The Liverpool Standard and General Commercial Advertiser.
Liverpool, Merseyside, England, 1846-09-08 00:00:00

THE PERILS OF PROTESTANTISM

The committee of the National Club have just issued a
second address to the Protestants of the empire, urging
them to unite against the dangers that threaten their
faith and institutions :

SECOND ADDRESS OF THE NATIONAL CLUB.
We are asked why we think our national institutions
are in danger, and what the danger is ? Does any states-
man move in Parliament that our Church be abolished?
Does any Government threaten to invade our colleges
and schools? Do they tell us that they will commit our
Protestant rights to the will of a hostile priesthood ?
These are not the quarters to which, if well advised, we
shall turn our eyes to read the signs of events tbat are at
hand.
!t is in the thoughts and opinions of a nation that the
seeds of their future actions are sown. That is the field
to which men must look for the promise either of good or
evil. . .

It is true, statesmen profess to respect our church ; they
affect regard for our religious scruples ; they have not yet
openly assailed our schools. But, turn from their pro-
fessions to the real field of action—the influence sought to
be exercised over the public mind. Observe the march of
hostile opinions ; see their progress, their force, the mus-
ter of their army ; mark with what vigour they ply their
work, and with what weapons. Do they address our con-
sciences ? Do they appeal to our calmer judgments ?
Do they warn us to prize our religious rights, and to
cherish the principles which are the basis of our national
greatness? .

- They ridicule, they slander, they decry them. They
brand the Church as an instrument of tigotry, and the
provision for her teachers as a public robbery. They
treat our schools as nurseries of ignorance, and decry our
religious instructions as the lessons of fools. And what
is the remedy they propose ? A rad!cal change, casting
dow.'s the institutions which uphold religion, and setting
up those which deify reason ; declaring that human wisdom
alone should govern a nation, and that faith should be
barred from senates and from schools.
These are the lessons of our would-be teachers—these
they seek to instil into the public mind !
. .

'With what result ? Do we think that their influence
is slight ; We deceive ourselves. Their advance is
steady ; each day marks its progress.
Does this danger rouse us to exertion ? Have we laid
aside our petty differences, and rallied in defence of those
vital principles on which we are all agreed ? On the con-
trary : while our opponents bring to the attack courage
and constancy, we are listless and irresolute, neglecting to
combat their maxims, and turning with unconcern from
subjects which do not touch our selfish interests.
What has been the consequence ? The steady progress
of their opinions, and the ebb of ours. Our national
church indeed stands ; our colleges are yet entire ; our
schools are not supplanted : but the ground is hollow
below them. The mines are driven, cut deep into the
public sentiment.' A moment, a popular cry, a turn of
parties, a pressure on government, the signal will be given,
the attack will come, and the institutions which now seem
to stand secure, must fall without a struggle.
Where, therefore, we are asked, where is the danger ?
we reply, that is not the question. Danger there is ; but
we would rather ask, what are the means of escape ?
What forces have we to rally ? What materials for' a
defence ? _ .

He that admits in argument that religion has no place
in politics has abandoned the ground of a national church.
He that allows that our colleges and schools may be con-
ducted without religion has given up the basis of scriptural
education. He that argues that Popery and Protestant-
ism alike deserve the favour of Government tears up by
the roots our Protestant constitution. He that declares
that Christianity may be taught without its peculiar doc-
trines betrays our faith. Where these-maxims run cur-
rent among politicians, they will soon be acted on by the
people. Admitted in the debates of Parliament, they
will speedily find their place in the Statute-Book.
This is the evil which we fear. It is at hand. It
presses upon us. The moment for action is come. Not
an hour remains for delay. Doubt, division, are mad-
ness. What the danger is, is clear. How to meet it, and
with whom—these are the only questions for earnest men.

Signed, by order of the committee,
RICHARD NUGENT, Honorary Secretary
13, Cockspur-street, Allyust 26, 1816.

LORD LYNDHURST'S POLICY,

(From the Church and State Gazelle.)
What we have long asserted as being the case is making
itself manifest and appearing before the public in its
proper form. Jf the eyes of the country he not now
opened to the danger which threatens its institutions,
through the political depravity and treachery of their
rulers, our destruction as a great and mighty nation is
sealed. For ourselves we cannot find words to express
our indignation at their dissimulation and hypocrisy.
Lord Lyndhurst, once an honoured name, after assisting
the late administration to carry every measure abhorrent
to the spirit of Conservatism, having discovered, by their
last act, the spirit of the Conservative body roused to a
determined opposition, and "the party," as he says, split
to pieces, with honied lips sues to Lord George Bentinck
for his assistance in reconstructing it. What party is
that ? The party which undertook to " walk in the light
of the constitution"—to conserve our institutions in
"Church and State," and to act upon the principle of
national protection; the professed leaders of which have
in every point deceived and deserted the nation. 0 God
if Thou abhorrest perjury and treachery, pity a wronged
insulted, and oppressed nation, and raise up one honest
man,faithful and true to the interests of his country.