XIII.

It remains for me to mention, that " The "Book of the Roman Catholic Church," has been a subject of regular criticism in THE BRITISH CRITIC,--BRITISH REVIEW,--BLACKWOOD'S EDINBURGH MAGAZINE, THE CHRISTIAN OBSERVER,--QUARTERLY REVIEW,--QUARTERLY THEOLOGICAL REVIEW,-WESTMINSTER REVIEW, and probably in some journals which I have not seen.

The last Quarterly Review informs the public that Dr. Southey is arming, and intimates that Dr. Phillpotts, the Rev. Mr. Townsend, and the rest have left him nothing to reply to. Such, I cannot think, is the general opinion.

At length I close my letter; Doctor Phillpotts closes that, which he has addressed to me, by bidding me" Good night :"-To you, to him, and to all my other critics, I present the same wish, -and permit me to do it in the words of the priest, at Complin.

be,

Noctem quietam, et finem perfectam,

Concedat nobis Dominus omnipotens !

With the greatest respect, I have the honour to

Your most obedient,

and most obliged humble servant,

Stonor Park,

6th January, 1826.

CHARLES BUTLER.

ERRATA.

Page 12, line 2, for Christianity, read the Roman Catholic religion.

36, last line, for 86, read 96.

60, sixth line from the bottom, for doctrine, read notion.

73, third line from the bottom, for happiness, read wisdom.

LETTERS

ΤΟ

THE REV. GEORGE TOWNSEND,

IN REPLY

ΤΟ

"His Accusations of History against the Church of Rome."

YOUR "Accusations of History against the

Church of Rome," in a series of Letters addressed to me, are highly injurious to the Roman Catholic religion. As my "Book of the "Roman Catholic Church" occasioned your publication, I feel myself called upon to answer it.

In every part of it you call us "Romanists." When this word is used to denote our religious communion with the see of Rome, we do not object to it when it is used to impute to us any political or civil adherence or subserviency to that B

see, we think it slanderous: when it is used with a sneer, it evidently is an intentional affront.

As several acts of the Legislature style us, and permit us to style ourselves, " Roman Catholics," and this is our favourite appellation; we trust gentlemen will always give it us. Whatever tends to prevent or soften the asperities of controversy, a true Christian is always ready to adopt.

66

Before I proceed to my reply, I must observe, that my "Historical Memoirs of the English, Irish, and Scottish Roman Catholics," should always be taken in conjunction with my " Book "of the Roman Catholic Church." It could not be expected that I should re-write "the Memoirs in "the Book." I continually refer in it to them: and was much pleased to find that they always were under Your eye when You were employed upon Your publication.

I.

Your assertion, that a decree of the Council of Constance, which an article of the creed of Pope Pius IV. compels every conscientious Romanist to adopt, sanctions the doctrine that faith is not to be kept with heretics.

IN your preliminary letter, (page 17), you cite the last article but one of the creed of Pope Pius IV, in which the subscriber of it "professes to receive "all things defined and declared by the sacred canons and general councils, particularly by the "Council of Trent.'

You then cite the decree of the 19th session of

the Council of Constance, which declares, that "safe "conducts granted to heretics, by a secular prince, "shall not prevent any ecclesiastical judge from punishing such heretics, even if they come to the place of judgment, relying on such safeguard, "and would not otherwise come thither."

You assert, that "this decree, which the creed "of Pope Pius IV compels every conscientious "Romanist to adopt, sanctions, as plainly as words 66 can make it, the doctrine, which you truly say, "I reject with abhorrence,' and which the four "foreign universities consulted by Mr. Pitt's direc"tion, likewise rejected, that no faith is to be "kept with heretics." "

I answer, 1st,-That all persons, who are acquainted with the jurisprudence of the times in which the council was held, must be sensible, that the canon only intimates, that, when any prince grants a safe conduct, which conflicts with the faith or morals of the church of Christ, or with the legal or constitutional rights of the church of any state, he has exceeded his legitimate authority, and that this exercise of his power is consequently null. Such certainly is the doctrine of every Protestant church, episcopal or aerian. If, before the late act for the relief of the Anti-Trinitarians, a person had published, within any part of the united empire of Great Britain and Ireland, a work against the Trinity, and been prosecuted for it, and then had fled the country, and made some place beyond the seas his residence; and his Majesty had granted