,transcribed from the #ahdj ,john ,stacy edition by ,david ,price4 ,,reasons ,,for ,,joining ,,the ,,norfolk ,,norwich ,,protestant ,,association ,,in ,a ,,letter ,,to ,a ,,clerical ,,friend4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,by ,,the ,,rev4 ,,william ,,hull1 ,,minister ,,of ,,st4 ,,gregory',s4 ,,norwich4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,norwich3 ,,printed ,,by ,,john ,,stacy1 ,,old ,,haymarket4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,mdcccxl4 ,a ,,letter1 c4 ,,my ,,dear ,,sir1 ,you have not stated the nature or the grounds of those scruples which prevent your immediate adhesion to our recently-formed association2--nor will ,i attempt to conjecture what they may be2 especially since you avow your cordial approbation of every well-timed effort in defence of our ,protestant faith and liberties against the malignant aggressions of ,popery4 ,i am not able to imagine any substantial objection on the part of a truly ,protestant mind4 ,believing1 as ,i firmly do believe1 that our ,national ,church is founded on truth1 and that the ,protestant ascendancy involves the temporal and spiritual welfare of the people of these realms1--believing also that the agents and emissaries of ,popery have1 for a series of years1 been actively employed in embroiling the affairs of this kingdom1 with an ultimate view to the restoration of the popish priesthood1 together with their dark superstitions and inhuman despotism1--believing that new and unwonted energies must be called into action1 in defence of our national religion1 or that1 by secret undermining and open assault1 8our holy and beautiful house where our fathers worshipped0 will soon be levelled with the dust1 8and all our pleasant things laid waste10--,i hail the formation of the ,protestant ,association as a propitious event1 and deliberately1 from the religious conviction that ,i am in the path of duty1 enrol my name as a member4 ,in stating thus freely my own forcible impressions1 ,i disclaim any intention of impugning the motives of those who are not1 equally with myself1 convinced of the expediency or utility of this association4 ,whatever may be the ground of your hesitation1 ,i have entire confidence in the purity and integrity of your principles4 ,nevertheless1 allow me to say1 with deference1 that your indecision1 in this case1 does not for a moment cause me to waver in my own convictions1 since ,i cannot but suspect that your doubts originate in an imperfect conception of the perils to which our religion and our country are exposed4 ,were these dangers of less appalling magnitude1 ,i also should have strong scruples against this or any similar association4 ,they are justifiable on no other ground than that of absolute necessity4 ,they bring with them many incidental evils4--,they lead into collision adverse parties1 and produce impassioned controversies2 they create evils which no man can be right in abetting1 even indirectly1 but with a view to ward off others which are more injurious to the public welfare4 ,besides which1 no man of feeling would rashly hazard the obloquy which will be cast upon him by his opponents in this age of low-minded invective and scurrilous defamation4 ,nor is it a small evil to lose the favourable regards of upright and conscientious persons who take an opposite view of the exigencies and the duties of the times4 ,for myself1 ,i have no sickly ambition for this species of martyrdom4 ,i sacrifice with painful reluctance the esteem of the wise and the good1 from whom it is my misfortune1 at any time1 to be separated by conflicting opinions and irreconcileable interests4 ,but there are occasions which call for higher duties than those of conciliation or friendship1--when private affections must be merged in a holy patriotism1 and when the strength of our principles must be proved1 not by the extinction of our finer sensibilities1--,god forbid6--but by their yielding1 with whatever bitterness of grief1 to a commanding sense of ,,duty4 ,i am strongly impressed with the conviction1 that such an occasion presents itself in 8this day of trouble1 and of rebuke1 and of blasphemy40 ,far from having my own apprehensions allayed by the numbers of those who are insensible to the pressure of great and imminent danger1 my fears are awakened by nothing so much as by that very consideration2 by no other fact am ,i so deeply convinced of the extreme necessity of supporting the ,protestant ,association1 as one means1 among others1 of diffusing information1 and thus arousing in our countrymen a spirit of determined resistance to ,popery1 corresponding with the power and the artifice of that unrelenting adversary4 ,the policy of the ,papists has ever been1 to the last degree1 subtle1 profound1 and unscrupulous1--varying with the changeful phases of society1 and adapting itself with fiend-like sagacity to the peculiar character of individuals and of nations4 ,but never did that policy show itself more triumphantly than in the late rapid march of ,popery towards a paramount dominion in this kingdom2 and in the skill1 the cunning1 the profound strategy by which it has covered its progress1 lulling into false security the people of this betrayed and devoted country4 ,i lay comparatively little stress on the number of converts openly professing themselves to be proselytes to ,popery3 the report may be exaggerated or it may not4 ,i am not startled1 as some are1 by the increase of popish chapels1 monasteries1 and colleges4 ,i fear nothing from the open teachers of popish doctrine1 nor would ,i enter into a fiddle faddle controversy with a ,jesuitical priesthood1 who are not bound by the laws of honourable warfare1 and who1 when defeated in argument1 always take refuge in their insolent assumption of infallibility4 ,the naked dogmas of ,popery carry with them their own refutation4 ,they originated in the dark ages of barbarian ignorance and public confusion1 when the ,roman empire had been swept by the northern hordes1 and savage warfare left no leisure1 no disposition1 to cultivate those departments of knowledge which expand and invigorate the human mind4 ,popery can never make converts in an enlightened nation like ,england1 but from among the most feeble in intellect or sordid in character1 the uninstructed vulgar1 nervous women1 or intellectual profligates4 ,true1 she has advocates both subtle and learned2 but they are men who were cradled in her errors1 and whose early discipline and youthful associations--designed for the suppression of the manly mind--have combined1 with the interested motives of after-life1 to fix them in her faith4 ,i give no credit to the more notorious of popish agitators for sincerity in their religious attachment to the cause they serve4 ,popery is their stepping-stone to distinction and power4 ,they laugh in their sleeve at that lucrative fable while they derive power1 as political incendiaries1 from the distresses and superstitions of an abject people4 ,but while naked ,popery is simply despicable for its absurdities or detestable for its intolerance1 ,i fear every thing from the unwearied and versatile genius of ,romish policy1 which1 without having proselyted to the popish faith ,protestant ,england1 has contrived1 by a series of manuvres1 so to dislocate the frame of ,british society1 that instead of combining to crush1 as they might easily do1 the common foe1 ,protestant is arrayed against ,protestant1 while the only party really to be dreaded by all1 is looked upon without suspicion and without fear4 ,if the present course of events is suffered to proceed1--while one class of ,protestants is tamely looking on1 and another section is actively and zealously employed in seconding the designs of the papacy1--,i see no impossibility that is to prevent the entire power of the ,state from falling1 at no distant period1 into the hands of the popish faction4 ,and what use they will make of that power is not a matter of difficult conjecture4 ,history is not 8an old almanack10 unless to fools and desperadoes2 and history denounces papal intolerance in characters of horror and of blood4 ,allow me to repeat it1--for this is the very gist of the argument1--from naked and avowed ,popery little was to be feared2 but from ,popery carrying on its wily projects through the means of ,protestant agency1 or1 under ,protestant colours1 conducting a piratical warfare1 every thing is to be dreaded4 ,and this is exactly the way in which we are now assailed4 ,if you look to the ,,state1 you behold the ministers of a ,protestant ,queen1 who are sworn to uphold the ,protestant religion1 bound hand and foot by popish demagogues and traitorous agitators1 and impotent to carry any great measure against the assent of their masters1 who can on any day effect their dismissal from office4 ,their policy is entirely popish4 ,the ,privy ,council is thrown open to popish intrigue2 the army is largely recruited from the popish peasantry of ,ireland2 popish bishops are appointed and salaried by government in the colonies2 the popish faction holds the balance of parties in the ,commons house of ,parliament4 ,the aspect of the ,,church is scarcely less alarming4 ,the 8,oxford ,tracts0 are said to represent the sentiments of a considerable number of our devout clergy and laity4 ,of these very remarkable productions1 enforcing the practices of a superstitious devotion1 and denouncing1 with a papistical jealousy of free enquiry1 every manly exercise of the human mind1 when religion is the subject of investigation1 it is sufficient to say that they have been read with grief and astonishment by many of the most sound divines of the ,anglican ,church1 and hailed by papists with a sneer of triumph4 ,for the principles of the ,protestant faith1 they are by far 8,too ceremonious and traditional40 ,and1 if the spirit of servile superstition which some of these tracts breathe1--if the gloomy intolerance they sanction1--can be shown to harmonize with the doctrines and usages of our ,church1 dissent needs no better vindication4 ,happily these noxious principles are the growth of another soil2 but they who embrace them are not far from the worst dogmas of ,popery4 ,they are already in the vestibule--a few more steps will carry them to the altar of that desecrated temple4 ,it has been suggested1 and the suggestion is not at variance with ,christian courtesy and candour1 that these ,tracts have originated in a ,jesuitical conspiracy to pollute the stream of orthodox truth at the fountain head4 ,looking only at the internal evidence1 the suspicion is fully justified4 ,at any rate1 they prepare the way in a manner most satisfactory to the ,papists1 for a close alliance with