We think we need not make any apology on introducing to the public the first number of the PENNY PROTESTANT OPERATIVE. It must be clear to every one, that a cheap periodical conveying sound practical information to the minds of our mechanics and artisans, must be calculated to be extensively useful. The times in which we live are peculiar for two things-a vast and increasing thirst for knowledge among all classes, and -a wide and deadly spread of all sorts of error, by means of cheap infidel publications. The antichristian doctrines of Popery,-the abominable tenets of Socinianism, the wicked principles of Chartism, and the filthy notions of Socialism, are being scattered over the length and breadth of the land by the circulation of thousands and tens of thousands of tracts, handbills, pamphlets, and magazines. Christian people have seen this deluge of immorality and blasphemy continually pouring forth among the lower and middle classes of society, and have deeply deplored it but they have not made that use of the press which they might have done, to stem the torrent of iniquity. We believe that for every christian cheap periodical, there are at least ten ungodly ones. This ought not to be. The efforts of christians must be increased, and cheap godly publications multiplied, and spread far and wide. If the higher classes do not furnish their less privileged brethren with sound and nutritious food for the mind, how can they wonder

VOL. I.

that the corrupt seed sown among them by the enemy should spring up, and bring forth bad fruit. The operatives have been too much left to the tender mercies of the Liberal, the Papist, and the Infidel; and, if more care is not taken to instil into their minds right principles, and the saving truths of the gospel, they will rise up in the judgment, and condemn their rich and better instructed neighbours, who have shown so little care for their morals, and so little regard for their eternal welfare. In a day of "trouble, and rebuke, and blasphemy," like the present, we surely cannot be too anxious to maintain, or too active in disseminating, sound Protestant principles.

The conductors of the PENNY PROTESTANT OPERATIVE will attempt, in humble reliance upon the grace of our Lord Jesus Christ, and in a spirit of love and charity, to advance the interests of "pure and undefiled religion," in opposition to these "aboundings of iniquity." They will endeavour, with God's help, in a plain unvarnished style, in the warm and simple language of the heart, to write of matters that may be easily understood by all, and be uninstructive to none. They will examine all things by the light of Scripture, upholding the authority of the Bible in all its purity, and striving from its sacred pages to enforce upon their operative brethren the high and sacred duty of being "valiant for THE TRUTH." Their motto will be "FOR GOD, OUR QUEEN, AND OUR COUN

TRY"; their watchword, “No PEACE WITH POPERY OR INFIDELITY, THE ENEMIES OF ALL THREE."

It is hoped that the PENNY PROTESTANT OPERATIVE Will thus prove a valuable bond of union among Operative Protestants, and a medium of conveying much useful information to every corner of the empire. It will briefly record the proceedings of Operative Associations,-furnish intelligence connected with the Protestant Cause,-expose the errors of Popery and Infidelity by appeals to Scripture, and give occasional historical and other narratives. Its pages will be studiously devoted to the glory of God, and the eternal interests of man, to upholding the glorious principles of the Reformation, and putting the working classes in possession of facts and arguments with which to refute the false statements of the enemies of truth.

In obedience to the precept, "let every one of us please his neighbour for his good to edification," the magazine will be made attractive by neatly executed wood cuts, and rendered as generally interesting as is consistent with the sacred and important cause it seeks to advance. May God, in His infinite mercy, condescend to bless it! May He raise up among the Operatives of England a band of faithful witnesses for His truth, full of that HOLY SPIRIT which, in the days of Queen Mary led many humble-minded Bibleloving Operatives, to stand stedfast in the midst of hot persecution-Operatives, who rather than deny their Saviour and blaspheme his most Holy Name, suffered cruel reproach and torture, and passed through the flames of martyrdom to their glorious and eternal rest.

WHY DOES POPERY HATE
ENGLAND?

BECAUSE England has cast off the chains of Popish superstition, and dared to grasp the freedom which Christ has given us in his glorious Gospel.

BECAUSE England has declared that the Bible is the gift of God to every man; and that no man, whether Pope, Priest, or King, has any right to take it from him, or prevent him reading it as much as he likes.

