2 - (— 1 S^^^= 3> ^^ ^- DO 6 M ^^-^»i 3> 4 — — ' ~ ^^^^= ^ 6 ^tc£M£M : '*-*?i. 7) tfU « i.tA^tisi^Cs&Js Assist) & t^^cc- *sL Wet is reviewed in the latter pnrt rf the M Defence.'' the disasters consequent on civil wars, anil though no tie of conscience bound him to the state, sufferings that are pas>t would dictate to him " nc te clv'dibus insert bellis ;" and as to Rome whose religion lie professes, he feels no misgivings on her account, and were he prone to idle conjectures, lie might say of another Church " mutato nomine de te "Jubula narratur" A quotation from history, without a reference, is ad- duced to prove my misrepresentations, and an enumeration is made, I doubt not, from the late Sir Richard Musgrave, of the many acts or projects of James the Second when in this country hostile to the Protestants, and subversive of their rights. These are advanced by this writer as a jus- tification of those laws, subsequently enacted against the Ca- tholics, of which, in my letter, I complained. The rapid sketch which I drew of the misfortunes of this ill-fated land, comprehended several reigns ; and even if the measures of retaliation, to which I am referred, were excusable, the position laid down by me would not thereby be affected, as the period to which the justification put for- ward by this writer extends, embraces only the reigns of Anne and the two first Georges. But, as our opponents are always disconcerted by references to the history of the penal laws, of which history they would wish us to be ignorant, as well as insensible to their effects, we shall leave their merits to be judged of, by all impartial men, who are acquainted with them. They will determine who were guilty of violating, by statute the most sacred rights of nature, as also wlv. her treason on the part of Catholics leaguing with Popes and Princes, or the cupidity of the triumphant party annulled a solemn treaty. Nor should the Papal interference be objected to us, unless Cromwell's title was preferable to that of James, in which case, Ormonde, Clanricardc, and those who have hitherto been deemed most loyal and deserving subjects, should share our guilt ; for since their time, the Papal power never existed here. In England, it was extinguished Ions 6 before, where the loyalty of the Catholics, and jheir disregard of the Papal censure against Elizabeth, are as well attested as the destruction of the Armada. This Papal power, therefore, which he confesses to be now a cypher, was so in these realms two hundred years ago, though its name still serves a party, when they wish to array the passions on their side. This writer passes a high encomium on those Protestants who became the advocates of the Catholics in those latter times, and in which most heartily we all concur. But if gratitude on the part of their clients, could be any com- pensation for their efforts, never were advocates more amply repaid ; for our Nobility, our Gentry, our Clergy, the children at the breast, and the old men, when descending to the grave, bless the memories of those great and virtuous sages, who looked on our wrongs and privations as their own — who devoted their labours, and sacrificed their inte- rests to obtain their removal or redress. They redeemed many them, the injuries done to us by their own ancestors, and made us love the posterity of those who forged our chains. " Thev contended," continues this writer, "against " the then unnecessary severity of the penal laws, with a " degree of energy, perseverance, and effect, never equalled *' by the exertions of the most liberal Roman Catholics in " Popish countries, against the most severe, the most pro- tc tracted, and the most, iniquitous persecutions/" I am not the apologist of Catholic states ; but this writer should advent, that at the period when those men appeared in Ire- land, the Catholic Governments, to whom any considerable number of Protestants were subject, either forfeited their allegiance, like Philip the Second, or abolished in their fa- vour every penal law — every odious restriction without being impelled thereto by a Fox or a Grattan. It should also be observed, that the forms of our Constitution call forth such men as those now mentioned, and produce such exertions as have been described, whilst in other countries* the same facilities are not afforded to plead before the na- tion the cause of the oppressed. But even before the prin- ciples of religious liberty were rightly understood, or acted upon in Europe or America, do we not find Catholic Princes, such as Philip the Fifth, Ferdinand, Leopold, and Henry the Fourth, making concessions to the Protestants of France, and the Empire, which nearly amounted to per- fect freedom ? and, though such concessions may have been extorted from them, by some pressing necessity or obvious advantage, do we find that either they or their successors ever violated their treaties, or took advantage of the weak and defenceless state of their subjects, to enact against them an inhuman code — a code exhibiting to the world a series of broken faith, of .cruel and perfidious conduct, such as the History or Annals of Tacitus do not record ? Do we reproach the posterity of those men, who governed this country in the names of William and Anne, and the two first Georges, with the laws which were then enacted ? No ! we jrecognize amongst them, many of the most virtuous and zealous of our advocates, who have more than redeem- ed the sins committed by their fathers, against an unoffend- ing people ; but are we to be upbraided for not forgetting what our nature and our interest oblige us to forgive? Is it because some unprincipled Irishman, who casts away his religion for base lucre, and changes or conceals his name, lest the publication of it would proclaim his infamy — is it because such a one is dead to every feeling of honour, and conducted through life only by sordid views, that the high-minded Catholics, who have never broken faith with God or men, should be branded with imputations of dis- loyalty? Search their history for two hundred years, and adduce almost a single instance of disaffection, on the part of the Catholic Gentry or Clergy. Search the records for their oaths, and discover where they were violated ? View the Government ; whether embarrassed or peenre, whether it smiled or frowned, has it not always been sustained bv the loyalty of the Catholics? And when insurrection or rebel- lion devastated the provinces, or threatened the capital, have not the Minister and the Patriot united, to proclaim in Par- liament and before the throne, that the allegiance of the Catholics, as such, remained steady and unbroken ? But the Apostates, from their own race, speaking from the fullness of their hearts, defame them ; and the Church and the Orange- men, trembling for their monopoly, assail them with the ar- rows of slander and calumny. Lewis the Fourteenth re- voked the edict of Nantz. His example can be quoted by those who violated the treaty of Limerick ; but, if subjects leaguing with foreign powers, against their lawful Sovereign, could justify so cruel a proceeding, his name would not have come down to us, as that of a Monarch who even by that act injured as much the real interests of France, as he enhanced, by other deeds, her power and her glory. Yet hisciuelty to the Huguenots was of but short duration; for the French, though fickle, have too much love of coun- try, to compromise her interests by disputing about creeds ! But we are accused of ingratitude, for having said, that " the extravagance of the dominant race, the lights of "the last century, and the humanity of the late Xing, " mitigated the evils we endured. 1 ' This writer should not charge me with ingratitude, for the good influence I attribute to our late excellent King — nor can he be displeased with the reference I make to the lights of the last century, inasmuch those lights were propagated by that host of patriots and philosophers whom we have just ap- plauded — "men of great power, and endued with wisdom, " and by the strength of wisdom instructing the people — "men rich in virtue, studying beautifulness, living at peace "in their houses, all of whom have gained glory in their "generations, and were praised in their days— men of *' mercy, whose godly deeds have not failed." Kcc. xliv. No! his exception is not taken to the portion of good at- tributed to the virtuous few, but to what is called " the ex- 9 w travagance of the dominant race. 11 Well, then I is th;? writer riot sufficiently versed in the history of those limes to know, that whan Catholics were first permitted to take leases for 999 years, one of the principal objects with the " Contractors, 11 (a name understood hy all versed in Irish history,) was to enable their vassals, (for I shall not call them slaves,) who had amassed large sums of money, and weredaily transmitting it to the Continent, to purchase or take mortgages on lands at home; and was not the statute, which required a rack-rent to be reserved, and the term of years to be limited to 21 when lands were let to Papists, proved at that time to be an insuperable bar to the improvement of the country — as prejudicial to the landlord as to the tenant ? And when the elective franchise was afterwards conceded, had it not been admitted, that the system of importing Protestant freeholders from Germany could not be suc- cessful — that Catholic serfs might be brought as tamely, and with Jess expense, to the hustings than freemen, and would be a much more productive species of husbandmen for the lordly Commoner or contracting Peer ? 1 passed by in my letter all mention of the difficulties in which the state itself was placed at the close of the American war, and when France and Spain were truly formidable, because I did not wish to detract from the humanity of the Kino- • and, if 1 barely allude to them at present, it is because I am charged with ingratitude, in a case where I did not withhold the expression of it from those to whom we were truly indebted. The decided opinion of this writer is, "that the Prelates "and the Agitators of the Roman Catholics would be se- riously grieved, if the remaining remnant of the penal "code was repealed. 11 He will allow me to disclaim the wame of Agitator, and to assure him 1 am not at all ambi- tious of that of Patriot, though I think with Doctor Laurence, that even a Priest, has civil duties to fulfil ; ami that if, m the discharge of religious and civil duties conjoined, hv 10 can succeed in stating the case of his country, lie should not shrink from any imputations, which it may please the ene- mies of her happiness to cast upon her advocate ; especially if he can reckon amongst the companions of his fortune such men for instance, as those Catholics who in Dublin voted an address to the King at the conclusion of the last Session of Parliament. As to the other part of the silly opinion quoted above, there is this advantage in it, that it acquits the Catholic Prelates of those ambitious views, which a certain class of their opponents have not ceased to impute to them; and may, if adopted by the influential persons of the hostile party, induce them to labour for the abolition of the penal code, with a view of disappointing men who seem to be the objects of their peculiar hate. To the sex whom Doctor Doyle is supposed to have offended, J. K. L. on his part offers the most submissive apology : he feared their panegyrist was about saying to him from the fable, " Sour Grapes, 11 or something so harsh on their part as would oblige him to exclaim " icnicrnc " animis c.elcsi'ibuH ira r — but no ! ail is charity ; " charity " which bears all, suffers all, and seeketh not for self, 1 '' and this the more prodigious when it is ready to be exercised towards an unhappy mortal, who in his rage, as the writer, " verilv believes," would call bears out of the woods to de- vour those ladies, — their husbands and children, and all who are of their communion, for laughing at the mi- racles ! " I have never, I trust laughed at any thing sacred, and though I have frequently laughed for the last three months at what I saw written on the subject of mi- racle.;, from " Miracles mooted, 11 to the " Complete Expo- " sure," 1 I feared too much the woe denounced by the Lord against the scoffers, to laugh at the miracles themselves. Put however I might have laughed or sighed, for I some- times indulge in either, I am quite certain I never wished evil to any child of Adam, nor precipitated my judgment so as to impute even to the worst of the admirers of the 11 works of Joshua, half the cruelty which they imputed or appropriated to themselves. Still less did I feel resentment against those few (and very few they were) who laughed at the miracles, and if I became triad, as my correspondent supposes, I have only to hope that, like Hamlet, there was method in my madness. This Gentleman supposes that I ask for a serious discus- sion on the subject now noticed, and undertakes to give it tome. I did not indeed ask him for it, and yet feel great pleasure in having to add his lucubrations to those others against many of which I was tempted sometimes to utter the imprecation of Swift upon " the Legion Club," or to say with that Cynic Poet, on casting them from me. 44 To convince you I will never " By disputing or.ee endeavour." Of these lucubrations however some are interesting for the science, the ingenuity, the taste, the eloquence, the piety or enthusiasm, which they display ;* but the greater part are coarse and vulgar, nauseous and unclean, filled with ribaldry and irreligion. It is stated in one of the most able discussions I have read on the subject of these miracles, that the Writer " does not recollect any event which ever occurred in this "country which has so much occupied the public attention "or excited so much public wonder, as the recovery of " Mrs. Stuart." Indeed the almost infinite number of articles and Pamphlets which that cure and the others classed with it gave occasion to, proves sufficiently the justice of this remark, and that those who glorified God in his works, or who in contemplating them felt the hno suh pectore curas, comprised nearly the whole of the community. That there were scoffers and many of them is but too true, and why should they not abound in our days as well as at all other times ? Whilst some went away from Calvary filled with awful reflections, or saying " surely this man was the son * It is almost unnecessary to point this allusion. The reader will at once recognize the " Rhapsody," and " Apologetic Postscript." "of God, 1 * 1 had not others passed by and blasphemed him, "shaking their heads and saying, Vah ! thou who destroy - " est the temple of God and in three days bulkiest it up " again, save thyself : if thou be the Son of God eome "down from the Cross. And in like manner the chief " Priests with the Scribes and Elders, mocking him said, " he saved others, himself he cannot save ; if he be the " King of Israel let him come down from the Cross and " we will believe him." The People also cried out, "he *aved " others, let him save himself, if he be the Christ the Elect " of God." The Soldiers also made sport of him, coming and offering him vinegar and saying, " if thou be the King " of the Jews save thyself." And have I not said in my letter, that as the Disciple is not above the Master, nor the Servant greater than his Lord, that his truths and fol- lowers will always be a stumbling block to many, even in Israel, and the butt of reproach and ridicule to a profane and sinful world ? But believing, as 1 do, that these cures were supernatural and divine, that they were wrought by the Spirit of Christ which animates his mystic body should I not expect they would be contradicted, reviled, and scoffed at, as he was himself ? Has the Church of God ever ceased to suffer as her founder did ? Even "in peace her bitterness has been " most bitter." Not only the Apostles but their successors in every age have been hated for their master's name-sake ; and the miracles, with which they have never ceased to attest the Divinity of his Religion, have only ensured to them a portion of his chalice. " You seek to kill me," says Christ to the Jews, " because my word hath no place in " you." And the vengeance which these carnal men would wreak on the Head, because they could not understand his words nor his works, that same vengeance has been in- flicted upon the members — upon the Apostles and Martyrs in every age. The world hated them, as well as the mi- racles which they wrought, because they were not of the world. Iei o I could not therefore, consistently with my Faithj have been grieved or disappointed, though some scoffed at what I respected. I should rather rejoice to find that whilst those whom I considered the children of the Church were favoured by God ; some were found by their conduct to verify the predictions of his Son. But my Faith is too co- pious to stop here, it believes also that it is only within out- Church that true miracles are found ; because I believe it is there that Christ and the Father and the Spirit who alone can effect them, always abide. I believe that they are one of those many Graces given to assist the labourers, in planting, and watering the Vineyard — numerous and strik- ing when the work is commencing — fewer as it advances; but never entirely discontinued until the crop is gathered in. rt He that believeth in me," says the Redeemer, " the " works that I do, he also shall do, and greater than these " shall he do." To disbelieve this promise requires on our part an apostacy from the Faith ; to limit its operation depends not on us, but on God ! The Disciples of Christ who were sent to preach the Gospel to every creature pre- paratory to the consummation, have been followed by the signs which he described or foretold. They might take up serpents or drink poison without being injured, and the im- position of their hands could cure diseases. Who will dis- prove the Miracles wrought in the Church according to this promise? Who can deny their existence without rejecting the evidence which human testimony and public records exhibit in every age ? Is it because they are now less frequent than when the Church in its infancy had no other external support that they are to be denied ? Do not those great lights of Christianity, who account for the rarity of their occurrence, such as Irenaeus, Augustine, Gregory, a«id Ambrose, attest of their own knowledge the existence of some ? And who can read the work of Benedict the 1-kh, de Can. Sanctorum, and consider the rigorous exa- mination to which alledged miracles are subjected at Home, 14 and nol be satisfied, that no fraud with regard to them, is, morally speaking, possible? Men may disbelieve the Gospel, but as long as we Catholics retain our Faith, we will believe History, public records, and the solemn oaths of disinter- ested men : we will believe that miracles are wrought in our Church by the power of God for the propagation of the Faith or the consolation of his people. In Deuteronomy it is written, " Congiutinatus est Dais cum papula sua.™ God is united, is mixed up as it were, and made one substance with his people. He makes them by his incarnation partakers of his own nature, nourish- ing them with his own blood, as the Pelican does her young. He is patient towards them, and of much compassion ; so that whenever they ask any thing of the Father in his name, not hesitating, he has promised it will be given to them. — The grace of curing bodily diseases, as the Apostle testifies, was one of the first he granted to their infirmity and one which lie will never withdraw from them, as perhaps there is no other so well calculated to excite their Faith and gra- titude, and strengthen their confidence in his mercy. He wept over Lazarus before he raised him from the tomb, and was moved by the distress of the widow of Nairn, before he stopped the bier and restored her son to life. His cha- rity for his people well proves, that they have a high Priest who, encompassed himself once with infirmity, knows how to compassionate their distress. Hence the Church in all her liturgies prescribes prayers for the sick, in which her reliance on his promises is expressed, and did she not believe they are accepted, and cures wrought by their efficacy, her worship would not be Religion, but mockery and insult. In her Itituals she prescribes, after the command of the Apostle, that if any one be sick amongst her children, the Priest do visit him and anoint him with oil, knowing that the Prayer of faith (as it is written) will save the sick man, and obtain for him not only the remission of sin, (should he be in sin) but also an alleviation of his sickness if condu- 15 cive to his salvation. The visible and sensible effects of this holy rite are daily witnessed in the Church. The Vi- sitation of the sick, or a form of Prayer, (so inscribed in our Rituals) is another means which the Church employs to obtain from the Father of mercies bodily relief for the faithful who are indisposed, and Catholics know and ex- perience, that the children at the breast, persons arrived at manhood, or declining to the grave, receive seasonable aid or an entire exemption from afflicting diseases, on the reci- tal of these prayers for them by a .Minister of the Church. We do not call these visitations of the divine mercy by the name of Miracles, because they are an ordinary effect of the divine Grace operating in the Church according to an established rule : but when the cure is sudden and extraor- dinary, surpassing the power of nature in the subject, ex- citing wonder also in the beholders, and the means of pro- ducing it such as the Church approves of, we deem it miraculous. I have said that " we Catholics can easily " believe,' 1 in such cures ; I repeat it, and I rejoice in re- peating it; knowing that "the just one of the Apostle " liveth by faith," and that if we had Faith as a grain of mustard seed, we might say to the mountain, " rise and be cast into the sea,"" not indeed a silly and presumptuous faith by which we would believe that without cleansing our own hearts, and doing the good works we are commanded, that the justification or sanctification. or redemption wrought by Christ would be imputed to us — but a lively faith and firm confidence, by which we believe, that all God has revealed to us is true, and that he is powerful to fulfil to us, as he did to Abraham, all that he has promised ; so merciful moreover as not only to make us believe in him, but also to become our Itedeemer and Mediator and a propitiation for our sins ; infusing his own justice and all his other virtues into our hearts by his Holy Spirit, which is given to us and in whom we cry " Abba Father ; r nay who himself prays for us with ineffable sigfos. This is the \G Faith of us Catholics by which " we ensily believe," that God is cemented with his people, and that his ear hears not only the petition of their tongues, hut the very " prepara- tion of their hearts ; *" afflicting them occasionally aschil dren who by the correction of the cross he draws to him self ; but never suffering them, because he is faithful, to be tempted beyond what they can bear. The scoffers who have laughed at the Miracles are unacquainted with this faith of ours: the unction of the Spirit, which teaches us docs not render them docile, and hence all things must be natural to men, unacquainted with what is supernatural. They will descend with Spinoza to the vis medicatrix na- tural and search for the attributes of the Divinity in the inertness or volubility of matter, or with Hobbes or Hume, they will disarm the Deity of his power, cast down with hu- man liberty the essential landmarks of right and wrong, and with Rousseau doubt, or with the sage of Ferney to laugh at all that is sacred in the Gospel dispensation. They will do this, and, with a profaneness and insolence, peculiar to infidelity, affix names of reproach to characters the most blameless, filling their reviews or pamphlets with a silly bombast, which a man of letters, or a Christian, can scarcely peruse, but which gratifies the appetite of the unlettered and profane, as Lactantius has it, " omnia enim stolidi magis admiran- '* tur amantque invcrsis quo sub verbis latitantia eernunL"" But these scoffers, whom my opponent would represent as the Protestants of Ireland, are few ; the latter generally are grave and religious in all their views. The ancient faith, however, has been ejected from them, and a creed has been composed for them, which they receive, partly or entire, as it listeth them ; but they have been led away from the creed of their fathers. All its great leading principles are misre. presented or misapplied by their teachers, and, amongst the rest, a belief in that intimate intercourse, which Catho- lics believe to exist between the Church and her Spouse. lie, these latter are taught, having Hashed her in his own 17 blood, nourishes her with the participation of himself, and pours out upon her the effusion of his spiritual love, until their happy progeny shall be filled up in the number of the elect, and she presented by him without spot or wrinkle in the presence of his Father. The Protestants have had no miracles amongst them ; they know not what they are, except in theory : they contemplate them as belonging to a Church from which they have been alienated ; and their teachers by every resource within their reach respresent, as fables, facts as well authenticated as the existence of Rome ; or if they admit them, they assign them to Anti- Christ — to the capital enemy of the head and founder of this Church. To suppose that any miracles, of whatsoever description, would produce the return of many of the Protestants of this country to the Mother Church, unless they were influenced by interior graces stronger than were ever yet imparted to any community of men, would, to me, appear absurd ; I should be more than a novice in the history of mankind, as well as in my knowledge of the human heart, if I were to entertain such an opinion. To impute it to me, is as just as to suppose me capable of aiding or contributing, in any way, to the establishment of an undue influence, on the part of the Catholic Prelates over their flocks. If I know my own mind or my own heart, I am as little solicitous about in- fluence in this world, as I am averse to every encroachment upon the right of man to treat with his Maker about the concerns of his soul. My opponent may then be assured, that I come to the consideration of his grave discussion on miracles, as unbiassed as any other individual who could be induced to join issue with him on such a subject. I am a sincere Catholic, and I believe those miracles to be divine. These are the data upon my part ; but in the discussion, we must suffer nothing to be assumed. Of the three propositions subjected to our scrutiny, the first regards the nature of the facts ; " are they, or ar« 18 f they not miraculous ? r The second, " whether the testi- " monv, which sustains them, be sufficient to satisfy a " clearly judging and impartial enquirer ?" The first argument of my opponent, is one " ad Vere- " cundiam" by which, screening himself under the shade of Doctor Cheyne and some other Doctors' 1 authority, he advances, almost in silence, to the never-ending topic of the nerves. Oh, happy Nerves! Were Erasmus now living, he would not select Folly as a theme for his praise, and pass by the unspeakable and incomprehensible beauty and con- venience of the nervous system. This system, which can kill and cure, with equal facility, or administer relief to the dumb and. hypochondriac ; which can rescue life from the grasp of apoplexy, and say to him or her who has been bowed down with infirmity for years, " take up thy bed and " walk" ! Le medicin malqre lui of Molliere, was unac- quainted with it, or bleeding and hot water would not have been his only specifics. Exquisite system, and like the mines of Potosi, as yet, not half explored ! Why were you not familiar with Hi- pocrates and Galen, or the incantations, by which you could be regularly excited to do your works of mercy, taught or sung in the days of Homer and Euripides? The batteries of your moral Galvinism have hitherto been unknown to us, and we pined and died, like our fathers, whilst you were in the midst of us, always ready, if only conjured by a right- ful spell, to minister relief. We have at length, however, discovered the recesses where you sleep ; we shall often have recourse to you ; we will make you Queen of all chronic diseases, and proclaim you the Deity of the lame and blind — of the deaf and dumb ! All this we promise you, pro- vided you abandon those silly Papists, or not confine your favours to them alone. My correspondent will excuse this trifling. " Rhlentcm dkcre veruvi quid vetat ?" * Doctor Cheyne, and Doctor Jacob, and Doctor Pseufer, • See Note A. 19 and as many as my opponent may please to quote, assert that the influence of the mind upon the body, through the agency of the nervous system, is considerable, and in some cases exceeding great. Of this, no person, whom I have heard of, seems to doubt ; but the fact, that in the whole history of practical medicine, no theory applicable to the excitement of the nerves, and the production of a healing influence, through their agency on the human frame, ha s as yet been discovered, is an argument beyond doubt that the physicians are only feeding the public with conjectures on this subject. What department of medicine is there, in which a series of facts are not adduced, in order to support by like experiments, some theory founded upon them ? And why are we not favoured with such a series, proving that the nerves, excited to a certain degree, will enable the cripple to cast away his crutch, — the shattered frame to re- sume its vigour, — the many years infirmity to be removed •> — the tongue which had been still, almost from its infancy' to be loosed ? Or are the nerves the only part of the frame which are inaccessible to the powers of medicine? Not baths, cold or warm, not batteries of Galvinism, nor shocks of electricity, not the power of the vegetable or mineral kingdoms can shake the nerves of an unhappy patient.* Oh no ! when the nerves are to be wrought on, the mind alone can minister to them. Well, be it so ; but what shall we say when we see fear, and love, and hope, and joy pass and repass through the mind of the sufferer, and yet no relief? '- But these passions of the mind are not found in a degree " sufficiently intense." Intensity is relative, and one person is capable of it in a greater degree than another ; but the dif- ferent ages, sexes, and conditions of the persons cured, at the intercession of Prince Hohenlohe and of those who pray with him, shew that the excitements of the nerves, in all and each of them, could not be intense. "Oh, but excitement * See note B. B O go *< must not only be intense, but it must proceed from reli- " gion acting on the mind.'" I should like to interrogate, on this subject, my friend, the Iiev. H. Young, of Harbld's- Cross, or the Gentleman, quoted by the E. Reviewers, who witnessed the fervid piety of those who were exciting their nerves, at Harold's Cross or the Chapel of GeorgeVHill Convent, on the first of September last, in order to know, whether they are of opinion, that religion, acting on the mind, and the mind on the nerves, and the nerves upon the blood, and the blood upon the flesh, and the flesh upon the bone, or upon the sore, can or cannot ef- ect a cure ! Did they reply in the negative, I should be much inclined to credit them, in preference to Doctor Cheyne or Doctor Pseufer, for they had witnessed for se- veral successive days, the progress and completion and failure of this excitement as it is technically called ; and they are as competent to judge of a matter of fact, and fully as credible witnesses, as those Medical Gentlemen, however respectable. Did these witnesses or any others, profess to think that religious or nervous excitement, of a certain kind, can cure diseases, I would enquire, why were not those persons, who, with their nerves, as is supposed, all in motion, expected something like " the motion of the waters," at HaroldVCross or GeorgeVHill, all or generally cured ? 1 know Mr. Young would tell me, as the only reason, that in the days of Elizeus, there were many lepers in Syria, but that none but Naaman was cleansed ; and, that in the days of Elias, there were many widows suffering from famine, but to none of them was the Prophet sent, but to her of Sarepta in Sydon. My opponent thinks the failure of the nervous excitement, just mentioned, a miracle, or something approaching to it. I willingly leave him to the enjoyment of his miracle ! The authority of Physicans, upon such matters as these, is good thus far, that they are the best judges of the nature of disease in a certain patient, and may explain to us* 21 should the matter be within the sphere of their knowledge, how or by what means a cure was effected ; but to set up Physicians as judges of matters, with which their writings prove that they are very imperfectly acquainted, is not rea- sonable, even were they are all agreed in opinion, but when the subject is to them as abstruse and unknown, as to any other member of the community, when we find them arrayed in divisions against each other, Doctor Mills, (as has been offered to be proved on oath.) differing from Doctor Cheyne, Doctor Sheridan opposed to Doctor Crampton, Doctor Magee (not the Archbishop, but a Doctor of Medi- cine) to Doctor Pseufer, Doctor Tuomy, perhaps, to Doctor Jacob, and Doctor Baddely for both sides of the question, I do confess, I pay but little attention to their opinions on a subject, which the difference of their sentiments, suffi- ciently proves they do not understand. But it is said, " that the cures have been wrought chiefly " or exclusively on pious females, more susceptible than " others, of nervous impressions. - " This statement is not correct; for several men, as well females, have been healed- But though the objection were founded on fact, the person who believes the cure to be supernatural, finds in that an additional argument to support his belief, because he knows that the sex, whom the Church denominates " pious," are generally gifted with a more lively faith, and a more ani- mated confidence in God, than men ; and, therefore, better entitled to have their petitions accepted. We know how acceptable the sighs of Martha and Mary for Lazarus, and of the widow of Nairn, and of the Syriac woman were to the Redeemer ; how the daughter of Jairus, and the mo- ther-in-law of Peter, she who laboured under the issue of blood, and the daughter of Abraham who for eight and thirty years, had suffered under infirmity, were cured by him; and to judge by the zeal of those who stood bv the cross on Calvary, who awaited the Resurrection at the tomb, who assisted th« Apostles in their ministry, and in- 22 traduced Christianity even [into the Court of Caesar, who have combatted in the circus or in the amphitheatre amongst the Martyrs, and practised in every age the very perfection of the Gospel virtue — to judge by the zeal and piety of those, of the rank which females hold in the estimation of the Lord, I do think we would not be led to despise them, nor postpone their claims on his compassion, to those of the more exalted sex ; unless, indeed, we were to assist the persons whom the Lord should heal, like the author of " the Complete Exposure,' 1 who laughs at a miracle, because it was said to have been operated on an humble mechanic, whose trade he mentions, by way of derision. The Fisher- man, the Publican, the Tentmaker amongst the Apostles, would never surely have been selected for their office, had this civilian been the privy counsellor of the Lord, But of this theory of the nerves, we could say to those who use it, (and it is the only argument, worthy of consi- deration, used by all those who combat with my opponent,) "extra peram phUosophantur ;"" for, even if it were as real as it is fanciful, it has not, in reality, a just application to the cases in question, as the persons cured, were not, at the time of their recovery, under any extraordinary degree of excitement whatever — they experienced that state of soul, and temperament of mind, which is attendant upon a, calm and settled devotion, such dispositions as are recom- mended in the letter of the Prince, and which, for the great- er part, are the same as every pious Catholic seeks to bring to the foot of the altar ; they were of a meek and gentle kind, placid, humble, and resigned. There was a whirl- wind, (I quote the substance, not the words of Elias,) and behold the Lord was not there, and again a strong wind and the Lord was not; and then a light and gentle breeze, and behold the Lord appeared. It is not in agitation, or trouble, or excitement of any kind, that the pious Christian expects to feel the grace or operation of the Deity ; and the scoffers themselves would cease to laugh, did they experience m the calm repose, the sweet resignation, the perfect confor- mity to the will of God, which those persons enjoyed, at the moment they perceived within them the movement of an almighty and renovating power ! Of a power which caused them to sink into the abvss of their own nothinjr- ness, or exclaim, in the language of the Seraph, "Holy, "Holy, Holy Lord God of Hbsm'- Were the scoffers so favoured, they would find themselves far removed from that bitterness and overflowing of uncharitableness, by which they badly prove that they are the children of peace and love. But if we permit ourselves, with these scoffers, thus ( (1 abandon an improved philosophy — to exchange the prin- ciples of a Bacon, a Newton, or a Locke, for those of Des Cartes, Mallebranehe, or Woulfe, by substituting for analysis and facts, systems founded in fancy, whift security will re- main for us either in practical science or the business of life ? What prudent man, when he finds water congealed or ice dissolved, will seek for any other cause but heat or cold ; will he proceed to conjure up some driftlcss system to account for an effect so obviously resulting from a well- known cause ? Systems, indeed, are plausible, and easily impose upon a simple mind. I recollect, when a boy in College, to have read BinToifs theory of the Earth, and scarcely hesitated to consider it both just and reasonable. When more versed in that subject, I perceived how much I was deluded by appearances of truth. In such matters, however, as no passion prevails, the mind is easily with- drawn from error ; but not so in moral and metaphysical hypothesis which, connecting themselves with the highest interests, are moreover encumbered with the pride and pre- judices of sect and party. The odious calumnies, and foul misrepresentations, by which our religion is blackened, I hesitate to add, though from the Apostle, " by lying teachers,"' induce some Pro- testants to regard it as something monstrous, to which no 24 favour could be granted by the Deity. To suppose that the Lord would be rendered propitious, by the sacrifice of the Mass, or the prayers of those who believe in transub- stantion — who invoke the Saints, and venerate the cross, is an effort of mind, of which, some amongst them, are not ca- pable; and hence it comes, that when supernatural effects are produced in our Church, this portion of our brethren are predetermined not to believe — they close their eyes and ears to our arguments ; and, should their teachers find no reason, in the nature of things, to support their disbelief, they have recourse to the inventions of fancy, to abuse, or decla- mation. They say, " could any thing good come from " Galilee? it is in Beelzebub he casteth out devils.'" Miss Lawler is restored to speech, in the prime of life, after a dumbness of several years — after the power of medicine and electricity had been tried in vain. She is restored in the Church suddenly, and perfectly, by the efficacy of sacrifice and prayer ; and, whilst these obvious causes, which could be seen and almost touched, are rejected, she is told that her nerves, which for an instant were not discomposed, produced her cure. She herself swears before her God to what she felt and heard and believed ; and she is told that it is all deception, that Doctor Cheyne is abetter judge than she. Mrs. Stuart is diseased for several years, and the disease is of an apoplectic nature. I had myself seen her about eighteen months previous to her recovery; she was even then almost speechless, seemingly paralysed — her limbs appeared contracted, her features as if distorted, and so unsound, Lazarus was not an object more worthy of compassion. At length she is despaired of, and her miseries about to terminate, when behold prayer and sa- crifice, in which she joins, are offered for her, and her cure is instantaneous and complete ; but distortion, infirmity, the langour of death itself, sores, ulcers, and all the ruins pro- duced by an apoplectic disease, are not removed by these •bvioui cause*, but by nervet which never moved — by an 35 excitement which was not experienced, by the precipitation of the blood which might kill, but could not save ! Miss Dowel I is so diseased for months, as to be enfeebled to such a degree, that the very movement of her frame might, in the opinion of her physician, produce dissolution- Relief is sought from God by those means which in all ao-es have been used agreeably to his own command, in order to obtain his mercy. She rises, and almost takes up her bed and walks ; and this is nerves. To suppose so, is not to be credulous, but it is to hoodwink faith and reason, and bring them into captivity to prejudice ! A poor boot-maker who had been leading for years a dying life, encompassed with all manner of infirmity, goes, supported on his crutch, to the temple to pray whilst the sacrifice is offered, and he returns bounding and praising God. But he is not deemed worthy to be taken under the protection of the nervous system, for no miracles could be wrought on a man who closed boots ! I have seen an old woman cured about the same time, who had been perhaps for twenty years stooped down to the earth almost, with some disease probably of the spine, and in whom poverty, cold, want and age weakened much the elasticity of the nerves. She prayed with an humble faith, and stood erect; but why should not some hypothesis be devised to shew that her cure was a mistake, or that her disease belonged to some undiscovered class ? My opponent will excuse me from not adducing other mira- cles, for though I could recount many, even some of men, and all undoubted, yet I think it quite superfluous to load my page with new illustrations of the nervous system. " But let the Prince prove in avy one unequivocal instance^ "that hehas the power of working miracles,and my opponent " will be less disposed to question his pretensions ; let him " restore a lost limb for example, or raise the dead to life.'" His Highness must feel much obliged for this indulg- ence. 26 Why our Lord only raised four persons to life, though the diseases which he cured were innumerable. I do not recollect that Peter raised any dead person to life, though his very shadow cured the sick. As to the setting of broken legs or making new ones, I don't find the Apostles employed in such-like operations. The curing of the ordi- nary diseases prevailing at the time, seems to me to have been the object of the Lord, and of his Disciples ; and chiefly perhaps because there is nothing sought after with so much avidity, nothing received with so much gratitude, as restoration to health ; so that he " who went about " doing good," as also his followers, employed themselves generally, when they wrought miracles, in such works of mercy as were most obvious and pressing, and which could best tend to direct the hearts of the multitude to heaven. To heal diseases was a part of the commission given to the seventy-iwo disciples. Some, indeed, required a sign from Christ in the heavens, after he had wrought one upon earth, that they might not question further his pretensio?is ; but did he shew it to them? No, to that adulterous and sinful generation no further sign would be given, but the sign of Jonas the Prophet that is the Resurrection, and to those who at any time require a sign after their own fancy, from those who work miracles in the Church, no sign will be given but the sign of the Church itself, which, like a beacon on a high hill, exhibits herself to the world, but especially to the Christian world, as ready to receive and enlighten all the nations that flow to her ! One " Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic ? beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array ! But my opponent piques himself on the discovery of an argument which had escaped the sagacity of his predecessors, namely, that the miracles of our Lord, which the pre- sent miracles resemble, are believed, because they were wrought by him whose other miracles are beyond contro- 27 versy ; and which, it' they stood alone, would, or might, be rejected. In reply, I would beg to observe with him, that there were many of the miracles of the "Lord like to those which we now treat of, from which it is just to deduce that these also may be true miracles, and should not therefore be scoffed at ! But to resume ; were the same objects now to be attained as in 'the time of Christ, namely, the establishment of the Christian religion, those commissioned to preach it, would, if necessary, work prodigies even greater than those wrought by him, for such is the tenor of his promise ; but where the Church is established, there is no such necessity. When the plant has struck root, as Gregory observes, it does not require to be constantly watered ; it is enough if it be sprinkled from time to time, with the overflowing of the dews of heaven — the ordinary graces originally grantee! to the Church. The grace of curing the sick, the favours assigned to humble and pious supplication, these are never withheld ; and though at sometimes they abound more, and at others less, they are always proportioned to the state and circumstances of the Church. But as to the miracles wrought in after ages being con- sidered as isolated, and not entering into that chain of pro- digies which commenced at Bethelem, and will end in the Valley of Josaphet, this view of them will never enter into the mind of a Catholic. The miracles now wrought are in our judgment, as intimately connected with the raisins of Lazarus and the resurrection of the Lord, as those wrought by Paul. The Church is always one, ever ancient and ever new ; like her Founder, she may be said to.be yesterday, to-day, and for ever ; all that is done in her, is done by him, in whom, and by whom, all things consist and are ; before whom a thousand years are as one day, and one day as a thousand years. But I come to the testimony on which these miracles are asserted to have taken place, and which is justly required by 58 this writer " to be unexceptionable in the highest degree;" and indeed unless with those who believe that we Catholics have a license to commit perjury, I cannot well conceive any ordinary events better testified, than such of these miracles as have been juridically proved. The cure of Miss Lawler is proved to have occurred, as set forth in the published documents, not only by the notoriety of the fact itself, but also by the affidavits of three lay gentlemen, twoclergymen, of the young lady herself, and of her mother. The reco- very of Mrs. Stuart is sworn to, by four religious ladies, by an attendant maid, and by two clergymen. The Apostle, as a rule of evidence, says, " in the testimony of two or three witnesses every word shall stand," and "against a priest " do not receive an accusation, unless on the evidence of two " or three;' 1 but St. Paul probably had not practiced in the courts mentioned in " the Complete Exposure," or had not learned the wisdom of this world as perfectly as it is known in our times. The other miracles referred to, have for their support only such proof as the c*o\vds who witnessed them could furnish — proof very like to that which the centurion's family, or that of the chief of the synagogue, or of the Phenician woman, could furnish of the cures wrought in their presence — such, in all probability, as the nineteen- twentieths of the miracles wrought by Christ and his Apos- tles could be attested by ; and as to physicians in these days, unhappily they ssem to be overlooked altogether. We however, have treated the faculty with more deference ; for where certificates were attainable they were procured, short indeed, and dubious, as if Dr. Doyle himself, or some such Jesuit presided to see that no triumph were given to either party ; and where the feelings of wonder and sur- prise outran the caution of these gentlemen, there affidavits made, or threatened to be made, elicited or proved their judgment ! What more need my opponent wish to have,, unless 4ie be a^Jew or an unbeliever, or could we 29 seek for Hindoos, Japanese, or cannibalsin ^Christian coun- try ? or summon to the bed-side of infirmity all who walked the streets, or to our churches those who would not enter them if an angel called ? Or who again does he suppose can testify, but those who saw, and heard, and touched ? — And if the Church need testimony of what occurs within herself, must she, forsooth, distrust her own children, bear- ing witness to her of what her spouse, their father had done for them ? Not so the courts of law, for they admit the child to prove what concerns his parent or his brother, well knowing, that to a Christian, the God of Truth and Justice is much more dear and awful than mortal man, even though he be a father. To those who believe us all im- postors, we do not appeal, nor wish to offer them a new oc- casion of blaspheming God, and violating his first and best commandment, to love each other, to do to others in word and work, as we would have them to do to us. Butthe witnesses "are an interested Priesthood and their deluded followers." Such the scoffers believe, were the Catho- lic Archbishop of Dublin and his clergy who scrutinized and judged of these Miracles. Men thereby rendered guilty of betraying Christ, and of selling his truth and glory for something more base and paltry than the pelf of Judas I But it is adduced as an objection, that no persons not Ca- tholics were cured. Even if that were the case, the objection would be trivial, for the grace of cures belongs to the church, and though it is what we in our theology call " a " gratia gratis data,'''' " a grace given to be employed for 11 the good of others,"' 1 it is seldom extended where the Church is established, beyond her pale : but the case is otherwise, for if J. K. L. deserve credit, or a Rev. gen- tleman his informant, who has lately been at Bamberg, nine Protestants were cured, sometimes previous to his being there, of various diseases. But we come to the third and last part of our discussion, so namely "of what value a real and well authenticated Mt- " racle is, in establishing the superiority of a particular "religious system? 11 Though this question is somewhat irrevalent, yet, as my opponent has introduced it for the purpose of giving place to certain remarks, as ungenerous as they are unjust ; I am not unwilling to follow him through it. I shall, however, previously insert the pub- lished letter of the Prince D. Hohenlohe, to the magistrates of the district of Wurtzburg, in Germany, in which his Higness explains the objects for which the Almighty, as he supposes, is pleased to work these cures. I shall add a sketch of some of the cures themselves, that the public may be the better enabled to judge both of their nature and end : — " Most Worthy Magistrate of the Royal Metropolis " of the District of Wurzburg. 1 ' " To your kind favour concerning the instantaneous **cure of the Princess Schwartzenberg, I have the honor to "reply in strict conformity with the truth, as follows: " The instantaneous cure of the Princess is a fact which " cannot be called in question. How did it happen ? It was " the result of a lively faith in the power and divinity of the " name of Jesus, which, invoked with firm confidence and " remembrance of the words of Scripture ; // you ash the " Father any thing in my name, he wilt give it you ; and " through his divine and immediate interposition, most gra- *' ciously granted to her who was in need of help, deliverance " from her infirmity ; and in the pure and simple intention, " that thereby God Almighty might be praised and magni- " fied, and his only begotten Son, to whom the Father has ** given all power in heaven and on earth, be glorified by such «'an event ; and that faith in the divinity of Jesus, which in " these days is so much fallen away, might be revived " amongst the many denominations of Christians, wiio are SI " withlielcl by human pride from bowing down their under* " standing to faith. " We may demand such a cure of Almighty God, for " the more perfect discharge of the duties which (-'od him- " self has imposed upon our calling, in order to his honor " and our souPs good ; and that our Mother the holy Catho- " lie Church, may be glorified, who grants such power to her " faithful children, to prove that she is the only true Church «• of God. " This active and lively faith and pious intention are at- " ways in the power of him who is in need of help ; and thus " he may expect the speedy co-operation of heavenly succour. " This was undertaken for the Princess. // teas done to her f f as she believed. " With every sentiment of respect, &c. " Alexander, Prince of Hohenlohe, Spiritual Counsellor." Wurzburg, June 22, 1821. At Wurzburg he commenced those extraordinarv actions which have astonished and are astonishing all the nations of Europe. Francis Nicholas Baur, Vicar and Dominicalis Major of the Ancient Chapter of Wurzburg, lias given in twelve Letters an authentic account of the remarkable occurrences performed by the Prince during his residence of twenty- tour days in that city. Over his bed hangs the identical Crucifix used by the great St. Francis Xavier, in the Indies, a present from his Holiness Pius VII. He has chosen for his companion a man truly religious, of low condition, named Michel, of his own country — who unites with him in • prayer, pre- * Martin Michel lives at Unterwittinghausen, a village which formerly belonged to Wurzburg, but now belongs lo Baden, five leagues from th»s place ; and he is the brother-in-law of the professor who formerly lived here, Doctor Bergold, n-iv* Rector-of Hassfurt, in the circle of the Lower Maine. vious to the working of his miracles. These prayers do not consist of long-sounding words, of formal bombast, and multiplied titles, such as the Heithens made to their gods, but with faith and fervor, he says with the Apostles, in " the name of Jesus arise, thy faith hath healed thee.'''' With perfect confidence he has restored persons declared incurable : he has made the blind to see — the deaf to hear — the lame to walk, and paralytics he has perfectly cured. * The number of cures performed in the above-mentioned city, and which are enregistered, are more than one hun- dred ; among these are Princess Matilda, of Schwartzen- berg, who was cured, after being lame from her 8th to her 17th year: 80,000 florins had been spent in medical ad- vice for her, and fourteen days before the Prince saw her* her life was despaired of. 1 It was only with the most violent pain that she could lie in a horizontal position, and only by means of a ma- chine constructed by Mr. Heine, could she be something freer from pain in bed ; because it supported her and brought her nearer to a perpendicular direction ; and in this state the Prince of Hohenlohe found her, where praying with him and his disciple Martin Michel, and with full con- fidence in God, at his command to arise, she was instantly cured. She stepped out of bed alone, threw the machine from her, was dressed, and walked afterwards in the Court* yard, and in the Garden, performed her devotions the next morning in the Church, with praises and thanksgivings, vi- sited the Garden of the Court and Julius'' Hospital, and went on the 24th instant, in company with her Serene Highness the Princess of Lichtenstein, bom Princess of Usterhazy His Serene Highness the Duke of Aremberg, also her uncle, his Serene Highness the Prince of Baar, and others, to the Sermon of the Prince of Hohenlohe, in the Collegiate Church of Haug, and continue* to this hour perfectly well. *' The public will do well to reflect on this/ says Father Uaur, ' and the more so, as on the preceding, as well as on the 20th of June in the morning;, the Princess could neither turn herself in bed, nor stand on either of her feet ! The Crown Prince of Bavaria, who was deaf, was restored to his hearing. " On the Prince's way from Wurzburg he was met by se- veral vehicles full of sick persons ; he stopped, got out of his carriage, and healed them. In Essleben he did the same. In Hassfurt, four leagues from Schweinfurt, he healed five persons. We continue to receive intelligence of him. — There came a letter from Bamberg, of the 3d instant, where tlie Prince has begun to perform cures as he did here. " He restored two sisters to the use of their limbs, who had not left their beds for ten years. The counsellor Jacob who had been confined to his room for four years, accom- panied his deliverer from the third story down to the house- door. The upholsterer, Mr. Kauer, who had been long ago given up by the physicians, i* seen abroad again. The beneficed clergyman, Rev. Mr. Sollncr, of Hallstadt, be- fore the residence of the Prince, in the presence of a num- ber of persons, was cured of the gout as he sat in the carriage, and immediately alighted, and went through the town on foot, Mr. Deuerling, the saddler, can now look after his workmen without stick or crutch, Sec. " On the morning of Saturday, the 30th of June, a chaise drove up to Staufenberg's hotel. It was immediately conjectured, that it had brought some poor creature in need of help, and actually an old man, by trade a butcher, was carried out of it in sheets into the hotel ; for all his mem- bers were so crippled, that he could not be touched with hands. The crowd assembled before the place in the hotel, were astonished to see a person so extremely afflicted, and many said aloud, ' If this man be cured, the finger of God will be manifest.' The whole multitude were full of ex- 34 peetation for the event. After a time a lady was heard in the hotel, calling out of the window to those in the windows of the adjoining house : " Good God ! the man is cured !— He can walk already !* The crowd below were now more eager with expectation ; when another lady called out to them : " Clear the way before the door, the man is coming out! let him have a free passage!" The man came out, and walked to his chaise ; but after driving a little way he stopped the coachman, and desired him to take him back to the gracious Prince, as through excessive joy he had forgot- ten to return him thanks. " In the afternoon a young man was brought from Bur- glauer, who had studied divinity here two years before, but from a disorder in his legs, had lain since that time in con stant and excessive pain. His friends in the seminary had pressed him to come hither, and they moreover induced his Serene Highness, as the sick man could not leave his bed in the carriage, to come out to him. He encouraged the suf- ferer to great confidence in the power and goodness of God and then prayed over him, and told him to arise in the name of Jesus. The first time, the sick man could not arise. His Serene Highness repeated the prayer, and the man declared that all his pain had left him. The Prince prayed a third time, and to the astonishment of the im- mense crowd assembled before the Staufenberg Hotel, when he called out " Arise !" the sick man raised himself up- right in his bed. Every one was amazed to think how languid and emaciated had been the state of this man, who now stood before them with a countenance beaming with joy ; whereas, a moment before, lie had lain to all appear- ance at the point of death. Both his feet were before quite dead, for pins had been run into his flesh, and he felt no- thing of them. " Other remarkable cures have been wrought at the fol- lowing places. Upon the sister of Mrs. Broili, the grocer, who lay under the physician's care almost dead, but was 35 healed on the spot, and now enjoys full health and vigour. Likewise on a book-keeper of her's, a native of Volkach ; whose speech was greatly affected by a disorder in his tongue, but who now speaks perfectly well. " The child of Mr. Gulemann, who wa3 attended by medical men, being entirely blind ; but was restored on the spot, and to this hour remains blessed with perfect sight. " A most remarkable case was the cure of the wife of the forester Kiesling ; and that of the Clerk of the Courts, Mr. Kandler, who had almost given up all hopes of relief from physicians, and was perfectly healed of a lingering disease. " Moreover, the daughter of Mr. Mel, the King's cellarer who was deaf; she ran about the house, crying out for joy, " I can hear perfectly well !" Previous to his departure on the 11th of July, his Serene Highness worked the follow- ing cures, among many others, which are certainly miracu- lous in their kind. " A boy of four years old was brought from Grossen- langheim, who, for three years and a half had one of his eyes entirely covered by the eyelid, so that no one could tell whether the eye existed at all ; and his other eye was covered with a film. This boy was so perfectly restored by the prayers of the Prince, that both his eyes are now sound and well, and the same afternoon he went up and down all the steps of the Quanleischer House in this place. " A wine merchant came from Konigshofen, whose hands and feet had been for four years so much contracted, that his hands were fast clenched like a fist, and he could scarcely use them at all. This man was instantaneously re- stored, so that he can stand upright on his feet, and walk, and also open and shut his hands, and enjoys the perfect use of them. It is remarkable also, that from the long and close clenching of his hands, the nails have produced a kind, of horny substance in the hand like corns. e'2 86 " A man from Schwemelsbach, who had not been able for eight years to raise himself once in his bed, was brought in a carriage before the residence of the Rev. Prince, who was just about to begin a journey. The Prince was in the greatest haste, but still wished to relieve this afflicted man, and accordingly opened his window, and began to pray from it ; desiring the sick person to pray at the same time. After giving him his blessing, he called out to the man to arise. This hecould notdo, and theprayer was repeated, where-upon the 6ick man raised himself a little, and declared that he was quite free from pain. The prayer was again repeated, and then the man arose entirely by himself, got out of the ve- hicle, went from thence to the Collegiate Church of Hang, and there returned thanks to God for his deliverance. — Who would think of pretending that in this case there could have been any application of magnetism : when from the Prince, who spoke and prayed from his widow up 6tairs, to the sick man, there was so great a distance, as to render breathing upon him, and much more touching him, quite impossible. Mr. William Talbot writes as follows. " I deem it right, and conducive to the greater glory of Almighty God, to state the following, which occurred on the 22d of May last, in the presence of John Talbot, Esq. nephew and heir of the Right Hon. the Earl of Shrewsbury, and his lady, in his IIighness , s own Palace of Bamberg, as related to me by them at Brussels, in the month of June last. The fact is as follows : " During a visit they paid his Highness on the day above-mentioned, a woman labouring under a deafness, which had baffled the best medical assistance in German}-, was perfectly and instantly cured on the Prince only saying a prayer over her, to the astonishment of all present ; a proof of which was, her replying to questions put in the low- est tone of voice, at the extremity of a very long gallery of the palnce, not only by the Prince himself, but by Mr. and 37 Mrs. Talbot, and other company, who were in the room at the time. " A lady of high rank in France, and who had travelled 300 miles to see his Highness, hud been instantly cured on the preceding day of an ulcer in her face, by the imposition of his hands, as she related it herself to Mrs. Talbot. In fine, I should never end, were I to relate the various won- ders wrought, under God, by this most holy and amiable ecclesiastic." By firm confidence in God, with God, and by God, he per- forms these cures ; possessed of a most lively and animated faith in the Divine power, he requires from the sufferers ex- plicitly a firm confidence in God, that he can and will help them, and that in the name of Jesus they will be effectually cured. " On May the 3d, 1822, a supernatural cure has taken place in the person of Miss Barbara O'Connor, of New- Hall, near Chelmsford, which has caused the astonishment of all the physicians and surgeons who attended her, among whom was the celebrated anatomist, Mr. Carpue, as the disease itself, which consisted in a total deprivation of mo- tion, attended with excruciating pain and a prodigious swell- ing, and baffled their utmost skill for the preceding year and a half. To be brief, they recommended amputation of the limb, a.% the best thing to be done in so desperate a case, particularly on May 2d, the day preceding the cure. In the mean time, Prince Hohenlohe of Bamberg, whose name is celebrated for the supernatural cures he has wrought, hav- ing been applied to by a friend of the young Lady, be pro- mised to say Mass for her at eight o'clock in the morning of that day, May 3d, and directed her to hear Mass and re- ceive the Holy Communion at the same time. This she punctually performed ; when suddenly, at the last Gospel of the Mass, she perceived a slight shock in her shoulder, which darted to the extremity of her fingers. In a word, .she was perfectly restored to the use of her hand and arm, 38 and ireed from the pain with which she had been so long tormented. In a late number of V Ami Ac la Religion et du Roi, we have an account of a miraculous cure resembling the last mentioned in many particulars. Mile. Marie Licol, of Gremonville, in the Lower Seine, aged thirty-eight, had been afflicted with a paralysis of the left arm and hand, which rendered them quite motionless since the year 1815, and withered them to the appearance of a dead limb. Ap- plication being made by Letter to Prince Hohenlohe, he directed the patient to hear Mass and receive the Holy Communion on Palm Sunday, March 21, 1822. She com- plied, when, immediately after communicating, her hand and arm were restored to their natural powers and healthful ap- pearance. On the 11th of March, 1823, a young female, of Verde- lain, Diocese of Bordeux, in France, was restored in the Church, on the day and hour prescribed by the Prince, to the use of speech, after five years privation of that faculty. On the 13th of June, 1823, Miss Mathers, of Bouverie- street, Fleet-street, London, by attending to the wise pre- scriptions of the Prince, was miraculously cured of a most excruciating nervous complaint, which she had for the period of eighteen months. * The above-mentioned Lady received a Letter from the Low Countries, giving an account of another miraculous cure operated through the prayers of his Serene Highness, on one who had been confined to bed forthe space of 30 years. Behold, then, the man and his works, not, indeed, juri- dically proved, nor bringing with them the seal of any fa- culty, but such as they are presented to us by the history of our time, like the events which we hear of as passing in South America, or Greece, with this difference, that these cures occurred nearer home, and are connected with others wrought amongst ourselves. Doubt should not, therefore, attach to their existence more than to that of any other • Pee note C. 39 public event. As to the " cui bono" we see the Prince mentions many ends which the Almighty might propose to himself in the exhibition of these cures, to wit, " that He " and his only Son Jesu3 might be glorified (for which end he made all things originally) — to furnish new proofs of the Divinity of Christ so generally questioned or denied at present, in Germany, in Britain, and even amongst our- selves — to strengthen and reanimate the piety of the faith- ful, that they may proclaim, with encreased zeal, the glory of God — and lastly, thus to exhibit to the world the supe- rior privileges of that holy Church, whose children are thus singularly favoured. I have stated these preliminaries, to shew, that neither the Prince himself, nor the Catholic Prelates, have at any time asserted, that the end of these wonders was to establish the superiority of " their system of' religion" as it is quaintly called ; indeed they do not consider that for this, any extraordinary proof is required, or has been necessary these fifteen hundred years, since the Church was first established ; or, again, " to convert the Protestants," for though this seems to be conjectured by Doctor Murray, he could contemplate the conversion, even of many of them, only as an accidental contribution to the glory of God. Whosoever will take the trouble of casting his eye over the pastoral letters, published by his Grace, and by Doctor Doyle, will clearly perceive the ends which they considered as promoted by these cures. From those letters, also, it is clear, that these Prelates, whilst they declared the cures to be supernatural and divine, did not, more than the Prince himself, attribute them exclusively to the interces- sion of his Highness.They knew, indeed, that " the prayer of "a just man availeth much," 1 but they were also taught, that where two or three are assembled, in Christ's name, that he is in the midst of them, and, that whatsoever they ask the Father, for the Son's sake, is granted them. These united supplications had been put up by the Prince's own direc- 40 f'ion, and they, accompanied or followed by the most ac- ceptable sacrifice of the new law, together with the faith of the patients, were the means stated to have produced the cures. It did not enter into the minds off those Prelates, either to judge of the special end which the Almighty j>ro- posed to himself in relieving the infirmity of a few of his creatures, or to canonize the Prince Hohenlohe as a Worker of Miracles, however they might venerate him, for no Bi- shop presumes, during the life-time of any person, to judge {hat miracles have been wrought by him. To do so, is the special prerogative of the Holy See, as Ben. XIV. shews at large in his work Dc Can. SS. Tom. 2 and 4th ; and hence whilst I proceed to discuss the third question proposed by my opponent, I have disengaged it from all necessary connec- tion with our former subject. Miracles then considered abstractedly, are not always certain signs, cither of the sanctity of those who work them, or of the truth of their doctrine. Christ himself not only permits us, but even orders us to examine both miracles, and those by whom they are performed. " If you be told," says he, " here is the Christ or there, believe it not, for "there will arise false Christs and false prophets who will « : do great signs and prodigies." 1 Matih. xxiv. Moses, in Dent. ch. xiii. had said before of false Prophets and workers of wonders whose predictions would even be verified, that if they afterwards invited the people to go after strange Gods they should not be followed, for the Lord only wish- ed to prove by them the fidelity of his people. So it will be with Anti-Christ, of whom Paul and John foretel, that he will work such wonders as would deceive, if it were pos- sible, even the very elect. The proof then deduced from miracles is never certain or necessary, unless the character of him who appeals to them, be not only without reproach, "but distinguished by the purity and sanctity of his life, as well as the truth of his doctrine; since the establishment 41 of the Church, he must also prove his mission from her, his submission to those who rule her, and his union with the Saints, and with those whose life and doctrine have always been approved. If an angel from heaven seemed to come and work mira- cles upon the earth, unless he came accompanied with this commission, and those marks, no Catholic would receive him. It is thus that we, of all others, are most secure against the seductions, artifices, and wonders to be wrought by the Man of Sin, or Antichrist, who like a demon who seeks to transform himself into an ano-el of light, will endeavour to imitate the true miracles wrought by Christ and his followers. Upon us, whilst we continue to profess our creed, his labours must be lost ; whilst those persons woidd, indeed, be liable to great temptation, who say, like I believe the author of the " Complete Exposure," that if we would raise the dead to life, or heal miraculously a broken limb, he would not hesitate to embrace our creed; 11 for Antichrist undoubtedly will appear to do this, and even what is perhaps more surprising, for he will cause fire to descend from the heavens, and cause the true be- lievers to appear more vile and contemptible than the poor boot-closer himself ! My present opponent is generous enough to spare us the mortification of his joining in the silly cry about Antichrist, unless we appropriate to ourselves, in despite of his forbear- ance, " the marks of the beast." But there is another kindly-hearted correspondent of Doctor Doyle, whose ranks, he says, are still unbroken, not having, more than Sanchos master after his encounter with the wind-mill, one man killed, wounded, or missing ; to him I owe many apologies for the little notice I have taken of him, though certainly I respect exceedingly his pious zeal. Were he versed in Spanish literature, I would refer him to an inge- nious and ludicrous work of Fejo's, to learn the reason why I have been wanting in courtesy to his precious trifle ; 42 but as I really have not time or inclination to treat of horns, crowns, and sulphur, he will be pleased to consult a dissertation of Calmet prefixed to his commentary on the the Epistle of St. Paul to the Galatians, and he will find there much more than I could say upon his favourite sub- ject. But before we part, let me express a hope that should we live to see this Man of Sin, that we may be amongst those just who will cry to the Lord from the Mount of Olives, as Lactantius says, and who will be delivered by Christ ; for he will come from heaven with his angels, pre- ceded by a flame of fire ; then the angels united with the just, will destroy the hosts of Antichrist ; from the third hour till night the carnage will be such, that blood will fill the valley like a torrent ; it is then Antichrist, abandoned by all will be slain in his own tent, and upon his own throne, and there will be no one to compassionate his end. Surely this must be a consoling spectacle to Doctor Doyle's correspondent ! Dr. Doyle, I am confident, awaits with the most perfect composure for the coming of those events, and seated in the Church upon a rock, with Christ presiding and governing by his spirit, he does not fear apostacy, or that the children will desert their father, or deny his name. Their forehead or hand never he is certain will be marked by any other sign than that in which they glory, and for which with the Apostle they will never blush. They require no new teacher, no other mediator than the one who has become a propitiation for their sins, nor look for signs or prophecies except from him who promised to be with them all days, even to the end ; who conquered the world for his little flock, and caused them to encrease and multiply until they filled the earth. Let those, who tossed about by every wind, as clouds deprived of water wander through the air or fall in mists which do not fertilize but blight, let them consider Anti- christ and watch his coming, for he too will deal in novel- ties, be filled with lies, and quote like Lucifer the word of 43 life ; his pride and power will be great, but he will arise from earth, will have his origin in time, the day of his coming will be marked as that of Arius or Luther, his reign whether long or short will end, but the Church will be taken up to God with Christ, with whom the Saints will reign for ever ! But I have digressed from where I stated the view which Catholics take of miracles. Those of which there is now question we do not advance as necessary proofs of the truth of our religious system ; that system has quite enough of proof without them, and instead of trying it by them, we regard them as only one of the numberless argu- ments which the Church offers to the world, of being the depository of Christ's graces, and the heiress of his pro- mises. But this writer speaks of " the blessed effects of her doctrine, the ■purity and reasonableness, and the scriptural foundation of her doctrines? Silly man, with whom would SHE CONTEST THESE THINGS, AS YOU WOULD HAVE IT. OR WHO WOULD PRESIDE IX JUDGMENT OVER HER TO WHOM ALL POWER IS GIVEN BY HIM TO WHOM THE FATHER CONSIGNED ALL JUDGMENT, OR COULD SHE TEACH A LIE, WITH WHOM CHRIST IS PRESENT TEACHING ALL DAYS EVEN TO THE end ? The blessed effects of her doctrine ! is it the civilization almost of the world at different periods, and the attraction of all nations to the faith of Christ this writer means ? " The purity and reasonableness of her doctrines ! ' who has ever disputed them, except those who rebelled, like Core, Dathan, or Abiron ? " The scrip- tural foundation of her doctrines,'"' How, Sir, permit me to ask, do you know what is scripture or what is not, but from her, and who can judge of its sense, as Ter- tullian observes with Vincent of Lerins, and every man not swayed by some religious system, but she with whom the Scriptures and their interpretation and sense, the whole property, right and title of them were originally deposited ? Is it Manes you would invite to tell their meaning ? or Arius, or Vigilantius, or CEcoIempatlius, who paraphrased 44 them into a most ludicrous ritual, whereby towed his wife? " Prove the spirits, saith John, for many false prophets " have gone out into the world." Ah we know this truth well, and having proved them, we frequently expel them, before like wolves they would clothe themselves in the lamb's skin;, but whether we cast them from us or they de- part, we say with the Apostle, " they went out from us, " because they were not of us, for if they were of us, they " surely would have remained with us." Again, Paul tells Timothy, « that after the manner of the Egyptians" who resisted Moses (be it observed) and all his wonders, "corrupt men shall withstand the truth." Yes, and therefore he besought him to preserve the deposit which he had entrusted to him before many witnesses, and to commit the same to faithful men who would be fit to teach others ; because, as he justly observes, " evil men and seducers shall *•« grow worse and worse, erring and driving into error, men " corrupted in mind, reprobate concerning the faith, re- " sistinn- the truth as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses." But as a proof of the corruption of our religious system, this writer imputes to us the belief that a bit of buead is god ! horrible though not unprecedented blasphemy ! This, however, is a diversion made, not for the sake of argu- ment, (for the writer must have known it was a falsehood he advanced) but to engage on his side the prejudices of the ig- norant and besotted amongst the Protestants ; he wished to bear down J. K. L., and as the miser or spendthrift seek- in" for gain says, si rem bene... si non quocumque modo rem, if he could not effect his purpose by argument, he would do it by a gross and insulting calumny. It is not the least remarkable occurrence of the present time, that some of the most violent and vituperative writers against our rights and religion, such as the person to whom the " Observations" arc in part attributed, should be, not like the hero celebrated by Tasso, who though he had fallen from the faith, still retained the finest principles of the 15 Gospel with all the heroism of a warrior ; but like those renegadoes of whom we read in the histories of Genoa and Venice, who seemed possessed by some wicked fiend from the moment they put on the turban. Transubstantiation, an absurd and blasphemous doc- trine ! ! Yes, and this writer has sworn on the Evangelists, or declared solemnly before heaven, not tvhat he believed of ks, but that our belief in transubstantiation and in the sa- crifice of the Mass, our invocation of saints, &c. really is blasphemous ; nay what is worse, pure unmixed idolatry. This writer, if formerly a Catholic, knew as well as I do, that such oath when taken by him was pure unmixed per- jury, and such declaration by him absurd and blasphemous. For however Protestants may reconcile such oaths and de- clarations to their conscience, from their ignorance of our tenets, no person educated in the Catholic faith can fail to know they are such as I have stated ; for though the blessed Eucharist were in reality nothing else than bread and wine, this writer knows that we do not worship either, nor adore those things which appear to our sight and touch, but Christ who is invisible. If Christ be present, as we believe he is, our worship is just and righteous; if he be not, we are in error, and our adoration has no object in the sacrament. It may be said that the adoration must termi- nate somewhere, and so it does ; it terminates in Christ, if not upon the altar, certainly in heaven ; but in no case does it terminate in bread. Even many enlightened Pro- testant divines have thus candidly stated our doctrine. Adoration, worship, are acts of the inmost soul of man, "and who" as Solomon saith " can know the sense of man " but the spirit of man which is within him f who there- fore can swear, and adjure the majesty of God to witness the truth when he swears ,that I am an idolator if I worship Christ present if he be as I am sure he is, upon our altar; or if he be not, when I worship him in heaven where he is. To swear that one believes a certain doctrine as expounded, 46 to be false, is not unfair, though sometimes rash ; but to swear that the adoration of the host as practised in the Church of Home is idolatry, is rash I fear in all ; is false in those who know our doctrine. Idolatry is an act of the mind whereby Ave give to something created the supreme honour due to God alone ; and do we give this honour to wine and bread ? The child at the breast could cry we do not ; the beams of the roof of the temple could answer we do not. We give it to the Father and to the Son who is consubstantial to him, and who was made man, to them and to the Spirit who proceeds from them we give supreme worship. What seems bread in the Eucharist, we value not. Those accidental qualities of bread and wine which we distinguish from the substance, but which yet are tangible and would suffice like carnal food to nourish the body, are not the object of our worship ; but that immortal and im- passible God made Man which they conceal ; Him we worship. And what is transubstantiation but a consequence as necessary from the real presence as light is from the sun ? « Christ having risen from the dead, says the Apostle, " dies no more, death shall no more prevail over him." His body thus imbued with glorious qualities far beyond our frail conception, is verily and indeed (to use the words of another liturgy) given and received. It is not Christ as God only who now descends, for in him as such i: we always " live, and move, and have our being," but he descends as God and man indivisibly conjoined, with flesh as he pro- duced it from the virgin, or raised it from the tomb ; and if he do, and is made present thus, when we break bread as he commanded us, not in our own name or by our own power but by his, for we do not say «« this is his body," but this is wi body ; if when we thus break bread or bless the cuo, he is there as we are all agreed, Canterbury, Augsburgh, Rome, Constantinople, and the East — is his flesh not present in the place of bread ? or if not, how is it true, that this — •±-his which I hold and press, is my bodYj that is, the body 47 of Christ ? Where shall we turn to escape this truth, or why not believe that he who comes from heaven to be pre- sent, as all allow, takes for his flesh the place which bread just occupied, preserving those accidental qualities of it which screen him from our sense, and which in our lan- guage are inaccurately called appearances. For though they are distinct from the elements or substance which have been changed or trnsubstantiated, yet all our teachers, witness Bellarmin, Bossuet, and the rest, assert that these accidental parts can nourish or inebriate like other food. What then is transubstantiation, but the presence of Christ's real body in the sacrament ? and who, as Calvin said, can believe in the one, and yet deny the other ? all there is mysterious and incomprehensible, as the confession of Augsburgh well expresses it. But is not Christianity all mysterious ? A God, Supreme and One, whose eternal wis- dom or whose Word remaining in him, yet proceeds abroad and founds the heavens ; whilst the connecting love of both, abiding always with them, yet proceeds from them and gives to the creation all its ornament and virtue ; as light and heat from the sun proceed with powers as wonderful as the great source from whence they flow. And this word- made-flesh, this God-made-man, giving of his fullness to all who believe, is not this mysterious ? And the atone- ment which he made for man, and the propitiation of that fault which Adam committed, is it not incomprehensible ? And yet we believe, because we know that God has told it ; and if he walked on earth, and was seen by men, and lived and died amongst us in that servile form which he took, and promised to bestow upon those whose feet he washed, an earnest of his love, — a bond of union for his people, — a source of grace for his elect, — a pledge of resurrection and of future glory, — shall we disbelieve him because he said it was his body, not cut into particles, as the gross Capharnaites thought, but veiled as bread and wine, to nourish and ex- hilerate the soul ? 48 Can he who called the world out of nothing, or who moved on the abyss, putting chaos into order, who slept in Bethelem, was numbered among the wicked, who bled be- tween two thieves, whilst all the hosts of heaven worshiped him above, can he not take his place within the breast of man and disseminate his virtues through the soul, as the diamond sheds its lustre in obscurity ? Surely he can, nor does he here deceive our sense, for lie lias told us he would be with us, and as we believe that " God was in Christ reconciling the world to himself.'''' though we could only sec or touch the form of man in •which he was ; so when he says, " this is my body" we can believe the truth of what he says, just as we could be- lieve that he was hidden on the Cross. For surely that Deity which could conceal himself can also ravish from our eyes the glorious and impassible flesh, which in heaven or earth is always with him, and partaking, as far as it is capable, of his glory. This flesh does not corrupt in us, or feel vicissitude or change, but when the veil which covered it is dissolved, it then departs with that divinity and soul of Christ from which it never was disjoined. Wonderful and incomprehensible, it is true, yet only like the other mysteries of Christian faith ! And whilst my pen runs upon this subject, let us see the Mass, and what it is in which this transubstantiation is effected. The priest who blesses or consecrates the bread, is one succeeding to those blessed Apostles who were desired to commemorate the death of Christ in ce- lebratino- the mysteries of his law ; he is not a priest in his own right;, for after Aaron there were many priests, but Christ as priest has no successor ; it is He who changes the elements of bread and wine into his flesh and blood ; the priest who stands at the altar acts not in his own name, but in the name of Christ, whose " minister and tlje dispenser " of whose mysteries" he is ; hence he says in the name oi 49 him 4k who appears before the face of God for us' 1 this is my body, this is my blood, and Christ according to the institu- tion being then made present as " a Iamb that was dead " and yet lives," is thereby offered to the Father, as lie in- cessantly offers himself in heaven. There is no new priest- hood, there is no new sacrifice : By the one oblation sin was cancelled, and the high priest who was also the victim, hav- ing entered once into the holy of holies, lives always to inter- cede for us. He offers himself there, and bv the agency of his ministers he is offered here on the earth, as often as he descends to feed us with the bread of life ; not to make an atonement, which he has already plentifully made, but to apply this atonement to our souls by his intercession with the Father for us, being the only mediator between him and men. Why we can believe that faith in him, that prayer, that baptism or any other sacred rite can apply the fruit of his death and passion to our souls, and not conceive, why the offering of his body and blood may not also be a mean* of giving thanks, — of rendering God propitious, or obtaining graces from him, is what I cannot comprehend : yet this is all is doneat Mass ; at Mass which is a sacrifice, for Christ is there presented, slain in figure by his word, which presents the body as it were distinct from the blood — true and pro~ pitiatory, because he is there offered for us to his Father whom he thereby renders propitious to his people. To con- clude this long, and as some will say perhaps, irrelevant, digression into which my opponent has conducted me, I must advert to a quotation he adduces from the 3 B. 16 ch. of Pope Gelasius, de Doc. Chr. And in the first place I may be permitted to inform my readers that Pope Gelasius never wrote a book or chapter entitled de Doctrina Christiana ; The book so called was written by St. Augustine, and has in it no such passage as that cited ; but we will not quarrel about mistakes to which every man is liable, and especially such theologians as I am doomed to reason with. D The passage objected is found in a book supposed by some to have been written by the above-named Pope against Eutyches the author of the heresy called after him, (as all heresies arc called after those who first broached them,) but which book in the opinion of Baronius in his annals year 496, and of M. Cano in the 6th b. last ch de loc. theol. is apocryphal. However admitting it ; the author, like Chrysostom, Theodoret, and others of those times uses the words substance or nature (for the writer employs both, and one to explain the other substantia vel natura though my opponent quotes but one) they I say, use these words to signify the extent, limits, or other qualities of a body ; thus Anastatius defines <*>u£ni< or nature, as if it meant f*»g?« ruv Sivrw, that is, the form or quality of things existing : so Theodoret in various places ; so St. Hilary can. x. in Math, writes, iC Corpus per "Jidem mortificatum in naturam anima evadit" the body mortified by faith puts on the nature of a Spirit ; and St. Ambrose in Hexham, lib. 3, ch. 2, and again De Myst. cap. 9. writes naturas fuisse mutatas quando a petra aqua fluxit, et Jordanis contra naturam reversus est in sui fontis exordium. Hardouin de Sacr. cap. 3 and 4 adduces many other examples of this mode of speech. Thus it was that substance or nature were used, to signify qualities not es- sences, by the author of the book against Eutyches, in which the subject of the Eucharist is only introduced by way of illustration. At that time the church was in quiet possession of the faith on this subject, and therefore her writers were less careful of the language they employed. Two things however are manifest, first, that the words quoted signified then as much what we call qualities as what we designate by the word nature or substance, and second, that the belief of the Church at that period was pre- cisely the same it is now; whence the book must be either spurious, or the words were used in a sense consistent with l lie established faith. :>\ To ascertain what this established faith then was we appeal to all the Fathers of that and the preceding age. To Augustine who says " Christ took flesh from the womb of a virgin and ii walked in this flesh, and left us this samejiesh to cat, for our " salvation" " What we consecrate" says St. Ambrose, is " the body which came forth from the Virgin" That which is in the chalice is that same which flowed from his side, and of it we partake, Chrys. Horn. 24 in Ep. 1 ad. Cor. I have selected these sentences for the sake of their brevity in preference to numberless others which shew the faith which then prevailed, and mindful that I have agreed to discuss with J. K. L's. opponent, not the doctrine of the Eucharist but something about Miracles. Observing also that this subject, as far as ancient au- thority is concerned, I had always considered as set at rest; the learned innovators from Luther down, having nearly all agreed, that the Fathers taught what we profess^ We may convince however, but not persuade ; or youth and ignorance may still presume to question what men of learn- ing long since laid aside. It was said by some popular au- thor, whose name I forget, " that nothing is more painful " to a generous mind, than to take favours from a hand it " scorns;" he had not experienced what I feel when arguing theology with but no, I drop the pen. We have at length disposed of the Miracles, and have ar- rived at the Churchy that Church on whose establishment this titular Bishop, as is supposed, has made so unmeasured an attack. Doctor Doyle is, no doubt, a titular Bishop, and having looked into Johnson for the meaning of this word, I find by an example there quoted, that St. Augustine and the holy Valerius his predecessor were titular Bishops also Doctor Doyle venerates, I understand, St. Augustine as a sort of Patriarch of his family, and is not I am confident, at all displeased to hold his See by the same tenure as the Prelate did whom he calls his holy Father; he has a title however and 52 possession, and these by the common latf of the Church give a right to the exercise of spiritual jurisdiction, He asks no more! he is perfectly satisfied that Doctors Lindsey and Ellington should enjoy the temporalities of Kildare and Leigh 1 in, whilst he is permitted in peace to exercise his spi- ritual rights ; let them collect the fleeces whilst he superin- tends the flock. I believe it is the author of the " Com- " plete Exposure 1 ' who calls Dr. Doyle the titular — tolerated Bishop ; he fears such an accumulation of epithets may oppress him, but will be satisfied to bear them — provided they do not annex persecuted, or oblige posterity to add it to his name. I shall now proceed, not to the consideration, (for most of them are unworthy a serious thought) but merely to notice the charges preferred by this Champion of the Establish- ment against J. K. L's Vindication, and even against the character of the writer. This friendly opponent of mine, to avenge my attack, as he calls it, on the establishment, represents me as an anarchist, and robber, and madman, in the hope of exciting the rabble to join him in the cry. He reckons I believe how- ever without his host, and those who assail J. K. L. will- scarcely induce any men of sense or reflection to suppose that he is a friend to disorder, to anarchy, or plunder. If to advance and support by argument the position, « e that the Legislature has a right even to diminish the pre- " sent establishment of the Church, and that the interests « of the country require their doing so," would prove me to be what this writer says I am, one consolation would remain to me, namely, that I should have many to share in my misfortune of every rank and religion in the British empire. The ingenious author of the pamphlet " on the Con- 's sumption of Public Wealth by the Clergy " page, 4. states, that ' c those of the established Church in Eng- *• land and Ireland receive more money in the year >)■> 45 than ALL THE CLERGYMEN OF ALL IH 5 lilLM Ofc J?Htt " WHOLE CHRISTIAN WOKLU 1'UT TGGETHElt," which asSer- tion Doctor Laurence in his late charge, when noticing this pamphlet, does not deny nor disprove, though to do so would obviously serve his Grace's purpose, and the im- mediate object at which he laboured. The Church property in Ireland is, without doubt, greater in proportion than in England, though the one is the richest, the other the poorest country in Europe* the condition of the people considered. This niav serve our souls it is true, as '* blessed are the poor," but we should like to see the maxim of the Apostle enfolded for the sake of the clergy, « bear ye the burthens one " of the other and so ye will fulfil the }*w of Christ/ Their newly created advocate has, however, placed the parsons and prelates of the Church upon now ground, and makes their situation much resemble that of the Egyptian kings who possessed in property the entire of their domi- nions, letting them out to their subjects as tenants at will, for, " tell it not in Gath, publish it not in the streets of " Ascalon," all the inhabitants of this country, rich and poor, Protestant and Catholic, are the tenants of the clergy. I do not know how the Nobility and Gentry of Ire- land may relish such a claim as this. I hope his Grace of Leinster who is so often quoted by my correspondent, will not become the tenant of a parson not many miles dis- tant from his residence, who, some months ago, put ducks in pound for tythe or trespass I know not which, but the fact has been stated to me by a highly respectable gentle- man of the town of Edenderry. Tenants of the clergy ! Why heretofore every man who understood the constitu- tional laws of the country deemed the title of the clergy to tythe, a kind of lien or mortgage upon the land, but the idea of their having a direct dominion ove ■ it," such as a proprietor has who holds in fee, had not hitherto entered 54 into the public mind, but as I have said in my motto " audivimus superbiam Moab t superbus est vahlc. r> The Church seeks to alarm the Gentry for their pos- sessions, should the establishment be interfered with. — G rattan understood this subject much better. Grattan who, like the pillar of light in the desart, guided all the true sons of Ireland, but threw a mist of darkness in the face of her enemies — that best of patriots and wisest amongst the men of his time — who saw almost by intuition the recesses of the Irish heart, and all the interests of his coun- try, past, present, and for ages to come, saw no danger to the old titles from any improvement which could take place : on the contrai'y, he judged that improvements in the condition of the people could best secure those titles like every othersocial interest, because improvementalone could prevent tumult and insurrection. He observed in one of his most memorable speeches in the Parliament of the United King- dom, that the purchases and settlements which had been made by the Catholics, the new interests which had been created in Ireland since the revolution, the whole frame and structure of society forbade the possibility of question- ing the titles of those whom the Churchmen would now alarm. The only danger he foresaw to Ireland was that of leav- ing her inhabitants oppressed and discontented — his maxim through life till the Union was, " the independence of I re- " land and English connection." From 1900 till his death, he only wished and laboured to see the two countries united in interest and affection, and governed by equal laws. He knew his countrymen too well to suppose they had not understanding to see, that nature by the position of this Island seemed to have decreed that she should be united to the sister country, and that the cordial Union of both would render them the strongest and happiest empire in the world; he knew the Irish too well to suppose they would ever prove ungrateful to the men who would bestow 55 upon them the blessings of the constitution, or to think they would continue to be distinct families, if they were all treat- ed as children by their common Father. But the Churchmen always disliked the views of Grat • tan, and could not comprehend his philosophy more than that of Burke, whose spirit from above would frown, could it hear them now quote his name to support their corrosive dominion ! This illustrious Irishman indeed eloquently described the advantages resulting to a monarchical or mixed government from a hierarchy and Church establishment ; but it is be- cause these are good, that they should not be suffered to degenerate, so as to become a nuisance, — so as to eat up jiot only the property of the people but also of the aristo- cracy — those corinthian pillars of the social edifice which Burke so greatly and so justly admired. Who born under a monarchy does not admire and venerate the kingly prerogatives? but behold the exercise of them by the Tudors and Stuarts — their blessed effects in the Star- chamber and dispensation-power ; and see whether even they may not become a curse, and produce those revolutions and catastrophes which they were created to prevent ? It is an adage, " Corruptio optimi pcusima" and in proportion, as a well regulated establishment in this country, (even in this country where the people do not belong to the Church) might be a blessing, so that establishment when it grows into a monstrous size, becomes a nuisance, and by its own weight tends to dissolution. It is superfluous to repeat what I have before written of our Establishment. If my remarks and arguments be not founded on facts or reason, they will not influence any person ; if they be, it is impos- sible that they will not be assented to by every disinterested man, by every man who will not be scared from consulting for the interests of his country by the bug-bears of anarchy and plunder, which the Churchmen, by a kind of pious fraud have endeavoured to cajole into their service. 