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This, it seems, was what he proposed to himself; and this is what he professes to have gained by his work. Now, this is a point which I never disputed with him; and I hope I will never be so foolish as to trouble the public with a controversy on the subject of superiority between myself and another man. My business has been to expose error, and maintain the truth; and I desire no victory but that of persuading my opponents to renounce error, and to embrace the truth, that they may be saved.

On looking over what I have just written, I am almost ashamed of having said so much about Mr. Andrews and myself, which will naturally incur the charge of egotism. I hope, however, I shall have no occasion to revert to the subject for months to come. I would be glad, if a more gentlemanly opponent would take up the cause of the church of Rome, and point out, by fair reasoning, any mistake that I have made in my statements, or the inconclusiveness of any of my arguments; for it is a fact, that Mr. Andrews, with all his boasting and bluster, never looked one of my facts or arguments fairly in the face.

These personal matters are, considered in themselves, certainly of very little public importance; but they are not unimportant, when considered as illustrative of the character of popery. Papists have not been able to meet me on the ground of fair argument; but they have denounced and cursed me from their pulpit; and they have laboured for a whole year, through the medium of their London agent, to hold me up to the world as a monster of wickedness. Now, does any man suppose, that if they had power in their hands, they would be at all this trouble? No, indeed: they would silence opposition at once, by means of the gibbet or the fire; and in doing so, they would not show greater malice than they have already done. It is true, the object of their hatred has suffered as little from their false representations as from their curses; but this is not from want of good will on their part.

CHAPTER LXXXI.

BULL OF THE POPE AGAINST THE BIBLE AND BIBLE SCHOOLS. LETTER FROM REV. MR.
GRAHAM, WITH PART OF HIS TRANSLATION OF BUCHANAN'S FRANCISCAN.
ON THE BULL. EXTRACT FROM THE REPORT OF THE HIBERNIAN SOCIETY.

REMARKS

SATURDAY, January 29th, 1820. I CANNOT but reflect with pleasure on the interest which my work has been honoured to excite in Ireland, of which I have received many flattering testimonies from reverend clergymen, and other gentlemen in that country, whom I never saw, and to whom I am known in no other character, than that of the advocate of the Protestant religion, against the errors and superstitions of popery. Within a few days, in the early part of this month, I received no less than five copies of the archbishop of Tuam's charge to his clergy, which were sent to me from different parts of Ireland. The first copy which I received was in manuscript, from a reverend gentleman in the diocess of Derry; the other copies were contained in newspapers sent me from different quarters, after the document had appeared in print.

Having communicated this document to the editors of the Glasgow newspapers, by whom it has been reprinted, I need not insert it here; but I intend to make such extracts from it, and such remarks, as will show that the Romish clergy in Ireland are as hostile to the Bible as ever they were; and that they heartily abhor, and wish to annihilate, the schools which have been established by the Hibernian, and other societies, for teaching the poor to read the holy scriptures.

I cannot introduce this subject better, than by the following communication from a reverend gentleman of that kingdom, well known for his interesting work, the "Annals of Ireland," who has honoured me by his correspondence, and particularly by some fragments of an elegant translation of Buchanan's Franciscan, with which he has been amusing himself in his leisure hours. He has furnished me with the lines in the original Latin; but I shall content myself with giving his short introduction, and his English translation:

66

"TO THE EDITOR OF THE PROTESTANT.

Sir:-As the popish clergy have uniformly manifested a considerable degree of hostility to the Bible Society, I beg leave to request your insertion of the following passage from Buchanan's Franciscan, which may throw some light on the motives which induce these men to endeavour to keep the holy scriptures out of the hands of the people. Your readers will please to observe, that the satire, called the Franciscan, is written in the manner of Dean Swift's Advice to Servants. The satirist advises the Romish priests to do these things which he knows they do, and would expose them for doing.

"And now, my faithful brethren, once for all,
I warn all Catholics against Saint Paul;
The man of Tarsus, tho' his head lies low,
Lives in his writing, our eternal foe:
Would he had perish'd at an early day,
Or to Damascus, when he took his way,

Had dropp'd down dead, before he was baptized,
And joined the sect he hated and despised.

