The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-11-10 00:00:00

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denee had, in former dam tried the virtue of our fa-
"lm•
es ; that we are fallen upon times, and men, and measures,
la Which principle is sacrificed to expediency, and the wel.
sere and preeperity of the nation to the love of place and
emolument ; that the " standing orders and principles " of
, Church of Rome are now ripened into a full, well-orga-
nised, and daring system of aggression and encroachment
upone, our Protestant church and state ; and that Popery and
7,4lggery, and malignant radical dissent, are leagued toge-
ther, to rob us of our chartered rights and privileges, and to
erect Romish ascendancy upon the ruin of the Protestant
religion in this great country. (Hear.) It is, therefore, sir,
our bounden and imperative duty to be up and stirring, to
Muse from our lethargy, to awaken from the torpor of in-
sensibility, and seek, in the aid of confederacy and associa-
12,°n, the means of the national safety and protection. It is,
therefore, sir, our duty as Protestants, as true and sincere
Christians, to strengthen our spirits, and animate our con-
!age and resolution, by the contemplation of the noble ex-
amples of firmness and constancy, of patriotism and devo-
tetiness, to the principles of the glorious reformation, in
d
efence of which our fathers burned at the stake and bled
°la the scaffold, and which 'they have transmitted to us
as the best and dearest inheritance they could bequeath
2 their posterity. (" Hear, hear," and loud applause.)
The good old Church of England has been shamefully de-
serted by her hollow friends, who have loved the wages of
anrighteousness; and followed the example of Balaam, the
800 of Bazor. The Church of England now stands alone,
aM, thank God, she is able to stand alone. She has wea-
thered many a storm. She has survived the wreck of ages,
the revolutions of empires, the fires of Smithfield, and the
bloody atrocities of the. Marian persecution. Yes, sir, she
has outlived the earthquakes of civil commotion, and the
Perishable, shortlived, and blood-stained triumphs of malig-
nant Puritanism ; and, with the blessing of God, neither the
gates of hell nor the powers of darkness shall ever be able to
prevail against her. (Loud applause.) lam aware, sir, of
the industry that has been and is still employed, and of the
untiring effotts that have been made, and are dailymaking,
15,?' the advocates of the Church of Rome, and with what zeal
Popish
imposture is echoed and circulated by a Whig-radical
that press, to persuade the people of this great country
eat Popery is altered, and that it is no longer the monster
°r bigotry, persecution, and intolerance, that it was in by-
g°lle days. Do not suffer yourselves to be misled by the
misrepresentations of an hireling press. I tell you, Pro-
testants of Liverpool, that Popery is unchanged and un-
euangeable. I ask, without fear of contradiction, is not the
(hurch of Rome wherever it is predominant, a persecuting
church ? And do' not her essential principles naturally pro-
'lace intolerance? Political considerations, it is true, may
restrain, and modify, and soften down the general tendencies
of the system, but what is the principle of the canons, and
!,onneils of that church ? Does not the Church of Rome
uene the right of private judgment ? And does she not con-
skier
withoutan instance of deviation fro her creed as heresy, and
her pale as schismatics m ? And are not heresy and
'Chinn, according to the impious language of her councils,
damnation
sins, which, if unrepented of, will secure the inevitable
a/urination of those who commit them ? Has not the Church
I:'f Rome always employed, when she could, the power of the
civil magistrate, to assist her in carrying into execution the
sentences of her ecclesiastical courts ? Hence the well-known
Phrase, " to deliVer to the secular power," by which the
transfer of her victims is made. And has she not most un-
equivocally recognised and established the principles of per-
secution in the decrees of her general councils ? Is it not
one of the principles of the Church of Rome, that, the most
solemn oaths are binding only so far as they tend to promote,
and may be broken without scruple when they interfere, with
Lee temporal and spiritual interests of the church ? Is it not
°lle of the standing orders of the Church of Rome, " that no
faith is to be kept with heretics," but, on the contrary, if the
rood of the church require it, that it is lawful to murder them,
ey may destroy the souls of the faithful by their poi-
stlnous and damnable errors ? Does not Popery plant in the
!erY errors of society a despotism encroaching invariably and
Indefatigably upon every other power which exists on earth ?
