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THE STATE IN DANGER ;
A LETTER TO
THE RiaHT HONORABLE
LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P.,
FIRST LOED OF THE TREASURY,
ETC. ETC. ETC.

THE EEV. HUGH M'NEILE, M.A.,
BON. CANON OF CHE8TEK, AND INCUMBENT OF BT. JUDE'S CHUBCH,
LIVERPOOL.

* quater ipso in limine portoe

Substitit, atque utero sonitum quater arma dedere.
Instamus tamen immemores, coecique fuiore,
Et monstrum infelix aacrata sistimua arce."

LONDON :
JOHN HATCHAED AND SON, 187, PICCADILLY.
LrVERPOOL:
\V\ ^ £ S ARTHUR NEWLING; HENRY PERRIS.
Ma

TO THE EIGHT HONORABLE
LORD JOHN RUSSELL, M.P.
&c., &c., &c.

My Lord,
The present state of affairs renders an
apology for a public avowal of our principles whoUy
unnecessary. One after another of those who were
depended upon as the tried friends of Britain as she
was, in Church and State, have discovered some
reason for changing their opinions, or for changing
their line of conduct in opposition to their opinions.
Avowals of such changes are no longer confined to
Statesmen, or Laymen, or Ministers of Dissenting Con
gregations ; but Clergymen of the EstabKshed Church
also have found out, either that our ancestors were
wrong in framing those formularies of exclusion against
Romanists, by which our venerable Institution is sur
rounded, and in sworn agreement to which alone those
Clergymen can hold their stations ; or, that our for
mularies are ineffectual for the attainment of their

4
object, and may be subscribed by gentlemen who at
the same time "hold aU Eoman doctrine."
As a citizen of a free State, endangered by the
defection of her natural Eulers to the ranks of her
most inveterate enemy, and as a Clergyman of the
Church of England, thus exposed to the assaults of
open foes, and thus wounded in the house of her pro
fessed friends, I venture to address the Chief Minister
of the Crown ; and in order to induce your Lordship
to read a part at least of what foUows, I avow, with
out further preface, that my object is to transcribe a
series of Letters, which were addressed, nearly a cen
tury ago, to a noble Duke, who had at that early
period imbibed and avowed opinions which have smce
found practical expression in many acts of the Legis
lature. The Letters were not published for a con
siderable time after they were ™tten. They appeared
as notes to a work by a Mr. Murray, of Newcastle-
upon-Tyne, printed in 1778 ? and I believe they have
never since been reprinted, until now. The facts they
refer to are as important, the principles they maintain
as vital, and the arguments they advance as appHcable
and as urgent at this hour, as when they were first
written : and they seem to me to present strongly that
view of this great subject, which should never have

been lost sight of by British Statesmen. If it be
urged, that it is now hopelessly too late to put forward
such a view, because it is utterly impossible to act upon
it ; the simple answer is, sera nunquam ad honos
mores, kc: it is never too late to do, or at least
honestly and vigorously to try to do, what is right.
Only let the justice of the view be acknowledged, and
its chronology, though of much practical importance
to the country, will be found comparatively a very
minor matter. I am fully aware of the prima facie
absurdity, in the eyes of many, of attempting to re-open
this question ; but, my Lord, experience has confirmed
the conviction that this is THE QUESTION on which the
peace and prosperity of the Empire depend, and must
depend. In vain shall the fiscal arrangements of the
country shew a balance in favor of the Chancellor of
the Exchequer ; in vain shall the interests of agriculture
and manufactures be harmonised ; in vain (with all due
deference to the Eight Honorable Member for Edin
burgh,) shall Hterature be encouraged and flemish —
there is "a worm in the gourd," so long as this
question is neglected, or dealt with in opposition to
the unchangeable principles of revealed truth and right
reason. Why is Ireland the " burdensome stone,"
under the weight of which one British Minister after

another sinks and retires ? Because this question has
been so far answered wrong, practically wrong, and
its consequences have been growing worse and worse.
Only let England, in the might that still belongs to
her, answer this question right, practically right, and
after a httle noisy, but comparatively harmless bluster,
Ireland will be quiet, and manageable, and improving.
There is no more certain truth, even in mathematical
science, than that on which the following Letters are
founded; namely, that Eomanism is incurable, and must
be dealt with, for the peace of the community, as wise
men deal with madness. Judicious restraint is genuine
charity. Fond indulgence is infatuation. England is
stiU strong enough to act wisely. 0 ! that she were
wise enough to act firmly ! now, even now, and soon :
for her opportunity may be short.

LETTERS.
TO THE DUKE OF E-

LETTER L
My Lord,
Ajiong real friends, whatever be their rank, sincerity
forbids many compliments. Your Grace will expect
none from me ; you know me better, and, by experi
ence, have found that I cannot flatter. I know that
flattery is what you do not love ; being as much contrary
to your disposition to receive, as it is mine to give it.
I have considered the history and genius of Popery,
and must confess to you, that I think it cannot be
mended. Nothing less than a total annihilation of its
principles, and practices, can give liberty and peace
to the world. Perhaps you will think this strange
doctrine, but I shall prove it to be true, in the sequel
of our correspondence. We have no more to do than
to consider its principles, concerning civil government —
concerning heretics — concerning the means to be used
for supportmg the Church of Eome, to convince us of
the truiSh of the above proposition.
It is a well known principle of popery, and has always
been maintained by Papists, when they durst do it
with safety, that ecclesiastics, of whatever degree, are

exempted from the jurisdiction of the secular power. So
that, if a clergyman be guilty of theft, murder, blas
phemy, perjury, or the most atrocious crimes, the
church wiU not suffer him to be tried by the civil magis
trate, when it is in her power to hinder it. I do not
slander Papists, my Lord — hear what BeUarmine, their
great champion, affirms, — de officio chvistiani princi-
pis. He says, that " Secular princes are not the lawful
superiors of the clergy, unless it can be proved, that
the sheep are better than the shepherds, and the sons
than their fathers, and temporals than spirituals."
From hence, the church lays it down as a maxim, that
the rebellion of a clergyman against his sovereign is
not treason, because he is not his prince's subject.
This is not mere school speculation, among Papists,
but a matter of faith, a necessary principle, wliich they
have, in many instances, put in practice, and brought
to action. I hope you remember that part of our
history concerning Henry II. and Thomas a Becket —
when the king would employ his authority to chastise the
disorderly clergy, m spite of Becket' s remonstrance
against it, as being a violation of the privileges of the
church : Becket resists hun, and dies in the cause ;
but tlie Pope made that monarch make a most
humiliating atonement. He obhged the sovereign to
submit to be stripped at Canterbury, and to be whipped
by the monks, who made him go through his penance
with the greatest punctuality.
It is well known, from the decree of the council of
Lateran, what are the principles of Papists concerning

princes. The words of the council are, " That if tem
poral governors, being required and admonished by the
church, shall neglect to purge heresy out of the country,
let this be signified to the Pope, and from henceforth
he may declare their subjects free from their allegiance,
and give away their lands, to be possessed by CathoHcs."
This decree of the Lateran council has been frequently
put in practice, and the Papists have shewn, that
they did not consider this point as a mere speculation.
They have given examples of this doctrine to all Europe,
in many instances. Were I not* afraid of wearying
your Lordship, I could give you a fine hst of examples
of the practice of this dismal doctrine. I hope your
patience wiU bear with me, in giving a short detail of
facts upon this head.
Pope Zachary I. deposed Childeric, king of France,
752. — Pope Gregory VII. deposed Henry IV. em
peror. — Pope Urban 11. deposed Philip, king of
France. — Pope Adrain IV. deposed William, king of
Sicily. — Pope Innocent III. deposed Philip, em
peror. — Pope Gregory deposed Frederic II. — Pope
Innocent IV. deposed king John, of England. — Pope
Urban IV. deposed Mamphred, king of Sicily. — Pope
Nicholas III. deposed King Charles, of Sicily. —
Pope Martin IV. deposed Peter, of Arragon. —
Pope Boniface VIII. deposed Philip the fair, and
justified his conduct by a bull that he pubhshed, which
is now part of the canon law, in which are these
memorable words ; "We declare and pronounce it, as
necessary to salvation, that all men be subjected to the
2

