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INTRODUCTION. * The following letters have been extorted from a Father by a oncje beloved son, which Son was the pride of his heart, and whose Education, See, cost the writer many pounds sterling; besides, he was brought up as firmly in the principles of the Catholic doctrine as my youth could be until he came to manhood, and even then was a zealous supporter of the faith of his Fathers,, possessing J transcendant talents. However, it is a maxim too true, that with the talents of an Angel a man may become a fool ; and great gifts when misapplied bring thousands to destruction. This man hav- ing settled himself in the capital of Great Britain, and by hiataleiits andi address gained the con5dence and the esteem of a great ^rtion of the nobility and gentry of that great City, (this I had Worn a young man born and reared in London, who told the writer that he knew him, and t^t he was realizing J61000 a-year)— has become an eminent author ; and his works already published have been sanctioned by all the Reviewers and C.»urt Journals in and about the metropolis, and also by the Edinburgh ^Reviewers. — However, he has basely deserted the Church in which he was reared, he having sent hi^, works then published to me in one binduM^ m which his egotism is set forward in raising 'the most unfoflpiBaand the grossest fabrications against the faith of his fath- ers, which ha^pgiven memore infelicity than I am able to describe. Yet, old and incapable^n I am for such a task, I am stimulated to send him the following letters when I get them printed as my last and only legacy besides, I am almost certain that Pride (the mother of all eln) has taken possession of his heart; and were it l|pt for paternal affection I would not at my time of life engage in ^ a controv^^^s<| onerous io a man of seventy years. I have writ- t^ a grea^iiany letters, but could never satisfy myself in the rounds of a sheet of paper; and being well assiured that no other mdividual will interfere with him, I have theref(»e cast all diffi- dence aside, being determirted, with 6odV assistance, to niake ^ of every energy (f|pt>Ie as they are) to i^use tiion froioa Jbiif «t 'i^ postacy, though I am afraid it4» hope against hope. Should these letters fall into the hands of any of my Protestant brethren, let them not think hard of me for the harsh language I have made use of to my iSon^-let theni, I say, forbear until they coolly deliberate on what they would say or do were they placed in similar circumstances. I ,l,do affirm from my heart that I am not ^ bigot, but ready at all times to give an accoj^int of the hope that is in me according to th^ advice of the Apostle. I have endea^ vpured to condense in this essay as much matter on controversial points as the bounds would permit j nor have I written one sen- tence to my knowledge but what is supported b^ authority both tsacred and profane | nor am I afraid to meet any individual, be his talents what they may, because I have the open, certain ^nd beaten track to follow, yiz,-— 1 have the eternal, unequivocal and gratuitous promise of J^sus Christ, the glorious founder of his Church, which cannot be broken by the powers of Hell; and 1 am assured that nothing but the powers of darkness could darken the understanding of men, and cause them to shut their eyes, thek^ ears and hearts against the promises apd^ precepts of the God of truth, and strain every nerve to turn thi&e promises into fables^ — but, may the Lord of life open their eyes and hearts in time to se- cure their eternal happiness. ■">'L m #' . ,■■ t • I r- i .a> • yi k - ••" ;■>:••( i; •»., ^^«$;;0i "5.? y.i'i.:. ^:).i)i ^4i ■ -ip^'Mk^l ) ■ } iiiW "*iR LETTER No. I. My Dear Tom,- -0. Since my last letter to you T received your Book, xnnfm ray a long time in Bytown ; but having business there in July l^st, it was then handed to me. It is in my poor judgement, a noble pro- duction, vvern it not fraught with mad heretit'lil dogmas ; and had I been informed by indirect means I would not believe that you would tum out as you have done. Often have I and the whole family wished heartily it had been burned, and we were determin- ed one and all, to hold no more communication witli you ; but as the holy king of Jerusalem lamented bitterly on the death of h"..? re- bellious son Absalom, who was a fratricide, an intended parricide, and I might add an intended Regicide ; you, my son, have been none such, but in my mind, it was the immortal soul of his son • that the pious Prince mourned for, and not the corporal part, as had he tried longer he might have repented and saved his soul. The close attentioi\ 1 have paid to this memorable passage of holy writ has induced me, old and feeble as I am, to bequeath yon the following sheets, so that when 1 am mouldering in the dust you may perchance take a glance at them — the only Legacy your aged Fa- ther has to bestow on a beloved child. If a Father was informed that his son was starving with hun- ger, would he not do everything in his power to provide for his starvin^JP'spring 1 If he was told that he was bitten by a serpent or a maddog, would he not do every thing in his power to provide a remedy 1 Yes, any parent possessed of humanity would fly to nhe relief of his child, but the broad Atlantic presents a fornfiida- ble barrier between us ; therefore, the only remedy I can think of from my inmost s#il I will send to you. You, my son, have been bitten by the old serpent, the worst, of all that noxious tribe, who has iP.fli'cted on you a deep and deadly wound — that is. Pride ? the rriost dijji<^|is df all others to be cured— the most formidable of all enemies — #fiich has been the curse and scourge of angels and menj and which stands the most prominent on the black cataK ogue of hrman degcadation, misery and woe. ';^i ■/ii^ 6 It ■**- The notes in your book prove, bcj-ond doubt, i. e, : — if you believe as you write, that you are plunged into an abyss that un- less God speedily plucks you out, your eternal misery is to be ex- pected, as it is quite apparent you are living in perverse error j and may he who died on the cross for you and I, and for every crea- ture, save us and every soul from the dreadful senienceof "depart ye cursed into everlasting fire, &c. &c." Since 1 read liiat abom- inable Book, I have got no peace of mind night nor day. Oh that I had never seen it, and I repeat if your heart is equal to your wri- tings, of all the renegades I ever heard or read of, you outstrip them all. Why you out-Luther Luther himself. 1 lell you, you are not a common madman, but the maddest of the mad. Gracious God 1 did I ever think it was my fate to be instrumental in bringing into the world such a son. When has an individual but yourself of your family on any sid3 dona lika you, as you say four-fifihs of the Ir- ish nation are ignorant, and the same number are idiots. Oh, what a pity that Ireland had but one Solomon, and that he did not remain among them to teach them some of his superhuman wis- dom. You say you can from personal knowledge bear testimony to facts proving beyond doubts as long as protestant ascendancy was so rampant and intolerable, especially in Ireland, the mass of the Roman Catholics being left no leisure to look into the abuses of their church and Priesthood, followed implicitly the dicta of those Priests and vented their hatred against the persecuting Protestant; and reflectmg and honourable men among their party, though fully aware of the inefficacy and deteriorating temlency of that su- perstition, j'et scorned openly to forsake a sect which was the ob- ject of such atrocious persecution — the examples too, of those in- terested persons justly known by the opprobrious name of rene- gade ; who, bought by the gold of their enemies, forsook the com- munion of their fathers, and unnaturally became the firebrands of persecution, &c. These and other circumstances, deterred men of real worth from forsaking tbeir people when they knew it would be attended with no good to the body, and lha< t|i^vWould be held up to public odium and contempt, and that theirlprinciples would be denounced as interested and disreputable. I know these to be facts, for this good reason, that 1 was a participator — an humble mm^^^^^m' -if you hat iin- be ex- or j and ry crea- "depart t abom- >h that I mr wri- I ip them I are not LIS God 1 ing into fof your fthelr- s. Oh, 3 did not an wia- mony ta endancy mass of ! abuses of those •testant; though that su- I the ob- hose in- of reiie- ;he com- )rands of 1 men of it would :1 be held es would ese to be i bumble W>t a tmehtable thirg it is to look at men of erud t on when they have once travelled out of the direct "•""•".f f ««' '« a labyrinths; the windings of which are so '"extncable that they are coT^pelled to take a thousand devious ways before they afnve at the road which they left. These, and other circumstances, dett.- Z men of real worth &c. Is this logic, or is .t sheer non en.e. Tf they were men of real worth no circunjstance-no earthly con- sideration would or should prevent them from f""''^;'"^ '"*'''"■ tates of conscience. Roal worth, in my mmd, ."""f »'^.» "^^J, thing good in man, and this good, if duly apprec.ated, n.akes h,n the noblest work of God ; and if tl.ere are such men m Ireland 1 solemnly declare before my God I never knew one ol them. Uut apposing they were just as you have stated, they would and just- ly be considered as hypocrites of the blackest d,e, ""d ^vould have as justly incurred damnation as they were eatmg and doubt ng , and he that doubts and eats, according to St. Paul, .s da'"n« •- This is perverse error, as eating and actmg are synon> mous '"Zain, you say from your early youth, or rather earliest youth, you possessed a hear, highly susceptible of religious impressions. 1 ian take no other meaning out of such language only your carij piety ; well it was a kind of piety of which I never could perceive he slightest indication,-!! was hidden not only from me, but was hidden from the whole family. If a blaspheming, insolent, tii- fling boy be indicative of religion and piety, you vvere, beyond douk bv far the most pious of all my children 1 _=«"'' I .^'^J^'f J )y add, b, these lovely traits of your piety ; but I hink what have said may suffice. As to your parlicipaung with these men of real worth, as you call them, it must have taken place far m.t fron, where you were brought up ; and I have just "Bmuchbelmf in such participation as I have in your men of real «^rlh. It puts me in mind of an altercation I once '"'d "ith the Rev d James Jones. I asked him if he ever knew any individual that had al- ' together fotstiofc sin. He said yes. I then asked him if he knew Ihlit namet 5 but he could give no names. So .is just the same regarding your Utopian men of worth.-Why did you not finish your Btriclures-that you had known a great many Catholics at or / 1 t. I :-'M "^^9* 6 immediately before their death send for the Minister instead of the Priest. This was a gross omission, which would have capped the climax, and would have been equally false with the foregoing ai- sertions. I come now to the shock you received on seeing the decalo- gue mutilated. Your pious soul groaned within you when you, with an eagle eye, beheld such nefarious practices in that Church in which you were brought up. Unfortunate man. How will your soul groan when God sends his relentless messenger to sum- mon you to appear before his unerring tribunal, from which there is no appeal. I think 1 can see the germ of infidelity springing up in you. May the King of Glory turn your heart, and bring ygu to your senses ; and may your children never give you the heart- burnings you have given to your parents and friends. But as to the decalogue, you know as well as I do, that the Catechism you allude to is only abridgement of the principal one — you know that no people abhor Idolatry more than mere half informed Catholics — you know, or ought to know that there was, is, and will be, a full and faithful Catechism — you likewise know that the new Gospellers had neither act nor part in preserving the decalogue, nor any part of the holy scriptures, until your predecessors corrupt- ed the whole of thenri to make them suit their several private in- terpretations. You are a strenuous supporter of private judgment — so is the notorious Tresham Gregg, of Swift's Alley, with whom I will set you down as a full brother. This private judgement was the on- ly plausable allegation the first Heformers could set up,*%nd a most miserable one it is ; bui when any of them" had gather- ed a party and became dominant, they then thought it prudent to lay it aside, and compel others to adopt their respective doctrine. It was private judgement, accompanied by pride, (for they go hand in hand) that caused Hell to be created, and cast Satan and his associates into eternal flames — it was the same that caused Kora, Dathan and Aberam to rebel against Moses, Aaron, and against God — it was private judgement that summoned thtjyfirst council ever held in the christian church by people that went ftotn Jerus- alem to Antioch, and told the new converts that they must be cir- cumciied according to the Lav\ of Moses, otherwise they could not •"• ' I ' "Hiig il HI 'I IHW I . ■w»;^;^X-1^ -„'^!EdiriS matler, condemnea hose private J"*""--"' "f "l ^he sacred pen- or discipline, declaring that they were "°l/f "'• ' ";,; , ^f »'hose ^an does not say anything •'"f J "I^ "/„ o^'ooS moml charac- over officious P7°"'-'''«y;;'|'\thirng1 which solely belong- ^a^:ieKh'o:?iTw^CrS God established a church an'U governmen^^ foMhe ame^ ^^^_ ^ This glorious Church, "^."j^^^^^ '^'^^ he wo id e^'ver beheld, not pendous and astonishing miracles that ine won Snly in the time of ''tdivme founder but aUo in Ihe^ ^^^^ foUowers-this church, which ^^ pledged his dmneu g ^^^ .hoHld be so firmly seated, that the P^'^^'^f.