religion does not prevail only amongst the "populace of England," but extends also to its most exalted, and best educated, classes, pervading even those very asylums, which should be, and were once,-the schools of Christian wisdom, and the nurseries of piety. Thus, speaking of the education at our universities, Dr. Rennel (no one could be better informed upon the subject) asserts, "Young men of rank, and talents, are dismissed from them without one single safeguard against the plausible and tremendous theories, which have turned more than one quarter of the world into an Aceldama, or field of blood. Of religion, its evidences, doctrines, and motives, they are utterly, and grossly, ignorant." (Serm.) Similar to this is the account, which but a few weeks past, was given in the Spectator (newspaper,) respecting the order of education at Cambridge: (Why should not the statement apply equally to Oxford ?) "We will bear our testimony," says the writer, "to the fact, that, in the assemblage of religious foundations at Cambridge, no religion is taught; little is felt; and that an open, or marked profession of it, is rather discountenanced than otherwise. Chapel is a bugbear, and a mockery, even to the pious; divinity lectures, a sleepy form. After a time, students and fellows, who intend to go into orders, and are on the eve of it, draw up a little, and assume more regular and serious habits. With this exception, there never was a body of men less influenced by the spirit of religion. We can safely aver, that over the morals, or the religion, of the young men who go to Cambridge, there is no other check than what may arise from the deficiency of money or credit." (K.) Page 95. The passage which I have affixed to the title-page of this treatise, designed by Tertullian to express the general conduct of the enemies of the Catholic church in his time,-is very accurately descriptive of the method in which, in this country, our Protestant writers still treat it, at the present day. For, be the subject almost what it may, which these men discuss, and however much they may differ upon every other question,-upon the question of our religion they are nearly all unanimous,-misrepresenting and vilifying the divine institution, without any regard to truth, to charity, or decorum. "Nihil enim interest illis, licet diversa tractantibus, dum ad unius veritatis expugnationem conspirent." Such is our Protestant literature, whenever there is question of the Catholic religion. Whence even Voltaire himself, although the most ruthless enemy of Catholicity, compares its Protestant adversaries to a set of gladiators, and to that class of gladiators, who fought blindfolded, but still fought with the most desperate fury. The comparison, and the image, are most apposite. "Our religion," says Dr. Doyle, "is so grossly misrepresented, that it is made to appear a very moral monster. From the sole of its foot, like its Founder, to the top of its head, there is no soundness in it. It is buffeted, spit upon, and covered with a mantle of derision. It is scourged, and drenched with vinegar and gall. The waters of affliction are made to enter into its very soul. And it is when it is thus disfigured, that the bigot, and the fanatic cry out, 'Away with it, away with it.' "When Burnet," the same eloquent writer observes, "was, in 1686, admitted to the councils of the Prince and Princess of Orange at the Hague, and undertook to assist the revolution, which was then in progress, he fulfilled his engagement, chiefly by those writings, wherein he represented Popery, and tyranny, as inseparably blended together. From that period till the present, those who are opposed to the Catholics have frequently shifted their attacks; but they have never ceased to employ such men as Burnet, for the purpose of coupling our religion with something odious. At one time, they represent us, as the advocates and supporters of arbitrary power; at another, as the abettors of principles hostile, to kingly government. Sometimes they introduce us as the very worst description of idolaters; and again as persons who violate our oaths, and keep no faith with heretics. For upwards of a century, they held us forth as adherents of an exiled family; and when that family ceased to exist, they transferred our allegiance from the Stuarts to the Pope. Besides these inhe rent faults in the system of Popery, they always hang about it shreds and patches, to excite contempt or ridicule. They bring our beads and our incense, our vestments and holy water-pots, our saints and our pilgrimages, our prayers and our crosses; and they place these in such attitudes, as that they necessarily create laughter or disgust. By such means as these, they feed the passions of the vulgar, and keep alive the prejudices of the best-informed. They are so wealthy, and they have such an interest in our depression, that they do not hesitate to expend large sums annually, in keeping such men as Burnet employed to vilify and defame us; whilst anniversary sermons, bishops' charges, new editions of Fox's Martyrs, and a cloud of tracts and pamphlets, intercept every effort that we can make to dispel the public illusion. 