The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1836-09-27 00:00:00

TO THE PEOPLE OF ENGLAND.

ADDRESS OF THE: coNiv iTTEE OF THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION.
The Committee of the Protestant Association, taking notice
of the various discussions which have been carried on during the
last two years, both on the platform and through the press, con-
cerning certain doctrines alleged to be held by the Rotnish
clergy, especially in Ireland, have felt it their duty to endeavour
to abstract, from among the various inattersso brought forward,
the leading facts of the case; and to place before the people of
England in a form so succinct as to he easily read, and with
sufficient simplicity to be generally understood, the actual posi-
Aion of the whole question at the present moment.
First of all, however, they would advert to two charges which
are frequently made with reference to such statements as they
are now about to offer. •

It is said that they tend to excite religious dissensions among
the people. But those who offer this objection seem not only to
mistake, but actually to invert, the real facts of the case. It is,
unhappily, most certain that these religious dissensions do al-
ready exist; and it is also too clear that in those parts of the
empire in which the Romish church has must influence these
dissensions lead to the most lamentable consequences. To search
out the real causes of these evils, then, with a view to their re-
moval, is not to help forward the disease, but is, in fact, the only
course by which a cure can be effected.
But it is also urged against those who solicit attention to these
matters that they recklessly and uncharitably bring heavy
charges against millions of their fellow-countrymen. 'rhe com-
mittee of the Protestant Association are earnestly desirous of
giving this charge the most unqualified contradiction. They
wish to state, most unreservedly and most cheerfully, their en-
tire conviction that the great body of the Roman Catholics of
Great Britain and Ireland are wholly ignorant of the views and
principles wnich are held and acted upon by their leaders. 'l' hey
have no more knowledge of the ultimate designs of those finder
whose guidance they act than au arms' can possess of its general's
plan of campaign. Their blind and uninquiring obedience,
however, to every command of their spiritual guides cannot but
make it the more needful to investigate whether the ultimate ob-
jects of these their guides be, or be not, inimical to the peace,
and even to the safety, of the great mass of the protestants of the

empire.
The question, then, to which the attention of the English
protestants is now solicited is this—what are the real views and
feelings with which they are regarded by the leading members
of the church of Rome among us, of whose increasing num-
bers, strength, and activity so mans' proofs are daily afforded?
Now, the Romish priesthood have an unquestionable right to
be judged by their own acts and their own declarations. Not,
however, by a set of apparently liberal professions; or declara-
tions, gut up fur the occasion, or framed to answer some parti-
cular political end; but by acts done, and standards established
among them, at times when no such temporary motive pre-
vailed, but when the principles enunciated might be fairlv taken
to be those of•their ordinary and universal acceptance. It is to
such acts and declarations as these that the association would
direct the public attention; and while they most sincerely pur-
pose to put forward no statement whatever, the truth of which
is not altogether impregnable, and beyond tha reach of doubt;
they still earnestly court and demand the most careful hp/esti-
gaticin, both as to the facts which they shall have to state, and
as to the inferences which they may feel compelled to draw from

