I. THAT the faid penal laws and statutes against Papifts, except the law of Gavelkind, and that which difqualifies them for places, be repealed, abrogated, annulled, deftroyed, and obliterated, to all intents and purposes.

II. THAT, in the room of the faid penal laws and ftatutes, all ecclefiaftical jurifdiction be taken from out of the hands of the clergy of the established church, and the fame be vested in the feveral Popish archbishops, bishops, deans, and archdeacons ; nevertheless fo as fuch jurifdiction be exercised over perfons of the Popish religion only.

III. THAT a Popish prieft fhall be fettled by law in each and every parish in Ireland.

IV. THAT the faid Popish prieft fhall, on taking the oath of allegiance to his Majefty, be intitled to a tenth part or tithe of all things tithable in Ireland, belonging to the Papists within their refpective parishes; yet fo as fuch grant of tithes to fuch Popish priests fhail not be conftrued, in law or equity, to hinder the Proteftant clergyman of fuch parish from receiving and collecting his tithes, in like manner as he does at prefent.

V. THAT, in cafe of detention or fubtraction of tithes by any Papift, the parish-priest do have his remedy at law, in any of his Majefty's courts, in the fame manner as now practifed by the clergy of the established church; together with all other ecclefiaftical dues. And, for their further discovery, to vex their people at law, it might not be amifs to oblige the Solicitor-General, or fome other able King's counfel, to give his advice or affistance to fuch prieft gratis, for which he might receive a falary out of the barrack fund, military contingencies, or concordatum; having obferved the exceedings there better paid than of the army, or any other branch of the eftablishment; and I would have no delay in payment in a matter of this importance.

VI. THAT the archbishops and bishops have power to visit the inferior clergy, and to extort proxies, exhibits, and all other perquifites, ufual in Popish and Proteftant countries.

VII. THAT the convocation having been found, by

I

2.3

long

long experience, to be hurtful to true religion, be for ever hereafter abolished among Protestants.

VIII. THAT, in the room thereof, the Popish archbishops, bishops, priefts, deans, archdeacons, and proctors, have liberty to affemble themselves in convocation, and be impowered to make fuch canons as they shall think proper for the government of the Papists in Ireland.

IX. AND, that the fecular arm being neceffary to enforce obedience to ecclefiaftical cenfure, the fheriffs, conftables, and other officers, he commanded to execute the decrees and fentences of the faid Popish convocation, with fecrecy and dispatch; or in lieu thereof, they may be at liberty to erect an inquifition, with proper officers of their own.

X. THAT, as Papifts declare themselves converts to the established church, all spiritual power over them fhall cease.

XI. THAT as foon as any whole parish fhall renounce the Popish religion, the prieft of fuch parifh fhall, for his good fervices, have a penfion of 2001. per annum fettled on him for life; and that he be, from such time, exempt from preaching and praying, and other duties of his function, in like manner as Proteftant divines, with equal incomes, are at present.

XII. THAT each bifhop, fo foon as his diocefe fhall become Protestants, be called My Lord, and have a penfion of two thousand pounds per annum during life.

XIII. THAT when a whole province shall be reclaimed, the archbishop fhall be called His Grace, and have a penfion of three thousand pounds per annum, during life, and be admitted a member of his Majefty's most bonourable privy council.

THE good confequence of this fcheme (which will execute itself without murmurings against the government) are very vifible. I fhall mention a few of the most obvious.

I. THE giving the prieft a right to the tithe would produce law-fuits and wrangles; his Reverence, being intitled to a certain income at all events, would confider bimfelf as a legal incumbent, and behave accordingly, and apply himself more to fleecing than feeding his flock. His neceffary attendance on the courts of justice would

leave his people without a spiritual guide; by which means Proteftant curates, who have no fuits about tithes, would be furnished with proper opportunities for making converts, which is very much wanted.

II. THE erecting a spiritual jurisdiction amongst them, would, in all probability, drive as many out of that communion, as a due execution of fuch jurifdiction hath hitherto drove from amongst ourselves.

III. AN inquifition would ftill be a further improvement, and moft certainly would expedite the converfion of Papists.

I know it may be objected to this fcheme, and with fome fhew of reafon, That, fhould the Popish princes abroad pursue the fame methods, with regard to their Proteftant fubjects, the Proteftant intereft in Europe would thereby be confiderably weakened. But, as we have no reason to fufpect Popish counfels will ever produce fo much moderation, I think the objection ought to have but little weight.