^f.^rhis spirit of Zh pride and p. ivate judgment, and thought to overturn the system i and boaste,J that he, and he alone- ha'I'«^«^/j'' („ mi9.ion fron Heaven for so doing. »« Jf^'^rm a miracle si- produce this e-'-<'':''.>;»7,;rXirocCrcS-was founded ; but 'railar to those on whvch the fj^^^,^;, "J^V.d, neither he nor no such thing could he do : »"^' »;^f.X %hia man, who said one of his followers coidd cure a lam A»^*^ \ ^^^ ,„ ,„. he frequently conversed vv. h a Pi't, but ha ^^ ^^ ^^.^^_ ^^.^ knowledge he could not tell whetner u vv.. Westamborg, spirit, black, white or spotted, .=»"',«/^°" I'TFrrncy ; and aftl^ to John Calvin in Piccardy, in ''^^,;™''' the Tpublio of Ge- giving him ^"f -,-"S7,"U"S? alng U eSers, and as- ithen divorced his lawful ^yife-lpar^t§a, as it is said, his own I 10 m 1837 5 and should ihe .sme spirit r)roeress as ^Tr.r He is very busy at present ii, Germany, Cihe cradle of mRdM,.\ There is another meeting in 'heherelieal rLn R„„ inhdelity). ced f,>r Rationalism by JoU c\^XtTZ:;^"Z'{dZZ' ill thpm "o'esiantism^.iliat there were one thousand commfons p/t'.ge.heTi;„T"^'itin rttr.tThTaV"'' ^"^ "T^"- -you do will the death o Inner ^vsCalvrn"""'' "^i" ^^""* ordained some to b- s«vJ »n 1 1 ' ^ '"' "' J"*" ^""^ P'^' ""'■"■■''"' "^ aK^uKtits. iixce pi you do penance. you Shall all likewise perish-we will -J" "» r«n*mj^ cry outall Uie Reformers, as that is Popery, superstition ami craw W 8 When the Bridegroom is taken f-f^.^Xfor^;, for vt allow'- fast-we will fast none, cry out all the Heforme^, ed no fasting in the new Law. 1 h"^« ^^ ^fJi„'P ' it. James, and I have no call for fasting. Confers >o»rsns, ^ y_^^ ^^^^ and if any of you are sick call """^/'^^f j"' [„i the prayer of ing him with oil in the name of "^e J^"™' .'g'^.^ ' . ;„d if • faith shall save the sick, and the Lord shall i^^'f J"" . P^' ,„ e- he he in sins they shall be forgiven h™-; ''ha'^^,.;iP;„^^^^^ g,eas- pistle of stmw, says Luther ; more Pope y "'P"='^^°^ henclforlh fng our Brogues. Behold, s^V^ he Vn^.n M"^ ^ Reformer, ^i-^::'rrS:iran^-^w^hS^^^^ '"That blessed creature announced to be so by a spe-ali »«_';-; ger from Heaven-who told her the Lord « >^'*^ ''^;;' ^^d^for ^L destined from t^e beginning to encompass th^^^^^^^ the space of nine months to '^''''''l^ "^^ P"''" L ' "k' riest notice- not to walk but to fly into a strange land, "" ^.^^ "l:^ h„sband to carry that Holy Bae in he a -^^^^^^ they have neither share nor place m me generauu Uhesy .'>e-- they -u^^^^^^^ rml^r'dltryTsay holy rrni"for us Iftheto d'would not hearken to the prayers "'"tl!: language of scriptLe O ^"fT-cked a„^ unc.r- leart, how do you resist the ordinances of t.od ime ^ no like yourVathers, Tom, for you stand alone ; ^s to my God you stand alone as regards your fa- tse you are on a perfect parity with Luther. Ma^ 12 the King of Kings bring you to your senses. Yet I cannot bring myself to believe you are serious. I think it almost impossible that a child of mine would turn out as you have done ; butif it be duplicity, take care you do not provoke the power of him xvho holds the slender thread of life in his hand, for your infernal accu- sations against him and his church. O, what an ignoble way of acquiring fame. You make use of the boast of all the other de- formers— you shall know the truth, and the truth shall make you free.- This is the language with which the Rongite Reformer prefaced his oration in London. I read his speech here, as translated by a Dr. Herschel— it was the old worn out song against the Pope and Popery, ten thousand times refuted ; but base and false as it was, It was not half as bad as your own. I shall close this letter with observing a passage which I have read long ago. Bourdeleau the greatest Preacher then in or about the city of Paris, was sent; for by a celebrated courtezan called Ninette, pretending sickness, and that she wanted spiritual advice. Instead of being sick, she dressed herself in the most lascivious manner that a confirmed strumpet could think of; and when the Priest came in and beheld his supposed patient in the dress alluded to, he calmly said to her, Madam, I see you are apparently in good health.-I will go home and pray fervently for the health of your soul. r will, therefore, endeavour to imitate this exemplary ecclesiastic. 1 have not, nor shall not, with God's help, cease from imploring the Father of Light to enlighten you, and bring you to the straight path from which you have evil fully strayed. Blessed be his ho- ly name, as I have never importuned him for any favour, if con- ducive to salvation, but he granted it to me.— Give my best res- pects to Mrs. C, and my grand children, as I suppose you have more than one ere this, and believe me to be yours sincerely. LETTER No. II. Dear Tom, — You see in my last Letter, No. 1, (for I intend, please God, oj write a series of them to von. as no nihpr mrUvWinoi «7;ii t «»« &i^ T- as certain, trouble himself with you ; but as I have briefly stated my reasons in a former letter, you will have to bear with me, as I am determined, God willing^ to send these letters on the wir^gs pi the Press: coarse and unpolished as they will be, I am certain that I shall be perfectly understood, Bnd then my wishes shall be attain- ed,) — you will see what texts of Scripture I have quoted in favour of that Church which you basely deserted. I ask you, are these texts of Scripture true, or are they not? Is there any Logician, any Philosopher, or any Sophister that can distort or torture thejn from the way I applied them 1 You Protestants laud the Scrip- tures, and assert that you beheve nothing but what they contain ; yet how inconsistent you are in disregarding those very prominent precepts and injunctions, coming from the lipsi of Jesus Christ him- self and those of his immediate followers to whom he bequeathed such power. . ' - " Go ye into the whole world and preach the Gospel to, every creature. He that believeth and is babtized shall be saved ,( and he that believeth not shall be condemned ; and these signs, shall follow him that believe, in my name shall they cast out devils— they shall speak with new tongues — they shall take up serpents, and if they shalh drink any deadly thing it shall not hurt them;^ they shall lay their hands on the sick and they shall recover.— Mark, 16th chapter, 15th, 16th, 17th and 18th verses. Is this Scripture true, or is it not ! Can Protestants of any class lay the slightest claim to be the officers of this Church? When such a question is put to them, do they not become dumb dogs? — all they can say is, that miracles have altogther ceased : but where are the boundaries ?T- where are the limits prescribed to terminate these glorious privileges? — when shall the time arrive that no psSrson w 1^1 be sick for those officers to lay their hands upon that they may re- cover them? What will the private judgement men say to this? O yes, they will either invert the text — read it backwards ; or say as a lady said lately to the writer, on a text of St, Paul's, that he in another part of his Epistles contradicted the one alluded to, but that part she could not find. Unhappy, blind, infatuated chil- dren of the Reformation — unhaoDV, on account of your prejudices r-rrblind, that you cannot see th§ trj^th ; land mfatuated, because you understand not what willprocure you eternal happiness, iCou \H' 14 Me'that none dare even attempt but the Catholic Priesthood to fven lay"heir hands on the sick ; and when you hear of any tb,ng nf that nature do you not exclaim lilte the hardened Jews in the °im*of Ch St on earth, that « such things were performed by the ^wer of the Devil." His reply to those malignant creatures wdl sXe-'; If Satan rise up agJinst himself his kingdom and power . ■^ Thf PuLyite doctrine which you have the insolence to call » heresv is only a reaction, as it was approximaling for some fifteen or Seen years past pike the needle to the Pole) to Cathol.c.ty, and for thltt me remained in embryo; and, like other parts of theC^eation, had to remain so until it came to the b^rth, and when the time arrived it burst forth out of the very bowels of the great AnS ChuTch as by law established, and being matured m all Us par-full fledged,l-made one flight into that Church those Xduals and thiir predecessors dignified with the beautiful ap- pdlrfon of Scarlet Whore. But more of them hy and bye. nVhall now give you a sample of Private Judgment from a Pro- testent pape^m iJ<>««ia against aH otners, tsKing in crc.j ^a~ -..« ----- W*^ dividing ?nd sub-dividing every d'T ""«« *«y "l^^l'^T .«!SntMs«t^is there ttny on« ciwUmsttuite that can dispiny *» 15 al)surdity so well ? This, I argue logically, not as the theolog^ain do. This is freedom with a vengeance ! — say and act as you pleaie, {only evade pirblic justice) — no curb nor restraint — all kinds of austerity done away with, but every kind of indulgence wlicii inflame the passions are encouraged : anything else is miuDiiii^ir^f, superstition and Priestcraft. The Apostles practised fasting (^bd prayer— John the Baptist practised it in the wilderness — the 1^- » NoWj what do Protestants offer in the fulfilment of Malachi's prediction ; and by the bye, they eat a little bread and take a small portion of wine, and think to elude the vigilance of St. Paul, Yiz,— -he thai eateth and drinketh unworthely eateth and drinketh damnation to himself, because they did not nor would not receive the body of the Lord ; and further, he says, is not the bread vfhich we break in communion with the l)ody of iheLordl And of the cup he saiys the sarne. Therefore, if the bread does not undergo a, change by consecration, how can a man eat and drink Judgnient rfthey still remain in, the ^rst elements? or how. can a man eat, of dcipk Judgment for hot discerning th^ body of the Lord if the Lord te'^Q| there ? this kads me to ask naiini tjiat yv^te attached to the pecson aqd Doctrine of Christy ^nd were koanijalized at those niemprable Vvords^ " I am tlie br^ad pf went- av^ay, and were SQ^P .w.9, ^ior« iS^' ^P:l* XL 17 with him; or those that remained, and who believed that evert thing he said he was able to. perform, which of the two parties had the best chance of eternal happiness. You must confess that such as remained with their divine master had the only chance. This extorted confession coming from the new lights, place* them in a-Dilemma— That none hui Martins, Demon can give any ease to their conscience ; and this ease a peace of mind is a sa- cred conscience. Such m the salvo they have recourse to, viz,— a remnant of all will be saved ; and alongst with this, we believo we are right, and we are sincere Christians. So were the peo- ple that went from Jerusalem to Antioch, to dictate to the Neo- phytes ; but they were not sent The Jews of the present day sincerely believe that the Messiah has not yet come upon earth- Mahometans sincerely believe that their Leader was a Prophet di- vinely sent ; but Christianity negatives both. The thief and the murderer are in downright earnest when they are in the midst of their vocations, but Christianity frowns on both. I would be the last person that would attempt to judge rashly, or be so uncharit- able as to pronounce that any sectarian should be lost ; yet I shall ever give tha'nks to my God for giving me faith to put confidence in his glorious and eternal promises, given gratuiiiously to hit church without any stipulation whatever ; and shall 1 l)e so base, 80 blind, and so degraded as to take your word or the word of any man or body of men when opposed to the God of truth. And I affirm that any person, either lay or ecclesiastical, who deny the above doctrine^ as every Private Judgment man endeav- ours to deny, are doing their best to make God a prevaricator. O, gnhappy creatures ! — who biit Luther's familiar demon can goad you on to such impious insolence. Should I, says St. Paul, or an Angel from Heaven preach any other Doctrine than that which you have received, let him be ac- cursed. And what is St. Psiul's doctrine— unity of sentiment, one Church, one Faith, and one Baptism— no, no, say the private judgment men ; hundreds of churches, hundreds of faiths, and the •ame of baptisms ; and others say no baptisms at all, who. are TOCsint here by the Apostle, but those who inculcate priv^t9,j,t^g- ment. ts the Holy Ghoiit divided against himself t—no^iio. lott wrotfi oii'ine aeatn ot vour oimci' wiui m^vs^u^va ^^ *» wvfiw- u miah. You remarked it was the first sad breach in our family- I knew little then of a roost horrifying breach in the same amily, coZ ed by yourself. The death of your sister was the wm of HMvenVbuI let no man tell me that your direliction came fron. Sewme source-no, God never was, nor will be, the author of i^^norTeTuthor of sin in any shape. Your heart must teU rou this. Your talents has proved your eternal ruin ; and, as Dr. CDgo»«e'ves, a man with the talents of an angel may become a. fool, if he iudges amiss in the supreme pomt. Judgmg right in allS^ but aggravates his folly, as it shows him wrong, though blessed with the best capacity of being right. iTonTer what the amiable and pious Mrs. Young will say to her Son-in-law, in whose charge she has placed her aesr and on- ly daughter-Ihe who took so -much pleasure and pains to train iJn her child in the only certain road to eternal happiness-she, I am certain, who refused better matches for her daughter than you w"r^re'who was, 1 believe, the only one of '-r Father's fami- ly that were Catholics. Henry, to my own knowledge, was an Infidel i and the termination of Thomas was not favourable to Christianity, besides, the man of Reen was similar. I shall now take leave of you for the present, trusting in the soodnesb of God, that he will hearken to my prayers in your la- vo«Tand I tell you with grief of i.eart if you do not retrace your r^s;and that forthwith, that I expect to hear of you becoming ^"Before'l close this letter 1 wish to say something on your oh- •semtons which you made upon Mr. O'Connell. Your perver- rioTyouMught would not be considered a permanent one if you id not bark ami snarl at him. Good heavens ! has all hon- • our all shame, all feeling for the country that gave you birth fled awiy with re! gion. Unprincipled renegade,-you ™"=t have a drmon as well as Luther and Zuinglius. That purest of patriots -Zt nobTest of men ! Where wiU the rolls of hj^f J /f^'bu hte equall-where shall any ^'^'l^^^^^''^^^^!