"there was not a man of orderly "revival and re-establishment of "and religious principles who" that moral and religious sense "did not fear that those prin-"which had been attempted to "ciples were about to be cut "be obliterated from the hearts "from under the feet of succeed-"of mankind?” 66 "ing generations? Was there It is always a proof of con 66 any man who did not appre-scious weakness in his cause, "hend the Crown to be in dan- when an advocate resorts to misger? Was there any man at- representation, exaggeration, and "tached to the other branches of especially when he resorts to "the constitution who did not cant; and if the close of this "contemplate, with anxiety and paragraph be not cunt and low dismay, the rapid and, ap- cant too, I know nothing of what "parently, irresistible diffusion cant is. The leaders of the Re"of doctrines hostile to the very formers have, by you in particu "existence of Parliament as lar, been represented as a despi"at present constituted, and cable crew, wholly unworthy of "calculated to excite not hatred any confidence, and having no "and contempt merely, but open weight, except with the mere " and audacious force, especially ignorant rabble. How, then, was "against the House of Com- it possible, that their efforts should mons? What is, in these re-endanger the morals and the respects, the situation of the "country.now? Is there a man "of property who does not feel "the tenure by which he holds "his possessions to have been "strengthened? Is there a man "of peace who does not feel his "domestic tranquillity to have "been secured? Is there a man "of moral and religious prin "ciples who does not look for"ward with better hope to see "his children` educated in those "principles? who does not hail "with renewed confidence the " ligion of the people, and especi ally of people of property. And, how could the cramping of their operations, the silencing of their tongues and the putting a stop to the movements of their pens, cause a “revival of the moral and religious sense"? And how great do you make them appear, when you suppose them to have had the power, if they had been suffered to proceed, to obla terate this sense from the hearts of mankind? I do not know that you do ex aggerate, when you say, that | peated the ten-thousand-times told tale of JOHN BOWLES and GEORGE ROSE, the latter of whom, in enumerating the items of value cause every man may well trem-received by the nation in retura ble for them now: but I think for its sacrifices during the war, that you talk insufferable non- put at the head, and indeed, it sense, when you say, that there was the main item, the preservawas not a man of moral and tion of those "Blessed Comforts "religious principles, who did" of Religion," of which the not fear, that those principles French, had it not been for the "were about to be cut from under war, would assuredly have depriv"the feet of succeeding genera-ed us! Your greater talent has ❝tions"! This is, however, no- enabled you to wrap the sentithing more than the old alarmist ment up and administer it with doctrine. It is precisely what more art than these bunglers; was said by the Pilot" and but, the sentiment is precisely the his jolly crew at the beginning of same. They told us, that, unthe late war against France. The less we spent our money freely to nation was called upon to fight carry on the war, we should be for "their king and their God," deprived of our morals and reliwhich was much more blasphemous gion; the French would make us than any thing ever published by Atheists; we should "lose our Mr. CARLILE, or ever even ascribed to any of the Reformers. To hear you talk, one would imagine, that morality and religion were substances, of which men might be robbed, as they may of their shoes or coats; something that might be literally cut away; and that the Reformers had sharp instruments wherewith to perform the felonious operation. Fertile as your mind is, you have been compelled to resort to plagiarism here; for you have merely re 66 king and our God.” You tell us, that, in order to avoid this same calamity, it was necessary to pass the six laws; that it was necessary, amongst other things, to expose every writer in the kingdom to be banished. A love of religion has been the pretext for committing the most wicked acts that the world has ever witnessed. The Irish Massacre, the Massacre of St. Bartholomew, the horrors attending the repeal of the Edict of Nants, "This word is, you say,true upon "the very face of it, and carries acting under the direction of "Divine Influence, in the preach "ing of this his word, a belief it "which is necessary to the salvas “tion of mán. This is what you "of all this, two or three, or, at "most, four or five, little pamph! "lets, written by men of no in"fluence in themselves, and who "have scarcely ever been at the Fires of Smithfield, the Spanish Inquisition, the murdering of the Quakers in New England; in" within it all the proofs of dishort, what has there ever been "vine origin. The preachers of done to harrow up the very souls" it are, you say, the most learn of men, which has not been done" ed, wise, discreet and zealous under the pretext of a love of reli- "men, called to the ministry by gion? It has been the great" Divine Inspiration, and are stalking horse of tyranny in all ages; and, it would have been wonderful indeed, if it had been left unresorted to on the present occasion. But, observe what a reflection" say. Now, I say, that in spite you cast on religion