THE LIBRARY 
 
 OF 
 
 THE UNIVERSITY 
 
 OF CALIFORNIA 
 
 LOS ANGELES
 
 ^
 
 ^iv 
 
 ^<«i/»,, j,*tl*j,^ xV*"'*^ ^\ •?*'*"', c"*"^, <>"''*, i**"*'. <'*""''i J.'*""''. .»*""<•. s*""'', 
 
 o ..'o— —oO ».'6>M"™6 ".'6"M"<"d"""»6 "'O "0 —0 — o ■•• 
 
 REFLECTI ONS 
 
 ADD RESSED TO 
 
 The Rev. JOHNHAWKINS, 
 
 BY THE 
 
 Rev. JOSEPH BERINGTON. 
 
 .•' 0-" 0" o;"— O— ■""O- r>" O." O" o— —"0" 0"' o 
 
 *■'««<>* ''/Jn**- '•Vin\'>* ''<^v»4^^'' '''/jivV*' \ii\\'^ '''v/iiV"' ''in**''' "''.m*"''' '''m*'"' ''"i*'^"' ''*•"»"'"'
 
 REFLECTIONS 
 
 ADDRESSED TO 
 
 The Rev. JOHN HAWKINS. 
 
 TO WHICH IS ADDED, 
 
 AN EXPOSITION OF 
 
 Roman Catholic Principles, 
 
 IN REFERENCE TO 
 
 GOD AND THE COUNTRY. 
 
 By the Rev. JOSEPH BERINGTON. 
 
 II y a plaifir d'etre dans un vaiffeau battu de Torage, 
 lors qu'cn eft affure qu'il ne perira point. 
 
 Pascal. 
 
 BIRMINGHAM: PRINTED BYM. SWINNEY; 
 
 FOR 
 
 T. Booker, New -Bo no-Street, London, 
 
 M,DCC,LXXXV.
 
 ^ . ■ — = =^ 
 
 I '"^'' ••^••■'^'■••.f .••■"^'■••S-''"^' ■•*.•• ■"^'" ••*.•• ■'^'" ■-.!*/ ■"^''■••.^.•- I 
 «s ^ — ^ i» 
 
 The PREFACE. 
 
 THE following Reflections, 
 though addrelFed to a particular 
 perfon, are meant, as is well known, 
 for the public : not that the public will 
 care about them, but fome few of it 
 perhaps may, and for fuch they are de- 
 figned. To the Catholics of Worcef- 
 ter it might be proper to recommend 
 myfelf ; but if they have only tailed 
 of all the rich dainties, that have been 
 laid before them, from their chaplain 
 to their chaplain's friend, cloyed furely 
 they are already. I would not wil- 
 lingly add to their furfeit. 
 
 Had I not been alone In the country, 
 in the gloomy month of November, 
 thefe reJleBions probably had never 
 rifen into any vifible form : nor would 
 it have fignified. The difcuflion in- 
 deed of fuch matters may be thought 
 
 an
 
 t vi ] 
 
 an extraordinary cure for melancholy ; 
 nor would I recommend it to all pa- 
 tients ; but our taftes are various, and 
 
 it is well they fhould. Convinced 
 
 however I am, that fuch works, as the 
 appeal of Mr. Hawkins, fhould not be 
 allowed to pafs unnoticed, at any fea- 
 foji. It would foon be faid that he, who 
 had received his education amongfl: us, 
 certainly knew our belief, and had 
 ftated it fairly : and fairnefs there 
 fometimes is; but it is fo broken, and 
 fo mixed up with trafh, and a thoufand 
 flippant obfervations, that it is not eafy 
 to difcover at what he aims. The 
 juftilication of the flep he had taken, 
 I prefume, was his firft objedl; but 
 why fuch a fufs about an event fo lit- 
 tle interefling ? He might have re- 
 flected that the actions of an honefl 
 man never require a long apology. 
 When it is confidercd how hard is the 
 fate of the Roman Catholics of this 
 country ; I own it raifes my furprife 
 that any one, who is not dead to the 
 common impreffions of humanity, can 
 wifh to aggravate their painful fitua- 
 t!on Yet this is done by every writer 
 
 and
 
 [ v/i ] 
 
 and preacher who declaims againft 
 popery : he means to keep alive thofe 
 vulgar prejudices, under which we 
 have fo Ions; fuffered. Is your happi- 
 nefs to increafe in proportion as I be- 
 come miferable ? In all this I fee an 
 illiberality which, God be praifed, I 
 am not diloofed to imitate. Some vir- 
 tues there may be, and thofe of the 
 moll amiable nature, which flouriih 
 beft under oppreflion ; if fo, may the 
 Catholics of England ever be oppreil- 
 edi Honefl, liberal, humane and ge- 
 nerous now they are : in profperity 
 they might ceafe to be fo. 
 
 Since in the year 1780, I publilhed a 
 Short view of the State and behaviour of 
 EngliJJj Catholics from the reformation to 
 that period, I have often re-confidered 
 the fubjecT: in detail, and have feen 
 reafon to be fatisfied with that general 
 ftatement of fadls. The work might 
 be refumed on a much larger fcale, and 
 I have collected fome materials towards 
 it. But it is on the reign of Elizabeth 
 that the catholic hiftorian fhould prin- 
 cipally dwell. From the condu(5l of 
 b his
 
 his anceflors, at that trying period, he 
 would fhow, how little they merited 
 the treatment that fell upon them, and 
 confequently that the laws of her 
 reign were tyrannical and unjuft. He 
 would allow that, in one inftance in- 
 deed, they were highly blameable ; but 
 that was, when power was in their 
 hands, and yet they were pufillanimous 
 or impolitic enough to permit the fpu- 
 rious offspring of Henry, whofe difpo- 
 fitions they well knew, to mount the 
 imperial throne of England. The 
 confcquences of this palpable mifcon- 
 du(5t they and their children have fe- 
 verely felt. Our fellow-fufferers in 
 France, he would fay, in fimilar cir- 
 cumftances, would have played a bet- 
 ter game. 
 
 During the two years I lately fpent 
 in that country, I had many favoura- 
 ble opportunities of obferving the ftate 
 of its proteftant inhabitants ; and I 
 have briefly given the refult of thofe 
 obfervations. Their fituation, on the 
 whole, is far preferable to ours, and it 
 is likely to improve every day. The 
 
 body
 
 [ i'' ] 
 
 body of churchmen fecms as yet* rather 
 averfe ; but that averfion alfo wears 
 away, and it is clear that fomething 
 will foon be done to meliorate their 
 condition. The Calvinifm of the re- 
 formed church in France has greatly 
 departed from its original flandard ; 
 otherwife, I fufpedl, under any tolera- 
 ration, they would find it very difficult 
 to keep pace with the views of abfo- 
 lute monarchy. 
 
 But in no country under heaven is 
 to be found that multiplicity of oaths, 
 which are at every turn adminiftered 
 in Great Britain. It fhould feem as if 
 the legiilature had difcovered fome- 
 thing fo infamoufly bafe in the charac- 
 ter of an Englifhman, that nothing but 
 the mofl extraordinary ties could bind 
 him to his duty. Is he to be admitted 
 to any office civil or military ; is he to 
 receive any pay by patent or grant from 
 the king ; is he to enter on any com- 
 mand or place of truft ? ^c. Uc. the 
 facramcnt mull: be taken ; but this will 
 not fuffice : he muft then take the 
 oath o f allegiance, then that of fupre- 
 b 2 macy,
 
 [ ^ ] 
 
 inacy^ then that of ahjurat'ion ; but he is 
 not yet to be ti ufted ; he muft likewife . 
 Declare that he does not believe in tran- 
 fubjlantjation. God in heaven ! 
 
 Such proceedings are furely dcordi- 
 nate. What have the religious ideas of 
 a man's confcience to fay to his duties as 
 a fubjedl or citizen ? He, whom a 
 fimple oath of allegiance cannot bind, 
 will be tied by nothing. But rather 
 
 let there be no oaths at all. The 
 
 freqaency of them has a pernicious 
 efFedl, as muft be evident to the moll: 
 fuperficial obferver in this country. 
 However, fome of them ferve to keep 
 the papifts In a flate of bondage, and 
 the views of legiflators are thus fulfilled. 
 — We want a treatife on this bufinefs 
 of oaths. 
 
 A few days ago was put into my hands 
 a fmall pamphlet, publifhed two or 
 three years ago, agahift the church of 
 Rome, by Dr. Porteus, Bifhop of Chef- 
 ter : I had not feen it, and a wifh was ex- 
 prefTed that I would aotice It on this occa- 
 fion. This I cannot pretend to do. I am 
 not the champion of my party, m^r am 
 
 I quix-
 
 r xi ] 
 
 I qulxotifhly enough difpofed to afTail 
 every windmill that an accidental blaft 
 may put into motion. — The contents 
 of this tracl, the worthy Prelate in- 
 forms us, he extracted from Archbifhop 
 Seeker's five sermons against popery. 
 Why not rather give us his own ideas 
 on the fubjecl ; or did he think an attack 
 upon us wanted the fanclion of that 
 venerable name ? 
 
 Five sermons against popery ! and 
 what injury had popery ever done to 
 his Grace of Canterbury? From that 
 fource were to him derived that dieni- 
 ty, thofe almoil unbounded powers, 
 which belong to his fee. The heads 
 of the church have furely reafon to re- 
 joice that Popery, not Calvinifm, pre- 
 ceded their eftablifhment : and, from 
 therefledlion, fomething like gratitude 
 might rather be expedted. 
 
 Why Dr. Porteus pubiifhed the 
 gleanings of thefe fretful fermons, I 
 know not. He had found that the 
 Catholics of his diocefewere encreafed, 
 but that only in proportion with gene- 
 ral
 
 [ ^ii ] 
 
 ral population. The ftatement of this 
 facl, as he gave it in before the Houfe of 
 Lords, was, I remember, fair and ge- 
 nerous. As the Catholics in Lancafhire 
 are numerous, fome zealot perhaps, from 
 amongfl them, had given offence to his 
 Lordfliip. I hope it was fo : the attack 
 otherwife was unmerited and difenge- 
 nuous. But on no fuppofition can fome 
 things in that pamphlet bejuftified ; and 
 hardly, I think, can an Englifh Prelate 
 perfuade himfelf to afcribe that uner- 
 rancy to tjie words of the Primate of all 
 England, which an Italian Catholic 
 would refufe to the Pope of Rome. 
 
 Five sermons against popery ! and 
 this is Chriftian moderation ; this is 
 brotherly forbearance ; and this is fel- 
 low-feeling for mutual weaknefTes ! 
 When has a Primate of France left 
 behind him fermonsagainfhProteflants? 
 But the religion of Proteftants is pure 
 and evangelical, that of Catholics bafe 
 and Antichriftian. Church of England, 
 " firfl draw the beam out of thy own 
 *' eye, and then thou fhalt fee to draw 
 " the mote out of thy brother's eye." 
 
 Being
 
 [ xiii ] 
 
 Being thus in pofTeflion of clear fight, 
 what a new order of things would rife 
 before the members of this church I 
 They would look with furprife at the 
 hard and intolerant treatment, they 
 had fo long fhewn to their mother's 
 children, and, by future lenity, they 
 would wifh to make compenfation for 
 it. The fevere ftatutes enacted againft 
 them they would view with horror. 
 " Shall we, they would fay, whofe 
 very exiftence is founded on liberty of 
 choice, opprefs others, becaufe they do 
 not think as we do ? They are good 
 fubjedls, and have given every proof, in 
 their power, of being fo ; if they have 
 not done more, it is, becaufe we would 
 not permit them. Thefe laws, for the 
 honour of our church, muft be re- 
 pealed ; and this repeal fhall be our 
 own work." — Warm with thefe fenti- 
 ments, the eftablifhed church, with the 
 Primates at their head, prefent a peti- 
 tion to both Houfes of Parliament, 
 praying that all opprefTion may ceafe 
 in the land, and that every man be free 
 to chufe and to pradlife the religion of 
 his confcience. The liberty we take 
 
 to
 
 to ourfelves, fhall we refufc it to others? 
 they would fay. — Europe, with com- 
 placency, would behold this event, iind 
 France would hafcen to imitate the 
 example of her generous rival.* 
 
 R E F L E C-
 
 REFLECTIONS, 8cc. 
 
 Reverend Sir, < 
 
 1HAVE been reading your appeal introducSiion. ' 
 fo Scripture, Reafon and Tradition^ 
 in Support of the DoBrines contained in a 
 
 Letter to the Roman Catholics of the City ' \ 
 
 ofJVorceJier. — Such is the title of your ' 
 
 work. How many Appeals have long i 
 
 lince been made to thofe great Sources j 
 
 of Knowledge, and yet how undecided ! 
 
 is mankind with regard to the docflrines , 
 
 in litigation I Truth furely is an un- ' 
 
 certain phantom ; or there is fome- j 
 
 thing in the human mind with which ' 
 
 it cannot coal efce, however flriking its j 
 
 form may be, or however favourable ^ 
 
 A the \
 
 [ 2 J 
 
 the difpofitions, which the candid en- 
 quirer brings to the difcuflion. I have 
 read ahnofl every controvertift of note 
 who, during thefe two laft centuries, 
 has written on religion, and I am only 
 the more confirmed in my firfl princi- 
 ples : you perhaps have not read as 
 many, and yet you faw fufficient rea- 
 fon to withdraw yourfelf from the be- 
 lief of your fathers. I may prefume 
 we were both equally well difpofed to 
 adopt the doclrine, which fhould ap- 
 pear mofl evidently deduced from 
 fcripture, reafon, and tradition. I can 
 anfwer for myfelf. Had not fuch been 
 the temper of my mind, hardly, I 
 think, fhould I have attempted the 
 dreary journey. The country was 
 almofl impradlicable, and many of its 
 roads nearly choked up with rubbifh. 
 But I have been reading your Appeal^ 
 and that is now the point before me. 
 
 It does not quite refemble the land I 
 have mentioned, fome drooping flow- 
 ers grow on the path ; but alas I there 
 are weeds, and briers obftrudled my 
 pafTagc. Where is the road without 
 
 them?
 
 [ 3 ] 
 
 them? Serioiifly, I read your Appeal 
 with fome pleafiire ; but on reflection, 
 I foand that pleafurc was of fuch a 
 mixed nature, that it might abnofl be 
 taken for pain.' Through the whole 
 there is occafionally an appearance of 
 moderation, and as far as that goes, it 
 has my warmefl praifes. Fewer breaks 
 in that amiable quality would have 
 done you no difcredit; fometimes I 
 thought it had the appearance of affec- 
 tation. In your Preface is a real libe- 
 rality that put me in good humour ; 
 there you fpeak like an honefl man, 
 who difciaims all finifter means of de- 
 fending a caufe, which he thinks its 
 own merits render ftrong enough. 
 When Proteflant writers have de- 
 fcended to calumny and mifreprefen- 
 tation ; when they have charged us 
 with the profefTion of tenets, which 
 we never held, I own, I defpifed fuch 
 men; and I faid, their caufe was weak. 
 If they were ignorant of our doctrines, 
 why not inform themfelves better? 
 But if they dared, in the eye of con- 
 vi(5lion, to charge us wrongfully, their 
 religion was vain indeed. With men 
 A 2 of
 
 [ 4 ] 
 
 of that complexjon I would not walk 
 in a dark evening. Difient from me 
 as widely as yoii pleafe, but tell me 
 not that I m^aintain tenets which, with 
 my church, I have ever execrated. 
 
 Niture of To controverfial writing I am no 
 
 on ro.ei ). ^^^.j^.j^j . ^r^j-g [^ calculated to do good, 
 
 the good had been done long ago. 
 Much evil it has often produced ; per- 
 haps, indeed, becaufe the combatants 
 are feldom a<51uated by a true and 
 Chriflian Spirit. But if angels will 
 not come down amongfl us, men 
 muft be our controvertifts ; and men 
 will have the paffions and feelings of 
 men. — Controverfy not only gene- 
 rates animofity ; it may fometimes alfo 
 diflurb the peace and unhinge the faith 
 of the pureft believer: So much de- 
 pends on the addrefs and fuperior 
 talents of the writer. Againft this evil, 
 when it happens, what good will you 
 throw into the oppofite fcale ? In the 
 multitude, the fincere man, on both 
 fides, is mofl liable to be diflurbed : He, 
 whofe ways are evil, heeds little, and 
 corrects neither faith nor morals for 
 
 the
 
 [ 5 ] 
 
 the writings of a Jewel or a Father Par- 
 fons : — yet religious truth is of great 
 importance. Let it come to me then 
 in its own native fimplicity and inno- 
 cence, unattended by clamour and 
 hoflile llrife : from the mouth that in- 
 llru6ls, and by inflru6lion perfuades 
 me, I will receive it ; but who would 
 not rejecl the fairefl prefent, if, whilft 
 one hand holds it out for acceptance, 
 the other gives a violent blow on the 
 cheek ? 
 
 Circumftances indeed there are when 
 to come forward is laudable, and may 
 be necelTary; the good of many may 
 demand it. In fuch circumftances, I 
 conceive, was one of the gentlemen, 
 who have engaged in this difpute. But 
 how you, Sir, were in that predica- 
 ment, I know not; though you feem 
 to think, you were. The chaplain of 
 Worcefter had croffed the Atlantic, and 
 with him his opinions : thefe indeed 
 return ; but in what were you intereft- 
 ed to fupport them, unlefs previoufly 
 you had pledged yourfelf to it ? His 
 Addrejs to the Catholics of Worcefter 
 
 you
 
 [ 6 ] 
 
 you publifhed ; this, it fhould fecm, 
 was as much as friendfhip could requeft. 
 But Pylades would have died for Oref- 
 tes! — You and he had agreed to quit 
 your old communion ; that was your 
 own concern ; why were your neigh- 
 bours to be allured into the fame ftep? 
 Soon would they have forgotten their 
 chaplain ; nor would they have thought 
 the worfe of you, if, to defend his 
 dodlrine, you had never appealed to 
 fcripture, reafon, or tradition. 
 