them.
This inquiry, as will be readily conceived, must relate chiefly
to those intolerant doctrines which were held, beyond all ques.
tiun, in former periods, by the church of Rome, but which it is
now often asserted or assumed that she in modern times aban-
doned. Those doctrines denied to those whom the Romish
church calls "heretics," and therefore to protestants, the right
to liberty, to property, nay, even to life. Those doctrines were
promulgated by popes, confirmed by councils, and acted upon
by kings. The adherents of the church of Rome still contend
that the decisions of a council, confirmed by a pope, are of in-
fallible authority, and that from those decisions the church
never departs: and yet we are also told, by the same parties,
and almost in the same breath, that these persecuting doctrines,
though abounding throughout the records of her councils and
canon law, are now no longer held by the Romish church.
Amidst all these obvious contradictions, therefore, it is very na-
tural, and, in fact, plainly necessary, that attention should, be
directed to the acts and declarations of the Romish priesthood
of our own age and nation, in order to ascertain, in the most
indisputable manner, what their present views on these subjects
actually are. And it is to evidence of this description that the
attention of the British public is now earnestly requested.
That evidence refers to three distinct acts of the Romish
priesthood in Ireland; the first, the publication of an authorised
edition of the Bible, with notes, bearing the highest episcopal
sanction ; the second, the adoption and approval of a system of
theology, by the Romish bishops, fur the " secure guidance"
of the clergy ; the third, the subsequent annexation to that
system of theology of a supplementary volume, containing de-
cisions on controverted points, approved and sanctioned by the
Romish archbishop, Dr. Murray. It must, assuredly, be ad-
mitted on all hands, that in consulting these three works fur a
correct view of the principles of the Romish priesthood of the
present day the fairest course that could be adopted has been
taken. If any more legitimate sources of information exist, by
any means let them be pointed out.
I. The first subject, then, for consideration, is that of a quarto
edition of the Bible, with the Rhemish notes, hearing the sanc-
tion and recommendation of several prelates of the Romish
church, the publication of which commenced in Dublin, in
1813, and was completed in 1816, and another edition of which
was brought out at Cork in 1817-8. The following facts relat-
ing to this work appear now to be admitted on all hands :-
1. That the bible in question was undertaken by a Romish
bookseller, of the name of Macnamara, in 1813, and announced
by him as appearing under the patronage of Dr. O'Reilly, R.
C. Archbishop of Armagh; Dr. Troy, R. C. Archbishop of
Dublin; Dr. .Murray, R. C. Coadjutor Archbishop of Dublin;
five other Roman catholic bishops; many other dignitaries,
and nearly 300 Roman catholic clergymen.
'2. That the Rev. P. A. Walsh, Roman catholic minister of
Denmark-street Chapel, in Dublin, was deputed by Dr. Troy to
revise the said notes, did actually so revise them, and was paid
by the publisher for performing that duty.
3. That after these notes had been so revised and so published
this bible was put into circulation among these eight Roman
catholic bishops, and three hundred clergy, and other subscribers.
and remained in their hands till October, 1817; that is, as to the
whole bible, above a year, and as to the larger part of it (being
issued in numbers,) above two years, without a single objec-
tion being offered to the notes icy any one, either of the eight
bishops, the 300 priests or of even the Roman catholic laity who
had become subscribers.
4. That the character of the notes appended to this bible hav-
ing, after some time, been noticed by the " London British
Critic," Dr. Troy did then, in October, 1817, publish a disclaimer
of the work. His reason, however, for so disclaiming it he af-
terwards stated to Coyne, the publisher, to be, " that, finding its
way into England, it had armed our enemies against us, and
this at a time when we were seeking Emancipation;" reasons,
obviously, which were grounded upon policy, and not on princi-
ple.
5. That Mr. O'Connell proposed to the Roman catholic board
to put forth, on the part of the Roman catholic laity, a public
denunciation of these notes, and procured the appointment of a
committee to draw up such denunciation, which committee met
on several occasions, and repeatedly obtained further time; till
at last, at a distance of eighteen days from the introduction of
the subject, the board was permittedto dissolve without agreeing
to aev denunciation whatever.
6. That another edition was published in Cork, bearing the
date of 1818, but being, it is most probable, actually in the press
in 1817, during all this talk about adenunciation; which edition
was announced to be brought out under the patronage of 12 Ro-
man catholic bishops, 125 priests, and, in all 1827 subscribers of
various degrees. And this bible is now found in daily use in
many of the houses of Roman catholics in all parts of Ireland
at the present moment.
It only remains to show what was the real character of these
notes. To exhibit this a few specimens will suffice.
