The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1847-06-29 00:00:00

OBJECTS OF PROTESTANTS

The Rev. John Dodson, vicar of Cockerham, near Lan-
caster, thus concludes an admirable letter to the Lancaster
Gazette, on the subject of the approaching election :
" I would ask, what conceivable object, (party or per-
sonal, political or sectarian) is of that importance as to
justify us to our own consciences, in pursuing so suicidal
a course ? We desire no persecution of Papists ;itis a
weak invention, a mere trick, to impute such a thing to
us. We claim liberty of conscience for Papists as for
ourselves. We desire to see them fully protected in all
their just rights. But we must protect ourselves, alike
from the wrath of a jealous God, and from the unquench-
able hostility of Rome herself. We must, therefore, be
faithful to our convictions of the duty we owe to God,.
continuing to protest firmly and decidedly, individually
and nationally for Bible truth and against Roman
e' or ' ^t t ti'

, and a, ae same time, we must, as prudent men,
take means to secure to ourselves and-to our children the
mercies we at present possess, withholding our consent
from those measures, or those men, who would confer on,
that

itome that ascendancy, to which she incessantly aspires,
and to which she has of late so rapidly attended, but
which she never has used, and never can use, but for the
subversion of the civil and religious rights of nations.
Despite the charge of bigotry, we will be zealous for the
truth. And despite the inputation of intolerance, we
must decline surrendering ourselves to Rome's tender
mercies. We have no sectarian objects. We have been
misrepresented. Therefore, let us once more say, we
contend not for Church of Englandism, but for Protes-
tantism. It is to uphold our common Christianity, that
we invite Protestants of every sect to join with us. If
they doubt us, let them bring forward a man of their own,
and we will support him. We will support him, be he
Churchman or Dissenter, or whatever be his general po-
litics—if only he is a Protestant—if only he comes for-
ward as a sincere champion of that truth, which we hope
will always be dearer to us than anything else in this
world. Of the Church of England, we once more say, if
she needs reform, reform her, and we will help you. If
she is exclusive, throw her open • cast down every barrier
which Christ has not raised. Let her terms of commu-
nion be made as few and as simple as the Gospel leaves
them. Every plant in her enclosures that God has not
planted, let it be rooted up. If you think she is secu-
larized by her state connection, you can still pursue your
own course, and seek to have her divorced from the state.
But, whatever you do, do not betray the ark of Chris-
tianity—the Protestantism of England ! Whatever you
do—whatever be your particular objects or opinions—
may God in his mercy, avert, that private ends, secular
politics, or a sectarian spirit, should blind you, or any of
us, to; the dangers that menace the Protestant religion
(the religion of the Bible—the religion of Jesus Christ—
the religion of all truly Christian sects) : or render us in-
different to the guilt we shall incur, and the ruin that
must befall us, if we shall be found, at this great crisis,
not merely defying every lesson of experience, and every
dictate of prudence, but even fighting against God!"