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Suppose, for instance, twenty Amendments were duly drafted, and twenty Irish Members were engaged to address the House on the merits of each of them. Each amendment might be made to occupy at least one night at a very mode

rate calculation, and making no allowance for Motions of adjournment. Supposing, then, that the Bill were to occupy three nights a week, twenty Amendments at one night each would occupy seven weeks of the public time, and constitute a very formidable amount of delay and impediment.

"Besides this, it is the duty of the Irish Members to be obstructive in every other department of public business; to dabble in finance, law reform, colonial

reform, foreign affairs, and to occupy

the time of the House as much as pos

sible with questions, Motions, Amend

ments, speeches, and the other manœuvres of a Parliamentary guerilla. On this subject a word to the wise ought to be sufficient. When the Government employs itself in giving us, not protection, but pains and penalties for our religion, and threats of further penalties, if we do not consent to embrace damnation for our children, in such form as Lord John

Russell chooses to set forth, we can have but one public function in the State, and

that is to obstruct."

Now we think it must be evident to every one who is capable of considering the nature of government, and the proper position of an efficient legislature, that no one ought to be suffered, or would be suffered in any well-governed country, to publish unrebuked such language as this; unless, indeed, it could be safely affirmed, that the parties who utter it are too contemptible to merit or obtain the slightest notice. But is this the case?

The language we have quoted is, indeed, only the language of an anonymous writer in a newspaper. But that newspaper assumes to be the organ of the Roman Catholics of this country, and to speak the sentiments of the whole party. We have not heard that it has been repudiated, disclaimed, or condemned, by the Romanists of Great Britain. These, or a large portion of them, have, indeed, recently made a great profession of loyalty. They have sent an address to her Majesty, in which they

talk of the loyalty of the Roman Catholics of this country; and in which they complain much, as if they were greatly wronged, when their loyalty, as British subjects, is questioned or impeached. Those who know anything about the real principles of the Church of Rome, would readily understand what is the worth and value of such professions. They know very well, that the most abundant professions of loyalty may be made, when there is most of treason in their hearts. But let this be noted: when "The Tablet" published such language, a fair occasion was given to all the Romanists in the land to evince their

loyalty,-if they really had any. They ought to have been but too happy to avail themselves of it, by coming forward, as one man, to condemn such sentiments; and, by the unmistakeable evidence of their loyal indignation, to compel their professed organ to change its tone. Has either their vaunted loyalty, or their regard to the decent appearance of it, induced them to do so? If not, what can we conclude, but that the great body of the Romanists in Great Britain at least tacitly approve of the course which "The Tablet" recommends, and concur in the advice which it gives? We have no doubt there are many exceptions; that there are many among the Roman Catholic laity who cordially disapprove of such language. But do even these dare to come forward, and proclaim their disapproval in the face of the whole world? Are they not afraid to do so? and is not the reason this, that their priests will not allow them?

But more than this: Is there not reason to conclude, from what has already occurred in the House of Commons, with reference to the Ecclesiastical Titles Bill, that this advice will be taken? or rather that the publication of such language in "The Tablet" is only an indication of the course which had already been marked out and resolved upon by the Romish party in that House? And, if so, is it not high time for us to begin to reflect very seriously upon the effects of the Popish Bill of 1829? and on the position in which it has placed us?

THE PRESENT POSITION OF PARTIES IN PARLIAMENT.

That act of our legislature threw open our British Parliament to the intrusion of avowed Papists: that is to say, it has, as a mere matter of fact, allowed some fifty members of the Church of Rome to take their seats in the British House of Commons. Who and what are these, if we truly look the matter in the face? They are, to all intents and purposes, the nominees of a foreign and hostile potentate, the instruments and slaves of the slaves and instruments of the Bishop of Rome. That most of them are the mere nominees of the Romish bishops and priests in Ireland, is a fact too obvious and notorious to need proof: and if any one will read, and intelligently study, the oaths which are taken by Popish bishops and priests, he will clearly see, that those priests and bishops are neither more nor less than the mere vassals and liegemen of the Pope,-bound to him by the strictest oath of feudal fealty that the wit of man was ever able to devise.

