The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1838-06-01 00:00:00

the upstart fraternity may attempt in reply to make it, for, like
many others possessed of some spare capital, I have lately
had occasion to employ brokers in the purchase and sale of
shares; and while everyfacility was afforded me to pay for rhoif
bought, I have had to wait for mouths, and even to .employ
legal means berme I got the price of those sold. Nor did
I require to ask any commercial friends if this was frequently or
generally as to their:transactions ; for, during my many pours
of attendance at their offices, I was as much astonished as they
(the brokers) ought to have been ashanled at the numbers and
importunities of dunners like myself. But, roused and annoyed
by such practices, I took pains to inquire pretty extensively how
otherS had been treated; and 1 found that—with some few ex-
ceptions—their treatment had been similar to my own. I found
many, too, who having been kept out of their money for several
months after a sale of shares, bid at last to enforce payment by
the strong arm of the law. Nay, more, there are many living
witnesses pow on 'Change who are cognizant not only of this
fact, but also of another equally easy of proof, viz., that it is no
uncommon thing to see one of those transfer-men transferred to
the care and keeping of a sheriff's officer !
Why, then, should this disgraceful and dangerous system be
permitted to exist any longer, and what means should be adopted
to put a stop to it ?
'ro the public, or rather to that portion of it who deal in
shares, I would say, "Part not with your scrip till you get value
received; or, if that is not always practicable, make the signing
of the transfer at once the condition and the term of payment.
This is invariably the case in London, and ought to be obtained
here; for, as the commission of brokers is an ample and lucrativ
equivalent for their trouble, without the reaping the interest of
your money—you, who require and pay for that trouble, have a
right not merely to expect, but to insist upon the preempt and
safe transaction of your business; and richly will you deserve
the worst of consequences if you do not unite with me in. de,-
nouncing and exposing the rottenness of the present system."
To the Association of Brokers I would say—not, however,
before premising that I entertain the strongest objections to the
working. and even the existence of such a society—" Take the
remedy into your own hands, by instituting certain stringent
rules on the conduct of the members, insisting on the strict
observance of those rules, and punishing or expelling all those
who are complained against for their infringement. Failing in
this—l would add—let some of your leading members announce
to the public that they had ceased to have any connexion with
an association ; that they were determined, and would pledge
themselves individually, to transact the business of sharebroking
on those principles which alone can merit and obtain public
confidence."

So strongly am I impressed with the necessity of some change
or check being effected in the present mode of transacting the
important business of share-broking, that I apprehend more
mischief or injury will accrue to the public by continuing to be
subject to its consequences, than by any depreciation of stock
that can possibly arise in the market—of which by the bye this
association is now become the ail-ruling power.
While=-as in justice, 1 said before—l exempt most if not all
of the older brokers from the causes of complaint which I have
now preferred, 1 must also in justice add that there are some
amongst the younger ones most honourable, prompt, and trust-
woi thy men of business. It is for the public to decide whether
these constitute the majority or the minority—the rule or the
exception.—l am, sir, yours, &c.,
A SHARE-DEALER.
Liverpool, ilby 30th, 1838.

MEETING AT WARRINGTON OF THE BRITISH
SOCIETY FOR THE PROMOTION OF THE RELI-
GIOUS PRINCIPLES OF THE REFORMATION.

Last evening, a meeting of the friends of the above society
was held at the Lion Hotel, Warrington, at half-past six o'clock.
The society was formed for the purpose ofchecking the progress
of popery, and the. meeting was called to " communicate in-
teresting information as to the progress of popery in this
country, and the efforts of this society to check its progress."
The meetino, was numerously and respectithlv attended, the
large room 41 the Red Lion being quite full. We observed on
the platform, beside the speakers, the Rev. T. Lowe, Rev.
James Todd, Rev. J. Jones, Rev. R. Parkinson, Rev. Thomas
Whittington, Rev. C. T. Quirk, Rev. P. S. Dale, Rev. D.
