555

BRISTOL PROTESTANT MEETING.

Held Monday June 12, 1837.

As it had been announced, by public advertisement, that a meeting of the friends and members of the Established Church would be held on Monday, June 12th, at the Horticultural Rooms, at the top of Park-street, at which the Rev. Robert J. M'Ghee and the Rev. Mortimer O'Sullivan were to attend, much interest was excited among the most respectable and influential inhabitants of the vicinity to hear the statements of these Rev. Gentlemen; and though the extreme wetness of the day prevented many who would have been anxious to come to the meeting, yet, before the proceedings had gone very far, there were above a thousand persons assembled.

Soon after the clock struck twelve, which was the hour appointed, Henry Charles Harford, Esq. was called to the chair, who requested the Rev. G. H. Walsh to open the meeting with a prayer. When the Rev. Gentleman had concluded, the Chairman addressed the meeting as follows:

I rise to state that it was for some time hoped that Mr. Daniel would have presided at this meeting; but, as absence from home prevents him, I can only regret the circumstance in common with yourselves; and having been requested to take the chair, I will endeavour to do my duty in it to the best of my ability. I have seen enough of Ireland to know how necessary it is for every man who loves his country to come forward and to do all that lies in his power to abridge the baneful influence of the Church of Rome. I have been in the house of one of the most excellent and loyal Protestants in the county of Cork, when it has not been considered prudent to say before the servants that the peasantry of Ireland had an undoubted right to read the Bible. (Hear.) Lord J. Russell, when he was in this city, stated that he believed the demoralized condition of Ireland to arise from want of education among the lower orders. Now, my friends, I am persuaded that had his lordship been much in that country, he would have found that the peasantry, on all subjects unconnected with religion, were as well informed as the labourers of this country, indeed

in some parts much better. I even found peasants in the mountains of Kerry who understood Latin; and I will answer for it, that if ten Irish labourers were taken and ten English, and examined on any secular subject, the Irish would give the better answers. But, my friends, they are not educated in the principles or the morality of the Bible, they are educated in the principles and morality of Dens' Theology; and till this is altered, Ireland must remain in the degraded state in which she is at present.-(Cheers.) Can we call Great Britain a free country, whilst more than four millions of our fellow subjects dare not open a book on which their eternal salvation depends? Can we call Ireland a free nation while such doctrines as these are taught-namely, that all baptized schismatics-that is, that all Protestants, may be compelled by corporal punishment to return to the Catholic faith and the unity of the church? Can we call Ireland a free country where Protestants, when an opportunity occurs, as in the rebellion of 1798, are massacred without distinction of age or sex, and where now Protestant clergymen are in such danger that they cannot effect an insurance on their lives? Is not this a state of things, my friends, which is a disgrace to any country calling itself Christian? Should not every one who has the good of mankind at heart, do all that lies in his power to get it altered? Let us not think that it is other persons' business to do this— let us ourselves rouse the apathetic, encourage the zealous, and, especially, at every election, whether we are Whigs or whether we are Tories, let us resolve to support no candidate who will not pledge himself to oppose every measure which will place more power in the hands of the Church of Rome.-(Cheers.) Our brave forefathers died for their religion amidst the fires of Smithfield, to gain for us the inestimable blessing of the Reformation. Let us come forward like men, and never cease from our exertions till every free-born Briton may read his Bible without the fear of being persecuted for doing so.-(Renewed cheers.)

Permit me now to call on the Rev. Robert M'Ghee.

The Rev. R. M'Ghee was received with loud and long-continued cheers. When they had subsided the Rev. Gentleman commenced as follows:

Mr. Chairman-As I do not believe that there is any occasion for which a public meeting can be convened within the precincts of the British empire of deeper importance to the temporal and spiritual interests of its inhabitants than that for which we are this day asembled-namely, to consider the real character and principles of the Church of Rome, I feel the less difficulty in soliciting your deep and earnest attention to the facts and documents to be submitted to you.

of

You are not called on to hear declamatory harangues against the errors of the Church of Rome, but to give your calm and deliberate attention to a tissue of evidence on which you will be called to pass a verdict. I shall call on you to pass resolutions which not only deeply involve the character of the Church of Rome, and the spiritual interest of Roman Catholics, but your own solemn duties as Protestants; and I trust you will so feel the irresistible cogency the proofs to be laid before you, that on reading those resolutions at a future day you will be each enabled to lay your hands upon your hearts and say, that however painful it may have been to you to pronounce the sentence you have passed, you did it on the most clear, conclusive testimony, that carried along with it your understanding, your judgment, and your conscience. I am about to lay before you a statement of the principles of the Church of Rome, in connexion with her utter disregard of the solemn obligation of an oath. I shall not now enter on that part of the subject which involves the violation of that obligation by the Romish members of parliament. But I shall exhibit to you the character and conduct of those men at whose feet they have been brought up-who have inculcated the principles which actuate them in the crime they have committed-who furnish at the same time the iniquitous code of doctrines which lead to its perpetration, and the awful illustration of their doctrines by their own example I mean the Roman Catholic bishops of Ireland. In the year 1826, these men drew up a declaration and an oath, by which they professed to lay before the Protestants of this empire their real principles; this oath has been again reprinted and paraded before the nation in the Dublin Review for last April, and if you will now permit me, I will request my reverend friend, Mr. Tottenham, to read for the meeting that part of their oath which relates to the principles they profess in reference to their Protestant sovereign, and their Protestant fellow-subjects.

