too, you are equally at a loss; you cannot venture to attempt even this; you neither know the Scriptures, nor do your priests know them. When you hold your conferences, and meet together, it is on Dens's Theology you confer, and not on God's holy word; therefore, you are blind and ignorant guides. You can bring forward the sophistries and falsehoods of such a system as Dens, and fight with such weapons, which are the weapons of Satan, in defence of those superstitions which your church imposes on men for Christianity; but you know nothing of the Bible; you cannot teach the people God's eternal word, nor tell them how their immortal souls are to be saved. You gave them one interpretation of the Scripture as infallible in the Rhemish notes; they bought it on your authority, and now you desert your own commentary, you abandon your infallibility, and you have the hardihood to deny it all in their presence. Then give them a true interpretation, even of this small portion of Scripture, give your church's interpretation if you have it, and your creed be true; give your own if you have it not, and if you confess your creed is false. "I call on you now to redeem the truth of your statements in your Catholic annals, and answer this if you can. If your own diocese cannot furnish you with priests competent to do so, you are quite welcome to take Mr. Maguire into your aid, and put him forward if you like, and get him to answer this; and state to the public what you can do, or your priests can do, or he can do. I write this for a double purpose:-First, to prove to the Roman Catholics the awful system of imposition that is put on them, as if it were the Christian religion. "Secondly, to prove to the Protestants, and most especially to the Protestant clergy, that if they will stand out with plain fidelity, and take the Holy Scriptures, and challenge all the Popish bishops and priests from North to South of Ireland to come out, and prove your creed to the people, and to give an interpretation of God's holy word, they will, with God's blessing, open the eyes of the people to see the falsehood of Papal superstition, and break that yoke of sin, and darkness, and Satan off the neck of the unhappy people of Ireland. I just leave you one word for your private reflection. If you dare not stand this test, as a man who calls yourself a minister of Christ before men, how-O! think how-with your grey hairs bending to the grave, how will you appear before the bar of the living God? May that God deliver you and the Roman Catholics of this poor wretched land from this yoke of darkness and sin! “This, sir, is the sincere prayer of their faithful friend and servant, "R. J. M'GHEE. "April, 10th, 1837." To this letter, as might be expected, Dr. Murray did not venture to reply; and the same prudent determination to avoid, and as far as possible to prevent, any investigation of the truth, led to the publication of the following unnoticed appeal, which had been made to him by the Committee of the Liverpool Protestant Association, and which was published in the Evening Mail of April 17: "To the Members of the Liverpool Protestant Association. "Liverpool, 16th April, 1837. "In consequence of a publication, by a Roman Catholic Archbishop, resident in Dublin, your Committee are induced to address to you, and through you to the members of the Church generally, a few lines explanatory of the following letter. "In the publication referred to, Dr. Murray charged the Homilies of the Church of England with faults as gross as any to be found in Dens's Theology. Such a charge, emanating from such a quarter, could not fail to attract attention: It was brought before your committee, and, after due consideration, a resolution was unani mously adopted, that the following letter, signed by the Secretaries on behalf of the Committee, should be sent to Dr. Murray. "A gentleman in Dublin kindly undertook to deliver it at the Archbishop's house, and to wait for at least such a verbal answer through the servant, as would give certainty that Dr. Murray himself had received the letter. He did so on the 18th of February, and now, on the 16th of April, the charge has been neither defended nor withdrawn. "Under these circumstances your Committee feel themselves fully justified in publishing the letter. 