(without human authority) for salvation, is very striking: our Church says, Holy Scripture containeth all things neccssary to salvation; so that, whatsoever is not read therein, nor may be proved thereby, is not to be required of any man, that it should be believed as an article of faith, or be thought requisite or necessary to salvation." The sacred books then enumerated as Canonical, exclude what the Church of Rome (in opposition to most of the earliest Fathers) imposes on its followers as equal in authority with the rest: and our twentieth Article enforces the doctrine already delivered in the sixth, denying all right in the Church to "ordain any thing that is contrary to God's word written; neither may it so expound one place of Scripture, that it be repugnant to another.”

The author of the History of the Jesuits has given a body of irrefragable proof," that the Church of Rome is as much opposed at this moment, as she has been at any former period of her history, to the introduction of THE BIBLE into her system of education; and that, in point of fact, her present Bishops, Vicars Apostolic, and subordinate Clergy, do now object to the reading of the Sacred Volume, without their own unscriptural comments and glosses-that they vilify Bible Societies, censure their Members, scandalize the motives of all who join those Societies; and, in short, do still oppose themselves, on all occasions, to the general use and free circulation of the Scriptures of eternal truth.

"Upon this, indeed, as on other points to which she has pertinaciously adhered, in defiance alike of scriptural truth and of right reason, we are at a loss whether to feel most astonishment and indignation at her obstinate attachment to the grossest errors, or at the ignorant assertions of certain ill-informed Protestants; who contend that the Church of Rome is influenced at present by more liberal principles than she once avowed; and even approximates,

in the spirit of genuine charity, to a cordial co-operation with such Heretics as ourselves.

"If any thing approaching to such superior principles, and such an improved spirit, could be shown to exist on the part of the Catholics, there is no sincere Christian, and no honest man, who would not heartily hail and rejoice in their appearance. It is, however, but too evident, that the direct contrary of all this is the fact; and it therefore behoves us to ascertain, in the midst of abundant profession, which costs nothing, and means as little, whether, while the voice which we hear is the voice of Jacob, the hands be not the hands of Esau."

From the materials there collected, the writer observes, "that the Roman Catholic Clergy, residing at this moment in our own Metropolis, are decided, as one man, against the employment of the Bible in the work of Education, except to serve a purpose; that their objections are not only to the Bible, as translated by Protestants, but also to the indiscriminate use of their own version of the Bible: and that such is the length to which their prejudice and bigotry have conducted them, that they object altogether to any Extracts being used by Children from the Protestant version; even although it should be certain that the passages extracted were, totidem verbis, the same as in the Catholic version!!! We likewise find a sufficiently distinct avowal, on the part of their Priesthood, that the most profound ignorance and vice are more desirable in the Children of Roman Catholics, than that they should be permitted to associate with other children of different religious denominations, for the purpose of Education; although no mixture of religious instruction should be attempted to be inculcated, beyond the use of the Bible as a Class Book.

"It further appears, that a School in St. Giles's, which was founded upon this broad principle, and had been remarkably instrumental in cultivating the minds, and improv

(LETTER XVI ing the morals, of the poor in that quarter of the Metropolis, had excited the indignation of an active Romish Priest, who publicly preached against the School, from his pulpit; immediately after which, the School was attacked by the Catholics, and a child of the Master was finally made a cripple for life. Not contented with the personal visits and preachings of London Priests against this School, one or two of the Clergy from Ireland have been lately engaged in the same pious cause! and, in order to produce the greater effect, a Dublin Preacher addressed the people at St. Patrick's Chapel in the Irish language!!!

"Let it now be fairly considered by Mr. Canning, and the other enlightened advocates of the Catholic Claims,' whether facts of this description, attested by the evidence of the Catholics themselves, before one branch of the Legislature, tend to encourage any reasonable hope, that if the Religion of Popery were to be strengthened with POWER, the Religion of Protestantism would be tolerated, or the free use of the Bible be endured; whether, in fact, the spiritual tyranny from which the Reformation delivered us, would not again revive in all its force, and the blood of Cranmer, of HOOPER, of LATIMER, and of RIDLEY, be found to have flowed in vain ?