5b But the Church establishment can not he reformed without the Church itself being destroyed ! This, indeed, is a strange language, when we consider the quarter from whence it proceeds. Had " a Papist, who lives " enslaved to a supposed infallible Church, and doe s " not seek either in the law of nature or the word " of God a reason for his opinions, 1 '' should he say so, his er- ror might not surprise us ; but to hear this doctrine professed by men who believe that they have reformed not the es- tablishment but the very Church of God, is what we were not pepared for — or is it that the ark is less sacred than the hides which cover it ? the doctrine and discipline less vene- rable than the fields and tithes ? But to contend, as this writer does, that Church property cannot be applied entirely or in part to public purposes, is to contradict the history of every nation in Europe, and above all of our own. It is to cpjestion the titles of the Howards, the Fitzgeralds, the Russels, the Cavendishes, the Percys the Petty s, the Butlers, of almost all the historical fami- lies of both countries to a very valuable portion of their domains and rights. Such doctrine creates a suspicion that Thomas of Canterbury is to be again canonized, and Dow- da!l,of Armagh, or Plunkett, to become names as dear to the Church as those of Beresford or Knox. But the posi- tion is untenable, and those who have surrendered the right divine, will not succeed in identifying themselves with the proprietors of the soil, however they may usurp the sacred names of prescription or common law. They were the proprietors of the country who founded {he common law as well as the Church-establishment, and those proprietors who repeal or qualify by statute in every session that common law — which Blackstone describes as the result of positive enactments now lost or forgotten — they ran undoubtedly modify and regulate ail corporate proper, ties according to the exigencies of public interest. Witness the events of Henry an 1 Elizabeth's reigns, and of that of 57 Edward VI. If public interests in Ireland do not re- quire tills modrh'cation, let the establishment remain un- touched ! Or is not the Church property the property of a corporation ? We know of no property but that of the Crown, of individuals or private property, and the property of corporations. The maxims of the Constitution, and several acts of Parliament teach us tbe nature of the first. Locke, on Legislation, gives a just idea of the second ; he grounds it originally on the title of occupancy, consecrated by the sweat and labour of him who has the possession, and the law speaking the voice of nature and of the com- munity, transmits it by the will of the occupant or other- wise, to his heirs. But corporate property is the creature of the State essentially set apart and vested in trustees for some specific end, conducive to the public good. The trustee is allowed, during his life, to appropriate a certain portion of it for the management of the entire, as well as for the other services which he is charged with, and engages to perform. And I know not, why our churchmen should have mis- taken the nature of their property, unless, that having ap- propriated the entire to the total neglect of the fabric and the poor, and being so intent on amassing wealth as to forget their duties, they naturally enough began to consider themselves the proprietors of what thev only held in trust for the community. But now that they have claimed a direct dominion over the soil and pre- sumed to call the nation their tenants, I should not be sur- prised, if in the next session they had a bill introduced into Parliament, enabling them to devise by will what they hold as property ; for I know of no property strictly such, unless, fiefs or the like devised by law, which might not be trans, mitted by settlement or will. But the proprietors of the country are to be alarmed if they touch or reform that which they or their ancestors cre- ntedj and which once blessed, but now blights their iiihe- 58 ritance. What ! are the proprietors to be thus frightened from their propriety ? Are the men who hold the empire, with all its powers and resources in their own hands, are they to be alarmed because they remove from the shoulders of their own people, a burthen grown intolerable, or compel the land occupier, for instance to employ or feed the poor at the expense of the Church which cast them away. And such a reformation as this would be alarming to the Duke of Leinster ! I doubt not his Grace thinks far otherwise. I have, myself, when residing in a Catholic country, seen two-thirds of the Church property therein, taken for the public service by a Catholic government, and tithes even in Spain have been taxed heavily by the state for nearly two centuries ! But my opponent will have such an establishment as may enable some of the clergy to withdraw from the cares of the world, and enjoying the " otium cum dignitatt'' devote their lives in retirement to the cultivation of the muses, to the charms of philosophy, or the black letter study of divinity and law. This is most harmo- nious, and he himself affords a striking specimen of this deep research and profound speculation ; I fear, however, our churchmen generally, will not imitate his bright exam- ple, and if we are to judge of their future progress in arts and science here with us, by what they have hitherto ef- fected, we may suspect that too much wealth uhsettles study, or enervates the mind ; or that these gentlemen prefer bustle to retirement, the pleasures of sense to dull theology or abstract pursuits. The reflection, however, savours much of popery, and would be an argument admirably suited to a monk, whose life is poor, and labour hard, drudging over rusted volumes in those retreats, where Plutarch, Virgil, Plato, Homer, Heroditus, hid themselves with the divine Chrysostom, Clement, Jerome and Augustine, from tha* storm of war and carnage, which laid waste the Roman empire, and caused in Europe a moral desolation. The 59 monk could claim for his venerable monastery which shel- tered beneath its roof, the recluse, the stranger, and the poor ; which received into its hospitable hall, the prince, the prelate, and the warrior ; affording to virtue, religion, and learning, a safe retreat: he could claim the useful privilege of possessing wealth in common with his brethren. But we have heard his plea, and though Bede himself had spoken, we should have dismissed him with scorn ; nor will our churchmen now be heard, unless they propose, that medicine, law, and surgery with the numberless departments of the other arts and sciences, be also gifted with establish- ments. As Napoleon used to call us, we are in some sort, a nation of chapmen and dealers ; we give a price for all commodities, and a high one for theology : witness the sale of all our present lucubrations on the Miracles ! Should this public mart and competition be insufficient to stimu- , late the churchmen to exertion, they are the " ignavum " pecus''' and ought to be driven from the hive ! But tythes, forsooth, are a blessing to agriculture, for Sicily under their operation, became the granary of the em- pire, though only half as fertile as Egypt, yet she paid a fifth of ail her produce. This is the argument of Bishop Woodward borrowed by Doctor Elrington, and copied by the man who for my sins (a monkish phrase) obliges me to write. In vain we have been told, when acquiring the rudi- ments of logic, that what proves too much proves nothing; for is a proof which would lead us to fertilize the snows of Lapland by introducing blessed tenths and church domains, or treble the produce of Jamaica, by substituting for her present admirable Church establishment the heavenly dew of tythe. But no ! it is not error that my opponent deals in but sly sophistry, and that which he uses when detected is what we call " non causa pro causa,'''' the assigning as the cause of an effect what is not its cause at all. He rallied me somewhere, because I seemed to attribute the rise and progress of arts, legislation, discoveries, and in- Tcntions to the Catholic religion, though I did not do so, but only proved that this religion was perfectly compatible with their growth and perfection ; but now, however, he forgets himself, and because Sicily, Egypt, and Ireland were, or have become abundant in com, he would attribute theirfertility to the tythe system — or perhaps I deal unjustly, he would have it that this system is no bar to their im- provement. The inundations of the Nile, and the laws of Egypt, the honour paid there to agriculture, in which the Kings them- selves engaged, were not then sufficient to promote the growth of corn ? The singular ferti lily of Sicily, and Ireland, contiguous to the capitals of two great empires, and deprived by circumstances of all other wealth — a vast population too, which should rest idle or be employed in the fields — the events of the last thirty years, during which the Baltic and Scheldt were generally closed against us, and the coasts of Barbary and America alone capable of supplying us with grain — the unprecedented consumption occasioned by the wars, and the multiplied means of reclaiming or cultivating lands produced by the paper-money — these, in the opinion of the Churchmen, were not sufficient causes for the en- crease of agriculture, without the supernal benediction of tythe ! Surely there are men who have eyes and see not, or who, as Isaias saith, " seeing, see not," or w r e would not be offended with this silly sophistry. Let them, I pray, take this prescription of tythes to the Agricultural Com- mittee of the House of Commons, should it be revived next session; it will save them the trouble of new modelling the corn laws, and if profusely administered, remove every vestige of agricultural distress — it will be a remedy not less efficacious for the relief of the farmer, than nervous excite- ment is for all the maladies of the human frame. But no matter in what shape income is raised, or in what quantity, it all returns to those who pay it, as exhalations fall in dew — most delightful theory this, borrowed from €1 that modern political oeconomy, which teaches that taxation is a blessing, which may be infinitely encreased without in- juring society. I leave such a paradox to the wise inven- tors of it, and believe those abatements made in rent, by the wisdom or humanity of landlords throughout the em- pire, prove sufficiently that if the means of the agriculturist be forced beyond a certain limit, they yield to the tension, and leuve the land barren, the tenant a pauper, and the proprietor indigent or embarrassed. But it is objected, " if the tenant be exempted from tythe !" the landlord alone will profit." I do not pretend to say from what cause it arises, but it so is in Ireland, that the tenants in every instance with which I ever happened to be acquaint- ed, prefer dealing with the landlord rather than with the par- son. The uniform impression on their mind is, that they get the land from the landlord for the rent, but that they get nothing for the tythe. And not all the Divines or Lawyers in the kingdom (and we are well supplied with both pro- fessions) could induce them to believe, that there is any na- tural obligation on their part to pay tythe, whilst their entire care and anxiety is, to make up and pay the rent ; and though in such a community as, the Irish now-a-days form, there must be many unprincipled and dishonest amongst them, yet with these exception?, they are as strictly just in fulfilling the covenants of their leases on conscientious principles, as any men could possibly be. But having made this observation, which cannot well be deemed irre- levant, I may be allowed to observe — from the acute and powerful Grattan in his speech on tythes, that the landlord has a rent reserved which is uniform, and contemplates ra- ther the natural value of the soil he lets, than the capital, skill, and industry to be employed upon it ; these latter are the produce of the man's labour or money and do not yield an annual encrease in the ecclesiastical sense, and yet they are taxed most heavily by the Parson — I say most heavily, for three-fourths, in some places nine-tenths of the produce 62 of land, is owing to the labour, skill, and capital employed upon it. These three-fourths then, or nine-tenths as they may be, would not be contemplated by the landlord, and should not, but they are ALL assessed by the Proctor, and devoted to the tender mercies of the Church. Who then will say that it is a matter of indifference to the tenant whe- ther he pay the Landlord or the Parson ? But a passage from the speech of my Lord Maryboro* is quoted, a Nobleman whom J. K. L. should not mention without acknowledging the obligations he owes to his Lord- ship, for whom, as well as for the Illustrious Head of the house of Wellesley, he feels unaffectedly the warmest grati- tude as well as the most profound veneration ; This passage is quoted, to shew that there is an excess in the rent of land exempt from tythe, over the charge to which tythe (were it subject to it) would make such land liable. To draw a general conclusion from a particular fact is contrary to all the rules of right reason, and though the fact mentioned by his Lord- ship must on his authority be true, it only proves a single case, and against which numberless others could be quoted. I shall instance one, and as the word of an anonymous writer can have but little weight, I will presume on the in- dulgence of a gentleman, with whom I have the honor of being acquainted — a member of the last and of a pre- ceding Parliament, to mention his name as a proof of what I state. Caesar Colclough Esq. of Tintern Abbey holds in full property all his Abbey lands. The tythes and the soil alike belong to him. These lauds may be from eight to twelve or fourteen thousand acres, and they are all let by himself or his ancestors lower at an average, as far as I am acquainted, than any other lands though subject to tythe in the county where he dwells, and which he adorns by his public and private virtues. This case, it is true, proves no rule, I am well aware of that, but neither does the other cited by my Lord Maryboro', and it is not as I conceive m the ordinary course of nature that a simple letting of land by one who contemplates the land alone, could be as bur- thensome to the tenant, as where it is not only set by the man whose property it is, but also taxed by one who gathers from its surface the tenth of all its fruits — the fruits of sweat and toil, of care and watching ! And which tax has not unfrequently and even in cases within the writer's own knowledge caused the farmer to leave the hay to rot, rather than cut it and pay tythe ! But supposing I should even concede to my opponent, all the value he attaches to Lord Maryborough's argument, still I think if this were the place for a more extended examination of the question than I have leisure to be- stow on it, it might without much difficulty be proved, that the annihilation of tithe universally, would have the effect of lowering rents universally. I shall leave this position without a proof at present, for to men who know the subject somewhat better than my conceited opponents, (who, it appears, cannot even comprehend the principle) a discussion would be superfluous. My opponent accuses me of inconsistency for speaking at one time of the overgrown wealth of the Clergy, and at another representing them as needy, " unfit to hold the " place of gentry." Does he wish I should state what can- not be calculated because studiously concealed, to wit the value of the Irish Sees, — of the Glebes, some of which con- tain several hundred acres, — of tythes of certain unions or pluralities, in order to prove this the first assertion — or would he oblige me to refer the public to Doctors' 1 Com- mons or the Prerogative Court to number up the hundreds of thousands, if they do not exceed a million, bequeathed by those Irish Prelates who died within the last few years ; or again, does he require that I should exhibit the in- digent Vicar, or wretched Curate, subsisting with his family on some seventy pounds a year ! This trouble would explain my apparent inconsistency, but would not G4 be very creditable to those who minister in tliis, gorgeous temple. But J. K. L. is taunted as if lie desired the tythes for himself, or is jeered on account of his poverty. 1 It- assures his opponent, that if with the Apostle he might Dot know how to abound, he knows at least how to suffer want, to which his habits of life (thanks to God) have inured him ; and if he has not inherited from his ancestors more pro- perty than most of the Clergy of the Establishment, it was owing to the operation of the penal laws, so late as in the life-time of his father, for even then these laws were sending some of the best blood of Ireland to join, as Swift well ex- pressed it, the ranks of the coal -porters. Many of us can say with Francis the First, after the defeat at Padua, " we " have lost all but our honour," or feel with Juvenal, '* Nil fcedius habet paupertas quam quod homines ridi- " ados Jlicit C* But " I calumniate the Clergy bv attributing to their "agents cruelty and oppression." With all due deference to the tribe of Proctors, a race less worthy than those who traverse the fields of battle to despoil the dead, I only collected in my assertion what is notorious to every man, woman, and child in Ireland, who can read, hear, and understand ! I believe I might collect the remaining subjects touched on by the author of the " Observations," under the follow- ing heads, his panegyric on the English Liturgy, — his cen- sure of our use of the Eatin language in the celebration of the holy mysteries, — his quere respecting the extent of my principles of toleration, — an effort to reconcile the doctrines of authority and latitudinarianism in the Established Church, and a weak attempt to misrepresent our discipline on the subject of reading the Scriptures. There may be some minor matters which have escaped me, as it is not at all times the composition before me arrests tlie at- tention. My observations on all the above subjects will be exceed- 65 ing short, first as they are irrelevant to the matters or ar- guments which compose my Vindication, and secondly, be- cause a lengthened discussion of them would have the ef- feet of forcing upon me some new controversies, for which I have little inclination and still less time — time the want of which we all complain of, from the author of the " Com- " plete Exposure," to the Classic E. Barton. He who like a Raphael throws on all he touches such light and grace; whose charming work shot up amidst the dreary winter of our disputes and cavills, like the naked flower which springs from earth when snow and frost are scarcely thawed, and cheers the mind ! His piety, his philosophy, his whole de- meanor bespoke so much the Christian and the sage ! But stop ! a stupid elf or bigot would almost catch the inspira- tion from him and rhapsodize ! To return to my less courteous correspondent. His praise of the English Liturgy reminds me of the Morice Encomium, or panegyric on folly, of Erasmus, which I often read ; yes the profane Rogue, (I borrow the word " Rogue" not from the legend " Irish Rogues and Rapparees," but from my accomplished opponent,) J. K. L. sometimes does take up Erasmus, as a desert after a full meal of the Evangelical Magazine, or of the Report of the Bible So- ciety, or of the Society for converting the Africans or Jews, or the Proceedings of some meeting connected with these hallowed institutions, such as that for enlightening our be- nighted generation with Irish Bibles ! After such satiety as these repasts afford, a chapter from Erasmus or Savedru has as salutary an effect on J. K. L. as a gcblet of Cham- paigne after a choice Haunch of Venison would have on an overgrown Dignitary of any Church or State. My correspondent's encomium on the Liturgy only shews that he can praise what is really praise-worthy ; had he exercised his ingenuity in praising something like folly as Erasmus did, he would bequeath a better legacy to posterity ; or if he only wished to display his powers he should, like Doctor Johnson, take the wron«- side of some question, for J. K. L. had praised, not cen- sured, the Established Liturgy, and assigned in a pithy line his reason for doing so. It is that reason I believe which excited the newly acquired orthodoxy of my correspondent, and caused him to slip into a discussion respecting those who framed the Creed and Liturgy of the Church of Eng- land when she was first radically reformed. It is entirely foreign to my purpose to treat of these men, or of the means they used, of what they effected, or of the authority on which they proceeded : a thousand vo- lumes have been written on these subjects. Bossttet in one or two books of his Variations has collected and condensed more relating to them than I ever could ; to his works I would beg to refer my correspondent for what I neither can nor wish to say. If however jt be admit- ted that these founders had recourse to the ancient Li- turgies and Fathers for evidence of the truth, let us not in future be taunted with our love gS tradition, or with the all-sufficiency of the Written Word. Let it be candidly allowed, that without the testimony of the Church, the Written Word is not sufficient — either to vindicate the Christian observances, or determine disputes; that it is mute and silent like every other law, and requires that the " dicta' 1 '' of the sages who administered it to the people, should have been treasured up, (as Blackstone says of our common law,) otherwise that the sense of it never could be ascertained, nor the disputes arising out of it ever termi- nated. To seek to settle these disputes by a kind of coquetry such as this writer assigns to the Church of England in treating with the Dissenters, saying " ah, won't you stay " with your mother — ah, don't go from her, or you will repent " it." This is worse than ludicrous, when applied to the Kingdom of Christ, and the City of the living God — to which the sword of the Spirit was given — to correct the froward, pu- nish the turbulent, and cast out or cut off the refractory. Is it not silly to speak or write thus, after hearing Christ say that he who would not hear the Church should be treated as a 67 heathen and publican— after reading what St. John, St, Paul and St. Jude say of those who broach heresies or resist authority — after reading the Acts of the Councils of Jeru- salem, Nice, Constantinople, Chalcedon — after, in fine, hear- ing the Anathemas which Calvinism in the Synods of Charenton and Dordrect, the Lutherans in all their con- fessions, the Church of England in her Articles, pronounce against all those who profess or believe that " every one can " obtain salvation in his own sect, provided he seek to square " his life by the precepts of the Gospel, as taught by it or " in it." This in good truth is like to folly or deceit in any Christian and still more so in a man who professes to be a Minister of the Established Church — to admire her Li- turgy, and who has called God and Heaven to witness that he believes her articles. Doctor Hoadly and those who follow him were wiser and took a safer refuge in Latitudinarianism, disposing of the National Creed by saying, as is every day said and be- lieved, that a silent reformation has taken place in the Established Church, and that time has abated of the rigour of her ancient tenets. Let, therefore, authority and tradition be aclmitted, or letLatitudinariasm with all the other sects, and sectaries pre- vail; and the Church, as she cannot longer retain her children by power, (which it is impossible to preserve or reconcile with the right of private judgment,) let her, I say, follow them in their aberrations, and found a Creed for them so vague — so indifferent as to embrace (if it be possible to embrace) them all ; but let us not be goaded with insult, and annoyed with the folly of those, who by their declamation, and imposi- tions, and calumnies, keep the enlightened and admirable race of men who in this country are still attached to the frame and name of the Establishment under an influence the most dangerous to their spiritual welfare, to which any community of Christians, naturally so good and virtuous, ever were subjected. I do not here dispute whether the right of private judgment be or be not consistent with the e 2 68 Gospel, but I do contend that it is incompatible with Church authority. As to the extent of J. K. L.'s principles of toleration. This writer being pleased to identify him with Doctor Doyle, might find a reply to his quaere in the address of the lat- ter, on the subject of illegal associations, if my explanation be too Jesuitical or obscure ; But to save my correspondent trouble I shall state, that, I include as belonging to the Church, not only children, idiots, and madmen, but all those, who, not having themselves adopted error, but imbibed it from their ancestors — seek earnestly to dis- cover truth, and are ready on finding it to stand corrected. All such, if baptized, belong unquestionably to the Church, though in external communion they are without her pale, and their errors are not, in our opinion, so great an ob- stacle to their salvation, as the want of sacraments and other aids, of which by their situation they are deprived. That Doctor Magec and J. K. L.'s correspondent, how- ever united in language, in sentiment, and hostility to the Romanists, may yet be of this class of our brethren is the most sincere wish of my heart; as I am well satisfied " that in the measure I mete to them, the Lord in his mercy *' will measure to myself." As to the notes which this writer affixes to the Church of God, namely " my sheep hear my voice," and " our " loving one another," they are marks as uncertain as the professions of mankind are doubtful or insincere. If we ourselves be credited, we all hear the voice of God, one from under a stone where he seeks the deity, — another from the brawling, canting Methodist, — a third from the Bible or the Hymn-Book, — a fourth from his own conscience, — a fifth from those of whom it was said, "he who hears you hears " jie. " And if loving one another were a certain sign of the Church, who does not do so, if his own word be believ- ed ? And who does so if his works be made the criterion of his charity ? But not even works, though by them " we 69 M gave all our substance to the poor, or delivered up our " bodies so as to be burned,'" would prove, that we loved each other in Christ and for his sake. It is only " the " union of spirit in the bond of peace,'" which shews where true charity resides ; and certainly we Catholics are more of one mind, and have in our head or centre of union a more powerful bond to unite us, than any others who profess the name of Christ. The summary of the Christian faith, as JRufinus tells us, was composed by the Apostles, it was enlarged at Nice, and completed, with the exception of the word " jilioque" at Constantinople. This is admitted by us all, and this Creed teaches, that the Church in which we believe, is One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic : these marks no doubt are old, they may not be suited to the taste of modern times ; but we who are theologians of the old school, not prepared as yet to become disciples of my profound opponent, or to embrace, contrary to the ad- monition of St. Paul to Timothy, profane novelties, will not exchange these old marks of the Church of God, for any new ones which his fancy or interest may lead him to adopt. I believe it is whilst describing the plastic character of the Church of England that this writer said, " she did no- " thing in anger, or haste, and was therefore pleasingly con- " trasted with the other new establishments.'" Why this Gentleman, in his study of rhetoric has entirely forgotten history, and supposes that we are all as ignorant as he is forgetful — that the events which occurred from the middle of the reign of Henry, to the expulsion of James — that the lives of all the Prelates, from Cranmer to Laud, or even to Tillotson, are unknown to us. I cannot conceive what purpose can be served by put- ting forth to the public such assertions as these, which are not only groundless but contrary to what is as well known 70 as the names of Tyburn or Charing-Cross. Will these Churchmen never cease deluding the world? Hut hush ! if you combat sects and heresies, the in- fidels will oppose to you (says this writer) the various denominations of Christians, and laugh at your claim to infallibility. The reply to this observation is as old- fashioned as the dress of Queen Anne — it is, that when treating with infidels we have arguments sufficient to prove the divinity of our religion ; but when reasoning with men who profess to believe in Christ as the Redeemer of Man- kind, we have recourse to the Church as to the very head and front of his institution ; and until the question of her rights is settled, it is through mere courtesy we dispute on any other. The name of sect or heresy is so foreign from the idea of Christian unity, — so incompatible with the One, Holy, Catholic, and Apostolic Church, (the belief in which the Apostles in the Creed placed next after the belief in the Trinity and Incarnation,) that we caunot recognise in those who do not prove themselves to believe in her, any right to question her doctrines. This theology is indeed as old as Tertullian. Let these persons not disturb us, therefore, with similes about Solomon and his women, for a simile may illustrate, but can never prove a contested position, as every thing, however absurd, can find a likeness in nature. Did Catholics say with the Apostle, that the handmaid and her child, ejected by Abraham, and not suffered to inherit with Sarah and Isaac, were perfect models of the sects which by baptism bring forth children to the Church, but who have no share in the inheritance ; did we rest our doctrine on these or such allegories, though warranted by the interpretation of the Apostle in a case nearly parallel, we should be deemed and justly, both silly and contemptible. But no ! our truths are like the rock, over which the surge passes angrily, but unheed- 71 cd — they arc strong, though naked, and need no such support. This) writer is dissatisfied with the discipline of our Church, as expounded by me respecting the use of the sacred Scriptures. If it were in my power to meet his views, I must be disposed to do so, in order to furnish at least one point of coincidence for our opinions, but if Plato, (the name is too respectable) be a friend, truth is still more so. Let the Church of England continue to propound a creed, and pronounce anathema against those who believe that salvation can be had in any sect, and yet tell her chil- dren that every man of sound judgment may understand the Bible as he listeth ; let her do so, and labour to recon- cile such inconsistency ; whilst ours prescribes from the word of God the rule of faith, and obliges every member of her communion to adopt that meaning of the Bible which from the beginning, she has assigned to it. Human pride and petulance may repine and say, that faith like chemistry, might be improved by experiments; but we will believe, notwithstanding, that it admits nei- ther of diminution nor increase, and was just as perfect when first established as at this hour however sects may have served to unfold its tenets or caused them to be publish- ed in councils or decrees. This faith may be good or bad with us, but if bad, the fault is not ours, but His who pro- mised to be with us to the end, " Lo, I am with you to the " end of the world." If his spirit has suffered the Church to err, we err with God, or our malice has forced him to with- draw and break his promise before the consummation came. His children know and read the Scripture?, and require no teacher but himself, who dwells amongst them —speaking by the thousand tongues of ministers who proclaim his truths, but not their own opinions — or his sweetest unction like the dew of heaven distilled upon the heart, teachcth of itself interiorly, and lifts the soul by lights till then un- 72 seen into the regions of bPisft, and to the very throne of God. Prayer, contemplation, rapture, extacy thus ascend, whilst the soul mounts by these degrees, as angels by a ladder, until she prophecies, or hears such words, like Paul, as man is not permitted to express. Perhaps she faints or languishes with love in the long-desired embrace of her heavenly spouse. Spirit herself, and spiritualized by grace, she understands all things ; her wisdom is folly to the carnal man who knoweth not what the Spirit teacheth in the Church where he abides. It is thus that all Scripture is useful to teach, reprove, instruct from infancy to age, and makes men perfect in the ways of God. O Jacob, how beautiful are thy tents, and Israel, how delightful are thy tabernacles ! marching in the desert with Moses at thy head, and all thy tribes arranged behind their standards, perfect in parts and all perfect together, until you reach the long expected land ; until the Church, of which thou wert the figure, quits this desert earth and enters heaven. The patriotism of my opponent is aroused when he re- flects on the crowds of his countrymen who worship in the open air, far removed from the altar where the victim of propitiation is offered for their sins. Perhaps should this feeling become general, we may expect some public aid to assist us in building chapels for these benighted souls, who thus from the banks of rivers, like the Israelites of old, address their prayers to heaven. I have read of men in Parliament, when labouring to obtain grants to build churches in Ireland, (a work in truth of no great difficulty) and who were reported to have said, that if the churches were once erected, the congrega- tions would grow up of themselves ; but here, according to my correspondent, we have the congregations ready formed, if we only had the churches. The argument used by this writer against our clergy for not instructing their flocks in the chapels, especially in the 73 north and west of Ireland, is very like the reproach we have long endured, of not educating the people either against law, or if not against law, without houses or schoolmasters, or books ; but of this subject I treated in my Vindication, Ye sons of men how long will ye be dull of heart, or why do ye love iniquity and seek after a lie ? But these benighted people " who prepare to get drunk " by getting Mass, imagine they partake of the fruits " of this Mass as much as if they were immediately present '* at it." I can inform my correspondent that this is not only their opinion, but also mine, all my Bible reading for twenty years and upwards notwithstanding ! It is true that I am of that old school which knows as little of modern theology as Copernicus or Tycho Brahe knew of Newton's system of attraction. But so it is in our old school. Believing that in the Mass, Christ is present, and offers himself to his Father for his children, lest they should have sinned like those of Job, it is our belief, that all those who assist at this offering in mind and spirit and are of the assembly for which it is presented before the face of God, do partake of the graces and mercies which are then obtained ; nor is there to he found in the vast assemblage which my correspondent describes, any person above the condition of a child or an ideot, who does not believe exactly the same on this subject as what is here explained — so thoroughly does this Catholic doctrine permeate even the dense forest of Irish stupidity and ignorance. If these people afterwards get drunk that is the fruit of the semi-barbavism to which the penal laws, not the Catholic religion reduced them. Religious instruction by the Cler- gyman might correct, if not amend the vicious effects of these laws, but if Paul or Barnabas happened to be in the hut called a Chapel, how could they instruct unto righteous- ness those who could not approach to hear them ? But it is in vain to reason with the faction or their organs ; they have closed their eyes and " hardened their faces more than 74 " the rock" against the poor of this afflicted country, against their religion and their priesthood. " But we use a liturgy in an unknown tongue contrary " to the command of the Apostle. 11 So do the Cophts, the Scythians, the Greeks, the Armenians, for though in all these countries like in Rome, the liturgies were origi- nally composed in the vernacular language, yet when that language changed, as it has changed in every country in the lapse of ages, it was thought proper to retain the ancient form of liturgy for the purpose of preserving uni- formity in the public worship, and excluding those vicis- situdes and changes to which living languages are always liable. If such caution be necessary in the forms of re- cords, and even in the characters in which they arc written, that errors and uncertainty may be excluded, how much more are they required in those liturgies which are the records of the faith of the several churches, as well as the forms of their prayer and worship. Had a liturgy been composed for England at the time of Canute or William the Conquerer, it should since then, have been frequently altered, and in being altered its style and words might be changed in sense and substance. The meaning and signs of every living language are daily fluctuating, but those of languages called dead, are fixed and uniform, and hence these latter are preferred for every purpose of a public and important nature. Our Church is attached to uniformity and con- sistency, her children of different tongues are all but one family, and it is fitting that they should have for their common service a common language — one, and un- changed ! As to the inconvenience arising to the people who do not understand the Latin tongue, it is small indeed, when we consider that every book almost of common prayer has the order of the Mass or liturgy translated, as well as pray- ers adapted to every part of the sacrifice from the com- 75 mencement to the end. The people then, whether within or without the temple, all join the Priest in word, or at least in spirit ; and the Gospel or Epistle which contaius the special instruction for the day, he who officiates is commanded by the Council of Trent, Sess. 5, de Ref. c; 2. to expound on each Sunday and festival to the congrega- tion. Amongst our people there may be often a want of religious instruction though much less than is sup_ posed, if J. K. L. be well informed ; but this want arises not from a defect in our liturgy, or from the language in which it is written, but from other causes, one of which, perhaps the principal, is, the state of our places of worship ; which the legislature, it is hoped, may yet take into con- sideration. But " the use of the Latin language in the celc- " bration of Mass is contrary to the express word of God. 1 ' If it be thus that my correspondent interprets that word, I would recommend him to become again even blindly en- slaved to some ecclesiastical authority, that he might take any judgment rather than his own of the meaning of sacred writ. The word of God to which he alludes, is found in 1 Gor. xiv. fh. where St. Paul treats of the gift of tongues then common in the Church, and continued to the time of Irseneus as that Father testifies. The Blessed Apostle, after announcing that the gift of prophecy is preferable to that of speaking with divers tongues, proceeds v. 6, to say, '* If I come to you speaking with tongues what shall 1 " profit you, unless 1 speak to you either in revelation, " or in knowledge, or in prophecy, or in doctrine,"' and having explained the inutility of speaking in different lan- guages, unless what is spoken regard those things just enumerated, he, by a simile taken from a harp or trumpet, which if not modulated is useless, concludes the subject thus : " If I know not the power of the voice," that is the sense of what is spoken, " I shall be to him, to whom 76 *« I speak, a barbarian, and he that speaketh a barbarian * to me." The whole scope and object of the ApostJe in the entire passage, is to teach the Corinthians the inutility of super- natural gifts, if they be not well employed, and to prevent the new christians from being ambitious of excelling in them, hence he adds, " forasmuch as ye are zealous of spirits, " seek to abound (in them) to the edifying of the Church." To draw an argument from this passage against the use of the Latin language at Mass resembles that other, equally conclusive, adduced by my opponent from Solo- mon and the litigious women, to prove the marks of the true Church ; but to pronounce from his allegorical exposition of a text that " our practice is directly opposed " to the word of God" is what only a special inspiration (with which, perhaps, he may be gifted) could authorize him to do. We theologians of the old school are not accus- tomed to reason so, and whilst we think with the Apostle that the gift of speaking with various tongues is estimable only when the things spoken are instructive or edifying, we are very far from thinking that our liturgy is either un- known in words or doubtful in sense to those who daily read it translated in their books of prayer, or who are taught the meaning of it. If we be barbarians, as we are not unfrequently called, certainly we are not rendered so by not understanding our liturgy, or the nature, rites, or ceremonies of the Mass. I now take leave of my opponent, and for the last time. He, I understand, is young, and youth is rash and self- sufficient ; if J. K. Lc be Doctor Doyle, he could with some propriety admonish his correspondent to leave these subjects to the more experienced. He would not say to him " ne ultra crepidam sutor" — he would rather remind him, that even much knowledge puffeth up, but a little of it is a dangerous thing " obiter degustata" says the wise Bacon, *' abducit a Deo, penitus hausta reducit ad eundem.^ Let 77 him attend to his duties, and perhaps the Almighty in his good time may enable him to exercise his talents, (which for a young man are not contemptible,) to some useful purpose. To the public I have to apologize for obtruding myself upon their notice ; but when I see not only myself maligned or misrepresented (for that I could over- look) but my country and religion traduced or defamed, I am forced to lay aside personal considerations, rather than suffer pride, arrogance, and a spirit of oppression to bear down or overwhelm what is more dear to me than life. When I had written thus far, " the Case of the Church " of Ireland," as stated by Declan reached me. To com- pare it with the work of Molyneaux, which its title brings to our recollection, would not be just; in style and method there may be some faint resemblance ; in deep research, in a profound knowledge of his subject, in close and perspicu- ous reasoning, accompanied with good faith and a total absence of offensive expressions, the similarity does not hold. But " he nobly fails, who fails in great attempts, 1 ' and if Declan has not reached the eminence of his proto- type, he has left far behind him the humble assistants who laboured with him in a " Case" which is manifestly a diffi- cult one. I can easily excuse his occasional warmth, satisfied that it only burned on the surface, and as to his rebukes of J. K. L. and the imputations which he labours to affix to him, they were a portion of the task he undertook ; they are the feelings of the dignified client, not the genuine production of the mind or heart of the advocate. If they be sins, they are the sins of a man, yielding to a powerful influence, and deserve that a tear should be dropped on them and they blotted out for ever. But whilst I acquit Declan, who has rightly changed his name and his religious profession before he would ap- pear in public, as the advoacte of a system hostile to Ire- land and to the Creed of his fathers — whilst I acquit him 78 of all personal hostility to the civil and religious principles of the Irish Catholics, it is but just that I should observe upon the pleadings by which he endeavours to support his "Case, - " and justify my own opinions, so far as they are affected by his remarks. Several passages of the foregoing sheets contain princi- ples or reflections applicable to some of the remarks of Declan, and which it will be therefore unnecssary to obtrude a second time upon the reader. The disquisition respect- ing St. Patrick is a sort of after-piece to his " Case." It is probably the production of one of those leisure hours, which the Avriter when in College used to devote to antiquarian researches ; and were he disposed to favour the literary world with others of them, it is likely we would no longer hesitate to determine the birth-place of Homer, or the name of him to whom we are indebted for the discovery of the art of Printing. When Usher, Milner, Lanigan and O'Connor have fail- ed to satisfy Declan as to whether St. Patrick ever saw the face of Pope Celestine, it is not at all probable, that T, who am no great proficient in such studies as theirs, could suc- ceed in unravelling to his satisfaction so intricate a question. At present he does not appear to be quite decided in his dissent from the accurate and truth-loving Ledwich ; pro- bably my weak efforts to convince him might serve rather to augment his doubts, should doubt still linger in his mind, of our Apostle's existence. Let him, however, cast his eye once more over the valuable work of Doctor Lanigan, a work which for extensive knowledge, deep research, and accurate, criticism, surpasses in my opinion all that has ever been produced by the Established Church collectively or individually in Ireland, Usher's labours only excepted. Let him peruse this work once more, and unless he is too much occupied with the legend about his namesake St. Declan, (of whom it was predicted at his birth, that he ' / 79 ■would one day be a great man,) he may he induced to change his opinion as to the mission of St. Patrick. Doctor Lanigan should satisfy him that after the return of S.S. Germans and Lupus from Britain, where as dele- gates of the Holy See, they had come to suppress the Pe- lagian heresy, St. Patrick abode with the former at Auxerre, — that he was sent by him in company with the Priest Sige_ tius to Pope Celestine, and recommended as a person well adapted for the mission to Ireland. The conversion of this country occupied at that time the attention of his Holiness ; and Germanus from his proximity to Ireland, his late journey to Britain, and his high station in the Church of Gaul, as well as his knowledge of the qualifications of Patrick, was eminently qualified to furnish information, and recommend missionaries for the pious en- terprfze. If Probus, then, and the Scholiast on the Hymn of St. Fiech, as well as all the writers of the life of St. Patrick, were as silent on the subject of this journey of our Apostle to Rome, as they are express and unanimous in their mention of it, yet it should be admitted on the authority of Erric in his life of St. Germanus, lib. 1, ch. 12. This writer is one of unimpeachable character, and relates it only as a part of his narrative, without other design, in- terest, or end, than that of giving an account of whatever was interesting in the life of the holy Bishop of Auxerre. Did the discrepancies which occur in the relations of other writers, who have recorded similar facts, though with different dates, or varying circumstances, invalidate then- testimony, we should reject as spurious and apocrvphal the most important historical events, and amongst the rest many passages of the Gospels in which the Evangelists seem to contradict each other. The silence of Prosper is indeed a negative argument, but when I learned Logic, I was taught, with the other rules of criticism, that such an argument should not outweigh direct, credible, and positive testimony, even 80 though no reason could be assigned for the silence of a writer, and I recollect the example furnished by niy master, was the argument deduced from the silence of eotemporary writers, respecting the Evangelist John having been cast into a chaldron of boiling oil, before the Latin gate by order of Domitian, and escaping unhurt ; and which, neverthe- less, as I was instructed, should be admitted on the single positive testimony of Tertullian, — a credible witness writing on the subject, and which testimony is recorded by St. Jerome. Frosper is said to have been private secretary to the Popes, during the greater part of his stay at Rome, and the admirable documents which emanated from that See against the Pelagian, and Nestorian, and even Eutychean Heresy are attributed chiefly to his pen. His Chronicle is a brief register of the principal occurrences of this time, and amongst the rest he mentions the commission to preach the Gospel in Ireland, given by Pope Celestine to Pala- dius. It was enough for the purpose of Prosper to men- tion this mission and the person to whom it was confided. The details of it were not within his province, nor did it belon" to him to enumerate the fellow-labourers of Pala- dius, of whom Patrick, on the recommendation of Gcr- manus was one. Doctor Lanigan shews with great justice and truth, how Paladius died when his labours in Ireland had scarcely begun — and that St. Patrick, on his way from Home, after he had stopped some time with his Patron at Auxerre, and visited his friends for the last time, having heard of the demise of his Principal, was, in virtue of the commission he had received, consecrated Bishop in a cer- tain part of Gaul, and so proceeded to the scene of his Apostolic labours. It is not from Prosper we could expect to learn those particulars ; they were facts with which he could be but imperfectly acquainted, and which it concerned him in no wise to record. How silly and impertinent the man would appear, who 81 would question the mission of Augustine to England, bo- cause the historian who mentioned it had omitted to give the names of the Monks who accompanied him ; or who would say that certain assistants did not accompany him, because their names were not transmitted to us by an eminent writer who kept a journal of the events of Pope Gregory's Pontificate. Since regular missions were first sent from the great Patriarchal Sees, they were uniformly composed of several individuals, one of them generally a Bishop ; and when sent to distant countries, or to countries to which access was difficult, in early times these Bishops were commissioned to erect new Bishoprics when necessary, and consecrate Prelates according as the exigencies of the new Church might require ; and their assistants would be badly enabled to carry on the work of conversion if the death of their principal put an end to thew jurisdiction. It is not in so slovenly a manner that the See of Rome, rendered wise by experience in the sacred duty of propa- gating the Faith, has proceeded. She could not fail to enable the companions of Palladius, of whom Patrick was the chief, to continue the labours she had commissioned them to execute, and though it would be contrary to her custom to consecra'.e two Bishops at the same period for the same Church, it would le a dereliction of her duty not to enable those whom she sent to supply the wants which time or the success of their ministry might create, and that too at a period when recourse to her was difficult, and should be attended with inconvenience and delay. What probably may appear more surprising to Declan is, that at different times, but especially when many nations and tribes remained to be converted, every Catholic Bishop in communion with the See of Rome, had a power to de- pute Missionaries to labour at the conversion of infidels, or to attend colonies emigrating from the country in which such Bishop resided ; because, as St. Cyprian happily ex- presses himself of the Catholic Church, «' the Episcopacy is one, a part of the entire of which is held by <#ach Bishop. ' v 8& Episcopalus iitius est cUjus in solidum pars a singulis lenatnr ; but whether they possessed such power by the tacit consent of the head of the Church, or by inherent right, until re- stricted, it has never occurred to any of them that such missionaries were independent of the Holy See, or were not obliged to have recourse to her, for the purpose of giving form and consistency to the Churches which they might esta- blish. Every Catholic in the universe ever has, and ever will repeat with St. Jerome, " I despise Meletius, I ignore 44 Paulinus; whosoever does not gather with you (he is writing " to Pope Damasus) scatters ; Tarn united in communion " with your Holiness, that is with the Chair of Peter, '* upon which I know the Church is built ; whosoever will «' eat the lamb out of this house is profane." Without, therefore, undertaking to compose the mighty disputes between the venerable antiquarians, amongst whom Declan's name may be henceforth enrolled, I will simply assure him, that the fact of St. Patrick receiving his mis- sion to preach the Gospel in Ireland, is as certain as that lie came here, " for how could he preach," as St. Paul has it, '« unless he were sent; 11 and moreover, that whether he were sent immediately by Celestine or by St. German us, whom Prosper himself presents to us as a delegate or legate of the Holv See, is a matter of no kind of importance. I doubt much whether a power to exercise civil or military jurisdiction, emanating in Ireland from the Chief Governor for the time being, be less valid or legal than if it were im- parted by the Sovereign himself ; or whether the decrees of Doctor Radcliffe in the Prerogative Court, be less binding than if they were signed and executed by the Patron of Declan, in whose name, and by whose authority they are issued. If this gentleman be as well versed in the history and discipline of the Church as he is partial to the lives of the Saints, he must know, that beyond all controversy the Popes of Rome have always, and by all historians, not even excepting the fanciful Mosheim or Ilfyricus and his learned associates of Magdeburgh, been recognized as the Pa- S3 triarchs of the West, ana as such enjoyed, not an honorary pre-eminence, but a rightful jurisdiction over all the Churches in this part of our hemisphere. In early times, as well before the Church enjoyed an en- tire liberty under Constantine, as after the empire was dissevered by the barbarians, the Popes were obliged to confide extensive powers to the Bishops of certain Sees — that the work of conversion might not be retarded — Churches remain widowed — discipline become relaxed — or heresy pre- vail with impunity ; and such delegation of power accounts satisfactorily for the absence of that constant and intimate intercourse between Rome and the more distant Churches which happily prevails in those later times. But such de- legated powers were, in almost every instance, revocable at the will of the Pope, or limited to the lifetime of the person to whom they were entrusted. They were frequently con- fided, now to the Bishop of one See, now to the Prelate of another, and the jealousies and disputes on this subject which so often troubled the Churches of Gaul, of the north of Italy, of Illyricum and of other countries prove to a demonstration, that however ample such powers were, they were always a delegated trust. In England the first Bishops were invested with the most extensive authority ; but was Augustine or his followers therefore independant of the holy See ? In Ireland, which never had been reduced to the form of a Roman province, and with which on that account the intercourse with Rome was more difficult than even with the " toto dwisos orbe Britavnos''' 1 — these delegated powers were still more ample, and the Prelate of Armagh seems for centuries to have been a Legatus-natus, or by virtue of his office, a legate of the Holy See. The inundation of the northern and western hordes, who changed the once polished empire cf Augustus and Con- stantine into wastes partitioned out amongst ferocious bands, who substituted their own grotesque languages and customs for those of ancient Rome, destroying commerce and almost every means of communication, encreased the embarrassments v 2 54 of the Huh' See, and rendered it still more difficult for her to exercise for some centuries her rightful sway over the Churches of the western world. It was during this interval and when the computation of the Vernal Equinox could not easily be communicated from one country to another that the error respecting the time of celebrating Easter, prevailed here, and that our Church harrassed by barbarians and afflicted by civil wars fell away from her ancient fervour, and tole- rated uncouth usages and gross scandals which were unknown in better times. Had Home been always able to extend to us her protecting care, these never would have existed, and Declan would not have to reproach this " one " independent Church in the West, with excesses which " rendered it impossible to reclaim her even to the popery ut I have done with a subject which a writer having claims to cha- racter, should not have introduced. To proceed to the discussion on the rights of the Church, for Declan has thought proper to adjourn the question of her utility, and should he, when redeeming his pledge of writing a distinct letter to his Excellency on the latter subject not succeed better than he has done in this his first essay, there may be some friends of the establish- ment who would wish the adjournment to have been sine die. But leaving the prudence of the matter to those mainly interested, my business is to treat of what has been placed before the public, and which is introduced by some reflec- tions very like in their tenor and justice to the general pre- face on which I have already animadverted. The sub- stance of them is borrowed from Doctor Lanigan"s very useful history, and what the writer has interspersed of his own is not wartanted by facts or philosophy. The right for example, given by the King to levy tithes, could not, as Declan seems to assume, be valid in law or equity if it had not been sanctioned by the Irish chieftains, for those few Tanists who acknowledged at Cashel Henry as Lord paramount, never conceived the thought of surren- dering to him the dominion of their principalities, or enabling him by their recognition of his alledged right to the sovereignty, to dispose, independently of their will, of one- tenth of their property for any purpose which he might deem proper. His power was not as great even amongst the few who professed obedience to him, as that of our pre_ sent King over the properties of his subjects, and is it be- cause in the title of an Act of Parliament and in legal par- lance the King is said to enact the law, that we are to believe that the Lords and Commons are not an integral part of the legislature, or that the act of the Sovereign in regulating the rights or property of his subjects would have any force in law or equity without their concurrence? In the time of Henry there was scarcely any such thing in Ireland as an English pale, and the Irish were not " so 95 " enslaved to papal Authority* as to admit the transfer of their rights by Adrian to a foreign potentate. Perhaps Declan will defend this act of sovereignty attempted to be exercised by the Court of Rome over our country, and un- less lie does, it is impossible for him to establish for the Norman Prince a right to transfer tithes to the Church in- dependent of the Irish Chieftains. These latterreceived Henry only as a " primus inter pares" entitled to govern with the same authority as they were accustomed to recognize in their own " Monarchs of Ire- *' land, 1 " but to suppose that they enabled him to transfer their property to the Church, independent of their own will is to assert what the most slender acquaintance with Irish history and the principles of Irish as well as general law at that period, will disprove. Nor is Declan authorized to say that the Irish people in those times had no rights or independence. They were not mere Serfs like the English under the feudal system. The Brehon-laws— the laws of Tanistry gave essentially a cer- tain portion of right and independence to every Irishman. But probably Declan has been so engaged in researches with Ledwich about St. Patrick, as to divert his attention from the less interesting study of what appertained to the mere Irish. Had he devoted his mind to the moral or histori- cal study of a people from one of whose warlike septs he is perhaps descended, he would, I am inclined to think be of opinion, that their superior civilization — the character of their laws, as well as their native valour, protracted their independence when Caul and Britain yielded to the sway of the Franks and the Danes ; and that notwithstanding their degeneracy and dissentions (natural effects of pro. tracted warfare in the then state of society) they would have had found some Alfred amongst themselves to re-unite their powers and new model their laws as it happened to the Heptarchy in England, if the Normans and a time-servino- Pope had not succeeded to the Danes in the work of havoc and destruction. 90 I can scarcely conceive any employment more unbe- coming Declan, or more worthy of the faction to which hope or interest has attached him, than to misrepresent the his- tory and character of his country, — to disguise by sophistry the nature of law, and origin of right, and to labour to at- tribute to those who are Kal epochal his own countrymen, disaffected views and designs hostile to the connexion. Were a silly youth to indulge a vicious nature, and seek to cloak his apostacy from every good principle under a tissue of malignant insinuations, we should not be surprised ; but a man who affects to be a man of letters, who is often decorous in his manner and manifestly anxious to preserve an appearance of consistency to a character he has compro- mised, to find him descend to the selfish cant of a malignant party, is much to be deplored. Does Declan conceive that men of sense and acquainted with the nature of things, men who either possesses interests of their own or who are engaged by conscience and every sense of duty to promote the interests of the community to which they belong ; does he suppose that such men cannot study the history of their country, lament her fallen great- ness, wish that she had never beensubjeoted to the sway of a stranger; but that like Gaul or Britain she had been suffered to mature her own institutions, to establish her own sove- reignty, or to form a fcederal league with the adjoining island ; or that they, finding those things now rendered impossible are not anxious to close the crater of the volcano, and promote the public good by every practicable means ? If I be a Milesian, why should I be less well affected to a Norman or a Saxon, than to a Dane or to a Firbolg, or t j any one of the numefpus tribes whom Sir Janus Ware, for example enumerates as forming the ancient population of Ireland. What is wanted — what is desired — are men Irish in affection, no matter whence their origin. Men, who seek to promote the happiness of the country in the only way which is now possible — by identifying her laws institutions, interests with those of England, and forming i)7 of both islands one solid empire. This mode of proceeding would extinguish jealousies, amalgamate the people and supersede that odious and anti-social duty which in an evil hour Declan has assigned to the established Church, of inculcating on the Protestant mind " distrust of their fel- ** low subjects at home, and directing their affections to " England as contra-distinguished from their own " country/' J. Iv. L. renders thanks to Providence, that no such feel- ing ever entered into his mind ; and he proclaims loudly on the part of the Irish Catholics that no such anti-social spirit prevails amongst them, that they care not whence their neighbours derive their origin, whether from Thrace, Germany, Spain, Gaul or Britain, provided they are at- tached to Ireland and anxious for her welfare. With them, though religion is not *' the Cynthia of the minute ;" yet it teaches them to embrace every Christian as a brother and obliges them to yield a constitutional obedience to the Mo- narch who is not less the object of their loyalty than of their love. They seek for no separation, they have received good and evil from England. They know that a contest with her would prove destructive to Ireland, but that a cordial union of the countries would impart to this country a portion of the power and industry of Britain — the blessing of her laws and institutions, as well as the security and privileges to be derived from her invincible strength and towering station amongst the nations. Declan must be convinced of this, if his education and habits of thought resulting from it, have not biassed his un- derstanding:. But the faction whose alienation from Ireland and hostility to her happiness, he avows and advocates, cam neither comprehend truth, or if they comprehend it, endea- vour to extinguish its light. They hate it, because " their " works are evil. 11 If the Irish were incorrigible in their antipathy to Eng- land and not in their antipathy to tyranny and injustice, how comes it that Declan no sooner changes his creed and profession, than from a Milesian, who should hate the con- 98 ' »ection, lie becomes a very advocate of intolerance! and worships the idol of ascendancy ? If an « O," or a « Mac/' generate disloyalty, why is a Thomond unfriendly to his own Sept, or the descendant of the Hy Nials the grand master of an orange gang? If hostility to England be- natural to the aboriginal inhabitants, why are the descend- ants of the Catholics of the pale amongst the most zealous and clamorous of those who seek for equal laws, and there- by endanger the connection ? But no ! we find the ag- grieved without distinction of origin, claiming justice for Ireland, and we find the faction and their dupes opposed to all who seek to equalize the law, and cement by en- croachments upon their monopoly, the union of the countries. And if that hostility to England be attributed to religion, we have only to look to South America, in which there is but one Creed, and where the strife and dissention which now agitate Ireland have left the bones of thousands to bleach on the morass, and almost depopulated once mora the fairest portion of the globe ! The prefatory remarks to Declaims discussion on the origin of right in' the Establishment have occasioned these observations. I now proceed to his assertion, attributing to me what / never uttered or wrote in sense vr terms, viz. " that a Christian Church cannot have a just title to " permanent property.*' Something analogous to this might be found amongst the errors of WicklifFe or Huss, with whom Declan since his change of Creed claims some connection, but was never written by a Catholic Divine. On this subject I have therefore nothing to reply ; nor is it necessary to repeat my arguments against " the right di- vine 11 of the Church, (her defenders having abandoned with one accord that long contested position,) but I cannot so easily relinquish my right to claim these arguments as my own, and the vanity of an essayist obliges me to assure Declan, that the work of Mr. OTJriscoll, which he quotes as supplying me with materials, has never been seen by me. He will also permit me to distinguish his position, "that " the Clergy had a right to the tenth of the cattle. 11 To 99 lambs, fleeces, calves and milk, gosling, clucks, and all the leathered domesticated tribe, I allow they had, not excepting *• the noisy younglings of the foetid stye,'" to these they had a legal claim sustained by many a wise decision of their courts, founded on the Levitical law ; but of cattle which yielded no annual encrease, they had not. They could not carry oft" the tenth cow or the tenth bullock from the pas- ture or the lawn, or I am much deceived ; and if they could not, Declaims tedious argument serves only to deceive, but detracts nothing from the truth or force of what I had written. But to proceed to that "part of the essay in which Declan puts forth all his strength ; we find that he endeavours to sustain the rights of the Establishment by two arguments : — The first, of analogy, and which therefore may or may not be conclusive, according as the analogy is just or otherwise. This argument is taken from the nature of feudal tenures ; The second, from eleemosynary foundations by the Crown. The first is most pleasing to Declan, and in his satisfaction he forgets that it proves too much, and therefore looses its force ; or he admits all its consequences and attributes to something like accident, that the property of the Church has not descended in families, as it did in Armagh, by open violence and sacriligious rapine before the time of Celsus ; or he justifies by it the frightful idea he presents to us of his Church, established here without a mission and only as a permanent police establishment, or a sort of pedagogical institution — to inculcate distrust and dissention for " peace "and good-will," or again, proh pudor! as a kind of farm- ing society ! ! But to return to this, his favourite argument. He sketches the history of feudal tenures, and tells us that on the de- mise of the Chief or Baron, the feif reverted to the Crown, and could be given by the Prince to any person indifferently as well as to the descendant of the late Chieftain — that by degrees this right in the Prince was modified, and out of it grew the right of willing or entailing. It is from this statement of such tenures, he intends the public should in- o 2 100 for that an Ecclesiastical Corporation might inherit, and were it not for sonic unaccountable peculiarity in their con- dition, might also devise by will as the descendants of the feudal Barons do in the present times. Had Declan not been engaged to plead specially for the Establishment, he would not have disguised what is most important with re- gard to feudal tenures, namely the nature and origin of them. Instead of confounding them with benefices of Ro- man origin, and which name they obtained only since the introduction of Roman law, he would have informed his reader that when the Northern hordes possessed themselves of the Western Empire the lands were partitioned amongst their leaders, — Princes, Dukes, Counts, Knights, &c. ; and that as the whole possession was a common stock won by the sword, the military leaders were vested with their respective portions of it in full sovereignty, on the condition of defending it by their united force against every hostile aggression. On the demise of any one of them, his feif or portion reverted to the common stock, and the, Prince as the representative of the whole Society, conferred it either on the son or on one of the kindred of the deceased, or upon some other, capable of watching over the public interests, and waging war, if necessary, in their defence. The changes in the tenures followed naturally the changes in the state of society, and settled gradually, as the hordes be- came civilized, into what is now understood by the feudal system. This system was introduced into England by the Normans at the conquest, and continued there unbroken until the reign of the seventh Henry. Many of its traces are to be found in our institutions and laws to this day. Our House of Lords, the titles of our Nobility, of our Sheriffs, and of most of our public officers are remains of it — moulded anew in the progress of time and change of cir- cumstances. When the Feudal Chieftans embraced Chris- tianity, they gave baronies or fiefs to Bishops and Abbots, imposing on them an obligation of cither serving in war in person or by deputy, and contributing thq aid of their vas- sals, money, and provisions to the common cause. 101 When the Sovereign in each country had gradually sub- drtpd the Barons, and introduced standing armies as a means of offensive and defensive warfare, they exchanged the sys- tem of feudal service for that of benevolence or taxation, to which all lands and property became subject. It was then the Church put forth claims of exemption, and pleaded special privileges against the state. The merits of Saint Thomas of Canterbury, consisted in his support of these against the encroachments of his Master, and to his oppo- sition, and that of such men, England is indebted for most of her valuable rights. Had she not had Bishops as well as Barons of wisdom and fortitude, her Magna Charta never would have existed, and her Government this day might be as despotic as that of Spain. This is the origin of many former possessions of the Church ; but except in Germany, where they have been converted into electoral principalities, or secularized in some other way, I doubt whether more than a remnant of them exists in any state in Europe. The Clergy never indeed relinquished them without a struggle, but there was an innate sense in the breasts of men which convinced them of the incongruity of a Bishop being a feudal Baron, and, although through a just reve- rence for their sacred character and the interests of religion, ■they were still allowed seats in the legislative assemblies or councils of kings, most of their possessions have been se- cularized. The very nature of their tenure, by which Declan would support their title, was the cause why they were restored to their proper office, and less worldly sphere. But in Ireland the feudal system, properly so called, NEVEB existed. The possessions of the Irish Church never partook of its nature, they were gifts from the Tanists, or from the Kings or Nobles who sought as often by such do- nations to atone for their plunder and rapine, as they did to indulge their piety by assigning a portion of their pro- perty to the support of the poor, of the Church, or of the Priest. In Ireland, therefore, Church property, even the Church lands are clecsmosynary foundations, or a property asssigned 102 by the State, or by individuals to corporations on certain con~ ditions and for certain services to be performed, as the original charters testify, and the history of the country proves to a demonstration ; they do not by any means partake of the nature of feudal tenures. So that even if this kind of> te- nure, which has not been able to secure Church property when the interests of society required its being new-mo- delled, were sufficient to place our Church establishment on the footing of private property, unhappily for the Church- men it does not exist. Declan must therefore abandon his first argument derived from the feudal tenures, as his patrons have no such title, and rest his defence on the ordinary plea of the Church being a corporation, endowed by the State or by individuals with certain propaftics, vested in it for certain fixed services, a right of visitation always re- maining ex nalura rei, in the supreme power to which the care of the community is entrusted. Upon this view of the case I am prepared to join- issue with Declan ; it is much more interesting to Ireland than any inquiry about the travels of St. Patrick upon the Con- tinent, or into the Islands of the Tuscan Sea, where he is Said to have spent several years in the practice of the most sublime virtues. That the Church established, considered as a whole, forms a corporation, as well as every parish in the kingdom, is a truih with which every scholar is familiar. The prelimina- ries of Blackstone's Commentaries teach it to every youth whose name is registered in the King's Inns ; so that Declan might have withheld the display of erudition by which he would lead his readers to a knowledge of this truth, as well as of that other opinion " that the power of devising by " will is derived from the law," an opinion, however, which no man acquainted with the nature of property will admit, in an unqualified sense. From the flippancy in which this grave and important subject is disposed of by this writer on the authority of Blackstone, one would be led to suspect that his study of right and justice is extremely superficial. Bttt to return to the subjeet-of corporations, and namelj 103 to that of ths Church, which he exhibits, justly enough as an eleemosynary foundation by the crown. This defini- tion, then being admitted, as the ground of some reflec- tions, does it follow that the property of this legal establish- ment is of the same nature as private property purchased or inherited by individuals under the sanction of the law ? Are, for instance, the patrimonial inheritances of his Grace the Duke of Leinslcr an eleemosynary founda- tion by the Crown, or are they not gifts of the royal bounty to his more than illustrious ancestors for services performed to the State, or some other valuable considera- tion — or purchases for money paid — or inheritances legally bequeathed ? And who will presume to say that the Crown has a right to interfere with the disposal of them ? May they not be sold, mortgaged or disposed of, at the will and pleasure of the Noble Proprietor, should he or his ancestors not have entailed them by a voluntary act under the sanc- tion of the law? But will Declan assert the same of Cor- porate properties ? No, he admits, and it would be useless to denv it, that as all Corporations were instituted and en- dowed for some specific purpose, the Patron, if it be a pri- vate grant, has reserved for himself or his appointee, a right of visitation ; or if it be a public one, such as the Church at large is, then this right of visitation, at least in this coun- try where the concurrent jurisdiction of the Pope in bene- ficiary matters is annulled by law, belongs to the head of the State, as the representative of the community. And what, does this right of visitation imply ? It implies a power to do whatever is necessary for the public good, as far as such Corporation is connected with it— -to enquire into the conduct of its members — to hear complaints — to redress injuries — to inflict summary and extra-judicial pun- nishment — to correct abuses — to reform discipline — or should it be found necessary, to declare the charter forfeited — or suppress the corporation altogether, should it be found, like the Knights Templar?, or the Jesuits in the opinion of the Popes and Princes of the last century, not to fulfil cli9 end of its institution. 104 To deny this right to the supreme power in the State with regard to Corporations generally, is to argue against the nature of things, against the plainest principles of muni- cipal law, against the universal opinion of jurists, against the example and practice of every state in Europe — it is, as I observed elsewhere, to impeach the proceedings of every Sovereign of England who visited and suppressed Church establishments in the 16th century, and to question the title of the most distinguished families of both countries to a very considerable portion of their rights and possessions. Is Declan prepared to admit these consequences? I should fancy not, unless he appeal to the Pope for protection, or has discovered some title in the Church Corporation even more invulnerable than the " right divine. 1 ' But what is to become of the property which might thus be withdrawn from the body Corporate ? It rests of its nature in the Crown, as the depository of all the goods of the community to which no individual has a legal claim, and the Crown is obliged to employ it for the public good, and the means of doing so are never wanted. I am far from concluding from this argument that the Church established should be deprived of its property. I am only proving the right of the Crown with regard to Cor- porations, a right which Declan has in an evil hour called into question, and I might add, expressly denied, but the denial of which would lead to the establishment of Popery in all its ancient horrors, or to something worse than that Radicalism, which he attributes to J. K. L. This inference is not exaggerated ; for if such a right did not exist, a wrong might not only remain without a remedy contrary to the maxims of law, but the absence of it would lead to the subversion of society — by annulling the omnipotence of the legislature and placing the corruption of public bodies above the correction or control of the State. Having thus disposed of the principle which regulates corporations such as the Church confessedly is, we may proceed to discuss the application of it to the origi- 105 nal grant of tithes — to their use and end, as weil as the transfer of them to their present possessors. Tithes were granted at Cashel by the King and his Ba- rons as well as some Irish Chieftains according to the tenor of the well-known Canon cited by Declan. They were granted as the result proved, partly to Abbeys, to Convents, to collegiate Churches : but still the greater part of them to the secular parochial Clergy to be collected and em- ployed according to the canons and usages of the times. I know of no part of Declan's essay in which he betrays a greater want of candour or greater lack of knowledge in ecclesiastical matters than he does by intimating that the tithes were given to the Clergy unconditionally, because the terms of the Canon arc indefinite. It is certainly not plcas_ ing to me to charge a polite writer, however rude or uncour- . tcous to Popery and to J . X. L. , with ignorance or bad faith, but it is still more painful to argue with a man who has only a tinge of literature on the subjects which he un- dertakes to discuss. How ridiculous would not a lawyer appear who should call for a decision on a statute which merely enacted the ap- plication of several others, without once referring to them, or to the interpretation or former decisions of the Court upon them. Yet such is the conduct of Declan. Because the Canon of Cashel enacts " that tithes shall " be paid to the Clergy,"" he infers that they have only to collect them into their granaries and farm-yards, without any regard to the usages of the Church, or to the numberless statutes which regulated their kind, quantity, mode of col- lection or recovery, or even the uses to which they were to be applied ? Yet all these should be known and ob- served. In France from which Henry came to this country, at that time as well as in 1274 above a century afterwards, when the second Council of Lyons was celebrated, (which Council was an universal one) tithes were applied to the support of the Bishop, of the Clergy, of the fabric, and of the poor. The law or usage which regulated their appli- 106 cations, was every where observed, and in no place more exactly than in England ; witness the 21th of Elfric's Canons which says, " let the Priests receive the tithes " let them set apart the first share for the building, and " ornamenting of the Church, and distribute the second *■• with their own hands to the poor and the strangers with " mercy and humility, and reserve the third part for them- "• selves." There was no intention on the part of Henry, and the delegate of the Holy See, to bring about a confor- mity in the discipline of the Irish Church to that of the other Churches of Europe, in all things else tithes only excepted- The truth is, that not only were the general laws for the collection and application of tithes introduced into Ireland, but that they continued in force in this country after they had none into disuse in most others, and that the present proprietors have the singular merit of discarding the poor, of neglecting the fabric, of abandoning- to penury their own serving clergy, for the sole purpose of appropriating the en. tire income of the Corporation to which they are trustees, to their own real or factitious wants. But if they have not erected, nor ornamented Colleges or Churches— if they have not formed libraries, or created or endowed public institu- tions for the poor, or the infirm, or the stranger, they have at least faithfully executed the extraordinary trust before- mentioned which their new advocate has assigned them. It is also to be observed, that the Parochial Clergy at the period when a portion of the tithes were allotted to them, were in a proportion of at least three to each one of the Parochial Clergy of the present day, as may be proved by a reference to the number of parishes episcopally united in these latter times, and which unions arc recorded in the registers of the several dioceses. The ancient Clergymen moreover, were employed in professional duties from the ri- sing to the setting sun, whereas Declan says of those now established that they have no .Missionary character ! How truly has it been said, " that they are conscious of not an- swering the end lor which any Christian Church has ever " bevn erected !" 107 But their advocate does not stop here. After expressing the impossibility of J. K. L. knowing for what purpose they were placed amongst us by the British, lie conjectures, it may have been to watch the Irish as spies, to inculcate on the minds of the settlers, that this was a place of banish- ment, but that England was their true home from which flowed every benediction, and that through it lay the broad way to heaven : or last of all, they may have been sent here as a farming society ! Good God, what an idea does this writer seek to convey to us of a Christian Priesthood ! No missionary character ! Political agents of the lowest de- scription ! Apostles of disunion ! Tillers of land ! It is but too true, this character given to the body by Declan has been verified in many of them from the days of Boulter to the present time ; and it is equally true, that it behoves all Irishmen who love their country, now that the nature and end of the establishment is proclaimed by its professed apologist, to be opposed " to peace and good " will," it behoves them to consider seriously whether the teachers of such a Gospel deserve to be trusted as guides in seeking the public weal, whether Irishmen should continue the dupes of a party who avow their dislike to the country, and who profess that for three centuries they have been zealous Apostles of disunion, sowers of discord — advocates of oppression. Happily for human nature, though this may have been the Esprit At corps, there have been of their body men who would not have put even a mitre in com- petition with their love of country ! Swift has not been the only patriot their body has produced : and much as every true Irishman must detest the principle now pub lished by their champion and he a " transfug'a de castrif; " Argivum™ yet we will not cease to hope, that a native virtue and a national spirit, which no education can eradi- cate, will cause many of them to disavow in word and work as they have done, hitherto the odious and contemptible cha- racter with which it is sought to invest them. But to resume the principle which regulates corpora** tions. 