 When you conformed to the efla- 
 blifhed Church, it Vv^as clear, you meant 
 to break from your former connec- 
 tions: yet now you complain that we 
 are not kind to you. Once, you fay, 
 you were a general favourite, and 
 '' you fondly told yourfelf, that a 
 *' friend would love at all times." 
 Experience, Sir, is a cruel check to 
 romantic notions : and what right has 
 a deferter to take along with liim the 
 affe(5lions of thofe on whom he turns 
 his back? If the ftep he takes be 
 pleafing to his own confcience, there 
 he mufl look for a friend. This ever 
 
 happens
 
 [ 7 ] 
 
 happens In all focieties, religious and i 
 political ; and I have elfewhere affign- 
 
 ed the reafon. Bonds of union would 1 
 
 mean nothing, if feparation might i 
 
 pretend to the fame advantages and ^ 
 
 endearments. Benevolence and gene- j 
 ral philanthropy, though pretty words, . ] 
 
 are, in facT:, but little adapted to the j 
 
 heart of man : He does not exifc fuch \ 
 
 as the philofopher, in his wild mufnigs, ; 
 
 reprefents him. But though I cannot . 
 
 give my approbation to a deferter, I 1 
 
 will not judge his motives ) they may : 
 
 be fincere as the heart of innocence. l 
 
 We do not fee with the fame eyes, nor \ 
 
 do we reafon from the fame conception i 
 of ideas; in a word, you and I are not 
 the fame perfon. 
 
 i 
 
 Philofophy has fomewhere told me Celibacj. i 
 
 that, in every procefs of reafoning, I i 
 
 am not to introduce unneceffary \ 
 
 caufes, or to introduce more than one^ \ 
 
 if this one will account for the effect ; 
 
 in quellion. — You renounced the Com- | 
 munion of Rome, and you fay it was, . i 
 
 becaufe its tenets were not reconcile- j 
 
 able with fcripture and reafon. This i 
 
 cold
 
 [ 8 ] 
 
 cold argument does not eafiiy make 
 its way through all the ftrong habits 
 of education. Before confcience had 
 clearly triumphed, was there no auxi- 
 liary that poured in his armed forces, 
 and affifted the victory ? Love, I am 
 told, is a fhrewd controvertill: : what 
 did he not do with a man much wifer 
 than us all ? That this was the cafe, 
 you alone can tell ; but if it was, your 
 converfion can be accounted for with- 
 out much recourfe to other motives, 
 which are unnecefTary, and which, 
 when in competition v/ith this, are of 
 trifling avail. The rigid difcipline of 
 Rome could have little chance with 
 fuch antagonifts, as Love and Mufic. 
 
 I cannot fay whether it would be 
 better that this difcipline of our 
 church were repealed ; perhaps it 
 might : But as long as it fubfills, fo 
 long is it the duty of each individual, 
 in her communion, to fubmit to it. 
 Such are the laws of all eflablifhments. 
 — Could I be prevailed on to quit my 
 religion, never, if I know myfelf, 
 would I enter into matrimony. It 
 
 fhall
 
 [ 9 ] 
 fhall be faid of me, that I profellted 
 from conviction of error, and not 
 that pafTion had brought me low. 
 — Nor is there much encouragement 
 given to profelites by the Englifh 
 church. For this I do not Vv^ell ac- 
 count ; we receive converts with much 
 warmer cordiality.. May this indiffe- 
 rence arife from a lurking fufpicion, 
 that it is not always that hidden thing, 
 called confcience, which is the calling 
 motive ? In any other view, furely he, 
 who breaks through the ties of educa- 
 tion, and often of family, for the fake 
 of heavenly truth, merits fome atten- 
 tion, and fhould be rewarded in the 
 earthly acceptation of the word. Pure 
 Love of truth, a mind fuperior to the 
 world, and fearl^fs integrity, are rap- 
 turous confiderations, when viewed in 
 the common medium of theory ; but 
 when the wind blows keen on my 
 flioulders, and I am come to the laft 
 , cruft of my loaf — and what if my wife 
 and children, thofe fweet objedls, about 
 which you talk fo prettily in your EJfay 
 on Celibacy^ fhould be weeping round 
 me—what think you then, Sir ? May 
 B not
 
 [ lo ] 
 
 not a little grofs food and rayment be 
 ferviceable to keep the foul to its firft 
 elevation ? 
 
 That -E^^y, I think, you wrote, after 
 you were married, to prove that the 
 law of celibacy was not binding. The 
 hour of publication was not well cho- 
 fen. The work I dilliked much : It 
 was inacurate, indelicate and confufed. 
 Want of order, and a proper difcrimi- 
 nationof fubjeiils, are effential faults 
 alfo in the work before me. When 
 this is the cafe, the mind is foon be- 
 wildered, and the memory brings ofF 
 nothing but indiftindl and uncertain 
 combinations. *' On religious fub- 
 jed:s," you fay, " it is of much more 
 confequence not to omit any material 
 argument, than to fludy how to pre- 
 fent them in the moft regular arrange- 
 ment and form." Why on religious 
 fubjedls, which are fometimes obfcure, 
 and often very complicated ? The beft 
 arrangement, in the writer's power, 
 fhould never be negledled, whatever 
 the fubjcdl be. As well might the ge- 
 nius, that diredls our dreams, becaHed 
 
 in
 
 [ >> ] 
 
 in as an able mailer in the field of con- 
 troverfy ; he might fometimes give us 
 arguments, and method he would va- 
 lue as little as you pofTibly can. Give 
 me. Sir, due arrangement, -and a chain 
 of reafoning, however concife, flrong- 
 ly prelTed on the mind: this will carry 
 more conviclion with it, than volumes 
 of confufed materials. 
 
 With the coolnefs of an unconcern- 
 ed fpeclator, I have viewed your con- 
 troverfy, and may therefore be, Ipre- 
 fume, not quite unqualified to pro- 
 nounce on the merits of the caufe. I 
 will tell you alfo what I think of your 
 refpeclive performances, and what is 
 the flate of my mind after having read 
 them with fome attention. As none 
 of you can pretend to have faid, what 
 had not been faid a thoufand and a 
 thoufand times before ; a man habitu- 
 ated to fuch difculTions, could be little 
 moved ; but he could tell what ap- 
 pearance of force each argument feem- 
 ed to bear, better than he, who either 
 unaccuflomed to fuch controverfy, or 
 weak in his belief, is more liable to be 
 B 2 ftartled
 
 [ 12 ] 
 
 flartled by all he hears. The oak that 
 never bowed to a florm, can yet judge 
 of the blaft that fir ikes it, better than 
 the tender reed which bends before 
 every zephyr. In a difpute, which 
 fometimes you think is important, and 
 fometimes that it is not, it may be the 
 wifh of fome few at leaft, to know the 
 fentimens of thofe who have attended 
 to it. For them I write. 
 
 Mr Wharton. Mr. Wharton's Tra(5l is an elegant 
 compofition ; it has the air of great 
 candour and fincerity ; and is warmly 
 addrefTed to the feelings. When he 
 fpeaks of himfelf, of the anxiety which 
 attended his enquiries, and of the mo- 
 tives which finally fettled his decifion, 
 it is the folemn language of a man 
 who wifhes to be believed — and I be- 
 lieve him. — But if there be truth in 
 fome reports I have heard ; that he 
 took the facrament in our church on 
 his road to America ; that there he, for 
 fome time officiated in his ufual charac- 
 ter, and this after his confcience had 
 told him he was in error ; I cannot fee 
 that he is entitled to ail the credit 
 
 his
 
 [ -3 ] 
 
 his expreflions feem to claim. — In the 
 controverfial parts, he is fometimes 
 loofe ; often relies too implicitly on 
 the afTertions of others, and quotes 
 without fufficient care. This has been 
 proved. They, who knew him well, 
 fay he was not a man of fludy, and 
 that probably he had not made thofe 
 laborious refearches, of which he tells 
 us. It is an eafy talk, with all the 
 voluminous materials that are every 
 where at hand, to compile a work of 
 controverfy : I can quote all the Fa- 
 thers moft plaufibly, without having 
 read a fingle page in any. This every 
 reader does not know, and wonders at 
 the learning of his author ; thofe days 
 and nights he has worn away in lludy ! 
 
 Mr. Wharton has written in the bed 
 manner ; he has been read with plea- 
 fure, and his work v/as admirably a- 
 dapted to produce the effect he wifhed. 
 Let me alfo obferve that it contained 
 but few pages, which, to me at leaft, 
 is a powerful recommendation. If he 
 thought it expedient to attempt a juf- 
 tification of himfelf to his old friends, 
 
 I think
 
 [ 14 ] 
 
 I think, he might have done it in a lefs 
 exceptionable manner. Why, under 
 the cloak of friendly folicitude, act the 
 part of an enemy ? Though he, from 
 motives flrongly cogent to his own 
 mind, might fee fufEcient reafon to 
 defert their communion ; yet, at the 
 fame time, well did he know that the 
 Catholics ofWorcefter'wcre fafe in the 
 religion, which himfelf, for years, had 
 
 inculcated to them. Here he 
 
 fhould have left them. But, in my 
 eyes, how much more cenfurable is he 
 for having carried the fame fpirit to 
 his own country, and there alfo having 
 attempted to fpread the feeds of dif- 
 fention and of religious acrimony. 
 I^he Enemy came^ a?id foii-ed tares iipojz 
 the ivheat. — What, think you, was my 
 reflcclion, when I clofed Mr. Whar- 
 ton's tradl ? That it was prettily writ- 
 ten, but that the author, with the fame 
 pen, could have written juft as prettily 
 on the other fide. — This other fide has 
 been taken up in England and in Ame- 
 rica. 
 
 Mr. Pilling. Mr. Pilling, who replied to Mr.' 
 
 Wharton
 
 [ "5 ] 
 
 Wharton in this country, is a gentle- 
 man, I am told, of learning. He had 
 fpent many years in a foreign Univer- 
 fity, and had there, from Martin Lu- 
 ther to Dodlor Hurd, gained many an 
 eafy victory over all the monflers of 
 the Reformation. In the fchools the 
 enemy is brought to the flake, bound 
 and gagged. — With eagernefs he enter- 
 ed the lifts againft your champion ; but 
 though, in point of fcience, he has 
 proved himfelf very equal to the con- 
 teft, he was not, it feems, fenfible that 
 a certain addrefs and fafhioned manner 
 are now neceflary to drav7 the atten- 
 tion of the public. People read not 
 fo much for inflrudlion as for amufe- 
 ment ; if then you mean to inftru6l, 
 take care that amufement, in fome 
 form or other, go along with you. Par- 
 ticularly when the fubjedl has but its 
 own importance to recommend it, 
 there muft be a charm of language, or 
 novelty of imagination, to lead the 
 mind on from page to page. 
 
 Sai, che la corre il mondo, ove piu verfi 
 
 Tasso. 
 
 Di fue dolcezze il lufinghier Painaflb. 
 
 Si
 
 [ -6 ] 
 
 The tafle may be vicious, but man 
 mufh be taken as he is. To this art of 
 compofition, from an abfence of many 
 years abroad, Mr. Pilling was necefTa- 
 rily a flranger. He was but lately re- 
 turned to Endand. — I have read and 
 written much, flill I know my foreign 
 features are often vifibie. — How long 
 fhall E.nglijhmen be compelled to run to 
 France for education, or elfe fit down 
 fatisfied to be called learned, if they 
 can read their prayer books, and write 
 their own names ! 
 
 Mr. Filling's Caveat — the title is not 
 very modern — has great merit ; it is a 
 very found reply to all the objections 
 of his adverfary : but, I fear, it has 
 been little read. It is too fcholaftic, 
 fometimes too harfh, often too wordy, 
 and always, from the deficiency men- 
 tioned, drags upon the attention. In 
 victory I wifh he had exulted lefs ; 
 when the enemy is down, he fome- 
 times treads upon him. — You, Sir, do 
 not think it a flrong reply to your 
 friend, and have therefore written 379 
 long pages to refute it. Yet hardly 
 
 would
 
 [17 ] 
 
 would you have done this, had the Ca- 
 veat appeared to you fo very weak. A 
 fufpicion is raifed, that you appre- 
 hended, at leafl, fome danger to Mr. 
 Wharton's folemn proteftations, to his 
 emphafis of language, to his controver- 
 fial addrefs, from this unfeeling adver- 
 fary. As a friend you flept in, and 
 aimed to turn afide the blow. 
 
 A few months after this we were fa- Mr. Carroik 
 voured with an Addrefs to the Roman 
 Catholics of the United States of America. 
 There Mr. Wharton had publifhed his 
 Apology ; and this it was that called 
 forward a Catholic Clergyman of Ma- 
 ryland ; he thought it his duty to reply 
 to a publication, which no good inten- 
 tion could, at that moment, have cir- 
 culated. Had he gone to China, this 
 fame pamphlet, it feems, mufl have 
 been reprinted at Pekin. — Mr. Carroll, 
 a learned, a judicious, a candid, and a 
 refpe6lable Churchman, is the author 
 of this Addrefs. His peculiar fituation 
 — for he either is, or foon will be, 
 Bifhop over the American Catholics — 
 rendered the public declaration of his 
 fentiments, on this occafion, neceflary. 
 C Even
 
 [ i8 ] 
 
 Even you acknowledge that, in general, 
 he has written well. What, Sir, could 
 have impelled you, a few months ago, 
 to prelcnt us with remarks on this ad- 
 lii'efs ? One property, and only one, 
 in my opinion, they had to recommend 
 them, and that does not belong to the 
 appeal before me. You might have 
 reflected that curfory remarks thrown 
 together in a few hours are generally 
 too trifling for the public eye ; how- 
 ever they ferve as a fhade to bring for- 
 ward more ftrikingly the beauties of 
 Mr. Carroll's addrefs. 
 
 The language of this fmall Treatife 
 is generous and gentlemanlike. Mr. 
 Carrol feems to feel his fuperiority over 
 the Worcefter Chaplain, but he ufes 
 his flrength with tem_per and modera- 
 tion. He complains that he had not 
 books to recur to ; the circumftance 
 was rather favourable, for on that ac- 
 count he has given us more from him- 
 feif. His own mind was a fufficient 
 repofitory for the materials he wanted. 
 Believe me. Sir, Mr. Carroll has amply 
 folved the difficulties which your friend 
 
 had
 
 f 19 ] 
 
 had twilled together ; and after having 
 read him, I wifh you had been filent. 
 To contend for the lall word is the 
 play of children. The llyle of the 
 addrefs is fo temperate, and in terms 
 fo full of benevol'ence does the author 
 part from his adverfary, that you, the 
 man of feeling, fhould have been filenced 
 even by fentiment. 
 
 At the time, of which I am fpeak- 
 ing, I have reafon to knovv^, that Mr. 
 Carroll was meditating great fchemes 
 for fettling on a proper bafis the Catho- 
 lic church of North America. From 
 having refided many years in Europe, 
 and becaufe he had read the annals of 
 Church Hiftory, it v/as well known to 
 him, how many abufes had crept into 
 the vulgar pradlice, and how much the 
 difcipline of his church had departed 
 from primitive fimplicity. A fair oc- 
 cafion was now offered to remove this 
 extraneous matter from his new eflab- 
 lifhment, and this occafion the en- 
 lightened mind of Mr. Carroll v^^as 
 ready to feize with ardour. — He v^ould 
 hold communion with the Churches of 
 C 2 Europe
 
 [ -o ] 
 
 Europe in the profeflion of the fame 
 faith, yet he would take to himfelf and 
 his minifters that independence on the 
 Roman See, which is their Chriftian 
 right. The Bifhop of Rome fhould be 
 his Primate, in the fenfe he had anci- 
 ently been received by the orthodox 
 churches of Afia and Africa. — Warned 
 by experience, he would keep clear 
 from all thofe difputes, which for ages 
 had brought difcord into the fold of 
 Chrift. — In conformity alfo to the good 
 fenfe of antiquity, the public fervice of 
 the church he would give in the language 
 of his people, confcious that they ought 
 to underftand what is meant for their 
 inflruclion. — He would retrench, I pre- 
 fume, that cumbrous weight of cere- 
 monies and unmeaning pageantry which, 
 the warmer imaginations of fome na- 
 tions, and the material conceptions of 
 others, had introduced into European 
 practice. — In a word, all that he would 
 reform, which rational piety and a 
 proper fenfe of the dignity of religion 
 fhould point out to him as deferving 
 of it. 
 
 With
 
 [ 21 ] 
 
 With thefe brilliant ideas was the 
 mind of Mr. Carroll engaged, when 
 his friend and relation, the Chaplain 
 of Worcefter, arrived from England. 
 He had flattered himfelf, he tells us, 
 that he would join him in his labours, 
 and that, hand in hand, they Ihould 
 proceed to accomplifh the work he had 
 projedled. Judge what his amazement 
 was I Mr. Wharton appears with the 
 common prayer book in one hand, and in. 
 the other, I fuppofe, was his Letter to 
 the Catholics of Worcefter. — Yet the 
 American bifhop is not of a temper, I 
 believe, eafily to defift from his defigns ; 
 and I hope foon to hear that he has 
 realifed, at leaft in part, the plan I have 
 imperfedly fketched out to you. Op- 
 pofition fhould give a fpring to his 
 exertions. 
 
 I have given you. Sir, what appears The religion 
 to me a juft delineation of the works, rational."*" 
 this controverfy has produced. You 
 will fay I am a partial man ; and fo I 
 am — becaufe I am a man. But my 
 partiality has not got the better of my 
 judgment. Could I think the force of 
 
 argument
 
 [ ^2 ] 
 
 argument lay on your fide, it would 
 be my duty, I fuppofe, to take a wife, 
 and then write againft the errors of 
 Popery. You have known me for 
 many years, and that very intimately. 
 My mind is habitually turned to re- 
 flection, and I declare there is not a 
 fingle article of my creed, which I have 
 not examined with that free difcuflion, 
 that Philofophy has taught me to adopt. 
 Having done this, you muft allow me 
 at leafl to be a rational Catholic. But 
 I am not the only one. It is folly to 
 imagine that we have not, amongfl us, 
 men of as flrong fenfe as are any 
 where to be found ; and can it be fup- 
 pofed that the religion of fuch men is 
 that mafs of abfurdities, which you 
 and others vainly reprefent ? Our com- 
 mon people are as well inflrudled, and 
 are as good members of fociety, as any 
 the Proteftant church can boall of : 
 of what avail then to heap objc(flions 
 on objections, to ranfack Scripture, 
 reafon, and tradition, in quefl of trafh, 
 and to collect from idle authors more 
 idle anecdotes, unlefs to prove — that 
 
 you
 
 [ 'Z3 ] 
 
 you have fpcnt your time to little 
 purpofe ? 
 
