tred towards the publishers of such text, in order to maintain Calvin's horrible blasphemy, that our Saviour suffered the pains of hell. Speaking of this impious act, the annotators say, "We see plainly that they have no conscience, indifference, nor other purpose, but to make the poor readers believe that their opinions be God's own word, and to draw the scripture to sound after the fantasy of their heresies. But if the good reader knew for what point of doctrine they have thus framed their translation, they would abhor them to the depth of hell; forsooth it is thus: they would have the scripture mean, that Christ, was in horrible fear of damnation, and that he was not only in pains corporal upon the cross, (which they hold not to have been sufficient for man's redemption) but that he was in the sorrows and distress of the damned, without any difference, but that it was not everlasting, as theirs is.to Timothy. (2 Epis. ii. 16, 18.) "But For this horrible blasphemy, (which profane and vain speeches avoid; is their interpretation of Christ's de- for they do much grow to impiety: scending into hell) God's holy word and their speech spreadeth as a canMUST BE CORRUPTED, and the sacri- ker; of whom is Hymenæus and fice of Christ's death (whereof they Philêtus: who have erred from the talk so presumptuously) must not be truth, saying that the resurrection enough for our redemption, except is done already, and have subverted he be damned for us also to the pains the faith of some." It is therefore of heH. Wo (exclaims the annota- to be hoped, that as the holy apostors) be to our poor country, that tle thought it incumbent on him to must have such books, and read such caution the exalted individual, whom translations. See Calvin and Beza he had appointed a bishop, to beware in their commentaries and annota- of false teachers, the following his tions upon this place, and you shall example by the catholic clergy, for see that for the defence of the said which they have the authority of blasphemies they have thus trans- scripture, the only guide of protestlated the text." Wo, indeed; wo ants, is not a breach of charity suffito that country which can silently cient to doom their flocks to perpepermit such impious and iniquitous tual civil bondage in a land of freedoctrines to be disseminated. And dom! And as to defacing and burnwo to that country which can pro- ing protestant bibles and prayer. duce such malignant and viperous books, the charge comes rather awkscribblers, who delight in deceiving wardly from the quarter whence it the ignorant and unweary, and per- originates. Have the biblical accusers vert the honest expression of an in- of the catholic clergy forgot that dignant mind at the villainous con- the protestant legislators of this counduct of blasphemous men, into an in- try, in the year 1606, (3 Jas. I.) junction to maintain a personal ha-passed an act which authorized the en next. In the present dearth of employment, the printing branch has suffered in proportion with other trades, and therefore the republication of the annotations should be con BURNING of all popish missals, psal- | plan, of employing the poor to dig ters, legends, &c. or other supersti-holes one day and fill them up the tious books, and empowered any two justices, and all magistrates of corporations, from time to time, to enter the houses and lodgings of popish recusants, for the purpose of seizing, burning, and defacing, any cru-sidered rather as a subject of concifix, beads, popish relics, or books gratulation than of censure. Let which they might find therein.- the Hibernian society continue to Pretty fair and tolerant work this, distribute, and the Irish papist to and highly praise-worthy in burn bibles, the greater will be the lightened" protestants, who grant consumption of paper, and the dethemselves indulgence to persecute mand for printing will increase; thus and oppress their catholic neigh- a number of hands will be employed, bours for the love of law and jus- whose families would otherwise be tice; to calumniate their principles, starving, and some benefit would acand pervert their writings, for the crue from the subscriptions raised to sake of truth and probity; and to further the purpose of mistaken zeal. ascribe motives for their rule of acHere I take leave of the foolish aption which themselves are guilty of, prehensions of the bigot for the fate and pertinaciously encourage. If of his bibles and prayer-books, to catholics are told to burn and deface notice a more odious distortion of the heretical books, it is only when they sentiments of the Rheimish doctors. become the legal possessors of them; and the British and Foreign Bible Society may be assured, that should the question of emancipation ever be granted, their warehouse in Earlstreet will not be ransacked by catholics for materials to form a bonfire on the occasion. But, if bible-"attention of our readers to injunc men are simple enough to put a false "tions of a more practical tendentranslation of the scripture into the hands of a catholic for his own special use, and assure him it is the word of God, from which he is to draw his religious creed, they ought not to be angry if he takes it into his head, or is recommended by his pastor, either to burn or destroy it.When it becomes his property, he has a right to do with it as he pleases. Whether the Hibernian Society, which is engaged in circulating the scripture throughout Ireland, has discovered a propensity in the Irish peasants to light their fires and their pipes with the productions of its evangelical labours, I have not heard; but should such, be the case, I can only consider it as an improvement of my lord Castlereagh's sagacious "We shall pass over (says the re"viewer) the various charges in "which protestants are consigned "to eternal damnation, from which "it is asserted, even martyrdom in "heathen countries will not pre"serve them; and shall direct the cy. The Irish catholics are in"formed, That when Rome puts "heretics, (i. e. protestants) to "DEATH, and ALLOWS THEIR PU"NISHMENT IN OTHER COUNTRIES, "their blood is not called the "blood of saints, no more than the "blood of thieves, man-killers, and "other malefactors, for the shed ding of which, by order of jus❝tice, no commonwealth shall an"swer.'"