itself; how you really bring its nature and efficacy into question by asserting, that, by means so contemptible, it was about to be cut from under the feet of future generations!" school, are able to cut the sav Or, in your other, and rather "ing effect of the word of God plainer words, to be obliterated" from under the feet of future from the hearts of mankind! Now, suppose a man to say, "Here is a book, which you say "is the word of God; this word, "you say, he has caused to be "sent forth for the instruction "and salvation of all mankind; "there are, in this kingdom, 46 twenty thousand regular preach- “ with two or three little pamph "ers of this word, and, at least,"lets, obliterate religion from "thirty thousand more of irre❝ the hearts of mankind,' and "gular preachers, that is to say," thus counteract, not only the “one preacher to about every" labours of all the Divines in "250 sonls, and one to about "the world, but the will of God "every 120 grown persons.~~~ "himself." Suppose a man to generations, and to obliterate "the word itself from the hearts " of mankind." Now, suppose a man were to say this. Would he not 'be thought a most impudent, a most daring wretch. Suppose him to say, in fewer words, "I will, say this; would not you, and would not a Judge, call this a most audacious insult offered unto God himself; most horrid blasphemy? Yet, this would be saying no more than you, Sir, have yourself said; for you have said, that the pamphlets of the Reformers were about to "cut "religion from under the feet of "future generations ;" and, again, “to obliterate it from the "hearts of mankind.” In your anxiety to show the necessity of the Six Acts, you overlooked the extent to which your assertions went. In bringing forward the dangers to religion, you did not see, that to assert the exist ence of danger to a thing necessarily implies some degree of weakness in the thing itself, or in the ordinary means by which it is upheld. A man once, at Philadelphia, went to swear the peace against another, whose name was STREET. He did not know, that he must swear, that he was in bodily far of Street. So, when the oath was read to him by the Mayor, he said, he was in no bodily fear; for that he could beat ten such fellows as Street; and therefore, he would not take the oath. When SHIMMEI was cursing David, one of the followers of the latter exclaimed: let me slay him: for, shall this "dead dog curse my Lord? And, "David said: let him curse on!" I have always admired this answer of David. It was becoming of a great man, who fell strong in his own character and cause. And, you have done much to dishonour and defame religion in this Mani. festo, by asserting it to have been upon the point of being totally destroyed by the Reformers, whom you have, a hundred times over, represented as more despicable, if possible, even than "dead "dogs." But, you had the Six Acts to defend on the ground of necessity; that necessity could be found only in some great and pressing danger; the danger to rotten-boroughs, to sinecure places, to high salaries, or a mighty Civil List, would not have suited your purpose. The danger to religion was, therefore, chosen; but, in your eagerness to prove the danger to religion, you wholly forgot, that you were doing all that you were able to do to prove the weakness of the thing that you professed to have so anxiously desired to defend. I, for my part, say, that none of the acts were necessary, if measures of relief had been adopted. I say, that the miseries, which produced the discontents, might have been prevented even by the last parlia or ment. And, as to religion, little or nothing. It is a thing, TRUTH never can be in danger, in your view of the matter, that as long as discussion is free. I say, might be "cut from under our feet," that the "word of God" can "obliterated from our hearts" never be rooted out of men's minds, by a few pamphlets, while, at the and that the will of God" can same time, millions of pamphlets " never be thwarted by two-penny were sent forth for its preservation pamphlets, be they written by Re- and propagation. Besides the formers or whomsoever else. I exertions of fifty thousand say, that it is to slander our fifty preachers, there were those of the thousand preachers and to insult Bible Societies and Tract SocieGod himself to assert, as you have ties. Perhaps two hundred, or asserted, that a few little pam-three hundred, thousand pounds phlets, sent forth by obscure indi- are expended in Bibles and viduals, were capable of thwart-Tracts every year, in this kinging the great scheme of salvation dom. Subscriptions for this pur"decreed by God before the pose descend so low as to extract "foundations of the world were weekly pennies from servant "laid." These are my assertions girls. The subject is presented on the subject, and, I think, that to the people in all the most enevery candid man will say, that ticing and amusing forms. I they are more consonant with a have sometimes been half temptbelief in the truth of Christianityed to laugh at the ingenuity disthan yours are. played in the titles of the "Tracts," by which titles the unwary sinner is entrapped into reading, in somewhat the way that is so ably practised by the gentlemen, who send forth invitations to the unfortunate to repair their fortunes by availing themselves of the pecuniary aid offered by the State Lotteries. Now, supported by all these means, including many millions a year coming in through tythes and other real property, what can |