Robinson

1/

I8SO R

AN EARNEST APPEAL

PROTESTANT CHURCHMEN,

REV. J. T. ROBINSON, M.A.,

VICAK OF HORTH PETHERTON, SOMERSET, LATE RECTOE OF
ST. ANDREW, HOLBORN.

I beseech you to consider, all you that are true Protestants : do you not
think that your religion is holy, and apostolical, and taught by Christ, and
pleasing to God ? If you do not think so, why do you not leave it ? But if
you do think so, why are you not zealous for it? — Jeremy Taylor.
What hath the Pope to do in England ? — Archbishop Cranmer. i:

LONDON:
THOMAS HATCHARD, 187, PICCADILLY:
AND S. WEST, FORE STREET, BRIDGWATER.
1850.

AN EARNEST APPEAL
TO PROTESTANT CHURCHMEN.

A. word spoken in the season, saith Solomon, how good is
It ! it is certain, however, that we are aU liable to he mis
taken in our opinions of the times and seasons in which we
live ; as man is naturally prone " to think of himself more
highly than he ought to think," so is he apt to attach more
than due importance to the particular scene in which Divine
Providence has given him a part.
The common remark, that we live in times of extraordi
nary and critical character, is one which has often called
forth a smile from the man of observation, whether a divine,
a statesman, or a philosopher. Grave apprehensions and
sanguine hopes have, at various times, proved nothing but
the short-sightedness of man, — there is not much danger of
mistaking our times.
Passing events are still, and ever must be, while time lasts,
the language of Divine Providence ; and he who spake as
man never spake, admonishes us to regard the signs of the
times. When these are regarded in this our day, by reflect
ing persons, in their character of Christian citizens, they
will, I think, lead them to assert with more than ordinary
confidence, that there is a demand, as of old, for " men that

have understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought
to do."* It is not from any presumptuous idea that I
belong to such a distinguished class, but in the earnest hope
that such men may be raised up in our too distracted country,
that I would venture to make a few remarks, in days which
may be described, but too truly, as those of trouble, rebuke,
and blasphemy.
What are our circumstances ?
In the year 1829, for some reasons which were never very
clearly explained, but which seemed hidden, in the mist which
always surrounds the conflicts of party, and which at last
were propounded under the questionable sanction of expe
diency — we removed the civil disabilities of the Roman
Catholics — in 1834, as a concession to the same body, the Irish
corporations were handed over to their ascendency — we de
prived the Protestant clergy of Ireland of a great part of their
income, and suppressed ten Bishoprics — in 1845, in the face
of more than 10,000 petitions signed by more than 1,000,000
persons, we permanently endowed the Roman Catholic Col
lege of Maynooth — in addition to this we have established a
national board of education to suit Roman Catholic preju
dices, and offered academical establishments, most properly
termed " godless," in order that there might be no obstruc
tion to the introduction therein of the idolatry of Rome —
what has been the result ? Roman Catholic emancipation,
which was to secure peace, and give ample satisfaction to the
importunate agitators of years, was followed by aggravated
agitation and clamour, — Roman Catholic Bishops, in spite of
their solemn declarations, assumed in the realm episcopal
titles, — Roman Catholic members of Parliament, in the face of
their oaths to respect and abstain from attacking the Pro
testant establishment, joined in an unhallowed attempt to
spoliate its revenues, while turbulence, discord, and popular
excitement, fomented by the very men who had pledged
themselves to allay them, gave fearful evidence that Ireland
was still to be the great difficulty of every minister the
abiding fly in the ointment of all British Legislation. We
endowed Maynooth — Mr. O'Connell thanked himself and his
* 1 Cbron. xii. 32.

own agitation — we offered to Ireland free trade in religion
by the godless colleges bill. — Mr. Sheil declared that it
would not do — the Roman Catholic clergy would not have
it : — Mr. Wyse followed in the same strain — Pope Pius IX.
has completed our humiliation by issuing his decree for
the division of England into dioceses under his spiritual
jurisdiction — thus insulting our Queen and her subjects,
laughing at the simplicity of those whose confidence he is
abusing, and proving by one more act of audacious usurpa
tion, that to expect truth, justice, or anything but tyranny
from Rome, is only the triumph of hope over experience.
Protestantism and Popery are now met in this country, as
the great arena of Europe and the world, and the eyes of all
the congregations of Christendom are fixed upon the con
flict. It is a spectacle to men and angels — the result will be
eternal. The trumpet has sounded, and with no uncertain sound.
What is to be the order of the Protestant battle ? how are
we to contend for the faith once delivered to the saints,
corrupted by Popes, and restored to the world by our
venerable reformers ? there is only one way, by the steady,
uncompromising, active propagation of the doctrines of that
faith. And what place does the propagation of doctrine hold in
the economy of the support of any church 1
It may be learned from this, viz., the determined hostility
with which the enemies of any faith are disposed to regard,
and often have regarded, the propagation of its doctrines.
The most powerful agency on the one side has excited the
most vigorous attack and resistance on the other. In the
reign of one of our own kings, Henry VIII., we find the
Act of the Six Articles issuing from the hands of certain
bishops * of the Roman Catholic Church, enacting the most
tremendous penalties and denouncing a felon's death upon
all who should speak, write, or dispute, in favour of the
Protestant tenets. What has ever brought down upon
princes, councillors, priests, and laymen, the severest cen
sures of the Vatican? What drew upon our great Pro-
* Stolcesly and Gardiner.

