as far as authority extends, there is a great and brilliant balance in their faYour; that, on the ground of reasoning, the proof of their virtue as well as of their religion does not fall short of demonstration in the account of their institute; that they are not at war with protestant governments, whose catholic subjects they are well known long to have trained up in loyalty; and, that the small number now in this country have completed those proofs of loyalty by a solemn oath of allegiance to the king." Such is the general outline of this truly excellent book, which I strongly recommend to the patronage and perusal of my readers. It is a work of which too much cannot be said in its praise-it will do more good for the 'cause of religion than all the labours of all the Protestant writers for the last half century; and it will stamp the fame of its author in this and after ages, as the noble and undaunted Friend to Truth, the Advocate of genuine Liberality, the Defender of Innocence, and the Benefactor of Mankind. ENGLISH KINDNESS AND CONSISTENCY.-The kindness of John Bull and his family towards his continental allies has been proverbial, since the introduction of the House of Orange to the throne of these realms; and a large portion of the blood and treasure of this country has been wasted in useless and unnecessary conflicts, to gratify the views of corrupt ministers, and to divert the attention of the people from reflecting on the abuses and grievances which exist at home. The long continuance of the late revolutionary war appears to have brought the English nation to the very height of this continental disorder, and if we are to judge from the contents of the daily newspapers, nothing will now go down with English readers but French or Spanish news. All, all their thoughts, all their expectations, all their discourses are now turned upon the delicate situation of the good old king Louis, or the tyrannical acts of the despotic and superstitious young and ungrateful Ferdinand.-Look in ORTHOD. JOUR. Vol. III. to the ministerial prints, and you will find their columns devoted to the censure and condemnation of the French Jacobin party, or the Inquisition of Spain; take up the Oracle of the Whigs (Morning Chronicle) you will there perceive its gross partiality towards the infidel and philosophic leaders of France, and its hatred to every thing that leads to the establishment of real religious principles in that country. But examine the pages sent critical and distracted state of of either party for a view of the preIreland; and you will be diappointed. You may, perhaps, occasionally, find a straggling paragraph to let you know that discontents and disturb¬ the cause which has given rise to them, ances exist in that country, but as to that is unworthy of notice. Thus, if a few discontented individuals assemble before the Thuilleries at Paris, it is immediately swelled into a focus of discontent, and the English people are told an explosion may soon be expected, which will probably drive the Bourbons from the throne. Does an account arrive from Spain, that a discontented general has issued a proclamation against the corrupt gover ment of his country, and placed himself in open rebellion to his sovereign; he is instantly hailed as a noble and disinterested Patriot, who deserves well of his country; his motives are represented as being derived from the purest source; and his actions are stated to be of the most magnanimous cast; at the same time, the highest exultations are held out of the speedy downfall of the age of superstition and priestcraft; that the poor Spaniards will soon be released from the fetters of the cruel and remorseless monks, and enjoy that species of benign freedom, both civil and religious, which the English people, as the base hirelings would make us believe, now experience. But if an account arrives from Ireland, that the exactions of the Protestant clergy, and the merciless oppressions of the tythe-proctor, have goaded the poor 3 D Catholic peasantry into a state of desperation, and driven them into lawless acts of outrage, the circumstances are perhaps cursorily noticed, but not the least mark of censure is passed on the system which is the original cause of these unhappy tumults, on the contrary they are given in such a way as to induce the reader to believe it is from the disaffection of the peasants whence the evil arises. Does the arrest or execution of a traitor take place in France, it is made the theme of a long tirade against the government of the Bourbons, by the Whig editors, and we are amused with the most dreadful forebodings as the natural consequence of these severe measures against the friends of liberty. Let an account arrive of the failure of Porlier's attempt to revolutionize the Government of Spain, and that he has fallen a victim to his own temerity again the changes are rung on the gross ignorance and stupidity of the