10
Eoman Pontiff." — Pope Clement V. deposed Henry
V. emperor. — Pope John XXII. deprived the emperor
Lodovick. — Pope Gregory IX. deposed the emperor
Wenceslaus. — Pope Paul III. deprived Henry VIII. ,
of England. — Pope Paul V. in a bull, April 4, 1613,
solemnly excommunicated and anathematised aU Huss
ites, Wicklephists, Lutherans, Zuingehans, Calvinists,
Hugonots, Anabaptists, and apostates from the faith,
by whatever name they were called; as also their
receivers, favourers, and abettors, together with all,
who, without authority of the holy See, read, keep,
print, or any ways defend their books defending heresy,
or treating of religion. He also interdicted all Univer
sities and Colleges, who appealed from the orders and
decrees of the Popes of Eome, for any time bemg,
to a future general council, and also those, by whose
aid or favour the appeal was made. This bull of ex
communication was fixed to the door of the Lateran
and St. Peter's Church, at Eome, and is pronounced
every year upon Maunday Thursday, and has been ratified
by more than twenty Popes. Hereby, all Protestants
in the world, of whatever rank and degree, stand con
demned to be cut off by aU possible means and methods,
either of deceit or violence. According to this doc
trine, Alanus determined, that since Queen Ehzabeth
was an heretic, and excommunicated, her subjects
were bound in conscience to dehver up her armies,
cities, and castles to the king of Spain ; and, that
the Queen ought no longer to have a property in any
thing. BeUarmine gives it as a maxim, " That

11
Christians may not tolerate a King that is an here
tic:" and Massovius, another Popish author of great
note, says, "That a king that reigns contrary to the
mind of the Pope is a tyrant." Bannes, another
champion in this cause, says, " An heretical king ought
to be deposed, if there be sufficient force, otherwise
to attempt it may expose the Cathohcs to danger."
And he adds, " On this account, the Cathohcs in
England and Saxony are excused from rising in arms
against Protestant princes, because they are not power
ful enough to carry on war against them." But
where it can be done, the Catholics are bound in con
science to depose them. And Creswel aflSrms, " They
are to do it on the perU of their souls ;" and Mariana,
another chief of this cause, declares, " That kings who
renounce the Popish rehgion, are to be treated Uke
mad dogs, and those are to be commended who, at
the perU of their hves, shaU procure the public welfare."
Sometimes Papists may hve quietly under a Protes
tant government. In the year 1580, when Campion
and Parsons came over to England, the Pope sent a
dispensation to the Cathohcs to submit to Queen
Elizabeth, in temporals; but this was conditional;
for it was added, " The case thus standing," and they
could do no better. But it was not long tiU the Bishop
of Eome found an opportunity to revoke his dispensa
tion, and, in 1588, gave his benediction to the Spanish
armada. On this occasion they were loosed from their
faith to Elizabeth, which AUen signified to the Enghsh
nobility, and caUed them to engage in the good old

12
cause. It is an unchangeable law of the Church of
Eome, that Papists must destroy Protestants, whenever
it is in the power of their hands to do it.
It is aUowed, my Lord, that in latter times the
Popes have been more mUd. The thunder of the Vatican
has been used more sparingly, but there is a good
reason for this ; the princes of Europe are not so much
afraid of it as formerly. The CouncU of Trent do not
mention the Pope's power to depose princes, for there
was no need for it, when they confirmed the comicU
of Lateran, where that doctrine is fiiUy ratified, as has
been observed.
But the doctrine is the same, the principles remain
^^ith them. They stUl teach that an heretic has no
right to his crown, and that, when he is excommuni
cated, it is no sin for any to kiU him. Their principles
are not more mUd to then- feUow subjects than to their
sovereigns. The councU of Lateran has divested here
tics of all their rights. To plunder them is no robbery —
to kill them is no murder — to break oaths with them is
no perjury ; and you must remember how this was
practised upon John Huss and Jerome of Prague, who,
after they had safe conduct granted them by the em
peror, the fathers at Constance burnt them, aUeging,
that no taith was to be kept with heretics. The Papists
even proceed sometimes farther than this ; for Pope
Martin V. told the Duke ofLifhuania that he sinned
mortally if he kept his faith to heretics. Hence you
spo, that the bona fide of a. Papist is not to be re-

13
garded, when the interests of the church come in
the way.
In a word, there is not a Protestant prince in the
world that is not excommunicated, and laid under a
ponderous load of curses sufficient to sink any ordi
nary persons down to Purgatory, and deeper ; nor is
there a Protestant kingdom upon earth, but aU the
subjects thereof are devoted to destruction, and there is
nothing between them and total ruin, except the Church
of Eome's want of power to execute the sentence passed
upon them. BeUarmine has, indeed, laid it down as a
prudential rule, in his third Book de laicis, to extirpate
heretics, if possible, root and branch ; but if it cannot
be done because they are stronger than we, says he,
and when we engage in war with them, and they are
too hard for us, tunc quiescendum est, in that case
we are to be quiet. So you see, they are not obhged
to cut our throats tUl they are able to do it, and then
there is no mercy for us. This is exceedingly obliging.
They have leave to murder us when they can, and are
obhged upon the pain of damnation to do it. This is
the theology of Eome and the divinity of Papists, and
they have gone as far as they can in pursuing then-
principles ; Germany, Poland, and Bohemia can testify
how practicaUy they have pursued these principles.
The murder of Waldenses by the Popish powers, the
massacre of Paris, and that in Ireland, in our own
dominions, shews what good Christians they are. Did
your Grace ever hear that a Papist confessed that these

14
bloody butcheries were horrid sins, or shewed the least
degree of horror at the recital thereof? I suppose not.
But I have detained you too long, yet I hope I have
given you a sufficient view of their principles of giytI
government to make you abhor a set of people who reckon
good government tyranny because a Papist is not at
the head of it, and that murdering of sovereigns is
no sin, when they are not members of the holy Church
of Eome. — Wishing your Grace aU happiness, I am, &c.
G. B.

LETTER IL
My Lord,
Perhaps enough, and more than enough, has been said
in my former letter, concerning the popish principles of
civU government and heresy. I shaU now give your
Lordship a view of the methods and ways they have
generaUy taken to promote their various schemes, and
which they are obliged, upon the pain of damnation, to
pursue, when it is in their power. I shaU principaUy
confine myself to those measures they have taken against
Protestants, and such as they suspect to be not sound in
the faith. I shaU also confine myseff to some striking
facts, which cannot be denied, for I would not ivish to
repeat a falsehood, if I knew it to be one, against even

J5
the devU himself, more than against his vicar, the Pope.
I shaU, before I proceed, mention a few principles that
actuate aU Papists in their proceedings against heretics.
First. According to the doctrines of the Church of
Eome, the Pope, as head of the church, and Christ's
vicar, is supreme lord, and universal sovereign of aU
empires and kingdoms of the world, under whom the
several princes thereof hold their crowns, on whom they
depend for their titles, and to whom they are accountable
for their administration. The Pope generaUy promises
to the kings of this earth what the devU promised to our
Saviom-, that they shall have what they please if they
wiU faU down and worship before his hohness. Zanchez
expresses the meaning of Papists very plainly when he
says, " That by natural, moral, and divine laws, we must
beheve that the Pope hath the iimnediate and only rule
of the whole world, in temporals as weU as spirituals ;
that aU imperial authority depends so much upon him,
that it is hable to be altered and rendered void at his
command." This is what the Pope claims, where he
dare avow his pretensions. Pope Hildebrand deposed
the emperor Henry IV. by the authority, as he pretended,
given him by God, of binding and loosing both in heaven
and earth. In one of those buUs he pubhshed against
him, he begs the assistance of Peter and Paid in his ex
communication ; and he adds, "that the world may know
that, as they have power to bind and loose in heaven, so
they have power on earth to take away empires, king
doms, principaUties, dukedoms, earldoms, and the pos
sessions of aU men." But the Bishop of Eome carries

his authority stiU farther. He pretends to a right to
deprive princes of their dominions, ex mero motu, purely
because he has a mind to do it. — Bozius aftirms, who
was the Pope's great friend, and spoke the language of
his holiness, that " although kings be lawful, and not
only so, but wise, carefiil, powerfiil, and of the Pope's
own rehgion, and truly godly, yet can the Pope take his
empire, or kingdom, and give it to another, though there
be no necessity for so doing ;" it being sufficient that he
think it convenient : and he proceeds so far as to say,
that " the Pope's right is inahenable ; that he has
neither received it from any other, nor can he give away
any part of it, so as to make temporal princes inde
pendent on himself. ' ' Of the same opinion was Augus-
tinus Triumphus, who, in a book he wrote at the com
mand of Pope John XXL, says, " That if we meet with
any emperors who have given any temporal privileges or
land to any popes, such as Constantino to Sylvester, we
must understand that they did not give what was their own
to give, but only restored what was formerly taken away
by tyranny and injustice ; or, if we read of any Pope to
have given any such temporal benefits, we must suppose
that it was done for the sake of peace, but not really
with any design of giving others a title to them." The
reason of aU this is, that the Pope is, jure divino, lord
of all ; and this right is so perfectly absolute, that as
Christ's representative, he cannot transfer it to another,
but aU must necessarily continue his subjects.
Second. It is an avowed principle of Papists that
princes, by heresy or apostacy from the holy cathohc