Slyman, Rey. W. C. Clarke, and the Rev. J. Cunningham and
the Rev. It. Parkinson, from the parent society, &c. On the
motion of
JOHN CLARKE, Esq., Thomas Greenhall, Esq., was called to
the chair.
The CHAIRMAN then called upon the Rev. James Wright to
open the proceedings with prayer. After which,
The CHAIRMAN said he had been requested to take the chair
that evening, and under a sense of duty he complied with that
request. He thought, in these eventful times, Christians ought
not to remain still. It was his opinion that the time was not far
distant when they should be called on to give a reason for the
faith that was in them. There were two gentlemen present who
had visited them for the purpose of laying before them the pro-
gress of Popery in the land. He trusted from the statements
to be made to them they would see the necessity of uniting as
one man in opposing its progress, and in support of the truth.
WILLIAM ALL, Esq., then rose to move the first resolu-
tion. " That this meeting considers the distinctive dogmas of
the Church of Rome to be directly opposed in their nature, and
practical effects to the words of God, ruinous to the soul, and
subversive of real godliness and morality." If that meeting
had been convened for any party or political purpose—if it had
been convened on matters unconnected with the present and
future wellbeing of men—if it had been for any purpose
of hostility towards his Roman Catholic brethren, (he spoke
the sentiments of many around him, as well as, of him-
self), he would not have countenanced such a proceeding. It
was not against Roman Catholics they protested, it was
against Popery, and the spirit of Popery, conceiving that
it was detrimental not only to the present but the eter-
nal interests of their fellow creatures. Man, from his na-
ture, was inclined rather to trust to his own merits than in
the atonement of a Saviour, and therewith to be reconciled to
God; and Popery was sustained on the fallen nature of man;
for it said " by baptism a man was converted, and by penance
his sins were blotted out" and when he came to the hour of
death, extreme unction was open to him to cleanse him from sin.
Such were the doctrines of Popery, and such they were called
upon as Protestants to protest against, as contrary to the word
of God-, for St. Paul said "being justified by faith, we have
peace with God, through our Lord Jesus Christ."
The Rev. Mr. PARKINSON, one of the deputation from the
society, rose to second the resolution, which he did at consider-
able length. He desired to treat the subject with all that so-
lemnity it so eminently deserved. They were met not for the
discussion of a political subject, for the society which they
came forward there to advocate, by its very title excluded from
its consideration, the politics of this world. It was termed "The
British Society for the promotion of the Religious Principles of 1,
the Reformation." These principles concerned their immortal
souls, and when they considered the importance of the salvation
of the immortal soul—when they considered that when this world
with all its fleeting pomps and vanities should have passed away
for ever—when the time should arrive when the angeT should
stand with one foot on the sea and one on the land, declaring
that time should be no more, and that the everlasting happiness
or misery of the souls of men should then be determined, they
might calculate in some measure the worth of an immortal soul.
For the smallest transgression we were liable to condemnation,
and unless we found a refuge from God's wrath we must perish
for ever. That refuge was in the revealed Word of God, and
they came there to declare that the Church of Rome, so far
from providing this remedy, had substituted the inventions of
men, or to make use of the language of the articles of the
Church of England, had substituted "blasphemous fables and
dangerous deceits." They meant to bring -before the meeting
some of the dangerous doctrines of the Church of Rome; and
first of all, the Word of God declared one Mediator between
God and man—the Saviour Jesus Christ. The Word of
God declared that he was "God over all blessed for ever;"
and at the same *male it declared to us " when the fulness of
time was come, God sent forth his Son, made of a woman, under
the law, that we might through him receive the adoption of
sons." By reason of his divine and human nature he was fitted
for his mediatorial work between God and the sinner. The
Church of Rome came forward and substituted many media-
tors—the Virgin Mary, and a long catalogue of saints, and they
found the Virgin Mary in the Popish doctrines often asked for
those blessings which could only be asked of God himself.
