REVIEW, whom he wishes to persuade, that the last sentence of the Canon obliges the Pope to act under the limitations of the Councils and holy Canons, which, he probably thinks, were framed as securities to the Protestant liberties of England. But, obscurity being a most valuable auxiliary in such cases, the Reviewer has improved Mr. Butler's trap, by changing continetur, in the Latin decree, into continentur, which deprives the clause of all meaning. I have neither time nor space to notice any part of the article, but what relates personally to me. But I must say, that if the writer of that article will bring out his budget of suppressions similar to that of which he directly accuses me, he will furnish my book with most valuable additions. January 24, 1826. CONTENTS. Page Real and practical extent of the authority of the Pope, Examination of the title to infallibility, spiritual su- premacy, and exclusive salvation, claimed by the Roman Catholic Church. Internal evidence against Rome the enemy of mental improvement: the direct tend- PRACTICAL AND INTERNAL EVIDENCE AGAINST CATHOLICISM, ETC. LETTER I. The Author's account of himself. The If a man be at any time excusable in speaking of himself, it must be when he finds it necessary to address those to whom he is unknown. name and designation of a writer are, indeed, sufficient in most cases, and even unnecessary in some, for the purposes to which the press is commonly made an instrument; but the occasion of this address requires a more intimate acquaintance with my personal circumstances. Before I proceed, however, I beg you to observe the word impartial, by which I have qualified Roman Catholics.-From such Roman Catholics B as renounce their intellectual rights, and leave the trouble of thinking to others, I cannot expect a hearing. To the professed champions, in whom the mere name of discussion kindles the keen spirit of controversy, I can say nothing which they are not predetermined to find groundless and futile. Among those who, bound to Catholicism by the ties of blood and friendship, make consistency in religious profession a point of honour, I am prepared to meet only with disdain. But there must be not a few, in whom the prepossessions of education and parentage have failed to smother a natural passion for truth, which all the witchery of kindred, wealth, and honour, cannot allure from its object. To such, among the British and Irish Roman Catholics, I direct these letters; for, though the final result of their religious inquiries may be diametrically opposite to that which has separated me from my country, my kindred, my honours, emoluments, and prospects; I trust that in the following account of myself they will readily recognise an intellectual temper, for which no difference of opinion can prevent their feeling some sympathy. I am descended from an Irish family, whose |