6
testant Queen the wrath of one of its most inflexible poten
tates ? * What caused the fire of persecution to run along
the ground, through the length and breadth of this land, in
the sixteenth century ? What lighted a similar flame in
France ? Why was a mark set upon Luther, Huss, Ridley,
Latimer, Cranmer, and Wickliffe ? What has lighted the
fires of the martyrs till the smoke of their torment went up
to heaven ? In a word, the indefatigable persevering deter
mination to stop the propagation of doctrine. How was it
in the time of old, when, in the days of the Apostles, " as
they spake unto the people, the priests and the captain of
the temple and the Sadducees came upon them, being
grieved that they taught the people and preached through
Jesus the resurrection of the dead ? " f What was the
course pursued by the enemies of the Gospel ? " They
commanded them (with threatening) " not to speak at all,
nor " teach in the name of Jesus ; " and whenever the
Apostles of Protestantism were brought before the Papal
councils and rulers, the special injunction was always not to
preach ; the alternative was death— so convinced were the
defenders of Papacy, that if Protestants were suffered to
propagate their doctrines, their Church would grow thereby..
Henry of Navarre favoured the propagation of the reformed
doctrines, and was cursed by Pope Sixtus V. Henry VIII.
of England wrote against Luther in support of the Roman
Catholic Sacraments, and was entitled by another Pope,
" Defender of the Faith." But it is unnecessary to multiply
instances ; the whole chapter of ecclesiastical history re
lating to that period, % when Christ and antichrist contended
openly in Europe, attests the fact, that the exasperation of
the dominant Church against individuals was always in pro
portion, not so much to their attachment to their principles,
as to their capacity and their zeal to diffuse them.
But we are told, with a sneer, and some calling themselves
Protestant Churchmen have echoed it, that Protestants have
no doctrines, and during the memorable debates upon the
Maynooth abomination, we were reminded that Protestantism
* Pius V. f Acts iv. 1 and 2.
X From the time of Wickliffe to Elizabeth.

is " an undefined thing " — this is certainly a very indefinite
way of talking. Rapin tells us, that " when reformers in
religion were accused of introducing many innovations in
reHgion, in answer to that charge they protested, their intent
was only to adhere to the doctrine of the Gospel, and reli
gion of the Primitive Church ; they demanded that a free
council might be held in some city of Germany, where re
ligious differences might be calmly examined by the word of
God. But this was a method which their adversaries could
not allow." * There was nothing in this undefined or am
biguous, neither is there in Protestantism now. A protest
is a solemn declaration of opinion against something ; and a
Protestant, in a religious sense, is one of those who adhere
to them who, at the beginning of the reformation, protested
against the errors of the Church of Rome. Doubtless, there
are amongst us many, professing Protestantism, whose no
tions of what they mean by their profession are very unde
fined and vague, but the thing itself is as I have described it.
Too many persons, I fear, in estimating the difference
between Protestantism and Popery, stop short at the con
templation of the opposition between their forms of worship,
and neglect to satisfy themselves as to the real difference
between them in doctrine. Did they investigate they would
know that the difference is irreconcilable ; that the sceptre
of divine truth has passed between them, and made them as
certainly twain, as any single existing being is one. The
difference is one of Faith. It is the more necessary to insist
upon this, because attempts have recently been made to
fritter away this difference, and to shew the possibility, if
not the necessity, of a union between the two Churches.
This is no new thing — only a rusty weapon from the old
armoury of antichrist. In a valuable collection of " Tracts
against Popery," published in the year 1738, there is one
with this title, " The Difference between the Church of
England and the Church of Rome, in opposition to a late
book entitled, An Agreement between the Church of Eng
land and the Church of Rome ; " and in his preface the
compiler observes, " in making proselytes, it is none of the
* Rapin's England, vol. 1, p. 790.

least artifices of that Church, and it may be more successful
than many others, to tell our people, that the doctrines which
we charge upon them, are not the doctrines of their Church,
but falsely imputed to it, and that there is by no means such
a distance between the two Churches as is pretended by us."
Would that such smooth sayings without our Church had
found no echo within it ! Whatever may be said by in
terested or misguided persons, there is no diminution of the
difference to be found in the authorized text-books of
Roman Catholic divinity, or in her common manuals of de
votion ; and I will give one instance, which might be multi
plied, and may be by any who are disposed to investigate
the subject. One of the most beautiful forms of praise and
adoration in our Liturgy, is the " Hymn called Te Deum
laudamus," said or sung immediately after the First Lesson
at Morning Prayer, commencing, " We praise Thee, O God,
we acknowledge Thee to be the Lord." Compare with it
the following authorized invocation of the Virgin Mary by
the Church of Rome, published at Rome only a few years
ago (1836), "We praise thee, O Mary! as the Mother of
God : we acknowledge thee to be our Lady. All the earth
doth worship thee, august daughter of our everlasting Father.
To thee all angels cry aloud, the heavens and all the powers
therein : to thee Cherubim and Seraphim continually do
cry," &c. The author of this, St. Bonaventure, who died
in 1474, and is a canonized saint of Rome, has also applied
to the worship of the Virgin Mary the whole number of the
Psalms of David. The advocates of Romanism have failed
in refuting this ; and all must equally fail who attempt to
reconcile the principles which must originate such irrecon
cilable forms of worship. We must judge of the faith of
Rome by her works ; we must not be misled by " enticing
words." When the voice is the voice of Jacob and the
hands are the hands of Esau, we must remember the precept
to "judge not according to the appearance, but righteous
judgment," the full meaning of which is, to judge with
wisdom as well as charity. The charges against her are
capital : they cannot be disposed of by silence or by special
pleading. It is true, we condemn her pompous and exag-

