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had not charity, it would avail you nothing; for that faith only can make you acceptable to God, which worketh by charity;' and no person, whatever his faith may be, can enter into life, less he keeps that first and greatest of the commandments, which obliges him to love his neighbour as himself, whatever the religion of that neighbour may be. Surely, my Brethren, sins against charity are not less offensive to God than sins against faith; `and if, according to St. Paul, a wilful and obstinate adherence to error in matters of faith, excludes men from heaven, he also says, that fornication, uncleanness, immodesty, luxury, witchcraft, enmities, anger, quarrels, dissentions, envy, murder, drunkenness,' deserve hell. 2 Cor. i. Why then is all your zeal directed against one vice, while you indulge freely in the others? You are intolerant and uncharitable, Brethren, on this head, but it is not your religion, but your prejudices and passions that render you so.

"It is not every one who differs from you in religion, who should be branded with the odious name of Heretic (4).'. Errors in religion do not constitute heresy; but a wilful and obstinate adherence to them. Hence St. Augustine says, "I may err, but I will not be a heretic.' He writes also, in his 162d Epistle, that those who earnestly seek the truth, and are ready on finding it to stand corrected, must by no means be reckoned among Heretics. This is the spirit of your church, which assembled by her pastors at Trent, whilst she anathematised the heresies which then prevailed, speaks thus in her 13th Sess. of those persons who held

them: The Holy Synod, like a tender mother, who groans and brings forth, wishes and desires that there may be no schism among those who bear the name of Christians; but that as they all acknowledge the same God, and the same Saviour, they may also have the same faith, the same language, and the same opinion; confiding in the mercy of God, the Synod hopes they will return in hope and charity to the holy and saving unity of the faith.' How different, dear Brethren, from the spirit which dictated those sentiments, is that which prevails at your unholy assemblies? But supposing that all those who differ from you in religious opinions were not of that description pointed out by St. Augustine, why do you not hope, and pray that the Lord would, on the bed of death, at the moment of their departure from this life, look to the naked whom they clothed, and the hungry whom they fed-the bread which they broke to the orphan, the tear which they wiped from the cheek of the widow; and in consideration of these works, discover to them the light of his truth, inflame their hearts with contrition, fill them with his charity, and crown them with his mercy? Hold fast, dearest Brethren, your own faith, and pray for those who differ from you. Take heed of the words of the Apostle : • Who art thou that judgeth a foreign servant? he stands or falls for bis master, but he will stand, for God is powerful enough to raise him up.'

"In this country your religion is not only tolerated, but protected by the law; it is but poor, poverty is the cradle in which

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Emperor Domitian. It was a vision of the most mysterious nature, and the Apostle's account of it is so hard to be understood, that very few of the Fathers of the Church have undertaken to explain it, and most of those who did, desisted from the attempt. St. Jerome himself, to whom nothing in the sacred writings appears to have been difficult, and whom the church venerates as the greatest of her doctors, and raised up by God for the exposition of the Scriptures, even he resigned up the Apocalypse as entirely above his comprehension, saying, 'not only every sentence, but every word of it was replete with mystery (6).' It was in this book that Luther imagined he had discovered that Rome was Babylon, and the Pope Anti-* christ. So Bishop Walmesley, commonly called Pastorini, and the author of your favourite prophecy, wished to defend his church, by retorting on Luther, saying that he (Luther) was the star mentioned in the Apocalypse, that fell from heaven, and which, after blazing on the earth for two hundred years, would then be extinguished; that is, that his doctrine would continue during that period, and then cease. So you may perceive that these two zealous disputants would have us believe that they surpassed all the wisdom of past ages (7), and that the seal of that mysterious book, which was left undisturbed until their time, was broken for them, that one of them, in his fury, might discover in it, that a meek Bishop was Antichrist; and the other, in his simplicity, that the stars were to rain down fire and brimstone from heaven upon us (8).'

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Away, my dear Brethren, with such egregious folly! Do you suffer divines to wrangle with each other, many of whom, tho wise, are not wise unto sobriety,' and attend only to the doctrine of your church, as it is taught you by your pastors, for the regulation of your lives. This church has never unveiled that vision, called the Apocalypse and as Solomon says of the mysteries of nature, it seems to be given up by God to the disputations of men. But even if Luther happened to be designated by the star mentioned in it, and his doctrine by the blaze which it emitted, how does that concern you? Luther lived in Germany; his religion, which resembles your own in some particulars, and differs in many from that of the Established Church, was never received nor professed in England, nor here. The Lutherans, for instance, celebrate a kind of mass, resembling ours. They go to confession; they believe in the real presence of Christ in the sacrament of the blessed Eucharist; but they have no Bishops. The Established Church, on the other hand, have Bishops; they have no mass, in any shape or form; and they believe that the presence of Christ in the sacrament, tho? real, is only spiritual. Thus you see, that even if the religion of Luther were to fail, it by no means follows that the religion established by law in this country would cease to exist. But if it be any consolation to you to know that Luther's religion would cease, and your prophecy be fulfilled, I can inform you from a book now lying before me, and written by a German Super

intendant (an office in the Lutheran Church which corresponds to that of Bishop in ours) that throughout Germany there is scarcely an individual to be found at present, who believes or professes what was taught by Luther you need not wait then for the term fixed by Pastorini for the extinction of his star, as Luther's doctrine is already extinguished.

