C. L. CLARKE, PLEASE RETURN TO SPECIAL BOOKCASE THE LIBRARY OF THE UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LOS ANGELES -s.i . / / HISTORY OF THE POLICY CHURCH OF ROME IN IRELAND. HISTOliY OF THE POLICY CHURCH OF EOME IN IRELAND, FEOM THE INTRODUCTION OF THE ENGLISH DYNASTY TO THE GREAT REBELLION. BY WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. WITH A BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR, BY JOHN JEBB, LATE lOED BISHOP OF LIMERICK ; AND INTRODUCTORY REMARKS, BY JAMES LORD, OF THE INNER TEMPLE, ESa., BARRISTER-AT-LAW ; AUTHOR OP "THE VATICAN AND ST. James's; or, England independent op rome," etc., etc. * » » " It is hoped that when temporary excitement shall have subsided, it may be studied with advantage * * not least by members of the Church of Rome." —Bishop J ebb. LONDON : WERTHEIM AND MACINTOSH, 24, PATERNOSTER-ROAV ; AND PROTESTANT ASSOCIATION OFFICE, 6, SERJEANTS' INN, FLEET-STREET. 1854. ALEX. MACINTOSH, PRINTER, GREAT NEW-STREET, LONDON. "^K 77^ -7>/"/i; TO HIS GRACE THE LORD JOHN GEORGE BERESFORD, D.D., ARCHBISHOP OF ARMAGH, PRIMATE OF ALL IRELAND, ETC., ETC., ETC. My Lord Archbishop, It is with much satisfaction that I avail myself of your kind permission to dedicate to yom- Grace this third edition of Phelan's " Pohcy of the Church of Rome in Ireland." The subject is intimately connected with the vital interests of that portion of the Chiu-ch of Christ over which your Grace has so long presided. Nor is it confined to these. It concerns the well-being of the British nation, — for national religion 1328878 VI DEDICATION. ever brings national blessings with it ; and no course more efficient could be adopted to render Ireland and every portion of the British empire as happy and prosperous as they might be, than to pervade the whole with the animating principles of that primitive, Scriptural Christianity, — which was received in Ireland before Popery was known there — and will survive, when Popery shaU be no more, I have the honour to remain, My Lord Archbishop, Your Grace's Very obedient. Humble Servant, JAMES LORD. 31, Bedford-square, Bloomshnry, London, March 3d, 1854. CONTENTS. Page Introductory Remarks, by James Lord, Esq. - - - v Bishop Jebb's Biographical Memoir - - . - i Introductory Chapter to the " History of the Policy of the Church of Rome in Ireland, from the Introduction of the English Dynasty to the Great Rebellion" - - 65 CHAPTER I. From Henry the Second to Edward the Sixth - - 99 Appendix to Chapter I. - - - - - - 169 CHAPTER IL Elizabeth 181 Appendix to Chapter IL > - - - - - 257 CHAPTER IIL From the Accession of James the First to the Great Rebellion - - - 261 APPENDIX A. Quotation from Sir Richard Musgrave's " History of the Irish Rebellions " 333 a 2 Vlll CONTENTS. APPENDIX B. Page Extract from the late Mr. Wilberforce's " Practical View of Christianity" --....-- 333 APPENDIX C. Archbishop Tillotson as to National Religion, National Blessings, and National Judgments - - - - 335 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. BY JAMES LORD, ESQ. The writer of the following work was an Irishman. Dr.Phekn He cannot, therefore, be justly suspected of writing man, with any unfriendly feeling towards Ireland. To her best interests he was warmly and inteUigently devoted. By education he was a Roman Catholic. Bishop and a Jebb, in his Biographical Memoir,* records some of catholic, the interesting circumstances under which he became a Protestant. But, though he escaped from the Romish apostasy, he never indulged in rancorous feelings towards the Church he had left, or the individual members of her communion. In his highly-cultivated and charitable mind the The odium odium tlieologicum found no place. He felt as a cKwhadno patriot and a Christian. He -wTote as one mourning ^^-^^ ^^ over the social and physical miseries superinduced by Popery upon his native land, and desirous of amelio- * Pp. 7, 8, 9. INTRODUCTORV REMARKS. rating the temporal as well as the spiritual condition of his fellow-countrymen. To effect this, theu' emancipation from the thraldom of Rome seemed an essential and a preliminary step. His Christian patriotism was that of one who lived and laboured for the good of his country : — not of that modern school of patriots, who assume the name the better to disguise selfish purposes. Bid not He did not regard matters through the distorting view matters mcdium of party optics, but taking a broad and com- medium of prehcnsivc view, formed his own opinion as to what optics. would best conduce to the real benefit of his country. Instead of advocating any diminution of British influence and authority, or of supposing it incon- sistent with the welfare of his native land, he has recorded his opinion that England's toeahiess, and not her strength, has been the bane of Ireland. Extent of The territorial extent of England's rule in that ndfin^ couutry was, for a long time, vcry siuall. From the reign of King Henry the Second to that of King James the First, it is thus graphically described by Dr. Phelan at p. 71 : — "A level district round the capital, contain- ing the small shires of Louth, Meath, Kildare, and Dublin, limited the range of the English law, the jurisdiction of the Viceroy, and, except on some rare occasions, the ambition of the crown. Far from indulging schemes of more extended authority, the conscious weakness of Royalty took refuge in a ludicrous but humiliating fiction : — all beyond this pomcerium was presumed not to be in existence, and, INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XI in Court language, the land of Ireland was synony- mous with the Pale. " Of the Pale itself, an ample stripe, comprehending one-third, and sometimes half, of each county, was border land^ in which a mixed code of English, Brehon, and martial law, and of such points of honoiu' as are recognised among freebooters, suspended for a season the final appeal to the sword.'* Why, it may be asked, has England's influence in Ireland been so small, and so crippled for good purposes ? Why was that of Ireland so small ? Why the separate or combined influence of the two countries so small ? Why is it so now, compared with what it might be ? Why but because, prior to the period of England's connexion with that country, and, indeed, ever since, there have been internal and external causes in operation, of a nature alike hostile to the interests of Ireland and of England ; — causes which had from the first produced unpleasant conse- quences in each of those countries ; causes, too, which continued in operation after Pope Adrian, in 1155, and Pope Alexander, in 1171, in conjunction with Romish dignitaries in Ireland, handed over that country to the English. Ancient historians record these facts. Erom them we learn how the exoteric Exoteric influence of Rome had created divisions, and fanned kome. the flame of sedition amongst powerful and rebel- lious chieftains, as best suited the far-sighted designs of the Papacy, and its perfect recklessness of consequences as regarded others, — even before Henry Plantagenet, with his warriors, set foot upon the XU INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. shores of Ireland. Trom the testimony of modern his- torians we gather information as to the continued efforts made by Rome to consolidate her sacerdotal despotism, and to extend her jurisdiction over temporal, no less than over spu'itual, affaii's ; and how, by stratagem in some cases, by force and intimidation in others, and often by the two combined, she succeeded in extorting from monarch, nobles, and people, fresh concessions to her power and continued augmentations of her influence. Tactic3 ]\Iatters, indeed, have chano-ed crreatly dm-ina; the changed to ' n n j a siiitthe last few centuries. The days of feudal tyi'anny are times. , *' . " past. Rival chieftains assemble their followers no more, and Rome cannot, as before, send forth her mailed warriors to the battle-field. But, adapting her mode of operation to the changed position of affairs, she now seeks to effect, through the people and the priests at the hustings, what she of old accomplished by the swords of nobles and subservient kings. The domestic, no less than the foreign, policy of our own country too clearly indicates the existence of such influence and efforts, and the success with which they have been attended. Study of The study of Irish history, and especially Irish Church Church history, in connexion with Poperv, has been history, • i i *^ with refer- too uiuch ucglcctcd. Hcnce it has happened that Popcrr.has fallacies the most ludicrous, and inaccuracies the most much neg- gross, liavc bccu put forth by some as axioms which could not be disputed, and received by others, almost as the oracular edict and inspiration of infallibility. This has been felt for more than half a century. An INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XIU historian, writing in the year 1800, says, " I consider ^{^^^"^'^^^ it, then, as an important, nay, as a sacred duty, to lay quoted, before the people of England the origin and progress of the late conspiracy and rebellion : for I have good reason for saying that the majority of them are as ignorant of the real state of Ireland as they are of Kamshatka or Madagascar," — Musgrave, Irish JRebcl- lions* " The History of the Policy of the Church of Rome in Ireland" deserves, therefore, the attentive study and perusal of those who have to perform the duties of legislators. The highest, the most intelligent and influential in the land, may derive light and instruc- tion from it. It tends to demonstrate clearly that the imperium in imperio, the divided empire, created by Mischiefs the presence of Popery, ever works ill for the monarch. Hum in for the people, and for the best interests of a country, in its foreign no less than in its domestic relations. Rome, when struggling for power and supremacy, creates discord ; when supreme, tyranny and oppres- sion. Wliere her influence most flourishes, it is upon the ruin of those who have been the longest and the most servilely subject to her despotic sway. Ever may Great Britain be free from Papal supremacy and dictation ! Earnestly may she struggle to sever each tie that holds her in guilty alliance with Popery, and may her theologians and statesmen perform the high and holy duties which devolve on them, whether in the senate, on the platform, in the pulpit, or through the press, in a manner worthy of the most illustrious of * Vide Appendix A, p. 334, for the alleged causes of this. tmperio. XIV INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. their predecessors ; worthy of the Christian, the Pro- testant name they bear ; of the eventful time in which their lot is cast, of the crisis now present; and of that more terrible one which seems to be fast approaching ! The history clearly shows that subserviency to the cause of Rome in Ireland has neither tended to pro- mote the happiness of the people : — the security or independence of the crown. The object of the Church of Rome is still the same as it was at and prior to the period of the Reformation, though her policy, her mode of seeking to attain the object or end in view, may be different, varied — skilfully varied — according to the changing aspect of the times. Protestant- Protcstautism, too, is the same. It is no mere mere nega- negation. It is primitive. Scriptural Christianity. It is positive, as asserting the fundamental truths of the Christian religion. It is negative, as rejecting those errors and corruptions which, dm*ing the lapse of ages, the Church of Rome has engrafted on, or substituted for, the soul-saving doctrines of Christianity. The above may be taken as a description or definition, which, though not perhaps a perfect one, will render tolerably clear the import and meaning of the word Protestantism, as used in this introductory sketch. ^ni^^'""^'* By the Church of Rome may be signified strictly the religious system of Popery, or Popery theologically and ecclesiastically considered. The Court gy the CouH of Romc, when used in contradis- 01 Rome. _ _ tinction to the Church of Rome, is implied the INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XV political system of Popery, or Popery politically considered. In common parlance, tlie term Fopery is made use of in opposition to the term Protestantism, and embraces the descriptions or definitions above given. In the course of these introductory remarks, " The Policy of the Church of Borne in Ireland " is a term made use of to imply some account of the?' designs and doings of Rome as a compound system: a politico- Popery is a politico- religious system, of which, however, politics form the religious ..„.„. . , . STstem. chiei portion oi its constituent or elementary items. This also appears to have been the comprehensive sense in which Dr. Phelan made use of the expression, and which he intended it should convey to others. The controversy between these conflicting systems Neutral grounds di- of Popery and Protestantism gains strength day minisbcd. by day, and neutrality becomes more difficult. They started originally from the same point. They diverged into different lines as they went onward. They lead to diff'erent results, and, in their termina- tions, are wide as the jDoles asunder. The indifferent and lovers of ease may disregard distinctions as they please. They may call virtue, vice ; and vice, virtue. They may substitute the name of darkness for light, and that of Hght for dark- ness : and put sweet for bitter, and bitter for sweet. But the inherent contrast will remain the same; light will still be pleasing to the eye, and darkness its aversion ; sweet still agreeable to the taste, and bitter the reverse of it ; and truth, Divine and saving truth XVI INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. • — that merciful emanation from Deity — continue in perfect harmony with the Divine will, though scorned and rejected by an unbelieving world. Hence Popery, as a system of darkness, error, delusion, will, so long as it endures, be in opposition to Protestantism, however politicians or Jesuits may seek to deny the fact, or disguise the nature, of the difference, afid to sophisticate the minds of men upon the subject. PopeiTand The two systcms, then, are irreconcilable. They Protestant- ism ii-re- will struggle so long as they both exist. Rome coiicilablo. • /. /-^ -n • • i strives tor supremacy. Great Britam dare not grant it. There cannot long be an equality. One or other must be supreme. This difference, however, is to be borne in mind, as regards the result. Protestantism in the ascendancy is tolerant of Popery ; but Popery in the ascendancy is intolerant of Protestantism. If statesmen professing to be friendly to the Church of England, or theologians, members of her communion, are determined to persist in lowering the tone of British Protestantism to meet the insi- dious requirements of Rome, they greatly mistake their vocation, and sadly betray their trust, and throw away a golden opportunity for good which may never again occur. It has been grievous, in past years, to witness how ministers of religion have lent their aid, by promoting concessions of political power, or of pecuniary endow- ments, or by theological tendencies and teachings, to INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XVll help forward the cause of the Papacy. Yet let it not be supposed that all have desired to produce the evil consequences which have resulted from such courses, or that reference is here made to one denomination only, to the exclusion of others. The expression — ministers of religion — maybe taken in its most comprehensive sense, as including those belonging to, or seceding from, the Establishment, many of whom seem to have been not less in fault than the laity of their respective communions in these matters. The errors we deplore, have, alas ! been too general. Yet from those — whose peculiar office it is Theiaity to guide and teach others, the laity naturally expect their spiri- a high and consistent tone, and to have their own Ho^rsTo^be deviations rectified by the higher and holier standard guided. or practice of their recognised spiritual superiors, teachers, pastors, and masters. Consequently a very painful impression is produced when the contrary of this is the case — when such expectations are not realized. A modern writer of celebrity has given expres- sion to the feehngs of disgust with which slave- holders themselves regard ministers of religion, who become the apologists of their cruel and nefarious traffic, and seek to prove from Scripture the divine right of buying, and selling, and enslaving the souls or bodies of their fellow-creatures, in this the nine- teenth century of the Christian era ! They themselves well know, that, however a fancied expediency, or necessity, or love of gain, may urge XVlll INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. them to enter upon or to continue a traffic which many of them abhor, and which common humanity condemns, it is a perversion of the Bible, and a misrepresentation of Christianity — a venal or sycophantic degradation of the high and holy functions of the ministerial office, to stoop so low as to distort the sacred writings, and seek to force from them proof that slavery is a Christian institution. Pohticians sometimes seem to be so surrounded by circumstances, that they find or fancy a neces- sity — the statesman's, often, as the tyrant's, plea — for yielding to the exactions of Popery. But how great is the disgust justly entertained by many, even amongst themselves, when they see Protestant divines voluntarily defending and applauding such course; when they see the constituted guardians of oiu* faith — it may be even those who not only minister in holy things, but consecrate, ordain, and set apart those who shall do so, and who partake of the emoluments of the Church of England — devoting themselves assidu- ously to advance the cause of Rome, and to impair, if not destroy, the interests and institutions which every tie of honour and duty, and obligations the most sacred, call upon them to vindicate and to promote ! Great Bri- The pcoplc of this couutry, come what will, are prepared uot prepared for