comparing the different bearings, and weighing the various points, we may form a correct, unbiassed and disinterested opinion, as to the fitness, propriety, and expediency, of the measure. Here, bigotry must skulk to the dark and loathsome recess of ignorance, presumption, obstinacy, and ill-nature; making room for truth,

not prevent us, however, from investigating the inconveniences of laws, which, at the time they were framed, might have been political, prudent, nay even necessary, but now, from a total change of circumstances and events, may have become unjust, oppressive, and equally useless. If, on enquiry, the subject finds himself aggrieved, his next step should be, to peti-knowledge, reason, and generosity. With tion the Sovereign, or both Houses of Parliament, for redress. This is one of the greatest privileges of our glorious constitution, upon which too much stress cannot be laid, as it tends not only to secure the liberty of the subject, but likewise to ensure the tranquillity of the state. 1 William and Mary, stat. 2, c. 2.

Such memorials ought always to be drawn up, and presented with all humility and respect; when it becomes the duty of the legislature to receive them in that conciliatory and gracious manner, and to pay them that due and serious attention, as will convince the petitioners of the justice and relief they may reasonably expect from the inclination which the Sovereign and Parliament cannot but at all times feel, to benefit the loyal and faithful subjects of these realms.

such pilots at our helm, we may be certain of bringing our vessel to a welcome port, and to a secure anchorage.

Much has been said lately, my lords, of a New Era; I have sought for it on all sides, with the utmost care and anxiety, but in vain. If, indeed, I should find, that reason has so far got the upper hand, as to silence and stifle the tea-table talks, and curtain lectures, of the abigails in the metropolis: when every horrible story of murders, perjuries, and a long et cetera of crimes, is conjured up, collected, and adorned with the phrenetic tales of heated and weak imaginations, such as the ghosts of murdered Protestants heard at Bambridge to cry out for vengeance against bloody Papists*; and calculated for no other purpose than to frighten thoughtless children, like a Guy Faux, or to disturb the midnight repose of antiquated maidens.

Influenced by such motives, we ought, my lords, to take the Petition presented to us into consideration, and give it that If I should learn, instead of complimenthought which the importance of the mat-tary epistles addressed to divines under ter demands; bearing in mind the addi- ministerial influence, encouraging and tional weight it has received from the thanking them for inflaming the public respectability of the signatures, as to con- mind by preaching on matters which had sequence, moral worth, and numbers. better be kept out of the pulpit-that a system of universal toleration, of evangeli

The subject of the Petition is momentous in the extreme, as it claims redress on par-cal charity, is to be held out, recommendticular points, which all must allow are intimately connected with parts of our constitution. We ought not, therefore, to treat this supplication lightly; but to allow it a patient and impartial hearing, so as to prove to the nation, that we have favoured it with such a serious and fair discussion, as is alone likely to conduct us to a temperate and proper conclusion; and that the memorialists may depart satisfied they have not been dismissed with an impetuosity and frivolity, ill-suited either to the gravity or dignity of the highest, and, in that sense, the last court of appeal and equity in this country.

All impassioned feelings, however useful and praiseworthy, even at other times, should be set at rest for the present, whilst we ought to clothe and invest ourselves with the wisdom, calmness, and scrutiny, of a Plato or a Socrates, in order that, by

ed, and approved ;-then, indeed, I will bless the discovery, offering up my fervent and humble prayers of gratitude and adoration, before the altar of divine grace, and hail the nineteenth century as the era of light;-that era which we have so confidently expected, for which we have so constantly sought, and from which we have so continually strayed. An extent of time, to be counted, indeed, almost from the very first hour of the Fall of Man, but more particularly from the nativity of our blessed Saviour; not for the want of divine instruction, but from the misrepresentation of those sacred doctrines, which is solely to be attributed to the limited, selfish, and ambitious views of man alone, and to no other cause whatever.

* An affidavit to this purpose was swork at the castle of Dublin, about 1641.

Inspired with these sentiments; fully acquainted with the political causes, which placed that branch of the family to whom I have the honour to belong, on the throne of these united kingdoms, and professing the religion of the country as by law established, with which I am satisfied, considering it the most perfect, as long as I believe, and I am convinced, that it is the most charitable, I think myself called upon to explain to your lordships, the motives and considerations which determine my vote upon this great question.

Pause then here, my lords, and let us examine the real source, the primum mobile, of those bloody tales, which have dyed the page of history with indelible and eternal disgrace. If the historian be impartial and correct, in man alone we shall find the whole to originate, who has at all times evinced himself to be an animal of blood; and the policy of states has seldom scrupled to associate, at least the name of religion, in the perpetration of its enormities. There is no doubt, but that statepolicy, and the wicked love, of power, was, and ever will be the first cause of those dissentions; and, therefore, to man alone must we look for their remedy.

It is the cause of humanity and universal toleration that I am pleading, not from indifference to religion, which God forbid, but from a conviction that, when governments interfere with religious opinions, instead of protecting, they enslave them; which encourages hypocrisy; whereas they should tolerate their errors, without approving of them; suffering with patience all that their Maker permits from those errors to a far greater degree; and thereby endeavouring, after the example of our Saviour, to bring mankind back by a mild persuasion.