BECAUSE England has declared that the Pope has no power whatever over Englishmen, but that they are the subjects of their own King.

BECAUSE England has solemnly determined that the fountain of truth shall not be kept from the people by the Pope; but that the pure river of life shall flow without let or

hindrance through the length and breadth of the land.

BECAUSE Englishmen have determined that, as for them and their children, they will serve the Lord their God, and will not serve the man whom the Papists blasphemously call," Our Lord God the Pope."

BECAUSE Englishmen have declared that they will not bow down to images-that they will not worship the Virgin Marythat they will not disobey the precepts of Christ by obeying the commands of the Pope.

BECAUSE Englishmen have declared that they will take the Bible, the whole Bible, and nothing but the Bible, as their standard of faith and practice, and that they will not believe the anti-christian doctrines of Popery.

BECAUSE Englishmen have declared that they will believe the Bible, which they know to be the word of Christ, rather than uninspired books, which they know to be written by men like themselves.

BECAUSE they have declared that they will believe God rather than man-Christ rather than Popes-Apostles and Prophets rather than Monks and Priests—the oracles of God rather than lying Popish fables.

BECAUSE Englishmen believe that there is no such place as purgatory, but that "the blood of Jesus Christ cleanses from all sin" —and that Popery wickedly makes the doctrine of Purgatory a means of getting money under false pretences.

BECAUSE they believe that Jesus Christ is able to save to the utmost all who come unto God by Him-that by "His one offering, He hath perfected for ever them that are sanctified" - that there is but one Mediator between God and man, the Man Christ Jesus; and that therefore the Popish doctrines of the Mass-the Mediation of Angels, and the Intercession of departed Saints, are contrary to Christ and ruinous to the soul.

BECAUSE Englishmen know, from what Popery has already done, that she would, if she had the power, persecute, torment, and slay them; and having the Bible in their hands, which denounces Popery as "the Mother of Abominations," and "the Mystery of Iniquity:" they likewise hold it to be their duty to God and their fellowmen to denounce Popery, to protest against her errors, and to hate her abominable practices.

BECAUSE the Church of England has, for many years, been a faithful witness against Popery, holding up the light of God's truth to the world, and thus making manifest the

darkness, the ignorance, and the wickedness of the Romish system.

BECAUSE England was the country that mainly broke the power of Popery, and set a noble example to other nations to throw off her yoke and dare to be free.

BECAUSE Englishmen recollect the dark doings of Popery-tell their children the cruel deeds of Popery, and warn them not to trust a system which has committed such awful crimes, and so far from repenting, boasts that she is unchanged and un. changeable.

amongst ourselves to publish 8000 copies of the speech of Mr. Bywater at that meeting; and when

they are printed, you will, perhaps, allow me to send you a few. I do assure you, we did not think there had been a working man in this town able to handle the subject in the manner he has done, and that must plead my excuse for being so selfish as to praise it. The Papists rushed in numbers to the meeting, and once or twice attempted to hiss the speakers down, but the spirit of true hold of many tickets more than they wanted, and Protestantism was too strong for them. They got when asked to return them, they say they have burnt them; and yet they say they are more charitable than we are. But the next meeting we will prevent them from doing the same thing over again.

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Your's respectfully,

GEO. DOUTHWAITE.

A GOOD EXAMPLE.

WE give the following extract of a letter from Sheffield, to show our operative friends what one man can do who has his heart in the work; and we call upon all who may read it to go and do likewise," and to remember the commandment, "Whatsoever thine hand findeth ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not unto men.' To Mr. DALTON, Secretary to the Protestant Asso

SIR,

ciation, 2, Exeter Hall, London.

Sheffield, March 16th, 1840.

