The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1848-09-19 00:00:00

THE QUEEN AT CHURCH.

(From a correspondent of the N.B. Daily Mail.)
The church of Crathie was specially whitewashed and
cleaned ; the pulpit neatly covered with cloth ; the front
seats of the gallery decorated and painted; and the pew
set apart for her Majesty and the Prince, covered with -
crimson cloth, and a small canopy of crimson fringe was
suspended from the roof. The improvements are very
neatly done. and not out of keeping with the unpretending
character of a Highland church, which is seldom or ever
attended by a proprietor. The only proprietors in the
parish are the Earl of Fife, who is under trustees ; Co-
lonel Gordon, of Abergeldie, who is in the same position ;
and Mr. Farquharson, of Invercauld. The Rev. Mr,
Anderson, who is minister of the parish, conducted the
services in the form usual in the Church of Scotland. He
read part of the last address of Moses to the Israelites ;
apparently from his comments, in the usual course of read-
ing; and made some remarks, elicited by the passage, on the
nature and character of national sins. His text was the
36th verse in the Bth chapter of St. John's Gospel. The rev.
gentleman is not a pleasing speaker. His voice is harsh,
and admits, apparently, of no modulation. He would not
have been accounted, some time since, a favourable repre-
sentative of the parochial ministry of Scotland ; but the
composition of his discourse was better than the delivery.
It was remarkable for brevity, and occupied exactly twenty-
five minutes. This may have arisen from the length of
the preliminary services, and the necessity of meeting a
Gaelic congregation in the afternoon. We wish, however,
to add, that the preacher's sentiments were strictly evan-
gelical. They might have possessed this characteristic,
and, at thesametime, have been by no means personally and
directly interesting. The discourse was, however, alto-
gether singularly faithful ; and calculated, we believe, to
be remembered by the highest and lowest of its hearers ;
not as we have said, from the eloquence of the preacher—
not exactly from the character of the style—but from the
plain. honest truths it contained, and the personal ap-
plication made of them to the state of every human being.
Crathie church presented one of the finest illustrations
that the world can exhibit of the equality of all his crea-
tures before God. Peasant girls in printed cotton, and
Highland matrons in their snow white caps and plaids,
were seated next the Queen of England ; and the whole
appearance of the congregation was most respectful—not
merely to the high personages there, but to the practical
feeling that this was a place of worship of the Highest,
and that they professed therein to be so engaged. The
preacher read the 61st paraphrase, and the word had
evidently escaped the Queen, who turned round to a young
man in the pew immediately behind and requested hint
" to show her the place," as the people say in Scotland.
At the conclusion of the service there was very little
display of curiosity. The only feeling of that kind which
seemed offensive was evinced by an old gentleman and a
lady, who came in a vehicle from a neighbouring parish-1
apparently the only strangers.
On the narrow lanes leading from the church to the
bridge—amongst a considerable crowd of hearers—in the
plain coarse woollens of the hills—with the old broad blue
bonnets of the district—or the simple female attiring that,
many years ago, was the prevailing habit in lowland coun-
try parishes—a lady and gentleman were walking dower
towards the bridge. They neither seemed to seek nor to
avoid mixing with the people ; who, on their part, did not
step out of their ordinary walk and course either to avoid
or to meet them. The gentleman would have been con-
sidered by a passenger one of the finest looking men in
Scotland. The lady would have been regarded as remark-
ttillidgeriavi-eolnitkcikhrga-fit-bu t. at the same time,
et anu .‘-•-s,..nn in her ap-
pearance. As the people before and behind ...h.),;,„a „„,
unusual feeling regarding them, and only a two-horse car.
riage was in waiting on the south side of the. bridge, a
stranger in these parts might have supposed that he had
met a landlord, his lady, and their tenantry, on the way to
church. Europe, or the world, had no finer spectacle, not-
withstanding its apparent simplicity. The lady was the
Queen of the widest and the greatest empire in the world ;
the gentleman was her consort, and, from his position,
the first in the land ; their guards were the devotion and
affection of their people, rising not merely from the cold
foundation of duty, but from respect and love to the cha-
racter of the purest and the best sovereign of a long line
of kings. And yet the preacher had spoken of troublous
times in the church they had left—troublous times that
might have even shaken the strong structure of the Bri-
tish constitution, except for the character of the lady who
held the sceptre of the State.
At the south side of the bridge, a small number of the
people whose road lay down the river waited until the
Queen's carriage came up, took off their hats and bonnets,.
and bowed.