p.lnd where it is acknowledged by any state to be the estab-
shed religion, have not all its efforts and energies been
eierted with unvarying success, for the subjugation of the
state to its own policy and councils ? Where is the country
Of Modern Europe, where the Popish priesthood has been for
it Very long period invested with the authority and privileges
°F an established church, that its constant and uniform
VII has not been the acquisition of political power
The character of popery has ever been the same, grasping,
ambitious, cruel, treacherous, and blood-thirsty. Look at
1t in the palmy days or its ascendancy, and in the height of
,1 supremacy, deposing princes, trampling upon the rights
of kings, and alienating subjects from their allegiance to
heir lawful sovereigns ! Look at it in the reign of the eighth
Harry, mean, temporising, and rapacious ; triumphant, per-
sec, uting, and intolerant, in the reign of Mary; restless,
Plotting, and rebellious under Elizabeth ; wholesale assassins
the time of James the First ; and destroyers of liberty in
that of James the Second. Look at it manifesting the same
genius and disposition in the reigns of George the Fourth
and our late king; and look at it now in Ireland, notwith-
e`anding the concession of what is falsely termed Catholic
iintincipation, in 1829 ; not content with equality, but agitat-
lie for a repeal of the legislative union, threatening a dis-
memberment of the empire, if justice be not done to Ireland,
and unequivocally declaring, that, by justice to Ireland, it
and
a separation of the two countries, and the complete
Catholics.
exclusive government of that country by the Roman
.ki'etholics. It was thought, sir, nay, the most solemn pledges,
re most impassioned assurances were given to Protestants
r the advocates of that measure, that emancipation would
ive proved a healing measure, a panacea for the evils of
Ireland—that it would reconcile two antagonist religions—
"let it would introduce peace and tranquillity into Ireland,
Inn an end to all jars and jealousies, and heart-burnings,
netween that country and this—that it would make the people
s nation of biothers—that it would be the bulwark and
security of the established church in both divisions of the
empire—that the Roman Catholic hierarchy would return to
e Proper sphere of their duties, and issue circulars to their
!4ergY, to dissolve their unhallowed connexion with politics,
and to withdraw their countenance and support from all
agitators and demagogues—that the Romish altars and pul-
pits would for ever cease to be the arenas of political dis-
cussion, and that no sound would be heard in future in the
..°lnish chapels, but the healing voice of Christian charity—
that the Roman Catholic brethren would become dutiful
peaseyal subjects to a Protestant government—that the Irish
try would become peaceable and industrious—that it
would procure respect and attachment to the persons and
eataaracters of the Protestant clergy, preserve their houses
eaee,ProPerties from violation, and themselves and their
le 14es from the dagger of the midnight murderer and ssassassin. But, alas ! sir, the hopes and expectations of
Protestants have been disappointed—all these leasing Mu-
llions have vanished, and I am afraid, for ever. (Hear, hear.)
..eet the repeal of the union, and the final scparation of the
`Wo counties take place to-morrow, would that satisfy the
demands of Mr. O'Connell and the priests ? No, sir, the
next demand would be the restoration of the forfeited
estates. Let them be given up, would that satisfy the de-
mands of Mr. O'Connell and the Irish agitators? No, sir.
;he monasteries and nunneries must be rebuilt, the church
'ends restored to the See of Rome, the Saxon heretics ba-
nished and totally extirpated from Ireland, and Popish
134Premacy once more re-established upon the ruin of the
Protestant religion. And now, sir, were all this accom-
Piished, I ask, would there, then, be peace and tranquillity
In Ireland ? No, sir. They would be glad to get the Saxons
rteit again to keep them from murdering each other.
is much to be lamented, that the chartered rights and
privileges of the Irish municipal corporations, together with
he constabulary force of Ireland, are already in the actual
D,ossession of Mr. O'Connell and the radical party !