As Secretary of the Sheffield Protestant Operative and Tradesman's Association, I take the liberty of informing you that we have obtained 8500 signatures to the Petition against any further grant of money to Maynooth College; and at our Quarterly Meeting, held on the 5th of this month, it was unanimously Resolved, that Sir Robert Inglis and Mr. Colquhoun should present the same to Parliament; in addition to which I have the honour to inform you that I have been down to Rotherham, which is six miles from here, and have started a Petition there similar to ours, and it has already received 800 signatures. We have likewise put into circulation the printed heads of our Petition, calling upon the inhabitants of four villages in that neighbourhood to send up Petitions along with the Rotherham and Sheffield, and we have formed an association at Rotherham, the Vicar to be the chairman. I am to-day going to Chesterfield with letters of introduction to the Vicar and the Wesleyan Minister; I shall take

two men with me, and start a Petition there, and, if possible, pave the way for forming an association; so that I hope, by the end of this week, to have six Petitions to present against Maynooth. We had a glorious meeting of the Operative Association on the 5th of this month; it was our first Quarterly Meeting, held in the National School; upwards of 800 tickets were taken; we had none but Operative speakers, and such speeches, allow me to say, that we ourseives did not calculate upon; we are now raising funds

WAY.

THE good old way is Christ. The means by which we travel in this way is faith-faith only, in opposition to the many inventions of the Church of Rome. We refuse to trust in any but Christ-we believe him to be the Rock of our Salvation, and that consequently, as the Scripture says, "There is salvation in no other." We refuse to trust in the sacrifice of the Mass offered by a Priest, because we believe the one sacrifice of Christ on the Cross is sufficient. We refuse to call upon the blessed Virgin or departed Saints for their intercession, for we know that Christ's intercession needs no. help; and we believe his own declaration, that if we ask anything in his name, we shall have it. As, therefore, we are sure of getting all we want by asking in his name, we feel that, even if it were not sinful, it would be useless and foolish to ask in any other name. We abhor the thought of inflicting sufferings upon ourselves with a view to make satisfaction for our sins, for we know that Christ's sufferings are infinitely meritorious. If the sufferings of the Eternal Son of God are not enough to take away sin, we are quite sure that no sufferings of ours can atone for them: but we believe that Christ is an allsufficient sin-offering, and that there remains neither necessity nor room for any more sacrifice for sin. Through Him we obtain full, free, and eternal remission of all our sins, through the tender mercy of God. a word, we declare, with one of our glorious martyrs when burning at the stake, "NONE BUT CHRIST-NONE BUT CHRIST." This is the ground of our quarrel with the Church of Rome. She blames us for trusting in Christ only: she endeavours to frighten us from this trust by persecution, when she has the power; and by threats of

In

THE above wood-cut represents that distinguished Reformer, THOMAS CRANMER, Archbishop of Canterbury, being hurried to execution by the Papists. We need not remind our Operative brethren that he was a chosen servant of God in our land; being the main instrument in opposing Popery and promoting the Reformation, both under Henry the Eighth and Edward the Sixth. We are deeply indebted to him (under God) for the spiritual light and liberty we now enjoy, and the facts of his most cruel death must therefore be interesting to the mind of every British Protestant.

The bigoted Queen Mary, the great persecutor of the Protestant Church, could not bear Cranmer; she could not allow such a pillar of the truth to live, although he had actually, at a former period, saved her life. Accordingly, Cranmer was tried, condemned, and burned, as a heretic. Such is the gratitude taught by Popery; such are the tender mercies of the Church of Rome !

The Commissioners who examined Cranmer, who were the same that had condemned Ridley and Latimer to death, required the venerable old man to obey a citation from the

Pope, by which he was summoned to appear in person before the Pope of Rome, within eighty days from that time.

Cranmer was a prisoner, but said he was willing to go, if they would permit him, and trusted" that God would put it in his mouth to defend his truth there as well as here." They, however, kept him in close confinement; and when the eighty days were ended, condemned him at Rome, as contumacious and obstinate, because he did not appear. Such is the honesty and fair dealing of Popery!

Well, after they had burned Cranmer in effigy at Rome, the Pope sent a decree to England to have him burnt in reality. The commission which he sent was full of the most bare-faced falsehoods ;-it stated that the articles laid to his charge had been carefully examined at Rome, the witnesses and counsel heard on both sides, and that the accused wanted nothing needful for his defence! When Cranmer heard this, he exclaimed, "What lies be these, to say that I, who was kept here a close prisoner, allowed neither witness nor counsel, should produce witnesses and appoint counsel at