on the necessity of an ecclesiastical court of inquisition, like that of Spain, wherever the power of the state is in the hands of the catholics. Is this liberality?

Since I write merely as a historian, not as a polemic, I lay aside all considerations of speculative doctrines, decrees of councils, and bulls of popes, which, so long as they lie dormant, I consider not as offensive. I concern myself only. with matters of well-known practice, nor should I have thought proper to meddle with such matters, if the question of liberality had not been started. As I am not only a protestant, but a protestant priest, I have no right to expect that I should be admitted as a judge between catholics and protestants with respect to liberality, which is the question at issue. I shall therefore quote the words of a most eminent historian, who, after having been alternately protestant and catholic, was at last a deist, equally indifferent to both religions. I quote him merely as an impartial judge in this particular case, though the opinion which he has delivered is very different from mine.

After asking, what benefits have mankind received from the reformation, and from its introducers, Zuinglius, Luther, and Calvin, and expressing his disapprobation as much concerning the new as the old doctrine, he proceeds thus: "Yet the services of Luther and his rivals are

7

"solid and important, and the philosopher must "own his obligation to those fearless enthusiasts.

First; by their hands the lofty fabric of "superstition, from the abuse of indulgences "to the intercession of the virgin, has been " leveled with the ground. Myriads of both "sexes of the monastic profession were re"stored to the liberty and labours of social "life. A hierarchy of saints and angels, of imperfect and subordinate deities were stripped "of their temporal power, and reduced to the enjoyment of celestial happiness; their "images and relics were banished from the "church; and the credulity of the people was "no longer nourished with the daily repetition "of miracles and visions. The imitation of

paganism was supplied by a pure and spiritual worship of prayer, and thanksgiving, the most worthy of man, the least unworthy of the deity. It only remains to observe, whether such "sublime simplicity be consistent with popu"lar devotion; whether the vulgar, in the "absence of all visible objects, will not be "inflamed by enthusiasm, or insensibly subside: "in languor and indifference. Secondly; the "chain of authority was broken, which restrains "the bigot from thinking as he pleases, and the "slave from speaking as he thinks: the popes, "fathers, and councils, were no longer the supreme and infallible judges of the world;

"and each christian was taught to acknowledge no law but the scriptures, no interpreter but "his own conscience. This freedom, however, པ་ was the consequence rather than the design of "the reformation. The patriot reformers were "ambitious of succeeding the tyrants whom they had dethroned. They imposed with equal rigour their creeds and confessions: they "asserted the right of the magistrate to put "heretics to death. . The pious or The pious or personal

animosity of Calvin proscribed in Servetus the

guilt of his own rebellion; and the flames of "Smithfield, in which he was afterwards con"sumed, had been kindled for the anabaptists by "the zeal of Cranmer. The nature of the tiger

was the same, but he was gradually deprived "of his teeth and fangs. A spiritual and temporal kingdom was possessed by the Roman

pontiff: the protestant doctors were subjects of an humble rank, without revenue or jurisdic"tion. His decrees were consecrated by the anti

quity of the catholic church: their arguments "and disputes were submitted to the people; and "their appeal to private judgment was accepted

beyond their wishes by curiosity and enthu"siasm. Since the days of Luther and Calvin,

a secret reformation has been silently working " in the bosom of the reformed churches; many "weeds of prejudice were eradicated; and the disciples of Erasmus diffused a spirit of Free

b

"dom and moderation. The liberty of con"science has been claimed as a common benefit, "an inalienable right: the free governments of "Holland and England introduced the practice. "of toleration, and the narrow allowance of the "laws has been enlarged by the prudence and humanity of the times. In the exercise, the mind has understood the limits of its powers; "and the words and shadows, that might amuse "the child, can no longer satisfy his manly

reason.

Am I an enemy to catholics? I cannot hinder those who choose to think so. A man cannot easily know himself: but I think I am not their enemy, from this circumstance, that I always felt as much distress of mind from unjust sufferings of catholics as of protestants. For this the irrational part of the latter will not very cordially thank me. I am indeed an enemy to religious bigotry and intolerance, because they are evinced by the history of mankind to be most hostile to the peace and prosperity of the human race. I think that, if ever the government of these islands shall have thought proper to grant what is termed catholic emancipation, this political emancipation will. operate in Irish catholics, in course of time, another emancipation from an incomparably more ignoble bondage, the thraldom of the mind

* Gibbon's Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire, chap. xiv.

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in bonds of ignorance and superstition. This bondage, from which, I imagine, many catholic gentry have already had the audacity of emancipating themselves, might perhaps appear little worthy of animadversion, if it included not such an odium of other religions, that a catholic should be supposed contaminated by even his accidental presence at their ceremonies.

cate.

The writer of a pamphlet, containing a strenuous defence of the Irish catholics, published under the fictitious name of Julius Vindex, universally supposed to be a certain protestant clergyman, thus expresses his sentiments with respect to the religious intolerance of those whose political conduct he undertakes to vindi"The writer of the following pages will "not be suspected, by those who know him, of any improper bias toward the body whose, "character he labours to vindicate. He is con"nected with them neither by interest nor pre"judices. If passion, resentment, or personal "considerations, could swerve his mind from the "love of truth, and the line of duty, the bitter "unwearied persecution, the incessant obloquies "of the bigotted and virulent among them, "would be very unlikely to inspire such fervent partiality in their favour, as would blind the "understanding by the vehemence of party feelings, and bear the mind from impartiality through the force of gratitude and sympathy.

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