 The Catholic church, whatever you 
 may pretend, is the mother of all 
 churches ; you have all gone out from 
 her. Through the courfe of 1 7 centu- 
 ries, if, in the various revolutions of 
 Hates and kingdoms, the conflidl of 
 tumultuous paffions, and the changes 
 of manners, language, and opinions, 
 ihe has contracted habits that might 
 now be reformed ; what elfe could be 
 expedled ? The fubftance of belief has 
 never varied, and it would become you 
 to refpecl it. — Thefe attacks are unpro- 
 voked ; we moleft you not in your re- 
 ligion, naked, and poor, and varying as 
 it is with every fun that rifes. Quit 
 us when you pleafe, and conform to 
 what mode of faith you pleafe, or con- 
 form to none ; but let others judge 
 for themfelves ; let them live, and let 
 them think, as their fathers and Eng- 
 land did before them. — I mufl turn to 
 your appeal. 
 
 Already I have faid, what is my 
 general opinion of it : Something more 
 
 I would
 
 [ 24 ] 
 
 I would fay, could I pofTibly draw 
 fuch fcattered obje(5ls into any diftindt 
 point of view. But pofitively I refufe 
 to follow you, through the detail of your 
 enquiries ; it would carry me much 
 too far, nor indeed do I fee to what it 
 might carry me. You perhaps, like 
 Daedalus, may know how to efcape from 
 your own labyrinth ; but I alas I have 
 no Ariadne to provide means for my 
 return, if once I enter. — Be not fcan- 
 dalized at fuch profane allufions ; they 
 relieve the mind, and make the way 
 more cheerful. 
 
 Union of For a moment, it may be worth 
 
 Churches. , ., , . ^ . , 
 
 your while and mnie to enqune, by 
 what poflible means this controverfy 
 could be ended ; evidently not by thofe 
 which have hitherto been purfued, be- 
 caufe, after a trial of centuries, they 
 have not fucceeded. Appeals to Scrip- 
 ture and antiquity are urged on both 
 fides. — I fpeak of churches ; for indi- 
 viduals, even as the matter ftands, can 
 cafe their confcience when God and 
 they are willing. — Bodies or eflablifh- 
 mentsof men are not fo eafily managed : 
 
 Yet
 
 [ ^5 ] 
 yet, I think, were the members of 
 two chmxhes honeflly difpofed to 
 unite, things* might be done by an 
 obvious method. Let their creeds be 
 mutually produced, fairly explained, 
 and on both fides fuch conceffions made, 
 as would foon occur to men, who 
 fhould be inclined to concord. Heaven 
 knows, as I have elfewhere obferved, 
 how thin that wall of feparation is 
 which divides us from the church of 
 England ! yet neither of us, I fear, are 
 acquainted with that temper of mind, 
 upon which, as the moft eflential requi- 
 fite, the whole bufinefs hinges. 
 
 Labour, Sir, to generate this Chrif- 
 tian fpirit, and your labour will merit 
 praife. The language of your appeal 
 will not do it. You there tell us, our 
 religion is not from Chrift, that it is a 
 deviation from all antiquity, that it is 
 foolifh in its pra6lice, ridiculous in its 
 difcipline ; and in the next breath you 
 talk of concord, of mutual forbearance, 
 of refpedl for prejudices — and of what 
 do you not talk? This can never do ; 
 If we may ever be friends, let there be 
 an end to controverfy. 
 
 D In
 
 [ 26 ] 
 
 Church Eftab- In proportion as I am a friend id 
 lifhments. ^^^ ^^^ unbounded Toleration, fo am 
 
 I an eiiemy to Church-EfiahUjhnients . 
 They are the bane of general concord 
 and of fraternal amity ; and their foil, 
 I fear, is not favourable to the growth 
 of Truth. But in the Reformed 
 churches, an EfiahUfinwtt, to my ap- 
 prehenfion is a monfter, on whatever 
 fide you view it. Freed, as it v^as 
 thought, from the rellraining arm of 
 an unerring guide, each man, at the 
 Reformation, received powers to build 
 his own faith on his ov/n Bible : yet 
 foon, even here, are creeds formed 
 and tefts held out, to v/hich he that 
 will not fubfcribe may flarve. — The 
 injhibiliiy of its belief is another ftrc ig 
 objection to the Protcflant commu- 
 nion ; yet this again is an immediate 
 confequence from its fiift principles. 
 If I may form my faith as I will, furely 
 I may change it as I pleafe. To ob- 
 viate this inconvenience, for fuch it 
 was judged, the profeffion of certain 
 articles was deemed expedient. But 
 vvith this, where is the liberty of faith ? 
 Nor has the fcheme anfwered its in- 
 tended
 
 [ "^7 1 ., 
 
 tended purpofe ; for it Is well known 
 
 that, in your church, hardly two men ! 
 
 think alike. And why fhould they, j 
 
 fay you, provided they believe all that j 
 
 is neceflary to falvation ? Withdraw j 
 
 then your creeds and articles of com^ ' 
 
 munion, as a ufelefs impofition that i 
 
 may difturb tender confciences, and are ^ 
 
 but a folemn mockery. On this ground , ' 1 
 
 Sir, I am ready to meet you when you ^ 
 
 will, if controverfy mufc be your , 
 
 purfuit. I 
 
 in religion. 
 
 But though I would not fhackle the indifni-rncc 
 mind of any man, I cannot be per- 
 fuaded to think that, either fo little is 
 enough, or that we are free to model 
 this little into wh;^t form we chufe. 
 The idea does not come up to the 
 notion, I have been taught to entertain 
 of the great Chriftian Scheme, deflined 
 to improve upon all that weak human 
 reafon had dictated to Socrates or his 
 difciples ; which fhould elevate the 
 underflanding to the contemplation of 
 fublime truths ; which fhould expand 
 the heart by a warmer impreflion of 
 the focial duties ; and which, by a flow 
 D 2 but
 
 [ 28 ] 
 
 but fure procefs, fhould finally draw 
 all the human race into one grand So- 
 ciety of Chriflian believers. Prefent 
 circumflances may not feem favourable 
 to the idea, but what is the moment 
 of to-day or yefterday, when meafured 
 with ages yet to comer — Can you be- 
 lieve, Sir, that our Saviour appeared on 
 earth, fent by God to fpeak Truth to 
 man, and that this Truth may be A or B, 
 F or G, or even a mere o, at the option 
 of human wit ? — I mufl believe, you 
 fay, what he has revealed: but how 
 fhall I know it? If I alk the Arian ; if 
 the Anabaptill ; if the Moravian ; if 
 the Quaker ; if the Prefbyterian ; if 
 the Unitarian ; if the Church-of-Eng- 
 land-man : they will each return me a 
 different anfwer. I go not out of my 
 own country. Yet all thefe profefs to 
 believe in revelation, and have fearched 
 the Scriptures, If out of condefcenfion 
 to their refped:ive opinions, I rejedl as 
 unfcriptural what they rejed: ; how 
 much will be left for me to receive in 
 the line of revcded Truths? Little 
 more than this, that diere is a God : 
 but this needed no revelation ; for 
 
 reafon
 
 . [ 29 ] 
 
 reafon alone had taught it to Plato, and 
 to the ancient world. 
 
 If diflatisfied with the refult of this 
 enquiry, I follow your advice, and 
 fearch the Scriptures ; are you clear I 
 fhall not find in them,, or think I find, 
 that Jefus was but a man like n^yfelf^ and 
 that he came not into the world to 
 atone for its crimes ? This a wifer man 
 than you or I, more than thinks he 
 has found there, and guided by the 
 fame lights, he traces it through the 
 moft important annals of ecclefiaftical 
 records. You will hardly fay that this 
 point alfo is of little moment, when 
 the fixing of it would utterly ruin the 
 whole fyftem of prefent Chriftian faith. 
 
 Will you allow that religion is a 
 matter of fome conoern/, and that 
 unity in belief would be preferable to 
 variation? — He is no Chriftian who 
 denies the firft ; but if you grant the 
 Second, you overthrow the Reforma- 
 tion. — We muft have a guide. 
 
 In many parts of your appeal you Liberality of 
 
 i-Top r -x • 1 1 Catholics. 
 
 ipeaK: oi a luppoled intolerance and 
 
 iin^
 
 [ 30 ] 
 
 uncharitabknefs of Catholics. — I wifh 
 we were more tolerant, and more cha^ 
 ritable : But let him that is without 
 fin, firft caft the flone. All churches 
 are intolerant, and as fuch uncharita- 
 able. If yours, on fome occafions, 
 may appear lefs fo, it arifes from a 
 greater political freedom in the nature 
 of thofe governments, where the re- 
 formation is efcablifhed. Take the 
 fentiments of private men, and you 
 will find we are all greatly alike. Re- 
 ligion draws its tindlure from the foil 
 it falls on. The eafy and benevolent 
 difpofition is tolerant ; but the fevere 
 and caufdc man v/ould perfecute in 
 England and in Spain, in Holland and 
 in Portugal. In this country- — and to 
 this country I wifh the whole difcuf- 
 lion might be confined — I believe, our 
 moderation and candour are equal to 
 yours. Yet circumftances confidered, 
 ought it to he fo ? We are an oppreffed, 
 an injured people. The Church eftab- 
 lifhcd is in pofTcifion of the wealth, 
 the honours, the intereft, which were 
 once ours ; and we are as charitable, 
 as tolerant, as liberal, as benevolent^ 
 
 as
 
 [ 3.1 ] 
 
 tis generous as they I The profefHon 
 of fiich fentiments, and the patriotifm 
 of Engiifn Catholics, are a phenome- 
 non, I maintain it, in the hiftory of 
 man. — You, Sir, benevolent as you 
 are, do not allow that, " Roman Ca- 
 tholics, as fiicb, are walking in the 
 paths of fafety :". (p. 14) And there- 
 fore, like the Patriarch Lot, you haf- 
 tened from amongfc us, before the ex- 
 terminating Angel fhould come down. 
 
 Our education, after all, is fome- 
 what calculated to narrow the mind ; 
 and the opinion we all adopt, that 
 unity in belief is efTential to the Chi if- 
 tian Scheme, naturally generates ra- 
 ther an unfavourable idea of thofe, 
 who difTent from us. But we leave 
 them in the hands of an allwife, an 
 alljufl, an allmerciful Providence; and 
 wherelfe, Sir, would you wifh to be ? 
 
 You that were educated amongfl us 
 Ihould have been better taught. What 
 liberty of difcuffion, or, if you will, of 
 doubting, does any Chriflian pofTefs 
 
 that
 
 [ 32 ] 
 
 that we have not ? When we are con- 
 vinced that God has fpoken, it would 
 be infidelity not to fubmit. What 
 matters it, from whence this convic- 
 tion may arife? You are convinced 
 from Scripture alone, we from Scrip- 
 ture as interpreted to us ; but there is 
 a time when we are both convinced. 
 After this indeed if you flill chufe 
 to fearch, I own it is a liberty, to 
 which we do not pretend. Is it this 
 you caliyr^^ enqiihy ? 
 
 RealPrefence So much has been faid on the man- 
 ner of Chrifl's prefence in the Eucha- 
 rift, that it is not poflible we can ever 
 agree, hardly indeed is it now poffible 
 we can underiland one another. As 
 a divine, and as a philofopher, how 
 often have I not revolved that weighty 
 queflion : and what was the refult ? 
 That Chriilians who, on a fubje(5l 
 which fhould naturally raife the warm- 
 eft fentiments of gratitude and piety 
 towards a beneficent Saviour, in every 
 acceptation of the doctrine, could pro- 
 ceed to fuch flrife and unwarrantable 
 
 dif.
 
 [ 33 ] 
 
 diflentions, merited not that a memo- 
 rial fo full of charity fhouid be left 
 amongft them. — The God that made 
 me has given me a fomething, which 
 perhaps he has not given to the ox or 
 the elephant, and this man calls reafon ; 
 when I ufe it to contemplate the won- 
 ders of his works, or to v^reigh my own 
 littlenefs, it is well done ; but when I 
 extol myfelf, and dare to draw lines 
 round the Almighty, my rafhnefs is 
 complete, and I merit not that glim- 
 mering ray which in mercy he bellow- 
 ed upon me. — On thisfubjedl you have 
 indeed collected a great deal, and all 
 that deal has been colledled before, 
 and we have anfwered it. Let us have 
 fomething new. 
 
 The language on both fides is fimi- 
 lar. The difference only is that we 
 mean what we fay, and you do not. 
 In other difputes, generally the alter- 
 cation is about words, here it is about 
 the thing fignified. Of the two this 
 may be the moil rational. — Were it 
 known what is the prefent nature of 
 the exalted body of our Saviour, and 
 E con-
 
 / 
 
 Rule of faith. 
 
 [ 34 ] 
 
 confequently what its powers are, ana- 
 logy would fupply fome data on which 
 to reafon. Prepofteroufly you bring 
 it down to a level with your own flelh 
 and blood, and triumph in the vain 
 evidence of your arguments. As well. 
 Sir, aim to confine within walls of 
 brafs the energy of the forked light- 
 ning, becaufe they are impermeable to 
 you and me. 
 
 You mention (p. 60) the famous 
 rule of Veron, and tell us, " if this 
 were Englifhed and explained in our 
 chapels, the people would be apt to 
 confider him as a heretic, who totally 
 mifreprefented their belief." — This is 
 not the language of a candid man. The 
 Ruleo^ Veron I always explain, and fo, 
 I believe, do moft of my brethren. It 
 is the great hinge on which our whole 
 religion turns. — And we have two fyf- 
 tems of religion, you alfo fay, " one 
 ordered to be pra(5lifed, the other al- 
 lowed to be believed ; one for the un- 
 lettered, another for the learned." — 
 Whatanunconfcionable man mufl you 
 have been, not to be fatisfied with fo 
 
 accom-
 
 [ 35 ] 
 
 accommodating a fyftem I Unfortu- 
 nately perhaps this indulgence did not 
 lie on the practical fide, and to be al- 
 ' lowed mere liberty of thought you 
 valued little. I am a more moderate 
 man, and therefore, in the name of 
 literature and of philofophy, I thank you 
 for the difcovery. I declare, as a man 
 of fome letters, I had not before the 
 mofl diflant fufpicion, that 1 could 
 claim any privilege, which did not 
 equally reach to the peafant that fol- 
 lowed his plough. 
 
 This is the rule of Veron ; That 
 for any dodirine to become an article of Ca- 
 tholic faiths tivo things are conjointly ne- 
 ceffary ; firji^ that it be revealed by God-, 
 fecondly^ that it he propofed by the Church. 
 — If either of thefe two conditions be 
 wanting, the dodirine is no point of 
 Catholic belief. — It muft be revealed ; 
 in this we all agree : but it muft alfo 
 be propofed ; here you diffent from us. 
 — Were it clear that God has fpoken, 
 and were th^fenfe of what he has fpo- 
 ken clear, then would this fecond con- 
 dition be unnecefTary. I want no au- 
 E 2 thority
 
 [ 36 ] 
 
 thority to tell me that two and two 
 make four. But neither can we difco- 
 ver what is the word of God, nor the 
 meaning of this word, if left to the 
 fmgle guidance of our own under- 
 ftandings. The reformed churches are 
 not without underftanding ; they have 
 laboured, and they have fearched ; and 
 yet which of them can tell me what 
 certainly is this revealed vjord, or what 
 is its certain interpretation? Where 
 there is variation in opinion, there can 
 be no certitude : and will you fay, that 
 faith in God fhould not be fure and un- 
 fhaken ? There muft be an unerring guide . 
 — I may deceive myfelf ; but if I am 
 not deceived, thefe few lines, to a do- 
 cile mind, have decided the important 
 queflion. 
 
 In a longer difcuflion, I would not 
 take the ferious enquirer to his Bible, 
 for that, with its meaning, is the point 
 in debate ; nor would I take him to a 
 laborious refearch into antiquity, where 
 he and I might be both bewildered ; 
 but I would take him to his Creeds that 
 creed, in which you, and I, and all of 
 
 us,
 
 [ 37 1 
 
 US, profefs to believe, hecaufe it comes 
 down, through a turbulent lapfe of more 
 than 1 7 centuries, pure and unchanged, 
 from the hands of the apoflles. 
 
 This Creed fays : I believe in God the Apofties 
 father — and in Jefus Chrijl — and in the "^^^ * 
 Holy Ghojl, the holy Catholic church, &c. 
 As you believe in God, as you believe 
 in Jefus Chriji, as you believe in the 
 Holy Gboji, fo do you profefs to believe 
 in the holy Catholic church. To believe 
 in God is to believe that he is, and to 
 believe what he teaches ; fo you believe 
 in his Son ; fo in his holy Spirit. What 
 other belief could the apofties mean ? 
 To believe then in the holy Catholic 
 church is to believe that there is fuch a 
 church, and to believe what this church 
 teaches.'-^y whom are we authorifed 
 to fuppofe that this article is not to be 
 underftood as the others are ? The lan- 
 guage is the fame. The belief of the 
 Church is joined to the belief of the 
 three divine perfons. 
 
 By the word Church, Chriftians un- 
 derftand a Society making profefTion to 
 
 believe
 
 [ 38 ] 
 
 believe the do6lrme of Jefus Chrift, 
 and to govern itfelf by his word. Of 
 fuch a Society as this the apoflles fpeak. 
 This Society or church cannot ceafe to 
 he\ if it did, the Creed of the apoflles 
 would ceafe to be true. As long then 
 as I can profefs my belief in the three 
 divine perfons, fo long fhall I believe 
 in the holy Catholic Church. — This 
 church mufl be ever vifible ; it is a So- 
 ciety of men ; and as well might it 
 not be, as not be vifible. An invijible 
 church would be no objedl of belief, 
 though God and the Divine perfons 
 are. — This Church of the apoflles can 
 never err. Can the divine perfons err ? 
 I am to believe in the church, as I do 
 in them. Were the Church to err, the 
 apoflles who made the belief in the 
 church an article of Chriflian faith, 
 would have impofed upon us. 
 
 It may be obferved, that there never 
 was a time, when there wasnot on earth 
 a vifible diwdi [peaking authority, to which 
 men were obliged to fubmit. Before 
 Jefus Chrifl was the Synagogue ; when 
 the Synagogue was to fail, Chrifl him- 
 
 felf
 
 [ 39 ] 
 feljf appeared; when he retired, he left 
 a church, to which he fent his holy 
 fpirit. Bring again Jefus Chrift teach- 
 ing, preaching, working miracles, I 
 have no longer need of the church ; 
 but alfo take from me the church, I 
 mull have Chriil again in perfon, that 
 IS, I mufl have a fpeaking authority, 
 fome exterior means of refolving doubts, 
 and this means mull be infallible. 
 