I pretend to nothing else; nor wish but If on us then, my lords, this task is to to recommend the moderation and gentlefall, if to us, in the midst of those difficul-ness, which belong to Christian hearts, in. ties, our fellow-subjects appeal for support, stead of the rage which portrays the nature comfort, and redress; let us shew to the of tigers. world at large, let us prove by our actions, let us convince Europe, more particularly appalled at this momentous crisis, that there does still exist a free country, an independent nation, in whose bosom, wisdom, justice, and generosity, still love to dwell, and fondly build their nests; that from that country, a light can, and will, go forth, to dispel and expose the dismal, the pestilential, and atrocious effects of tyranny, oppression, and atheism; and that those benefits, which elsewhere have been allowed by the all-wise, allmerciful, and all-powerful Director of human events to appear as originating in accident, and have been managed with the most refined Machiavelism, owe their rise and progress in this blessed island to a more pure, a more dignified, a more noble cause; to real unfeigned Christian charity, founded on the blessed Word of our Saviour, who came to save, not to destroy

man.

If man be prevented from manifesting his religious opinions and tenets, he will either become silent and a stranger to his neighbours, thus rendering himself suspicious to the commonwealth; or he will turn hypocrite, by connecting himself with a religion which he abominates, and which, therefore, can have no tie upon him; or he will end by being a freethinker, an atheist, denying the existence even of his Creator; and consequently de

the religion he originally was inclined to profess, would naturally have bound him.

In tolerating all religions, government becomes acquainted with their tenets, and of course knows the limits, as well as the extent, of the pledges requisite for the tranquillity of the state, besides what holds it has, or can have upon them.

I am well aware, my lords, that the man who ventures to speak the truth to contending interests, must expect the resent-priving society of that security by which ment of the fanatics on both sides; those men, who, losing sight of all religion, transfer the name to the secondary objects of their idolatrous doctrines, and veil their polluted politics with the sacred mantle of Christianity. To their resentment I know I am exposed; but the man who feels the amor patriæ, who disinterestedly and sincerely has the prosperity, glory, and welfare, of the nation at heart, should brave the danger, if he thinks he can be of any use; and arming himself with the courage of a Curtius, plunge into the gulph, should his country and his duty require it of him.

The wisest and soundest policy would leave all religions quietly to themselves, so long as they neither attack morality nor subvert the public quiet, either by their ambition or intolerance; their variety would not fail to produce a rival

wisdom from our adversaries, and guard | creatures, he is enabled to reason with ourselves against such a dangerous weapon, greater advantage to himself, by compariwielded by the able hands of so wary a son and reflection; and in no instance do foe? By adopting a similar system of per- the mental faculties shew their rapid strides fect toleration, which harmonizes so well so quickly, or under such a variety of with our constitution, and is so congenial forms, as in matters of religion. with our ideas of liberty, we might produce incalculable advantages;-we should gain over fresh votaries to our cause, and lead the nation on to still greater victories and triumphs, by ensuring the united efforts and good wishes of many additional millions of grateful and loyal subjects.

Had we acted upon these salutary, generous, and luminous principles, such scenes as took place in the East Indies a few years ago would not have existed to be recorded by the historian to our disgrace as a nation, and as statesmen, whilst for a time they must have seriously injured us, in our interests and good name with the natives*.

By toleration, in short, is meant conformity, safety, and protection, granted by the state to every sect, that does not maintain doctrines inconsistent with the public peace, the rights of the sovereign, and the safety of our neighbour.

In proportion as civilization encreases in the world, diversity of opinions must naturally multiply; and on no subject so much as on that of religion, in which meditation has so great a share, in relation to the present security and future happiness of every individual. As the mind of man improves, and expands by discoveries and communications with his fellow

* P. 101, Reflexions Philosophiques et Politiques sur la Tolerance Religieuse, &c. "Ce que nous disons ici en faveur du Judaisme, nous le disons de meme en faveur de tous les cultes en général; car l'etendue de territoire et d'influence de l'empire Francais nous rend peu de cultes étrangers. Déja la France compte dans ses domaines, ou sous son influence, toutes les sectes Chretiennes avec le Judaisme dans ses anciennes possessions, elle compte l'islamisme dans ses nouvelles vers l'orient; bientot pour punir un ennemi qui provoque sa propre ruine par son orgueil, elle sera dans le cas de compter aussi diverses sectes des Indes, il est impossible en reconnoissant pour citoyens les membres de tant de nations diverses, de ne pas reconnoitre et autoriser leurs cultes; car on auroit beau se le dissimuler, on ne gagne pas les cœurs si on contrarie les esprits, les uns ne vont pas franchement sans les autres."

The unlimited extent he is naturally inclined to give to his speculations in discussions; as also the fecundity of methods he invents, to view and judge of objects, naturally induce him to resort to persons, whose ideas assimilate the most with his own, when during his research after truth and happiness, he almost as by instinct shuns those individuals, whose opinions are not congenial with his own impres sions.

From this cause, a multiplicity of small societies is originally formed, which, encreasing in numbers, become at length so many sects, or, in other terms, so many religions, for, though Christianity is a word, which, if properly understood, ought at least to unite us all together, yet by the misinterpretation of this august name, we abandon the reality for the shadow; which can but be traced to the infantine state of fallen man, in spite of all his acquired knowledge and boasted improvements.

A shade of difference on religious opinions, constantly gives rise to more acrimony and violence between the parties, than a total difference of faith: similar to the human heart, which is more liable to pass from love to hatred, than from love to indifference.

Let Christians agree in those points, which are admitted on all sides, as much as they differ with respect to private opinions of discipline; and dissension will soon cease.

The Roman Catholics, in common with the Protestants, believe in the mysteries of the Resurrection, Trinity, aud Redemption; and are governed in matters of faith, by the same rules which govern the most enlightened divines in our Church, that is, to admit things above, but not contrary to reason.

Church discipline, though useful and necessary, should not, abstractedly speaking, be a matter of separation between a Christian and a Christian; and provided they agree in matters of faith, and in moral sentiment, the great bar to communion is removed.

The first law is a law of eternal love, expanding into sentiments of benevolence, and teaching its votaries not only to for give and forget injuries, but to return kind