Time yet will come, if prophets tell no lie,

Who all assure us that it now draws nigh,

When men, convinc'd by Paul, shall forward stand
To purge from superstition all the land-
From Christian churches, heathen priests expel,
No longer arbiters of heav'n and hell:-
Then truth victorious, beaming upon man,
Shall soon display the gospel's holy plan;
And to the world expose, as clear as day,
The wiles we practise and the tricks we play.
Therefore take heed, nor grant to small or great,
The liberty these writings to translate;

And, since we can't destroy them, let them lie,
Lock'd up in Latin from the vulgar eye-
Left to be studied and commented on

By th' orthodox old doctors of Sorbonne,

Who, when their hoary heads are warm'd with wine,
Can best unravel mysteries divine.

'Lifford, Dec. 15th, 1819."

"I am, sir, your constant reader,
"J. GRAHAM."

Now, in the twentieth year of the nineteenth century, we find a popish archbishop in Ireland, acting upon the very principle which

the satirist ascribes to the monks of the sixteenth century:-The writings of Paul and the other apostles are, indeed, a great eyesore to the church of Rome, of which 1 furnished abundant proof in my first volume, Nos. 30 to 38; but this charge of the popish primate suggests some new matter, which may not be uninteresting to the reader.

The first reflection excited by it is, that it seems to have been produced in obedience to a mandate issued by the pope of Rome, addressed to the Irish prelates, on the subject of Bible schools, for which I refer to the Glasgow Herald of the 7th, and the Glasgow Courier and Chronicle of the 11th, of this month. His holiness is pleased to say to his bishops" My lords, The prediction of our Lord Jesus Christ, in the parable of the sower, that sowed good seed in his field, but while people slept, his enemy came and sowed tares upon the wheat, is, to the very great injury indeed of the Catholic faith, seen verified in these our days, particularly in Ireland; for information has reached the ears of the sacred congregation, that 'Bible schools,' supported by the funds of the heterodox, (that is, the wrong thinking, meaning, no doubt, the heretical Protestants,) have been established in almost every part of Ireland, in which, under the pretence of charity, the inexperienced of both sexes, but particularly peasants and paupers, are deluded by the blandishments, and even gifts of the masters, and infested with the fatal poison of depraved doctrines.

"It is farther stated, that the directors of these schools are, generally speaking, Methodists, who introduce Bibles, translated into English by the Bible Society,' and abounding in errors, with the sole view of seducing the youth, and entirely eradicating from their minds the truths of the orthodox faith. Under these circumstances, your lordship already perceives with what solicitude and attention pastors are bound to watch, and carefully protect their flock from the snares of wolves who come in the clothing of sheep. If the pastors sleep, the enemy will quickly creep in by stealth, and sow the tares,-soon will the tares be seen growing among the wheat and choke it. Every possible exertion must, therefore, be made, to keep the youth away from these destructive schools, to warn parents against suffering their children, on any account whatever, to be let into error. But, for the purpose of escaping the snares of the adversaries, no plan seems more appropriate than the establishing schools wherein salutary instructions may be imparted to the paupers and illiterate country persons.

"In the name, then, of the bowels (of the mercy) of our Lord Jesus Christ, we exhort and beseech your lordship to guard your flock with diligence, and with all due discretion, from those persons who are in the habit of thrusting themselves into the fold of Christ, in order thereby to lead the unwary sheep away, and mindful of the forewarning of Peter, the apostle, given in these words: namely, There shall also be lying teachers among you, who shall bring in sects of perdition," do you labour with all your might to keep the orthodox youth from being corrupted by them, an object which will, I hope, be easily effected by the establishment of Catholic schools throughout your diocess.

"And confidently trusting, that in a matter of such vast importance, your lordship will, with unbounded zeal, endeavour to prevent the

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wheat from being choked by the tares, I pray the all good and omnipotent God, to guard and preserve you safe many years. Your lordship's most obedient and humble servant, "F. CARDINAL FONTANA, Prefect. "C. M. PEDICINE, Secretary.

"ROME, Court of the Sacred Congregation, for the Propagation of the Faith, 18th Sept. 1819."

The archbishop's charge is little more than an echo and amplification of this letter from the sacred college at Rome; but before I proceed to give extracts from this charge, I request the reader's attention to a few remarks on this manifesto against the Bible, and the schools which teach the reading of it.

