The next three who follow, are John Webb, George Roper, and Gregory Parke, martyrs, poor simple men, who were executed at Canterbury, for professing the doctrines of Zuinglius, Then comes Adam Wallis, a Scotchman, executed in 1449; he was, according to Fox's narration, poor and ignorant, but perverse and headstrong. After him come Mark Bruges, a mariner, burned at Lisbon, in the year 1560, for holding Zuinglian opinions, and his boy, William Hooker, who was, could we believe Fox, stoned to death at Seville by the youths of the town. Next follow twelve martyrs, of whom Fox knew nothing more than the names of eight. After these are three confessors, who died in Chichester prison; their names are unknown, and so are their acts and deeds. Two old women close the catalogue for this month. Mother Seaman and Mother Bemict, confessors; they were both illiterate and poor, and died at Norwich; but as they had in the course of their lives, been summoned before the commissioners in consequence of some novel opinions which they had broached, they are here set down as confessors, although they had regained their liberty long before their death.

Fearing, Sir, that I have exhausted the patience of both youself and of your readers by this long letter, I beg to subscribe myself,

Aug. 12th

A CATHOLIC.

A Remonstrance: in a third Letter addressed to C. A. Moysey, D. D. Archdeacon of Bath, on the renewal of his former attack. upon the Catholics in his late Charge to the Clergy of the Deanery of Bedminster, July 29th, 1824. By the Right Rev. P. A. Baines, D. D. &c. Wood, Bath; Keating and Brown, and Cuddon, London. Price 1s. 6d.

We have derived much pleasure in the perusal of the excellent pamphlet now before us, which we think cannot fail to flash conviction on the mind of every serious, well informed, and candid reader. The following extract will show the cause which produced us this controversial treat, as well as the good spirit and style in which it is written.

"VERY REVEREND SIR,

"A printed Charge delivered to the Clergy of the Deanery of Bedminster at "the Visitation of the Venerable Charles Abel Moysey, D. D. Archdeacon of "Bath, June 29, 1824, and printed at their particular request, has within these "few days made its appearance in this city.

"It expresses the most lively apprehensions for the safety of the Established "Church of England, in consequence of the rapid increase of Catholics and Dis"senters, the hostility with which both these growing bodies are animated "against the Establishment, and the alarming concessions which Government "seems inclined to make to them, in spite of the ardent and repeated remon"strances of the Established Bishops and Clergy.

"It passes some high compliments upon the latter, as the most zealous, ac❝tive, learned, liberal, and disinterested body of Churchman that ever asto“nished, edified, and relieved mankind; and represents to the people of Eng"land, in the most glowing colours, how sad would be their fate, should Providence, in its severity, permit them to be deprived of the spiritual guidance " and protection of these incomparable pastors.

"To these or any other encomiums, which you may think proper to pass up"on yourself and your brethren, I have not the smallest objection; nor do I "wish that the people of England should undervalue your services, or think less "favourable of you than they seem disposed to do. But can you not commend yourselves without vilifying your neighbours? Cannot the pure, the enlight"ened, the apostolical Church of England appear in sufficient relief without throwing all the rest of the Christian world into darkness and shade? Has "truth no charms unless accompanied with falsehood; no brightness unless encompassed with clouds of misrepresentation and abuse?"

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After recapitulating some of the monstrous inconsistencies of the Archdeacon, the learned and Right Rev. Author proceeds: "I confess I am surprised at your conduct, and at that of your clergy. It is "now three years since you published a Charge at their request, and I did hope "it would have been the last. It produced a discussion, the results of which "were certainly not favourable to yourself or your cause, and which materially "benefitted that of the Catholics. It placed a Catholic Clergyman under a ne"cessity of vindicating his religion, and induced the public to read his vindica“tion. It enabled many well meaning protestants to discover that their own 66 Clergy, however respectable and deserving of credit on other accounts, are not "to be trusted when they speak of the religion from which their forefathers "revolted. It led many to examine more fully into the doctrines of the Catholic religion, and to become its proselytes or zealous defenders.”