^ ti, nitich by moral force. No: he has no equaL But as he often i*ma*ed. he has been the best abused man in the world. With remarKeu, lie iiBo uc ■ i, „„,;ra. a. «mi. It s notorious vrhat scorn nelooKsaown uu su-ii loi^..../" — ^ — -, ^ .i,»«i. iJtia? the British Government, Whig and Tory, would have cheeN i imily. I femily, J will of ne from uthor of must tell i, as Dr. become right in ;, though ill say to and on- i to train, s — she, I than you er's fami- , was an urable to ng in the your fa- race your becoming your ob- ur perver- int one if s all hon- birth fled St have a of patriots >ry exhibit las effected as he often rid. With is notorious ave cheer- fniw aiven millions to sta him a lifeleBS corps. When they or S CionTerMartin D'Estone .he greatest rfuelist then m their dominions to challenge him to mortal combat without the s ight- est provo 'aUon on the%art of the challenge, did he not meet and nros*^ ate litis great, this Goliah-like, this legalized assass.n ; and Km to hif lo„ home ; and when he o'>;t1 ''r" Iwctet lin citv they bribed another man to shoot him in the vediue in wh-^ch^he was chaired ; and the man declared that he was not a- ble to lift Z move hand nor foot from the time the intended victtm c'ame in W^ view, until he left it, though he "as to be paid five hundred sovereigns for committing the "»'''«'•, ..Vora'e Arso- mlH bv Mr Walker of Belfast, who was one of the Orange Asso :l1i„^^!':drad every means of getting genuine Mormaj^^^^^^^^ head quarters. When he was thiown into the »"•»"<'""<'"!?" btthe ^o^sest perjury ever heard of, there was not an Official from Plel down^o\he%etly Constable, that would not have gloat- ed overhsd^t.uction " and when the wretched Ls'"l'!'.rst pro- nounced the reversal of his sentence, he was so much agitated that he was scarcelv audible-he was so much grieved o be compell- ed tTpron ounce such a sentence. Now, I ask, who it was that piucke'd him out of their murderous g'•''^P^-"»"^'"•^''^"'h^f, holds the keys of life and death. He who bearded the L.on in his Sen-he who assailed the Iron Duke and the Min^try, in the face oHhe nation, in bis place in Parliamen-he told Peel on his ad- vllt to pier that the Irish nation hated him, and that they des- ni^pd him as much as thev hated. '^ This s the man that no" bribe can seduce, nor no terror ov^ awe; possessing a mind superior to fear-to selfish interest: true Trtiat'ood whom he worships, and true to the religion which he professes; and he is confessedly a man of as much •n^™«"°^" »» TuVself. Yet he cannot see so many deteriorating things m his church as you pretend to see ; nor can he find so many inen of 4aT wo'th'as you did. These fdeal men of yo"f .''■^•";^^'^,^ 'pvepv one but yourself. Did! not well observe that you vyere S^riS^aveHevil. Oreggonly ^dthat ^^^^^ cold with age ; but that would not suffice you hoth ng J»<»J,^« » toward, a sfave, bnda paltroon. This tasted^M«ally sWet w^ wy*»o» J ,^ .^ To- '(Ui.. ai J»» thow how much I abhor you. O what a noble thing it must be to get a smiling salute from a Peer or from any of the arestocracy. Bnt I am now coming to things that will and must confound you and your forgeries. There is a reaction, as 1 said before, and that among the higKest ranks, and that only beginning. Convic- tion, pure conviction, which heaven is implanting, is making them smell the oil of Rhodium and alluring them to seek refuge in the bosom of that church which they so long and so virulently assail- ed. It \3 the Lord's doing, and it is marvellous in one eyes.— I shall now give you a treat that you might easily obtain at home were you not both mad and blind. This is extracted from the Dublin evening post, a Protestant paper: — Persons of J^oie who have lately embraced the Catholic Faiih^ Ministers of the Established Church, No. 1— Wackerhath, B. A., Received at Grace Dieu, Manor, Dec. 2nd, 1842. 2— Richard Smith, M. A., Rector of Leadenham, Lmcol, late Fellow of iMagilalene College, Oxford, Received at Oscott, De- cember 5ih, 1842. , r^. . Ul » 3_George Talbot, M. A., Vicar of Evercreeh and Chesterblade, Somerset, Received at Oscotls. , x , oi * 4— Danuel Parsons, M. A.; Received at Priorpark, July 31st. 5— Charles Seage- M. A., formerly Scholar of Worcester College, Oxfonl. author of several Works and Assistant Hebrew Lectur- er, Received rl Oscott, October 12th. / / I 6 — Thomas Burton, M. A., Curate to Trinity Church, Brompton, Received at St. Edmonds.-— Married July 31, 1844. 7— William Goodenough Penny, M. A., Student of Christ's Church, Oxford, perpetral Curate of Dorton and Athendoo, Bucks, Received at Oxford, October 18lh. 8— John Campbell Smith, M. A., Received at Oscdtt, march 27th. — Married. 9 — John Moore Capes, M. A., Incumbent of St. John Baptists Church, Bridgewater, Received at Oscott, June 27th. — Mar- ried 10 — George Montgomery, B. A., Curate of Castleknock Gounly of Dublin, received at Oscott 27th June. 11— Mr. George Ward, M. A., Fellow of Balial College Oxford author of the Ideal of a Cliristian Church, and other Controver- sial Tracts, received London September 3rd. 12— Broak Charles Bridges, B. A., Deacon, Received London September 25. 13— Ambrose St. John, M. A., Christ Church College Oxford, late Curate of WaUr.er Kent, Received at Priprpark October 2nd. '\' . 14, — John Henry Newman, B. D., Fellow and formerly Tutor of Oriel College Oxford, late Vicar of St. Mary the Virgin's Little- more, author cf the ChurtHi of the Arians of the 4th Century. The prophetical office of the church, Newman on justification, eight Volumes of Sermons, an Essay, an Eccliastical Miracles, , a translation of the select treaties of Si. Athanasius, Tract No. 90, an Essay on Developement in christian doctrine, some of the lives of the English Saints, Received at Littlemore October 9th. 15_Fred S. Bowles, B. A., Received at Littlemore October Pth, 16 — Richard Staunton, B. A., Deacon, Received at Little :- r , October 9th. " l7^John Walker, M. A., author of the life of St. Germain, one of the lives of the English Saints, Received at Oxford October 21st. 18— Fred Oakly M. A , 'lenior, Fellow of Baliol College, Oxford, Prebendary of Litchfieiv Ciuhedral, late preacher at White HaU Chapel, and Minister of Margarets Church, London, author of 23 one volume of Sermotis, a life of St. Augustin, being lone of the lives of the English Saints— some Controversial Tracts and Books of devotion, Received at Oxford, October 29lh. 19— Charles H. Collyns, M. A., Student of Christ's Church, College, Oxford, laie Curate of St. Mary Magdalenes Parish, Oxford, Received at Prioipark, October 29th. 20— William T. Wingfield, M. A., author of a Book of devotion called prayers for the dead, Received at Stonyhurst College, No- vember 1st. — Married. . 21— Frederick W. Faber, M. A.,late Fellow of University College, Oxford, Rector of Helton Huntington, author of the Cherwell, Wa'.erlilv, the Styriain Lake, Sir Launcelot, the Rosary, sights and thoughts in Foreign Churches, &c. &c. &c.. Received at Northampton, November 17th. Before finishing this noble list of converts, I shall take a peep into their writings. Newman on the Church of the Fathers: what church was, or is that, but the Catholic Church, which condemned the Arian and every other heresy which aro!?e from its foundation. According to the prediction of Isaiah, every tongue thaV. rises a- gainst thee in judgment, thou shall condemn. An Essay on mir- acles, vvhicli cannot coincide v/nh the Church he left— all the offi- cers of the Protestant Churches could do or say, was and is still to deny miracles altogether ; and as I said before, when they openly deny the clear pointed promises of Christ to his Church, it is no wonder they are prophane enough to deny every other part of scripture which may militate against their private judgment. Oakly's life of St. Augustin, a name to which no Protestant can recur without feelings hardly to be described, at his alienation from the church of that hoiy man who declared he would not believe the Scriptures only they were in the sacred dej)ositary of the church. Yet these children of yesterday have the impudence to question rhe canonicity of a great many of them, as they do not answer the private interpretations they put on them. Wingfield on prayers for the dead, the denial of which doctrine caused the new lights to throw over-board the two Books of Maccabees j as Jndas of that name collected and sent to Jerusalem money to offer sacrifice and prayers for the souls of the soldiers slain in battle, KQvinw u iwns a ninns and hnlv thouffht to orav fof the dead« Thi$ 24 > . m second J6shua, who defeated the Syrians in five pitched battlci, with forces v^uite inferiour to those of his enemiea j and totally prostrated Anliochus Epiphanes, the moiil blood thirsty and bar- barous tyr^iit thaf ever disie thing you were pleased in your Solo- mon wisdom to call a heresy. For my own part, 1 shall return thanks to God for allowing me to live to witness such a glorious reaction in that deluded county. Deluded indeed, to madness, ^_- I :ii. ._!._: *u^ ~1^..'..^..» »Ki>ri>h rtf n hr'ist now SinnearS ; •sue now iiiUSlliUUS IIJC glWSiSJU^ \i.»5Jt.i! y« -^ '-- •• — j-i — f when the darkness to which she was doomed for a time to be ino- l» i\h 86 menied is now a dispelling. With what splendour will she soon JK'hT '" f "'?«''»"'« "^e dispersed from around her. 1SS Aa had to endure three centuries of the most horrid persecuUon that the powers of hell could invent. See the eternal proS of churches ,n commnnion with her raised, and is raising, in Lan- land "Ll^ ^hT' ^''"•■-''^•'ire, Cheshire'and the We"f of Sco"- Wp m» ,." ?V'«''^"'"S ^i-e i» steady progress in Ireland.- J![r e"el ''""""'' " '^ '"" ^"^'*^ ''"'"S' "'"' '^ '"^^vellou; ia .hTp"","} ^*,'f!; ('^y' •""■ ^■•'') Mathew 16 j,. 18, and unon t^V'^i 'l""'' -"y ^'""•^'>' «'"' 'he gates „f hel , Ahe now- cLd „et"r'^ '^'" ""M'^"^" «g'''"«' ''• Therefore'! chS could never go astray. Going teach all nations soys the same ^mII"'^ o^P"'""' '"'' Successors (he Pastors of the Church Sf co'n'l™ J- ■■ '' I"' '^',"1' ^ ^"^ ^^'"' y" «'-»)- -en <; cm.M^»T r ,"?" "^ ""^ """'^'i "'«'«'''f« 'l'^ Church of Christ tratha„7L>"r'"T''rT''^^''"^« <^"''«' ^^l'» *« <•'« vvay, the Jotn U V fo n" r- "^r '" '"' ""'* "'■ '"^ """■'''• See aka TeacheTs of h:, PI '^''.^'■\*^'';;'^' P;'""i^'^« «<> '!>« «a>ne Pastors and bide with "^l!"' p^"'-'-^' "!« Comforter, the Spirit of Truth to a- tMde with them for ever, to leach them all things, v. 16 and euide *em ,„,o all truth cap. 16 v. 13, and Isaios 59 v. 20 23 where God promises that after the coming of our Redeemer the Church "v mm .h , M """"." ""'' '■ '"'' "y *^"^''^ ^^'"«l^ 1 have put in mouth of Ihy seed ; nor out of the mouth of thy seeds seed sailh from tt r 'r'^'f ""' '"'''''■ ^ ""-"•"• '-'-"'5 "-e nHI r /",'' "^^^ Testaments could be adduced to prove (he •nfalhb, ,^ of the Church of Chris,, and surely none btuthe de! ^f .hl^ n "^T"'^ '"'"""'''' ""'"''' h«ve the impiety to deny any .hi. ^" "! "'''.'" ^™""''* "''" P"""^^ Judgment meet and rebut tho^e.« p,red wntings. O, yes, the opinion, of the incoT iinent, lewd, blasphemous Martin of Wirlemberg, with his' fek.^^.^ /"?'•'«"' -"h the new Gospellers' to make a 1.-- u. U.O uoMpi ;rutn. V, these demons are most powerful Geq, \l she soon her. She persecution promi^ of plication of ng, in Lan- st of Scot- Ireland. — rvelloub in and upon , (the pow- ihe church the same e Church, r^s even to of Christ way, the 3e and as- See also •^astors and ruth to a- and guide lo, where e Church the Lord, ave put in tit of the eed, saith and more prove the It the de- deny any and rebut e ineoii-: with his make a rful Geq- fry, when they are able to darken the brightest talents in man when they can make them believe that the God of truth is a pre- varicator, that he made stich promises for the purpose of bif^aking them, and thereby plunge them into eternal flames. Should these premises be true, which God be prai^ they are not, then might Calvin exclaim, that God created men for the sole purpose of burning them in eternal fire. These are the beasts that arose out ot the bottomless pit for the purpose of tor- menting mankind, armed with every deadly missile, and they had over them a King named Exterminator or destroyer; but it ap- pears they are becoming harmless, yes. Protestant England the cradle of infidility — the fortress of heresy for three hundred years — that has made' and kept in fighting order military weapons of grades, always ready to destroy the church root and branch ; and at certain times whisre they were afraid that the people of Eng- land might relent in punishing their countrymen for adhering to to the faith of their fathers, they had recourse to Luthcrs country for troops, on whose fidelity, they could depend, to butcher every conscientious catholic. '' Now, blessed be heaven, what a glorious prospect we have witnessed in England and Scotland. See how many learned Divin*»s, tract writers too — men who have employed their time and talents in writing against the church of christ — men that have filled the world with tracts filled with the grossest forgeries — men who searched every hole and bore every nook and corner' to find out the idolatry & superstition attributed to the catholic church, saw that all those charges were the grossest forgeries ; committed there writings and cause to the winds, and when the presciibed time ar- rived they made one jump into the arms of Popery. What will the great dignitaries — the proud Pharisees of the Anglican church — say to this. They may well exclaim with the Pharisesin the time of the redeemer, — " all the world is gone after him." Talk of miracles. I assert this is a miracle of no small magni- tude to see so many pillars, the main hinges on which the massy doors of the great Anglican church turned on, to see them fly off, and leave the edifice to tumble to ruin, to irrecoverable ruin ; and int that fot\ fattened those-oillars beyond that ofanv pther church in ^he whole world. And whither are they fled to? 