9
gerated rites as " of the earth earthy," in which she panders
to that depravity in man, which would walk by sight and
not by faith ; sensualizes her ordinances until she turns de
votion into amusement ; and while she is pretending to raise
the soul by the intervention of objects of sense, is in fact
prostrating it in hopeless idolatry : we hold such rites and
such ceremonies as remnants of the barbarism of spiritual
darkness, and an outrage upon Christian civilization ; and
we look upon the attempt to force them now upon mankind,
as the madness of those who would seek to roll back the
chariot-wheels of Divine Providence ; we say we have be
come men, and we do not want these childish things. But
these are not the grounds of our separation from Rome : we
separate from Rome because she has separated from the
truth ; we lightly esteem her because she dishonours Christ.
We separate from Rome because she is unscriptural in her
rule of faith, holding Tradition to be of equal authority
with the Bible ; in her doctrine of justification, teaching the
efficacy of human merit ; in her forbidding the people to
read the Holy Scriptures, without a dispensation ; in her
assertion of the doctrine of transubstantiation ; in her wor
ship of the Virgin Mary, which her saints and divines teach,
and for which her manuals of devotion provide, and which is
idolatry ; in her assertion of the existence of other Mediators
besides Christ crucified, as the Virgin Mary and departed
saints : * in the assertion of seven sacraments instead of two
only ; and the claim for the Pope of a right to temporal and
spiritual supremacy throughout the world. Against such
doctrines we are Protestants, and we need no farther witness
for our justification than the cloud of witnesses which the
Bible furnishes — which Bible, in fact, is our protest, written
with the finger of God.
So far is Protestantism from being undefined, that it is far

* The following is a part of the triple blessing pronounced by the Pope on
the Thursday in the Holy Week, at Rome : — " Through the prayers and merits
of the blessed Mary ever Virgin, of the blessed Archangel Michael, of the
blessed John the Baptist, of the holy Apostles Peter and Paul, and of all the
Saints, may the Almighty God have mercy on you, and all your sins being
.forgiven, may Jesus Christ lead you to eternal life. Amen."

10
too defined, determined, and uncompromising, for the lax
and truckling times in which we live. Principle is out of
fashion ; supplanted by the golden image of expediency ;
and, therefore, Protestantism is discountenanced and op
pressed, for Protestantism is principle ; and Popery is patro
nized and fostered, for Popery is mere policy.
One great difficulty which Protestants have to contend
with, in both their offensive and defensive proceedings with
reference to Popery, and particularly in this slovenly age, is
the unwillingness to listen to, or enter into the errors and
abominations of the system, which so many persons evince.
This arises, in a great measure, from the tone of assumption
which Popery adopts, when asserting its purity and apos-
tolicity, and no less from the cunning with which it adapts
its directions to its disciples, and their manuals of devotion,
to the time and country in which they live. Only a few
years since, a letter appeared in " The Times" newspaper, in
which the writer stated his conviction of the unfairness of
accusing Popery of keeping the Holy Scriptures from the
people, because he had himself heard the Roman Catholic
Bishop exhorting his young brethren to study them. This
was in England. The very same day, I conversed with a
clergyman, who had lately resided in Malta, where he showed
to a tradesman the Second Commandment in our Book of
Common Prayer. This person, a Roman Catholic, imme
diately denied that it was so to be found in the Bible ; and
upon the clergyman proposing to refer to the passage, he
said that what he had asserted was on the authority of the
priest, that " he was not permitted to read the Bible him
self." This, no doubt, will be denied, as something mon
strous, and which never could have happened. And this is
the case with almost every unchristian practice or doctrine
alleged against the Church of Rome, whatever may be the
amount or character of the proofs produced. They are loud
in professing everything Christian, and in denying everything
anti-christian ; and the charitable and the indifferent  too
many of the latter, alas ! — believe them. When to this we
add the imposing effect of a fascinating and pompous reli
gious ceremonial in their chapels, glittering with pageantry,

11
redolent with incense, and breathing with music, casting a
spell alike over sense and imagination : it is evident that
"therefore fall the people unto them, and thereout suck
they no small advantage."
Would that this were all, and the worst ; but who knows
not that worse remains behind ? I deal not with those who
call themselves Roman Catholics, while they secretly enter
tain only a modification of her creed ; whose position is
neither in nor out of Rome — my concern is with Popery.
I say, as a British Protestant, with our gracious and religious
Queen, that it is superstitious and idolatrous ; and I appeal
to the facts of its indulgencies, absolution, penance, purga
tory, suppression of and tampering with the Bible, and
extreme unction, as witnesses that it makes a subtle, seduc
tive, and murderous appeal to the depravity of human nature ;
that it stands between mankind and truth, — between the soul
and heaven ; and is, if it be anything, the pander of the
devil. Protestantism undefined ! fleeting from day to day ! in
cluding almost every variety of opinion ! By the lives of
holy, self-denying' men around me, and by the memory of
the sainted, martyred, but unforgotten dead, I deny it ; but
I can tell all whom it may concern, what Protestantism is :
it is an offence to the proud, impatient wisdom of man,
because it professes and practises a recourse to the Bible to
learn from the divine testimonies which God himself has
there given, an answer to the grand question, What is truth ?
This is the good old way, but it is not, as it should be, the
way with many of this generation. No ; there is a manifest
irreverence for sacred things in some quarters ; an appeal
from the decrees and commandments of the Bible ; an in
difference to the declarations of eternal truth, and a deference
to human authority and "the rudiments of the world," which
are in as direct accordance with the service of Mammon, as
they are in opposition to the honour and service of God.
Attention to the signs of the times will amply establish this
lamentable truth ; and the signs of the times in things
spiritual are often as significant and portentous as in things
political ; that they are not discerned is no proof of their