66 England has always been governed by a party, and that party has always kept the nation hoodwinked. Since the time of Elizabeth, the Catholics have been uniformly oppressed, and persecuted, by those who governed, and who enriched themselves at their expense. Did they profess their loyalty; they were told that they were traitors. Did they swear to it; they were accused of perjury. Did they prove it by their works on any emergency; they were laughed at, and abused, when the danger was over." I should like to present a few specimens of the temper which now animates a very large portion of the established clergy in our regard. The speeches and sermons of many of these men are indeed precious monuments of eloquence,-embodying every thing, that is virulent in hostility, and scurrilous in insult; every thing, that by rancour, ridicule, calumny, and misrepresentation, is calculated to inflame the bigotry of the violent, and to cheat the simplicity of the weak; in short, every thing, that is adapted to support, and feed, the prejudices of the public against their parent church. A mere note does not allow me to cite extracts of these effusions. However, by the way of illustration, I will just quote a few lines from a speech, which is now accidentally lying before me. They are part of a discourse of the Vicar of Harrow, the Rev. Mr. Cunningham,-one of those itinerant apostles who, besides edifying the good people of Harrow, goes about far and near, -kind, amiable man!-to warn and instruct the public, what wicked, dangerous, blind, and benighted beings, we Papists are. "When I am speaking," says the eloquent orator, "of Popery, I know no reason why I should mince the matter. I shall rejoice at the obtaining of proselytes from such a system. I feel, that I hate, I abominate it. And if I had a thousand hands, and a thousand sledge-hammers, I would use them in endeavouring to annihilate, to sweep from the earth, that detested and abominable monster. I say, I feel this. I wish it were in my power to crush it to atoms," &c. The only circumstance which in all this scene is awful in our regard, is the fact, that, savage and ferocious as this language is, still it was cheered by a large audience, "with tremendous applause." I could cite many other samples of clerical eloquence similar to the above; or at all events, if not quite equal to it in tragic barbarity,-still, so uncharitable, and unkind, as would much better become the priests of Moloch, than the priests of the meek and benevolent Jesus. Whilst, in like manner, what innumerable examples might I not easily produce from the speeches, and sermons, of our less intemperate adversaries, of disgusting ribaldry, of contemptible nonsense, of disgraceful misreprentations, &c. These are, nearly always, such as to excite the disgust, and pity, of the Catholic; and to call forth, sometimes, the severe reprehensions even of the Protestants themselves.' We have no generous enemies. 1 Thus, speaking of the speech delivered lately by the Rev. Mr. Fry, before a very large and distinguished assembly at Aylesbury, the eloquent writers of the Times remark, "The speech of Parson Fry is enough to make other clergymen hold down their heads with shame, and mortification, for despicable folly, alternating now and then with beastly ribaldry, indicating in every sentence a mean, malignant, and ferocious spirit, undisguised by any one outward incident, or pretension, of an educated gentleman, as it was unredeemed by the smallest spark of Christian charity or forbearance it has never been our fortune to read any printed speech, professing to have insulted the ears of an English audience, so disgusting as that, which is given by the reporters, of Parson Fry." And yet, again, was the orator loudly cheered! : Wherefore, let me here make just this one observation:The want of charity is always reprehensible; but it is reprehensible, above all, in the ministers of religion. For, if kindness and benevolence should reside any where, it should be in the heart, and upon the tongue, of the Christian pastor. But, not only is it the case, that the illiberality of the established clergy, in our regard, is a very gross infringement of the laws of charity, it is, moreover, at the same time, a very odious violation of every principle both of gratitude and generosity. It is ungrateful; because the fact is undeniable, that for all, or nearly all, the advantages and comforts which these men enjoy, they are indebted to the benevolence of the Catholic, whom they revile. Ours were but lately those riches, which now support their families, or feed and maintain their luxury: -ours, those magnificent establishments and foundations, to which they are indebted for their education, and their learning :-ours, that splendour, which adorns their temples : in short, ours, those enormous treasures, which now render the established clergy the far richest hierarchy in the Christian universe. It is ungenerous; because, as I have just been stating, the strength, the security, the peace, and prosperity of this country, are, after all, every where defended, and every Thus, too, describing the character of these men, the liberal Mr. Berwick, but the other day, says of them, “To them be the praise, to them be the glory, of having evoked the demon of intolerance,—of having thrown fresh ingredients into the caldron of national discontent, which was already bubbling and boiling over. Day after day, speeches of these reverend ministers are recorded,―set, laboured speeches, evidently not the product of the excitation of the moment, but the offspring of patient meditation, and laborious study. With the vulgarity of taste, the poverty of diction, the blunt and brutal scurrility, displayed in these elaborate compositions, I do not quarrel. I am fully aware, that the black heart is generally attended by the weak intellect,-Providence thus, in its mercy, neutralising the suggestions of one by the impotence of the other. But, as a Christian, and a man, I cannot let the sentiments conveyed pass by, without expressing my abhorrence of them. As a man, I lament over the degrading form, that humanity has assumed in the persons of beings openly thirsting for carnage, and their fellow-creatures blood; while, as a Protestant, and a Christian, I blush and shudder at the avowal of sentiments, from which an infidel would revolt with horror," &c. (Speech at the Rotunda.) |