Popery. The vast proportion of Romish, the ChuTch of England is against it. Scotland is against it. The awakened spirituality and activity of the clergy and laity of the Protestant Episcopal Church of Ireland are against it ; and the Dissenters INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XIX of this country, with the influence which they possess, especially amongst the middle and lower classes, — are against it. They will never consent to see Popery dominant, nor much longer endure to see it endowed, promoted, and patronized by the State. Too long and too silently have they acquiesced in what they disapprove, while Rome with her bold inva- sions, almost unchecked, has pursued her course, despoiling Protestantism both of gold and power, and encoiu'aging herself therewith for fresh encroachments. But that mischief, we may hope, is now at an end ; or, if it still progresses, it will be only as the result of the impetus already given by past attempts at con- ciliation. The avalanche loosened from the mountain's brow acquires a power and velocity in falling which renders useless all resistance to its progress, but the very impetuosity of its movement quickens the period of its transit, and, once in the valley, its short reign of terror and destruction is no more. The afirighted villagers recover from their alarm, and set to work with promptitude and vigour to repair the mischiefs they may have sustained. So Reaction now, the Protestants of this empire are beginning placed to recover from the consternation produced by the demands of Popery, whose evil influences for more than a quarter of a century seem to have paralyzed the energies of the hereditary, no less than those of the elective guardians of our rights and liberties. XX INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. We hear no more of sacrificing bishoprics, or despoiling the Irish clergy, and making fresh con- cessions to Rome — too strong, as it is — but Pro- testants arc claiming that concessions and endow- ments already made — to propagate the errors against which they protest — be modified or withdrawn. Nor are they bestirring themselves too early or too earnestly in the matter. They have lost much vantage-ground, and may lose more by delay. The There is a conspiracy centralized at Rome against Papacy a . conspiracy, thc riglits and liberties of mankind. Its design is to subjugate the human race and to render all Churches and empires obedient to its sway. It styles itself religious, but is no less secular and Its extent political. Its ramificatious extend to every quarter and acti- vity, of the globe, and almost to every country. Whether amongst the inhabitants of the polar regions, — or those under the burning influence of the torrid zone, — or those inhabiting more temperate regions, — the agents and emissaries of this system have been, and still are, active. Nothing seems too lofty for its vaulting ambition, nothing too small to escape its microscopic observation. It stoops to conquer. Having conquered, it tyrannizes over its victims, whether in itsunhai- mind, body, or estate. Not satisfied with dominion lowed in- ^ ^ ^• i> n • 1 • trusion limited by the hfe of man, it extends its empire world of beyond the grave. Crossing the border which ^^"^^ ^" separates the seen from the unseen world, — Rome professes to involve in the punishment of INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXI penal fire, or to witlicbaw from it, the spirits of the departed not dying in mortal sin. Thus making Pm-gato- the world of spu'its to re-act upon this ; nome uses the imaginary fires of purgatory to extort from the weak or dying, the patrimony which should go to the orphan children, or other surviving relatives and friends. Nor is this power exercised only when " filthy lucre " is in question ; nor are the terrors of By sphi- - , • o ^ /-•I 1 rm tual terrors this portion oi the system connned to any class. Ihe sways the monarch and the peasant have alike trembled before xuen aud them. The wise and intelligent have often, like the philosophers of Pagan Greece and Rome, been scarcely able to rise above their system. The wealthy and the poor have felt the necessity of yielding to the fears which superstition had first engendered, and then fastened on them. Often, indeed, this spiritual arm of the Church of Rome has compelled princes and statesmen to adopt a policy which they disap- proved, and to reject a com^se which they may have deemed essential or conducive to then* country's good. Even at the present day this is the case. It is not long since her spiritual appliances and The Sic- death-bed terrors were brought to bear against the Laws, and colleague of a statesman who, in one of the smaller Rosa?" ^ nations of Europe, had attempted much, and accomplished something, to ameliorate the condition of his country. Santa Rosa, when in extremis, was refused the last rites of the Romish Church. He trembled like a child at the chimera which Papal superstition had conjiu'cd up before him, and was h XXll INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. offered the viaticum, on condition of betraying a cause he had held dear to him as hfe. This he would not do. The last solemn rite of the Church, therefore, was withheld. " He received absolution, but he did not receive extreme unction." — Tablet. Theology Thcologiaus who derive then- theology from the of Rome written Word of God, will in no case find a more subtle, dangerous, and perfidious foe than Popery, though coming in the appearance of a friend; and politicians will rarely find a deadlier enemy of consti- tutional government, the independence of sovereigns, the rights, the liberties, and interests of the people. Monarchy or Republicanism, whether limited or unrestricted, may prevail with less or greater advan- tages or disadvantages, taken per se. But Popery looks upon those ruling or administering national affairs, as so many instruments, to be used at the discretion of Romish priests and Jesuits, as may best tend to advance the interests, and to promote the powers of the Papacy. The Monarchies of Eiu-ope, whether absolute, limited or mixed, equally as the Republic of the United States of America, may be referred to in illustration of this. The Chiu-ch of Rome may flourish in the country which she ruins, and triumph over the fall or confusion of individuals, families, nations, and Churches which would oppose her authority. Rome not Yet witli tliis systcm our theologians and states- ciiiated. uicn havc bccu desirous of cultivating a friendly relationship! — ignorant or forgetful of the fact, that the INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXlll inherent natiu-e and principles of Popery remain the same ; — that the dogma of infallibihty precludes the abnegation or renunciation of any other dogma, once defined and received by her as an article of faith, and, therefore, that all assimilation must take place only by Protestantism renouncing its own principles, and becoming more like to Romanism; forgetfid also, or wishing to ignore or conceal the fact, that the spiritual claims of the Chmxh of Rome do of necessity include a great interference with, and oftentimes a control over, temporal matters. The power of Popery is increased by yielding to it. Rome's With a subtlety peculiar to the system, it insmuates increased itself where other influences might attempt to work in to ft!*^""^ vain, and preying alike upon the fears and the hopes of its victims, alternately alhues or frightens them to courses best adapted to suit its purposes. Striking indeed is the contrast between the position Popery in cT-» --rtTii' 1 • p r\ England. of Popery in England durmg the reign oi C^ueen Ehzabeth, and Popery in the reign of our present most gracious Sovereign, Queen Victoria. Its power was then decreasing. It has been latterly increasing. This dijQPerence, however, is not referrible to a changed feeling on the part of the Sovereign or the people of the present day, but to causes more remote, and some of which have been in operation long anterior to the present period. Some of these, indeed, manifested themselves even in the time of the Reformers.* * A passage fromWilberforce's "Practical View of Christianity " in support of this view, is given in Appendix B, post, p. 333. b 2 ^'^IV INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Amongst them may be mentioned, divisions between Protestants ; the decay of vital piety. Then came the Mischiefs civil wars and insurrections ; decline in public and of disunion . ,. in •• i-r-iT amongst privatc morality; growth oi scepticism and mndclity; ants. * latitudinarianism of principle amongst statesmen ; and the long series of continental warfare, only terminating in the early part of the present century. During this latter period, the Papacy was comparatively quiescent, or even suffering, and eliciting sympathy and support from powers who had before opposed her. All tliis long time, however, Rome was not asleep; — she " bides her time!' Though defeated for centu- ries, she does not withdraw her claim. What was once hers, is ever hers. No rule of prescription applies to the " spiritual corporation" of Papal Rome : " Nullum tempus occurrit Ecclesiae" is her motto. Powerless when watched, and opposed by the awakened skill and combined energies of a free and united people, she rises into importance when hatred and discord have weakened them by divisions, or a false security has lulled them to repose. Thus, and from some of the above-mentioned causes, has she gained strength ; and it remains yet to be seen how far, and after what further suffering, humiliation, and disaster, we may be permitted to resume our lost position ; whether, having long possessed the power of opposing Popery, without the desire of doing so, we may not find ourselves with the inclination to oppose Popery, but without the power of doing it. This, time will manifest. Oiu' duty, meanwhile, is INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXV clear. The feeling of the country at large is intensely Protestant. There is a diversity in its manifestation, but the spirit is deep, strong, intelligent, determined. The very sku'mishing with Tractarian Popery — in which, it may be, many have been seriously, and some fatally wounded — has prepared the public mind for dealing with Italian Popery, Tractarianism has succeeded in doing much of the Tract- mischief which its originators intended; and has accomplished but little of the good which some of its mistaken promoters, and earlier followers, hoped it woidd produce. This, however, may be stated as one of the results, — that the people of this country are, if possible, more determined than ever to resist the encroachments of the Papacy. Churchmen and Dissenters have their points of difference, but they have also their points of resem- blance, and bear a decided testimony against Popery. Politicians of various shades and parties have also their differences, but they have also their resemblances. Differing, it may be, on many points, there are others on which they may be found almost unanimous. Actuated by a spirit higher than party, animated by a love of their country and their religion, they all, or most of them, if not equally, yet to a high degree, abominate Popery in the ascendancy, and will risk anything — should a final contest be precipitated — rather than see their religion corrupted, their liberties subverted, and their native land again become the patrimony of St. Peter ! XXVI INTRODUCTOUY REMARKS. The apparent absence of any sucli immediate crisis, has led successive statesmen to neglect some of our outposts, under the delusive hope that the nature of the Papacy was changed, and therefore that we need apprehend no evil. Extent of Whcu the cxtcut of Papal dominion and wealth are power. referred to, or when architecture, and sculpture, and the fine arts are invoked, to show what Romanism has done for mankind, we may point to the stately cities and the ancient empires of the world, to the grandeur of Nineveh and of Egypt ; the magnificence and beauty of pagan Greece and Rome. Yet in them there was nothing toward ofi" approaching desolation; — nothing to regenerate man's corrupt nature, or to repair the ruins of the Pall. Christianity was not sent into the world merely to patronize the fine arts ; nor wiU intellect alone ever lead to a saving knowledge of Christ Jesus. The Pagan nations of antiquity possessed intelligence and taste ; fragments fi:om their chisel serve us as models even in the present day : yet the testimony of Scripture is — " The world by wisdom knew not God." * Hence the need of a revelation. It was given. God appeared, in Christ, the only, but all-sufiicient. Saviour of sinners, "reconciling the world unto himself."! Yet Christians too frequently seek, in religious matters, not so much to elevate all to the level of Christianity, as to present Christianity in some, even, of its essentials and details, opposed as little as possible * 1 Cor. i. 21. f 2 Cor. v. 19. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXVU to existing errors and corruptions. Rome is not free from this. In some of her missionary efforts, she is open to Rome the charge of having paganized Christianity, rather than paganize of having Christianized pagans, and converted sinners aniryV from the errors of their way to worship the true God. The simphcity of Christianity, which places its saving efficacy within the reach of all grades of intellect ; all classes of men ; and of every rank in society; is a stumbling-block to those who would represent it in a form more captivating to the senses. The earlier pagans were long held in subjection to their dumb idols, and to the vain and superstitious practices in use amongst them. Accustomed to the gorgeous ceremonials with which their own worship was accompanied, and believing them to be essential ingredients of true devotion, — the simplicity of a Christian assembly was not only desti- tute of every charm for them, but seemed wanting in respect towards the unseen object of their veneration. To them a temple without an idol, and an altar without a sacrifice, had no attraction ; it seemed like a world without a visible semblance of Deity, or worshippers without an object for their adoration. Is it not too much so with regard to the worshippers of papal Rome ? Endeavours have been made to connect altars and sacrifices, images and pictm'es, with the practice and profession of true religion ; and vast multitudes have embraced this corrupted, this pagan- ized form of Christianity. XXV 111 INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. is^umbcrs. The iiiimbers, however, who follow Popery should weigh as nothing in the scale ; for any argument based upon mere numbers might be turned against Kome herself; and might from the first have been turned, as now, against Christianity in general, for a much greater portion of the population of the earth are pagan idolaters than professing Christians. Antiquity. Any dcductiou from antiquity alone, will also be unsafe as a guide, for there are superstitions of a date more ancient than the Christian religion. It is not, therefore, to numbers, or antiquity, that we must look ; it is not by them that the conscience must be guided. We must look to the truth, be guided by the truth, and base our religion upon the Divine will, as revealed to us in the Holy Scriptm'es, With the light of that book for our guide, we must be compelled to admit that Popery is not Christi- anity, if by Christianity be understood the pure and undefiled religion of Christ Jesus as contained in the Holy Scriptures. Indeed, Rome does not profess her religion to be such : she claims that holy book as the basis of her edifice, and then erects upon it a super- structure of a totally inconsistent character. She gives us, if not Christianity without Christ, yet with Christ placed in a subordinate position ; or impaired in the fulness of the attributes and offices which are solely and peculiarly his; — sharing them with creature media- tors, and fancied human merits, and good works. Most of the articles of her creed are more novel than the New Testament. Many are not even to be found in it : Holy Scripture the stand- ard of Christian truth. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXIX and hence we have the strange anomaly of a system calhng itself Christian, fomiding its existence and claims to authority upon a portion of the New Testa- ment, and yet refusing the members of its communion the right of investigating the charter of their salvation, or the alleged foundation of its authority ! Rome, however, has prospered. Endowed with How much subtlety, and enriched with the fruits of long acquires -, I /• T c • • wealth. experience, — she makes use oi appliances tor gaining wealth and power, of which Protestants cannot avail themselves ; and no small portion of the property enjoyed by the Papacy has been acquired by means which certainly appear to Protestants of a very questionable character. Thus, much of what was done by the English settlers in Ireland dates its origin from superstitious fears, or an erroneous idea of making the perishable goods of this world subserve the cause of promoting or securing their owners' happiness in the world to come. Dr. Phelan, having referred to some existing evils, during the early portion of Ireland's history, proceeds — " But if the clergy occasionally suffered a few of those annoy- ances which were as the course of nature to less fortunate men, they had a peculiar and abundant recompense in that soldierly devotion which sought to appease God by largesses to his ministers. The early English adventurers were eminently distinguished for this species of piety : one hundred and sixty religious i6o re- houses, founded and endowed between the landing of iSes Henry the Second and that of Edward Bruce, with count- Li^years? less grants of land, and other minor benefactions, were XXX INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. the splendid monuments of tlicir remorse. In fine, all the privileges, and nearly all the riches which the Church then enjoyed (and it enjoyed an ample share of both) had been derived from the policy or bounty of Englishmen, and were still suspended upon the con- tinuance of their ascendancy. From a state of some hardship, and total dependance, it had been exalted as the Chm^ch of a dominant party, and pampered into all that florid prosperity which the envy or imagination of modern agitators has ascribed to the reformed establishment ; it was indulged, besides, in the exercise of many branches of the Papal craft, to the great oppression of the people, and to the detri- ment and dishonom' of the civil authorities. The spirit which could discover a motive to rebellion in treatment such as this would be inconceivable, did not history furnish so many examples of the insatiable cravings of Popery, and the madness of disappointed ambition."