In the first place, we have here a direct and avowed interference of the pope of Rome, in the civil and domestic affairs of the people of Ireland; and that in opposition to the declared mind of our own sovereign, and the active endeavours of persons of all ranks, who have avowed their conviction, that the happiness of the people in that kingdom cannot be promoted, without establishing schools for the education of the lower classes. Schools, almost without number, have been established throughout the kingdom. They are supported chiefly by the voluntary contributions of British Protestants, with the princes of the royal family at their head. Those who have the direction of this benevolent undertaking, have introduced the word of God into the schools; and in doing so, they conceived that they were doing their duty to God and to their fellow-creatures. The question, at present, is not whether the Bible be a suitable school-book? For my own part, I am persuaded there cannot be a better; but supposing, for the sake of argument, that it were otherwise,-I ask, what has the pope of Rome to do with it? The people of Ireland are subjects of his majesty, King George III., who, many years ago, expressed his wish, "that every child in his dominions might be able to read the Bible, and have a Bible to read." The subjects of this venerable monarch, countenanced by the princes of his family, are doing what they can in order to accomplish his benevolent desire. They have been wonderfully successful in Ireland; and because they have been so, the pope takes the alarm; he claims the people of Ireland as his subjects; he calls upon his agents, the Romish priests, to obstruct, by every means in their power, what the sovereign, and the people of Britain, have considered necessary for the welfare of the inhabitants of that part of the empire. Is it possible, that such insolence, such an encroachment upon the independence of the British empire, should pass without a solemn universal protest against it?

I know our Papists will reply, that the pope claims no more than a spiritual authority over his spiritual children; and that he calls upon his bishops only to watch over their spiritual interests: But this, like almost every popish argument, rests on falsehood. The present interference of the pope is, with schools for education. The establishment of schools is a civil matter. Teaching children to read is a civil matter. The appointment of what books shall be read in schools, is a civil matter. It is as secular men that patrons of schools prescribe the reading of the Bible. They cannot add the least influence to its

doctrines, and they can add no weight to its authority; but believing it to be the word of God, they hope it will do good to some, and are sure it cannot do harm to any. But supposing they judged erroneously, the pope has nothing to do with it. It is a matter of civil and domestic arrangement, with which no power, civil or sacred, without the kingdom, has a right to intermeddle.

It has reached the ears of the sacred congregation, that “Bible schools" have been established in almost every part of Ireland; this is the evil which the pope complains of It is thus that tares are sown upon the wheat. It is thus that the good seed is in danger of being choked; and it is thus that the people are likely to be infected with the poison of depraved doctrines. Now, it has come to the ears, I suppose, of every "congregation" in Britain, that the pope has restored the Inquisition, and the order of Jesuits, who are going about sowing their tares, and spreading the poison of their depraved doctrines in every country in Europe. What, then, would his holiness think, if any of these congregations were to address a letter to all the Englishmen, and all the Protestants in Italy and Spain, entreating and beseeching them to guard the people of these countries "with diligence and with all due discretion, from those persons who are in the habit of thrusting themselves into the fold of Christ, in order thereby to lead the unwary sheep astray?". A simple English or Scotch congregation would be apt to think this a very just description of the Jesuits; but if the pope were to hear of their giving such instructions to their friends in Spain and Italy, as he has given to the priests in Ireland, he would be overwhelmed with astonishment at their impudence; he would send a legate to complain to our government against such interference; and the persons who should dare to obey the mandate, would be swallowed up by the Inquisition.

The cases, indeed, are not exactly parallel. The congregation de propaganda de fide, in Rome, is composed of cardinals and other great ecclesiastics, with the pope at their head; whereas, the British congregation, to which I have alluded, is understood to contain nothing but Christians; and, it may be, of rank in the world no higher than farmers and mechanics. No matter; they have as good a right to interfere with the education of the subjects of the pope in Italy, as he and his sacred congregation have to interfere with the schools established for the instruction of the people in Ireland. This letter from the sacred congregation, is a very important document in my controversy with the Papists. Let it be remembered, that it has not only the authority of the pope as head of the church, but of the sacred congregation as his council. It has, therefore, all the infallibility that a thing of the kind can have; and nothing more infallible can possibly have issued from the Vatican, since the days of the council of Trent. Well, then, this document proves that infallibility may be mistaken; or that infallibility can tell a deliberate lie. I leave it to the humble servants of the pope, to make their choice between the two, for it is not possible for them to escape both. It is stated, says his holiness, "that the directors of these schools are, generally speaking, Methodists, who introduce Bibles translated into English by the Bible Society, and abounding in errors," &c. Now, though the persons called Methodists, have been honoured to do much good in both Bri

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