The Rev. Mr. Tottenham rose and said, I will read, with your permission, the portion of the Roman Catholic Archbishops' and Bishops's Declaration and Oath which have been marked by my Rev. Brother. It commences with stating the objects for which it was given to Pro

testants.

Declaration and Oath of the Archbishops and Bishops of the Roman Catholic Church in Ireland.

"At a time when the spirit of calm inquiry is abroad, and men seems anxious to resign those prejudices through which they viewed the doctrines of others, the archbishops and bishops of the Roman Catholic church in Ireland avail themselves with pleasure of this dispassionate tone of the public mind to exhibit a simple and correct view of those tenets that are most frequently misrepresented. If it pleased

the Almighty that the Catholics of Ireland should be doomed to continue in the humbled and degraded condition in which they are now placed, they will submit with resignation to the Divine will. The prelates, however, conceive it a duty which they owe to themselves as well as to their Protestant fellow subjects, whose good opinion they value, to endeavour once more to remove the false imputations that have been frequently cast upon the faith and discipline of that church which is entrusted to their care, that all may be enabled to know with accuracy the genuine principles of those men who are proscribed by law from any participation in the honours, dignities, and emoluments of the state."

This, said Mr. Tottenham, is the prefatory passage, declaratory of the object and intention with which this declaration and oath were given. I pass over those parts that relate to the religious faith of the Church of Rome, as professed by these prelates, and come to the parts in which they profess their principles respecting Protestants.

"The Catholics of Ireland not only do not believe, but they declare, upon oath, that they detest, as unchristian and impious, the belief that it is lawful to murder or destroy any person or persons whatsoever, for, or on pretence of their being heretics. They further declare, on oath, their belief that no act in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can ever be justified or excused by or under the pretence or colour that it was done either for the good of the church, or in obedience to any ecclesiastical power whatsoever; that it is not an article of the Catholic faith, neither are they required to believe that the Pope is infallible; and that they do not hold themselves bound to obey any order in its own nature immoral, though the pope or any ecclesiastical power should issue or direct such an order; but, on the contrary, that it would be sinful in them to pay any respect or obedience thereto. "The Catholics of Ireland swear, that they will be faithful and bear true allegiance to our Most Gracious Sovereign Lord King George the Fourth; that they will maintain, support, and defend, to the utmost of their power, the succession of the crown in his majesty's family against any person or persons whatsoeverutterly renouncing aud abjuring any obedience or allegiance to any other person claiming or pretending a right to the crown of these realms; that they renounce, reject, and abjure the opinion that princes excommunicated by the pope's council, or by any authority of the see of Rome, or by any authority whatsoever, may be deposed and murdered by their subjects, or by any person whatsoever; and that they do not believe that the pope of Rome, or any other foreign prince, prelate, state, or potentate, hath or ought to have any temporal or civil jurisdiction, power, superiority, or pre-eminence, directly or indirectly, within this realm. They further solemnly, and in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that they make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words of their oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatsoever, or without any dispensation already granted by the pope, or any authority of the see of Rome, or any person whatever, or without thinking that they are or can be acquitted before God or man, or absolved of this declaration or any part thereof, although the pope, or any person or persons, or authority whatsoever, shall dispense with or annul the same, or declare that it was null and void from the beginning.

"After this full, explicit, and sworn declaration, we are utterly at a loss to conceive on what possible ground we could justly be charged with bearing towards our most gracious sovereign only a divided allegiance.

"The Catholics of Ireland far from claiming any right or title to forfeited lands resulting from any right, title, or interest, which their ancestors may have had therein, declare upon oath, that they will defend, to the utmost of their power, the settlement and arrangement of property in this country as established by the laws now in being. They also disclaim, disavow and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert the present Church establishment, for the purpose of substituting a Ca

tholic establishment in its stead. And further, they swear they will not exercise any privilege to which they are or may be entitled to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, and Protestant government in Ireland.

"Signed by all the Roman Catholic bishops in Ireland, and dated Dublin, 25th January, 1826.

When Mr. Tottenham had concluded the reading of the oath, Mr. M'Ghee recommenced as follows :

You will observe there are here nine distinct heads or principles on which these men profess to give their oath to the Protestants of the empire.

1st. They detest as impious and unchristian the belief that it is lawful to murder or destroy any persons on the pretence that they are heretics.

2nd. They abhor the doctrine that no faith is to be kept with heretics.

3rd. They say that no act in itself unjust, immoral, or wicked, can be justified, under the pretence that it is done for the good of the church.

4th. That it is no article of their faith that the Pope is infallible.

5th. They abjure the principle that princes excommunicated by the See of Rome may be deposed and murdered by their subjects. 6th. They deny that the Pope has any temporal power, directly or indirectly, within the realm.

7th. They declare that they make their oath on the plain and ordinary sense of the words, without any equivocation or mental reservation, or expecting any dispensation for it from the Pope.

8th. They renounce all claim and title to forfeited property in Ireland, and give their oath that they will defend the existing settlement of property, as by law established.

9th. They renounce all intention of subverting the Church Establishment, and swear they will never take any step to weaken or disturb it. This is their oath.

Now, if I can shew you to the most conclusive demonstration, that at the time these men were giving this oath to the Protestants of the British empire, and pledging themselves to the principles, contained in it, they had been for eighteen years before this inculcating a system of theology secretly into their priests, by which every article of this oath is proved to be untrue-if I can prove to you that this theology is adopted by them to this day-that the priests are drilled in the study of it, and that, too, as the instrument whereby they are to instruct the people-if I can shew you that for thirteen years before they gave this oath a Bible was printed, and sold privately to subscribers only, with a pretended infallible com