— P. 137. Conven- Couvcntual iustitutious have, no doubt, proved very tutions! ^" powerful auxiliaries to the cause of Rome. W^iether established and endowed from pecuniary sacrifice made by parties in their lifetime as an atonement for their offences, or by money extorted from the hard earnings of the poor, or wrung by death-bed terrors from the rich, — they show the hold which Popery has had or retains over its victims ; and are landmarks denoting a country's vassalage to Rome. They operate injuriously upon the interests of society, whether passing under the name of religious houses of men, or of convents or nunneries. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXXI Protestant ministers have not the same means of ivrortmain acquii'ing wealth, nor the same motive for doing so. On this the Bishop of London made some very vreighty and pertinent remarks, v^^hen examined before a Committee of the House of Commons, on the subject of the Mortmain Laws, 24th June, in the year 1844. He is asked by the Chairman, Lord Evidence •^ "^ . ofthe John Manners {Q. 570), " Does your experience as Bishop of a parish clergyman lead you to apprehend undue influence Avith persons, particularly in sickness, from clergymen or others, for the purpose of obtaining grants or bequests for the Church ? " " * Certainly not. There is nothing in the principles of our Church which need lead any person to entertain such an apprehension, even in theory, and I believe in practice it is equally groundless. Lord Hardwicke, indeed, said, " One of my chief reasons for laying a restraint on such donations, is, lest the clergy of our Established Church should be tempted and instructed to watch the last moments of dying persons, as insidiously as ever the monks and friars did in the darkest times of Popery and superstition. The opportunity is established by the laws as they stand at present. They may, by so doing, increase the wealth and the power of the Church ; nay, they may increase the revenue of their own particular cure :" and, he, concludes, " if ever we should have an ambitious clergyman for a Prime Minister, it would be the only way to acquire an influence at Court, or preferment in the Church." I think, from the last reason, the Committee may judge of the validity of the others. XXXll INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. The Such an argument could not be used in the present Bishop of P . 1 T 1 London, daj. I think in respect to the Roman Cathohc clergy Mortmain there would bc great reason to apprehend this influ- ence, because the doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church is this (the words in the Latin I will thus translate) : — " It is confessedly taught in the writings of both Testaments that there are three most convenient modes of washing out the stains of sin — alms, prayers, fastings ; and that it is altogether reasonable that one of these fountains should flow abundantly when the others fail and are dried up.' " (571.) — " ' Have you the original words in Latin ? " ' I have. Thomassinus Discipl. EccL, iii. 1 : — " In confesso est sacris utriusque Testamenti literis propositos esse hos abluendis scelerum maculis oppor- tissimos fontes, eleemosynas, orationes, jejunia ; et consentaneum omnino esse, ut unius horum fontium copia abundet, ubi ceteri deficiunt, et arescunt." And, therefore, if dying persons are persuaded that by leaving large bequests for charitable purposes, or for the purpose of having so many masses said for the repose of their souls, they can wash out the stains of sin, or escape a certain period of the pains of purga- tory, there would be great danger of unjust disherison. The danger of this is of course much less in our own Church, which teaches no such doctrine, but merely instructs the clergyman, when visiting a dying man, to exhort him to settle his worldly affairs, and to be liberal to the poor. I may add that I have been informed, on authority which I believe to be credible, that an eminent Roman Catholic of the present day in Laws. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXXlll England said that, if the Mortmain Act were The repealed, he would require no other measure in London*^ favour of the Roman Catholic Church.' Mortmain (572.)—" 'Mr. Brotherton. — Is your Lordship of that opinion ? ' " ' No ; I have too much confidence in the intrinsic truth and vigour of the Reformed Church to be much afraid of it myself.' (573.)—" 'Sir G. Grey.— Do you think that he meant that endowments in landed property would be so rapidly created ? ' " 'Yes.' (574.) — " 'Mr. Mtlnes. — Does not your Lordship think that public opinion would act very strongly at the present time against any such abuse of the liberty ? ' " ' Might I be allowed to ask how public opinion would affect that ? — I think that a religious principle, a principle of truth on the part of those who had property to dispose of might operate : a Roman Cathohc might be anxious to provide for the dissemi- nation of what he considered the truth, and other members of the Church might be equally anxious to provide for the dissemination of what they considered the truth. The one is more accessible in his dying moments to the arguments which I have described than the other, to whom such an argument could not with consistency be used.' (575) — " 'What I intended by the question was, whether you did not think there would be the fear of creating scandal, and also a feeling against the Roman XXXIV INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Catholic Cliiirch itself; would not that, in all proba- bility, be a strong check against any member of the Church abusing the power which such liberty would give to them ? ' " ' But they would hold it to be anything but a scandal.' (587.) — " 'Chairman.* — Supposing, for instance, such safeguards could be devised as would be agree- able to the Roman Catholic laity, docs yom' Lordship then think that those reasons of public policy should prevent the relaxation from being extended to them ? ' " * I think the policy of this country, since the Reformation, with respect to restricting the Roman Catholics in matters concerning the propagation of their principles, to be defensive. The difference between their Chm'ch and our own is of so essential and vital a kind, that I am not at present prepared to consent to any measure which shall increase the facility they now possess of advancing the boundaries of their Church in this country.' (588.) — " 'Mr. Shaav. — Does any possible way to prevent it occur to your Lordship's mind ?' " ' The Committee will be so good as to understand that I am looking at the question throughout, in its Protest- bearings upon the Chm'ch. It is only within the slept upon last few ycafs that we have begun to think about such rChis. matters! " — Minutes of Evidence taken before the Select Committee on Mortmain, 24ith June, 1844. * Lord John Manners. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXXV On this it has been observed * — " Here is the melancholy fact — a fact, however, which, while it discovers to us the cause of our weakness, points out also the source of our future strength. " The truth is, that till very recently the distinctive marks of Popery and Protestantism have been un- heeded, if not unknown, by the great proportion of our fellow-countrymen. They have never, or but rarely, and then superficially, formed a portion of education, either in public or private seminaries, the public schools, colleges, and universities of the land ; nor, so prominently as they ought to have done, points of examination before admission into holy orders. " But let it not be supposed we are referring, in these remarks, to the Chm-cli of England alone. No. Every body of Dissenters seems to have been equally asleep on these points. " The fault of our present position is not with one man, or any distinct body of men ; it seems to have resulted from the apathy of all, and to require the united efforts of all to obviate the evil state of things at present existing. Popery was forgotten by many. By others she was thought to be dead, and by more to be harmless. From the extreme of hatred, we * " Observations on the Mortmain Laws, Act of Supremacy, &c., with reference to Bills now (1846) before Parliament; or. Popery opposed to National Independence and Social Happi- ness." By James Lord, of the Inner Temple, Esq., Barrister- at-Law. London: Seeleys. 184G. XX XVI INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. seem, as a Chiu'cli and a nation, to liave leaped to the opposite extreme, without halting in the happy medium, where we ought permanently to have taken om' position, with a Christian firmness and modera- tion, alike removed from bigotry on the one hand, and an unprincipled Latitudinarianism on the other." Meanwhile the Papacy has been sending forth her picked men, armed at all points, — trained at our expense, — denying what has been received from history against that system, and misleading alike the theologian, the statesman, and the diplomatist, as to its nature, pretensions, and designs. The Mortmain Laws, however, have been declaimed against, as harsh, unjust, and impolitic. Yet who framed those laws ? What is the date of the earliest ? Why, and upon what principles, were they enacted ? Our We answer, they were framed by the Roman Catholic Catholic monarch and nobility of this country (for ancestors ^|jg people then were of little note). They were Fopery. framed to check Romish rapacity, and to preserve or rescue England from the exoteric influence of Rome. That influence continues at work upon the broad surface of the country, and in families. The laws which our Roman Catholic ancestors deemed essential for the preservation of their property from ecclesi- astical conflscation, can hardly be thought needless for us, as a Protestant people, in the present day. Instead of being repealed, they should be extended. Principle Pcrsoiial property, which, when the Mortmain of the iioi-tmain Laws Originated, was comparatively nothing, is now INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXXVll of enormous value ; yet we still jealously guard against Laws re- tlie improper alienation of even one acre of land in t^nsforto mortmain, but leave it open for any infirm, or sick, or prop^ty. dying person, even in articulo mortis, at a period when the vanity and transitory nature of earthly things is more and more seen, and the powers of superstitious dread, it may be, are at their highest, — to alienate for ever from all dearest to him his entire personal property, whether of hundreds or thousands of pounds. Nunneries are institutions which seem to be an Nmme- almost necessary accompaniment of Roman Catholi- cism. They require special notice and investigation. A country jealous of the liberty of the subject should forbid their existence, guard against their increase, or provide for their inspection. It has done so with regard to other institutions for those classes of persons, whose mental or bodily infirmities may at any time have required them to be submitted to restraint. By parity of reasoning, it should provide for those who, even when they have voluntarily entered the convent's lonely shade, may, after experience there, wish again to return to their relatives and friends. We ought not to consign, or suff'er to be consigned, the young, the confiding, — once and for ever to " the deep solitudes and awful cells " of these institutions, knowing too well that something besides " heavenly, pensive contemplation" finds admission there. History and experience tell us of the mischief of so doing, and caution us against those whited XXXVlll INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. sepulchres, where not the dead, but the living body, is entombed, and that for life ; yea, more, where not the body only, but the soul is buried — the one imprisoned in vaults of masonry and iron ; the other, beneath the gloomy shades of superstition, whose noxious influence deadens the moral sensibilities ; perverts, where it does not destroy, natural affection ; and impairs the vitality of all that comes within the sphere of its fatal power. Protest- On the testimony of divines, historians, and states- tho cause nicu, — British Protestantism has been the basis of prosperity. British prosperity and renown. The moral, the social, the religious, the intellectual, the political, the commercial, the literary reputation and interest of our country, have grown with its growth. A policy opposed to British Protestantism is, therefore, subversive of those fundamental principles to the influence of which are to be attributed many of our national, social, and individual blessings. Such policy must be unfriendly, if not dangerous, to the best, the dearest, and the highest interests of Great Britain. Yet for the last seventy-five, fifty, and twenty-five years in particular, successive politicians have adopted a course friendly to Popery, hostile to British Pro- testantism, and, therefore, to the good and welfare of the British Empire. Who, that is well conversant with facts, and capable of viewing them in their connected form ; — alive to the portentous consequences involved, and free from undue influence of party feeling, can arrive INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. XXXIX at any other conclusion than this — viz., that the interests of British Protestantism have been sacrificed at the shrine of party feelings, personal interests, or sectarian prejudices ? The Whig and the Tory parties, with all their Popery has respective affiliations, or ramifications, have indeed vantage of been contending with each other as to the prin- amongst ^ ciples upon which the government of the country auts^^ " should best be carried on, — but in their con- troversies they have invoked the aid of a third party —friendly to neither — actuated by a deadly hostility to both — to aid them in their mutual struggles ; and too often the price for which such aid has been given has involved a sacrifice of some of the best interests of the country — the only objects for the guardianship or advancement of which they professed to have been contending. Is it not abundantly clear, that for a long time past even the profoundest of our statesmen have been playing a ruinous game with Popery? The Vatican, which in reality had nothing to lose, was sure to gain by any diplomatic relations, whether openly or covertly carried on, between it and the Court of St. James's. It takes advantage of our dis- union. It makes our vain efforts at " conciHation " serve to promote its designs, and to prepare the way for fresh encroachments. Such ought not to be the humiliating position of Great Britain. But so long as politicians, for party purposes, submit to the degra- dation of accepting or holding office at the will of a c2 xl INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. person or party animated by an influence centralized at Rome, and hostile to the Protestant faitli and tlie supremacy of British renown, it will continue to be so. Those more conversant than myself with passing events will, no doubt, be able to call to mind frequent instances where, both at home and abroad, aggres- sions have been made by Romanism greatly injurious to the highest interests of this or of other countries, and calculated to promote the power of the Papacy. Taiiiti. Many years have not passed since we beheld an independent sovereign, in the Pacific Ocean, com- pelled to receive " Popery at the cannon's mouth," and the territories of the Queen of Tahiti invaded for the piurpose of establishing Popery therein. In various European States, within a recent period, efforts have been made to supersede the civil govern- ment, and so to overawe statesmen and officials, as to reduce the temporal into subjection to the spiritual power. Austria, It is yct frcsli in the memory of many, how Romish bigotry in Austria drove the Zillerdalers from the lovely valleys of their native land ; how abruptly they were compelled to depart ; what suffering they had endured for conscience' sake ; and how those suff'erings would have been prolonged, had not the King of Prussia promptly afforded them an asylum in his dominions, and, in conjunction with King William IV., the uncle of our own most gracious sovereign, interposed in their behalf. Prussia. Li Prussia we have seen the Archbishop of Cologne INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. xU exalt himself in prelatic power above the royal autho- rity. In Prussia, too, we have yet more lately heard of an edict emanating from Rome, or from Romish authority, on the subject of mixed marriages — an edict of such a nature, that the King of Prussia has felt necessitated in self-defence to declare, that any officer of his army who shall venture to obey it shall be instantly dismissed from his Majesty's service. Switzerland has witnessed the intrigues of the Switzer- Jesuits, and the horrors of a disastrous internecine war, fomented by their instrumentality, was only evaded by the blessing of the Almighty upon the intervention of the European Powers. Holland, like England, has been the scene of a Holland. " Papal aggression." Bishops who were not required have been obtruded upon that country. Thus much dissatisfaction has been created there, and the seed sown for yet further mischief. Belgium and Holland, once referred to as an Belgium. illustration of the way in which Papal and Protestant States could unite and blend harmoniously in one, have since been separated. The former kingdom now constitutes