'A I ilH .» I fm m !!| ^8 they have truly fulfilled that di vince precept—they have left all and followed him— they have left certain fat luxuriant livings behind them and thrown themselves into the arms of poverty, comparati- vely speaking; where fasting, abstinence purance, and every mortification await them j but they have the promises of christ that they will receive 100 fold in this world, viz, peace of mind> and eternal glory in the next. How much I oitv those ecclesiasti- cal recruils who are called up to fill the ranks of those undaunted spldiers of Jesus Christ who left all to fight under the banner of his cross, and to conquer by it. To what shifts to what straits, and what torturing of h(»ly writ will the Metropolitan or his Vicar be compelled to turn when these supplementary recruits are taking the places of thosfe converts. 0, but the demons are always at hand; and ready to put a speech into the mouth of its master. I wonder will you put toward your opinions on private judgment a- gainst the joint opinions of all their learned divines. O, ves ; they are all ignorant when compared you—you thai have imbibed all the theology, all the logic of Ireland, and carried it to the British Capital, and left poor Ireland in a state of ignorance and idiotcy, the absentee landlords have only exacted their rents through their agents and spent them in a foreign clime, but you have basely de- prived them of their senses and their information, and of the means to bring them to heaven. But to be serious, t would recommend to you the famous Poet Dryden, who was master of the savants of his day, and his talents are unquestionable to this hour ; bui let it be remembered his times were penal times. He in an unguarded moment turned to the high church ; but being struck with remorse for his apostacry, lost no time, but humbly implored forgiveness of his offended God ; and with humility kneeled down to man his cunfes8or, and with a contrite heart confessed his sins and entreat- ed forgiveness of his heavenly lather, and to receive him to his church again, like the prodigal son. His confessor then advised him to make use of his transcendent talents in writing something in favour of the Catholic church, then trodden down to a skeleton ; and well he performed his penance, and wrote bis beautiful and pithy poem, «^The Hind and Panther." Alexander Pope lived in pretty tight times, yet he preserved his integrety, and kept his soul uncontamnated j nor was he afraid to 29 e left all and ings behind f cumparati- and every ses of Christ ice of mind» 3 eccletiiasti- i undaunted le banner of rvhat straits^ or his Vicar ts are taking e always at master. I judgment a- ), yes ; they imbibed alt the British and idiotcy, ti rough their B basely de« )f the means commend to e savants of r ', bu( let it 1 unguarded ith remorse rgiveness of to man his ind entreat- him to his ten advised ; something a skeleton ; ;autifui and eserved his tie afraid to insert the following in one of his beautiful poems, viz., " Where London's column pointing to the skies, Like a tall bully, lifts the head and lies." The words are these. This monument is erected in memory of the burning of this protestant city by the popish faction in Sep- tember 1666, for the destruction of Protestant lleligion,and of old English liberty, and for the introduction of popery and slavery ; but the fury of the Papists is not yet satisfied. This inscription was made by order of Sir Patience Waid, who as Echard Shaws, was afterwards convicted of perjury. Burnet gays that one Hubert, a french Papist, confessed that he began the fire. But Higgins, (a Protestant mind) proves that Hubert was a Protestant ; and Rapin agrees with Higgins. No person ki\evv belter than the King this almost match- less lie, but as I have exceeded my limits, this must form a part of my next letter. Yours, &c. LETTER No. IV. My last letter closed on the cause which made Pope make his manly and Poetical remarks on the lying inscription placed on the London column, or rather on its base, which he compares to a tall lying bully. I said that the King was fully aware of the cause of such a lying inscription, but Charles 2nd was a lazy luxuriant debauchee, and had the meanness to suffer the almost matchless lie to remain during his life ; bul it was erased by his Brother and successor. But Charles was an ingrate, as he twice owed his life to Catholic Priests ; and in fifty two instances had his life at the mercy of Catholics, and some of them very poor, when he was a wandering fugitive, with immense reward for taking him, and dreadful punishments for concealing him. Yet in no instance can we find that he ever done any thing for them in return while he was in powt^r. The only instance was on his death bed, when the Protestant Clergy flocked round he said to his Brother Jamei. put away those who have and are daily leaving your nominal Church, or do you think your souls are of less value than the souls of those noble converts who have forsaken houses and lands, and every good thing in the world's estimation, and have followed their di- vine master, who declared that his Kingdom was not of this world, especially them who walk after the flesh in the lust of unclean- ness, and despise government — audacious, self-willed ; they fear not to bring in sects blaspheming— (2nd Peter, Chap. 2nd, 10 Vs^ Who are those meant by the Apostle but snch as indulge in private judgment, despising Church government, audacious, self- ruied, and give every encouragement to- raise new sects — these are the men who adopt and applaud measures which of necessity must produce an indefinite number of faiths. If our eternal sal- vation depend upon our believing the truth, can it be good to place people in a state of necessity to have different beliefs,^ and does not that which takes away the head of the Church inevitably pro- duce such a state of necessity ? How is the faith of all nations te be one if there be in every nation a head of a Church, who is tcy be appealed to in the last resort as to all questions and points that may arise! How, if this is to be the case, if there io be one fold and one shepherd 1 How is there to be one faith and one bap* tii^ml How are the unity of the spirit and the bond of peace to be preserved T These questions remain unanswered, and they are unanswerable. I have observed before that Luther's demon after doing a vast business on the continent flew across the channel and breafbed inta king Henry the 8th, who then lived happily wnfejhwji^ sies i Pn .« J .J tha 33 wife, Catherine of Spain ; but no sooner did he receive the breath of the demon than he began to open his eyes. He fixed them on a young lady of his Court named Anne Boleyn, who, it is §aid, was his own bastard daughter. His conscience then informed him that Kitty was too old for him, and if he had young Anne that she would bring him a male heir—he having none at the time. However, he soon procured a divorce from poor Kate, and marn- de Anne : and shortly divorced himself from Anne by the axe of the common hangman. But previous to his marriage with Anne Frior Peyto preached before ihe King at Greenwich, taking for his text the passage of the 1st Book of Kings, where Michaia prophe- sies against Ahab, who was surrounded with flatterers and lying Prophets— said, 1 am that Michaiah whom you will hate, because I must tell you truly that this marriage is unlawful ; and I know that I shall eat the bread of affliction, and drink the water of sor- row; yet because our Lord hath put it in my mouth I must speak, it. Your flatterers are the four hundred prophets who in the spirit of lying seek to deceive you; but take good heed lest you being seduced find Ahab's punishment, which was to have his blood icked up with dogs. It is one of the greatest miseries in Princes, to be daily abused by flatterers. The King took this rebuke in silence ; but a Dr. Curwin the next Sunday preached in the sarnie place before the King ; and having called Peyto a dog, slanderer, base, beggarly Friar and Traitor, said he fled for fear and shanie. Friar Elstow, who was present, called aloud to Curwin and said, good Sir, you know that Father Peyto is gone to a Provincial Council at Canterbury, and not fled for fear of you, for to-morrow le will return : in the meantime 1 am here as another Michaiali, and will lay down my life to prove all the things which he hath taught out of the holy Scriptures, and to this combat I challenge thee, before God and all equal judges, and even to thee, Curwio, I say thou art one of the 400 false prophets into whoni the spirit of lying is entered, and seekest by adultery to establish succession, betraying the king into endless perdition. . . '■^^i^n'^b •* Stowe in his Chronicles relates that the two Friars were brought liefpre the King's Council the next day, by whom they were; te- iiuked ^?i.d were told that th.ey ought to be tied in sacks aiidthrown 1hto tHe Thames. ]il slow said smilingly, threaten these things to .34 rich and tlainly persons, who are clothed in purple and fare deli- ciously, and have their chief hope in this world j for us we esteem them not, but are joyful that for the discharge of our duty we are driven from ! ence, and with thanks to God we know the way to Heaven to he as ready by water as by land. No Protestant author, except liie vile Burnet, ever attempteo an apology for the foul deeds of this ruthless tyrant, and had the one fourth of the clergy stood forward as these two friars stood, he never could Jior would he have succeeded in his adulteries and mur- ders. The first notable victims were Sir Thomas Moore and Bish- op Fisher; the former had been Lord High Chancellor for many years. The character given him by his contemporaries and to the present day is that of as great perfection for learning, piety and in- tegrity as it is possible for any human being to possess. He was thegreatest lawyer of his age, a long tried and most faithful ser- vant of the King and his father, and was besides so highly distin- guished beyond men in general for his gentleness and humility of manner as well as for his talents and abilities, that his murder gave a shock to ail Europe. Fisher was equally eminent in point of piety, learning and integrity ; he was the only living Privy Coun- cillor of the late King, whose mother, the grandmother of Henry ynr, having outlived her son and daughter, besought with her dy- ing breath the young King to listen particularly to the advice of the pious and venerable prelate, and until that advice crossed his brutal passions, he was in the habit of saying that no other Prince could boast of a subject to be compared to Fisher ; he used at the Council board to take him by the hand and call him father, which marks of affection were u ell repaid by Fisher, which knew no bounds but those prescribed by duty to God, bis King and his Couii- try J but that sacred duty forbade to yield to the divorce and the King's supremacy, and then the tyrant forgetting at once his set^ vices, his devotion and his almost unparalleled attachment seiit, him to the block, after fifteen months, during which he lay iifc&''a common felon, buried in filih and almost destitute of food ; then dragged him forth with limbs tottering, his venerable face begrim- med and his nakedness scarcely covered with the rags left on hw body, and after his head was struck off left his mutilated body on the Bcafibld like a dead dog« Savage monster how will you hecbipt M hM 35 \ 1 fare deli- vve esteem jty we are the way »o tempteo an ad the one I stood, he s and raur- i and Bifih- r for many I and to the ety and in- . He was lilhful ser- »hly distin- lumility of nirder gave n point of rivy Coun- ' of Henry ith her dy- advice of srossed his ther Prince used at the her, which knew no I his Coun- ce and the ce his ser** ment deilt, i lay lik^.'a food ; then ce begrim- left on bis d body on rou hecbme the head of your new Church ? And yet the malignant Bur- , Burnet says Buch a man or raiiier monster was necessary to bring about the Reformation, and if such a devil incarnate wasnecessa- ry for such, what must be the nature and tendency of such Reform- * 'xhe work of blood was now begun and proceeded with steady pace, all who refused to take the oath of supremacy, viz: all who refused to become apostates were considered and prosecuted as trait- ors, and made to suffer death with every possible cruelty and m- dignity . As a specimen of Burnet's necessary reform, and