108 Wc have seen the conditions on which tithes were given to the established Church in the time of Henry II. We will not enquire into the merits of the forfeiture on the part of the Churchmen of the 16th century. It consisted in an unwillingness on their part to change their creed or to re- cognize in the King or Parliament the right or power to alter or modify it. Whether this was a crime or not, whe- ther for this they deserved to be called " a restless and " traitorous faction," and that by a false brother, will yet be decided before a tribunal more awful than that of Kings or Parliaments. But whether justly or otherwise, the fact is certain that the ancient Clergy were ousted from their possessions, and that the state transferred those possessions* partly to laymen, partly to public institutions, and the re- mainder to those, who by their pliancy to power succeeded to the " restless and traitorous faction.'" Though Declan should have so subdued his nature and extinguished in his own breast all filial reverence and re- spect for the religion and ancestry from which he descended, as to call the one a "grey iniquity," 11 and represent the other as a " corrupt Mass," yet he should not have gratuitously assumed, that they had violated conditions essential to the well-being of the State, or that the crown by waging a suc- cessful war against an independent nation had re-entered upon its original rights. No part of his assertions upon these subjects is warranted by history. The crown of England had no original rights in Ireland, unless a papal Bull forsooth would bestow them, until she acquired them by compact, or the sword ; and if the men who sustained the cause of ( harlcs and James in Ireland against Crom- well and William arc to be deemed " a traitorous faction," Declan himself, had he Jived in these days, would without doubt, be numbered amongst them. The wars which at different periods were w r aged in Ireland from the I3th to the 18th century should be to the present generation, a subject of deep regret, but to brand those engaged in them with approbrious names or accuse them with the viola- tion of justice or treaties, is to open an account with 109 antiquity which could never be closed ; it is to excite everv angry passion at a period when the faction alone obstructs the work of redress and avows their abhorrence of conciliation ! That those who possessed the supreme power in Ireland at any time had a right to visit the public corporations, and so to regulate their properties as the public interests might require, is what alone we seek to establish. That they did so, is proved abundantly by the transfer made of the Church establishment at the period when the religion of the State was changed. An inquiry into the causes or justice of such transfer, would be useless at present, and might produce evil. Three centuries have now almost elapsed since the proceedings occurred, and the right of the Crown which then could not be disputed, is not now to be questioned. Declan, whilst he admits it in words, should not seek to undermine it, by introducing the supposed apostacy of a few Bishops. The power of the State to create and endow corporate establishments, to visit such establishments, to transfer or to suppress such establishments, is unquestionable. And is not the Church a corporation, or to quote this writer's own words, "an eleemosynary foundation of the Crown?"" Itcannot appeal to the Pope for protection, or cite laws and statutes like Thomas a Becket, to prove its exemption. What exemption therefore can it plead ? or is not the right now asserted as belonging to the legislature — namely, the right to new-model the establishment, the same which it exercised at the time of the transfer. At that period let it be admitted, that the ancient Clergy forfeited their rights; at present it is not said that these rights are forfeited by the corporators, but it is contended that a case is made out and proved which would warrant the supreme power in the community to visit this corpora- tion, to search it with a lamp, and so to modify it, as to promote the interests of that community for whose utility alone it was created. Declan will have it to remain untouched, because no though it does not answer the ends for which it was originally designed, there is another efficient priesthood to supply its place; wMeh priesthood h 2 presumes to affirm, Ci receives " as much as that of the establishment throughout the en- " tire island, " with an hesitating exception respecting the Catholic Bishops and the Catholic Clergy of the North. '• It is notorious, he says, that the income of the Parish " Priests, and still more of the Curates, is greater than « that of the same ranks among the Established Clergy.'" The truth is, that the Catholic Prelates receive for their support that proportion of the emoluments usually derived to a Parish Priest from one or at most from two parishes together, with some trifling contribution from each of the Cleroy, subject to them, once in each year ; this is the total amount of their income ! While engaged writing these sheets, J. K. L. has has heard of a composition for tithes having been made, with the Parson of the Parish adjoining his residence at the rate of 13 or 14,00/. a a-year, and having examined a registry of returns of the emoluments of the Parish Priest of the same Parish, in 1820, he found that they amounted to sixty-five pounds ! This is the only return of the kind from that parish to which he has access. The writer also has been himself the Catholic Incumbent of a parish which has lately offered to the Parson 1200/. a year in lieu of tithes, and he declares, in the presence of the country, that to the best of his judgment and recollection, he never received from that parish 200/. in any shape within one year. The Curates of Parish Priests who reside with their Prin- cipal, receive one-fifth of the emoluments, and should they lodge elsewhere, they are allowed one-third. These facts are the most satisfactory and respectful reply which it is in my power to make to the assertion of Declan — an assertion which it is not permitted me to designate as it de- serves. Between both Priesthoods, however, religion must be well preserved ; and if the focks perish, the misfortune must proceed rather from being too closely shorn than from want of attendance. In their unparalleled penury and distress, Ill they have also the consolation of suffering " for the good "of their souls," and of supporting out of their destitution the o-oro-eous temple of the establishment, as well as the Little Sion in which they themselves occasionally rejoice. This writer had imbibed too deeply the spirit of his new calling to withhold, when treating of these subjects, his invectives from Mr. CTConnell ; and though he does not indulge in the ravings of the more bewildered and infuriated bigots against this distinguished Irishman, yet he endeavours to cover him with with the spray of a mitigated Billinsgate. •For my part, I feel a pleasure in being appointed by this modern Apostle of A rd in ore, to be " the assessor"" of a man whose talents and patriotism I venerate and admire. I shall always deem it a high honour to number Mr. CConnell among my friends, and wish earnestly I could lend him any assistance in his efforts to cheer the despond- ency, and sustain the sinking fate of his country. He has been long one of her finest ornaments, and most efficient as well as most faithful supporters ; but he needs not the aid of J. K. L. more than the towering oak which grows upon his paternal domains requires to be upheld by the homely shrub which creeps in obscurity. Having thus disposed of whatever deserved notice in the." Case of the Church," on casting my eve over it a se- cond time, I lighted upon a passage in pages 37-8, in which the writer would have us believe " there was not disruption of "continuity when the Catholic Clergy gave way to those of " the Establishment/'' With both our hands we protest against the impudent assertion ! The Hierarchy of the Catholic Church, the entire body of the Catholic Clergy has continued in Ireland through every viscissitude, uninterrupted and unbroken ; they have been dispossessed of temporalities which the State gave, and again took away ; but they are always the same. Dr. Curtis has succeeded as regularly and ca- nonically to Dowdall and Flunkett, as these did to Patrick and Malachy. There was no disruption of continuity, it is true, but it is equally true, that xo two Catholic Prk- IIS LATES EVER RULED THE SAME CHURCH, OR EVER SAT IV the same See with the same TrTLE. The Established Clergy may have a good title or not, but beyond all doubt THEY WERE NEVER ENGRAFTED UPON OUR STOCK, NEVER SUCCEEDED TO OUR PLACES, WHICH WERE NOT VACATED, NEVER INHERITED JURISDICTION FROM OUR CHURCH, AND HAVE NO JUST CLAIM TO AN IDENTITY WITH US, OR CONTI- NUITY FROM OUR FATHERS, WHO HELD NO COMMUNION WITH THEM. A sufficient number, Declan says, of our Prelates and Clergy embraced the new order of things to carry with them the rights of the whole body of their brethren to the tithes, and to continue the Catholicity of the Church. This is certainly a new species of defence, not a pillar of truth, but almost literally a " broken reed." It were much to be desired that Declan would favour the public with the names of those Prelates and the acts of their abjuration. During the disputes between Dowdall of Ar- magh and Brown, who had been a Protestant before he was sent to Dublin, I can find but four Bishops charged with even a temporary compromise of principle, and not even one who might not be supposed to have yielded, through error or infirmity, to what was not as yet formally condemned by the Church, rather than to have renounced the faith of their fathers ; but admitting that they did heartily conform to the rule of faith and discipline at that time prescribed by Henry or his Secretary Cromwell, how could they who se- parated themselves carry with them the rights of their brethren, when not only had they no delegation for such a purpose, but were disavowed or condemned by those in whom even the temporal rights as yet were vested. Should there be a secession of some half-dozen Members of the City of Dublin Corporation, from that august body, who should unite with the Catholic Association, could they carry along with them, the rights and privileges of the City, from the faithful phalanx which remained behind unbroken? The Legislature might, indeed, transfer such rights and privileges even to the Association, did it seem ?.o meet, and 113 the latter would in that case be as legal possessors of them as those who now enjoy them ; but they would be so, not in consequence of the few deserters who seceded, but in virtue of the act which disfranchised the one body, and instituted the other in their room. Just so it happened when the Es- tablishment was transferred. The secession of a few Irish Bishops had no more effect on that transfer, than the de- fection of the entire body, had it occurred, would have had upon the Catholicity of the Church. This character of the Church does not belong to the Church of any nation, unless inasmuch as she is an integral part of the Church of all nations, which alone is properly called Catholic. The Catholic Church of Ireland, or of England, or of France, signifies only that portion of the Universal Church which is found in these countries respectively, and should they, or any one of them or any portion of one of them separate itself horn the Head, which is the centre of unity and bond of connexion to the entire, it ceases from that moment to belong to the Catholic Church ! It is a branch which has been broken or lopped off — A tower that has fallen from the mighty edifice which Christ has constructed on the earth. These unkind deserters, therefore, of whom Declan speaks,, could not carry with them either a title to tempo- ralities against the will of the Corporation to which they belonged, though such title might afterwards be given to them by the State, and still less could they co'nvey spiritual jurisdiction or the character of Catholicity or Apostolicity from the Church which discarded or anathematized them, and which never has re-admitted them to her communion, or to a participation of those rights, which having received from above, are not, like establishments, subject to the con- troul of Princes. " The adventurers who came here to watch the baggage " and collect the spoils," " the holy Harpies " of whom J. K. L. made such irreverent mertion, are not these jnen, but that scrofula of the Church of England, who came here chiefly during the reigns of Elizabeth and after Crom- H 114 Avell ; ami of whom a Chief Secretary to one of the then Lord Lieutenants writes as follows: " Whatever disorders are in the Church of England may " be seen in that of Ireland, and much more ; namely gross " simony, greedy covetousncss, fleshly incontincncy, careless " sloth, and generally all disordered life in the common " clergymen. And besides these they have particular enor- " mities ; they neither read the Scriptures nor preach to the " people, only they take the tithes and offerings, and ga- " ther what fruit they can off their livings, which they con- " vert as badly." This writer proceeds to describe the holy harpies with singular nalvctc — " Yea, and some of the " Bishops, whose Dioceses are somewhat out of the world's " eye, do not bestow the benefice upon any, but keep them " in their own hands, and set their servants or horsebovs " to take up the fruits of them, with which some of them " pui'chase great lands, and build fair castles upon the "same." Thus Spencer spoke of them in his " State of " Ireland." Hume himself, his falsehoods and prejudices notwithstanding, gives of them an account not much more edifying ! Itis truethatprevious to the reign of Henry, many English- men wereestablished in Sees and Monasteries in this country, stoic of whom, like Gerald Barry, (the name is ominous,) served more to calumniate than to improve the Irish, whilst others were men of distinguished merit and exalted virtue. But Ishould prefer to form my judgment of the benefits men- tioned by Declan as conferred on this country by English ecclesiastics, from public documents such as the proceedings of a Synod held in Dublin quoted by Ware, than from the interested pleadings of any advocate. In that Synod the English Clergy were upbraided in full meeting, with having introduced vices thereto unhwmi'm the Irish Church. But why are these disclosures forced from us by a false brother who, more intent on vilifying and misrepresenting the Church he has deserted, than in elucidating truth, has had the effrontery to state " that in the 16th century in " Ireland, religion wanted to be humanized : that her " abuses were of such a nature and so inveterate in the 115 " national habits that they could not have been reclaim- " ed even to the popery of a civilized kingdom." Were I to retort, and exhibit, not from my own fancy, but from the page of history or modern times the abuses, and scandals of what is called a reformation, I might wound the feelings of many worthy men, but would not ad- vance the interests of peace. These retorts are indeed sometimes wrung even from our reluctance, lest crimes and folly should seem to be the fruit of our Creed which always condemns them, and not the natural growth of the deprared nature of man — greater or less in proportion as religious and social institutions restrain their passions or warrant their indulgence. On this subject it might be useful to Dcclan and his fellow labourers to attend to the poet's sa- lutary admonition, discite justiliavi vwuitC Unwilling to obtrude on the public observations which regard myself more than my subject, I omit all justification of my definition of law, as quoted by Declan, as well as all notice of the insinuations conveyed in his remarks on it. My profession has obliged me to devote more time to such studies than was required of Declan. A scholar acquainted with law would never have censured my definition. This writer must have misunderstood it, as no man of integrity would knowingly misrepresent it as he has done. I dismiss his laboured apology — and unless his future productions should exceed his essay on the rights of the Church, they will not disturb " the repose of my retreat, nor employ any portion of my leisure."" It was an anxiety to defend my own prin- ciples, and those of my Catholic Brethren which induced me to notice what I should not otherwise have rescued from obscurity. J. K. L. APPENDIX. NOTE A. MAN is connected with the external world by a centre of sensation and motion, from which certain prolongations emanate to every part of the body, and are destined to apprize their common centre of the influence of external bodies when applied to their respective organs. This centre of sensation is the brain, in which the mind of man is- said to reside ; and its prolongations are whitish pulpy chords composed of bundles or fosiculi or fibres called nerves. These arise from the brain or spinal marrow, and terminate in the different organs and structures of the body, causing sensation and feeling in every part. Thus, if a foreign body be applied to any part of the human fabric, it produces a certain change or feeling in such part, which is conveyed in an unknown manner to the brain by means of the nerves of such part; and sensation is produced. If we interrupt by compression of the nerves, the communication between the organs and the brain, all consciousness of impres- sions of objects, and all sensation will be suspended. Thus the violent pain of whitlow will cease, if we bind the arm so tightly as to compress the nerves which convey sensation to the brain. The application of a tourniquet on the leg, before amputation, so compresses the nerves of the limb, as, almost, to deprive them of sensation and render the part incapable of motion. All causes then which impede or Interrupt the influx of nervous power into the muscles or other organs of the body will deprive them of sensation and motion, and are called the causes of palsy. These are compression, obstruction or lesion of the brain, affusion of blood, serum, or purulent matter on its substance, and different kinds of tumours, all or any of which may cause this complaint. Pressure on the origins of the nerves in the brain, or on some part of them, as they pass to their respective determinations, induced by an increased quantity of blood in the head, is the immediate cause of palsy. Such tendency of blood to the head usually happens to persons with large heads, short necks — malformations which impede the return of blood from the head, and cause it to be accumulated in the brain, which, if suddenly induced, causes that ge- neral palsy called apoplexy. The School of Medicine in Edinburgh, justly acknow- ledged the first in Europe, inculates that, " Apoplexy is generally preceded by " various symptoms, such as frequent fits of giddiness, frequent head-aches, bleed- ing from the nose, some transitory interruptions of seeing and hearing, some tran- *' sitory degree of numbness or loss of motion in the extremities; some faultering of " the tongue in speaking, a loss of memory, frequent drowsiness, and frequent fits " of night-mare." (1) The termination of apoplexy is most unfavourable, for it usually ends in palsy, of one or both sides, which become deprived of feeling and motion, and flabby, decayed, and useless to the individual. The immortal Hippo- crates, the father and founder of physic, who flourished 460 years before the sera of of man's redemption, remarked, that " if any part of the body were deprived of •'motion, it cannot be restored to health." The incurable nature of palsy was ob- served long before his time by the Jews, as we read in the sacred Scriptures, and hence the sudden cure of it was always deemed miraculous. Celsus, a physician of note, in the commencement of the first century, remarks, " that if any member of the " body be relaxed, and if it cannot be moved but wastes, it will not return to it3 pris- *• tine form, especially if of long duration, and hence old persons are mostly ema- " dated." (2) There can be no doubt as to the accuracy of these observations, for if the body be deprived of motion and exercise for any considerable time, loss of appetite and want of tone in all the organs, will so impair the process cf digestion, as to prevent the preparation of a sufficient supply as nutriment in the proportion ne- cessary for health. Hence diminution of the body (the blood being continually expend- ed in sustaining the size and functions of the several organs, without an adequate supply of food for the decrease,) emaciation and complete loss of bodily power will ensue. Under such circumstances, it is obvious that the body and its functions (1) Cullen's Pracf. Med. v. 2, p. 67. The text book of the University of Edin- burgh.— Also Cheyne on Apoplexy, 1812. The Naturalist of Dublin. (?) Celsus, B. 2, e. viii. APPENDIX. 117 will soon be greatly impaired, and ultimately almost unfit for the preservation of life. Such is the opinion of the Medical Schools on this subject at this day. Let us now consider the opinions of Physicians since those early times down to the present, as to the usual and most frequent termination of palsy and, I take liberty to remark, that in all the following references, I enumerate the opinions of the most famous authorities of their times. Palsy may be perfect as when all sense and motion are abolished, as in Apoplexy ; or partial when certain parts only arc affected. «* If atrophy or great extenuation or " wasting of the paralysed parts come on, and great palidity, the hope of cure is "lost."(3) "Palsy is generally long protracted and cured with difficulty, but one " of the violent kind admits of no cure at all," (4) " if there be atrophy and , eia- •'tion of the paralysed parts with palidity, every hope of cure is in vain." (5) " Palsy is difficult of cure and often accompanies the patient to his grave." (6) If '-' there be coldness, insensibility and wasting of the parts, palsy is seldom curable." (7) " Palsy is often long continued, and almost incurable in aged persons." (8) " When " sense and motion are destroyed in the palsied parts, the indication of cure is unfa- " vourable, and, indeed, seldom happens, (9) " Paralysis accompanied with atrophy, " emaciation and frigidity is deemed incurable." (10) The celebrated De Hean, of Vienna, writes on the irremediable nature of palsy when long continued, (1 1) as also the famous Stoerck, who said "if the parts were cold and emaciated, palsy was "cured with difficulty and tediousness, and often incurable," (12) " Palsy is a dan- " gerous disease when it arises in consequence of apoplexy, it generally proves very " difficult of cure." (.13) " The patient drags the paralytic limb by great exertion, " continues long, perhaps for years, in this condition, is often confined to bed in a most " helpless state for several weeks, and then dies gradually exhausted, sometimes " comatose a day or two before death." (14) The last and best work on Palsy is published by Dr. Cooke, in 1821, and with regard to the subject of termination, he states " the prognosis in the general palsies must be always unfavourable." (15) I shall now beg the reader's attention to the certificate of Dr. Mills as to the paralytic .state of Mrs. Stewart, of Ranelagh Convent, as the first, most scientific, and honest account of her disease. This gentleman attended her for three years, and states, " that her complaint was generally of an apoplectic tendency, the attacks frequent, " sometimes followed by paralysis of the upper and lower extremities, the sight occa- " sionally impaired, blindness once occurred, the voice became faint, and, within the " last two years, the powers of articulation were lost for many hours, for two or more " days, which symptoms were removed by the approved remedies, and issues were " placed in the crown of the head, nape of the neck, an J left arm. The digestive organs " were frequently disturbed, and as frequently restored to their healthy actions. For " the last ten months her health declined, and for the last half-year she was confined " to bed from the weakness of her lower extremities. In June last her voice became " faint, and, in the middle of July, she had been three weeks without speaking, and "on the 31st of Jul}' replied to my questions by signs, and on the Jirst of August " walked forth to receive me in her usual manner — Signed, Thomas Mills, M. D." Was. there ever a better description of a tendency to apoplexy than this? Yet, hear the tale of the accommodating Dr. Cheyne, who states, " that in June last she was "emaciated and exhausted," this he saw, "and he was told she laboured under a de- " termination of blood to her head ;" a fact, it appears, he did not learn from her symptoms, " but she had various nervous symptoms of an anomalous kind," the term anomalous is applied when the symptoms of a disease cannot be ascribed to any (3) Hollerus op. Med. 1635, p. 68. (4) Lommius op. Med. 1560, p. 60. (5) Riverius Prax. Med. 1672, fol. p. 14. (6) Hoffman op. Med. 171S. (7) Boerhaave, Prax. Med. 1708. (8) Mead's Med. Precepts, 1758, p. 82. (9) Van Svveitan, 4to. v. 3, p. 369. (10) Lieutand Prax. Med. 1759, p. 139. (11) De Hean Pract. Med. 17M, v. 1. p. 335, (12) Stoerck, Precep. 1771, v. 1. p. 337. (13) Thomas' Pract. Med. 1819. (14) Abercrombie on Palsy, 1819 — Ed. Med. and Surg. Journal. (15) Cooke on the different kinds of Palsy. — Lon. 1821. US AH'ENDIX. certain speck*, but ihc application of which, in this instance, was incorrect and tin professional, and clearly implied that the opinion of Dr. Mills, as to the apoplectic tendency, was untrue, though it must he acknowledged as authentic by the youngest tyro in the profession, and is borne out by the fact, that all the symptoms yielded to the remedies applied. The anomalous symptoms were " temporary loss of vision, speech, and muscular power," the most frequent precursors of an apoplectic tendency, and described and admitted as such 1n Dr. Cheyne's own little essay on apoplexy, above alluded to. Now, it appears, from the above certificates, and sworn testimony of re- spectable persons, that Mrs. Stewart had laboured under an appoplectic tendency, nd long continued paralytic disorder, by which she was confined to bed for better than six months, and, on the 31st July, was speechless, and declared to be dying by her physicians, yet, contrary to the opinions of the most eminent men of the different periods above quoted, she declares herself suddenly free from palsy on the following day, August 1st, enjoying the power of motion and all her lost faculties. Limited, indeed, must the understanding of the man be, and unacquainted with the laws and operations of nature, who could suppose that, in one short day, such abolition of bodily power could be restored, and that such pristine vigour and strength could be established as to fit the body for the exertion of the many func- tions which health required. And, is it possible, that a regularly educated physician could entertain, much less avow, so absonous and unmedical an opinion ? Yet we have witnessed it, nay from try? man who has written otherwise on the subject. "Without fear of refutation, I challenge the faculty of physicians in any country, to produce unimpeachable medical evidence of the sudden cure of paralysis of so long duration, as in the cases of Mrs. Stewart, Miss Dowell, or Miss Lalor. No, there is not one such case to be found from among the many thousands on medical record. As to cases made up in pamphlets since the restoration of these ladies, and fabri- cated for the occasion, they are of no value, therefote the cures of the cases under consideration differ from all the ordinary cures on record, and were effected by means different from the usual course of nature, or what men call natural principles. It is really a curious consideration how, at a certain hour, appointed at the distance of many hundred miles, and on a future day, at least one month distant, that these three incurable cases should be suddenly restored to health contrary to the hu- manly appointed fixed principles of nature. But this has been ascribed to the force of imagination. Ridiculous assertion ! can man suddenly renew such destruction of bodilv power by the force of imagination ? Can he remove the most trivial com- plaint to which he is liable by thought ? If he can, how comes disease ? Imper- fect, indeed, would the human body be, if we could remodel and metamorphose it at pleasure. But the idea is an outrage on common sense. Moreover, the excitement which would bo induced by the slightest hope, would only increase the determina- tion of blood to the head, and continue the palsy ; and indeed each of the ladies whose cases we are considering, were desponding when the cure happened. With respect to Miss Dowell's case, the late Dr. Baillie, whose reputation as a scientific physician, justly elevated him to the first place in the city of London, Sir Henry Halford, Drs. Mills, P. Crampton and Cheyne, pronounced her incurable. Is it likely that each and all of these physicians" had mistaken so obvious a disease ? Impossible, we have the testimony of several respectable persons, that Mr. Smith, the Surgeon at Mountrath, declared Miss Lalor to be incurable, and at a subsequent period, that her cure was miraculous. I have thus endeavoured to explain the medical part of these observations in as plain and simple a manner as possible, and, without vanity, I defy the Medical world, to impeach or contradict it. NOTE B. The attempts to explain on physical principles the cures in question is not un- happily ridiculed in the following le"tter extracted from the Dublin Evening Post. TO THE EDITOR OF THE DUBLIN EVENING TOST. «« Sin I have read the Surgeon-General's Pamphlet, purporting to be « An ' attempt to explain, on natural principles, the cures of Miss Lalor and Mrs. Stuart. The Author averts, that it ia beyond all doubt, that the cure of any curable disease, may be as certainly performed by moral as by physical agency. (Seepage S.) Now, AITENDIX. 119 although I heard men of sound judgment give it as their opinion, that this Pamphlet was but • a fine sample on the 'hole, * Of reasoning, which the learned call rigmarole.' Yet, I cannot but consider that one of the greatest discoveries of modern times, which renders unnecessary the exhibition of a vile farrago of nauseous medicines, which, in some cases, cure a local disease, but destroy the constitution; which are liable to be adulterated, or carelessly made up ; which take sometimes a long while to produce their salutary effects, often requiring an application of hot towels to moderate their activity ; and withal, which cost a great deal of money ; not to mention the horror of a Patient's mind, who dreads he has taken Oxalic Acid for Epsom Salts, Laudanum for Daffy's Elixir, &c. &c. '* I am not one, Sir, who would deprive any man of a scintilla of his merits, so, while I allow myself the liberty of diffusing this new light to my Country, I will be ingenious enough to own, that the Author of the above-mentioned Pamphlet is the original inventor or discoverer of the moral treatment of physical disease. " For the sake of ' suffering humanity,' I entreat you to announce, that it is my intention, as soon as I have completed my arrangements, to deliver a Course of Lec- tures on Phantasi-akesiology or the Prophylactic and Therapeuetic treatment of ALL diseases through the imagination, particularly disorganized liver, tubercnlated lungs, or a flaccid and extenuated heart, * which the learned Author sets down as being par- ticularly caused by a diseased imagination, and which, as all Ids reasoning tends to prove, should consequently be most easily cured through the imagination. On Doctor Cheyne's authority, J have no doubt of being eminently successful in cases where the symptoms are multiform and anomalous, their exacerbations violent, and of long du- ration, where they have completely prostrated the Patient's strength, and animal and organic powers and sensibilities, setting at naught the skill of three or four of the first Physicians of the land, and all the medicines and applications in their Pharmaco- poeia. I have, I say, no doubt of being able to cure such a case in ten minutes, although aggravated by the exhaustion which the Patient may have suffered by running the gauntlet through issues, blisters, cupping, general bleeding, cathartics, emetics, diaphoretic ct ontne medicamen quod exit in etics ! I shall take the liberty of sending you a Prospectus of my Lectures in a ie-\\- days, and of a Dispensatory, which I am compiling to assist the Practitioners in my system. I beg leave to acknowledge the valuable assistance 1 received in this Compilation from Dr. Jacob's new edition of ' Zimmerman's Story-Book,' as also the prefatory remarks by the Doctor himself, which explains, in a new and instructive manner, the nature of joy, grief, and fear, illustrated by stories of ' Mental Emotion,' producing crying, sneezing, sympa- thetic yawning, blushing, laughing, vomiting, sleeping, teeth-watering, and teeth-on- edging. (which last he acknowledges he was nc;u- forgetting ;) and a new and learned view of their proximate causes, viz. : bad news and onions, snuff, gaping pictures, words, glances and signs, tickling and funny stories, sheriffs' officers and tartar emetic, baby's hushabies, music, stupid essays and opium, savory dishes, cutting corks, grinding knives and sharpening saws, with a borrow cd hint on the probable effects of a tune on the bagpipes. " I am, Sir, your obedient Servant, " ROERIIAAVE, Jun." " See the above-mentioned Pamphlet, pages 6 and 7. NOTE C. Miss Mather's own account of the mode in which her cure was effected, is po in- teresting, that I willingly rescue it from the ephemeral columns of a newspaper. The letter is addressed to an Irish Catholic Clergyman. " London, the 17 th of July, 1S23. " B.EVERENB Father, — It is with the greatest pleasure, that in compliance with. your request, I give you in writing the particulars of my long and severe illness, and of the wonderful cure which the Almighty, in his unbounded mercy, has been pleased to work in favour of the most unworthy of his servants. I was taken ill on the 15th March, 1822, with an Inflammation in the Stomach; the progress of the malady, ra- pidly increasing, soon alarmed the Physicians, who declared me to be in imminent danger. However through medical assistance and the blessing of God, I recovered so far, as to be able to sit up for eight or ten hours, and was declared in a state of con- valescence. I had been going on better and better for a few days, when on a sudden, I was taken with a most violent pain in the stomach, and was obliged to be earned 120 APPENDIX. into bed, where I remained for the space of fifteen months, labouring under the most excruciating pain, and ever since, till the day of my cure, was taken three or four times a day with spasms in the stomach. Every attempt to leave my bed, produced the most violent pain in the stomach, and after the attempt I would lie for several hours, suffering under acute hysterical flatulency, and violent head ache. In short, my agony was extreme, and I became completely bed ridden — My stomach was re- duced to such a degree of weakness, that the lightest food taken in the smallest quan- tity, couid not digest without pain, and I could take nothing, except in a lying pos- ture ; I was constantly bedewed with clammy perspiration. Two months previous to my cure, the pains in my stomach much increased and brought on a cough, which was so severe, that I coughed sometimes for three hours together. Under these nu- merous infirmities, I was attended by the most eminent Physicians in London. They soon lost all hopes of my recovery and could do nothing more for me. In so deplor- able a situation, 1 turned my eyes towards Heaven, and looked to God alone for a cure, which I could not obtain, through the ordinary means appointed by his Providence. My friends having heard of the wonderful cures, which the Almighty had been pleased to work through the Ministry of his Serene Highness, Prince Alexander of Hohenlohe, addressed a letter to him, on the 3d of April, 1823; stating the melancholy situation in which I was placed, and begged of him to intercede in my behalf at the Throne of Mercy. His Serene Highness favoured us with a polite and kind answer, informing us, that on the I3th of June, he would offer up for me, the most Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, and desired me to join with him in spirit at nine o'clock, after having confess- ed, and received the Holy Communion. In compliance with His Serene Highness's directions, on the appointed day I made my confession, and received the Blessed Sa- crament at a little after twelve o'clock in the morning, (for I could not abstain from drink.) At nine o'clock, the Reverend Mr. Silveira offered up for the same intention the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, at which all the family assisted with sentiments of the greatest confidence, and at the same time of perfect resignation to the will of God. For my part 1 united myself in spirit to the Mass, which his Serene Highness was then offering up for me ; and as I was reading the prayers of the ordinary of the Mass, when I had proccded as far as the Elevation, 1 tried to kneel on the bed, but could not continue for an instant. After having finished them, I repeated the same trial, but found it equally vain. Then 1 formed the acts of Faith, Hope, and Charity, of Contrition and of perfect resignation to the will of God. This done, I felt a complete change in all my body, and found myself quite free from pain ; for the third time, I tried to kneel on the bed, and finding myself strong and free from pain, I proceeded fo get up on the bed, finding this succeed, I jumped out of bed and walked without the least pain. After having returned thanks upon my knees to the giver of all good gifts, I took my breakfast sitting up, wrote a letter with a firm hand, and did not go to bed before eight o'clock in the evening, so that I sat up ten hours, without having the least pain, oppression, or coughing. All my family were in the greatest astonish- ment and admiration, they wept for joy and could not believe what they saw, expect- ing every moment to see the return of the violent pains with which I was usually af- flicted, and unceasingly enquiring if I had no pain. In a word, the change was so great that I myself could scarce believe it, it appeared to me as if 1 were in another bodv. A little after I had got up, I received the visit of the Reverend Mr. Silveira, who more than astonished could not speak a word, but fell on his knees, and recited the te Dctrm with us. I was also visited on the same day by the Reverend Mr. Law, who was equally struck with astonishment. Since that happy day I am entirely free from my severe malady, and I had the happiness to return to Chapel for the first time on the 2d instant, the Feast of the Visitation of the Blessed Virgin Mary. Reverend Sir, this is the true and faithful narrative of my long illness and wonderful cure; may this miraculous event, prove to the greater honor and glory of him who worked it, may it serve to fortify the faithful in their belief of the real presence of Jesus in the Blessed Sacrament, and the powerful efficacy of the Holy Sacrifice of the Mass, may it serve to enlighten our separaed brethren, and may it turn to the benefit of my poor Soul, redeemed by the Blood of Christ. I hope that you will join with us in returning thanks to Almighty God, for so great and undeserved u favor, and that you will re- member me in your pious prayers, and particularly when offering up the Holy Sacri- fice. As you told me that you wished this narrative in writing to show to your par- ticular friends, I shall take the liberty to entreat those who shall read it, to unite with us in acts of thanksgiving, and to remember me in their pious prayers. I remain with sentiments of the highest veneration and most profound respect, Reverend Sir, " Your most humble and obedient servant, "CLARA MATHER." THIRD EDITION. A VINDICATION OF THE RELIGIOUS AND CIVIL PRINCIPLES OF THE IRISH CATHOMCS ; IN A LETTER ADDRESSED TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUIS WELLESLEY, K. G, LORD LIEUTENANT GENERAL, AND GENERAL GOVERNOR OF IRELAND, &C, &C. J. K. L. Author of « Letters to hw Grace the Protestant Archbishop of Dublin"— of '« Essays on Domestic Nomination", &c. &c. « Rtrnmegovitia eollegi nou hominum, sublato enim tyrnnno tyrannida manere video." Cic Ep. Lib. 14. ad Atticum. DUBLIN: PRINTED BY RICHARD COYNE, 4, CAPEL-ST. Bookseller, Printer and Publisher TO THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ST, PATRICK, MAYNOOTU. 1823. TO HIS EXCELLENCY THE MARQUIS WELLESIyEY, &)C. 8$c. 8$c. My Lord, Your personal character, the power with which yon are vested, and the influence which your judgment and authority must have upon the affairs of this country, are the reasons why I address your Excellency. Your Excellency is at present deeply engaged in endeavours to carry into effect the system of govern- ment in Ireland, which has been approved of and re- commended by his Majesty, and which consists in admi- nistering the existing laws impartially ; giving to the Roman Catholics the enjoyment of those privileges which have been granted to them, and promoting, by every legal means, a spirit of mutual forbearance and conciliation amongst all classes of the Irish people. This system has had to encounter greater obstacles in its advancement, than seem to have been apprehended by those with whom it originated : and the events of the last two years have almost demonstrated, that now, as in the days of Cicero, tyranny can remain though a tyrant be removed — that the spirit of bad laws can continue unabated, after the letter of them has been partially effaced. I believe it is generally admitted, that if the moral condition of Ireland could have been ameliorated, whilst the laws continued in their present unequal state, that a 2 result would have been obtained by your Excellency's administration, " si Pergama dcxtra^ &c. And it the hopes of his Majesty, and your Excellency's efforts* have been disappointed or unavailing, it is not owing to a want of any one of those high qualifications for ad* ministering the affairs of a great country, with which Europe and Asia attested you were gifted. No ! it was owing to the spirit of the laws which was to be counter- acted, and to the dispositions of the people generated and formed by those laws, and which were to be controlled. That the evils produced by a long system of misrule could at once be remedied, was not to be expected ; to reform the courts of law — to purge the magistracy — to cleanse the various offices connected with the reve- nue — to establish a regular system of police — to edu- cate the people — to promote public morality — to abolish abuses which created spies and promoted perjury, with all the viciousness consequent on nightly revellings and fraud, these measures, and such as these, could not alto- gether, and at once, be carried into effect ; but their execution, whether slow or sudden, should necessarily call forth the approbation of the wise and good, and could never produce a clamour which would reach even the precincts of your viceregal lodge. If then, whilst your Excellency has been engaged in devising and carrying into effect measures of this sort, with various others of a salutary kind : if, whilst one political empyric attributes all the evils of the country to the tythe system, another to absentees, a third to the ignorance of the people, a fourth to the corruption of the magistracy, a fifth to the vices or bigotry of the clergy, and so on, without end or number; if, whilst these are severally stated to be the chief cause why Ire- land is distressed and discontented, and that your Ex- cellency has been employed in seeking to remedy each of them, how comes it that your administration has been disturbed by factions, and assailed with all the zeal and bitterness which the sway of a tyrant might merit, but would not experience. It is owing, my Lord, not to the good you have done, or the evil which you have prevented, but to the state of the civil laws which you have had to administer, and to the spirit of conciliation and redress which was known to animate your Excellency. This spirit, my Lord, like the spirit of the Cape, which appeared to the imagination of the poet, seemed to threaten with lightning and tempests those men whose territory you came to explore, and whose possessions, unrighteous many of them, you were about to exhibit to an astonished world ; hence, these wars, these broils and contentions, which have embittered the peace of families, interrupted the intercourse of for- mer friends, occupied the fruitless attention of the legi- slature, and disturbed the tranquillity of the state. To these sources, and to the just, and noble, and conciliating conduct of your Excellency, are we forced to trace many of the evils which we have witnessed since the commencement of your administration — evils which occur incessantly, though in varied shapes, and which will not cease to occur whilst the causes which gave birth to them are suffered to continue. It is to your connection with the cause of the Roman Catholics, that your Excellency may justly attribute many of the afflicting embarrassments you have expe- rienced in the execution of the great trust committed to you, and the obloquy and calumny to which your per- sonal and public virtues have been exposed, arose from a deep-rooted hatred of the long-suffering people whom you would protect from injury and insult. Your Excellency's great mind, it is true, has abundant re- sources within itself, and you could, without doubt, say, " sifractus illabturorbis, impavidum feriacnt nrinte" But though you need no support from without, yet it may be to you a subject of pleasing reflection, that you have suffered with an afflicted people, and borne perse- utious for justice sake. 6 It is not for me, my Lord, to deliver any opinion on the effort which his Majesty's government is now making, through your Excellency, to give to the Ro- man Catholics the full benefit of the concessions made to them, and to establish a system of harmony and mutual good will between them and their fellow-subjects of the ascendant party in Ireland ; between men whom the laws continue to place, not in opposition, but one above the other. On this subject there is at present scarcely a difference of opinion in the country ; and I have no doubt your Excellency has long since formed your judg- ment. My object is one more humble, and therefore more becoming my situation and habits of life. It is merely to offer to your Excellency some reflections in vindication of the proscribed body to which I belong, and of the insulted religion which I profess. These I consider called for at the present time, (and if the duties of my profession, in which I have neces- sarily been engaged until now, permitted it, I should have offered them sooner,) in order to guard the small portion of the public mind which still deliberates, from being biassed by the profusion of religious frenzy or political hate, which, through the intolerant portion of the public press, has, during the last few months, been poured out upon the Irish Catholics, and upon their religious and political principles. If the greater portion of what I am about to submit to your Excellency be connected with religious or ec- clesiastical subjects, and therefore in the estimation of many, unfit for your perusal, or unworthy of your at- tention, I would offer to them as an apology (for your Excellency is too wise to need any), that religion is the basis of society, that it is always important to a states- man, that it is the cause and the end of nearly all the political laws which affect Ireland, that its influence upon the state of this country is witnessed and felt daily by your Excellency; and that your Excellency, as the representative of a King who is the head of a great church, can not be indifferent about what concerns any religious body of his subjects— still less can you deem it unworthy of you to hear the apology of six millions of your own countrymen, for whom you have exerted so long and so fruitlessly your labours, and your splendid talents. The unequal state of the laws, my Lord, had created amongst us many interests, whilst it destroyed others ; it raised one class to a degree of eminence seldom at- tained to, even in a conquered country, whilst it de- pressed another far below the condition of free subjects ; it reduced them to a certain degree of slavery. The privileged class were few in number — they acquired immense possessions, and amassed enormous wealth — they laboured unceasingly to secure both ; the protection and aid afforded them by England was often purchased at too dear a price, and in order to be more independ- ent of the mother country, they employed all the re- sources furnished by her, as well by their own skill and power to reduce the nation with which they struggled to a state of utter darkness, and the most abject want. They succeeded. The nation which was thus enslaved, and which, perhaps, had never been thoroughly civi- lized, put on all the habits which had been formed for them ; they became ferocious ; individually brave ; but cowards when collected together, cunning, astute, cruel, strangers to honesty and truth, except only as far as civilization was reflected upon them, or as religion, which they never abandoned, at least in theory, could restrain them. Their masters first scourged them with rods, and according as they revolted under the inflic- tion, used scorpions. These latter became hard-hearted, cruel and rapacious. Accustomed to despoil those whom they had conquered, they never regarded as sacred even the property which they allowed them to possess. They raised a church upon the ruins of one which they had abolished ; they filled it with their own progeny, 8 and the .sanctuary was invaded by the same spirit and the same men who had devastated the country. The extravagance of the dominant race, the lights of the last century, and the humanity of the late king, mitigated those evils. The oppressed were permitted to breathe, and straw, wherewith to make their bricks, was given to them : not for their own sake, but that they might become more valuable to their proprietors. — They were allowed, under certain limitations, to acquire and inherit property; even the shadow of freedom, but that only, in the elective franchise, was suffered to appear to them. They were permitted to become edu- cated, but they had no means of obtaining education, and no means were provided for them. They struggled with these small advantages, and employing, like the Jews, all their energies in the pursuits of industry, (being excluded from every other) they acquired pro- perty, and almost became a people. Those who ruled over them, saw they would become a nation, and de- liberated whether they should unite with them, and live independent of the sister country. They were not however, accustomed to possess a country, nor to live in the affections of a people : they had still the passions and the pride, and the prejudices of those who rule slaves, and they were duped or purchased by England to extinguish for ever their own greatness, and the rela- tive independence of Ireland. Since the Union, my Lord, our petty princes have deserted those mansions and that capital where they once were great, noble, and possessed of wealth and power. They are become strangers to their native land, or are naturalized in a happier country: but they carried away with them whatever was great and glorious in that which they abandoned. When about to depart, they confided their estates to agents, or parcelled them out to middlemen, that their income might be the more se- cure; and a distant government, oppressed with other cares, sent here your Excellency's predecessors to pre- 9 serve this country to England, and govern her as they could. Few of these governors were like your Excellency, and those few were quickly removed. In general they gave themselves up to be directed by the rapacious and heartless men who had lingered about the capital, and whose sole object was to enrich themselves, and to oppress and to degrade the struggling people who had been deserted by their lords. In this work of oppression they were ably supported by the Corporations, but above all by the church. This church, my Lord, deserted by the legislature, has since not ceased to tremble for her existence. She fears that England is not greatly inte- rested for her, and that her natural protectors are now weak or indifferent, or too far removed. She knows that her wealth and possessions are immense, calculated to awaken the jealousy of her friends, and excite the envy of her enemies. She fears the legislature would examine her title, and inquire whether she holds by any other than their free gift ; and knowing, that she does not answer the ends for which any Christian Church has ever been erected, she apprehends that they might new-model her constitution, or lay claim to some portion of her spoils. She looks with extreme and yet an idle jealousy to what she considers a rival Church, but what in reality is no Church, in her acceptation of the term ; and she exerts all her energies and lavishes her wealth, to oppose the freedom of the Irish people, or the equa- lization of the laws, thinking that if the reign of British justice prevailed in Ireland, her utility might be ques- tioned, and her income and possessions proportioned to the services she renders to religion and to the state. In this situation your Excellency found your native country, when you landed on her shores: for the jubilee that was held to celebrate the king's arrival amongst; us was ended, and the servile war that raged in the south was only an ordinary occurrence ; it was a pe- riodical exhibition, like the dressing of the statue— of 10 the depraved spirit which perambulated the country, and which sprang out of the condition of the people, produced by the law. The plague that went before, and the famine which followed your arrival, were ef- fects of the same cause, and only of a different descrip- tion; but all these might have been engendered and matured, might ripen and decay ; a sacrifice of half a million of the people might, as at other times, have appeased the demon of pestilence, or an exertion of force, under the name of a peace-preservation bill, or an insurrection act might have quelled the servile insur- rection as effectually as a Coote or a St. Leger ; but your Excellency would not have been assailed, nor the character of the people so outrageously insulted, if you were the abettor of the ancient system, and the patron t*f every private and public delinquent. It was the spirit of justice which was known to animate you, which alarmed and terrified all the churchmen, all the sine- curists, all the placemen, in fine ail those who were at- tached by hope or interest to the system of mis-rute under which Ireland had groaned for centuries ; they all became alarmed, they entered into counsel against the king and his representative, and they excited a mob to vociferate, " Away with him ! away with him ! we shall have no king to reign over us who will infringe on our monopoly, or presume to invade our prescriptive rights. We are the nation — the inheritance is ours.'' I was about to transcribe a passage from the book of Josue : but your Excellency must bear it in your re- collection, and I shall not record of men who dwell in the same land, and breathe the same air, that I do myself, any thing so cruel and impious as the sentiment to "Inch I have alluded. Whilst this faction was thus arrayed in hostility to the measures of your Excellency, they omitted no oppor- tunity of insulting and misrepresenting the prostrate race whom they were accustomed to oppress. Their printing offices (of which they retained the old and 11 erected new ones) teemed with daily and periodical publications, all tending to connect the disturbances in the south with the Catholic people, with their religion, and with their policy ; hoping, if they could not suc- ceed in their efforts to remove your Excellency, that they would at least mar your efforts for the public good. They laboured with the most unhallowed zeal, and the most persevering industry, to excite the fears of the timid, to arouse the indignation of the people, and if possible to produce an insurrection against the govern- ment and laws ; they branded the Catholic body as abet- tors of treason, as the enemies of the constitution, as hos- tile to every mental and moral improvement ; and their religion they represented (where they allowed them to have one) as a degrading superstition, unfit to be tole- rated amongst Christian men. If the population of a district in which, until within a few years past, the laws made it felony to educate them, were ignorant, this was imputed to their faith. If a ferocious or vindictive spirit appeared amongst rude tribes, who had been enslaved by the laws for centu- ries, this was said to be the fruit of their creed • and if men writhing under wrongs and oppression struggled against the chains which bound them, their savage and senseless efforts for relief, were construed into acts dic- tated by their religious profession. Look to the north, said these calumniators, where the people are Protes- tant, and see them employed in industry and the works of peace ; but turn to the south, and view the scenes of blood and devastation, but do not investigate the cause — no : it is obvious — the population is Catholic. — They feared the legislature would have time to reflect, that the north was inhabited by a race of freemen, who enjoyed all the blessings of the constitution, whilst the south was the refuge of slaves who had never tasted the sweets of liberty — who had until of late groaned beneath a bondage more cruel than that of Pharaoh. Thus, my Lord, this vile and malignant press, supported, con- 12 ducted, and patronized by tho churchmen, the placemen, and the whole train of coi ruptionists, even by those on whom your Excellency was compelled to bestow your favours and your smiles, malign od, insulted, and calum- niated the Catholic people, whom you wished to place under the protection of the law. One of the many events which supplied this faction with materials for abuse and misrepresentation, was the extraordinary cures lately performed in the capital and in the country, and which two Catholic prelates, in the discharge of their official duty, inquired into, ascertained, and published, as being of a supernatural kind — the effect of the immediate and favourable interposition of the Deity, obtained for the suffering patients by faith in Christ, by sacrifice and prayer. The belief, my Lord, of the extraordinary interpo- sition of the power of God in altering the laws of nature, as when he raised Lazarus from the tomb; or suspending their operation, as when, through the touch of his garment, he healed the woman of the flux, is common to Jail those who invoke the name of Christ; that he did by others what he did himself is not an in- duction from his gospel, but a truth recorded in the Acts and Letters of his Apostles; that this power (ac- cording to his promise frequently made to his followers) was continued in the church, is a matter of history as well authenticated as the existence of the church itself. Whe- ther his providence is altogether changed in this regard, and that miracles have entirely ceased at some uncertain period, is a question about which, like many others, the minds and opinions of men are, and will continue to be, divided. The Catholic Church, however, has always main- tained that the providence of God, in the government of his people, is still the same; and that when times and circumstances which require his special interference, occur, he does not yet cease to interpose. In every nation, from the Indus to the Pole, from Peru to Japan, this Church has employed her mission- 18 arics; they have reached, at one period or another, to every nation over which the four winds of heaven are wafted ; and amongst every tongue, and tribe, and people, and nation, to which they preached Christ cru- cified, they are said to have wrought miracles in attes- tation of the faith which they promulged — to have re- stored sight to the blind, hearing to the deaf, to have cleansed the lepers, and in many cases to have raised the dead to life. To read the history of a Xavier, for instance — the attestations of his friends and of his enemies (for even he had enemies,) of the magistrates, of the governors, of the prelates and of the princes, of all the historians of the country where he preached, and lived, and died; and to disbelieve all the miracles attributed by them to his intercession with Almighty God, requires more of what is called philosophy than falls to the lot of ordi- nary men. The Church to which I belong has not had the power to resist the force of human testimony and the evidence of the senses. She has believed and taught that miracles are wrought both at home and abroad, through the prayers of those righteous men whose vir- tues are eminent and heroic, and whom, from time to time, she enrols, after the strictest scrutiny, in the calendar of the saints. She feels, however, that pre- tended miracles were often recorded as true — that the credulity of her children was often imposed on, and superstition propagated for piety; to guard against these evils (and serious evils they are,) she has decreed in her last general council, that no miracles be thence- forth published nor admitted as such, which are not previously ascertained and sanctioned by the ordinary of the place where they are said to occur; and this has proved a safeguard against imposture, as well as a means of promoting the piety of the faithful, and the glory of God. It was then, in accordance with the doctrineand disci- pline of the Church to which they belong, that the two 14 bishops before alluded to, exercised, as far as they were permitted bylaw, the authority which they possessed, to ascertain the nature of the cures which had occurred within their respective jurisdictions, and discharged, by publishing- them, a duty which they owed to their people and to the Almighty. They intended no offence, my Lord, to the professors of any creed ; they made use in their publications of no uncharitable reflection ; they exhorted their own brethren to gratitude and thanksgiving; they directed their thoughts to a better world; they besought them to bear with injuries rather than inflict them ; and to give glory to God, and to God alone. Why then, my Lord, have they been rebuked, as- sailed, reviled ? Why has their religion been abused and insulted? Why have the most sinister aud malignant views been attributed to them ? Why has the degraded scribe . dipped his pen in gall, to give vent to the feel- ings of the party for which he wrote and toiled ? Why has the ermine been all but stained, and one of the princes of the people almost unrobed on the bench, that Irish Catholics and their religion might be scoffed at? Are they alone unfit " to abound in their own sense?" Are they alone not to be permitted to exercise their own judgment? Is it not only their faith, but even their piety, however harmless, which is to be converted into a crime? But, my lord, they suffer all this because they are a peopie struggling, by legal means, to obtain their birth-right, against a faction who would live by wrong, and fatten on the vitals of their country. To inquire into the nature of the sudden and ex- traordinary cures referred to, is not, my Lord, the ob- ject, nor any portion of the object of this letter, let physicians and men without occupation, employ them- selves in discussing the force of nature, and fixing the boundaries of her operations ; for my part, 1 mix myself with the crowd, — the simple and the poor, to whom Christ came to preach; and whom he has ap- 15 pointed the heirs of his kingdom. I view with them, rather than with the prudent and the wise, the cures wrought by the Redeemer, and by those who have walked in his footsteps. If I see a woman healed of a grievous distemper, when in the midst of the crowd she touches the hem of his garment, I do not enquire whe- ther the force of imagination, or the power of her nerves, might not have stopped the issue of her blood : I believe that a virtue went out from him in whom she believed, and that this virtue, and no natural cause, restored her to her health. When the blind man's eye was touched with clay made wet with spittle, and he desired to go and wash in the pool of Siloe, and that I find him restored to sight, I do not seek to ascertain by any chemical process the virtue of the water in which he washed, more than of the Jordan in which Naaman was cleansed, to enable me to judge of the cause of their recovery; 1 attribute it to the Prophet and to the Son of God. The persons for whom aud by whom miracles are wrought, the means employed to produce them, the end and circumstances for which, and in which they are presented to us, their number, as well as the substance of them, contribute to determine my judg- ment of the cause to which they are to be assigned whether to natural means, to the spirit of darkness, or to the power of God. As to the wisdom of the wise, and the prudence of the prudent, which the Lord hath rejecteth, I believe them to be quite incompetent to prove his works; I know that " the carnal man does not understand the things that are of the Spirit of God;" and that "he has made the wisdom of this world folly, that no flesh might glory in his sight." I have heard his apostle de- clare, that he who is the virtue and power of God to those who believe, has been as scandal to the Jews, and as folly to the Gentiles ; and I am fully satisfied, that as the disciple is not above the master, nor the servant greater than his Lord, that his truths and his followers 16 will always be a stumbling-block to many even in Israel, and the butt of reproach and ridicule to a profane and sinful world. I have heard the evangelist tell how there were divisions about Christ himself amongst the people of his time, how some said he was good, others not, but that he seduced the crowds ; that some said it was in Beelzebub he cast out devils, whilst others said a great prophet had arisen amongst them, and that God had visited his people. I find in after times, not only men who denied the existence of all the miracles record- ed in the gospels, but others who, admitting their ex- istence, attributed them to causes such as those to which the late miracles have been assigned. Celsus pretended they were produced by those secret spells which Jesus had learned from the Egyptians. Porphirius and Julien attributed them to magic. Hierocles opposed to them the prodigies performed by Apollonius ; the Talmudists would assign them all to a certain mode of pronouncing the word " Jehovah." How like are these efforts of the enthusiasts or philosophers of antiquity, to those which now assail us. But the chief opposition to the miracles wrought by Christ came not, my Lord, from these men, but from another class of persons, from whom least of all it should have been apprehended. The Chief Priests and the Pharisees gathered a council, and said, "What do we, for this man doth many mira- cles? if we let him alone so, all men will believe in him, and the Romans will come and take away our place and nation." John xi. 47-48. One of this council proposed, and they all agreed, that the Lord,' should be put to death, rather than that the whole nation, as they imagined, should perish. And there may not be wanted persons even in the present day, my Lord, who would crucify him over again, did he appear, in the flesh, lest the Romans would come and take their place and nation. The obstinacy and malice of these Jews in rejecting 17 the miracles wrought by Christ is truly surprising, much more even than the blindness of the Greeks and Ro- mans, many of whom, for centuries, though surround- ed with the light of the gospel, and assailed with all the force of truth and the power of tongues, and signs, and prophecies, yet put off to another time whomso- ever, like Paul, would preach to them of justice and chastity, and a judgment to come. But if the Jews were obstinate, there are many causes to which their obstinacy could be justly assigned; first, their ancient prejudices, for they expected a Mes- siah who would confirm, not abrogate the law of Moses, who would appear in splendour, and subject the world to their sway. But Christ abolished many of their or- dinances, and commanded that tribute should be paid to Caesar; they became alarmed for their places and what they called the nation ! In the second place, their fears might seem to excuse them. We see that, from time to time, many persons, some of them persons of rank and importance, believed in Christ, but were afraid to profess their faith openly, lest they would be expelled from the synagogue by the Pharisees; in other words, lest they would lose their rank, and be discarded by their friends, and excluded from the society which they esteemed. In fine their passions might plead for the Jews. We all know how fertile in invention, how full of resource the passions are, with what ingenuity they devise pre- texts in their own justification, and what weight they attribute to the most contemptible motives which appear to favour themselves. To embrace Christianity would oblige that carnal race to renounce entirely their own inclinations, to become poor, meek, humble and despised — to break oiY their old connections, sacrifice their fa- mily pride and personal interest; 1o resist the influence of their inveterate habits, by crucifying the flesh, with its vices and concupiscences, chastening and keeping it in subjection to the spirit. How could men who were B 18 accustomed to say, " Let us eat. and drink : for we may die to-morrow," adopt a religion which required tli© most painful sacrifices, and imposed as duties the prac- tice of the most austere virtues? With regard to the cures, then, lately performed amongst us, I find they resemble mnny of those wrought by our Redeemer or hw followers — that the persons re- lieved were gifted with a lively faith in Christ — their illness such as was calculated to excite the compassion of Him who has deigned to be called our Father ; and the means employed to obtain the interposition of the Deity no other than prayer and sacrifice offered up by a man not so distinguished by his rank as by the eminent piety which adorns his life. The number and variety of these sudden and extra- ordinary cures, witnessed not only in this, but in the neighbouring nations, and attributed to the intercession of this holy personage, or to those who unite in prayer with him, oblige me to think, that the grace of curing bodily diseases, mentioned by St. Paul, 1 Cor. xii. 9. as given to some of the primitive Christians, has been re- vived at present, like as at many other periods of the Church. However, I blame no man for withholding his assent from what I, and those of the communion to which I belong, can easily believe : nor do I think it at all unreasonable that such occurrences should be dis- cussed freely by the public. But I do confess, my Lord, that I feel my indignation against a vicious fac- tion excited, when I consider that these cures, of what nature soever they may be deemed, should give oc- casion to the following charges, with several others, which have been lately made or renewed against the religion and policy of the body to which I belong, and on each of which I shall have the honour of sub- mitting a few reflections to the great and enlightened mind of your Excellency. First, our Religion is said to bo Antichristian, and so slavish a superstition as to unfit us for freedom. 19 Secondly, we are charged with a design of overthrow- ing- the Established Church, and re-entering upon her possessions. Thirdly, we are accused of stirring up the minds of the people, of keeping alive in them a sense of, wrongs which they have ceased to suffer, of instigating them to rebellion and the overthrow of the constitution. Fourthly, we are upbraided with intolerance towards the professors of other creeds, and an obstinate oppo- sition to the diffusion of knowledge and the progress of education. These charges I have collected from many of the ephemeral productions with which the press of the Anti- catholic party has teemed, and I have arranged them in numerical order for the purpose of keeping them dis- tinct, and avoiding that obscurity and confusion in which truth is often involved by those who write on the most interesting subjects. Our Religion is said to be A ntichristian, that is, my Lord, opposed to Christ; but not being told in any of the publications which I have met with, in what this opposi- tion consisted, it is not easy to disprove it, but yet the name is odious, and odious and degrading names when often repeated aflix contempt and some portion of scorn to the person whom they are used to desig- nate; they often lower the person too, even in his own estimation, and induce him, as it were to become what he is called. We are not Antichristian, my Lord, for we do not dis- solve Christ, (1 John iv. 3.) nor deny that the Son of God has appeared in the flesh; we are unquestionably of all denominations of christians the most uniform and steady assertors of his Divinity, and as to the reality of his human nature, that is not, now-a-days called in ques- tion; St. John, however, complained that Antichrist was in the world even in his time, not in person I sup- pose, but in the spirit of those who denied that "Jesus is the Christ," or who would not confess " the Father B 2 2© and the Son," another class whom the apostle designat- ed as Antichristian consisted of those who went out from himself and his followers. But on what grounds we are to be considered as forming one body with those Antichrists, I feel myself quite incompetent to dis- cover. We believe that Christ is God and Man, and that Jesus is the Christ, that he is distinct from the Fa- ther and that both arc ; we have not gone out from any body, we have deserted no congregation, nor do we rebuke those who would seem to have done so, why then is our creed Antichristian? It is not on these grounds, however, that the charge against us chiefly rests, but on our being subject in spiritual matters to the Pope— who is the man of sin, the harlot, the abo- mination of desolation, and several other frightful things which are not now within my recollection. The character and virtues of the late Pope should have protected his memory at least from insult, and an inter- regnum should have been stated to have occurred in the kingdom of Antichrist whilst Pius the VII. wore the fisherman's ring — but, no! tros tyriusve. Our new evangelists are no respecters of persons and the vene- rable Chiaromonte too, must have been drenching with the cup of the wine of his wrath the Kings of the Earth. I hope, however, he may have given it to those only who compose the Holy Alliance, and that our gracious Sove- reign has not partaken of so dangerous a beverage! Of the reign of Antichrist or the nature of his kingdom, of his signature and seal, of his signs and wonders I do confess that I know but little, and as St. Augustin ob- serves (as I can recollect) of the time when God created or creates the souls of men, I would much rather learn than presume to teach. This much however I have as- certained with great certainty, that since the beginning of the 16th century these speculations about Antichrist have been too frequent. His appearanee under the name of "the wicked one," or "man of sin," his for- nications under the figure of a harlot with the Kings of 21 the Earth, the seat of his government upon seven hills, the extent of his empire, and its duration, as well as the several events of his reign, his destruction by a two edged sword, the parts which Gog and Magog as well as Henoch and Elias were to perform in his time, all these interesting topics have been so frequently and so ably discussed by others, the times of his ap- pearance, of his rise and fall, have been so precisely marked, have so frequensly elapsed, and returned, and been expected again, that it would entirely surpass my theological skill to throw any new lights upon his mightiness, or what regards him ; and whether he be the late Pope, or he who is now to be elected, whe- ther Prince Hoheniohe be his Avant-courier, and Doc- tors Murray and Doyle his two prophets, I leave these gentlemen to consider; being fully satisfied that the Irish Catholics, of whom I am one, will never wear "the mark of the beast" as long as they continue so zealously attached to the sign of the Cross as they are at present. I have received from Dublin only a short time since, two large placards, or sheets, closely printed, the one shewing, with proof little short of demonstration, that in the year 1825, all the heresies which sprang up in the sixteenth century, were to be sent with their abettors into the bottomless pit: the other proving with similar clearness and force, that all the woes of the Apoca- lypse were just pouring out upon the Catholics, previous to their heing buried in the lake burning with fire and brimstone; whilst in all probability, a third placard might have been procured, shewing, with all manner of proof from the written word itself, that there was no such place as hell. These things are calculated to excite a sigh or a smile, according to the state of feeling in which they are read, and who will not pity or despise the poor men who thus seek to advance their own opinions ; but when enthu- siasts attempt to disturb the harmony of a christian 22 people by ridiculous attempts to unfathom the abyss of mystery, and penetrate into secrets which it hath pleased God to cover with an impenetrable veil. When they proceed further, and condense their ravings iuto weapons with which they would assail the rights of an entire nation, or into imputations with which they seek to blacken the character of a great and respectable class of christians, then they are dangerous, and de- serve to have their folly or their malice exposed to contempt and ridicule. Of the numberless brochures in which we are accused as Antichristians, there is one styled "A Letter to "Dootor Doyle," four different copies of which have been sent to the writer of this letter; one was trans- mitted by a most respectable gentleman of Dublin, a member of Parliament, enclosing a letter from a lady, who, though not named, is, it may be presumed, one not less distinguished for her religious zeal than for her extensive charities, and in which she intreats her cor- respondent's attention to this pamphlet — to consider seriously whose word it is which is there arrayed against him, and not to permit his opposition to it to be- come the cause of his eternal ruin. How lamentable it is, my Lord, to find the most respectable persons — the finest ornaments of society, thus become the dupes of knaves or fools; to be influenced by speculations on the Apocalypse, and " the man of sin," so as to consider their own brethren, men whom they sincerely esteem, as the enemies of Christ and the abettors of an impious superstition ! It is thus, my Lord, that our religious and political interests are injured — that the opinions of men who could serve or injure us are biassed, until at length they begin to think us different from what we are, and unde- serving of their support or protection. It is thus the mystery of iniquity works against us, and an anti-social spirit, much more dangerous to Ireland than that of Antichrist, is cherished and strengthened. 23 This subject, contemptible in itself, but serious to us, can be further illustrated by a reference to two other expositions of the Apocalypse which have lately come under thewriter'sobservation. One by a prophet residing in or near Parsonstown, who deems himself the personage who is to dissolve the empire of Antichrist; and whose kingdom he firmly believes, and by an exceeding great multitude of quotations from Scripture, clearly proves, to be that created by " a great statesmau, now no more," whom he calls " the bottomless Pit," and the sinking-fund! How, or by what means the consum- mation is to be effected, I do not, it is true, rightly understand; but yet I have no doubt if this prophet's dreams were published, there would be found persons to adopt them, as perfect elucidations of all that is still doubtful about the colour of " the harlot's cloak, or the " number of the beast." The other is the produc- tion of one of the sons of the prophets, a young pea- sant near Stradbally in the Queen's County; it is a huge manuscript now in my possession ; and the inspired au- thor, who brought it to me, described most pathetically the influence of the Spirit upon him whilst he wrote. Though I listened to him whilst he read several pages of it, and then laid it up to gratify him, I do not ex- actly recollect the scope of it; but 1 know he saw the beast and her ten horns, her colour, dimensions, and crowns; and described graphically all her evolutions, as they appear in the events of the present times. The charges of being Antichristian, preferred against the Catholics of Ireland, are supported on such specu- lations as these; and how, therefore, can they be refuted unless by shewing the abgurdity of such speculations, and deprecating the good sense of the country, not to look with an evil eye on our religion, because it is as- sailed by visions and dreams. But it is inferred from our belief in the extraordinary cures lately noticed by our prelates, that our religion is a slavish superstition, and unfits us for freedom. This «> 1 latter, ray Lord, Is the inference dear to our opponents, and to which they would arrive from whatever position they might establish, or from whatever induction they would assume. If they could but exclude us from free- dom, and perpetuate our slavery, they cared but little whether we ^adopted the superstition of Juggernaut, or professed the religion of St. Paul. A slavish supersti- tion ! Our creed, my Lord, is short ; all we believe is embodied in the profession of faith, published under the name of Pius IV. and found in many of our books of common prayer, and in all our rituals or liturgies; it is detailed, and justified, and defined, in the decrees of the Council of Trent; and if your Excellency should ever have cast your eye over it, you might not prefer it to that which you profess, but it is impossible that you would not respect it; it is quite impossible that your Excellency would deem it a slavish superstition, or say that those who professed it were thereby rendered unfit for freedom. It was the creed, my Lord, of a Charlemagne and of a St. Louis, of an Alfred and an Edward, of the monarchs of the feudal times, as well as of the Emperors of Greece and Rome ; it was believed at Venice and at Genoa, in Lucca and the Helvetic nations in the days of their free- dom and greatness; all the Barons of the middle ages, all the free cities of later times professed the religion we now profess. You well know, my Lord, that the Charter of British freedom, and the common law of England, have their origin and source in Catholic times. Who framed the free constitutions of the Spanish Goths? Who preserved science and literature, during the long night of the middle ages? Who imported literature from Con- stantinople, and opened for her an asylum at Rome, Florence, Padua, Paris and Oxford ? Who polished Europe by art, and refined her by legislation? Who discovered the new world, and opened a passage to ano- ther? Who were the masters of architecture, of painting, of music? Who invented the compass, and the art of 25 printing? Who were the poets, the historians, the ju- rists, the men of deep research, and profound litera- ture? Who have exalted human nature, and made man appear again little less than the angels? Were they not almost exclusively the professors of our creed? Were they who created and possessed freedom under every shape and form, unfit for her enjoyment? Were men, deemed even how, the lights of the world, and the be- nefactors of the human race, the deluded victims of a slavish superstition? But what is there in our creed, which renders us unfit for freedom? Is it the doctrine of passive obedience ? No, for the obedience we yield to authority, is not blind, but reasonable; our religion does not create despotism ; it supports every established constitution, which is not opposed to the laws of nature, unless it be altered by those who are entitled to change it. In Poland it supported an elective monarch; in France, an hereditary sovereign ; in Spain, an absolute or constitutional king indifferently; in England, when the houses of York and Lancaster contended, it de- clared that he who was king de facto, was entitled to the obedience of the people. During the reign of the Tudors, there was a faithful adherence of the Catholics to their prince, under trials the most severe and galling, because the constitution required it: the same was ex- hibited by them to the ungrateful race of Stuart ; but since the expulsion of James, (foolishly called an ab- dication), have they not adopted with the nation at large, the doctrine of the revolution, " that the crown is held in trust for the benefit of the people ; and that should the monarch violate his compact, the subject is freed from the bond of his allegiance." Has there been any form of government ever devised by man, to which the religion of Catholics has not been accommodated? Is there any obligation, either to a prince, or to a con- stitution, which it does not enforce? For nearly four centuries, whilst two nations strug- gled in the womb of Ireland, the one labouring to con- 26 quer, the other to defend, we find religion always re- commending an adjustment, and exhibiting to her in- furiated children, the olive-branch of peace; we find her in the person of 0'Toole,the Archbishop of Dublin, «• standing between the living and the dead, praying for the people, whilst the plague ceased;" and since the conquest has been completed, whether by force or fraud, or both, we need not now inquire : has she not em- ployed all her efforts to allay our heats, to bridle our passions, to prevent or stop the vain and fruitless at- tempts of her children to regain what they had lost? Has she ever ceased to pour the balm of consolation upon the wounds of the country, and to instil hope or resignation into her almost broken heart? Yet this is the religion, which is said to unfit us for freedom! But no, they are not her rites nor ceremonies, nor again her doctrine of passive obedience, but the divided allegiance of her followers, which unfits them for free- dom. What, my Lord! is the allegiance of the man divided who gives to Caesar what belongs to Ceesar, and to God what belongs to God? Is the allegiance of the priest divided who yields submission to his bishop and his king? — of the son who obeys his parent and his prince? And yet their duties are not more distinct than those which we owe our sovereign and our spiri- tual head. Is there any man in society, who has not distinct duties to discharge? May not the same person be the head of a corporation and an officer of the king? a justice of the peace, perhaps, and a bankrupt surgeon, with half his pay? And are the duties thus imposed upon him incompatible one with another? If the Pope can define that the Jewish sabbath is dissolved, and the Lord's day to be sanctified, may not this be believed without prejudice to the act of settlement, or that for the limitation of the crown? If the Church decree, that on Fridays her children do abstain from flesh-meat, 27 are they thereby controuled from obeying the king when he summons them to war? There was a time in past ages, my Lord, when popes were arbiters of kings, and claimed whole states and provinces as feuds belonging to their see : even these countries, as they were governed by the maxims then in vogue, and of- fered up, like others, at the shrine of the apostles, were not exempted from the sway of those haughty pontiffs, who, whilst by their interference they gratified their own ambition, yet contributed greatly to stop the career of tyrants, to check the growth of civil wars, to prevent the effusion of blood, to introduce law and justice in the room of single combat and all the other barbarous usages of the feudal times. At this period the allegiance claimed by them, first in virtue of special covenants, and afterwards as heads of the church, would, if allowed at present, be dangerous to kings and states. But, my Lord, these claims declined even in the fourteenth century ; in the fifteenth they were greatly circumscribed ; in the sixteenth they were annihilated, extinguished ; and since then they have been forgotten, or only heard without the least alarm, like the roaring of thunder at a distance : to talk of them seriously at the present time, is like the calling of .spirits from the deep. The whole civil constitution of Europe is new-modelled — the ideas of men have under- gone an entire revolution — the relative situation of princes and popes is changed altogether — the influence of the papal authority, in things temporal, is neither feared nor feltjany where, because it does not exist — the spirit of the age has confined it chiefly to cases of conscience in this country, and in others to some little intermeddling with benefices where they still continue, or to the settling of concordats, or ecclesiastical constitutions, in which the pope is always yielding and the prince uniformly acquiring. In these times all men understand how the kingdom of Christ is not of this world; and whenever the ministers of religion interfere with secular 28 matters, they are made to feel that they have put their sickle into another man's harvest. Nations have become jealous of each other, all are ambitious of their own indi- vidual greatness, and whatever interferes with it, they do not tolerate ; now-a-days the Pope might pray or sing to all the nations of Europe, but if the subject were such as regarded their temporal interests or civil rights, he would be like the syren singing to the deaf or preach- ing to the dead . To me, my Lord, who am tolerably well acquainted with the obedience I owe the Pope, and the allegiance I owe my sovereign, there is nothing more fulsome, more tasteless and absurd, than the grave discussions 1 am sometimes induced to read, or forced to hear, about the divided allegiance of Catholics, and all the plausible nonsense which follows it ; and of the essential Pro- testantism of the Constitution. The essence of the Constitution is, my Lord, to make all who live under it free and happy ; and the hoary bigot, or the selfish monopolist, who would exclude us from it on account of our religion, neither understands that religion, nor the law of nature, which has been written, not with ink, but with the finger of the living God, on the fleshy tablets of our hearts. Such an one does not, can not, understand the heart-burnings of a high-minded man, who is unjustly excluded from his rights, nor that first- fruit of the law of self-preservation which makes us love our country, reject whatever could diminish her glory or independence, and labour to make her free and happy. When I am told that I am unfit for free- dom, on account of the religion which I profess — when I have considered all that has been said in support of so heinous a proposition, I feel amazed and confounded, and ask, is it possible that any man could suppose, that were I in possession of the rights and privileges of a British subject, that all the power on earth could in- duce me to forego them ; that I could be influenced by any consideration to reject the first and clearest principles 29 of my religion, to hate my country, to subject her to the sway of a stranger, to destroy my own happiness and that of my kindred? No, I conclude it is impossible that any rational man could suppose, that the Catholics, under equal laws, would be less loyal, less faithful sub- jects, than any others. I have thus briefly disposed of the first charge against Catholics ; I hasten to reply to, or explain the second : it is, " that we entertain the design of overthrowing the Established Church, and entering upon her pos- sessions." Both parts of this proposition, my Lord, are equally false. Catholics, as such, entertain no design hostile to the Church; but as a class of persons almost exclusively employed in agriculture, they object, not to the Church, but to the Establishment ; as subjects who are excluded from their rights, chiefly by the wealth, and influence, and intolerant spirit of the Church-men, they are opposed to it ; as I rishmen they have weighty ob- jections to it, on account of its being the last strong hold of than anti-social party, who, inverting the maxim of the Romans, would never amalgamate with the coun- try they had subdued, nor unite with the people whom they had conquered. But as to the Church itself, her doctrine, discipline, government, and laws, they are matters about which no rational Catholic feels more concern than he does about the state of Mahometanism on the Bosphorus. In general, we respect the Church of England, on account of " the rock from which she has been hewn, and the pit from which she has been digged ;" we prize her liturgy as only less perfect than that from which it has been principally extracted ; we admire her translation of the Bible, with all its imper- fections, as a noble work ; we venerate her hierarchy as the very image of the truth : for we Catholics give veneration to images, on account of what they repre- sent ; but as to her Establishment, it is such in Ireland, in the opinion of many Protestants as well as Catholics, 30 as should not be suffered to exist in any civilized coun- try, still less in a nation employed almost exclusively in the tillage of land, she possesses domains, which, if ascertained and valued, might appear more than suffi- cient for her support ; and with these, the tenth of the produce of the entire kingdom, (the lay impropriations excepted), which produce consists of the value of the soil, of the manure, of the seed, of the tilling, of the weeding, of the gleaning, of the reaping, of the ga- thering — in a word, of all the earth can produce, as well as of the capital, skill, and industry of the occu- pant : add to these, the code of laws, with which the Establishment is fenced in and secured ; a code which in bulk equals the mountain of Mahomet, and in wisdom and foresight is not inferior to the books of the Sybils. It is too much, my Lord, to expect of human nature, that it could be well affected towards so monstrous an establishment, and above all in Ireland, where those who possess it are not the pastors of the people, and where those who pay it are all employed in agriculture. It is in vain to tell us, my Lord, that they are our pas- tors : such assertions may dupe the English; and a pamphlet or charge which speaks of the intercourse between the rector and people, the pastor and flock, may appear plausible to those who are unacquainted with the state of Ireland ; it may also attain the object for which it has been said or written : but we know there is no such intercourse existing ; the laws which suppose it — the laws which designate and contemplate the Pro- testant clergy as the pastors of the Irish people, are all, my Lord, founded in fiction, and such laws can never tend to the public good ; no : laws to be just and equi- table, must be founded on the immutable relations of things, or on those matters, whether causes or effects, which really exist. To seek to create relations, by en- acting laws, is to oppose the course of nature. To found laws on relations which do not exist, is the very extreme of error in legislation ; and such laws, though 31 written on parchment, can never have a moral existence. Leges feruntur cum promulgantur, firmantur vero, cum moribuus utentium comprobantur, is a maxim of law which is not verified in those which regulate church property in Ireland. When tythes were assigned to the children of Levi", they obtained no land, and they were one of the twelve tribes, though not the most numerous, who had equal rights to the inheritance of Jacob. The surplus given them in the tythe, while the lands were withheld, does not seem to be considerable; and Judea, though it flowed with milk and honey, was not, in the opinion of Grrotius, (and who was there more competent to judge ?) ever rich in agriculture. The provision therefore made by Almighty God for the ministers of his ark, or his temple, was agreeable to the original right of the mi- nisters themselves, and bore a just proportion to their number and services ; jbut when in the fulness of time the social compact of the Jews was dissolved, this or- dinance ceased with it, and the right of tythes was ex- tinguished by him who substituted for that of Aaron, his own priesthood, according to the order of Melchi- sedech. This divine legislator — the founder of a kingdom which was not to be confined to Judea, but to extend to the extremities of the earth, which should embrace, not the twelve tribes of Israel, bnt every tribe, and tongue, and people, and nation, was pleased not to enact for an empire so extensive and so varied, munici- pal laws, as he did for the Jews, nor did he make Any special provision for his priesthood, but rather re- commended to them that piety and poverty which he practised himself. He however published anew some maxims of the eternal law, such as " the labourer is worthy of his hire" — " Who serves in war at his own ex- pense ?"--"He who serves the altar shall live by the altar," and which will at all times ensure to the minister of reli- gion a support proportioned to his desert. Hence, my Lord, Christ and his Apostles, as well as the primitive tf2 Pastors of the Church, were all supported by the volun- tary oblations of the faithful, whether in money or other consumable commodities, or by donations or bequests of immovable property. It was only late in the fifth century, or rather in the sixth, that the right of tythes was advanced by the church, and advanced, as has been observed by the im- mortal Grattan, in a style no way creditable to its pastors. However the progress of the system was slow, for until the beginning of the ninth century, or the age or Charlemagne, it obtained no considerable footingamongst Christians, whether in Europe or in Asia. That great and wise prince, who subdued nations by force, and governed them by salutary laws, promoted the tythe system, as well adapted to all his views and interests. He had rude, fickle, or disaffected nations to restrain or govern, and without the aid of religion, this could not be effected ; hence he established many bishopricks, and founded or reformed innumerable churches ; he had no better means of attaching the cler- gy to their flocks, than by giving them an interest in their possessions, he had no revenue to dispose of for their use, nay, the only source of revenue almost with- in his dominions consisted of land ; hence the tythe of its produce was assigned to the priesthood, that they might be the protectors of agriculture amongst rude tribes, accustomed to live by plunder or the chase. — But he was not only wise, but also religious and just ; hence he made the inferior clergy independent of the bishops as to their support, by dividing one half of the church property between them; he assigned to the fa- bric, and to the poor, the other moiety, that all inte- rests might be promoted, and the church establishment be a blessing not a curse to his subjects. This system, so wise and provident in itself extended throughout Europe with the feudal system, and without any other than accidental changes subsisted generally and entire in the 13th and 14th, and even during a part of the 15th 33 century ; " the clergy, indeed, as Montesquieu observes, " were continually acquiring, continually refunding-, but " still they continued to acquire;" hence the statute of mortmain, a wise and necessary law, was adopted in one shape or other in every nation, to check their acqui- sitions. In this state the church establishments were found, when the even's of the sixteenth century commenced a revolution in the affairs of Europe, which is not yet terminated: but which, in its progress has changed all the ideas, and all the laws, and all the habits of men- The church lias fared like the nations and states in which it subsisted ; and her former titles have been abrogated or new-modelled, like those of the princes and barons, who had created her establishment. Throughout Eu- rope, with only a few, very few exceptions, her bishops are reduced to their primitive rank; their domains have been taken from them ; their tythes taxed or abolished, and a new provision more consonant to the public in- terests, and the opinions of men, substituted for the old. This current of public mind, and public interest, will reach this country, my lord, sooner or later, whatever barriers maybe raised against it; and there is no country where it is more necessary; it would be hailed by nine- teen twentieths of the inhabitants of Ireland, Protestant and Catholic, as the inundations of the Nile are hailed, by the Egyptians. Tythes in this country, my Lord, should always have been odious; they were the price paid by Henry II. and the legate Paparo to the Irish prelates, who sold for them the independence of their native land, and the birth-right of their people : until that period tythes were almost unknown in this country; aad from the day of their introduction, we may date the history of our mis- fortunes; they were not only the cause, but they were an efficient one of all the calamities which followed ; and whilst they subsist, peace or concord will not be re- established in Ireland. c 34 The old pastors, however, oblained the right of le- vying' tythes from the king : the legate gave to the sys- tem the sanction of the church : the petty princes slowly yielded their assent, and the people submitted to what they could not resist. To the honour indeed of the an- cient clergy, it is recorded of them, that no body of men ever employed their wealth to better purposes, or en- forced their rights with so much satisfaction to the com- munity. But now, my Lord, we are arrived at a new sera in the history of tythes. When the religion of En- gland was changed, and the conquest of this country was completed, a period which embraces the reigns of Henry, Edward, Mary, Elizabeth, James 1. Charles I. Cromwell, Charles, James, Anne and William ; at this period, the English Protestants and Puritans, who had succeeded in subduing the Irish, and possessing them- selves by the right of compact, or conquest, (the only rights almost, by which every country in Europe is held) of the lands and cities they had obtained or won, they transferred the church property, from its ancient pos- sessors, to those new adventurers, who had come here in the name of Christ, to watch the baggage, and collect the spoils : they did so without doubt, on the supposition that the religion of the country would change here, as it had done in England, (and where the tranfer of church property on that account was reasonable), and that these holy harpies, who flocked about them, would one day be transformed into the pastors of their subjects ; this was, or ought to have been the end of the law which gave the possessions and tythes of the Irish church to the Protestant clergy : to suppose any other would not be reasonable, and if the law had any end but this, it wanted the essential conditions of a law; namely, that it should be enacted by a competent authority, and be just, equal, permanent, regulated in all its details by commutative or distributive justice, and tending to the public good. Your Excellency is a better jurist than I am, or can 35 ever hope to be ; and let me most respectfully submit to your Excellency, whether this end has been attained, whether it will ever be attained, whether it can possibly be attained? And if not, whether the transfer subsists unless by virtue of the statute, and what force that statute borrows from the laws of nature and of God? What then ! is the property of the church to revert to its for- mer proprietors? yes, It belongs, my Lord, to the state, which holds Ireland by the right of conquest or of com- pact, or by that supreme and best of all rights, the " salus populi." It does not belong to the ancient clergy, for they and their title to tythes are extinguish- ed, and the feelings, and opinions, and interests of all classes are opposed to so absurd and unjust an inno* vation ; nor to their successors in the ministry, for they can have no right to temporalities which the law alone created, and which the law has appropriated by the power of the state. The foregoing argument affects the transfer itself; but were we to consider the circumstances in which it was made, and the consequences following from it, the necessity of re-touching it would more clearly ap- pear. When the lands and tythes composing the esta- blishment were given to their present proprietors, the value of them could not be ascertained, on account of the unsettled state of the country, and as far as it was ascertained, it was small, owing to the state of devasta- tion and ruin to which the country was reduced by the civil wars. It continued so for a considerable time. Cat- tle, not crops, was the produce of Ireland, and the Irish Commons, by a wise vote, secured their grazing land, against the inroads of the parson; had they foreseen the future slate of this country, when by tillage she was to be rendered the granary of the empire, and lj export, after maintaining her own vast population, corn to the value of several millions sterling annually, would they have assigned the tenth of this immense produce with all her princely domains to the church? I should sup- c % 30 pose not, unless British wisdom and British justice designated other qualities then than they do now, or if they did, they would have guaranteed a competent sup port to the officiating clergy, necessary repairs for the parsonage and church, and some support for the naked widow and shivering orphan ; they would not have left the poor destitute, until their blood would be changed to water, and " their faces become burnt," as the prophet expresses it, " before the face of the tempest of hunger." Whilst they assigned their patrimony to a pastor, who was not to be their pastor, that he might be surfeited, that the train of his wife might be borne by some pam- pered slave, and the crowd of his offspring followed by a retinue of servants. They would not have done so, had they foreseen that all their own future efforts to harmonize, and improve, and enrich the country, were to be marred by the very men they were enriching, and that murders and atrocities which would for ever stain the character of the nation, harden its heart, and bru- talize its feeling, as well as the most unheard of oppres- sions, were to be occasioned or committed by the agents of this priesthood. But then it is objected to any encroachment on the property of the church, that if it be meddled with no other is secure— silly objection! The tenure by which it is held, is different, as has been shewn, from that of every other; the nature of it is, a public fund always at the disposal of the state, entrusted to a Corporation for certain services to be performed ; only let it always be employed for public purposes and the public good, and the modifications of its use will never excite a just alarm. But the church and state are inseparably con- nected. This can only be true of her constitution, it is not possible that the state could be necessarily connected with her wealth or possessions. One of her highest dignitaries has lately said, she could subsist without the state; I should have no objection to the experiment being made; I know the state can subsist without her. 37 urf it does in Scotland, but to try the merits of the as- sumption, for it is a most gratuitous one, why could not the state subsist in Ireland if the property of the church were new modelled? is the state now in the con- dition it was when that false maxim was first introduced? no! for then the executive power chiefly governed by means of the church, now the church is an incubus up- on that power, thwarts all its operations, and makes it odious to the people. The state has now all her com- munications, easy, direct, open; her roads, her posts, her army, her magistrates, her police, she is every whore present, she is everywhere felt, she does not need the aid of a church, unless to teach morality to the people ; and your Excellency feels most sensibly, that in placeof aid, you receive from the church immense trouble; here she produces nought to the government but thorns and brambles. But how could the patronage she affords be dispen- sated with ? this no doubt, if not the best is her strongest defence, this is the very citadel of her strength. Every free government, my Lord, has two supports beside its own virtue and wisdom, the firstand best is public opinion, the second is a just patronage, but what is gained by the latter through the church, (in this country) is lost in the former, the establishment being opposed to the interests of the entire community, and to the feelings and opi- nions of a vast majority of them. It would seem more consonant to wise policy, to abolish those sources of patronage which constantly meet and offend the public eye, and to preserve, if necessary, those others, which are more remote and hidden. But in an empire like ours, sources of patronage can never fail, they are furnished by the army, the navy, the revenue, the state, employments at home and abroad. Here our nobles may trade, our colonies are immense, the wealth and industry of Britain has pervaded the whole earth, education has fitted most men for enterprise, and the spirit of enter- 38 prise enriches thousands, and frees the state from num- berless claimants. But by diminishing the property of the church you abolish a class of middling gentry, and thereby dissolve one of the few links which keep the frame of our society from falling to pieces. Gentry, to be useful, my Lord, must be compara- tively great, entirely exempt from petty feelings and above such interests as only poor men, or low minds, can descend to *, but a gentry whose income only raises them to a middling rank — who possess only a life interest in their property — who cannot transmit it to their chil- dren—who are constantly scraping together some little store for their families — who are invested with an odious privilege, and exhibiting always to the people what is most hateful in the laws ; such a gentry can never knit society together, such moral ties as subsist between a landlord and his tenantry, between a pastor and his people, will never be found to unite the minister of the Establishment and the Catholic cottager. This country must find a substitute for the social union created by a beneficent gentry, and a cherished people, not in the Church established, but in strict laws impartially administered. The executive power must be (present) everywhere, more even to control the petty tyrant than to secure the obedience of a restless and impoverished people. To seek to govern the Irish by such a gentry, is to work against the torrent ; they are incapable of serving you, my Lord, even were they well disposed; they must injure you. Their esprit dc cor ps — the prejudices which encompass them — their fa- mily circumstances— the insolence, often, and immo- rality of their sons — the pomp and vanity of their wives and daughters — their ephemeral and transitory rank unfit them for the office of gentry. Lighten the pressure of them on the country, give good and equal laws, and talents and industry will produce a gentry. But how is the Church to be wrestled with? Some 39 hundreds to be displeased, the fears of others to be ex- cited, or their prejudices to be shocked? When a country, my Lord, is to be regenerated, a long system of misrule to be corrected, and the reign of equi- table and just laws to be established, something must be encountered. But when a government is engaged in such a work, it should deliberate like the Areopagus, almost in the dark, and with closed doors; it should be inac- cessible to friends and connections, and have hung be- fore it the naked image of its sutFering country, the records of justice only should be opened or consulted. Should you, my Lord, and those who administer the public interests with you, act so, you might displease a few, but your decisions would be hailed like the oracles of heaven by the nation, and you would conduct the faithful people of this desert country, now " pathless and. without water," into a land flowing with milk and honey; your name would be more glorious than those of Nuraa or Lycurgus, and you would be venerated as the Moses of the Irish people. It may be asked why I have dwelt so long on the con- cerns of the church?