A due execution of this fcheme will foon produce many converts from Popery: nevertheless, to the end it may be known when they fhall be of the true church, I have ordered a large parcel of ecclefiaftical or church thermometers to be made, one of which is to be hung up in each parish church; the description and use of which take as follows, in the words of the ingenious Ifaac Bickerstaff, Efq;

T

HE church-thermometer, which I am now to treat of, is supposed to have been invented in the reign of Henry VIII. about the time when that religious prince put fome to death for owning the Pope's fupremacy, and others for denying tranfubftantiation. I do not find, however, any great ufe made of this inftrument, till it fell into the hand of a learned and vigilant priest or minister, (for he frequently wrote himself both the one and the other), who was fome time vicar of Bray. This gentleman lived in his vicarage to a good old age; and after having seen several fucceffions of his neighbouring clergy, either burnt or banished, departed this life with the fatisfaction of having never deferted his flock, and died vicar of Bray. As this glafs was first defigned

defigned to calculate the different degrees of heat in religion, as it raged in Popery, or as it cooled and grew temperate in the reformation, it was marked at feveral distances, after the manner our ordinary thermometer is to this day, viz. Extreme hot, Sultry hot, Very hot, Hot, Warm, Temperate, Cold, Just freezing, Froft, Hard froft, Great froft, Extreme cold.

Ir is well known, that Torricellius, the inventor of the common weather-glafs, made the experiment of a long tube which held thirty two foot of water; and that a more modern virtuofo finding fuch a machine altogether unwieldy and ufelefs, and confidering that thirty two inches of quickfilver weighed as much as fo many foot of water in a tube of the fame circumference, invented that fizable inftrument which is now in ufe. After this manner, that I might adapt the thermometer I am now speaking of to the prefent conftitution of our church, as divided into High and Low, I have made fome neceffary variations both in the tube, and the fluid it contains. In the first place, I ordered a tube to be caft in a planetary hour, and took care to feal it hermetically, when the fun was in conjunction with Saturn. I then took the proper precautions about the fluid, which is a compound of two different liquors; one of them a fpirit drawn out of a strong heady wine; the other a particular fort of rock-water, colder than ice, and clearer than cryftal. The spirit is of a red, fiery colour; and fo very apt to ferment, that, unless it be mingled with a proportion of the water, or pent up very close, it will burft the veffel that holds it, and fly up in fume and fmoke. The water, on the contrary, is of fuch a fubtile, piercing cold, that, unless it be mingled with a proportion of the fpirits, it will fink almost thro' every thing it is put into; and feems to be of the fame nature as the water mentioned by Quintus Curtius, which, fays the hiftorian, could be contained in nothing but in the hoof, or (as the Oxford manufcript has it) the fcull of an afs. The thermometer is marked according to the following figure, which I fet down at length, not only to give my reader a clear idea of it, but also to fill up my paper.

Ignorance.

Ignorance.
Perfecution.
Wrath.
Zeal.

CHURCH.

Moderation.
Lukewarmness.
Infidelity.
Ignorance.

THE reader will obferve, that the church is placed in the middle point of the glafs, betwen Zeal and Moderation, the fituation in which she always flourishes, and in which every good Englishman wifhes her, who is a friend to the conftitution of his country. However, when it mounts to Zeal, it is not amifs; and when it finks to Mederation, it is still in admirable temper. The worst of it is, that when once it begins to rife, it has still an inclination to ascend, infomuch that it is apt to climb from Zeal to Wrath, and from Wrath to Perfecution, which often ends in Ignorance, and very often proceeds from it. In the fame manner, it frequently takes its progrefs thro' the lower half of the glass; and, when it has a tendency to fall, will gradually defcend from Moderation to Lukewarmness, and from Lukewarmness to Infidelity, which very often terminates in Ignorance, and always proceeds from it.

It is a common obfervation, that the ordinary thermometer will be affected by the breathing of people who are in the room where it ftands; and indeed it is almoft incredible to conceive, how the glass I am now defcribing, will fall by the breath of the multitude crying Popery; or, on the contrary, how it will rife when the fame multitude (as it fometimes happens) cry out in the fame breath, The church is in danger.

As foon as I had finifhed this my glass, and adjusted it to the above mentioned fcale of religion, that I might make proper experiments with it, I carried it under my cloak to feveral coffeehouses, and other places of refort about this great city. At St. James's coffeehouse the liquor ftood at Moderation; but at Will's, to my extreme furprife, it fubfided to the very loweft mark of the glafs.

At