We have had a Reform Bill, of which one of the avowed purposes was, to put down the nomination of Members of the House of Commons by noblemen and gentlemen, who had a stake in the country, and who were loyal subjects of the Sovereign of these realms,-to whom they rendered no doubtful or divided allegiance. But the Reform Bill did not interfere with or put down the nomination of Members of that House by the Pope or his vassals:-nay, rather, it gave increased facilities to such nomination; and it gave those nominees increased influence in the House. There are about fifty of them,-mere puppets in the hands of Romish priests, partly, perhaps, blind and irrational instruments, guided and overruled by a power which they do not well understand, but which they dare not resist; and partly, no doubt, very willing and eager instruments, to do their bidding, and promote their objects, with their whole heart and mind. But all of them, as true and faithful liegemen of the Church of Rome, must count it a part of their religion,—

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spiritual pastors and masters shall see fit to enjoin it; for they owe a spiritual allegiance to the Pope, and only a temporal allegiance to the Queen:

2. To violate the most solemn oaths and engagements, whenever the interests of their apostate Church demand it,-for, according to the sixteenth Canon of the third Lateran Council, "Those are not to be called oaths, but rather perjuries, which are taken contrary to ecclesiastical utility and the institutions of the Fathers;" and the Council of Constance teaches them that no faith is to be kept with heretics :

3. To persecute and murder all those whom their apostate Church denounces as heretics. We will not here pause to give the proofs, though it would be easy to accumulate them: (See A Statement of Facts respecting the instruction given to the Students for the Romish Priesthood at Maynooth, pp. 9-22):

4. To throw this whole kingdom into confusion, by clogging the wheels of Government, and obstructing all the proceedings of Parliament,—if so by any means they can gain their own ends, and advance the interests of their insolent and domineering Church. This is what "The Tablet' deliberately proposes and advises, in the passage we have quoted; and this is what the Romish Members of the House of Commons seem fully prepared to do.

Now it may be said, that fifty men are but a very insignificant minority out of six hundred and fifty-eight: but fifty taken from one side, and added to the other, make a difference of one hundred on a division; and this they know very well. They know also, and all of us know, the divided and distracted state of parties in the House; and of this they are ready by all means, fair and foul, to take every possible advantage. And among those parties they have also their partizans;-more especially the remnant of the faction of that man, who, beyond all others, both in 1829 and in 1845, might be justly considered as the chief traitor to the Protestant cause. There are in the

1. To be rebels and traitors to their natu ral Sovereign, whenever their House, Tractarians who are always

ready to sympathize with Rome, politically as well as religiously; Ultra-Liberals in politics; idolators of expediency; and infidels in religion; of all of whom it is not too much to say, that they are always ready to do the dirty work of Popery, which it is not able to do for itself: and all of these are alike destitute of that scriptural enlargement of mind, and of those old English principles of honour, which would enable them to see, and feel, the unutterable baseness of the position in which they have placed themselves. With this motley crew to help them, fifty members-bound together in close confederacy, and continually influenced and directed by that Mystery of Iniquity, which is at once the perfection and concentration of worldly wisdom, and of Satanical craft and subtlety—can and do exercise an influence in parliament which it is truly fearful to think of. They are evidently imbued with the domineering spirit of that Church, which claims to be the Mother and Mistress of all Churches; and affirms "that every human creature be subject to the Roman Pope, we declare, define, and pronounce to be altogether necessary to salvation.” (See the Bull Unam Sanctam.) And they seem fully prepared and determined, in that spirit, to assert and exercise an irresponsible and despotic authority in Parliament. They seem to say, "We have got into the House-we have gained the power and the position which we wanted; and now we will have our way-cost what it will. We know of no object-we know of no law-but the interests of our Church: and we will stick at nothing, till we have established it in supreme dominion upon the ruins of the country and all its Protestant institutions."