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Noticing more of the unworthy artifices resorted to by the Archdeacon, and an anonymous writer under the name of VINDEX, the author observes :

"It is evident that your character as a writer, a clergyman, and as a man, "required you to justify yourself if you could; and had my statement been capa"ble of refutation, there was nothing so easy. I brought forward documents to prove my assertions. Nothing could be so easy, had those documents been unsatisfactory or incorrect, as to prove them so. Was this done? So far from

"

"it, the very work which had undertaken your defence, which had been ushered "into notice with such unusual eclat, had been advertized in so many newspapers, “ and had figured in so many windows, was, upon the appearance of the Catholic "Defence,* suddenly withdrawn from circulation. Why was this done? Its "authors felt that it would not stand the test; that its mis-statements had been "too glaringly exposed, and that the sincerity and truth of the Catholic state"ment would only appear more manifest, if contrasted with the quibbles and false"hoods of the unlucky Vindex. Perhaps it was thought that a day might come "when even Vindex, under a new name, might figure amongst the ghostly tracts "that sneak from their graves under the patronage of the Religious Tract Society, "after the occasion that gave them birth, and the disgrace that attended their "death have been forgotten."

After noticing another anti-popery production of another Archdeacon, (Daubeny) and proceeding, as his antagonist leads him, to the subject of converts to the Catholic Church; his Lordship says:

"But your insinuation that Catholics use bribes to swell the number of their "converts, proves how little you know of the process through which every con"vert to the Catholic religion is obliged to pass. You seem to suppose that a "man becomes a Catholic as he becomes a member of most of the sects in this country, namely, by merely attending the Catholic worship. It may be proper to inform you of the real case. We never consider a Protestant as having become a Catholic merely by his attending the Catholic place of wor"ship, however frequently or regularly he may do so. A man must have been "admitted to our sacraments, or at least have made a solemn and deliberate profession of our faith, before we consider him as a Catholic. The usual method "of proceeding is this. When a Protestant has by some means or other disco"vered that the doctrines of the Catholic religion have been misrepresented to him, he is recommended to apply to the Catholic priest, to know what these "doctrines really are. Upon such application being made, the Catholic priest puts a Catechism into his hands, or explains to him accurately the doctrines it " contains, and the reasons upon which they are founded. This is generally a "work of time. In well-informed persons a few weeks, (it is very seldom less) may suffice; in ignorant persons, it is generally the work of months. The Apostles' Creed is explained article by article; the Commandments, with all the "religious and moral duties they impose, relating to God, to our neighbours, “and to ourselves, are fully and repeatedly inculcated. The nature, obligation, " and necessity of prayer, sacrifice and sacraments, is clearly pointed out; the "various kinds of virtues and vices; the difference, as far as it is known, "between mortal and venial, original and actual sin; the commands of the "Church, the ceremonies of religion, &c. are taught and explained. When the applicant has been made fully acquainted with every thing, it is necessary for "him to believe and practise, he is not immediately admitted to his profession "of faith, much less to the sacraments. The priest is bound in conscience, "and never fails to satisfy himself that his convert really believes and is tho"roughly convinced of the truth of the Catholic religion. In cases of doubt, the

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*" Defence of the Christian Religion, during the last thirteen centuries, in a Second Letter to C.A. Moysey, &c."

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"convert is often encouraged to apply to the minister of some other religion, to see what arguments the latter can alledge against the doctrines taught him by "his Catholic instructor. With well-informed persons I have always pursued "this method, and I have ever found it the most effectual means of confirming "them in the Catholic faith. They have almost invariably found that the Clergy"man to whom they applied, did not even know what the Catholic doctrines were, and that all his arguments were directed against doctrines we do not "hold. It has sometimes happened that the convert has been unable to deter"mine between the positive assertions of the Protestant Clergyman that Catho"lics do hold such and such doctrines, and those of the Catholic Priest that they "do not. In such cases I have always offered to meet the Protestant Clergyman in the presence of the convert, that the latter might see whether the same "assertions would be made before me that were made before him, and that he might fairly decide for himself. In no one instance has my offer been accepted, though every advantage, but that of truth, lay on the other side. Dr. Moysey "knows that I have made himself this offer, and that he has suffered his parish"ioners to become Catholics rather than accept it. I am ready to make him "the same offer still, with respect to any convert he may choose to select."