to spare the reader a repetition on the subject, let us take the treatment of John Houghton, Prior of the Charter-housein London, which was then a convent of Carthusian Monks. This man for refusing to take the oath which, observe he could not take without committing perjury, was dragged to Tyburn ; he was scarcely suspended when the rope was cut and he fell alive on the ground ; His clothes were then stripped off, his bowels were ripped up, his heart and entrails were torn from his body and flung into a fire, his head was severed from his body, the body divided into quarters, the quarters then subdivided and hung up in different parts of the city, and one arm nailed on the wall over the entrance into the monastery ; such were ihe means that with Burnet were necessary to introduce the Pro- testant religion into England. , . , . i-l .U 1- How different alas ! were the means by whicb the Catholic re- ligion had been introduced by Pope Gregory an.l St. Augustine ; these dreadful butcheries were perpetrated under the Pnmacy of Fox's Martyr, Thomas Cranmer and the active agency of Thomas Cromwell, whom we shall soon see sharing with Cranmer m the work of plunder, and finally sharing too in his disgraceful end. At this time the Protestants in Germany began to disagree among themselves, but thfey all maintained that faith alone was sufficient to secure their salvation, while Catholics maintain that good works were also necessary. The most profligate of men„ the most brut«l tyrant mav be staunch believers ; as 1 observed before, the very devils believe and tremble ; it will therefore appear singular that the King did not become a disciple of Luther ; but the only reason ii, Luther began his reformation a few years too soon, viz : in 1&17, at which period Henry had been married to hip first wife eigh^ 71 36 years, and had not then conceived any project of a divorce, if Lu- ther had not commenced his reformation at the time he did the King would have been a disciple of his, especially after seeing that this new religion allowed Luther and several others to grant under their hands a license to the Landgrave of Hesse to have two wives at one and the same time; so complaisant a religion would have been and doubtless was, at the time of the civorce, to the King's taste. But the King opposed the reformation as a sovereign, and he also opposed it as an author ; he had in 1521 — four years af- ter its origin — written a book against it ; his vanity and his pride were engaged in the contest ; to which may be added that Luther in answering his book had called him a pig, an ass, a dung-hill, the spawn of an adder, a basilisk, a lying buffoon dressed in King's robes, a mad fool with a frothy mouth, and a vvhorish face, and had afterwards said to him, < you lie you stupid sacriligious King.' It was about these eventful times that Luther's demon was making havoc on the continent of Europe in the Church of Christ j where the rotten branches were tumbling from the Church both Clergy and Laity, and at the same time the future or rather the second wife of Henry, Anne Boleyn, was ripening in the bloom of beauty to maturity, and in his own court. After devouring so many souls on the Continent, Luther's familiar flevs^ across the channel and possessed himself of Henry's heart and soul, and it is to be feared the hearts and souls of the greatest part of his kingdom. To follow this hell-born monster step by step through all his butcheries and burnings, would be to familiarize ones mind to a human slaughter- house* The next noble victim he fixed his eyes upon was Car- dinal Pole; the Cardinal who had when very young, and before the divorce was agitated, been a great favorite of the King, and had pursued his studies and travels on the Continent at the King's ex- pense, disapproved of the divorce and of all the acts that followed it, and though called home by the King refused to obey. He was a man of great talents, learning and virtue, and his opinions had great weight in England. His mother, the Countess of Salsbury ;V7as descended from the Plantagenets, and was the last living des- ^ndant of that long race of English Kings ; 30 that the Cardinal, who hf^d been raised to that dignity by the Pope, on account of his or^ai Ipnrninff nnd Aminnnt nintv. was thus a relation tO the King, a [)rce, if Lu- he did the seeing that grant under 3 two wives /ould have the King's ereign, and r years af- :l his pride bat Luther dung-hill, id in King's face, and ;ious King.' vas making ristj where oth Clergy the second 1 of beauty many souls hannel and ;o be feared To follow iheriea and n slaughter- was Car- and before ng, and had I King's ex- lat followed '. He was inions had >f Salsbury t living des- ; Cardinal, count of his > the Kine, 37 na his mother was of course ; and she too, the nearest of all his re- fatonV Bu the Cardinal v^as firmly opposed to the proceed, gs r fh^Kin; and that was enoui^h to excite and put m motion the of the King, and "»a^ ^^^^ ^ ^ »- ^j j^-t^ jq inade uso deadly vengeance ol the lallo J^ y;;;^i^,;^^^^ he resol- of to bring him within his giarp, and tlie^c navm^ lau , ved tow?eak his rulldess vengeance on his mother. She^v^s : ar ed by the base Tho.nas Cromwell -t, -v|ng persuad d h r 'rseven fyea • of age ; alter being worn down by unpr.sonment, : ;3iLd to the^'la'st a true sense of her c^l-^^- -j^^k - descent and when ordered to lay down her head on the block , uZ" an-ered «he, ^' my head .hall --r bow tojmm^^ U neve? committed treason ; if you nmst have »t y^"!^-^ ^!,Vd as vnn ran " The executioner made a stroke with the axe, ana as he ran about the scallold with her grey locks ^-njersh orders J 1 ..f Wp nii.N.iod mvini! her repeated strokes till at last ne bl^i. her ^.w U .ni; be a.ke,l'l„.w the people of Eogland cluM suffe this infernal tpa„t to perpetrate such .Ireadful carnage vvTim™ nily- When tlie Pagans of Rome cut off their Cahg..- I nZ a ml other .non.ler. who dared to .=omm,t such atroc- iUe'sbu as Friars Peyto and Elslovv obserued, he was surrounded rhi 400 false prophets liUc Ahab, while the virtuous and con- sJien tiot,s were cut off in detail. Besides the ' ""e'-^''^ » '»'!^<^ '" wTre be sharers it, the plunder of monasteries, and their land ' Tbout to be sacked by this ruthless tyrant and his mtmons. To en- ter on the merits ordetnerits of those institutions .s not my ,nte .- fon 1 shall iust notice three historians, all of tnem Protestant , viz- Bishop Tanner, Hume and Cobhet; the conflicting account* nftW Bishoo and Hume are thus decided by Cobbe. Now t malignant Hume come up and face this Protestant Bishop Tnner, whose work you have quo.ed morethan200 time , and who here gives the lie direct to all and to every part of your descriptbn. Instead of your supine idleness, we have .ndusl.y the mo t pMient and persevering. Instead of your profound ig- norance we have a school in every convent, for teaching gratis aU norance, we n t . . '.^^„^ „(• all manly and elegant Sed;;';::-ha;ra,:'srud^^^^ / ,> h 38 preserving of the Classics. Instead of your selfishness and pious frauds to get money from, the people j we have hospitals for the sick, doctors and nurses to attend them, and the most disinterested, the most kind, the most noble hospitality. Instead of that slavery which in fifty parts of your history you assert to have been taught by the monks, we have the freeing of the people from the forest laws J and you know as well as I, that when this charter was re- moved by King John, the renewal was in fact the work of Arch- bishop Langton, who roused the Barons to demand it j he having, as Bishop Tanner observes, found the charter in an Abbey. Back then, down then, malignant Hume, and tell the Devil that th*? Protestant Bishop Tanner sent thee. We read in the Bible of Manasseh, King of the Jews, the beginning of whose reign was marked by extraordinary wickedness, and along with all his other crimes, made the streets of Jerusalem flow with innocent blood ; hi J subjects seemed to have heartily entered with him into all the wickedness, so that the Lord denounced upon his kingdom that doom which was finally executed. This Prince was visited with severe chastisement, and when in slavery and chains in a strange land, he called upon his God whom he had so grievously offended, and the Lord heard his prayers and restored him to his liberty and to his kingdom. And the sarred historian says that he set himself about doing all the good in his power to atone for his former trans- gressions; but did his subjects join him with the same alacrity they had in his wickedness? Alas ! they were far from doing so. But the maxim is too true— a down-hill reformation is too pleasing to perfidious man. The haughty stubborn heart of King Henry would not permit him to become a disciple of Luther, who had loaded hi 31 with the most opprobrious epithets, as a pig, an ass, &c., &c. Lovely, mild, amiable expressions coming from the mouth of the head of a new church, and the reformer of abuses in the one he deserted; nay, he was the ostensible head or chief cause of hun- dreds of Churches or Conventicles, but this is only a mere sample of that famous man. From the above reasons Henry, having hated Luther and hav- ing become supreme head of the church, was compelled to erect one of his own, and his pliant Archbishop Cranmer always ready to obey him in all h% commands, to pave the way for the new \ md pious 5 for the iterested, at slavery en taught he forest was re- )f Arch- e having, r. Back that the Bible of 3ign was his other It blood ; to all the lorn that ited with a strange offended, >erty and t himself ler trans- ;rity they so. But casing to ry would d loaded Sic., &c. h of the e one he of hun- e sample and hav- to erect lys ready the new 39 church. A bin must pass both houses to uproot the old church and 2^"e upon her patrimony, and this was soon accomp. shed. The ma^Lant Hume quotes Spellman as an authority ; bu Spell man rvX bill "tuck a long time in the Lower House, and could get To oassaee when the King commanded the Commons to a tend K he'forenoon in his gallery, where he let them wa,t tdl late r me aft' noon, and then co„>ing out of his cl.an;^e^»"f °°^ « very angrily on one side and then on the other, at last, I hc.» > =="« Kat^ny bill will not pass, but I will have it pass, or I will have "orae of your heads ; and without saying more he returned to h>» chamber. .,^. LETTERNo. V. In mv last letter I noticed where the tyrant left his commons in doleful dumps, and his threat had tlie desired eflect ; the commons had no rsli^'to part with the.r heads, as it had been -t.-atedMo them that there was a fruitful harvest to be reaped and that the> vvol!Id shale in the fruits thereof. The bill passed forthwith and everything lav prostrate at the feet of the King. -n , , After the j "^-letors and then her authority the church pro, eriy to ''^.^^^^^ P,^"P'^;,,mderers, as ,0 assemble a parliament compo^ J L t" amentLving asssm- she had none else to «ii up-, a",, t ..^ ^^ just' observe, ble fcrthe despatch of t)ie affairs of the nation, now j ^ u ■- 'f^ these men Lords and Commons, who had only about three year* ago established Cranmers Church, and declared it to be the work of the holy Ghost j having first made a firm bargain ts hold the plunder, confessed that they had been guilty of a most horrible de- fection from the true church, professed their sincere repentance lor their past transgressions and declared their resolution to repeal alllaws enacted in prejudice of the popes authority. Are the people of England and Ireland aware of this— no not one in fiftr thousand. These let it be remembered were the men, the very men, who made the protestant religion in England. Every impartial man will see at once how this Queen (being hemmed in on all sides by such a council and such a parliament, was to conduct herself, these plunderers sacreligious miscreants, were afraid of every thing that might bring about such a change in the Kingdom that would make them dis^gorge the fruits of their plunder. Especially after the Queen was married to Philip, one of the most powerful Princes then in Europe besides a rigid Catholic. Just like Thieves and Robbers, as they were in fact. They were afraid of every breath that made the 'least noise, that something might com about that would deprive them of their sarciligious Kobberies, and from such terrors nothing but plots and conspiraces lollowed in succession against the Queen's life and government those when found out were punisl.ed with death no doubt, and why should they not, and when those plots failed one of a seeming supernatural kind was put in operation. This took place at Alders- gate in London, there was a cave or den uhere a bridge had been in early times, but it was at this lime partly filled up and a ihorough-fare over the same to and from the city, in this cave was suffed agirl called Betsey Crofts, when the passengers above were alarnied with moans and lamentations superhuman, and when she Jound that a great many people were stopped and waiting to hear more. She would then in an audible voice cry out that she was sent from heaven to warn the people to kill that Jezebel on the the throne, viz Queen Mary, and the fraud came to be found out, and she dragged as large as llfp. sHp cnnfi^cco^i ♦!.«♦ 4K^ u^-..i- ./• SO new Gospellers that Mary was forced ad advised her and bribed her for so doing. -" against her will to put these traitors to deathi 43 «r to have her own life taken from her, and for P^fji"* J" 7JJ life she i8 called Bloody Mary ; and for ^y^'^ ^:°P/^!f, K and that from dire necessity if self preservation be >be firet law W namre, we shall see a pint shed by her sister a"d s"«Jf°f J„ Z for treason but merely because they would not apoB'at.se from me faith of their Fathers and acknowledge her head of the church , and for these doings she is called the good Q"««" ^e'^- J™ f-'i?; see by and by how good she was. There are three jomnent characters in'this reign worthy of being noticed. H°°P?'