12
being wanting; but of the prevalence of a worldly spirit,
which, while it plunges men in care and perplexity concern
ing what concerns the body, seduces them into a slothful and
ungodly habit of leaving the things- of' the soul to take care
of themselves. The Christian observer looks upon the world
with an eye of ¦ religious observation; he'seeS around him
more or less, at all times, and never in more active operation
than at the present, various aiid important human agencies
at work for good or evil ; the conflict of opinions ; the con
tention of parties ; the rivalry of theories' ;¦ the projects of
intellect, the excursions of science ; and the growth of the
arts!: but the grand question for his mind' is, whether the
standard of the King of kings and' Lord of lords is to' be
discerned supreme, and acknowledged as supreme,' above the
scene of action; whether the various streams of knowledge
which men are labouring to direct through society, take their
rise at the well-head of divine truth, or at least ate duly
qualified with its holy waters ; ¦ whether' there is, or is not, in
the national mind, that 'fundamental principle of right which
"seeks first the kingdom of God and his righteousness ;"
and how far, through the stewardship and- instrumentality of
human powers, the kingdoms of this world are becoming in
spirit and in character the kingdoms of the Lord and of his
Christ; the result of such inquiries appears to me- to be
such as to alarm the fears, rather than to animate the hopes
of the Christian patriot. The earnest and proof of the
existence of the spirit of the Gospel' in a community, is
assiduity' in : Spreading far and near' the1 principles of that
GospeL viz., the glory of God and the good of man, from
an unfeigned love of both,1 the union of all which is cha
ritable with all 'which is devout ; but of the present times it
is not too much to affirm, that while' iniquity abounds, the
love ; of many waxes cold. There is no' want of the means
which conduce to worldly luxury and temporal prosperity •
for man, as a citizen of this world, ahd a sojourner for a
time upon earthy there is every provision which human in
vention can supply, to facilitate his acquisition of comfort
ease, privilege, and enjoyment ; but for his improvement as
a spiritual being, for his preparation as a soul responsible at

13
the judgment-seat of God, and as a creature lying under the
pressing obligation to walk by faith and not by sight, and to
walk worthy of the vocation with which he is called, by the
Saviour who redeemed him to be holy : for this perfecting
of the kingdom of Christ within the. hearts of men, there is
not that solicitude, that exertion, that interest, which be
come a professedly Christian people. It is impossible to be
blind to the fact, that the purification of man's heart does
not keep pace with the progress of his intellect or the ex
pansion of his mind. There is a .disposition too prevalent,
to estimate the value of the mental gifts and endowments of
the creature, with too little regard to their devotion to pro
mote the glory of the Creator, and to value them in propor
tion to the degree in which they conduce to the passing,
rather than . the permanent, the everlasting welfare of man
kind. Hence expediency, that watchword of the unfaithful ;
hence that indifference which is expressed and evinced by
some persons, as to what shall be held up as our national
faith; whether we shall continue to be recognised among the
nations of the earth3 as a community holding the "faith as it
is in Jesus," the one God and the one Mediator between
God and Man.; or whether we shall set up in our temples
the images of idolatry, in dishonour of the God who made
us ; approach his throne of grace through the mediation of
saints, to the insult of the Lord who bought us ; and re
nouncing the faith of the Bible, the faith of the Apostles
and Martyrs, and the faith of our forefathers, set up upon
the desecrated altar of the atonement the idol of human
merit, and so establish our own infamy as a people, by
proving before God and man our descent from those apos
tates, who " displeased the Most High God, and kept not
his testimonies ; " * those testimonies contained in his holy,
infallible word — all this savours of unfaithfulness; those
testimonies are in the hands of every man who has eyes to
see, and in the ears of every man who has ears to hear ; they
address him as the brother of his fellow-creatures, as well as
the worshipper of his God ; as a member of the Holy
Catholic Church of Christ, as well as an individual believer ;
* Psalm lxxviii. 97.

14
they constitute him, to a certain extent, a priest as well as a
disciple ; they call upon him, not only to know in whom and
in wnat he believes himself, but to be " very jealous for the
Lord God of Hosts — not to be unequally yoked with unbe
lievers — to try the spirits whether they be of God — to prove
all things — to hold fast that which is good — not to be blown
about with every blast of vain doctrine ; that is, to receive
with meekness the engrafted word." * It may suit the con
venience and satisfy the conscience of some men, perhaps, to
say, that to them, all religions are alike ; but it is plain to
the meanest capacity, that there is only one state in which
such an opinion can be held, and that is, in a state of spiritual
darkness.f If there be such a thing as divine truth, it must
be uniform and not multiform, fixed, and not uncertain.
The man who adopts one particular creed, may through
infirmity or error be wrong in his conclusion ; but the man
who sits down satisfied that all may be equally true, cannot
by any possibility be right ; for this is begging the question
between truth and falsehood ; it is setting at nought the un
questionable decision of the word of God, " He who is not
with me is against me." In opposition to such a spirit, a
true lover of the truth will both satisfy himself in matters of
faith, and when satisfied, ardently desire to teach others, in
what he believes to be the way of life ; the religion of a
man's own heart, founded upon convictions which are the
result of sincere inquiry into revelation, accompanied with
humble prayer for wisdom from above, must necessarily be
the religion which it is his heart's desire and prayer to see
embraced more and more by those who are his brethren upon
* James i. 21.
f Certain Laodiceans and lukewarm persons think they may accommodate
points of religion by middle ways, and taking part of both, and witty reconcile
ments, as if they would make an arbitrament between God and man. Men
create oppositions which are not, and put them into new terms so fixed, as
whereas the meaning ought to govern the term, the term in effect governeth
the meaning. There be also two false peaces or unities ; the one, when the
peace is grounded but upon an implicit ignorance, for all colours will agree in
the dark; the other when it is pieced up upon a direct admission of contraries
m fundamental points ; for truth and falsehood in such things, are like the iron
and clay in the toes of Nebuchadnezzar's image ; they may cleave, but they
will not incorporate.— Lord Bacon's Essay on Unity in Religion.