the apostate church1 whose spirit and whose errors they so nearly resemble4 ,they are indefensible as the productions of ,protestant divines4 ,perhaps you will pronounce this opinion arrogant and harsh1 considering who are the writers4 ,but in a case such as the present the public have a right to judge the work itself1 independently of the writers1 of whose individual characters few readers can be supposed to know any thing4 ,i judge as one of the public1--,i look at the 8,tracts0 apart from their authors1 and my conviction is1 that no personal worth1 no amiable qualities1 no piety1 no erudition can vindicate the estimable authors of these 8,tracts0 from having done1 with whatever purity of intention1 great injury to the ,protestant cause4 ,here is ,popery1 indirectly at least1 promoted by the professors of a university1 whose name has hitherto been regarded as the symbol of pure orthodoxy4 ,the times are fearful when the whisper goes forth1 even among the most devoted friends of the church--8,popery at ,oxford60 ,from another section of churchmen1 scarcely less danger is to be apprehended3 they are smoothing the way for popish ascendancy4 ,i mean those whose ultra-liberalism embraces every interest but that of their own communion--whose latitudinarian candour regards with complacency every erroneous form of doctrine or worship1 as if1 all that we tolerate we were bound in duty to approve1--who look with special favour on every deviation from the sound orthodoxy of the church1--who hail every irregularity as a commendable exercise of freedom1--and who reserve their censures and their frowns for those who conscientiously adhere to 8the good old way40 ,by this anomalous order of churchmen--the growth of modern days--all the assailants of the sacred cause are held in honour for their presumed freedom from prejudice1--all its defenders are condemned as mercenaries or bigots4 ,of this description of persons1 it may be presumed1 many are prepared to sit down1 quite at ease1 under the mild sovereignty of the papacy4 ,their special predilection for that persecuted race of patriots and ,christians1 who are agitating for an ,italian despot and the ,holy ,inquisition1 is only preparatory to their own sworn allegiance to ,rome1 the moment that haughty power obtains dominion and can command submission4 ,they are waiting for the flood-tide4 ,to say the least1 the men whose liberalism can rejoice in ,popery1 can have no motives for becoming martyrs to ,protestant truth and liberty4 ,and now let us look at ,,the ,,country ,,at ,,large4 ,judging from the tone of our popular literature1 and from the spirit of the public press1 which can only subsist by responding to the sentiments of the day1 ,i cannot but think that infidelity and profligacy abound to an alarming extent among the reading classes4 ,the ,protestant church1 it is plain1 can have no hold on the disciples of ,voltaire1 of ,hume1 of ,gibbon1 of ,paine1 of ,byron4 ,she will never compromise her pure morality4 ,in the bosom of the ,mother of ,harlots they may revel with impunity3 confession1 and absolution1 and extreme unction1 will reconcile them to her ascendancy4 ,among the paradoxes of the human mind1 none is more common than the junction of profane scepticism with credulous superstition1--the impious reviler of the ,bible making his last peace with heaven by taking his viaticum from a popish priest4 ,popery is the religion for all men who would indulge the hope of heaven1 after doing their utmost to convert the present world into a hell of impiety and crime4 ,already they are in political alliance with the man of sin4 ,but there are others of less discreditable character than these1 from whom the ,protestant cause derives no aid in this day of trial4 ,i mean that large class of easy1 worthy1 unsuspecting persons who have imbibed unguardedly the sentiments of modern liberalism1 without its malignity1 and in ignorance of its designs4 ,they see ,popery only in the mild and subdued form which it puts on while restrained by the usages and the laws of a ,protestant community4 ,they find nothing in their popish neighbours but what is humane and social1 and1 perhaps1 intelligent1 honourable1 and devout2 and1 reasoning from what they see and hear themselves1 they give credit to the idle tale that ,,popery is ,,regenerated1--that the lion is become a lamb1 and the serpent a dove1--and that1 under the future reign of the ,papacy1 no longer perfidious1 intolerant1 sanguinary1 no materials will be supplied for another 8,book of ,martyrs0--let it therefore take its unmolested course6 ,add to these1 many persons of aristocratic rank and fortune1 whose principles are wavering1 and who1 on supposition that the ,church of ,england must fall a prey to the motley gang of modern revolutionists1 are prepared rather to side with ,popery1 which is essentially aristocratical and monarchical1 than with ,protestant dissent1 which is plebeian1 levelling and democratical4 ,they know that the pretended liberalism of ,popery means nothing more than that 8she stoops to conquer20 and they will prefer her custody of their titles and estates1 to that of a national convention of chartists or roundheads4 ,and now1 my dear ,sir1 if this is not a mistaken view of things1 we are led to an appalling conclusion4 ,if the popish faction1 ever vigilant while others sleep1 