The Ulster Covenant.—The following is the text of the Covenant drawn up and signed by the Protestants of Ulster at home and elsewhere:—”Being convinced in our conscience that Home Rule would be disastrous to the national well-being of Ulster, as well as to the whole of Ireland, subversive to our civil and religious freedom, destructive to our citizenship, and perilous to the unity of the Empire, we, whose names are underwritten, men of Ulster, loyal subjects of His Gracious Majesty, King George V., humbly relying on the God whom our fathers, in days of stress and trial, confidently trusted, hereby pledge ourselves in solemn covenant, throughout this our time of threatened calamity, to stand by one another in defending for ourselves and our children our cherished position of equal citizenship in the United Kingdom, and in using all means which may be found necessary to defeat the present conspiracy to set up Home Rule in Ireland. In the event of such a Parliament being forced upon us, we solemnly and mutually pledge ourselves to refuse to recognise its authority, in sure confidence that God will defend the right. Hereto we subscribe our names, and further, we individually declare that we have not already signed this Covenant.”
We earnestly pray that the Lord may make this solemn engagement a means of defeating the programme of the Gallios of Home Rule. It is not all we could desire by any means, but the Governor among the nations may employ it for good to Ireland.
Irish Reformed Presbyterians and Home Rule.—The following is an extract from an address that has been issued to the members of the Reformed Presbyterian Church of Ireland by the Synod’s Committee on Covenant Renovation and Witness Bearing. It begins:—”Dear Brethren,—There is little doubt that in this time of great political excitement pressure will be brought to bear on you to induce you to adopt the programme of the Unionist Party, and to join in the swearing and signing of what is called ‘The Ulster Covenant.’ Perhaps you have begun to feel the pressure already. And the temptation to go with the current of popular Protestant sentiment will be all the stronger because a ‘Covenant’ is to be sworn, because you are already bound by Covenant to oppose every concession to Romanism, and because general religious services are to be held at which the blessing of Almighty God is to be sought on behalf of Ulster’s strenuous resistance to Home Rule. Nevertheless it is plainly your duty to remain on the high ground of the National Covenant of Scotland and of the Solemn League and Covenant of the three kingdoms against Popery. If any party in the nation were prepared to renew these Covenants in the spirit and substance of them, it would then be your duty to join with that party, help them by all Scriptural means, and bid them a hearty God-speed. But the Ulster Protestant party is not prepared to stand on the Scriptural and patriotic ground of the National Covenants. The holding of religious services in connection with the Covenant against Home Rule does not imply that Unionists are prepared to confess the grievous sin committed against God, and the grievous treachery to the best interests of the nation, in the breach of the National Covenants. God remembers this; and professing Protestants ought to begin to think of it now, when they see what the giving of power to Roman Catholics means. Yet the much-abused expression ‘civil and religious liberty’ is used even by Unionists to describe the granting of equal political rights to Romanists! When will foolish Protestants learn that Romanists are the subjects of a foreign priest who claims universal civil as well as religious supremacy? When will the worshippers of the idol of ‘civil and religious liberty,’ or ‘religious equality’ open their eyes wide enough to see that the conscientious Romanist is not, and does not profess to be a subject of the British King? It is only when some sinister attack is to be made on the Protestantism of the Empire that the members of the Church of Rome speak of themselves as subjects.” . . .
The Sabbath in Melbourne, Australia.—It is stated that in Melbourne no Sabbath newspapers are permitted, no hotels are allowed to open their bars from midnight on Saturday until Monday morning, and anyone driving past a place of worship at a faster pace than a walk while service is in progress is liable to be arrested.