15
earth; it is altogether monstrous and unnatural to suppose
that he can be indifferent, as a man of vital religion, as to
whether that portion of human society, of which, by birth
and association, he is a member, is friendly or inimical to that
creed which he has solemnly adopted as his own, in which he
vows to live, and anticipates to die. The love of truth is as
intimately connected with a desire for its dissemination, as
the love of God is connected with the love of man. Those
loose, vague, indefinite professions in favour of religion and
morality, which are unaccompanied by the assertion of any
distinct principles on which they are founded, like the primi
tive chaos without the Spirit of God, are " without form and
void." It is easy indeed to give them a plausible name, and
to mould them by a little artifice into a specious and imposing
system ; thus, they who deal in them tell us that they spring
from a liberal and enlightened philanthrophy, and that they
are instigated to the espousal of such opinions by a holy
horror of intolerance in religion. Woe be to that man, who
is not under the influence of that feeling ! But the question
is not whether we are to be intolerant towards those who
dissent from what we believe to be truth, but whether we
are or are not to be zealous for the increase and multiplica
tion of those who assent to that truth and are its declared
friends. When once a religious doctrine has established its
dominion over conviction, it claims a hearty service, and he
is a traitor who refuses it. When a professed reverence for
its truth is contradicted by a practical indifference to its
promulgation, there is strong reason to suspect, and there is
no uncharitableness in suspecting, that this inconsistency is
the result, not of liberality, but of libertinism ; not of a
forbearing and charitable temper towards all religions, but of
an inward determination to espouse the cause of none. Woe
be to England if this shall prove to be her national spirit !
It was not for this that the Lord God Almighty ordained
her to his holy service, robed her in the vestments of the
priestess of divine truth, entrusted to her the mighty talents
of wealth, learning, and dominion, and placing the Gospel of
Jesus in her hands, commanded her to preach it to every
creature. She may be the very Shekinah of the world, and

16
lead the van. of nations in thef, fight, rpf >faithtj-, but, lefr her
defile her: own brightness, and, turn Jierself back in, the day of
battle with the .man^qf sin, let, her^bqw^jU^ider, ins^ea,d,,of
vvithstandi(i^ie,.,"joverflqwings qf. ungodliness ;g" and ,We may
look.fo, see b-er given over to a jiidicial jblindnjess, in ^sfhich,
the iwhjr],wind of rher own, sowing, throqgl}>b,er apostacy, shalj
¦drj.yiB.he,)-, staggering tqw^ards, , fhe,. gulf fl of rperditi on, .pursued
by the .decision and,:contempt of fhp; nations,, tt^e|; exultatipp
of Satan, and, the wra^hijul chastisements of tGjc[d.Cl0rf„..r,I
, Thi$ is fl.o, ,tinre,to haltbetwe/eii,tw;9topjniqnsL.!, T,he, altar
of God, and. the al^ar, pf , BaaLiaxe.before ,nienf(and they must
choose, and, the fjchqice mu,st be prompt ajifj. decisive:; >fuJJ
liberty mu,strey,er ,be accompanied wijh, heavy responsibility.
The religious {freedom which ,God gave to us through our
ancestors, by,m$ansi,.of the never to -be, sufficiently:" blgs^d
reforma|tjpn7 Jias ; only .confirmed, ,£he qfyligatipn to ,'/. prove ,a|l
things, and, hold fa,§t ,|baj wb,ich , jjs; good ; ."' if the icpj^cience
o|f ,., every majj, in, ,t,hjs. country ^Sj.thfijchoqser anc}, .keeper pf
his, faith, it, on^yj makes,, if , more rigidly .^e^.jduty of eyery
man to be fully persuaded in Ids, own.mind, and to^einem^er
that in, whatever he jdpes ,pr rpp^ not,,, a§ , a , .qhprchipanj p,nd
citizen, Sl W^ajeyerj^aqt o,fr, faith, is sin/'^'lt has been
well, remajked.r by pp,e, of the most p)oquenjl;, advocates of
Protestant principles, "Whatever may be, the lot of ;thqse, to
whom error-has been an,iiiheritance, woe be to t^ejmanand
the people to.wimm^itj^i-a^if adoption ; " f and "tenfold will
be the woe,[^ that adpfption take;. place, when, forewarned,
we,, should^, jjiaye been ' forearmed( against the jtemptatip^.
Surely, .when, in ..this our day„,we. jpok ,uppji the, awfully
cpnvujspd st,a^ of Christendom, we , may hear, the'very voice
of ,,%d,, appealing to us, in his pwn words, ' "\ Wisdom ori^th
without, she uttereth her, voice in.the Sheets, s^e^cr'ie't^, in
.%xchief place of cpncourse, in, the. openings, o^the,', gates ;
intthefeityfsh^ uttereth her wpjcds, saying, How 'long, ye
simple^ pnes, ,^ill ye love simplicity, and the .sporn^rsj'delight
in their scorning, .and fools, bate, knowledge ? ( turn you at my
reproof "—and purely iff,all is in vain, if the hand of Gpd is
Stretched' .fq^h day.aftej; day, to a, "disobedient., arid. gain-
¦¦¦'• . .>¦>•< * Dr. Croly. ... ..,,,; :, .