one of the darkest portions of those on which rests the oppressive dominion of the Papacy — a power which has there recently materially interfered with temporal matters, elections, and affairs of State, compelling the ministers and the monarch alike to yield to its usurping influence. Erance — successively monarchical, republican, con- France. sular; and again monarchical and imperial, in her xlii INTRODUCTORY RE!SIARKS. torni of government, has found the Papacy changing with each change, but still holding fast the reins of poAver over the people and their governors. The arms of the monarch, the consul, the emperor, have successively been approved or consecrated. While Louis Philippe was king, then the priests were for monarchy ; the people gained the day, and the priesthood turned republican. They sided with the people, and blessed their " trees of liberty " Avhich they had planted, and watered them with their blood. Change came again. The imperial dynasty is restored. The " trees of liberty " are plucked up. The cry of " Liberty, equality, and fraternity," is heard no more, and the priesthood re-appear upon the scene in their natural character, in alliance with despotic power. Sardinia. Sardinia, desirous of ameliorating the condition of her subjects, enacted various laws for the accomplish- ment of that purpose. Rome as an obstructive power interferes. The vengeance of the Papal Government is drawn down. The ecclesiastical authority of Rome is arrayed against the civil authority of the State — and the death-bed scene of Santa Rosa, a colleague of Siccardi, is rendered painfully instructive by the intractable spirit of Romish domination. Tuscany. The cascs of the Madiai and of Miss Cuninghame have exposed to the world the superstition and cruelty of the Tuscan Government, or the power said to animate its movements, and show that to live in the midst of the fine arts, with galleries of INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. xliii sculpture and painting, is not enough to change the heart of man, or abohsh the degrading principles and practice of cruelty and superstition. Baden, also, has been the scene of Papal daring Baden. and intrigue. There, too, recently the Archbishop of Freibiu-gh, in the plenitude of Papal presumption, has ventured to fulminate the ban of excommuni- cation, — less terrible than it once was, — but not even now without effect wdien Popery is strong. Spain, who owed her deliverance and existence to Spain. Protestant England, has, under the influence of Popery, refused decent bmial for om- dead, till the voice of Protestantism, and the decided diplomacy of Great Britain, overruled the miserable bigotry of that priest-ridden and priest-ruined country. Portugal, by various proceedings, and especially Portugal. by her new code, has sought to emulate the darkness of the dark ages, and has rendered Madeira notorious for the efforts made by her against the cause of Protestantism. Instances from Ireland, England, om* Ireland, • 1 IP -IT England. colonial dependencies, and America herseii, might be added to the above enumeration, which would then form but a small portion of what might be adduced to show the almost universality of Rome's actings, and the danger of acceding to her assumptions. Yet it is abundantly clear, that if the Protestant powers of the world chose to repel these aggressions and interferences by armed intervention, the days of Papal Rome, already numbered, would be few indeed. The people of every Romish nation woidd rejoice to Xliv INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. become possessors of true liberty, and hail the day of their country's emancipation from the thraldom of Rome as one of the brightest that ever dawned upon their land. Even the Papal Powers of Europe, if they would, and as perhaps some day, not far distant, they will, might rise up and repel these aggressions on their power and independence, and hurl back upon Rome what she has inflicted upon them. But, however, they at present, from State policy, or from other causes, may find it convenient to tolerate such inter- ference at the hands of Rome, so that, by her, they may better govern the people ; even State policy itself may ere long seem to be best served by the pursuit of a different com'se. It rarely happens that statesmen, professionally such, i.e., official, place-holding, or place-expecting statesmen, seek so much to amehorate the state of society, as to make use of what they find around them for state-craft, or state purposes, so as may best serve to advance then- own aggrandizement. Tiic reia- lu the present day, too, many seem devoted to portance dctails, rathci' than to principles ; and to be ready, pies^nd' liks children, to throw away the lasting benefits of details. abiding by a good principle and its results, for the sake of grasping impatiently some temporary advantage which flits before their vain imaginations. It was not so that our ancestors acted. Without neglecting details, they accorded to principle the first place in their political and intellectual temple. They based INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. xlv their polity on a rock, and it stood the tempest. Others have based their poUty on the sand, and are perpetually busy with details, little or great, but alike unsuccessful, to obviate some of the mischiefs of building upon a bad foundation. One of our Christian poets has vrell described this principle of action, — that of making duty paramount to expediency ; one which whenever steadily pursued, in reliance on the grace of God, elevates above the debasing tendency of many sur- rounding influences, and is ever attended with conse- quences more or less beneficial. He thus apostro- phizes the Roman poet and temporizing expediency : — " Sweet moralist ! afloat on life's rough sea. The Christian has an art unknown to thee. He holds no parley with unmanly fears — Where duty bids, he confidently steers ; Faces a thousand dangers at her call, And, trusting in his God, surmounts them all." * A cursory glance at a few of the apprehended evils, which have passed away, and yet the fancied mag- nitude and terror of which alarmed our statesmen, may not here be out of place. Reference is made to them not for the purpose of recording party tri- umphs or party defeats, but to mitigate in the minds of some those apprehensions of danger which often- times are found to exist when they need not, and are sometimes allowed to deter from the prosecution of a right and consistent course. Rebellion and disaffection in Ireland, many years * Cowper. xlvi INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. ago, created alarm. " Catliolic Emancipation" Avas spoken of as the panacea for the evils of that country. It was granted, but the good results anticipated have not followed : claims for fresh concessions have been based upon those already made ; and for all that politicians have done, the Papacy at this moment looks not with less complacency upon Ireland, as a lever for the moving of England, than it did a quarter of a century ago. To pass over the measures of Reform, and of Erce- trade — so warmly advocated by some, and reprobated by others — the common observer can hardly fail to remark, that the supposed specifics have not realized the hopes of the one party, nor the gloomy forebodings of the other. Ireland again was reported to be a difficulty ; the alleged number and disaffection of the Roman Catholics made it so. But was this a sufficient argument for bad legislation, or for encouraging Popery ? Matters in Ireland have changed since then. Fever, and famine, and pestilence — scourges in the hand of the Almighty — have removed, or diminished, that diffi- culty ; while now, from every quarter of Ireland, we hear of many glad to receive the Gospel of peace and salvation, and of the ranks of Popery being thinned by the dissemination and reception of the truth. Agrarian outrages, cupidity of land, were spoken of as inseparable from the nature and character of the Irish, who did not always stop short of committing the greatest crimes, either to possess the land, or to INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. xlvil revenge themselves upon those by whom they were kept out, or thrust out from it. Owing to a myste- rious agency, they now fly the land of their birth, and avoid what they once coveted. The tide of emigration has set in, and bears away its tens of thousands a-year of the sons and the daughters of Erin, — who in America, the land of their adoption, find what our Government and legislature too little laboured to secure for them at home — liberty of conscience and of action, and an immunity from the exacting claims and tyranny of Rome's priesthood. These points are here thus briefly brought under review, to show that, in the path of duty, it is not even the wisest policy to shrink from dangers which must be encountered, and which, if not with equal certainty, will yet, in most cases, be overcome : and to make clear that an anti-Protestant pohcy has not achieved, even for Ireland, anything approaching to a realization of the golden dreams of the fond visionaries by whom it has been so strenuously applauded. Ireland, it is evident, has not been regenerated. Peace and happiness have not yet been secured. But what statesmen could not do; what legislation iri^h hitherto has failed to accomplish, we now see coming MilslUs. to pass, by the silent influence of the Gospel of peace and salvation.* * Irish Church Missions to the Roman Catholics are etTecting a great and rapid change in the feelings and conduct of the population of Ireland. xlviii INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. Cliristian statesmen cannot safely ignore or despise this great fact. If Christianity be acknowledged merely as a traditional system, as an historical or existing fact, rather than as the divinely-appointed means for the regeneration of a fallen world, — statesmen may indeed be less inexcusable for not seeking to enter into its spirit, or to understand its nature and its claims. But whether so recognised or not ; whether appreci- ated or not, it remains the same ; not only the most powerful, but the only efficient agency for accom- plishing all that the most benevolent and patriotic have desired. But while private exertions and benevolence are thus doing much to enlighten and ameliorate the condition of the Roman Catholics in Ireland, wx are supporting from the national funds an institution calculated to counteract all these efforts, and whose anti-social and anti-national principles are instilled into the minds of those w^ho are to become the instructors, the guides, and, in too many cases, the despotic rulers over the people. We must not continue this British Propaganda for the dissemi- nation of Popery in Ireland, Great Britain, and our Colonies. In the retributive providence of the Almighty, the evils inflicted by one upon another are often made, by a re-active influence, the cause of punishment to the evil-doer. This is especially so INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. xlix with regard to nations. England planted Popery Scotland in Ireland, and Ireland is sending over Popery to nooth '^ England. We endow Maynootli College, ostensibly, ^^'^^^ ^' for Ireland ; but the priesthood not required there visit and settle down in various other portions of the British empire, despising, and seeking to overtura, the system under which they have been fostered and endowed. The March number of a religious periodical,* published in Scotland, complains, that a Romish publication, giving an account of the "ordinations and appointments in 1853," gives five cases in succession of students entered at Maynooth, and educated there, and who in 1853 were nominated, or appointed, or in some way attached to missions or congregations in Scotland. If an investigation were made, many more similar instances might no doubt be traced, both at home and abroad. As regards the grant to Maynooth, one thing, jraynooth however, seems abundantly clear. It is this : either ''''' our ancestors were not right in separating from Rome, or we are not right in seeking reunion with Rome. Either we are not right in professing ourselves to be Protestants, or we are not right in endowing Popery. But we do both ; and, therefore, must as to one be wrong, and, as to both, inconsistent. The two, being opposite, cannot both be right. They cannot consistently stand together. Nor can the * The " Bulwark." INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. conduct of those who support the two be guiltless ; and not being guiltless, it may, it must, expose to the danger of punishment. This question is one which affects the national well-being of England; for, if endowment of Popery be a national sin, it must involve in national guilt ; and, if unrepented of, in national punishment. Individuals will have to bear their punishment, or to reap their full harvest of reward, hereafter. Nations must bear it now. They must here reap their harvest according to the seed they have sown. There is no eternity for them* Each member of the community will do well to consider and to act upon this. Individual and national interests are involved in it. Statesmen, too, might act a nobler and more Christian part and policy were they to bear this in mind. Nations are not intended for their amusement, but for the glory of God. The government of the world is in the hands of the Almighty. Nothing can happen, but by His appointment or permission. Nations, and individuals, rise or fall subject to His decree. He vouchsafes His blessing, and they prosper ; He withholds it, and they fall into decay and ruin. The power of evil, — restrained by His omnipotent * National Eeligion : — " The Advantage of Religion to Society." See this subject, well treated by Archbishop Tillotson, vol. i., Sermon 3, fol. ed., p. 39, on the text, " Righteousness exalteth a nation, but sin is the reproach of any people." An extract from this discourse is given, j^ost, Appendix C, p. 335. INTRODUCTORY REMARKS. control, — rushes onward for the destruction of what is good — the moment He withholds His protecting providence and care. Impressed with these convictions, and that the full measm-e of Divine blessing cannot be ours while, as a nation, we support, endow, and disseminate Popery, — it has been my endeavour, for several years past, in co-operation with others, to point out these evils, with a view to their removal, that so, a remedy being applied, the danger may be escaped, and the judg- ment averted. When statesmen and heroes, in common with their more humble fellow-creatures, are reduced to the insignificance from which they sprung ; when the mere worldly and temporary interests which have excited, it may be, their vain hopes or their equally vain fears shall have passed away, — the great principles of Christian truth will still survive, unimpaired by time, untouched by any process of decay ; and those, also, who have savingly embraced that truth, and have been its true friends and advocates, shall survive with it, partaking of its own eternal nature, becoming "joint heirs with Christ,"* who is " the way, and the truth, and the life"f — " the blessed, and only Potentate, the King of kings, and Lord of lords." | * Rom. viii. 17. f John siv. 6. j I Tim. vi. 15. BISHOP JEBB'S BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR WILLIAM PIIELAN, D.D. parentage. William Phelan, D.D., was born at Clonme], in the nis birth county of Tipperary, on the 29th of April, 1789. His ^^^ father, Mr. John Phelan, was in narrow circumstances, and of humble station ;* but with feelings and habits such as, in England, are rarely to be met with, in the less fortunate portion of society. It is, unhappily, matter of history, that, down to the close of the seventeenth century, changes of property in Ireland were great, violent, and irretrievable. In the course of those changes, the ancestors of young Phelan were heavy sufferers ; but they cherished the remembrance of the past ; f and in this, and other instances, men, not much raised above the rank of peasants, were often distinguished by a conscious dignity, wholly independent of, and superior to, mere outward condition. * He was, by trade, a wool-comber. + A long remembrance : but thus it is in Ireland. The great bulk of the Phelan property was lost, I believe, so early as the twelfth century. — J. L. The notes signed J. L. are by the late Bishop of Limerick ; those by the present Editor are signed Ed. B BISHOP JEBB S BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR Such was, peculiarly, the case in Clonmel. Many reduced families resided there. To these was attached a kind of traditional estimation, by persons, in externals, abundantly more prosperous ; and their children, not unfrequcntly, grew up with a sense of personal respectability, and a disposition to re-assume, if they could, what they thought their proper station in society.