Matt. xiii., '29, 30. (Lest, while.) "The good must tolerate
the evil when it is so strong that it cannot be redressed without
danger and disturbance of the whole church, and commit the
matter to God's judgment in the latter day ; otherwise, where ill
men, be they heretics or other malefactors, may be punished or
suppressed without disturbance and hazard of the good, they
may and ought, by public authority, either spiritual or temporal,
to be chastised or executed."
Luke ix.. 55. (He rebuked them.) "Not justice, nor all
rigorous punishment of sinners, is here forbidden, nor Elias's
fact reprehended, nor the Church or Christian Princes blamed
for putting heretics to death; but that none of these should be
done for desire of our particular revenge, or without discretion,
and regard for their amendment, and example to others. There-
fore St. Peter used his powerupon Ananias and Sapphire, when
he struck them both down to death for defrauding the Church."
Luke xiv., 23. (Compel them.) "The vehement persuasion
that God useth, both externally, by force of his word and mira-
cles, and internally, by his grace, to bring us unto him, is called
compelling; not that he forceth any to come to him against
their own wills, but that he can alter and mollify a hard heart,
and make him willing that before was not. St: Augustin also
referreth this compelling to the penal laws which Catholic
Princes do justly use against heretics and schismatics; proving
that they who are by their former professions in baptism subject
to the Catholic Church, and are departed from the same after
sects, may and ought to be compelled into the unity and society
of the Universal Church again."
Acts xxv., 11. (I appeal unto Caesar.) "If St. Paul, both
to save himself from whipping and from death sought by the
Jews, doubted not to chine succour from the Roman laws, and
to appeal to Caesar, the Prince of the Romans, not yet christen-
ed,: how much mere may we call for aid of ClirNtiiin Princes
and their laws for the punishment of heretics and- for the
Church's defence against them ?"
2 Cur. x. 6. (To revenge.) " You may see hereby that the
spiritual power of bishops is not only preaching the Gospel, and
so by persuasion and exhortation only (as some heretics hold) to
remit or retain sins, but that it hath authority to punish, judge,
and condemn heretics and other like rebels; which power one
of the principal rebels (Calvin) of this time being convicted by
the evidence of the place, acknowleclgeth to be sgroundsediirlptliine
Christ's word. Whosoever you shall bind on earth ha
hound in heaven.' (Matt. xvin., 18.) Apply also the words
spoken to Jer. i., 10—' Behold, I appoint thee over nations and
kingdoms that you plant, pluck up, build, and destroy,' to cou-
firm and explain the power apostolic here alleged by St. Paul.
Nay, they would gladly draw this power from the lawful suc-
cessors from the Apostles to themselves—their Ministers and
ConsiStories—which are nothing else but the shops and councils
of sedition and all the conspirations of this time against the
lawful Princes of the world."
Rev. ii,
)21;:).roe(itBihcoesicause thou sufferest that woman Jezebel.)
" He warneth bishops to be zealous and stout against false pro-
phetste exaantndi
yoft wlihaas,t sort soever, by alluding covertly to
that in zeal killed four hundred and
fifty false prophets of Jezebel, and spared not Ahab nor Jeze-
bel themselves, but told them to their faces that they troubled
Israel, that is, the faithful people of God."
Rev. xvii• 6. (Drunk with the blood.) "It is plain that this
woman signifieth the whole body of all the persecutors that
have, and shall, shed so much blood of the just, of the prophets,
apostles, and other martyrs, from the beginning of the world to
the end. The protestants foolishly expound it of Rome, for that
there they put heretics to death, and allow of their punishment
in other countries; but their blood is not called the-blood of
saints, no more than the blood of thieves, mankillers, and other
malefactors, for the shedding of which, by order of justice, no
commonwealth shall answer.'
Such were the doctrines actually disseminated in the years
1813 to 1818,' in the two chief cities of Ireland, with the ap-
pended sanction of ten or twelve prelates of the Romish chuich,
and of three or four hundred of the priests.; The excuse no
Made is, that they did not know that those notes were to be
published, and that their approbation was given under a mis-
take or misapprehension. But it is then very naturally in-
quired, whether a Roman Catholic priest of Dublin had not
been specially selected and appointed by Dr. Troy to examine
and approve the notes so appended ? The answermade is, that
though so appointed by his archbishop and though paid for his
labour by the publisher, he did nut, in fact, execute faithfully
what he was employed and paid to do. But then another ques-
tion remains, namely, how came such notes as these to be in
circulation among eight bishops, and a great body of the priests,
for one.year, or nearly two, without a word of expostulation or
disapproval being heard from any quarter, till a London Pro-
testant Review had brought their enormity to light ? 'ro this
question no answer whatever has been given. And this is the
case of the Rhenaieh notes.
11. The next matter brought under consideration was the