17
saying people "—if the public adoption of error is to take
place, through the lukewarmness,' apathy, or indifference of
those who call themselves after the name of Christ ; if this
abomination is to be committed in the face of warnings
which cannot be mistaken, and signs of the times too por
tentous to be misunderstood; then it is the voice of God
which is unheeded, and the judgment of God must follow ;
we may learn too' late, in the sackcloth and ashes of national
repentance, that our jealous God can vindicate himself, by
suffering our captivity, as well as by' achieving bur deliver
ance. The Same antichrist which once has been cast down
to His glory, may be again set up to our shame ; and then,
when we have hung up bur harps in sorrow, and we sit down
to weep over the ruins of our' dear Zion, how will these
awful words of the outraged Creator wring those false hearts,
which have' betrayed his cause ! " Because I have called, and
ye refused, I have stretched but my ! hand and no man re
garded, but^e have set at nought all my counsel, and wbuld
hbne of my' reproof, I will also mock at your calamity,!
will laugh when your fear cometh."
If the punishment is to ' be averted, our duty must be
done- Protestants must1 rouse themselves and look steadily
in the face this fact, that the Philistines of the age are upon
them ;l 'if1 they will watch, and pray, and strive, they1 may
gain a glorious victory ! But there must be, immediately, a
potent watchword to rally the hosts of God — a certain sound
of the trumpet — intrepid leadership, arid well disciplined
obedience — or the present nibvement will be nothing but a
tumultuous and disorderly insurrection. " A door, great and
effectual," is now opening before the Protestant Church of
England, and if she be not true to herself ahd tb the nations
who look to her, she surely "will receive greater damnation."
She may do for the religion of Europe what British arms
did for her liberty — defend it from the tyrant and the
usurper, and teach over-ambitious statesmen the great moral
lesson which was taught to the ruthless Cbrsican, who wbuld
have enslaved the world, that there is something in that
world greater than themselves, with which they may not
meddle without sealing their own ruin ; in the heart of

18
Europe, confederated against Napoleon, it was liberty ; and
in the heart of the great congregation of Christendom, in the
chief seat of which is our Church, Jt is the Protestant
religion. ,
They who, humanly speaking, were the founders of our
reformed Protestant Church, have bequeathed to us with the
invaluable blessings of her doctrines, the awful responsibility
of her preservation ; and it is only by the zealous, uncom
promising diffusion of those doctrines, by every man in his
vocation and ministry, whatever his station or ability may be,
that that responsibibty can be discharged, or that preservation
secured. If our beloved Church be, indeed the Church of
God, and to teach her doctrines be the work of God— as all
her members, profess to believe, whatever their practice may
be — in the, name, of Gpd, away with the spirit of the
Laodicean ! There is no soft name for the policy which is
neither cpld nor hot. " He that puts his hand to the plough
and lopks back is not fit for the kingdom of God." It is
written, and fearfully written,, " Cursed is he that doeth the
work of the , Lord deceitfully." * If holy men of old died
for our Church, we must live, for her. We must be true to
our trust as they were to theirs. If we would not have the
blood of her martyrs rise up in judgment against us ; if we
would escape the heinous charge of insulting their memories,
while we build their sepulchres and glory in their holy fame ;
if we would not be branded before heaven and earth as
apostates from tha,t, faith delivered, to those blessed saints,
and which they have, delivered to us ; and above all, if we
would be enabled to give, an account hereafter of the much
which has been given us of light and knowledge in spiritual
things ; we must prove; ourselves good stewards of the mani
fold gifts pf God, by treasuring them with holy reverence,
and dispensing them with holy charity ; by glorying in our
faith as the badge of a godly service ; by raising the cross
on high as our ensign among the nations, and our rallying
point among ourselves ; by not only not being ashamed of
the Gospel of Christ, but by maintaining its spiritual presi
dency in the National Councils, in the great family of society,
* Jer. xlviii. 10.

19
and in our domestic discipline ; by founding on its length
and breadth, the whole economy of our legislation, and by
planting and nourishing that tree of life by the side of the
tree of knowledge in our universities and our schools. The
altar of the reformed faith was reared and maintained midst
flames and blood' by its first founders when they were yet
but few in the land ; but this was not done by compromising
with its enemies or pretending to be its friends. The love
of that faith was a national passion. Thb very air breathed
and burned with its spirit; it was the watchword of the
mighty, the inspiration of the eloquent, the sustenance of
the suffering, the energy of the brave ; it was a heaven-born
principle infused into the national soul, ; till rising with a
giant's strength, it burst the prison of ignorance and the
fetters of a spiritual tyranny, and refusing all fellowship
with the works of darkness, put on the armour of light,
confronted the idolater in the Lord's name, and raised the
shibboleth of God and his Christ. " We have heard with
our ears, and our fathers have1 declared unto us, the noble
works which they did in the time of old,"— and we, if we
would preserve what they have bequeathed to us, must
cherish their spirit and imitate their example, by setting
forth, by all legitimate means, scripturally, charitably, but
firmly, the doctrines which they preached, and the truths for
which they died.
When the Roman Catholic Bishop of Rome pretends to
spiritual dominion in my country, and proceeds in his delu
sion to parcel out the land and appoint Roman Catholic
Bishops over it, I see in him only a monstrous schismatic, a
rampant troubler of the Israel of God, who, in God's name,
must be put down. I say to this misguided man at Rome,
this Italian priest demanding allegiance from Protestants and
Englishmen, " By what authority doest thou these things ?
Jesus I know and Paul I know> but who art thou ? not
universal Bishop, for the Great Founder of the Church
appointed no supreme universal head — not certainly the suc
cessor of St. Peter, for it is doubtful whether St. Peter was
ever Bishop of Rome. " The Bishop of Rome, whosoever
or whatever he may be, has no jurisdiction in this realm of

