The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1845-07-08 00:00:00

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ties ? Let Maynooth answer. (Tremendous cheers.)
He need scarcely speak more on this point, except to ob-
serve that a new system of government appeared to have
been introduced, that the sentinel had deserted his post
and taken up another, and he called upon the christian
people of England to look to it. He was speaking in a
town where there was a sincere love of the Gospel and a
zeal for charity; knowing this he must be allowed to
express a desire—not to make a motion but to manifest a
serious wish, viz., that a society might be formed in Pro-
testant England to maintain over all the world religious
liberty—to procure the right of free inquiry to every
nation—to counteract the oppressive tendencies of Rome
—and, in a word, to fulfil the mandate which God had
given to England in olden times (cheers); and that this
society should have correspondents everywhere, in order
to be informed of any encroachments upon religious
freedom in any part of the world, and to use all means
consistently with the gospel to maintain that great princi-
ple. (Cheers.) He had received a most cordial reception
in this country—(hear)—a reception which had refreshed
his feelings; but he desired that his journeys in England
and Scotland should be attended by something beyond
mere flattering remembrances. Before he went away he
should like to place his hands upon a monument erected
among us to religious liberty—(cheers ;)—then he
should be able to say he had not been here in vain ;
and he would begin this monument by expressing,
before that assembly, his wish for a public and per-
man nt institution among us on behalf of religious liberty
throughout the world, and especially in all popish
countries. (Loud cheers.) Ile must also express his
joy to meet the chairman, and after many days of corres-
pondence to see him in that position. He must, indeed,
express the sadness and sorrow of continental Christians
on hearing the bad news which came from England, at
hearing it maintained by some in the Church of England
that the evangelical doctrines of the gospel were not to
be interpreted according to the known opinion of their
framers, but in what was called a Catholic sense—at hear-
ing that that " Catholic sense" was consistent with
the decrees of the Council of Trent—that Protestantism,
in all its bearings, was the religion of corrupt human na-
ture, and essentially anti-christian; and that we must
recede more and more from the principles of the Refor-
mation, of our holy and blessed Reformation. (Loud
cheers.) When we saw men holding high stations in the
church speak of the Romish doctrine of apostolical sue-
cession, and of baptismal regeneration, as the whole of the
Gospel—when we heard the cry of "The church, the
church, the church !" and not " Christ, Christ, Christ !"
then, they upon the continent were afflicted and mourned.
The best friends of the English Church lost hope. But
how could he express the joy of continental christians
when they saw men like the chairman, like our venerable
bishop, and like his friend Mr. M'lsleile, maintaining
with courage the Gospel of Christ—(loud cheers)—
and sealing this testimony with their lips. In these men
the hearts of continental Christians rejoiced. When they
had heard it asserted that the clergy were not the church,
but that the faithful were the church, the ministers being
employed to teach and exhort them with all doctrine, so
that every believer must do what be could to main-
tain the true faith with meekness and perseverance, their
hearts had ben gladdened and filled with joy. The
chairman, and such as he, were the honor of the Episco-
pal Church of England, (loud cheers) and continental
Christians had still a good hope of their church, because
the principles they advocated had many friends in our
church. May (said the speaker) your hands become
stronger and stronger by the grace of our Lord : may the
supporters of the cross be multiplied among His ministers:
may multitudes of faithful members and true believers
hear every where your voice, and come over to vindicate
the rights of the word of God, and of Christianity.—Af-
ter a few further rema►ks M. D'Aubigne resumed his seat
amidst loud cheers.