Spanish people, and the bigotry and barbarity of Ferdinand and the clergy; while the most doleful and sympathetic sorrows are expressed by all the hireling scribes of the press at the fate of the brave and patriotic Porlier, and his gallant associates, and the unfortunate failure of his meritorious enterprize. Yet amidst all this cant and grief, amidst all these lamentations and bewailings for the slavish situation of the French and Spanish nations, who, by the bye, both hate and detest us, these base scribes can behold the Constitution suspended in a valuable part of the united kingdom; they can see whole districts put under martial law; they can see their own fellow-subjects transported for seven years, without a trial by jury, only for being absent from their houses, or for drinking in a public house at late hours, or having the lock of a pistol in their houses, and denying the same; they can see these unfortunate men taken from the docks, and immediately conveyed on board the transport, without the consolation of taking leave of wife, father, mother, relatives or children, or providing themselves for a long voyage; they can see all these things without the least sigh or sympathetic feeling, or making the least attempt to direct the voice of the country to the abuses which have placed the humble and industrious Irish cotter in the hands of the most inexorable tyrants ty the-proctors and tythe-farmers. Instead of explain. ing to the people of this country, who are as ignorant of the real state of Ire land as they are of true religion, the real source of the bitter and oppres sive grievances which now distract the southern counties of that island, they rather assist to keep up the deluded idea that the discontent arises from the superstition of the peasants, and the unenlightened state they are in, from the want of a free circulation of the lights of the gospel; thus adding mockery to insult. Such is the state of the public mind, so far as regards the cause of Ireland. Foreigners shall command the attention and excite the commisseration of our press; should rebellion against their govern ment be one of their crimes, it is the more deserving of praise if the sove reign is a religious Catholic. and IRISH GRATITUDE.-The title which I prefixed to the article in my last number, vindicating the character of the venerable and incorruptible agent of the Irish Hierarchy from the gross attacks of two " talented" individuals in that country, has, I am informed, given considerable offence to some of my readers, who unfortunately con strue the same into an indirect charge of ingratitude to the whole people of Ireland, than which nothing was fur ther from my intentions. On this sub ject the reader will find a letter in the subsequent pages from a most esteemed and respected friend, who not only objects to the title, but has also en tered into a review of the article in question. To the latter neither time nor space will permit me to reply at this late period of the month, but I cannot pass oyer the objections to the The former without a few remarks. predicament in which I am placed, reminds me of a circumstance which occurred a few weeks ago to a brother editor, who, having favoured his readers with two successive articles on "Religious Toleration," occasioned by the remonstrance of the Belgian Catholic Bishops to the King of the Netherlands, found himself under the necessity of stating in his next publication, that some of his readers had strangely mistaken his observations, and informed them that what he said, or intended to say, was so and so.It is true I am not quite so unlucky in my labours, since my readers do not appear to have mistaken the meaning of the article, as I understand it is generally approved of, but they object to the title, because it has a tendency to make a wrong impression upon the mind. It may therefore be likened to a man who is possessed of a plain open heart, but accompanied with most forbidding countenance: the substance is pretty good, but the head is very ugly. My correspondent says the title is ironical; I admit it-it was intended to be so, and therefore could not be meant as a general charge. I was induced to make it such, not with any idea of impressing upon the minds of my readers a belief that the Irish people were naturally ungrateful, because the opinion which I have formed of their national character is the very opposite, but to shew my readers the sort of gratitude which the two individuals, whose public condust I had undertaken to unmask, and who are constantly boasting, with the most nauseous egotism, of their pure and almost exclusive Irish feelings and sentiments, entertain towards a prelate of the Catholic church, who has laboured with unceasing assiduity to preserve, spotless and uncontaminated,the only remains of their national glory, the unbroken and undefiled Hierarchy of the Irish Church, and who has suffered more persecution