These dangers must be met by extraordinary measures of defence. If the government did its duty, not a Jesuitical institute would be suffered to pollute the land: these agents and subjects of a foreign power would not be allowed to tamper with the peace and the liberties of England. But, deserted by the government, itself enslaved by an ignoble faction, and powerful only for mischief, we must look to our own resources, and, among others, to the Protestant Association. I see nothing in its constitution or principles to justify the fear, that it may not hopefully look for the blessing of Almighty God upon its exertions. It has not been instituted by a section or party in the church. It overlooks minor distinctions, and enrols among its members persons of every shade of sentiment or opinion, who are willing to make a common cause on behalf of our venerable church and our holy religion. The moment it is made the instrument of party, let it fall! The name of the Noble Lord who is its president, is a pledge that its objects are truly British; and the clergy and laity who are its members, 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 which, by God’s grace, shall never again be put out in England.
In looking at the aspect of the times, I am not sanguine in my hopes, nor do I yield to despondency. It is ours to do our duty, and leave the consequences with the Great Arbiter of human destinies. If we are disappointed in our efforts to save our country, we shall have the consolation of having made a stand under circumstances which required some degree of moral courage, and a lively faith in the God of Truth, whose servants we are, and in whose cause it will be no dishonour to fall.
In the mean time, it is a reflection not to be evaded, however painful to indulge, 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 blind, that to this tormented kingdom may be applied the fearful description of the historian of the Roman empire:—
“Labente deinde paullatim disciplinâ, velut desidentes primo mores sequatur animo; deinde ut magis magisque lapsi sint; tum ire cœperint præcipites:—donec ad hæc tempora, quibus nec vitia nostra, nec remedia pati possumus, perventum est.”
And now, my dear sir, I have acted upon my own convictions of duty in thus plainly stating my motives for upholding the Protestant Association: judge them as severely as you please. They have at least this claim to calm consideration: they are the reasons of an individual whose personal interests and prospects would have dictated another course of action, but who deems it his greatest happiness to have his fortunes blended, “for better or for worse,” with that hallowed cause in which Latimer and Ridley and Hooper and Cranmer died.
Yours faithfully,
WILLIAM HULL.
Eaton, Dec. 10, 1839.
THE END.
NORWICH:
Printed by John Stacy, Gentlemen’s
Walk, Old Haymarket.