The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1840-08-21 00:00:00

" Yes.") Would it .be fair or honest on his part to say, that
as he did not approve of the religion of the person to whom
he was bound by his engagement, he would therefore not be
bound by his word ? Certainly not. What would they think of
his going to a tailor, ordering a suit of clothes, and when they
were sent with the bill, of his putting on the clothes, but send-
ing the tailor word that his conscience would not allow him to
give him his money, since he had discovered that he was a
papist? (Hear.) Would that be fair? Certainly not. And
if, when the tailor sent the Queen's officers to compel him to
pay the debt, he proceeded to wallop them off, and fell a vic-
tim to his foolish resistaace would he he entitled to any por-
tion of the public commis.seration ? (" No," and cheers.)
Just as absurd, then, was the language of those men who
would elevate into the rank of martyrs the victims who suf-
fered because they would neither stick to their bargain nor
give up their land. (Hear.) But he insisted that the Roman
Catholies.received value from the church ; and he considered
it important to urge this upon them, in order that they might
have no hesitation as to the course of conduct that he desired
to lead them to. TO whom -was it that they were indebted
for plenteous harvests ? To God Almighty. He gave them
rain and sunshine in due season, and multiplied the fruits of
the earth. Now they might expect, if they adopted a line of

action pleasing in His eyes, that He would give them rich
abundance,—but that if they acted in a different manner, He
would visit them with scarcity. (Cheers.) Well. If they
planted on the summit of every hill, and in the bosom of
every vale, a temple to His praise, from whence there were
sent up a holy worship, and through which virtue, morality,
and wisdom were diffused through the land, and by which the
blessing of the Lord descended upon them, manifested in
the abundant bestowal of His providential favours, he
contended that all derived benefits—that all received
value from an institution which produced these results.
(Cheers.) Yea, even they did who might refuse to be-
come participators in the worship which produced the
blessing. (Immense cheering.) Ths simple question
then, was this—was their church the true church ? If it
were, such were its results: Every inhabitant of the state
was made a partaker of substantial benefits through its in-
fluence, a receiver of actual value from its ministrations, and
should consider himself rather privileged than aggrieved in
being called upon to contribute to its support. Hence, he
considered, with all due respect for Mr. John Thorogood,
that his opposition to the church was a very foolish opposi-
tion, and gave him no claim whatsoever to the sympathies of
the wise and good. If he could justly pronounce the doc-
trines of the church false, he would then have something
like a ground to stand upon ; but to affect to be a martyr
for resisting the true church of Jesus Christ, was.a course
of conduct the policy of which seemed very doubtful.
(Cheers.) Let them. then, perceive that fn every way they
stood upon the ground of truth, and that ground they would
maintain in spite of the world, the flesh, and the devil, sim-
ply because it was the ground of truth. (Cheers.) [The
rev. gentleman then proceeded with great energy and effect
to exhibit the Scriptural working of Church and State. He
showed, in a manner so satisfactory as to obtain the entire
approbation of the meeting, that it was the duty of the go-
vernment to occupy itself in the diffusion of gospel light
through the whole community, and`, that this might be done
in such a way in Ireland as effectually to overthrow the
power of darkness in that country ; and in England as to raise
to the highest pitch the moral character of the lower orders
of the people ; and thus indefinitely to promote their
happiness and prosperity. The fact of the publication
of controversial sermons in the reigns of Edward VI.
and Elizabeth seemed to make a deep impression on the
meeting ; which, indeed, the speaker carried with him all
through.] What then did they want ? Christian legislation.
How wad this attainable ? Through a Christian government
and Christian rulers. It was utterly impossible so long as the
present constitution of parliament continued ; it was there-
fore plainly evident that in , order to obtain the legislation
which the necessities of the country demanded,the Roman
catholics .must be removed from parliament, and the 'emanci-
pation bill repealed. (Tremenllous applause.) He rejoiced
in their enthusiasm. He felt no doubt as to the ultimate
accomplishment of their purposes. Let them only join the
Protestant Operative Association, and through it work on
public opinion, and in due time every difficulty would give
way, and success crown their labours. [We regret that owing
to want of time we are obliged to content ourselves with pre-
senting to our readers this abridged outline of the rev. gen-
tleman's eloquent and .powerful address. It occupied three
hours in the delivery.]