— I did so, my Lord, because we Catholics are accused with wishing to subvert it; that I might repel so foul a charge, and declare fully, that my hostility is not to the doctrine or constitution of the Church, but to her present establishment, which I con- sider opposed to all the interests of Ireland. I did so, because the prelates and priests of this Church have generally contributed to support and patronize a libel- lous and malignant press, which has not ceased to teem with publications calculated to defame and injure the body to which I belong, and the religion w 7 hich I pro- fess. 1 did so, because I find them uniformly and sys- tematically opposed to every effort made in favour of a system of equal law r , and supporting an intolerant and selfish spirit, which for centuries has kept Ireland en- slaved, and rendered her inhabitants the most miserable in Europe: I have done so, because I am convinced 40 that the interests of religion, even in the Established Church would be promoted, by accommodating the income of its clergy to the means of the country, and to the services which they would perform. At present they have a profession, but no occupation; hence many of them, destitute of employment and forbidden to ex- ert their talents and industry in other pursuits, if they be religiously inclined, become enthusiasts, employ their time in composing hymns or tracts, or in distributing Bibles to men who want only food and employment ; or they implicate themselves in worldly concerns, contrary to the command of the apostle; thus degrading their profession, whilst they seek in vain to serve two masters. Perhaps they abandon God and the world, and become profligates, to disgrace not only their calling, but even their race and name. As to our seeking to re-enter on the possessions of the Church, the idea is absurd— it is revolting to common sense. We should first dissolve the connection between the two islands — overthrow the constitution — establish a new government; and then hood-wink every man of sense in the country, and disarm the nation which had atchieved its freedom ; to effect all this, my Lord, I think we would require not only the aid of Prince Hohenlohe, of Doctors Doyle and Murray, but of An- tichrist himself. The truth is, my Lord, that the Catholic clergy are generally satisfied with what they receive, and the mode of obtaining it ; there are many of them who think it a humiliation to depend on the contributions of the poor, but perhaps it is good for them to be humbled: others lament the necessity of re- ceiving support from those who are not able to bestow it, and would desire some provision which would ease the latter, and give to themselves a competency. But acquainted as I am with their sentiments generally, I could assert on their behalf, that so far from desiring the possessions of the Establishment, they would not accept of the tythes and all the odium which accompanies 41 them, were they (which is impossible) resigned in their favour by the Established Church. For my part, my Lord, I would not, no more than I would accept of a regium donum. The former would probably corrupt my heart, or injure my ministry: and the latter, like Sir Arthur Acheson in Swift, would oblige me ** To join with the conrt in every debate, And rather than that I wonld lose my estate." I need not add, if I had one. Our pretensions, my Lord, are much more becoming our depressed condi- tion. We have been for some years now petitioning the legislature for permission to build, and endow to any extent that might be permitted us, schools, places of worship, and residences for our clergy; and though our petition has been presented and the prayer of it enforced by one of the most faithful and steady friends of Ireland, as well as one of the most moderate and respected mem- bers of Parliament, he has not yet been able to obtain his object. Some of our clergy are judges in eccle- siastical matters in virtue of their office, and must decide on the validity of marriages, and on various other mat- ters on which the peace and happiness of individuals depend through life, and yet they cannot administer an oath nor examine witnesses juridically, without being exposed to the penalties of a prosecution; or if they do, they have only to look for impunity to the spirit of the times; and in good truth, this spirit offers no very favourable asylum. For these are times, my Lord, when a prelate of the Established Church, noted for an appearance of liberality, could open heaven to every sect of christians, but would, by his vote in Parliament exclude a man who centers in himself " all the blood of all the Howards" from the privilege of holding a commission of the peace and which a majority of the commons and of the nobility of Britain, would concede to him. These are times, my Lord, when a 42 prelate once famed for his lights and his liberality, could conjure from the depths a dormant statute, if such exist, that ho might insult the living- Catholic, and dishonour the remains of the dead. But I shall pass from this subject, to consider whe- ther we are justly "accused 1 ' of stirring up the minds of the people, of keeping alive in them a sense of the wrongs which they suffer, of instigating them to rebel- lion, and to the overthrow of the constitution." These charges, my Lord, are of so grave a nature, they appear to mc so unfounded and so malignant, as to remind me forcibly of the conduct of his own countrymen and kin- dred towards the prophet Jeremy, when he denounced their guilt and oppression. They cast him into a fright- ful dungeon, but not content with this degree of un . merited persecution, they consulted with each other, and said "let us put wood," poisoned, no doubt, " upon his bread, let us blot him out from the land of the living, and let his name be remembered no more." The men who charge the priests and prelates, and even many of the gentry of our communion, with treasonable views, are not satisfied with the extreme rigour of the laws which aggrieve us, with the spirit of a barbarous code which still persecutes us, but they wish to have the few privi- leges already granted withdrawn from us, new penalties inflicted upon us, and our hopes extinguished for ever; they would (it would appear) cut us off from the land of the living, and have even our names to be remembered no more. Your Excellency mustbe convinced, that were it not for the exertions of the Catholic prelatesand clergy, the spirit of disaffection lately prevalent would have spread in the country; that a half-civilized people, goaded by distress and insult, excited moreover by incendiaries working up- on their religious zeal (blind and mistaken as it was,) would have deluged the country with blood, and required not only the vigour of the law to repress them, but other mea- sures also most painful to the feelings of your Excellency, and most detrimental to the interests of the state. 48 It is not, my Lord, in the character or dispositions of the Irish people, that we are to seek for a reason why hun- dreds of families would submit to perish with hunger in the midst of plenty, rather than infringe upon the rights of properly. No ! such sacrifices could only be the fruit of religion pushed to an extreme extension by the influ- ence and exhortations of a pious priesthood ; and yet these latter are the men who are charged with designs against the Constitution, men so cunning and so astute, as, in all times of danger and difficulty, to preach up alle- giance to the state, and yet when the government is secure, and the people as it were hemmed in and disarmed by the military and by the law, to excite to disaffection ! In times when oppression is at its height, and no ray of hope appearing, these prelates tell their people that resist- ance to the constituted authorities is forbidden, and yet select the period of your Excellency's administration, and of all the confidence it inspires, to infuse the spirit of re- bellion ! Suchopinions no doubt are monstrous and absurd, but they are calculated and insisted upon by those who could not now obtain forfeitures by an insurrection, but who would expect to be let loose like furies to devastate, or bloodhounds to scent out, to discover and devour. No, my Lord, so averse are the prelates who have lately been the subject of so much censure, to excitement and in- temperance, that they even abstain at the present mo- ment from the discharge of a duty by publishing several new and supernatural cures which they have ascertained to be wrought amongst their fiocks, that they should not give occasion to intemperance of any kind : that they might not seem to continue the present agitation of the public feeling ; in fine, that no person might, with reason, have evil to say of them. They care not for the contradiction of tongues, though some should say " shew us a sign from heaven," others, " he blas- phemeth ; . who can forgive sins but God only?" or, again, " let him come down from the cross, and we will believe ;" no, my Lord, these sayings have no effect upon their minds, but they love peace and charity more than 44 signs and wonders, and they know that the works of God will have their effect independent of all human aid. The piety of their own people will be exalted, their confi- dence in the divine protection will be augmented, and the influence of that religion which gives all glory to God, and all his rights to Csesar, will be strengthened and confirmed amongst those who profess it. They look for nothing more, nothing can be more acceptable to God than this, nothing more useful to the state. But, my Lord, do these selfish men who impute crimes to us, suppose that they can extinguish within us, a sense of our wrongs— do they imagine they can stifle the com- plaints of six millions of men? — do they flatter them- selves that a vote of Parliament — of a Parliament which is always deliberating, always receiving new lights, al- ways growing in wisdom, cannot be revised, and that when our appeal is deferred, we are to think no more of the prosecution of our claims? Canihey prevent the ebb- ing of the tide ? — can they stay the winds, or stop the progress of the light ? as well could they do so, as pre- vent oppression from producing complaint, or injury from seeking redress. We will never cease, my Lord, whilst our tongues can move, or our pens can write, to keep alive in the whole empire, as well as in our own people, a sense of the wrongs we suffer, and to exhibit to an indignant world, all the privations we endure. Our fetters are too galling, our chains are too closely rivetted, our keepers are too unfeeling, for us to remain silent, or permit them to enjoy repose. When we speak of tythes, they may tell us we are the allies of Captain Rock, but we reject the imputation ; and reply, that the savage and philosopher have the saune sensibilities, and that the language of pain which they utter, can scarcely be distinguished in its sound ; let only the grievance arising from tythe, like the thousand grievances we suffer be removed, and the savage will return to his rock, and the philosopher will retire to his books. Let us not be told it is the law ; we know it is, 4o rind il is of the law we complain ; but are the laws of a Draco always tocontinue ? are they not only to be written in blood, but also, like those of the Medes and Persians, never to be repealed. The penal laws, my Lord, will always, in Ireland, produce some Demosthenes or other, like O'Connell at present, " Whose Fiery eloquence will shake the arsenal, Thunder over Greece toMocedou, and to Artaxerxes' throne." We do not keep alive in the people, my Lord, a sense of their wrongs for any other purpose, than that they may be redressed. We do not instigate them to rebellion, but we use every means in our power to dissuade them from it. We never repeated to them the language reported to have been used in both houses of Parliament, by my Lord Darnly and Mr. Hume. We do not imagine, or desire the overthrow of the government, for we venerate it as an emanation of the divine power, nor do we propose to ourselves the destruction of the Constitution, which we look to with as much ardour as the Israelites sighed for their country, when on the banks of the Euphrates they hung their harps upon the willows, and sighed, and wept, as they remembered Jerusalem. I come to the last charge of those which I have enume- rated, namely, that of intolerance towards the professors of other creeds; and an obstinate opposition to the dif- fusion of knowledge, and the progress of education. I do consider, my Lord, the accusation embodied in the latter part of this proposition, (should I call it so?) the most important of any which I have hitherto discussed ; because it has obtained credit with many well-meaning persons, from its being so often and confidently repeated, and hitherto deemed by us as unworthy of refutation* Moreover, if it were well-founded, it would ba a just cause, not of debarring us from our rights as citizens, to which, whether ignorant or educated, we would be entitled ; but of treating us with some asperity, and sti- mulating us, even by censure, to the exercise of our judgment, and the cultivation of our talents. i shall, 46 therefore, devote to this subject more time than to the others, but yet much less than it deserves. I shall, first of all, dispose of the charge of intolerance. Intolerance, my Lord, is a word always odious, and especially to those who live under the British Constitu- tion; unhappily for us, whilst the name and theory were hated, we were the victims of the most intolerant laws ; but the Greeks and Romans, whilst most free, were the most rigorous oppressors of their slaves. But religious intolerance is not the same in its nature or operation as civil exclusion. The one regards the social rights of men, the other their future interests: the former proceeds from the social compact, the latter from the decrees of God ; they do not depend one upon the other, a Jew, Mahometan, or Hindoo may be free or enslaved under a Christian government. Social intercourse does not de- pend on the religious opinions of men : it is founded upon their manners or morals, and subsists by their conduct ; when their conduct is not in opposition to the law of nature, or to the preservation and well-being of the state, their speculative religious opinions should never be taken cognizance of by the law. These are principles of legi- slation which no wise man has ever questioned ; and when the invocation of Saints, Transubstantiation, and the sa- crifice of the Mass, are recited in our oaths and declara- tions, they are a stain upon our jurisprudence, as well asa testimony of the religious intolerance which prevailed at the period when they were enacted. Other tests might have been discovered, even in the days of William and Mary, to ascertain who were the adherents of the Stuarts, and as soon as that worthless race became extinct, theerror of the former times should have ceased to be exhibited. But for the honor of human nature, and the peace o f every good man's conscience, they should now be blotted out, though the oath of supremacy were continued to ascertain our con- nection with the Pope. Religious intolerance, my Lord, is aspeciesof intolerancedistinct in itself; it would appear to be one of ttie first consequences flowing from the idea of a divine revelation, and though wecannoteasily provcthis 47 a priori, it has the second best kind of argument in its favour, namely, that wherever (here existed a real or pretended revelation, there the doctrine of exclusion was allied with that of salvation. It is useless to enumerate the creeds of Zoroaster, Confucius, and the like ; all who have ever read of them know, that this doctrine is as inherent in them as the doctrine of the castes among- the Hindoos. With the Mahometans, how many sects are there? more, if possible, than with us, and they all, with the utmost fervor and devotion, condemn each other to hell. Abraham was selected from a proscribed race ; and Moses founded his law upon the doctrine of exclusion. Christ said there was but one fold ; Paul preached there was but one faith ; Cyprian, Jerome, and the other ancients, compared the church to the ark, and said nnhesitatingly, that outside it there was no salvation. Chrysostom supported the doc- trine of the Bishop of Carthage, by excluding schismatics as well as heretics, from the pale of the church, and Au- gustine, who embodied thedoctrine of all who wentbefore him, and prescribed a rule of faith to all who have since followed him, declares in express terms, that it is never lawful to break the bond of union amongst christians, t; proccindcndcc unitatis (he says) nulla potest esse justa ne- cessities." The several councils, my Lord, did no more than register the opinions of these great and learned men ; and Grotius, whose authority I deem one of the greatest that can be quoted, avers, that in the christian dispen- sation union is so necessary, that to preserve it, a head possessed of jurisdiction to controul and punish is ne- cessary, jure divino, or by divine right. From the very nature then, unquestionably from the very origin of divine revelation, a union of true believers, or exclusive salvation, or religious intolerance, (for these names designate the same thing) has always been esta- blished and believed. During the convulsions of the 1 6th century, there was a period when none of the new churches had acquired form or consistency ; but as soon as they did, tliey adopted the old principle of exclusion, knowing that 48 without it they could not exist. They all, of course, pub- lished their " schisms guarded," or apologies for their separation ; whether these were satisfactory or not, it is not my business here to enquire ; one thing is certain, that they rejected the maxim of St. Augustine, thereto- fore regarded as a rule of faith, " Proescindindce unitatis nulta potest esse justa ?iecessilas," a breach of unity cannot be justified. But when they had formed their new establishments they all published their confessions or creeds, and in each of them as much, and as expressly as in the old church, we find this doctrine of exclusion. It is found the 4th book, chap. 1, of Calvin's Institutions — in the confession of Augsburgh, presented to Charles V. in 1530— in that of the Swiss Cantons, in 156G — in that of the Low Countries — in that of the kirk of Scotland, in 1647 — and in the 7th of the 39 articles which constitute the creed which your Excellency professes. It is therefore unjust, and even cruel, to impute this doctrine to us, as if it were peculiar to our church, whereas it is common to all churches not only of Europe, but of the universe. We all admit many exceptions to the gene- ral rule; one will have it, that no person is to be excluded from heaven because "he believes a little more or a little less than his neighbour," and exclaims, pathetically, whether the withered hand which Christ had made whole is to be raised against hiin ; another says, " that the idolatry forsooth, of the Romanist, excludes him, but all others may enter; a third, like Beza or Melancthon, may consider this old church an excellent one, but yet their own far better. Whilst the Catholic shuts the door against all sects and heresies, but yet admits those who never defiled the rob8 of their baptismal innocence — those whose er- rors are not wilful, or, in the language of the school- men "invincible," and who have not violated the law of God ; as well as all those to whom a God, rich in mercy, may extend pardon at the hour of death. Thus, my Lord, stands the accouut of intolerance be- tween the professors of our several creeds; and why we 49 should anticipate the judgment of God, and hate each other for the sake of Christ who died for us all, is to me, I confess, as unintelligible, as the imputation of intole- rance, against Catholics appears to me unjust. The Lord awards judgment without mercy, to him who has not mercy, and commands us not to judge a foreign servant who stands or falls to his master, but who, he adds, will stand ; and were a Christian notwithstanding this denunciation and this command, to condemn his brother who differs from him, I would have less hopes of his acceptance with the Father of all, than of the hea- then or publican who never heard of Christ. The writer of this letter, my Lord, (and he speaks of himself with reluctance,) may be considered as express- ing the opinions and feelings ef every well educated Catholic in the empire ; he has been, from his infancy, and is still connected with Protestants, by ties of friendship, of affection, of good offices, and of blood ; he has been attached to them with all the sincerity which could fill an Irish heart. In his intercourse with men he has never dis- tinguished them by their creeds ; in the discharge of his ministry, he has never preached a sermon upon contro- versy, still less has he, at any time, nsed arguments or in- fluence in private, to make proselytes to his creed, and though from time to time he has received many individuals to the profession of his own faith, he has sought their conversion only by expounding the truths of the gospel in public, and endeavouring, as far as God enabled him, to exhibit it in his conduct. Why those who think and act thus, should be arraigned for intolerance, it is difficult to understand. I believe it is the effect of that odious jea- lousy created by the law, and fostered by the ignorance and prejudices of interested men. A Bishop of another church may arise, suppose in the senate of the nation, and assert, that our clergy on enter- ing into holy orders pledge their allegiance to the Pope, and which assertion is notoriously unfounded, as none of our clergy at their ordination promise to him any obedience, 50 He may gravely assert that Catholic Bishops take an oath which they do not take, (their consecration oath having been new modelled, and such passages of it as prejudice had objected to struck out, or satisfactorily explained by Pope Pius the Sixth, in his rescript to the Irish Bi- shops dated the 9th June 1791, and published with his own excellent Pastoral Instructions, by the late vene- rable Doctor Troy, in the year 1793:) — he may declare with a depth of wisdom and consistency peculiar to hi* bench, that a legal provision should be made for apostate Priests, and the elective franchise withdrawn from the great body of Irish Catholics. He might say all this, as one of our Bishops is reported to have done during the debate on the English Catholics' Bill, in a house where no Catholic can be present to deny his assertions, or re- fute his sapient maxims, and yet never be taxed with in- tolerance, with ignorance, or wilful misrepresentation ; but should one of our Prelates, who has perhaps been brought up in a cloister, and unable through life thorough- ly to shake off his cowl, should he intimate " that his bre- thren are of the household of the faith," (which is nothing less nor more than every pastor in Christendom would say to his flock,) he is to be branded as intolerant! Ve- rily, my Lord, these people use one measure for their neighbours and another for themselves. This part of the accusation is not however more un- generous, nor more unjust, than that other which re- gards our opposition to the diffusion of knowledge. In good truth, my Lord, we may say to the generation who are opposed to us, " we have piped, and ye have not danced, we have lamented, and ye have not mourned." We sought to give our people education , and you declared by statute, that if we presumed to teach, or they to learn, we should be treated like malefactors, and banished from the country which gave us birth; we then became a nation of Peripatetics, and perambulated Europe to acquire knowledge, and you declared that for having done so we should (as I recollect, for I am not much read in statute law,) be deemed guilty of misprision of treason, 51 or punished with the penalties of praemunire. We then staid at home in contented ignorance, and you re- proached us for not being learned and refined ; alas, my Lord, how "iniquity hath lied to itself," and how big with injustice is our history, and their conduct. This happy race, however, which inhabited the land of Gesson in Ireland, on whom the light shone, whilstall the pagan Egyptians were in darkness, discovered at length that it would be good to have the light diffused, and that a panacea for every evil was to be found in education. — That we had at all times set a just value on this blessing, is not only proved, but demonstrated by the efforts we made iu despite of law and terror to obtain it ; and by the vast proportion of our people who at every period of our history distinguished themselves by their learning abroad, or acquired athomeinbogs, or under hedges, the elements of knowledge: our books, our masters and our schools were such, no doubt, as became a people once rich and learned, but again reduced to want and barbarism ; withal they were sufficient to guard the sacred fire, now turned into thick water, until better times would return, till, like that found by the prophet, it would be revived once more, and borne in triumph to the temple. I have seen, my Lord, within these few months a sta- tistical account of the education of the Catholics within a diocess, comprizing the entire or portions of 7 counties in Leinster, and I can venture to aver to your Excellency, that there is a great proportion of the Catholic people educated, however imperfectly, within this territory, as in any other portion of the empire, with the exception per- hapsofsome parts of Scotland. Moreover, thattheyhave generally, been educated by their own means, without royal bounty, or public fund, or parliamentary aid, or any other assistance than that derived from a few bountiful patrons, and their own extraordinary exertions, excited and directed by their clergy. This fact alone, my Lord, should silence those who calumniate the Catholic priest- hood, as if they were opposed to the education of the D t 52 people. But in addition, we could refer to the public in- structions printed and circulated by our prelates, to their unwearied zeal in the establishment of schools, to the sacrifices they make out of their penury for their sup- port, to the numberless sermons preached by all orders of the Catholic priesthood for the purpose of collecting contributions from an impoverished and still generous people, wherewith to educate the poor: but there are truths so clear, that argument only serves to obscure them, and this appears to be one of them. What then gives occasion to the imputation of our being hostile to the diffusion of knowledge? is it entirely gratui- tous? is it the fruit of pure malice? there is much of malice in it, my Lord, but it is malice mixed with art. — These men confound things that are distinct, and uniting the circulation of the sacred scriptures without note or comment, to the propagation of knowledge, they call our opposition to the former, hostility to education. By often repeating the falsehood they give it currency, and men ignorant of our principles, and too indolent to observe our conduct, give credit to the misrepresentation : thus we suffer alike from the malice of our adversaries, and the neglect of those who would be our friends. There is no Christian church in Europe, my Lord, which uses so many, or more inspiring forms of prayer than ours, there is no church in which so many works of piety, and on the gospel morality have been written, there is no people on earth more devoted to their perusal, or more desirous of reducing them to practice than the well educated of the Irish Catholics; there is no priesthood in the world more anxious for their diffusion than the Catho- lic priesthood ; and there is no chu rch has been more steady and uniform in recommending to her children the perusal of the sacred scriptures, where such perusal was not ex- posed to danger or liable to abuse, than the Catholic. She has never imposed any restriction upon this practice, unless when compelled to do so by some unavoidable ne- cessity. Likeasatendermother, who feels delight in pro- 53 viding for her children the most wholesome and substan- tial food, but yet when they are threatened with a dis- ease which has already committed ravages in the neigh- bourhood, she withdraws the diet by which it would be nourished or communicated. Thus, my Lord, at a period of civil commotion, your Excellency, who would be at all times the Father of the people, recommends the suspension of the Habeas Cor- pus, that bulwark of freedom, until the public mind is re- stored to its proper tone, and the plans of the disaffected are dissipated. Indeed numberless illustrations could be adduced of the exertion of that sound discretion by which the Catholic church suspends or regulates the alienable right of her children to read the word of God, and her discipline in this respect appears to them so reasonable, that they cannot sufficiently express their surprise, that a mode of proceeding should be censured in her, which is applauded when acted on by all other bodies possessed of authority. It is not, my Lord, because an enthusiast has lately said, that if an angel from heaven declared to him, that the religion which we profess is true, yet that he would not believe in it; nor because another less zealous against Anti- christ and his prophets, has made a similar declaration, od the ground of our shutting up the scriptures, that I de- tain your Excellency with this subject ; but because it is an imputation which seems to have influenced some members of your Excellency's government, in withholding from the Catholics the full benefit of the parliamentary aid granted to promote a well-ordered system of education in Ireland; it is for this purpose, and to disabuse a generous public, which has been grossly misled on this subject, and greatly to our detriment, that I shall obtrude on your Excel- lency a short exposition of our doctrine and discipline with regard to the reading of the sacred Scriptures. The doctors of our church, my Lord, state, that after the re-building of the temple of Jerusalem by Esdras and Nehemias, and the re-settlement of the Jewish people, when they had returned from the captivity, that syna- 54 gogues were erected in all the cities, towns and villages ; the law and the prophets read in them, not only by the priests and levites, but also by the different members of the several congregations; the prevalence of this custom is inferred, even from those passages of the New Testa- ment which mention, that when our Lord went into the synagogue they handed him the books of the prophets, from which he read that celebrated passage of Isaias re- garding himself, where it is written, "the spirit of the Lord is upon me," &c. so in like manner it is said of Paul and Barnabas, "that they entered into the synagogue on the sabbath day, and taught the people from the scrip- tures," though they were not of the priesthood of Aaron, or tribe of Levi. Even at the commencement of the law, as is seen in the seventeeth chapter of Deuteronomy, when Moses foretold that his brethren would one day have a king, he ordained, that after he would be raised to the throne, he should copy out the Deute- ronomy of the law, and have it with him, and read it all the days of his life; and the learned Morinus, in his Exercit. Bibl. Lib. 2 Cap. 1. affirms, on the authority of the Jewish Rabbins, that this law was extended to every Israelite, so that it became an adage amongst them, "an affirmative command is given to every Israel- ite to write out for himself a copy of the law " This precept, it is true, would bind only such as were en- abled to write a copy, or procure one to be written for them, but yet it shews very clearly, that at least a sum- mary of the law was at one period in the hands of all. — That the sacred scriptures were in general use amongst the Jews, is admitted, and it being therefore superfluous to quote authorities to prove it, I shall merely relate one re- flection of the great Bossuet, Bishop of Meaux, who in his Discoeurs Sur L'His. Univ. I part, page 220, says, "they were the books of the Mosaic law, in which the rules of a holy life were studied ; it was necessary to turn tfeem over, and meditate on them night and day, treasure up their sentences, and keep them always before their eyes.'' And if this was the duty or the privilege of the 55 members of the synagogue, it must of course belong- to those of the church, otherwise the children of the slave would be more favoured than those of her who was free, In like manner, the epistles of St. Paul to the Romans, Corinthians, Ephesians, Colossians, are directed to all the faithful who composed those churches, and though in the first instance, they should have been delivered to the pastors, and read and expounded by them to the people, yet there can be little doubt but that they were imme- diately afterwards put into circulation, and read by all those to whom they were severally addressed. The num- berless copies of the sacred Scriptures which were in cir- culation during the first ages of the church, and which rendered it afterwards so difficult to separate those which were genuine from such as were spurious, is a strong proof of the general diffusion of the holy writings at that time. The gospels especially, which give a detailed account of the life and actions, and words of out Redeemer, and are written in a plain, simple style, were manifestly intended, for the use of all ; so that of them at least, we can safely say with St. Paul, " whatever has been written, has been written for our instruction." Rom- xv. 4. The ancient doctors and fathers of the Catholic church, both Greek and Latin, are earnest and zealous in recom- mending the perusal of the sacred Scriptures. So O rig-en, Horn. 9, in Lev. says, " We wish that you would be careful not only in the church to hear the word of God, but also, that in your houses you would peruse and meditate day and night on the law of the Lord." S. Ephrem, Ser. de comp. page 118, '* As the body cannot live without food, so the soul is lifeless if it be not fed with spiritual nourishment; nourish it therefore with the divine word — with the reading of the Holy Scrip- tures." St. Basil, Horn- in Psal. i. v. 1. is of opinion, that the Scripture wai dictated by the Holy Ghost, that by it, as by a general medicine, we should cure every disease of the soul. But, in recommending the reading of the word of God, no one is more earnest, no one so elo- 56 quent, as, the holy Chrysostom. To an ignorance of I hem he attributes all the evils of his time ; but his Homilies on this subject, especially that on the words of St. Paul, «' Let the word of God dwell abundantly with you ;" his 9th sermon on the Ep. to the Col. his 3d sermon ou La- zarus, and several others, are so well known, and so frequently applied to this subject, that I deem it super- fluous to quote them here. St. Jerome also recommends to the parent of a young lady who had destined herself for a life of virginity, that he should have her to commit the holy writings to memory, to learn the Psalter by heart, and to make the Gospel, Apostles, and Prophets, the treasure of her soul. Ep. 98— so, writing to Eustochum, Ep. 86, he testifies, that he had often warned Paula, the holy Roman lady, whose devotions he regulated, not to indulge her tears, but to spare her eyes for the reading of the sacred Scriptures. St. Ambrose, in like manner, in Psal. 48, asserts, that the holy Scripture edifies all, and that every person finds in it wherewith to cure his wounds. In like manner, St. Augustine, who, on this subject, is not less urgent even than St. Chrysostom, whilst he extols the depth, the difficulty, the mysterious nature of the holy writings, recommends to all, that rejecting the shows and trifles of poetry and the stage, they would nourish their mind with the reading and consideration of the word of God. Lib. de vera Relig. cap. 51. St. Gregory the great, writing to St. Leander, as well as in the pre- face to his book on Morals, encourages all to the study of the holy Scriptures, " attend, beloved brethren," he says, Lib. 2, Horn. 3, in Ezech. " I beseech you to study and meditate on the words of God, do not despise the writings on our Redeemer which have been sent to us." These testimoniesof our fathers, my Lord, might be con- tinued up to the time of the" predecessor of our late Pope, namely Pius VI. whose Brief, approving of a version of the Bible made into the Italian language with notes, by the learned Martini, is prefixed to our several editions of the 57 Doway Bible hi this country. In this Brief, the head of the church earnestly exhorts the faithful to the reading of it, as the means of replenishing their minds with the most salutary doctrine, and preserving them against the con- tagion disseminated at that time by means of irreligious books throughout the north of Italy. In a word, the nature of revelation implies the propriety of all those to whom it is made, coming to the most perfect knowledge that is possible of it ; and hence the reading of the sacred Scripturesand meditations on them are not only approved of, but earnestly recommended by the Catholic church. If, at different times, she has been obliged to withdraw them from the hands of those who might abuse them, her doing so was the effect of a necessity which she could not controul,andan exercise of that authority which is vested in her, only for the good of her children. She only en- closed the law in the ark until it could be produced again with safety ; as you, my Lord, would withdraw the great charter, to preserve it for those, who, in their madness, would destroy it. The integrity of the faith is the great deposit committed to the care of the Catholic Church ; when this is endangered, every thing must be risked for its preservation ; for this, excommunications are fulmi- nated, interdicts are imposed, the administration of the sacraments is suspended, councils are assembled, pastors are obliged to abandon for a time, their flocks, the whole christian world is put in a kind of commotion, the rights of all are, as it were suspended, the Scriptures them- selves are discussed, to know whether they be authentic or spurious, and all this for the purpose of preserving the faith ; all things may be moved in our system, the church only cannot be moved. We believe that she is founded on a rock, and that the gates of hell cannot prevail against her ; that Christ is in the midst of her pastors all days, teaching his divine doctrine, and that they, enlightened by that spirit which guides them into all truth, announce, in his name and their own, " it hath seemed good to the holy Ghost and to us" whatever is necessary "for the perfecting 58 of the saints, for the work of the ministry, for the edify- ing- of the body of Christ, till we all meet in the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man, that we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about with every wind of doctrine by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness by which they lie in wait to deceive ; but doing the truth in charity, we may in all things grow up in him who is the head, even Christ." Ephes. chap. 4. On the same grounds therefore, that the Catholic church exhorts her children to the reading of the Scriptures, she requires of them to read them with caution, with humi- lity and faith, and commands them not to interpret the meaning of any part of them contrary to the unanimous opinion of her approved doctors or holy fathers. She goes farther, and in times when she supposes a spirit of infidelity or error to be abroad, she restricts the reading of the sacred Scriptures to certain classes, or removes them altogether from the hands of those who would be most likely to abuse them, reserving them until better times return, and peace and tranquillity are again re- stored. This authority, which regulates whatever ap- pertains^© the sacred Scriptures, is believed by us to have always existed. The Patriarchs, without doubt, handed down, one to the other, not only the revelations which were made to them, but also the sense in which they were to be received. Moses not only collected these traditions, but he also established a council to decide, without appeal, on all disputes which should arise as to the meaning of his law. When Esdras and Nehemias, after the lapse of centuries, arranged anew and published this law, with the histories, the books of wisdom or mora- lity, the Canticles, Psalms, and Prophecies, with which God had inspired his holy servants from time to time, they did not neglect to re-instate the high Priest and Sanhedrim in all their ancient authority and privileges, one part of the exercise of which, as we are informed by Origen, Je- rome, and Gregory of Nazianzen, was to prohibit women and all persons under the age of thirty years, from reading 59 certain portions of the histories of the Patriarchs, of the Prophecies of Ezekiah, as also the Canticle of Canticles. When the Messiah appeared, and that Herod sought to know where he should be born, he did not recur to the Scriptures to ascertain it, though he was a proselyte, and professed the Jewish law ; no ! he followed the established custom, by consulting the Sanhedrim, and they declared to him from the prophets, that Bethlehem of Juda was to be the birth-place of the Christ. Our Redeemer, whilst he lived, paid a due deference to the wicked men who ruled the Synagogue, and though they were only as white-washed walls and painted charnel houses, he de- sired that their decisions should be reverenced, whilst they sat upon the chair of Moses. He could not preach the revolting doctrine of discarding the constituted au- thorities, and whenever he referred the people to the Scriptures, which bore testimony to him, he laid a greate r stress upon his works than upon his words, no other tri- bunal being necessary in his life-time, nor established as yet, though the Synagogue was waxing old, and almost brought to destruction. Nay, until the very hour, my Lord, of the dissolution of this Synagogue, even when her high priest would condemn to death the only Son of God, we hear him prophecy by inspiration, and it was a •perversion of a text put into his mouth, according to St. John, by the Holy Ghost, which caused Christ to be condemned in the council. That sentence, indeed, sealed the destruction of the Synagogue, a destruction foretold by all the prophets, but it also established the foundation of the church upon the rock which is Christ, whose continuation to the end of the world without any interruption, is also predicted. There is no moment then, there is no chasm, there is no interval between the depo- sition of the Jewish high priest, and the establishment of a new authority, save that which occurred between the death and resurrection o/ the Lord of glory, (a period when heaven and earth were in suspense,) and therefore i he re is no period when a living and speaking autho- rity is not found, capable of deciding on all matters 60 which regard the law and the testimony, so that if Paul had never told us that the children of the free-woman were to have a better inheritance than the children of the slave, we could not doubt but Christ would provide bet- ter for his church which he washed with his own blood, and espoused to himself by an everlasting compact, than he did for the Synagogue, who was only a hand-maid, called to beget children in the house of the mistress. Could those who belonged to the ancient covenant which brought nothing to perfection, have a judge and a coun- cil who would decide for them every question that could arise upon their Iav\§ and the members of the new which is so privileged, not to have pastors after God's own heart, who would feed them with the word, and guide them into all truth ; these suppositions se^ni to us inad- missible ; and even if the promises which are on record, were not made to the church, promises so numerous, so clear and explicit, as to cause Augustine to say, " though all things else in the Scriptures may be doubtful, the au- thority of the church, at least, is clear, even to a manifest evidence ; even if these promises were not made, we should, as Grotius and Leibnitz have observed, admit her authority as of divine right, on account of the ne- cessity of having some tribunal to put an end to our disputes. To suppose, therefore, that she has no autho- rity to controul and regulate the reading of the Scrip- tures, seems to us Catholics a paradox, that there is, for instance, an authority which is supreme, and yet need not be respected ; that there is a tribunal from which there is no appeal, and yet which each person can elude ; that there is a kingdom established by Christ on the earth, and no sovereign to command ; a code of laws which re- gulate the rights and duties of his subjects, and no exe- cutive power to enforce their observance ; no judicial authority to issue decrees, or determine disputes. That there is, in fine, in this kingdom of God, an imperium in tmpcrio, spiritual magistrates to govern, and yet every in- dividual entitled to withhold obedience. It is not surely for this, that our Redeemer prayed, " that we should all 61 be one, even as he and his Father are one ;" it is not for this lie established his one fold, his one house ; not for this he appointed one to feed his sheep, that, as. Jerome says, " a head being appointed, an occasion of schism might be taken away;" not for this he gave us that new command which he calls his own, that we should love one another, even to the laying down of our lives for our brethren. It does not seem to us, that to establish this license of withdrawing ourselves from the authority of his church, it was necessary to declare, that whosoever did not hear her, should be excluded from her communion. The beloved apostle enforces the doatrine of his Master, and desires us not to take food with, rror salute those who rebelled ; it was against this opposition to the constituted authorities, tha^t (as it seems to us) Peter and Jude uttered their frightful denunciations,coraparing those lyiug teach- ers who should bring in sects to Balaam, who loved the wagesof iniquity,toCore,Dathan and Aberon,who resist- ed the authority of Moses, and were swallowed alive in hell, calling them wells without water, and clouds tossed with whirlwinds, to whom the mist of darkess is reserved; who, speaking words of vanity, allure, promising liberty, whereas they themselves are the slaves of corruption. — This license to rebel could not have been the object for which Paul prayed, and preached, and bled; teaching us how we were to converse in the church of the living God, the pillar and ground of truth, constantly assimilating the church to the human body, compact and united in all its members under the direction of the head, exhorting usa- bove all things to unity and brotherly love, saying the man who was fond of disputes was not fit to be among us, where- as we had no such custom, nor the church of God : and if any one became an obstinate and wilful opposer of the truth preserved in his church by faithful men, and taught by them to others, that such a person was to be shunned, being subverted, and already condemned by his own judgment. In fine, it appears to us, that if the authority of the church he rejected, the entire constitution of Christianity is dis- G2 solved, and that nothing but confusion and anarchy can remain: that sects without name, number, or consistency, must spring up, and follow each other in rapid succes- sion, until the Christian system, faith, morals, and disci- pline, is all dissolved, and a system of infidelity prevail; — differing 1 only from paganism by the twilight of the gos- pel, which is shed upon it, after the sun of truth itself shall have set for ever. The christians, in communion with the see of Rome, believe, whether justly or not, that to their own church, this supreme authority in all matters connected with the law of God has been confided ; other churches claim a si- milar privilege, and'their respective claims will probably remain undecided till they all appear before Christ, but uutil then, each must be allowed to act upon its own con- viction. The Catholics proceeding upon theirs, use the following arguments to prove that the reading of the scrip- tures is not essential to Christianity ; and that theyare jus- tified in regulating the use of them, or even in suspending it altogether. They ask, my Lord, were the patriarchs and their families, men of pure religion? were not those virtuous and holy men whom St. Paul enumerates in his epistle to the Hebrews? and yet for the greater part, their faith was regulated by tradition only. Your Excel- lency knows that Christ did not write any portion of his law, that the faith was preached almost throughout the entire world before the gospels and epistles were written, that the doctrine of keeping the liturgy and form of the rites and sacraments secret, prevailed up to the fourth century, and was scarcely ever committed to writing, yet these ordinances constituted the most essential part of religion. Even the creed or summary of the faith was not written, as far as I can learn, until about the time of the council of Nice: in fact it may be said, that the whole system of religion, its rules and discipline, were preserved by tradition until the conversion of Constantine. Previous to this period, it is attested by Irenaeus, in his work on heresies, that entire nations of those called barbarians, were converted to the faith, and 63 believed, as he expresses it, without ink or paper : hence the declaration of this writer of Tertullian, Basil, Chrysos- torr., Epiphanius, Augustine, Jerome, Ambrose, and others, respecting tradition, saying, that if nothing had been written, it alone had been sufficient; that it was equal in authority to the written word ; that it regulated whatever was to be done orbelieved in the church; that the Lord during the forty days previous to his ascension, had communicated many truths which were not written ; that they had been transmitted to faithful men like Timothy, who taught them to others for the government of the church; that all was not written, but handed down by tradition ; but however recorded, they were of equa 1 import. This country, my Lord, was the chief seat of learning in Europe during the sixth, seventh and eighth centuries,and even afterwards ; the inhabitants of it were renowned for their piety, and yet the scriptures were never entirely translated into our mother tongue. There are to this day preserved in some districts of Ireland, sketches of the history of our Lord, expositions in rhyme of the myste- ries, commandments, sacraments, rites and ceremonies of our religion, handed down probably from the days of St. Patrick, which convey more christian truths to the mind, and impress more and better, the moral duties of the gos- pel upon the heart than a peasant would learn from the Bible probably during his whole life. This was the me- thod which the great apostles of Christianity adopted, in order to instruct and confirm those converts, whom, by their preaching and sanctity, and not by the distribution of bibles, they had brought over to the faith. Sed tern- pora mutant ur et nos mutamur in Mis ! Until the 16th century, when, as Frederic of Prussia said(and!eannot be blamedfor quoting such anauthority) a love of money in Germany, alove of women in England, and a love of novelty inFrance introduced a change of re- ligion, there were but fewand these imperfect editions of the sacred Scriptures in the modern tongues; theHuns,the Sarmatians,theGoths, the Vandals, theFranks, theSaxons, 64 and all those other tribes who over- ran the Roman empire and exchanged their barbarity and paganism for the civili- zation of the Romans, and the piety of the cross, all these believed and practised the truths and duties of the gospel, without reading the scriptures in their respective language. And though we may excel these nations in the refinement of life and the speculations of philosophy, yet in heroisnij, patriotism, a love of liberty, perhaps in faith and piety, we may be far behind them ; from the spark hidden under the ashes of their times, the torch ofscience has been kindled in our days ; the bust of our liberties, my Lord, was cast in the feudal system, and the gothic arch and majestic spire which we now behold with awe and wonder,remind us that we areas pigmies compared with those who worshipped Christ without letters, and built his temples after the man- ner of the shade under which they worshipped in their woods. The reading of the scriptures without note or comment does not therefore appear to us necessary to make men virtuous citizens or good christians, and if I did not fear that I might seem to trespass on your Excellency, I would sketch the evils which ensued, when Luther at Wirtem- berg,ZuingliusinSwitzerland,and Coverdaloin England, having translated the bible, invited the common people to read and learn their rights, and exercise the liberty with which Christ had made them free. You know, my Lord, the history of England well, and of Scotland ; what it was that established the protectorship of Cromwell, and brought Mary and her grandson Charles to the block. Your Excellency is not unacquainted with the history of Luther in Germany, and why the strong arm of CharlesV. was not able to preserve the peace or almost the integrity of the empire. The civil wars of France, the reigns of Charles, of Henry, and the Guises, and of Henry IV. ex- hibit no small portion of the blessings which Catholics con- ceive to have flowed from the distribution of the bible and the exercise of gospel liberty. It would be invidious to dwell upon these subjects, or enter into a detail of what then occurred, but it might with some shew of reason be inquired, if the reading of the scriptures without note or 05 by the common people, was not amongst the principal causes of all the evils which afflicted Europe during the period to which I have alluded. Itisnotto thissyste,m of reading the Bible without note or comment that we owe the revival of letters, the inven- tion of the compass, the disovery of a new world, the pre- sent systems of metaphysics, physics or astronomy. We are not indebted to it for the discovery of the use of gun- powder, nor above all of the art of printing; rh a word, we owe nothing to it of all these inventions or improve- ments which have advanced mankind in a career of fame and glory, of what some will call misery and others hap- piness ; but if thefe be wars, if there be feuds, if there be dissensions, if there have been despotisms and perse- cutions and star-chambers and inquisitions, if there has been a revolution which almost engulphed Kurope, and a plague of infidelity which nearly infected the whole western church, it would require no extraor- dinary ingenuity to shew the connexiou of these evils and catastrophes with the diffusion of the Scriptures amongst the ignorant, joined to the assumed right of each man judging of their sense, indpendent of the authority established in the church. It was to check, as far as possible, such evils as I have here sketched, thatacomraittee of the council of Trent, in its 18th session, wasappointed to consider and report to the council, of the books which were then in circulation,and what regulation ought to be adapted with regard to them. The report of the committee was not made til Itke last day of the last or25th session, and as the synod could not then discuss the subject of the report, they referred it to the Pope. The index, therefore, or list of books to be pro- hibited, withtherulesannexed, were not sanctioned by the. council of Trent, and that which was afterwards published, by the Pope, and which includes such translations of the sacred Scriptures as were not approved of by the proper authority, has not the force of a church law, unlessin thoge. coritatries where it has been publishedand received. Hitkis 66 kingdom no particular permission is necessary, oris ever required, by any Roman Catholic for reading the word of God in an approved translation, and tlie several editions, through which the Douay Bible has passed in England and Ireland is the best possible proof, that encompassed as w e are by numberless sects, beset as we are in the streets, in the fields, in the highways, in the stage-coaches, in puplic society and private company, with male and female, young and old Gospel disputants, yet that we are not and cannot be induced to relinquish the reading aud study of the word of God, nor abjure our faith. The editions of the Douay Bible in the city of Dublin, since the period when Catholics were permitted to breathe, have been nu- merous. Besides those by O'lloiily and Cross, Mr. Coyne published an edition in 1808, a second in 1816, and is at present engaged in preparing xvith the sanction and under the patronage of the Catholic Prelates, a cheap stereotype edition, for the purpose of promoting the more effectually the diffusion of the word of God. However, whilst we venerate the revelation which the Lord has vouchsafed to make to us, and would wish that all Christians might piously meditate on it day and night, the pastors of our church do not cease to impress on their flocks the necessity of reading it with an humble devotion, with a pious respect for the Spirit who dictated it, and an entire deference to the authority of the Church in ex- pounding such parts of it as are hard to be understood. They recommend those notes which elucidate its mean- ing, and teach the doctrine of the church on the disputed texts. They wish to remove it from the hands of silly children, from the giddy and profane, and confine it as muchasmaybe tobe read bygrave and serious persons, by beads offamiiies, for themselves and their household, when assembled in prayer. These pastors, acting conformably to the discipline of that church of which they are the watchmen, decry with all their might the impudence and insolence of those enthusiasts who go about praying long prayer*, devouring the houses of widows, neither knowing 67 what they say, nor whereof they affirm ; talking (disre- spectfully of every church, compassionating the blind- ness, forsooth, of the poor, any one almost of whom knows from his catechism more of the religion of Christ, than very many of those who relinquish their humble occupations to gain a livelihood by the gospel. We remind the people whom Providence has committed to our care, that the bishops are appointed by the Holy Ghost to rule the church of God: that they are sent to teach and to baptize, even as Christ was sent by his Fa- ther, and that ho has promised to be with them all days, even to the end of the world. We appeal to their own experience whether we domineer over them by reason of the faith, or whether we are only the helpers of their hope. We convince them of the necessity of a reasonable obe- dience to those who watch for them, so as to give to God an account of their souls, repeating often that he who hears them hears Christ, and that he who despises them despiseth Christ and the Father who sent Siim. We point out unceasingly the evilsof disunion, and exemplify them by referring to the numberless sects which fill the country, daily changing and yet never coming to (he knowledge of the truth, tossed about on the oee;ut a principal means whereby they are brought up and perfected in the knowledge and observance of the will of God. Thus, both priests and people, the wise and the unwise, the saint and the sinner, find recorded in them those ineffable mysteries, those prodigies of divine power, justice and mercy, those supports in trial and checks in prosperity, those lessons and ex- amples, those chastisements and rewards, which con- tribute so powerfully to induce us (prone, as we are, to evil from our youth) to mortify the flesh, and live by the Spirit ; to be crucified to the world, and to esteem all things as dung for the sake of Christ and of that unspeakable glory which will be revealed hereafter in his elect. But the societies, or individuals, who would substitute the reading of those Scriptures for the office of the ministry itself, seem not to com- prehend the substance or the form of the gospel dis- pensation. Their system is opposed essentially to the views of St. Paul. This apostle quotes the prophet Isaias, saying, in the name of the apostles of the new law, " Who hath believed our report ; and the arm or power of the Lord, to whom hath it been revealed," or " made known?" From this text St. Paul infers, that faith is from the word of God conveyed to the soul by hear- ing, and not by reading: indeed if it were by the latter means, not one, perhaps, in a thousand of the elect could have believed. Another part of the apos- tle's induction is put in the form of an interrogatory : " How," he asks, " will they," that is, the persons to be converted — " How will they hear without a preacher? So little did St. Paul know of the distri- bution of the bible without note or comment ; and so 33 could not be propagated, unless by the tongues of men. Ah! but, say the Bible Societies, we have our Missionaries. Unfortunately, however, for the whole tribe of these gentlemen, their wives and children in- cluded, the apostle is not done with his argument; he asks again another most inconvenient question : " /to," he says, "will they preach unless they be sent ?" Let us here pause for a moment, and consider by whom the preachers are to be sent ; whether Lord Teignmouth (I believe his lordship is the president of the great Leviathan), whether he, or the young gen- tlemen, or old ladies, his lordship's venerable coad- jutors—whether they have got any commission to send forth preachers of the Word ! Good God ! to what a vile condition would these men reduce the Church, that most magnificent fabric of the divine wisdom ! Let us pursue the enquiry, however. According to St. Paul, no one can take tipon him- self the priesthood, nor, of course, any office growing out of it, unless he be called as Aaron was; unless, also, amongst other things, hands be imposed on him, and he sent to the work, as Paul himself and Barnabas were sent. Even this does not appear to be suffi- cient ; regular vocation, ordination, and mission, from those who received it from Christ, or from those who succeeded to his disciples ; all this would not ap- pear to be sufficient, unless the person sent to preach compare his gospel with that of Peter, and those who are with Peter, though he were called from heaven, he may, as Paul testifies of himself, be only running in vain. He may, if he be not in the body of which Peter is the head, make for himself, as Cyprian says, a human church, an adulterous church ; but he cannot add to the Church of God, if he be separated from him on whom alone Christ built it. If he be not in the body of Christ, in the unity of Christ, God will E 34 not exhort through him ; if he have broken through charity, that bond of perfection which unites all the brethren; or if he tear, as Cyprian again has it, by his wicked separation, the seamless cloak of Christ, whatever doctrine he teaches is a matter of indiffe- rence — he belongs not to the Church. No imaginary call will entitle him to lay his profane hand to the Gospel. No: he must be called as Aaron was, as Christ was, as the disciples were, as Paul was, as Timothy and Titus, and Mark, as Clement were. No pretended necessity can justify him: for no neces- sity, says St. Augustin, can justify a breach of unity. He cannot, according to the idea of St. Paul, be " a member of Christ, or a dispenser of the word or mys- teries of God," if he usurp the right of another, ob- trude himself into the ministry, or presume to preach without being sent ; aye, and sent too, not by the Bible, or Home or Foreign Missionary Society, but by those who alone were commissioned to teach all nations, and with whom Christ, according to his pro- mise, remains — teaching all days, even to the end of the world. I should like exceedingly to hear the connection between this body and the Missionary Societies clearly proved. But leaving the missionaries on their travels, let us take another glance at the system of preaching the Gospel, by distributing bibles without note or com- ment. I believe this system was as little known to the Redeemer himself, as to the prophet Isaias, or to St, Paul. " If I," says Christ speaking of the Jews, " had not come and spoken to them, they would not have sin," or be guilty of resisting the light of faith. And agaiu, " If I had not done amongst them works such as no other had done, they would have an ex- cuse for their sin." He therefore, in whom were hid- den all the treasures of wisdom and knowledge, in- timates clearly enough, that the Gospel should be 35 preached, and not only preached, but until the church was established like a city on the mountain top, like a beacon on a high hill, that miracles also were ne- cessary to induce men to deny impiety and worldly desires, and become a people acceptable to God — followers of good works. It was by such means that the Apostles, as it is said in the Acts, preached, and the Lord confirmed their words by signs. Thus the Centurion on Calvary bplieved when the rocks were rent, and the sun obscured. Thus Sergius Paulas believed when he saw the wonders wrought by Paul, and the efficacy of his prayer. For these signs and wonders the church (without whose authority Augus- tin would not believe the Gospel) is generally a suf- ficient substitute, but for the lawful preaching of the word of God there can be no substitute, because the Lord has contemplated none, no, not even the Bible Society, with Lord Teignmouth at its head. But this system is not more foreign to the views of Christ than its immense efforts are fruitless in the godly work it has proposed to itself. The types sweat, the press teems, vessels are freighted for it, and all to no purpose! It drives an immense trade, profitable no doubt to many, in bibles and missionaries; it squanders hundreds of thousands upon expeditions more senseless than the most foolish of Sir Walter Raleigh's ; and "like Jhat pirate it repays its dupes with reports of what never had existence.* * It would be endless to recount the delusions which are practised by the Missionaries in this regard. But there is one fact, whicli has been vouched to me by an authority which is unquestionable, which fact, as a curiosity in its way, I shall take leave to mention. Among other languages into which the authorized version of the English Bible has been translated, is the Romaic, with a view of converting the modem Greeks to English Christianity. A cargo of these Bibles was sent out to the Ionian Islands, "and the high commissioner, as well as some subordinate functionaries, were induced to lend the project 36 We never yet were furnished with a proof that these societies had converted a single tribe, or a people, or a nation to the faith, no not one ! And what is more, it is impossible they would ; for " no one can come to Christ unless the Father dr;aw him,'.' and he can never draw any one by a system which is opposed to the constitution of his church. They may make many hypocrites, and cause thousands who are already tossed about by every wind of doctrine, to exchange one error for another; they may count many converts such as a certain distinguished nobleman on their Jits, and induce numberless old maids to exchange their monkeys or lap-dogs for the bible, but it is quite impossible they could ever propagate the kingdom of God upon the earth. the sanction of their names as subscribers. The day came for distributing the word to the Zantists and Cephelonians, and to the lieges of young Telemachus's patiimony — when, behold ! the Greek bishop entered the conclave, and declared, that no version of the Romaic Bible would be allowed except a certain edition printed at Leipsic, aud bearing the imprima- tur of the Patriarch of Constantinople. The Latin Bishop entered a little after, and denounced all translations, save that which coincided with the venerable Vulgate of the Catho- lic Church. Both added, that if even the version was unex- ceptionable in point of authority, they would object against its circulation on grounds of doctrine. This was quite suffi- cient for Sir Frederick Adam for preventing their diffusion, for more vulgar reasons than state policy. He speedily saw what sad work the system would make among the Jonians, and the Romaic Bibles accordingly repose in some merchant's or government warehouse. Vet . in the next Report of the Bible .Societies, we shall be told, no- doubt, of the amiable ductility of the modern Greeks, and of the enthusiasm they displayed at the very sight of the sacred volume in their own own tongue. Thus it is that the English people are gulled out of their money — thus it is that fortunes are made for the Printers and Booksellers, mid itinerant Charlatans. As to notable scheme of the Irish Bible, that is too absurd to need exposure. But it answers the purpose of cheats and hypo- crites — " Put mbney in tliy purse— rem, quocunhue motif rem.'' 37 I recollect when the Charter of the East India Company was last renewed, Warren Hastings gave in evidence before a committee of the House of Com- mons, that during his government in the East, Catho- lic Missionaries alone made converts ; individuals of my own family have spent some years in the Com- pany's service ; one of my earliest and most intimate friends, a Portuguese priest is and has been for some years a missionary on the Coromandel coast. I have conversed with several respectable and disinterested persons who spent many years in India, and from all the information I have been able to collect from these various sources, I am convinced, that the state of the missions in that country at present, is substantially the same as it was in the time of Warren Hastings. The only converts made by the Missionary Societies (for the bibles have made none at all) are some few Hindoos who had lost their caste, and who listen for hire to the preaching of those who* pay them. And though the maxim ex uno disce omnes, " judge of all the other infidel countries by this one," may not be logically correct, yet I presume it would in this in- stance be found sufficiently so had we but the means of ascertaining the justice of its application. Lot these societies with all their bibles, and all their agents throughout the globe produce to us, not such fruits as sprung from our Missions in China, in Siam, in Japan, in Asia proper, in the Philippine Islands, in Paraguay, throughout South America, and the Islands in the gulph of Mexico — no : but let them pro- duce to us authentic proofs of as many conversions as were effected through the ministry of St. Francis Xavier in one year, aye, or in one day, and I will be- come the advocate of the bible, and of the Home and the Foreign Missionary Societies. Ah, no! the fields with these societies are always white for the harvest 38 ready for the sickle, but they are never cut or gathered in. Then as to their labours in christian countries; they tell us of Russia and of their immense manufac- tory in that country, yet I doubt whether they have converted a single cossack or boor ; and if they did, they would only take them from a schismatical church to no church at all. In Germany and Switz- erland, amongst the Protestant Churches they are quite at home. In these countries where that infi- delity which Toland, Tyndal and Boll'tngbroke first introduced from England to the Continent, and which was propagated with such malignant perseve- rance by their disciple Bayle— competes with a frightful fanaticism, so that one knows not which of them will gain the uscendancy. In France their Societies are only abetted by the Calvinists and InfideU, and it is a fact, of which I hwe been informed by a Gentlemau, of whose vera- city and knowledge of the matter I can have no doubt, that the Bible has been circulated in that country by the very men who lately published cheap editions of Rousseau's Emile, and of the Pucelle d'Orleans, for the purpose of corrupting youth ; nor do I think that these men have acted inconsistently. Had the chain with which Henry the eighth tied the bible to the preaching desk in England never been broken, that country would not have witnessed the scenes which her history records, and she might this day be the most free and happy nation on the earth reposing in the bosom of the Catholic Church. Wherever the reading of the Bible is not regulated by a salutary discipline such as ours, it leads a great portion of the people necessarily to fanaticism or to iuQdelity. The French Infidels knows this well, and hence their alliance with the Bible Societies. But as to the progress of these societies amongst 39 Catholics, whether in France or in any other country on the continent, it is precisely the same as on the banks of the Shannon or the hills of Killarney ; and aii they state to the contrary is a collection of falsehood transmitted home or manufactured here by men who tare sumptuously every day on the fruit of these, their uuhallowed labours. They tell us of the number of Bibles they distribute, and where is the difficulty of thus sowing the seed by the side of the highways? Do not the pawn-offices in every town bear testimony of the profusion there is of what these saints quaintly call "the bread of life, 1 ' of what vve catholics call protestant bibles'; books on which our peasantry look not with reverence, but with dread. I heard of a poor man in the County Kildare, who if I gave him a bible approved of by the church, would venerate it more than any thing he possessed, but having been favoured by the lady of his master with one of the societies' bibles without note or com- ment, accepted of it with all the reverence which the fear of losing his situation inspired ; but, behold! when the night closed, and all danger of detec- tion was removed, he, lest he should be infected with heresy exhaled from the protestant bible during his sleep, took it with a tougs, for he would not defile his touch with it, and buried it in a grave which he had prepared for it in his garden ! ! Should a pious old lady of the society ever read this anecdote, the hair of her head will start up, the frightful figure of popery pass before her eyes, and she will rehearse de- voutly the prayer of the gun-powder plot- Yet I who have read portions of the bible every day, these twenty years and upwards, who have devoted many an hour to the study of it, who have often explained it to others, who have collected sixteen or eighteen edi- 40 tionsofit in different languages; who like Augustin,find in it infinitely more beyond my comprehension than I can understand — I, who am thus a very bible man, do admire the orthodoxy of this Kildare peasant — nay, I admire it greatly; and should I happen to meet him, I shall reward him for his zeal. But his conduct fur- nishes to the societies an admirable lesson, did they know but how to profit of it ; it should teach them why they can make no impression on the Irish Ca- tholics, nor indeed on any Catholics, and should in- induce them to reflect on that admirable and truly divine principle of our Church, which makes us all one, even as Christ and his Father are one. It should teach them that whilst we love and cherish the reading of the word of God, as I have abuudantly shewn in my " Vindication of the religious and civil principles of the Irish Catholics;" yet that we always are, and with the divine assistance, always will be, stedfast and unbending in excluding from amongst us the gifts of the Bible Society, and of all her filiations, as well as in proving our obedience to the authority of that Church, against which, not their machinations, nor the gates of hell itself, ever will or can prevail. As a general conclusion from the foregoing obser- vations, it seems to me — 1st, that these societies are embarked in propagating an intolerable error, by seeking to introduce the indiscriminate perusal of the Sacred Scriptures, without note or comment, and sub- stituting a chaos of undisciplined opinion for the wis- dom, and order, and power of the Church of God ; 2d. it appears to me that their labours, so far from being in accordance with the spirit of the Christian religion, are calculated to subvert it, and to plant in its room fanaticism or infidelity; 3dly, I am clearly of opinion, that these labours hitherto have been, and must continue, fruitless, whether in converting inti- 41 dels, or in disturbing Catholicity, whilst they have increased the confusion of the Protestant Churches, and may ultimately subvert them altogether. I have not, as yet, however, closed my accounts with them. I said at the commencement that they are opposed to tradition : I shall therefore proceed to inquire with what justice they presume to attack tirisj one of the fundamental truths of religion. In rejecting tradition, the Bible Societies have the merit of being consistent : for if the Scriptures, with- out note or comment, without a ministry or liturgy, be sufficient to make men wise unto salvation, why admit tradition ? It would, in their system, belike bringing coals to Newcastle : nor do they act in this respect without a precedent. We have it upon record, in the cxmfession of faith exhibited to the 7th General Council, by Basil of A. noire, that this error concern- ing tradition was common to Arias, Nestorius, Eu- tyches, Dioscorus— worthy predecessors of the Bible Society ! Augustin, disputing against Maximinus, and Epiphanius, Her. 73, also impute it to the Arians. They themselves profess it in the Synod of Seleucia. St. Basil attributes it to Eunomius. Tertullian, in his Prescriptions, and Irseneus, in his 3d book 2d ch. against heresies, charge Valeutinian and Marcian with rejecting tradition. So that I know of nothing cri- minal or impious in all antiquity which is not con- nected with our modern fauatics by this disregard for tradition. And why not? These aucients became what they were, only because they separated them- selves from the Church, and appealed for a justifica- tion of their errors and rebellion from tradition to the Scriptures — yes, to those Scriptures by which, as Tertullian remarks in the book before quoted, there could be no victory obtained over them, or if obtained V 42 it would be useless, as when convicted '/hey would argue still — Like our young Briton, and the Scottish Var, His worthy messaiate in the biWe war. You will excuse, Sir, my paraphrase on a distich of the Dunciad! But then as to tradition, which these societies so superciliously reject. For oar part, we find no truth of religion more ex- pressly recorded in the Scriptures themselves, more frequently insisted on by the primitive fathers of the Church, nothing more consonant to right reason, thar* the existence of tradition. " Stand to and keep," says St. Paul, 2Thess.eh. 2. u the traditions which you have received, whether by letters or by word/' These traditions did not, it ap- pears, originate with Paul: no, like St. Luke, he col- lected them from those who, from the beginning, were the witnesses and the ministers of the word. He only handed them down to the Thessalbnians as he did to the Corinthians, 1 Cor. II. whom he praises for observing them, and to whom he promises that on his arrival he would arrange whatever was not yet regulated in their church, and which arrangements are recorded in tradition. He had been instructed himself by the Lord, not by letter, but byword, as to the insti- tution of the blessed Eucharist ; and the form of cele- brating it, which he prescribed at Corinth, is no where found written in the Scriptures. The breaking of the host, the mixing of water with the wine, the very words used in blessing the chalice of benediction — these are not written in the Scriptures, yet all antiquity testifies that they were banded down by the apostles. The perpetual virginity of the Mother of God, the descent of Christ into hell,, the baptism of infants, its being conferred by asper^on, the procession of the Holy 49 , v. 18; and which, if any one do not hear and follow, he is, by the sentence of Christ himself, to be held as a Heathen and a Publican. To deny the supreme authority of this Church in what con- cerns the religion of Christ is, according to St. Augustin, Lib. de Util : credend. cap. 17, " truly the fruit of impiety or of the most headlong arrogance :" so that this holy and learned Doctor does not hesitate to say, Lib. Contra Ep. Fundam : ch. 5, that he would not believe the Gospel, if the authority of the Church did not compel him thereto. So St. Jerome, disputing with the followers of Lucifer, de Cagliari torn. 4, par. 2, p. 306, says « I might dry up all Ih' 1 rivulets of your propositions by the sun alone of the 6 Church ; but whereas we have already argued at length, and the tediousness of our disputations has wearied our hearers, I shall express to you the strong and clear con- viction of my mind, to wit, men should remain in that Church, which, founded by the Apostles, continues to the present day ;" of this Church, writing to Pope Da- masus, he speaks again, saying, " I am united to your holiness, that is, to the chair of Peter ; on that rock I know the Church was built, whosoever does not gather with you scatters, that is, whosoever is not of Christ is of Antichrist." Thus it was, that this learned Father thought of Church Authority and of the successor of Peter, whom he considered as the keystone of the building, outside of which, all was profane. This authority was not only considered supreme, but of such necessity, that the poor and illiterate, to whom, above all others, Christ came to preach, and who in all times were destined to form the bulk of the heirs of his king- dom, could not by any other visible means have their faith secured, or even come to the knowledge of true religion. This is so obvious a truth, as not to require proof; for, no person who surveys in his mind, the past, or even the present state of the world, will venture gravely to assert that every man called to the religion of Christ, or one in every ten thousand of them, could acquire a knowledge of religion, or ascertain the right sense of divine Revelation, otherwise than through the ministry and authority of the Church. " The rude and ignorant, says Tert : Lib. de Praescrip. cap. 14, whom faith has saved, not the searching of the Scriptures, non exercitatio scripturarvm. To believe on authority is a short way, and no labour." This truth is admitted in practice alike by all sects, for they all have a creed, or symbolic books, or articles of religion, or a confession of faith, which the parents and pastors explain and inculcate, and which the Church, or Kirk, or Conventicle, or Meeting, enforces by the exercise of authority and the infliction of censure, even to the expulsion of the refractory or unbeliever, from the body to which he had till then belonged. This is the authority, sacred, divine, and indispensable, which all innovators, whilst they seek to avail themselves of its advantages, yet labour incessantly to decry. They do so with a view to palliate their own original sin of separa- tion. They became Sectaries only when they rebelled against this authority. When stricken by its censures, and writhing under such just punishment of their own revolt, they indeed blasphemed the hand that smote them, but even whilst they did so, they endeavoured by human efforts to erect a Church or Churches, and to invest them with an authority similar to that which they had just rejected ! They could not, 'tis true, erect their Church or Churches on the foundation of the Apostles and Prophets, the chief corner stone being Jesus Christ, for from this foundation they had separated themselves; but, like the followers of Jeroboam, having deserted Sion, they sought to build a conventicle on some mountain of Cerazim ! These Sectaries all exclaim " will you hear men rather than God, human errors rather than the Sacred Scriptures ?" These appeals, however, arc like the cries of a felon, who caught in the act of stealing, would have the ministers of justice to believe that he had a just claim to the properly which he had stolen, and presumes even to call on the right owner to produces his title deeds before his right would be recognized, These Sectaries always affect to forget that the law of the Gospel is a real law given by God to man, as a rule of conduct ; that when he gave the law he also instituted Ministers to teach it and judges to administer it ; vesting them with power to enforce the authority confided to them by means of censures, and engaging to assist them in their teaching and judging, all days, even to the end of the wor ld ; — that the judge is (to use a phrase of the civil law) lex loquens, " the law speaking," and the law itself Prmtor non laquens, "the judge not speaking." The Sectaries at- fectto forget all this, and whilsteach of themdistorts or man- gles the law to suit his own caprice, or favor his own pride or passion, he contemns the judge, and exclaims, •" to. the law and to the testimony, — to the law and to the testimony.' In the long catalogue of human errors there is not perhaps one more glaringly absurd, than that which substitutes the private judgment of every individual Christian for the authority of the Church, in deciding reli- gious controversies ; it has no warrant in Scripture; it is opposed to the plainest maxims of reason, to the legal institutions of every civilized society ; it is, itself, the very essence of all division and separation ; and, as far as it extends, produces the same disorganization in the Church of God, as a revolution does in a Commonwealth. These Sectaries, to palliate their defection or revolt, say, " Reason is the judge of Controversy." Supposing that Reason, which in its exercise is as various as are the faces of men, were capable of deciding controver- sy ; who is bound to submit in such matters to the reason of any man or number of men? If the Pastors of the Church had not their commission and promise of support from Christ, we might respect their opinion, but woidd wc 9 aiwaysbow to their judgment? Moreover, of what account is it that reason in any person is clear or strong, whereas, whatever it is, it is not tho judge appointed by Christ- Religion is his free and gracious institution ; it was He and not ice who "gave some Pastors and Doctors for the perfecting of the Saints, for the works of the mi- nistry, for the building up of the body of Christ, (the Church) until we all meet into the unity of faith, and of the knowledge of the Son of God, unto a perfect man — that henceforth we be no more children tossed to and fro, and carried about by every wind of doc- trine, by the wickedness of men, by cunning craftiness, by which they lie in wait to deceive. Eph. c. 4, 11, 14," These Pastors and Doctors then, and not Reason, were appointed to interpret the law of Christ, and administer it \\\ his kingdom. Again, it is said, the Scripture itself can decide contro- versies. This is another error, more gross, if possible, than the foregoing — for if Scripture could decide contro- versy, a dumb letter coidd speak, and a folio Bible give judgment ; — the leaves of books could cite witnesses, hear evidence, acquit innocence, and condemn guilt. If this ab- surdity were to be endured, then each and every Sect which has plundered the Catholic Church of the Scriptures, might compare notes, and agree upon some one error to be professed by them all ; or, as truth is one and indivi- sible, they would all discover it, and we would again return to the Apostolic times, when all the believers had but one heart, one mind, and one faith, as they had but one Lord and one Baptism. Again, they say, that the Holy Ghost, if properly invoked, decides for each person upon all doubts. This 10 opinion is not only absurd but exceedingly impious, for it supposes tbat the Holy Ghost abides outside that Church which he was sent to enlighten, direct, enrich, and govern, and that he diffuses his light and grace to men who blas- pheme or venerate, as their judgment dictates, the same truth. That He, who is charity itself, dwells with heresy, which is impiety ; that He, who is the uniting love of the Father and the Son, teaches the most discordant opi- nions ; that He, who is the God of peace and unity, war- rants by his inspiration, strife and discord; that he taught Calvin to condemn what he instructed Luther to dog- matize, and inspired Luther to curse what he had taught Calvin and Zuinglius to preach; that he instructed Cranmer to adopt half a dozen different formularies of faith, andLati- mer to disregard both truth and duty. The unction of the Spirit teaches interiorly, itistrue, the children of the Church, not to decide on Controversy, (which the Pastors whom he has placed to rule her are commissioned to do) but he teaches them those heavenly truths which he conceals often from the prudent and the wise, and reveals to the simple and the poor — that sublime knowledge of the Saints, known only to the perfect, which, whilst it in- creases the desire of heaven, is itself a foretaste of that bliss to be enjoyed by those who will see God face to face, and know him even as we are known to him. But the truth is, that in matters of fact which depend only on God revealing his will, it is not on a silly hypo- thesis, nor on human reason, but on a divinely established authority that the mind of man ought or can repose. " Blessed are you, says Christ, Math. 26, 17, Simon, son of Jona, because flesh and blood hath not revealed it to you, but my Father who is in heaven, and I say unto you, that thou art a rock, and on this rock I will build my Church, 11 and the gates of hell shall not prevail against her." Here Reason is excluded, the confession of Christ's Divinity- is attributed to the special inspiration of God, and an exercise of the same divine power, fixes for ever, the des- tiny of the Church. The whole constitution of it is divine, and, as Paul observes, 2 Cor. 10, 4, the arms of her warfare are not carnal, more than the foundation on which she rests, but spiritual, powerful of God to the pulling down of strong holds, destroying counsels and every height lifting itself against the knowledge of God, and bringing into capti- vity every understanding to the obedience of Christ, or of the law which he promulged." Thus we see how little human wisdom is permitted to interfere with an institution posi- tive in its nature, divine in its origin, and having its autho- rity vested in those who were commissioned to propagate and watch over it in this world. " The weakness of Reason," says St. Augustin, Lib. de mor. Eccl. cap. 2, " may appear from this, that whenever it is adduced, it seeks for some authority wherewith it may be confirmed," so incom- petent is it to decide upon religious controversy, if not united to an authority established by God and enlightened by his Spirit. So with the Scriptures themselves, in which we are told, and a sad experience but too well verifies what is so told us, that there " are many things hard to be understood, which the ignorant and unsteady wrest to their own per- dition, 2 Pet. ch. 3. v. 16." In place of deciding con- troversies in religion, Augustin, Lib. 7, de Gen. ad lit. ch. 9, judiciously observes, " do not all the heretics read the Catholic Scriptures, nor are they heretics for any other reason than that not understanding them rightly, they obstinately assert their own opinions contrary to their (the Scriptures) truth." So Vincent of Lerins, in his Charge 12 can. 2. gives a melancholy picture of tho manner in which the heretics in his time abused the Sacred Scriptures, and wrested them each to support his own opinion. In those days, as in our own, Sectaries could not .agree even as to what books were inspired or what were not ; Tertullianin his day seems to describe the contentions which once prevailed in the 16th century on this subject, be- tween the Sectaries in Germany, Geneva, and England, an epitome of which is now observable amongst the members of the Bible Society. He says, " this heresy does not receive certain scriptures, and if it receives some, it does not admit them entire; it fits them by additions and subtractions to its own purpose; and if it admit any entire, yet, inventing divers expositions, it changes them ; so an adulterated meaning vitiates them as much as the corrupted text, Corrupter Stylus.'" The just conclusion which he draws is, therefore, " that in disputes, the appeal should not be made to the Scrip- tures, nor the contest made to depend on them." Saint Augustin also observes, Lib. 1, Contra Crescon. cap. 33, that it is only by the Church we know what is the sense of Scripture, or what is not ; his words are, " the truth of the Scriptures is held by us, or we possess the true meaning of them when we do that which is approved of in the whole Church, which Church the authority of the Scriptures themselves commends," — so far removed was he from the opinion of those who would undertake to determine religious doubts, by the very book, from the misunderstanding of which, they all arise. That it is from such misunderstanding of the Sacred Scriptures all heresies arise, the Holy Doctor, Tract 18, in Johau. cap. 5. ex- pressly asserts, in the following words : •« Heresies have arisen, and certain perverse doctrines, ensnaring souls, and IS precipitating tlicm into the abyss, have been broached, only when the good Scriptures have been badly understood, and when that which was badly understood was rashly and boldly asserted." The numerous and discordant Sects which, since the 1 6th century, have sprung up in the midst of the Sclavonie nations, which, as Leibnitz observes, then separated them- selves from the Latin Church and name, afford ample evidence of the insufficiency of human reason, or of the Scriptures interpreted by private judgment, to preserve unity in the body of Christ, as also of the absolute necessity of a controuling and supreme Church authority, to preserve such unity and check the spirit of religious innovation. These Sectaries, like a discomfited army, having been driven from one position to another, — from Reason to the Scriptures, from the Scriptures to the Scriptures inter- preted by the judgment of each individual — from the Scriptures so interpreted, to the same interpreted by the interior unction or taste of the Spirit ; driven, in fact, from absurdity to absurdity, with the mark of schism, like that of Cain, imprinted on their forehead — without pos- sessing one Church or one Altar throughout the universe, connected in any way with those which were Catholic and Apostolic ; they, in the delirium of their revolt, sought to break down the Church herself into an immense mass of confused and jarring elements — preferring a place in this chaos, to a recognition of their errors, and to the obtaining, by a dutiful submission, a place in that house of peace and unity, from which, in a moment of passion, they had depart- ed. They said that the Church of God, the Kingdom of the Reedemer, the body of Christ, consisted of every sect and every heresy which invoked the name of the Lord. Wheu 14 they first broached this monstrous opinion, it was said to them," is the Church then so composed, the kingdom of Christ, of whom David said, ps. 73, " and his house is in peace ?'