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"

And enlarging on this subject, he concludes:

"Such are the methods I have ever pursued in making converts, and such "have been the methods pursued by every Catholic Priest with whom I am acquainted. Can any thing be more fair, more candid, more favourable to the "liberty of man? If a Catholic Priest believe his religion to be the only true "one (and he is an ideot if he continue in it without such conviction,) will charity allow him to be relax in inducing others to embrace it? And if his ob"ject be to lead his converts to the discovery of truth, not to ensnare them; to "enable them to follow the free dictates of their conscience, not to lead them 'captive into error; could he pursue more effectual methods than those I have "described?

"me.

"If the statement I have made is not true, you have the means of refuting You know different persons, even of your own parishioners, who have "become Catholics. Let them be questioned, and if you discover that they have "been withdrawn from you by alms or bribes, or unfair arguments, or by any "other means than those I have described, and that they continue in the Catho"lic Religion from any other motive than the conviction of its truth, I will my"self assist you in the recovery of your lost sheep. I will exclude them as in"truders from the Catholic fold, and tell them that they had better be good Sa"maritans than wicked Jews; better be sincere members of a false religion, than "hypocritical members of the true one. I promise you also, that if you will " mention to me a single Priest or Layman, who has resorted to the disgraceful "methods you assert to be always employed by Catholics in making converts, "and if the offender is within the limits of my jurisdiction, he shall be repri"manded as he deserves."

The author next proceeds to prove his antagonist guilty of publishing, for facts, what he knew to be false. His lordship then enters at considerable length into an able vindication of the Catholic doctrine of Transubstantiation. But were we to

extract all the beauties and excellence of this little work, we should fill our pages with the whole pamphlet. The conclusion, however, we conceive, deserves to be here recorded.

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"In the agitation of your alarm you overlook, as generally happens, your real "danger; and whilst you combat an imagined foe, neglect one who is about to "scale your walls. Your brother of Sarum has told you, that the Sectaries of England are a heterogeneous mass of heretics and schismatics, "without altar, "without priesthood,"* or any vital connection with the Church of Christ; "whilst, you yourself admit, that a decided and settled hostility to the Esta"blished Church animates the whole of this great and growing body. Here are "dangers, indeed, both spiritual and temporal. Yet such is your terror of the "Catholic Church, that you now offer to make a league with these very Dissen"ters against her, as against a common enemy. In the most earnest manner

you call upon them to assist you. With the most pathetic feeling you exclaim, ""would that our Dissenting brethren would think on this! Would that they "would consider how little of that toleration which they now enjoy would be "allowed, or ever has been allowed by the Papal Church.". I need not, I am. sure, tell the Dissenters to look at the toleration of Catholic France, or to find "in the world a Catholic country, where a small minority, as in England, ex"clude from civil privileges, on the score of religious opinions, the great ma“jority of the nation. I need not remind the Dissenters that if they or we do "not still smart under all the rigour of the most barbarous penal code that ever disgraced a Christian country, it is because the Church of England has not "been able to prevent its partial repeal. I need not remind them that to our degradation alone does she owe her greatness, and that she has no hopes of a " continuance of her prosperity but in the continuance of our misfortunes. When "did the Church of England grant to the Catholics or the Dissenters one willing "boon? When did Government grant such boon, and the Church of England "not cry out that her existence was endangered."

"There is one consolation which, I hope, I may afford you. You fear and "almost predict, that the Catholic Church will again become the Established "Church of England. Be assured no such event will ever take place. In Ire"land, on some future day, perhaps, it may ; and if any religion must be esta"blished in that unhappy country, it ought to be the Catholic religion; because "this is the religion of the great majority of the nation. But for the same reason, the Catholic religion neither ever can or ever ought to be the established "religion of England; for the majority of the English nation will never again be Catholic. The history of past ages does not, I believe, furnish a single example of a nation being favoured with the grace of a second conversion, after having so universally and for so long a time abandoned its primitive faith. "Your own judgement, indeed, may convince you how limited, in a country "like this, must be the progress of a Church, which exacts so long and tedious 66 a process for the admission of its proselytes, and requires of the latter so much "faith, so much sincerity, so much courage and resolution, as I have shewn you are required in this country for becoming a Catholic. The prejudices of early "instruction, the pride of the human heart, the influence of passion and interest, "a growing indifference to religious truth, and the corresponding growth of

* On the nature, progress, and consequence of Schism, page 261, and passim