 The creed fays nothing of the written 
 word, belief in the Scriptures is not 
 mentioned. — The rule of Providence, 
 in the eftablifhment of his church, fo 
 ordained it. He has given us a church, 
 ever vifible and ever unerring^ in which 
 we profefs to believe. With this belief 
 we are difpofed to receive what the 
 Church offers to us. She gives us the 
 Scriptures, and fays, they are a writing 
 infpired by God. , As fuch we take them 
 from her hand. — Our belief in the 
 Church then precedes our belief in the 
 Scriptures ? Mofl evidently it does ; 
 for this belief in the Church is the very 
 external means which God has appoint'^ 
 ed to bring us to the knowledge of his 
 
 written
 
 [ 40 ] 
 
 wiitteii word. I (hould not believe 
 the Gofpel, faid St. Auflin, unlefs the 
 authority of' the church moved me to 
 it. — The apoftles, in framing their 
 creed, obvioufly point out this order to 
 us. 
 
 In the church then was depofited 
 the word of God : fhe received it from 
 the apoftles, for to them v/ere firft 
 committed the Truths, it had pleafed 
 God to reveal. But could not he who 
 revealed to the apoftles, interpret, if 
 neceflary, to their fuccefTors ? — With 
 the Scriptures the church gives us ibe 
 fenfe of the Scriptures : what are the 
 Scriptures without their true inter- 
 pretation ? She gives us that fenfe, 
 which the apoftles explained to the 
 church, and which fhe has retained. 
 — The fame exterior means therefore 
 which God ufes to give us his written 
 word, that he ufes to give us its fenfe ; 
 and that means is the authority of his 
 Church. When this authority has 
 fpoken, we neither doubt nor examine ; 
 for we believe in the holy Catholic 
 church. Is not this highly rational ? 
 
 We
 
 [ 41 ] 
 
 We know, that the Infplrer of the 
 apoftles is the teacher of their fuc- 
 ceflbrs. — Thus have we a Church ; 
 thus the word of God ; and thus the 
 meaning of the word. 
 
 It was by this very fimple procefs of 
 reafoning, that Mr. Claude, the learned 
 and virtuous minifler of Charenton, in 
 the year 1678, was fo much dilcon- 
 certed in his conference with theilluf- 
 trious Bifhop of Meaux ; the confe- 
 quence of which was the return of 
 Mademxoifelle de Duras to the religion 
 which her fathers had forfaken. 
 
 This Creed, you and all other Chrif- 
 tian Societies poflefs, as well as we, and 
 you profefs to believe in it : but your 
 belief is merely verbal. You have no 
 faith in any Catholic church ; for how 
 can you \\<i\Q faith in a Society, which 
 you maintain may err ? Nor from her 
 do you receive the fcriptures : fhe is 
 no guide to you, and confequently the 
 woirds, / believe in the holy Catholic 
 church, carry no idea to your minds. 
 Either they mud be joined to our faith 
 F in
 
 [ 42 ] 
 
 in the three divine perfons, or, as un- 
 meaning, they fhould be expunged from 
 the Creed. 
 
 Our belief in the Church is not only 
 antecedent to, as I have faid, but it is 
 independent on the written word ; one 
 is a confequence of the other. A bap-- 
 t'tjed child, or grown up perfon, who 
 has never heard of the fcriptures, be- 
 lieves in the church, as he believes in 
 the Trinity, in the communion of 
 faints, the forgivenefs of fins, the refur- 
 redlioTi of the body, and life everlafling. 
 It is the faith that he received in bap- 
 tifm. Afterwards when he confulcs the 
 written word, he will there find a con- 
 firrnatmi of his firfl belief. But this firft 
 belief was divine, being founded on the 
 revelation of God; for fureiy the apoflles 
 were as much hifpired in the compila- 
 tion of their creed, as afterwards they 
 v/erc in writing the gofpels and the 
 other canonical books. 
 
 Some ancient writers tell us that 
 this creed, by the exprefs dcfire of the 
 apoflles, was not committed to writins;. 
 
 They
 
 [ 43 ] 
 
 They entertained not, it feems, fo ex- 
 alted an idea of a written word. At 
 all events, is it neceiTary that the word 
 of God fhoiild be written ? Is it from ink 
 and paper that it derives its authority ? 
 What then was the dodlrine, which 
 Chrift preached, and did not write ; or 
 that of the apoilles, before any cano^ 
 nical book was compofed ; or that in 
 particular of thofe feven apoftles, of 
 whom it is not recorded that they 
 wrote a fingle line ? — To Catholics 
 then the Scriptures are not the o?2ly or 
 ejjetit'ial rule of faith ; their rule is the 
 ixjord of God, in whatever form it may 
 have come down to them. — Nor indeed 
 do I difcover, that it ever appeared to 
 be the intention of divine Providence, 
 that the written word fhould be this 
 fole_ rule ; it was to confirm the true 
 doclrine, but not to deliver it. — Were 
 the bible to be loft, would the word 
 of God be loft alfo ? and would a new 
 revelation become neceflary? — As the 
 fubjedl is important, I muft beg leave 
 to purfue it a little further. 
 
 When the wife Legiflators of Anti- chrift tii 
 c|uity undertook to improve or to gi^^^'Law- 
 F 2 form 
 
 giver.
 
 [ 44 1 
 
 form flates, they infcribed their laws 
 on brafs or marble. By what other 
 means could they hope' to perpetuate 
 their impreffion on the minds of their 
 people ? So alfo did Mofes by the ex- 
 prels command of the Almighty, for 
 he was but a deputed lawgiver, and the 
 Jews were a carnal nation. But when 
 the Chriftian Legiflator appeared, who 
 held in his hand the fpirits of men, 
 which he could move at will, he look- 
 ed not to perifhable materials ; the 
 great fucceffion of ages was prefent to 
 him, and he wrote his law on their 
 hearts. 
 
 No parts of this law, though the 
 fublimeft in theory, and the moil per- 
 fedl in practice, and confequently the 
 mofl removed from human difcovery, 
 were by our Saviour himfelf committed 
 to writing ; nor do we find, that he 
 ordered his difciples to do it : as long 
 then as he remained on earth, there 
 was no written word ; nor was it 
 wanted. — I have alfo faid, that the 
 Apoftles, for fome years, pra(5lifed no 
 other mode of teaching than that they 
 
 had
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 had learned from their mafter ; as they 
 had received the word of God, fo they 
 gave it. Minds warm with the impref- 
 fion of truth recur not to the cool pro- 
 cefs of writing. 
 
 But when difputes began to arife 
 among the converts, or their dodlrine 
 was mifinterpreted, then, and when 
 they could not go in perfon, did they 
 larite to fuch churches, to confirm or 
 to explain what they had before, by 
 word of mouth, delivered to them. 
 This written wor^i then Jiicceeded to their 
 preaching ; it arofe as particular occa- 
 fions called for it : but they wrote to 
 none, whom they had not before 
 27iJlruBed. — Their public rule of faith 
 was the Creed, they had themfelves 
 compofed, and fuch other dodlrine, 
 as in their wifdom, as circumftances 
 directed, they delivered to their fol- 
 lowers. 
 
 All was not to be given at once — All indruc- 
 therefore does not the creed contain 111°^.^'°^'^^' 
 all — the minds of their hearers were 
 to be gradually informed. Such is the 
 
 procefs
 
 [ 45 ] 
 
 procefs in all inflrudlion. The great 
 fyftem of religion was to be developed, 
 as mankind became properly tutored 
 to receive it. This power of difciofing, 
 and of proportioning, his dodlrine, was 
 committed to the difcretion of his 
 apofties, ever under the immediate di- 
 redlion of heaven, by a mafher who 
 well underftood the nature of the hu- 
 man mind. Who gives into the hand 
 of an infant the t'rinclpia of Newton, 
 or fhews him the l^^Jfay on human imder- 
 jlanding ? "Vl^at the infant is to thefe 
 profound compofitions, that was the 
 world, when the apofties firft opened 
 their commiffion, and began to preach 
 the fublime dodlrines of heaven to 
 men, who were ignorant of the firll ru- 
 diments of fpiritual fcience. 
 
 The apofties themfelves had been 
 differently inftrudled; it was necefTary 
 they fhould ; their tuition was rapid 
 and extraordinary: but it enters not 
 into the general ways of Providence to 
 proceed by fuch methods. — In this view 
 of things, Sir, there is nothing new, 
 but fome readers may wifh to fee it 
 further illullrated : I will do it. 
 
 Our
 
 i 47 ] 
 Our Saviour Chrifl died in the year "^^^ Gofpds. 
 34. — Until 41, a term of feven years, 
 we read of no New Tejiament ; in that 
 year St. Matthew wrote his gofpel for 
 the Jewifh converts, and in their own 
 language. Naturally they would wifh 
 to pofTefs in writing an authentic hiftd- 
 ry of the life of him, concerning whom 
 fo much Vv'as faid, and in whofe doc- 
 trine they had juft been inftrudted to 
 believe. 
 
 In the year 45, St. Mark, the dif- 
 ciple of St. Peter, publifhed his gof-^ 
 pel, an abridgment rather of the for- 
 mer, as it is thought in Greek, and if 
 at Rome, for the ufe of fome converts 
 in that city. They had not heard pro- 
 bably of the work of St. Matthew, orj 
 if they had, it was written in a lan- 
 guage they did not underftand. 
 
 Thirteen years after. In 58, St. Luke, 
 the difciple of St. Paul, wrote his gof- 
 pel, in Greek alfo, and in Greece ; and, 
 as he tells us himfelf, with a view tp 
 oppofe certain hiflories, which then 
 circulated, and of which he did not 
 
 approvcv
 
 [ 48 ] 
 
 approve. He addrefTes it to a perfon 
 of the name of Theophilus. — As thefe 
 two lafl writers were no apoflles, they 
 could only relate what they had re- 
 ceived from others, probably from 
 their refpedlive maflers. 
 
 As late as the year gg, appears the 
 gofpel of St. John, the beloved difci- 
 ple of Chrift, written at Ephefus, in 
 the Greek language, at the requefl of 
 the Afiatic bifhops, principally againfl 
 thofe heretics, who denied the divinity 
 of our Saviour, and, as it is faid, to 
 fupply fome omiffions in the preceding 
 gofpels. 
 
 In the a^h of the apoflles^ which the 
 fame St. Luke wrote foon after his 
 ■gofpel, and as a continuation of it, in 
 the fame language, addreffed to the 
 fame Theophilus, is given a very con- 
 cife account of the iirft eftabliihment 
 of Chriflianity, after the afcenfion of 
 our Lord, and of St. Peter's teaching, 
 with a more particular hiftory of tlie 
 labours of St. Paul, his mailer, to the 
 year 63. 
 
 The
 
 [ 49 ] 
 
 The four gofpels, I have mentioned, 
 are hiftorical compofitions ; they relate, 
 in a very fuccincl manner, fome only 
 of the principal events of our Saviour's 
 life, his birth, his preaching, his mira- 
 cles, and his death. Their firfl defign 
 undoubtedly was the edification of 
 thofe for whom they were compiled ; 
 as likewife that the converts to Ghrif- 
 tianity might know, that the dodlrine 
 they had received was conformable to 
 that which Chrift himfelf had deliver- 
 ed to their teachers. But it could not 
 be from this written word, which occa- 
 fionally only came into exiftence; that 
 the firft Chriftians received their in- 
 ftrudlions. Give but a moment's at- 
 tention to the times, to the occafions, 
 to the language, to the places where 
 thefe hiftories w^ere publiihed, it mufl 
 llrike you with firft evidence, that then 
 at leaft they could not be intended for 
 2i general xM\t of faith. Can that be 
 general which is not at all times, in all 
 languages, and in all places? I mean 
 as far as the Chriftian religion then 
 extended. — In procefs of time this 
 written word was more difFufed, and 
 G as
 
 [ 50 ] 
 
 as it fpread, I allow, it acquired an 
 importance, v/hich at firfl it had not. 
 But if at firfl it was no rule oj faith ^ as 
 you mufl allow, what right had you 
 or I to give it a new deflination ? This 
 is innovation : v/e adhere to the maxims 
 of the apoflolic ages. 
 
 Canonical In regard to the canonical Epiftles, 
 
 ^' "* addrefTed either to particular churches, 
 or to particular men ; were I urged to 
 go into the detail, I would fhew, at 
 what times, and on what occafions, 
 they were fent ; that it was always to 
 thofe who had been previoufly inflrudl- 
 ed, and with a view, either to flreng- 
 then them in their faith, or to explain 
 more fully, or to warn them againfl, 
 and to oppofe, fuch falfe teachers, as, 
 in the abfence of the apofi.les, diflurbed 
 their belief. All this, you well know, 
 is evidently marked on the face of each 
 epiflle. Had the apoflles entertained 
 modern ideas of a written word, fure- 
 ly they would have fent it before them, 
 at leafl, to prepare the way. They 
 might have prefaced it by faying, *' we 
 fend you a writing containing the doc- 
 trine
 
 [ 5' ] 
 
 trine you are to believe ; but examine 
 it yourfelves, and fee if it has marks 
 of infpiration on it ; when you have 
 difcovered this, read and fearch it, 
 Vv'eigh its expreflions, and compare 
 pafTage with pafTage ; your own judg- 
 ments will draw out the truth ; we 
 will ufe no authority, no influence 
 that may bias your underflandings." — 
 Had this been the conduct of the men 
 deputed to eftablifh the gofpel, it would 
 have decided unanfwerably the authori- 
 ty of a written word ; but it was quite 
 the reverfe : they firft inftrudl by 
 preaching, and then they confirm their 
 dodlrine, when necefTary, by writing. 
 
 Nor were thefe apoflolic writings, 
 at firft, intended for the whole body 
 of the faithful ; they were fent, as I 
 have faid, to particular churches, as to 
 Rome, or ThefTalonica : Probably ma- 
 ny were written which have never come 
 down to us. — In procefs of time, keep- 
 ing pace with the gofpels, they alfo 
 were extended: the names of their 
 authors were of the higheft refpecl ; 
 and becaiife the dodlrine and maxims 
 G 2 they
 
 [ 52 ] 
 
 they contained, were found conform- 
 able to what the apoflles, attefting their 
 miflion by miracles, had taught, they 
 were judged proper to be laid before 
 other churches than thofe to which 
 they had been addrefled. Thus grew 
 their authority, till finally they were 
 univerfally adopted into the general 
 canon of belief. — This is not mere 
 theory. Sir ; authentic facls declare it 
 to have been the real cafe. 
 
 Befides, in every one of thefe writ- 
 ings, how many things are there, fo 
 peculiarly local, and of a nature fo 
 temporary and perfonal, that they can 
 bear no application to other times, per- 
 fons, or places ? The circumftance has 
 favoured the ingenuity of commenta- 
 tors, but it has little ferved to promote 
 the real interefl of truth. — I may then 
 conclude that, in whatever eftimation 
 any of thefe writings were at firfl held, 
 either at Corinth or at Ephefus, they 
 did not carry with them the weight of 
 infpircd authority to other churches, 
 till they were accepted us fuch^ or till 
 the univerfal church declared them to 
 
 be
 
 tures. 
 
 [ 53 1 
 
 be authentic. We know, what was the 
 fate of the Epiflle to the Hebrews, for 
 more than two hundred years, till it 
 was adopted by the church into her 
 canon. 
 
 The ancient Fathers, I am well The Scrip- 
 aware, often fpeakof the fcriptures, as of 
 an infallible rule ; and in their difputes 
 with heretics have recourfe to them. 
 But what elfe could they do ? Their 
 adverfaries would admit no other au- 
 thority ; and well did they appeal 
 from the traditional doctrine to the 
 written word, for they knew that this 
 was a filent letter, which could return 
 no anfwer, and about which they might 
 wrangle to the end of time. — ^The 
 fcriptures indeed, if duly interpreted, 
 that is, conformably to the doctrine 
 which has been received from the 
 apoftl\ s, are authority enough, and in 
 this fenfe only were they applied by the 
 fathers. 
 
 Thefe fcriptures are to us a mod 
 facred depofitwn ; we refpedl them as 
 the inffired word of God : but we give 
 
 them
 
 [ 54 ] 
 
 them not a priority of authority, which 
 the apollies themfelvesgave not to them, 
 and of which the primitive church 
 feems to have been ignorant. What 
 do(5lrine this church firfl received, that 
 it had from the mouths of their infpired 
 teachers ; that fame was faithfully de- 
 livered to the fucceeding generation ; 
 and that fame we now pofTefs. With- 
 out the aid of a written word we Ihould 
 have had it ; it depended not on ink 
 and paper ; but by that fame word, I 
 own it has been poweviully fuppor ted 
 and confirmed. This was its proper def- 
 tination. — Being thus in pofTeflion of 
 this twofold word of God, the unwrit- 
 ten and the written, and this through 
 the medium of a fociety or church, to 
 whofe hands they were both commit- 
 ted, we are taught to look up to this 
 authority, as to an unerring and living 
 guide, that we may not flill be blown 
 about by every wind. For the fame 
 God that infpired the apoflles, con- 
 tinues to diredt their fuccefTors. 
 
 From this view of things follows a 
 confequence, which muft not be omit- 
 ted ; which is, that as the Chriftian re- 
 velation
 
 [ 55 ] 
 
 velation is anterior to, and independent 
 on the fcriptures ; fhould there be any 
 points in it, which may feem not to 
 have any coirefpondent fupport in 
 them ; it can only be faid, that as the 
 objedl of the infpired writers was not 
 to deliver the entire fyftem of religion, 
 which they had done by preaching, but 
 only to treat fuch matters as circum- 
 ftances incidentally required, thefe par- 
 ticular fubjecT:s came not before them. 
 Had it been otherwife, there can be no 
 reafon to imagine, that they would not 
 equally have claimed their attention. 
 
 If I have dwelt longer on this fubjedl, 
 than I intended, it was its importance 
 that has drawn me forward ; but even 
 now much remains to be faid. It is not 
 exadlly in this light, I know, that 
 writers in general treat the queflion ; 
 but viewed on a large fcale, I fee not, 
 that it can be otherwife underftood. 
 The misfortune is, that mofl minds 
 only confider detached parts of a fyftem, 
 as they rife ifolated before them, and 
 when this is the cafe, difficulties are 
 multiplied, and what would not touch 
 
 the
 
 [ 5G ] 
 
 the whole, bears hard upon fingle 
 members. As it happens in religion, 
 fo does it in contemplating the moral 
 and phyfical fyflems of the world. — 
 The fubje(5l I have been treating would 
 naturally lead me to confider the nature 
 and general import of wfpiration, as 
 applied to the facred writings, had I 
 time to enter on the difcuiTion , or rather, 
 were this its place. Enough has been 
 faid to fhew you, what way my mind 
 muft obvioufly lean, on fo delicate a 
 queflion. 
 