There was. we think, no occurrence that could give
umbrage to the Queen, who is known to be opposed to any
great manifestation, even of respect, in such circumstances.

TO THE PROTESTANTS OF IRELAND.

FELLOW PROTESTANTS,—It is known to all loyal men
of Ireland that there never was a time, since the days of
James 11., when Protestants have been so unremittingly
disregarded and repulsed by the British government.
Still our loyalty remains unshaken—we appeal from Caesar
to God.

The mere rejection of our remonstrances might have
been borne if we did not solemnly believe that, under
various recent senatorial measures and enactments, God
is provoked to wrath, and England's empire placd be-
neath the impending chastisements of a jealous God.
Among wrongs inflicted upon us—among provocations
multiplied against the majesty of the Most High, we class
the system of national education, wherein His word has
been successively hampered and hacked, and finally
spurned from the government schools !
The new institutions called " Queen's Colleges" may
be regarded as an aggravation of national wrong and dis-
honour. Yea, rather as a deliberate aggravation of in-
jury to Protestantism. The climax has, however, been
recently achieved. Discarding all reference to Episcopa-
lian, Presbyterian, Methodist, or independent control,
the ruler of Ireland has placed the statutes of these col-
leges at the feet of the vacillating and bewildered Bishop
of Rome. In language of studied servility the Viceroy
illegally and (at the same time) treasonably craves that
he, the P,,pe (the sworn foe of Protestantism—sitting on
a throne stained with the gore of saints—garnished with
St. Bartholomew-day's medals—annually uttering de-
nunciations against Protestant monarchs and Protestant
churches), would deign to review and adopt, according
to his anti-Christian pleasure, the statutes of these new
colleges.
Protestants of Ireland ! if you be unmoved by these
things, then let us prepare for bondage and doom—for the
isivlogba y xrr Llav liOn—ror interdict or public preach-
ing and circulation of the Word of God—for swift vassal-
age for ourselves, and for halter and fire for our children..
Do not despair, as some are inclined to do. God can, at
any time, command relief and deliverance. We deserve
our chastisements. Let us live in more prayer, and aim
at true holiness. Let us manfully protest, and unitedly
sympathise and associate. The history of God's old
Church and of Protestant Churches, is a history of unex-
pected deliverance.
These colleges are now what energetic Luther, or stern
John Knox, would have denominated " Mass Colleges."
They are henceforth, truly, not Ireland's, but the Pope'S
colleges.
Let them be the Pope's !
The popery-cherishing, infidelity-patronising spirit of
the age may summon such mass colleges into hateful ex-
istence : if these colleges may arise in graceful construction
under the hands of accomplished architects ; their chairs
may be filled with talented officials, and the youth of the
island may be invited to enter within their halls.
Listen ! brother Protestants ! We are not yet so low,
so dispirited, or so shackled, as to be constrained to let
our beloved children receive instruction within these
mass colleges.
Accordingly, let every sound, fearless, scriptural Pro-
testant, by whatever name he be called, descendant of
Luther or Knox—of Whitfield or Wesley ; son of ancient
Englishmen, or inheritor of the glory of Palitinate Ger-
many, or of Nantes' wrong—let all resolve before God,
and by the help of God, that their children shall never
receive instruction in a mass college !
At a meeting of Ulster Protestants held, not many days
since, of a society comprising 1,400 loyal men, the ques-
tion was put by the writer, " Would they ever permit
their children to become pupils in such pontifical colle-
ges ?" and the one united reply was, Never !
Protestants of Ireland, more especially of Cork, Gal-
way, and Belfast, let this be your resolve, as it is yet your
right, to proclaim separation of your children from insti-
tutions which now belong less to Britain than to Italy—
less to Victoria than to the Pope of Rome !
And this being left to us (till England opens her eyes
to our real numbers, our loyalty, and our wrongs), at
least we can do, and this let us do unitedly, so help us
God!

Your faithful brother, &c., &c.,
THOMAS DREW, D.D.