but also from the smallest degree of political power, down to that of a constable; and to shut the doors of both Houses of Parliament against them. The faction succeeded in its first design by the Test Act, and in its second, by the Act requiring the Declaration against Popery; both obtained at a period of national delirium and fury. What the spirit of the Clergy was, at that time, with respect to the oppressed Catholics, appeared at their solemn procession at Sir Edmunbury Godfrey's funeral, (1) and still appears in the three folio volumes of invective and misrepresentation then published, under the title of A Preservative against Popery. On the other hand, such was the unchristian hatred of the Dissenters against the Catholics, that they promoted the Test Act with all their power, (2) though no less injurious to themselves than to the Catholics; and on every occasion, they refused a toleration which might extend to the latter. (3) There is no need of bringing down the history of persecution in this country, to a later period than the Revolution, at which time, as I observed before, a Catholic King was deposed, because he would not be a persecutor. Suffice it to say, that the number of penal laws against the professors of the ancient Religion, and founders of the Constitution of this country, continued to increase in every reign, till that of his present Majesty. In the course of this reign most of the old persecuting laws have been repealed; but the two last-mentioned, enacted in a moment of delirium, which Hume represents as our greatest national digrace, I mean the impracticable Test Act, and the unintelligible Declaration against Popery, (1) North's Exam. Echard.

(2) Neal's Hist. of Puritans, vol. iv. Hist. of Churches, vol. iii. (3) Ibid.

are rigidly adhered to under two groundless pretexts. The first of these is, that they are necessary for the support of the Established Church: and yet it is undeniable, that this Church had maintained its ground, and had flourished much more during the period which preceeded these laws, than it has ever done since that event. The second pretext is, that the withholding of honours and emoluments is not persecution. On this point, let a Protestant dignitary of first-rate talents be heards" We agree, that per secution, merely for conscience' sake, is against the genius of the gospel; and so is any law for depriving men of their natural and civil rights, which they claim as men. We are also ready to allow, that the smallest negative discouragements, for uniformity's sake, are so many persecutions. An incapacity by law for any man to be made a judge or a colonel, merely on point of conscience, is a negative discouragement, and, consequently, a real persecu tion," &c. (1) In the present case, however, the persecution which Catholics suffer from the disabilities in question, does not consist so much in their being deprived of those common privileges and advantages, as in their being held out by the Legislature, as unworthy of them, and thus being reduced to the condition of an inferior cast, in their own country, the country of freedom: this they deeply feel, and cannot help feeling.

V. But to return to my subject: I presume, that if the facts and reflections, which I have stated in this letter, had occurred to the Rt. Rev. Prelates mentioned at the beginning of it, they would have lowered, if not quite altered, their tone on the present subject. The Bishop of London would not (1) Dean Swift's works, vol. viii. p. 56.

have charged Catholics with claiming a right to punish those whom they call heretics, with penalties, imprisonment, tortures, and death;' nor would the Bishop of Lincoln have laid down toleration as a mark of the True Church, and as a principle recommended by the most eminent Reformers and (Protestant) Divines.' At all events, I promise myself, that a due consideration of the points here suggested, will efface the remaining prejudices of certain persons of your Society against the Catholic Church, on the score of her alledged • spirit of persecution, and of her supposed claim to punish the errors of the mind, with fire and sword. They must have seen, that she does not claim, but that, in her very General Councils, she has disclaimed all power of this nature: and that, in pronouncing those to be obstinate heretics, whom she finds to be such, she always pleads for mercy in their behalf, when they are liable to severe punishment from the secular power; a conduct which many eminent Protestant Churchmen were far from imitating, in similar circumstances. They must have seen, moreover, that, if persecuting laws have been made and acted upon by the Princes and Magistrates in many Catholic countries, the same conduct has been uniformly practised in every country, from the Alps to the Arctic Circle, in which Protestants, of any description, have acquired the power of so doing. But if, after all, the friends alluded to, should not admit of any material difference, on one side or the other, in this matter, I will here point out to them two discriminating circumstances of such weight, as must, at once, decide the question about persecution in disfavour of Protestants.

In the first place, when Catholic States and Princes have persecuted Protestants, it was done in favour of an ancient Religion, which had been established in their country, perhaps, a thousand or fifteen hundred years, and which had long preserved the peace, order, and morality of their respective subjects; and when, at the same time, they clearly saw, that any attempt to alter this religion would, unavoidably, produce incalculable disorders, and sanguinary contests among them. On the other hand, Protestants, every where, persecuted in behalf of New Systems, in opposition to the established laws of the Church, and of the respective States. Not content with vindicating their own freedom of worship, they endeavoured, in each country, by persecution, to force the professors of the old religion to abandon it, and adopt theirs; and they acted in the same way by their fellow Protestants, who had adopted opinions different from their own. In many countries, where Calvinism got a head, as in Scotland, in Holland, at Geneva, and in France, they were riotous mobs, which, under the direction of their Pastors, rose in rebellion against their lawful Princes, and, having secured their independence, proceeded to sanguinary extremities against the Catholics.

In the second place, if Catholic States and Princes have enforced submission to their Church by persecution, they were fully persuaded, that there is a Divine authority in this Church to decide in all controversies of religion, and that those Christians who refuse to hear her voice, when she pronounces upon them, are obstinate heretics. But on what ground can Protestants persecute Christians of any description whatsoever? Their grand rule

and fundamental charter is, that the Scriptures were given by God for every man, to interpret them as he judges best. If, therefore, when I hear Christ declaring, Take ye and eat, this is my body, I believe what he says; with what consistency can any Protestants require me, by pains and penalties, to swear that I do not believe it, and that to act conformably with this persuasion is idolatry? But religious persecution, which is every where odious, will not much longer find refuge in the most generous of nations: much less will the many victorious arguments which demonstrate the True Church of Christ, our common Mother, who reclaimed us all from the barbarous rites of Paganism, be defeated by the calumnious outcry, that she herself is a bloody Moloch, that requires human victims.

I am, &c.

LETTER L.

J. M.

To the FRIENDLY SOCIETY of NEW COTTAGE.

CONCLUSION.

MY FRIENDS AND BRETHREN IN CHRIST,

HAVING, at length, in the several letters addressed to your worthy President, Mr. Brown, and others of your Society, completed the task which, eight months ago, you imposed upon me; I address this, my concluding letter, to you in common, as a slight review of the whole.—I observed to you, that, to succeed in any inquiry, it is necessary to know and to follow the right method of making it. Hence, I entered upon the present important search after the truths of the