--Rev. xvii, 6. Before I proceed farther in his quotations, I will here give the real words of the annotators. Speaking of the text, " And I saw the woman drunken of the blood of the saints, and of the blood of the martyrs of Jesus," they say, "It is plain that "this woman signifieth the whole " : corps of all the persecutors that, by those who profess to be the most "have and shall shed so much blood | liberal, the most wise, and the most "of the just of the prophets, apos- enlightened of all human beings? "tles, and other martyrs, from the What must they think of men, who "beginning of the world to the end. with hypocritical professions of ve"The protestants foolishly expound neration for the blessings of civil and "it of Rome, for that they put he religious freedom, distort and falsi"retics to death, and allow of their fy the principles of their unoffending "punishment in other countries; neighbours for the purpose of keep"but their blood is not called the ing them in a state of political sla"blood of saints, no more than the very ?-Satisfied with the present "blood of thieves, man-killers, and degraded and credulous state of the "other malefactors; for the shed-public mind, and the little danger "ding of which, by order of justice, of detection from the lamentable " no commonwealth shall answer." apathy of the catholic body, the The reader will here see the base-leading members of which seem raness of the reviewer in misquoting this passage, but that which follows is still more glaringly disgraceful. British Critic.-"That though "the Son of God rebuked his disciples for proposing to invoke fire "from heaven, against the Samaritans, as Elias had done, yet that "Elias's act was not reprehended, "nor the church, nor christian "princes blamed for putting heretics "to death."-Luke ix. 55. <. Rheims Testament. "Not justice, nor all rigorous punishment "of sinners is here forbidden, nor "Elias's fact reprehended, nor the "church or christian princes blam"ed for putting heretics to death: "but that none of these should be "done for desire of our particular revenge, or without discretion, and regard of their amendment, "and example to others. Therefore "St. Peter used his power upon "Ananias and Saphira, when he "stroke them both down to death "for defrauding the church," -Luke ix. 55. ther to prefer submission to the lash 66 fairly to the conscience of every "candid advocate of emancipation, "whether all the persecuting dogmas, which the church of Rome 66 ever held in the plenitude of her power, are not revived, at the ut"most extent; and revived, at a "time, when a revival also of its "power is confidently expected."To this tribunal, impartially informed, no catholic will hesitate to leave the decision of his case.--In fact, his only hope, his sole desire, is to place the question of his emancipation in the hands of the candid and unprejudiced protestant. In his present state, excluded from any share in the legislative functions of the nation, he cannot expect to arrive at his longwished for deliverance from civil thraldom, but through the liberality Protestant reader, do you not and justice of upright protestants. blush at the gross injustice and dis-To them therefore I appeal, in my ingenuity of this hireling of the press? Is the cause of protestantism come to such a pass, that it must be defended by perversion, and supported by falsehood! What must foreigners think of our country, when they find such practices resorted to animadversions on the cowardly and flagitious attempts of bigotry to thwart their judgment, and if my remarks savour somewhat of severity, I most solemnly assure them, it is to the hated system of intoler auce which misguided zealots are en. advantage to be derived from its execution, to enter into a minute detail of the various instances in which this writ (de hæretic comburendo) has been carried into effect. Suffice is to tion I have been enabled to make, (though I should premise, that in this instance, I lay no claim to minute accuracy) the number of those who have fallen victims of this horrid, though legal instrument of persecution, appears to be as follows. 66 During the reign of Henry IV. a person of the name of Bradley, for denying the doctrine of transubstantiation. In that of Henry V. Claydon, a Lollard, and Sir John Oldcastle, Lord Cobham, who being condemned for heresy, escaped from the tower, and was afterwards executed for a rebellion, and his body burned in fulfilment of his former sentence. In the reign of Henry VI. eight persons, chiefly, if not entirely, condemned for what was then termed Lollardy. deavouring to perpetuate, not to the individuals, against which they are directed. Following the precepts of that church in whose defence I write, nothing from my pen is dictated with a spirit contrary to the sublime max-state, that from the best investigaims of christian charity and the love of truth: would to God the adversaries of emancipation could say the same. The reviewer in this charge of reviving all the persecuting dogmas of the church of Rome, did not forget to throw out a hint of their practical tendency; a subject often referred to by protestant writers, but little understood by their readers.In the first misquoted