"If they speak not according to this word, it is because there is no light in them."-Isaiah vii, 29. No. 4. JULY 1, 1840. VOL. I. THE FIRST ENGLISH PROTESTANT of the altar; and continuing to defend the MARTYR. WILLIAM SAWTREE was the first English martyr burned alive for opposing the abominations of Popery. He was priest of St. Osyth's, in the city of London; and although at one time he had been induced to renounce the sentiments he held, yet he was enabled, by the grace of God, to see his error, and again openly to profess the truths of the gospel. On Saturday, February 12, 1401, he was summoned to appear before the archbishop of Canterbury, and accused of holding heretical opinions. The principal articles against him were, that he had said, "He would not worship the cross on which Christ suffered, but only Christ that suffered upon the cross that every priest and deacon is more bound to preach the word of God than to say particular services at the canonical hours; and that after the pronouncing of the sacramental words of the body of Christ, the bread remaineth of the same nature that it was before, neither doth it cease to be bread." A few days were allowed him to answer these accusations; when he appeared and delivered his reply, in which he fully explained his views; and being required by the archbishop to renounce his opinions, he refused to do so. He was then examined more particularly respecting the sacrament doctrines he had advanced on that subject, he was condemned as a heretic, and sentence* was pronounced against him. The council adjourned for a few days, when the record of the former process against Sawtree by the bishop of Norwich was brought forward, and he was again called to say whether he still affirmed that "in the sacrament of the altar, after the consecration made by the priest, there remaineth material bread;" and as he refused to recant, the proceedings against him were continued. He was degraded from the priesthood on the 26th of February, according to the form and ceremony usual upon such occasions in the church of Rome, and committed to the cus A copy is here inserted, that the reader may see the sentence under which the first English martyr in the cause of truth suffered death; it also shows the awful manner in which these persecutors profaned the name of the Most High : "In the name of God, amen. We, Thomas, by the grace of God, archbishop of Canterbury, primate of England, and legate of the see apostolical, by the authority of God Almighty, and blessed St. Peter and Paul, and of holy church, and by our own authority, sitting for tribunal, or chief judge, having God alone before our eyes, by the counsel and consent of the whole clergy, our fellow brethren and suffragans, assistants to us in this present council provincial, by this our sentence definitive, do pronounce, decree, and declare by these presents, thee William Sawtree, otherwise called Chawtrey, parish priest pretensed, personally appearing before us, in and upon the crime of heresy, judicially and lawfully convict as an heretic, and as an heretic to be punished." tody of the high constable and marshal of England, with the phrase used upon these occasions, "requesting the said court that they will receive favourably the said William Sawtree, thus committed unto them." The real intention of this hypocritical expression was soon manifested. The Romish prelates urged the king to cause the sentence to be executed, and a writ was issued on the same day, directed to the mayor and sheriffs of London, purporting to be the decree of the king "against a certain new sprung up heretic," commanding them to "cause the said William, in some public or open place within the liberties of the city, (the cause being published unto the people,) to be put in the fire, and there in the same fire really to be burned, to the great horror of his offence, and the manifest example of other christians." The sentence was carried into execution without loss of time; and thus Henry the fourth was the first English king who caused Christ's saints to be burned for opposing the pope; and William Sawtree was the first who suffered in this cause in England, as appears by the public registers and other documents of authority. LITANY OF OUR LADY OF LORETTO. WE give this awful piece of Romish blasphemy and impiety verbatim from "The Poor Man's Manual of Devotions," published at Belfast in Ireland, in 1822 (Permissu superiorum). The work abounds with similar dreadful blasphemies; and we are induced to transfer this to our pages for two reasons: first, to show our Protestant readers what an Antichristian thing Popery is, and what horrible blasphemy she puts into the mouths of her unhappy members; and secondly, to inspire their hearts with gratitude to Almighty God that they have not so learnt Christ, but have been taught to worship God in purity and truth, and to fill them with pity and compassion towards the poor wretched victims of this unholy and soul destroying monster of iniquity. THE LITANY OF OUR LADY OF LORETTO. WE fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of Christ, graciously hear us. God the Holy Ghost, have mercy on us. Holy Mother of God, Tower of Ivory, Pray for us. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, spare us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, hear us, O Lord. Lamb of God, who takest away the sins of the world, have mercy on us. Christ, hear us. Christ, graciously hear us. Lord, have mercy on us. Christ, have mercy on us. Lord, have mercy on us. Our Father, &c. Anthem. WE fly to thy patronage, O holy Mother of God; despise not our petitions in our necessities, but deliver us from all dangers, O ever glorious and blessed Virgin. Vers. Pray for us, O holy Mother of God. Resp. That we may be made worthy of the Promises of Christ. Let us pray. POUR forth, we beseech thee, O Lord, thy Grace into our hearts, that we, to whom the Incarnation of Christ thy Son has been made known by the message of an Angel, may, by his passion and cross, be brought to the glory of his Resurrection, through the same Christ our Lord. Amen. May the Divine assistance remain always with us. Amen. And may the souls of the Faithful, through the mercy of God, rest in peace. Amen. PERSECUTION OF PROTESTANTS IN IRELAND. THE REV. EDWARD NANGLE, who has for some years been engaged in preaching the Gospel to the Irish, and who founded the Protestant Colony of Achill on the Western Coast of Ireland; thus describes the treatment he has met with from the Roman Catholics. He attributes all this unkindness and persecution to Popery, of which they are the slaves and declares that the Irish are naturally generous, kind, and warm-hearted, and that the Church of Rome makes them unjust, and cruel. "During the last four years, I can distinctly call to mind no less than twentythree assaults committed upon us. Some of these assaults were of a very serious character, endangering the lives of the injured parties. One of the outrages to which I have alluded was committed on the person of a helpless female, by her own parents, at the instigation of the priests; another was committed by the priests' schoolmaster; another, of which my own sister and my infant children were the objects, was perpetrated at the village where the Romish priests reside; and it is worthy of remark, that it was proved by Mr. Dombrain, the Inspector-General of Coast-Guard, in his examination before the Select Committee of the Lords, which sat on the Irish Education question in the summer of 1837, that on the preceding Sunday the priest of the parish, the Rev. Martin Conolly, commanded his flock, from the altar, 'to hoot and hiss at the people of the Protestant colony wherever they met them, for that he would not be satisfied till he had driven them out of the island ;' another aggravated assault was committed on the Rev. Joseph Baylee, who was at that time my zealous and laborious colleague. The blow was aimed by direction of the priest, and he will carry to the grave the mark of the wound which it inflicted. The last assault to which I shall allude was committed by the priest himself. But the people are not only encouraged to assault our converts, but they are commanded to withhold from them the common courtesies and charities of life. They are forbidden to admit them into their houses, to buy or sell with them, or even to speak to them. In consequence of these unchristian and inhuman commands, our poor people and their pastors are hooted after and insulted wherever they appear: the most provoking epithets, such as 'Jumper and Devil,' are liberally bestowed upon them; and it is worthy of remark, that the brother of one priest, and the sister of the other, with a vagrant well known to the neighbouring magistrates as a perjurer, and to the people of Achill as the priests' confidential agenttake the lead in this tormenting persecution. But our poor people endure more substantial injuries than this-they cannot procure the necessaries of life from their neighbours. None dare to sell them a morsel of food, except in the concealment of night, for the priests' spies would report the transgression, and the priests' police would avenge it. When persons came from a distant place to sell provisions, the police forbade them to supply the Jumpers (as converts from Popery are called), and even obliged them to put to sea again, and carry off their cargo. I have known the convert from popery, in more cases than one, to have been turned out of a house of public entertainment, in which he sought shelter from the drenching rain and the piercing blast of an October night, the host pleading the command of the priest for conduct so much at variance with our national hospitality. I have seen the husband refusing to speak to a faithful and affectionate wife, and ultimately forsaking her, because she had left the Church of Rome, and joined the proscribed flock of Jesus. I can name the father who was publicly cursed by the priest because he refused to deny the shelter of his roof to an only son who was chargeable with no offence but that of having become a Protestant. I can tell you of mothers who were denied the privilege of purchasing the drink which they required to cool the burning tongues of their children when lying in fever, because the priest had cursed them." Surely we ought to pity our brother Pro testants in Ireland under such grievous per- them out of their troubles and turn the secutions, and pray that God may deliver hearts of their enemies. (Extract from an old work, entitled, "The Precious Blood of the Son of God shed without the Gates of Jerusalem." 18th edit. 1706.) THE DEATH OF OUR SAVIOUR. He did but utter his voice, and five great and terrible tongues did speak for him: the sun, which is the lively lamp of the world, the earth, the rocks, the veil of the temple, and the dead; when all men were silent, the elements, the stones, the dead spake forth the power of his Godhead; they all preached his mercies, and thundered forth his judgments. O good Jesu, it was a great voice indeed, which made the principal powers of heaven, earth, and hell shake, which did astonish the living, and raised the dead. As the cry of our sins did reach to the justice of thy Father, so did thy voice reach to his mercy: thou didst cry with a great voice to call the living, and summon the dead; that if any should lose himself, if any would not be converted to thee, it should not be because he was not called, but because he would not come. But woe be to every soul which is not converted, which will not come; woe be to every soul that is not moved at this voice this mighty