Transcribed from the 1840 John Stacy edition by David Price. REASONS FOR JOINING THE NORFOLK & NORWICH PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION IN A LETTER TO A CLERICAL FRIEND. * * * * * BY THE REV. WILLIAM HULL, MINISTER OF ST. GREGORY’S. NORWICH. * * * * * NORWICH: PRINTED BY JOHN STACY, OLD HAYMARKET. * * * * * MDCCCXL. A LETTER, &c. MY DEAR SIR, You have not stated the nature or the grounds of those _scruples_ which prevent your immediate adhesion to our recently-formed association;—nor will I attempt to conjecture what they may be; especially since you avow your cordial approbation of every well-timed effort in defence of our Protestant faith and liberties against the malignant aggressions of Popery. I am not able to imagine any substantial objection on the part of a truly Protestant mind. Believing, as I firmly do believe, that our National Church is founded on truth, and that the _Protestant ascendancy_ involves the temporal and spiritual welfare of the people of these realms,—believing also that the agents and emissaries of Popery have, for a series of years, been actively employed in embroiling the affairs of this kingdom, with an ultimate view to the restoration of the popish priesthood, together with their dark superstitions and inhuman despotism,—believing that new and unwonted energies must be called into action, in defence of our national religion, or that, by secret undermining and open assault, “our holy and beautiful house where our fathers worshipped” will soon be levelled with the dust, “and all our pleasant things laid waste,”—I hail the formation of the Protestant Association as a propitious event, and deliberately, from the religious conviction that I am in the path of duty, enrol my name as a member. In stating thus freely my own forcible impressions, I disclaim any intention of impugning the motives of those who are not, equally with myself, convinced of the expediency or utility of this association. Whatever may be the ground of _your_ hesitation, I have entire confidence in the purity and integrity of your principles.