should succeed1 by a coup d'tat1 in grasping the power of the ,executive government1 they have so stealthily and successfully prepared for the event1 that a large mass of the professedly ,protestant community would hail their accession to power2 other important bodies would be so far neutralized as to offer no resistance2 while the portion of our church and nation who remain 8faithful among the faithless0 will have to maintain a conflict for truth and righteousness1 under circumstances of fearful inequality4 ,i need not suggest what the power of the state can do1 when wielded by men of unscrupulous principles1 and devoted to their cause with the zeal of a morbid superstition4 ,i do not say that this catastrophe is inevitable2 but it is not impossible4 ,the mine is prepared although it may not be sprung3 but if the match should be applied1 the explosion will be far more tremendous1 and the desolation more complete1 than even the 8,gunpowder ,treason0 would have caused1 if ,providence had not detected that most foul conspiracy4 ,the authors of that crime would have fallen1 at once1 victims to popular indignation2 but the conspirators of the present day will have secured themselves from instant destruction by previously tampering with the public mind1 and corrupting its principles4 ,they have already carried ,popish objects by ,protestant agents2 and when the real combat is at length to be fought1 pro aris et focis1 the dupes of their insidious policy will find themselves unarmed or in confusion on the field of battle4 ,we may smile at popish miracles--the chapel at ,loretto--the blood of ,st4 ,januarius--the healing art of the ,abb ,paris--and all the low trumpery by which the pretended vicar of ,jesus ,christ stoops to deceive and destroy3 but here is a master-stroke of policy1 all but really miraculous1 displaying not less of satanic skill than malice1 and at sight of which the stoutest of ,british hearts may for a moment quail4 ,the events of these times will supply our posterity with the most humiliating page in the history of their country--,great ,britain1 invincible in arms1 disorganized and convulsed by the infernal arts of the ,jesuits6 ,these dangers must be met by extraordinary measures of defence4 ,if the government did its duty1 not a ,jesuitical institute would be suffered to pollute the land3 these agents and subjects of a foreign power would not be allowed to tamper with the peace and the liberties of ,england4 ,but1 deserted by the government1 itself enslaved by an ignoble faction1 and powerful only for mischief1 we must look to our own resources1 and1 among others1 to the ,protestant ,association4 ,i see nothing in its constitution or principles to justify the fear1 that it may not hopefully look for the blessing of ,almighty ,god upon its exertions4 ,it has not been instituted by a section or party in the church4 ,it overlooks minor distinctions1 and enrols among its members persons of every shade of sentiment or opinion1 who are willing to make a common cause on behalf of our venerable church and our holy religion4 ,the moment it is made the instrument of party1 let it fall6 ,the name of the ,noble ,lord who is its president1 is a pledge that its objects are truly ,british2 and the clergy and laity who are its members1 can have united for no purposes less holy than the preservation of that sacred light which ,popery had extinguished--which the reformers re-kindled--and which1 by ,god's grace1 shall never again be put out in ,england4 ,in looking at the aspect of the times1 ,i am not sanguine in my hopes1 nor do ,i yield to despondency4 ,it is ours to do our duty1 and leave the consequences with the ,great ,arbiter of human destinies4 ,if we are disappointed in our efforts to save our country1 we shall have the consolation of having made a stand under circumstances which required some degree of moral courage1 and a lively faith in the ,god of ,truth1 whose servants we are1 and in whose cause it will be no dishonour to fall4 ,in the mean time1 it is a reflection not to be evaded1 however painful to indulge1 that great national guilt could alone have reduced us to the embarrassments and perplexities of these times--times of degeneracy so rapid and infatuation so blind1 that to this tormented kingdom may be applied the fearful description of the historian of the ,roman empire3-- 8,labente deinde paullatim disciplin1 velut desidentes primo mores sequatur animo2 deinde ut magis magisque lapsi sint2 tum ire cperint prcipites3--donec ad hc tempora1 quibus nec vitia nostra1 nec remedia pati possumus1 perventum est40 ,and now1 my dear sir1 ,i have acted upon my own convictions of duty in thus plainly stating my motives for upholding the ,protestant ,association3 judge them as severely as you please4 ,they have at least this claim to calm consideration3 they are the reasons of an individual whose personal interests and prospects would have dictated another course of action1 but who deems it his greatest happiness to have his fortunes blended1 8for better or for worse10 with that hallowed cause in which ,latimer and ,ridley and ,hooper and ,cranmer died4 ,yours faithfully1 ,,william ,,hull4 ,eaton1 ,dec4 #aj1 #ahci4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,the ,,end4 99 99 99 99 99 ,,norwich3 ,printed by ,john ,stacy1 ,gentlemen's ,walk1 ,old ,haymarket4