"It is generally admitted that Bishop Poynter and Mr. Butler (whose examination is here detailed) are among the most enlightened, candid, and moderate men of their religious persuasion; and that, if it were possible, they would readily concede something to oblige and conciliate their Parliamentary friends: but even these Gentlemen cannot depart from their fundamental principles, whenever they are put to the test: and, therefore, in a moment of conflict or severe trial, it will be seen that no approximation whatever can be made towards the sentiments and feelings of Protestants. Under such discordant circumstances, how is a political

union to be effected? and what stability can they possibly give to a Protestant Constitution?”

KING JAMES'S Translators of our Bible (first published in 1611) tell us in the Preface, that "the Church of Rome would seem at length to bear a motherly affection towards her children, and to allow them the Scriptures in their mother tongue: but indeed, it is a gift not deserving to be called a gift, an unprofitable gift: they must first get a license in writing before they may use them; and to get that, they must approve themselves to their confessor,-that is, to be such as they are, if not frozen in the dregs, yet soured with the leaven of their superstition. Howbeit, it seems too much to Clement the Eighth, that there should be any license granted to have them in the vulgar tongue; and therefore, he overruleth and frustrateth the grant of Pius the Fourth! So much are they afraid of the light of Scripture, that they will not trust the people with it; no, not as it is set forth by their own sworn men; no, not with the license of their own Bishops and Inquisitors. Yea, so unwilling are they to communicate the Scriptures to the people's understanding, in any sort, that they are not ashamed to confess that we forced them to translate it into English against their wills. This seemeth to argue a bad cause, or a bad conscience, or both."

In their Epistle Dedicatory, the Translators again allude to "Popish persons at home or abroad, who therefore malign us, because we are poor instruments to make God's holy truth to be yet more and more known unto the people, whom they desire still to keep in ignorance and darkness.”

If any one fancies that English or Irish Papists may without such permission freely peruse the Bibles as translated by their own Bishops; let him see the injunctions prefixed to their late editions, expressly to prevent this liberty among both "learned" and unlearned Roman Catholics.

So far from approving of the pious scriptural example

given to us in the conduct of Timothy's Grandmother and Mother, who "from a Child" instructed him in " the Holy Scriptures, which were able to make him wise unto salvation" (2 Tim. iii. 15); the modern, revised Catholic translation of the New Testament has a formal "ADMONITION prefixed to it, putting the English reader on his guard; and telling him, "IT WAS JUDGED NECESSARY TO FORBID THE READING OF THE SCRIPTURES IN THE VULGAR LANGUAGES,

WITHOUT THE ADVICE AND PERMISSION OF THE PASTORS AND SPIRITUAL GUIDES WHOM GOD HAS APPOINTED TO GOVERN HIS CHURCH-NOR IS THIS DUE SUBMISSION TO THE CATHOLIC CHURCH TO BE UNDERSTOOD OF THE IGNORANT AND UNLEARNED ONLY, BUT ALSO OF MEN ACCOMPLISHED IN ALL

KINDS OF LEARNING." "From this high authority," says Bishop Poynter, in his New Year's Gift for 1813, "you have received the Scriptures, and the true sense of the Scriptures: from the same you learn, with absolute certainty, what Christ really taught, instituted, and commanded. By this authority, rising errors have been condemned in all ages, and unity of faith has been preserved. This authority" OF THE PRIESTHOOD" is the pillar and ground of truth." (See pp. 50 and 75 of a Correspondence on the Roman Catholic Bible Society, 1813.)

Such is the present practice of the Romish Church: to which, I may add, that endless testimonies might be easily produced, to show the activity of Bishops and Priests, in Ireland, England, and even in this very metropolis, to prevent the people from reading their own authorized version.

The late GENERAL MATHEW (on supporting an Irish Petition, presented by Sir Henry Parnell, said, in the House of Commons, "He trusted His Majesty's Ministers would remember, that the eyes of the country were upon them, and that they were expected to make themselves com pletely masters of the tenets and faith of the Roman Catholi religion." One of these tenets, perhaps then unknown to