17
church, forfeit aU right and title to their crowns, and
may be deposed whenever his holiness , pleases. There
are truly several causes which the Church of Eome
assigns as reasons for depriving princes and kings of their
government; such as dulness of capacity, diminishing
the privileges of the church, tyranny, or any other per
sonal fault, which the Pope thinks renders kings unfit for
government. But the chief and main cause is heresy.
BeUarmine, in his book De Romanis Pontificibus,
Ub. V. cap. 7, affirms, " That princes are received into
the church with an express or tacit compact that they
shaU submit their sceptres unto Christ, defend and pre
serve the faith, under the penalty of forfeiting their
crowns ; therefore, if once they fall into heresy, or turn
enemies to rehgion, they may be judged by the church,
and deposed without any injury to them." Vasquez
affirms much the saijie thing. He says, " that it is in
the Pope's power to punish princes, and that the crime
of heresy is of such a nature that no heretics are
capable of rule, so that the kingdom must chuse some
body else, namely, whom the Pope may appoint, and if
they refuse, he may bring him in by force of arms."
Eaymund goes a little farther, for he afikms, "A prince
may be excommunicated and deposed by the Pope, not
only for heresy, but if he be negligent in extirpating
heresy." This is no more than what was determined
by the decree of the Lateran councU. And, indeed,
the Papists make heresy a reason for depriving both
kings and their subjects of all rights, claims, and
enjoyments ; and leave such as are charged therewith

is
at the mercy of Catholics, who, by divine right, become
lords over them, and aU they possess. The decree of
the Lateran councU has these remarkable words ; " The
goods of heretics, ipso facto, are immediately confis
cated ; they have no further right to them, nor can '
they, with a good conscience, retain them." This is
carrying the matter a great length. But,
Third. As heretics are, by law and right, deprived of
all they have, the Pope can authorise the orthodox
members of the church to take possession thereof ; and
whatsoever means are necessary for that end he can
make lawful and render truly legitimate, such as poison
ing, assassination, blowing up with gunpowder, or any
other necessary methods fit to accomphsh the ends of
the holy church. The buU of Gregory XIII. 1st of
July, 1580, determines, that kUhng of kings and
queens excommunicated by the JPope is no murder,
and that it is meritorious to kiU heretics. This was
the argument that Walpole, the Enghsh Jesuit, used to
persuade Squhe to kiU Queen Ehzabeth, which he told
him might easUy be done by poisoning the pomel of
her saddle. Squire was persuaded, and engages to
undertake the enterprise, receives the priest's blessing,
and the promise of eternal salvation ; and after he had
sworn secrecy, he was sent to England, where he was
taken, confessed the bloody and vUlainous design, and
was executed 1598.
But as, perhaps, you have not seen or heard the
ceremony which is observed in preparing an assassin
for his business among the Papists, when he is sent to

19
perform the holy action of expeUing heretics, I shall
here give you the whole form. The person designed
for this work is secretly introduced into the Meditory
or Oratory, where a knife, wrapped up in hnen, is
taken out of an ivory case, marked aU round with
diverse and various characters, together with an Agnus
Dei. After this they draw it out of the sheath, and
sprinkle holy water upon it, and hang consecrated
beads upon the haft, granting an indulgence of deh-
vering as many souls out of purgatory as he shaU give
wounds to the prince or person who is appointed for
destruction. Then they put the knife into the hand
of the murderer, with this recommendation; "Elect
son of God, take this sword of Jepthah, the sword of
Sampson, the sword of David, with which he cut off
Gohah's head, the sword of Gideon, the sword of
Judith, the sword of the Pope, by which he has
dehvered himself from the hands of princes, having
spUt very much blood in their dominions. Go, and be
prudently courageous ; may God strengthen thy arm. ' '
^Vhen this is done, they faU aU down upon their knees,
and the chief pronounces the exorcism. " Be present,
ye Cherubim, be present, ye Seraphim, ye thrones,
ye powers, be present, ye holy angels, and flU this
blessed vessel with perpetual glory:" and they even
offer him the crown of the blessed Virgm Mary, of the
holy patriarchs and martyrs ; " He is no longer a
member of our communion, but of yours ; and thou, 0
God, who art terrible and invincible, and who, in the
meditory, has put into his heart to destroy a tyrant and

20
a heretic, and confer his crown on a Cathohc king,
strengthen, we beseech thee, his hands, and increase
his courage, that he may accomphsh his wiU. Give
him an omnipotent maU, whereby he may escape the
hands of those who would apprehend hun ; give him
wings, by which his holy members may escape the
endeavours of barbarous betrayers ; pour into his soul
thy cheering rays, by which his body, without fear, in
the midst of dangers and terrors, may be animated with
joy and exultation." After this exorcism is finished,
the parricide is brought before the altar, over which is
painted the history of Jaques Clement, a Dominican
monk, with the image of angels protecting him, and
carrying him to heaven. AVhen this is she^Ti him,
they present him with a crown, and repeat these words,
" Eegard, 0 Lord, this thine arm, and the executor of
thy justice ; let all thy saints arise and give place to
him." When these ceremonies are ended, some priests
are appointed to converse with him alone, in private,
who persuade him that there appears a divine bright
ness in him, by the radiancy of which they are
moved to kiss his hands and his feet ; a,nd that he
no longer seems to be a man, but a heaveiUy saint.
They also pretend to envy the great glory and blessed
ness to which he is advanced, sighing and saying,
" Would to God I had been chosen in thy room ; that,
being delivered ft'om the punishment of purgatory, I
might have gone directly to paradise." This aU wiU
appear to you, perhaps, exceedingly strange, but it is
all very true, and confii-mod by Papist writers.

21
What confirms the truth of this strange and absurd
proceeding is, the case of Parry, who was engaged
to murder Queen Elizabeth. This intended parricide
received a letter from Cardinar Como, in which he tells
him, " that his Holiness commended his good resolu
tion, that he had towards the conmion good ; exhorts
him to persevere, and bring to effect what he had pro
mised; and that he might be more assisted by the good
spirit which had moved him thereto, his Holiness
granted unto him his blessing, plenary mdulgence, and
remission of aU sin ; assuring him, that, beside the merit
he should receive in heaven for so doing, his Holiness
wUl make himself debtor to him on earth." This
wretch, at his death, confessed what influence this letter
had upon him; for he afikmed, "that the enterprise
was recommended, and myself (says he,) absolved, in
the name of' his Hohness, of aU sins, and wiUed to go
forward in the name of God, it confirmed my resolution
to kUl her, and made it clear in my conscience, that it
was lawful and meritorious."
Popery is consistent with the rankest and vUest dis
simulation, lying, treachery, and forgery; for when the
service of the Church requires it, nothuig is sin. The
massacre of Paris is a proof of the most consummate
hypocrisy, as well as the most horrid cruelty of Papists,
which is sufficient to make one's blood turn chiU at the
recital of that transaction. Many thousand Protestants
were invited to the marriage of the King of Navarre,
where they were caressed, with aU imaginable assurances
of friendship, but, in the midst of thesf diabolical

22
caresses, were murdered, on the express order of the
French King.
It was on this occasion that Coligni, Admiral of
France, was murdered, "by the basest of ruffians, who
rudely mangled his body, and sent his head to Eome as
a present to the Pope, where it was received with every
demonstration of joy. The messenger that brought the
news of this monstrous barbarity received a thousand
crowns for his reward, the letter was read in the con
clave, te Deum sung in aU the churches, cannons dis
charged, bonefires made, and a jubUee pubhshed
throughout aU Christendom. A grand procession was
undertaken to the Church of St. Lewis, where the
nobUity, bishops, cardinals, and several ambassadors
attended the Pope, who walked under a canopy, having
his train carried up by the emperor's ambassador ; and
the better to keep up the memory of this glorious trans
action, the Pope caused it to be painted round his great
haU at Lateran, and there recorded it in marble.
You camiot help observing how much Protestants
have need to guard their hves and fortunes against
Papists ; for, shall ever the time come, when Protestant
nations do not watch over every motion of Eomanists,
they may expect certain mischief fi'om them. Popery
cannot change, and Papists never wiU change, while
they beheve such principles. You hint, that they
cannot, in this enlightened age, believe such wicked
and absurd doctrines, and so, can never think of putting
them in execution. How are you sure of that ? Know
ledge is not so universal as you imagine ; neither do

Papists always act from ignorance, but from knowledge
and design — their principles poison their hearts. Do
you suppose the DevU is turned better by the increase
of knowledge — you must first, my Lord, change his
principles. If the Papists reaUy do not beheve their
principles, in their heart, their conscience cannot be
hurt by being restrained from the practice of them.
But, if they do beheve them, they wiU practise them
when they can, and, for this reason, ought to be
watched and restrained. They ought aU to be by
themselves, for no man is safe that is near them, when
they can hurt him with safety to themselves. AU the
restraints upon our present Papists are not equivalent
for the massacre in Ireland, or for what their fathers
did in the reign of Queen Mary. Don't imagine, my
Lord, that I mean to impute the sin of the fathers to
their chidren, far be it from my thoughts ; but, when
chUdren profess the same principles, and pursue them,
they are their own sins, and they, thereby, serve them
selves heirs to their fathers' crimes, by approving of
them. Though our Papists are quiet at present, there
IS no security that they wiU continue so, till they
renounce Popery, and the jurisdiction of Eome.
The strongest oaths cannot bind them, when his
holiness pleases to loose them from the obligation.
I think I have given you sufficient proofs of Popish
infidehty. In my next I shaU continue the subject,
and bring down the history of their perfidy nearer
to our own times. I am, &c.

