and piety, writes of the Church of England, which he calls" the crimson Whore of Canterbury," thus, "As there is hardly to be found a serious Dissenter in all Great Britain who does not in private (in private!!!!) confess that the Church of England is a conspicuous apostacy, and works great evil among the people; the deduction is evident, that it is a paramount duty to endeavour to destroy this evil.” "The whole frame of society is virtually corrupted by the Established Church-an atmosphere of aristocratical pride through its influence has settled over all the land—an immense majority of all the parishes in England are, in consequence, consigned to the Ministry of godless and careless Priests, who pervert the Gospel, and teach nothing good either by precept or example." "Who can foretell all the benefits pressing for the nations of the earth when the great Juggernaut of England shall be beaten to pieces?" "If it is our duty to destroy the works of the Devil, here is a master-work of his contrivance close at hand.” At a Meeting of Dissenters, held at Cottingham, one of them delivered himself as follows:-"The Church of England is the synagogue of Satan, and so far anti-scriptural and anti-christian, that it will one day or other be destroyed by the breath of God. The grossest corruption and bloodshed may be traced to the Establishment, which had been raised by the pride of man and not by Scripture. I also object (continues he) to the Church of England, because of the means used to support it-for in every ten years the entire produce of the land for a year is eaten up by the black footed locusts, and the parties who principally consume this revenue, are the bloated Archbishops and Bishops, the * A Serious Address to Protestant Dissenters, by a Puritan; p.p.26, 30, 31. lazy Deans and Sub-Deans, and the useless Canons and Prebendaries. Again, it must be remembered that every doctrine and prayer of the Church is prescribed by the State, and if the whole Clergy throughout the Kingdom were to be directed, on a certain Sunday, to fall down and worship an ass, they would be compelled to do it." This is moderate, but hear another of these pious and worthy Dissenting Orators. “I wish to God that I had this evening to preach the Funeral Sermon of that hoary harlot Mother Church, which is a blast and nuisance upon the earth, both black, bloody, and useless; and I will say, blessed be those hands that shall first hurl her to dark perdition, among the friends there to be honouring and to be honoured by the Devil."* After such precious morsels of the piety, charity, gentleness, good-will, and kindness of Dissenters towards the Church, and after all the “keen hatred and round abuse” and liberal proceedings of that "Triple Alliance" the "Three Denominations" united for the purpose of overturning the constitution of the country in Church and State, who will not say with our gracious King, in his heart-stirring speech to the Bishops-that it is "necessary for those who feel their duty to that Church to speak out ?” After the above quotations what Dissenter can ever have the impudence to find fault with whatever severity is to be found in the following Letters? Sheffield, August 16, 1834. * Cambridge Chronicle, April, 1834. |