* Are those contending sectaries the " men of good will" to whom the angels announced at Bethlehem, Luc. 2, 14, that Christ came to give peace f Are they who con- tend one with the other even to excommunication, that strong body, which drawing its strength from its union, is called by Christ himself a rock ? Are these sectaries that one fold under one pastor, spoken of by our Lord, John 10, 16, where all hear the same voice, where all feed on the same pasture, where altar is not erected against altar, but where all are one body who partake of the same bread ? Is it possible, that he who came to gather together in one the children of God who were dispersed, John 17, 11, should assemble them only to contend with one another ? Is it for an assemblage of discordant sects that Christ prayed, saying, John 17, " Holy Father keep them in thy name whom thou lias given to me, that they may be one as you and I are one ?" Was it for such assemblage he invoked the Spirit of peace, saying to his Apostles, John 20, 21, 22, " Peace be to you : as my Father sent me, so I send you, and having said this, he breathed on them, saying, receive ye the Holy Ghost?" It was inquired of the Sectaries, whether contending sects were contemplated by St. Paul, when he so graphically de- scribed the unity of the church in the following passage, 1 Cor. 12, 12, " As the body is one and hath many members, but all the members of the body, though they be many, yet are one body : so also Christ : for in one spirit we are all baptized into one ?" Is this unity, this indivisible conjunc- tion of the members with each other and with the head verified in the tumultuary and contradictory congrega- tions of sects and heresies? Can they be the persons 15 addressed by the Apostle, Eph : 4, 3, saying, " be careful to preserve the unity of spirit in the bond of peace ;" for 1 Cor. 12, 21, " the eye cannot say to the hand, I want not your labour, nor again, the hand to the feet you are not necessary for me ;" as if he said, whosoever thinks that he needs not the assistance of his brethren in the church, but can himself by his own powers, act and think inde- pendant of them, he cannot be a member of Christ's body, nor receive life from the spirit of Christ — whereas he breaks the bond of peace which links together all the members or brethren. " One body and one spirit," he says again, writing to the Ephesians, " as you are called in one hope," and to the Hebrews, ch. 10, 24, let us consider one another to provoke unto charity and good works, not forsaking our assembly as some are accustomed. One God he exclaims, one Faith, one Baptism ; and 1 Cor. 12, 15, " and God hath tempered the body, that there might be no schism in the body, but the members mutu- ally careful one for the other," because, as he says to the Hebrews, 10, 39, " we are not the sons of withdrawing (or of separating ourselves) unto perdition." These Sectaries were told, that by congregating Schis- matics and Heretics within the Church of God, they were subverting the faith and morality of the Christian religion. The crime of schism was exhibited to them as it had been painted by St. Paul, Phil. 3, 2, " beware of dogs, beware of evil workers, beware of the concision" the cutting up — the separation of the body, which is the work of the evil doers — of the dogs who devour the body of Christ, which is the Church — of those as Jude observes, 19 v. " who separate themselves, sensual men, having not the spirit." The Sectaries were told, that to admit such persons within the Church, was to repeal the decree of God, which 1G excluded schisms and heresies, as works of the flesh, from his kingdom. The authority of the early fathers on this subject was exhibited to them; of Augustin, Ep. 109 ad Felic : who says, " God commanded to us union ; to himself he reserved separation." " Do they," the Schismatics, says St. Cyprian, de Unit. Eccles : " do they imagine that Christ is with them when they are gathered together outside the Church ;" from such persons though they were killed in the confession of his (Christ's) name, that stain is not wash- ed away, even by their blood, whereas the great and unpardonable sin of discord, will not be expiated, even by the suffering of death. " He cannot be a martyr, who is not in the Church." " The sacrilege of schism, says Au- gustin, Lib. I, contra Ep. Parm : cap. 3, which surpasses all crimes, &c." and again, contra Donat: Lib. 1, ch. 8, " those whom they (the Donatists) baptize, they heal of the wound of idolatry or infidelity, but they strike them with the deeper wound of schism" — they have not the charity of God, who do not love the unity of the Church, Lib. 3, cap. 1G. The Sectaries, appalled at the contemplation of those truths, and of their own crimes, sought for refuge in a new theory. They said to the Catholics, you upbraid us unjustly with a desire of dissolving tire body of Christ, and inclu- ding within the Church, all sects and heresies ; we seek only to justify those who believe in the divinity of Christ, we acknowledge that such as do not hold this tenet, are the sons of perdition. Vain subterfuge, replied the Catholic, by which yoi? seek to escape the guilt of schism, and the condemnation 17 of it by the Lord and his apostle. It is not of this error or that blasphemy, of this schism or that other revolt, that we have been treating, we have directed your atten- tion to the guilt of breaking unity, a crime, as Augustin observes, which no necessity can justify. We charged you with separating the members of the body of Christ, of setting up altar against altar, of violating charity, which is the bond of perfection. We charged you with separating yourselves, with disobeying the Church which God commanded you to hear, with despising the ministry, and through them despising Christ and the Father who sent him. You speak of the divinity of our Lord — of essential and not essential truths ; we speak of unity and peace ; these you have violated, whilst every page of the Scriptures to which you appeal commands them, and commands them as the primary, the essential virtues to be observed by every child of God. Where do you find from the beginning, either in the Revelation given to ns, or in the Canons, Decrees, or conduct of our Fathers, any such distinction as you would now introduce? Where is it written that one doctrine is essential and that another is not ? By what authority have you drawn a line of demarcation between one object of faith and another, or why do you presume by your judgment, weak and fallible as it is, to prescribe articles of faith to the judgment of another, or to say to him " believe thus, or thou shalt be condemned." Has not Peter affirmed the saying of an ancient prophet, " whosoever will call upon the name of the Lord shall be saved," aud Paul repeated it in his letters to the Romans ? and if since the hand- writing of the decree which was against us was taken down and fastened to the cross, any one shoidd under- stand that saying in its utmost latitude, by what authority can you convince him of error, or oblige him to believe as B 18 you do yourself? When the Redeemer says, " this is eternal life, that they know you, the only true God, and him whom thou hast sent, Jesus Christ," by what authority do you compel the judgment of any person to believe more than that there is a God, who will reward those who love him, and a Mediator between him and men, the man Christ Jesus? If Calvin, who almost lighted the pile which burned Servetus for following in his own footsteps, interpreted, as he did, the words of Christ, " I and the Father arc one," to signify only a moral union of will and love between the Father and Son, and blamed the Niccne Fathers for understanding them otherwise; — if many of Calvin's followers under- stand the words of our Lord, " before Abraham was, I am" as a metaphorical expression, having reference to the decree of God, why, for what cause, or by what authority, do you condemn the Arian or Socinian or Unitarian, because they understand those texts and such others as prove the eternity and divinity of the Son of God, in a sense different from what you assign them ? Are the Socinians not men of sound judgment? Have they not, according to your rule, a right, nay, are they not obliged to follow the dictate of that judgment in preference to all authority on earth ? and yet you exclude them from the kingdom of God, because in the exercise of their judg- ment, or in what you consider the discharge of their duty, they differ in opinion from yourself. Your opinion of them, if judged of by your own principles, is unjust, uncharitable, unreasonable: you have divested yourself of all right to repute any man an heretic, to censure any man for being a schismatic ; you have erased heresy and schism from the catalogue of vices, and said with the false prophet, " peace, peace," when there was no peace. It is not so that we Catholics have learned Christ. With 10 us it is as the law and the prophets ; it is essential in the first degree with us, that we love God, which the heretic, who separates himself, and resists the authority founded by Christ, does not ; and that we love the brotherhood, which the schismatic does not ; who, as Augustin observes, by an impious concision, or rending, breaks the bond of union, for the doing of which, there never can be a just necessity, prcescindendce unitatis nulla potest esse justa mcessitas. It is this heresy, which consists not in the degree of error, but in a man choosing a religion or a religious opinion different from that which is held and professed by the Church, and maintaining such religion or opinion obstinately, and in defiance of her authority; — it is this heresy which is condemned in the Sacred Scriptures, and which the Church has always condemned : one error against faith may be more impious than another, but whatever its quality or malice may be, it is heresy to uphold it with obstinacy, as it is schism to seperate from the unity of the Church for whatsoever cause. And, upon this important subject, let us listen for a moment, not to the voice of our own passions, or specula- tions, or interests, but let us hear the voice of the Church herself, expressed by those pastors and doctors given by God for the building up of the body of Christ, that in- structed by them we may all meet in the unity of faith — in charity. If they all consider under the name of " the Church," not a congregation of all imaginable sects, but one only assembly or communion of Christians, outside of which, and not within, are placed all heretics and schismatics, then it will appear whether the new system of congregating heretics within the Church, a system more visionary than those of Malebranehe or Berkely in Metaphysics, is to be admitted by Christians interested about their eternal Salvation. b2 QO And first, St. Irenseus, a man of the apostolic times, Lib. 3, cap.' 3 & 4, adv. Her. after saying that the truth, which it i* easy to find in the Church, is not to he sought, lor in the sects of heretics, and after stating that Marcion, who often came to the Church, was at length ejected from it, then mentions, that of this Church, the much calumni- ated Church of Rome was the centre, to which on account of her chief principality it was necessary that every Church, that is the faithful every where dispersed, should como in accord, omnem convenire ecclesiam. And why ? not only on account of her preeminence, but also as the depositary of the apostolic tradition or doctrine, for as he observes, Lib. 1, cap. 10, though in the world there are different tono-nes or languages, yet the virtue or truth of the tradition or doctrine is one and the same, nor do the Churches founded in Germany, nor in the West, nor the East, in Egypt, in Africa, nor in the centre of the world, think differently one from the other. Thus tlie unity of faith and communion with the Church of Rome were the touchstone of orthodoxy with Irenseus. So Tertullian, Lib. de Prescrip. cap. 4, says, " that every doctrine is to be considered false which does not agree with the Apostolic Churches," amongst which Churches he assigns the first place to that of Rome. This learned man knew nothing of our modern distinctions of essential, and non-essential doctrines. St. Clement of Alexandria, Lib. 7, Strom, says, " the Church is of one nature or kind, the which being one, heresies seek to divide her, but she being ancient and Catholic is one on account of the unity of her faith." Propter unitatem fidei. Origen on Job says, that " all the sects and heresies" he makes no distinction, "fight against the Church." St. Hilary, Lib. 7, de Trin. says precisely the same, but adds, that whilst they conquer each other they gain no advantage, whereas a victory if gained by any of them is the triumph of the Church; 21 for, whilst one heresy assails in another what the Church •condemns, they prove our faith or doctrine in opposing one another." It would appear that he described the con- tentions of the Lutherans and Calvanists with respect to the real presence of Christ in the Eucharist, or the essay of Bishop Bull, of Oxford, arguing against the Socinians. St. Jerome. Dial. cont. Lucif. calls the different sects of Marcionites, Valentinians, Montanists, Novatians (whose erroi*s were as different as their names,) not the Church of Christ, but the synagogue of Antichrist. Such is the doctrine which prevails universally amongst the ancient doctors of the Church on this subject. To quote St. Augustin fully it would be necessary to transcribe his entire work on the unity of the Church, as well as his several books against the Donatists : suffice it to say, that with him a unity of belief, or the same faith, and a participation of the same Sacraments, are essentially requisite to constitute any person a member of God's Church, and that all sects and heresies, without dis- tinction, condemned by her are condemned by God himself. Then, as to the doctrine maintained on this subject by the several Councils from the earliest age : — that of Nice, in the formula of faith or creed which it published, uses the word Church in the same sense as Catholics still Ho, that is, as comprising persons of the same communion only, and excluding all sects, whatever may be their errors. This Council anathematizes or excludes from the Catholic and Apostolic Church all those who do not believe that the Son is of the same substance with the Father ; and, again, in its 8th Canon, where it treats of the Novatians wishing to return to the Catholic Church, it considers them as excluded from it, for otherwise how could they return to it? 22 Again, the first Council of Constantinople, held shortly afterwards, cap. 7, after prescribing the mode according to which the Arians, the Macedonians, the Sabbatists, the Novations, the Quartodecimans, the Apollinarists were to be admitted to the communion of the Catholic Church, it requires that they sign a written profession of faith, wherein, amongst other things, they declare that they anathematize, every heresy which dissents from, the Holy Catholic and Apostolic Church of God. The Council of Sardis, held in this age, in the letter preserved by St. Athanasius in his 2d Apology, which the Fathers addressed to all the Bishops of the world, con- siders the separation from the Church the same as an exclusion from the Christian name or profession. St. Celestin in his letter to Nestorius, referred to in the Councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon, admonishes that Here- siarch that he would be separated from the commu- nion of the Catholic and Universal Church, if he did not embrace the doctrine taught in the Churches of Alex- andria and Rome. So the African Bishops in the case of Seporius, torn. 2, cone. p. 1683, require of him as the condition of his pardon, that he profess to receive and hold what the Ordo Ecclesice, the ministry or rule of the Church received and held. But perhaps the most explicit declaration. of the sense of antiquity on this subject is the following, found in the 6th Canon of that Council of Constantinople before mentioned, and which designates as heretics, all " who are cast out and anathematized by the Church, and who, pretending to profess the sound faith, are torn off and separated, and hold assemblies in oppo- sition to the canonical bishops." Now those doctors of antiquity, those councils to which I have referred, wrote or published what is cited from 23 them about three or four hundred years after the birth of Christ, a period of time little more than equal to that which has elapsed since the defection of what Lubnitz calls the Sclavonic nations from the Latin Church. Could they have mistaken the doctrine of Christ and his Apostles, or the sense in which the writings of the latter, and the church discipline, established by them, were understood ? was such ignorance or error on their part possible, leaving out of consideration all special aid from God? But before we answer this question to our own consciences, let us consider that these bishops and writers were men of great learning, of unimpeachable virtue, conversant practically with what they wrote, and living in times which may justly be called enlightened. Let us, to assist our judgment, take a parallel case : — suppose the bishops of Italy, Spain, France, Germany, England, and Ireland, together with the most learned and distinguished ecclesiastics and civilians to be found in those countries, were now, whether dispersed or collected together, called upon to testify as to the faith and church discipline of their respective countries in the time of Philip the Fifth, Francis the First, Leo the Tenth, and Henry the Eighth, would it be possible that they coidd not so testify it to the satisfaction of every unbiassed mind ? and if they could, no reason can be assigned why the doctors and pastors whom I have quoted should not afford equal satisfaction to every candid inquirer as to the Christian doctrine in the days of the Apostles. They should also necessarily testify what the universal sentiment and belief of the Christian world was in their own time, as to the unity of the Church, and the description of persons who were supposed to belong to it. I, therefore, refer with the utmost confidence to every sensible man, the evidence which I have adduced, and if it be found compatible with the amalgamation of all sects and heresies, or with 24 the commixture of such of them as believe the divinity of Christ, whatever their notions upon other points of doctrine may be, then do I willingly resign all my notions of church unity, as well as of the nature of heresy and schism. Jurieu pressed by this evidence could not with- stand it ; he would not, however, yield his assent, such are the effects of human pride, but in the perverseness of his senseless obstinacy exclaimed, that all antiquity had erred on this point. It is, however, too obvious, that to condemn, as guilty of error, all antiquity, including the earliest times, is to arraign the Apostles and Christ him- self; it is to say that the Church never had been founded, or, that founded, she had passed away like a shadow. But again, why should we condemn those who deny the divinity of the Son of God more than any others, who, following their own judgment, are led into error? Are not many of our modern Arians and Socinians learned and honest men ? are they not sincere in their searches after truth ? far be it from me to say they are not; and whilst I consider their error as heresy, God forbid that I should judge between them and their Creator. He made them for himself, and I hope and pray that from amongst them he may, by the infusion of his light and love, save many. It was only of Judas, that treacherous, cruel, avaricious wretch, that the Lord said, " it would be better for him he had not been born," and in his mercy lie has told us that a sin against himself would be forgiven, but that he who sinned against the Holy Ghost — he who despaired *of mercy — who assigned the works of God to Satan, or wilfully opposed the known truth (for such the ancients considered sins against the holy Ghost,) would not be forgiven, neither in this world nor in the next. It is difficult to determine whether the sins in which the understanding of man, 25 clouded with ignorance on account of Adam's fall, is chiefly concerned, or those in which the will) infected from the same source with passion, acts most prominently; be the more grievous ; but, without doubt, whether we attend to the catalogue of vices which the Apostle enu- merates as excluding from the kingdom of God, or to the sentence to be pronounced by the Lord himself upon the just and the reprobate on the last day, we are induced to think, that though without a right faith it is impossible to please God, yet that they are the sins which proceed from the heart or will, rather than those which emanate principally from the mind which will fix the eternal fate of man. It was a question amongst the Jews what was the greatest commandment in the law, whether to worship the Deity by sacrifice, which was a profession of faith — of absolute dependance on the Supreme Being, and an act of prayer, or to love him with the whole heart. The Redeemer decided the question in favour of the love of God and of our neighbour, and Paul having enumerated Faith, Hope, and Charity, the three great Christian virtues, says expressly, that Charity, winch lasts for ever, is the greatest of the three. Sins therefore against Faith, such as heresy, are very grievous ; perhaps, next to apostacy, this vice is the worst of all, as it cuts up the root of justification; but, abstracting from this character of it, it may not be so malicious, not so much opposed to the nature of God as those sins which conflict with Charity — and this is a reflection which ought often to occur to those who, agitated by a fiery zeal, and swoln with a selfishness, which they mistake for faith, break down all the charities of human life, sow dissensions amongst brethren, and forget totally the divine command of doing to others what they woidd that others should do unto them. We should reprobate heresy as we reprove drunkenness or theft, usury or oppression of the poor ; we should denounce 26 schism as wc proclaim the guilt of calumny or detraction ; hut as we should exercise patience ami long suffering towards the drunkard, the thief, or the calumniator, so we should use forbearance and charity towards the wilful and obstinate heretic, hoping that the Lord may perhaps yet give him repentance like to other sinners. But, if the person who is in error has been seduced into it by others, if he have received it as an inheritance from his fathers, and that his education, his habits, his passions, his interests, his connexions, raise a barrier about him which the light of truth cannot, morally speaking, penetrate, or the force of argument approach, still less break down ; to cherish for such a person any other feeling than that of the most unmixed and ardent charity would not only be unchristian but inhuman ; to consign such a man to future suffering on account of his errors would be an usurpation of the divine knowledge and power, and whosoever would pass judgment on him should fear that a similar judgment, without mercy, would be passed upon himself. It is the duty of those who are ministers of Christ to exhibit the truths of the Gospel and the errors opposed to them, to display virtue in all her beauty, and exhibit also the deformity of vice ; to exhort, and to beseech men in all patience and doctrine to adhere to truth and virtue, and to fly from vice and error; to minister the aids of religion to all who seek them at their hands ; to exclude from their assemblies and communion all who obstinately adhere to vice or error, but to leave the judgment of mens souls to him who created and redeemed them, who alone is able to discern the innocent from the guilty, and who will repay to every one according to what he did in the body, whether good or evil. There is no person who rightly understands the spirit 27 in which Christians arc called, and which spirit created and preserved that unity amongst the members of the Church, who will not subscribe to those sentiments. They arc the dictates of charity and liberality rightly understood, but far removed certainly from that novel opinion now so prevalent amongst Protestants, which would open the Church to all sorts and descriptions of sects, and erase from the catalogue of vices, revealed to us by Almighty God, the crimes of heresy and schism. But the observations hitherto made on the unity of the Church, and the criterion by which she always regulated admission no her communion naturally suggests the fol- lowing inquiry : — how was this unity of faith so strict and rigorous in its nature, preserved amongst so many nations as composed at all times the Catholic Church? To answer this inquiry we must travel once more over the same ground through which we have already passed. We must revert to the constitution of the Church, to its order and government as presented to us in the Gospel, in the acts and letters of the Apostles, in the councils of the primitive times, and in the writings of those early pastors and doctors whom Christ gave to his people. The Redeemer himself established a conserving prin- ciple of unity, without which it could not have continued, and he did so by appointing Peter the chief, or supreme head on earth of the whole Church, and by continuing to his successors this singular and necessary privilege. This supremacy and the cause of its creation are beautifully expressed by St. Jerome, when he says inter chiodecim unm e/igitur, ut, Capite constitutor Schismatis tollatur occasio — from amongst the twelve one is chosen, that a head being appointed the occasion of schism might be taken away." Yet, notwithstanding this supremacy, Paul says " here- 28 sies must be" — oportct hcreses esse, but without it, con- sidering the jealousies, the piques, the interests, the passions of nations and individuals, it would be totally impossible to preserve even a semblance of unity through- out the vast empire of Christ ; for men are by nature so fond of novelty, that even admitting the influence of divine grace, they require the strong bond of authority to keep them united. But let us briefly examine the origin and nature of this supremacy as it is testified to us by the Scriptures and antiquity. In the 16th chapter of the gospel according to St. Matthew, a profession of his faith in the divinity and mission of our Lord is related, as made by Peter, saying, thou art the Christ or the Messias promised to us, the Son of the living God. In reply, the Christ assures him that his faith was not the fruit of earthly wisdom but of divine grace, imparted to him by the Father of Mercies ; and the Redeemer finding him as it were thus selected and gifted by Almighty God, adds to this first grace a new one, not of election to the faith or to the apostleship, which had been given to him, but the gi-ace or gift of election to the place of head or chief of that society, or kingdom, or church, which after his own ascension and the descent of the Holy Ghost, was to be founded by him on the earth. " The Father has selected you." We may suppose the Redeemer to address him thus : — " above all others, not only to believe in your heart to your justification, but also to profess your belief openly with your tongue, and in addi- tion to this gift of the Father, who has drawn you to me, I, the Son, who do all things that he doth, say to you, thou art a rock — strong and immovable in your faith, and upon this rock, that is, upon you professing this faith which my Father has inspired into you, I will build my Church : you shall, after myself, and when I will have ascended to my Father and to your Father, to my God 29 and to your God, be made the foundation, the cor no? stone, the firm and lasting support of that Church* which through your ministry and that of your colleagues, the apostles and prophets, the pastors and doctors who will be given to labour with you, (I myself being the chief builder, the soA^ereign head and immovable foun- dation), shall be established by me upon the earth. Against this Church which I will raise on you, the gates or force of hell shall not prevail ; fear not, even hell, for I will conquer the prince of this world and cast him out. He will indeed seek to grind you all like wheat, and notwithstanding my grace, he will prevail over many of your colleagues; but Simon, Simon, I have prayed for you, that though you be shaken for a moment, that though your passions or infirmity become the allies of Satan, and cast you down from your steadfastness, yet fear not, I have prayed for you, that thy faith, imparted to you by a special privilege of God, fail not ; be sober and watch, be careful that recovering from your weakness and resuming your former station, you confirm your brethren who may waver in the faith." I will give to thee the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, under which name I have, as you know, so often desig- nated my future Church, and as keys are the symbol of power, the mark of rightful possession, and the emblem of chief authority, I shall give to you, with them, this power, this possession, this authority; you shall hold them for ever undisputed and undivided in my kingdom, which is the Church. All other power, all other autho- rity which I may impart to your colleagues shall be subordinate to yours, that all things in my peaceful king- dom may be done according to order. You are the foun- dation, and to you the keys are given, the chief, the prince whom all my subjects will be found to reverence 30 and obey. Whatever yon hind, whilst justly executing my law in the city of God, over which you are to he placed, shall he hound in heaven hy my Father and hy me, and whatever you loose on earth, in the just exercise of your power shall he loosed also by us in heaven. This prero- gative or principality which was thus promised hy the Son of God to Peter as to the head of the Church, repre- senting her unity in the singleness of his own person, as St. Augustin well observes, was afterwards imparted to him, when, after the resurrection of our Redeemer, his charity was proved like as his faith had been, and, being found full, was rewarded with the entire confidence of his Divine Master, and the communication of that unequalled power which had been promised to him. But let us cite the entire passage from the 21st chapter of St. John : — " So when they had dined, Jesus said to Simon Peter, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me more than these ? he saith to him, yea, Lord ; thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him, feed my lambs. He saith to him again, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? He saith to him, yea, Lord, thou knowest that I love thee. He saith to him ; feed my lambs- He saith to him the third time, Simon, son of John, lovest thou me? Peter was grieved, because he said to him the third time, lovest thou me? and he said to him, Lord, thou knowest all things, thou knowest that I love thee. He said to him, feed my sheep." Christ then foretells to him his future martyrdom, and by what manner of death he was to gloi'ify God, and with the recital of these things the Evangelist closes his gospel. To a candid man it should be unnecessary to argue upon those passages of the divine revelation. How can it be necessary to observe to a reasonable and unpre- judiced mind, that the selection of Peter, the promise 31 made to him, and the fulfilment of that promise by Christ, are distinct from every thing else narrated by the evangelists ? I am at a loss to conceive how it ever was denied that Peter was selected by Christ, as the chief of the future Church, vested with a singular and preeminent power for its benefit, and charged with a sovereign care of all its members. When Christ, in the 18th chapter of St. Matthew, orders the erring christian to be reproved, and if found obstinate, denounced to the Church, he promises to each and all the apostles, that whatever they would bind on earth would be bound in heaven, and whatsoever they would loose on earth would be also loosed in heaven, and thus gives to them a promise of that apostolic authority, without which they Would not be rulers of the Church in their own right and by divine appointment, but mere subalterns or deputies of Peter. But he does not promise to them, as he did to him, the keys of the kingdom of heaven, the emblem of supreme authority, and the type of universal jurisdiction ; he did not pray for them singly, and as he did for Peter ; he did not charge any of them with the duty of confirming their brethren, though they should all reprove each other when necessary ; but above all he did not say to any one, or to all of them, " feed my lambs," and a second time, " feed my lambs," and a third time, " feed my sheep," the entire fold which I will gather from the nations. All his gifts are without repentance ; that is, when bestowed ho does not withdraw them, unless we cast them away, and such gifts as he imparted for the sake of his Church, which he espoused to himself by an everlasting covenant — which he washed in his own blood — which he loves as being bone of his bone, and flesh of his flesh, and which he will preserve in his love until he presents her without spot or wrinkle before the face of his Father ; whatever gifts or graces he imparted on account of this Church to 32 Peter or to his apostles as necessary for her are truly without repentance, he never will, he never can withdraw them. If, therefore, in the lGth of Matthew, he promised to Peter any privilege connected with the foundation and preservation of this Church, it must continue, and be always distinct from the power and privileges granted in common to the apostles. He promised to them all united a power to rule the Church, and to this day we say in the language of St. Cyprian, Episcopatus unus est cvjus in solidum pars a singulis tenetur — * the episcopacy is one, a portion of the entire of which is held by each bishop ;" but how does this interfere with the supremacy of the head, or rather how could it exist in order, or be carried on without that supremacy ? he sent them all to teach and to baptize all nations, and to command those nations to observe what he had given in command for them, to be published by the Apostles. But how does this interfere with the prerogative of Peter, which keeps the teachers themselves firm in the faith, zealous and correct in their labours, uniform in their doctrine, so that they all say the same thing, and that there be no schisms among them ? or rather how could those advantages be, by any possi- bility, secured if Peter's jurisdiction were not universal and supreme ? He made them all partakers of his own priesthood, saying to them, " do this in commemoration of me;" he imparted to them all the Holy Spirit, when having breathed on them, he said, " receive ye the Holy Ghost ; whosoever sins you shall forgive they are forgiven, and whosoever sins you shall retain they are retained ;" but how do these exalted and superhuman powers inter- fere with the charge of Peter to feed the lambs, and feed the sheep of the great bishop of our souls ? No, I say confidently, it is impossible that an intelligent and honest 33 man, who searches for truth as he seeks for gold, and \Vho cooperating faithfully with the grace of God, esteems all things as dung that he may gain Christ, would seriously deny the spiritual prerogative and special jurisdiction of St. Peter. The disciples and evangelists all recognised them ; they name Peter the first, the tt^tot, or as it might justly he translated the primate, " they present" him as the first of the disciples, to whom our Lord after his resur- rection appeared — the first who after the descent of the Holy Ghost preached the gospel — underwent persecution for the faith — who first experienced the divine protection when in prison — the first who wrought miracles in the name of Jesus — who founded the Church amongst the seed of Ahraham — who confirmed the converts made by others — who was first commissioned to call the Gentiles in the person of Cornelius to the faith ; it was he, who having founded the Church at Jerusalem, estahlished it next at Antioch, and afterwards passing to Rome, the Babylon of the world in that age, laid the foundation of that Church to which perfidy or apostacy, as Cyprian has observed, never had access, and whose faith, even in Paul's time, as in our own, was spoken of and increased tln-oughout the entire world. It was Peter, who by the hand of Mark, sowed the gospel seed at Alexandria, and thus establishing the four great Patriarchates which embraced the Christian world, verified even in his own person, and in his own day, the promise of his master, saying, " thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church," Why, after witnessing, those things should we refer to his acting at all times and places, whether in the temple, before the sanhedrim, at the election of an apostle or of deacons, or at the council in Jerusalem, as the head, the chief, the mouthpiece, to use a term of St. Chrysostom, of the apostles ? 34 But, it will be said that certain doctors of antiquity understood the text : Simon, son of Jona, " thou art a rock, and upon this rock I will build my Church ;" as if the Lord had said, " thou art a rock, and upon this faith in my divinity professed by thee, I will build my Church," and I have no objection whatever to such mystical and edifying exposition of the text, provided that no person be so senseless, whilst he admits this signification, as to exclude the other, which is plain, natural, and obvious, for I scarcely know a text of Scripture which commen- tators have not explained in a mystical or metaphorical, as well as a natural and obvious sense. All I require is, that when one signification is set forth, it be not supposed that the other is excluded ; for my part, I see nothing more obvious than that Christ contemplated Peter as inspired by his Heavenly Father with a pure and lively faith, and that contemplating the man filled with this faith and pro- fessing it, he immediately selected him to be the head and chief of his Church or Kingdom. How justly, with such a view of the question, Avould any person commenting on the passage, treat, indifferently of the faith professed, or of the person professing that faith, and assign to either, without excluding the other, whereas both were indivisibly conjoined, the promise of Christ ? But that Peter was the living acting subject to whom the promise was directed, and on whom the benediction fell, no man in his senses should deny. I find St. Hilary, St. Chrysostom, St. Cyril of Alexandria, St. Augustin, to treat this question as I have just set it forth; at one time representing Christ as contemplating Peter, at another as contemplating the faith which he professed, or admitting that either may be understood, whilst the greater number of the fathers confine themselves to the natural, obvious, and plain signification of that portion of the text. 35 But where there is question of the promise of the keys to Peter, and of the command given to him to feed the lambs, the sheep, the whole flock of God, then antiquity, like a torrent, sweeps away all opposition, eA r ery obstacle which a perverse sophistry would at any period oppose to the supremacy of this apostle. All the fathers, for I know of no exception, consider him as representing the whole Church, and receiving from Christ, in his own single person, the keys or power of its government, to be exercised by himself and by his brethren with due subor- dination to him as chief or head. Origcn, Horn. 2. de die., calls St. Peter the supreme head or summit of the apostles ; and, commenting on the 6th of St. Paul's epistle to the Romans, says, that " the sovereign care of feeding the sheep was given to Peter, and that upon him, as upon a rock, the Church was founded." Eusebius, hist. lib. 2, cap. 14, calls Peter " the most powerful and greatest among the apostles, and on account of his virtue, the prince and protector of all the others." St. Cyril of Jerusalem, catech. 2 and 11, designates him as " prince and chief;" S. Basil Prooemio de jud. dei., says. " that blessed Peter, preferred to all the apostles, to whom singly greater testimonies or assurances were given than to any other ; he who was called blessed, to whom the keys of the heavens were entrusted." St. Greg. Naz. orat. 26, showing there that in disputations order is to be observed by all, takes an argument to prove that position from the apostles, who though all great, yet had one placed over the others : " see," he observes, " how from among the disciples of Christ, all, without doubt, great and excellent and worthy of election, one is called a rock, and received the foundation or chief place of the Church ; another is peculiarly beloved, and reclines on c2 36 the bosom of Jesus, and the other disciples, without murmuring, see them thus preferred." St. Cyril of Jerusalem, lib. 12, in Joh. spunking of Peter, says, " he appears eminent above the others, he the head and prince of them." St. Chrysostom, horn. 5, in Math. bom. 87, in Joh. and horn. 3, in acta app., as* also orat. 8, in jud. employs the following language to designate the supremacy of Peter, or his superiority as compared with the other apostles : — " a man ignoble and a fisherman, is the head and pastor of the Church, the mouth or tongue, the prince and supreme head of the apostles ; the prince of the apostolic band, who every where, and first of all, begins to speak ; Peter so washed away that, denial (of his master) that he even was made or constituted the first or chief of the apostles." These are the sentiments of the ancient Greek Church, expressed through her doctors. Let the Latin Church now profess her doctrine : — Tertullian de prescript, cap. 22, refuting those heretics who charged the apostles with ignorance or negligence, savs : " Was Peter then ignorant of something ? he who was called the rock on which the Church was to be built, and who obtained the keys of the kingdom of heaven." He repeats in various forms, and in different parts of his works, that Peter represented the Church, and that what the Lord conceded to her, he conceded it through Peter. St. Cyprian, ep. 55, says : " Peter, on whom this same Church was founded by the Lord, speaking alone for all, and answering in the name of the Church;" and ep. 71, this father showing the moderation with which persons the most exalted should use authority, observes, that when Peter was reproved by Paul, " he did not insolently 37 and arrogantly assume any thing 1 , or appeal to his primacy, or complain, saying, that obedience, not reproof, was due to him by new people, and those who came after him," as Paul did. It is thus that Cyprian inculcates the necessity of feeding the flock of God, not by violence, but freely, not as lording it over God's inheritance, but with good will, whilst he admits the authority which might have been abused. But in his book on the unity of the Church, not far from the beginning, where he touches this matter, not indirectly, but treats of it expressly, his sentiments are more clear and full. " On him (Peter) alone," he says, " Christ built his Church, and to him he committed his sheep to be fed, and though after his resurrection he bestowed an equal authority on all the apostles, and said, " as my Father sent . me so I send you ; receive ye the Holy Ghost, &c, yet to render unity manifest, he instituted one chair, and regulated by his own authority the source of that same unity, taking its rise from one.* Thus Cyprian accurately defines that * There is a passage in the above quotation from St. Cyprian which I omitted, in order to avoid cavil, though my own opinion is that the passage is genuine — exordium ab imitate proficiscitttr ct Primalus Petro datur. " The beginning (of the apostolic, authority) proceeds from unity and the primacy is given to Peter." Rigault, as also Doctor Fell, in his edition of Cyprian's works, reject the above passage as not found in the editions of Spires, or admitted by Rembold, by Erasmus, Gryphius, Gravius, and some others, and as wanted in many manuscript copies. But the passage is found in many and most ancient manuscript copies, as in that of the Vatican referred to by Manutius, that mentioned by Onuphrius Panvinius in his treatise de Primatu Petri, in that of Cambray, in a second of the Vatican, in that of St. Saviours at Bologna, in four in England, mentioned by Fell ; besides that it was quoted in the sixth century by Marcellus the Second, writing to the bishops of Istria ; in tine, in place of being a tau- tology, if admitted, as Rigault thinks, it accords perfectly with 38 apostolic power, one and indivisible in its nature, equal in each, and first given to the college of the apostles, and still continued to the unbroken and undivided body of the episcopacy, whilst with equal accuracy he marks the primacy of Peter, and points out the end, to wit, the preservation of unity, for which it had been instituted by the authority of Christ himself. S. Optatus, lib. 2, contra Parmens, says to his oppo- nent, " you cannot deny what you know, that the epis- copal chair (signifying here, as in all places, doctrine and authority,) was first fixed in the city of Rome by Peter, in which Peter himself, the head of all the apostles, sat, whence (that is from his headship,) also he was called Caephas ; in which one chair unity would be preserved by all, that each of the other apostles might not claim one for himself — ne ceteri apostoli singulas sibi quisque defen- der 'ent, and so become a schismatic and a sinner, who, against the one chair, would set up another." St. Ambrose, in cap. 12, Ep. 2, ad Cor. says briefly, but forcibly, " it was not Andrew, (he was the eldest), but Peter, who received the primacy." St. Augustin, lib. 2, de Bapt. cap. 1, says of Peter, " in whom the primacy among the apostles is seen exalted by so excellent a grace." He repeatedly observes, that " Peter, on account of his primacy, represented the Church." In his thirteenth sermon, de verbis doming he says " Peter was first in the rank of the apostles :" " he the style and manner of Cyprian, as well as with his doctrine throughout that entire book, as when he says, " that on Peter alone the Church was built," that one chair was appointed," and that " unity had its origin from one," that is from Peter, &c. &t\ 39 was the typo of the one Church ;" " he alone answered for all ;" " he was named Peter from a rock ;" " he re- presented the Church ;" " he hore the primacy of the apostolic office." St. Leo, ser. 8, de assump. sua ad Pontif. says, " Peter is elected alone from the entire world ; he is preferred to all the nations — to all the apostles — to all the fathers of the Church, so that though there he many priests among the people of God, yet they are immediately ruled by Peter, he being principally ruled also by Christ." But why is this venerable host of primitive pastors and doctors drawn forth in order to prove the primacy or supremacy of Peter ? Why, because for my purpose, it is necessary to bring back the minds of readers to the primitive form of the Church, and to the ground work of Christianity, which in these times of religious intempe- rance and fanaticism seem to be entirely overlooked. Political economy, or the art of founding joint stock companies, are scarcely the subjects at present of less rational speculation than the testament or religion of Jesus Christ. The austere virtues of the gospel, such as continency, chastity, fasting, watching, prayer, repen- tance, joined to external mortification, which virtues were religion's best support, have long since been discarded from amongst the pious practices of a christian life, and descending gradually from one abyss to another, men now adapt their religious theories to the taste of the age, as Sheridan or Moliere did their comedies. One creates a company for the conversion of the Jews, another for enlightening the Hindoos, a third undertakes to instruct the Blacks who border on the Cape, a fourth will eman- cipate, from spiritual despotism, the slaves in Barbadoes, or the more miserable Irish ; one proclaims the necessity 1.0 of prelates and boasts of the beauty of his liturgy; a second says, liturgies embarrass the spirit in its flight, and why should those made free by Christ be subjected to the rule of Bishops ? One system of religion is suited to the wealthy and the proud, having order, pomp, and ceremony, the other, coarse, irregular, and loud, fitted to the peasant or mechanic. The word of God, the Bible, is on the lips.of all ; the right and power of private judg- ment are unreasonably extolled — the sacraments are neglected — the ministry superseded — and whilst fana- ticism thus burns on the surface, immorality weighs upon the heart, whilst infidelity, secretly and silently advancing, prepares to erect its standard on the ruins which this fanaticism will have made. If men do not return to first principles, and arrest their minds in their present course, if they do not review the christian religion, not as pre- sented in the passing declamations of the day, but as it was originally established by the Spirit of God, no gift of prophesy is required to foresee how lamentable are the results which press upon us. To bring back public atten- tion then to the consideration of the leading maxims of the primitive Church is deserving at least of an effort, but besides this motive, it was necessary for my special purpose to show how unity (so essential to the kingdom of Christ,) was preserved in the immense society of true believers, It was with this view principally that I endeavoured to demonstrate that a primacy was given to St. Peter — a prerogative which vested him with power as extensive as the Church, and which might, and ought when necessary, be exercised over every sheep within the fold of Christ, of whatever rank or order. The language of the Redeemer, as quoted by me, from 41 the 16th chapter of his gospel according to St. Matthew, shows of itself that the authority given to Peter was to last as long as the Church, for if he were made the foundation of it after Christ, the rock on which it was built, it is perfectly obvious that as long as the super- structure lasted the foundation could not he removed ; in other words, that as long as a Church was to remain on earth the authority given to Peter should continue to it — that so long as the kingdom of heaven, or city of God, continued in this world so long should some person be vested with the keys of government — that as long as there would be a fold of sheep and lambs, so long there should be a pastor to feed them in the place of Peter — in fine, that as long as the faithful were to be one body, saying the same thing, and not having divisions among them, so long there should be some person vested with power to enforce obedience — to collect the sentiments of the body — to publish its acts — to institute or sanction its officers — to preach and cause to be preached the doctrines of Christ — to dispense and cause to be dispensed the mysteries of God, that so the people might obey their prelates and be subject to them, that the prelates might not lord it over the people but be made patterns to them from the heart, in fine, that all might have one faith, and not be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, but be kept united in that common charity, which is the great source, as it is the bond of perfection. But this consequence, however plain and necessary — however spontaneously flowing from the very source of Christianity, yet it has been contradicted, and seldom more violently, or at least less temperately, than at the present day. The furious men who now agitate this country seem to know that the sword and the law could not have been drawn, or, if drawn, could not have been 42 wielded with such deadly effeet against the holy and ancient religion of these islands, if that religion had not first been decried, abused, and maligned, until it appealed to the multitude a very moral monster. " From the sole of its foot, like its founder, to the top of its head, there was no soundness in it" ; it was buffetted, abused, spit upon ; it was covered with a mantle of derision ; it was scourged, and drenched with vinegar and gall ; the waters of affliction entered into its very soul, and it was, when thus disfigured by a clamorous rabble, and seemingly abandoned by God, that the bigots and the fanatic cried out to the agents of the law and of the sword, — " away with it, away with it." But as there was no tenet of this religion more opposed to the machinations of those furious and designing men, nor again, no tenet more strongly supported by argument, by the practice of the Church, and an undisputed posses- sion of fifteen hundred years, than that of the supremacy of the successor of St. Peter, so there was no tenet against which their sophistry, their misrepresentations, their violence, their rancour and persecution were so un- ceasingly directed. To such extremities did these men proceed as not only to confound the power claimed by some few popes of Rome over the temporal in- terests or rights of kings and kingdoms, with the spi- ritual jurisdiction of St. Peter's successor, but, in ad- dition to this misrepresentation, they actually designated not one or other, but a whole series of those successors, as Antichrists, and excited the deluded multitude to hate them and curse them as the capital enemies of our Lord and Saviour. Yes, the very men who maintained from the beginning, and still maintain against an infidel or Arian world the divinity of the Son of God, the very men who designate themselves as the last of his servants, 43 and who, without any doubt, have caused his name to be published and adored throughout nearly the whole christian world, these men who never ask any thing of the Father except through the Son, and identify him in their daily prayer with the King of Ages, the immortal and invisible God, to whom alone are due and given all honor and glory, these very men have been called, by the ferocious leaders of the revolt, " Antichrists" ! I and the" Church in which they have always presided, and whose faith was from the beginning, and still is spoken of throughout the entire world, — this Church they called " Babylon," and the " great apostacy," with all manner of opprobrious and insulting names. To the present day this warfare of calumny is continued for the same purposes, and by the genuine successors of the wicked men who first commenced it ; hence it neces- sarily enters into the design of these observations that I endeavour, not to dissipate the cloud of calumny which still prevails, (a task to which I confess my incompetency), but to prove, in addition to the argument adduced by me, that the supremacy given to Peter has passed to his successors, the bishop, for the time being, of the See of Rome. This is a truth, like many others, connected with a matter of fact, and a fact which, as it commenced with the demise of Peter, cannot be found recorded in the Holy Scriptures ; but it is, at the same time, as we have seen above, a truth flowing necessarily from the institution by Christ, of the primacy in the person of that apostle ; and all antiquity, as it attests the existence of that primacy in Peter, so it attests the transmission of it to his successors in the See of Rome. 44 The law of nature sanctions a presumption in favour of him who has the peaceable possession of any thing, and he is supposed to have acquired it justly, until his title to it is disproved. The burden of proof lies on him who questions the right of possession, and not upon him who holds it ; but when we Catholics call for this proof against the title of Peter's successor to the spiritual supremacy which he enjoys, we are replied to by loud declamation, by angry invective, or by visionary specu- lations on the Apocalypse. If we refer to historical records to show not only the possession, but also the exercise of this supremacy in every ;igc from the apostolic times, we are told that Mosheim (the faithless Hume of the Protestant Churches,) says, that the early churches, like the Greek republics, were all independent one of the other, and their councils, like the amphyctionic assemblies. To refute this folly we refer to Euscbius, to Fleury, to Natalis Alexander, we present the long and accurate catalogue of cases compiled by Cardinal Perron for the information of King James the First, to show that no Church was ever independent of the head of the episco- pacy — that he exercised in every quarter of the known world a jurisdiction commensurate with the exigency of the case which required it. We exhibit the appeals made to him from each of the three great patriarchates as well as from all parts of his own in the West, and refer to the decisions pronounced by him. — we mention the names and the sees of the bishops whom he acquitted or deposed — the nature of the discipline which he sanctioned or re- proved — the errors and heresies which he condemned. We refer to the councils in which he presided cither in person or by his delegates, from the time when councils were first held ; we produce copies of his instructions to his legates, whether proceeding to the East or to the West ; his (confirmation or rejection of the whole or of a I part of their proceedings J his spiritual preeminence asserted by liim, and for him, and admitted with accla- mation by all the orthodox, whether in council or dis- persed, and never disputed unless by the wicked, the refractory, and the rebellious — the successors of Core, of Dathan, of Jannes and Mambre. We appeal to argu- ment and common sense ; — but the spirit of the great revolt from the just authority established by Christ in his Church, answers to us, saying, " obedience, that great virtue, by which all were justified by one, is no more to be practised ; there are no longer judges in the Church, every believer is to judge for himself; he who separates himself no longer sins by so doing ; the man who chooses for himself, setting at nought the judgment of those appointed to teach all nations and rule the Church, is no longer condemned by his own judgment ; no man is obliged to hear the Church, as if Christ spoke through her ; every old man and silly woman is now competent to decide on all controversies ; a man may think on religion as he pleases, and speak as he thinks, nor is there any one entitled to reprove him and cast him out among the heathens. The day of gospel liberty is at length arrived, we have been freed, not from the yoke of Jewish observances, which neither we nor our fathers could bear, and made the children of God, under the dominion of Christ and of his heavenly grace, but we have been freed from all restraint upon our will or passions, upon our reason or fancy, and totally exempted from all obedience to those pastors who were formerly appointed to watch so as if to give to God an account of our souls. We want no teacher, for the unction of God teaches us all things, even the most contradictory, illusive, and impious ; we may now without danger be tossed about by every wind of doctrine ; no unity of belief is required of us ; Ave need not worship at the same altar, nor partake of the same sacraments, nor hear the voice of the same 46 pastor; the body of Christ has undergone a thorough reformation ; it is now a mass of heterogeneous, discordant, and conflicting members, the head and the foot and the hand each goes its own way, and performs its own function independent of the other ; in a word, there has been a great and entire revolt from the mutual dependance, the well regulated obedience, the singleness of faith, the uniformity of discipline, the brotherhood of charity which was originally established and prevailed. Formerly the believers had but one heart and one mind, now no two of them are of the same mind ; formerly all said the same thing, nor were there any schisms among them, now no two persons say the same thing, and schisms are multiplied without end or number; formerly there was but one church, one font of baptism, one altar in the town or village, now there are as many churches or conventicles as streets, some with, and some without an altar, some having a font for baptism, others having no such means of regeneration ; in this only are we all agreed, to condemn the faith of our fathers, and to dissent from each other in all things else. We speak sometimes about essentials, and non-essentiak, but incapable of ascertaining what should be designated by those terms, we say the Bible, and the Bible alone is our religion (a tolerably sized one it must be confessed,) and in its interpretation we seek only a justification of discord and the condemnation of unity. But leaving this view of the subject, painful, and at the same time ludicrous, if the follies of christian men could be a just subject of ridicule, let us proceed with a sketch of the doctrine of antiquity relative to the supre- macy of the See of Rome. The second schism at Antioch, in the time of Clement, the heresy of Paul of 47 Somosata in the East, the errors of the Montanists in Africa, the question of the day on which the christian passover should be celebrated, the other relating to the validity of baptism when administered by heretics or persons not within the Church, each of these subjects excited the zeal, or called forth the exercise of the autho- rity vested in the bishop of Rome as successor of St. Peter : but it was not until the persecution ceased, and that the Arian controversy troubled the Church, that this authority became unshackled and conspicuous. Pope Sylvester, who, as Eusebius mentions, was too enfeebled by age to leave his See, sent his legates to preside at the councils held at Aries, at Alexandria, &c. but particularly at the great, and always to be celebrated, general council of Nice. It is difficult, if not impossible, to determine what number of canons were enacted at this council; in the sixth, however, which is quoted in the 16th action of the council of Chalcedon, either the words of the canon or of the title of the canon are " Ecclesia Romana semper habuit primatum — " the Roman Church always possessed the primacy ;" and then the canon proceeds to recite and settle the other patriarchal churches with their depen- dancies. Volumes have been written to prove that the above words were, or were not, a part of the canon, yet the question, in truth, did not deserve more than the atten- tion of critics or antiquarians, who love to dispute about manuscripts rather than about what they record. Pope Nicholas the First, writing to the Emperor Michael, lit. 8, explains the truth as to the meaning of this short sen- tence wheresoever it might have been originally placed : he says, " if the decrees of the Nicene synod be care- fully examined, truly it will be found how that synod conferred no increase (of jurisdiction or authority), on 48 the Roman Church, but rather took an example from its form or its custom as to what it (the council) assigned specially to the church of Alexandria." The Pope not only asserts the prerogative of his See, as established anteriorly to any council, but he also shows that the council of Nice, in giving the second place to the See of Alexandria among the patriarchal churches, only copied and confirmed that usage or regulation of order amongst them, which the Sec of Rome had previously made. The council of Constantinople, held in the same century, whilst it seeks to change the order of precedence among the patriarchal churches, leaves untouched, and formally recognises the undisputed prerogative of Rome: this council says, " let the bishop of Constantinople have the honor of primacy after the bishop of Rome." So does the council of Aquileia, in the same century. And now we come to the two great councils of Ephesus and Chalcedon in the following century, which not only show the primacy of the See of Rome, but also the cause, the origin, the source of that primacy ; that it was not an appendage derived from the imperial city, as some innovators would pretend, but a real and divine prerogative, derived from Christ, through St. Peter, the founder of that See. At the opening of the council of Ephesus, or in the first session, sentence of deposition was passed against Nestorius, in the following terms : — " compelled by the sacred canons, and by the letter of our most holy father and fellow minister, Celestin, bishop of the Roman Church, and shedding tears, we necessarily have come to this decision against him (Nestorius)." In the letter here referred to, and produced at length in the second Action or Session, Celestin states : " We have directed, according to our solicitude, our brothers and fellow 49 priests, most .approved men, ami of one mind with us, to wit, Arcadius and Projectus, bishops, and Pliilip our priest, to be present at the proceedings, and to carry into effect what lias been already decreed by us." The matter decreed by the Pope, and mentioned here, was the depo- sition of Nestorius, patriarch of Constantinople, if he did not, within ten days from the notification of the papal decree, abjure his error, and promise thereafter to preach the faith of the Catholic Church. The Pope further com- missions St. Cyril of Alexandria, to whom this decree was entrusted for execution, to provide a successor to Nestorius, in the church of C. P., if that Heresiarch continued obstinate. In this same session, we find the legate, Philip, above mentioned, shewing cause why his master exer- cised so high a jurisdiction. He required that the pro- ceedings of the synod, had, previous to the arrival of the legates, should be submitted anew to himself and colleagues, and in doing so, uses the following words : — " Your Holiness is aware that the blessed Peter is the head of the entire faith (or Church) or even of the Apostles, wherefore, we pray that you expose to us whatever was done in this holy synod, previous to our arrival, that we also confirm the proceedings, agreeably to the judgment of our holy Pope, and of this present assembly." In the third session, this same legate, again urges the authority of the Pope, as derived from St. Peter; his words are: " It is undoubted, nay, it is known to all ages, that the holy and most blessed Peter, prince and head of the Apostles, the pillar of the faith, and the foundation of the Catholic Church, received from our Lord Jesus Christ, the Saviour and Redeemer of man, the keys of the kingdom, and that the power of binding D 50 and of loosing was given to him, who still lives, and exercises judgment to the present time, and at all times, in his successors." It is not surprising, then, that the fathers of this council with one voice, when passing sentence on the unhappy Nestorius, cried out, " compelled by the sacred canons, and by the letter of our most holy father, Celestin, bishop of the Roman Church, we suffused in tears, have necessarily come to this melancholy judgment against him." Nor can any person reading those proceedings, doubt but the faith of the council of Ephesus, respecting the papal jurisdiction, was the same as ours at the present day; — that the decree of Celestin directed to one patriarch, to be put into execution against another, and he, the bishop of New Rome, was an act of authority as high. and as strong as could well be exercised; — that the recognition of this authority by one of the greatest and most revered councils ever held in the Church, was most explicit, and that the ground upon which this authority, as well as all the proceedings of the Pope's legates in the council, rested, was expressly stated to be the authority given by Christ to Peter, and transmitted to his successors. But the acts of the council of Chalcedon, held in 451, are yet to be examined. At the opening of this council, Paschasinus, one of the legates, thus addresses the fathers assembled : — "We hold in our hands the commands of the most blessed and apostolic man, the Pope of the city of Rome, which is the head of all the churches, by which his apostleship hath vouchsafed to command that Dioscorus (the patriarch of Alexandria,) should not take his seat in the council, but be introduced for the purpose of being heard. It is nccesary to observe cither let him withdraw or wo shall depart." Lucentius, the vicar of the apostolic see, said " he (Dioscorus) must necessarily shew cause why he judged, whereas when he had not a right to judge, he pre- sumed to do so, and dared to hold a council without the authority of the apostolic see, which was never lawful — which never has been done." In the seeond session, the letter of S. Leo Pope was read, and according to the acts of the council, " the most reverend bishops cried out, this is the faith of the fathers ; this the faith of the Apostles, we all believe thus, so the orthodox believe ; whosoever does not believe so, let him be anathema, Peter hath spoken by Leo ; so the Apostles taught." In the third session, Paschasinus and the other legates said, " Leo, the most holy, and most blessed bishop of the great and older Rome, by us, and by the present holy synod, together with the most blessed, and always most praise-worthy Peter the Apostle, who is the rock and the oracle of the Catholic Church, and the foundation of the true faith, hath stripped him (Dioscorus) of the dignity of the episcopacy, and excluded him from all sacerdotal functions." In the fourth session, all the most reverend bishops cried out, " why do not they (the Egyptian bishops,) anathematize the Dogma of Eutyches ? let them subscribe to the letter of Leo, anathematizing Eutyches and his opinions." In the fifth session, when some partizans of Eutyches had created a faction in the city, and hesitated to subscribe to his condemnation, the legates use the following lan- d2 r,o guage, " tlioy who oppose and do not subscribe, let theni walk away (or to Rome) whereas we bave consented to tbe decrees, and bave not in any thing opposed tbcm. And the most reverend Bisbops of Illyricum said, they who contradict, let them appear openly ; they who do so, let them go to Rome." When tbe council bad terminated its labours, and it bad been declared, among other things, that all primacy and chief honor belonged to the bishop of Rome, the fathers entreat of Pope Leo, in the following words, to confirm and perfect their proceedings by bis decree and consent, " we pray you (Leo) tberefore, that you honor our judg- ment by your decrees, and as we have agreed with our head in what was good, so in like manner let your supre- macy complete for your children what is becoming, sic et summitas tuafiUis quod deed c.dimpleatP I have selected tbose few passages from tbe acts of councils holden in tbe Eastern or Greek Cburch, composed almost exclusively of bishops residing outside tbe western patriarchate, which was more closely still connected with tbe Pope, and more faithful at all times in adhering to the apostolic doctrine, and to that centre of union by wbicb it is preserved. I bave referred to those councils, because they are admitted as general and orthodox by all ; because matters of tbe greatest moment were discussed and decided in them, such as dogmas of faith, and tbe guilt or inno- cence, not of ordinary individuals, or bisbops, but of two great patriarchs, the one of Constantinople, tbe other of Alexandria ; I have referred to them, as to large mirrors, through which may be clearly seen the faith and dis- cipline of that pure and primitive Church, which sectaries pretend to revere; and introduced them as tbe deposi- taries of the doctrine which prevailed throughout all the 53 orthodox churches of the then Christian world ; — as bodies of pastors and doctors declaring, not hy their language alone, but by their conduct, on the most important occasion which could occur, that the Pope of Rome was the successor of Peter, and, as such, the head of the whole Church, possessing the right to preside in synods wheresoever held, to give judgment in matters of faith, whether provisionally or finally, and to try, punish, or acquit the most exalted of his colleagues. I was about to cite, as in the case of Peter's supremacy, the testimony of the ancient Fathers, Greek and Latin, in support of the doctrine maintained at Nice, Ephesus and Chalcedon, but I find those preliminary observations have already extended to a greater length than I anti- cipated. The opinions on this subject of SS. Ircncus, Dennis of Alexandria, Athanasius, Basil, Gregory Nazian- zen, Epiphanius, Chrysostom, of Throderet, all Greeks : — and of the Latins, Tertullian, SS. Cyprian, Ambrose, Jerome, Optatus, Augustin, Fulgent; of Vincent of Lerins, and the others up to St. Bernard inclusive, may be read, in any of our books of theoloy ; so that as far as human testimony can add security and stability to a right evidently founded on the power, and wisdom, and will of Christ — a right essential to the preservation of unity in the faith and integrity in the Church — a right confirmed by an undisturbed, how-often-soever-assailed possession of eighteen centuries, so far is the spiritual supremacy, and no other, of the Pope eminently supported and se- cured ; so far is the Church of Rome, the head and mistress of all other churches, the depositary of christian truth, the guardian of discipline, and the centre of unity, to which, in the language of Irenreus, all the faithful, wheresoever dispersed, should come in christian harmony and Avith one accord. Nor can we more appropriately 54 conclude those few general observations on the nature and doctrine and discipline of the Catholic Church, whose authority is so reviled by furious men, than with the following striking passage, extracted from the Pastoral Instructions, addressed, in 1824, by all the Irish Catholic Bishops to their flocks. These prelates instructing the Ca- tholics of Ireland, observes, " but above all, to protect you against these men who are erring and driving into error, you have the infallible testimony of the Church of God, which Jesus Clirist appointed the depository of his doctrine, to preserve it, to explain it, to teach it, promising her that she would always be animated and directed by the Holy Ghost, and that he himself would be constantly assisting her till the end of time ; that the gates of hell would never prevail against this bulwark, which, as an Apostle says, 'is the pillar and foundation of religion and truth.'* The Redeemer foresaw how great Avould be the inconstancy, the rashness, the pride, the rebellion of the mind of man, and that many even of those who would venerate the holy Scriptures., would, in searching into their depths, loose the anchor of faith, see vain things, and prophecy lies, saying and persevering to say, ' the Lord speaketh,' when, as Ezekiel saith, ' the Lord had not sent them.' f He foresaw that such men would create dissensions, bring in sects and broach heresies, would oppose authority, contradict the truth, fluctuate in a chaos of unsettled opinions, be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, condemn each other, and yet all cry out, « so saith the Lord,' ait Dominis, whilst they all rejected what the Lord had said. He foresaw that these sects, turbulent and licentious, known, and scarcely known, by * John, ch. U. v. 16, 17. Matth. 16. v. 18. 1 Tim. ch. 3. v. 15. •j-Ez. ch. 13. v. 6. 55 ihe names of their founders, would break the unity of his mystic body, which is the Church, and of which he him- self is the Head ; of that Church which has but one Faith, as she has but one Saviour, one Baptism, and one Lord ; and hence it was that he vested in her an infallible authority, which, like a light always shining, could dissipate the darkness of error, remove every doubt, interpret faithfully the Word of God, and conduct man- kind into the haven of truth and salvation. And where can this Church be found, unless it be she which was built on the Apostles, which received from them the true sense and meaning of the Scriptures, and which, at her very commencement, decided the disputes and settled the doubts which arose amongst the faithful, whilst the Holy Ghost dictated her decision ; ' it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us.' * " Where can this Church be found, if it be not she from that time to the present has subsisted, and been governed by an uninterrupted succession of pastors ? — she who was always unchangeable in her faith and morality, and who, like her divine Founder, was yesterday, is to-day and will be always the same till the consummation of ages ; that Church, which, amongst all the sects which have sprung up about her, or proceed from her bosom, has always, as the pagan Celsus testifies, been known by the name of the great Church; — that Church which has condemned all other Churches, which, like withered branches, were lopped off from the ancient and living trunk, whose root is Christ ; that Church which has triumphed over so many persecutions excited against her by the Jews, by the pagans, by the impious, by all the enemies of her doctrine ; a Church always assailed and never conquered ! * Acts, ch. 15. r. 8. 56 In u. word, where can this Church be found, if it be not she which is extended throughout the entire world, which alone is one, which alone can glory in the title of Ca- tholic — « title which she has borne frouf the apostolic times, which her enemies themselves concede to her, and which, if arrogated by any of them, serves only to expose their shame. " In this Church, dearly beloved brcthern, you possess the fountain of all true knowledge, and the tribunal where God himself presides. He speaks to you by the mouths of all her pastors, whom, when you hear, you hear him. * Never deviate from her decisions, they are the decisions of the Holy Ghost, who governs her, and always preserves the purity of her doctrine. Never attend to any voice but to her's, she is the tender mother who has brought you forth, who has nursed you in her bosom, fed you with milk from her breasts in your infancy, and now furnishes you with strong food. She watches unceasingly over the deposit of the faith which has been confided to her by her heavenly spouse ; she is always armed against every error, against every impiety, always shining in the midst of the disorder and confusion of this world, like the morning star from the midst of the clouds, to direct her children in the ways of truth and salvation. Watch, therefore, we again beseech you by the mercy of God, remain firm, do not fall from your stedfastness, be constant in the faith * repel with meekness, but with the zeal of God, all the assaults of those who would seduce you ; be strengthened and animated with the aid of divine grace against all the ungodly, against all enthusiasts and impostors, watch, stand in tfie faith, act manfully, and be comforted. 1 Cor. ch. 16. v. 13." * Luc. 10. v. 16. r>7 We have at length come to " The Charge." I shall break it up into propositions and refute them as I proceed. The order of my proceeding will not he exactly the same as that adopted by the Archbishop. I shall commence with those propositions of his Grace which are seemingly most important ; the first of which is, " The doctrine of Infallibility shuts out doubt and ex- tinguishes enquiry." This proposition is not true in the sense in which it is announced. The doctrine of Infallibility does shut out doubt, but not until due investigation and enquiry have been made ; then it shuts out doubt, and so it ought, for otherwise, the faithful, tossed about by every wind of doctrine, would never, all of them, say the same thing. There would be schisms among them, contrary to the com- mand of the Apostle. If doubt were not excluded, the belief of the Christian would not be immoveable as it ought to be, nor would faith be, as St. Paul defines it, the foundation or substance of things hoped for — the argu- ment — the proof — the immoveable certainty of those things which do not appear. When the Apostles as- sembled at Jerusalem, issued their decree respecting the non-necessity of the Jewish rites, and did so, saying, " it hath seemed good to the Holy Ghost and to us" were not doubts excluded ? even the Archbishop will admit that they were, or should have been, yet the same text informs us, that this decision was not come to until after " a great enquiry had been made." Hence, it appears clearly, and by a precedent not to be questioned, that there may be an infallible tribunal — a tribunal whose decision excludes all doubt, and yet the decision be per- fectly compatible, not only with enquiry, but with " great enquiry." 58 The question here is not whether the successors of the Apostles enjoy a power to judge in matters disputed on in the Church, as their predecessors did; we do not here enquire, whether those pastors whom the Holy Ghost appointed and appoints to rule the Church — to keep the people from being tossed about by every wind of doc- trine — the victims of that cunning craftiness which lies in wait to deceive them, — we do not now examine whether Christ be with those pastors, teaching till the end of the world, or whether the Holy Ghost abides with them when they vindicate the truth, and eject the obstinate sinner from the Church ; no, the only enquiry which " the Charge" forces upon us is, whether there can be an infallible tribu- nal, whether such tribunal ought, or ought not, to " shut out doubt," and whether the shutting out of doubt by a regular decision, " extinguishes all enquiry." This is the question ; and, in reply, a case is made out, in which, even Doctor Magee will admit, that Infallibility and enquiry are found united. There can be no peace in any community, no order preserved in any shurch or state, unless there be tri- bunals established to which existing differences may be referred for decision ; and if those differences relate to the truths which compose the Christian religion, it is quite impossible to put an end to them, or quiet the minds of the disputants, unless the decision be exempt from error. Faith is not faith if the believers hesitate in doubt, for he who doubts is already an unbeliever. It therefore, obvi- ously and necessarily follows, that if God willed that we should believe what he has revealed, he should either reveal his will so clearly, as that no doubts could arise with regard to its meaning, which he has not done ; or he should only require of us to adopt such meaning of it as appeared to us most probable — a supposition incompatible with the 59 nature of faith ; or, lastly, he should give us a tribunal authorised to decide — so as not only to put an end to dis- putes and preserve order in the Church, but also which, by its decision, would exclude all doubt, whereas doubt cannot co-exist with faith. The existence then of an infallible authority in the Church is not a matter of secondary im- port, or one on which different opinions may be enter- tained ; it is so necessary, that Avithout it, revelation being such as it is, the Church could not exist, nor faith continue on the earth. Without this authority, the Christian reli- gion, from its very commencement, would have degenerated into a system of human philosophy, and private opinion would have taken the place of divine faith in the minds of men. This is the result of the rejection of Church authority throughout the Protestant Churches of France, Switzerland, Germany, Sweden, and Denmark. (See Appendix, No. I.) It is most afflicting, therefore, to find a Christian bishop denounce to the world the great and only stay of Chris- tianity as a supernatural religion, and appeal to the pride of the human heart, to the fondest and strongest prejudices of our nature, against the mysterious but wise economy of our faith. If the wisdom of this world were not folly with God, if he had not rejected the prudence of the pru- dent, and the wisdom of the wise, in order to save men by the folly of the cross, then it might be reasonable to appeal to human pride, to awake the passions, and rally them in opposition to the authority established by the Redeemer. Who, says the writer of the Charge, will submit himself to authority ? Let every creature, says St. Paul, be sub- ject to the higher powers. Who, says this Archbishop, will relinquish the right of private judgment ? The arms of our warfare, cries out an Apostle, are not carnal, but 60 powerful of Gotl, unto the pulling down of every strong hold — destroying counsels and every heigth that exalteth itself agaidst the knowledge of God, and bringing into captivity every understanding to the obedience of Christ. Who, says his Grace of Dublin, will submit to the deci- sions of fallible men ? " As my Father sent me, says Christ, so I send you ; going, therefore, teach all nations, and lo, I am with you all days, even to the consummation of the world ; whosoever hears you hears me, and whosoever despises you, despises me and the Father who sent me." Shall the high-minded and enlightened people of this country submit to the decrees of any Church, says this Christian prelate. If any one do not hear the Church says Christ, let him be to thee as an heathen and a publican, for that Church is founded on a rock ; or, as St. Paul describes her, she is the pillar and immoveable ground or foundation of truth. How can fallible men, exclaims the author of the Charge, arrogate to themselves the prerogative of infallibilty. Fear not little flock, says Christ, because it hath pleased your Father to give to you a kingdom. I will send unto you the Holy Ghost, the Comforter, he will teach you all truth, and will suggest unto you all things whatsover I will have said to you. Follow our Church, says this Protestant bishop; and here we recognise the language of Manes, Valentinian, &c. as mentioned by Tertullian. But his Grace says, follow our Church, which leaves you at liberty to think on reli- gion as you please, and speak as you think. Shun those, says an Apostle, who promise you liberty, but who arc themselves the slaves of corruption. Choose your own religion, exclaims Doctor Magee. An heretical man, 61 or a cliooscr of his own religion, says St. Paul, after a first and second admonition, shun, knowing- that such a man is subverted or cast down from the rock of faith, that he sins and is condemned by his own judgment. Who is the pope or council, exclaims this learned prelate, that we Protes- tants should regard them ? " Know also, says St. Paul, that in the last days shall come on dangerous times — men shall be lovers of themselves, covetous, haughty, proud, blas- phemers, without peace, slanderers, having an appearance of godliness, but denying the power thereof; now these avoid, as Jannes and Mambres resisted Moses, so these also resist the truth. Be mindful, says another Apostle, of the words which have been spoken before by the Apostles of our Lord Jesus Christ, who told you that in the last times, there should come mockers walking according to their own desires in ungodlines : these are they which separate themselves. But you, my beloved, building yourselves upon your most holy faith, praying in the Holy Ghost, keep yourselves in the love of God, waiting for the mercy of our Lord Jesus Christ unto life everlasting." These latter words are the words constantly addressed to the Catholics of Ireland by their pastors. These repeated appeals which I have noticed to the pas- sions and pride of the world, are opposed to the spirit and essence of the Christian religion, every principle on which the author of them builds, is expressly denounced as vicious and antichristian by our Lord and his Apostles. He who employs them, assails in common with the wild enthusiasts who infest this country, the authority established in the gospel for the goA^ernment of God's people, and passing by the terms of the new covenant, he endeavours to mould and fashion the Christian religion, not according to the original shewn to us in the gospel, but according to the model pre- sented to his view by some of the worst men who ever 62 disgraced the church of God. The Archbishop has, in the exhibition of his system, played upon the passions and pre- judices which prevail in this country — he lias left unnoticed the nature and form of the Christian dispensation, the divine authority given to Peter, the Apostles, and their successors for ever — he has rejected all the precedents which the con- demnaton of heresy for eighteen hundred years, presented to him — he has substituted opinion for faith — he has annul - led as far as in him lay, the three creeds, and set at nought that article of two of them which teaches every Christian to believe in the Church, to believe that she exists, that she administers rightly the ordinances of Christ, and teaches his truths without error. He has done all this, and why ? that he might vent his spleen upon an unoffending people — that he might perpetuate dissensions amongst brethern — that he might sustain a character, and justify that volume of incoherent contradictory and discreditable tes- timony, which he once delivered against the creed and the rights of his countrymen. He did all this to uphold a religious system, which is supported beyond its deserts, by private interest and public law, but which, in itself, is incoherent and inconsistent. Yes, for what can merit those epithets better than that system, the fruit of necessity and error, which sanctions heresy and condemns it, which invites to schism, and punishes it, which tells the believer to hear the Church, and teaches him to prefer his own opinion, however mons- trous and absurd, to her most solemn judgments ? Why a Church, thus constituted, is incoherent and inconsistent, a hulk thrown upon the waters, without helm or compass. The " furious error" of those few men who founded such a Church, and founded her as they did, after seperating themselves from the whole world, is one of those appalling judgments of Almighty God, whereby he shews the utter 63 impotence of human wisdom and power, and the absolute necessity of his own heavenly grace. It is this " furious error," supported by a few men, corrupted in mind, and having their consciences seared as with a hot iron, which drives the multitude into infidelity or enthusiasm. It is for this multitude, thus deceived and abused, that I lament ; a multitude which seeks for bread, and finds no one to break it to them, whilst infected with error from their very infan- cy, they are taught to blaspheme what they do not know, and to resist that authority which they should love and revere. In all question of private right, or public interest, men almost instinctively enquire, reason, discuss; the judge or the legislative body, wheresoever it resides, examines, with a care and attention proportioned to the magnitude or difficidty of the matter before them, whatever can contri- bute to assist them in framing a wise law or pronounc- ing an equitable decision ; but the law once enacted, the final judgment once pronounced, does any rational man refuse obedience to the one, or submission to the other ? If then the impulse of our nature, the plainest dictate of reason, teach us in society how disputes are to be termi- nated, order preserved, and the public interests promoted, or secured, — whence the fatuity or blindness of the " furious men/' who say that in the city or house of God there is to be no tribunal, competent to decide definitively ? that in the kingdom of Christ there is to be no legislative power which Christians would be bound to obey ? Experience may indeed shew that the law of the state was not wise, or that it was susceptible of improvement, and then a new law is enacted, or the former amended or repealed. This also is precisely what occurs in the Church with regard to all things in it which are susceptible of improvement or liable to change. But as to what regards that portion of the sacred deposit which the Church cannot alter, diminish, 04 or encrease — that faith which was committed to her pastors* that they might guard and preserve, but not alter it: — when questions or disputes touching this f'aitli arise, the pastors of the Church, like all other judges, enquire, investigate, and then decide ; their decisions, like the decisions of all tribu- nals, must he as numerous as the cases in which judgment is required of them : hence, new decisions, new expositions of the law ; hence new, more full, clear, comprehensive and explicit definitions of the one nnchanged and unchange- able faith. Thus we find the creed called of the Apostles ex- plained at Nice, that framed at Nice, amplified at Constanti- nople, that of Constantinnple, rendered after the Lapse of ages, more explicit, by the adoption of the wordjilioque. But these explanations are not variations, the fruit of un- fixedness, as has been insinuated, but they are, as St. Basil, and Vincent of Lernis describes them, the unfolding of the same seed of faith, the developement of the same unvary- ing truth. In framing laws of discipline, or any other laws which do not affect the deposit of faith, those pastors whom the Holy Ghost appointed to rule the Church, act agreeably to what nature and reason prescribe to be done in every well ordered community, by those who are charged with the rule or government of it; but when disputes which regard the faith arise, they who are commissioned to teach all nations, who are the authorized ministers of Christ, proceed, as all other judges in the last resort, do; — they decide upon the law, and declare its sense, and thus put an end to litigation. If these pastors be charged, as they are untruly and unjustly charged, with excluding all enquiry, they have only to refer, in their own justification, to the numberless councils held in the Church, wherein her laws have been altered, amended or repealed. If they be asked, why they presume to give judgment on the 66 disputes which arise amongst those who are to learn the law from their lips, as the prophet expresses it, their only answer is: — that they have heen appointed by the Holy Ghost to rule the Church, to heal divisions, to preserve order, to promote peace, to keep the subjects of Christ's kingdom united in one body, having one heart and one mind, — in order that all who are of that body may say the same thing, and that no schisms or heresies (vices which exclude from heaven) may exist among them. If the nature or extent of the authority which they exercise be enquired of them, they reply : — that it is commensurate with the kingdom of Christ, that it is totally and entirely independant of earthly power, that it is proportioned to the nature and importance of the subjects about which it is exercised, and that the commission containing it is written in the Gospel, recorded in the councils, secured by immemorial possession, published by all history, and never disputed or denied, unless by the blind or the dis- obedient — by those men who either walk in the darkness of infidelity and the shade of death, or who, separating themselves, and condemned by their own judgment, have refused to hear it, and been therefore cast out among the heathens and publicans. If it be enquired why they, weak and fallible men, pretend that their decisions are exempt from error, their answer is ; — we are weak and ignorant, and insufficient to think any thing of ourselves, as if from ourselves ; but all our sufficiency is from God. Let men consider us, when assembled in the name of Christ, as his ministers, discharging an embassy for him, as if God exhorted or instructed his people through us. As the pottt r out of the same clay can make one vessel to honor, and another to shame, so the Almighty hath been pleased to take from the common mass of human infirmity, the weak and infirm of this world, and by them to confound the GO wise and the strong, that no flesh might glory in his flight ; lie took the taxgatherer and the humble fishermen, and gave to them the power of establishing the Church — of teaching all nations, promising to be with them all days, even till the end of time; he selected one of these and made him the foundation after himself, on which his Church should be raised ; he confided to him, as the just reward of his extraordinary faith and love, the care of his entire flock ; he gave to him the power of binding and loosing on the earth ; he prayed for him that his faith, however shaken, might not fail, but that, did he happen to fall, he should again arise, and confirm his brethren. Against the Church to be formed by those men he en- gaged, that all the powers of darkness — the powers of earth or hell should not prevail, until he would return to separate the just from the wicked, and complete the work for which he had first descended to the earth. We, in union with our Head, are the successors of those men ; for eighteen hundred years, we exhibit a regular and uninterrupted succession ; during that time wc have preached the Gospel throughout every tongue almost, and people, and nation upon the earth ; we have stood together, whilst the earth has been moved and shaken, empire trans- ferred from nation to nation, and thrones crumbled in the dust. We have been assailed by dangers from abroad, and terrors from within ; our own children have often raised their heel against us, and in the midst of peace, our bitterness has often been most bitter. The calumnies and persecutions which beset our Divine Master, have ever been employed against the entire or some portion of our body ; those who should support us have often deserted or defamed us, but, he who first sent us, has remained with us, and supported us in every tribulation. We pretend to nought that has not been given to us, we were entrusted 67 with the care of that divine faith which is one and indi- visible, without which it is impossible to please God, and by which the just man liveth; to preach and to preserve this faith is our office and duty : — the code, in which the doctrines which express this faith is contained, has been confided to us ; about the meaning of this code, and of the truths contained in it, Christians often differ and dispute; we are appointed to settle those disputes, because we are appointed to instruct and to rule the Church, and to give an account to God, of the souls of those who are called to believe in Christ. Were our deci- sions not final, we would not be competent to fulfil the duties imposed on us by our Heavenly Master, to punish the refractory, to reject the heretic, to preserve the unity of the Church. Were our decisions regarding the doc- trines of faith not exempt from error, there could be scarcely any faith remaining on the earth ; for there is no doctrine touching it revealed by Christ, which the malice or folly of men has not assailed. Were our decisions not conclusive, what could put an end to doubts, to anxieties and distrust ? or, how would any doctrine from that which Paul of Somosata, or Arius assailed, down to the most seemingly unimportant which has ever been disputed in the Church, be finally and irrevocably determined? and, if not finally and irrevocably determined, how could the belief in any such doctrine, so brought into doubt, or dis- cussion, ever be held on any other ground than that of individual judgment or opinion ? But if the belief of, or faith in any doctrine expressed in the code of revelation, restcdon individual judgment, it would no longer rest on the authority of God ; for he who thinks that he finds the divinity of Christ revealed in the Scripture, may not be wiser in the knowledge of this world, than he who thinks that no such truth is there expressed. The F.2 OS opinion, therefore, which the One and the other of those two persons is supposed, to hold, is only an opinion, the fruit of their respective judgments exercised upon the law. Such an opinion in the one or the other is not that Christian faith, without which, it is impossible to please God, and by which the just man liveth. This faith, according to the Apostle, is a gift of God, given to the believer for the sake of Christ ; it is the substance or foundation of things hoped for, infused or placed in the soul of man, by the im- mediate operation of the Holy Ghost, and often, as in in- fants, without his active concurrence. It is again, as St. Paul repeats it, the argument or proof of those things which do not appear in this life — an argument or proof, not de- rived from our judgment, but emanating from that hea- venly light and wisdom, which the spirit of God imparts. Whosoever, therefore, believes any truth of the Gospel, by the mere force or power of his own judgment exercised upon the law, he may have an opinion or a conviction of such truth, but such opinion or conviction is not that divine faith, which is the root of all justification, and without which, no man can please God, nor be a living member of Jesus Christ. Not so in the Catholic Church, where, with baptism, the gift of faith is infused by God into the soul, and when the law, or revelation, or doctrines, expressive of this faith, and explanatory of the objects or truths which it regards, are presented to the Catholic by the testimony and autho- rity of the Church, he assents to them as to the very word of God, and he assents to them, not by the mere power of his own will or judgment examining and approving of them, but by the power of the Holy Ghost, enlightening his understanding and guiding his will, which, through faith, worketh in him — his belief and his assent are, there- fore, altogether divine. 69 Supposing, that afterwards, any of those truths or doc* Irines which he thus believes by a supernatural faith, is through his own infirmity or malice, or through the infir- mity or malice of others, brought into doubt, he goes up to the place which the Lord hath chosen, and to those judges, who for the time being expound the divine revela- tion or doctrines of faith, he receives their testimony and judgment on the true meaning of the law; his doubt ceases, and he believes, as he first believed, in virtue of the faith infused into him by the Holy Ghost. The Church, whoso authority is altogether divine, and which authority is vest- ed in those appointed to teach and rule the people of God, exercises, in giving her judgment, no power over the law ; her only business in such cases, is to declare with autho- rity its true meaning, and, if necessary, to enforce her own rightful decision, by excluding such as would not submit to it from all participation in her communion. She ex- pels them from within her pale, and places them without amongst the unbelievers. In deciding the doubts of her children, she will, if necessary, make great enquiry amongst the wise and the learned, and- throughout all the churches "; for such is the will of God, who disposes all things sweetly, and such is the precedent established by the Apostles, and followed in all past ages ; but having made this enquiry, she hesitates no longer, she decides and decides irrevo- cably, knowing that the spirit of truth is abiding with her, and that Christ himself is assisting her pastors, guarding his own gifts, and protecting his own doctrine. The Catholic who receives her decision on the meaning- of the law, leans not upon his own nor upon any other hu- man judgment ; he believes the word revealed by God, he believes it not by the deceitful light which his own reason may shed upon it, but by the faith or gift infused into him by the Holy Ghost, and he lays aside the doubts which 70 malice or infirmity suggested to him, because the Church, which cannot fail, has borne testimony and pronounced her judgment for him as to the true meaning of the law. His faith is uniform, pure, unmixed with human pride or self- sufficiency, whilst the unhappy beings who confide in their own judgment are lost in their own inventions, always learn- ing, as the Apostle says, but never coming to the knowledge of the truth. They continue tossed about by every wind of doctrine, until, having suffered shipwreck as to the faith, they sink into infidelity or are lost in enthusiasm. They may call their opinions faith, and their morality by the name of religion, but that faitli which is the gift of the Holy Ghost, has departed from them from the moment that private judgment became the ground ot their belief, whilst their virtues are no longer those living works which are to be rewarded with eternal life. Such is the account we give of our authority — such is the nature of our office — such the indefeasable right we possess to give judgment in questions of religion, to preserve the de- posit of the faith, and to secure against all doubt and error the people of God, and the religion of our Redeemer upon the earth. Let no man despise our weakness, for it is not we who teach or determine, but the grace of God with us. Let no man upbraid us with the infirmity of a few of our bre- thren, for though they had been but as the Scribes and Pha- risees who sat upon the chair of Moses, yet were they of the body commissioned to teach all nations and to rule the church of God which he acquired with his blood. If worldly power or a spirit of ambition sometimes infected the sanctuary, there was always within it a holy fire capable of purifying it from all corruption. If they who were commissioned to rule and teach in a kingdom not of this world, were often led by events to accept of or assume authority in states or king- doms not their own, impute the fault or the misfortune to 71 human passion or interest, to ignorance, want or necessity, but do not charge it to the account of a divine institution, the only stay and safeguard of the Church of Christ. Let the legislator or the judge who exceeded his power or autho- rity, he acquitted or condemned by the voice of Ids fellow- men, but let not the power with which he was vested or the authority which he abused be annulled or rejected. If our predecessors have enacted laws or given judgment conjoint- ly with others, in matters which were for ages mixed to- gether, but now are no longer confounded, do not impute to the pastor the act of the baron, or to the successor of Peter the proceedings of the arbiter of empires. Above all, be careful to discern the laws of church discipline, which are always mutable or changing, from decisions which re- gard only the unalterable deposit of the faith, nor again suffer the opinions or doctrines freely maintained or reject- ed by individuals or bodies amongst Catholics, to be taken as the doctrines or opinions of the Church. Whatever is contrary to the faith or morality of the gospel, the Church of Christ does not, believes not, suffers not ; but unity being preserved in what is defined, and charity pre vailing through- out her members, she leaves to all the liberty of discussing what is doubtful, and of investigating whatever is hidden or obscure. If infallibility then shuts out doubt, such was the will of the Redeemer, such is the necessary effect of the authority which he established, such is the prerogative required to exist on earth if faith is to be preserved, schisms prevent- ed, and heresies condemned ; such in fine is the result necessarily flowing from the promises made and the com- mission given by Jesus Christ. If enquiry be excluded, it is only after the final decision is pronounced, and if not then excluded, there would not be unify, nor peace, nor charily, nor humility, nor obedience, nor order, nor Bab- 72 mony in the Church. The kingdom of Christ would be like the congregations of sectaries throughout the earth, concurring only in their opposition to the truth, and ha- tred of the authority which condemns them all, but dissent- ing from each other, anathematizing each other, asserting and denying, condemning and pardoning, speaking with the tongues of Babel, and verifying by their whole lives and opinions, all that has been foretold of sects and here- sies by the Apostle. But, to proceed with the Charge ; " whilst from the belief that out of the particular communion there is no salvation, not only is the adherent of that faith bound to cling to it with a blind and desperate fidelity, but if he be influenced by an ardent love of his fellow-creatures, he is impelled by humanity itself to force others by whatever means with- in its pale." In this sentence or paragraph, there are two propositions — the first designates, in the language of Grattan, (strangely perverted by the learned prelate) as blind and desperate the fidelity with which the Catholic preserves the faith once delivered to the saints. The second insinuates clearly enough that the Catholic must, in proportion to the goodness of his nature and the ardour of his charity, be a persecutor of all who differ from him in religious belief. This latter idea is again a second time introduced ; for he who conceived it, filled with antipopish zeal, hesitates not at a superfluity of language or repetition of thought. He says, speaking of the great variety of sects which have grown up beneath the shelter or protection of the esta- blished church, " that they are an evil which the coercive system opposed to protestantism is able by a very summary process effectually to correct." And first, in reply to those most harsh imputations, permit me to observe, that the fidelity of the Catholic to 73 his faith, so far from being blind, unless it be so through the ignorance or incapacity of the individual, is the most enlightened and best secured that can well be conceived — for this reason, that the Catholic possesses the most public, the most certain, the most clear data on which to rest his mind in all questions of religion. In place of ascertaining the genuineness and divine inspi- ration of the Sacred Scriptures, the fidelity and accuracy of them in translations, in place of comparing the old Testament with the new, and justifying to himself whate- ver in the former might clash with his notions of justice, truth and sanctity, — in place of turning over huge folios of commentaries, in order to ascertain the sense of what, with all mankind, is the subject of dispute, — of what the Spirit of God designates as " hard to be understood," and again not to be " of private interpretation," in place of deciding between Marcion and Valentinian, between Arius and Manes, between Luther and Beza, between Cranmer and Hoadly, between Swift and Milton, between Doctor Carpenter, a learned doctor of that name at Bris- tol, and Doctor Magee — in place of doing all those difficult, or impossible things, the Catholic has only to look out for One, Holy, Catholic, and ArosTOLic Church, which the whole world combines to tell him is the depositary of Christian truth, and, when he has discovered her, to hear her doctrine and obey her voice. I am of opinion that in religious enquiry, there is no process by which the mind can arrive at certainty, so short, so simple, so plain, as when its reasoning is founded on facts of public notoriety. The simplicity or brevity of a demonstration does not certainly diminish its force, or obscure the evidence which springs from it ; and if, therefore, the Catholic by seeing, with one glance, that the Church, in which all christians confess the truth to reside, is that with which he holds 74 communion, his fidelity to Iter doctrines should be great, in proportion to the value he sets on his salvation, and his adhesion to them, so far from being blind, is, in truth, the most enlightened, founded, as it is, on the most simple and brief demonstration. The Catholic but laughs at the man, whatever may be his station, who seeks to cushion the name of his sect, or endeavours to confound one of the branches lopped off in the sixteenth century, with the great and illustrious tree from which it fell : he feels the same pity or contempt for the first swarm of sectaries as for the second, or as he does for all and each of those that followed them. The followers of Luther or Calvin are precisely the same in his eyes as those of Kant, or Knox, or Wesley, or any other of the numberless tribes who wander about the de- sert and attack the people of God as they journey under the divine protection to the promised land. He may see some senate, or stadtholder, or prince, or potentate associate himself with one or other of those sects, and bestow upon it all the wealth and dignity which law, or rapine, or con- quest placed in his hands — he may see one of them preserve much of the form, order, dignity, rites and liturgies of the church, whilst another strips its members in the market- place, and presents itself to the world as a sad image of human fatuity, or divine wrath ; but as to the unity, sanc- tity, catholicity, and apostolicity of the Church, all these sects, whether assembled in palaces, in the conventicle, on the moor, or on the mountain, are equally removed from them. The Catholic, whilst he pities the delusion of his fellow- men, and laments, with Augustin, that the salvation of such multitudes should be placed in jeopardy by the pride, obstinacy, or fanaticism of a few furious men ; whether these few be clothed in purple, and faring sumptuously 75 every day, or whether they be as senseless or hypocritical as the roving fanatics of our own time, the Catholic, whilst his mind is thus occupied, has no doubt or hesitation as to the wisdom and propriety of his own conduct. He finds all the world declare that there is a Church, the faithful depository on the earth, of the doctrines and sacraments of Christ ; that this Church is One Holy Catholic and Apostolic, and that all are bound to hear her voice. He turns over, if he will, the records of antiquity, and finds the history of this One Church marked as distinctly as that of the empire of Persia, Greece, or Rome ; he traces on the map of the world the states or peoples who compose her — his eye discovers, at a glance, the provinces which have rebelled against her, the period of their rebellion, and he discovers with equal facility the authors and abettors of their revolt ; whilst the great empire of Christ, notwith- standing the defection of some portions of her subjects, continues to fill the earth, and to comprehend within her pale, tribes, and tongues, and peoples, and nations, extend- ing from the rising to the setting sun. He finds all those nations varying in climate, in interest, in language, laws, and customs, yet speaking with one tongue, all holding the same gospel, all saying the same thing — exempt from divisions, offering the same sacrifice, frequenting the same sacraments, all professing the same doctrine, all ruled by the same pastors, all subject to the same head — He thinks on the life of Christ, his obedience, humility, chastity, his voluntary poverty, his prayer, fast- ing, his zeal, his ardour and charity, his signs and won- ders in the propagation of the gospel, and he finds all those virtues and graces eminently conspicuous in that great Church, and in her alone, whose very name, like to that of the God who founded her, is uncommunicable to every other. If any sect or sectary approach to seduce him, he 76 says, who are you, where did you come from ? from what heaven have you fallen ? what earth produced you ? have you not been born of flesh and all its lusts, as was Luther, Cranmer, and Henry ; or of the will or presumption of man, like Arius, Socinus, or Rousseau, surely you were not born of God as the Church which was washed in the blood of the Lamb must have been. You say, come to me and possess the truth ; but did not Manes say the same, and Simon, and Paul of Samosata, and Nestorius, and Bucer, and Beza, and Cranmer, and all the others, even to the present time. Shew me the origin of your churches — shew how they were founded by the Apostles, or by those who persevered with them, and never separated themselves from them or the body who succeeded to them. I can number the days you have been upon the earth — I know the authors of your misfortune who separated themselves ; the Lord warned his disciples to reject such as you ; the Apostles foretold your coming, your novelty and dissensions. The impiety of your origin, your pride and obstinacy, your lies and uncharita- bleness designate you as men subverted as to the faith, and condemned by your own judgment. There is no unity amongst you, for you do not preach the same doctrine, worship at the same altar, participate of the same sacra- ment, or obey the same pastors. You have no holiness which was not equally found in the times of heathenism — You have discarded penance and all mortification of the senses — your pride of under- standing extinguishes all humility — disobedience is your original sin, which, were you washed in nitre, would con- tinue. Wedded to this world, a spirit of poverty is un- known to you. You have scoffed at chastity, though practised and commended by Christ and his Apostles. 77 Signs and wonders, though promised by the Redeemer to the Church, and testified by the voice of mankind, are, with an unparalleled effrontery and disregard for all evi- dence, utterly denied by you. You cannot by any possibi- lity be the people of God. Where, in what times, or countries are you found why you should be esteemed a universal people — filling the whole earth throughout all ages, from the days of the Apostles ? or how can you, who came later into the world than the art of printing, pretend to any connection with the Apostles or the apostolic times. Have you not the impiety to assert, that Christ had viola- ted his promise, deserted the church which he acquired with his own blood, delivered the beloved of his soul to idolatry, permitted error to overwhelm truth, and the powers of hell to break in pieces the rock on which he built his church ? Depart, exclaims the Catholic, you are a stranger, having no share in the inheritance ; a deserter, who has forfeited his honor, violated his faith, and betrayed the sacred in- terests once entrusted to his fidelity ! Such would be the indignant reply of the well informed Catholic to the writer of " The Charge," or to any other of a similar character or name. The Catholic not versed in language, but rich in the simplicity of his faith, feels, as it were, within him, the possession of the faith ; he knows, as well as the most learned, though incapable of expressing his thoughts, that he is an heir to the inheritance promised to the children of the Church ; the elements of Christian knowledge communicated to him by his pastor, his mother, or his nurse, teach him all that is necessary to be known. The Creed, the Decalogue, the Sacrifice and Sacraments which he frequents; the virtues and vices which he is obliged to practice or avoid ; all these he understands, and feeling his own infirmity, he venerates the Church as the pillar and ground of truth ; her lessons to him are brief, 78 her authority, which inculcates them, is sacred. She, her- self, stands before him as a beacon on a high hill, to light his way ; as a city on the mountain top, which cannot be concealed ; as a great empire, standing in the midst of the earth, beautiful as the moon, chosen as the sun, terrible as an army set in battle array — extending her dominion from sea to sea, and to the utmost boundaries of the earth — sending forth her ministers to publish the Gospel of her God — to confound the wise, to humble the high minded, and, above all, to preach to the poor, and heal the broken- hearted. The simple child of this Church, turns with horror from all who would invade his faith, or lay waste his inheritance — whatever is new to him in religion is false — whatever is not Catholic, is schismatical, heretical, an evil to be avoided at the expense of his fame, his for- tune, or his life. So much for the fidelity with which the Catholic adheres to his faith, and now, as to the persecuting spirit imputed to us in " The Charge." Certainly, this insinuation or imputation, comes with a peculiarly bad grace from a man who, nurtured in the school of Calvin, and bred in that of Cranmer, Somerset, or Eliza- beth, for I know not which of the creeds of parliament his Grace professes ; but such a Charge is most unbecoming a man, who, bred up in principles of the most unrelenting persecution, (see Appendix No. II.) had, himself, done more to disturb the peace of society in Ireland, to propagate bigo- try, to provoke retorts, to awaken a spirit of religious dis- sension, than any other individual in the country — yes, I should think the man who penned the passages quoted above by me, must have mistaken altogether, or forgotten the history of the past and later times. He could not have reflected on the persecutions suffered by the Catholics, from 79 the Jews and Gentiles, from the Arians, Nestovians, Icon- aclasts, and from the swarms of iusurgent sects in the 16th century. But leaving his recollection of those sad events out of view, it may be safely affirmed, that the Duke of Alva was not half so lost to the feelings of nature and decency, as Cranmer and Henry; or that the cruel assassins of St. Barthelemi were not more wicked, more heartless, more cruel, than the bloody satellites of Elizabeth or Cromwell in England and Ireland ; that Mary was incomparably less a persecutor than her sister — that the proceedings of Knox and the covenanters in Scotland — of the parliaments, pro- tectors, and viceroys in this country, surpass, beyond mea- sure, all that was ever done, not by Catholics, but by Nero, Tiberius, Domitian throughout the Roman empire, or by Pharao himself in Egypt. No, all the fiends of Milton, if let loose upon the earth, coidd not exceed in cruelty, impiety, and injustice, the persecutors of the Irish people. With all the records of antiquity before this Archbishop — with the shade of Browne before his face, and the walls of the temple in which he spoke encom- passing him round about; — when he stood, as it were, on a tripod, and invoked the spirit of dissension, I should not be surprised if fear fell upon him and made all his bones to shake, or that a voice came forth and said, " there, will be a time for all tilings, and the just and the tvicked shall be judged." When a presumptuous man provoked the late Doctor Milncr, a man whose wisdom and virtue will live for many generations ; or when a man whose bigotry has out- lived his genius, induced the gentle and learned Charles Butler to place in parrallel lines the persecutions exer- cised, all of them unjustly, in these countries, could not this 80 Protestant Prelate have seen how much more extended his were, than ours? and when the account thus stood against him, — when the scale was no longer poised, and that no person could mistake the side on which the excess lay, why did he return to the subject and expose himself to reproach ? But a fatality seems to attend him, that he may exemplify the Gospel truth caustically expressed by Swift, " dead or alive pride will get a fall." But his Grace alleges, that in proportion to the goodness of our hearts, and the ardour of our charity we must be impelled to force others by whatsoever means within the pale of our Church, and that we, by a very summary process, alluding, no doubt, to autos da fe> prevent the growth of those sects and heresies which the established Church shelters and protects. The Church of which his Grace speaks, must no doubt be some Church different from the Protestant Church of Ireland in 1634, which subjected to excommunication, "all authors of schism and " maintainers of conventicles, cutting them off rightly " from the unity of the Church, so as that they be taken " of the whole multitude of the faithful, as heathens and " publicans." This is no doubt, a very peculiar mode of affording to them, shelter and protection ; precisely and identically the same as the Catholic Church affords to schismatics and heretics. The established Church was, and is as intolerant as any other, but the parliament which has swallowed her up, only to have its bowels embittered and its heart vexed by her, this parliament is tolerant to authors of schism and maintainers of conventicles, and and does not permit the established Church to exercise her wrath upon them. This parliament indeed delivers over the Catholics, the descendants of their own fathers, the framers of their own constitution, the authors of all that is great and good in the civil, municipal, or ecclesiastical 81 institutions of the country — the parliament by some hidden judgment of God, delivers over those Catholics, now con- sisting of several millions of their subjects, to be east out, reviled, insulted, and oppressed by the bishops, and minis- ters, by the proctors, and surrogates, and sextons, and grave-diggers, of the established Church. Doubtless, this established Church, in excommunicating "schismatics and maintainers of conventicles," is very inconsistent and absurd, for she excommunicates them for doing what she herself has done; she calls them heathens, because they, in the exercise of their judgment, reject her creed and frame one for themselves, whilst she proclaims to them that in doing so, they act agreeably to the will of God — that she can give them no assurance that her own doctrine is a whit preferable to theirs, and that Christ and herself have given them a license to think on religion as it listeth them, and speak in their conventicles as they think. This, no doubt, is excessively inconsistent and absurd in the es- tablished Church ; but she is rich and powerful, and there- fore entitled to indulge in all the luxury of absurdity and If any one upbraid her, she orders out her proctors to de- cimate his corn, potatoes, and cabbages, — his lambs, his fleeces, his mint, and milk. If any one dispute with her, she compels him to build for her a new church, to fill it with stoves and pews, to furnish it with linen, surplices, bread and wine ; with songsters and choristers, with clerks and beadles, with sextons and grave-diggers, and for all arrears due to her for Christmas offerings or Easter dues, she citGS the heathen before her surrogate, and, judging in her own cause, gives to him the full benefit of fees, decrees and costs. 82 It her absurdities be hinted at, she points to her long - lawn sleeves, her gilded palaces, her trains of equipages, her millions of acres, her tenths of two kingdoms, and, in the language of a bloated epicure, says, "You vulgar cynic, how can I be wrong ?" Should he laugh, as I am some- times obliged to do, at her ignorance, her insolence, her pomp and pride, she opens her armoury, more stowed with weapons than a star-chamber or inquisition — more ill-sa- voured than a lady's dressing-room, and lets loose upon him a whole legion of her satellites, having one hand armed with calumny and sophistry, the other filled with news- papers, tracts, pamphlets, reviews, replies, rejoinders, charges, sermons, speeches ! With these the heathen or publican is at once oppressed, and if he learns not to revere the wisdom, and respect the power of the Church, he will at least learn to protect Lis own person, and to preserve, by silence and submission, under whatsoever injustice or wrong, any property which he may be suffered to possess. But then, nature and grace impel the Catholic to perse- cute ! They who say so, know not the spirit in which Catholics are called, and it is because they know it not, that they cannot judge of its nature or estimate its influence. Could not the Redeemer, by an irresistible grace, by an infringement on the liberty of human will, or by arming millions of men and angels in his cause, propagate at once his religion, and preserve it by similar means against all trial and temptation ? But no ; he disposed all things sweetly, so that he left to abide in darkness and the sha- dow of death, such as would not be saved by preaching, accompanied by signs and the folly of the cross ; this was the plan of redemption by him who came to repair the ravages of sin, but not to alter or infringe on the woi - ks of the Creator. So that God, who instituted the Jewish commonwealth, 83 and commissioned the high-priest or judge to punish with death certain violations of his law, — when that covenant was abolished by him, and another instituted in a kingdom not of this world, he might, if he had pleased, have given similar power to its rulers ; but he did not do so : he gave to them a new spirit — a spirit, not of fear or force, but of humility, long suffering, and love ; — he sent his ministers of this new law to preach and to baptize, to forgive or to retain the sins committed against heaven ; he taught them, by word and example, to leave human institutions undisturbed, to submit to every constituted authority, not to resist injury, to overcome evil by good, and to receive, with the kiss of peace, even those who would traffic in their blood. He shewed to them but too clearly, that the times of violence and revenge had ended ; he pointed out the only just and lawful means of making converts to his faith, and, foreseeing that heresies should come, he described their malice, but desired that those guilty of them, should be left bound in their own mi series, and subject to the only punishment of being place without the Church. Thus were his Apostles instructed , thus was the spirit of their calling left to operate ; in this manner did the Church always act and ordain. Even when an unholy alliance had bound her to the earth by associa- ting her with thrones and empires, her pastors never forgot that meekness and mercy were the attributes of their religion, and that punishment, not of a spiritual kind, was reserved for the power of this world. If then, the feelings, the zeal, the charity of Christ, or of his Apostles, or of those holy men who walked in their footsteps, did not impel them to seek for the conversion of their fellow-crea- tures, by any other means than those of preaching, of prayer, of signs and wonders ; if the only punishment re- sorted to by them was, that of exclusion from the commu- nion of the Church, there is no reason why the author of f2 84 '* the Charge" should assort, that wo, who profess their doctrine and glory in following their example, should, like the Pharisees, go over land and sea to make proselytes by the violation of every right human and divine ; or punish those who separate themselves, and form conventicles apart, by what his Grace intimates under cover of the words, " whatsoever means." Were our notions of brotherly love, and the impulses of our nature such as malevolence suggests them to our opponents, surely it would be impos- sible to account for the conduct of those Catholic states, which in all parts of America and Europe, (to the disgrace of England be it recorded,) cherish all their subjects alike, without distinction of worship, or of creed. What was it but the genius of the Catholic religion, always allied to sound policy, and the charity by which we love our neighbour, Avhcther Jew or Gentile, which operated with the Catholics of Maryland, of Bavaria, of Hungary, of Austria, of France, of Switzerland, to abolish the barbarous system of disfranchisement on account of religious belief? What is it but the consciousness of injustice, or the innate weak- ness and inconsistency of any church, which can require in the present times that she be fenced in with laws, and ter- rors, and rendered secure, not by her own truth and virtue, but by the oppression and humiliation of those who refuse to bow down and worship her like some golden calf. Let the Church perish that thrives by oppression, and visits with temporal penalties the consciences of men ! ! Doctor Magee quotes Tertullian, whilst yet a Catholic, where he says, non est reliyionis religionem cor/ere. " It be- comes not religion to constrain belief." This was the maxim of Ambrose and St. Martin, who refused to hold communion with some Spanish ecclesiastics who had con- curred to inflict punishment on the Priscillianists, a race of wicked enthusiasts in Spain. It was the maxim of 85 Augustin, in his endeavours to protect the Donatists from tlie fury of the satellites of the Emperor, who, like the Orangemen of our days, deluged their native country with the blood of those whom they robbed and oppressed under the pretext of religious zeal. But Tertullian, rigorous and austere in his nature, became scandalized at the patience and mercy of the Church ; he upbraided a Pope with his excessive clemency in admitting sinners to be reconciled through penance ; he proceeded to deny, that all sins could be remitted, even to him, who with a contrite and troubled spirit, offered his whole heart to God; he became a Mon- tanist, because he would not, in the true spirit of catholi- city, be merciful to his fellow-man. Strange to find this Tertullian, quoted by Doctor Magee, where this prelate speaks of the intolerance of the Catholic Church ; but so it happens, that wisdom is justified of her own ungrateful children, that iniquity often lies to itself, and that our enemies, like Balaam, are made to bless us or plead in our justification. Persecution, truly, then, is no portion of our creed; we assail errors, but we spare the victims of delusion. We arraign vice, but we pardon and embrace the sinner ; the arms of our warfare are not carnal but spiritual from God, and when after the example of Christ, of his Apostles, of Cyril, Jerome, Gregory, and Augustine, we expose the hypocrite, and denounce the furious incendiary, we pily even their misfortune, whilst we feel nought but the most tender charity for the multitude of men, whom they often, alas, too successfully labour to delude. For these we hope, for these we unceasingly offer up our prayers to the throne of grace, that the Father of lights, from whom every good gift descends, may illuminate their darkness, correct their errors, dispel their illusion, pardon their trespasses, and bring them to the possession of his everlasting rest. If 86 there be one elass of my countrymen whom I love more than another, they are they, who, in addition to the heavy yoke of human misery which we all bear, are kept in ignorance of the truth, by those furious men who, them- selves not satisfied with erring, are, in the language of the Apostle, constantly driving others into error. It is upon the ground of intolerance, and the persecuting spirit falsely attributed to Catholics, that this Archbishop invokes the Prince and the Legislature to continue the oppression of his fellow-subjects ; and here I recognise in his voice, the voice of Ursacius and Valens, two Arian bishops who opposed the faith of Nice. Two " furious men," who instructed the emperors, sons of Constantine, that they were entitled to judge in matters of faith, to prescribe a creed for their subjects, and to persecute by unjust and cruel laws, all those who adhered to the Catholic and Apos- tolic faith. The empire was deluged with blood, its strength and energy were wasted, its enemies acquired confidence, its provinces shortly afterwards revolted, and the whole fabric of its power and greatness gradually fell to decay. Ursacius and Valens died, and left after them an ignomi- nious name. The princes who were duped by their coun- sels, forfeited the glory acquired by their father, and by themselves in their youthful days — they left after them a government in disorder, an empire wasted by dissensions, a human church which perished after them, whilst that which they oppressed, was preserved by the divine protec- tion, and transmitted their names and their errors, with her own sufferings, and her final delivery, through fifteen centuries, even to our own days. Had the emperors disregarded the counsels of a few, vain, ambitious, and furious men, had they not put their hand to the censor, an office which the Almighty had not pleased to assign them, had they permitted truth and falsehood to contend alone, 87 and only laboured to promote equally the happiness of all their subjects — had they done this, unity and strength would have dwelt in their empire, victory would have followed their standard, and they, or their children, would not have witnessed the miseries of' their people, nor the coming ruin of the Roman name. History has been written for our instruction ; we should profit of its lessons, and in place of traversing a whole province, as Dr. Magee has lately done, with the torch of religious discord flaming in his hand, casting brands of fire through an inflammable population, we should attend to the duty of preaching peace and good will, and, when going about, endeavour to imitate the example of him, " who, as St. Peter beautifully tells us, went about doing good." Were I an archbishop entitled to visit the dioceses of suffragans, I would consider the end for which such visita- tions were originally instituted and ordained by the Church. In her ordinal I would discover, that among other duties of a spiritual kind, it behoved me " to enquire and ascertain how the churches within my jurisdiction were regulated and conducted, both as to their temporal and spiritual concerns — that the buildings and ornaments belonging to them were kept in good and sufficient repair, that the sacraments were administered, and the Gospel preached. I should ascertain what was the conduct and morality of the ministers and people, whether the laws and constitutions of the Church were observed — whether public offences against order or good morals prevailed, and when this was done, and that 1 had explained and enforced the duties of all concerned, and applied such corrections or remedies to existing evils as I was enabled to apply, then would I consider myself obliged to expound, even briefly, 88 the law of Cod, and teach the clergy and people, as the ordinal expressly requires, that " they were hound to turn away from evil and do good, to fly from vice and follow after virtue, and not to do to another, what they would not that another would do unto them." These are a short summary of the duties which a bishop or an archbishop should discharge upon his visitation. Were dissensions, heresies or superstitions found to prevail, he should labour to restore union, to expound the faith in charity — not reviling nor blaspheming ; and to remove superstitions, — those noxious excrescences — by displaying the beauty, usefulness, and simplicity of true religion. Such was the manner in which bishops and archbishops proceeded in those times, when they went about doing good, encom- passed with the love of their people, covered with their benedictions, and blessing them in return ; such was their practice in those times of simplicity, piety, and peace, when those mouldering- cathedrals, wherein the bat and owl now contend for possession with the bishop esta- blished by law, were first raised and consecrated to the service of the living God, — those mouldering cathedrals, which when one visits now, and hears a prelate bellowing polemics, and breathing war, he involuntarily heaves a sigh to heaven, and, in silence ejaculates, O domus antiqua quam dispart dominaris Domino. We should all take lessons, from the times that have gone before us ; for what is there, as Solomon observes, but what has been, or what will be, but what has al- ready happened. That philosopher of Florence, whose name is odious, but whose maxims and rules seem to be adopted by the generality of states-men, and by none more carefully than by those who have so successfully divided, and thereby 80 ruled Ireland with case and rigour — tliis philosopher ob- serves, and most justly, that there are times when men in power should revert to first principles, and rebuild upon the first foundation. There never has been a period, when the adoption of this maxim by the legislature of this country would be more useful, if not necessary, than the present. Did they but revert to the first principles of policy, and, in conformity with one of those principles, let their subjects, without fear or favour, exercise their own judgment in the selection of their religion, did they but permit one man to think, that by preferring the judgment of the Church on rules of faith to his own, he might best arrive at truth — and allow another to abound in his own sense, unrestricted by all authority, — did the legislature but adopt one of the first and plainest principles of human and divine right, they would put an end to many bitter con- tentions, they would silence many " furious men," they would secure the confidence and affection of all their sub- jects ; for those subjects would see in them, not the tools or partizans of party in the state, but the legislators, the pro- tectors, the impartial arbiters of the entire people. Under a legislature so ruling, there would be union and strength, a national feeling, a national interest, and a national pride. A society so governed would, if its abuses in other respects were not gross and incorrigible, be a mass of amalgamated power, which all the force of this world could not break down. The writer of " the Charge" proceeds to combat the error of a sovereign, who would ally the Catholic Church with the state. Would to heaven that no such alliance ever had been formed ! If any danger existed, that such an alliance would 90 ever be revived in these countries, 1 would most cor- dially combine with the writer in denouncing it «is one of the heaviest calamities (except, indeed, one other now existing-,) which could befal the empire. For I am not so eaten up with the pride and prejudices of a high church- man, as to prefer the aggrandizement of what is called u Church and State," to the freedom and happiness of the people; nor ami again, so had a christian, (whatever Doctor Magec may think to the contrary) as to desire to sec Catholic bishops clothed in purple, faring sumptuously every day, the Assentato?'es of the great, the Cubicularii of of the palace, the intriguers of the court, the pest of the senate. I should he tempted to remove the cross, and set up the crescent, if I saw the chief ministers of my reli- gion, derive their commission to preach the word, to administer the sacraments, to rule the Church, from any source that was not pointed out and established by Christ ; if I saw them receive the rule of faith from the hands or the tongue of any king or minister, or other, to whom it had not been originally confided by the Redeemer. — I should desert them as wolves in sheep's clothing, if I saw them devour the pittance of the widow and the orphan — if I heard them denounce peace, and preach dissension — if I observed them involved in unceasing contradictions between their practise and profession — reviling the most exalted virtues practised by Christ, and recommended by his apostles — heartless to the poor, insolent to the oppressed, slaves to power, and buried in all the surfeitings of a worldly life. All these evils, at least in some degree, I would appre- hend to follow in those degenerate days, when the charity of many has waxed cold, if by an alliance with the slate, the pastors of the Catholic Church were exposed to temp- tation. No ! were a spirit of proselylism stronger in -my 91 mind than a love of country, I should say to the present established union of Church and State, csto perpetun, and pray to God, that the Catholic priesthood and people might continue just exempt from tyranny, but excluded from all places of power, emolument, and cor- ruption. I bear about me, however, much stronger feelings as an Irishman, than as a man addicted to 6 certain profession ; and, though I " believe in the infallibility of the Church," and bear " my intellect enslaved," and " wallow in the slough of a slavish superstition," yet, am I so profane, and so free in will and thought, as to desire, that all religions were alike protected by the state, that she respected them all, and favoured none, that she left them to the exercise of their own energies and zeal, and remained perfectly regardless of their respective excellence. If ever the maxim of the Stuart, " no bishop, no king," had any foundation in truth, and I believe it had not, it is not true at present, nor can it be true in any country where the legislature holds its sittings before the eyes of the nation, where the judicial authority is independent of the throne — where the tribunals of all description are open to the public praise or censure, and, where # press, unshackled by censors, disseminates knowledge, and gives power and effect to the general sentiment and will. In such a country, no union of Church and State is neces- sary, no combination of artificial power is required, no juggling of ascendancy — no corporate monopoly — no un- hallowed commixture of what is human with what is divine. The liberties and happiness of all the people should be the basis of such a state, the administra- tion should be pure, and always directed to the public good, and the king of such a country, encompassed with * f2 92 the affections, guarded by the glory and interest of his people, would not require the aid of any bishop to support his throne. Bishops, indeed, would be useful to him, as would the soldier, the merchant, the mechanic, the labourer in the garden or the field ; all would be useful, because each would be labouring in his own department, enjoying security of person and property, under the protection and guardianship of the common king. In such a state, the Catholic Church, and every other church or sect might hold its assemblies, preach the Gospel, and minister its rules in peace ; they might exclude from their respective temples, and place abroad among the heathens and publicans, if you will, all those who dissented from their doctrine, or disbe- lieved their creed. But the prince and the legislature, whilst it yielded them protection, should see that they troubled not the public peace, and, in place of arming them with earthly power, to inflict vengeance on dissent, or to oppress with temporal penalties, the brother who might disobey — it should teach them all that the kingdom consigned to their care was not of this world, and that the loyal and industrious heretic was as acceptable to the state as the most orthodox of any, even the most exalted communion. In a community so governed, every reli- gionist would be attached to the throne, the Catholic and Protestant churches would be alike harmless or useful, neither the one nor the other could ever encroach on the state, and if any sect or church exalted herself beyond her sphere, the public censure, independant of all other power, would strip her of her arrogance, and compel her to recede. I verily believe, that his Grace of Dublin, corroded with fruitless care, occupied with strong pre- judices, and removed, as he has been, from a little literary eminence, on which an abused public had placed him, I think his Grace, thus circumstanced, can scarcely csti- 93 mate the few truths I have here submitted to my readers, and that he will continue all his life to speak or write confused essays on the excellence of the established Church, and to tremble before the bugbear of popery. But, I hope, that there is enough of sound sense and deliberate wisdom remaining, even in Ireland, to estimate his efforts as they deserve. " The monarch," he says, " cannot prescribe in favour of an intolerant religion." I say, he has allied to his throne, a religion as intolerant as any in Europe ; as a proof, see her creeds, her articles, or the bill of indemnity by which these are neutralised; I do not refer to the popery laws, all of which are the fruit of her spirit. All religions are intolerant to a certain degree, and must be so; but as their intolerance, if not adopted by the State, consists in excluding dissenters from their communion ; it can do no injury to a prince who honors religion, and secures to each of his subjects the right of worshipping the Almighty as his conscience or caprice happens to dictate. What injury does the king sustain from the " Religious Society of Friends," who sometimes exclude a member from their communion, because his hat is not of due dimen- sions, or his coat fashioned after the costume of William Penn ? Is " the Friend," when cast out among the publi- cans, a less useful or loyal subject than he was before ? " The prince cannot prescribe in favor of a religion, which denies the right of private judgment, and that exer- cises (thereby) a dominion over conscience." The Catholic Church does not, cannot, prevent any man from exercising his right of private judgment in the choice of his religion ; but when any man professes to be of her communion, she 94 retains him witliin her fold, only on the condition of pre- ferring her common creed and liturgy to any other which his fancy might desire. Should he form a sect or maintain a conventicle apart, she places him where he has placed himself, that is, ahroad among the heathens. She can do, she attempts to do no more. If a man do not subscribe to the thirty-nine articles of religion in the established Church, or if assumed to office or place of trust, he do not swear certain oaths, and sub- scribe to certain declarations, which, in the most august assemblies, in my own hearing, and by some of the most exalted characters in the country, have been designated as lies ; he is not only liable to be placed among the heathens, but he is disgraced and injured in all his wordly interests and pursuits. The Bill of Indemnity comes to his relief if he be not a papist, but this bill is the act of the parlia- ment, not of the church. The right of private judgment, as allowed by the established Church, was a sort of an apology for her own revolt, and a sacrifice made to the Baal of Puritanism ; but it is opposed to the letter and spirit of the Church creed, as well as incompatible with the Gospel, which foretels of heresies and schisms ; for if the right of private judgment, in opposition to the declared decision of the Church exist, it is utterly impossible that heresy should be damnable or schism a crime. Every church then, that- excommunicates authors of heresy, that is, men, who exercising their right of private judgment, choose their own religion ; or which casts out among the heathen the maintainers of conventicles, (all which the es- tablished Church does,) is guilty (if guilt it be) of denying the right of private judgment, and of exercising thereby a dominion over conscience. Whether the Church doing so, claim infallibility or not, is nothing to the purpose ; her 95 judgment and the effects of it to the excommunicated persons are the same. r I fully agree with the most reverend writer of " the Charge," that the prince ought not to wed his throne, or his office, or his laws, to any church : hut that observing the religion which he thinks most acccptahle to God, he leave all the Churches to travel towards heaven, restrained in their excesses, hut at the same time, protected in the exer- cise of their ministry, by the laws. "The prince," says this writer, "being hound to employ a free judgment upon the written word of God, in order to ascertain that what he proposes for the instruction of his people, is not inconsistent with that word, he cannot deny to them the same freedom of enquiry." This sentence has within it an absurdity, to wit, that the prince has a right to determine for his subjects, what is, or is not, inconsistent with the written word of God, and that this right of his to exclude or propose any particular religion to his people, is the same which each of the people is supposed to have to choose his own religion. It is, I say, absurd to assert, that the prince has a right to exclude a religion which he supposes to be inconsistent with the word of God, and that each of his subjects, at the same time, has a right to choose his own religion. For what would follow, if the subject thought proper to select for himself that Catholic religion which Doctor Magee would wish the prince to exclude as inconsistent with the word of God ? Where in that case is the right of the subject ? Again ; when the prince is vested with a power to exclude certain forms of religion, has he ? — will he ? — has he ever stopped at that point ? Will he not propose his own creed, 96 whatever it may be, though it were as absurd as that of Cromwell, to his people ? But all this paragraph is silly, and the produce, not of reason or revelation, but of antipopish zeal and a devouring religious prejudice. The king of a Christian state has no right to prescribe a religion either negatively or positively to his people, though he may be empowered to protect that which the people themselves have chosen. His kingdom is of this world. He received no commission from Christ to teach or define tenets of religion. He has got power to rule all estates within his realm, (if, as formerly, but not at present in this country, the laws did not exempt a certain class from bis jurisdiction ;) and to restrain with the civil sword, the stubborn and evil doer, whether he be lay or ecclesiastic. This is the power, the just power of the prince. No power to prescribe a religion to his subjects, or to judge in matters of faith, can by any possibility be attached to the kingly sceptre. Whenever the prince at- tempts to do so, he usurps the right of others and exercises a tyranny over conscience. The principle then upon which Doctor Magee rests his argument being unsound and fallacious, the consequences deduced from it deserve no attention. The tyranny of Henry the Eighth must be defended, the murder of Moore and Fisher must be justified, all the cruelties of Elizabeth must have been acts of justice, the refusal of Charles to permit the Scotch to select their own religion must have been sound policy, the establishment of the Kirk in that country by William, the alteration consequent thereon in the oath of supremacy, all these acts and proceedings, as well as the discontinuance of the test laws, and the annual enact- 97 ment of the bill of indemnity, must be opposed to the right and duty of the sovereign, to the religion of Christ, and the public interests, if the learned prelate's position be just or true. Not only that, but if his positions be true, the despotic power of kings is of divine right, passive obedience an indispensable duty of subjects, and bodily and mental slavery the inheritance of the people of those realms. Yes, for what despotism can be more perfect than that wherein the monarch can prescribe a religion for his subjects and enforce it with the civil sword ? What obedience more unqualified or passive, than that whereby a right to resist the violation of his conscience is denied to the subject ? What mental or bodily thraldom more consummate than that of the man who is obliged to receive his creed from the executive power in the state, and that executive power re- siding in the same person, who has also the chief share of the legislative authority ? Montesquien observes, that in Spain, since the time of Philip the Second, the only barrier to perfect despotism, existed in the partial independence of the church ; and that in the Ottoman empire, the Mufti alone could oppose any stay to the absolute will of the sovereign. If in our country there was no stay to despotism, no guardian of liberty but a church whose creed and discipline the monarch could prescribe and regulate, we should enjoy all the blessings of a monarchy as absolute as that of Ferdinand, or of an empire as despotic as that of the sublime execu- tioner of the Greeks. The civil liberty and the true reli- gion of a country are greatly impaired by any union of the church with the state, but when the chief magistrate is vested with a power of framing creeds and forming churches, then true religion can only be preserved by a special interposition of providence ; and civil liberty, if it survive, can only be continued by some power or powers in the state, counteracting the power of the prince. G 98 It is not, therefore, the degree of authority claimed by any church in her decisions upon religious controversy, nor the width, nor the narrowness of her road to the king- dom of heaven, which can in any manner or degree affect the liberties of a people or the rights of a sovereign, hut it is the union of any church with the supreme civil power, which augments that power, and also detracts from and endangers the liberties of a people. But if a church not only be united to the supreme power, but that the deposi- tory of that power can suppress her councils, annul her convocations, alter her creed and discipline, then she is enslaved, and though she may, like the whisperer who stands behind his master's chair, and poisons his car with slander, effect much mischief, yet is she totally incapaci- tated from effecting good, otherwise than as the mere menial of the state. But then, as to the attributes or characters which Doctor Magee assigns to the established Church. He says, she is Protestant, and so she is, nor do I know that any person has ever questioned her right to that appellation. To deny that she is Protestant, Avould be just as senseless as to deny by circumlocutions the catholicity of that great and univer- sal Church from which the established Church separated herself, and against which she has vainly been protesting for three hundred years. Tbe Reverend Prelate continues, "Tliis is the primary character of the- established Church." — In tbis we are fully agreed ! "Maintaining theparamount authority of the Scriptures." No; for she admits that the parliament has a power to alter the religion of tbe land ; it is the Catholic Church 99 which maintains the paramount authority of the sacred Scriptures, declaring that no power on earth, either church or parliament, can interfere with the religion revealed in them. The next difference between her and the established Church on this subject is, that when doubts arise on pas- sages of the Scripture, difficult and hard to be understood, the Catholic Church decides the meaning of them by the judgment of the Catholic world, to use a phrase of St. Augustin, expressed by her chief pastors, whilst the es- tablished Church leaves such doubts to be decided by the private opinion of each individual. " Maintaining the right of private judgment." The Catholic Church assists and directs this judgment; the Protestant leaves it to be tossed about by every wind of doctrine, or to be led into error or absurdity by those frantic enthusiasts, or those wily crafty-men, who lie always in wait to deceive the unwary. " Maintaining the supremacy of the sovereign." Is it that spiritual supremacy which, until the oath was changed in the time of William, all were obliged to swear that he possessed — that supremacy which Cranmer assigned to Edward the Sixth, whereby he made the crown the source of all the powers of a bishop, as much as it was the source of the powers of a sheriff or of a general of division? If so, no Catholic could maintain such an impiety. Or is it that supremacy whereby the Sovereign is entitled to rule all degrees and estates within this realm, and to punish with the civil sword the stubborn and evil doers ? if this be the supremacy which the Charge assigns to him, and that it be fairly and liberally understood, I see no reason why any person should withhold it; but if it be augmented into a g2 100 right to interfere with the freedom of the Catholic Church, or tlic essential and inalienable rights of the bishops and clergy in union with their head, to rule that church over which the Holy Ghost placed them, as Paul testifies, by their preaching the gospel, by their administering the sacra- ments, and exercising, when necessary, the power of ex- communication, then do we differ from all those who would assign it to the sovereign. " Maintaining the supremacy of the sovereign in oppo- sition to the Church of Rome, which held and imposed tenets in direct opposition to all ; it abjured the fundamen- tal errors and despotism of that Church, and with them the multiplied corruptions and abuses which they had en- gendered." This is the language of a man accustomed to repeat the most offensive calumnies, without attempting either to up- hold them by argument or to justify them by even a plau- sible misrepresentation. " And so having purified them from the dross of super- stition, and having restored religion to the true and ancient Catholic standard." Religion clearly could not have departed from the church, nor from the true and Catholic standard, whatever the learned prelate may understand by that " standard," un- less the spirit of truth departed from the earth, or that Christ failed in his promise of being with his Apostles in the persons of their successors, all days, even to the consummation of the world." "It (the Protestant Church,) became worthy of adop- tion by a government that had the valour, &c." 101 What then ? Docs the archbishop take to the account of the Church, the cruel, the bloody, the disgraceful, the horrid scenes in which she was made to act so conspicuous a part in the times of Henry, Somerset and Elizabeth ? Was the denial of the pope's supremacy the act of the Church ? was the divorce of Queen Catherine the act of the Church ? was the bastardizing of Mary, the lawfulness of Anne Boylen's marriage, with all the subsequent di- vorces and marriages of the monster Henry, were these the acts of the Church ? or if they were, was the reconciliation with the Pope through Cardinal Pole, or the subsequent recantation of it under Elizabeth, the acts of the Church ? were the several creeds of Cranmer, whether under Henry or Edward, acts of the Church ? were the backslidings of the bishops in the time of Charles, acts of the Church ? or was it only in the days of his profligate son that she proved worthy of adoption by the government ? It is truly astonishing to find men in those times, hazard- ing before the public, assertions which must prove them either profoundly ignorant of past events, or totally reck- less of their own literary character, as well as of the character of that Church, which, like a man of low or questionable birth or descent, is best protected by silence and forbearance. There is no person in this country who knows any thing of past times, who does not know that the despotic Tudors changed the religion of the country, remodeled the Church, prescribed to her a creed and discipline, and made her the very hand-maid of the state. The feeble efforts which mark her place of servitude under the Stuarts were the effect, not of any virtue or independence which she retain- ed as a Church, but of those feelings and passions, (many 102 of them laudable,) which at that period animated the bulk of the nation, and from which even the churchmen were not exempt. " The Established Church is loyal," who doubts it? where is the pampered slave who is not attached to his master ; whosoever has a servant under his orders, says to him, go, and he goeth, come, and he cometh, and if he know the will of his master and doeth it not, lie will be beaten with many stripes ; yet, when he has done all that was assigned to him, he is still but an unprofitable servant. The Catholic Church is also loyal — but she is loyal through a sense of duty, and because such is the line of conduct prescribed to her by Almighty God. She is devoted to the prince established by divine Providence, not through fear or necessity, but freely and chearfully ; in every country, and under whatsoever circumstances, she offers up, as is prescribed by St. Paul, prayers and petitions for the king, and all that are in high station, that all men may lead a quiet and holy life. To impugn the sincerity of her children in this country in praying for the monarch, and bearing towards him the most sincere devotcdness of mind and will, is one of the most unworthy deeds of which any person, lay or ecclesiastic, could be guilty. The insinuations in the Charge respecting a division of allegiance, and the insecurity of that which we owe and pay to the sovereign of these realms, are slanderous and malignant. They are founded on no facts, supported by no proof, they are contradicted by every page of our his- tory, by the preambles of divers acts of Parliament, by the statements of our friends, the confessions of our enemies, bv the senate and the ministers of the king. I omit our 103 own oaths of allegiance, which are incompatible with a di- vision of allegiance, because I cannot submit to vindicate myself or my fellow-countrymen from the imputation of perjury. It is the grossest insult which men were ever condemned to endure. I shall never again condescend to argue this subject. Let the man who has read history, and observed the con- duct of the Catholic clergy and people in the different states of Europe for the last three centuries, and yet har- bour tins opinion, remain in his prejudice. Let him, if he will be the foe of our civil liberties on this ground. Whilst he retained such an opinion, I should hesitate to receive any favour at his hands, for if I did, I should receive it from the hand I scorned. But to such a man I would say, not that the allegiance of the Catholic is undivided, but that should the Irish ever violate their allegiance, they will do so, not as Catholics, but as men driven by a cruel and protracted tyranny to take refuge in dispair. Some individual of them, stripped of his property, banished from his home, his religion scoffed at, his sufferings reviled — some such man may wrest the child of his heart from the hands of the prosely- tizer, or the embrace of her persecutor — he may take her to the forum, plunge a dagger in her heart, and set a nation on fire by the sprinkling of her blood. In such a case con- science is silenced, the duty of allegiance is erased from the heart, and he who but j ust before was a good christian and a loyal subject, now agitated by revenge, becomes savage as the tiger ; he despises life, scoffs at danger and at death, and slaking his thirst with human blood, exclaims withCato: A day, an hour, of virtuous liberty, Is worth a whole eternity of bondage 104 To this terrific consummation this devoted country may be driven, if such opinions and principles as are promul- ged by Doctor Magee, become rules of thought and con- duct with those who should consult her peace. And those men who are now reviled, because they endeavour to direct the storm, which already blows too strongly, will be praised by posterity for their efforts, however fruitless, to save a sinking state. Whosoever, in times to come, will walk across the solitude into which this country may be turned, whilst he sighs over the fate of its past inhabitants, will join the voice of their blood in crying to heaven for vengeance on those heartless, ruthless men, whose continued and im- placable injustice, had arrayed brother against brother, and settled their native country by converting it into a heap of ruins. The observations of Doctor Magee, with regard to the difference of the christian doctrine as taught in the Catholic Church, and in the Protestant Established Church of the united kingdom, are not, probably, a fit subject of animad- version by me. The Archbishop has thought proper to hold forth to the public, the writer of a letter to Mr. Robertson on that subject, as a person who acted " insidu- ously," who " misrepresented the truth through interested motives," and did I undertake to repel such charges, I would seem to confess that they were credible, and that deceit, or a wish to misrepresent the truth could possibly find a place in that writer's breast. I might, did I dwell on this subject, also appear to vindicate the private opinion of an individual, rather than to refute the misrepresenta- tions of the common creed and principles of Catholics which abound in " the Charge ;" but individual selfishness has not, thanks to God, so far prevailed over my sense of duty, as to induce me to mix up the personal concerns of any person with the public interests. I shall, therefore, 105 leave this question to the cool and discriminating mind of Doctor Lawrence, who is treated by his brother, on this subject, with much less courtesy than his virtues or his station seemed to demand. His Grace of Cashel has indeed, when treating of this sub- ject on a late occasion in Limerick, endeavoured to make his opinions acceptable to a certain class, by noticing with less than his usual candour, a passage in a book quoted by his Grace as written by me. I say with less than his usual can- dour, for when adverting to the progress which infidelity had made during the last century, and contrasting for his purpose the state of a Catholic university on the continent, with that of the public seminaries in these countries, it should not have escaped his Grace, that lords Herbert and Boulingbroke — Blount, Collins, Hobbes, Shaftsbury, all English Protestants; Spinosa, Bayle, Rousseau, and, as I believe, also Helvetius, French or Dutch Calvinists, were the authors or importers of infidelity on the continent; — that all the Protestant seminaries there, without even an excep- tion known to me, became, and continue to this day, infected with the principles alluded to, and that if those principles were not permitted to find a resting place in these coun- tries, their exclusion was much more due to the eloquence of Burke, the vigour of Pitt, the jealousy and hatred of French domination, under the mask of liberty and equality, than to the genius of the Protestant religion, or the dispo- sitions of a great portion of the then population of the empire. But however I may differ in opinion from Arch- bishop Lawrence — however I may lament, that in the House of Lords, his Grace of Cashel has been more in- fluenced by his connexions than by the native impulse of his heart — however J. K. L. may have designated his lati- tude of belief, I shall always respect his talents, venerate his humane, benevolent, and pacific disposition, and though 106 he be a member of a new religion, I shall always say of his Grace, as Protestants were accustomed to write of S. S. Bernard and Xavier, utinam cum talis sis noster esses. His Grace is too well informed to look upon it as degrading to have the Nova superstitio veterum ignorata deorum Virgil. restored to the rank and dignity of an integral portion of the Universal Church ; and however impracticable such a restoration may appear to his Grace, without doubt, he must consider it as one of those beautiful speculations em- inently good and supremely desirable, though not, in his opinion, compatible with the infirmity or perverseness of this world in which we dwell. His Grace may not see a difference which could not be remedied between the rules of faith in two Churches, o?ie of which declares such rule to be the word of God as proposed to the judgment of each individual, by the Church ; the ot/ter presenting it as the word of God interpreted by each individual, but subject to the authority of the Church, she being authorized to excommunicate whomsoever dissents from her interpreta- tion of it. About what is, or what is not the word of God, there may be an essential difference between the Churches, but as to human traditions being added to the revelation of God, or erected above it, as is set forth in " the Charge," iiis Grace knows that such assertions are unfounded, nay, that they flow only from minds in which the passions have established their empire. It is equally well known to his Grace, that of all the doctrines of both Churches, said by Doctor Magee to be opposed to each other, there are several, to say the least, rendered so by the distorting comments of furious men, rather than by the spirit of union and of peace. 107 A singular instance of the nature and tendency of such comments may be seen in a pamphlet, signed N. and writ- ten by some very grave personage, as a comment upon the late Charge of his Grace of Cashcl. In this pampldet the doctrine of Catholics, regarding original sin, justification by Christ, the nature of good works, is grossly misrepresented. No man of learning, however, or of equity can be imposed on by such fictions ; and as to the multitude who are deceived by them, and so kept not only estranged from their brethern, but in a state of accrimonious hostility towards them, they must be objects of compassion to Doctor Lawrence, and to every good man who believes that the God of the christians is a God not of dissension but of peace. Doctor Magee may declaim against the " numerous and deadly errors of the Church of Rome," but declamation or bold assertion is not proof; and every man of sense will question the veracity or justice of censures so severe, until he finds that they are sustained by authority or proved by argument. I not only deny that there are " numerous and deadly er- rors" taught by the Church of Rome, or by any Church in communion with her ; but i assert, that, it is IMPOSSIBLE TO PROVE FROM THE SACRED SCRIPTURE THAT ANY ONE ARTICLE BELIEVED OR TAUGHT BY HER OR THEM, IS FORBIDDEN BY, OR CONTRARY TO THE revealed will of god : Nay, more, I assert, that tiiere is not one article or doctrine of the Creed of the Protestant Church, which can be proved by the sacred Scriptures, in that respect, or in that sense, in which it differs from, or is opposed to the doctrine of the Roman Catho- lic and Apostolic Church. And I add, if "numerous and deadly errors" prevailed in the Church of Rome, and in the Churches in communion with her, that the Church of Christ would have failed in all that is essential to its being, 108 that Christ himself would have been wanting to his pro- mise — consequently not be the God of truth, and that divhie faith is no longer existing on the earth. These are strong expressions, and what they announce is of great importance; I place them in juxta position with the un- called for assertions of the writer of " the Charge," and should he at any time, undertake to prove what he asserts, I promise, if blessed with life and health, to refute his proofs, and to establish what I have advanced. This, however, would be an ungrateful task, and undertaken, like that in which I am now engaged, through necessity, and not through choice. I abhor dissension, I dislike controversy ; I have never, but in the lawful defence of my Country or Religion, when both or either were assailed, not by vulgar calumni- ators, but by men of station, opened my lips or dipped my pen in ink to interest the public: I have never exlubited to the disgust or indignation of my fellow subjects, the ty- ranny, the absurdity, the hypocrisy of the furious men who assail us, unless when I apprehended that truth or justice imperatively required of me to speak or write in our de- fence. I have from my youth deeply imbibed the senti- ment of Lucilius, " Virtus est dare quod reipsa debetur honori, Hostem esse morumque malorum Contra, defensorem hominum morumque bonorum, Hos magni facere, his bene velle, his vivere amicum, Commoda proeterea Patriae sibi prima putare ;" and though I may never be able to ascend to the place al- lotted to the wise and good, as exhibited in the picture of this life by Epictetus, I shall never, God being my helper, cease to combat those furious or deceiving passions which infest the way, embarrass or corrupt mankind, and aug- ment the number of human ills. APPENDIX I. The following Series of Extracts not only shew tlie present deplorable state of the Protestant Churches throughout Europe, but also that Protestantism, after loosing every moral bond, terminates in infidelity. La Religion Catholique Apostolique et Romaine, est incon" testablement la eeule sure Mais, cette religion exige, en meme temps, de ceux qui l'embrassent, la soumission la plus entiere de la raison. Lorsqu'il se trouve, dans cette commu- nion, un liomme d'un esprit inquiet, remuant, et difficile a contenter, il commence d'abord a s'etablir juge de la verite des formed by such interpreters, that the poor fellow had such a weakness in his eyelids, that he could not keep his eyes open. But for a long time he had not attempted to open them, and Christ observing that he never made the attempt to do it, said to him, ' thou sbalt open thine eyes.' The confidence of the man in him, as the Messiah, was so great, that, making the at- tempt with all his might, he opened his eyes." " Christ never walked on the waves, but on the shore, or he swam behind the ship, or he walked through the shallows." " The daughter of Jairus was not dead, because Christ himself said, she sleepeth." " When Jesus said to Peter, ' thou shalt catch a fish and find in his mouth a piece of money ;' the meaning is, before you can sell it for so much, you must first open its mouth to take out the hook." " At Cana, in Galilee, Jesus gave a nuptial present of very fine wine, with which, for a joke, he filled the water-pots of stone." " The paralytic, (John 5) was an idle fellow, who, for thirty- eight years, had moved neither hand or foot. Christ asked him the ironical question, perhaps thou wouldst be whole? This irony stirred him up; he forgot his hypocricy, and running away with his bed, left that hospital in which he had lain thirty-eight years." " When Jesus is said to have ascended into heaven, the disci- ples lost sight of him in a fog." " Some of the Rationalists teach, that the Apostles were deceived ; others, that they were deceivers ; and some, that they were at once deceivers and deceived. In short, Ration- alism is Deism, ornamented with some phrases of the New Testament, and produces such effects as we might expect from it." SWEDEN, NORWAY, AND FINLAND. " The tide of infidelity more slowly reached these northern countries, viz : Sweden, Norway and Finland ; but its arrival IV was only the later and not the less disastrous. The faith of the people was very much overturned hy the preachers of humanity, sent forth hy the infidel university of Copenhagen. Norway, united to Denmark, at a time when that kingdom seemed to have entirely abandoned the religion of the Cross, and emhraced the principles of the wildest and vilest infidelity, shared its fate of being egregiously darkened and wholly converted into a merely nominally christian church." PRUSSIA. " Among the number of stationary clergymen of the establish- ment in Berlin, there are four, besides a Moravian minister, who preach and live evangelically, but all the other pastors are either directly opposed or indifferent to the truth. But what is here stated of Berlin, is not to be taken as a criterion for the rest of Prussia by any means, but rather as an exception, as it is well too well known, that the rest of the Clergy, go almost where you will, are in a state of neologian darkness." (Neologists are the same as Rationalists, that is, Deists.") " The City of Dautzick (with a population of about 50,000 souls,) affords a truly affecting spectacle, in a religious sense. During a stay there of nearly two months, I had full proof that the candle of the Lord was removed not from one, but from every religious body in the city." HUNGARY. " The state of religion amongst the Hungarians filled him with sorrow and grief, to behold such a multitude of people, who still bear the |name of Protestant Christians, but who are very little better than the heathens, either ;in refined scepticism or gross superstition. The value of a Minister (among them) is rated according to his oratorical powers, no matter what doctrine he teaches, or what tenets he holds." HOLLAND. " Arianism and Socinianism have, during the last 25 years, made great progress in the academies, and the reformed churches, although they preserve more or less the forms of orthodoxy, yet the spirit and life of it are wanting among the greatest number of pastors." OF THE FRENCH PROTESTANTS. " The Protestant college at Montanbau, (the only institution in France for the education of Protestant pastors) has been sin- gularly unhappy in the appointment of those who have occupied the divinity department — while a few good pastors may be found in France, who, in spite of that miserable course of in- struction under which they were placed, have been brought to the knowledge of the truth as it is in Christ Jesus. It may easily be conceived how unfit the great body of the Protestant minis- ters must be for their office, Arians, Socinians, Neologists, of no fixed opinion whatever as respects the gospel — they are in general, blind leaders of the blind." EXTRACTS from Uhistoire des Sectes Rdigieuses, par M. Grer/oire. Paris, 1814. " Dans les remontrances du clerge presentees a Louis XVIII. en 1780 les eveques s'expriment ainsi : 'sans invoquer la noto- rize publique, et sans se prevaloir des aveux echappes a l'indis- cretion de celebres Calvinistes, n'avons-nous pas vu l'ecole meme de Geneve, donner, ily a trois ans le scandaleux spec- tacle d'une these publique non contredite, dans laquelle on n'a pas rougi de mettre en probleme la divinite de notre Seigneur Jesus-Christ, borne immuable qui separe toujours le simple deisme du christianisme ?" " Un Academicien de Berlin me disait que le Protestantisme (e'est sa religion) est a michemin de l'incredulite ; un autre savant de la meme communion, Stapfer, se plaint des Theolo- giens, qui par leur nouvelle Exegese escamotevt au peuple sa H VI religion : car la plupart des innovations roligicuses en Alle- magne sont leur ouvrage." " G. F. Gi'uner, dans ses institutions do theologie dogmati- que pretend quo l'Eglise est en erreur sur la Trinite et l'expia- tion par Jesus-Christ." " Le professeur Gambord, dans un ouvrage Danois intitule ' Jesu Moral,' ne montre le Redempteur que comme un ambas- sadeur de la Divinite envoye aux homines." " Bassedow, a Dessaw, se disait Arien ou plutot Deiste et voulait qu'on batit un temple a la providence." " Semler, dans ses ouvrages histmiques sur le Christianisme le reduit a n'etre qu'une doctrine purement humaine." " Le Docteur Bahrdt, connu par l'etendue de ses connais- sances et son libertinage, revoque en doute la realite de la mort de Jesus-Christ et sa resurrection." " Le ministre Schulz a Gielsdorf, en Brandenbourg, prechait contre la divinite de Jesus-Christ, sa resurrection, sa Missiaon et celle de Moise : des ministres ont pris, la defence de Schulz entre autres Loefler, surintendant de Gotha. Quand on connait Loefler : on eprouve des regrets aimers de voir un homme si distingue dans los rangs de ceux qui voudraient ebranler les verites fondamentales du christianisme." " De Vos conseiller de cour a Weiman consent qu'on en- seigne les hommes qui ont atteint la virilite d'apres l'ancienne doctrine : mais il veut qu'on procede autrement pour la gene- ration nouvelle." " Le Docteur Bock, dans son Histoire des ecrivains anti- trinitaires donne la notice de cent quarante-quatre. Certes actuellement on pourrait en doubler le nombre." " Sleinbart distingue deux systemes religieux : l'un pour le peuple, l'autre pour les savans. La religion Chretienne n'est, a son avis, que la religion naturelle clairement exposee par Jesus Christ et necessaire au peuple qui sc conduit par son autorite ; mais inutile aux hommes instruits, qui ont la raison pour guide." " L'electeur de Saxe en 1776 rendit un edit contre le soci- nianisme, que plusieurs savans, dit-il, cherchent a repaiulre. \ II u Le senat d'Ulm a defendu anx minlaties de precher le socinianismc, qu'on preche egalement a Copenhague, un ministre ayant dans un sermon, parle de Jesus-Christ comme s'il n'etait qu'un homme vertueux, recut des reproches de l'eveque mais tout ce qu'il en resulta, c'est que, des le dimanche suivant, toute la cour vint au sermon du cure." " Les Protestans Francais sont arrives au meme terme que ceux des autres contrees On voit par la collection intitulee Acta Ecclesiastica, publiee a Weiman pendant pres d'un siecle, que depuis long-temps le socinianisme s'etait repandu dans le pays de Vaud." M Les ministres Genevois interroges, il y a une cinquantaine d'annees, sur la divinite de Jesus-Christ, firent attendre pendant six semaines une reponse qui n'exigeait qu'une minute par oui, ou non. A cette occasion J. J. Rousseau, dans ses lettres de la Montagne disait ' Les Ruformes de nos jours, du moins les ministres, ne connaissent ou n'aiment plus leur religion. Un philosophe les penetre, les voit Ariens sociniens : il le dit, et pense leur faire honneur : mais il ne vait pas qu'il expose leur interet personnel, la seule chose qui generalement, decide ici bas de la bonne foi des hommes. Aussitot alarmes, effrayes ils s'assemblent, ils discutent, ils s'agitent, ils ne savent a quel saint se vouer : et apres forces de consultations, deliberations, conferences, le tout aboutit a un amphigouri ou Ion ne dit ni oui ni non O Genevois ! ce sont de singulieres gens que vos ministres on ne sait ce qu'ils croient ni ce qu'ils ne croient pas, on ne sait pas meme ce qu'ils font semblant de croire : leur seule maniere d'etablir leur foi est d'attaquer celle des autres." EXTRACTS from the Sermons of the Rev. Hugh James Rose, M.A. of Trinity College, Cambridge, on the state of the Protestant Religion in Germany. " A large portion of the Protestant Churches of Germany hailed these principles (the principles oi Rationalism) with till delight, and spread with eagerness this purer system of Chris- tianity. It was taught by her divines from the pulpit, — by hef professsors from the chairs, — it was addressed to the old, as the exhortation which was to free them from the weight and burden of ancient prejudices and observances, — and to the young, a9 that knowledge which alone could make them truly wise, or or send them into life with right and rational views. With the exception of Lessing, or, at most, one or two others, all the writers to whom I allude, are at least doctors in divinity. Paulus, one of the most atrocious of the party, was professor of divin- ity at Wurtsburg. I cannot say whether he holds the same office at Heidleberg, where he now resides. De Wett, Kiu- noel, Wegsheider, and many others, are professors, either ordi- nary or extraordinary, in the Universities to which they belong. It need not be added, that the Protestant Church of that Coun- try (Germany) is the mere shadow of a name. For this abdi- cation of Christianity was not confined to either the Lutheran or Calvinistic profession, but extended its baleful and withering influence with equal force over each. It is equally unnecessary to add, that its effects were becoming daily more conspicuous in a growing indifference to Christianity in all ranks and degrees of the nation." " They (the rationalizing divines) are bound by no law, but their own fancies ; some are more, and some less extravagant ; but I do them no injustice, after this declaration, in saying, that the general inclination and tendency of their opinions (more or less forcibly acted on) is this, that, in the New Testament, we shall find only the opinions of Christ and the Apostles adapted to the age in which they lived, and not eternal truths ; that Christ himself had neither the design, nor the power of teach- ing any system which was to endure ; that, when he taught any enduring truth, as he occasionally did, it was without being aware of its nature ; that the Apostles understood still less of real religion ; that the whole doctrine, both of Christ and his Apostles, as it is directed to the Jews alone, so it was gathered in fact from no other source than the Jewish philosophy; that IX Christ himself erred, and his Apostles spread his errors, and that, consequently, no one of his doctrines is to he received on their authority ; but that without regard to the authority of the books of Scripture, and their asserted divine origin, each doc- trine is to be examined according to the principles of right rea- son, before it is allowed to be divine." " Itwill be sufficient to say, that they who wish to form a notion of the German method of explaining the doctrines of Scripture, as to the Saviour, the Atonement, and all the consequent doc- trines, need only turn to the page of ecclesiastical history for a record of the various heresies of the early ages, and that they will also find a tolerable picture of them in the most violent English Unitarians. The Trinity, Incarnation, and descent of the Spirit are positively denied : — Christ was a mere man. The doctrine was not made up or established for nearly the three first ages. The doctrine of the Fall, and of Original Sin, is set aside entirely. God has always raised up men to repress vice and encourage virtue, as, especially, Pythagoras, Socrates, Plato, Zeno, Seneca, Marcus Antonius, Zoroaster, Confucius, and Mahomet, but, among all, the greatest reverence is due to Jesus the Nazerene." " It is expressly acknowledged, that, in Scripture, literally understood, there are some grounds (Semina) for the orthodox, qs to the two natures in Christ, yet, as such a doctrine is of no use to the attainment of virtue, bnt rather prejudicial, by di- minishing the force of Christ's example, as it contradicts reason, and some other declarations of Scripture, it is better to adoj>t the other side of the question. All the notions of glorifica- tions are either without ground, or mythi (fables,) all notion of Ins Atonement is renounced. It appears unnecessary to go through the whole doctrines usually taught by the orthodox Churches, as it is obvious, that after these principles, the whole exposition of the doctrine is, and must be, Socinian at least." " Some went so far as to attack the whole body of the Pro- phets as impostors, in the most outrageous and revolting terms. Faith in these deceivers, it is said in one of their books, is 'the cause of there being no real faith in the world.' There i9 a book called, 'Moses and Jesus,' by Buchholz, published at Berlin, 1 806, in which, Moses especially, is abused, accused first of deceit and then of terrorism. Amnion says, that, leaving to philosophers to decide whether the gift of prophecy be possible or not, it is quite clear that Christ himself renounces the power ; (Mat. 24, 36. Acts 1, 7,) and that therefore there are no pro- phecies of his in the New Testament ; that prophecies are re- corded in the Bible as uttered by men of doubtful character, as Num. 22, 5, 1st King, 22, 22, that many are obscure, and are never fulfilled, and that others seem to have been made after the event, that all are reckoned obscure and imperfect by the Apostles themselves. As these accusations apply, he says, to almost all the prophecies of Old and New Testament, it must be confessed that the argument from prophecy needs whatever excuse it can find, both in the delirium of the prophets, who were transported out of their sense, (John 11, 31, 2nd Peter 1, 21,) the double sense in which they are quoted in the New Testament, (Mat. 2, 23, Rom. 10, 18,) and the remark- able variety of interpretations. Amnion and Wegsheider further say, that Jesus, in Mat. 11, 11, Luke 7, 28, spoke in terms of contempt of the Hebrew prophets, which is quite untrue, Wegshider adds, that prophecies would favour fatalism, and that there are no prophecies, properly so called, sufficiently clear in either Testament." " With respect to the miracles, when they were urged, as proof of immediate agency, by some, they were said to be that mythology which must attend every religion to gain the multi- tude ; by some, the common and well known arguments and ribaldry of the infidel were unsparingly used ; by one or more, high in station in the Church, some artifice, and probably mag- nitism, has been within the last ten years suggested. From the less daring, however, the answer was always, either that it was impossible that there should have been a miracle under such circumstances ; or that, even allowing Christ to have had the power of working miracles, it was highly improbable that, in the particular case alleged, he would have judged it right to exert it ; and secondly, the words were examined, and, hy every possible distortion, they were forced into any meaning' hut their own. Rosenmuller says, that miracles have lost all their force as proofs; and Thies, the translator of the New Testament, says, that neither the conversion of St. Paul nor the ascension of Christ, will now make converts ; for, as the sphere of nature enlarges, miracles vanish. On the conversion of St. Paul, see Bretshuneider. Wegsheider says, that the story is so told, that we can make nothing of it, and that we must rememher that St. Paul was much inclined to visions and extacies. And as to the ascension of Christ, Wegsheider has written expressly to prove it a mythus. Wegsheider says, that though Christ seemed to the standers hy to expire, yet after a few hours, being given up to the sedulous care of his friends, he returned to life on the third day. Paulus tells us, that Christ did not really die, hut suffered a fainting fit. One person, called Breneck, has written a book, to shew that Christ lived twenty-seven years on earth after his ascension. Another author says, ' that although we had better leave things as they are for the vulgar, who must have something extreme to rely on, yet divines should examine and find out the truth, that we see, in every religion many mythi of the generations, incarnations, and apparitions of the gods ; and that they who call Mahomet an imposter, and Zo- roaster mad — who laugh at the story of Buddha's generation from a virgin, who conceived him by a rainbow — or at Ma- homet's discourses with Gabriel, &c., should not be angry if people examine the stories of Enoch, Moses, Sampson, &c. &c. or put the greatest part of what is related of Jesus and the Apostles into the class of fables ; that the real religion of Jesus is rational, but that when he found that men could not be driven from their views otherwise, he began to assume a supernatural authority, and play the part of a prophet, and afterwards took up that of the Messiah, because some of his admirers thought he must be the person.' Afterwards ' he decides, that it was most probable Jesus had deceived himself, and was really per- Mi suaded himself, that lie did possess supernatural powers, and that he was thus an enthusiast in the best sense." " We see," says Luther, " that through the malice of the devil, men are now more avaricious, more cruel, more disorderly, more insolent, and much more wicked, than they were under popery." — (In Postil. Dom. part 1 ; Dom. 2, Adv.) " If any one wish," says Musculus, "to see a multitude of knaves, dis- turbers of the public peace, &c, let him go to a city where the gospel is preached in its purity," (he means a reformed city ;) "for it is clearer than the light of the day, that never were pa- gans more vicious and disorderly than those professors of the gospel." — (Dom. 1. Adv.) — " The thing," says Melancthon, " speaks for itself. In this country, among the reformed, their whole time is devoted to intemperance and drunkenness, (im- manibus poculis. So deeply are the people sunk into barba- rity and ignorance, that many of them would imagine that they Bhould die in the night, if they should chance to fast in the day." (Ad. Cap. 6, lat.) Neither was this growth of vice and itmorance confined to foreign kingdoms. "In this nation," says Stubbs, (Motives of Good Works, with an Epistle dedi- catorie to the Lord Mayor of London, an. 1596,) after he had made the tour of England, " I found a general decay of good works, or rather a plain defection or falling away from God. — For good works, who sees not that they," (the papists of former times,) " were far before us, and we far behind them ?" — Eras- mus thus describes the fruits of the reformation ; he was, in- deed, a Catholic ; but a Catholic whom the Protestants allow to have been impartial. — " And who," says he, " are those gospel people ? — Look around you, and shew me one who has become abetter man ; shew me one, who, once a glutton, is now turned sober ; one, who, before violent, is now meek ; one, who, before avaricious, is now generous ; one, who, beforo impure, is now chaste. I can point out multitudes, who are worse than they were before. * * * * What tumults and seditions mark their conduct \ — For what trifles do they fly to xm arms 1 St. Paul commanded the first christians to shun the society of the wicked ; and, behold I the reformers aeok most the society of the most corrupted ; these are their delight. Tin; gospel now flourishes ; forsooth, because priests and monks take wives in opposition to human laws, and in despite of their sacred vows." Capito, a great partizan of Luther, (Epist. ad Farrell, int. Calv. p. 5,) writes thus to Farrell, a leader among the Calvinists. " I acknowledge the great evils which we have oc- casioned in the church, by rejecting, with so much imprudence and precipitation, the authority of the Pope. The people is now without bridle or curb, and despises all authority ; as if by abolishing the papacy, we had suppressed, in the same manner, the power of the servants of the church, and the efficacy of the sacraments I Every one now exclaims — I have enough to guide myself ! As I have the gospel to lead me to the disco- very of Jesus Christ and his doctrines, what need I of other help ?" — " All the waters of the Elbe," Melancthon writes to one of his correspondents, (Melancth. Ep. 1, iv. Ep. 100-129,) " would not give me sufficient tears to bewail the miseries of the reformation." Bishop Burnett gives the following view of the state of morality in England, in the reign of Edward VI. (History of the Reformation, part 2, p. 226) — " The sins of England did, at that time, call down from heaven heavy curses. They are sadly expressed in a discourse that Ridley wrote after, under the title Of the Lamentation of England ; he says, that "lechery, oppression, pride, covetousness, and a hatred and scorn of all religion, were generally spread among all people ; but chiefly those of higher rank." — " Lechery," says Latimer, " is used in England, and such lechery, as is used in no other part of the world. And it is made a matter of sport, a trifle, not to be passed on or reformed." Luther describes his con- duct and feelings, while he remained within the pale of the Catholic religion, and observed the rules of his order : — " When I lived in my monasteiy, I punished my body with watching, fasting and prayer ; I observed my vows of chastity, poverty and obedience Whatsoever I did, it was with singleness XIV of heart ; with good zeal, and for the glory of God, &c. I feared grievously the last day, and was, from the bottom of my heart, desirous of being saved." (Ad Gal.) After he had com- menced reformer : — " I am burnt," he said, " with the flames of my untamed flesh ; I am mad almost with the rage of lust, and the desire of women. I, who ought to be fervent in spirit, am fervent in impurity, in sloth, &c. (In Col. Mens.) Relying on the strong foundation of my learning, I yield not, in pride, either to the emperor, prince, or devil ; no, not to the universe itself. — (Ilesp. ad Maled. Regni Angliae.) Fletcher's transla- tion of these three passages. — Sermons, vol. 2, p. 116-117- The following Quotations shew the admirable accordance of the present with the past state of Protestantism. " There are among us, those not less in darkness and igno- rance than those that are to be found in the pagodas of China, or who, amidst the deepest wilds of Indian forests, sacrifice their children, or prostitute themselves before demons, at whom they tremble, but whom as Gods they adore." — Home Mission- ary Magazine, Jan. 1820, p. 22. — (Speech of John Wilks, Esq., Chairman at a Home Missionary Meeting.) At the same meeting the Rev. Mr. Iron stated, " In our own country, there were millions whose consciences were never appealed to by faith- ful ambassadors, and who never heard of the Prince of Life." The Rev. Mr. Evans stated, " that he had travelled through districts of twenty miles without a single school for religious instruction." In the Report read at the first annual meeting of the Parent Home Missionary Society, held May 15, 1820, it is stated in reference to " Northumberland, Cumberland, Durham, and part of Lancashire," that " darkness covers this part of England, and gross darkness the people" p. 2. that " the more internal parts of Northumberland are awfully desti- tute, and the people are living in the greatest darkness." p. 3. XV That the county of Worcester " has heen termed the garden of England ; but in a moral light it may be regarded as a waste, bowline wilderness." p. i. Staffordshire is stated to contain three hundred thousand inhabitants, " the greater part of whom 6it in darkness and the gloomy shades of overspreading death." pages 4* and 5 — Again, " Oxfordshire presents but a dreary desert." p. 5. And a " moral wilderness of awful dimensions." p. 7. As to a part of Berkshire, it is stated, " no one una c- quainted with similar scenes, can form an adequate idea of the extreme ignorance of the inhabitants of those villages." p. 5. The writer adds, " not only these villages, but a number of others near us, are similarly situated ; in one of them, the vil- lages are in a state of complete mental darkness." p. 6. (Se- cond Report of the Home Missionary Society, p. 12.) The framers of this report, state, that Mr. Sparks preached in four places, which " were mere moral wildernesses, and knew no- thing of evangelical truth." p. 14r. In the third annual report, it is distinctly asserted, that " none but those who have taken the trouble to explore the village population, can possibly conceive their wretched state of ignorance, and the degree of vice that prevails amongst them." — One of the Missionaries, on entering on his station, complains of " numbers greatly in- creased, moral degradation unusually deepened, ignorance with insensibility united, wickedness blended with every vice, and heightened into barbarity of manners." p. 24. Another says, " I verily believe, that this is the worst place under the heavens, for men, women, and children seem to glory in blas- pheming the name of the Lord." p. 25. Another tells the Committee, " that his station exceeds every thing he ever wit- nessed for wickedness, for cock-fighting, for bull-baiting ; quarrelling, drunkenness, and lewdness generally prevail." p. 25. In the fourth annual report it is admitted, notwithstanding all their evangelizing labours, that " infi- delity like a mighty Hood, has been devastating society with the most awful errors and moral abominations." p. 15. Their fifth annual report, adopted 5th May last, and the reports XVI of the Baptist Home Missionary Society, are all in tlic same strain. In conclusion, the Committee states, " there are thou- sands of villages within the limits prescribed by your regula- tions, where the joyful sound of a preached Gospel is never heard." p. 15. So much for the "centre of light." " The characteristics of the present times are confessedly in- credulity and an unprecedented indifference to the religion of Christ." — Bishop Pretty maris Charge, 1800, p. 10. Even in this country there is an almost universal lukewarm- ness and indifference respecting the essentials of religion." — Bishop Barringtons Charge, 1797, p. 2. A late Bishop of London in his Charge, 1790, p. 14, informed us that in his diocese, there were many hundreds of wretched, ignorant, young creatures, of both sexes, totally destitute of all education, totally unacquainted with the very first elements of religion." "In the population of England alone 1,170,000 children it is much to be feared, grow up to an adult state without any education at all, and almost without any useful impressions of religion and morality. In the present state of things, it is not too much to say, that every thirty years, at least four millions and a half of adults must, in case a remedy is not applied, mingle in the general population of the kingdom without any fixed principles of rectitude, and with very little knowledge either of religion or morality." — Colguhouris New System of Education, p. 72, 73. " It appears from the official documents which Mr. Yates has collected and compared, that within the small circle of ten miles round London, no less than nine hundred and seventy seven thousand souls are shut out from the common pastoral offiees of the national religion. — " Shut out says Mr. Yates, from the pale of the Church, from all participation in its benefits, they are necessarily driven to join the ranks of injurious opposition, either in dissent and sectarian enthusiasm, or in the infinitely more dangerous opposition of infidelity, atheism, and ignorant xvn depravity." Well lie may add, that, " such a mine of Heathefr ism and consequent profligacy and danger, under the very meri- dian (as it is supposed) of christian illumination, cannot he con- templated without terror." — Quarterly Review for Oct. 1 S20, p. 55^. " I douht much whether the immorality of Edinhurgh is not equal, perhaps greater, than that of London." — JohnMacculloch, M.D. F.R.S. T/ie Highlands of Scotland. " Let any who are acquainted with the different parts of England, whose avocations carry them into connexion with various persons — let them testify to the truth, and they will hear me out in saying, that in England there exists a higoted obstinacy against the true religion." Again, " that the bulk of the peasantry of England require immediate and continual en- deavours to instruct them concerning the truth, as it is in Christ Jesus." — Rev. Hugh 31' Neil, Report for the year 1S24, of the Continental Bible Society, p. 68. " It is of the utmost importance, that all persons who desire that the preaching of the gospel may be heard on the Continent, should bear continually in mind, that the word Protestant, meaii9 nothing but a person who does not go through the cere- monies prescribed by the Church of Rome, and who has, together with the superstitions, for the most part renounced also every fundamental of Christianity." — Report, an. 1 823, of the Continental Bible Society, p. 41-2. " It should be observed, that Catholicism and Protestantism there, (on the Continent,) do not mean what Catholicism and Protestantism mean in England. The former admits of all the fundamentals of Christianity — whilst the latter denies the basis of Christianity altogether." — Mr. Drummond, Report 1824, p. 63-4. " The populace of England are more more ignorant of their religious duties, than they are in any other Christian country." It would make " any one Christian heart bleed to think (says Bp. Croft,) how many thousands souls there are in this land, that have no more knowledge of God than heathens ; thousands of the mendicant condition, and thousands ot the XV111 moan husbandry-men, as they grow up to be men, grow mere babes in religion ; so ignorant, as scarce to know their heavenly Father." At this day the case is worse than Bishop Croft re- presented it. — Quarterly Rev. No. 37, Sep. 1818, />. 20, On the means of improving the people, fyc. " Infidelity is a rank weed, it threatens to overspread the land, its root is principally fixed amongst the great and opu- lent." — J3p. Watson in his apology for the Bible, last page. "J'ai voulu indiquer comment les croyances protestantes ont du disparoetre toutes, et laisser la religion vacante dans leurs contrees respectives : comment leur diversite et en depit de leurs professions de foi, elles ont eu pour tout product un vague de- isme qui a engendre la doctrine des pretendus sages du dix- huitieme siecle. J'ai la conscience intime d'avoir ecrit sans passion et je donne comme resultat certain, d'apresmes rechercheset mes meditations, la disposition totale du protestantisme : II n'y a reellement plus de Lutheriens ni de Calvinistes : il n'ya plus de mystiques dans les rangs des reformes, il ne s'y trouve meme plus de Sociniens, on n'y reconnoit qu'une masse de sentimens confus composes de raisonnemens et de sensations indefinies et a laquelle l'Allemagne protestante a donne elle-meme lenom de religiosite pour la distinguer de la religion. La morale s'y ren- contre jusqu'a un certain point : mais la foi en a disparu." — M. le Baron d 'Eckstein, dans son Protestant converti a. la foi catholique, ceiivre intitule " le Catholique." The few remarks here following, are the reluctant evidence of Protestant writers, against that nominal religion, which they vainly seek to uphold, and in favour of that holy and always enduring faith, whose efficacy and merits they are obliged to acknowledge. " What must they (the Catholics,) conclude concerning Pro- testants, and the cause of the reformation, when they seethat the name Protestant pastor, is sufficient to sanction every heresy, while the doctrines of the gospel are entirely disregarded ? No wonder they openly declare that the state of religion amongst Protestants, forms the strongest argument against the XXX reformation ! In their Church there are fundamental doctrine retained of the highest importance, which, it really, embraced, will conduct to life eternal. But the state of the puhlic mi- nistry, in many Protestant Churches is such, that salvation, hy means of it, is impossible." — Second Rev. of the British and Foreign Bible Society, by Robert Haldane, p. 1 20. " At whatever hour you enter a Catholic place of worship, (on the Continent) some persons will be found at one or other of its altars, on their knees, abstracted in solitary devotion, whether the church be full or crowded with spectators. At the hour of vespers, you hear the evening hymn from every house in a village : and in the streets of a busy and populous town, at the sound of the vesper bell, the passengers uncover their heads, and halt or utter a prayer as they pass on." " Compar- ing the state of mind which is thus produced, with that of our own town populace, if the populace alone were considered, we might almost wish that they had still been suckled in a creed out-worn." Again, " They (the Continental Catholics) may have their jest against the priest, and their tale and their pro- verb against the friar, but this levity leaves no leaven of infi- delity behind, it passes as it comes, and the principle of faith remains unaffected. The observation of every intelligent per- son who has travelled in Catholic Countries, may safely be ap- pealed to in proof that we have not exaggerated the effect which is produced upon the popular mind, by the forms and discipline of the Catholic Church." — Quarterly Review for October 1820, p. 551. " The Protestantism of the Continent, is a system from which the whole of Christianity is excluded, but the forms. In fact, of the two, if I were to judge, I would say popery is the best." — Rev. Br. Thorpe, Report of the Continental Bible Society, for the year 1 824, p. 64. " There are pious Catholics who adhere to the doctrine of the divinity of the Son of God, who and consequently will, we doubt not, be themselves saved : while on the other hand, mul- titudes calling themselves Protestants, have destroyed the very XX foundation of a sinner's hope." — Robert Huldane in his letter to M. Chenevioe, p. 1 24. The foregoing extracts have been selected, not without in- dustry and attention, from a large mass of others of a similar nature or tendency ; they are submitted, without a comment almost, to every sincere christian. Let him reflect on the oc- casion which called them forth— and then refer them to the tribunal of his own conscience, before he is himself presented before the tribunal of his God I APPENDIX II. EXTRACT from the Dublin Weekly Register of November 4th, 1826. " The Church of England and Ireland presents itself as tole- rant. #■*## + # If, indeed, in the first days of the Reformation, during the perilous struggles of the glorious divines and martyrs who laboured to rescue the Catho- lic Church from the despotism and corruption of the Roman, some acts are discoverable, which connect our Church immedi- ately with intolerance, it must be remembered that the long reign of Popery had rendered Europe so familiar with the idea of persecution, for the sake of religion, that it is not to be wondered that some vestige of this sad corruption of Christianity should have lingered with others, from which those most excel- lent of men, reared, as they had been, in all the errors of Popery, were not able at once to effect their perfect emancipa- tion. But from the time when the Church of England and Ireland became fully released from this antichristian influence, and when she had assumed her true form, adjusted to the sound Scriptural principles on which she was founded, what do we find in the language in which she gives her sense of the Christian doctrines, in the spirit which pervades her formu- laries, or in the temper which has distinguished all her genuine sons and followers, but the truest toleration and the most Christian charity?" — (Charge of Dr. Magee, Protestant Archbishop of Dublin, at his late visitation.) XXII Si R> There can be no surer standard whereby to measure the tolerance of protestantism than the Acts of the English Parliament : they are not like the Decrees of Councils, made in remote ages, whose language may now be tortured by differ- ent interpretations. No, the English Statutes are understood to the letter, for they have been acted upon even within our own time, and they cannot claim the excuse of being enacted by men living secluded from the world, or whose minds were soured by austerities and mortifications, for they are the coun- cils of men, enjoying all the sweets of social and domestic happiness. Such are the authorities by which I frame my opi- nion ; and the abstract of them, which I annex, must satisfy every mind, that the mild tolerance of the Church of England is a gross delusion, and that there is another and a more in- tolerant Church than that of Rome. As many writers, in their zeal for the Reformation, will not allow the eighth Harry to be the first Reformer, I have to eschew contention, commenced with the reign of King Edward the Sixth. In the year 1548, this young prince, as supreme head, had it ordained and enacted, that any clergyman not using the Book of Common Prayer, and other rites, ' accord- ing to the Church of England,' or using any other form of prayer, should suffer imprisonment during life. This bold beginning with the Pastors must have reduced their flock, then the whole population of the kingdom, to a pretty alternative ! Hume says, that one third of the Clergy of England were deprived for non-conformity ; and with this precedent full in view, why should we wonder to see the regicides under Crom- well, in the next century, depriving and abolishing Archbishops, and all other Dignitaries, and selling their estates, to cany on the war against their King! King Edward's attention was next directed to the Laity : in 1 55 1 it was enacted, that every person should resort to where the Book of Common Prayer, &c. shall be used, under pain of Church censures ; and that if any person be present at any form of prayer or ecclesiastical rites, other than those set forth in the Book of Common Prayer, ho XX 111 shall suffer imprisonment during life. ! ! — Good God, am I to believe that the Reformation and slavery went hand in hand ? Where, then, were the civil liberties of Englishmen ? Was there no liberty of conscience, and could some dozen of individuals thus throw fetters over the national mind ? Was it thought that the Reformed Religion contained nothing which might, after a time, recommend it to the country ? — and could nothing but tyranny enforce the Reformation? Indeed, it appears not. Such, at all events, was the tolerance of the infantine reformed Church! Soon after it was enacted, that, for doubting the Queen's supremacy, (a point questioned by some Protestant Divines, and denounced by Hume,) christians in England were to suffer the pains of death and forfeit their estates, as in cases of high treason ! ! ! It was also enacted, that for causing any prayers to be said or sung, other than those contained in the said Book of Common Prayer, you should forfeit your estate and be imprisoned for life ; that to be recon- ciled to the Church of Rome, or withdrawn from the Church of England, was punishable as for high treason ; that if at the age of sixteen you went not to Church, you should pay a penalty of 201. per month ; and if unable to pay this penalty, you should be imprisoned until you conformed. — If, unfortu- nately, you had an estate, two thirds of it were vested in the Crown until you became a Protestant ; and if you had no estate wherewith to satisfy those penalties, you were forced solemnly to abjure your country, and transport yourself beyond the seas for ever, giving your personal property, chattels, &c. to the crown ; and should you return, the penalty was the death of a felon without benefit of clergy. If you did not become a member of the Established Church, under another Act, you dare not move more than five miles in any direction from your own house. You could neither christen, marry, nor bury, according to the rites of any but the Established Religion. Many of the Acts respecting wives, children, ser- vants, guardians, &c. are such as I shall not shock the feelings of your readers by commenting on, but will merely refer every I 2 XXIV enquirer, anxious for truth, to the following abstract, containing' the principal Laws of England, connected with religion, as they stood from the year 15<18, until so late as the year 1791, when their violence was somewhat chastened down by the 31st Geo. III. A perusal of this brief summary, must lead to the conviction, that intellectual slavery was the first consequence of the Re- formation in England — that the Reformed Religion did not succeed by its own merits — that no respect was paid to liberty of conscience — that the Reformation was forced on the country by arbitrary punishments — that under the edicts of the supreme head of the Protestant Church, it was impossible to be other- wise than a Protestant — that liberty, estate, country, and life, became the penalties of not acknowledging that supreme head ; and after gathering from the most faithful historians some know- ledge of how those penalties were enforced, must you not con- fess that those who now boast of the Civil and Religions Liber- ties of Old England, are meanly pandering to public delusion. I am, Sir, M. H. Abstract of Acts of Parliament made, in England on the sidyect of religion, from the year 1548 to the year 1791. STATUTE PASSED IN 1548. Any Parson, Vicar or other Minister, refusing to use ' the Book of Common Prayer, and other rites and ceremonies ac- cording to the use of the Church of England,' or ' using any other manner of Prayer,' or speaking against the said Book of Common Prayer, and being afterwards thereof three times con- victed, ' shall suffer imprisonment during his life.' STATUTE PASSED IN 1551. Every person shall resort to Church where Common Prayer shall be used, ' upon pain of punishment by censures of tfa XXV Church.' And any person hearing, or being present at any manner or form of Common Prayer, of administration of the Sacraments, making of Ministers, or of any rites, other than those set forth in the said Book of Common Prayer, shall suffer : imprisonment during his or their lives.' STATUTE TASSED IN 1558. The Queen declared to he supreme head of the Church, and all persons having promotions and offices, ecclesiastical or tem- poral, refusing to take the Oath of Supremacy, disabled from retaining or exercising any such offices during life.-Any person asserting the jurisdiction, spiritual or ecclesiastical, of any fereign Prince, Prelate, &c, heretofore used in this kingdom, shall, with his abettors, be attainted, forfeit all his estates, and ' suffer pains of death, and other penalties, forfeitures, and losses, as in cases of high treason, by the laws of this realm.' Any Minister convicted of refusing to use the book of Com- mon Prayer, or using any other rite or ceremony but what are set down in said book, shall forfeit his benefice, be imprisoned for twelve months, and on third conviction, shall be deprived, ipso facto, of all his spiritual 'promotions — and also, shall suf- fer imprisonment during his life.' If the offender have no spiritual promotion, he shall suffer imprisonment for life. Any person causing prayers to be said or sung than those set down in the book of Common Prayer, shall, for first offence, forfeit 1 00 marks ; for second offence, 400 marks ; and on third conviction, shall forfeit all his lands and goods to the Queen, and suffer imprisonment for life. Every person absenting himself from his Church, or place where the book of Common Prayer is used, 'shall suffer punish- ment by the censure of the Church,' and forfeit twelve pence for every Sunday and holiday so absent. STATUTE T-ASSED IN 1563. All persons must take the Oath of the Queen's Supremacy ; and any person refusing ' shall suffer and incur the danger, XXVI penalties, pains and forfeitures ordained and provided by the statute of provision and premunire aforesaid, made in the 16th year of the reign of King Richard the Second.' Refusing the oath the second time, declared to be treason. And no person to sit in the House of Commons without first proving his adhe- rence to the Protestant religion by taking this oath. STATUTE PASSED IN 1571. Any ecclesiastical person maintaining doctrines contrary to the 39 Articles, shall be deprived of his benefice. STATUTE PASSED IN 1581. It is hereby enacted, that it shall be treason ' to withdraw any person from the Religion established, to the Romish Reli- gion.' And that ' it shall be treason to be reconciled to or with- drawn to the Romish Religion.' And all aiders to suffer as for misprision of treason. Any person saying or wilfully hearing Mass, shall forfeit 200 marks, and suffer twelve months' imprisonment. Any person above the age of sixteen, not going to Church or usual place of Common Prayer, shall forfeit 20/. English per month ; and should he absent himself still, he shall give suf- ficient sureties for 200/. at least, ' to their good behaviour,' and shall so continue bound until they conform themselves and come to Church. Any person keeping a schoolmaster, who shall not repair to the Established Church, shall forfeit 10/. per month. Every person forfeiting money under this Act, and not able to pay same, shall be committed to prison, there to remain un- til he pays the penalties, 'or conform himself, or go to Church, and there do as is aforesaid.' For the information of your English readers, allow me (within a parenthesis, as it were) to shew the ' virgin Queen's' ideas of civil and religious liberty. My author on this occasion is David Hume — and when we accuse Hume of bigotry, when- ever he treats of Ireland, or catholicity, let us remember, XXV11 (though contemptible indeed is the apology) that he wrote in the last century, and then, too, for a London tradesman. This extract, with others which your limits preclude, will prove by what a lengthened and lamentable suspension of every human right the infancy of Reformation was protected in England. In the year 1584, Queen Elizabeth 'appointed 44 Commissioners, 1 2 of whom were Ecclesiastics ; three Commissioners could exercise the whole power of the Court ; their jurisdiction ex- tended over the whole kingdom, and over all orders of men; and every circumstance of their authority, and all their methods of proceeding were contrary to the clearest principles of law and natural equity. They were empowered to visit and reform all errors, schisms — in a word, to regulate all opinions, as well as to punish all breach of uniformity in the exercise of public worship. They were directed to make enquiry, not only by the legal methods of juries and witnesses, but by all other means and ways which they could devise : that is, by the rack, by torture, by inquision, by imprisonment. Where they thought proper to suspect any person, they might administer to him an oath called ex-officio, by which he was bound to answer all questions, and might thereby be obliged to accuse himself or his most intimate friend. The fines which they imposed were merely discretionary, and often occasioned the total ruin of the offenders, contrary to the established law of the kingdom. The imprisonment to which they condemned any delinquent was limited by no rule but their own pleasure. They assumed a power of imposing on the Clergy what new articles of subscrip- tion, and consequently of faith, they thought proper. Though all other spiritual Courts were subject, since the Reformation, to inhibitions from the supreme Courts at Law, the Ecclesias- tical Commissioners exempted themselves from that legal jurisdiction, and were liable to no controul. And the more to enlarge their authority, they were empowered to punish all incests, adulteries, fornications, all outrages, misbehaviours, and disorders in marriage ; and the punishments which they might inflict were according to their wisdom, conscience, and discre- xxviii lion. In a word, this Court was a real Inquisition, attended with all the iniquities, as well a9 cruelties, inseparable from that horrid tribunal. In the next century, we find the Protestant Clergy of Ireland exercising the powers of those Inquisitors. The Roman Catholics, then forming the majority of both Houses of Parliament, tendered 120,000/. to Charles I. for re- dress of ' Grievances, which,' says my Reverend Friend, Dr. Leland, the governmentjiistorian, ' persons of all denominations had experienced.' One branch of redress which Charles pro- mised was, that ' touching any contumacies pretended against Ecclesiastical Jurisdiction ;' the Clergy should not ' be per- mitted to keep any private prisons of their own for these causes, but delinquents in that kind are henceforth to be committed to the king's public gaols, and by the king's officers.' It proba- bly may be necessary to say, that Charles accepted the 120,000/. but I am sure it is wholly unnecessary to add, that he did not ful- fil his promise ; and, as a proof how unchanging and unchanged are some of the doctrines of Protestantism, I need only advert to the well known fact, that during the present year, a respec- table member of the Established Church was arrested on the Sabbath, in a Church in this city, and detained, during Divine Service, in the custody of some of the servants, by virtue of a written power signed by a Prelate. This written instrument I have read, and it appeared to be, as far as its want of gramma- tical correctness would allow me to understand it, an impudent, illegal, and vulgar imitation of the Sci Fa's and Fi Fas, is- sued from the King's Courts, indicted in the Saxon, or some obsolete dialect of the English language. STATUTE PASSED IN 1586. All Jesuits, Seminary, and other Priests, remaining in En- gland, or entering the kingdom after forty days, ' shall, for his offence be adjudged a traitor, and shall suffer, lose, and forfeit, as in case of high treason.' Receiving or relieving any such person shall be a felony — and sending money or relief to such persons, out of England, shall XXlX ho punished with the penalties of promunire, or in other words, with transportation and forfeiture of property. No children to be sent beyond seas, without license ; and any knowing where a Jesuit is in this kingdom, and not disco- vering it, shall forfeit 200 marks ! Persons submitting under this Act, and conforming to the Established Church, shall not go within ten miles of the Queen for ten years ! Note — Innumerable executions took place of Priests, &c. under this Act, but so late as 30th June, 1646, when the English and Scotch nations were in arms for liberty of consci- ence, Itushworth, v. 4, p. 305, tamely mentions, as an ordi- nary occurrence, that one Morgan, for having received Orders beyond the seas in the Church of Rome, and coming into En- gland, contrary to law, was drawn, hanged, and quartered, at Tyburn. STATUTE PASSED IN 1587. Two-thirds of the lands and other estates of every person refusing to go to Church, shall be taken into the Queen's pos- session, ' leaving the third part only of the same lands, &c. to and for the maintenance of the same offender, his wife, chil- dren, and family.' STATUTE PASSED IN 1593. All recusants, (persons were so called who refused to con- form to the Protestant Church, in the English Statutes) shall give in their names to the Curate of their Parish, who will cer- tify same to the Justices, in order to take proceedings against them ; and any Priest refusing to acknowledge himself as such, shall be committed to prison. Note — How offensive it would be to hint that there was ever an • Inquisition m England.' Any person above the age of sixteen, refusing to go to Church, or impugning, by speeches, the Queen's auth »rity ec- clesiastical or persuading others not to go to Church, or going XXX to any other place of religious meeting, shall he committed to prison, there to remain, without hail or mainprize, until they conform to the Church, and hear Divine Service, as established by law. Any person offending against this Act, and not coming in within three months and conforming to the Church, must ab- jure and depart out of the realm, and refusing to do so, is de- clared felony, without benefit of Clergy. Any person keeping in his house any one who refuses to go to Church, shall forfeit 10/. for every month, and for every such person refusing. The lands and goods of persons forced to depart out of the realm by this Act, shall be forfeited to the Crown. ANOTHER STATUTE, SAME YEAR. All persons above sixteen years of age, convicted of not going to Church, shall repair to their dwellings and ' not pass or remove above five miles from thence, under penalty of for- feiting all their lands, goods, &c. to the Queen. All persons not having sufficient means to pay the penalties above enacted, and who still refuse to go to Church, shall, on their corporal oath before two Justices, abjure and depart out of this realm for ever, and should they refuse so to abjure, they shall suffer and lose, as in case of felony, without be- nefit of Clergy. STATUTE PASSED IN 1602. Confirms most of the foregoing Statutes, and enacts that any person sending a child to a Popish Seminary beyond sea for in- struction, shall forfeit 100/., and such child shall be afterwaids incapable of inheriting his estate, or making any purchase. No person to keep a School out of the Universities or Col- leges, unless in the family of a Nobleman of the Established Church, under penalty of 40s. per day. STATUTE PASSED IN 1605. p Every recusant conforming, shall receive the Sacrament once XXXI a year in his pariah Church — Church-wardens to roturn monthly lists of persons refusing to attend Divine Service, and of their children above nine years of age — Justices to make proclama- tion that such offenders render their bodies to the Sheriff- monthly penalties of 20/. on each, and two-thirds of their Es- tates to be taken for the King. Every Bishop shall examine the persons in his Diocese on oath, and he who ' shall refuse to answer upon oath,' shall be committed to prison without bail or mainprize. (Here is a specimen of the Protestant Inquisition.) Any person above eighteen ycare refusing the oath of Supre- macy shall incur the danger and penalties of premunire. No indictments of such persons shall be reversed for want of form. Any person reconciling another to the Church of Rome, ' shall have judgment, suffer and forfeit as in cases of high treason.' Penalty of 12 pence for every time persons are absent from Church, and 10/. per month penalty on those who keep or re- lieve a servant not going to Church service. The Sheriff or other Officer may break open any house wherein Popish Recusants shall be. ANOTHER STATUTE SAME YEAR. Any person discovering where Mass was said, shall have his own pardon and one-third of the goods, &c. forfeited by the attainder. No recusant to come within ten miles of London, under penalty of 100/. No man married to a Popish woman shall hold any office, and every married woman not conforming to the established Church, shall forfeit ' two parts of her jointure and two parts of her dower.' Note — Rushworth, v. 1, p. 211, mentions instances of ' Gen- tlemen' flying to prisons, and there remaining as ' protection from the lawful proceedings (the fellow says with the coldness of an Eunuch) that might be had against them for recusancy.' XXX II Every Popish recusant ' shall stand and be reputed to all in* tents and purposes disabled as a person lawfully and duly ex- communicated,' until they come to Church and receive the Lord's Supper. Any man married, ' otherwise than according to the orders of the Church of England, by a Minister lawfully authorised,' shall be utterly disabled from taking any lands in right of his wife. Any woman, being a Popish recusant, marrying, shall be utterly excluded from any dower, &c. in right of her husband. And if any man marry a Popish woman, who has- no lands in her own right, he shall forfeit 100/. Any parent not getting his child baptised by a lawful Minis- ter, shall forfeit 100/. ! ! ! The executors, &c. of every person not buried in a Church or Church-yard, according to the ecclesiastical laws of the Established Church, shall forfeit 20/. Children sent beyond seas, shall forfeit their estates, and if, on their return, they do not conform, their next a-kin being Protestant shall inherit their estate. Persons sending children beyond seas to forfeit 100/. No person not a member of the Established Religion shaft present to any Church, Benefice or Advowson, &c. ; but same are hereby given to Oxford College for ever. Note — Under this Act Oxford College now presents to some hundreds of valuable Benefices, the Advowsons of which be- longed to Roman Catholics. Is it any wonder then that this former seat of learning should be converted into a hive of ignorant, indolent bigots ? No Popish recusant shall be executor, or administrator, or guardian ; and no Popish books shall be brought from beyond the seas. STATUTE PASSED IN 1609- Every person above the age of eighteen shall take the Oath of Supremacy. Any person refusing to do so, shall be com- mitted to Prison, without bail or mainprize, until the Assizes ; XXX1U and if he then refuse, he shall incur the danger and penalty of premunire, except women covert, who shall be committed to prison only, there to remain without hail or mainprize till they will take the said Oath and conform, or until her husband pay to the King 10/. per month, or the third part of all his estate. Note So rigidly were all those laws executed, that in 1626 we find Lord Scroop, accused to the King for conniving at Re- cusancy, inasmuch as he had only convicted 1670 Catholics in the East Riding of Yorkshire ! ! ! STATUTE PASSED IN 1627. Any person going himself, or sending any other beyond the seas, to be bred or instructed in Popery, shall be disabled to sue or use any action at law or equity, to be executor or adminis- trator or capable of any deed or legacy, or to bear any office, and shall lose and forfeit all his goods and chattels, ' and shall forfeit all his lands, tenements, aud hereditaments, rents, an- nuities, offices, and estates of freehold, for and during his na- tural life.' STATUTE PASSED IN 1662. That all Deans, Parsons, Vicars, Ministers, &c, refusing to read and declare their assent to use * the Book of Common Prayer, and administration of the Sacraments and other rites and ceremonies of the Church, according to the use of the Church of England ; or who will not read the Book of Common Prayer, and declare his assent thereto, shall be ipso facto deprived of all their spiritual promotion.' Any schoolmaster, tutor, &c, not doing the same, shall, for the first offence, suffer three months ' imprisonment without bail or mainprize,' and for the second, and every other offence, three months' imprisonment, and a forfeiture of 5/. to the King. And no other form of prayer to be used openly in any Church or public place in the kingdom. STATUTE PASSED IN 1670. If any person above sixteen be present at any assembly under xxxlv pretence of any exercise of religion, ' in other manner than ac- cording to the Liturgy and practice of the Church of England,' be shall be fined — any person preaching in any such meeting shall forfeit 20/., and for second offence 40/. — any person per- mitting such meetings in his house, offices, &c., shall forfeit 20/. and Justices of Peace, Constables, &c, are empowered to break open doors where such meetings they are informed may be held. STATUTE PASSED IN 1673. All persons that bear any offices or places, &c, must take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, and other oaths, and receive the Sacrament — any person not brought up from his infancy a Papist, who shall instruct his child in the Popish re- ligion, is disabled to bear any office of trust or profit, in Church or State ; and such child shall be disabled also to bear any office of trust or profit in the Church or State, until he 'shall be perfectly reconciled and converted to the Church of England, and shall take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance aforesaid.' STATUTE PASSED IN 1688. No Peer of the Upper House, or Member of the House of Commons, shall sit or vote in either House, until they first take the Oaths of Supremacy and Allegiance, and make, and sub- scribe, and audibly repeat this the declaration against transub- stantiation (Another bonus on conformity to the Protestant religion.) STATUTE PASSED IN 1668. All persons holding offices, ecclesiastical or civil, shall take the Oaths herein mentioned of Allegiance, and against the Pope's supremacy— every person refusing to take same shall be committed for three months and fined 405. — for second offence, at the end of his imprisonment, he shall be imprisoned for six months longer, and pay a fine not exceeding 10/. — if he refuse the third time, he shall be adjudged incapable of office, and shall be bound to good behaviour until he take the oath. XXXV STATUTE PASSED IN SAME YEAR. The declaration against Popery directed to be tendered to all Papists, who, if they refuse same, shall forfeit and suffer as ' a Papist recusant convict under the laws already made' since 1546, or in otherwise banishment or imprisonment for life, loss of estate, and in some cases of life, &c. Note. — These two Statutes are the first made by King William's Parliament, and they exhibit what ideas the Protes- tant Church had then of Civil and Religious Liberty. ANOTHER STATUTE OF SAME YEAR. Persons refusing the Oaths of Supremacy, &c. shall suffer the penalties of all the laws above recited ; and after some clauses in favor of Dissenters, who, by the way, were still forced to acknowledge the fundamental doctrines of the Re- formation before they were entitled to such benefits, it is enacted, that nothing herein contained shall be construed to give ease to any Papist or Popish recusant. STATUTE PASSED IN 1700. A reward of 100/. for taking a Popish Bishop or Priest, and prosecuting him, for saying Mass, or exercising any of his functions. Any Popish Bishop or Priest saying Mass, or keeping school, shall be adjudged to perpetual imprisonment. Papists not taking the oaths when 18 years old, shall be in- capable of inheriting any lands, &c, and their next of kin, being Protestant, shall enjoy their estates; neither shall Papists purchase property : and if a Papist do not allow his Protestant child competent maintenance, the Chancellor shall make order for that purpose. STATUTE PASSED IN 1714. Justices may tender the Oaths of Allegiance, Supremacy, and Abjuration, to any persons whom they may suspect, who, refusing same, shall be adjudged a Popish recusant con- vict ! f ! XXXVI No office to bo held by any person, civil or military, unless they take the said oaths, and all heads of Colleges, Tutors, Preachers, Constables, Lawyers, Proctors, Attornies, Clerks, or Notaries, &c. &c, shall take said oaths ; and any person refusing, and afterwards attempting to act in office, shall be disabled from serving at Law or Equity, from being guardian of his children, or executor or administrator, from taking by deed or gift, from voting for Members of Parliament, &c. &c, and shall also forfeit the sum of 500/. ! ! ! STATUTE PASSED IN 1719. Any Mayor, Bailiff, or other Magistrate, being present at any religious meeting, other than the Church of England, as by law established, he shall be disabled from filling the office of Mayor, or any other office whatsoever. statutes passed 1736 and 1757. If any person neglecting or refusing to take the oaths and the Sacrament, and make and subscribe the declaration, shall execute any office, he shall be disabled from suing at Law or in Equity, from being guardian of his children, executor, or administrator, or from taking by legacy or deed of gift, and shall forfeit the sum of 500/. &c. &c. And thus far for the toleration of Protestantism from 1546 until 1791. THE END. LETTER THOMAS SPRING RICE, ESQ. M.P. &C. &C. THE ESTABLISHMENT OF A LEGAL PROVISION IRISH POOR, AND ON THE NATURE AND DESTINATION OF CHURCH PROPERTY. BY THE RIGHT REV. JAMES DOYLE, D. D. &c. &c. DUBLIN : RICHARD COYNE, CAPEL-STREET, BOOKSELLER TO THE ROYAL COLLEGE OF ST. PATRICK, MAVNOOTH, AND PUBLISHER TO THE R. C. BISHOPS OF IRELAND. LONDON, J. RIDGEWAY, PICCADILLY. 1831. A LETTER, &c. &c. Sir, There arc many reasons why such re- marks, as occur to me, on the subject of a pro- vision for the most indigent portion of our coun- trymen, should be addressed to you. Among those reasons, are the unwearied attention with which you have investigated the state of Ireland ; the extensive and accurate knowledge you have acquired of that state ; your ability to improve her condition, and your anxious desire for that im- provement ; but above all, the patience, I should rather say the kindness with which you have, at all times, listened to my crude opinions, even when those opinions differed very widely from your own. It appears from the " Report of the Select Committee on the State of the Poor in Ireland," ordered by the House of Commons to be printed, G 16th July, 1830, that the question of making a legal provision for the Irish poor remains as yet undecided. And as the committee, abstaining from any specific recommendation to the House of Commons on the subject, is satisfied to refer them to the evidence as reported, it may not be im- proper, perhaps it may be useful to lay before the public, under the sanction of your respected name, a summary of the arguments contained in that evidence. This is the task which I propose to myself. I will endeavour to execute it with bre- vity and candour, not by extracts from the evi- dence itself, for then brevity could scarcely be observed, but by reducing the arguments employed by the opponents of a poor-rate to the most sim- ple form, and unfolding those used in reply to such extent only, as will enable the public to estimate their value. We may premise as maxims, or postulates, those truths or facts about which all, or nearly all, the witnesses are agreed. These facts or truths are the following. 1st. That a great portion of the labouring population is without employment. 2nd. That the average price of labour is about ten-pence per day. 3rd. That the labouring classes subsist on a species of food, capable only of supporting animal existence in the lowest state. 4th. That the supply of this food is precarious, and the failure of it is attended with extreme, suffering, arising from want and contagious dis- ease. 5th. That the number of destitute poor in Ire- land is exceedingly great ; and though few of them die of actual want, great numbers of them perish gradually of inanition, or are carried off by chro- nic or inflammatory diseases, produced by wet, cold, and hunger. 6th. That the expense of providing food for an Irish pauper, varies from two to three-pence a day, but in no case is found to exceed the latter sum. 7th. That excepting fever hospitals, county in- firmaries, dispensaries and lunatic assylums, there is no provision made by law for the Irish poor. 8th. That the number of the unemployed, as well as of the destitute poor, has been exceedingly increased, and their sufferings proportionably ag- gravated by the system which has prevailed for some years, and still prevails, of ejecting the smaller tenantry from their holdings, and consoli- dating farms. 9th. That the burthen of supporting the poor and destitute, as tl;cy are now supported, is borne principally, and almost exclusively, by the indus- trious or middling classes of society, 10th. That it would be desirable so to equalise that burthen, as that it might be shared in just proportion by all the owners of property in Ire- land. 11th. That the legislature is imperatively called on by the actual state of the labouring classes, and of the destitute poor in Ireland, to devise some means whereby relief may be afforded to them. It is contended by those who are opposed to the introduction of a poor-rate in Ireland. First, That the poor are so numerous, that if a pro- vision be made for them by law, they will consume all the produce of the land ; in other words, eat up the rental of the country. Secondly, that whatever is given by the posses- sors of property for the maintenance of the poor, is deducted from a capital to be otherwise em- ployed in productive labour, and acts as a conti- nual drain upon the resources of the country, or as a drawback from her ordinary and legitimate means of improvement. Thirdly, That a legal provision for the poor invites to idleness, and renders the poor impro- vident. 9 Fourthly, That such provision tends to narrow the exercise of charity, and to weaken not only the ties of neighbourly kindness, but even of filial and parental affection. Fifthly, That if a provision for the poor were prescribed by law, there could not be found in the several districts or parishes in Ireland, persons fit and able to carry into effect the provisions of such law. Sixthly, That the abuses inherent in the English system of poor-laws, are evidence of the inevitable 1 ! mischief to arise from a system of poor-laws, if introduced into Ireland. Seventhly, That the sufferings of the Irish poor may be more beneficially and effectually relieved, by the correction of abuses in the raising and ex- penditure of the monies now levied by local assess- ment, and by that general improvement likely to arise from individual enterprise, and from public works, to be designed and aided by government, and carried on under their direction and controul. Eighthly, That Ireland is at present in a state transition, as England and Scotland were at for- mer periods, and therefore she will, like these countries, work out of her present state of suf- fering, to a state of comfort or affluence. 10 Ninthly, That the poor have no claim founded on justice, to a provision being made for them at the expense of the rich, or of those possessed of property. These are the arguments, so far as I have been able to collect them from "the evidence," em- ployed by those who are opposed to any provision being made by law for the Irish poor. I shall now set down each of these arguments separately, and annex, by way of reply to them, the opinions of those witnesses who thought favourably of hav- ing some provision, however slender, secured to the aged and infirm — to the helpless and destitute of our population, and of attempting the relief of the unemployed poor. It is alleged, " That the poor are so numerous, that if a provision be made for them by law, they will consume all the produce of the land j in other words, eat up the rental of the country." There is a short reply to this allegation, for it is an allegation, but not an argument. The reply to it is this. That a legal provision for all the poor is not contemplated, or sought for, but only for that portion of them who are unable through age, infirmity, or other special cause, to provide their own support. Admitting, therefore, but only for 11 sake of argument, that the whole produce of the country would be required for the maintenance of all the poor, it does not follow that even a great portion of it would be necessary for the support of that class last above mentioned* Again, if the country be in a state of transition from poverty to comfort, and if her poor are to find effectual relief in the expected improvements of her civil administration and internal resources, how, it may be asked, could a provision for the impotent poor not only counteract the relief anti- cipated from encreased employment and produc- tion, but also devour the whole rental of the coun- try, especially when the average expenditure for the support of a pauper is ascertained not to ex- ceed two-pence and a fraction each day ? But what appears conclusive on this point is, that the Irish poor are now preserved from actual starvation ; it would not be just or true to say they are supported, but their lives are now generally preserved by the voluntary offerings of the indus- trious classes alone ; and if these classes have been able hitherto, without ruin to themselves, to save their destitute brethren from perishing of want, with what colour of truth can it be alleged, that the additional expenditure to be assigned by a 12 Poor Law for the maintenance of paupers, would eat up the whole rental ? There is great reason to suspect, that the persons who ohject on this cround to the introduction of a Poor Law, have cither not duly considered the suhject, or are in- fluenced in their judgment by a fear that they would themselves be subjected to any portion of that unavoidable burthen of feeding the poor, from which they have hitherto successfully endeavoured to keep themselves altogether exempt. These persons are forced to admit that their own rent- rolls have advanced two, three, or four hunded per cent, within the last forty years, the very period during which pauperism has been regularly pro- gressing in Ireland j but when there is question of relieving that pauperism by the slightest deduction from those rent-rolls, they exclaim — "you will hand over our estates to be devoured by the poor." There is not truth, or justice, or Christian charity, or knowledge of the state of Ireland, in assertions like the above. They arc the fruit of precon- ceived errors, or of a selfishness, odious alike to God and man. Second objection is, " That whatever is given by the possessors of property to the maintenance of the poor, is deducted from a capital to be other- 13 wise employed in productive labour ; and there- fore, acts as a constant drain upon the resources of the country, or as a drawback from her ordinary and legitimate means of improvement." This argument, if admitted to its full extent, would not only repeal the Gospel law of charity, but justify the savages in North America, who used to put to death, or leave to perish without regard to the voice of nature or ties of blood, those of their respective tribes, who, through age or infirmity were unable to join in the chase, or share in their wars. It would invite us to adopt, among the maxims of our political economy, not the "non intercourse system" of Malthus, but the practical science of the Chinese, who are said to guard against domestic want, by the prudent ex- ercise of infanticide. To such maxims, and to such practices, we, in this country, may one day be driven, if abstract theories be allowed to com- bat successfully, against the first principles of nature, and the first duties of man. What ! if it be true that " there must be always poor in the land" — if it be true that he " who sees a brother suffer want, and shuts the bowels of compassion against him, hath not the charity of God abiding in him :" — if it be true, that not to feed the n hungry man in the day of his utmost need, is to imbrue our hands in his innocent blood, how can we admit to discussion, as if it were doubtful, the obligation attached to all property, of maintaining out of it the helpless and destitute — the stranger, the widow, and the orphan. But it is said, " that what is given to their sup- port, is deducted from capital to be otherwise employed in productive labour." This is objected to the advocates of the poor, and it is objected without remorse by those who justify luxurious living — the keeping of dogs, and horses, and ser- vants, without limit or employment. These per- sons say, that what is thus expended or consumed, returns to the tradesman, the merchant, and agriculturalist. Be it so. But if the rich encou- rage arts and agriculture by useless and luxurious consumption ; if the capital thus expended by them be not withdrawn from productive labour, how can it be said, that the food and raiment furnished to the pauper, is a drawback from the resources of the country. We may import spices from the east, and extract gems from the depths of the ocean : — we may collect, for our amusement, the beasts of the earth, the fowls of the air, and the fishes of the sea : — we may gratify all our 15 appetites, whether regular or unruly: — we may expend upon the idle, the licentious, the profane, the fruits of labour and the products of industry, without trenching upon the capital to be employed in productive labour j but, if from our excesses and fictitious wants, we deduct a mite for the widow, or a crust for the orphan, industry will perish, and the state decay ! The poor rate, it is true, will not be sown in the ground, and the food and raiment given to the pauper will not increase and multiply j but the precious wines we consume, the gorgeous palaces we inhabit, the dogs and horses we employ for pleasure, the pampered hordes who feast in our halls — these — all these are no deduction from productive labour. But who are they who advance this paradox ? They are the men who are forced to confess that the accumulation of wealth in large masses, whe- ther by the laws of inheritance, by speculations in the public funds, or by successful efforts in trade, is among the chief causes of the disorganized state of society in these kingdoms. And yet, whilst this is allowed by them, they oppose, with all their might, the making any deduction from these accumulated masses of property, for the relief of that pauperism which this same accumu- 10 ation of wealth has greatly tended to produce. There is not sense or consistency to be found in the arguments of those, who, sparing the rich, would leave the poor to lie as an incubus upon the really productive classes ; — upon those classes whose capital is small, who have not wherewith either to stock or till their farms to advantage, or to conduct their trade with freedom and con- venience. But this objection, like the former allegation, is employed to amuse the public mind, by spacious theories which impose on the unedu- cated, but which have no foundation in truth, or in the realities of social life. This argument, as has been seen, if once admitted, would subvert the Gospel, and justify the destruction of human life. And when examined as to its bearing upon the employment of capital, is found as inapplicable to that subject, as it would be to the theory of the winds. Capital, in its ordinary acceptation, consists of those savings of industry, or from any other fund which may happen to be in the hands or at the disposal of any individual. Misers and merchants generally have most capital, and though the latter class often speculate, yet both classes, when about to invest or embark capital in an^ loan or enter 17 prise, look, in the first place, to tlie security of the capital itself, and in the next place, to the amount of profit to be reasonably expected from it. It is said we want capital in Ireland, and it is said so frequently and confidently, that I begin to doubt very much whether the assertion be well- founded. We certainly want capital if there was question of establishing large and extensive manu- factories, or if we were about to build pyramids, or raise embankments against the encroachment of the sea ; but that we want capital to reclaim our waste lands, to improve those now in cultiva- tion, or to give remunerating employment to all our people, is what may be the fact, but what I do not believe ; I have many reasons for believing the contrary. This, however, is certain, that there is in England and Ireland, taken conjointly, more than a sufficiency of capital, and that there need not the slightest apprehension rest upon the mind of any one, that the sums to be levied by a Poor Law, would at all operate to diminish that capital. For as we have already said, "capital consists of those savings of the fruits of industry, or accumu- lations from some other fund, which may happen to be in the hands or at the disposal of one or more individuals." This capital is useless to a nation, if it be not employed as an instrument of production ; but if it be, the result is an increase of something useful to mankind — of something which adds to the supply called for by the wants or luxuries of human life. Supposing, therefore, a sufficiency of capital to exist, and that it does exist in these countries, is I think incontrovertible, would a Poor Law invite or not invite its invest- ment in productive labour ? This question is to be considered with reference to two classes possessing capital. First, the rich and wealthy in this country and England, who have, at their disposal, large sums of money. Second, the resident land holders or dealers who have hoarded something. Would the former class be invited or deterred by a Poor Law from invest- ing capital in Ireland ? This question may be solved by the reply to be given to this other. Will a nation covered with pauperism as with a leprosy, and thereby constantly tempted or led into acts of outrage, offer good security to the owner of capi- tal ? or can such owner expect a steady and well- paid profit from a country, in which, one-half of the population not only have no interest in the preservation of order, but who have no provision secured to them, even in cases of extreme want, 19 except in the benevolence of the rank next above themselves, or in the treadmill or gallows prepared for all who invade the rights of property, even when impelled thereto by the rabid bite of hunger ? If a country, so situated, invite to the investment of capital, Ireland, without a Poor Rate, holds forth the strongest inducement. If the case be otherwise, then the question above proposed is answered. Then, as to the second class, or the class of minor capitalists. Will they be encou- raged or deterred by a Poor Law, to speculate with the savings of their industry ? Every person well acquainted with this class, knows that they either hoard, or expend in com- merce or agriculture in proportion to the degree of peace and security which prevails. In times of great distress, of civil commotion, they suspend their industrious pursuits — they change their bank notes into gold, and bury it in the earth — they are anxious and in dread, they will invest nothing, they will contract all their dealings, and expend only what urgent necessity demands. When pau- perism preys on this class, and the number of starving mendicants increases about them, they consult with each other, not on the outlay of capital, but on removing to America, and of res- 20 cuing the savings of their industry, which are to them as household-gods, from the enemies who encompass them on every side. If, then, a pro- vision for the poor tended to give to every man a home and a country — if it gave shelter to the widow, and food to the orphan — if it discriminated between the vicious and the virtuous — if it said to the aged labourer, who for fifty years had risen with the sun to till the earth and enrich the world, " you shall not die of hunger in the land of your birth" — if a Poor Rate did this, it would be to Ireland like the dew of heaven — it would give peace to the heart of the poor — it would attach them to the laws — it would give them an interest in the property of which they shared, and teach them, not by word, but by works, that there was a government which had care of them, and a country which they could call their own. It would establish that peace and security which, more effectually than laws, prisons, and police, teach the small capitalist that he may embark his money in trade, or in productive labour, without fear or apprehension. But then it will be said, " If you levy from the land-holder an assessment for the support of the poor, you diminish his savings, and his savings are his capital." 21 There is great ignorance, or worse hypocrisy in this objection. For it is made by those who know that at present the support of the poor rests almost exclusively on the land-holder, and yet who do not complain for him that his savings or capital is thereby diminished. But when it is proposed to ease the land-holder, by removing from him a part of the burthen he now suffers, by placing such part upon the owner of the land, then a cry is raised, " that the capital of the land-holder is to be diminished, and productive labour narrowed." No ! It is not so. The princely absentee, the unfeeling landlord, the gorged prelate, the spend- thrift, and the sensualist, may, for a moment, suffer some drawback from their excessive profits ; but capital in the hands of those who really em- ploy it as an instrument to enrich nations and render men happy, will suffer no diminution. How I wish we could induce our opponents to descend with us to the arena of argument, and cease to sound the unfounded alarm, " that a Poor Rate would diminish the capital of the country." The third objection to the establishment of a Poor Rate in Ireland is the following. " A legal provision for the poor invites to idleness, and ren- ders the poor themselves improvident." 22 Good God ! How bewildered in useless theo- ries must not the minds of those men be, who rest their opposition to a Poor Rate on this objec- tion ! how inattentive to that useful truth expressed by the poet, " the proper study of mankind, is man." We can open no history of any nation — we cannot investigate the origin of society in any country we cannot look round us in any town or hamlet we may inhabit, without discovering, that all civilization has its source and origin in men acquiring, or being put into the secure pos- session of the necessaries of life. Until men arrive at this state, they are savages, whether they inhabit the plains of Mexico, or the sands of Arabia, or the fertile fields of Europe, they are and continue destitute of all civilization : they apply not to arts, or laws, or letters, or commerce, until food and raiment are first secured to them. Not only this is true, but there is no degree of civilization to which a nation can arrive, which will not be forfeited or lost to that portion of it, if any, which by guilt, or accident, or the working of human events, have fallen from the possession of the necessaries of life. A man habitually de- voured by hunger, or perishing with cold, may, if a Christian, be a saint ; but abstracting from reli- 23 gion he is deranged, he is superstitious, improvi- dent, reckless of life and character, and liable to be agitated by every species of passion. It is im- possible to introduce him, or restore him to a state of civilization, of labour, or industry, until you provide for him the necessaries of life. When this is done, he becomes docile, attentive to in- struction, capable of being directed and governed, nay, he gradually thinks of acquiring property, and advancing in the career of social existence. Is there any truth more universally admitted, than that the love of property increases with the pos- session of it, and that the desire of accumulating wealth is in a direct ratio with the quantity of wealth acquired ? But the objection is founded on the converse of all the foregoing truths. It would, if it were true, lead us to conclude, that to excite men to labour, you have only to strip them naked, and give them no food — that to domesticate or civilize a savage, you have only to madden him with hunger — that to infuse into a man a habit of industry, and a desire of comfort and gain, it is only requisite to leave him abandoned to the wind of heaven, without house or home. Such are the absurd consequences which How necessarily from the supposition, that a provision securing to the 24 poor the necessaries of life, would lead them into indolence. But what then ! Are none of the poor so vici- ous as to prefer suhsisting on the industry of others, to earning their own bread ? Are none of them so licentious as to waste their own earnings, with a view of resorting to the parish fund in the day of their need ? Certainly ! As there are many prodigals, and many idlers, and many cri- minals of divers kinds belonging to each and every class of society, so that class, to which pauperism belongs as an heir-loom, abounds with profligates. But as we never complain of our social condition, or think of returning to the woods from whence we came, because there are many profligates amongst us, neither should we reason or legislate for the lowest class in the state, as if they were all infected with an incurable disease. You may not, by making a provision for the truly helpless poor, infuse into the minds of all, those good principles which they all should adopt. But you do what depends on you. You bring all your fellow creatures within the pale of civilization ; you render them capable of receiving advice and instruction ; you subject them voluntarily to the restraint of law ; you remove the strongest incen- 25 tive of wild and ungovernable passion, and you acquit yourself before God of the duty he imposed on you towards your fellow man. But why is this objection brought forward ? or why are we employed in combatting an error which does not concern us? For who has thought of introducing into Ireland a system of Poor Laws, which would vest in the idler, or the drunkard, or the improvident, a right to subsistence at the pub- lic cost ? Who has thought of wresting from those who would relieve the poor, the power given to them by the law of heaven, which s*ays, " if any ONE DO NOT LABOUR, LET HIM NOT EAT ;" 01* is it to deceive the public, and to bring odium on the poor, that their advocates are charged as the abet- tors of a system which they abhor ? But enough has been said upon this idle, this silly objection. And yet not enough, if we are to consider the value in which it appears to be held by the oppo- ponents of a Poor Rate. In every other page of " the evidence," we find, among the leading questions, the following : — " Do not the poor, when threatened with scarcity, practise great economy in the use of their provisions, so even as to sell their pigs, and husband their resources in every possible way ?" The inference sought to be 26 deduced from this interrogatory is, that if the poor in seasons of scarcity could look to periodical aid, they would be less careful of their own resources. This inference assumes as true, what we have just proved to be incompatible with the workings of our nature, and with the history of the human race : for it assumes that the possession of pro- perty, however small the quantity, does not urge the possessor to preserve and increase his store. It assumes that men willingly become paupers j that they use no exertion to preserve their rank, however humble in society, but freely, and of their own accord take up the badge of pauperism, and even fix the brand of it upon their offspring. It assumes still more, for it supposes that periodical aid is to be extended as a matter of course to those in Ireland, who have food to spare, and pigs to feed, whereas no such thing is contemplated. — Finally, the objection, if seriously entertained, is applicable only to such a system of Poor Laws, as would entitle every man, poor or without em- ployment, to claim from the magistrate as a mat- ter of right, subsistence for himself and his family. Such a system exists in England, but is not pro- posed by any person, whatever may be its merits, as adapted to the present state of Ireland. 27 It is also said, that if a Poor Law be introduced, the poor will improvidently contract marriage, hoping to discharge upon society the burthen of maintaining their offspring. There is no symp- tom more striking, or better ascertained of our social state, in these countries, having reached that point where luxury begins to produce corruption and decay, than the horror entertained, and the opposition given by the upper classes, to the legiti- mate procreation of children by the poor. This, however, is a subject on which I cannot trust my- self to write. It is unspeakably wicked in the rulers of a people, to throw obstacles in the way of lawful marriage, or to drive the multitude into habits of concubinage : and the state is not only at war with heaven, but it is corrupted in its insti- tutions, and blind in its policy, when it seeks to check the multiplication of the human kind. But if ever there was a state more culpable than ano- ther, in either making or abetting such efforts, that state is Britain : for Britain with her wealth, her shipping, and her foreign possessions or dependan- cies, could colonize, to an unlimited extent, and standing as she does, between the old and new worlds, seems destined by Providence to receive the overflowing population of the one, and trans- 28 fer that population to the other — there to enjoy the earth and the fulness thereof. But leaving this subject, which may appear not closely con- nected with that of which we treat, let us resume the consideration of improvident marriages, said to be encouraged by a legal provision for the poor. Why Ireland, in which there is not, and has not been any provision for the poor, is the theatre whereon all the evils of such marriages have been exhibited ; I have seen them, and lamented over them, and dissuaded from them, and even checked them, and often did so against all my feelings and convictions. But placed as I have been without power to remove, or to alleviate the sufferings of my country, I have often been obliged to select for toleration the lesser of two, or the least of many evils -, but if Ireland, without a Poor Law, has out- stripped all other nations in the number of her im- provident marriages, it is by no means self-evident that a Poor Law, of its nature, tends to encourage such marriages. I have assigned them, upon more than one very solemn occasion, to a far different cause. I am sure I assigned them to their true cause. I assigned them to the squalid misery, to the close cohabitation — to the too free intercourse which extreme poverty begets. I assigned them 29 to that wrecklessness of life, and improvidence of all things, which grow with the wildness of pas- sion out of utter destitution. These, and not Poor Laws, are the causes of improvident mar- riages. A provision for the poor would tend pow- erfully to check such marriages, to restore pauper- ism to civilization, and to bring men back to that care of self > to that reflection on their future state in this world, which would teach them to regulate the time and circumstances of their marriage, as well as all their other concerns. The fourth objection to a provision being made for the poor is, " That such provision tends to narrow the exercise of charity, and to weaken not only the ties of neighbourly kindness, but even to loosen the bonds of filial and parental affection. " I could wish exceedingly it were in the power of Parliament to obtain a return of the sums ex- pended in works of charity by those who without a smile, nay, who with much apparent godliness of manner, bring forward this objection. I have often heard and read of discussions on the sub- ject, but I never heard this objection proceeding from the mouth of any person eminent for disin- terestedness, or noted for kindness or compassion to the poor. There is indeed one splended ex- 30 ecption. It is Mr. O'Connell who lias sometimes in his raptures on Ireland, and on the almost su- perhuman exeellencies of the inhabitants of his native land, strayed into observations of that sort ; but they were the workings of his fancy, not the fruits of his reflection. But he is the only man ever known to me who honored God out of his substance by relieving the poor, that has presumed to vend to the public this gross hypocrisy. No ! a charitable man could not conceive a thought of this kind. Why ? because his love for the poor and his zeal for their comfort, would urge him to seek for them some better provision — some less precarious — some less demoralizing subsistence than they do or can extract by mendicancy from the generous and humane. The charitable man would be too just as well as too compassionate to entertain a thought of this kind. He would be impelled instinctively to decide within him and to express without reserve that the avaricious and the rich of this world, who turn away from the poor as from something noisome or contagious, should be obliged by a law having some other sanction than the will of God, and the rewards and punishments of a future state — to give freely and abundantly to the children of distress. He 31 would doom it not only an impiety against God, but a violation of distributive justice by the State, to assess benevolence, to exact from charity, and at the same time to permit wealth and gluttony and hard-heartedness to go "scot free." The truly charitable man knows by experience, that benevolence in the heart of man is like a peren- nial fountain whose waters never cease to flow, that it never can be dried up, that it seeks out and finds without difficulty objects of relief. That beyond the abodes of common pauperism there may be found the dwelling places of grief, and shame, and misery, and unspeakable distress. The widow who perishes through want, and pre- fers death to mendicancy — the orphan daughter well born — well educated — beautiful and young, who deliberates whether she shall surrender her life to hunger, or her virtue to sale — the respec- table tradesman who has no employment — the dealer whose stock in trade is exhausted — the young man who cannot be apprenticed — the young woman for whom a few pounds would provide a settlement in life — the farmer whose stock or crop has failed, and the residue of whose property is under distraint — the mother from whom death has snatched a husband, and who, with her fatherless 32 children, are threatened — oh ! how often lias it come to pass, with ejectment and ruin ! The tru- ly charitable man sees intuitively these and such like objects, always existing in every state of so- ciety, upon which benevolence may expend her treasures, and expend them the more usefully and the more extensively in proportion as it is exempt- ed from the important cravings of the lowest class- es of the poor. But the political economist who calculates so sentimentally the ingredients of so- cial happiness and wealth, does not comprehend these things — they are not noted on his scale of improvement in the condition of the human race. He fears, good man ! that the fund of our sensibi- lities will be exhausted, and not considering him- self as bound to relieve the poor, except by calcu- lating the amount of good nature to be found in those who are sufficiently weak and ignorant to be generous to the poor, he places their goodness of heart under the high protection of his philosophy, and laughs at the imposition which he has prac- tised on the credulity of well-intentioned men. Erasmus in one of his caustic essays tells us that in his time — a time of great abuse and cor- ruption in Church and State — the Prelates of the Church left the practise of the gospel virtues to 33 the inferior secular clergy — these gentlemen in their turn transferred them to the monks and friars, whilst these latter personages thought they were an incumbrance fit to be borne only by the Capuchins ; but the consequence was that peoples and nations, first disgusted — then agitated, rose at length like a violent storm, and tore up as it were by the roots the whole church establishment ; when priests, friars, prelates, and capuchins, good and bad, without order or discrimination, found themselves involved in the common ruin. Had they attended to the signs given in their times ; had they even been instructed by the invectives of Erasmus ; had their corruption not repelled the salt with which he sprinkled them, they might have preserved themselves, and saved the Church from the desolation which came upon it. But no ! like the people in Noe's time, who were feasting and drinking — marrying and giving in marriage, till the flood came, so they at the period just mentioned, thought the heavens and earth might pass away, but that their pride and pomp and luxuries could not pass away. They were however undeceived ; for when the sea of the people was moved and became angry, it overwhelmed them all. So it may happen, before the present generation passes, c 34 to those who now neglect or scoff at the distresses of the poor, or what is worse, who amuse them hy delay and sophistry, and deal with them fraudu- lently ; telling them in reply to the cries sent forth by hunger, " if we feed you — if we share with you the produce of the earth and of your own labour, we will dry up the sources of benevolence in the hearts of the charitable and humane ! !" A poor man may bear hunger, he may suffer cold, he may endure toil, and submit to privation, but to assail him with irony, to mock his woe, and insult his understanding, is an injury which will not patient- ly be borne. But the abettors of this good natured doctrine, believe, and would have us believe with them, " that not only would a provision for the poor put a stop to those kindly offices which the good and virtuous in society exercise towards each other, , but would even break the bonds of filial and pa- rental affection." These men abet a system which is proved in evidence to send thousands prema- turely out of life — the victims of famine — the prey of disease ; but they are pious withal, and are anxious that no encroachment be made on that divine commandment to which is annexed the promise of " a long life upon the earth." They 35 will take care that the child honour the father, that he the child may live long j but they will, should he be reduced to poverty, leave him to the care of that Providence which feeds the sparrow on the house top. He may like the lily of the field be clothed better than Solomon, but if they see him naked they will not cover him : if he be poor and a wanderer they will not take him into their house : if he be an orphan they will not break their bread to him : nor will they wipe away the tear from the cheek of his widowed mother. " Whatever," said the Pharisee to his parent, " I will offer on the altar it will profit you," and satisfying his conscience by this cruel hypocrisy, the Pharisee left his parent to die of want. Woe to the Pharisees of all times, they have their con- solation here. The originals of this class relying on their absurd and impious traditions, made void the commandments of God. — The copyists of our days relying on theories, often the creatures of a heated fanc) r , or on the doctrines of supply and de- mand, violate the first duty of statesmen and transgress the precepts — no — but subvert the foun- dation of the whole Christian law. — Yes ! for the first duty of a statesman is to secure the necessa- ries of life to the bulk of the people committed to 36 his caro, and Christianity has no characteristic, unless it be that of those who profess it loving one another, and each of them doing to the other as he would have that other to do unto him. They say to the aged woman who has no child, and to the infirm father whose only son perhaps on the field of battle poured out his life-stream for his country, we will not provide for your old age nor give you shelter from distress least we might weak- en the ties of filial love ! We might indeed create relief, and so dispose it, that no son whose father could support him, and no parent whose child could maintain him would have access thereto ; but we wish to guard against remote contingencies, to prevent effectually what would never happen, to defend filial piety and parental affection against all encroachment or adversity ; that every Irish son may be pious as Eneas, and every father die like Jacob — encompassed by his children — bless- ing them when the few and evil days of his pil- grimage are ended — and foretelling to them the rewards which await them in the world. Oh ! egregious hypocrisy. Were the poor, unless when driven by want out of the pale of civilization, ever known to be wanting to the sacred duty of filial or parental love? Is it not among them in every 37 country that this virtue has its home ? Is not their whole life an exercise of it ? Is not the offspring of a man doubly dear to him when he has not only begotten it of his loins, but nursed it on his own knee, and fed it on the labour of his own hands ? And is not the child a monster, and es- teemed so by the poor, who forgets the toil of his father, and the tender anxiety of his mother ? Such monsters are rare in Ireland, even among those whose privations have overthrown all their other virtuous feelings. How often have I seen the wife or daughter sit hungry by the father's side, whilst he, resting from his labour, partook in sor- row of the scanty meal ; and how numberless are the instances where the parent abstains altogether from food, that his children may not die of want. No ! if those sacred laws which engraven on the heart impel the parent to love his offspring, and teach the child to return love for love ; if these laws require to be guarded against violation, take away entails and soften down the rights of pri- mogeniture ; but be ye not hypocrites, seeing the mote in the eye of the poor, but not seeing the beam in your own. It is in your own class that filial love and parental affection are going fast into decay ; preserve those virtues to yourselves, but 38 make not the plea of preserving them to the poor, with whom they abound and will always abound, a pretext for withholding from them that relief which the Father of us all has ordained that they should receive at your hands. The fifth objection is, " That if a provision for the poor were prescribed by law, there could not be found in the several parishes or districts in Ireland persons fit and able to carry into effect the provisions of such law." This objection is the most specious of any we have hitherto met with. It deserves attention ; it deserves to be temperately discussed. There can be no doubt, that till within these very few years, every administration of public money or business in Ireland was most corrupt. There was no faith kept with God or man by those to whom the public interests, or any portion of them, hap- pened to be committed. From the highest tribu- nals to the lowest collector of excise, bribery, ex- tortion, perjury prevailed. In all the public offices peculation and plunder was reduced to system — openly avowed and acted upon. The commissioners at the different boards were as regularly fe|d by those who had business to trans- act with them as they were paid by government. 39 Bui the government itself was the great debauchee. There was no job too gross, no proceeding so li- centious, no abuse of power or patronage so glaring, to which its active agency or taeit sanc- tion was not extended. The Church was in per- fect keeping with the State, the public offices were dens of thieves, the courts of justice with their purlieus were sinks of corruption, and the grand juries throughout the country, invited by their practice and example the suitors or elaimants at every court of assize in Ireland to disregard both truth and justice — to commit perjury, and to plunder or oppress their neighbour. There is no exaggeration — no high eolouring in the foregoing statement. The truth of every portion of it is either already recorded in evidence reported to parliament, or could be proved by ten thousand living witnesses. This then being, till lately, the state of Ireland, and of the administration of all her public affairs, it is no wonder that men doubt whether money could be levied equitably, and expended honestly and impartially, even for the benefit of the poor. Let it however be considered, and in the first place, that until within a lew years past, an exceedingly small fraction of the people of this country held exelusive possessor! of 40 the administration of public business in all its di- versity and ramifications. That fraction of the people lived by their offices, pensions, sinecures, or employments ; they alone constituted society in Ireland ; they were all sharers alike in oppression, and each took his portion of the spoil produced by it. They were not ashamed of each other, for no man blushes at his own theft in a company of thieves. There was no government to exercise control. The business of government was to divide among them their ill-gotten store. There was no court to which they could be cited, for they themselves filled the bench, and composed the juries ; there was no tribunal created by pub- lic opinion to which virtue could appeal from op- pression, or before which profligacy might be arraigned and convicted. No ! for there was no press but that worked by the hireling of corrup- tion, or if another press only breathed on gilded or ermined crime, it was subdued, prosecuted, persecuted, and extinguished. But as the people of this nation multiplied, they waxed strong, they caught a glimpse of knowledge, as Moses saw the Deity, whilst it passed by, and the multitude, warmed and invigorated by it, overthrew and broke down that fortress of corruption which had held 41 them so long enslaved. This popular might ope- rating upon parliament has bid a new order of things to arise in Ireland. The government is al- ready more than half emancipated from the slavery of corruption — the courts of justice are being gradually purified j the boards and public offices are every where cleared or clearing out ; pecula- tion is now obliged to work in secret. Public monies are now accounted for j jobs, to pass cur- rent, must be highly varnished, and a decree, though not yet published, have gone forth against the evil deeds of grand juries. Nay, it is even allowed to tell the world, that the Irish Church establishment must yield to common sense and public interest ; and that it is too revolting to allot the tenth of the lands and produce of the most fertile, but poorest nation in Europe, to a clergy whose followers do not amount to even a tithe of the people. There is finally a tribunal already established by public opinion in Ireland, and though it may not yet be formally recognised as the custos moram or vindex injuriarum of the country, it undoubtedly already exercises the powers and privilege of a supreme court. This therefore being the past and present state of Ireland, with reference to the good or evil ad- 4.2 ministration of public affairs, a candid man will admit, that though at a period not very remote, no public fund was, or could be, well managed in this country, it does not follow that such fund might not in future be well disposed of. For if popular well, parliamentary inquiry, and an un- shackled press, have succeeded in breaking up and subduing one of the strongest combinations ever existing in any country, would not these same powers, now augmented, and free of restraint, be able to prevent effectually the establishment of any new system of abuse ? But the truth is, that if any system of relieving the poor were established, which would be based on popular election, on a short duration of power, and on unqualified pub- licity, it would be morally impossible that such a system could be infected with any great abuse. There never has been peculation, oppression, or waste committed in any establishment founded on the above basis. But if that be true universally, and hold good even when the funds expended are not drawn immediately from the managers of it, would it not be contrary to all reason to suppose, that men elected by the people for a short time, and acting in the presence of the multitude with a tribunal always sitting to reward or condemn them 43 — would it not, I say, be contrary to all reason to suppose, that men so circumstanced, would assess their neighbours and themselves with any other view than that of promoting the public good ? I cannot believe it. I think it is impossible. But then waiving that part of the objection which applies to abuse, what is to be thought of the other part of it, namely, that which supposes that men could not be found in every parish or district competent to raise and expend a fund for the relief of the poor ? If it be allowed to me, that men, honest and disinterested could be found, I would not hesitate a moment on the subject of their competency. It is the transacting of business which makes a man competent to transact it. We do not know, or if we know, we do not estimate justly the intelligence diffused among the indus- trious classes of society. At public meetings the judicious and practical men of this class are sel- dom prominent, their ability is not known, because it is not called into action. Let them only be employed in matters having any resemblance to their own affairs, and they will evince a skill and an ability supposed to be beyond their sphere. In applotting the value of property, in discriminating the characters of the poor, in estimating the quaii* 44 tity of distress, in devising the best, and cheapest, and most effectual mode of relieving it, as well as in visiting the poor, and ministering to their wants, there is no class of men would be more compe- tent or more efficient — certainly no class more honest and impartial than that class of industrious persons who are engaged in traffic, or in the cul- tivation of land in I believe every part of Ireland. Let a committee of such men only be organized with certain fixed rules, and well digested instruc- tions for their guidance, let them be assisted by the resident clergy, and such persons of rank, if any there be, as reside within the district, and I doubt not they would fulfil the trust committed to them, with as much zeal, talent and integrity as can be found in any body of men existing within the empire. The knowledge of raising funds, and expending them for the relief of the poor, is no abstract science. We need not sail to the west, or travel to the east, in order to acquire it ; it is a homely work in the better part of which the middling classes are especially exercised : it is among the habits of their youth, it is one of their family traditions, it is a religious observance num- bered among the first of duties prescribed to them by Almighty God. Hence it is that although I have always considered this objection as the most spe- 45 clous of those opposed to the introduction of Poor Laws, and have on account of its merits bestowed upon it more reflection than perhaps upon all the others, 1 am clearly of opinion, that even at the present moment a Poor Law would be well worked in Ireland, and that each succeed- ing year would more and more facilitate and purify that operation. Let us who are intellectual not arrogate too much to ourselves ; intelligence is re- lative to the things to which it is applied almost as much as to the person in whom it resides ; and there are few countries in which the common stock of it is so large or so widely diffused as in Ireland. Let not the rich and high-born exalt himself too far above his industrious neighbour, for truth, justice, charity with all her attendant virtues, have their ordinary seat, not in the extremes of society, whether high or low, but among those middling classes to whom the law should intrust both the guardianship of property, and the safety of the poor. But to proceed. The sixth objection is, " That the abuses inherent in the English system of Poor Laws, are evidence of the inevitable mischief to arise from Poor Laws if introduced into Ireland." It might be a sufficient reply to this objection 4(> to stale this single truth, that if it he a valid objec- tion, it is so only against the introduction of a system of Poor Laws, the same, or similar to that now in force in England ; but as no friend to the Irish poor contemplates the introduction to Ire- land of the English Poor Laws, the objection is of consequence totally inapplicable. It is allowed on all hands, that the abuses of the English system of Poor Laws, arise, first, from the nature of the law of settlement, which imprisons the pauper within his parish, or if he leave his birth-place, renders his rights a subject of never-ending legal litigation. Second source of abuse, is the paying wages in part out of the Poor Rate, an abuse said to have arisen within the last thirty years. Third, the employment of two inapt and often conflicting jurisdictions, that of the magistrate, and that of the overseer, in providing for the poor, an abuse but partially remedied by the introduction of select vestries. Finally, many persons consider the obligation imposed by the 43d of Elizabeth, of providing employment or maintenance for the poor, as the great cause why the Poor Laws have become burthensome to cer- tain districts of England ; for that these laws are every where deemed burthensome, few persons at 47 all acquainted with their operation have heen hold enough to assert. Now, each and all of these abused or causes of ahuse, can, without difficulty, he avoided, in arranging a Poor Law for Ireland. Nay, it has heen expressly stated by the most zealous advocates of the Irish poor, as desirable that a proof of domicile, or of industrious resi- dence for three years in a certain district, be sub- stituted for the English law of settlement with all its endless varieties of title. Again, it has been proposed to take away, effectually, all abuse of power by the magistrate or overseer, and to pre- vent the possibility of conflicting jurisdictions, by vesting the whole administration of the Poor Rate in one tribunal, and that a tribunal of the most popular kind, to wit, in a district or parochial committee, elected annually by the public, and accountable to them and to them only. Next, it has been proposed to withhold all recognition of right to relief on the part of the poor, a precau- tion which would at once obviate the great incon- venience attendant on the English system, prevent effectually the application of the Poor Rate to the partial payment of wages, and shut out unworthy claimants from all participation in the fund allotted to the truly distressed. If this, then, be the case, 4<8 as it truly is, where is the justice or candour of confounding the English system of Poor Laws, and all their real or supposed abuses, with a sys- tem to be adopted for Ireland ? There are none, says the proverb, so deaf as those who will not hear, so there are none so stupid or obstinate, as those who affect not to understand. " They do not will to understand that they might act well? is the description given by a prophet of those " who rejoice when they do evil, and exidt in the worst things ;" and it is impossible not to see the application of this divine truth to those, who, whatever may be said to them in favor of the distressed, can see no means of providing for them, unless by a system assumed to be overlaid with abuse ! I say assumed to be overlaid with abuse, for I agree with Colonel Page, and with Mr. Wiggins, when, in their evidence, they refuse to censure the English system of Poor Laws, or to admit the charge so unsparingly preferred against it. I agree fully with the latter, in assign- ing much of the prosperity which England en- joys, much of the improvements of all kinds, but especially in agriculture, with which she abounds, to the silent and steady operation of those laws. These laws have checked luxury, have arrested 49 wealth in its inordinate accumulation, they have caused capital to be expended on labour and im- provements in every parish in England, which capital, had it not been for these laws, would have been drained off to feed the sensualist, and swell the stream of luxury always flowing to the me- tropolis. To these laws England is, in a great degree, indebted for that settled and social state which the sanguinary laws enacted and executed against the poor in the early part of Elizabeth's reign, would never have produced. The people became loyal, industrious, and attached to their rulers, only when they found themselves placed within the pale of the constitution, and nourished in their distress by the law ; till then, from the day on which the monasteries, which fed and nursed them were suppressed, they were turbulent, idle, vagrant, seditious ; but no sooner was the 43d of Elizabeth enacted, and put into operation, than they resumed their former habits. Theft, mendi- cancy, idleness disappeared, and the poor of Eng- land became laborious, happy, and contented : the land was tilled, the fields were cleansed of weeds, the drain and hedge-row, the fence and copse were dug and planted, competition for land was un- known, because the owner and the farmer of it D 50 had a common interest to promote, and a common burthen to support, and they dealt in good faith one with the other. The small proprietor lived upon his own land ; — upon the inheritance left him by his father, and he enriched it by the toil of those whom he should support in idleness, did he fail to provide them with work. He was amply repaid, by produce or improvement, for the outlay he had made, and he derived security and happi- ness from the zeal and affection of those whose labour enriched him. It is thus a state is made to flourish, not by abstract theories on the division of labour, or the imployment of capital, or on hidden modes of taxation, but by the establishment of as many common wealths as there are towns or ham- lets in a nation, in each of which, the head and members are cemented by mutual dependance and common interest. But it will be said, " England is no longer such as you describe her, and her Poor Law system has become to her an intolerable burthen." To which I reply ; the burthens of England have become too heavy, not in conseopience of the Poor Laws, but in despite of them. These laws gave to her a security unparalleled, and a strength almost invincible ; but that strength is overborne .01 by her newly-created burthens, and llie operations of other causes, which it is not my duty to desig- nate ; I do indeed allow that the numbers of her labouring poor, at least in certain districts, void of manufactures, might superabound and be changed into paupers, nay, that the superabundance of them might become oppressive to agriculture, and injurious to the state. But if her statesmen did not foresee this, they were inattentive or blind ; and if seeing it, they did not provide a remedy for it, in large and extensive colonization, they were criminal. There is no problem in the whole sci- ence of number or measure, more intelligible to a wise man than that in politics, of " how to manage the growth of a people." He that does not know how to calculate the resources of his own country — how, in what manner, and to what extent she can support her population, is unfit to rule a people. But England, situated as she is, could feel no embarrassment on this head, for she could and should at all times keep a channel for emigration open, and widen or contract it in pro- portion as the multitude pressed heavily or lightly on the resources found at home. Such a system of emigration ought not to supersede a Poor Law, for a legal provision for the poor should be a fun- 52 damental law in every thickly peopled state ; but emigration should be ancillary to a Poor Rate, and come, when required, to the relief, not of the poor, but of the whole body of the commonwealth. We come to the seventh objection — it is, " That the sufferings of the Irish poor may be more bene- ficially and effectually relieved by the correction of abuses in the expending of the monies now raised by local taxation, and by means of those improve- ments which can be promoted by government, whether by aiding individual enterprise, or by setting them on foot at the public charge, and for the public advantage, than they could by a poor- rate." I have never heard this objection stated ; I have never heard or read of those plans of improvement which are every day, and in every place, vended to the public, that I have not felt impatient to ex- claim, " and how will your plan be rendered less effectual, by a provision being made for the impo- tent poor ? Will your public works be less pros- perous, by your ensuring bread to the orphan, shelter to the aged, and food to the weak and the decrepid, who have no friend to support them, and no strength to labour on your public works ?" Yes, I have always felt impatient to inquire of 53 those politico-philanthropists — What ! " Jf your specific cure the distress of Ireland, case her poverty, and bring abundance with it to all her children, why are you averse to a legal provision for the helpless poor ? Will there be found