24

LETTER in,
My Lord,
A Protestant sovereign cannot be too cautious, in
guarding against the power and influence of Papists ;
nor can Protestant subjects ever be safe, whUe
numbers of the Church of Eome have the free
exercise of their rehgion. Give them free scope, and
you are undone ; they wiU exert themselves when
they can, to the ruin of aU others of mankind. A
thousand years' trial of their principles and practices,
is a sufficient demonstration of what they wUl do, as
well as what they have done. They cannot act
otherwise whUe they are Papists ; and, wMle they are
such, they are the common enemies of aU other
denominations of people. TiU they renounce the
Pope, as weU as the Devil, you must bind them
for your own safety. You wiU say, it is hard to
restrain a man from practising what he beheves, or
from observing a form of worship which Ms con
science dictates to him is best. True, provided
there were any foundation in scripture or nature for
practising anything that was hurtful to the hves and
properties of aU others but ourselves. Eeligious
assembhes of Papists, are only schools for teaching
murder, treason, and assassinations. Can any man
pretend conscience lawfuUy for propagating such
principles ? It might be said, it is soon enough to

25
restrain them when they act. That is to say, that
it is soon enough to make laws when there are
crimes, whereas, laws are made to prevent, as weU
as punish crimes. Had we not had such fatal
experience of the effects of Popery upon the minds of
men, it might, perhaps, have been necessary to
have waited to see how it would operate ; but, as
its fatal effects have been so notorious, it would
argue want of wisdom not to guard against its
influence ! What wiU argument do to defend us
against men when they have drawn swords in then-
hands ! Give Papists the same privUeges as others,
and you give them arms to destroy you. It is not
long since they attempted, in two other nations, to
murder two kings of their own rehgion ; and do you
imagine they would spare his Majesty King George the
Third, if they could safely take away his life ? It is not
long since 1715.
Such as imagine that Popery is altered during these
last thirty- three years, and turned softer in its nature
than it was formerly, must imagine, also, that thirty
years have, without any means whatsoever, produced
greater effects upon Popery, than three hundred years,
when every possible means was used to work an alteration
in it. But, before I touch upon those facts of more
modern date, your Grace wUl excuse, for the sake of
refreshing your memory, an account of the Paris mas
sacre, with a narration of the several plots which
Papists have attempted against Protestant princes and
kingdoms.

The service of the Eoman Church is the supreme
law; to answer the end of her advantage, aU things
must give place. This law can alter the nature of
things, and make an action, that, in the judgment of
aU the rest of the world, deserves severest punishment,
merit a canonisation, a title to more exalted honours
upon earth, and a more splendid crown in heaven.
The exceUence of the end sanctifies the means and the
actions ; and what Paul rejects, with the greatest
abhorrence, as a wicked principle, namely, " Let us
do evil, that good may come of it," Papists easUy
admit. Destroying heretics, and promoting the cause
of holy church, wiU justify any deed, though of the
most black and heinous nature, especiaUy if it receive
the Pope's benediction. This supreme law has often
animated Papists with a boldness, which seems to have
bordered upon the greatest madness. There are
instances of some of them, for the sake of murdering
heretics, putting also an end to their own lives.
Ooodacre, Primate of Ireland, who was concerned in
the reformation, was poisoned by a monk, in a Papist
house where he was invited, who drank to him in
poisoned Uquor, of which they both died. This is a
fact, confirmed by a gentleman of the famUy where
the same was committed.
Such abominable principles are not natural to men,
though, perhaps, aU men are capable of receiving them
by tutorage, and may easily enough receive impressions
which wiU debase their nature. To grant a privilege to
any sort of men, to teach others principles, in the first

27
instance inimical to aU degrees of people except Papists,
and which without tutorage they would not readUy faU
in with, is to grant a legal privilege for one part of man
kind to teach others what is contrary to the weU-being
of aU others of mankind, except those who are privi
leged with a right to rule over aU the rest. There is
certainly a wide difference between granting an indul
gence to men to teach nonsense and absurdity, and
granting them a privUege to teach dishonesty, murders,
and assassinations. — ^ Popish priests are as strictly bound
i,o instruct their pupUs, that there is no faith to be kept
with heretics, and that the Pope has a divuie right to
absolve them from aU ties and obhgations they may
come under to Protestants, as they are bound to teach
them transubstantiation, penance, or confirmation. —
There is a great difference between imposing articles of
faith upon others, and determining what they shall
beheve and profess, and refiising, them the privUege to
teach what is contrary to the peace of society, and what
would not readUy be discovered or embraced, unless
wicked men were at the pains to promote it. There is
no reason to beheve, wicked as the world is, that any
great number of people could bring themselves to
beheve that oaths and promises ought to be broken,
for any purpose whatsoever, when men engage in them
freely, and may let them alone if they please ; unless
they were prevented by some wicked designing politi
cians, who mean to serve their own worldly purposes by
the corruption of others. Were Protestants pretending
to impose their own articles of religion upon Papists,

26
and forcing them, by laws, to profess the faith of the
Eeformation, I should determine them to be proceed
ing upon the very principles of Papists, and declare
that they were committmg a manifest act of injustice.
But it never can be either cruel or unjust, to refiise a
privUege to corrupt men to corrupt others, who would
never think of such a corruption, unless ungodly tutors
ffi-st laid the rudiments of these abominations in their
infant minds. It can never be good pohcy, nor con
sistent with morahty and good sense, to give a privUege
to any part of a community to teach principles, which,
when put in practice, wUl ruin aU the rest of the body.
It is, my Lord, in one word, giving a legal privUege
for a certain order of men to teach high treason ; for
this they must infallibly do, whUe they acknowledge the
Pope of Eome to be the head of the Church, and to
have that right which was given him by the Council
of Lateran. I mentioned that decree before, and shaU
again repeat it. The words of the council are, " If
the temporal governor, being required and admonished
by the church, shaU neglect to purge the country of
heresy, let this be signified to the Pope, that from
henceforth he may declare his subjects free from their
allegiance, and give away his lands, to be possessed
by Catholics." — Thus you see, that Protestants are
deprived of aU their rights, and left at the mercy of
the Pope, whenever he has power to take them away.
You wiU, perhaps, say, that the laws of England wUl
punish Papists when they act upon these principles.
A fine story, my Lord, that you and I should have no

29
other security for our lives and fortunes but the gallows;
which, instead of punishing the person that injures us,
only sends him to heaven, to receive a more splendid
crown of glory, as the merit of his work. From the
above doctrine of the Council of Lateran, it is manifest
that aU the popish bishops and clergy are bound to
teach treason, without they receive an indulgence from
the Pope to do otherwise, which he can recal when he
pleases, for the good of the church. To grant such
a privUege to monks, Jesuits, and seminary priests, is
to give legal indulgence to pedagogues and preceptors
to train traitors to destroy the king, when a proper
occasion shaU offer ; and I should certainly conclude,
if ever such an indulgence was granted, that the pro
moters thereof were wearied both of the Protestant
religion and of the Brunswick family. I would not
hesitate to caU them traitors to both their king and then-
country, who should attempt to promote such a design.
,  If ever a king of Britain shaU be so far misled as to
give his assent to any law for granting Papists such a
privilege, he wiU, that day, seal his own doom, and
set his hand to his own mittimus, and that of his
family. I have carried this letter to a far greater
length than I intended, and shaU now conclude, &c.

30

LETTER lY.
My Lord Duke,
You seem to hint, that modern Papists are different
from those in former times. So are hons, wolves, and
tigers, when under restraint, but they retain the same
dispositions, and are not safe to be trusted out of chains.
A change of manners does not argue a change of prin
ciples, nor of designs, when men are under restraint.
My Lord, the inquisition is yet practised in Spain and
Portugal, and yet a Papist from Spain wiU behave
tolerably weU in England, where he dare not meddle
with other people. Keep them always from meddhng,
and they wUl do weU enough ; give them power and
privUege, and they will ruin you. — Yes, my Lord, a
Papist in Spain wiU even behave with courtesy to an
Enghsh Protestant there, while he is not determined to
reside, or does not talk upon rehgion ; but he would
not do weU to dispute any points that the church has
determined, as our Papists here dispute the doctrines of
Protestants. If he did, he would be thrown into the
inquisition. Your Grace wUl scarcely beheve me when
I teU you how tyrannical our Papists stiU are, in some
of the counties in England. It is not long since a
servant in a Protestant famUy was seduced, by some
neighbouring Papists, to go to one of their private
chapels. It happened to be upon a day when there is
an exhibition of souls coming out from below the altar.

