points, on which Papists always feel extremely sore. Some of them, priests I presume, from their pedantic show of learning, began to attack, or rather to nibble, at this said charge, though it does not appear that they could have any higher object in view, than the little fame that they hoped to acquire among their fellow Papists, by entering the lists with a person of his lordship's rank and character. Their puny efforts to commend the popish, and malign the Protestant faith, were powerfully opposed by different writers, whose names are not given. The pieces on both sides were collected, and they form two neat volumes.

In one of the Protestant pieces, I find the following very striking observations, which are given as the words of a divine of the church of England, of a former century. "The grand enemy of mankind hath, by various ways and means, all along, contrived and endeavoured to defeat the designs of Heaven for the good and happiness of men; and, as the divine wisdom hath, in several ages of the world, manifested itself for the encouraging and promoting of true righteousness and holiness; so hath the devil always been at work, to bring forward, in opposition, what he could find most proper, for the hindering of the good effects of God's kindness towards us. When the fulness of time came, by the appearance of the Son of God in the world, he was, in a great measure, dethroned; his kingdom was overthrown; and the last and most effectual means were used, for the recovery of men out of his snare and power. When, therefore, he perceived, that, by all grievous persecutions he raised against the church, it spread only so much the faster; that, at last, the whole heathen world fell down before cross of Christ; when he was expelled with shame out of his temples, and from his altars, when his oracles were silenced, and the religion of Jesus prevailed every where:-he then betook himself to his old serpentine arts of dissimulation. Since he could no longer oppose Christ's kingdom by open war, he resolved to turn Christian, and to set up for Christ's deputy and substitute here on earth; to fight against Christianity under Christ's banner; and by adulterating and corrupting the Christian doctrine, to spoil it of all its efficacy; and to introduce his old heathen rites, and idolatrous ceremonies, as unwritten traditions from Christ himself, or his apostles; and so under his name, and pretended authority, to exercise all that cruelty, oppression, and fraud, which is so pleasant to his own infernal nature; hoping to burn, destroy, and root out, all true Christians from the face of the earth, under colour of propagating the catholic faith, and enlarging Christ's kingdom in the world.

"When Christendom had long groaned under this miserable tyranny, it pleased God, in many places of Europe, but especially here in England, to set on foot a reformation of religion; which was happily and peaceably accomplished among us, by the favour and countenance of public authority, and the wise counsel and advice of our reverend bishops and other ministers. To nip this in the bud, the devil raised that sharp persecution in Queen Mary's days, in which our first reformers gloriously sealed what they had done with their blood. this proving ineffectual, that he might the better frustrate the ends of our reformation, himself would turn reformer too."

But

The author proceeds to show how the devil effected his purpose, by exciting the extravagance of certain sects in England; but his diabolical efforts were not confined to that kingdom. They were at least

equally successful in other places, especially on the continent, and almost under the eye of the great German reformer, where certain zealots did more injury to the cause of reformation, by their ridiculous caricature of it, than the pope, with all his army of priests was able to do. This, as our author justly observes, was the work of the devil in his new character of a reformer.

For centuries before the reformation, and ever since, till within these few years, the devil found means to keep the great part of what is called Christendom, in gross ignorance. He succeeded so far, as to establish it as a maxim, that "ignorance is the mother of devotion;" and his blinded adherents, I mean the devoted vassals of the pope of Rome, never seem to have thought, that education would be of any use to the common people. They rather considered it as a dangerous thing; and used every effort in their power to prevent them from acquiring any more knowledge of religion, than they themselves were pleased to communicate. Of late years, however, the subject of extending the benefits of education has occupied so much of the public attention; it has appeared to all classes of the community, a matter of so much importance to teach the poor the art of reading; and the establishment of schools for the purpose, particularly in Ireland, has received so much public support, and has in fact become so popular, that it would not do to appear to oppose the work of education any longer. The devil, therefore, must now have recourse to some other shift; and as of old he professed to become Christian, with the view of destroying Christianity; and reformer, with the view of discrediting the reformation, so now, in order to obstruct the work of education, he has determined to become schoolmaster.

