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vour of CATHOLIC EMANCIPATION, which is grounded upon the POLITICAL FAVOURS lately conceded to the DISSENTERS of our country. Between THEM and the PAPISTS, there is no approximation to a resemblance; and, consequently, the rule which applies to the one, will not meet the case of the other. The DISSENTERS are PROTESTANTS-they acknowledge no DIVIDED ALLEGIANCE-they spurn the idea of the SUPREMACY of a FOREIGN POTENTATE—they, for the most part, are FRIENDS to our EXISTING FORM OF GOVERNMENT, in CHURCH and STATE; because they are satisfied, that with its preservation, all their own dearest interests are strictly identified--they are the asserters, of RELIGIOUS and CIVIL LIBERTY; of the FREE CIRCULATION Of the SCRIPTURES; and of the DIFFUSION of LIBERAL KNOWLEGE-and would, willingly, spill the last drop of their blood, in defence of the PROTESTANT FAITH, and of the great cause of RA

TIONAL FREEDOM.

IX. Having shewn how weak and unsubstantial, are all the GROUNDS and PRINCIPLES, upon which the ROMAN CATHOLICS demand EMANCIPATION; it remains, that we should clearly unfold the REASONS, why this demand should not be granted. We say, then, that, were it con

ceded, that rule of the EQUALIZATION of POLITICAL RIGHTS, on which the IRISH PAPISTS bottom their cause, would be grossly infringed inasmuch as manifest PARTIALITY Would then be displayed towards THEM; and palpable INJUSTICE inflicted upon the PROTESTANT MEMBERS of the State: for the FORMER Would enjoy a PRIVILEGE from which the LATTER would be debarred; and the PROTESTANT would be exposed to DANGER, which the ROMAN CATHOLIC would not be liable to. It is an universally-notorious, acknowledged, and fundamental principle of the ROMAN CATHOLIC CHURCH and FAITH, that they are INFALLIBLE; UNALTERED; and UNALTERABLE. Like" the ark of the Lord," not to be touched, except by the hand of the PRIEST; nor subjected to the cognizance, regulation, or check, of any mortal power, save that of a GENERAL COUNCIL, with the POPE at its head; they would set at nought, the authority of KING, LORDS, and COMMONS, as LEGISLATORS, in any matters which pertained to their own HIERARCHY: while, at the same time, the MEMBERS of that CHURCH, and the PROFESSORS of that FAITH, being admitted to SENATORIAL POWER, Would, as a matter of course, LEGISLATE for our REFORMED RELIGION and ESTABLISHED CHURCH; which they must naturally,

and conscientiously, wish to cripple and destroy, as they hold and declare them both, to be APOSTATE, CORRUPT, and damnable.

X. With the MERELY SPIRITUAL doctrines of the Papist, the Protestants of this empire have no right to interfere: "to his own Master he standeth or falleth." And Christian charity will hope and believe, that for the doctrinal errors of the mistaken, but conscientious members of every Christian community, the great "Father of Lights" will make a merciful allowance. The Papist, therefore, may deify his wafer: worship his image: adore his Madonna: pray to his Saints; and people his Purgatory, without disturbance, and without suspicion but, when, in the same breath, he demands an EQUALITY of POLITICAL RIGHTS in the STATE, and professes RELIGIOUS TENETS, not only DANGEROUS to the security of that state, but subVERSIVE of the very PRINCIPLES on which it is founded, his FAITH then becomes alarming, and his CLAIM is insolent: and it is the part of every government, which is awake and in its sober senses, not to give POLITICAL IMPORTANCE to the ONE, by yielding to the OTHER. Every CONSCIENTIOUS ROMAN CATHOLIC believes and will avow, that the POPE is

"Christ's Vicar upon earth;" that he is the supreme HEAD of the visible Christian Church; that he is, in his spiritual character, INFALLIBLE; and that his official PREROGATIVES, not emanating from human authority, are immutable and imperishable. It is, therefore, utterly impossible for him, salvá conscientia, to take the OATH of SUPREMACY; one great bulwark of the PROTESTANT FAITH, and of the ESTABLISHED CHURCH in England; an oath that would award to ANOTHER an awful dignity, which he believes, in his conscience, belongs, by a divine and inherent right, exclusively to the successor of St. Peter. Neither can he, consistently with this TENET of his FAITH, take the OATH of ALLEGIANCE (the pledge of the fidelity of the BRITISH SUBJECT to his lawful PROTESTANT KING) in the plain, honest, and literal sense of the words in which it is couched; for he must be fully aware, that, should a case occur, in which the interests of "HIS LORD THE POPE, THE HOLY ROMAN CHURCH, AND THE ROYALTIES OF ST. PETER," should be opposed to those of his own LEIGE TEMPORAL SOVEREIGN, he must, if he value his soul's salvation, be faithful to the FOREIGN POTENTATE, and violate his oath to his LAWFUL KING-he must "cleave to the one, and despise the other."

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XI. The CHARACTER of the ROMAN CATHOLIC religion always has worn, and still continues to wear, more of a POLITICAL than a SPIRITUAL cast; rather dealing with things on the earth," than with " things in therefore, in considering the POLITICAL BODY, we must never lose sight of the PRINCIPLES and DOINGS of their HIERARCHY, which, like the main wheel of a vast machine, gives movement and direction to every, even the least and meanest, member of the complicated piece of workmanship. From the spirit of their CHURCH, the Roman Catholic LAITY receive their POLITICAL tone, temper, and animation; and its influence, wrought into the consciences of the faithful, gives a bias to their opinions, and an impulse to their actions, which will be either reasonable and worthy, or irrational and dangerous, according as the impelling power is either good or evil. may be worth while, therefore, to consider, shortly, how far the authenticated practices, and the avowed declarations, of the Irish Roman Catholic PRIESTHOOD, hold out a fair prospect, of inspiring into the laity, the spirit of LOYALTY and attachment to our CONSTITUTION in CHURCH and STATE; an enquiry which, we apprehend, will furnish another

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