31
WhUe they were kneehng at their devotion, this fooUsh
Protestant perceived some creatures hke frogs come
hopping towards him, which made him curious to know
what kind of souls they were that had assumed that
shape and appearance. One of them came within his
reach, which he put into his pocket, and brought away,
without being perceived. As soon as he was out of
their observation, he wanted to examine the soul that
he had secured, and found, upon enquiry, an ordinary
frog, gUded with leaf-gold. He told this story to his
neighbours, and it became pubhc ; but as the 'Squire in
that neighbourhood, and his friends, were very power-
fiU, the poor, foolish, curious Protestant was obliged,
for his own safety, to decamp, and shift to another part
of the kingdom. The malice of popish priests is bound
less, and they are inexorable towards those whom they
conceive to be opponents to their absurd principles and
opinions. But, suppose now, I should present your
Lordship with a few annotations upon the decree of
Lateran, by setting before you a train of excommunica
tions, plots, and conspiracies against Protestant princes,
and this kingdom, altogether founded upon that bloody
decree. I have mentioned the conspiracy which was
executed upon Bartholomew-day, at Paris, and shaU
say no more of it. When Pope Paul III. could not pre
vail upon King Henry VIII. to give up some heretics,
and the divorce of his Queen, he next excommunicates,
him. In 1535 he issues a buU, in which he curses,
deposes, and damns Henry. If it had not been tedious,
I should have given it. at large ; but the Pope estabhshes

32
his authority upon these words of the prophet Jeremiah,
" Behold I have set thee over nations and kingdoms,
to pull up and destroy, to buUd and to plant." He
then proceeds to relate the king's crime, and the occa
sion he had to correct him, passes sentence, and strips
him of his crown, sets his people free from aU aUegiance
to him, commands him to reverse the laws made against
the supremacy of the Bishop of Eome, orders Henry to
appear before him, at Eome ; and, upon refusal, denies
him Christian burial, and, provided he should die under
that sentence, declares hun, and all his adherents, eter-
naUy damned.
Pope Pius, another Eomish tyrant, excommunicated
Queen Elizabeth, declared her an obstinate heretic, and
absolved aU her subjects from the oath of aUegiance,
and forbade them, upon the penalty of excommunication,
to obey her laws, or pay her any honour. This was
not all ; for, as Elizabeth did not sink under his curses,
nor did the people of England altogether fiilfil the
designs of his Hohness, a new scheme of assassination
was devised, and agents prepared to execute it by aU
means possible. As soon as the excommunication was
pubhshed, aU the blood-hounds of Eome were set loose
upon the Queen. She was soon acquainted with what
she might expect from her good friends the Papists, by
Felton, who stuck up the Pope's buU on the Bishop of
London's palace-gate, in St. Paul's church-yard ; and
so zealous was he in this cause, that he refiised to with
draw for his own safety ; and, when he was seized and
imprisoned, acknowledged and vindicated the facts. He

33

afiirmed that the Queen was only the pretended queen ;
and that he had done her no wrong, for, seeing she was
deprived by the Pope, she had no right to sit upon the
throne. This Felton was punished as a traitor, but was
declared a martyr, and champion of Jesus Christ, by
the Papists. Gregory Martin, in the year 1584, pub
hshed a treatise, where, among other doctrines of hke
import, he exhorted the women of Elizabeth's court to
proceed against the Queen, as Judith had done against
Holofernes ; which was attempted by several persons,
without success. Parry, Babuigton, Savage, Loper,
Squire, and York were aU engaged, whose stories you
must know weU. Loper, a jew and physician, was
hired to poison the Queen, and had a present of a jewel
of considerable value sent him, and was promised fifty
thousand ducats, provided he should finish his work.
This same year (1594), Edmund York and Eichard
WiUiams were hired to perform the same work ; and
Y'ork, at his trial, confessed, that the Jesuits Holt and
Owen had offered him an assignment of forty thousand
ducats, if he would murder the queen himseff, or assist
Eichard WUhams to do it. He also declared, that
Holt kissed the host, and swore that the money should
be paid as soon as the queen was kUled; and bound
York and WiUiams by an oath, and the sacrament of
the Eucharist, to dispatch her. Besides these, there
were more than twenty others engaged in this godly
scheme. Such a strange religion is Popery, that where it rules
in the heart it leads to all sorts of wickedness. Mary

34
Queen of Scots, mother of James I., did, out of the
abundance of her zeal, the night before she suffered,
disinherit her son, and declare, that he should not be
King of England if he continued a Protestant, but
that the right of the kingdom should be transferred to
Philip, of Spain. This she signified to Mendoza, the
Spanish ambassador, in a letter which she sent him.
Yom- Grace is not ignorant of the gunpowder plot.
It was a serious contrivance of the Papists, to destroy
the king and aU his nobUity, undertaken by Catsby,
Percy, and others, by the instigation of the Popish
clergy. When their consciences began to be shocked
at the thoughts of such a wicked action, they were
reheved by Garnet, persuading them that it was
strictly consistent with a good conscience, seeing the
persons were excommunicated heretics against whom
they were sent. It was at this time that the Pope,
the vicar of Christ upon earth, pronounced an
harangue in praise of EavaiUac, the assassin of Henry
IV., of France, wherein he declares Henry an enemy
to the Catholic religion in his heart, and the means of
preventing the success of the glorious enterprise in
England. It is weU known, that those that were
tried and condemned for the powder plot, confessed
their intention, and gloried in it, and were accounted
martyrs by the holy Church of Eome.
But there is a later plot than this, -within the memory
of some yet ahve, and that is, the plot to assassinate
King Wilham, and invade the kingdom by a French
power. This was a project of Papists, assisted by

35
Jacobites, and had the sanction of King James given
to it by a commission given under his own hand. This
plot (which was discovered by Eichard Fisher, to whom
Harrison the priest divulged it unawares, by takmg him
for one of the party) was happily prevented, but the
intended assassins owned and confessed it at then-
death, and gloried in it. These are such strong proofs
of Popish faith, in a practical sense, as prove that they
cannot be friends to then- king and country who pro
mote laws that revoke statutes essentiaUy necessary for
preserving our civU and rehgious hberties.
It would be necessary to be weU assured that either
Popery or human nature is changed, before such indul
gences were granted to Popish bishops and seminary
priests, as some have proposed. If Popery is not what
it was formerly, we have a right to know where the
alteration hes ; and it can be no hardship upon
Papists, if they never mean to practise the articles
complained of, to declare pubhcly, in the face of the
Pope and the world, that they have renounced them.
This ought to be a pubhc deed of all the Papists in
Britain, as pubhc as possible any transaction can be ;
and aU their priests ought to swear an oath of abjura
tion of the Pope, before they receive such privUeges
among us as to make them as free as other subjects.
If they think this an hardship, it must certainly be a
greater hardship upon Protestants to run the risks they
often have run by the plots and conspiracies of Papists.
All Protestants are excommunicated at Eome every
year, and, consequently, faU under the decree of Late-

36
ran ; and this excommunication is also ratified by
Enghsh Papists, who are bound, by their aUegiance
to the Pope, to pursue the ends thereof whenever they
can. It appears exceedingly absurd for any Papist to
seek to reside among Protestants, whUe they pubhcly
adhere to the Pope ; just as absurd as for foxes to seek
a grant to hve among lambs. There never can be any
moral ties or obhgations that can bind them, whUe
they hold such principles of faith. — But I must now
draw to a conclusion, and say adieu.
I am yours, &c.

LETTER V.
My Lord Duke,
Your Grace observes, with great propriety, that the
gospel obliges us to be gentle and huniane to aU sorts
of people. Yes, my Lord, and it also obliges us to
hold no principles which, when practised, wUl be detri
mental to the happiness and weUbeing of others. Can
those who pubhcly profess that no people have a right
to hve that wiU not submit then- consciences to the
Pope and the church, claim any right from the gospel
for an indulgence to practise their religion? What
soever wisdom such men may have in other respects,
they must be mad when they claim a privUege from

37
the gospel to cut other men's throats because they
cannot adopt their principles. There, my Lord, their
being mad is the reason why I would either have them
weU fettered, otherwise be at a good distance from
them. I compare Papists, in this respect, to those
madmen who have their lucid intervals, who behave as
weU as others when the fit is gone ; but as it is hable
to return, and ye cannot exactly say when it may come
on again, it is best to be upon our guard, and not
suffer the chains-' to be altogether taken off them.
Common sense gives a positive determination against
such people having the real use of their reason, who
profess to beheve what is everywhere forbidden, by both
the gospel and the law of nature. Would any one
affirm that a man had the use of his reason who should
reverse our Saviour's maxim, that as we would men
should do unto us, so ought we to do unto them f
Certainly not. I do not consider the Papists as here
tics, but as mad men : I meddle not with their faith,
but wish to restram their practice of madness ; for
it is madness to say, that one man at Eome should
keep the keys of the kingdom of heaven for aU the
world ; or, that the clergy of that church have an
exclusive right to absolve the people from sm and
iniquity. Yea, it is madness for the Papists to pretend
to say, that aU other people wiU be damned, except
* This illustration, derived from the treatment of lunatics in the days
of our author, might with propriety be modified. The modem system of
treatment, more humane, yet equally secure, supplies an appropriate model
for a new code of resti'ietive enactments, as contrasted with those harsher
penal statutes, the lingering vestiges of which were swept away hist Session.