* The subject of this memoir, accordingly, was never vulgarized : he was, what his father had been before him, a native gentleman. There ever adhered to him a self-respect, and a dignity of character, which shrunk from everything ungenerous and unworthy. And both the example and conversation of his father were well calculated to confirm his good dispositions. Filial piety, it will appear amply in the sequel, was, with him, almost an instinct ; and it is certain, that, thus to call it forth, there must have been genuine worthiness in the parent. Nor should it be omitted, that the literary aspirings of the youthful student were first nourished beneath the paternal roof. The elder Mr. Phelan was well versed in the Latin language ; and he failed not to impart, where they might prove eventually beneficial, his own classical predilections. But, what was of far more serious consequence, those principles of virtue and goodness were instilled, which, during his short, but * The writer cannot help recording a curious fact, -wlucli he heard scTeral years ago fi-om Dr. Phelan's own lips. His words were nearly as follows : — *' When I was a very httle boy, I was invited to attend a funeral. The house in wliieh the people were assembled was withui a short distance of Clonmel, on the banks of the river Suii" ; and commanding an extensive prospect, into the covmty of Waterford. A friar, who happened to be present, drew me apart from the company (I was then a Eoman Catholic) ; he led me to a bay-window, took me by the hand, and said, ' Look there, look around you, my boy ; those mountains, these valleys, as far as you can see, were once the territory of your ancestors ; but they were unjustly despoiled of it.' I never can forget the impression. My young blood boiled in my veins. For the tune I was, in sphit, a rebel. And I verily beheve, if it had not been the good pleasure of Providence to lead me into other circimi- stances, and fiuniish me with better instinictors, I might have terminate*- reverend forehead, slightly sprinkled with the snows of time, and his mild countenance radiant with benignity, and sparkling with intelligence. The gentleness, and suavity of his disposition ; the polished courtesy of his manners ; his exact and discriminative judgment ; his various and profound learning; these were scarcely adverted to by his friends, amidst the love and veneration which were inspired by the richer treasures of his moral nature ; by his generous detestation of oppression ; by his noble scorn of every thing mean or base ; by his fervent piety, his stedfast friendship, his rare disinterestedness, and his deep humility ; by the charity, which prompted him to be liberal, often beyond his means ; and by the singleness of nature, which almost unconsciously realized the Gospel rule, * not letting his left-hand know what his right-hand did,' My recollection of William's first introduction into Mr. Carey's school is vivid, as though it took place but yesterday. The good old man was, at that period, gradually withdrawing from active life, and his attention was limited to a very small number of pupils. He received, indeed, those only who were recommended by his personal friends. Of that number my father had the good fortune to be one ; and thence it was that we were admitted to a trial. From the slovenliness which, in that part of Ireland, then prevailed in the elementary parts of classical education, Mr. Carey had found it necessary to establish the general rule, that all who came to him from other schools should, however plausible their seeming proficiency, retrace their October, 1806, at Darling Hill, in the county of Tipperary, by the invitation of an old pupil of his, the present Mr. Serjeant Pennefather. It gave me singular pleasiu'e to see the good man. He recalled, almost every moment, the memory of my beloved college friend, John Sargint, who, in the course of the years 1791 — 1798, delighted in recording anecdotes of his school-boy days ; and never failed to speak of his master, Mr. Carey (who long survived him), with the most affectionate veneration. — J. L. * The Kev. S. O'Sulhvan. BISHOP JEBB S BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR steps through the Latin grammar. My brother and I were, from our time of life (we wei'e a few years junior to our friend), exempt from all mortification on this score : we were mere beginners, and, of course, were well satisfied to commence at the commencement. Some of the boys, however, officiously told Phelan of the humiliation which awaited him ; no slight one, it will be admitted, to a diligent student of six or seven years' standing, who had been already delighting himself with the dense eloquence of Tacitus. He reddened, but said nothing. Then came the trial. A book was put into his hands ; when such, at once, appeared his grounded knowledge of the Latin language, and so correctly classical was the diction of some exercises which he produced, that, without the least hesitation, Mr. Carey passed him into his highest class. On being asked what he would have done, if relegated to the pages of Lilly, * I should immediately have walked out of the school,' said the high-minded youth, * and never set my foot into it again ? ' " * He was now placed in circumstances well fitted to unfold his powers. He soon came to revere Mr. Carey, who stood to him in the relation, not so much of an instructor, as of a parent, and a friend. Under him, in addition to his former acquirements, young Phelan gained a thorough knowledge of Greek ; and, what was far better, his genius was kindled, and his taste refined, by constant, familiar * Tliis early anecdote is higlily characteristic. The wi-iter has seen Dr. Phelan luider momentary bursts of fcehng, which this trait of the Clonmel school-boy powerfully calls to mind. But I have heard, too, his ingenuous confessions of error ; his humble and contrite submission, in cases where the olfence had been purely venial. The truth is, he was intimately known to very few ; few, therefore, could enter fully into his character. But it is no more than justice to bear witness, that his fadings were but the infirmities of a noble mind. His native temperament, indeed, was peculiarly sensitive and delicate ; and while ho pd-ovo, lialiitually, to keep it under due control, someallowance will be made, by every generous mind, for the natiu-al iufluenco of failing health. But, after all, I never knew a human being with a more placable spu-it, or a tenderer heart. This I say advisedly ; and, as I thmk, with a thorough knowledge of the man. — J. L. OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 7 intercourse with a " master-spirit." A slight, but charac- teristic incident, will best show the terms on which they lived. One evening, as they were returning towards the Anecdote school, from a country residence of Mr. Carey's, Phelan, ?[ f^"*" on passing a particular street, looked up, and said, *' That Sir, is the house in which I was born." " Well, my dear William," the benevolent man replied, " I trust that your fellow-townsmen will, one day, point out this house, with a satisfaction no less lively, but far better founded, than that with which they now show to the inquiring stranger the birth-place of unhappy Sterne ! " Surely, not to love such a man was altogether impossible. The young student's views for the future were, at first, not very definite ; certainly, they were anything but hopeful. His poor parents had made a great struggle to procure him the advantages which he already enjoyed ; and to think of the University seemed little less than preposterous. But Mr. Carey was a vigilant and ardent friend. He smoothed all difficulties, surmounted every scruple, and, from his own scanty income, advanced a sufficient yearly allowance to cover all ordinary college expenses. Nor was this assistance discontinued, but in consequence of Phelan's own earnest request, when, on his election to a scholarship, it ceased to be strictly necessary. And, to bring his school-boy days to a close, he was, after having remained three years under Mr. Carey, admitted a sizar of Trinity College, Dublin, in June, 1806, and in the eighteenth year of his age. Before his removal, however, to this wider sphere of Change in action, an important change had taken place in his theo- ^^'^S^""^ . , ^ ° ^ ^ views of logical opinions. The commencement of this change I Dr.Phelan. have the advantage of stating in the words of Dr. Phelan himself, as related by him to an early friend.* " I was walking home with ***** (member of a lay fraternity of Roman Catholics), to translate for him some portion of * The Reverend Mortimer O'Sullivan. "8 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir the Breviary, when Mr. Carey rode by on his mule, at his usual quiet pace : * What a pity,' said *****, ' that that good man cannot be saved!' I started: the doctrine of exclusive salvation never appeared so prodigious ; and I warmly denied its truth and authority. ***** w^as stubborn in his defence ; and we each cited testimonies in behalf of our respective opinions. I withdrew to bed, occupied by thoughts which this incident awakened ; went over again all the arguments, pro and con, which my memory could supply ; weighed all the evidence which, in my judgment, might throw light on the subject ; questioned whether any evidence could induce me to acquiesce in a dogma so revolting ; and fell asleep^ in no good disposition to the Private creed which could pronounce Mr. Carey's reprobation. In judgment. ^\^q morning, when I awoke, it appeared that I had insensibly reasoned myself into the belief of the right of pi-ivate judgment ; and thus, I virtually reasoned myself out of the Church of Rome." The impression thus happily made, was not suffered lone: to remain dormant, or inactive. Even in his boyish days he had a most sagacious, penetrating mind. AVith him, religion was never a matter of compromise or con- vention. He regarded it as the main concern of life, on which was suspended his everlasting happiness or misery. It became, therefore, the object of his very serious thoughts ; and his anxious researches produced a thorough conviction, that the Church of England is the soundest portion of the Church of Christ. Accordingly, on enter- ing college, he gave in his name as a Protestant ; * while any lingering doubts (those fond misgivings of the finest and the firmest minds), which might, perhaps, at first have somewhat obscured his intellectual vision, were entirely * In the University of Dublin Koman Catholics are aclmissiblo. A fact which I have learned since writing the above paragraph should by no means be omitted. Before Dr. Phelan's entrance into Ti-inity College, it had been the wish of his father (a very natural one, surely) that he shoidd become a student at Maynooth, with a view to the priesthood of the Cluirch of Rome. He was induced, accordingly, to attend an Ciamiuatiou, held at OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 1 dissipated by a judicious course of reading, in which he was accompanied and assisted by his able and affectionate tutor, at that time preparing for holy orders.* Nor should it be omitted, for in him it was quite character- istic, that the clear convictions of his judgment were unaccompanied by the least acerbity of feeling. Indeed, he never ceased to bear the tenderest affection towards his Roman Catholic brethren ; he continually and most ear- nestly looked to their spiritual improvement ; and a very short time before his death he thus writes to a confidential friend : . . . " My heart yearns to go to the South : 1 would revive my Irish, and acquire enough of it for expounding the Irish Bible." He was now (1806), fairly launched in academic life ; Phelan and his progress may be not unfitly described as an ^^^°'^^S^- unbroken career of successful application. His com- petitors were the most distinguished men who for many years had appeared in the University. But among the very foremost he honourably maintained his ground ; and it is little to say, that he obtained a scholarship, and the highest honours, both classical and scientific, which could be conferred ; for, in truth, he rated such things at their proper value : trifling in themselves, and chiefly to be prized as indicating studious habits, and a healthful, manly mind. One great object, indeed, he had of what may be termed a holy ambition : it was that, under Pro- vidence he might become the support and stay of his aged parents. It should be mentioned, that, during his undergraduate course, he obtained several prizes for compositions in Waterford, for one or more vacancies in tliat seminary. Though much younger than the other candidates, liis hterary superiority was evident, and a vacancy was, in consequence, placed at his option. He, however, declined it. The fact is, his former opinions had been ah'eady shaken ; and he soon became irrevocably attached to the Cliurch of England. — J. L. * Dr. WaU. 10 BISHOP JEBB S BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR Literary attain- ments. English verse and Latin prose. Such, however, was his fastidiousness, or his modesty, that in no single instance did he keep a copy : not a line of those early 2)roductions has been found amongst his papers; and there is every likelihood that they have altogether perished. But the recollection of them is still vivid among his contemporaries. And it is worthy of being recorded, that an Englishman, Dr. Hall,*" then Provost of Trinity College, Dublin, and afterwards (for one short week !) Bishoj) of Dromore, one of the most accomplished scholars of his day, was often heard to express his admiration at the skill and power evinced in the composition of Latin prose by this extra- ordinary young man. One Essay, in particular, he used to say was so purely classical, that whole passages might have been taken from it, and, without risk of detection, inserted in the works of Cicero, j- In English verse, too, liis union of metaphysical and poetical expression was truly remarkable. And it has been observed, by one well acquainted with the early movements of his mind, that if he had chosen to concentrate his powers in one great poem on Mental Philosophy, he would, perhaps, have been unrivalled in the art of clothing the abstractions of metaphysical science in language alike elegant, perspi- cuous, and familiar.]: Happily, however, his mind took another direction. Li the spring of 1810, he commenced A.B. On that goldmedal. Qccasion, the Provost and Senior Fellows adjudged to him the gold medal, then given — not, as at present, to the best answerer at an examination, held expressly for the purpose, but to that graduating student who, throughout Obtains * George Hall, D.D., educated at the celebrated grammar-school of Newcastle-upon-Tyne. f From the information of a contemporary. X He was fond, though not indiscriminately so, of the Anti-Lucretius of Cardinal Polignac. See pp. 298 — 319, of this volume. — J. L. — i.e. Vol. I. of the "Rcmauis ;" "Essay on Scientific and Litcrarj- Pursuits." — Ed. OF WILLIAM PIIELAN, D.D. 11 the entire previous course of four years, had evinced the greatest industry, diligence, and ability.* About the same time he obtained the mathematical premium on Bishop Law's j- foundation, the examiners being Dr. Magee, Professor of Mathematics (late Archbishop of Dublin) ; Dr. Brinkley, Professor of Astronomy (now Bishop of Cloyne) ; and Dr. Davenport, Professor of Natural Philo- sophy. The important period had now arrived when he was to Ecads for make his choice of life ; and, not without some interval of gj^f '^^^^°^' suspense and deliberation, he determined to read for a fellowship — an undertaking, under any circumstances, arduous in the extreme, but in his case attended with peculiar difficulties. Like other candidates, he had the probability before him (should life be spared) of devoting six or seven of the prime years of life to intense, and perhaps unavailing, application. The drawbacks, too, of a very delicate constitution were to be disregarded, or overcome ; while the daily drudgery of private tuition was to be endured, not merely for his own support, but, what was a far dearer object, for the maintenance and comfort of his aged parents. All this he encountered with pious and persevering equanimity ; and perhaps I may scarcely be credited when I state the fact, that, between reading and lecturing, he was commonly occupied from four o'clock in the morning till ten or eleven at night, while almost his single relaxation was sought in variety of labour. But at all times he evinced so collected a mind, such disengagedness, animation, and serenity, that it was visible only to the scrutinizing eye of friendship how irreparably he was undermining his constitution. * The writer is well aware that there are difficulties in the case. Still, however, ho begs leave to express his doubts whether some modification of the old pLin might not be advantageously resorted to. It seems desirable to have some test, not only of comparative, but of positive merit — not merely of a superiority, perhaps accidental, in one great trial, but of an habitual course of continuous and weU-du-ected exertion. — J. L. t Jolin Law, D.D., formerly Bishop of Elpbin. 12 BisHor jebb's biographical memoir As matter of duty, liis anxious friends sometimes broke in upou his abstruse speculations ; but when for a sliort space thus compelled to be comparatively idle, he would always take the interruption in good part, and, not less to the instruction than delight of his associates, would enter, Avith freshness and spirit, upon some literary topic. Nor was he mindful only, or chiefly, of his own mental wants His alac- and feelings. Often, with a shade before his weak eyes, others ^^ ^^^^ temples bathed with vinegar, and his mind engaged on some difficult problem, has he cheerfully paused from his labours, and with alacrity applied himself to remove the scientific difficulties, not of his pupils (that was a distinct duty, to be performed at stated intervals), but of some junior friend or acquaintance. This was a volunteer service ; the habit of aiding othei's, from pure benevolence of disposition, grew into his very nature ; thus it was at school, from an early period; nor in after-life was there, in this respect, any perceptible difference. Throughout the fellowship course, his kind tutor, Mr. Wall, regarded him not merely as a friend, but as a brother. Books, experience, literary counsel, were ever ready at a call ; his purse, too, was always generously open ; and he often entreated that it might be allowed to supersede the necessity, which the young candidate felt imposed upon him, of taking private pupils. This aid, offered as it was with most scrupulous delicacy, was sometimes accepted with manly freedom. One restriction, however, he almost invariably imposed upon himself : he would never consent (unless when himself wholly unpro- vided) to employ the resources, even of his dearest friends, in aiding his beloved and respected parents. It was his delight — the purest, surely, which a pious son can enjoy — to afford assistance, by his own independent exertions, to those who, with much difficulty and self-denial, had pro- cured for him the benefits and blessings of a good early education. Thus he persevered for nearly three years in a course of OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 13 well-sustained though ruinous exertion, under which many a more vigorous constitution must have inevitably sunk ; but he was supported by the indomitable j^rinciple of filial piety. Towards the close, however, of the year 1812, his medical advisers were constrained to make it a point that he should intermit some portion of his daily labours, and should sleep out of the air of Dublin. Accordingly, he took a small lodging, at a moderate distance from his college chambers, Here it occurred to Writes for him, that if he could obtain a prize of 50/., then offered ^9>j^^ by the Royal Irish Academy for the best Essay on a Aoademy's given literary subject, he might for a time relieve himself P""'^*^' from the irksome task of private tuition. But, as success was uncertain, he was still obliged to retain some pupils ; and thus, till the period of decision, his labours were not diminished, but increased. In the brief interval, then, the hasty moments which he could snatch from his daily toil, he penned his Essay, on the backs of letters and on such scraps of paper as might be at hand. He walked every evening (the only exercise he allowed himself) to his college-chambers, that he might give those papers to his brother for transcription ; and relied on his memory alone for taking up the train of thought each day where it had been laid down the day before. He did not revise, or even read, the transcript ; and, as this was his first efibrt in English prose, he felt so much difficulty in arranging his thoughts in our language, that he actually resorted to the expedient of first mentally composing in Latin, so that the entire Essay may in a great measure be accounted a translation. It is given in this volume (pp. 260 — 320),* therefore it is needless for me to pass a judgment on its merits. It will, I think, be considered an extraordinary composition to have been produced under such circumstances, by a young man of less than four-and- twenty ; and its terseness, facility, and elegance of diction, may, perhaps, best be accounted for by the * Vol. I. of " Eomains of Phclan." 