20
England ; " and if he interferes with our Church, or any
other with. which he;has no concern, he is only remarkable as
a notorious disturber of the public peace, and subjects him
self to; apostolical .cen&iBre, nas a busy body in other men's
matters. r And as we refuse to acknowledge Iris authority,
which is not! apostplical, so we reject, and abhor as 'damnable,
hjs doctrines which' are not evangelical, we: are called upon
by the memory -ofnour forefathers, and by our duty to
posterity, to oppose bothy even unto 'death ; let fathers and
mothers , -tell their children ithat^ fbr their sakeS they are
zealous in the Protestant cause, that they would rather leave
theinto beg their bread,) than to be the spiritual slaves and
starvelings of Popish" sftperstition-ftl-wben they bend their
knees in prayer and collect around them their; families, and
households, deft -/them remember that- they cannot lay ftheir
hands, iupon their Bjbljes withoutrremembering that! to pre
serve free. access to.ithat Book of jBodks, rtheir ancestoteshed
their,, blood in thife country,- that the whole; land ii ajmonu-
mentit^ their memory, upon which the fires of persecution
havefbuitot, their names— and let tthem bring 1all> their social
and political relations to bear upon the conservation of their
great' and, precious trust — the voice of <fhe people, which; in
this, case,. I believe to be the voice, of God, must tell' the
throne,: the House of Lords, and the House of Commons,
jbhafc the present question. : is one of life and death — let this
be, dbne hpriestly, rfearlesslypemphatically, and itiwill -Belong
tp ,a future age to; say, in looking back upon the proceedings
of pur^ times, -that -it is indeed a1 glorious : record in the
archives of England, which tells us how truth was mighty
and did prevail — we owe thet preservation an-d enjoyment of
the,, civil aftd religious privileges of our Protestant "constitu-
tionj to the independent, determined Christian patriots of
1:8,50.., ' ,- !".¦¦-' -
But perhaps it may be said, that the line of conduct be
coming or necessary foiva number of believers under perse
cution for their faith, may be improper and unnecessary for
a Church recognised and established by law; The answer is,
that the establishment of 4he > reformed Protestant Church
bylaw as the religion of the State, still leaves, it on the

21
defensive. The opposition, in defiance of which it was
established, is now directed against that establishment as
strongly as it was against its origin 'and progress ; the ark
rests, byithe blessing pfGod, on ibejmouhtaih-top : but the
waters rhavei not subsided"; they -rage, and; swell, and strive
to rise. The dove of conciliation has been sent forth ; but
she fottnd.no resting plade^and she has returned without the
olive-branch of pbace. No-- -compromise — no concession — -
are; thehwatohwdrds' of ¦< the Roman "Catholic Church: she
ceases> hot— rshe never rhas+xseased^tot' agitate1, to -argue; to
preach, to proselytize' 'agahist'^the Protestant Church of all
Christendom; and $o? long as the evil day lasteth, that Church
must everywhere be Vigilant and zealbuk tp nieet this aggres
sion. "Let those;,1 then!, >wbG-iWPuld:> save !the citadel1 rush to
the raniparts;;: let hot the lesson be thrown -aWay, which
saeiqedl history places before ' us, in the case of i doomed
Jerusalem, ; of .external attack,' : aggravated1 and 'assisted by
internal faction ; and when they take -their i station '-'Upon1 the
battlements, let 'the soldiers of Christ 'look' tb' their ranks.
There is : nb ; time more favourable for the- attack of the
enemies of God's people; than when " Ephraim envies Judah,
and ; Judah Vexes Lphraim;"* Let it: never be said; " The
work' is great and-large,^and wd are separated upon the1 wall,
one far from another "< f b We must have - union 1 strength,
Christian i purposes, and la Ghristian ; spirit ;; we must have a
contribution and subscription of the money, time, -talents,
and,! above allv 'of the prayers of Protestant Christians -\ and
then " the. Lord of Hosts will be with) us ; the God of Jacob
will be our refuge, and we shall not miscarry.';' 3- !o 89vin3
'i There- is a scriptural xubric,- so to speak, to regulate the
service- of ns -all, " Whatsoever ye dp, do all to the glbry of
God." % ,(.{' Is it riot a shame_ (writes one of the good old
pillars of the Church, Bishop Jeremy Taylor) that the people
should be filled withlsermbni against'G'erenioniesj and decla-
matipns against: a rSurplice ? 'W' The kingdom of God con
sists in wisdom and righteousness, in peace and holiness, in
meekness and gentleness, in. chastity. and purity, in abstinence
from evil and doing good to •¦ others." These things' are
* Isiah xi. 13. aVc + Nehemiah iv. 19. :; S! \ 1 Cor. x. 31.