voice. O crucified Jesu, have mercy upon us poor sinners, that are prostrate before thee, and let our humble voices enter into thy ears, that thy mighty voice may sink into our souls. Give unto us a true sense of these thy sufferings, both of compassion, (as it is reason that the members should condole with the Head,) and also of fear, that our minds be not more senseless than the earth that trembled, that our hearts be not more hard than the stones that did cleave, and that our souls be not more dead than those that rose out of their graves at the power of thy Passion. O great Redeemer of the world, if all creatures did fear thee when hanging upon the cross, what will they do when thou shalt come to judgment? If thou wert so mighty in the valley of thy weakness, what wilt thou be in the mount of thy glory? If these effects did accompany the works of thy mercy, and the voice of thy love, wherewith thou didst call all men to come to thee, what will the work of thy justice do, and the voice of thy fury, when thou shalt say, Depart from me, ye cursed into everlasting fire. We adore and admire thy blood, thy death, thy burial, thy victorious resurrection, and thy ascension into glory: By these we are refreshed, from these we draw the breath of life, O our Saviour, we desire thee only, we offer up ourselves wholly unto thee; we want nothing, we wish for nothing, but only thee; for thou alone art sufficient for us; thou art our King, our Lord, our Tutor, our Governor, our Father, the Paradise of our hearts, the place where our souls shall rest for ever, the haven wherein we shall be saved, the glass wherein we shall behold ourselves, the staff that only stayeth us, the treasure wherein we trust. Who is so liberal as he, who hath given himself for so vile creatures? Who is so loving as he who hath not spared himself for his very enemies? O most gracious Lord and loving Father! who despisest none that come to thee, but dost rather help them, and accompany them, and lead them in the way, receive our loose and lost souls which seek after thee; raise us up by the virtue of thy passion, from the death of sin, and by the same virtue endow us with wisdom and strength, that by the one we may prevent, and by the other resist, the attempts of our most dangerous enemies, the flesh, the world, and the devil; the flesh is idle and voluptuous, the world vain and curious, the devil subtle and malicious. Grant unto us by the same virtue, that the yoke of thy commandments may be sweet, and the burthen of thy cross light unto us; that we may contemn the trifling vanities of this world, and not weakly yield to the calamities or vain pleasures of this life, but that, with immoveable minds, we may bear the one, and overcome the other. THE DUKE OF BRUNSWICK'S It is hard to say which is most painful to contemplate, the blind ignorance of the poor duke, or the impious arrogance of his converters. And what shall we say to the leading Romish ecclesiastics in our day, that they should boast of such a convert, and hold forth such an argument for conversion to their church! How opposed to this bold impiety is the language of scripture,-"None of them can by any means redeem his brother, nor give to God a ransom for him."-Psalm xlix. 7. REMEMBER THE CORK! WHEN Villiers, Duke of Buckingham, was unwell, King James the 2nd sent an Irish Priest to convert him to Popery. The Duke apprized of the visit and of its object, very courteously received the Priest, and expressed great willingness to be instructed, But before they entered upon religious discussion, it was agreed that they should drink a glass of wine together. After they had drank awhile, the Duke took the cork out of the bottle, and stroking it with great gravity, asked the Priest, "How do you like this horse?" and silent. The Priest was confounded The Duke continued all the 66 "Your "Consider!" while to stroke the cork, and praise his beautiful horse. "Your Grace," at length said the Priest, "has chosen an unseasonable time to be merry." Merry!" cries the Duke, "Merry! I was never more serious in my life. Does not your Reverence see that this is a beautiful horse?" Grace," replies the Father, "should compose yourself and consider." answers the Duke smartly, "What must I consider? Don't you see that this is a very fine horse?" "Ah! my Lord," rejoins the Priest, "you know that only a few minutes ago, you took it out of the bottle; it is nothing but a cork!" "What! would you FOR BECOMING A PAPIST. persuade me that this fine courser is nothing ANTHONY ULRIC, Duke of Brunswick, was but a cork?" "Nothing but a cork," says a nominal Protestant during the greater part the Father. "Well," replies the Duke of his life, but at last turned Romanist. calmly, as if recovering from a dream, “I He published a book, called "The Duke of will not be too positive; my illness may Brunswick's Fifty Reasons for preferring the have discomposed my mind; but Father how Roman Catholic Religion," which appears do you prove that this is only a cork?" in the authorised catalogues of Romish "Very easily, my Lord. I look at it, and works, and is highly commended by their see it is but a cork; I touch it, and feel it is most celebrated ecclesiastics at the present but a cork; I taste it, and taste it is but a day. The last reason concludes thus:- cork. By the evidence of all my senses I "The Catholics to whom I spoke concern- am convinced it is but a cork." ing my conversion, assured me, that if I were to be damned for embracing the Catholic faith, they were ready to answer for me at the day of judgment, and to take my damnation upon themselves"!!! "Your Reverence," assents the Duke, “may be right: I am subject to whims; let us talk no more of the cork, but proceed to the holy business, which brought you hither." The Priest then entered on the points con |