on account of his faithful attachment to the successors of the great Saint Patrick, than either or both of these exclusively Irish gentlemen. Had I designed to make the article a national question, I should certainly have adopted a very different head, and used the words, "Gratitude of THE IRISH PEOPLE to Dr. Milner," because then should be sure my meaning would be understood, and I have always endeavoured, since the establishment of my Journal, to make myself as intelligible as my abilities would allow me. With this explanation I must conclude for the present; and as I,conceive my estimable friend "HIBERNUS" is not altogether correct in his strictures on my inauspicious production, I shall therefore take his advice, and next month "Return again to Judgment!" WM. EUSERIUS ANDREWS. For the Orthodox Journal. MR. EDITOR,- -What strange in consistent beings are the generality of mankind, in their relations with hea ven no less than in their concerns with the earth! Not to speak of the ab. surd and impious rites with which Pagans of all descriptions pretend to appease the Supreme Being, or of the glaring contradictions in religion of our Protestant brethren; what scenes of inconsistency do not several distin guished Catholics exhibit to the world in our own age and country! In fact, we have witnessed, of late years, some of the most honourable and zealous of our Catholic countrymen, openly labouring to advance this their most pure, holy, and uncompromising religion by fraud, falsehood, and an open co-operation with the worst of its enemies. We have since seen the professed champions of this meek and all forgiving system deliberately daring their Protestant brethren to the field of combat, for a few foolish words, in order to shed their blood, and send them, with their unrepented sins upon their heads, to the tribunal of their awful Judge. Still more lately we have heard of Catholic chieftains in our own realm, princes of Balinagar and Coolavin, &c. the very paragons of Catholic orthodoxy and the knight-errant defenders of the independency of our Catholic Prelates, even to the remote parts of Italy and in the face of the Pope himself, swerving from their romantic course in order to fight the battles of the most subservient adulators of sacrilegious politicians, the restless bawlers for an unlimited Crown-Veto, evidently for the purpose of mounting those Episcopal seats by means of it, which they have no chance of reaching by any other way! Is then the cause of Vetoism and Sycophancy right in England, but wrong every where else? Or do these champions of Catholicity think they are entitled to skreen the most notorious of its betrayers, under the mantle of their boasted orthodoxy, because the latter are their countrymen and relatives? The mode of defence, in the instance alluded to, is not less inconsistent than the defence itself.It was not the party charged with intriguing for episcopacy (they say) who actually intrigued for it; but it was we, their near relatives, who intrigued for it on their behalf! And they say this without blushing, either for the profane intrusion itself, or the unworthy objects of it. In conclusion, these gallant defenders support their relatives on the ground that the latter only differ on points of discipline with certain English and Irish Prelates: the fact, however, is, that they publicly protest not only against the discipline, but also against the religious doctrine of all the Catholic Prelates of England and Ireland, (and even against the published doctrine of their own defenders) insomuch, that no one Catholic, except a hired servant, will hold any religious communication with them, and that they stand suspended, excommunicated and irregular throughout England, Ireland, and every part of the Catholic Church. I am, Sir, For the Orthodox Journal. Brighton, Oct. 19, 1815. MR. EDITOR- A meeting of the Sussex Auxiliary Bible Society was advertised for Thursday, the 12th Instant; and the visitors, as well as the inhabitants of Brighton were earnestly invited to attend. As one of the former, I walked to the "Old Ship," where the meeting was to be held, and joined myself to the crowds of all ranks and sexes whom the occasion had called together. The proceedings occupied about four hours, between the reading of the annual report and the common-place orations of the grand masters. I feel but little inclined to load your pages with the stale speeches, or rather sermons, on this thread-bare topic, to which the assembly were compelled to listen; relieved by an occasional trait of genuine feeling, and of piety sincere, though mistaken; but much more by exhibitions of the ri diculous and the pure bathos of oratory, One young man, who, if you considered taste and acquirements, seemed fresh from the schools, occupied the alteution of a yawning auditory by prov ing a number of self-evident propositions, and linking together a set of unconnected