Book Description

Excerpt from The Bulwark or Reformation Journal, Vol. 7: In Defence of the True Interests of Man and of Society, Especially in Reference to the Religious, Social and Political Bearings of Popery; 1857-58 This Number commences the seventh volume of the Bulwark. We have great reason to thank God for our past success - a success to an extent far greater than we at first ventured to anticipate, and yet we resume our labours in circumstances of growing difficulty and importance. The fitfulness of Protestant zeal, as contrasted with the steady and onward march of Rome, is sufficiently marked and melancholy in Britain. When our labours first commenced, the whole United Kingdom was astir and indignant, because the Pope had ventured to send a Cardinal to London, and to parcel out England into Romish dioceses. One would have imagined that such a fiery, earnest, and universal zeal would never die or abate until its object was gained. The Pope and Doctor Wiseman, however, knew better. They knew and proclaimed that the zeal of Protestants, like the heats of children, would soon wear itself out. The sad result has exactly answered their prediction, and although the "Papal aggression" is now proceeding with more steady and increasing energy than ever, the whole Protestant world, lately so boisterous, has been hushed again into a great calm, and the hearts of comparatively few seem to tremble now for the ark of God. When we commenced our labours also, one Maynooth filled the mass of Protestants with indignation, and that indignation would, at that time, no doubt, have been increased tenfold, if it had been proposed to establish and endow monasteries and Popish schools in all parts of Britain, at the public expense. Scarcely a representative on either side of the Tweed durst then openly avow himself the defender of Popish endowments. Now, the scene is entirely changed. The war against Maynooth languishes, scores of "little Maynooths," in the form of Popish schools, and so-called Reformatories, handsomely endowed by Government, are springing up on every side - ministers and churches have almost ceased to protest - some have almost begun to defend - Members of Parliament do not now scruple to proclaim to Protestant constituencies that they are the advocates of Romish endowment, nay some of them go so far as, whilst professing hostility to all other endowments, to declare themselves decidedly favourable to those of Rome. The times indeed are sad and ominous, and yet we are persuaded, that the heart of the country is sound, and that the present is only the lull which precedes the storm. The aggressions of Rome will soon again reach a point at which the most dreamy Protestant will startle. The movements in the moral world are like those in the physical atmosphere, the calmest moments often preceding the greatest tempest. About the Publisher Forgotten Books publishes hundreds of thousands of rare and classic books. Find more at www.forgottenbooks.com This book is a reproduction of an important historical work. Forgotten Books uses state-of-the-art technology to digitally reconstruct the work, preserving the original format whilst repairing imperfections present in the aged copy. In rare cases, an imperfection in the original, such as a blemish or missing page, may be replicated in our edition. We do, however, repair the vast majority of imperfections successfully; any imperfections that remain are intentionally left to preserve the state of such historical works.