The Presbyterian Church in England.

New Zealander, Volume 7, Issue 524, 23 April 1851, Page 4

The Presbyterian Church in England.

•'Unto Her Most Gracious Majesty Victoria, by the Gruce of God Gluten of Great Britain and Ireland, Defender of the Faith, the humble Petition of the Presbytery of London, in Presby. tery assembled, •• Showeth, — "That your Majesty's petitioners have heard with indignation, not unmingled with alarm, that the Biihop of Rome has presumed to exerci«e jurisdiction over your Majesty's dominions, unheard of sin '"c the blessed Reformation, and illegal even when Popery was the estab- lislied religion of the realm. " That your Majesty's pttitioners, sincerely attached to your Majesty's person and Government, cannot but resent the usurpation by any foreign prince or potentate whatsoever of the civil prerogatives connected by tue Constitution with your Majesty's Crown. "That sincerely and conscientiou,ly attached to the principle! of civil and religious liberty, your petitioners wou.d, on the one hand, deprecate all interference by the citil magistrate with the faith or polity of any church or religious society as such; yet firmly con. vinced that Popery is a civiio-ecclesiastical system which interferes with th« civil rights and national privileges of its adherents —a system which will claim in favour of afoteizn potentate the allegiance due to your Majesty, and will suspend in favour of foreign interests the laws of your Majesty's dominions, your petitioners would, on the other hand, rejoice to witnrss an effectual resistance, by all lawful and constitutional means to the recenc Bull, by which the Pope has audaciously piesumed to claim spiritual authority over thu Protestant reilm. " That devotedly attached to the free institutions of this happy land, and conscientiously persuaded, on the one hand, that Protestantism is their only sourer, basis, and guarantee, and equally convinced, on the other hand, that Popery is the enemy alike or civil liberty, of religious truth, and national interests, your petitioners entertain a confident hope that your Majesty will discountenance and oppose bII Romanizing tendencies wheiever they appear, aud unhuid that Protestantism, which, having placed your Majeity's family upon the throne of theso realms, is not less the gua-rantee of your Majesty's rights than it is the guardian of your people's liberties. •• May it therefore pleaie your Majesty, most graciously taking the premises into your favourable consideration, to adopt such measures, by the administration of the Ihws, or by the enactment of other statutes as may meet the emergency, and thus maintain inviolate the temporal prerogatives of the British Crown now usurped by the Pope, and the rights and liberties of your Majesty's subjects now threatened by Papal emissaries and anti-national Romanizers within these realms. «' And your petitioners, as in duty bound, -will ever pray." Signed in name, and by appointment of Presbytery by Hugh Campbell, S.S.T.P., Moderator, P.T.