14 BISHOP JEBB S BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR fact, that it was originally conceived in Cicero's own Obtains it. language by a finished classical scholar. To this Essay was adjudged the Academy's first prize, in the beginning of 1813. It may here be mentioned, that in the earlier part of 1814 he prepared another successful paper for the Academy, " On the Force of Habit, considered in conjunc- tion with the Love of Novelty." This has not been published in the Transactions, having, by some unfor- tunate mischance, been lost at the Academy-House. I am told, however, that both by Dr. Phelan himself and by others it was considered superior to the Essay of the preceding year. It showed an uncommon command of language, and fine metaphysical powers. But we must return to his great and overwhelming pursuit. In the year 1813, then, he offered himself a candidate for one of the fellowships at that time vacant : his preparation was intense, and his answering, both in quality and style, was such, that it excited a very general interest in his behalf. In the interval between the exami- nation and the announcement of successful candidates, scarcely a doubt was entertained that he would have been the second fellow\ His friends had by anticipation hailed the consummation of his labours ; and even his own modest and retiring nature was unable wholly to with- stand the popular impression. But the event was other- wise.* Candidate for a Fel- lowship. * There were then three Tacaneies ; the filling up of the first was beyond all question : Mr. Purdon had eight voices, those of the whole examining body. Eespecting the other two Tacaneies there was more difSculty. The examiners were divided ; and Mr. Phelan was thrown out by the casting vote of the Provost. The statute requires, that vacant fcllowsliips shall be filled up, not seriatim, but simul et semel, and no provision is made for ascertaining the value of each particidar vote. The special hardship, which in this instance inevitably grew out of this untoward arrangement, was, that had there been but two, instead of three, vacancies, Mr. Phelan must liave succeeded. These facts I have from imquestionable information. It is but proper to add, that there was not the slightest shade of unfairness in the whole transaction. All arose from the luihappy wording of the statute, which loudly calls for alteration. — J. L. OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 15 In the almost certain prospect of success, he had set Isunsuc- apart nearly the whole of that little which he possessed ^^^^ ^ ' for the comfort and accommodation of his parents ; nor in the moment of defeat did lie alter his pious purpose. His words to his brother, when he recovered from the first shock, are never to be forgotten: "Well, James, send the money, nevertheless, to its proper destination ; and, my dear fellow, have a good heart, and a hope fixed on high ; we shall overcome even this blow." A few days after this disappointment, he met Dr. Graves,* one of his examiners, who, in his kind, sympa- thizing manner, said, " Phelan, I am sony for you : but I did my best — you had my vote." He bowed, smiled, and instantly answered, " Victrix causa Diis placuit, sed victa Catoni ; " The good and benevolent man was visibly aSected. At this trying juncture — as, indeed, throughout the Befriended whole course of his varied life — Divine Providence raised z^. ,, Chancellor up to him many and discriminating friends : among these Plunket, was the Right Honourable William Conyngham Plunket, the present f Lord Chancellor of Ireland. The wi'iter well remembers the ardour with which Mr. Phelan was accustomed to dilate on the high intellectual attainments of that eminent individual. In the family of that gentle- man he had been repeatedly domesticated, having been private tutor to several of his sons ; and from his familiar conversation he reaped advantages which no person was better able to enjoy and appreciate than Mr. Phelan himself. At this season of disappointment, Lord Plunket * The late Very E,ev. Eiobard GraTcs, D.D., Dean of Ardagh, hououi'- ably known by bis various tbeological publications. May the wi-iter be pei'mitted to add his h\unble but sincere tribute to the learning, piety, and goodness of this exemplary man ? Towards his latter days, we had, on a particular question, some trifling difference of judgment. But I never can forget the impression made on my youthful mind by the mild, but powerful influence of liis unaffected zeal. — J. L. t A.D. 1832. He was afterwards raised to the peerage, and died 51 h of January, 1854, in the ninetieth year of his age. 16 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir came forward as an attached friend. He recommended to him the study of the law ; and, till in-acticc should come ill, nobly pressed on him an allowance of 300/. a-year. For this princely offer he was deeply grateful ; indeed, he never forgot it to his dying day ; but, after mature deliberation, he most thankfully declined it. In fact, he thought the kindness too great to be accepted ; but what with him was far more decisive — though, like most young Irishmen of talents, he had originally a pre- dilection for the bar, — his more serious studies had given him another relish, and he thought he might be happier, as well as more useful, in the service of the Church, and by Amidst his arduous labours he derived never-failing ^f^' supplies of animation from the fresh and salient mind of bishop ^^ Magee. Dr. IMagee, afterwards Archbishop of Dublin. This distinguished scholar was in the constant habit of visiting his chambers, inquiring after his progress, and entering into all the misgivings of his sensitive mind. With the office of speaking, as I feel, of almost my earliest friend — of him who guided my first youthful efforts, and encouraged the pursuits of my maturer years, I should fear to trust myself. Therefore it is with peculiar satisfaction that I resort to the anonymous, but faithful testimony, of a friend, which I know had special, though not exclusive, reference to his affectionate kindness for Mr. Phelan : — " The most engaging instances of his (Archbishop Magee's) philanthropy, were undoubtedly those in which he made it his business and found it his pleasure to direct and animate by his advice the young men in whom he perceived any remarkable degree of ability ; while he literally watched over them with the affection of a father, he entered into their views and concerned himself in their interests with the warmth and familiarity of a friend. Were they desponding ? they were cheered ; were they negligent ? they were counselled ; were they straitened by pecuniai'y difficulties ? relief was liberally afforded ; did they experience an embarrassment in mastering the OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 17 severer sciences ? amidst all the cares and occupations of his laborious station assistance never was withheld. Many are the hours of despondency which hang upon the spirits of that young man who, unsupported by wealth or patronage, is labouring, by the path of academic distinction, to attain a reputable independence. Frequent are the misgivings which damp his ardour in a pursuit where health is not seldom irrecoverably lost before the object is accomplished ; and no one feels with more poignant bitterness that 'sickness of the heart' which arises from ' hope deferred.' How often has Dr. Magee passed from the privacy of his own domestic circle to the lonely rooms of the pale and wasted votary of science, and banished, by his benignant presence and his cheerful, animating conversation, the morbid melancholy which was preying on him, and which otherwise might have brought him to an untimely grave ! How often have the studies which were abandoned in disgust or despair been resumed at his instance with alacrity and diligence, and ultimately rewarded with a success which must have been unattain- able but for his generous and inspiriting encouragement !" But a deeply-seated, and, as the event finally proved, an immedicable wound, had been inflicted on Mr. Phelan's constitution. The shock given to his bodily frame ren- dered him for several months incapable of any continuous exertion, and, at this season of depression, the sole fruit of his labours was the second of his prize Essays, for the Royal Irish Academy. Towards the commencement of the year 1814, we find Again him again devoted to severe fellowship reading. In the fellowship; month of June, he sat, and was defeated by Thomas again de- Romney Robinson, the most distinguished of his contem- poraries, now D.D. and Astronomical Professor, on the foundation of his namesake, but not his relative. Primate Robinson,* at the Observatory of Armagh. * Lord Kokeby, Archbishop of Armagh, eminent for princely muni- ficence. C 18 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir And here it may not be improper to say a few words on the character of Dr. Phelan's mind. Character His powers of acquiring knowledge were of a peculiar riu'hvu's ^^^^ very superior quality. He had the happy faculty of 1^1 J' instantly mastering a writer's meaning ; he could instinc- tively seize on everything, in every possible direction, which was of the least real moment. He glanced with the rapidity of lightning through the most abstruse and difficult volumes, and his mind seemed invested with a sort of magical influence which compelled them to render up their contents, and turned, so to speak, the minds of authors inside out. He discerned matter, even in the more abstract sciences, which could happily illustrate whatever might be the immediate object of research. Facts and narratives were to him that which the elemen- tary forms of letters are to ordinary readers — conveying, not so much the impression of themselves, as that of the thought or principle towards imparting which they were instrumental. History, travels, philosophy, and poetry, no less than matters of strict science, he read with a sagacious, comprehensive spirit, separating always eternal principles from the accidents in which they were rendered visible. And that which, even to advanced students, is commonly the result of distinct, and often of severe reflection, was in his mind the thing primarily noticed. The matter professedly studied was to him merely intro- ductive and subordinate. He used to complain that his mind sufiered from mathematical pursuits, that when engaged in such inves- tigations his finer and more delicate powers were depressed, and that he became disqualified for the pursuit of higher and nobler inquiries. But this, it is humbly conceived, was a mistake ; at least, he appeared to his friends always ready to form a judgment, not only sound and good, but exquisitely refined, on almost every subject within the compass of letters ; and, indeed, his very fondness for the higher branches of mathematics is in itself a sufficient OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 19 refutation of this morbid apprehension. He was eager for principles, impatient of details ; but, at the same time, he subjected every principle to the severest possible test, and would never admit any position, within the scope of ratiocination, till it was most incontrovertibly proved. All inquiries about light and heat had for him a peculiar interest ; these qualities seemed, on account of their extreme tenuity, ever ready to evanesce, till they became almost immaterial. This predisposition of his mind may be illustrated by a little circumstance within my own recollection. During one of the visits with which he indulged me, when Rector of Abington, he manifested the most intense gratification (even now I have a lively image of it present with me) at Sir Walter Scott's beauti- ful fiction of the " White Lady." " Of all apparitions," he said, " this comes nearest to my conception of a pure spirit." But the pursuits in which he took unmingled pleasure, were those of mental and moral philosophy. To these, when fatigued and exhausted by severer study, he turned with ever-new delight. On such occasions he used, with our Platonic bard, to exclaim — " How charming is Divine philosophy ! Not harsh and crabbed, as dull fools suppose, But musical, as is Apollo's lute, And a perpetual feast of nectar'd sweets, Where no crude surfeit reigns." In the weak state of his eyes, it was his habit to read with the eyes of a friend. In this manner he prepared the entire logical and ethical course prescribed for fellow- ships in Dublin. His friend particularly mentions the enthusiasm with which he used to expatiate on some parts of Cicero's Second Book, " De Legibus ; " of Bishops Berkeley and Butler, too, he used to speak highly ; and with complacency of Dr. Reid. He was not so well satisfied with Mr. Locke. To him the design c 2 20 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir of this eminent man seemed to embrace too little or too much : too little, if the understanding alone, as distin- guished from the moral mind, imagination, passions, and affections, was the object of his inquiry; too much, if the positions for which he contended be thought in themselves sufficient to account for all the moral and intellectual phenomena of our nature. While reading for fellowships his progress was unques- tionably retarded by a habit in which he freely indulged, which, however, contributed much to increase, not merely the extent, but the accuracy of his knowledge, and to repress at once and discipline that fondness for mental anticipation which is so apt to beset youthful and ardent minds. The habit was, " never to rest satisfied with the bare demonstration of a truth." He wished, so far as practicable, to know whence it came and whither it was going. He would, therefore, to the utmost of his power, investigate any important fact in all its bearings ; and frequently has he employed half a day (a serious expense of time, as all fellowship-men are perfectly aware) in tracing the various deductions which might legitimately be drawn from it. His competitors, on the other hand, were often more prudently, if not so intellectually, em- ployed. They were collecting materials less recondite, indeed, but more immediately producible ; and their object was, not so much to lay the foundation for future researches, as to show themselves competently versed in that which was already known. Mr. Phelan could never endure the thought of becoming the mere carrier of intellectual burthens. His wish was, so far as might law- fully be, to lift the veil from nature, and get an insight into the wondrous principles, both natural and moral, on which all-perfect Wisdom regulates the world. Thus, the very superiority of his mental powers and attainments often stood in his way. He read more like a master than a scholar — more as one whose own mind was to be satisfied than as a person whose business it was to satisfy OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 21 the minds of others. He looked around him with the ken of a philosopher; and he less assiduously cultivated presence of mind and fertility of resources than those subtler processes of mind which have ever formed the chosen exercise of genius. Had the question been, who of his contemporaries it was that possessed the seeds of powers most akin to those of the great discoverers of science or restorers of letters, he might, perhaps, have ranked not greatly beneath the first men of our best days. As it was, with a nearly exhausted constitution, broken spirits, and a debilitated frame, it is little to be wondered at that he was unequal to the arduous conflict, which, however, he still gallantly sustained. But, that we may pass to a more grateful topic, it can be readily understood that with a mind thus stored and thus disciplined he must have been a delightful companion. That which I have heard from his early associates, was, in the course of no slight, superficial intercourse, abundantly realized to myself. I have rarely met with an individual who in conversation so fairly produced his mind, — or, let me add, whose mind was more worthy of production. At the instant he could command all the powers of thought and aids of learning to bear on any subject which they might properly illustrate ; and, what was more remarkable, they never failed to come at his bidding. Those with whom he was in the habit of familiar intercourse will not readily forget the force and animation of his manner when he wished to express himself pointedly upon any topic which had seriously occupied his mind. His sentences followed each other uninterruptedly and without effort — brief, terse, and emphatic ; and if, on the spur of occasion, taken down and made use of, they would have been found to possess all the elements of exact and finished composition. While there would occasionally burst from him the liveliest sallies of wit, and not unfrequently a vein of playful humour, which rendered his conversation, in its happier 22 BISHOP JEBBS BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR Degree of A.iM.,July, 1814. Enters into holy orders. hours (and they were always its quiet ones), one of the richest intellectual enjoyments. Such intercourse could not fail to delight, for it was ever natural, ever instruc- tive ; and it is still among my chosen recreations to recal the days and nights which I have passed in the society of William Phclan. His trial for fellowships was now over ; to all appearance it was intenninahly closed. But he was not destitute of consolation. He was conscious that he had done his best ; he could not charge himself with any wilful failure of duty, or any want of persevering application ; and he viewed disappointment itself as a mode of providential discipline, which *' He who careth for us" ever graciously adapts to our peculiar exigences. In July, 1814, he proceeded A.M. ; and, shortly after, on the kind and seasonable invitation of his friend and former associate on the fellowship bench, the Rev. J. H. Stubbs, Master of the endowed school of Dundalk, he became for a short time the guest of that gentleman. An influential visit, as will afterwards appear ; which, eventu- ally, occasioned a great change in the prospects and circumstances of his after-life. In the month of October, on the recommendation of Dr. Magee, then Dean of Cork, he was appointed Second Master of the endowed school of Derry.