The Rev. Dr. BAFFLES was next called upon, and he
said,—Mr. Chancellor, I must be utterly destitute not
only of all good taste, but of all good sense, were 1 to at-
tempt, under present circumstances, to inflict upon you
anything like a set or a lengthened speech. You have
read the admirable resolutions prepared for the meeting;
the whole, I apprehend, are for me to choose from, and,
having this liberty of choice, I will just select one topic,
and for a moment or two presume to occupy the attention
of this meeting with it. I have lately read much and
heard much about Christian union. Very much has recently
been said and written happily upon that most interesting
and delightful theme ; but this morning, Sir, I see it,—
(cheers)—l see it visibly embodied, nay made palpable upon
this platform and in this room. More, sir, I feel it.
(Loud cheers.) I feel it in that hallowed communion I
am thus permitted to enjoy with the loved and honoured
brethren—may I not call them so—(cheers)—whom up to
this hour I never had the privilege thus to meet before ;
—(renewed cheers)—and, Mr. Chancellor, I hail it as the
harbinger of that still sure perfect union which the Chris-
tian church is destined to realize, and which shall be
to the world the most impressive demonstration of the
Messiabship of Christ. (Loud cheers.) Mr. Chancellor, I
have no fear of popery, if protestants are but united,
(cheers) if the church is one,—for said the adorable Re-
deemer; "upon this rock",—not upon Peter, no but upon
that great fact which Peter's testimony had just embraced,
namely his own Messiahship. "Thou art Christ," said he,
a good confession, "the anointed one." It is as though
he had said "Upon this rock, myself, the rock of
everlasting ages, I will build my church ; and the gates
of hell, nor the powers of darkness, shall not prevail
against it." But then, Mr. Chancellor, it must be
an united church, not a divided church, against which the
gates of hell shall not prevail. And can it be an united
church ? It must. The thing is possible, for it is pre-
dicted. May there not be union, •Mr. Chancellor, with-
out compromise ? May there not be a perfect one-
ness in all the grand fundamental principles of
Scriptural, immutable, eternal truth, while there is
variety and diversity as to modes of operation upon
minor points and details ? (Hear, and cheers.) The
church, with all her various sections still essentially one
—in all her various sections each may maintain its integ-
rity, but together presenting a goodly fellowship—distinct
as the billows, but one as the sea. (Loud cheers.) Mr.
Chancellor, it is good for us to be here. (Hear.) For
myself I seem as though I were caught up into the third
heavens—positively, whether in the body, or out of the
body, I can scarcely tell, hut this I know, if it is not
heaven itself it is the gate of heaven, the foretaste and pro-
mise of its bliss. (Hear.) Permit me one word more
and I have done. I must be allowed to throw in my mite
of contribution, small as it is, one cordial greeting, one
respectful salutation, one hearty welcome, one grateful
acknowledgment to the honoured and illustrious stran-
gers we are permitted to behold. One name—and the
other, I am sure, will forgive me in selecting that
one—one name illustrious, indeed, in the highest sense
in which that term could be understood ; Mr. Chairman,
we owe to that honoured name a debt of gratitude which
we should be prompt to pay, while we lay all the glory at
the feet of Him who made him what he is. (Hear, hear.)
Do you not, christian brethren, respond to the sentiment,
do you not add your hearty amen to the prayer, when I
say, looking up to Him with whom are the issues of life,
" Long may the life of that honoured man be spared ?"
—(cheers)—spared in all the vigour of his sanctified in-
tellect, while unborn generations reap the fruit of those
labours to which that life is consecrated ! (Loud cheers.)
The Rev. Dr. MARSH was next called.upon, and on
rising was greeted with loud cheers. He said he was an
Episcopalian, and, if he did no deceive himself, he was a
Christian, and if he were a Christian he felt bound by
his religion " to love all who loved the Lord Jesus Christ
in sincerity and truth." (Cheers.) He remembered
reading in the papers of the Hand-in-Hand Insurance
Society. (Cheers.) He considered Romanism as a
crusade upon Protestant love, and therefore upon the
present occasion he was a member of, and an Actuary
too of the Hand-in-Hand Assurance Society. (Loud and
continued applause.) He should therefore offer one
hand to his rev. friend on his left, and passing over
the Rev. Mr. M`Neile—no, he could not pass him over
either : but if he would have the kindness that morn-

ing to personate Calvin, he would join, hand and hand,
Luther and Calvin together. (Cheers.) He was fond of
old proverbs. " Divide and conquer," was the motto of
of their enemies ; but, " unite and conquer," wai the
motto of their friends. (flear, hear.) Alas! the children
of this world were wiser in their generation than the
children of light, and, therefore, Herod and Pontius Pilate,
and Caiphas and the multitude could unite against truth ;
but he beseeched them to remember the conduct of
those blessed men and women in that day of tribulation,

Herod, Pontius Pilate, Caiphas, and the multitude and
were at length able to establish such a glorious church.
(Hear, hear.) It was true Christians could use no other
weapons than those of argument, persuasion, and exam-
ple, and love and prayer; and that love must manifest
itself in praying for the souls even of their adversaries;
and he conceived the period had arrived when those wea-
pons must be used right and left in every direction,
and must not be confined to this country or the other—
to this class of heathen or the other—but in behalf
of all Christian Churches for a general outpouring of the
Spirit and a renewal of Christian zeal. Then they need
not despair of many, even priests of Rome, becoming
obedient to the faith. (Cheers.) There were, however,
difficulties to contend with. In unity, beyond a doubt,
there was perfection. That ever blessed nature, the self-
sufficient, the perfect self-existent ani eternal nature was
Os E, though a social nature in three substances, and the
church was at last to be conformed to the very image
of that blessed nature in oneness. They all knew
that this blessed nature was called in the Scripture
light, and light was the great beautifier of the
natural world ; but they would recollect that He was
also called love, and if his people did but exercise the
graces of love through the influence of the Holy Spirit,
then would they be light—then would they be love also,
and that was the destiny of the Universal Church, and
ought to be the practice of all its members now. (Cheers.)
He hoped that passing events would be overruled by the
spirit of God, to produce something like that effect, he did
hope there would be the exercises of all the graces of the
spirit, and that all would centre in love. He urged
them to pray that Christians might abound in love one to-
wards another, and towards all men for in proportion as the
spirit of love was exercised in the same proportion, would
they be conformed to the image of God. (Applause.) He
therefore concratulated the meeting, on seeing what had
taken place, to find assembled together many who, though
they differed in mind on some subjects, yet they differed
not in heart, and were bearing in mind the new command.
ment of our blessed Redeemer, and were at last turning
to love another. (Loud cheers.) He subscribed to all
that had been said about the difficulties which they had
to contend with, but on the other hand they could not
refrain from congratulating the meeting on the glorious
truth, that though Episcopalianism might fall, though
Presbyterianism might fall, though Independence might
fall, though Wesleyanism might fall, though in the
providence of God there might be a dark season for a
while, yet the Church of God could never fall. (Loud
cheers.) Was it not a marvellous fact, that the church
either had not read the xv. chap. of St. Paul's Epistle to
the Romans or had not understood it. After re-
minding the meeting of the truth taught in that