38
such as belong to their church, when they cannot teU
the extent of the mercy of God, nor can they prove
that the Pope himself wUl be saved. Would not a
government make a strange figure in history that
should grant a legal privUege to as many persons as
pleased to erect schools and academies to prepare pupUs
for the coUege of Bedlam ; or, in one word, to teach
and train youth in a species of madness dangerous to
aU mankind ? My Lord, this kind of reasoning may
appear whimsical at first view, but it is a fair repre
sentation of the truth. — Suppose Papists may behave
like other people while they are restrained, yet when
they are once loosed fi'om the bands of the laws, they
Avill shew you a specimen, when occasion offers, how the
old madness operates.
Perhaps you may say, that however absurd their
principles are, they do not mean to put 'them in
practice. This may happen, provided they are possessed
of any great degree of infidelity, so as not to believe
what they profess, but in such a case any restraint upon
them wiU not hurt their consciences ; but in case they
do sincerely beheve their own principles, they wiU
practise them when it is in their power. The history of
near a thousand years' experience proves, that they have
practised the most violent part of their principles when
they had .the power in their hands. This is a sufficient
reason for all other denominations of people to guard
against them, in aU parts of the world. So long as
Papists profess, that the pretended successor of Peter
can forgive sins, or has a power to absolve the guUtv

39

from any crime, no obligation that they come under
to Protestants can be any security for their not break
ing their oaths, when that great end, the good of the
Church, is immediately in view.
If there is a man upon earth that can forgive one
sm, there is no reason to beheve but he may have
power to forgive every offence, when it is his pleasure
to do it. And if he has power to grant indulgences
in some cases, why not in aU that he pleases? His
authority is unhmited, and he can loose and bind,
according to his sovereign wUl and pleasure. Suppose,
for example, that he, for the good of the church, shaU
grant an mdulgence to Papists to renounce his authority
in certain cases, and permit them to swear aUegi
ance to powers that are under the curse of Eome, can
he not revoke that indulgence, and loose the obliga
tion, when he finds a necessary opportunity ? A Papist
is m no danger of damnation for any perjury of this sort,
when he has one at hand to forgive him, whenever he
stands in need. But, in this case, what we caU perjury
is none to him ; for he received a permission for it from
one that has a divine right to grant that liberty, and he
is only obeying his master when he thus deceives Pro
testants. You can make no oath that can bind Papists,
however strongly the words may be expressed, whUe
they beheve in the power of the Pope to forgive any
transgression whatsoever. Whoever believes that any
can forgive sins but God, and that this second-hand
divinity can loose men, when he pleases, from the
strongest obligations, wiU be no longer bound than he

40
receives a dispensatioii from this supposed vicegerent to
break his oath. It is true, that to swear that the Pope
neither has, nor ought to have, power to grant a dis
pensation to a man to keep no faith with heretics, is, in
the first instance, a great sin against the Pope's autho
rity. — But what of aU that ? If this god at Eome
can forgive such as have sinned against God Almighty,
in other cases, what is to hinder him from forgiving any
offence that may be committed against himself? My
Lord, you cannot help perceiving that, when it is the
interest of his Holiness to forgive such blasphemy
against himself, he wiU the more easUy do it ; and,
when it is his interest to permit this sort of blasphemy,
it becomes no sin against his Holiness. Allow me to
put the case, that it should be for the general interest
of popery for the Pope to grant a dispensation to
Papists to renounce his authority, in Protestant coun
tries, and in certain cases to do it by oath ; in these
cases it is no longer sin to do it : — A Papist may swear
by God, and aU the saints also, that the Pope has no
right to absolve him from that oath which he takes, —
but he has permission for aU this, and when it is of no
service to the good old cause, he may break it when
he pleases. The Pope and his clergy can even do more
than aU this, though it is not so dangerous to other
people, — they can change wine into blood, and bread
into flesh, in the twinkhng of an eye, and the people
beheve aU this ; and do you imagine that any man or
woman, who beheves that the words of a priest can
change bread and wine into the real body of Christ,

41

mil not also beheve, upon the same authority, that the
Pope can after the nature of an oath whenever he
pleases ? Morality wUl not appear more immutable to
the most of people, than the orduiary laws of nature.
If a man can work a miracle, it wiU not be difficult to
persuade men that he can dispense with an oath, or
make it lawfiU or sinftd, at his pleasure. If the nature
of things can be changed, at the commandment of
a man, why may not the same" man alter the meaning
of words ? I should think it as easy to make the word
right signify wrong, or the words ought not to have
to signify ought to have, as to make wine real blood,
or bread real flesh. I have the testimony of my senses
to judge of the one, and my reason to judge of the
other — and of both. These two doctrines are not
equally dangerous, but the belief of the one leads to
the behef of the other ; and as the last is of a practical
nature, how are we sure but it wUl, some time or other,
be put in execution ? You may say, that the gallows
wUl preserve us. — Not so, my Lord. — What man wiU
fear the gaUows, or any other punishment, with the
kingdom of heaven in his eye ? Death is but a sudden
and short shock, a crown of glory is everlasting ; the
rivers of pleasure at God's right hand endure for ever
more. For aU your strong words, your oath is but a
shadow, and has no substance in it, to a Papist ; he
can take it, and break it, as easy as you can do a straw.
You wUl say. Does not a Papist believe in God?
True, but the Pope says. He believes also in me ; and
how will you manage him when he is thus divided?

42
The Pope has, as matters go, two handles for the
Almighty's one ; he can promise him temporal, as weU
as spiritual rewards ; the Lord only promises the king
dom of heaven. There are not, in these soft times,
many that choose the latter alone. But, say you, we
must try this method, and give temporal rewards also ;
but then, you cannot promise the kingdom of heaven ;
the Pope promises both, and has still the better of God
Almighty. Truly, your' Grace may see that you can
not mend a Papist, without making him a new man.
Give the Papists full scope to their religion, and you
are undone. Perhaps you wiU think it hard to restrain
the DevU from going at large. Let him give sufficient
security that he will do no mischief, and let him go
where he wiU. But this he cannot do. No more can
the Papists, whUe they continue Papists. You must do
with them as God does with Satan, keep them in chains,
if you would have others to remain in safety. I own it
is a hard case, and so is that of the other, but they
made it themselves ; and who is obhged to risk the
happiness and peace of a nation, for people that have
indulged a voluntary madness? When they come to
their senses, and renounce popery, let them have aU
the privUeges of other people, but not tUl then. I
hope your Lordship does not think ft a hardship, if a
man beheves that it is his duty to kUl another, to
hinder him from doing it. A Papist would think this
a restraint upon his conscience, and a hindering of him
from doing God good service. But, whatever he may
think, self-preservation requires Protestants to lay a

43

restraint upon popery, to hinder fts propagation. But
I have been too long, and shaU conclude.

LETTER VL
My Lord,
Your acquaintance, arising from your high sphere of
hfe, has, I presume, been chiefly with Papists of better
rank and condition, who, as they, in general, have a
better education, have more address to colour then-
real designs. There are none more complaisant than
weU-bred Papists, and none more ready to show benevo
lence in actions, when it contributes to give others a
good opinion of them, and procures them confidence.
You have, probably, my Lord, only seen, in those of
your acquaintance. Popery varnished with either the
address or good nature of some individuals, who are
upon their guard, with respect to discovering the real
characters of Papists. But were you to hear the vulgar,
or some of the more iUiterate, you would find Popery the
same that ever it was. They would teU you, that the
Pope is the vicar of Christ; that he has power to
absolve men from sin by virtue of his papal authority ;
and that they can obtain pardon, by proper apphcation,
when they please; that heretics, being without the
church, have no means of salvation ; and that it is

44
no sin to kiU them, provided there was no danger from
any secular power in doing it. They would teU you
more, my Lord ; that persecution of heretics is an
ordinance of God, and of the church ; and that the
inquisition, and other such tribunals, are courts of
equity ; and that none suffer, except such as deserve
it. That heretics are as worthy of death as thieves and
robbers, and, therefore, are not persecuted, but have
justice done them when they are made to suffer. We
do not caU hanging a thief or highwayman persecu
tion, but justice ; and the Papists consider hanging or
burning of heretics in the same hght. Where they
have the sole power, no Protestants are tolerated among
them, and provided they are suffered to increase, by
the free use of the means of propagating Popery, they
may, in process of time, obtain the sole dominion.
ShaU ever the time happen, when an arbitrary prince,
through their means, shaU obtain unhmited power,
he may, in return of compliments, exercise that power
against Protestants to do them a pleasure, or give
them his aid to extirpate those whom he reckons
the common enemies to both. AVhatever pretences
there may be in commonwealths for giving them the
free exercise of their religion, the same cannot be
admitted in our constitution, where there are certain
laws that restrain government fi-om acting summarily
against any of the subjects : and moreover, you must
know, that the sovereign of these Idngdoms has a
powerfiil influence on whatever side he is, which, in
commonwealths, like the Swiss, is not to be found.