The fact of this is clearly proved, by the noise that the pope of Rome, and the popish archbishop of Tuam, have lately made about the establishment of schools, in order to instruct the innocent youth of their communion. There was not a whisper of any thing of the kind, while the people of Ireland were sitting in gross darkness, and while no effort was made to impart to them the light of knowledge. But since the establishment of the Hibernian and other societies; and since it became very probable that all the youth in Ireland would soon be taught to read the word of God, then the pope and his ghostly agents, appear like men awaked out of sleep; they are all at once upon the alert; they will have schools of their own; and they are determined that the youth of their communion shall not be allowed to acquire the art of reading from any but teachers of their own appointment, and of their own faith.

Some persons may suppose, that this is nothing but a commendable emulation, excited by their Protestant neighbours; and a tacit acknowledgment that they have been guilty of culpable inattention to the education of their people; but it is in fact neither the one nor the other. The "cloven foot" is not so artfully concealed as it has often been in other cases; for the education commanded by the pope, and provided by his clergy for the poor in Ireland, is avowedly such an education as shall exclude the reading of the word of God, and withdraw the children from the schools in which they are in danger of being taught to read it and whatever sort of men the priests may appoint to superintend such schools, I have no hesitation in putting them on a footing

with other inventions of the devil, intended to oppose the truth, and to perpetuate error.

It appears from the reports of different societies, that many of the schools in Ireland are disturbed, from time to time, by the impertinent interference of popish priests, who insult the teachers, and terrify the children, and even drive out of the school such as they conceive to belong to their communion. I shall give here a recent instance of this, with a most reverend archbishop's approbation of the fact; and then 1 shall show what sort of education the priests have prepared for the poor children, of whom they claim the exclusive oversight.

Letter from the Secretaries of the Dublin Sunday School Union, to the Most Rev. Dr. Troy, Roman Catholic Archbishop of Dublin.

"No. 16, Upper Sackville street, 7th September, 1819.

MY LORD-It is with very great pain we feel ourselves obliged to call your lordship's attention to a transaction which occurred on Sunday the 2d ultimo the circumstances attending which are shortly as follows:

"One of the objects aimed at by the society of which we have the honour of being secretaries, is to establish Sunday schools throughout the city, in such situations as may seem to be most in need of them; and among other similar institutions, our committee were enabled, by the kindness of friends, to begin a small Sunday school on the 28th of March last, in Sampson's lane, off Moore street. Since that period this school has been carried on with considerable diligence, and with some prospect of success; the only endeavour of the teachers being to make their pupils able to read the sacred scriptures, and to understand the meaning of what they read. But on the day already mentioned, the Rev. Mr. Salmon, of Liffey street chapel, entered the school, took the books from the hands of several of the children, and in an authoritative manner, ordered all that were Catholics peremptorily to leave the place; he in effect forcibly turned the children out of the school, and accompanied his conduct with such observations, as showed, that his hostility to such institutions was of the most decided description.

66

Convinced, as we all are, of the feelings that such a procedure must excite, not only in the breast of your lordship, but of every wellwisher to the good morals and peace of society; we consider it an imperative duty laid upon us, to state to you the occurrence explicitly as it happened. We are constrained to do so, not only from the circumstance of its affording your lordship an opportunity of expressing your sentiments on the subject; but, as the gentleman of whom we complain, stated that he was a curate in your lordship's diocess, and that he was determined in future to oppose all Sunday schools. For himself, we can only regret the mistaken views which could lead him to such a determination; but for our own sakes, we have most respectfully to solicit, that your lordship will take such precautionary measures, as will prevent him on any future occasion, from molesting our schools. "It will always be with extreme reluctance that our committee will appeal to the constituted authorities of the country for protection, but if the restraints of professional character, of civil decorum, or of superior ecclesiastical jurisdiction, should be found insufficient to hinder this in

VOL. II.-8

dividual, or any other, from rudely disturbing these peaceful seminaries of knowledge, which we have under our care, your lordship must perceive that such an appeal is unavoidable.

"Our committee will hold a meeting at No. 16, Upper Sackville street, on Tuesday evening next, the 14th instant, for the purpose of receiving your lordship's answer on the subject, and in the mean time, we are, with great respect,

"My Lord,-Your lordship's very obedient and humble servants,

Most Rev. Dr. Troy, &c. &c." (Signed) W. SMITH, Jun. Secs. }

M. POLLOCK,

"P. S. In addition to the above, it should also be stated, that the attendance of the children was perfectly free and voluntary, not only on their own part, but that of their parents; as may be confirmed by their parents' declarations, both before this transaction and since. Indeed, many of the children were specially given in charge to the teachers, by their parents and other guardians. No inquiry as to particular religious profession was ever made by the teachers; nor, until the Rev. Mr. Salmon divided the school in the unpleasant manner we mention, did they know to what distinctive communion their scholars belonged. "W. S. Jun.

