BELOVED BRETHREN, in the pathetic service just repeated, we have contemplated Jesus Christ as the Paschal Lamb, we have meditated on the outrages, insults and torments, which he was pleased to suffer, we have invoked him as the Saviour and Redeemer of the World, with all the fervor of our souls we have prayed, that iniquity may be removed from the hearts of Infidels, and that leaving their Idols, they may be converted to the living and true God, and to his only Son Jesus Christ, our God and our Lord. And our Petitions to the Throne of Grace have concluded thus:

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O Almighty and everlasting God, who seeketh not the death, but the life of sinners, graciously receive our prayer: free the Pagans from the worship of Idols, and unite them to thy holy Church for the praise and glory of thy name. Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, who liveth and reigneth with thee in the unity of the Holy Ghost, one God, world without end.—Amen.

Notwithstanding this clear and abundant testimony of our Religious belief, there are several persons even amongst the better informed, possessing the advantage of a liberal education, with whom we are in the habits of intercourse and friendship, who impeach us of the crime of Idolatry, because we salute the Cru

No. 5.

cifix. Undoubtedly the conscientious dread of any thing bordering upon Idolatry is entitled to respect and commendation. But in charity I am bound to believe that such persons take scandal, from being utterly unacquainted with our Religious Tenets. I am very certain that I detest the shadow of Idolatry as much, as they can possibly do, and would cheerfully lay my head on the block, rather than commit so foul an action. Every Catholic must be of the same temper of mind. All of us exclaim with the royal Psalmist, (Psalm 96-97) Confounded be all they, that serve graven images, that boast themselves of Idols." Should there be any persons now before me, so deluded by prejudice, or so darkened by ignorance, as to suppose us capable of such impiety, in common fairness they will allow us to ex-. plain ourselves; and in future will pause, before they presume to judge and condemn us, as they hope to find mercy at the tribunal of Heaven.

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By those who are conversant with the spirit and doctrine of the Catholic Church (and no others can be qualified to give an opinion on the subject) it will readily be admitted, that she instils into her children a sovereign detestation of Idolatry, as а crime exclusive of Salvation. U

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This is strongly inculcated in her Catechisms, in her Councils, in the oral instructions of her Pastors. Her Petitions to the Deity conclude, not with the invocation of Heathen Gods (as would naturally be the case, if she were an Idolatrous Church) but with this general formula, "Through our Lord Jesus Christ thy Son, &c." In her Collects, she proclaims the only true God to be the author of all piety-that he is our refuge and strength-that we are solely to depend on the hope of his heavenly favour-that we cannot rely upon our own actions-that without Him, nothing is strong, nothing is holy-and in her daily office she repeats the words of St. Paul in his 1st Epistle to Timothy, (1 ch. 17 v.) "Unto the King eternal, immortal, invisible, the only God, be honour and glory for ever and ever. Amen."

Nor does the relative honour shewn to the Crucifix contradict this principle and practice. For it is not paid to the Image, but to HIM whom the Image represents. "Worship not the Image, nor the stock, stone, or tree," says our pious Countryman* before him that died on the tree for thy sin, and thy sake: so that thou kneel, if thou wilt before the

The Author of the Treatise on the Ten Commandments, entitled Dives et Pauper. It was printed in Westminster Abbey by Wynken de Worde, in the year 1496.

Image, not to the Image; for it the Reformation, "but worship seeth thee not, it heareth thee not, and it understandeth thee not. For if thou do it for the Image, or to the Image, thou doest Idolatry." And though the Salutation of the Cross, is any thing but essential to our holy Religion, yet it is wisely retained as a public testimony of our respectful and grateful affection to Him, "who made peace through the blood of his Cross." (Coloss. i c. 20 v.) On this day, so venerable to every Christian heart, nature leads us, as it were, to Calvary, to prove by outward and visible signs, our inward sense of gratitude for his unspeakable goodness, of compassion for his excruciating torments, and of cordial repentance for our manifold and grievous transgressions. Conscious then of the innocence and purity of our intentions, we scruple not to walk in the footsteps of the wise and good; and after giving this reasonable account of our conduct, if others will persist in charging us with the hateful crime of Idolatry, we will commend our cause to the all righteous Judge, praying that He may forgive them, and turn their hearts, and we will endeavour to shew them the superiority of our Faith, in the exercise of Christian forbearance, meekness and tender Charity.

are Catholics. The law, and the administration of the law, make them almost aliens in their native land, and thus consign them to degradation and misery. The only reason assigned for it is, that they worship God in the manner prescribed by the religion of their ancestors. When the Prophet Jeremy wept over the distress and desolation of Judea, he scarcely could use an expression that would not be applicable to the actual distress and desolation of Ireland. Perhaps the

reader is not aware that the dreadful famine experienced last year in Ireland, was the seventh of those dreadful visitations with which that unhappy country has been afflicted within the last hundred years. The famine which preceded it is described by Mr. Matthew O'Connor in his excellent History of Ireland (page 223,) in terms which it would shock the feelings of your readers to peruse; he says, that "the sufferings of the Irish under it, surpassed all that history has recorded, or imagination can represent;" and that" it reduced one-fifth of the population."