45
By the aid of Papists, a sovereign of Britain, in a very
corrupted state of government, and of the nation, may
after, or overturn, the whole constitution. Charles I.
attempted it, and his son James had very near
accomphshed what his father began. What is the
reason that Protestants cannot hve in France and
Spain, as weU as Papists do in Switzerland, and Pro
testants in some Popish cantons, but that they have no
arbitrary sovereign to enforce the Popish rehgion ? In
a- word, aU that Papists can reasonably expect from
Protestants is, to suffer them to hve quietly, without
molestation, without extending then- privileges beyond
the bounds of pubhc safety. From what Protestants
have experienced from the power of the Papists, they
have reason to be jealous of aU their preferments, in a
state where they may do them the most essential
injury. I am, &c.

Thus far, these pointed letters.
And now, my Lord, permit me to ask, with that
honest frankness which is so graceful a companion of
true respect. Are these things so or not? Can your
Lordship, or any of your noble or right honorable
coUeagues, deny the facts, or answer the arguments
herein adduced, or aUay the apprehensions herein so
reasonably expressed ?
Your Lordship AviU observe, that the point on which
the writer especiaUy dweUs is not a matter of spe
culative theology, but of practical intolerance. He
aUeges, not without proof, that by canons and decrees,
frequently acted upon by authority, and never yet by
the same authority repealed or disclaimed, Eome is
pledged, whenever and wherever she has the power, to
the extermination of heretics. Is this reaUy true ?
Is Eomanism a great conspu'acy against aU Protestant
Governments, professing aUegiance in hypocrisy, and
watching her opportunity to tlirow off the mask ? Does
she give dispensations for the profession of Protestantism
itself to competent laborers, who under that disguise
become more efficient partizans i Does she employ

47
regicides, under chcumstances which invest the most
flagrant crimes with the captivating halo of heroism for
truth ? Does she bring aU the promised rewards, and
threatened terrors, of eternity to bear upon ignorant
minds, hi order to render them subservient tools for the
attamment of her temporal supremacy ? And is it safe,
then, I say not to true religion — -many, too many,
disregard that— but is ft safe to personal liberty, wil-
fiUly to shut our eyes to the existence of such a con
spiracy ? The question in hand is not one of religious
opinions. To place the desired exclusion of Eomanists
from offices of trust and power, on the ground of
religion, and thereupon to raise the cry of liberty of
conscience, is grossly dishonest ; and to be deceived by
the misrepresentation, is grossly absurd. The question,
as it apphes to us, is one of bodily safety from manifestly
proved danger, and not one of freedom of opinion. To
transfer it from the temporal welfare of the community,
and pretend that it belongs to the region of religious
liberty, requires that combination of much confidence
and little conscience, which we see now so remarkably
exhibited, both in and out of Parhament.
Conscience towards God can never be urged as an
avaUable plea for injury to man. When a man's reli
gion, or what he is pleased to caU his religion, involves

48
treachery, to say no more, towards any of his feUow-men,
it is an impudent insult to our common sense, to invoke,
in defence of the free exercise of such a rehgion, the
sacred rights of conscience. Yet it is precisely behind
such a masked battery as this, that Eomanism is now
not only hiding herself from the indignation of England,
but actually gaining efficient English help, while she
is mustering and concentrating her forces for the over
throw of aU that has been most dear and most ennobling
to England for the last three centuries.
My Lord, the direction of Eome's next campaign
is indicated with sufficient clearness. A BiU for the
extension of the elective franchise in Ireland ; a
BUI for the equahsation of I^Iunicipal Eeform in
Ireland and England ; these, and kindred measures,
aheady prepared for the approaching Session, wUl be
urged as lingering items of tardy justice to Ireland,
and aU opposition to them wiU be denounced as bigotry
of exclusion for religious opinion sake. No serious
or real attack will be made on the Irish Church ; only
Mr. Ward's annual assault wiU be supported so far as
to renew the appearance before the nation of a great
grievance to conscientious Eoman Cathohcs. To give
effect to this manoeuvre, gross misrepresentations wUl
be indulged in. The want of information, or the want

49
of power effectuaUy and immediately to make use of it,
on the part of the friends of the Irish Church, wSl be
calculated upon; and in the debate on Mr. Ward's
motion, after Mr. Shaw, and Mr. Colquhoun, and
perhaps one or two others, have spoken, it is highly
probable that the Eight Honorable and learned Member
for Tipperary wUl deUvec another exciting oration, more
remarkable for oratorical effect than for scrupulous
ness of accuracy.
Under cover of the fruitless discussion thus raised,
and the invidious hardships stUl said to be inflicted on
the Eoman Cathohcs of Ireland, the elective franchise
BUI, and the Municipal Eeform BiU, will pass both
Houses, and become law. By means of these measures,
skilfully worked in the Counties and Boroughs, the
Eomish Hierarchy m Ireland wiU, at the General
Election next foUowing, add so largely to the number
of thek nominees m the House of Commons, that no
British ilinister wUl be able to carry on the Govern
ment of the country, without making terms with them.
The terms wiU be skiffuUy selected, for the further
prostration of the real power of Protestant England,
and for hasting, as speedily as possible without causing
prematm-e alarm, the time when Eomanism may venture
to be sincere. And then, my Lord, the iUuminati of
7

50
the movement, who have been her dupes in helping her
to climb, wUl find ho more mercy at her hands, than
the real Protesters who have uttered and pubhshed
such unheeded warnings as these. When once she
regains the eminence from which it wiU be safe,
without danger to the faithfiU, to repubhsh her long
smothered, but stUl living a.nd panting, decree de
heretico comburendo, the ladder of her ascent, as
well as every other excommunicated thing, wUl be
consigned to the flames.
But it is asked. What practical good can possibly
arise from such statements as these? Are not prac
tical men of influence, of aU parties, of one and the
same mind upon this subject ? Is it not un fait
accompli, that Romanism is recognised as an mtegral
portion of our common Christianity ? Are not the hps
of Protestant gentlemen in Parhament sealed, by the
courtesies of society, from every utterance and every
aUusion disrespectfiU to Eomanism ? And how utterly
useless therefore, how ludicrously unseasonble, how
necessarUy abortive, must such a pubhcation as this be !
If the present Parhament were the final court of
appeal, and if there were no Protestant nation behind,
with a largely and increasingly cu-culated Bible in thefr
hands, I would fuUy acknowledge the justice of these

51
disheartenmg questions. And to speak candidly, my
Lord, I am unable to entertain much hope, that the
course of legislation for Eome, which has been so long
pursued, wUl, or can, be arrested by any force of
argument or reason. A determmation not to be con
vinced is but too manffest ; present ease is courted ;
every sound of alarm is resented ; an anxiety to find
Eome, not what she was, and what she has sworn to
remain, but what the progress of hght and hberality
ought to make her, is greedUy indulged ; an impression
that it is impossible to go back to restrictive laws, and
equaUy impossible to stand stiU, urges forward the
infatuated movement. Statesmen of aU parties are
caught in the whirlpool, mistaking the blandishments
of the Syren for the charms of genuine hberty. Whai
the Prophet said of Tyre, is now true of England —
" Thy rowers have brought thee into great waters,"
and there is too much reason to fear the apphcation of
what foUows — " Thy riches and thy fairs, thy mer
chandise, thy mariners and thy pUots, thy calkers and
the occupiers of thy merchandise, and aU thy men of
war that are in thee, and in aU thy company which is
in the midst of thee, shall faU in the midst of the seas,
in the day of thy ruin."
Looking at the operation of second causes, and

52
speaking after the manner of men, the most feasible
hope now left to us, and it is rather forlorn, seems to
be, that Eome, with aU her wisdom, and aU her skiU,
may miscalculate ; and attempt coercion before she has
full power to secure final success. One Inquisition
squeese would go farther to rouse the nation from its
present apathy upon this subject, than ten thousand
eloquent lectures on canons and decretals which are
supposed to be dead and buried. But the squeese must
be at home. In Tahiti, or Madeira, or even in Ireland,
it wiU not produce the desired effect.
My Lord, we are clearly hastening towards a tremen
dous struggle ; and it is every way worthy of the saga
city of a great statesman to inquire, what must the
end be. I do not mean which party shaU be victorious
in the field, but what must be the result politicaUy,
whichever party triumphs 'i Must it not be that hated
thing exclusion f Should Protestant England come
triumphant out of the conffict, wUl she perU her liberties
again by opening her offices of trust and power to sworn
subjects of a foreign Potentate ; or, will she not rather,
and justly, plead past perfidy in fiill justification of
future indispensable exclusion ? And should Eomanism
prevaU, wUl she forget or neglect her high commission
to take possession of the whole earth, and clear the