Now what we wish most of all to press upon serious consideration is this-That it was the fatal Act of 1829, which placed them in this position. It was that Act which gave them power and opportunity to assume this tone, to act in this manner; by holding the balance between contending parties,—by working on the fears of some, the selfish interests and the blind credulity of others, by ad

dressing themselves in turn to all the bad passions of the human heart, and all the specious and sophistical principles of the human mind, to make all things subservient to the one great object which they have (and must have) in view-The re-establishment of the undisputed supremacy of the Church of Rome in this country, and in all the world: (for, if Protestant Britain should be once subdued, there is nothing to prevent them from subduing the whole world.)

Then, if it be the plain fact, that it was the Act of 1829 which gave the Romanists the power and the position to do all the mischief which they are. now doing, and at which they are now evidently aiming-is it not evident, that all who really love their country and its Protestant institutions, ought to confess and bewail, in brokenness of heart before God and their country, the sinfulness and folly of that Act?-We say not merely the political folly of it-in giving political power, and influence, and authority in the legislature, to the slaves and feudal vassals of a foreign and hostile potentate ;-to men who put themselves in such a position, and avow such principles, (“turning religion into rebellion, and faith into faction,") that it can only be safe and wise to treat them as aliens and sojourners: but, still more, the sin against God, of which they have been guilty, in proclaiming by that Act, that the slaves of antichrist and gross idolators were as fit and worthy to legislate for this Protestant nation, as the true and faithful servants of the living God and His Anointed Son.

We must not withhold our deep and settled conviction, that every one who voted for that Act-who promoted or connived at it, directly or indirectly-ought humbly and openly to confess it, as a sin against God and His Anointed. We see but little, if any, scriptural ground of hope for our country, till this confession become general. For, in this terrible conflict, upon which we seem now to be entering and only just enteringwe can have no hope of overcoming the powers of earth and hell, which are combined against us, unless we

CORRESPONDENCE-TRACTARIAN PRACTICES.

take the Word of God to be our rule and guide in all our conduct. That must be the source from which we learn wisdom to direct us in this conflict. That must be the weapon which we must use in this warfare. And, if we really take that Word to rule and guide us, we shall not fail to remember, and to act upon, the plain and important principle which it so distinctly lays down: "If we confess our sins, He is faithful and just to forgive us our sins, and to cleanse us from all unrighteousness."

And next to humble confession, we need PROTESTANT UNION,-real Protestant Union. Our enemies are united against us as one man. know, or acknowledge, that "There

If we

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is one body, and one Spirit, even as we are called in one hope of our calling; One Lord, one faith, one bap tism, one God and Father of all, who is above all, and through all, and in us all," then we ought all to be more closely, cordially, and inseparably united than they can possibly be. The profession of the Protestant Faith,the Faith once delivered to the

saints,"-involves momentous duties, and entails upon all of us a solemn responsibility. It binds us, among other things, to be far more closely united in christian action, than the greater part of true believers even seem to be at all aware, or even once to think of. J. C. C. S.

Correspondence.

[The Editors are not responsible for every statement or opinion of their correspondents; at the same time, their object is to open the pages of their Magazine to those only, who seek the real good of that Protestant Church with which it is in connexion.]

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To the Editor of the Christian Guardian. DEAR SIR, It is many months since I requested permission to occupy your pages with notices of the perversion of our Protestant churches into nursery schools for Rome. I have for some time had my suspicions that the Tractarians were still proceeding in their work of undermining the Church, and that, notwithstanding the secession of Messrs. Bennett, Dodsworth, and Co., this metropolis is not by any means purged from the ecclesiastical nuisance which has so long infested it. Yesterday found your correspondent at a church occupied by a Tractarian of the cautious school,— one who has never ventured the lengths of his brethren, either of Pimlico, Margaret-street, or Christ Church, Albany-street, but who, from my own knowledge, has done, and is doing, the work of Rome as surely as either. He does not light his altar candles, as at Margaret-street, neither has he the rood-screen, or the other superstitions of St. Paul's and St. Barnabas'; and yet Christ Church, Hoxton, has been found to be a great deal more than a MAY-1851.

via media between the Church of England, as represented at Hoxton, and the Church of Rome, as manifested at St. John's the Evangelist, Duncanterrace, Islington. I could tell you, sir, of parents who have to ascribe the commencement of their children's perversion, to the teaching and semiRomish observances of Mr. Scott's Church.