-J,J;»^'J^*' and Ridley. Hooper was a monk, he broke h.s ^"^"f ^« and married a Fleming; he obtained two B'f h''P"<^ks from he ? o tector Somerset, he was a co-operalor m al ^'l^ ""«''f '""'^^^'^ on the people during the reign of Edward. Lat.mer was a Ca he- lie Priest and a furious assailant of the reformation ;. »' W"^« got to be Bishop of Worcester from old Harry, he.next chan^d his opinions, but held his Catholip Bishopnck ; being suspected, he made abjuration of protestantism, and «henkei,t his living twenty years. Ridley lia.l been a Catholic Bishop in Henry s tlmeTin the time of Edward, he was a Protestant Bishop and got the Bishoprick of London by a rougish ag'^^"^^"*' ^^'f'-i"^ tas to transfer the most of that living to the rapacious Minislers of that day; lastly, he was guilty of high Treason ag=»»st ♦he Queen, b/preacliing to the people to stand by ;u ' 47 )ught otes- fthe ih in vhola if this r she d on I, but bow- Could ler on ^d his should 3 that lowing ermit- 11 this all th« put in ago.— imours dm tho } resol- a real Id have 3 whole altering ;d that prevail and he sr shah lus was ireadful raurder f)f the unfortunate Mary Queen of Scots, cousin to Elizabeth which I shall quote from Wittaker, who says that Elizabeth em' ployed Davifif ;), her Secretary, to find some one that would take Mary off by poison or otherwise, and finding no man base enough to commit the foul deed, she then ordered her to be tried by a spe- cial commisHon, which body condemned her to death by the hands of the executioners, and this wretched tyrant, with the malignity oi a demon, would not allow a priest to aUend her unfortunate vic- tim m her last moments, thinking thereby to destroy her soul as well as her body. And this was one of the acts of Good Queen Bess of glorious memory. But base and wicked as these actions were, her subsequent hypocrisy was still more detestable. She affected the deepest sorrow, pretended it had been done against her wish, and she had the baseness and injustice to imprison Da- vison, her Secretary, for having dispatched the warrant, and Wit- taker fully proves that she had reviled Davison for not having dis- patched it, after she had used all the means in her power io induce him to employ assassins to murder her cousin. After hunting hanging and ripping up clergy and laity that she could come at* and destroy every vestige of Catholicity that she and her satellites could find, the Lord sent forth a ray of light in the midst of this darkness. This ray was given to William Allen, an Englishman who had been a student in the University of Oxford. In order to defeat the tyrant's scheme of rooting out the Church, he formed a Seminary at Douay in Flanders ; he was joined by many learned men, and from this depot, though at the hazard of their lives, Priests came into England, and though the branches were nearly lopped off the trunk, still remained like that in Nebuchadnezzar's dream still ready to receive and nourish new branches, which have been spreading in the present century, in the last iwenty or thirty yeaw and is now assuming the form and dignity of a ehurch. Here we have literally fulfilled the prophecy of Isaiah, and the more recent one of the Redeemer, viz :— « the gates of hell, the powers of darkness did not, nor shall not prevail against her, and her enemies are compelled like Balaam to exclaim ; How lovely are thy (aber« nacles, O, Jacob ! and thy tents, 0, Israel l'* * It has been remarked by Genganelli, that some men calling them, ■elve? Christians, in their anxiety to run from what they c^t mI I ! 48 »•*•«,, fall into infidelity, and that whilst men of past times XlTa mu i uTe oS vve have men who affect to k^fwleZe no God at all ; thus, as the same personage observes, vfrtl^ke immortalUy. and ev'en annihilation, appear to some "^^^mons leZl provided a silly pamphlet serves them as a ram- synonymous terms, prov , i , Protestants more I" Z'ronSon of miracfesin the Catholic church. On one itL many of he most learned men have been forced to a mit that ^«cS expressly promised that after his days m.races should be ^rformld We cannot doubt the continuation of m.racles, when ^nAxZt it proper to perform them through his ministers, for his God »hl";^ " P^P thout doubling the truth of Jesus Christ hZeT Bu 'on the :;her side. Protectants not being able to shew »lTasmus humorously said, that they could even cure a lame as *^ra™"r{"" "L , thev ever did or could perform a real mirac- uS'curf ThetuSon, however severl is truly demonstra- tte hat *ey cannot be the disciples of Christ, who were comm.s- .lis hv him to nerform miracles like himself, m his name.— 'l^Tnce we fmd P?o testants have been divided into two classes One cot^IendL with Campbell and others, that m.racles were not ?Z oerformed by Christ and his Apostles, but by the successors ? irCsTes in subsequent ages of the Church. Another class In^rwith Conyer Middleton, that as nothing but Pope- ™anldTmLdiately after the Apostles, if we be allowed one aSm racle" we must be constrained to receive alUhe doctrines nfpooerv. as the mass, purgatory, supremacy, &c., &c., &c.- Buffii^gdfspo^ed in a cursory way of this matter before, I shall conclude this letter, and remain yours truly. .n»;u; 'to t.vi:i' LETTER No. VI . "'^''mvinW stated as far *s my p<)br abilities could reaca, (as I have times feet to lerves, some aram- mbre )n one lit that luld be , when for hia Christ > shew, , lame mirac- onstra- ammis- ime. — classes. er6 not icessors er class t Pope- ved one nctrines , &c. — , I shall 1 1 have [iarjactbr f Cnare ,6f tile 49 feudal times, as well as of (he Emperors of Greece and Rome • h was believed Venice and at Genoa in Lucca and the Helvetic'na- tions in the days ol their freedom and greatings, ail the Barons of hemuidle ages, all the free cities of late times professed the re- hgion we now profess. You surely know that the charter of Bn- tish freedom and the common law of England, have their oriein and source in Catholic times. Who frame.l the free constitution of the Spanish Goths ? Who preserved science and literature dur- ing the long night of the middle ages ? Who imported literature Irom Constantinople, and opened for her an asylum at Rome, Flor- ence, Padua, Paris and Oxford ? Who polished Europe by art and refined her by legislation ? Who discovered the new World, and opened a passage to another ? Who were the masters of Archi- tecture, of painting and of music? Who were ihey that invented the compass and the art of printing? Who were the poets, the historians the jurists, the men of deep research and profound liter- ature? VVho have exalted human nature, and made men appear I agam little less than angels? Were they the Haisites? No. Were they the Lutherans ? No. Were ihev the Calvinists? No, Were they the Anababtists ? No. Nor even the Methodists. They wem almost exclusively Catholics j tliey who created and possessed freedom in every form. These are the people who were not ca. pableof acting in the capacity of a petty constable, (unless they took an oath which would completely perjure them, under the Bri- tish Government,) a consiitutiou framed by the great Alfred, and the same Alfred a rigid Catholic. This Constitution, the glory of Lngland and the admiration of all surrounding nations ; and above all the admiration, glory and happiness of Ireland : if racking land- lords, racking church parsons, coercion bills, and Orange domina- tion, (the principal support the landlords and parsons have to up- hold them,) if these are worthy of being admired, the admiration of the Irish exceeds that of dll the surrounding nations. But the religion of Catholics does not favor despotism 5 it supports every established constitution which is not opposed to the laws of nature unless it be allowed by those who are entitled to change it. In Po- land it supported an elective monarch. In France an herditary monarch. In Spain an absolute or constitutional king indifferent- iy» in i^ngiaiiu \yiiK:n wiu nuUoca Ol X OFK ana i-iancaster conten- 60 yl/>n n rAkn/-| iurceu 10 yiuiu uuci/ mure, unu mc wimsu v^uiuuiauu^i « avwvxi«, .^ S2 ' ' llm^ apt)eared triumphant and a second time entered the camp of O'Neal. He then p it up his hand and lifted his l)eaver to take a full view of the battle-tield and to give the necessary orders, when a musket ball tool? him in his nerk and put an end to his existence. It appears that Montague or Monlacute, the next in command, was totally unfit or totally unprepart^d for the situation that fate placed him in, or rather the fate or war, and before the space of three hours 2,500 of his troops were killed and a great slaughter took place in the flight, and the place where the greatest slaughter was done is called the bloody lane to this day. The writer oi this knows the ground better than where he sits, having walked over it hundreds of tirties, going and coming from school on the hill above the field of bailie. The neat country church of Grange stands two miles from the venerable church and city of Armagh, the metropolitan church of all Ireland. , The commander of the -British with the remnins of his shattered army took refuge in the fortress of Armagh, but was forced to quit it foryyant of provisions and for fear of being beleaguered by his victorious and implacable enemy. However, O'Neal, like a humane victor, ordered the shin to be ifiterred — friends and foci^^^and then went in pursuit ofhis enemies, but found they had decamped for Newry the then head quarters of the English, aod O'Neal, though vicloriou&, had to quit the fortress for want of provisions.. On Tyrone marching appar- ently toward:^ the north the garrison was speedily taken possession of by the English, and Col. Francis Stafford appointed to command the garrison. Every soldier having to carry three days provisions. The third night after repossessing Armagh, a military escort was sent from head quarters consisting of 700 men, fur guarding pro- visions, military implements, stores, &c., &c., were attacked by O'- Neal and were killed every man, and the booty of course fell to the Irish. The commander ordered all the English lobe stripped and clothed the same number of his own men, and marched direct for the city of Armagh, and on the hill above, where tlie Primate's palace now stands, he ordered a sham battle to be fought, at which powder was spent but no lives lost ; previous to this sham fight he ordered two ambuscades, one under Art and tliie other under Cof- nach, both brothers of the General. Col. «taliord on hearing the noise of fire arms and guessing the escort had been attacked, drew I imp of take a , when s*ence. nmand) at fate )ace of aughter aughter iter of walked 3n the Grange rmagh, of the I in the 3visi6ns )lacable he slain t of'his n head 1 lb quit appar- sSession immand •visions. ;ort was ng pro- I by 0'- sUto the ped and II re ct for rim ale's it which fight he ler Cof- iring the ed, drew ' 53 all his men out to save them, and marching boldly up to the enemy was rushed upon by three separate divisions of the Irish at one end the same time, and he and his garrison were slaughtered in- discriminately. If this was not a ruse de guerre there has been none in the annals of military taclics. - Marshal Bagnell being dead, the Queen did not forget her prom- ises ; the whole Baron v of Mourne in the county Down was be- stowed on his heirs, with the privileges of excluding every order«5s- sued out of any court, to have force within said Barony, which in extent is a real principality, besides the lay proprietorship of all the clerical livings within the bounds of said Barony. Such was the importance of Irish rebellions two centuries before the time in which we live. Sir G. Carevv attempted the life of the Earl of Lugan or Lucan. Mountjoy compelled the Irish rebels to murder each other; in the course of a few months three thousand merv were starved to death in Tyrone; Sir Arthur Chichester, Sir Rich- ard Manson, and other commanders saw their children feeding on the flesh of their dead mothers. Such were the Golden days of Good Queen Bess. By the rebellions of Dogherly in the reign of James I, six north- ern counties were confiscated, amonnting to 500,000 acres ; in the- game mar.ner 64,000 acres were confiscated in Alhlone ; the whole of this confiscation amounteti nearly to a million of acres, and if Leland means plantation acres, they constitute a twelfth part of the whole kingdom according to Newinham, and a tenth according to Sir William Petty. The most shocking and scandalous action in the reign of James, was his attack on the whole property of the province of Connaught, which he would have effected if he had not been boughtoff by a larger sum than he hoped to gain by his iniquity. The Irish during this reign suffered evils, aye double evils, from a licentious soldiery and a religious persecution. Charles 1. took a bribe of £120,000 from his Irish subjects to grant them what were called in those days graces, but in these davs would be called justice ; the money was paid but the graces were never granted. One of these graces^is something curious^ that the clergy were not to be permitted to keep henceforth any pri- vate prisons, but delinquents to be sent to the county jails ; the idea of a Kector, with his own private jail full of disscntci 64 ludicrous piece of tyranny we ever heard of. The troops in th^ beginning of this reign were supported by the weekly fines levied upon the