(Signed)

M. P."

Letter from the Most Rev. Dr. Troy, to the Secretaries of the Sunday

School Union.

"3, Cavendish Row, Dublin, 13th September, 1819. "Gentlemen:-The Catholic church sanctions no other English version of the sacred scriptures but the Douay edition, translated from the Latin Vulgate of St. Jerome, in the fourth century; and which, when accompanied with appropriate notes and comments, is permitted to be read by the learned and the lettered: she does not, however, approve of the Holy Bible being degraded to the level of a common school book, or capriciously explained by unauthorized commentators. Histories of the Bible, historical and moral extracts from it, and catechisms, are generally used in Catholic schools.

"The present learned bishops of Lincoln and Peterborough, and other eminent divines of the established church in England and Ireland, have proved the inexpediency and danger to religion, from reading the Bible without note or comment; and of submitting it to the interpretation of every reader's private judgment, which experience has proved to be a prolific hive, from which have issued countless swarms of sectaries, distracting Christendom, each clamorously appealing to the Bible, the Bible, and however disunited amongst themselves, all arrayed in hostility to the Catholic parent church, which they most uncharitably continue to misrepresent and calumniate. Christianity was preached before the gospels were written and published; were the Bible alone sufficient for the knowledge of religion, the ministry of the word would be superfluous and the sacred ministry itself rendered useless.

"The Catholic church does therefore prohibit the youth of her com. munion to frequent schools in these kingdoms, where a different version of the scriptures from that of Douay is used, or where unauthorized persons assume a right to expound the divine oracles; in which Saint Peter says in his second epistle, That there are some things hard to be

understood, which the unlearned and unstable wrest to their own perdition, and that no prophesy of the scripture is made by private interpretation.

"Conformably, therefore, to those maxims, and to the uniform discipline of the Catholic church, Rev. Mr. Salmon went to your school, to withdraw the Catholic children from it, at the very time when religious and moral instructions were given-particularly to children, in Liffey street parish chapel, he cannot on this account be justly accused of opposition to the constituted authorities, which allow the free exercise of the Catholic religion, and the authority of its ministers to instruct the ignorant of their communion.

"Protestants and Catholics may zealously concur in promoting a general education of the poor, and still maintain the faith and discipline of their respective churches. If this be not permitted, no system of general education can succeed; why then are Catholic poor children invited to schools where their catechism is not taught, and a prohibited version of the Bible without note or comment is used, and explained by incompetent unauthorized persons?

"As to the particular conduct of Rev. Mr. Salmon, I should be sorry indeed that he would act on any occasion in a manner unbecoming the meekness of a clergyman, or the manners of a gentleman. I this moment receive his enclosed explanatory letter, and have the honour to be with great respect, and in the spirit of perfect charity,

"Gentlemen,-Your very humble servant,
(Signed) "J. T. TROY.

"Wm. Smith, Jun. & M. Pollock,

Esqrs. &c. &c."

I shall now proceed to show what sort of an education it is which the priests have provided for the youth of their communion, whom they are now willing to instruct in the art of reading. Archbishop Troy says, that "Histories of the Bible, historical and moral extracts from it, and catechisms, are generally used in Catholic schools." Now, I happen to have in my possession a great number of these catechisms, and also some of their histories of the Bible, with historical and moral extracts from it, and I do not hesitate to say, that all of them are just what we might expect from the devil, professing to be Christian. The Christian vocabulary is used to a certain extent; language that savours of the love of God is introduced; but the tendency of the whole is to alienate the mind from the knowledge of God as he is revealed to us in the scriptures, and to lead the deluded worshipper to dependance on himself, or on some other creature.

I shall, at present, confine, myself to the celebrated school book, edited by W. E. Andrews, which Dr. Milner, vicar apostolic of the midland district, England, declares to be "the most complete and valuable work of its kind in our language, and eminently entitled to the patronage of the Catholic public ;" and the right reverend prelate promises to recommend it in those places of education over which he has any authority or influence. Nay, as I showed in my first volume, this work is praised by a correspondent of the author, as a much better book than the Bible, because, from it one will acquire a better knowledge of religion at one reading, than he will learn from the Bible in a whole