I shall not describe the performances I witnessed yesterday, further than by telling you, that Mr. Scott and his Curate intoned the service, chanted all that could be chanted, and the choir of singing men and singing boys performed an anthem for the gratification of the two hundred people present. The Curate followed the Margaret-street fashion of kneeling immediately in front of the "altar," with his back to the people, and Mr. Scott knelt a little lower, on his right hand.

The church, like the chapel at Margaret-street, is very plain, and all the adornment, which is of a gaudy coloured character, is reserved for the chancel or "altar" recess. This part is as strongly imitative of Rome as possible;-there are, however, neither cross or flowers.

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Mr. Scott preached from the words of St. James,- -"Be ye doers of the word, and not hearers only,"-and the whole tenor of the discourse struck me as a singular, but evidently disguised, attempt to destroy the value of the great doctrine of justification by faith, while pretending to harmonize the statements of St. Paul with those of St. James. Mr. Scott was preaching close upon the borders of a large parish, the ministers of which cling closely to the doctrines of the Reformation; or rather to those doctrines fully taught in the Bible, and declared in our Articles to be the authoritative teaching of the Church of England. The Incumbent of Christ Church was, however, singularly anxious to warn his congregation against what we must call the peculiar and distinguishing doctrines of the Evangelical school, which make the person and work of Christ everything, and man and his works nothing, but the evidence of a faith which leads to love and holy obedience. Mr. Scott has but to step across his border, and he will at once see that there is but little fear of justification by faith being a barren and dangerous Evangelical dogma. We may not have our alms chests and offertories, neither may we collect large sums for the meretricious ornaments and superstitious furniture of churches; we may not ever have upon the lip, "This do, and ye shall live;" but we are as deeply anxious as any that our light shall so shine amongst men, by our every act and work of love to God and man, that all may glorify our Father which is in heaven.

The Bishops have issued a Pastoral Letter upon the subject of the Tractarians; but my visit yesterday to Christ Church, Hoxton, fully confirmed my opinion, that it would be inoperative, as it was in itself effete and ambiguous. Surely it is possible to prevent these churches from furnishing recruits to Rome, by the morbid taste they excite in the minds of the young and ardent, by the exhibition of just so much of Romish ceremonial, and depreciation of sound Protestant doctrine, if not the open teaching of Romish error, as shall insensibly lead

the beguiled victim to seek for full satisfaction in a real mass-house.

Christ Church, Hoxton, is not the less dangerous, because its Incumbent is a cautious setter forth of doctrines strange to the Reformation, or its ceremonials a little short of "the superstitious mummeries" of St. Andrew's, Wells-street. These places must be put down; they are the pest-houses of the Church. If the Bishops have not the power to interfere, true Churchmen must strive to gain it for them.

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Sir,-The moderation, good sense, and diligent research, which characterize this work by the Rev. C. Davis, and the references it contains to the improvements made by other Churches in the Occasional Services, are well worthy of consideration. Surely, in the multitude of counsellors there is wisdom; and if the American Church has improved the Burial Service, and other Churches have improved other parts, why should not we profit by their wisdom?

As the determination of the Bishop of Exeter, to exclude the Evangelical clergy from the Church, as far as it is in his power to do so, is more likely than anything to work in favour of Liturgical Revision, it seems most desirable that the attention of your readers should be drawn to this useful little volume, because every Churchman, who is capable of investigation, ought seriously to study the subject, and to be prepared to meet the circumstances that may arise. A bold defence has been made, and made successfully, of the doctrines of the Reformation, both before the Court of Arches and before the Privy Council; but we must never forget that the decision of the Privy Council, which protected those who made the defence, was preceded by a public judg ment in the Arches' Court, that the plain and grammatical sense of the thanksgiving after baptism, expressed

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