* Here he entered into holy orders, being ordained deacon Dec. 4, 1814, and priest Jan. 4, 1815, by the Lord Bishop of Derry ; and, soon after his first ordination, * I cannot help mentioning, that at this school I yras educated, under the Reverend Thomas Marshall, A.M. This kind and generous man was the delight of his pupils : and I never shall forget the tragic impression made on us all, when, about the autumn of 1790, it pleased God to remove him. How much I am indebted to his fostering care, I shall never, in this world, be fuUy able to appreciate. One of my earliest efforts was a boyish, but sincere, tribute to his memory ; it was an imitation of the " Quia desiderio," &c., of Horace. But to Derry School, and to Horace, I have other, and far higher obligations. They were the means of introducing me to the notice of Alexander Knox, Esquire, who was fond of hearing me repeat my lessons OF WILLIAM PIIELAN, D.D. 23 began to officiate, in the chapel of ease of that city.* There he continued for upwards of two years, applying himself diligently to the duties of his humble calling, and devoting every leisure hour to those sacred studies, which, even then, constituted his resource and delight. He thus dis- turbed the repose of a few valuable old volumes in the diocesan library ; though of the time occupied in this manner there is probably no written record. But his was a mind which was never idle ; and, to such information as he already possessed, there is a moral certainty that, at this period, he added extensively. In the montli of August, 1816, it should be mentioned, he was, with some apparent hopes of success, a candidate for the endowed school, or college, of Kilkenny. About this period the writer had the happiness to form an acquaintance with Mr. Phelan, which, at no distant day, ripened into friendship. A valued contemporary of his-j- had, some time previously, told me several interesting anecdotes of his early life ; and put into my hands, at the Rectory of Abington, his prize Essay, " On Scientific and Literary Pursuits." I was, therefore, duly prepared to appreciate a singularly modest, unpretending letter, which he addressed to me from Derry, bearing date the l^th of December, 1816. It now lies open before me; and it could not fail to rekindle, were they dormant — which, happily, they never have been — the liveliest feelings of interest in himself, his mind, and his pursuits. Like every other production of his pen which it has been my fortune to see (for, in his instance, to see and to read were identical), it is clothed in language alike natural, manly, from that most felicitous of authors ; he afterwards became my guide, philosopher, and friend. From him, in the course of a long intimacy, I derived principles which, I trust, will never die. Obiit, eheu ! June 18, 1831.— J. L. * His appointment, at the salary of £50 a-year, is dated Dec. 27, 1814 ; of which salary he was never paid a single shilling ; though he served the chaplaincy, without intermission, till March, 1817. + The Eev. Richard Ryan. 24 Bisiioi' jedb's biographical memoir and independent. The object of it was to ascertain how far his judgment and mine might coincide, respecting the eligibility of his publishing a short treatise, which he was then preparing, on the subject of the Bible Society. As to the general bearings of that question, my feelings are, elsewhere, briefly stated.* In conformity with opinions which I had early formed, and from which I have never swerved, I ventured to suggest that his mental powers would be employed far more advantageously on some great original work, than upon what must, after all, rank as a mere temporary pamphlet. My reasons, however, failed to have quite so much weight with Mr. Phelan, at the time, as they may, perhaj^js, have subsequently had. He accordingly published, not immediately (for a very serious occupation intervened), but in the autumn of the next year, his able tract ; powerful in its reasoning, though I have never been able to see the practical wisdom of its publication ; nravra fioi e^eariv, aW' ov iravra crvfi(j)ep€c. It was entitled " The Bible, not the Bible Society." This work, greatly praised, and not good-naturedly vituperated, was, for a long while, the alternate mark of reprobation and panegyric ; and, in its immediate, and, yet more, in its remote consequences, it gave a colouring nearly to the The life w hole of Mr. Phelan's apparent future life ; but, happily, Clirist in ^^^ ^^^ another, and a better life, which was " hid with God." Christ in God." To the world he was chiefly known as a polemical writer ; indeed, it is probable that many of his contempo- raries have heard of him in that capacity alone. And it must be confessed that, hitherto, from unhappy cir- cumstances, there has been, in Ireland, but little oppor- tunity, and, if possible, less encouragement, for theological learning. While, under a proper system, and with wise selection, eminent examples of it might have been multi- plied, to the unspeakable advantage both of Church and country. But, in fact, though some ephemeral stimulus * Practical Theology, vol. ii., p. 70. OF WILLIAM PIIELAN, D.D. 25 to exertion may have occasionally been applied, it is a melancholy truth that the flippant pamphlet, and slight brochure (of merit very different, indeed, from the slightest efforts of Mr. Phelan) have been generally thought a far more marketable commodity than any solid work of genius, piety, or learning. But his was, in truth, a far loftier spirit : he predomi- nately lov;ed the high and lonely walk. His most current, popular productions, occupied but a small portion of his time, and less of his thoughts. And they, who have enjoyed his confidence the longest, and most unreservedly, are best aware on themes how different from the vulgar cant of the day it was his delight to expatiate. For my Edifying own part, I can safely say, that in all our years of friendly ^p°'*'^^^^' intercourse, he never uttered a syllable, whether grave or Phelan. gay, which did not, as was said of Archbishop Leighton, more or less directly tend to edification. Indeed, if I had not intimately known that he was something far other, and better, than an expert controversialist, I will candidly own that the present memoir should not have been written. This fore-dated disclosure will, I trust, exempt me from all but the bare mention of his chief polemical tracts, in the order of publication. They were written merely e/c irapepyov, called forth by the seeming exigences of the times : but he was living centrally, for eternity, "And all his serious thoughts had rest m Heaven." We may, now, revert to Mr. Phelan's more private con- cerns. He had long been in a very delicate state of health, and his physicians thought it might be expedient that he should try the air of Mallow, in the county of Cork. Symptoms, however, seemingly improved : and as, on several accounts, such an excursion must have been incon- venient, it was not, under this favourable change, at that time undertaken. Meanwhile, he was, unexpectedly, summoned to a In 1817 wider sphere. Towards the close of March, 1817, his ^S^^^''^^ 26 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir for a fel- vigilant friend, Dr. Wall, strongly urged that he should, ' forthwith, come to Dublin, and again sit for a fellowship, of which there were, at that time, two to be filled up. All his friends, none more earnestly than Dr. Magee, were, also, instant in their intreaties. Therefore, after nearly three years' alienation from academical pursuits, and about six weeks before the day of trial, he came to the scene of action. His first visit was to the college, chambers of a friend : *' Well," said he, " here I am ; and what do you want with me ?" " We want you," was the reply, " to get a fellowship." He looked perplexed and anxious. He was almost certain that, within the space of six short weeks, it was hopeless that he should regain so much lost ground. Besides, a great additional weight of science had been thrown into the course, especially the whole system of French Analysis, to which he was nearly a total stranger. To work, however, he went, and with that vigour and intensity which seemed inseparable from his being. And what was the consequence ? Difficulties, like a " frost-work," suddenly " melted away" * before him ; and gains and he was unanimously elected a Fellow of Trinity College, Dublin. During the short, but arduous course of immediate preparation, he withdrew to the adjacent village of Dun- drum ; and there he was affectionately watched, and cheered, by his early and unchanging friend, the Rev. Richard Ryan. His own account of the transaction is remarkable for its simplicity and candour ; it is derived from two of his letters, written at the very time. Short extracts from them will, probably, interest the reader. "April 12, 1817. I am going in again for fellowships ; not from any hope, nor, indeed, from any wish, to succeed, but merely because I want money [clearly to relieve his parents ; for his personal expenses were small, and his prudence was great] ; and I think it just possible that I may get the first * Rogers : " Pleasures of Memory." it OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 27 premium. Three weeks ago I formed this resolution ; and I have now six weeks to read." Three days after the termination of the conflict, he again writes : — '* June 5. By a caprice of fortune, entirely unexpected, I am now a fellow. The answering, you may suppose, was but in- different, when, after three years' cessation, I was considered the best answerer." Such was his own modest estimate, ever apt to undervalue his mental attainments ; but it was happily corrected by the public voice : his very friends, too, the jealous guardians of his good repute, were abundantly satisfied ; not by his success merely, but especially at the manner of it. He was, by the blessing of God, on his own exertions, now placed in a station of permanent independence ; certain of an income, moderate, indeed, but competent ; and having the fair prospect of attaining, at no remote period, what to him would be affluence. But his mind was raised above all selfish considerations ; now, as formerly, his parents were foremost in his thoughts ; and the path which he marked out for himself was one of unassuming privacy. During the long vacation he sought that repose which his wearied mind required : he had done much in a little time ; and it was not till October, 1817, that he gave to the press that pamphlet which he had prepared at Derry. Thenceforward, his time was chiefly divided between private study and his college duties. In November, 1818, he was elected Donnellan Lecturer, In 1818 and preached the first sermon of his course on Trinity jjo'j^nellan Sunday, 1819. The manner, and general purpose of Lecturer, these lectures will be sufficiently explained by the following extract from the Registry of Trin. Coll., Dublin: — " Fehruarij 22, 1794. " Whereas, a legacy of l,2i3l. lias been bequeathed to the College of Dublin by Mrs. Anne Donnellan, for the encouragement of religion, learning, and good manners, the particular mode of application being entrusted to the Provost and Senior Fellows : 28 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir " Resolved, " 1. That a Divinity Lecture, to which shall be annexed a salary, arising from the interest of 1,200/., shall be established for ever, to be called Donnellan's Lecture. " 2. That the Lecturer shall be forthwith elected, from among the Fellows of said College ; and hereafter, annually, on the 20th November. " 3. That the subject, or subjects, of the Lecture, shall be determined at the time of election by the Board; to be treated in six sermons, which shall be delivered in the College Chapel, immediately after morning service, on certain Sundays, to be appointed on the 20th of November next after the election of the Lecturer, and within a year from the said appointment. " 4. That one moiety of the interest of the said 1,200/. shall be paid to the Lecturer, as soon as he shall have delivered the whole number of lectures ; and the other moiety as soon as he shall have published four of the said lectures, one copy to be deposited in the Library of the College ; one in the Library of Armagh ; one in the Library of St. Sepulchre ; one to be given to the Chan- cellor of the University ; and one to the Provost of the College." This foundation, unquestionably well intended, has failed^ nevertheless, to render all the service which origi- nally was designed. Since its establishment upwards of eight-and-thirty years have elapsed : * how many volumes have, in consequence, been published ? how many sermons have been preached ? The fact is, an original error seems to have taken place, in limiting the field of the Donnellan Lectures to the narrow circle of existing Fellows, seven seniors, and fifteen (afterwards increased to eighteen) juniors ; three, at least, of whom are statutably laymen. These able men are all fully and laboriously occupied, in the government, or education, of fifteen hundred under- * Written 1832. OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. graduates ; and the inevitable consequence has been, that few candidates have proffered themselves for the office of Donnellan Lecturer.* The remedy, in this case, seems natural and easy. Why not throw the field of selection open (as in the Bampton Lecture Sermons, at Oxford, and the Hulsean Lectures, and office of Christian Advocate, at Cambridge) to all persons who have taken the degree of Master of Arts ? The present excellent Christian Advocate of the latter University never was a Fellow. This sugges- tion is thrown out in ardent, but, it is hoped, not ill- regulated zeal, at once for the credit of the College, and for the advancement of good letters in Ireland. The University, and the country at large, ought, in various respects, to be drawn more closely together ; and, from a proper intercourse, and community of feeling, great benefits might, at no distant day, eventually arise to both of them. But we must pursue our more immediate subject. Dr. Phelan, if his health, which was always delicate, be excepted, was well circumstanced for close application to this additional duty. So young among the Fellows, he had few pupils, for whom, indeed, neither directly, nor indirectly, neither by himself, nor by his friends, did he ever think it right to seek. He had full leisure, therefore, for his favourite pursuits. His mind always had a predi- lection for inquiries, addressed, at once, to the intellectual * On a former occasion, the writer used language nearly similar ; which he here takes the liberty of citing : — " In Ii-eland, we have, unfortunately, not abounded in magnificent patrons of learning. The University of Dublin was founded at a period when the zeal for thus [by foundations, benefactions, &c.] promoting good letters had gone by. Accordingly we have but one College, one Provost, and twenty-five Fellows, for the education of about fifteen hvmdred undergraduates. These twenty-six very learned men, who attained their present honourable rank, after years of intense study, and tlu-ough the most arduous hterary competition in the world, have upon their shoulders the instruction and government of fifteen himdi-ed young men : and, thus occupied, they certainly have httle redundant time for the pleasures and the pains of authorship." — Bishop of LimericVs Speech in the Souse of Lords, June 10, 1824. 29 30 nisiiop jebb's BioouArmcAL memoir and moral man ; and he loved to regard the deeper, and more mysterious truths of Christianity, as not merely on proof given of their divine authority to be implicitly received, and venerated, but, much more, as indispensable parts of a divine system, provided by the comprehensive and all- gracious wisdom of God, for the renewal, enlargement, and purification of our spiritual being. He sought, there- fore, to exhibit the Christian scheme in such a manner as might best show its correspondence, in all its parts, to the wants and anticipations of human nature. His lectures, accordingly, may, in some sort, be regarded as an effort to describe the physiology of revealed religion. Others have carefully examined facts, and doctrines, and discussed their evidence, according to the dictates of forensic plead- ing : he, on the contrary, was more solicitous to discover, what may be termed the functions of those facts and Doctrine doctrines. It is one thing, for example, to establish the Triu'itv doctrine of the Trinity, by alleging the various passages of Holy Writ in which it is more or less distinctly revealed. It is another, and perhaps a yet more important office, to show that this mysterious, yet infinitely practical doctrine is precisely such a revelation of the Divine Nature, as could, alone, enable man to accomplish the great purposes for which he was called into existence. By the one line of argument, the timid believer may be per- suaded that his Christianity is true ; by the other, the candid sceptic may be convinced that it is reasonable and just. The judgment is thus satisfied, through the previous conviction of the moral sense ; and, from the congruity between ends and means, between the weakness of man and the sufficiency of God, the facts and doctrines which may once have appeared, not merely above reason, but contrary to it, will, at once, be found harmonious in their operation, and, so to speak, in their nature necessary. Such was the lofty argument which habitually occupied Dr. Phclan's mind, and which he sought to embody in the Donnellan Lectures. How far he may have succeeded in OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 31, the application of these principles, and in all the resulting details, it remains for the judgment of competent and meditative readers to determine. But all such are, at the same time, entreated habitually to keep in mind, that the present publication is a posthumous one ; that, had life and health been spared to the Author, he would have explained and supported his theory by extensive researches, both ancient and modern ; that a copious body of materials even now exists, among his papers, not only unused, but, from imperfect references, quite unusable ; and that, had his own acute and comprehensive mind presided over a full exhibition of that scheme, which, for many years, he had meditated and planned, the result must have been far different from anything which is now brought forward.* But, especially in his later years, infirmities were gathering Infirmities fast upon him : in one letter to a friend, he writes, " For gat|^ermg ^ _ ' _ ' onPhelan, some months back I have been hearing with one ear, and seeing with one eye." In another, what now seems like the language of solemn anticipation, " The abortive Donnellans lie in my college-desk, not to be disturbed again, at least, not by my hands." This sacred, and, he will add, this delightful duty, has unexpectedly fallen into other, and, the writer fears, very incompetent hands : but this he can say, with perfect truth, that, if he were not convinced of the value and importance of these papers, he would never have proposed to undertake, what, to him, has proved a source of unmingled satisfaction, the office of their Editor. About this time, Mr. Phelan became one of the six One of the university preachers. He was not what is called an ^|^,""ea"h. orator, in the popular sense of the word : but he was a ers. much better thing ; a calm, deliberate, and singularly impressive preacher. His voice was far from strong, or powerful ; its volume was thin, and its compass very * The publication of Dr. Phelan's Donnellan Lectures had been delayed, in the hope that the Author might be enabled to bring them out, with the advantage of extensive notes and references. 32 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir limited, but its tones were clear, animated, and flexible ; his enunciation was distinct and solemn ; his face, when he was preaching, as when he was familiarly conversing, bore the stamp of zeal, earnestness, and pure affection, lie thought that the natural variations of the eye, voice, and countenance, were the sole legitimate kind of action, the only one suitable to the dignity of the pulpit. And the combined effect of his manner, his delivery, and that truth of character, which the most eloquent words, in themselves, altogether fail to convey, was that, as Arch- ■^ch- deacon Churton has beautifully said of Dr. Townson, — • Cburton. " You would pledge your soul on his sincerity ; you were sure there was nothing he longed for so fervently as your salvation." Ten of the discourses tlms preached are given as speci- mens of Dr. Phelan's peculiar manner. They were not • prepared by him for the press, and were composed in the ordinary discharge of his duty as university preacher. Tiieir matter, though perfectly practical and familiar, is distinguished, amidst all its simplicity, by the same pro- fundity of thought which characterizes his Donnellan Lectures. While, in manner, they afford the happiest specimen of united ease and vigour, of acute reasoning and affectionate familiarity. But their great charm is a certain air of reality, which everywhere pervades them : they insensibly twine around our hearts ; and, without the least effort at exhibition, of which, indeed, he had not the remotest thought, they set us at home in the very scenes and circumstances which they cause to rise graphically before us. Of our Lord's general character, especially as it may be " pondered"* out of the first few glimpses of his early life, the young preacher had a deep and strong impression ; and what he felt acutely for him- self, he never failed to impress vividly on others. Of the discourses, those entitled " Christ in the Temple," " Few Notices of Christ's Early Life," " Jesus at Cana," and * St. Luke ii. 19. OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 33 those which immediately follow, to the Seventh Discourse inclusive, appear to the Editor, as, he doubts not, they will do to the reader, full of just, discriminative, and original observation, and, even in their present unfinished form, seem entitled fairly to take their place (no common praise) beside Dr. Townson's exquisite Sermon, " On our Lord's Manner of Teaching." It would be alike unjust and injudicious to forestall the reader's interest by any detailed notice of this portion of the " Remains." But, from amidst various passages of great interest and beauty, it seems right to select one or two brief specimens, which may, in some degree, illustrate the style and power of Dr. Phelan's mind, and, as the writer thinks, the abiding influence of early circumstances upon it. Very early in his first discourse, he has, with peculiar Extracts felicity, applied his knowledge and experience of humble (jiscoui-ses. life to the elucidation of our Lord's visit, in childhood, to Jerusalem and its holy Temple. In treating of that remarkable occurrence, to which Saint Luke (ii. 46) refers, Dr. Phelan observes that " The first circumstance which should be noted is, the kindly and sociable spirit of the child Jesus. It is acknowledged that, in the course of his public ministry, our Lord manifests a cordiality towards mankind, second only to that unreserved devotement with which He had surrendered Himself to the business of his heavenly Father. And we may perceive, from the cir- cumstances now before us, that this gracious disposition was the impulse of his tenderest, as well as the habit of his most mature, years. ' As they returned,' says the Evangelist, * the child Jesus tarried behind in Jerusalem ; and Joseph and his mother knew not of it. But, sup- posing him to have been in the company, they went a day's journey ; and they sought him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance.' No sooner do they miss their precious charge, than they conclude that he had mingled with the companions of their journey. This persuasion is no less D •34 BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir firm than it was instantaneous ; they travel a whole day, without faltering in their assurance. At length they go in quest of Him ; and where do they search ? Not in solitude, or in secrecy ; not, as they might have done for the austere Baptist, in a wilderness. They seek him among their kinsfolk and acquaintance, among persons whose intimacy is generally more unreserved in proportion to the humility of their rank in life ; and who were then, as we may suppose, beguiling the fatigues of a toilsome journey by the free and playful interchange of confidential conversation. Now we cannot imagine that Joseph and his mother were careless of the treasure committed to their keeping, or that, in their search for Him, they were guided by no surer principle than indiscriminating sur- mise. Their conviction, that He had mingled with their friends, was natural and reasonable ; but it could not have been so, had it not been suggested by his ordinary conduct." (Pp. 127, 128.*) Our Sa- He thus beautifully touches on the poverty of the blessed Jesus : — " We are, generally and incidentally, given to under- stand that our Lord was poor, yet no images are presented to us which can excite mean and vulgar associations. There are, perhaps, only two instances in which his poverty is pictured distinctly to tlie mind. These are, the scene of his nativity, and that mournful expression of his, that He had ' not where to lay his head.' Now, in the first of these cases, the associated ideas are all even of unearthly magnificence ; the stable of Bethlehem is trans- formed into a holy tabernacle, where the wise and great come to ofier their incense, and angels themselves attend in humble ministration. And, as for the pathetic exjjres- sion of the Son of Man, there is a majesty in its pathos, which exalts our conception of the moral sublime. We hear nothing but what is fit to fall from the lips of perse- cuted royalty ; we see nothing, save what a wise heathen * Vol. i. of the " Eemains," &c. VIOULT 8 poTcrty ; OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 35 lias pronounced the noblest sight, even for God to see — a great and good man rising superior to adversity." (Disc, iii., pp. 160, 161.) The susceptibility of our Lord, unmingled with a single Hissuscep- shade of weakness, is pictured with happy discrimination: — ^ ^' *' In the most highly gifted among men, that tempera- ment, by which the soul is softened to imbibe the influence of genius or of sensibility, generally weakens the severer moral powers. ■ In Christ alone, both are united in their full perfection. He feels all our infirmities, yet He yields to none. He, no less than John the Baptist, is inclined to lonely meditation. He does not disdain to contemplate even the lilies of the field, yet He can move unwearied and undisturbed amidst the tumults and anxieties of public life. Unlike John, He is courteous ; but his is always •the courtesy of a superior being, the serene grandeur of sovereign dominion. He calls, and public officers rise and follow Him ; He appears, and rich young men kneel down to Him, and call Him Master ; He comes into the syna- gogue of his own town, and the eyes of all the congrega- tion are fastened upon Him ; He is silent, and no man durst question Him ; He speaks, and the people wonder at the gracious words which proceed out of his mouth." (Disc, iv., p. 175.) How these passages (and in the discourses of Mr. The grace Phelan there are many such) may affect the reader, it is ^phant^^" impossible to predict. To the editor, it must be owned, they appear the mingled growth of native temperament, of indigenous habit, and, he will add, of the triumphant grace of God. At an early period of this memoir, it was intimated that the subject of it was *' never vulgarized," that he was, in principle and manners, " a native gentle- man." I will now add, from long experience and observa- tion, that he became more and more a devoted but a happy Christian ; and my wish, serious as though it were my last one, is. Sit me anima cum Phelano ! It now seems proper to revert to Dr. Phelan's state of Feelings on D 2 SG BISHOP jebb's biographical memoir obtaining feeling, ou the occasion of fellowship-examinations in 1817. From the extracts already given of his correspond- ence (p. 26), it is evident that he was neither sanguine in his hopes, nor elated by his success. To some, indeed, it may almost appear that he had attained, or affected, the tranquillity of stoical indifference. Far different, how- ever, was the real case ; and, in order to place it fairly before the reader, we must recur to other passages of the same letters. In that of April 12, he tells his friend, " I am not happy, nor can a fellowship make me so." And, on June 5, three days after having apparently realized his most ardent hopes, he emphatically writes, " At present, I feel myself very far from happy." The fact is (and this will at once explain all seeming contradictions), that, during his visit to Dundalk (p. 22), his affections had been irrevocably engaged to a sister of his friendly host. And- although, during his continuance in Londonderry, pru- dence, and principle, and voluntary devotedness to his parents, allowed him not to think of an immediate mar- riage, yet he was not without hopes that some settlement might offer, compatible with the attainment of his dearest wishes. It is not wonderful, then, that a fellowship, which, so long as it should be retained, must probably doom him to hopeless celibacy, was anything rather than an object of complacency or self-gratulation. He literally, therefore, had not wished to succeed. And when, most unexpectedly, his efforts were crowned with success, his great object was, if practicable, to emancipate himself by a Royal dispensation. To accomplish this purpose, power- ful efforts were, at different times, fruitlessly employed. But the sudden death of the young lady's natural pro- tector determined him, at all hazards, to resign his fellow- ship, and fulfil his honourable engagement. Accordingly, In 1823, he on the 18th of May, 1823, he was married, on the licence mames, ^f ^^^ j^^j.^^ gigi^op of Fenis, to Miss Margaret Stubbs, and resigns ^ ' . • it. by her brother, the Reverend J. H. Stubbs, Vicar of Kilmacahill, in the church of that parish. Within the OF WILLIAM PHELAN, D.D. 67 time specified by law, he subsequently resigned his fellow- ship, on the 12th of August in the same year; having received from the Provost and Senior Fellows a generous engagement to extend to him the future privilege of option to a college living. Nor should it be omitted, for it is highly to their honour, that the Junior Fellows voluntarily relinquished their claims to any emolument accruing from his late pupils, not only for the remainder of the current year, but so long as they might continue their names upon the college-books.* The connexion thus disinterestedly formed greatly augmented his happiness, and probably also contributed to the extension of his short but valuable life. His delicate health demanded the most tender care, and this Mrs. Phelan delighted to administer, with all that noise- less assiduity which attends every step and movement of an affectionate female. Her principles, tastes, and habits, were in complete accordance with his own ; and, for years before their marriage, she had been the faithful depository of his inmost thoughts and feelings. But the privacy of such a correspondence is too sacred a thing to be need- lessly violated ; fragments of but one letter have been committed to the writer, and, as these are at once beauti- fully simple, and throw a vivid light upon some particulars of his life and character, I shall give them without scruple. They seem to have been written from his native town, or its immediate vicinity; and I envy not the heart of that man who can, read them without emotions that he would wish to cherish for ever : — . . . . " Have you not remarked that the religious The reli- world is, after all, the world, and has the Scripture marks toomuc'hof of the world about it ? It is constantly substituting things the world, external and adventitious for things internal and essential. A dogma, or a ceremony, or a public Meeting, or any- * For this fact I am indebted to the information of the Rev. Dr. Wall, at that time Junior Bursar. The simi thus libei-ally ceded was above 900/. — J. L. BISHOP JEBB S BIOGRAPHICAL MEMOIR thing else that the times may countenance, is sure to take tlie lead of ' Rigliteousness, and peace, and joy in the Holy Ghost.' " In the more immediate circle, at present, of the Church Establishment, a dogma is the rage. Did it ever occur to you, to note the opposite conduct of our Lord, in regulating his family ? No less than four times, in the first three chapters of St. Luke, it is said that his mother and Joseph did not know the import of expressions, relat- ing to Him and his kingdom. We are not told that He even gave them any particular information. In general, it is to be observed that the truths, facts, and persons of the Gospel are revealed to us as objects of the affections: they are addressed to the intellect, only so far as every object of the soul must pass through the perceptive powers to the heart ; when there, they are at home, no matter how they effect the passage. All dogmatists pass their time in examining, and, as they think, repairing the road to the intellect, and getting presentiments for short cuts, &;c., &c. Iilischicfs Thus, like our Irish highways, they are always a repairing, never in repair. Meanwhile, the heart is cut off from all valuable communication with that gracious but mysterious Being, who is ' a God that hideth Himself,' indeed, from ill-directed inquiries, but who deliglits to abide with the humble and contrite spirit, ' full of grace and truth.' *' Such I firmly believe was his indwelling with your father ; it was not manifested by any direct exhibition of religion, but it was known by its effects — known as a refreshing and purifying essence, which makes an atmosphere of sweetness around the place where it is concealed, " Cherish, then, those feelings about your father, which become you equally as a child and as a Christian. In the present trying moments they will console you, and through life they will serve as those auxiliary lights which the gracious order of Providence kindles from time of clo