66 Signed, by order of the Committee, THOMAS FORSYTH, Secretaries. "MOSES EDWARDS, "TO THE MOST REV. DR. MURRAY, &c. &c. &c. "Liverpool, 18th January, 1837. "MOST REV. SIR,-In your late address to the clergy under your government, there occurs the following passage : "Of the recommendation which I thus publicly avow, I beg respectfully to make a present, as a precious subject of vituperation, to whoever may choose to issue another veracious pamphlet in the name of the Lord Bishop of Exeter. I may, however, be allowed to couple with it the observation, that until the Church of England shall have reformed its Book of Homilies, and the Church of Scotland its Confession, no one of either communion has a right to utter one word against the publication or the reading of Dens.' "Protestants accuse Dens's Theology' of inculcating maxims of intolerance and persecution. "In your expression is implied the assertion, that the Homilies of the Church of England and the Confession of the Church of Scotland are equally culpable. "This assertion, on the part of our Association, we hereby denounce as a groundless calumny; and to leave no room for evasion or subterfuge in a matter in which the public are deeply concerned, we offer the following challenge : "We undertake to meet you by two authorised deputies, on ten days' notice, either in Dublin or Liverpool, in the face of any audience, of which one-half shall be Roman Catholic gentlemen, and the other half Protestant gentlemen; and although we do not claim for any human composition the character of perfection, yet, against such a relative charge as you have advanced, we engage to defend any part of the Book of Homilies you may choose to name, on condition that you, or any Roman Catholic bishop, or priest, delegated by you, shall first translate into the English tongue, in the hearing of the audience, such passages from the Tractatus de Matrimonio, in the 7th vol., and from the instructions in regard to the Confessional, in the 6th vol. of Dens,' as we shall point out. It being understood, that when you shall have fulfilled this simple condition, and that we shall have closed our vindication of the Book of Homolies, you shall then be held bound to defend Dens's Theology from the charge we bring against it, of teaching intolerance and persecution. The passages specified as those we shall require you to translate in the hearing of the audience, we shall not call on you to defend, as on this head we require nothing more than that the public should know what a record of infamy you are not ashamed to avow that you have recommended to your priests as their safest guide.' "We have the honour to be, "Most reverend Sir, "Your obedient, humble Servants, "Signed, by order of the Committee of the Protestant Association, "THOMAS FORSYTH, Secretaries." "MOSES EDWARDS, The next movement in the controversy was a Fifth Public Meeting in Exeter Hall. 492 FIFTH MEETING AT EXETER HALL. Held May 27, 1857. On Saturday, May 27th, 1837, a Meeting was held at the Exeter Hall, appointed by the Committee of the Protestant Association: the Rev. R. J. M'Ghee and the Rev. Mortimer O'Sullivan attended, and exhibited a variety of documents, especially the Secret Diocesan Statutes of the Roman Catholic Bishops, and other interesting particulars. At a very early hour there was a very numerous and respectable assembly, and during the proceedings of the Meeting the Hall became crowded to excess. Amongst other gentlemen of respectability and distinction, there were present Lord Barnard; the Dean of Ardagh; Rev. T. Boys; Rev. T. Griffith; Rev. W. Slatterie; Rev. Dr. Holloway; Rev. A. S. Thelwall; Rev. T. E. Williams; Rev. R. L. Connell; Rev. J. R. Page; Rev. Josiah Pratt; Rev. G. Kennard; Rev. Mr. Francis; Rev. James Hugh; Rev. P. Simpson; Rev. W. Faught; Rev. Butler; Rev. H. Way; Rev. J. Mannering; Rev. A. Louis; Rev. F. H. Rowan; Rev. J. Bowers; Rev. H. H. Beamish; Rev. R. Bell; Rev. T. P. Wright; Rev. J. Thompson; Rev. La Flache; Rev. T. Bentley; Rev. Dr. Niblock; Rev. Hodgson; Rev. J. R. Major; Rev. J. J. Slocum; Rev. A. W. Cane; J. Hardy, Esq., M. P.; Captain Gordon; George Finch, Esq., M. P.; Lord Kenyon; Lord Ashley, M. P.; Hon. James King; Hon. H. B. Bernard; Hon. and Rev. C. Bernard; The Chisholm, M. P.; Emerson Tennant, M. P.; Dr. Pidduck. At twelve o'clock precisely the chair was taken by J. P. Plumptre, Esq. M. P., who said that the Meeting had assembled for so important a purpose that he was sure they were desirous to commence their proceedings in a proper spirit, and he would call on the Rev. Dr. Holloway to address a prayer to Almighty God for divine direction. The Rev. Dr. Holloway in a most solemn and impressive manner offered a suitable and earnest prayer. The Chairman again rose and said, that at the request of the Com mittee he had consented to preside on the present occasion. There were many present much better qualified to fill the chair than he was. He had no pretensions to occupy so distinguished a station, but the hearty and deep-felt interest which he felt in the subject which had caused them to assemble, and his sincere anxiety to maintain and forward Protestant principles throughout the country, and to resist in every fair and legitimate way the encroachments of the Romish Church. He was sure that the blessings of Him, without whom nothing could be happy or prosperous, would crown their exertions. He was sure that there never could be happiness in a country which fostered and encouraged a religion which denounced and limited the use of the Holy Scriptures, those Scriptures which had