Catholics for non-attendance upon established worship. The Archbishop of Dublin went himself at the head of a file of tnusketteers to disperse a Catholic congregation in Dublin, which object he eflected after a considerable skirmish with the Priests. The favorite object (says Leland, a Protestant Clergyman and Dig- nitary) of the Irish government and the English Parliament was the utter extermination of all the Catholics of Ireland. The great rebellion took place in this reign, and Ireland was one scene of blood, cruelty and confiscation. Cromwell began his career in'Ireland by raassacreeing the garri- son of Droheda, which took five dayi, to whom quarter had been promised. Two millions and a half of acres were confiscated j whole towns were put up in lots for sale. The Catholics were banished from three-fourths of the Kingdom, and confined to Con- naught ; after a certain day every Catholic found out of Connaught was to be punished with death. Fleetwood complains peevishly that the people do not transport readily, but adds, it is a 'work in which the Lord will doubtless appear. Ten thousand Irishmen were sent as recruits to the Spanish Army. Such was Cromwell's way of settling the affairs of Ireland, and if a nation is to be ruined, this method is perhaps as good as any. It is at least more humane than the slow lingering process of exclu- sion, d'sappointment and degradation, by which their hearts are worn out under more specious forms of tyranny. Col. Lawrence gays about the year 1652 and 1653 the plague and famine had so swept away whole counties that a man nnight travel twenty or thirty miles and notseea livmg creature, either man, beast or bird. They being all dead or had left those desolate places. Our soldiers would tell stories of the places where they saw smoke ; it was so rare to see either smoke by day or fire or pandle by night. In this manner did the Catholics live and die under Cromwell, so that there perished, says Sir W. Petty, in the year 1Q51, 65,Q00 hun^an be? ings, whose blood somebody must atone for to Gqd, Every Catholic Priest found in Ireland was h^ngsd, and five pounds paid to the informer. In the reign of Charles II, by the Act of Settlement, four millions and a half acres vyerc foreyer tq,i 6^ ken from the Irish, 'this country, gays the Earl of Essex, Lord Lieutenant in 1675, has been perpetually rent and torn since hid Majesty's restoration. I can compare it to nothing better than the flinging the reward on the death of a deer among the pack of hounds where every one pulls and tears for himself as he can. ■u, All wool grown in Ireland was, by Act of Parliament, compell- ed to be sent to England. The English, however, were pleased to accept 30,000 head of cattle sent as a gift from Ireland, to the sufferers after the great fire ; on which occasion the London Col- umn was built with the lying inscription on its base noticed before, and the first day of the Sessions after this act of munificence, the Parliament passed fresh acts of exclusion against the productions of Ireland. " ^ The amount of confiscations in the reign of .Tames the 1st, and at the restoration amounted to ten millions six hundred and thirty- six thousand eight hundred and ninety-two acres, being the amount, altogether, (according to Lord Clare's calculation) of the superfi- cial contents of the Island. Thus not only had all Ireland suffer- ed confiscation in the course of this century, but no inconsiderable part of it had been twice and even thrice confiscated. Well might Lord Clare say that the situation of the Irish nation at the revolu- tion stands unparalleled in the history of the habitable world ; p. p. Ill, 113. By the articles of Limerick the Irish were promised the free ex- ercise of their religion, but from that period until 1788, every year produced some fresh penalty Pgainsl that religion ; some liberty was abridged, some right impaired, or some suffering increased .—r By Acts in King William's reign they were prevented from being solicitors ; no Catholic wes allowed to marry a Protestant, and any Catholic who sent a son to a Catholic country to be educated was to forfeit all his lands. In the reign of Anne any son of a Catho- lic who chose to turn Protestant got possession of his father's estate* No Papist was allowed to purchase freehold property, or to take a lease for more than thiity years. If a Protestant die? intestate his Estate, is to go to the next Protestant heir, tlrough the lawful heir to the tenth generation, should be Catholics. In the same manner if a Catjiolic dies intestate, his Estate is to go to the next Protes- Nlrt l)or\;^« ;« «rt \) \n I .\tr\af\n\r nr rjalu/nv. N^O PaD'St X'^^r i Uwici is iU {iVVv/ii ils <-.-«v^/v«.8.« 58 6th. Their title ta succeed, St. Peter, the supposal and pretence • surely this can be no vain pretence. i , m peJsuasionr '""Ititude, and variety of people which are of their tv^it' 1^^^?"* u'"''"?®"^ "^'^^ antiquity in many ceremonials^ which other churches have rejected, and a pretended, and some- !.!^!i ^Pf?''®"* c«"sent with some elder ages, in many matters doc- tr naJ. Here he begins to nibble and mince the matter for fear of allowing too much, yet cannot dissemble that venerable antiouity. !S appai:ently on the Catholic side. ^ ^'^ .^.^l^Vfu^® ^'^^^ ^^"'^^"^ ''^°"® P«^* ^'•''th another, in that which most of them affirm to be of faith, the great difference commenced among their adversaries whose first Fathers and teachers from the very beginning of their pretended reformation went quite different n^u'il""^" to an utter breach of Communion, which never since could be repaired. lOlh. Their happiness of being instruments in converting divers verted^o ^ ^'^^^ """"^ ""^ *^*^ reformed Churches have ever con- 11th. The piety and the austerity of their religious orders of men and women, the single life of their Priests and Bishops, the severity of their fastSj their exterior observance, all which the good natured reformation has laid aside. 12th. The great reputation of their first Bishops, for faith and sanctity, the known holiness of some of those persons whose in- sututes the religious persons pretend to imitate. 13th. Their miracles, true, or false, true says 1, if any faith may be given to the most certain records of all Nations, and all ages, *"i j!!i ^^® P''«^'ses of Christ, as quoted in St. Marks Gospel. 14th. The casualties and accidents which happened to their adversaries, I suppose he means such as Luther's death, after a plentiful supper, Zuingluis falling into Battle, defending bis reform,- ed gospel, sword in hand. Oecotampadious being found dead in his bed, oppressed as Luther will have it, by the devil, lib. de - Miss, privata and sar. S- T ww r^i oqh n-i..:^- jJ /. _ 59 strange complication of distempers j consumed alive by vermin &,c, 15lh. The oblique arts find direct proceedings of some of those who deptrted from thence in manifestly corrupting the scriptures, as the first Protestants did in all their translations to make it chime with their errors. In quoting the fathers and ecclessiastical wri- ters falsely, in perpetually misrepresenting in their sermons and writings, the Catholic Church and her doctrine a fault which the Doctor himself is not exempt. i only reqiaest that you will compare the motives which by the concessicb of the Prelate, so much esteemed by Protestants, mry retain Catholrcs at present, in the creed of their forefathers with those motives which St, Augustin alleged HOO years ago against the heretics of this time, and by which he declares himself to have been retained in the Catholic Faith, L. Contia Epistolam Fund. C. 4. Not to speak says he, of that true wisdom which you do wrtt believe to be in the Catholic Church, There are many other things which must justly hold me in her Communion. 1st. The agreement of people and nations ; 2nd. the authority begun by miracles, nourished by hope, increased by charity, and confirmed ' by antiquity ; 3rd. a succession of prelates descending from Peter the Apostle, to whom Christ, after his resurrection, committed his flock to the present Bishop ; lastly, the very name of Catholic, of which this Church alone has, not without reason, in such mai er kept the possession. Wishing you peace in this world, and hap- piness in the next. LETTER No. VII. You remark on taking up musty traditfems as if they were of no ayail :— Therefore brethren stand fast and hold the traditions which you have learned, whether by word or by our epistle — 2d Thessalonians, 26, xiv. Ask thy father and he will tell thee, thy elders and they will shew thee Deuteronomy, 32, v. 7. The Apof tie's creed, which Protestants, some of them at least, hoH as sacred as they do the Scriptures, says, I believe in one Holy Catholic Church, I confess one Baptism for the remission of sins ; does not this creed exclude every other church but the one promised by Christ 'i 0, say the new lights, we are bound, t.v« wvrrii wj -sjc x ticota ttiiu uiviF jcsuincui craii J we WHi Dufst such bunds and Jiecome free from every restraint.. , But. do the Priests compel any of their heat* 60 en to perform anything, only the injunction laid down by Christ and his Aposv tics, and if they do not perform theii own duty it is not the flock will suffer for their crimes. It is too true there are many of them that are bad shepherds ; the examples of such are injurious to their flocks, but when the Divine Founder of his church promised she could not err, he did not say what Popes, Bishops, or Priests should be saved, or who of them should be worthy of salvation, but he said what is much to be deplored, that many would be called and only a few chosen. When the sons of Eli the High Priest, and they of the house of Aaron, when they committed the most grievous crimes, and the sOhs of Samuel the Prophet became equally wicked, did the Lord cause the Jewish rites and cere- monies to be swept away ; ^id he permit any other reformers to arise and forn* another Jewish religion, calling Ihemselves the only true one ; no, the wickedi Priests of Eli's family were punished with death in battle. Eli himself fell down, dead ; the wife of Phineas died in child-birth, and Ichabod born — viz ; the Glo- ry departed from Israel when the Ark of God was taken by the Philistines. Did the Lord then cause his church to cease from being a church, as the new Gos- pellers assert the Roman Catholic Church ceased to be a true church, and that the whole world, clergy and laity, men women and children, were dVowned in damnable idolatry for thf space of eigth hundred years, and most of all other rices most detested by God and damnable to man. Horn, of Peril of Idolatry, part 3d, Article 25, of the 39 Articles. Now I ask could the authors of these Articles take a more direct method of telling the God of truth that he was a pre- varicator. Whether are we to believe the authors, the framers of these novel doctrines, or to believe in Him who never deceived nor cannot-be deceived 1 O surely common sense will point out to every unbiassed mind, that the comparison is as wide as Heaven is from Hell. Surely none but the most profane, the most blasphemous and the most infernal monster would hesitate a moment in decidino- this comparison. ** Yet there are abundance to this hour who, with the most diabolical insolence ^wist and torture the Holy Scriptures to their own destruction. Such are they whom the Apostle mentions ; men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haugh- ty, proud, blasphemous, disobedient to parents, ungrateful, wicked, without af- fection, without peace, slanderous, incontinent, unmerciful, without kindness. Traitors^ stubborn, puffed up, and lovers of pleasure more than of God, having the appearance of godliness but denying the power thereof: now these avoid for of these last are they who creep into houses, ensnaring silly women laden with their sins, who are led away with divers desires, ever learning but never atlaininff to the truth. Now as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses so these also resist the truth. Men corrupted in mind reprobate concerning the faith, but they shall proceed no farther, then folly shall be manifest to all men, as tlieirs also were.— Timothy, II, 2d to 9th verse. And all that will live godly in Christ Je- sus shall suffer persecution.— 1 2th v. For it is impossible for those who were once illuminated, have tasted also the heavenly gift, and were made partakers of the Holy Ghost, have moreover tasted the good work of God and the powers of the world to come ; And are fallen away to be renewed again to penance, cruci- fying again to themselves the Son of God, making him a mockery. For tiie earth that drinketh in the rain which comelh often upon it, and bringeth forth herbs *«e$t for thcui hj whom it is tilled, receiveth blessing from God j but that whicbi. 