truisms, in a manner that reminded one of Swift's Tritical Essay, which the orator must cer tainly have proposed to himself as the model of his style. An elderly gentleman, thinking the argumentaive part of the subject had been exhausted, contented himself with relating" two anecdotes," one of an old man, the other of an old woman, each of whom, on contributing two-pence to the Bible Fund, made a marvellously-fine sentimental speech, in praise of the Scripture! Another told us of an old Scotch woman, who wrote a letter to the Emperor Alexander! exhorting his Majes establish ty, to Bible Societies among the Cossacks; and he further affirmed that the guid wife was exA ROMAN CATHOLIC PRIEST.pecting an answer every post, which October 18, 1815. would be speedily published to the great honour and glory of the Society! The celebrated Mr. Wilberforce was present during the most part of these grave proceedings, and appeared to join as warmly as the rest in the cause of Bible associations by land and sea.* He even said he considered himself singularly happy in living at a time when this holy and glorious work was going forward in the world. In short, all was congratulation and co-operation in this "labour of love," for so the business of these societies is cantingly termed. I shall take this opportunity of remarking on the Scriptural style of expression which these Bible gentlemen affect. They think, to be sure, that their handling and vending so many Bibles gives them a certain liberty with the contents of the sacred volume, and the privilege of adopting the scriptural style in conversation. But this practice has, from the first days of puritanism, down, been always considered by people of understanding, as no less offensive to good taste, that it is to the feelings of reverence which true Christians entertain for the word of God. In this kind, how great a delinquent is Dr. John Styles, who, though once sufficiently chastened, as it would seem, by the discipline of certain reviewers, still persists in the same gross familiarity with the sacred Scriptures, as well as the same belief of daily miracles by which the vulgar are favoured to the clear understanding of the mystical volume. In this sentiment John Styles is not single. In fact, it is a fundamental article among the Bible fraternity, that the Sriptures are not only sufficient, but that in things necessary they are perfectly plain to the meanest capacity: and this principle seemed so evident to the orators at Brighton, that they considered it This alludes to the new-broached idea of converting merchant and other vessels, touching at the coast of Sussex, into so maDy Floating Bible Associations!" + See the Edinburgh Review, April 1809. mere waste of words to set about the proof, or remove any of the objections against this dogma. Saint Peter declares that the Epistles of Saint Paul contain certain things hard to be understood, and that these writings, as well as the other scriptures, had been wrested by some to their own destruction." Whether this consideration, as well as the numerous objections of Professor Marsh and the Bishop of Lincoln, seemed to Mr. Styles inapplicable to the present happy days of improved religion, when (as one clergyman* asserted in the meeting) every one by prayer becomes an infallible interpreter of Scripture ;" and of course the most illiterate people have a clear advan tage over the "ignorant and unstable" Christians of Apostolic timestwhatever the reason be, the dignified Dr. Styles would not descend to any thing like a direct reply. Nay further, this "grave and reverend" Bibleman makes merry on the subject; and, though himself once loudly complaining that the weapon of ridicule should be used against the methodists, he thinks he has a full right to employ these profane arms against *A Mr. Sargent, I believe. Among the indiscriminate " Poor," for whom in particular, the Bibles are intended, 66 is it quite certain there are no "ignorant or unstable' persons to be found? Or rather, are not the lower orders of Protestants particularly, in this LAND OF BIBLES, so grossly ignorant," as to be unable to give any rational or consistent account of Christianity; and so notoriously "unstable" that doctrine" and are ever in search of new rethey are "tossed about by every wind of ligions. Seriously, gentlemen distributors, can you hope that these poor people will be made infallible, and that none of them, by interpreting for themselves, may "" wrest the Scripture to their own destruction?" 2 Pet. iii, 16. Have you ever, in the fury of your zeal for distributing Bibles, debated the prudence of thus overrunning the land with new doctrines, as if there were not false religions enough in England already? Yet whoever will not co-operate to this interminable system of division and disorder, is branded as an enemy to true religion, and to the word of God!!! Styles on Methodists and Missions, Lon. don, 1809. |