers.) While there was
much to dishearten, there was much also to encourage. It
was true indeed that we had been forgetful of our privileges,
or of the tenure upon which we held them ; but he trusted
that would no longer be the case. The time was now come
when it behoved those who were called Protestants to act in
a manner worthy of that name. It was not sufficient that
we bore the name of Protestants, unless also we had the spi-
rit and the principles of Protestantism. Our Protestant
forefathers were not contented with a shadow, a mere name ;
they regarded the substance, the internal principle ; and till,
like them, we had resolved to hold our principles dearer to
us than any other consideration, we should never be a match
for Popery, nor fitly qualified to take a part in that struggle
between truth and error. He scrupled not to avow that be
desired Protestant ascendancy, not as a party watchword,
but because we should have Popish ascendancy if we did not.
(Cheers.) The two could not long coexist on terms of equa-
lity; the one or the other would be in the ascendant ;—but
here was the difference, that if Popery gained the upper
hand, she would tolerate none who differed from her, while
Protestants would concede to Popery full and complete to-
leration. In Dens' Theology, which he had then with him,
it was asked whether or not toleration was lawful, and it was
made to depend on the utility of the church. And again,
vol. 11., p. 88, the question is asked, what is the punishment
of the crime of heresy? Many answers are given, among
them the following ;—" Inability to any benefice or public
office." A deprivation of any benefices or dignities of
spiritual jurisdiction. Notorious heretics are infamous ipso
jure, and are deprived of christian burial. " Their temporal
goods also are ipso jure, confiscated, and finally they may
deservedly be visited with corporal punishment, as exile,
imprisonment; &c." Again, p. 89, it is asked whether heretics
are rightly punished with death ; this is answered in the,
affirmative—because forgers of money, or other disturbers
are justly punished with death, therefore also heretics, who
are forgers of the Path, and who, as experience teaches,
greatly disturb the state.
Here was no ambiguity, and here they saw those principles,
under the ill effect of which Ireland had so long suffered.
The Lecturer proceeded to observe, that it was denied by
many that the Pope has temporal power. Cardinal Bellar-
mine says, "The Pope has the chief temporal power, at
least indirectly." The doctrines, as to deposing princes,
may, for the present, be passed by. But as to laws, he pro-
ceeds, " The Pope cannot as Pope grant a civil law, or confirm
it ; nor can he repeal the civil laws of princes, because he is
a temporal prince, but he can do all these things if any civil
law be necessary for the salvation of souls, and kings do not
choose to grant it; or if any law be injurious to the salvation
of souls, and kings do not choose to repeal it."
Here, then, is the principle clearly laid down—here is part
of that system of instruction for which we pay nearly £lO,OOO
a year—a principle which virtually recognises in the pope a
power of enacting or abrogating the laws of different coun-
tries, when 'it may suit the purposes of ecclesiastical utility to
do so. (Hear, hear.) This power is denied, by some men,
to exist, by others, is declared as impossible ever again to be
exercised. But, in refutation both of the one and the other,
he held in his hand a document which would clearly show
that the inclination to use such power was not wanting when-
ever a fitting opportunity occurred for its display. The do-
cument was contained in a Roman Catholic periodical ; it
was the allocation pronounced by his holiness Pope Gregory
XVI., in the course of the present year, and referred to
Spain. The government of that country had lately interfered
in the regulation of convents, churches, church property, and
church appointments ; and in order to remedy existing
abuses, and to provide against the like in future, had issued
certain edicts and decrees, into the policy of which it was not
necessary for him (Mr. L.) then to enter—but which the
Spanish Cortes clearly thought they had a right to make and
issue, as they related to the reform of abuses, and the inter-
nal government of the state.
But here it is we find the dormant energies of the pope
called again into exercise, and the laws of a temporal sove-
reign abrogated, because they clash with the interests of the
Roman pontiff. (Great cheering.) After complaining "of
all that has taken place, or is now taking place in Spain,
contrary to the rights of the church ;" * * * * "that
the property of the church has been invaded, as if that pro-
perty were subject to national authority ;" " that the immu-
nities of the church had been violated," " execrable books
distributed," and " heresy allowed to corrupt the uneducated
and unwary," his holiness, for such is the title he assumes,
thus proceeds :
" We therefore condemn, by our apostolical authority,
and by virtue of the protection which we owe to all the
churches, all the aforesaid ads, all that the government of
Madrid has done, or attempted to do, by itself or its subal-
terns, against the church, declaring by our authority, all
these acts to be null and void, either in the past, or the fu-
ture, and of no effect in the consequences which may result
from them."
But this, as those have been found who deny the existence
of such a power, those also may be found who will deny its
operation, who may contend that it is merely brulum fulmen,
neither likely to shake in any degree the loyalty of the sub-
jects of Queen Isabella, nor to disturb the peace of the
country. Such, however, is not the case, no, it cannot be.
While men hold—and conscientiously hold—principles, prac-
tice will result from them, take its tincture from them—the
principles may be bad—that is not the point,'if they are con-
scientiously held, though bad, and though wrong, believed to
be right, they will of necessity be bad to conduct, and the
principles being bad, the conduct and the practice resulting
from them will be bad also. What, then, has been the re-
sult? Facts will sometimes refute theories. They present
to us something more plain and tangible ; and in taking up
a paper a short time since it is stated—" The ecclesiastical
schism gains ground in Spain. Thirty canons of the Chap-
ter of the See of Saragossa have been imprisoned for adhering
to the allocation of the pope." Here, then, is an illustration
of my position, that the principles of popery are of a disloyal
tendency. Let me not be misunderstood, or misrepresented,
as I sometimes have been. I say not of individual Roman
Catholics that they are themselves disloyal, I speak of
principles. I presume not to enter the recess of any
man's bosom, and dictate what principles he may hold on
such points as these. Conduct would be different, probably,
with different men, but you see what it was here. (Hear,
bear, and cheers.) The interest of the Pope, and the tem-
poral Sovereign, while they clash not with each other, re-
quire not of Roman Catholics to make any choice as to whom
they shall yield a prior obedience. But when the interests
of the two are opposed—when temporal power is arrayed
against spiritual power—the laws of the pope against the
laws of the king—when the penal laws of a temporal prince
are arrayed against the anathemas of the church—then
comes the test—then it will be seen that those men who,
though deluded, have been taught to regard the sentence of
. ..