In the present letter, I shall succinctly state THE CONDITION

OF THE CLERGY.

They are about 2000 in number, incessantly employed in administering to the spiritual wants of their flocks, soothing their sorrows, and instilling into them all the motives which should make them obedient to the law, and resigned to their wretched state. The law pursues these well deserving men with great vindictiveness. If, from inadvertency or misinformation, they marry two Protestants, or a Protestant and a Catholic, they are liable by

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law to suffer death. (6Ann, c. 16. s. 6. 8 Ann, c. 3. ș. 26.) The Act passed for the relief of the Catholics in 1793, expressly continues this dreadful penalty in force; and it was declared to be the law of the land, by the late Lord Chief Justice Kilwarden, in the case of the King v. the Rev. Mr. G**** Mac Dermot and others, in Easter Term 1800.

The Clergy are liable to imprisonment for not disclosing the sccrets of auricular confession. At the Trim Summer Assizes of 1802, Lord Kilwarden committed the Rev. Mr. Gahan to prison for such a refusal.

They are bound by the vows attending their ordination, to a life of celibacy, and are therefore subject to the modern Tax, called the Bachelor's Tax.

No recompense is given them. for the performance of their religious functions in Public Institutions, except for their attendance in Gaols, under the Act of the 50 Geo. II., which Act is unfortunately so worded as to have produced more mischief to them than good.

or

No permanent endowment of any Catholic Clergyman's house of worship, school-house, other pious or charitable foundation for Catholics, is legally valid. This is the more remarkable, as charitable donations in favour of Protestant Dissenters and their establishments, and even establishments for the education of children in the Jewish religion, are sanctioned by law. (See 3 Peere Williams 346-Isaac v. Comperts, cited 7 Ves. 494.)

Most frequently their flocks are too poor to afford them any stipend. It is almost always extremely scanty.

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The consequence is-1st. That, generally speaking, the Catholic Clergyman, although one of the worthiest of human beings and one of the best deserving both of the State and of the community, is wretchedly poor. He has seldom the means of comfortable subsistence, is often without a decent place for the celebration of his divine mysteries, is overpow~ ered by the calls upon him for

religious exertion, lives in misery, and dies without having experienced, through his whole life, any other happiness than the consciousness of having, in every part of it, feared God, honored the King, loved his neighbour, and prayed for his enemies.

The effect of these laws upon the education of the poor is most dreadful; we shall notice it in a subsequent letter.

S.

We have many instances of christians accustomed to read and interpret the holy Scriptures, passing from one sect to another, and endeavouring to justify this change by the meaning or the liberal interpretation of the word of God; but, I have never heard of a single instance of a Pagan having been converted to any seet of Christianity, by the simple reading of the naked text of our sacred books.-This is certainly the primitive source from which our faith is derived, and the foundation on which it is built; but it is so far above the comprehension of uncultivated understandings, that it would be unreasonable on our part to expect an unprepared and unassisted mind to be able to decide for itself in perusing it, and to build his faith on it.

Our holy records afford a striking instance of the insufficiency of this means to make up our faith, in the example of the Eunuch of Candace, (Acts viii.) who, very likely, was not a man of common parts or education. He was returning from Jerusalem, and sitting in his chariot, was reading

on his way Isaias the Prophet. Philip warned by an angel, passed on the same road, and prompted by the spirit, he ran to him, and heard him read the Prophet Isaias, and said, “thinkest thou, that thou understandest what thou readest ?" Hear the candid answer of the Eunuch, and he said, "how can I except some man shew me?" And he desired Philip that he would come up, and sit with him, &c. &c. Then Philip opening his mouth, preached Jesus, &c., and he baptized him. (See the whole of this edifying occurrence, in the quoted chapter.)

Far be from me the idea of failing in the least in profound respect and veneration for the sacred word of God, or of detracting a single particle from the salutary effects it is calculated to produce on a well disposed person, who makes it his study, with the intention of becoming acquainted with his duties as a man and a christian. But I repeat it, to exhibit the Scriptures to an unprepared pagan to make up his faith upon them, or even to excite in his mind a spirit of