Therefore, popery destroyed the word of God by substituting
many mediators for the one he had provided in his mercy and
in his love. The church of Rome inculcated the doctrine of
transubstantiation—that in the sacrament of the eucharist the
bread and wine was changed into the actual body and blood of
Christ, a doctrine founded on a literal reading of a figurative
expression in the Bible, and which he contended the church of
Rome had in no other instance followed. '!'his doctrine had
first been preached by a man named Radburt, in the ninth
century, and was at first-universally scouted by the heads of
the Roman Catholic Church, by Scobus, and Bertram, and
others, and yet this doctrine had gradually crept into the church
of Rome, and at length at the council of Florence it was de-
clared to be a doctrine of the church; and in the 16th century,
in 1564, it. was brought into Pope Pius' creed. The practical
workings of this doctrine were, that the Roman Catholics were
brought to believe tnat the sacramental bread and wine after
the consecration were changed into the actual body and blood
of our Lord Jesus Christ, and poor people were induced to fall
down and stupidly worship the bread and wine- and the Coun-
cil of Trent had ordered that the same ;duration should
be given to the consecrated host as to Almighty. God
himself. Thus the Church of Rome involved her followers
in tl.e most awful idolatry. In Order to prove that this was
the true doctrine, the Church of Rome said our Saviour said,
" This is my body, and this is my blood," so als-O our Saviour
had said, " am the true vine;" and again be had said to his
disciples, " You are the branches." And did the Church of
Rome believe that he was a vine, and that his disciples were
transubstantiated into branches ? No such thing. She there
adopted the figurative language. They were entitled by this
figurative language, adopted throughout the New Testament,
to believe that our Lord Jesus Christ, when he said, " This is
my body, and this is my blood," spoke figuratively, and
so only. Just as a person would say, who had a map of Europe
spread out before him, "'!'his is Ireland, this is England, this is
France," and so on, meaning that this represents Ireland, this
represents England, and this France; but who would ever ima-
gine for a moment that he meant that the paper map was transub-
stantiated into the countries it represented. (Applause.) But
this very text, on which the Church of Rome founded this doc-
trine, taken from the 6th chapter of John, was spoken two
years before our Lord's supper. The Church of Rome quoted
the 53d and 54th verses to prove this extravagant doctrine.
" Then Jesus said unto them Verily, verily, I say unto you,
except ye eat the flesh of the grin of Man, and drink his blood,
ye have no life in ye." The Church of Rome said the Lord
Jesus Christ in that text pointed to the supper of the Eucharist;
but what was the natural result, if this were the meaning of
that text, that unless we were partakers of the Lord's supper,
we could not by possibility enter into the kingdom of Hea-
ven. According, to this view all infants must go to hell. And
what did the Church of Rome do ? She absolutely took
away the consecrated cup from the laity, and, according to
her own version of the text, sent all her followers to everlasting
perdition. The Rev. gentleman then went at considerable
length through many of the doctrines of the Church of Rome,
proving their unsoundness;. but the lateness of the hour com-
pels us to omit them. Protestants were taunted with their creed
being a new one, and originating in Martin Luther. Such was
not the case, for it was founded on the word of God. But it
might be asked where was the religion of the Church of Rome
before Luther ? - Where was it to be found? Not in the
bible, unless it be described in the spirit of prophesy as the
awful apostacy from the living God; but it was to be found
in the canons of the council of Trent, and in the de-
crees of Pope Pins the IV. The council of Trent did
not sit until the sixteenth century in 1545, so that Roman
Catholicism was not yet three hundred years old, and, in
fact, had not existed until after Luther was dead. Again,
they might ask when was the creed of Pepe Pius IV. founded ?
Not until the year 1564: but at what time was the creed of the
Church of England founded? It was written So long back as
the year 325. (Hear.) How then would the Church of Rome
make it appear to the world that the creed which she held, that
of Pope Pius IV., was older than that of the Church of England?
The rev. gentleman then alluded to the rapid itlides of popery,
in different parts of the country, and to the establishment of a
society recently in London for the purpose of obtaining sub-
scriptions for the building of chapels throughont the country,
the distributing of Roman Catholic tracts, &c:; and the deliVer-
ing of lectures by their emissaries, and called on the meeting to
come forward with counter efforts to do away with the poisonous