article, the reviewer has insinuated a direct accusation against Rome in putting protestants to death; it is a circumstance, however, which ought to be generally known in this country, and is no less remarkable than true, that during the plenitude of the papal power, and even to this moment, not a single individual has suffered death in Rome for the crime of heresy. So much for Rome herself; and as to her ALLOWING their punishment in other countries, let us examine the history of our own, in illustration of this imputed sanction of church dominion. The authority which I shall quote in proof that the Roman catholic church, either in her dogmas or her disposition, does not possess the spirit of perse-personal character of the prince, cution, is that of a protestant gentle man, who seems to have derived his information from Fox's Acts and Monuments, Hume's History of England, and Burnet's History of the Reformation, all unquestionabe testimonies "In the first twenty-three years of with the adversaries of popery.- Henry VIII. thirty heretics were comMr. Brown, of the Inner Temple, inmitted to the flames. The errors imhis "Historical Account of the Laws against the Catholics," 1813, makes the following observations, in the first chapter of his work, "On the Laws against Heretics in general: 66 - It would be a disgusting task, far from compensated by any real "In the one and twenty years of Edward IV. we find but one instauce of the execution of this sentence; whilst in little more than the same period of time, the number was increased to ten, in the reign of Henry VII. a proof this, it should seem, that the prevalence of persecution depended in a great measure on the and of his prelates, or on some other cause, perfectly extraneous to that to which it is generally referred the unexampled intolerance of the catholic religion. puted to them, consisted in denying the doctrines of transubstantiation, and of intercession to the saints, in reading the scriptures in English, maintaining the principles of Luther, and other similar deviations from those tenets and ceremonies culprit, for the crime of heresy, vecorded in the first twenty-three years of Henry VIII.'s reign; and the only notice of ecclesiastical punishment which the Romish church ordains. In the last fifteen years of this reign, the number was augmented to forty-four. Of these, sixteen were anabaptists; one suffered for deny-mentioned by this annalist in that period is, that on "the 11th of February, 1526, four merchants of the Stilyard did penance at Paul's cross, and an Augustin friar, called Dr. Barnes, bore a fagot.” ~However, when Harry threw off all spiritual subjection to the pope, and Tom Cranmer, "a most revered bishop, and a venerable reformer" became his right hand man and the primate of England, the pages of Stow are chiefly occupied in noting the imolation of victims for conscience sake. But admitting the account of Mr. Brown to be literally true, what a complete and triumphant refutation does it afford to the infamous accu ing the king's supremacy, and the greater part of the remainder, for opposing or for non-compliance with the law of the six articles. From these statements (observes Mr. B.) | it will appear that this unchristian procedure was so far from deriving its rigour from the influence of the Romish Clergy, called into action by the mandatory bulls of the pope, that AFTER the reformation, as it is not unfrequently termed, in 1533, the average number of offenders committed to the flames, by virtue of the writ de hæretico comburendo, was CONSIDERABLY MORE THAN DOUBLED. And, were I to take into account those catholics (amount-sation set up by bigotry of the pering to between thirty and forty) who were hung, ostensibly on convictions founded on the NEW statutes of treason, but, in reality, for their adherence to the long-established faith of the kingdom, this average would be encreased to nearly a FIVE-FOLD proportion." Such is the statement of this respectable protestant historian; and although, as a catholic writer, I am disposed to question the veracity of his authorities, as to the number of individuals suffering for heresy under catholic sovereigns, yet I am ready to admit that he has, in this detail, exhibited a degree of candour which must ever reflect the highest honour on his literary character, and is well worthy the imitation of the reviewer in the British Critic, and his bigotted compeers of the English press. I have said that I doubt the accuracy of Mr. Brown's testimonies, and the reason for my so doing is, that on examining a quarto edition of Stow's Annals of England, printed in 1601, I cannot find the infliction of the sentence of death on a single ORTHOD. JOUR. Vol. V. secuting principles of the Roman catholic clergy. The catholic religion was planted in this island by St, Augustin in 597, and the first instance which our adversaries are able to adduce of the crime of heresy being punished with death, is in the year 1401. -Thus, during a space of EIGHT HUNDRED YEARS, in which the catholic religion reigned uncontrolled, and her ministers were invested with the plenitude of power, not a drop of blood was shed in support of her spiritual rights, nor a temporal law passed to punish those who dogmatised her doctrines. We see, however, in that period, the most virtuous sovereigns, those who venerated and practised her precepts, the Alfreds and the Edwards, framing laws for the government of the people, founded upon the basis of civil liberty, and to the former we are indebted for that glorious bulwark of Englishmen, the trial by jury.-We also see a catholic primate animating and directing catholic barons to demand a restoration of those rights which had been wrested from them by our Norman 3 İ |