one parish or district in Ireland to come together and tax their own property, for the purpose of relieving distress, which is no where to be found ? Has it been ever known, — is it consistent with any of the ordinary rules or principles of human action, that men will make sacrifices without being required to offer them ? Is it not the common law of Scot- land, as declared by the Lords of Session, that in that country, a country not blessed with great abundance of any thing upon which men could feed, " there is no pauper, but that the poor are rightful claimants upon a fund, of which the heri- tors and kirlt-session are the accountable trustees," and yet in Scotland, until the owners of "its mountain, moor and marsh," preferred, under the guidance of political economists, cattle to men, and sheep-walks to hamlets, that most wise and bene- ficent law, above referred to, was but rarely brought into operation ; so that its existence op- posed no impediment to the introduction and employment of capital — to private enterprise, or 54 to public improvement. This is a case in point, which should be disproved, before the objection to which it is applied is ever urged again. It is an admirable illustration of the truth for which I con- tend ; a full and practical reply to those men who grow pale at the mention of Poor Laws, and refer those who plead for a starving population to pub- lic works, which are not commenced j and to pub- lic improvements, which only exist in hope. We say to them, let the public monies be providently expended ; let private enterprise be encouraged ; let extensive employment be provided ; let large improvements be undertaken and carried on ; let us patiently await the blessed effects you anticipate from those proceedings, and which we agree with you in hoping to be realized. But in the mean time, and whilst these things are in progress, avert famine — stop the current of disease — arrest the bitter curse — the troubled commotion — the ill- suppressed sedition of those who are maddened with hunger, and almost driven to despair. Give to us a Poor Law, it will take away no capital ; it will not raise money to be poured into the exche- quer, or remitted to absentees, or expended in luxury ; no, it will be employed in producing food and raiment, and in feeding the industrious, whilst 55 it supports the poor. Give us a Poor Law, which will gladden the heart of the widow, be a staff to the aged, and a resting place to him who has no home — that will shelter the houseless, clothe the naked, feed the hungry, comfort the afflicted, and relieve the distressed. Give to us a Poor Law, that will put an end to vagrancy, separate the impostor from the virtuous, compel the idler to do his work, and remove from the turbulent the food of sedition. If you confide in the resources of the country, organize its population, place them in their proper classes, assign to them their respective duties, and ensure to all of them subsistence, and the protection of the law. When you will have done this, estimate their numbers and capacity ; compare them with your capital and means of employment ; calculate the progression of their encrease, and guard yourself against the evil of surplus population, by locating it at home, or by pointing to your colonies, and urging, when neces- sary, a regulated system of emigration. Do this, but do not offend against morality, public interest, and common sense, by adjourning the relief of the poor, who are dying of want, to the " Greek kalends," or to those improvements, which are the work of time j — improvements, which will never 56 even keep pace with the progress of pauperism, if you leave the mass of the people unhinged and dislocated, — expelled from the pale of civilization, and deprived alike of the means and the inclina- tion of improving their own condition. But the naked truth is this, that the generality of those (for there are many and honorable excep- tions) who would supersede the wants of the poor, and refer the dying pauper to that manna, which public improvement is to bring down, as it were, from heaven. Are men who have no bowels of compassion, who will not avow what they fear, to wit, that the burthen of supporting the poor should be equally divided. They are men who calculate human labour, and human life, as they do bales of cotton and quarters of wheat ; who look upon the labouring classes as articles of merchandize, or machines for creating wealth, and who would cal- culate on the extinction by hunger of a surplus population, as the house-wife calculates the lives of bees to be smothered for their honey, when their work is done — preserving only so many stocks, as will be necessary to yield to her a similar increase on the coming year. These men say to us, " our object is the public good ; we look only to the public happiness," whilst, in fact and truth, our 57 object is to secure forthwith a provision for the poor, theirs to leave these poor to live on hopes that may never be realized, certainly not until mil- lions are extinguished by famine. Labour, capital, enterprise, improvement, pro- gressed in England and Scotland, under the pro- tection of Poor Laws, and why, in the name of heaven, might they not co-exist in Ireland ? Who will undertake to prove that the well-ordering of a people, and a provision for the helpless poor, are incompatible with the undertaking, and carrying on of public or private works for the improvement of a country ? But we have expended our atten- tion uselessly upon this frivolous objection. That which next occurs is, " That Ireland is at present in a state of transition, as England and Scotland were at former periods, and therefore she will, like these countries, work out of her present state of suffering, to a state of comfort or afflu- ence." One of the theorems of political economy is, that when the supply of any commodity, suppose of labour, exceeds the demand for it, the price of that commodity will fall, and the capital or skill employed in producing it will seek new channels, wherein an increased price and profit may be ob- 58 tained. Thus, when agriculture happens to be overstocked with labour, or when labour no longer finds profitable employment in the cultivation of land, it will seek that employment in manufac- tures, and vice versa ; but as those who have been brought up in manufactories are incapable of becoming good husbandmen, and as agricultural labourers are unfit for the exercise of hand-craft or mechanical industry, there must be great priva- tion and distress prevailing, during the period when the industrious class of a country are thus adjusting their skill and labour, to the new pur- suits to which they are invited or compelled. This period is called a period of " transition," or the country in which men are thus, at certain times, changing their industrious pursuits, is said to be in " a state of transition." The political econo- mists tell us, that in the natural progress of soci- ety, men are first engaged in agriculture, having few or no manufactories, but as society advances, as population increases, as property accumulates, and new wants arise, a portion of the industrious classes betake themselves to domestic manufac- ture, combining the coarser arts with the culture of land. By degrees this system ceases, as less profitable to the community, and is succeeded by 59 a complete division of labour, which assigns one portion of it exclusively to manufacturing pur- poses, another to the tillage of land. In this state of things capital, knowledge, skill, industry, ad- vance rapidly. Trade internally and externally extends itself, new inventions and discoveries are made, riches and luxury are diffused, large profits exhibit themselves in new and enormous acquisi- tions, and society appears to have arrived at the achme of perfection. The economists do not pro- ceed further with their theory, nor tell us that this golden age is destined to continue, or whether it has within it the seeds of decay ; but it appears that Providence has decreed that until the arrival of the millennium, nothing is lasting under the sun. In the happy state of society above-mentioned, the accumulation of large masses of property, in the hands of a few, enables those few to bear down all competition, — the extensive farmer, with portion- ate capital, can cultivate land cheaper and better than the small and poorer holders of it ; he will, therefore, thirst for land, it being profitable to him, and being the more solvent tenant, he will, in every case, be preferred : so the large manufac- turer by his skill, capital, and machinery, can un- dersell, and thereby destroy his more weak com- 60 petitor ; thus inordinate wealth accumulating on the one hand, and extreme poverty advancing on the other, necessarily beget — first, jealousy, then envy, then strife, and to these will as certainly suc- ceed that convulsion of society, which, denomi- nated revolution, is, in reality, a dissolution of it into its original elements, when men were all equal, and when property and social laws had no fixed or settled existence. This is like the babel of the Scripture, in building which men were of only one tongue, but as they ascended towards the heavens, and would become like gods, they were confounded in the midst of their labours ; no man understood his neighbour, their work was demo- lished, and they themselves dispersed — the princes alike and the people, throughout the whole earth. I would therefore adopt a sumptuary law, or a law of ostracism, or if not those laws, I would surely seek for a Poor Law, if for no other pur- pose, to check the progress of society on its " road to ruin." So that admitting Ireland to be in a state of transition, such as that in which Great Britain has been, I contend it would be good po- licy to adopt in that precise crisis a law which would operate as a check on the law of entail, as a check on the accumulation of property into large 61 masses, as a check on the luxury and corruption of the rich, as a check on that discontent and excitement of the poor which produced hy poverty, generates in its turn all the had passions, whose seeds, though sometimes dormant, are always brooding in the heart. But in my opinion, the whole doctrine regard- ing the transition of society, is misapplied in the case of Ireland. She is in a state of transition, but a transition not from agriculture to trade or manufactures, such as was the transition of Eng- land, but she is passing, and rapidly, from wretch- edness to ruin. Her staple, I mean that labour which is the only saleable commodity in the hands of her overflowing population, is not only in a state of ruinous depression, but it can find no sale ; able-bodied men carry it to the market- place, and meet with no customer — with no de- mand. When this was the case in England, there was co-existing with it a great and rich commercial community, a domestic legislature, a paternal or at least a patriotic government ; there was a great foreign trade, a passion for planting colonies, wars which consumed a portion of the people, and a whole code of laws devised and adapted to che- rish and protect internal commerce, and infant 6<2 manufactures. England had no absentees, no enormous debt, no oppressive taxation. She had no sister island whose wealth, capital, soil, mine- rals, established trade, and dependancics, whose unrivalled skill and industry shut out from her all hope of competition. She was not a province without a court, or a legislature to attract the great, encourage the enterprising, and reward the successful. Her situation was the very converse of that of Ireland, and the man is indeed short- sighted who imagines that because England passed from distress to opulence, Ireland can run the same career No, it is quite, it is totally impossi- ble. Ireland may pass, as Israel di J out of Egypt, into " a desert trackless and without water ;" but unless manna or quails be sent to her from hea- ven, the bones of her children will be bleached in the desert, and a land flowing with milk and honey will be to her a terra incognita, " an un- known land." Is to be supposed, that whilst I deny the rule of " transition" is applicable to Ireland, and whilst I assert the total inability of the poor of this country to subsist by their own labour, unaided by the state, that I deny what is called " the improvement of Ireland." No, far be it from me to deny here what elsewhere I have not G3 only admitted, but asserted. But what is called " the improvement of Ireland," is a phrase most grievously, and often, I fear, intentionally misap- plied. Many who use it, and appeal to it as against the poor, would have the public to believe it signifies, that the condition of all the Irish people is improved, than which nothing is more untrue. The condition of nineteen twentieths of the irish people is not improved, but deteri- ORATED. Lands are better tilled, the quality of agricultural produce is improved, exports are in- creased, a larger revenue is collected, the inter- course with England is enlarged, the prices of all our produce is enhanced, absentees are increased in numbers and wealth, rents and tithes have advanced from one hundred to Jive hundred per cent, on those paid at the commencement of the French revolution ; but what does all this mean, unless that a transition has already taken place — that is a transition of all the profits of land and industry to the hands of a few, and a transition of the farming and laborious class from a state of comparative comfort to a state of unprecedented embarrassment or distress. The improvement of Ireland consists in an im- 64 proved revenue, in improved rent-rolls, in an in- crease of tithes and church rates ; but in the profits of the farmer — in the wealth or comforts of the middling classes, I totally deny that any real improvement has taken place. Wheresoever it appears, it is only superficial or accidental, bearing no proportion to the general advancement of society in these latter years, whilst pauperism, like a plague, has increased and multiplied its victims — has seized on all the extremities of our social body, and is advancing rapidly through all its members, even to the very heart. There is no escaping its grasp, unless by a provision for the poor, by an honest application of the public means to the public wants, and when that is done, by applying all surplus labour to internal improve- ment, and directing the excess of our population, if such be found to exist, to that new country, and those new homes, which Providence has pre- pared for them beyond the seas. This solution of our difficulties is at least intelligible j I think it is still practicable ; only a little time, and even this will be no longer in our hand. Let men therefore take care that whilst they endeavour to amuse a hungry people with theorems on the " transition" of society, they may not find that 65 people ungovernable, society dislocated, and the princes, the priests, and the people themselves, all involved in one common ruin. We have at length arrived to the last, and per- haps the most important objection to the making a legal provision for the poor. It is, " That the poor have no claim founded on justice to a pro- vision being made for them, at the expense of the rich, or of those possessed of property." For the last ten years, I have been frequently urged by my feelings to discuss in public the rights of the poor ; but I was, and still am, with- held from doing so, at any length, by a reasona- ble dread, that if these rights were known to the mass of the people labouring under privations often insupportable, such knowledge would be misapplied, and that men taught to distinguish between moral and legal rights, might be led to violate the latter at any hazard, when freed from the apprehension of offending against the former. I thought it wise to parley, as it were, with error and abuse, to appeal to public policy, to the in- terest and duty of the government, directing at the same time the minds of the people to the power which impended over them, to the sources of hope which were discoverable, but above all to E on those principles of the Christian religion which lead its followers to derive good from evil, and to convert the trials of this life into means of sanctifica- tion in the next. But how must my patience have been tried, and my indignation moved, when I find it asserted broadly, and unblushingly, and in the midst of the gospel light — that a man may be let to perish of hunger, without any violation of justice ? This impious doctrine, not only sub- verts the Gospel, whose foundation is " to love God above all, and our neighbour, be he Jew or Samaritan, even as ourselves, and to do to him in all things as we would have him to do to us," but it goes farther. Having subverted the foun- dation upon which the whole law, the prophets, and the Gospel depend, it assails that other law, which, to use the description given of it by Cicero, is " not written but born with us, which we have not learned nor read, nor received from others, but which we have drawn forth, and brought with us, and, as it were, extracted with our being from the very womb of nature," " Lex non scrlpta sed nata, quam non didicimus, legimus, accepimus ; sed ex ipsa natura hausimus, expressimus, arripu- rmus> ad quam non doctl sed facti sumus." This doctrine not only excludes from the volume of 07 truth in which social duties arc recorded, that sublime maxim of Christ, that God is the great pater familias — the Father of the human family, who confides all the goods of this earth to stew- ards, to be distributed by them to every member of the household, under the responsibility of ren- dering one day their accounts to the Lord of all, and receiving eternal life as the reward of their fidelity, or eternal punishment as the penalty of either their injustice or neglect. Yes, this doc- trine not only supersedes the above maxim of our common Saviour, but it belies that cry of reason, which hitherto heard in every clime and every country under the sun, proclaims that he who having the means of saving a fellow creature, yet suffers him to perish of want, is by the very fact or omission, guilty of his blood — "si non paviati oc~ cidisti" But upon what species of sophistry, it may be asked, is this impious doctrine founded ? I can scarcely any where discover an argument for its support : if, with Job, we interrogate hell and death, they may answer, " we have heard the report of it ;" but the substance of it is no where to be found. The political economists, occupied with abstractions, find no place for moral proofs ; 68 they are satisfied to tell us that surplus population, or an excess of labour in the public market, is an evil that ought to be got rid of; but the rights of this excessive population, or the duties of the state, or of individuals to have care of the life and well- being of that surplus population, is an affair too low or vulgar to be admitted within the pale of their profound speculations. They may teach how men may be produced in greater numbers, or how their increase may be checked, but to treat of the moral obligation to maintain them, when there happens to be a surplus of them, is not within the sphere of their lucubrations. If urged on this point they may, perhaps, tell us, that if a man by inheritance or industry acquire property, it is so much his own, that to subject it to a charge for the support of any one is unjust, and cannot be distinguished from spoliation. These men remind me of an exclamation to the gods, cripite nos ex servitute, reported by Cicero in his Paradoxa, of L. Crassus, as illustrative of the slavery to which ambition, avarice, or fear, re- duces men. These persons with whom we con- tend are enslaved by avarice, or an excessive love of property, which St. Paul, inspired from a higher source with a sentiment like to that of Crassus, 09 calls " a service of idols," the worst species of slavery. Being enslaved, they become blind, and cannot see either the necessary consequences of their own opinions, or those rights of the poor to which these opinions are opposed. They nei- ther exclaim with Crassus, " rescue us from this slavery," nor attend to the Apostle instructing Timothy to " charge the rich of this world not to be high-minded, nor to trust in the uncertainty of riches, but in the living God (who giveth us abundantly all things to enjoy.) To do good, to be rich in good works, to give easily, to communi- cate to others, to lay up in store for themselves a good foundation against the time to come, that they may lay hold on the true life." But then let us examine the argument above adduced, and see whether it affords any justifica- tion of the anti-christian and unnatural doctrine, which would acquit the holder of property of mur- der, should he suffer a poor man, whom he could relieve, to die of want. What is the right of property, and whence is it derived ? both will appear by pointing to its origin. The earth and all its fulness, together with the fishes of the sea and the fowls of the air, were consigned by the Creator, in common to whatever 70 of the human race first existed. This truth needs no proof; it is clearly asserted in Revelation, and is equally deducible by reason from the nature of man, and of the rest of whatever inhabits our earth ; property is then an acquisition by labour or conquest of a portion of the common stock, to the private use or enjoyment of one or more indivi- duals. These individuals thus possessed of pro- perty, combined to form society, and to enact by despotic power, or paternal authority, or common consent, rules or laws whereby all their interests, and among those interests, the possession or trans- mission of property, would be regulated and se- cured. In society when thus formed, the first and chiefest concern should be religion, whereby the supreme dominion of God would be recog- nised, and due worship given to him. The next should be the preservation of the society itself, against external violence or internal treason. The next the preservation of life, with all its necessa- ries to each individual of the commonwealth, to which must necessarily be attached such regula- tions of police, as would reward the good, and punish the idle and vicious by the infliction of penalties proportioned to their offences or crimes. Next to the existence of the state and the lives of 7! its subjects, laws should be made to protect or avenge the honor or character of both, for honor and character, next to existence, are held most dear. Then and only then the possession, the transfer, and transmission of property become the subject matter of the laws, so that life is the first and most precious of human possessions, fame or character is the next, and property in goods is the third and last in order. These several objects of social or civil laws, are not of equal value or esti- mation, nor can they be interchanged or exchanged one for the other. On these great principles all the laws of war, conquest, slavery, alliance, trade, will be found to depend. In fact all international law, and all civil or municipal constitutions are founded on these principles, and are just or un- just, so far as they are, or are not, reducible to them. It is always a sin against God, whose will is, " that order be preserved, and be not dis- turbed" to violate any rule of these several classes of laws, so long as the observance of such rule or particular law is conducive to the public good, or not opposed to good morals, or the well-being of the state, or of the major part of the society to which such rule or law belongs. If these laws, however, happened to come into collision one with 72 the other, but above all, if the law which regulates the lesser good of society, suppose property, could not be observed without the sacrifice of the great- est good, which is life, then the law of property should yield, and that which regards the preserva- tion of life should be observed. The application of these principles is clear and easy. If a state, for example, require provisions to sustain a siege, upon the issue of which the existence of the state itself depends, it must disregard, if necessary, all laws of proverty, and provide at the expense of them for its own safety. So, if a man want bread to sustain his life, he is bound to give in exchange for it any other property he may possess, or to hire out for that purpose his labour, or whatever he can sell, except his liberty or virtue ; but should he have nothing to dispose of, or find no person to give him food in exchange for his goods or labour, he is to apply for subsistence to the head of the state, to whom the care of the whole com- munity is confided, or to the magistrate or other person to whom is entrusted the administration of the laws. Should his application be unsuccessful, and his life be about to perish of hunger But we can pursue this subject no further. But it will be objected, that the recognition of 73 this indefeasible right, on the part of every man exposed to extreme want, will encourage idleness, and provide for the dissolute at the expense of the industrious and good, to which ohjection the an- swer is obvious, " to wit, that it is the duty of the state not only to secure the lives of its subjects against the pressure of extreme want, but also to have such a code of municipal law, and such a preventive or correctional police as will effectually punish idleness and correct vice ; but it is not to be inferred, that a state which neglects this latter duty is, on account of its own negligence or abuse, entitled to violate its first obligation towards its subjects, which is to secure their lives against the pressure of extreme want. This order then, which the Author of our being has ordained, and which our reason, without diffi- culty discovers, establishes a wide distinction between those things which are the subject matter of all human legislation ; and though some indi- viduals, blinded by ambition, avarice, or fear, may put the laws of property in competition with those of life, human nature will always vindicate her own rights, and confound those who would disturb that harmony which prefers life and even honor to property, and so preserves the order and beauty of the moral world. 74 If, then, the right of every individual to preserve life, (a right which he never did or could abdicate,) be incontestable ; if no man can deny this right, neither can any man deny that the governing power iii a state is entitled and obliged to provide, in one shape or other, for the preservation of the lives of its subjects, whereas, if it neglect to do so, it must either punish, as crimes, what in reality are not offences against the laws of nature, or it must permit what are called theft, robbery, vio- lence, and even bloodshed, when these happen to be committed by its subjects, driven to the com- mittal of them by extreme want. As to the man- ner in which a state may secure subsistence for its indigent subjects, or rather for such of them as cannot possibly sustain themselves, that is a ques- tion left to the wisdom or discretion of the ruling powers ; it may be done by a distribution of land at home, or by colonization abroad ; by a Church establishment, or other corporations entrusted with funds for the maintenance of the poor j by an assessment on property, or by the establishment of alms-houses ; but whilst the mode of executing this duty is discretionary with the state, the fulfil- ment of the duty itself, is of the most strict and rigorous obligation. No theories on political 15 economy, a most useful science, but one as yet not fully understood, nor lightly applied, can supersede this obligation on the part of a government, whe- ther Christian or Infidel ; nor can any person assert with truth, that property, however sacred its nature may be supposed, can be protected against such claims as may be made upon it by the state, for the preservation of the life of the meanest or most worthless of its subjects. But if a state be found which neglects its duty, so as to postpone the preservation of life to the security of property ; should a state be found, which not only does this, but leaves a multitude of its subjects to die of hunger ; what is the duty in such a state of those members of the community who hold property at a time when extreme want presses on some portion of their fellow- subjects ? Are these proprietors justified in imitating the conduct of government; and can they look on their brethren, dying of want, and be guiltless of their blood ? Most certainly not, and the reason is this. That all men are bound to concur in pre- serving the order established by God, and as this order requires that life be preferred to every other earthly good, he who sees a man perish whom he could save by a sacrifice of property, fails to pre- 76 serve, so far as in him lies, that order in the uni- verse whieh God established. In other words, he is guilty of the loss of that life whieh he could have preserved at the expense of a portion of his property. Nor can the example of the state or government justify him, for as no man is justified in doing wrong, by imitating others, neither can a member of any community be justified by the wrong doing of the other members, or of that power or government which represents them. All consideration of religion is excluded from the foregoing argument, because there may be persons who admit that an obligation of preserv- ing the lives of our brethren in want, at the sacri- fice of our goods, arises from the precept of Christian charity ; but deny, or rather do not comprehend, how such an obligation can arise from justice, or from the immutable laws of Him who is the fountain of all justice. These persons, however, should know that the Blessed Author of our religion, in establishing his code of mercy or mutual love, including a com- munication of property and good offices, did not annul or supersede any one of those eternal rules upon which justice is founded. What he did was to take the laws of distributive justice, always existing, but seldom observed, and to raise them to the dignity and sanctity of laws of charity. He explained, and urged us to fulfil, what in justice we owe to each other. He called the fulfilment of those duties by the tender name of charity, or mercy to the poor, and annexed to the performance of them, the rewards of eternal life. Not an iota or a single point did he take away from the law of justice ; but he invited to the fulfilment of its duties, by the most pathetic exhortations, and the most solid and lasting rewards. What, therefore, we are bound in charity to perform, we are also generally obliged in justice to fulfil, and the degree or rigour of the obligation is measured more by the urgency of our brother's distress, and by our means of relieving it, than by the quality of the virtue which enjoins its fulfilment. The admirable doctrine of our Saviour — a doc- trine worthy of a God made man, who came into the world that the world might be saved by him, was then rightly understood by Christian states, when they sanctioned the setting apart a portion of the goods of the community for the mainte- nance of the poor, and entrusted the dispensation of those goods to a class of men, who, divested of other cares, might be the faithful almoners of the 78 state. It was truly in the spirit of Christ that men, whose characters were holy, and whose affections in this world were not divided, should be appointed to feed the hungry, and clothe the naked, and console the afflicted ; but the charity of the Christian world has waxed cold, and not only did the trustees of the poor often become their despoilers, but rapine and sacrilege have stretched their hand to the fund itself of the widow, and to the patrimony of the orphan. In this country there is a crying sin — there is a loud complaint going up daily to heaven, that the pro- perty of the poor is held captive in injustice ; that their rights are withheld j that their title is known and recognised by all, save those who could enforce it for them ; that they daily die of want, whilst their expiring glance rests on the gorgeous, the ungodly display of ecclesiastical pride and pomp ; whilst their last sigh can scarcely fail to bring down a heavy curse on that wealth which was left for their support, but which so cruelly and so long lias been wrested and withheld from them. As I intend, however, to lay before the public, in the sequel of these observations, a sketch of the origin, nature, and destination of Church Property as it existed in the several ages of the Gospel dis- 79 pcnsation, I will not now proceed with it, hut return to the subject from which I have digressed. To resume. If the order established by God in this world be, that the poor should be supported, what is the duty of those who are still desirous of adhering to that divinely established order ? Are they, ought they, I would ask, to assent by word or deed to such derangement of this order as we now witness ? and is it wise, or consistent with the public good, to urge, by all the powers of language, and by strong appeals to the feelings of the heart, that the benevolent, the humane, the charitable, should undertake, exclusively, the bur- then of supporting the poor ? Is it just to leave the rich, the avaricious, the proud, the powerful, the makers and executors of the laws, to enjoy an exemption from such burthen ? and even to allow them to stifle the feelings of remorse or shame excited in them by the condition of the poor, by saying to themselves, " Voluntary contributions, or the alms of the simple, or the charity of their own class will support them ; I need not inquire about or embarrass myself with their condition "? I have often pleaded for the indigent ; I have sometimes wept over their distress ; I never hesi- tated on my own account to share with them my 80 scanty pittance ; but I confess, that I have not, to my recollection, solicited in their behalf the goods or money of the industrious classes, without feel- ings of indignation, mingled with remorse. Were all the men of Ireland of my way of thinking, they would, in ordinary times, have no charity sermons, no houses or institutions supported by the voluntary gifts of the industrious ; but in place of these, in lieu of extorting by sermons, and col- lections, and never-ending appeals to the precepts of the Gospel, money from those who cannot afford to bestow it, and from whom it is little short of injustice to receive it, they would assail the legis- lature by constant petitions, and the government by strong remonstrance on behalf of the poor. They would insist with the Apostle, "that some should not be eased and others burthened, but that there might be an equality" They would teach the poor themselves to abstain from violence, and be submissive to the law ; but also tell them, that they had higher claims to relief than those arising from the exhibition of their distress. But above all, they would proclaim from the house-top, in the hearing of the rich and of the poor, of the princes and of the people, that Church Property was held in trust j that it was bequeathed by our 81 ancestors in part, and principally for the education and maintenance of the poor, and that so long as the state withheld it from them, the people should not seek for rest, nor the government enjoy repose. But I have done with the objections made to the establishment of a legal provision for the des- titute poor of Ireland ; and I proceed to set forth, with all possible brevity, some account of the origin, nature, and destination of Church Pro- perty — or rather of the property confided in trust to the administration of the clergy, in the different ages of the Christian Church. I am led to treat of this subject by the following question, proposed to a reverend gentleman, who gave evidence before the Committee on the state of the Irish poor. " Question 6261. Are not there traces at pre- sent existing in Ireland of the former division of tithe property, which was allotted in four parts, as a means of maintenance for the poor ?" The witness appears, by his several answers, to be totally unacquainted with the subject ; it was, however, pursued for some time in the Com- mittee — question 6°266 being as follows. Ware, in his Bishops says, " The quarta pars F 82 " episcopalis, was originally that portion of obla- " tion, which, before the institution of parishes, " were reserved to the bishop for his maintenance : " the other three parts being employed for the " support of his inferior clergy, the repairing the " fabrics of the churches, and the sustenance of " the poor. When the bishops were endowed with " lands, they did tacitly recede from their quarta "pars, and were afterwards by canon forbid to " demand it, if they could live without it." Can you refer us to that canon ? Answer. " I do not remember it. I believe it to be amongst the canons of the earlier ages, and not now numbered among ours." Thus far the evidence proceeds. It was of little consequence to the committee to ascertain by what special canon the bishops claim to the quarta pars was restrained : the end of the inquiry must have been to elicit information on the nature and destination of church property. Such information could scarcely be expected from a clergyman of the Established Church, especially from one whose studies were not occupied with ecclesiastical antiquities or laws. I am differently circumstanced ; I am, in some way, connected with those old canons ; they have long been familiar to me ; they form a large portion of S3 that history of the human race, from which much wisdom may be learned ; they are the index of the growth, maturity, and decay or ruin of institu- tions which once filled the places now occupied by other powers. Such of those canons as relate to Church Property, have produced both good and evil ; but to a dispassionate mind, reviewing the history of Church and State from the period of their union, it is impossible to remove the convic- tion, that rich benefices, and especially tithes, have been the bane of religion ; — that they were more hostile to Christianity, and more mischie- vous to the Church, than the darkness of paganism or the sword of the infidel. To the wealth of churchmen — to the pride, and indolence, and lux- ury, and simony, and ambition, which that wealth engendered, may be traced the decay of learning and piety — the corruption of morals, the scandals of Popes and Princes, their broils and contentions ; — the factions, the divisions, the schisms, the heresies which desolated the Church ; as also many of those wars, which unceasingly throughout Europe, exhibited a Christian people, having their hands reeking with each other's blood. Every departure from the spirit of the Gospel, has brought woes unnumbered to the Church. This 84 spirit long contended against tithes and church- rates, nor could it be entirely subdued. When a thirst of gain and of worldly wealth devised the tithe-system, Christianity qualified the impost, and claimed successfully for the fabrics of the Churches, and for the education and sustenance of the poor, a moiety of what was extracted in the name of religion from the gifts of nature, and the industry of man. If the Spirit of Christ could not exclude enormous wealth from the sanctuary, it secured to his indigent members a participation in the spoil, and the same law which enforced by excommunication the payment of tithe to the priest, commanded that priest to dispense with his own hands, in mercy and humility, their own por- tion to the poor. That law of Charlemagne, which, for the first time in the Christian world, ordered that tithes should be levied by distress of goods, provided also, that next to the bishop's maintenance, did his wants require it, the orphan should be fed, the widow comforted, and the stranger taken in. — Thus the Spirit of Christianity, checked or con- trouled the passions of men, and maintained, as it were in despite of them, the lights of the poor. But even with this alloy, the tithe system, and its 85 appendages, had nearly worked the ruin of religion, when in the sixteenth century, that revolution which had been long preparing in the minds of men, and which is not yet completed, burst forth like a torrent, and desolated, and is still desolating churches and states. I abstain purposely from a review of this revo- lution, as it affected these countries. I shall only observe, that the result of various conflicts was to leave England and Ireland subject to the mon- strous tithe-system, unalloyed and unmitigated by any one of those redeeming qualities, which, up to the sixteenth century, had commended it to the toleration of the people. In this state it now stands in England and Ire- land, all earthly, having no connexion with the Gospel of God. The churches are not built or preserved, or repaired, or supplied with necessa- ries by it. The poor are not instructed, or che- rished, or supported by it, and the clergy, to whom it has been assigned, neither perform church offi- ces, or administer the Sacraments, or preach the Gospel to the poor in return for it, — because in England the majority of the people are Dissenters, and in Ireland, strange and unheard-of condition of human things! the Established Clergy in many so places are called pastors, but have no flocks at all — no not even one ! And now that the committee on Irish distress nave directed their thoughts and inquiries to this subject, it is just to satisfy such inquiries ; not that such a system calls for inquiry, its demerits are gross and palpable ; but, as in the case of the Synagogue, that it may be buried with honor. For this purpose, then, I shall proceed to inquire into the origin, nature, and destination of Church Pro- perty. My inquiry must be brief to suit my pre- sent purpose. It will indicate, rather than dis- cuss an extensive, and still important subject. Should I have leisure, and think it useful, I may, at no distant period, resume the consideration of Church Property, with the civil and ecclesiastical laws relating to it. Should I do so, many thoughts which at present I can scarcely allow to escape me, will be stated at length, and those laws which at present I can only allude to, will be exhibited in full view, as pillars in the mighty edifice which they had so long sustained. In the mean time I bespeak the candour, even more than the attention of my readers. I am a churchman, but I am uu- aquainted with avarice, and I feel no worldly ambition. I am, perhaps, attached to my profes- w sion, but I love Christianity more than its earthly appendages. I am a Catholic from the fullest conviction, but few will accuse me of bigotry. I am an Irishman hating injustice, and abhorring with my whole soul the oppression of my country ; but I desire to heal her sores, not to aggravate her sufferings. In decrying, as I do, the tithe system, and the whole Church Establishment in Ireland, I am actuated by no dislike to the respectable body of men, who, in the midst of fear and hatred, gather its spoils ; on the contrary, I esteem those men, notwithstanding their past, and, perhaps, still existing hostility to the religious and civil rights of their fellow-subjects and countrymen ; I even lament the painful position in which they are placed. What I aspire to is the freedom of the people ; what I most ardently desire is their union, which can never be effected till injustice, or the oppression of the many by the few, is taken away. And as to religion, what I wish, is to see her freed from the slavery of the state, and the bondage of mammon — to see her restored to that liberty, with which Christ hath made her free. — Her ministers labouring and receiving their hire from those for whom they labour — these latter as- sisted, if necessary by the state \ — serving the altar, and living by it, dispensing spiritual things, gratis, as 88 they received them, and partaking in return of the gifts of their flocks ; that thus religion may be re- stored to her empire, which is not of this world, and men once more worship God in spirit and in truth. I believe the right of the ministers of religion to receive a competent support from those for whom they officiate, is not questioned by any person. This right appears to be founded on one of those great natural laws, whose operation is discovera- ble in all places, and at all times, when and where- soever men have agreed to live together. Pagan nations every where had their temples and priest- hood, and assigned, for their support, lands or offerings, or both. In the Mosaic dispensation, an ample provision was made for the priests and levites, which alone should convince every true believer, that " he who serves the altar should live by the altar." The origin and practise of this law in the Christian dispensation, are ascertained by a refer- ence to the words and example of our Redeemer, and his Disciples. When he first sent forth his disciples to announce his Gospel, he commanded them, Mat. x. 10, not to possess gold or silver, or two coats, because he who labours, deserves to be supported. He tells them to remain in the 89 house wherein they enter, eating and drinking of what they have, because saith he, " the labourer is worthy of his hire." When he the Son of God himself, accompanied by his disciples, went about preaching the kingdom of heaven, he was followed by many holy women, who ministered to him out of their substance, Luke viii. 3. It even ap- pears that the alms bestowed on him were reserved for a future day, for it is written, John xii. 16, that the traitor Judas, " having the purse, carried what was put therein," and hence arose the suppo- sition of the other Apostles, when the Saviour said to Judas after the last supper, " what thou dost do quickly," that he was desired, as having the purse, " to buy what was wanted for the festival day," or to give something to the poor, John, xiii, 29. The hospitality exercised by the first believers, or their voluntary offerings, were, it thus appears, the means of support selected by the Author and Finisher of our faith, for himself and his disciples. After his ascension into heaven, we find, Acts ii. 45, that the primitive Christians had a commu- nity of goods, and out of the common stock " there was distributed to each, as each one had need." The history of Ananias and Saphira, related in Acts iv. 21, 23, as also the speech of Peter on the election of deacons, chap. G, show the place 90 which the ministers of the Church held in what regarded the distribution or application of the temporal goods intrusted to them. It is not, however, from these facts that the discipline of the primitive Church, as to the maintenance of her ministers is to be learned, but rather from the Epistles of St. Paul. He, 1 Cor. ix. proves from the law of nature, from that of Moses, and from the express words of Jesus Christ himself, that the faithful are bound to support those who preach the Gospel, or serve the altar. " Who," he asks, " serveth as a soldier, at any time, at his own " charges ? Who planteth a vineyard, and eateth " not of the fruit thereof? Who feedeth a flock, " and eateth not of the milk of the flock ? Doth " not the law also say these things. For it is " written in the law of Moses : thou shalt not " muzzle the mouth of the ox that treadeth out " the corn. If we have sown unto you spiritual " things, is it a great matter if we reap your car- " nal things ? Know you not that they who work " in the holy place, eat the things that are of the " holy place, and they that serve the altar, partake " with the altar. So, also, the Lord ordained that « they who preach the Gospel should live by the " Gospel." The Apostle having fixed, as it were, on a firm 91 basis, the right of the clergy to a competent sup- port, exhorts, in the strongest language, the faithful to communicate freely of their goods to such of the brethren as happened to be in want, and also exhibits himself and his fellow-labourers, as agents in those works of charity, performed at his suggestion. His letter to the Galatians, those to the Corinthians, to Timothy, to the Philippians, prove this so fully and satisfactorily, that a general reference to those epistles is deemed sufficient. So the apostolic times themselves make manifest. 1st, That the ministers of religion have an inde- feasible right to a suitable maintenance ; 2nd, That the faithful provided such maintenance by voluntary donations ; 3rd, That the ministers of religion were the depositories, or agents, to whom the alms bestowed for the relief of the indigent brethren were confided. It next remains for us to ascertain what was the nature of the provision, or rather of what species of offerings or free gifts that provision consisted, in the first ages, or up to the time of the Emperoii Constantine. On this point the letters and ser- mons of St. Cyprian, bishop of Carthage, and the writings of Tertullian, especially his "Apologies," furnish very ample details. The former tells us, 92 that at the celebration of the holy mysteries, offer- ings of bread and wine were made by the faithful upon the altar, and contributions in money also given, from which the clergy, the widows and orphans, were relieved or supported. Tertullian enters into a more minute detail ; stating that persons were elected to preside over, and take charge of these donations. These persons, on a certain day in each month, received the voluntary offerings of the faithful, or, as he calls them, the " deposits of piety, to be " expended," he conti- nues, " not in feastings and drinking, or ungrate- ful dissipation, but in feeding the hungry, in bury- ing the dead, and providing for male and female orphans ; for the decrepid through age, for those suffering from shipwreck, or working in the mines, or who were imprisoned, or subjected to loss for professing the faith." We know from the 19th canon of the synod of Elvira of Spain, that during a portion of this period some of the clergy, and even bishops were engaged in traffic, and that others of them, not content with the ordinary means of support, or not finding it sufficient, went through the province in quest of gain. The council prohibits those prac- tises, and what is somewhat singular, it even con- 93 dcmns, in its 48th canon, the accepting at the time of baptism, such voluntary offerings as might then be made, least any thing sacred might seem to be sold. In fine, St. Cyprian, L. 1, Ep. 9, sums up in a few words, the whole subject of which we treat, saying, " as the priests and levites of the Old Testament received tithes from the eleven tribes, that they might devote themselves without interruption to the service of the altar, so the clergy receive at present their support, (of gifts and offerings) that they may not be implicated in worldly concerns, or depart from the altar and sacrifices." The £. history of Eusebius, and what has been written by Prudentius on the martyrdom of St. Lawrence, are sufficient to show, that even during the period now under consideration, many churches had not only sufficient means to support the clergy and poor attached to them, but had even acquired considerable property both moveable and immoveable. The Church of Rome surpassed all others, both in wealth and in deeds of surpass- ing liberality, exercised not only in the surround- ing provinces, but even in Syria, Arabia, and to the remotest extremities of the Roman Empire. The administration of all Church Property, 9i whether consisting of occasional offerings, or of moveable or immoveable goods, was vested, as all the ancient writers testify, in the bishop, who either personally, or by an agent appointed from among the clergy for that purpose, distributed the church revenue in such proportions, and to such persons, including the clergy and poor, as he thought proper. A custom, however, arose in the course of the fourth century, it is impossible to ascertain the precise place or date of its origin, of dividing into four equal parts the entire revenue of each church, whether arising from fixed income or daily offerings. " Tarn de reditu quam de obla- tione fidelium," that is to say, one part for the maintenance of the bishop, (who is supposed to have transferred all his private property to the common stock or fund,) and to enable him to exercise hospitality ; a second part to the clergy of the church for their support, and the two remain- ing parts to be expended on the fabric of the church, and the support of the poor. The first authentic mention made of this distri- bution, is found in a letter, Ep. 3, of Pope Sim- plicius, in the fifth century, being a commission given by him to the Bishop Severus, to correct the mal-administration by the Bishop Gaudentius, of 95 the revenues of his church. In this loiter the Pope refers to the above-mentioned division as to an old established custom ; he specifies the objects to which each portion of the income is to be ap- plied, and charges those concerned, on their res- ponsibility, to carry his commands into effect. The Pope Gelasius, shortly afterwards, Ep. 9, renews this regulation, ordering, in express terms, the bishop to distribute to the clergy their fourth part, agreeably to ancient custom, " sicut dudum rationabiliter est decretiun" and enjoining the clergy to expect or seek for no more. " Sic clerus rdtra delec/atam sibi summam nihil insolenter no- verit expetendum" The Pope proceeds to instruct the bishop as to the application of the remaining two parts — to the building and repairing of the church, and to the maintenance of the poor, which he is to perform in such a manner as that the faithful may be edified, and no suspicion attach to him that he had appropriated any part of those sacred portions to his own use. But the whole passage being not only beautiful, but also a most authentic decree of antiquity, on which was founded a system of discipline and ecclesiastical economy, equally useful to mankind, and honorable to the church, it may be proper to insert it here." 96 " Ea vero quae ecclesiasticis cedificiis attributa sunt, huic operi veraciter prserogata locorum doceat instauratio manifesta Sanctorum : quia nefas est, si sacris sedibus destitutis, in lucrum suum Presul impendia bis destinata convertat. Ipsam nihil- ominus adscript-am pauperibus portioncm divinis rationibus se dispensasse monstraturus esse vide- atur, tamen juxta quod scriptum est, ut videant opera vestra bona, et glorificent patrem vestrum qui in coelis est, oportet etiam presenti testificatione prsedicari, et bonse famee prseconiis non taceri." It is worthy of remark, that this division of Church Property, which was in itself wise and good, and appears to us the very " beau ideal" of canonical wisdom was introduced, not to improve what was good, but to remedy an abuse. Neglect, or something worse, on the part of the bishop or his agent, the avarice or thirst of worldly gain, on the part of some of the clergy, excited the mur- murs and complaints of the defrauded poor, and of the holy and zealous men with whom the church abounded ; these complaints went up to the Pope, the head of the church, and he adopted, extended, and enforced a mode of distribution, already prevailing in some churches, which took away the occasion of injustice or fraud. There is, however, little doubt, that in the still more ancient and more pure times of the chureh, all its revenue was the patrimony of the poor. Such of the clergy as had goods of their own, generally gave them up to the common fund, and either received their support out of them as alms, or earned that support by the labour of their own hands. Indeed, even in the fifth century, we find the opinion ad- mitted as true, that a clergyman possessed of private property, was not entitled to support from the church, and could not receive it without the guilt of taking from the poor what of right be- longed to them. Nor is it asserted to this day, by any good divine, that a churchman can expend, without a violation of charity or justice, even of the portion allotted to him, more than is necessary for his decent support, and the defraying the un- avoidable expenses attendant on his state. The residue of his income, whatever it may be, should, it is asserted, be employed for the same charitable or religious purposes as those to which the whole fund, of which his portion is a part, had been originally destined. It is also deserving of notice, that this four-fold division of Church Property, introduced thus early into the Latin Church as a remedy of abuse, 98 was not at any time adopted in the Greek Church ; hut if in the latter, the primitive institutions con- tinued longer, they were not so pure at all times, or even for a long period, as not to require such a regulation as that adopted by their brethren in the west. To pursue, however, this main object of our inquiry. We find, that in the decline of the sixth century, the clergy urged with more than usual eagerness, the necessity of increasing those revenues entrusted to the bishops for the before- mentioned purposes. The state of the western church, at this time, was one of extreme difficulty ; the Roman empire was split in pieces, and in its fall was bringing ruin and desolation on those to whom it had formerly afforded protection and security. The barbarians of the North overspread Italy, Spain, France, and Illyricum, nor was there a single province of the once mighty but now falling Roman state, which anarchy, war, or fa- mine, had not in their turn desolated. The sort of mixed governments, partly civil, and partly military, established by the semi-barbarous con- querors, were but an indifferent substitute as yet for the polished discipline and refined legislation of the Romans. The cities had been 6acked and 99 pillaged — all their most noble and useful institu- tions had disappeared — commerce had nearly alto- gether ceased — agriculture was neglected, and the population of whole provinces sometimes nearly disappeared altogether : — they had fallen by the sword, or perished of hunger, or were reduced to a state of slavery. Clovis, and his successors in Gaul, were the first to use exertions for the re- establishment of order, and under these princes the church was in some sort re-established — reli- gion once more revived. Learning, however, on the Continent had every where decayed, and at this period, as well as during several succeeding centuries, we look in vain for those manifestations of mental power, and enlightened piety, which shed so much glory on the two preceding centuries. The spirit of the Gospel still, however, exerted its divine influence, and produced, in the midst of the darkness and disorder which prevailed, a sur- prising number of bishops, distinguished for the purity of their lives, and the unwearied zeal with which they laboured to apply remedies to the evils of their time. It may appear strange, that a claim to tithes should be first advanced at such a period and by such men : — that canons which would seem to have no object but the aggrandize- too ment of the church, and the enriching of church- men, should have heen first enacted hy bishops, who, since their own time, have scarcely had suc- cessors approaching to them in the practise of piety, zeal, disinterestedness and charity. But the truth is, that they took upon themselves, with the sanction and approbation of the several states or princes within whose dominions they resided, the exclusive care of the poor. The widow, the orphan, and the stranger, were their peculiar care ; hospitals were built by them ; schools and monasteries were established by them ; cities were rebuilt by them ; all who were in affliction or distress had recourse to them, so that if even a moiety of what their biographers and the historians of these ages relate of them, be deserving of credit, they appear to have been appointed more' than all who came after them, to preach the Gospel to the poor, and to heal the broken-hearted. Such were the men who advanced a claim to tithes, and first fruits, and enforced the payment of them, and of such like offerings, by appeals to the Jewish dispensation, the temporary ordinances of which, relating to tithes, they applied to the Christian ministry and people. They were led into this mode of thinking and acting, by their 101 want of knowledge at a time when learning was no where cultivated, and by their zeal for the poor, who looked to them for support, Their opinions and decrees, promulgated to an ignorant soldiery, or to a population more than semi-bar- barous, often met with opposition from the sword, but was seldom confronted by argument. Thus, then, was introduced the doctrine of paying tithes, first-fruits and other offerings after the manner of the Jews, and so rapid was its advance, that in the time of Charlemagne, or the year 800, we find the church and state every where combined in ex- acting tithes, and enforcing the payment of them with a power and rigour till then unknown in the Christian Church. Had the men who introduced this system foreseen the remote consequences of their own acts, in the luxury and corruption of churchmen, in the spread of simony, in the decay of religion, in the tyranny of power, in the oppres- sion of the weak, in the revolt of states, in the subversion of thrones and altars, and in the con- tempt and hatred of kings and priests, they would never have allied the Church to the State, or sought by ecclesiastical censures or civil laws, to render excessive and compulsory that provision for the clergy and the poor which the divine Author 10' > of our religion willed to be the fruit of charity, or a just but voluntary return for services performed. But it is our duty at present to lament rather than condemn, to amend or alter, rather than inveigh against a mode of proceeding, which perhaps the necessities of the time justified. These general remarks, however, in which I have indulged, should be sustained by reference to the public records of the time to which they refer. It is indeed especially requisite to point out both the canons which show the introduction of the tithe system, and also such documents as are ne- cessary to vindicate from the charge of ambition or avarice the characters of those good men, who first, as I have learned, applied literally the Mo- saic ordinances on tithes to a Christian people. The first authentic document of the above de- scription to be met with is a circular letter, ad- dressed by the bishops who composed the second council of Tours. The following are extracts from it. " Iliad vero instantissime commonemus ut Abrahse documenta sequentes Decimas ex omni facultate non pigeat Deo, pro reliquis quae possi- detis conscrvandis, offerre : ne sibi ipse inopiam generet qui parva non tribuit ut plura retentet, et 103 quod dicendum est verius, suum persolvat pretium, ne se train videat peccato dominante captivum. Ergo si quis in Abrahse conlocari vult gremio, ejusdein non repugnet exemplo ; et sol vat eleo- mosynse pretium quisquis optat regnare cum Christo." This is a strong exhortation, but still is only an exhortation. The letter proceeds to encourage the payment of tithe for slaves, " Licet superius dictum sit, ad exemplum Abrahse hostias afferri debere, attamen propter cladem quee immi- net, hortamur ut etiam unusquisque de suis man- cipiis Decimas persolvere non recuset." But as some families might not have slaves to decimate, and yet probably were blessed with children, such persons are exhorted to pay a small capitation tax for each of them, which might be employed for the redemption of captives. The words are the following, and the matter is too curious to allow of their being omitted. " Quod si mancipia non sint, et fuerint aliqui habentes binos aut ternos filios per unumquem- que singulos tremisses in episcopi manu contradat, aut quern suo loco pontifex elegerit, adsignare non dilatet, quod posset in redemptionem captivorum conferri : ut cum sic agitur, et praesentis irse remo- tio, et meroes proficiat in future" lot, As yet the demand for tithe was only urged by strenuous exhortation. This probably had not the desired effect, and hence, in about twenty years after the foregoing letter was written, that is, in the year 585, a numerous synod of bishops, held at Ma^on, issued the following decree, in which the divine right of the clergy to tithe is expressly laid down, and the payment of them said to be usual in the Church from the remotest times, of which assertion, however, no proof is adduced. It is said that this decree, with the consent of king Gontran, within whose territory the council was held, had annexed to it the penalty of excom- munication. If so, this is the first instance known to me, wherein censures were had recourse to as a means of enforcing the payment of ecclesiastical dues. The canon is, on many accounts, inte- resting, but especially as being the first extant, in which the divine right to tithe is formally put forth. " Leges divinse consulentes sacerdotibus ac mi- nistris ecclesiarum, pro hsereditatis portione omni populopreceperuntdecimas fructuum suorum sacris locis preestare, ut nullo labore impediti horis legi- timis spiritualibus possint vacare ministeriis. Quas leges Christianorum congeries longis temporibus 106 custodivit intemeratas. Nunc autcm paulatirn prsevaricatores legum, pene Christiani omncs os- tenduntur, dum omnes qua? divinitus sancita sunt adirnplere ncgligunt. Unde statuimus ac decer- nimus, ut mos antiquus a fidelibus reparetur ; et Decimas Ecclesiasticis famulantibus ceremoniis populus omnis inferat, quas sacerdotes aut in pau- perum usum, aut in captivorum redemptionem prrerogantes suis orationibus pacem populo, ac salutem impetrent." Whilst the right of tithes was thus enforced in France, similar claims were put forward in Italy, and advanced by means not less efficacious — Among these was one somewhat remarkable — a prophecy by a very venerable hermit, called Hos- pitius. This good man, ruminating over the crimes and scandals too prevalent among his country- men, imagined he saw in a vision the Lombards coming in to ravage Italy, as avengers sent by God to punish the vices of the age, among which he ranked the non-payment of tithes. The pas- sage is curious, as showing that the estimate formed by good men of the depravity of human morals, at every period of time, is pretty nearly the same. This holy anchoret, after predicting the invasion of Italy by the Lombards, and mark- 10(5 ing the object of their coming, is represented to have said, " Est enim omnis populus infidelis, perjuriis deditus, furtis obnoxius, in homocidiis promptus, a quibus nullus justitise fructus ullatenus gliscit, non decimce dantur, non pauper alitur, non tegitur nudus, non peregrinus hospitio recipitur." Thus, then, the custom of paying tithes was gradually confirmed. At first it was a mere volun- tary offering ; it was then propounded as a sacred, conscientious duty, prescribed substantively by our Lord and his Apostles. The payment of them was next enforced by provincial councils, as to be made iif virtue of the law of Moses, supposed to have been long dormant, but now renewed in the church. The civil law was, in some places, called in to aid the ecclesiastical canon, and the visions and exhortations of holy men, were admitted to share in a work so necessary for the salvation of the faithful. There was remaining but one barrier to the establishment of this decimating system. The Roman Emperors, wheresoever they had autho- rity, endeavoured to resist it, or at least to check the enormous abuses, which, even from the com- mencement, grew up with it. The code of Jus- 107 tinian recognises its existence, but by a special law, c. de Episc. ct Cler. L. 38, the emperor en- deavours to restrain the rapacity of the clergy, and afford to his subjects protection from their exac- tions. The words of the law are remarkable. '* Non oportet episcopos aut clericos cogere quosdam ad fructus offerendos, aut angarias dan- das ; aut alio modo vexare aut excommunicare, aut anathematizare, aut denegare communionem, aut idcirco non baptizare. Quamvis usus ita obti- nuerit. Transgressor cadit ab Ecclesia et admi- nistratione ipsius, et dat decern libras." But the above law was an impediment easily removed when the name only of the emperor, for his power was passing away, sustained it. In a little time its operation was confined, as Balsamon tells us, to the Patriarchate of Constantinople, and the abuses which it was designed to check grew up and flourished, both within and without the pale of the empire. Othlon, who wrote the life of Boniface Arch- bishop of Mayence, assures us, with all becoming gravity, that the Apostles, he means the Twelve Apostles of our Lord, had assigned the tithes of all believers to the bishops and churches, but upon this condition, so often renewed by the canons, 108 that one moiety of them would be applied to the fabric of the churches and to the relief of the poor, of hospitals and monasteries ; " but this," he adds, " so holy and so necessary a precept, is not only now totally disregarded, but almost utterly forgot- ten. The precept of paying tithes is read and re- membered, but the uses they should be applied to are carefully ignored" — iynoranthe commmdan- tui\ I would willingly transcribe this whole passage, as it exhibits a most lovely picture of the manners and opinions of the time, but its length would encum- ber such an essay as the present, whose object is to indicate, rather than discuss minutely the origin, nature, and destination of Church Property. We have seen this tithing system growing up, as it were, from an early period of the sixth cen- tury, and extending itself gradually, until the close of the eighth, at which period, it seems to have taken hold of all those countries in Europe, which had been at any time subject to the government of Rome. Britain herself was not exempted from this salutary visitation ; it was introduced with Christianity itself, as we learn from the letters of Augustine to Pope Gregory, and Bedc informs us, Lib. 4. Hist. <2<), that even before his time, all 109 imaginable things in England were subjected to tithe. He adduces, as a proof of superior virtue in Eadbert, that previous to his being raised to the episcopacy he had, like Abraham, paid tithes of all he possessed. " Ita ut juxta legem omnibus annis Decimam, non solum quadrupedum, vcrum etiam frugum omnium, atque pomorum, necnon et ves- timentorum partem pauperibus daret." Ireland alone, of all the Christian Churches in Europe, paid no tithes at this period ; perhaps, because in Ireland alone true piety flourished, and science was cultivated. I have before observed, that the men who intro- duced this tithing system, were distinguished by their disinterestedness, piety, and zeal ; and so far from seeking to enrich themselves and aggrandize their order at the expense of the poor, and the in- dustrious, as so many of their reputed successors have since done, or are still doing, they, on the contrary, sought in this system only for the means of alleviating the sufferings of their fellow Chris- tians, or ministering to the wants of the poor. This truth is proved by the language of the canons and documents already quoted, wherein not only the fourfold division of ecclesiastical dues is repeatedly and expressly set forth, but also 110 the relief of the poor advanced, as the great ground work of the obligation of paying tithes. It was at that period, as well as at all preceding times, uni- versally admitted, at least in theory, that church- men were only trustees for the poor, and had no property in tithes, oblations, or other ecclesiastical dues or offerings ; that they were entitled to a competent support only, and that the residue be- longed, and was consecrated to the charitable or religious purpose so often before mentioned. The following extract, from the writings of S. Cesarius, Archbishop of Aries, in Gaul, presents a summary of the prevailing doctrine of these times. " Decimse non sunt nostra?, sed Ecclesiae depu- tatse, verum quidquid ampliusquam nobis opus est a Deo accepimus, pauperibus erogare debemus. Si quod eis deputatum est nostris cupiditatibus aut vanitatibus reservamus quanti pauperes in locis ubi nos sumus fame vel nuditate mortui fuerint, noverimus nos de animabus illorum rationem red- dituros." We have seen the origin and progress of tithes, as well as the mode in which they were applied from their first introduction, to the close of the eighth century. In the year 800, Charlemagne was crowned Emperor of the West, and fixed per- Ill inanently, and by a regular code of laws, the tith- ing system throughout the whole extent of his empire. His Capitularies, as they are called, are filled with laws enacting the payment of tithes, and so decided was his policy in this respect, that the address, eloquence, wisdom and piety, of his cele- brated friend and adviser, Alcuin, were notjsuffi- cient to dissuade him from subjecting to this heavy impost the Huns, a barbarous people, but lately converted to the faith. This Alcuin, was a man of superior mind, who, in those darksome times, shone like a star in the midst of a clouded firma- ment. He redeemed the age in which he lived from the character of barbarism, which would otherwise have attached to it, and had the legisla- tors, his cotemporaries, been able to sustain the heat and light of his genius, he would have con- ducted them out of that desert, in which they and their successors, for centuries afterwards, were detained. But like the prophetess, doomed never to be believed — or, like Esop, fearing boldly to divulge his wisdom, Alcuin foresaw what he could not avert, and only intimated what he wanted power and influence sufficient to enforce. His letter to the Emperor, quoted by Le Coint, An. 798, is a curious document. He prays this con- m cjueror, flushed with victory, and burning with zeal, if to consider in the case of the Huns, whe- ther it would not be wise to pause, before he imposed on a rude people, but lately converted, the yoke of tithes Whether the Apostles, instructed by Christ, would exact of them such sacrifices, whilst they were as yet but weak in the faith, whereas we," continues the writer, " we ourselves, born in the Catholic religion — nourished and instructed in it, scarcely consent to see our property decimated." " An Apostoli a Christo edocti exactiones De- cimarum exegissent ? . . . . Nos in fide catho- lica nati, nutriti, et edocti, vix consentimus sub- stantiam nostram pleniter decimari. Quanto magis tenera fides, et infantilis animus, et avara mens illarum largitati non consentit ?" His suggestions and advice were slighted ; power, established usages, religious prejudices, and vested rights, stood against the Spirit of the Gos- pel, and the reasoning of Alcuin. And not only was the law of tithing every where confirmed throughout the more civilized portions of the new empire, but all the nations inhabiting between the Rhine and the Danube, were forced to bend their necks to this salutary, but yet galling yoke. 113 In some places the tithe collectors, as sometimes happens in our own days, exceeded the very ex- tensive powers given to them by law, and com- pelled the farmers to verify by oath their fulfilment of the obligations imposed on them. But Char- lemagne corrected this abuse, Capit. L. L. 2. c. 38, leaving, however, the penalty of excommuni- cation in full force, " qui decimas dare neglexer- int excommunicentur. Juramento vero eos con- stringi nolumus, propter periculum perjurii." He prohibits, however, all composition or modus in lieu of tithe ; the words of the law are, "De Decimis quas populus dare non vult nisi quolibet modo ab eo redimantur, ab Episcopis providendum est ne fiat. Et si quis contemptor inventus fuerit, et nee Episcopum nee Comitem audire voluerit, si noster homo fuerit, ad presen- tiam nostram venire compellatur. Cseteri vero distringantur, ut inviti Ecclesise restituant qui vo- luntarie dare neglexerunt." Having thus seen the tithe system firmly estab- lished by the combined power of the church and state, and not always as is manifest, in accordance with either the wishes or the interests of those on whom it was imposed, it is time to examine to H 114 whom tithes were now paid, and to what purposes they were applied. It appears by the whole tenor of the legislation, both civil and ecclesiastical of these times, that the bishops, and they only, were the trustees into whose hands, or to whose officers or orders, tithes were as yet payable. One sentence from the Capitul. the European code of this time, suffices to prove this. " Unusquisque suam Decimam donet, et per jussionem Episcopi dispensentur." L. 5. c. 123. Even the lands granted by kings or nobles to monasteries, paid tithes to the mother churches in their vicinity, and continued at the disposal of the bishop. He, however, was only the trustee, as we have said before, bound to watch over the application of them. The mode of distri- bution was regulated most expressly, both by the canon and civil law. I insert here short extracts from both, which are sufficient evidence on this subject. The first of these extracts is from the acts or canons of a council held at Paris, and which after- wards became the law of all Europe, by being substantially adopted by the great council of Lateran in 1215, under Pope Innocent III. To this canon Ware refers. " Et quamquam aucto- 115 "ritas canonica cloceat, ut quarta pars docimarum " et reddituum ex oblationibus fidclium in usus " Episcoporum cedat, ubicunquc tamen Episcopus "sua habet suis contentus sit. Ubi autem nil " rerum Ecclesise suae habet, accipiat de memo- " rata quarta parte sibi suisque, non quod avaritia, " quod absit, suaserit, sed potius quod necessitas " compulerit. Csetcrum si accipiendi nulla ne- " cessitas urserit, nihil de memorata quarta parte " accipiat, sed usibus Ecelesiarum et paupcribus " Christi impertiendum secundum suam disposi- " tioncm relinquat.' , The civil or mixed law, for it was generally enacted by both powers conjointly, is still more express. Capit. Lib. 7, c. 290, pro- vides as follows : " Instruendi sunt Presbyteri quatenusnoverintDecimas et oblationes pauperum et hospituin et peregrinorum esse stipcndia. Qua- liter vero dispensari debeant, Canones sacri insti- tuunt. Scilicet ut quatuor partes ex omnibus fiant, unam ad fabricam Ecclesia? relevandam, altera pauperibus distribuenda, tertia Presbytero cum suis clericis habenda, quarta Episcopo reser- vanda, et quidquid exinde Pontifex jusserit pru- denti consilio est faciendum." Another enactment has it thus : " Juxta prc- ceptum proprii Episcopi, secundum canonical 110 sanctioned, atque decreta Beati Gelasii Papa?." And another, " Sacerdotes Decimas secundum autlioritatem canonicam dividant coram testibus. Et ad ornamentum Ecclesiae primam elegant par- tem, secundam autem ad usum pauperum vel peregrinorum, tertiam sibimetipsis soli Sacer- dotes dispensent." The words of this canon are nearly the same as those of the constitutions of York, in 1250. Wheresoever the bishop did not require his portion for his support, the division was three- fold, two parts of which, in the more wealthy churches, was assigned to the poor, and where the revenues were small, the whole was equally divided between the clergy and the indigent. The legislation in the English church proceeded pari passu with that upon the Continent. Tith- ing was a portion of the discipline introduced, as was before observed, by St. Augustine into Eng- land, and we may infer from Bede, quoted above, that the Saxons were not less disposed than their continental neighbours to submit to this impost. It was not, however, till after the consolidation of the Heptarchy by Egbert, who died in 838, that we find the statute law adopting and enforcing the rule of the church. Ethelwulphus, the son of 117 Egbert, was the first who prescribe to the English Saxons the payment of tithe : his son, the re- nowned Alfred, does not seem to have especially noticed them, but his descendant, Edward the Confessor, not only re-enacted the law of his ancestor, relating to the payment of tithes, but subjected to it all imaginable things which God gives to man. The words of the law are, " De apibus vero similiter decima commodi, quin etiam de bosco, dc prato, de aquis et molendinis, parchis vivariis, piscariis, virgultis, hortis et negotiati- onibus, et omnibus rebus quas dederit Dominus, decima pars ei reddenda est." tfe also enlarged exceedingly the power and authority of the bishops, by enabling them to sit as judges in courts of civil judicature, and even to inspect and to correct the proceedings of the civil magistrates. The laws of Canute, the Dane, in 1032, were framed in a similar spirit. When the Normans, under William, in 106G, invaded England, and having overcome the Saxons, changed many of the laws and usages of Ifeeir newly acquired country, they maintained, in all their integrity, what were called and deemed the rights and privileges of the church. The tith- ing system continued in all its vigour, and even extended itself to many things which upon the 118 Continent were and always continued exempt from tithe. The law of Edward the Confessor was rigorously enforced, and the distribution of the ecclesiastical revenues, as appears by several of the English councils, was exactly the same as that prescribed in the Capitularies of Charlemagne above quoted. The statute of Westminster, chap. 6, passed in the reign of Richard II. A. D. 1391, secured to the officiating clergyman, and to the poor, their portions of the fruits of even such benefices as were appropriated, that is, as were seized upon by the Pope, or king, or their nomi- nees. The statute of Mortmain was enacted in 1^79, to check the acquisitions of the clergy, The statute of Provisors, and that of Premunire, were afterwards passed and renewed to check or prevent the encroachments of the See of Rome ; but in the various contests which divided the heads of the church and state, the rights of the poor were held sacred, and up to this day, by the common law of England, they appear to me fully entitled to their portion of the tithes. I have looked through all the statutes relating to the changes of religion, or affecting the church, from the 27th of Henry VIII. which first transferred to that prince the property of some monasteries, up to the 43d 119 of Elizabeth, which created a new provision for the poor, and unless this latter law can be said by implication to have repealed their legal right to a fourth part of the church revenue, I know of no statute or usage which can at present bar that right. I say " usage," because it is a maxim in the common law of England, that no lapse of time or possession can create a title by prescription against the church, unless the adverse possession is proved to exist from the time of Richard II. or Henry IV. and as the right of the poor to their portion of the tithes and church revenues is strictly and legally an ecclesiastical right, the church or its ministers holding in trust for them, I am unable to discover any reason, except inability, to inforce their claim, which excludes them (the poor) from the possession and enjoyment of what the law assigns to them. I was myself once nearly resolved to try this right in Ireland, by having a bill filed in a court of equity, but Lord Manners was Chancellor, and the temper of the time was unfavorable. We come at length to the examination of the state of Church Property in Ireland — the only Christian country which enjoyed up to the period of the English invasion a total exemption from 120 tithe, I say a total exemption, for though some attempts to introduce the system had been made by Gilbert Bishop of Limerick, and by St. Malachy of Armagh, who were invested with a legatine commission from the Pope j and though these attempts were renewed by Cardinal Paparo, An. 1152, in the synod of Kells, they were, it might be said, totally ineffectual. The Irish people, since their first conversion to the Christian faith, always understood rightly the Gospel dispensation. They were always too rational, and too acute, to submit willingly to an unreasonable, I might add, an unjust imposition, and the law of tithe, whether civil or ecclesiastical, has never had, either in Catholic or Protestant times, no not to the present hour, the assent or consent of the Irish nation. They have been always at war with it, and, I trust in God, they will never cheerfully submit to it. It was imputed to them as a crime by Giraldus Cambrensis that they had never paid tithe, and would not pay tithe, notwithstanding the laws which enjoined such payment ; and now, at the end of six hundred years, they are found to persevere with increased obstinacy in their struggles, to cast off this most obnoxious impost. There are many noble traits in the Irish charac- 121 tcr, mixed with failings which have always raised obstacles to their own well-being ; but an innate love of justice, and an indomitable hatred of op- pression, is like a gem upon the front of our nation which no darkness can obscure. To this fine quality I trace their hatred of tithe : may it be as lasting as their love of justice ! The Irish Church did not require the tithe of the produce of the land, capital and industry of the faithful, for the maintenance of her ministry, and of the poor. She was richly, nay profusely, endowed with lands, the property of the many rich and powerful individuals or princes, who from time to time had embraced the clerical or monas- tic life, or had granted lands for pious uses to religious communities. The Irish clergy were the most distinguished in Europe, not only for their learning, piety and zeal, but more especially for their poverty of spirit, their habits of mortifica- tion and self-denial. Whilst the priests and prelates of many other churches, by their pride, wealth, luxury, and am- bition seemed to be occupied in preparing the way for Antichrist, those of Ireland were found to imitate the lives of the Apostles, and to vindi- cate by the purity of their manners the truth and 122 divinity of the Gospel. They enjoyed many privi- leges, derived not from princely power, but from the love and confidence of the people, among which privileges one was to have their lands ex- empted from tribute, and chief rents, and other public contributions. See the Acts of the Synod of Rathbrasail in 1112. However when in the dispensations of an all-wise Providence, our coun- try was invaded by a British prince, carrying with him for the good of our souls a pope's bull, and an army of 4000 men at arms, and 500 knights, (what a force ! ! !) for the subjugation of our bodies when this had happened on the 1 8th of October, 1171, we were also blessed with an importation of the tithe system. In the synod of Cashel, held in 1 172, under the precedency of Christian Bishop of Lismore, and Apostolic Legate, who with seve- ral others had embraced the side of king Hen. II. it was decreed that " tithes should be paid to the churches out of every sort of property." This canon is the Magna Chart a of the tithe system in Ireland, though the decree itself remained a dead letter for many years after it was enacted, the Irish having receded generally from the fealty promised by them to Henry, and the whole nation 123 being, as was before observed, irreelaimably averse to tithe paying. The English law and jurisprudence was how- ever planted in the soil ; it grew up, though slowly, and some Normans and English having been put into the possessions of not a few ecclesiastical sees and dignities within the " Pale." A synod was summoned by Archbishop Cummin of Dublin, to meet in that city in 1186. This synod did meet, and the English and Irish, after a few sharp accu- sations and recriminations, such as those nations have ever been in the habit of interchanging, agreed to the following canon. " It is decreed that tithes be paid to the mother churches, out of provisions, hay, the young of animals, flax, wool, gardens, orchards, and out of all things that grow and bear an annual increase, under pain of anathema after the third monition ; and that such as continue obstinate in refusing to pay, shall be obliged to pay the more punctually for the future." This was the substance of the law of Edward the Confessor, mentioned above. The division or mode of distribution in Ireland, was prescribed by the common law, and was alike in both countries, viz. the priest or priests of the 124 church to which the tithe was payable, received the tithes, and kept a written account of what was paid, and by whom. The oft-mentioned three or four-fold division of them was then made, in the presence of witnesses pious men of the parish. One portion being set apart for the fabric and ornaments of the church, one for the bishop, if he was poor, and required it, which seldom or never happened in Ireland, notwithstanding the notice taken of it by Ware : a third part for the poor and the stranger, and the fourth part for the resident clergy. Thus stood the legislation, civil and ecclesias- tical of Europe, or of the Western Church in the 12th century. The body of the decretals, or canon law, was published in the 13th, and, for a while, the ecclesiastical power was triumphant every where j but in some time a reaction commenced, which continued progressing until the 16th cen- tury, when the church in her turn was subdued. But the history of these latter ages is so well known, and the conflict between the different powers, which have been brought into action, not being as yet ended, we may here close our obser- vations. The object we had in view was, to ren- U5 der some account of the origin, nature, and desti- nation of Church Property to the members of the parliamentary committee, appointed to inquire into the causes of distress in Ireland, as well as to such portion of the public, as are interested in similar inquiries. This subject has been, in some degree, attained. The inquiry led naturally, and almost necessarily, to reflections upon the state of Church Property in Ireland, and it would be uncandid in the writer to withhold, or seek to disguise his own opinions respecting the use which should be made of such property. He thinks the tithing system ought to be utterly and for ever abolished, and a land tax, not exceeding one tenth of the value of the land substituted for it.* The produce of which tax, as well as the church lands, placed at the dis- posal of parliamentary or royal commissioners, would enable them to provide amply for the sup- port of the poor — to assist, when necessary, the ministers of religion, to educate all the people, and to promote to the greatest possible extent, * The same end might be attained by making the adoptioa of the tithe-composition act compulsory, and allowing to the landholder a draw-back of twenty-tive or thirty-three one-third per cent, on ac- count of the capital, labour, and industry employed by hi in in the culture of the land. 12(1 works of public necessity, or national improve- ment. But these ideas have been so happily expressed by Mr. Douglas, of Glasgow, in his most excellent pamphlet on the necessity of a legal provision for the Irish poor, published in 1828, by Longman, Reves, &c. that I cannot better conclude those observations, than by inserting the following ex- tract from the above-mentioned work. " In Ireland there is not only a fund provided by the law of nature and human feeling for pre- venting the starvation of the labourers in the midst of that plenty, which their own hands have pro- duced by toil, unexampled in any other civilized country, and privations scarcely exceeded in the most savage tribes, but there is a fund established by law for the maintenance of the poor — in Ireland as well as England — by the laws of England, as they stood antecedent to the statutes of Elizabeth, which transferred from the church lands the origi- nal burden of maintaining the poor under which the church benefices were at first granted, and laid that burden on land generally. For the immense possessions of the Irish Catho- lic church, were equally burdened with the main- 127 tcnance of the poor, by the terms of the original grants — and by the uniform tenor and practice of that common law of England, which, by the right of conquest became the common law of Ireland. The statutes of the English Parliament, for reliev- ing the church lands and revenues, which had been resumed by Henry VIII. of the burden of maintain- ing the poor, under which Henry had effected the resumption, and for laying the expense of main- taining the poor on the whole land of England, were intended to tranquillize the minds of the new owners of the church property in England. But these statutes never extended to Ireland, nor even to Scotland — till Scotland, by her own legislature, enacted a similar provision for the poor out of the land, in order to put down the 1 00,000 " maisterfu' reevers and sorners," mentioned by Fletcher of Saltoun. In Ireland, therefore, the law regarding the maintenance of the poor, stands precisely where it did before the time of Henry VIII., when the Church was bound, from its revenue, to maintain the poor, and did so while the Catholic Church had these revenues. If therefore, the episcopal Church of Ireland obtained and holds the princely revenue of the ancient Catholic establishment, by 128 what principle of common law, or common sense, does the successor in the property refuse to perform the duty inseparably attached to that property ?* It cannot be because the revenues are insufficient — or because the spiritual duties of the Irish Church are too severe for the remuneration. For it was ascertained, that of the population of Ireland, when taken at 6,800,000 only l-14«th or 490,000 were Episcopalians — and 300,000 Dissenters — while nearly six millions were of the original reli- gious establishment, to whom the property be- longed, and among whom, from obvious causes, the great bulk of the poor are to be found. The Episcopal Church of Ireland contains, besides curates, who do the duty where there are churches, 087 sinecure dignified clergy in 1829 parishes, who may be said, with few exceptions, to be non-resi- dent. The rental of Ireland has been rated at 20s. an acre, including mountains and bogs ; and the ex- tent of the surface being, by some, taken at seven- teen millions of acres ; but let it be taken as low as fourteen millions, the total will be a rental of * I am told that acts of vestry in some parishes in Ireland are extant ordering- the application of 4a. pars to the relief of the poor by the Protestant Clergy. — Editor. 129 fourteen millions sterling. The proportion of the land composing Church Property, exclusive of tithes, has been estimated, by good authority, at two-elevenths of the whole, which is annually — £2,545,454 The tithes of the 1289 benefices are said scarcely, in any case, to be un- der £500 per annum, and, in many cases, £1,000 to a£5,000; but say £550, which gives - - - £708,950 Total, - £3,254,404 But this shows the revenues of the Church at much" too low an estimate; because the church lands are generally situated in the most fertile districts, and they are let usually at the old low rent, not a fifth of the true value, because the incumbent re- ceives a large fine, grassum, at the renewal of each lease — by which practice some dignitaries have amassed half a million of money : — Five millions therefore would probably be nearer the truth than any other sum, as the annual revenue of the Irish Church ; and this for doing the spiritual duty of 490,900 souls. Such enormous waste of public wealth, for such a purpose, is altogether without example in the history of human extravagance. 1 130 Such a fund for the maintenance of the poor was, perhaps, never known in any age, and this, too, one of its primary purposes, — and yet we are asked, where is the fund from which to maintain Irish poverty, and suppress Irish beggary — the op- probrium of the empire ? It has often been proposed to commute the tithes, at a low valuation, which would undoubtedly tend to tranquillize the people whose feelings are constantly exasperated by the harsh proceedings of tithe proctors in seizing their poor pittance of potatoes, or their pigs, for such an offensively levied impost, — for the support of a church of which they know nothing but by its practical op- pressions, — which too readily prepares them to think ill of the heretical principles that can lead to such conduct in its ministers. But the commutation of tithes, if the remission were made to the landlord, would not do much for the tenant, except to increase his rent, although it would so far be of benefit, as the payment would not be so vexatiously taken in kind, or enforced by the oppressive and expensive process of eccle- siastical courts, where the clergy are judges in their own causes, and ecclesiastical officers reap the gain of the costs which ruin the tenantry. 131 The commutation should be accompanied with a legislative declaration that the proper main- tenance of the poor was originally a condition of granting the tithe, and that the price should be low in consequence of this burden being expressly retained and re-enacted in the law of commuta- tion, as a perpetual payment from the land. A very small portion of the immense property in land belonging to the church, after the death of the present incumbents, would suffice for the liberal endowment of a fair proportion of dignified clergy, both Episcopalian and Catholic. The great bulk of three millions a-year, belong- ing in property to the church, might form a fund for the most magnificent improvements, by em- ploying, at adequate wages, the Irish poor in cut- ting canals, making roads, draining and cultivating bogs, and morasses ; exploring coal, lime, marl, and other minerals ; forming harbours ; enclosing and planting on the church lands ; establishing fisheries, founderies, and various manufactures. By such means, the country might be indefinitely improved ; and the demand for employment would raise the wages, the comforts, the character, the caution, the repugnance to reckless marriage, of the people ; and retard the increase and improve the condition of the population. 132 There is another fund for defraying the expense of providing for the Irish poor, whieh is but little thought of, though it is most important. Were Ireland conciliated by just government, by the im- partial admission of all religions to civil and politi- cal privileges — by a just arrangement of Church property, so as to provide fairly for all the teachers of religion, without taking away anything which any man has a right to enjoy during his life — and were that abject poverty in the people abated, and their comforts improved, by a judicious system of relief, we should no longer see desperate hunger in arms against political and religious monopoly and oppression. The minister of peace leading on troops to shoot his starving flock, for rescuing or secreting the animal which yielded milk to their famishing children. We should see Ireland pro- tected as Scotland is, by a few skeleton battalions, instead of a regular army, at an expense of two millions sterling — besides another army of local yeomanry and armed police — all of whom, besides the enormous expense, so far from producing peace, seem only more to embroil the fray, by local grudges and religious animosity, carrying arms only on one side. The pacification of Ireland, and above all the 133 elevation of the character of the common people, would render the country safe and comfortable for the wealthy land-owners to reside in, and would induce persons of skill and capital to establish manufactures. In the present state of that un- happy country, it is difficult to blame absentees, who have the means of living in the tranquil por- tions of the empire." THE END. 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