The Rev. A. APC;ONKEY, in an appropriate address,
moved that the cordial thanks of the protestants of Liver-
pool be presented to the Rev. T. D. Gregg, for his able and
convincing address to them that evening-.

Mr. ISAAC HOLMES seconded the notion, and expressed
the pleasure he had received from the luminous expositions
of the rev. gentleman.

The motion was carried by acclamation.
The Rev. Mr. SPENCER then moved a vote of thanks to
the Rev. H. S. Joseph, for his able and impartial conduct in
the chair.

The Rev. ROBERT MONTGOMERY, in seconding the moi•
tion said,—My brother protestants, the high and the unme-
rited honour has been conferred upon me of echoing the
proposal of my respected and reverend friend. I rise then to
join my very feeble and imperfect voice, amidst the glorious
hosannahs of protestantism that have now been reverberating
throughout this vast assembly. And why ? Because pro-
testantism is truth, radiant, pure, Almighty truth ; and when
it comes into the mind and conscience of man, it purifies, it
irradiates, and it renders that mind almost omnipotent.
(Cheers.) Ido trust that the majestic scene of moral hero-
ism, which this night has been exhibited, will he immortal-
ized in our memories, and developed in our lives. It is a
noble sight to see our beloved friend come forward and so to
speak, repeat that glorious scene, witnessed sonic three cen-
turies ago, when the solitary monk that awoke the world,
stood forth with unshrinking brow, and with unequalled
voice, in the presence of the world, the flesh, and the devil,
and cried out, " I neither will nor can retract, except con-
vinced by the word of God." (Cheers.) Brother protes-
tants, that man was Luther. (Loud cheers.) And we
rejoice to see his resuscitation this night. (Cheers.) Luther
is alive again ! The voice of Luther is resounding throughout
this empire, and the far roll of his mighty thunder is among
the seven hills of Rome, smiting with paleness the travestied
image of Christ, and ringing in anticipation the funeral knell
of popery. (Cheers.) What is popery? The gospel accord-
ing to man,
_a system of doctrinal caricatures, whereby truth,

as she was formed by the Almighty, is fouled over with every
sensual darkness, corruption, and sin. (Cheers.) What is
popery ? It is the vampire of the Bible, that has drained
or would drain the life-blood out of the divinity of it, and
leave nothing but the carcase of superstition behind. (Cheers.)
What is popery ? It is the Anti-christian mystery ; and
mark you, this description radiates in lines of severest appli-
cation to the whole circumference of its abominations, which
clashes with in its fables, and contradicts with its corruptions,
the entire truth as it is in Jesus. Oh ! who is my God ? He
is love ; popery has made him cruel. Who is my Saviour ?
A man now with a human heart, peopled with human sym-
pathies, prolonginr, even upon the throne those pulsations of
a mighty love which were the root of his character, and
which once gushed forth in tears of blood. (Cheers.) What
has popery done? It has drawn his human sympathies out
of him, and presented us with a sinful woman in his place.
(Applause.) What is popery? Mark the description. It
is mystery ; in other words, unlike other forms of sacred
villany, which stare upon the conscience with all the naked-
ness of reality, popery is a calculating mystery, where pre-
tensions upon the one hand and performances upon the other
are seen to counterplay in one endless contrariety. Popery
is the devil's masterpiece. It is a system for keeping men
from God under the aspect of bringing them to him, and
therefore it has lighted up a moral jubilee in the pit of dark-
ness itself. (Applause.) When we remember that this sys-
tem of combination, corruption, sensuality, darkness, and
paganism, only reached its climax about the sixteenth cen-
tury, are we dealing in protestant exaggeration in saying that
popery is that concentration of spiritual iniquity over which
the energies of bell had trembled and all agreed to meet, and
round which the archfiend himself now watches with all th.:
love of a parent and all the,tenacity of a fiend ? (Applause.)
This is popery. (Cheers.) Brother protestants, hear ano-
ther description of popery. Popery is a beautiful animal.
It has been taken into the zoological gardens of modern re-
finement : its claws have been cut to make it admired of the
people : " A. pretty little thing it !s ! only look at it !—pretty
little thing, it is quite harmless," is what is said now.
(Applause.) But popery is the great beast. And how is
popery to be put down ? (A person in the galiefy here used
some exclamation, the purport of which we could not catch.)
My witty friend (proceeded the rev. gentleman) is not at all
alarming. lam glad to have this interruption, and I will
tell you why—because it furnishes another argument where-
with to shew the power of popery to blot out every instinct
of the human heart.

