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lature and on the people, that great principle of 1688, that the Protestant Religion, being the Religion of the Bible, is the most precious possession of the British nation. Another Society having existed for several years past, under the title of the Reformation Society, it seems necessary to allude to the distinction existing between the objects of the two Associations. The Reformation Society deals with the theological controversy, and with that alone: while the Protestant Association chiefly occupies itself with those questions which have a reference to the connexion which has always existed between the religious principles of the Reformation, and their natural offspring, the political principles of the Revolution. With this brief explanation of its views and objects, it appears before a British public, and earnestly asks for that assistance which the exigency of our present circumstances so loudly demands.

FUNDAMENTAL RESOLUTIONS.

I. That the influence of true religion over a people forms the best security for their individual rights, and the surest basis of national prosperity.

II. That the British Constitution acknowledges in its principle and laws the Sovereignty of Almighty God, and the Supreme Authority of his Holy Word, and has provided for the Scriptural Instruction of the people by its religious Establishments.

III. That in opposition to this principle of the Constitution, doctrines have of late been propagated, that religion is unconnected with the duties of Legislation,—that in the eye of the State all religions are alike—and that support should be equally given or denied to all.

IV. That under cover of these doctrines, the Members of the Church of Rome are zealously exerting themselves to destroy the Protestant character of the Constitution, and that the first object to which they direct their efforts, is the overthrow of the Established Churches, as forming the main obstacles to their ulterior designs. V. That to counteract these efforts, all who venerate the Word of God, and value the British Institutions, should be called on to co-operate in pointing out to the people the peculiar dangers of the present time, and in taking measures to inspire them with a just sense of the benefits and blessings of the Protestant Constitution.

RULES.

I. That the Association be under the direction of a President, Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, and a Committee, not exceeding twenty-five, who shall have the power of appointing Secretaries.

II. That Annual Subscribers of Ten Shillings and upwards, and Donors of Five Guineas and upwards, assenting to the Fundamental Resolutions, be Members of the Association.

III. That a General Meeting of the Association shall be held at least once in every year.

IV. That the Committee be chosen annually out of the Members of the Association.

V. That the Office-bearers be ex-officio Members of the Committee.

VI. That the Accounts of the Association be audited annually, by three Auditors, to be appointed at the Annual Meeting.

VII. That the Committee, of whom five shall be a quorum, shall have power to regulate all matters relating to their own Meetings, or those of the Association, to fill up vacancies in their body, and generally to conduct and manage the affairs and funds of the Association.

Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the objects of the Association will be received by the Treasurer, Robert Williams, Esq., 20, Birchin-lane; at the bankinghouses of Messrs. Herries, Farquhar, and Co., 16, St. James's-street; and Messrs. Hoare, 37, Fleet-street; also by the following booksellers:-Messrs. Rivington, 3, Waterloo-place, Pall-mall, and St. Paul's Church-yard; Messrs. Hatchard, 187, Piccadilly; Mr. Nisbet, Berners-street; Messrs. L. and G. Seeley, 169, Fleetstreet; Mr. Dalton, 28, Cockspur-street; Mr. Shaw, 27, Southampton-row; Messrs. Forbes and Jackson, Islington-green; and by the Secretary, at the Office of the Association, No. 2, Exeter Hall.

Macintosh, Printer, 20, Great New Street, London.

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PUBLISHED FOR THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION,

BY HATCHARDS, RIVINGTONS, SEELEYS, NISBET, DALTON, SHAW, AND FORBES AND JACKSON.

1839.

No. I.

Price 2d., or 12s. per 100.

FUNDAMENTAL PRINCIPLES.

I. That the influence of true religion over a people forms the best security for their individual rights, and the surest basis of national prosperity.

II. That the British Constitution acknowledges in its principle and laws the Sovereignty of Almighty God, and the Supreme Authority of his Holy Word, and has provided for the Scriptural Instruction of the people by its religious establishments.

III. That in opposition to this principle of the Constitution, doctrines have of late been propagated, that religion is unconnected with the duties of Legislation, that in the eye of the State all religions are alike—and that support should be equally given or denied to all.

IV. That under cover of these doctrines, the Members of the Church of Rome are zealously exerting themselves to destroy the Protestant character of the Constitution, and that the first object to which they direct their efforts, is the overthrow of the Established Churches, as forming the main obstacle to their ulterior designs.

V. That to counteract these efforts, all who venerate the Word of God, and value the British Institutions, should be called on to co-operate in pointing out to the people the peculiar dangers of the present time, and in taking measures to inspire them with a just sense of the blessings and benefits of the Protestant Constitution.

RULES.

1. That the Association be under the direction of a President, Vice-Presidents, a Treasurer, and a Committee, not exceeding twenty-five, who shall have the power of appointing Secretaries.

II. That Annual Subscribers of Ten Shillings and upwards, and Donors of Five Guineas and upwards, assenting to the Fundamental Resolutions, be Members of

the Association.

III. That a General Meeting of the Association shall be held at least once in every year.

IV. That the Committee be chosen annually, out of the Members of the Association.

V. That the Office-bearers be ex officio Members of the Committee.

VI. That the Accounts of the Association be audited annually, by three Auditors, to be appointed at the Annual Meeting.

VII. That the Committee, of whom five shall be a quorum, shall have power to regulate all matters relating to their own Meetings, or those of the Association, to fill up vacancies in their body, and generally to conduct and manage the affairs and funds of the Association.

Subscriptions and Donations in aid of the objects of the Association will be received by the Treasurer, Robert Williams, Esq., 20, Birchin-lane; at the banking-houses of Messrs. Herries, Farquhar, and Co., 16, St. James's-street; and Messrs. Hoare, 37, Fleet-street: also, by the following booksellers:-Messrs. Rivington, 3, Waterloo-place, Pall-mall, and St. Paul's Church-yard; Messrs. Hatchard, 187, Piccadilly; Mr. Nisbet, Berners-street; Messrs. L. and G. Seeley, 169, Fleet-street; Mr. Dalton, Cockspur-street; Mr. Baisler, Oxford-street; Mr. Shaw, 27, Southampton-row; Messrs. Forbes and Jackson, Islington-green; and by the Secretary, at the Office of the Association, No. 2, Exeter Hall.

CLAIMS OF THE PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION

ON PUBLIC SUPPORT.

"You go about," said the Athenian orator to his degenerate countrymen, "inquiring 'what news?' What can be newer than a Macedonian tyrant domineering in Athens?" Would to God that with the same power of conviction, the same energy of expostulation, we could send home to the heart of every Briton, of every inhabitant of this once happy, Protestant, glorious realm, the indignant interrogation, What can be newer than an Irish Papist swaying the destinies of your once proud and mighty empire? The descendants of the haughty nobles who, on the plains of Runnimede, exacted from regal tyranny a charter of the nation's rights, are the willing slaves of a democratic despot. They whose fathers drove from out the limits of these realms the innovator of their Protestant institutions, though attired in the diadem of Royalty and seated on the throne of his ancestors, abandon these sacred bequests at the bidding of a Popish demagogue. Convinced we are that the annals of our race may be searched in vain for an instance of national debasement so profound, so unprecedented, as that which now renders our country a byword and a reproach among the kingdoms of the earth. England, Protestant, aristocratic England, bows in submissive obedience to the representative of the Irish priesthood and the Irish mob! Let those who charge this statement with extravagance accuse the appalling nature of the fact announced, rather than our unexaggerated enunciation of undoubted truth. And in this national abasement, the symptom of all others the most fatal is apparent, a general ignorance, or, still worse, an insensibility, of our country's degradation. In those disorders which are remediable by external skill, the sufferer may safely remain in ignorance of his malady; but distempers wherein "the patient must minister unto himself," are incurable, if they be unperceived. Therefore it is that, in its apathy to its own debasement, we recognise the most awful feature of the nation's degradation; that, in its low estate, we must deplore its ignorance of its fall; that, when

its glory is departed, our deepest lamentation is, that it yet knows not of it.

True it is, however paradoxical the truth may seem, that of this age of restless activity and unceasing movement, an inexplicable apathy is, at the same time, conspicuously characteristic. It may be questioned whether turbulent discontent, clamouring for the removal of unreal and imaginary ills, or indolent security, insensible of the approach of evils the most momentous and perils the most imminent, be the feature of the times most pressed upon our observation, and most fatal in its consequences. The nation, which the phantom of some pretended grievance, the chimera of some imaginary reformation, can "fright from its propriety," and deluge with the billows of agitation, can resign without a struggle Protestant institutions purchased by the blood of our ancestors, can behold without alarm the advances of that Popish power, against which our fathers contended in the field of battle, and testified in the flames of martyrdom.

The fatal indifference with which the progress of Popery is regarded is indeed remarkable; yet is it not wholly unaccountable. For the last century and a half, until within a very few years, Romish power in our land had been effectually restrained. The safeguards provided by the wisdom of our ancestors for the preservation of Protestant institutions, successfully accomplished the purposes designed; the barriers opposed to Popish encroachment and Popish intolerance efficiently answered the intended ends. And it is because these securities and these restrictions have been indeed effectual, that the liberalism of our enlightened age abandons the one and withdraws the other. The fortress has been able to exclude the enemy, and its garrison see in this sufficient reason for opening wide its gates, and levelling its ramparts: the prison has proved strong enough to confine the malefactor; and it is therefore deemed expedient to dismiss its guards, and unbar its doors. Thus, when the economy of some great institution has been rendered perfect by a judicious expenditure, and the working of the system been efficiently conducted by a sufficient number of experienced officers, we have heard some enlightened politicians of our day propose the subtraction of the funds, and the dismissal of the labourers, thinking that, because they are effectual, they are, on that account, unnecessary! To abandon securities, because they have proved indeed securities, is to act upon principle, which, to those who are unaccustomed to trace the actions of mankind to their real sources, may seem too absurd to sway the conduct of any reasonable being, and still less capable of influencing the proceedings of an enlightened people; but to those who are more deeply read in the too voluminous history of human error and human folly, it will appear not easy to overcalculate the effects of this illusive motive. When sources of error, the absurdity of which manifests itself to the least attentive observation, are assigned as producing illusions from which few are wholly free, superficial thinkers are apt to look upon such causes as utterly inadequate to produce the attributed effects : forgetful that they operate not by convincing the reason, but by eluding it; that they actuate the conduct, not by appealing to the

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