 No new faith You fcem to think it a very eafy un- 
 dertaking even to demonftrate that we 
 have varied in our belief, and that new 
 dodlrine has been perpetually imported 
 into the church. — When I fee this fub- 
 jecl entered among the Contents in a 
 controverfial writer, on your fide, it is 
 always the firfl thing I turn to. Many 
 things, I confefs, in the Catholic belief 
 weigh rather heavy on my mind, and I 
 fhould be glad to have a freer field to 
 range in. Can you wifh for a reader with 
 better difpofitions than thefe ? I read 
 then with a rapid, but clofe attention, 
 
 every
 
 [ 57 ] 
 
 every moment expedling that fome 
 happy difcovery will fet me at liberty. 
 Alas I Sir, it has never yet happened ; 
 I meet with afTertions, thrown out 
 fometimes with an air of plaufibility, 
 texts of fcripture alledged, but proving 
 nothing, Fathers dragged forward to 
 contradidl their own words, and reafon 
 decoyed from its proper purfuits to 
 difcufs matters which belong not to it. 
 With indignation I throw the book 
 a fide, for inftead of gaining liberty, I 
 difcover that I have been reading only 
 to convince myfelf flill more, that I am 
 obliged to believe what my Church 
 propofes to me. The moment it Ihall 
 be clearly pointed out, that dodlrines 
 have been received into the faith of 
 the church, which were not revealed 
 to the apoftles, and by them delivered 
 to their fucceUbrs, to be expounded as 
 circumftances fhould require, from that 
 moment it will be my duty to quit her 
 communion. That only is true which 
 has been from the beginning. Lan- 
 guage may have varied ; occurrences 
 may have brought out to more public 
 obfervation what before, by being kept 
 H ' back.
 
 [ 58 ] — ~ 
 
 back, was lefs noticed : but all this 
 means nothing ; it was a procefs bbvi- 
 oufly adapted to the common order of 
 things. It is nothing alfo to fhew, that 
 we have varied in dilcipline or in prac- 
 tices of little moment ; for this again is 
 of a tranfient and flitting nature. What 
 is changeable may change ; it has done, 
 and will again : but the woid of the 
 Lord ejidureth for ever. 
 
 Luther. In difcuffing that Note o[ the church, 
 which is called its holinefs^ you intro- 
 duce what, I think, may be termed a 
 digreffion, on the life and virtues of 
 that extraordinary man, the patriarch 
 of the reformation, Martin Luther : 
 but you allow that with his good qua- 
 lities he alfo had his defects. His 
 famous conference with the Devil 
 fecms rather to embarrafs you, which 
 therefore you determine to have been 
 of the nature of St. Anthony's temp- 
 tations, " a mere parable and fiction." 
 Having quitted our church, I know not 
 what right you had thus freely to dif- 
 pofe of thofe lingular combats of our 
 faint. 
 
 The
 
 [ 59 ] 
 
 The abilities of Luther, I think, 
 were allonlfhing; and had he been 
 lefs violently oppofed, his pafTions pro- 
 bably would not have broken out into 
 that torrent of intemperance, which 
 with every moderate man mufl for ever 
 difgrace his memory. I know when 
 the air is peculiarly foul, that ftorms 
 and tempellsare often nccefTary to bring 
 it to a proper degree of falubrity ; but 
 is it fair to reafon of the moral as we 
 do of the phylical world ? When the 
 chriflian religion was firfl promulgated, 
 truth was hardly knov/n to man, and 
 vice had rifen to its highefl pitch of 
 enormity ; yet what were the inflru- 
 ments divine Providence elected to 
 produce that great and important re- 
 formation ? The mind even involun- 
 tarily is drawn into a comparifon of 
 charadlers, when circumflances are 
 adduced to bring them together ; and 
 in this view I have fometimes com- 
 pared the lives and manners of the re- 
 formers of the 1 6th century with thofe 
 of an earlier date. And why, fays the 
 inquifitive mind, if the ways and 
 thoughts of man were, at this laft 
 H 2 period 
 
 ^'
 
 [ 6o ] 
 
 period corrupted to fo great a degree, 
 fhould Providence appoint minifters to 
 execute his defigns of a complexion fo 
 widely different from thofe he had 
 before chofun ? Had not fuccefs attend- 
 ed thofe firft meafures, and therefore 
 new ones were to be tried ? — Yet, I 
 allow, much good was eventually derived 
 to the world from the reformation ; 
 though the means, by which it was ac- 
 complifhed, appear to me not juflifi- 
 able hardly in a fingle inftance. 
 
 The Council The rcprcfcntation, you draw of the 
 of Trent. council of Trent, is overcharged, and, 
 in fome points, very unfairly taken. 
 That in it there were cabals and diflcn- 
 tions, who will difpute ? But when men 
 areaffembled, and their different views, 
 their interefcs and paffions are brought 
 into conflict, who then will look for 
 the ferenity of a calm fea ? — To coun- 
 terbalance the evils, you have enume- 
 rated, furely fomething may be found 
 of no inconfidqrable moment. Read 
 Sir, and you may yet learn ; there 
 was learning, religion, piety, and wife 
 experience. To prove this, give your 
 
 eye
 
 [ 61 ] 
 
 eye leave to run down the lift of 
 who affifted at, or compofed the 
 cil. Among them you will find 
 recorded, which the page or hfftory 
 will be careful to eternife. ^ 
 
 After all, what very arduous bufinefs 
 was to engage the council's attention ? 
 Merely to declare in 1545, as far as 
 d^dlrine was concerned, ^ivhat the 
 tenets of belief were, which they had 
 received from their predecefTors. This 
 had been the main t^ijlinef^f ail other 
 councils ; and to do this, it Ihould not 
 feem, that any extraordinary abilities 
 or learning were requifite : a little re- 
 colledlion and honeft zeal. — Youfingly, 
 Sir, in a very fhort fpace of time, pre- 
 tend to have found out, from fcripture, 
 reafon and tradition, where is, and 
 where is not, the true word of God ; 
 and in the compafs of more than four 
 years, 300 bifhops, with a proporti- 
 onable number of divines "and learned 
 men, fhall not be able to do as much ! 
 —They engaged alfo in the bufinefs of a 
 reform^ and framed feveral very excel- 
 lent regulations; but obftacles too pow- 
 erful
 
 [ 60 ] 
 
 erful to be furmounted were thrown 
 in the way of a complete reformation. 
 
 It is always with peculiar fatisfac- 
 tion, that I read the decrees and canons 
 of this celebrated fynod ; there is a 
 fcience, a precifion, a clearnefs, a claf- 
 fical elegance in every period and ex- 
 preffion, that charms me. — With what 
 different eyes indeed do we perufe this 
 volmne. 
 
 Fia. Paulo. Paolo Sarpi, the Venetian patriot 
 
 and ftatefman, whom I admire where 
 he is admirable, equally perhaps with 
 you, is, I know, the favourite hiftorian 
 of Proteftants. Had he never publilh- 
 ed his hiflory of this council, I fhould 
 have thought him a greater man.- — 
 Warmed by the quarrel, which then 
 fubfifted between Venice and Rome, 
 he fided, too partially for an hiflorian, 
 with his country. The moft weighty 
 matters he fometimes relates without 
 any reference to authority ; and in his 
 general defcriptions of men and things, 
 often is his pen too malignant for the 
 candour of an honeft man. At the 
 
 clofe
 
 [ 63 ] 
 
 clofe of each feffion, how injurious are > ^ 
 
 the reflections he draws, often from 
 vulgar talk and common fame, to dif- 
 parage the preceding decrees. Yet ; 
 
 even in this hiftory, if read with no j ^ 
 
 uncommon partiality, may be dif- 1 
 
 covered truth enough for the mainte- 
 nance of the caufei I fupport. 
 
 Pallavicini is the hiftorian we gene- Paiiavidni. 
 rally prefer, and though his name be 1 
 not illuflrious as that of Fra. Paolo, .j 
 yet I think him, on this particular fub- i 
 jedl, deferving of more credit. He 
 had accefs to better records (the Fati- ) 
 can Archives^ nor does he with-hold ! 
 from us any knowledge of the other I 
 fources, from which he takes his infor- 
 mation. Though brought out, with- i 
 out any difguife, to combat the afler- ] 
 tions of the Venetian author, he feems j 
 as little partial to his caufe, as poffibly 
 may be. Many things does he relate, \ 
 which by no means redound to the ho- \ 
 nour of the Roman Pontiffs, and which i 
 very fully expolc the contentions and 
 fcandalous behaviour of fome, who ^ 
 aflifted at the council. It was a juft ;^ 
 
 obfervation 
 
 ^ -s
 
 [ 64 ] 
 
 obfervation of this author ; ' * That 
 hiftory is like a picture, then beft, and 
 moft valuable, when it reprefents not 
 what is faireft, but what comes neareft 
 to the original." Alfo has it been faid 
 that the friendly Pallavicini has done 
 more real difTervice to the court of 
 Rome, than the pointed invedlive of 
 the hoflile Sarpi. 
 
 But your hifloriographer, Sir, is nei- 
 ther of thefe : It is Don Vargas, a Spa- 
 niard, who wrote Letters to the Bifhop 
 of Arras. In thefe he complains moft 
 bitterly of the haughty conduct of the 
 Legate Crefcentio ; and therefore you 
 infer, that the council was a confufed 
 and irregular aflembly, and that the 
 Spirit of God had no concern in it I — 
 As I have not by me any particular 
 account of your author, I will not 
 rely on my memory, though it feems 
 to tell me there were certain reafons 
 which had operated rather ftrongly on 
 his mind, and loufed his refentment 
 againft the Legate. Crefcentio how- 
 ever, infolent and haughty as he might 
 have been, only prefided, during fome 
 
 months,
 
 [ <55 ] 
 
 months, over five out of the fix fef- 
 fions, which took place under Julius 
 the third. Of thefe fix, two only 
 were of any length or importance. — 
 At this time, the proceedings of the 
 council were, in a manner, fufpended, 
 whilft they waited the arrival of the 
 German Proteftants. To them, even 
 under Crefcentio, had been twice of- 
 fered a Salvus conduBus, or palfport, in 
 terms fo clear and unambiguous, that 
 the moft timid breafl could have no- 
 thing to apprehend. But they never 
 arrived. May we infer, that they did 
 not ferioufly defire an accommodation? 
 The conditions at leaft which they 
 propofed to the council were fuch, as 
 they knew, the Fathers could not pof- 
 fibly accede to. 
 
 Who would not imagine from your 
 ftatement of it (p. 152), that Crefcen- 
 tio prefided during the whole time of 
 the celebration of the council? Your 
 readers might have been informed, 
 that ten feffions had been held under 
 Paul the third ; that to thefe fucceeded 
 fix, under Julius, when Crefcentio 
 I prefided.
 
 [ C6 ] 
 
 prefided, as I have faid ; and that thefe 
 were followed by nine more under 
 Pius the fourth, when the council end- 
 ed, anno 1563, having lafted, with dif- 
 ferent interruptions, for the fpace of 
 18 years. — Refledl, Sir, that the duties 
 of an hiflorian are important ; that he 
 mufl with-hold no truth, and relate no 
 falfhood. 
 
 A General A council whcH duly convened, and 
 
 when confifting of fuch a number of 
 prelates, as afTembled from different 
 parts of the Catholic world, may, in 
 the ufual acceptation of the word, give 
 it the appellation of genera/^ is the re- 
 trefentative body of the church. Whe- 
 ther the afTembly at Trent anfwered 
 this defcription, matters little, fince 
 its decrees, appertaining to faith y have 
 been long ago univerfally accepted by 
 us. Dij'cjpline is received agieeably to 
 the eilablifhed maxims of nations. — 
 But in the concluding fefTions it was 
 numerous, and by thefe were confirm- 
 ed the decrees of the foregoing alTem- 
 blies. Innumerable were the obftruc- 
 tions to its progrefs from the beginning : 
 
 Princes
 
 [ 67 ] 
 
 Princes refufed to let their fubjedls 
 proceed to Trent; their ambafTadors 
 embroiled the debates ; the Protellants 
 were clamorous, though they had be- 
 fore appealed to a council, and left no- 
 thing unattempted to impede the dif- 
 patch of bufinefs ; whilft Rome, with 
 its pom.pous court, apprehenfive that 
 a thorough plan of reform might ap- 
 proach too near to the Vatican, multi- 
 plied difficulties, and with-held its con- 
 currence. — And fhould thefe circum- 
 fiances be wholly difregarded, whilft 
 the Proteftant writer pours out his de- 
 clamation, generally as unfounded, as 
 it is unfair? 
 
 But though our prelates convened 
 in council be our reprefentatives, they 
 are not more fo, in this fituation, than 
 when difperfed and prefiding over their 
 refp(?Cfl^^'^hurches : Nor have they 
 any more extenfive powers. When 
 they meet, it is that their opinions 
 may be more eafily colle6led, and that 
 a greater fplendour may attend their 
 decrees. But, in fpeaking of matters 
 of belief, thefe decrees are but declara- 
 I 2 tions.
 
 [ 68 ] 
 
 iions^ which, in words more full and 
 explicit, announce the fame doctrine, 
 which had been before univerfally ad- 
 mitted. — Thefe minifters, whether dif- 
 perfed or afTembled, are the guardians, 
 and they are the witnejfes of that faith, 
 the depqfttum of which, from the apof- 
 tolic ages, has been handed down to 
 them. — Let us hear no more then of 
 fallible men, or of the incredibility of 
 the divine fpirit diredling their pro- 
 ceedings: For what very extraordi- 
 nary co-operation is required, that 
 men, habituated to the concerns of re- 
 ligion, fhould be able to declare, what 
 doArine they were taught, and what 
 they then believe.^ — And this is that 
 wondrous infallibility, about which 
 reams of paper have been written, 
 that would more than cover the whole 
 furface of the globe ! 
 
 The Pope. The reader will here expecfl to find 
 fomething about the Pope ; and I will 
 notdifappoint him, provided he expe(5l 
 but little. — Never, I fancy, was there 
 a well regulated fociety, without a 
 head, of ibme form or other. Our 
 
 church
 
 [ eg ] 
 
 church is a fociefy, the foundation of 
 which, we conceive, was laid by Chrift 
 our legiflator, confifling of members, 
 the head over whom, orfirfl ecclefiafti- 
 cal magiftrate, is the Bifhop of Rome, 
 fucceffor to St. Peter. The reprefenta- 
 tive body are our prelates ; the repre- 
 fented are the people ; and at the head 
 of this conftitution is the Pope, in 
 whofe hands refides the principal exe- 
 cutive power. But to him belongs no 
 abjolute or defpotic jurifdi6lion ; he is 
 as much bound by the laws of the 
 conftitution, as is the loweft member 
 of it : He has indeed his prerogative ; 
 but we have our privileges, and are 
 independent on him, excepting where 
 it has pleafed the community, for the 
 fake of unity and good order, to fur- 
 render into his hands a limited fuper- 
 intendence. It is his duty, and that 
 particularly when our immediate paf- 
 tors neglecl theirs, to take care that 
 the chriftian republic receive no inju- 
 ry ; that is, that laws, which have 
 been received, be duly executed, and 
 that the infraction of them, by a co- 
 ordinate punifhment be chaftifed. — 
 
 With
 
 [ 7° ] 
 
 With princes or their flates he has no 
 concern ; and when, in former times, 
 he interfered, it was from a ftrange 
 mifconception of things, and an extra- 
 vagant abufe of power ; with which 
 however, ftates and princes then co- 
 operated. Thofe days are gone by ; 
 and the time is come, when the influ- 
 ence of Rome is retm'ning to its pro- 
 per channel. When it fhall be feen 
 that his kingdom is not of this world ; 
 that his jurifdidlion is benevolent and 
 paternal ; that he is but our firfl fhep- 
 herd, and therefore that he is prudent, 
 moderate, patient, meek, and hum- 
 ble ; that he is fuch a head, as a 
 chriftian fociety requires : then will 
 the Bifhop of Rome be refpedled, and 
 on that refpedl will be founded an au- 
 thority, ample enough to fill the chair 
 of St. Peter. 
 
 I excufe your reiterated declamation 
 on this fubjcdt, becaufe when the word 
 Pope is founded in the ears of a Protef- 
 tant truly orthodox — and fuch you 
 certainly would wifh to appear — on the 
 common principle of aflbciation, it 
 
 raifes
 
 [ 71 ] 
 
 raifes as many extravagant ideas, as the 
 moft capacious mind has room for. 
 It is not very unlike what happens in 
 a certain complaint, to which reafon- 
 able animals are alone liable ; when at 
 the mere mention of fome one fubjedl, 
 the whole foul vibrates to the impref- 
 fion, and the patient is obliged to be 
 tied down on his bed. — Why did you 
 not attempt to proye him antichrijl ? 
 There are ledfurers, you know, whofe 
 duty it is never to let that important 
 difcuffion fleep, and by fome of thef» 
 you may be chaftifed for the omiffion. 
 Some fmall remains of attachment to 
 an old mafter ftill hung about you 
 perhaps, and for once curbed the wan- 
 ton rovings of your pen. 
 
 But how indeed has it roved on a Abufe and 
 thoufand other trifles, equally ridicu- x^glal, " 
 lous ! With complacency you dwell, 
 for inftance, on practices, abufes, and 
 follies, which are too common among 
 the lower orders of people in fome 
 Catholic countries. Thefe every man 
 of fenfe condemns, but every man of 
 fenfe cannot reform them. Gradually, 
 
 however.
 
 [ n ] 
 
 however, they are wearing out ; and 
 had you feen as much of France, as 
 you have of Flanders, I think, your in- 
 veclive might have been lefs intempe- 
 rate. — After all, when we confider that 
 manyofthefe practices are very ancient, 
 and that often the amufements and gay 
 hours of the people are connedted with 
 them, can it furprife a man of the leaft 
 obfervation, that many obflacles fhould 
 Hand in the way of their fuppreffion ? 
 — -Some attention alfo fhould be given 
 to the diiferent genius and charadler 
 of nations ; they are not all of the 
 fame cafl, and confequently the fame 
 modes, even in religious worfhip, are 
 not equally adapted to all. What is 
 pleafing to the fedate and penfive mind, 
 will not accord with the more gay and 
 animated. Here we mufl have cere- 
 mony, and the fenfes muft be im- 
 prefTed ; but when this takes place, 
 here alfo will be more abufes. 
 