Popery is a monster of such hideous mein,
That to be hated needs but to be seen.
(Cheers.) My brethren, in conclusion, I would say we
should put down Popery by putting up the word of God.
We shall then have, by the blessing of God, the grandest
coronation that has ever been celebrated within the limits of
the throne—it Nvil. be the coronation of the Bible ; and when
that national coronation takes place, Ireland will be free,
because the Bible is free, the birth-tight of the human kind,
and the great charter of the world's salvation. (Cheers.)
Therefore we do say, circulate the mind of the Almighty as
far as the operations of the human spirit extend. The Bible
is the centre of our common Protestantism ; around it all
the saving oneness of God stands complete ; let every coun-
try see the great apocalypse of God to man, the enemy of
Popery, of infidelity, of heathenism, and therefore the enemy
of every enemy against God and against man. (Cheers.) In
conclusion, I ask, is this night to pass away, are these ex p ressions
to be the mere evaporation of an excited moment ? (No.)
We do not want emotion ; we want action ; we want head-
work, heart-work, and hand-work. We want all to come
forward in prayer and in faith, and to present a bold, indo-
mitable front against all the powers and principalities of the
world ; to stand forward upon the great platform of the Re-
deemer's truth, and cry, " Let God arise, and his enemies
be scattered !" God grant that a day may soon come when
we shall see the proud flag of Protestantism waving through
the length and breadth of the land ; when every man shall
grasp the sword of the Spirit, and the shield of faith, and
having upon that banner the battle word " Emanuel," go
forth shouting, with one heart and with one mind, " No
peace with Rome till Romp has made her peace with God."
(Loud cheers.)

Mr. JOSEPH then briefly returned thanks, and after the
doxology had been sung, and a blessing pronounced, the
meeting separated.

THE LIVERPOOL BOROUGH LIST OF HOUSE-

HOLD VOTERS

The Attorney-General has given the following opinion on
the question as to the legality of the publication of the Li-
verpool lists :
" I.—l am of opinion that in point of time the publication
of the list, in this case, is not liable to any objection.
" am of opinion that the act has not been strictly
complied with as to churches and chapels, and that it would
be proper to return to the former practice on this subject.
" 3.—1 am clearly of opinion that no condition precedent
has been violated, that the irregularity pointed out is merely
a departure from a directory enactment, and that the revi-
sing barrister is bound to revise the list.
" 4.—1 entertain no doubt that a good election may take
place under the present list when revised. Even should the
revising barrister be of a contrary opinion, I would most
respectfully but most earnestly advise him to revise the list,
leaving the question open for decision by a committee of the
House of Commons.

he were to refuse to do so, the whole parish of
Liverpool must be disfranchised for the whole year.
6.—Claims could not be, made in the manner proposed.
7.—Nothing more can now be done to correct the irre-
gularity ; but I am of opinion, that, with a view to revision
and all subsequent proceedings, it is quite immaterial.

" J. CAMPBELL

" Temple, August 18, 1840."

ROMAN CATHOLIC BEQUESTS.—About two years ago we
announced that the enormous sum of £300,200 had been left
to two vicars apostolic of the catholic church, by the late
Mr. Blundell, of Ince, in this county. We have now to
announce that the large property of the late Mr. weatley, of
Brindle-lodge, in this county, has fallen into the hands of
the grand vicar of the Lancashire district, the Very Rev. T.
Sherburne, of the Willows, near Kirkham. This gentleman
was confessor to the departed gentleman, and is left the sole
executor and residuary legatee. Various are the rumours
that are afloat on this subject ; they are of too painful a nature
for us to give them a wider circulation, particularly as we are
informed that the validity of this will will be contested by the
heiress- at-law.—Laticaster Guardian.

The, electors of Sudbury have determined to defend the
return of Mr. Tomline, M.P. for that borough, against the
petition now pending before the House of Commons, which
will be heard next session.