Is it natural, or just, or wise, in the laity, to impoverish themselves, to fatten and enrich bishops and priests to forge their own chains, to exalt their own creatures and pensioners, into tyrants and taskmasters ? Who can forget the insolence and tyranny of Archbishop Laud, the amazing height of power which he usurped, or his aspiring views to raise the clergy above the laity and the law? Who can forget his saucy declaration, that he hoped to see the time when ne'er a Jack Gentlemen in England, should dare to be covered before the meanest priest? Do we not know many bishops in the present day, who think, and wish, and design as he did; men who adore and extol this usurping archpriest, this prosecutor and tyrant, this instrument and prompter of oppression?

The man who contends for the usurped power and authority of the church, is always esteemed and supported by the high priesthood, though he should be unsound both in faith and morals. Should not this be a rule and an example to the laity, and ought they not to prize, and protect, and encourage every man who asserts the rights and privileges of Englishmen? It is equally right and honourable to esteem and support any clergyman who is bold and candid enough to maintain the interest and independency of the laity against the intolerance of prelates. It is foolish, ungrateful, dishonest, and even cruel, to revile such men; to abuse and weaken friends is to join with enemies,

who would enthral and bring us under their blind guidance. Where the clergy are opulent, are not the people poor? Where they have power, are not the people slaves? Have we not seen it thus in Spain and in Italy? Are such teachers Christians? No: their teaching is false; their doctrines impieties; and their lives unholy. Christianity would undo them; this they have banished, and, in its stead, have erected the priesthood. "Every one, from the least even unto the greatest, is given to covetousness; from the prophet even unto the priest, every one dealeth falsely."

This is the effect of usurped power and wealth in bishops, which have proved a curse upon religion and the world; as if the Almighty from thence intended to convince mankind how pernicious and destructive they are to his church and people, and to warn all nations against encouraging and supporting them—" that the hypocrite reign not, lest the people be ensnared."

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CHAP. III.

THE INQUISITION; AND PROGRESSIVE POWER AND USURPATION OF BISHOPS, CONTINUED.

GREAT power and revenues in the church hierarchy have not only produced and multiplied every mischief formerly known in the world, but also produced evils so new and terrible as even the pagan world never before knew. These are persecutions, torments, and death, for conscience and opinion; wars and national massacres, for religion; with that mighty compendium of all that is horrid, treacherous, and cruel upon earth, the execrable tribunal of the Inquisition. Paganism had nothing so shocking and horrible, not even human sacrifices, which were comparatively few, occasional and stated, as to be compared to this. The Inquisition was a continual human slaughter-house; and in it men, myriads of men, have been immolated, after tedious tortures in dark and frightful dungeons, after unrelenting racks and tortures, with every species of treachery, misery, and terror; and all this suffering was inflicted for their sincerity and

piety in worshipping God in the way which their consciences dictated to be the most correct.

The Inquisition was nothing more than the highest improvement of persecution. It began with the same spirit which the late Dr. Sutton manifested towards myself, and which the present Archbishop Howley tolerates; with such negative penalties and tests, it ends in fires and halters. I will enumerate a few of the many cases for which men were subjected to the Inquisition, and it will appear, that they are such that no man, who in the least exercises his faculties, or practises common charity towards his fellow-creatures, or even has common commerce with the world, could avoid. If he had heard a heretic preach or pray, never mind if he were the best and wisest preacher upon earth, if he differed from the extravagancies of the high church;-if, being excommunicated, he sued not for absolution;-if a heretic were his friend, never mind if he were a Bacon, a Newton, or a Locke; if he did any act of kindness for a heretic, visited him, shewed him pity by assisting him or giving him counsel;—if he suspected the truth of the false legends and forged miracles of the priests,-if he declared his indifference to meats or to days;-if he interpreted Scripture according to his own, and to common sense ;-if he concealed any heresy, or spared father, mother, wife, or child,he was for these, or for any one of these causes, and for any one of a thousand others, liable to the

unparalleled cruelty of the Inquisition. Let me add, that by heresy was meant every conscientious, honest, rational, and benevolent opinion, differing from the senseless, narrow, barbarous whim and grimace of an ignorant and bigotted priest.

As a proof of the expeditious havoc such a tribunal must make in a country, Cardinal Turquemeda, the first Inquisitor-general in Spain, even in the infancy of the Inquisition, brought a hundred thousand persons into it, in the short period of fourteen years; of these, six thousand were burnt alive. Observe, too, that when such persons are seized, all that they have is also seized, and their families left to starve, or sent thither also, if they shew pity, or afford assistance.

Let me ask :-Can the merciful God, who sent his meek and compassionate Son to lay down his life for men, have any thing to do with such a church, or with such hellish instruments and butchers, impudently calling themselves HOLY, and their scene of butchery, THE HOLY OFFICE? Wisely did our first reformers disown her being a church. But, alas! Archbishop Laud and his followers have since laboured to restore her credit; they have contended for her being a true church, and even derived themselves from her. Yes, they have strenuously endeavoured to shew themselves worthy of her kindred and descent, by assuming her pride and cruelty. And the page of modern