 Some things there are which even 
 fenfible minds are not willing to re- 
 nounce, from a certain oppofition, 
 which they themfelves may not always 
 
 fufpecl. —
 
 [ h ] 
 
 fufpedt.— -At the reformation a general 
 outcry was raifed againfl every thing 
 that had been in former practice : good, 
 bad, and indifferent were thrown into 
 one prdmifcuous heap, and a reform 
 demanded of all. In this fituation, even 
 an ordinary degree of fortitude would 
 not be difpofed to give way ; and 
 becaufe too much was afked, too little 
 was granted. The fame intemperance 
 of clamour has, in fome degree, been 
 kept up to this day ; and we have not 
 been willing to recede. When the mind 
 is irritated, even the mofb reafonable 
 propofals will be fometimes combated. 
 Unfortunately the firfl requifitions of 
 the reformers were not, in the whole, 
 admiffible, and even had that whole been 
 granted, another whole, I fufped;, would 
 have been ready at its heels. Wheii 
 certain barriers are crofTed, there are 
 paffions, which nothing can reduce to 
 order. 
 
 Had it not been for the oppbfition, 
 
 to which I allude, one point even of 
 
 very general difcipline had long ago, 
 
 T think, been altered : I mean that of 
 
 K retaining
 
 t 74 ] 
 
 retaining the Latin language in thef 
 public fervice of our church. It is; 
 very generally agreed that it would be 
 a moft falutary amendment : but it has 
 not been done, becaufe it was afked in 
 too infolent a manner, becaufe we are 
 daily irritated by petulant reflections, 
 and becaufe we are not difpofed to 
 pray in the language of a Luther, a 
 Calvin, or a Queen Elizabeth. — All 
 this. Sir, llrange as it may feem, is in 
 the human heart, and of this heart 
 even the foibles muft not be irritated, 
 when we wifh to make our way to the 
 head. 
 
 But if your appeal^ as you infinuate, 
 was intended to promote the fpiritual 
 improvement of your catholic neigh- 
 bours ; why produce this long lifl of 
 abufes, from your Flemifh repofitory, 
 with which they can have no concern ? 
 They had never feen, perhaps never 
 heard, of mawmets niched in churches ; 
 of altars hung round with eyes, legs, 
 and arms; of the chriftening of bells, 
 or the fprinkling of horfes. — This, 
 Sir, is too idle. Formerly, I recolledl:, 
 
 we
 
 [ 75 ] 
 
 we fometlmes laughed at thefe things, 
 we wifhed they were corredled, and we 
 lamented that a creature, which is 
 termed rational, could, even when he 
 meant to ferve his maker, deviate fo 
 ftrangely into folly : Little did I then 
 fufpe6l, that ever, from fuch indigni- 
 ties, you would draw arguments to 
 vilify a religion, the genuine truth and 
 beauty of which you could then join 
 me to admire. — Muft you attack the 
 practices of the old church, let it be 
 thofe of the catholics of England : and 
 we will defend ourfelves. It is not my 
 concern, that Germans, Spaniards, or 
 Italians, ihould run into a thoufand 
 extravagancies. As a Proteflant, and 
 from your late converfion, I prefume, 
 zealous, would you conceive yourfelf 
 bound to be the apologift of fome par- 
 ticular focieties which, in the reformed 
 churches, are faid to be guilty of ma- 
 ny follies, were I wantonly enough 
 difpofed to make them a fubjedl of ri- 
 dicule? The cafe is parallel. 
 
 You well obferve in the advice, you 
 
 fay, you would give to an enquirer 
 
 K 2 who
 
 [ 76 ] 
 who fhpuld afk it (p. 2 13 ;) *' That he 
 fhould be folicitous to recommend hig 
 own belief, rather by (hewing the in- 
 fluence it has over his own conducfl, 
 than by endeavouring to make profcr 
 lytes to his opinions ; through a full 
 ferfuajion that it is always unfriendly^ 
 and often fatal^ to unfettle the religi- 
 ous fentiments of our neighbours, un- 
 lefs thereby we are certain to make 
 them both happier and better men.'" — 
 Do you recognize in thefe very juft 
 fentiments the condudl of the author 
 of the appeal^ Either he aimed to 
 unfettle the opinions of thofe, to whom 
 it is principally addrejOTed ; or he aimed 
 at nothing. If the firft, he is fully 
 perfuaded, it was unfriendly at leaft : If 
 the fecond ; why write three hundred 
 and feventy nine very tedious pages ? 
 He furely could not be certain, that 
 even a change of fentiments would 
 make thern both happier and better 
 nien. 
 
 Toicratlonj Though already I have lightly touch- 
 
 ed on the fubjedl of Toleration ; there 
 car^ be no impropriety in viewing it on 
 
 a largey
 
 [ 77 ] 
 
 ^ larger fcale. — With feeming gene* 
 rofity you fometimes talk of this great 
 bufinefs ; you wifh that the fmall fhare 
 of it which we enjoy, ** were more ex- 
 tenfive, and that every penal law, flill 
 in force againft us were repealed.'^ 
 But, in the fame breath, with what 
 peevifhnefs do you add ; that '* feveral 
 individuals daily fhew, by their own in- 
 tolerant fentiments and conduct, that 
 they have little right even to the par- 
 tial indulgence that has been granted." 
 (p. 30).^ — And you talk of chriftian 
 burial refufed to proteftants in catho- 
 lic countries ; of the decrees publifhed 
 againft them in France ; and of the 
 revocation of the edi6l of Nantes. — In 
 another place you fay ; that the moder 
 ration of government is without a pa- 
 rallel, with refpe(5l to certain books 
 and pamphlets, which have been pror 
 fefTedly written againft the religion of 
 the country ; that the authors of thenj 
 have been but little molefted ; and you 
 are furprifed, the magiftrate has not 
 prohibited their circulation ; in cathor 
 lie cpuritries fuch attacks, you think, 
 
 wpuld
 
 [ 78 ] 
 
 would not have been received with a 
 like forbearance. 
 
 This, Sir, is the genuine language 
 of intolerance ; it is the fame fpirit, 
 under a thin difguife, which in 1780 
 nearly laid in afhes the capital of the 
 Britifh empire. — Who are thofe Jevera/ 
 individuals, whofe daily conduct fhews 
 that they merit not the trifling indul- 
 gence they have received ? Produce 
 them ; for you muft know their names: 
 they fhould be hung out in terrorem to 
 others. Do that, and I will fay you 
 are a generous adverfary ; if you de- 
 cline it, permit me to fay, that the 
 charge is bafe. — The refufal of chrif- 
 tian burial to proteflants is, I confefs 
 it, a cruel circumflance ; it is come 
 down from thofe barbarous ages, when 
 the milder virtues of chriflianity were 
 hardly felt. The practice cannot hold 
 much longer. Already indeed, in moft 
 towns in France, is a portion of land 
 allotted for the burial-place of protef- 
 tants. Yet if churches mull be into- 
 lerant, rather let its effedls extend to 
 the dead, than to the living. When 
 
 an
 
 [ 79 1 
 
 an Englifh proteflant complains of this 
 circumftance to me ; I look in his face, 
 and wonder he does not blufh. — If in 
 France fome kings, particularly of the 
 houfe of Valois, were fevere in their 
 decrees againft proteflants ; has not 
 England alfo had its Tudors and its 
 Stuarts? Alas! w^ know it. — The re- 
 vocation of the edidl, you mention, 
 was as oppreffive, as it was impolitic; 
 and you may glory, that the Britifh 
 annals are not fouled with an event fo 
 difgraceful. But then under the in- 
 fluence of that edicl;, had the protec- 
 tants of France enjoyed a repofe of 
 nearly a hundred years. The laws of 
 England have not given as many mo- 
 ments to her catholic fubje6ls, fmce 
 the days of Elizabeth ; and do you 
 think, we dare not at any period weigh 
 merit with the difciples of John Calvin 
 and Theodore Beza ? 
 
 As to books or pamphlets, few or 
 none, that I recolledl, have been pro- 
 fefTedly written againft the religion of 
 the country, unlefs perhaps where an 
 attack had been firft made, and provo- 
 cation
 
 i 80 ] 
 
 cation given. Your appeal for inflance, 
 would juftify any attack, I might be dif- 
 pofed to make on the eflablifhed church, 
 provided I could think you wrote it 
 under any fan6lion of authority, or 
 that your reflections were not the efFu- 
 fions of wanton caprice. — I blufh, Sir, 
 to hear you talk of the moderation of 
 government, and tlie forbearance of 
 ttiagiflrates. Does religion come under 
 their cognizance ; or are they to put 
 barriers to the difcuffion of truth ? 
 You, it feems, may pour out a muddy 
 ftream of invedlive againft the old 
 church ; and if I dare to reply, the 
 magiftrate fnall point to the door of 
 Newgate. This is the bufinefs of ari 
 inquifitor. Surely, Sir, your foreign 
 education has fupplied you with flrange 
 ideas ; or you do not reflect, that Eng- 
 land is the country which you and I 
 now inhabit. 
 
 But in this land of boafted freedom ; 
 within whofe rOcks every virtue, that 
 can give dignity to man, is faid to 
 dwell, what an inftance of abfurd con- 
 du6l is exemplified in you and me. — 
 
 We-
 
 [ »■ ] 
 
 We had the fame education, profefTed 
 the fame religion ; and but a few 
 months ago were equally under the lafh 
 of the fame laws. You ceafe to be a 
 Roman catholic, that is, you drop a 
 few fpeculative opinions, become nei- 
 ther a better man, a better fubjedl, or 
 a better citizen ; when the next morn- 
 ing you rife to all the bleffings of a free 
 born fubjedl, and I remain where I was, 
 a flave among freemen ; the fame 
 naked fword, trembling by a fingle 
 hair oven my head, which any mif- 
 creant may cut that pleafes. There is 
 no exaggeration in this fimple fa6l. 
 
 I cannot yet quit this fubjedl o{ tcle^ 
 ration ; it is you that have raifed my 
 mind to it, and if you have leifure, I 
 will take you through the kingdoms of 
 Europe ; and we will fee what their 
 difpofitions are. Such travelling is not 
 inconvenient, and our excurfion fhall 
 be momentary. Should we difcover 
 that the country, which I love and 
 honour, makes but a fordid figure in 
 the fplendid groupe ; let it be remem- 
 bered that the fault is theirs, who can 
 L meanly
 
 [ 8^ ] 
 
 meanly fubmit to a circumilance fo 
 humiliating. 
 
 dcrmany. What his Imperial Majcfly has done 
 in favour of his Proteflant, and even ' 
 Jewifh fubje^ls, is well known to all 
 Europe ; what was oppreflive he has 
 relaxed ; and with the free pradlice of 
 religion he gives to dilTenters all the 
 common rights of citizens. — This fair 
 example has been followed by other 
 catholic princes of the empire. In 
 many flates of Germany indeed, no 
 fuch extenfion of religious liberty was 
 wanted ; becaufe they had long poflefTed 
 it in the fulleft latitude. When chrif- 
 tians of different perfuafions can pray 
 to God under the fame roof, they will 
 hardly be difpofed to perfecute. Ger- 
 many may now be confidered as the 
 country of the freefl toleration. The 
 Emperor, it isfometimesfaid, hashim- 
 felf no religion : it may be fo : but if 
 that indulgence of difpofition, which I 
 commend, be thought to prove it, it 
 would be well for mankind, if other 
 princes had as little. 
 
 The J
 
 [ h ] 
 
 The king of Pruflia, a member of the • 
 
 Germanic body, is not, I believe, very ' 
 
 religious ; but from all evil fome good j 
 
 arifes. He that is indifferent to modes i 
 
 of faith, will not be inclined to fhew 
 preference to any ; to him the beft "1 
 
 fubje6l will be the beft believer : at 
 all events, the great man, of whom I ] 
 
 am f peaking, is too good a politician, ! 
 
 to fuppofe that tefls or penal reftraints j 
 
 would recruit his armies, j 
 
 In the vafl territories of the Czarina, Ruffia, \ 
 
 though the Greek may be called the j 
 
 cftablifhed church, yet have all other ] 
 fedls their own altars, Jews, pagans, 
 
 and mahometans. In the provinces ] 
 her arms have conquered, this worthy 
 
 fuccefTor of Peter the great, is too wife \ 
 
 to pretend to any fovereignty over opi- i 
 
 nions; and like the Romans may, in ' 
 
 fome fenfe, be faid to adopt the gods of j 
 
 of her new fubjeds. To thofe of the -I 
 
 Roman catholic perfuafion fhe has been : 
 
 particularly indulgent; and has even I 
 
 granted an afylum to that fociety of j 
 
 men, which the catholic princes had ; 
 
 precipitately banifhed from their dates, | 
 L 2' and
 
 [ 84 j 
 
 and Rome had been compelled to fup- 
 prefs : I fpeak of the jefuits, to whom 
 the chriftian world has many obligati- 
 ons, and whom, from their firft ella- 
 blifhment, this country ever treated 
 with peculiar diflinclion. 
 
 Poland. The prevailing religion of Poland is 
 that of Rome : but by the laws, the 
 diffidents, that is, the Proteftant and 
 Greek Chriflians, are entitled to toler- 
 ation and protection. This they have 
 not always found. Party, heated by 
 religious zeal, has often rifen into the 
 wildefl enthufiafm ; and the confe- 
 quences have been dreadful to thofe, 
 whom the laws are bound to prote(5l. 
 The Polifh government is radically 
 vicious ; and there lies the evil. How- 
 ever, the fcenes, I allude to, will 
 debafe no more that nation, by nature 
 brave and generous. Neighbouring 
 Princes have kindly interfered, and by 
 a partition of territory, and by fubfe- 
 quent regulations, have broken that 
 high fplrit which valued little the re- 
 flraints of law. The diffidents will 
 in future enjoy that liberty, to which, 
 
 in
 
 r 85 ] 
 
 in common with the Jews and maho- 
 metans, they have a legal right. 
 
 The Lutheran do6lrine is univerfally Denmark, 
 admitted through Denmark and Nor- 
 way ; nor hardly, I believe, is there 
 any other fedl of any vifible confe- 
 quence, unlefs in fome few of the 
 towns. In Copenhagen the catholics, 
 not many years ago, applied for fome 
 indulgence, and it was granted ; Were 
 they more numerous, there is little 
 doubt, but they would be further in- 
 dulged. The government is mild, and 
 not difpofed to perfecute. In Santa 
 Cruz, one of their Weft India Iflands, 
 the Catholics enjoy full toleration, 
 becaufe they applied for it. 
 
 The religion of Denmark is alfo pro- Sweden, 
 felled in Sweden : but here it has all 
 the ftern features of northern defpot- 
 ifm ; though it was eftablifhed by that 
 hero and patriot, Guftavus Vafa, in 
 1544. The tenets of Martin Luther 
 alone were tolerated ; but it was 
 agamft the Roman catholics that the 
 feverity of the laws was pointed. No 
 
 court
 
 [ 86 ] 
 
 court of inquifition ever framed fuch 
 ftatutes, as Sweden holds out againft 
 Rome, particularly its clergy. Politi- 
 cal views, it is well known, took the 
 lead in thefe regulations, and drew in 
 religion to give its fandlion to them. 
 Such in other countries alfo has been 
 the mean practice of flatefmen — But 
 at the moment I am writing, a milder 
 fcene is opening before me. TheSwe- 
 difh monarch, who has travelled much, 
 and who has therefore difcovered that 
 there are good fubjedls in all religions, 
 feems determined to break through the 
 favage inflitutes of his predecefTors, and 
 to opprefs no man Vv^rongfully. French 
 politics, which have always great in- 
 fluence at Stockholm, doubtlefs ope- 
 rated to produce this happy revolution. 
 His connexion with the Emperor, the 
 milder air of Italy, and his intimacy 
 with the Pope, have alfo contributed 
 not a little to the fame effecT:. It is 
 faid, that the King himfelf is building 
 a church for his catholic fubjecls; whilft 
 he grants them every other indulgence, 
 and proffers all encouragement to 
 flrangers of that perfuafion, who may 
 
 he
 
 be inclined to fettle in his territories. 
 — The catholics, in fome parts of Swe- 
 den, are, I am told, rather numerous. 
 
 In the United Provinces, where Holland 
 prefbyterianifm rules, all other fedls 
 are free. Catholics are under fome 
 reftridlions^ but they are not of an 
 oppreffive nature. Places of trufl and 
 high preferment are fhut againft them: 
 jior could this well be otherwife ; it 
 was rather natural to expedl that the 
 religion, which their haughty mafters, 
 the Spaniards, had profefled, would 
 have been utterly profcribed. But re- 
 ligious zeal makes no deep impreflion 
 on the heart of a Dutchman, when in- 
 tereft tells him what his duty is. The 
 army and navy are open to Roman ca- 
 tholics. 
 
 In the cantons of Switzerland, Cal- Switzerland 
 vinifm and the religion of Rome are 
 the leading perfuafions. At the refor- 
 mation violent commotions were raifed 
 by religious difputes, and their efFeds 
 are fenfibly felt to this hour. The har- 
 mony and mutual confidence which be- 
 fore
 
 [ 88 ] 
 
 fore fubfifled among the cantons, and 
 were that chain which gave them 
 ftrength, were then broken, and have 
 fince never been thoroughly repaired. 
 The quarrels of free Hates are impla- 
 cable. — It is often faid, that the catho- 
 lic religion naturally tends to defpot- 
 ifm. The obfervation is not true. The 
 pureft democracy on earth is found 
 among the cantons of the catholic per- 
 fuafion ; whilfl the great proteftant 
 cantons have adopted ariftocracy, the 
 worll fpecies of defpotifm. The bright 
 days of Switzerland expired at the re- 
 formation. 
 
 ^^^'y- The eflablifhed religion, in all the 
 flates of Italy, is well known to be the 
 catholic ; nor is any other tolerated : 
 yet all fedls are found there, and all 
 may live without the fmalleft molefta- 
 tion, provided, keeping themfelves 
 within the bounds of decency, they 
 . infult not the religion of the country. 
 Even the court of inquifition in the 
 papal ftates, has nothing terrible in it ; 
 and our proteftants know how kindly 
 they are every where received. If you 
 
 talk
 
 t 89 ] I 
 
 talk to me of religious freedom ; I 
 
 would rather be a Jew in Rome than a | 
 
 Roman catholic in the capital of an \ 
 
 empire, where liberty is vainly faid to \ 
 
 have fixed her throne. j 
 
 But it is in the kingdoms of Spairt Sp^^"^ ^"^ i 
 
 and Portugal, that the catholic religion 
 
 is thought to be mofl intolerant ; there j 
 
 it is fecurely guarded from every inno- j 
 
 vation by the eye of a jealous and '! 
 
 fevere court, which feems to hold con- j 
 
 troul almoft over the thoughts of men. . 
 