53
inheritance of St. Peter from every lingering tauit of
heresy. Exclusion is inevftable, in the long run; though
on which side, or of what kind, ft may not be easy to
predict — whether exclusion from political power of aU
who wiU not be Protestants, or exclusion fi-om earthly
existence of aU who wUl not be Eomanists.
If the conviction that our present course, long con
tinued, must lead to such a sequel as this, could become
practical in men's minds, now, in time; the intervening
ia-agedy, frightfiil to contemplate, and otherwise appa
rently inevitable, might be avoided. "Enghsh Pro
testants have stiU the power to reach one alternative of
the sequel without bloodshed ; but they are daUy aUow-
ing that power to be wrenched or coaxed, or both, out
of their hands ; and, in their horror at the notion of
being uncivU or illiberal, they are laying up in store for
themselves the dire necessity of either shedding men's
blood, or having their own blood shed by the hands
of men.
I wiU not weary your Lordship by reciting details of
Eome's progress in England. Our newspapers teem
with them, week after week. Activity and united
energy are proverbiaUy the characteristics of assailants ;
while to keep defenders to their posts is difficult, and
if they be incredulous, or otherwise insensible to the

64
impending danger, it is unpossible. Such is our posi
tion : and the hues are closing upon us on every side.
From the court to the cottage, from the university to
the charity school, the emissaries of Eome, in greater
or lesser degrees of disguise, are multiplying their
skUfiUly adjusted labors. Freed from aU legal restraint,
and stimulated by incipient successes into the animating
hope of final triumph, they are becoming bolder and
more determined. In the various departments of prac
tical life, Protestants cannot compete with them on
equal terms ; because no Protestant, in the exercise of
delegated authority, wiU exclude a Eomanist from
employment on accomit of his creed ; whUe on the con
trary, Eomanists, so situated, contrive, without com
mitting themselves against the letter of the law, to
estabhsh, by petty vexations, a system of practical
persecution against Protestants, to their effectual exclu
sion. This is not fancy ; but fact. My Lord, I know
it, and some of its terrible consequences. This sore is
becoming more and more irritated, and "bad blood"
is more and more engendered in the. community.
My Lord, proofs accumulate, proofs painfiUly con
vincing, that the only mode of preventing an atrocious
civil war, in the course of a few years, is the re-enact
ment of such wise and moderate pohtical restrictions on

55
Eoman Cathohcs as would deprive them of aU hope of
subjugating England to the Papal yoke. This may be
done, without the shghtest interference with the true
rights of conscience, or the true enjoyment of hberty
and safety for person and property. Our object should
be, not in anywise to injure them, but simply to prevent
them from injuring us.
And now, my Lord, why should not this signal service
be rendered to the country by your Lordship ? What !
the great Leader of aU the Liberals turn thorough
Protestant ! That would be a change ! Yes, doubt
less, it would be a great and a noble change. And
why not ? Must aU great changes in public men be for
the worse ? And is it impossible to have any change
for the better ? Look, my Lord, afresh into the Word
of God, and into the history of England. Let the
great principles of revealed truth, and the eloquent
lessons of experience, have their due weight, and then-
fair apphcation. Contrast the miserable, crest-faUen,
creedless Whig of 1846 — of course I mean in his pubhc
character — with the high, the noble, the patriotic, the
Christian and Protestant AVhig of 1688 : and after your
wanderings, for a few comparatively inexperienced years,
amongst the mists and fogs of hberahsm, we shaU
have the happmess, and your country the safety, of

66
seeing your Lordship on the rock and in the day-hght
of England's Scriptural Church, and of flnding in your
Lordship's veins a portion of that noble blood which
flowed fi'om your renowned ancestor in defence of
England's Protest against Eome's usurpation.
My Lord, the unfading chaplet of true Christian
patriotism is set before you. Stand forth and grasp it.
Instead of going down to posterity
" Unwept, unhonom-ed, and unsung,"
as one of the mediocrity bt ttoXKoI who were beguUed by
the plausible sophistries of an infidel philosophy to betray
the best interests of their country into the hands of a
deceitful foe ; inscribe on the page of history a nobler
record — of a Statesman who, in times of general declen
sion, in the face of an exasperated party turned into a for
midable opposition, at the risk of place and power, and
m an honest acknowledgment of past errors, arose in
the hour of need, gave clear notice of the impending
danger, and in the majesty of God's truth, — the only
sure foundation of pohtical righteousness, — appealed to
England, free, reformed, and as yet Protestant England,
to give him a Protestant House of Commons, to carry
on with vigor and efficiency the Protestant Government
of a sworn Protestant Sovereign. Proclaim your con
victions upon evidence at last attended to, and experience

67
at last become practical ; not only that the Church of
Rome should not be endowed, either in her Hierarchy
or her CoUeges ; but also, that no subject of the Court
of Eome can with safety be entrusted with pohtical
power under a free protestant government. Announce
your determination to act on this conviction m the next
parhament, stake your pohtical existence on the recovery
of our national Protestantism; and then, APPEAL to
the nation !
If you succeed ! — 0, my Lord, let the bare thought
of such a thing, extravagant as it may seem to ordinary
vxUgar minds, kindle your patrician soul to a high and
noble daring in the righteous cause. More honorable
far to faU in the attempt, than lose the golden oppor
tunity of making it. But make it weU and wisely, i.e.
honestly and boldly, and there is no risk of faUure.
Bishop Ridley's candle, though dim and flickering, is
not extuigrished. It shines upon the pages of inspira
tion ui ten thousand times ten thousand secret closets.
The slumbermg protestantism of Britain, in despite of —
cold indifferentism, factious voluntaryism, and treacherous
tractariamsm — is only waiting for a national leader of
acknowledged competence and honesty, to blaze forth in
undimuiished brilliancy and power. It is oppressed at
present under a weight of disappointment. Its kindly

58
intended, but grievously mistaken, generosity in 1829
has produced these disheartening results, and thousands
who were favorable to that fatal measure are now
bitterly repenting of their mistake. Only let a fair
prospect dawn, of deliverance from the disastrous defile,
and throughout the British lines despondency wiU give
place to a revived and triumphant enthusiasm. " And
who knoweth whether thou art come to the kingdom for
such a time as this ? ' '
Your Lordship wiU excuse my earnestness, when I
assure you, that I sincerely beheve aU I have written.
And more, much more. I have confined my observa
tions (perhaps too exclusively) to what is Anti- Social
in the Eomish system, as more immediately demanding
your Lordship's official attention. My own mind and
heart are much more deeply exercised by what is
Anti- Christian in that system : because this involves
not England's weffare as a nation only, but the ever
lasting salvation of Enghshmen, and in one sense I may
add of aU men in aU nations ; for if Eomanism become
dominant in England, there remains no barrier against
her universal domination. Shrink not, my Lord, from
the voice of the Preacher. Everlasting salvation is
indeed involved, though the scoffers of these last days
may attempt to laugh it to scorn ; and the one only

69
way of salvation is involved, though latitudinarian
phUosophers, in the plenitude of a charity which costs
them nothmg, may pronounce it monstrous bigotry.
However it may suit the present convenience of
ungodly men, to plead impartial deahng among their
feUows, in excuse for wUful disobedience to the plain
commandments of God; or to deify indifferentism in
the Senate and the Council Chamber, on pretence of
confinmg rehgion to the closet; the solemn hour of
retribution is at hand. God wUl not be mocked.
' ' Whatsoever a man soweth, that shaft he reap. ' ' There
is immortahty in man, and veracity in God ; and three
score years and ten bear shght comparison with
eternity. I need not add to your Lordship, that there is no
name given under heaven among men available for a
happy eternity, but the name of Jesus Christ, — the one
and only Mediator always, with the one and once
offered sacrifice, and only once, — and that if any man
be in Him, he is a new creature. Unseen things are
to such a man real things. God is not an abstrac
tion to the mind of such a man, but a living present
Person ; and the politics of this world, though an arena
for such a man's duty, supply no home to his heart.
I must conclude. And now, my Lord, whatever

60
reception this pubhcation may meet with, from your
Lordship or others, I shaU have in my own bosom the
satisfying and tranquUlising assurance that I have made
an honest effort in the service of my country and my
God, in what I beheve to be the right direction : and
if I thereby incur any personal unkindness, or worse
than unkindness, from the enemies of our Church and
Nation, I shaU have the fiirther satisfaction of cordiaUy
forgiving aU such attacks, and sincerely praying for
God's best blessing, his converting grace, upon aU my
assaUants. I have the honor to be.
My Lord,
With the unfeigned respect due to your Lordship's
high station and character.
Your obedient Servant,
HUGH M'NEILE.

AiGEUETH, Liverpool,
December Htb, 18-tl).

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