been bestowed by their Divine Author for the instruction, the edification, the consolation, and salvation of his creatures. They were bound to oppose that system which held up the opinions and the traditions of men in opposition to the precepts of the Word of God. It was their duty in this country and in these times to do all they could to exhibit in its true colours the real character of the religion of the Church of Rome. Influenced by such feelings, and by conviction of the importance of these objects, he had felt it his duty on former occasions to attend their meetings, and on the present occasion to take the post which had been assigned to him. He considered that their gratitude was highly due to those reverend friends who had come from Ireland to make them acquainted with many facts which were previously unknown to them. He begged, in conclusion, to ask whether Mr. O'Connell or Mr. Sheil, who had been invited to attend, were present to dispute any fact or document submitted to the attention of the meeting. The Rev. R. J. M'Ghee, on presenting himself, was hailed with repeated cheers. As soon as they had subsided, he said :-Mr. Chairman, when I landed at Liverpool on Tuesday morning, on going into the hotel, a gentleman who accompanied me happened to take up a paper, and observed, "I see your Meeting of Saturday is attacked here." I begged the gentleman to read the paragraph; and as it is one which not only concerns my Rev. Brother and myself, but materially affects this meeting and all England, I will, with your permission, read it to the audience. It is extracted from the Sun of May 19. After some compliments to my Rev. Brother and myself, it proceeds : "The course which these men have pursued is quite alien to the feelings and habits of Englishmen; and perhaps nothing but religious bigotry could make the people so far forget their national predilections in favour of even-handed justice, and fair play even to an enemy, as to countenance such atrocious proceedings. If they would consult their reason for a moment, they would see the injustice, the cruelty, and the diabolical wickedness, of summoning a public meeting for the purpose of calumniating one-third of the people of the United Kingdom, without allowing them to say one word in their defence. It is singular enough, that this is the only country, perhaps, in which a practice so incompatible with the usual habits of the people could be carried on with impunity. In France such firebrands would be expelled the country-in Russia a repetition of the offence would doom them to the wilds of Siberia-and in America the people would most probably take the law into their own hands. In England alone, where the people have been so long famed for their love of justice, obedience to the law, and religious feeling, it is permitted for one sect to heap insult upon another, and create the most deadly feud between men whom, whether in a religious or political view, it ought to be the object of all governments to induce to live in peace and harmony." Let us now examine this document-" The course which these men have pursued is quite alien to the feelings and habits of Englishmen!" What! Is the discussion of truth upon a public platform "alien to the feelings and habits of Englishmen ?" Is the discussion of truth in a free press "alien to the feelings and habits of Englishmen ?" Are the English to pride themselves on the public discussion, the bold investigation of every subject connected with their liberties, their properties, and their laws?—and is religion the one subject alone on which they are to be silent? Is it to be "alien to the feelings and habits of Englishmen," to discuss the truth of God upon a public platform? But what is the "atrocity of these proceedings ?" This writer tells us," If they would consult their reason for a moment, they would see the injustice, the cruelty, and the diabolical wickedness of summoning a public meeting for the purpose of calumniating one-third of the people of the United Kingdom, without allowing them to say one word in their defence." Now, I boldly deny, on the part of my Rev. Brother and myself, that we stand here to "calumniate" our Roman Catholic countrymen. I stand here, before my God, as their faithful, devoted, uncompromising friend. I seek not intolerance and persecution, but light-truth-liberty-salvation, for the Roman Catholics of Ireland. If this is to "calumniate" them, then I will be their calumniator. I wish them every blessing that I can enjoy myself. Let but the cruel and intolerant laws of papal tyranny be repealed, and then the Roman Catholics of Ireland will be free and happy; then, (for since Mr. O'Connell has not thought fit to appear, I will venture to borrow his familiar distich,) "Then Ireland shall be, great, glorious, and free, But this writer adds, "without allowing them to say one word in their defence." I appeal, not only to this Meeting, but to the candour and |