excommunication as a heavier punishment than fire or sword,
will go to prison with the Canons of Saragossa rather than
disobey the allocation of his Holiness the Pope. (Great
cheering.) The time is not far distant when Protestant As-
sociations will be viewed in a different light from that in
which they are now regarded—(hear, hear, hear)—when
those who now, though ignorantly I would hope, misre-
present, calumniate, and abuse—who would treat our as-
sertions as unfounded statements, think our anxieties need-
less, and stigmatize our humble though laborious, and I
trust faithful and sincere, exertions, to uphold, in an
unimpaired integrity—our free, our noble, our protestant
constitution and religion as the offspring of a misplaced zeal,
intolerance, bigotry, or ignorance, shall awake to a sense of
their own delusion ; and, when happily it may be too late,
shall find themselves fettered in those very chains which,
unless they had freely taken, none could have forced upon
them, and recognise in the reptile they so fondly press to
their bosoms, the same that their forefathers cast from them,
and which we cannot take home to our bosoms without for-
feiting and endangering every privilege and blessing which
our ancestors have handed down to us. (Cheers.) But how
has this matter, it may be asked, been treated by the Spanish
government? I find in a London journal of last week the
following notice of the Spanish government of the allocation,
and its probable effect in Spain :—" It was to avoid difficul-
ties that the Spanish government has gone to the very limits
of forbearance, consistent with its duty. It can go no fur-
ther without showing itself wanting in dignity, respect to the
rights of the nation, and the prerogative of the crown. The
consequence of a continued interruption of a friendly rela-
tion of a Catholic kingdom with the Sovereign Pontiff might
be disastrous, but the responsibility would rest on those who
had heaped difficulty, and refused even to come to an equita-
ble adjustment of the subject in dispute. We have claimed
at a proper time the exercise of our legitimate rights, and
have carried our difference for religion, and the tranquility of
the state to its utmost extent in the observance of the laws of
the monarchy, and the venerable discipline of the church.
** * * * *

The violent allocation of the Holy Father, can only be re-
garded as a declaration of war against Queen Isabella 11.,
against the safety of the state, and against the constitution.
It is truly a manifesto in favour of the conquered and ex-
pelled Pretender ; it is a scandalous excitement to schism,
discord, disloyalty, and revolt. What members, what ad-
vocates or friends of the Protestant Association, he would
here inquire, had used language in any way approaching this,
adopted by a Popish government itself? When writing the
allocation of his Holiness. they characterized it as a scanda-
lous excitement to schism, discord, disloyalty, and revolt.
(Great cheering.) But they proceed, " The government of
her Majesty cannot, without a breach of loyalty and honour,
be silent under this enormous attempt. It cannot refrain
from employing for its repression, all the just means placed
within its hands, by reason, propriety, the discipline of the
church, and the power of a great and noble nation, so
shamefully insulted."

Such is the language used by the government of Queen
Isabella. Here you behold Spain protesting against the
tyranny of that system which we have been seeking to con-
ciliate by conversion. Here you behold the Pope in the 19th
century arrogating to himself the power of his predecessors ;
again seeking to trample upon the necks of princes, the
rights of men, and liberty of conscience; to dictate once
more to the cabinets of Europe, and using his influence as a
spiritual superior, to bind and to loose at his pleasure ; to
abrogate the laws of temporal princes, if they at all contra-
vene the interest of the Church of Rome. (Great cheering.)
Oh that this might lead Spain, the darkest, the most op-
pressed, the most enslaved and superstitious of all nations
of Europe, that once was free and Christian, and yet retains
the name, to seek for more than a deliverance from the Pope's
temporal power,—that she may now be led to shake off the
bondage of a thousand years, and despite the terrors of the In-
quisition and thunders of the Vatican, may reassume her long-
lost independance—mav be among the first of the nations of
the earth to make war with the beast—(hear, hear, and
cheers)—that her citizens may again be free, Christian free-
men—free in that glorious freedom with which the truth
makes free, for he is the freeman whom the truth makes free,
and all are slaves besides. (Vehement cheering.)
Long may our native land be shielded by the protecting
arm of Providence from the intrigues or intimidation of
Popery, which the same in principle, would be the same in
practice, when the like opportunities occurred, and it were
convenient for the church to embrace them. Are we not
ourselves contributing to help on the growth of these evils,
either actively by giving them our support, or passively by
not endeavouring to counteract them ? Here Mr. Lord
adverted to Ireland, and produced the following petition,
praying for a Committee of Inquiry, which he trusted would
he signed by hundreds and thousands of this town :

" That your petitioners appreciating the blessings they
have so long enjoyed in this free and Christian country, have
heard with heartfelt concern of the outrages which have
taken place during many of the recent elections in Ireland.
" That while your petitioners desire to express their sincere
and unabated attachment to the religion,•the throne, and the
Protestant constitution of these realms, they desire also to
express the apprehensions they entertain, for their continued
safety and independence. That, in the estimation of your
petitioners, the late disturbances in Ireland arose from, and
may be traced up to, the machinations of Popery struggling
for ascendancy, no less political than religions ; and they
fear that, unless timely precaution be used, the same system
of intimidation may be used at future elections, in Ireland,
and be introduced into England, even with increased hor-
r9tr.s.—destroying freedom of election, preventing the impar-
t2,tadministration of justice, endangering the safety of the
„ throne,youand the integrity of the empire.
house, tci
your YOti
petitioners, therefore, implore your honourable
would be pleased to
the enactment consideration,otake these matters into
as to the wisdom investigate the causes which have lead to
fit, to prevent a recurrence of
these sad atrocities, and adopt such mea-
sures Protestant aseendanc your honourable house ma seem
of the like evils—to maintain
ascendancy—freedom of election—the authority

pi the lavv—and • toted her Majesty!s peaceable subjects
in the exercise ot:"se privileges with which the constitution
has invested them, nd which it is their birthrightas freemen
to exercise as to their own consciences may seem right, apart
from priestly or any other intimidation". (Loud cheers.)The

their suffering fellow Protestants in Ireland, 'but would en:
deavour to work deliverance for them from the thraldom and
tyranny under,which they, and even the Roman Catholics
themselves, were suffering.

If they were now silent and inactive, it might not be long
before the evils which they despised, at a distance, should be
brought home to their own doors, and they might themselves
learn, by bitter experience, the folly of neglect, when it was
too late to apply either the antidote or a remedy. (Hear,
hear.) The attempts of Romanism to force upon Irish con-
stituencies those as their representatives in parliament whom,
in the free exercise of the elective franchise, they never
would have sent there, had happily been defeated in many
instances—(cheers) ;—but while in this there was cause of
gratitude to Him by whose overruling providence this good
had been effected, it behoved them to petition for some re-
medy against the late riots in future.

There
was need now of a wisdom, firmness, and discretion
more than any to be found in mere expediency, if they would
either restore that wherein the constitution had been defaced,
or strengthen the things that yet remained to them.
Of the conspiracy now on foot to establish a perfect sys-
tem of tyranny, time did not now permit him to speak ; but
on the following Monday, when in another part of the town
he hoped again to address them, he should go at some length
into the nature and object of the ribbon conspiracy, and show
of whom it consisted, for what end it was flirmed, and how
it sought to carry its purposes into effect. (Hear, hear, and
cheers.) He would only, therefore, in conclusion, implore
them that they should never remit the exertions they had
already made, but persevere, that, be the result what it may,
they might have the consolation of knowing they had not
betrayed the trust reposed in them, but enjoy the consolation
of having discharged their duty to their religion, their coun-
try, themselves, and their posterity. (Loud cheers.)
A vote of thanks to the lecturer was then moved, and
carried by acclamation, which was briefly acknowledged by
Mr. Lord, and the meeting concluded by singing the doxo-
logy.