61 ^rihgeth forth thorns and briars is reprobated very near unto a cwne, whose seed b to be burned. — Heb. VI, 4th to 8th verse. Observe now what the reformation bronght about and how truly are the above Scriptures brought in. Haughty, proud, blasphemous, such are they who despise church government, and will not bow to man to perform the precepts and in- junctions of the God of truth, and who declared they virould prefer a location in ^Pandemonium than be near the church of Christ, though their forefathers and all their kin were of that church. This is dis obedience to parents, ungrateful, wicked, traitors, stubborn, puffed up, having the word of God in their mouths but denying the power thereof* Can you acquit yourself of these charges be- fore; your God 'i No, alas ! you cannot. iNow these avoid, says the Apostle, for of these last are they who creep into houses, ensnaring silly women laden with their sins, led away %yilh divers desires. Now who are these who creep into houses t I answer such as crawl in like thieves, like the serpent of old who se- duced our common mother; and they are none other but the step-children of the Reformation, the indirect offsjpring of Martin Luther, a heterogenous spawn, a mixed and mongrel compound of discordant, jarring, and conflicting sectaries ; yet they have one common parent, viz : private judgment ; a parent that you openly profess to be a child cf — yes, and an obedient child tco. The Scribes and Pharisees have sitten en tlie chair of Moses, nil things there- fore ivhatsoever they shall say unto you, observe and do ; but according to their works do ye not. — Math., xxiii., 1, 2, 3. Althcugh in the capacity of men the Popes have many times exhibited proofs of their weakness and corruption, yet a6 heads of the church, and in conjunction with the universal church, they have du- ring eighteen centuries taught one and the same Cathclic doctrine. If we take a retrospective view cf the history of the world, we shall find that abuses of power'have almost always been attended with the destruction of that power. Thus the abuse of regal power turned Rome into a Republic ; the abuse of republican power turned Rome, Republican Rome into Imperial Rome. Thus the abuse of imperial power turned Switzerland and other countries of Europe into Republics, by abolishing the authority abused. Thus the abuse of English power turned the United States into a Republic by abolishing in thiese States the power of England ; nor do I hesitate in predicting that these Republican States may in process of time be swayed by one or more crowned heads, though I can lay no claim to prophecy. What is the reason then, that the extravagant claims and abuses of the Pa- pal power, have not been attended with the same consequences viz : the destruc- tion of the Papal power itself; Christ gives the answer, to this notable question. Thou art Peter, and upon this Rock I will build my Church ; and the gates of Hell, shall not prevail against it, Matthew, i6th cap., and 18th v. Attacked with the most relentless fury for ages, by the combined powers of hell and earth, by fierce enemies, in, and out of the Catholic Church, apparent- ly on the bank of destruction, its total downfall has cften been prophesied. Many of the Sovereign Pontift'^s fell victims to these persecutions, the ma- jestic Rock cf St. Peter, still remained. Peter was put to death, Pius 7lh, was put in, and kept in close confinement. During the period of 1800 years, from Peter to Gregory the J 6th, the chair of St. Peter, has still been occupied in suc- cession, and we have, upon the records of the Catholic Church, the names of 62 more than two hundred and fifty Sovfereif,n Pontiflfs, who followed one another in rapid succession in the chair of St. Peter ; a great many of whom died mar- tyrs for their l^aith, and very few of whom cui'be said to have been scandalous. The Catholic Church, the supreme tribunal to regulate the faith, and morals of her members, both Clergy and laity, has at all times reformations. It has not spared the Popes themselves ; Pope John 23rd, who presided at the general €ouncil of Constance, was by that Council, deposed, on account of his bad con^ duct, and Martin 5th put in his place. Pope Eugene 4th, -was treated in the same manner, by the general Council of Basil, both councils declared their right of reforming the head as well as the member of the church ; and their authority is paramount to that of the Pope, which the Popes themselves, have acknow- ledged. Therefore you will clearly see that all that can be alleged of the criminal con- -duct, or extravagant claims of our Popes makes nothing against the Catholiq Church, it only proves that Popes are subject to human frailties, in <;ommon with the rest of mankind; and that no power or authority, how great soever, no character however sacred, affords sufficient security against the corruption of human nature, and the influence of the passions. Any person possessino- the Ileast knowledge of the nature of man, and versed in the history of religion' will own that religious opinions have but too often originated in the passions and corrupted heart of men, their dictates being to(> often mistaken, for those of cool impartial reason, neither will it be denied, that the great variety of reli- ..gious systems (which may be counted by hundreds,) contradictry and condemn- ing each other owe their origin to the variety of human passions, and interests ;. before the coming of Christ, the objects of religious worship were spiritual or carnal, according to the impulse given to the heart of men by their respective passions, either towards spiritual or carnal object. The world embracing chris- -tianity, has introduced its corruptions and its passions, some men under the in- fluence of those passions pretend to find out various ways of going to Heaven -ways all differing from the road pointed out by Jesus Christ. Now my son,^ starting from this undeniable position, and admitting Popes and Clergy to have T}een ruled by pride, ambition, covitousness, and all the passions that "corrupted ^hearts, are subject; to have set up and enforced the most extravagant claims, to 'have with Satan, equalled themselves to the most high. If notwithstanding this .dreadful conflict of passions, and clashing of interests, the Catholic Church has .still continued to this day, during a period of Eighteen centuries and more, to •preserve its unity, has still continued to acknowledge the same power, and the ;same head, guilty of such enormous abuses. Must vne not confess that here is- the hand of the Most High, It will require but little time to refute false and ridiculous charge of the Popes granting indulgence to commit sin, requiring a certain sum of money, greater or smaller, according to the kind of sin, for which the indulgence is granted. That such a charge is frequently published in Protestant books upon Protes- tant Pulpits. You nor any other, dare deny now all Catholic books, sanctioned by the church ; no matter when, or where published, tell you plainly, that an in- dulgence is nothing but a remission or relaxation of certain punishments re- ?ns?n!ng -.lUe to sin, after the guilt and eternal punishment are remitted ; us in toe case of David, to whom Nathan said, the Lord hath taken away thy sin, ne- 0p 63 ^erthelcM, the child that is born of thee shall surely die. 2nd Kings. Such indulgence are granted upon the sinners sincere repentance, and satis- faction for his part ; sins, as ifi the case of the incestuous Corinthian, whostf" sins were forgiven by St. Paul ; this privilege being given by Christ to his fol- lowers^ especially to those only, who would believe in him. See Mark 16th, as fcefore quoted : There is no doupt, but owing to pcrverseness of many individ- uals among the clergy, abuses have taken blace. Permit me now, my onc« dearly beloved son, whose soul is precious in the eyes of your Heavenly Father, and it is surely precious in my eyes : notwi1hst«nding the very harsh language I have made use of to you in this essey j therefore I entreat you in the name of our Judge and Saviour, before whom you and I must shortly appear ; I in the capacity of your earthly father, and you in that of my son, to ponder well on the following solemn truths. What will become of that one who will not be able then to establish his title ; we may be suffered by a GoU of infinite mercy and patience to establish the most unfounded, the most extravagant titles before men. But will the illusions be suffered to continue before the tribunal of eter- nal justice : And will not the bright rays of pure and undefiled truth, forever dissipate those foul mists of corruption, which in this world enabled us to dupe ourselves, and others 1 Will not the two edged sword of truth cut off all those diffiulties, which our own corruption had raised as a bulwark against the au- thenticated Revelations of Jesus Christ 1 Will not the bright and dazzlino- rays of glory that shall emenate from the throne of the omnipotent God bo the^'most incontestable proof of the divinity of his revelation, and of the truth of the mys- teries against which proud and corrupted reason suggested so many difficulties. When the sacred code shall be opened by which all Christians are to be tried* will it be permitted think you to allege the foolish dictates of philosophy, in op- position to the plain revelations of that sacred code 1 Will it be permitted us there to talk about reforming the most noble work of the great God 1 Will it be permitted there by-way of apology, to tell Jesus Christ that he broke his re- .peated promises 1 That he had promised to be with his church till the end of time, and yet he had forsaken that church and permitted it to go astray ? That he had promised the spirit of truth to it to guide it into all truth forever, and yet he had withdrawn that spirit of truth and permitted that church to becOmfe 'a sink of errors and idolatry I Will it be permitted there to call the plain Ordin- ances of Jesus Christ Popisli superstitions ? Will it be permitted there (by the way of apology for not complying with his ordinances) to tell Jesus Christ that such and such things were impossible, that no man could forgive sin, not even those who most plainly and distinctly had received this power from him. Will you be permitted there, think you, to tell Jesus Christ to his face that it was im. possible for him to give his flesh and blood under the appearance of bread and wine 1 Will you there be permitted to allege the testimony of your corrupted senses and limited reason, in opposition to the plain and repeated assertions of infinite Wisdom 1 Will it be permitted there, think you, in the face of the cross that sign of the Son of man, to ridicule those who signed with that holy sign ?~ In short, my son, will it be permitted there to deceive yourself or others any Idnefer ? Corrupted reason sat upon the tribunal of this worlds anr! rsith ni'~- than Satanic presumption summoned before it the tremendous inysteriesrcleariy and distinctly revealed by an Omnipotent God— to be judged, to be approved or <,y 64 iondemned according lo its own whimsical notions, and more so according toii« corrupt inclinations. " * The cuae will be then revcraed. Infinite power and wisdom will reascend th* judgement seat. Proud Reason, with all its boasted philosophy, will stand confused, appalcd, convicted, and be for ever silenced. Will it be permitted to say, by way of apology, I rejected such and such mysteries because I could not understand them, or because they appeared to me impossible. But you were not required lo understand them. You were only ccminanded to listen and adore ; and this you might have done as easily as so many millicns as wise as yourself. O Tom, Tom, believe one who is sincerely concerned for the sal- Tation of your immcrtal soul. The very garb which at present is considered by you as a mark of distinction and honour and fame, which ycu in a private letter sajd you hoped to acquire, will be before Ciods dreadfnl tribunal the terror and desf'air cf your soul, and its everlasting condemnation — I mean Ihe garb of Pro- testantism. Ycu protested against what?— against the Church of Christ iq which you were baptized, conOrmed and educated— against her divine ordinan- ces and tremendous mysteries— against all that is sacred. This was not enough until you, as an aullicr, a jenegade and an egotist, wrote false, blasphemous forgeries, and thereby taught olhcrs to blaspheme what they did not understand. Will this plea be of any avail to you, who know both sides of the mailer.— Can those people be blamed who arc taught from their infancy — who have im- bibed with their mjUier's )!:ilk to detest, lo abhor the Catholic Religion who hear their parents denounce tiic most horrid imprecalions against Pope and Po- pery—who hear their own clergy from their pulpits declaring the Catholic doc- trine is superstitious, idolatrous and damnable. These people, in my mind, wiJI have some excuse, such as your own children will likely put forward at a future period. But will such be of any avail to ycu. I Ihcrefure intreat you in the name of the living God to retrace your steps, and ask tf him the grace to overcome all carnal considerations, and that grace will be imparted to you. Remember my son the illustrious Fenelon never appeared so great in the eyes of the world, as when he, in his cathedral of Cambray, openly recanted some loose opinions which he had formerly held. Look around you and see what glorious disinterested sacrifices have been made in the two colleges of Oxford and Cam- bridge, besides over the three kingdoms, and they all of the first order of learn- ing and rank ; yet notwithstanding all these testimonies, as clear as noon day you persist in your obstinate perverse errors. Oh, it is very, very difficult to get out of the talons of the arch enemy of God and man. I again adjure you in the name of llim before whom we must all appear, and that very soon, to ponder coolly and impartially on the awful responsibility you are under. Remember that excellent maxim, Ruat Ccelumfiat Justitiain, and if you are determined to disregard all these things, if you disregard the counsel of your aged and now on- ly parent, do not forget that one thing is needful ; and that as far as in my power lay, I am going to bid you adieu, and give my best wishes to Mrs. C. and to my grand-children and the father of mercies guard ycu and them in this world and give you all a happy eternity, is and shall be the wish and prayer cf your ever af- fectionate Father. '' ii ^\ THE END •# ■ffS: