called mortal, provided you will pay money enough to the system to purchase forgiveness, and also whip yourselves, and kneel upon rough stones; that it is not sin to commit murder, adultery, theft, lying, or false witness, if you have previously purchased indulgence from the system so to do. If this be not vice, what is?

The system is, moreover, absurdity in general; for it teaches that it is good and holy for numbers of idle men and women to shut themselves up for life in large buildings, where they profess to pray, fast, and weep, but where they more usually eat, drink, and make merry, with other practices less useful and commendable; that there is a saving virtue in eating fish, cakes, pies and puddings on a Friday, instead of flesh; that whip-cord and sharp flints properly applied, the one to the shoulders, and the others to the feet or knees, have the power of expiating sins; that bits of wood and bone can cure diseases, and procure fine weather and good harvests; that it is right and indispensable to repeat to a man, (and he perhaps a very wicked one,) all the acts of your life, all the secret thoughts of your heart, and all those internal temptations which you would wish forgotten as soon as they are resisted; that when a person is dying, it is needful to his eternal safety to touch his hands and feet with oil, and to mutter Latin words over him; that after death, men's souls go into a penal fire, whence nothing but money can bring them out; that the book, written by the finger of God with the pen of man, and designed for "every creature under heaven," is apt to do more harm than good, and ought not to be read with the freedom in which it was given; that the traditions of men are of more weight than the commands of God; that forms are religion, and ceremonies are devotion; that a priest, always a mere mortal, (and frequently a person of indifferent character,) can, by saying a few Latin words, make Deity of a piece of paste; and, finally, that no man can be saved unless he believes and does all these things, and that no torment or death is too bad for those who do not. If this be not absurdity, what is?

Yet this idolatrous, treasonable, vicious and absurd system is followed by millions in Christendom, and is called by them the only apostolic church, the holy Catholic faith, the pure mother of all true believers ; it is fostered by our rulers, is permitted to govern our sister-island, and may eventually prevail to govern ourselves. In one word, this system is-POPERY.

And how, it may be asked, can such an impious mass of folly possess the power to enslave these millions whom it enthrals, not only in degenerate Italy, bigoted Spain, and factious Ireland, but even in England herself, free, enlightened, religious England, where civilization is at its highest pitch, and where the light of the Bible shines out, unshaded and undimmed, in all its sacred lustre ?

In few words, this mental slavery is based upon that source of universal evil, man's corrupt nature, which loves "darkness rather than light," and to whose every selfishness, every folly, and every base passion the system addresses itself, with a craft and subtlety equal to its other characterising qualities. For all man's sins there is pardon which may be purchased without repentance, and self-satisfaction which

may be gained by the daily heartless will-worship of attendance at the mass; for all his weaknesses there are palliatives and remedies which are willingly offered to his acceptance; for all his scruples, (if he have any,) there are cures in the blind obedience which the system requires, in its kind maternal care of his conscience, which saves him the trouble of thinking for himself, and in the pretended miracles of its juggling hierarchy; for the captivation of his outward senses it has the most enchanting music and the most fascinating mummeries, the lofty aisle, the "dim religious light,"-the priestly splendour of vestment, and the seraph swell of harmony. It absolves him from oath and from promise; it gives a purchased immunity for sin, whether past, present, or to come in fine, it adapts itself to every particular of our fallen humanity, and leaving the heart in a death-like sleep of insensibility, and the life in a round of pleasurable indulgence, it drains the purse to further its own aggrandisement, and flagellates the body as the best means of saving the soul!

SUCH IS POPERY!

FUNDAMENTAL RESOLUTIONS OF THE

PROTESTANT

ASSOCIATION.

1. 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 cooperate 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.

1. CLAIMS of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION or PUBLIC SUPPORT. By G. H. WOODWARD, A.B. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100.

2. SPEECH of J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P., upon the Maynooth College Grant. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100.

3. The USES of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH to the PROTESTANTISM and CIVILIZATION of IRELAND. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P. Second Edition. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100.

4. STATEMENT of the CIRCUMSTANCES attending the PUBLICATION of the BIBLE with the RHEMISH NOTES. By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GHEE. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100.

5. The DOCTRINES PROMULGATED by the ROMISH BISHOPS in IRELAND, A.D. 1832, touching the power of the Romish Church over Heretics, and the Restitution of Forfeited Property. By the Rev. ROBERT J. M'GHEE. Price 6d., or 40s. per 100.

6. ADDRESS of the COMMITTEE of the PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION to the PEOPLE of ENGLAND. 3d Edition. 2d., or 12s. per 100. 7. On the OBJECT and USES of PROTESTANT ASSOCIATIONS. By J. C. COLQUHOUN, Esq., M.P. 2d Edition. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 8. ENGLAND, the FORTRESS of CHRISTIANITY. By the Rev. G. CROLY, LL.D., Rector of St. Stephen's, Walbrook. Seventeenth Thousand. Price 1d., or 78. per 100.

9. BRITISH LEGISLATURE.-On the ADMISSION of ROMAN CATHOLICS to PARLIAMENT, and their VIOLATION of their OATH. By J. E. GORDON, Esq. Price 13d., or 10s. per 100.

10. The CHURCH ESTABLISHMENT.-SPEECH of the Rev. HUGH M'NEILE, in DEFENCE of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH, at the Second Annual Meeting of the Protestant Association. Price 2d., or 12s. per 100. 11. A SKETCH OF POPERY. Sixth Thousand. Price 5s. per 100, or 42s. per 1000.

12. A FEW FACTS to AWAKEN PROTESTANTS. Third Thousand. Price 5s. per 100, or 42s. per 1000.

13. The ROMAN CATHOLIC OATH.-SPEECH of the BISHOP of EXETER, 1838, in the House of Lords. Price 4d., or 28s. per 100. 14. LETTER to the DUKE of WELLINGTON. By the Rev. R. J. M'GHEE. Second Edition. Price 1d., or 7s. per 100.

15. The JESUITS EXPOSED. 2d Edition. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100. 16. The PROGRESS of POPERY in the British Dominions and elsewhere. From "Blackwood's Magazine." Ninth Thousand. Price 3d, or 20s. per 100. 17. The ACHILL MISSION, and the PRESENT STATE of IRELAND; being the STATEMENT delivered by the Rev. EDWARD NANGLE, at a Meeting of the Protestant Association, in Exeter Hall, December 28, 1838. Price 6d, or 40s. per 100.

18. PROTESTANTISM and POPERY. By the Rev. HENRY MELVILL. Third Thousand. Price 1d., or 10s. per 100.

19. The POPISH COLLEGE of MAYNOOTH. Fourth Thousand. Price 1d., or 10s. per 100.

20. ROMAN CATHOLIC QUESTION.-SPEECH of M. T. SADLER, Esq., M.P. for Newark, in the House of Commons, March 17, 1829, at the Second Reading of the Roman Catholic Relief Bill. Price 3d., or 20s. per 100. FIRST ANNUAL REPORT, 1836-37. Price 6d.

SECOND ANNUAL REPORT, 1837-38. Price 6d.

HANDBILLS.

1. POPERY the ENEMY of GOD and MAN. Second Edition. Price 2s. per 100.

2. POPERY LIKE PAGANISM. Price 1s. 9d. per 100.

3. POPERY UNCHANGED. Second Edition. Price 1s. 9d. per 100.

LONDON:

PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION, 2, EXETER HALL, STRAND; SEELEY'S, FLEET-STREET; AND ALL BOOKSELLERS.

No. XI,

Macintosh, Printer, 20, Great New-street, London.

AWAKEN PROTESTANTS.

SIXTH THOUSAND.

"CAN YE NOT DISCERN THE SIGNS OF THE TIMES?"-MATT. xvi. 3.

THE rapid and alarming increase of Popery within the British dominions, will, it is believed, furnish a sufficient reason for the formation of Protestant Associations, and the adoption of such other measures as may, with God's blessing, serve to arrest the progress of this awful heresy. Not satisfied with the amplest toleration, but aiming at complete ascendancy over every other form of religion, Popery daringly publishes the assurance, that "these three kingdoms will again become faithful portions of the Church" (of Rome); and the following statement of facts will show what progress has been already made towards the attainment of this object.

In the year 1792, the number of Romish chapels in England and Scotland did not amount to thirty; in the beginning of 1839, they amounted to no less than five hundred and thirteen, exclusive of private chapels and stations where service is performed, with six hundred and ten officiating priests and nine Romish bishops.

In 1792 there was not a single Popish college in all England and Scotland, and only two other seminaries of education; there were in 1839, ten colleges, and upwards of sixty seminaries of education, besides chapel schools; two monasteries, and seventeen convents.

In 1795, the College of Maynooth was founded for the purpose of training a Popish priesthood for Ireland. It is calculated that nearly half a million of money has been paid out of the national treasury for the support of this Institution, which teaches systematically principles of disaffection, immorality, and false religion, and annually sends forth recruits to a body of men who have made themselves notorious as political agitators and disturbers of the peace of the country.

In 1829, the fatal measure called the Roman Catholic Relief Act was passed, which greatly impaired, if it did not destroy, the Protestant character of the British constitution; and ever since the nation formed this criminal alliance with an idolatrous and apostate Church, the Divine blessing has evidently been withdrawn from the land, the councils of the empire have been paralyzed, and our revered institutions, both in Church and State, have been shaken to their foundation.

In 1831, the support of Government was withdrawn from a Society. for educating the poor in Ireland, in which the Scriptures were made the basis of education, and transferred to a new Board of National Education, which has mutilated the Word of God, by introducing a compilation of extracts not unfrequently taken from the Romish version and accompanied with notes, which often palliate, if they do not actuall defend, the errors of the Church of Rome. For the maintenance of this unscriptural system, which has practically given the control over public instruction to the Popish priests, a sum has been annually voted by the House of Commons, the amount of which, in 1837 and 1838, was 50,000l.

In 1833, chiefly through Popish influence, ten Protestant bishopricks in Ireland were suppressed.

In 1835, an attempt was made not only to annihilate the Protestant Establishment in a large number of parishes in that country, by depriving them of resident clergymen, but also to alienate part of the revenues of the Church by the notorious appropriation clause. But through the Divine blessing, this attempt was defeated by the firmness of the House of Lords.

In 1839, a Committee of Cabinet Ministers appointed to superintend the application of any sums voted by Parliament for the purpose of promoting public education, proposed a plan in which the Romish version of the Scriptures was to be sanctioned in England: this was withdrawn in deference to the petitions of the Protestants of England; and yet in defiance of those petitions a vote of the House of Commons was barely procured, by which a sum of 30,000l. was, without the concurrence of the House of Lords, placed at the disposal of the same Committee; who still retain the power, as they have manifested the intention, of employing a portion of that grant in the propagation of Popery and Socinianism.

In the same year, Mr. Wyse, the Chairman of the Central Society of Education, is made a Lord of the Treasury; Mr. Sheil is appointed Vice-President of the Board of Trade, and a Privy Councillor; and Mr. O'Ferral, also a Papist, who had been a Lord of the Treasury, is made Secretary to the Admiralty.

It must also be remembered, that the various attacks which have been made on the Established Church, whether in England or Ireland, have received the warm support in Parliament of between thirty and forty Popish Members, though these Members had previously taken the following oath :

"I do swear, that I will defend to the utmost of my power, the settlement of property within this realm as established by the laws; and I do hereby disclaim, disavow, and solemnly abjure any intention to subvert the present Church Establishment, as settled by law within this realm; and I do solemnly swear that I never will exercise any privilege to which I am, or may become entitled, to disturb or weaken the Protestant religion, or Protestant Government in this kingdom; and I do solemnly in the presence of God, profess, testify, and declare, that I do make this declaration, and every part thereof, in the plain and ordinary sense of the words of this oath, without any evasion, equivocation, or mental reservation whatever."

This flagrant violation of an oath proves that it is allowable, according to the canons of the Church of Rome, to keep no faith with heretics, and that even perjury, in behalf of that Church, may be considered a virtue rather than a crime.

In 1838, an association was formed by the Papists, called the "Catholic Institute of Great Britain," for the avowed object of extending the influence of the Church of Rome by the creation of a fund for building chapels, and circulating publications throughout the country, organizing local committees, and soliciting the co-operation of individuals in different parts of Great Britain and the Colonies. And in the month of February, 1839, we are informed by the "Catholic Magazine," that branch institutions have been formed at the following places:-Chelsea, Lincoln's Inn-fields, Virginia-street, Moorfields,