" profitable to men and pleasing to God." Practising and
promoting such things is God's work : it is arduous, for
"there are many adversaries:"* we should therefore be
" strong in the Lord, and in the power of his might." f
But to be strong we must be united ; we must all labour and
pray together ; to glory in the cross, whether in victory or in
trial, belongs only to those to whom that cross is a badge of
fellowship as well as an ensign of faith : we are not properly
Christians, until we are fellow Christians : let us endeavour
to become and to continue so, as ministers, and people, and
brethren in every good word and work, " Let us follow
after the things which make for peace, and things wherewith
one may edify another," J remembering that our Christian
neighbourship comprises " high, low, rich, and poor, one
with another.'- Thus engaged, we shall have neither time
nor inclination for foolish and unlearned questions ; but
"according to the measure of the rule which God hath
distributed to us," § shall we fill our place in the great body
of the Catholic Apostolic Church, watching and labouring,
as good and faithful servants of our Lord and Master, in the
unity of the spirit and the bond of peace. The Church to
which we belong, I believe, never was firmer, holier, or
wiser in spiritual things than she is now. Let us show that
it is our desire and aim to keep her in tins state, remember
ing that " we are not sufficient of ourselves to do anything
as of ourselves, but our sufficiency is of God ; " in a word,
that we have " trust through Christ to God- ward ; " and let
us show this faith in our Prince and Saviour, by our works.
If we believe that the Lord will not be wanting to us, let us
not be wanting to ourselves, and beware of that state which
is " neither cold nor hot." As members of that Church, we
must be firm when assailed ; patient when tried ; meek when
reviled ; acting like men, but doing all things with charity ;
refraining from all carnal weapons, knowing that such cannot
work the righteousness of God. Let us endeavour to make
our Church the spiritual mother of our people. Let us give
diligence to add to the number of her Christian institutions ;
to multiply and enlarge our schools ; to provide folds and
* 1 Cor. xvi. 9. t Eph. vi. 10. + Rom. xiv. 19. § 2 Cor. x. 13.

shepherds for the flock at home ; and to send forth her mis
sionaries abroad into the moral wildnerness of idolatry and
superstition. These will be ever practical proofs of her
spirit, and practical arguments in favour of her preservation,
worth all the eloquence of her preachers, the reasoning of
her advocates, and the learning of her divines. Such zeal
would be conservative of all her best interests for the present,
and, under God's blessing, will enable us to transmit her,
entire in her structure, unmutilated in her beauty, and unim
paired in her usefulness, to our children and our children's
children, as their glory and joy in the Lord. This will we
do — God being our helper — " Prosper thou the work of our
hands upon us, oh prosper thou our handy work."
But that we may prosper in our character of a Protestant
Church militant against Popery, our watchwords must be,
" Be sober and watch unto prayer." And we must never be
lulled into a false security ; we are warned by an apostle,
that " our adversary the devil, as a roaring lion, walketh
about seeking whom he may devour ; " and he consequently
exhorts, " Be sober, be vigilant." Satan, whom we have to
combat in many shapes, we have specially to withstand in
Popery ; in that system he is embodied in his essential
character — the destroyer, the liar, the murderer from the
beginning, the deceiver who makes lies to secure victims, a
monstrous ravager of society, combining the predatory habits
of the tiger with the cunning of the serpent, crouching but
ready to spring — such is Popery. Let us not, then, be
misled by the equivocations of evil men and seducers,
whether Papists or Semi-Papists, as to her real character.
The father of lies has many lying children, who put bitter
for sweet and sweet for bitter, darkness for light and light
for darkness, to deceive unstable souls ; with these men,
" The Mother of Harlots " is our erring sister, and they
would seduce us, by an appeal to our charity, to call her
abominations by smooth names ; but the charity which would
sacrifice truth is not worthy of a Christian, and is not taught
by Christ. We are bound to be firmly severe upon sin and
error, and personally offensive to the devil their parent. The
Church of Rome loudly protests that she is both apostolical

24
and evangelical, let us ever as loudly deny her assertion, and
claim the belief of all men, for we appeal to proofs, that she
is schismatical, anti-christian, and idolatrous. She professes
that she is both able and willing to give to mankind the
bread of everlasting life, and true gospel liberty ; we should
cry aloud, and spare not, testifying, that whether or not her
voice be heard in the streets, her real character is one of
blasphemous tyranny — that she is the modern Nebuchad
nezzar, a burner of Bibles, a would be burner of men, and a
setter up of the images of idolatry — that she would extend
her pale only to provide a vast dungeon for the captivity and
starvation of the souls of men — that her machinery, open or
secret, is wheel within wheel for mischief— that her nature is
as monstrous as her tenets, a poison within a poison, working
her own final destruction, while it infests all around her.
The signs of the times are full of warning ; whereunto
things will grow none can tell. The past has been a mistake,
the present is a regret, but if we do not quit us like men
and be strong, the future may be despair. Watchmen of
God, to your towers, and be not found sleeping when the
Philistines are upon us. Let us dare the enemies of the
Protestant faith even to think their evil ; let us tell them we
hold them but as high traitors to God, and, therefore, fear
them not, for our cause is God's cause, and he will defend it.
Let us have our chief captains and mighty men for the
conflict — our scribes learned in holy writ for disputation, our
councillors with strong reasons for the senate — above all, our
congregations for prayer : but let one word be said to all —
a word of God— Watch.

8. WEST, PBINTEH, BI1IDGWATEK,