And, sir, had it not been for the firmness and determined stand
°f the House of Lords,—(applause)—the hereditary advisers
°I the crown, the ruin and spoliation of the protestact church
°f Ireland would have been effected long before now by the
in concert with the lawless agitators and demagogues,
WhoZluive unfortunately but too long ruled the destinies of
4'Y Unhappy country. Had it not been for the firmness and
constancy of the ancient bulwarks of the constitution, the
;repeal of the legislative union, and the final separation of the
'4so countries, would have been effected before now by a re-
'°ruied House of Commons, composed of ruling popish radi-
tals; and infidel architects of ruin. Had it it not been for
the stability of the pillars of the Corinthian capital of polished
ana the firmness of the hereditary supporters of the
e.hrone, the restoration of the forfeited estates would have
eell, long before now, awarded back from their present Own-
tr'S, by the irresistible voice of the seven millions. Yes, sir,
Y the powerful arm of that fierce and savage democracy,
;Which Mr. O'Connell now wields, and with which he swears,
'n the plenitude of his power, and in the pride of his ascend-
ancy, to annihilate protestantism altogether in Ireland, and
t
extirpate, root and branch, the still lingering remains of
p
g faction. The Ls, b firmness ad virtue,
have saved the constitutionor from y thetheir encroachmentns of de-
bkicracy, rescued the empire from the horrors of civil war,
td quieted our apprehensions of anarchy and blood. The
ords, b their firm and manl conduct, have earned for
v ha,einselvey s an imperishable fame and glory, and have este-
"shed an eternal claim not only to the gratitude of all the
'listin moral worth and excellence in the nation, but to the
esteemt and gratitude of futurity. (Cheers.) All true and
lb lovers of rational liberty have reason to rejoice, that
there is another tribunal in this great and complicated em-
pir•
e, to guard the constitution from the often dangerous and
'estructive measures of the House of Commons. The friends
(2r sober and rational liberty have rather reason to rejoice,
that the dissolution of the present ministry has been delayed,
until their morals have been ripened to that maturity of cor-
ruption, at which the very worst examples cease to be con-
tagions. The friends of the constitution and of monarchy
eve reason to thank God, that the retreat of the present ad-
alinistration; and their fall from power have been deferred,
until whiggery and papacy have so completely developed their
true characters, and exhibited themselves in such hideous
and aggravated features, as to produce a general confederacy
t all that is good and virtuous in the community, to hunt
these monsters from the land, and shame them for ever from
society. The mind really sickens and recoils at the scenes
°f
Public depravity, of personal baseness, and moral turpi-
e
e, of ;haracteristic drivelling and incapacit, of destruc-
ye fatuity almost universal, which have passyed before our
,IYes, not in dramatic representation only, but in sad and la-
'entable reality, since the present whigs were called to the
I„Trernment of this once happy and flourishing kingdom.
Be dissolution of the present ministry and their fall from
tower cannot be far distant, and when that happy and long
wished hour shall have arrived, their names shall not be shel-
tered from infamy, by sneaking out of life and shrinking into
?,blivion. I am not come here to excommunicate the church of
ItOnle: No, I am not so ungenerous or unmanly. lam
Wit some here to night to bring charges against the church of
°Me which I cannot prove and substantiate. No, but I
cone here to night, to tell the protestants of Liverpool that
P°Dery is unchanged and unchangeable, that its principles
andie standing orders are the same now they ever were, and
net they will continue to be the same, until the predictions
ssaf Prophecy shall be fulfilled in the fatal catastrophe of the
h
aall of sin, and final extermination of the papal anti-
christ, " whom the Lord shall consume with the spirit of his
141outh, and shall destroy with the brightness of his coming."
o,_s, sir, until the " mystery of iniquity" be completely
times, but
from the earth. Not only my reord, sir, of past
410 es, but every day's experience, demonstrate the indisput-
able, but melancholy truth, that popery is ever the same-
-Nfter eadem.
v The rev. gentleman then proceeded to detail the persecu-
ns to which he and a dear friend had been subjectedpe
by the
rsecu-
tions;7lllolics, which was listened to with the most marked
_ention, and he concluded a speech of nearly an hour long
i',"ndst the loudest applause, at 20 minutes to twelve. The
esOlntion which he proposed was, the appointment of the
„
-°lnmittee for the ensuing year.
rhe e
ee h Rev. led unanimously. ALLEN briefly seconded the resolution,
,elcs car.
The CHAIRMAN then gave the three watchwords of the
te)r, namely—" Church extension," " Scriptural educe-
a, and " Protestant ascendancy," which were received
kith
enthusiastic cheering and waving of handkerchiefs, after
"h the doxology was sung, the blessing pronounced, and
,t;e Meeting separated in the most orderly manner at twelve
clock.