 The inquifition was there inftituted, { 
 
 principally as a barrier againft the Jews 1 
 
 and Moors, who had been expelled from 
 
 Spain. It is the great ftate curb, by j 
 
 which the people are kept in religious i 
 
 and civil fubjedlion. I have nothing to I 
 
 fay in its defence ; but it is a quefllon I 
 
 not perhaps to be fo eafily decided, \ 
 
 even by a politician ; whether, in a ' 
 
 country, where one religion alone is i 
 
 profefTed, it be expedient to permit the ! 
 
 ingrefs of fedlaries to fpread their doc-- I 
 
 trines, to difturb the peace, and to divide j 
 
 the opinions of the people ? Might 
 
 this be done without oppofition, which | 
 
 M k
 
 [ go 1 
 
 is impofTible, fome good of a pafiial 
 nature would perhaps arife : but when 
 we look to what has happened in other 
 countries, furely ignorance with all 
 its concomitants muft be infinitely pre- 
 ferable to an eternal breach of concord 
 and the horrors of civil war. llowever, 
 as in the kingdoms, of which I am 
 fpeaking, there is but one religion ; 
 no feAs or bodies of chrillians can com- 
 plain of oppreflion ; and this it is that 
 in other flates pleads fo loudly for tole- 
 ration. In propriety of language there- 
 fore I do not fee that Spain or Portugal 
 can be termed intolerant. 
 
 France. -^q Francc, ouf rival in arms, irt 
 arts, and in literature, is the eye of an 
 Englifhiiiari ever turned, when he is 
 difpofed to compare nations. There 
 only one religion prevails : let us fee 
 then what is her behaviour towards 
 that large body of difTenters which, for 
 more than two centuries, has exifled 
 in the country. — France was in the 
 undifturbed pra(jlice of the religion of 
 heranceftors, v/hen Calvinifm, fecretly 
 having wormed itfelf into the minds 
 
 of
 
 [ 9' ] 
 
 of many, boldly reared its head, and 
 demanded a free exercife of religion. 
 The demand was intemperate ; it was 
 refufed ; an oppofition was raifed ; the 
 minds were irritated ; and both parties 
 at length flew to arms. Under the 
 cloak of religious zeal enormities are 
 committed on both fides ; but as the 
 catholic party was the mofl powerful, 
 find generally led on by men of the 
 moft abandoned principles, thegreatefl 
 atrocity of condu(5l feems rather to 
 belong to them. At the head of the 
 Hugonots were men, whpfe fplendid 
 virtues would have given dignity to a 
 much worfe caufe than theirs. After 
 various events, during a dreadful period 
 of more than 40 years, the Calvinifls 
 finally obtained from their old friend 
 and general, the great and good Henry, 
 that famous edidl of Nantes, which 
 gave them the indulgence and protec- 
 tion for which they had fo long con- 
 tended. But this fame edidl was re- 
 pealed, near a hundred years after, in 
 1685, by Lewis XIV, on whom his 
 minifters had impofed, and in whofe 
 mind pretended zealots had raifed falfe 
 M 2 imprefr
 
 [ 92 ] 
 
 impreflions of religious duty. The 
 Hugonots at leaft had not merited this 
 cruel reverfe of fortune : from this 
 time they have lived in a flate of 
 oppreflion. 
 
 The laws which, at different periods, 
 have been made againft them, and 
 which continue in force, are extreme- 
 ly fevere. But it mufl be allowed, 
 that they were a dangerous and power- 
 ful party, from whom the religion, if 
 not the civil conftitution of France, had 
 every thing to apprehend. Milder 
 treatment perhaps would have foftened 
 theharfh features of Calvinifm. Their 
 grievances are daily lightened : of what 
 they principally complain now is, that 
 they mufl conform to the eflablifhed 
 church in the celebration of marriage; 
 that their children muft be baptifed 
 according to the Roman rite ; that 
 thefe children may be taken from them 
 to be educated in the religion of the 
 country ; and that they are not allow- 
 ed either minifter or churches for the 
 exercife of their religion. — Thefe, it 
 mufl be owned, are ferious grievances. 
 
 I have
 
 [ 93 ] 
 
 I have been prefent in the South of 
 France, when more than five thoufand 
 people were afifembled to worfhip their 
 maker in a retired valley, expofed to 
 the rays of a fcorching fun ; and even 
 this was illegal. — But the army is open 
 to them, and a particular order has 
 been inflituted to reward their mili- 
 tary fervices. Befides, as in that coun- 
 try, the king can difpenfe with the 
 laws, application is daily made to him, 
 and he relaxes their feverity, when 
 and in what degree he pleafes. Abfo- 
 lute power is not always without its 
 advantages. — The proteflants in France 
 are now thought to be very numerous ; 
 and as there feems to be a growing be- 
 nevolence towards them, among all 
 orders of the ftate, in a few years we 
 may expedt to fee a moll fortunate re- 
 volution in their favour. 
 
 Of the hardfhips, which I have men- England. 
 tioned, and of which the French pro- 
 teflants fo loudly complain, there is 
 but one, that does not affedl the catho- 
 lics of England. Then how many 
 circumflances are there which render 
 
 the
 
 [ 94 ] 
 
 the fituation of the latter peculiarly 
 hard ? — When the reformation began, 
 we were in the pofTeffion of our reli- 
 gion : this the French Calvinifts can- 
 not alledge.— rAt the beginning of the 
 reign of Elizabeth, when we were the 
 ftrongefl party, never had we re^ourfe 
 to violence, or drew the fword in our 
 defence ; the fame rule of moderation 
 we have purfued to this day : nor can 
 the French fay this. — We are now an 
 inconfiderable body, warmly attached 
 to our king and country, and, if it may 
 have any claim to refpecl, the blood 
 in our veins is generous and honoura- 
 ble : the Hugonots fay, they are three 
 millions of fouls, and their attach- 
 ment to government is not, I fufpedl, 
 the moft fincere. When news came 
 of the relief of Gibraltar, I well re- 
 member the animated countenance of 
 a minifter of that religion, with whom 
 
 I was converfmg.'- Our young men 
 
 would enter the army or navy ; this is 
 not allowed them, and they are com- 
 pelled to feek for bread under fome 
 foreign flandard : I have faid how it is 
 in France. — In a word,aswithus, there 
 
 is
 
 t 95 1 
 
 is no power above the laws, fo cannot 
 their rigour be mitigated; otherwife 
 we fhould prefume to think that he 
 who has accepted our allegiance, would 
 deign to protedl us from oppreffion : 
 the French monarch can be more in- 
 dulgent to his proteflant fubjedls. 
 
 The fubje^l is tiot half exhaufled, 
 but I mufl leave it. To difcufs it fully, 
 would require a fmall volume ; and, 
 if I continue in my prefent difpofi- 
 tion, I (hall perhaps refume it on fome 
 other occafion. I promifed you but a 
 momentary excurfion : the many ob- 
 jedls that fell in our way have detained 
 uslotiger. What think you, Sir, of our 
 own country ? Does it feem, from 
 this imperfedl view, to take the lead 
 of other nations in moderation, and 
 in indulgence to the religious weak- 
 nefTes, if you will, of its citizens? and 
 obferve alfo, that Roman catholics are 
 not the only body of chriflians, who 
 have penal grievances to complain of. 
 ^ — How unchriflian is all intolerance ; 
 but how abfurd likewife i^ it in a pro- 
 teflant
 
 [ 96 ] 
 
 teflant ftate! every principle of the 
 reformation is contrary to it : but the 
 liberty, which the reformed churches 
 either afked, or took to themfelves, 
 they are not always difpofed to give to 
 others. Man truly is a felfifh being, 
 
 Conclufion. Such, Sir, were the refleBions, which 
 rofe in my mind, on the curfory pe- 
 rufal of your appeal \ when a few days 
 after I reviev/ed myfelf, I faw they 
 were fcill floating on the furface ; I 
 drew them together, and I give them 
 to you, fimple and unomamented, as 
 is the general flock, I can properly 
 
 call my own. 1 have not read the 
 
 fojlfcript to the appeal : you fay it has 
 no necefTary connexion with it : and 
 fuch a pojtfcript, to judge from its out- 
 ward form, hardly, I fancy, was ever 
 penned ! Thoughtful hours I have, and 
 to fuoh you fay, you devote it ; but 
 when the work itfelf has had a certain 
 fhare of thought, what claim has its 
 poftfcript to afk for more? Befides, 
 other matters there are, which have a 
 prior demand on the little attention 
 
 it
 
 [ 97 ] 
 it is in my power to beflow, and I 
 cannot deprive them of it. 
 
 I mean not this tracl as a reply to 
 your work ; it only contains a few ob- 
 fervations bearing fome reference to 
 it : but fhould it be found that there is 
 truth, in fome of them particularly ; 
 the main fubftance of your^/>^^^/mufl 
 crumble into duft. I would not write 
 a long work, becaufe I hate to read 
 one. — The gentleman, whom your ap- 
 peal principally regards, may perhaps 
 judge it expedient to enter on a fuller 
 difcuflion. Should he do it, I wifh 
 him a profperous voyage. Not that 
 the attempt would demand any vaft 
 refearches ; but becaufe to follow you 
 from page to page, through fuch a 
 wildernefs of matter, would take the 
 fmile even from the face of patience. 
 How you got through is bell known to 
 yoiiifelf. The firen, that fat by your 
 fide, muft have charmed away toil, 
 and made the journey eafy. 
 
 A few only, out of the points I have 
 
 juft touched upon, are peculiarly in- 
 
 N terefting.
 
 [ 98 ] 
 
 terefling, and on them I have oeen 
 more diffufe. I wifhed to bring them, 
 before the public in a form that might 
 raifc fome attention. Novelty, you 
 mufl be fenfible, is not to be expecled, 
 and therefore fome addrefs is neceffary 
 to throvv' any intereft on fo heavy and 
 antiquated an enquiry. The light, in 
 which I have prefented the queftion, 
 on the authority of the church, and 
 the nature of the written word, is not, 
 I know, exacT:ly the common one ; but 
 to my apprehenfion, it is the only true 
 one, and by it is removed a weight of 
 difficulties, which othervv'ife attend the 
 difculTion. Proteftants will not accede 
 to it ; but I am ready to meet you or 
 any one upon the queftion, and to give 
 it every further elucidation, it may 
 feem to require. 
 
 You may think, I have been fome- 
 what fevere, even not liberal, in fup- 
 pofing it was Love, that could have 
 worked a change in your religious fen- 
 timents. — As to afperity ; turn your 
 mind back to feveral pafTages in your 
 appeal, and there you will find my 
 
 apology.
 
 [ 99 ] 
 
 apology. You would have chofen, I 
 dare fay, a more placid adverfary ; one 
 that would have dipped his pen in 
 milk ; and then you would have laid, 
 that he feared you. By nature I am 
 not very tame ; nor did I fee the lead 
 neceflity of faying foft things upon 
 this occafion. Controverfy mufl be 
 a little .animated ; but let truth, can- 
 dour, and honefty, hold the pen down 
 every page. From this rule I have 
 
 not departed. As to love; what 
 
 mufl I fay ? Effects in the moral world 
 have all their certain caufes, and out 
 of thefe we muft chufe what feem 
 moft adequate to the point. We 
 cannot enter into the heart of man, 
 but if we could, there perhaps we 
 fhould difcover motives and fprings of 
 aclion, which the owner of that heart 
 might little fufpecfl to be there. So 
 true is it, that we do not know our- 
 felves. At all events, the conftruclion I 
 put on your conduct, lam very v/illing 
 fhall be laid on mine, if ever, by any 
 flrange impulfe of foul, I fhould be 
 drawn to an imitation of your example. 
 N 2 I fhould
 
 [ loo ] 
 
 I fhould clofe this addrefs, I perceive, 
 with fomething pathetic. In fome 
 humours I might ; but now I cannot. 
 I always write as I feel. For this de- 
 claration, on a former occafion, I have 
 been cenfured : but it is this circum- 
 flance, if I am not miftaken, that fome- 
 times gives an air of originality to wri- 
 ting, and fometimes a varied llrength of 
 colouring, which fhould not difpleafe. 
 The eye that, with pleafure, can dwell 
 on one uniform unbroken fcene, was 
 hardly defigned for the head of a think- 
 ing being. However, we have all our 
 tafles, and our different turns of cha- 
 ra6ler. Experience, it feems, fhould 
 give liability to them ; yet there are 
 minds v;hich, like the fhifting fands of 
 Africa, never know v^hat it is to fettle. 
 Are you. Sir, fure that the eftablifhed 
 church will hold you as long as ours 
 did ? Freed but once from the reftraint 
 of authority, creeds and tefts of churches 
 fhould never reach me more. I would 
 adopt, in this country, a much more 
 rational faith than you have done. 
 
 The
 
 [ lOI ] 
 
 The fhort expofition of our belief, 
 which I fubjoin to thefe fheets for 
 reafons I fhall aflign, I recommend to 
 your refiedlion. Meet it with your 
 own creed, if you have one ready, and 
 compare them together. Some advan- 
 tage may be derived from the cora- 
 parifon. 
 
 I am, h,z, 
 
 OJcoit, Aov. 26, 1785.
 
 J^
 
 A-'W**', »■»»""!>, -<»«"/> .*""/, j,Vtrs,, .\W0, AV««lfc Ak""/, a416!> vrtW*^ o««iK alW*, 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC 
 
 PRINCIPLES, 
 
 IN REFERENCE TO 
 
 God and the Country. 
 
 \i»<>* ''!!in*<' ^ivs'* ''^ \i»^ ^m<^ W** ^*v** \»^ Vi<^ ^^''' W"'^ 
 
 ii'' ly"

 
 
 ROMAN CATHOLIC 
 
 PRINCIPLES, &c. 
 
 INTRODUCTION. 
 
 THE following fhort Expojition of Catholic 
 principles, I have had by me for fome 
 years. I took it from -an old colledlion of 
 controverfial tradls; and I prefume, there 
 may be other copies of it. Who the author 
 of it was, I know not, nor when it was pub- 
 liflied ; but I fancy, about the middle of the 
 reign of Charles the fecond. Its concifenefs 
 and precifion of expreffion are admirable: 
 In few words it fays all we wKh to fay, be- 
 caufe it contains all we profefs to believe. 
 They, to whom it has been read, admired it 
 as much as I do, and they wifhed it might be 
 given to the public. I do it with pleafure; 
 O for
 
 [ ,o6 ] 
 
 for its merit will ferve to buoy up the pre* 
 ceding ReJleBmis. I liave other motives for 
 it, which are not fo felfilh. It will tell the 
 Proteftant and Catholic, what our real tenets 
 are, and it will tell the former in particular, 
 that what we now believe^ was the belief 
 alfo of our grandfathers. Our effential prin- 
 ciples, as chriftians, and as citizens, we have 
 not changed. I think likewife I can, on this 
 occafion, take upon me to declare that, there 
 is not a Roman Catholic in the realm who 
 will refufe, if afked, to fet his hand to this 
 Expofition. If any thing elfe be flill wanting 
 to fatisfy the mind of the moft prejudiced 
 Anti-papifl; let it be faid. I have made 
 fome alterations; but they are few, and of 
 little confequence. 
 
 SECTION I. 
 
 Cf the Catholic Faith and Onirch in 
 general, 
 
 1. THE fruition of God, and the remif- 
 fion of fin are not attainable by man, other- 
 wife than in and by the merils of J ejus Chrijl^ 
 who gratuiioujly purchafed them for us (a). 
 
 2. Thefe 
 (a) Eph. ii. 8.
 
 r 107 ] 
 
 Q. Tiiefe merits of Chrift, though infinite 
 in themfelves, are not applied to us, other- 
 wife than by a right faith in him (b). 
 
 3. This faith is but one (c), entire, and 
 conformable to its objedl, which is divine 
 revelation; and to which faith gives an un- 
 doubting affent, 
 
 4. This revelation contains many myjleries^ 
 tranfcending the natural reach of human un- 
 derftanding (d). Wherefore, 
 
 5. It became the divine loifdom 2iud. good- 
 nefs to provide fome way or means^ whereby 
 man might arrive to the knowledge of thefe 
 myfieries ; means vifihle and apparent to all (e) ; 
 means proportioned to the capacities of all (f) ; 
 means fure and certain to all (g). 
 
 6. This way or means is not the reading of 
 fcripiure, interpreted according to the private 
 judgment (h) of each disjundlive perfon, or 
 nation in particular ; But, 
 
 O 2 7. It 
 
 (b) Mark xvi. 16. (e) John ix. 41. 
 Heb. xi. 6. (0 Matt. xt. 25. 
 
 (c) Eph. iv. 5. (g) John XV. 22. 
 
 (d) I Cor. i. 20. (h) 2 Pet. iii. \6. 
 Matt. xvi. 17. I John, iv. i, 6,
 
 [ io8 ] 
 
 7. It is an attention ?Lnd fubmij/ion (i) to the 
 voice of the Catholic or Univerjal Churchy 
 ellabhftied by Chrift for the inflrudlion of 
 all ; fpread for that end through all nations {V)^ 
 and vifibly (1) continued in the fucceflion of 
 pallors, and people through all ages. — From 
 this church guided in truth (m) and fecured 
 from error in matters of faith, by the pro- 
 mijed (n) aj/ijlance of the Holy Ghofl, every one 
 may learn the right fenfe of the fcriptures^ 
 and fuch chriftian myfieries and duties, as are 
 necelTary to falvation. 
 
 8. This church, thus eflablifhed, thus 
 fpread, thus continued, thus guided, in one 
 uniform faith (o), and fuhordination of go- 
 vernment, is that which is termed the Ro?nan 
 Catholic Church: The qualities juft mention- 
 ed, unity, indejiciency, vifihility, fuccejfion, and 
 univerfality, being evidently applicable to her. 
 
 9. From the teflimony and authority of this 
 church, it is, that we receive the fcriptures^ 
 and believe them to be the word of God: 
 And as fhe can ajfuredly (p) tell us what par- 
 ticular 
 
 (i) Matt, xviii. rj. ^ (n) Matt, xxviii. 20. 
 
 Luke X. 16. John xiv. 16, 
 
 (k) Matt, xxviii. ig. (0) John x. 16. 
 
 (I) Matt. V. 14. Ib.xvii.20, 21, 22. 
 
 (ra) John xvi. 13. (p) i Tim, iii. i^. 
 Mutt. xvi. i3. 
 
 I
 
 [ log 3 
 
 ticular book is the word of God^ fo can fhe 
 with the like ajfurance tell us, alfo the true 
 fenfe and meaning of it, in controverted points 
 oi faith; the fame Jpirit that wrote the fcrip- 
 tures, direBing her (q) to underftand both 
 them, and all matters neceffary to falvation. 
 — From thefe grounds it follows, 
 
 10. Only truths revealed by Almighty God, 
 and propofed by the church to be believed 
 as Juch^ are, and ought to be efteemed, arti- 
 cles of Catholic faith. 
 
 1 1 . As an objiinate Jeparation from the 
 unity of the church, in knoiun matters of 
 faith, is herejy : So a toilful feparation from 
 the vifible unity of the fame church, in mat- 
 ters of fuhordination and government^ is fchifm. 
 
 SECTION II. 
 Of fpintual and temporal Authority, 
 
 1 . THE paflors of the church, who are the 
 body reprefenialive, either difperfed or con- 
 vened in council^ have received no commiffion 
 from Chrift, to frame new articles of faith — 
 thefe being folely divine revelations — but only 
 
 to 
 
 (q) John xlv. 26.
 
 t no ] 
 
 to explain and to define to the faithful, what 
 anciently was, and is received and retained, 
 as of faith in the church, when debates and 
 controverfies arife about them. Thefe defini- 
 tions in matters of faith only, and propofed 
 as fuch, oblige all the faithful to a fuhmijfion 
 of judgment. But, 
 
 2. It is no article of faith; that the church 
 cannot err^ either in matters of faB or difci- 
 pline^ alterable by circumfiances of time and 
 place, or in matters o^ f peculation or civil po- 
 licy^ depending on mere human judgment or 
 teftimony. Thefe things are no revelations 
 depofited in the Catholic church, in regard of 
 which alone, fhe has the promifed ajfiftance of 
 the holy fpirit. — Hence it is deduced, 
 
 3. If a general council^ much lefs a papal 
 confifiory^ fhould prefume to depofe a king^ 
 and to abfolve his JubjeBs from their allegiance^ 
 no Catholic could be bound to fiibmit to fuch 
 a decree, — Hence alfo it follows that, 
 
 4. The fubjedls of the king of England 
 lawfully may, without the leaft breach of any 
 catholic principle^ renounce, upon oath, the 
 teaching or pradlifing the doHrine of depofing 
 kings excommunicated for herefy, by any au- 
 thority whatfoever, as repugnant to the fun- 
 damental laws of the nation, as injurious to 
 
 fovtreign
 
 [ >■! ] 
 
 Jovtrcign ■power ^ as deftrudlive to ^eact and. 
 govtrnmerU^ and confequently in his Majefty's 
 fubjedls, as impious and damnable.^ 
 
 5. Catholics beHeve that the Bifhop of 
 Rone, faccefibr of St. Peter, is the head of the 
 whole Catholic church; in which fenfe, this 
 church may therefore fitly be filled Roman 
 Catholic, being an univer/al body, united under 
 ojie vifible head. Neverthelefs, 
 
 6. It is no matter of faith to believe, that 
 the Pope is in himfelf infallible, feparated 
 from the church, even in expounding the faith: 
 By confequence papal definitions or decrees, in 
 whatever form pronounced, taken exclufively 
 from a general council, or univerfal acceptance 
 of the church, oblige none, under pain of 
 herefy, to an interior aflent. 
 
 7. Nor do Catholics, as Catholics, believe 
 that the Pope has any dired, or indiredl au- 
 thority over the temporal power and jurifdi6lion 
 of princes. Hence, if the Pope fhould pre- 
 tend 
 
 * The word damndhU I difllke ; to me it conveys no 
 Idea ; or if any, it fays too much : But I let it ftand to 
 fhew, how defirous our anceftors were, by the moft em- 
 phatical language, to exprefs their deteftation of the papal 
 depojing power. The word impious furely fays enough. — 
 I wifh to know what idea a Proteftant affixes to the 
 word heretical t which, in the oath of fuprcmacj, he ap- 
 plies to the depofmg dodrinc.
 
 [ -12 ] 
 
 fend to ahfolve or dljpenfc with his Majefly's 
 fiibjeds from their allegiance^ on account of 
 here.fy or fchifm^ fuch di/pejifation would be 
 vain and null; and all Catholic fubje6ls, not- 
 withftanding fucli dijpenjation or ahjoliuion^ 
 would be ftill bound in confcience tc'defend 
 their king and country, at the hazard of their 
 lives and fortunes, (as far as Proteflants would 
 . be bound), even againfi the Pope himfelf, in 
 cafe he fliould invade the nation.* 
 
 8. As for the problematical dijpules, or er- 
 rors of particular divines, in this or any other 
 matter whatfoever, we are no wife rejponjible 
 for them; nor are Catholics, as Catholics^ 
 juflly piinijliahle on their account. But, 
 
 Qj. As for the king-killing do^rine^ or mur- 
 der of princes, excommunicated for herefy; 
 it is univerfally admitted in the Catholic 
 church, and expreffly fo de^zlared by the 
 council of Con/lance, that ilich docTirine is 
 impious and execrable, being contrary to the 
 known laws of God and nature. 
 
 lo. Perjonal mifdcmeanors, of what nature 
 foever, ought not to hebnpiited to the Catholic 
 
 church, 
 
 * This is an idle fuppofition : But at the time this 
 Expojttion was framed, the Pope was a much greater 
 bugbear, than now he is. At all times indeed we have 
 had eiiOUgh to do with the hobgoblins of the imaginatiori.
 
 [ ii^3 ] 
 
 church, when not juftifiable by the tenets ef 
 her faith and dodlrine. For which reafon, 
 though the ftories of the IriJIi cruelties^ or 
 powderplot^ had been exadly true, (which yet 
 for the mod part are notoriouily mif-related) 
 neverthelefs Catholics, as fuch, ought not to 
 fuffer for fuch offences^ any more than the 
 eleven apoftles ought to have fuffered for the 
 treachery of Judas * 
 
 11. It is a funda7nental truth in our reli- 
 gion, that no power on earth can licenje men 
 to lie, to forfioear or perjure themfelves, to 
 majfacre their neighbours, or dejiroy their na- 
 tive country, on pretence of promoting the 
 Calkolic cauje or religion: Furthermore, all 
 pardons or dijpenfations granted, or pretended 
 to be granted, in order to any fuch ends or 
 defigns, could have no other validity or effedl^ 
 than to add Jacrilege and blajphcmy to the 
 above-mentioned crimes. 
 
 \2. The dodlrlne of equivocation or mental 
 
 refervation, however wrongfully imputed to 
 
 the church, was never taught, or approved 
 
 by her, as any part of her belief: On the 
 
 P contrary, 
 
 * Thefe ftories are more than mif-related ; for there w 
 no truth in either, as afcribed to the Irifti or Englifh Ca- 
 ^olics at large. Gunfovjder treafony or Cecil's plot is one 
 of thofe red-lettered folemnitjcs, which do fo iQuc/i ho- 
 souf to this qnliehteQed nation !
 
 • [ '14 ] 
 
 contrary, fimjAicity and godly fincerity are 
 conftantly inculcated by her as truly chrijlian 
 virtues, neceffary to the confervation o^jujlicc^ 
 Irul/i and common Jecurity. 
 
 SECTION III. 
 
 Of other Points of Catholic Faith, 
 
 1 . WE believe, that there are feven Ja- 
 craments or facred ceremonies, inflituted by 
 our Saviour Chrift, whereby the merits of his 
 paffion are applied to the foul of the worthy 
 receiver. 
 
 1. We believe^ that when a (inner (a) re- 
 pents of his fins from the bottom of his hearty 
 and acknowledges his tranfgreflions to God and 
 his (u) minijUrs^ the di/penjers of the 7n)Jleries 
 of Chrift^ refolving to turn from his evil 
 ways, (fl) and bring forth fruits luorthy of pe- 
 nance; there is then, and no othcnvife^ an au- 
 thority left by Chrift to chfoke fuch a penitent 
 finner from his fins : Which authority, we be- 
 lieve, Chrift gave to his apqjlles and their 
 fuccejfors^ the bijliops and priefis of his church, 
 
 in 
 
 (a) 2 Cor. vii. to. (d) Luke ill. 8. 
 
 (b) A(f^s xJx. i8. 
 I Cov. iv. 1.
 
 [ "5 ] 
 
 in thofe words, when he faid, Receive ye the 
 Holy Ghoji^ ivltqfe fins you Jliall forgive, they 
 are forgiven unto them^ h.c. (e) 
 
 3. Though no creature whatfoever can 
 make condign fatisfatlion ({"), either for the 
 guilt of fin, or the pain eternal due to it; (g) 
 this fatisfaclion being proper to Chrifl: our 
 Saviour only; yet penitent fnners redeemed 
 by Chrift may, as members of Chrift, .in fome 
 meafure (h) fatisfy by prayer, fading, ahns- 
 deeds, and other v/orks of piety, for the tem- 
 poral pain, which in the order of divine juf- 
 tice fometimes remains due, after the guilt 
 of fin and pains eternal have been remitted. 
 Such penitential works are, notwithftanding, 
 no otherwife fatisfaBory than as joined and 
 apphed to that Jatisfadion, which Jefus made 
 upon the crofs, in virtue of which atone all 
 our good works find a grateful acceptance in 
 the fight of God. (i) 
 
 4. The guilt of fin, or pain eternal clue to 
 it, is never remitted by what Catholics call 
 indulgences ; but only fuch temporal punifi- 
 ments (k) as remain due after the guilt is re- 
 mitted : Thefe indulgences being nothing elfe 
 P 2 than 
 
 (p) John XX. 23. (h) Aifts xxvi. 20. 
 
 (f ) Tit. iii. 5. Luke xi. 41. 
 
 (g) a Cor, iii. 5. (i) 1 Pet. ii.5. 
 
 (k) I Cor. V. 5, &c.
 
 [ ne ] 
 
 than a (I) mitigation or relaxation, upon jufl: 
 caufes, of canonical penances, enjoined by the 
 paftors of the church on penitent finner?;, 
 according to their feveral degrees of demerit. 
 And if abufes or miflakes have been fome- 
 times committed, in point either of granting 
 or gaining indulgences, through the remiffnefs 
 or ignorance of particular perfons, contrary 
 to the ancient cuflom and difcipline of the 
 church : Such abufes or mi (lakes cannot ra- 
 tionally be charged on the church, or ren- 
 dered matters of derifion, in prejudice to her 
 faith and difcipline. 
 
 5. Catholics hold there is a purgatory, that 
 is to fay, a place or ftate, where fouls depart- 
 ing this life, with remifTion of their fins, as to 
 the eternal guilt or pain, but yet ob?ioxious to 
 fome temporal punijliment, of which we have 
 fpoken, flill remaining due, or not perfecflly 
 freed from the blemifli of fome defecls (m) 
 or deordinations, are purged (n) before their 
 admittance into heaven, where nothing that 
 is dejiled can enter. Furthermore, 
 
 6. Catholics alfo hold, that fuch fouls fo 
 detained in purgatory, being the living mem- 
 bers of Chrift Jefus, are relieved by the prayers 
 and frjfrages of their fellow -members here on 
 
 earth: 
 
 (1) 2 Cor. ii. 10. (n) i Cor. iii. 15. 
 
 (m) Matt. xii. 56.
 
 [ "7 ] 
 
 earth: But where tliis place is; of what na- 
 ture or quality the pains are ; how long fouls 
 may be there detained ; in what manner the 
 S'tjfrages made in their behalf are applied; 
 whether by way of Jalisfaclmi or inter ccjjion^ 
 h.z. are queftions fuperfiuous, and imperti- 
 nent as to faith. 
 
 7. No man, though juji^ (o) can merit 
 either an increafe of fandlity in this life, or 
 eternal glory in the next, independently on 
 the merits and pafTion of Chrifl Jefus : But 
 the goQd works (p) of a juft man proceeding 
 from grace and charity^ are fo far acceplahk to 
 God, through his goodnefs and facred pro- 
 mijes^ as to be truly meritorious of eternal 
 life. 
 
 8. It is an article of Catholic belief. That 
 in the moft holy facrament of the Eucharifl^ 
 there is truly and really contained the (q) 
 body of Chrift, which was delivered for us, a-ad 
 his blood, which was Jlied for the remijjion of 
 fins; the fubllance of bread and wine beings 
 by the powerful words of Chrift, changed into 
 the fubflance of his bleffed body and blood, 
 the fpecies or appearances of bread and wine^ 
 
 by 
 
 (0) John XV. 5. (q) Matt, xxvi, 26, Sec. 
 
 (p) Matt. xvi. 27. Mark xiv. 22, &c. 
 
 2 Cor. V. 10. Lukexxii. t9» Sec. 
 
 I Cor. xi. 33» Sec.
 
 E lis J 
 
 by the will of God, remaining as they were. 
 But, 
 
 g. Chrifl is not prefent in this f?xrament, 
 according to his natural way of exiftence, or 
 rather as bodies naturally exift, but in a man- 
 ner proper to the character of his exalted 
 and glorified body: His prefence then is real 
 and fub/laniial, but facramental^ not expofed 
 to the external fenfes, or obnoxious to corpo- 
 ral contingencies. 
 
 10. Neither is the body of Chrifl, in this 
 holy facrament, feparated from his blood, or 
 his blood from his body, or either of them 
 disjoined from his foul and divinity; but all 
 and whole (r) living Je/us is entirely contained 
 under eitJier fpecies; fo that whofoever re- 
 ceives under one kind is truly partaker of the 
 whole facrament ; he is not deprived either of 
 the body or the blood of Chrift. True it is, 
 
 1 1. Our Saviour left unto us his body and 
 blood, under two diJlinB fpecies or kinds ; in 
 doing of which he inftituted not only a Ja- 
 <crament^ but alfo a Jacrijice ; (s) a commemora- 
 tive Jacrifice diftinflly (t) Jhewing his death 
 and bloody palTion, until he come. For as the 
 Jacrifice of the crofs was performed by a dif- 
 
 tina 
 
 (r) John y. 48, &c. (t) 1 Cor. xi. 26. 
 
 (s) Luke xxii. 15, &c.
 
 [ i>9 ] 
 
 tln(5l ^Jf^if^oiT' of blood, fo is that facrifice com- 
 memorated in that of the altar, by a dijlinclion 
 of the Jymbols. Jefus therefore is here given, 
 not only to us, but fan us; and the church 
 thereby is enriched with a true, proper, and 
 propitiatoiy facrifice, ufually termed the majs. 
 
 12. Catholics renounce all divine worjhip 
 and adoration of images and piHures; God 
 alone we worjliip and adore (u) ; neverthelefs 
 we place pidures in our churches, to reduce 
 our wandering thoughts, and to enliven our 
 memories towards heavenly things. Further, 
 w^e fliew a certain rejpeci to the images of 
 Chrift and his faints, beyond what is due to 
 every prophane figure ; not that we can be- 
 lieve any divinity or virtue to refide in them, 
 for which they ought to be honoured, but be- 
 caufe the honour given to pidlures is referred 
 to the prototype or thing reprefentcd. In like 
 manner, 
 
 13. There is a kind of honour and refpecfl 
 due to the bible, to the crojs, to the name of 
 J ejus, to churches, to the facraments, &c. (w) 
 as things peculiarly appertaining to God; 
 and to kings, magifirates, and Juperiors on 
 earth (x) ; to wliom honour is due, honour 
 
 may 
 
 (u) Luke iv. 8. (x) 1 Pet. n. 17. 
 
 (vv) Phil. ii. 10. Rom. xiii, 7. 
 
 Adlsxix, 12.
 
 [ 120 ] 
 
 may be given, without any derogation to the 
 majerty of God, or that divine woHhip whiciv 
 is appropriate to him. Moreover, 
 
 14. Cathohcs believe, That the blefTed 
 faints in heaven, replenifhed with charity, 
 (y) pray for us their fdloio-manbers here on 
 earth; that they (z) rejoice at our converfton ; 
 that feeing God (a) they fee and know in him 
 all things fuitable to their happy ftate : But 
 God may be inclinable to hear their requejls 
 made in our behalf, and for their fakes may 
 grant us many favours : Therefore we believe 
 that it is good and profitable to dejire their 
 intercejfion. Can this manner of invocatioft- 
 be more injurious to Chrlft our mediator^ 
 than it is for one chriRian to beg the prayers 
 (b) of another here on earth V However, 
 Catholics are not taught fo to rely on the 
 prayers of others, as to negle6l their own (c) 
 duty to God; in imploring his divine mercy 
 and goodnefs; (d) in mortifying the deeds of 
 the flefh\ in (e) defpifing the world; in loving 
 and ferving (f) God and their neighbour; 
 in following the footfieps of Chrift our Lord, 
 
 who 
 
 (y) Rev. V. 8. (c) Jam. ii. 17, &c. 
 
 (z) Luke XV. 7. (d) Rom, xiii. 14. 
 
 (a) I Cor. xiii. xz. (e) Rom. xii. 2. 
 
 (b) Rom. XV. 30, {{) GaU v. ^.
 
 [ 121 ] 
 
 who Is the (g) way^ the truth, and the life ; 
 to whom be honour and glory for ever and 
 ever. Amen. 
 
 Jojmn' Jd&rlnaton. 
 
 December i, 1785. 
 
 (g) John xlv. 6. 
 
 FINIS,
 
 .^^jj^l^l^^ljljgjjl^^^jj^^^jjllj^^l^^^^j^^^ 
 
 
 
 B 
 
 O 
 
 o 
 
 K 
 
 Printed for T. BOOKER, Nev.'-Bond- 
 Street, London. 
 
 LETTERS on Materialifm and on Hartley's 
 Theory of tl^e human mind. By the Rev. 
 JOSEPH BERINGTON. ' 8vo. 3s. 
 
 Where alfo may be had^ by the fame Author^ 
 
 IMxMATERIALlSM Delineated, or a view of 
 the firft principles of Things. 8vo. 5s. 
 
 LETTER to Dr. FORDYCE. 8vo. 
 IS. 6d. 
 
 STATE and behaviour of the Englifh Catholics 
 from the Reformation to the year 1781. Se- 
 cond Edition. 8vo. 2s. 6d.
 
 UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA LIBRARY 
 Los Angeles 
 
 This book is DUE on the last date stamped below 
 
 ms t985 
 
 RECO LD URL 
 
 orm L9-Series 4939
 
 liiiiliilillilliiji 
 
 3 1158 01013 9672