"But then you will ask me, have the Lutherans all become Roman Catholics ? Many of them have indeed, and would to God they all did so! but the vast majority of them have not; they have divided themselves into an infinite number of sects, professing strange, and hitherto unheard of doctrines; and great numbers of them have renounced Christianity altogether, and become Infidels.

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Do not, my dear Brethren, be so silly, as to expect that, even if those who differ from you in religious belief in this country were to change their creed, that they would embrace yours. Far from it; they would, for the greater part, cease to be Christians, or form a religion for themselves. It is not consistent with the nature of man, nor with the ordinary providence of God, that a body of men like our dissenting Brethren, who have been separated from the church so long, and accustomed, each of them, to judge for himself in all matters human and divine, should again subject themselves to the yoke of authority, and 'captivate their understandings to the obedience of faith.' Individuals might do so, whole classes might do so; but neither the power of the state, nor the force of law,

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nor the terror of death, nothing short of a miracle greater than any hitherto recorded could produce uniformity of religion in England or here. Lay aside, my dear Brethren, your books of prophecies, and read the books which will explain to you the commands of God, and the duties you owe to one another. Lay aside Pastorini, (an Italian word, signifying little Pastor,') and listen to your own Pastors, whom God has placed over you, and who watch as if to give him an account of your souls.' Let Drs. Luther and Walmesley quarrel about the Apocalypse (9), but do you attend to what St.John, the author of that vision, wrote and preached, and repeated unceas ingly till the hour of his death, Leave pro

Love one another.' phecies to be interpreted by those who are learned in them, but do you apply yourselves to labour and industry, and the works of peace. Each person has his particular vocation from God; and in that to which he has been called he should remain. If the lawyer or physician undertook to plow or reap, or sow the seed, you would laugh at his presumption, or pity his folly. So it is with you, when engaged in prophecies which you do not understand. Why has God placed some apostles, some pastors, some doctors in his church,' unless to study his law, to govern and direct his people? and yet you will usurp their place, and create confusion in the church, which is the body of Christ. You ridicule the folly of those enthusiasts who read and expound the Scriptures in whatever manner their fancy may suggest; and yet you yourselves interpret prophecies,

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"But your object is to make your country free and happy. We will not reason with you on the end which you propose to yourselves, which, even if it were laudable, could not justify the employment of unlawful means, as evil,' says an Apostle, is not to be done that good may happen;' but we will consider for a moment your design itself, and the persons employed to carry it into execution, that, if possible, the absurdity as well as the wickedness of it may become palpable to you. And first, who are those who would undertake to subvert the laws and constitution of this country? Persons without money, without education, without arms, without counsel, without discipline, without a leader; kept together by a bond of iniquity, which it is a duty to violate, and a crime to observe. Men destitute of religion, and abandoned to the most frightful passions; having blasphemy in their mouths, and their hands filled with rapine, and oftentimes with blood. Can such as these regenerate a country, and make her free and happy? No, dearest Brethren; left even to themselves, they would destroy each other; but opposed to a regular force, they would scatter like a flock of sheep upon

a mountain, when the thunder storm affrights them. The year of 1798 is within the recollection of us all at that fatal period, Protestant and Catholic, and Dissenter of every province and town, of every class and description, of every rank and station, not even excepting the army, combined to overthrow the Government-you witnessed their failure, the scenes which then occurred, and many of you experienced their fatal consequences. If, then, such was the result of an extensive conspiracy, comprising persons of all religions, of wealth and affluence, of intelligence, connected abroad, organized at home, and undertaken at a period when a revolutionary spirit pervaded Europe, and when the government against which it was directed, was engaged almost single handed with the most formidable enemy England ever had; what success could possibly attend the efforts of the vile and contemptible conspiracy we now hear of? A conspiracy, undertaken at a period of profound peace, and when the Government is rooted in the affections of every man who wishes for the happiness of his country; when every Protestant and every Catholic, possessed of name, or station, or property, would rally round the throne, like one man, to defend it against the assassins of the public peace. Can you mention the name of any individual, not of those classes which I first enumerated, who has ever joined your unholy associations? Have not the Clergy, Priests and Bishops, with one voice, condemned you? HAS ONE OF YOU EVER BEEN PERMITTED TO PARTAKE OF