302 



MontJily Review (if Literature, 



[March, 



till' iiiK'nliglitcned Roman Catliolic con- 

 siders Protestants as infidels and heretics. 

 The oath administered to the Roman 

 Catholic Bishops contained the celebrated 

 clause, " pro posse persequar et impug- 

 nabo," &c. ; in our tongue, " I will to the 

 uttermost of my ability persecute and exter- 

 minate" ficretics : this clause is not ex- 

 punged from the oath, but merely sus- 

 pended. It was ordered to be disused in 

 1791 (we are not quite certain of the date, 

 and write currente calamo), on account 

 of the disordered state of Ireland: it may 

 be re-inserted when the Pojje directs it to 

 be. The Catholic Question is a difficult 

 one to write on with clearness and con- 

 ciseness : ^ve will, however, try and say a 

 few words on the subject, though the topic 

 is so worn. 



We impute no evil intention to any 

 Roman Catholic ; we consider them as 

 Christians and brethren -. for our faiths 

 originate at the same source. The Roman 

 Catholic has, in addition to the source 

 common to both, another source, from 

 which all that we Protestants object to 

 flows, and which has been the cause of all 

 the persecutions and dissentions between 

 the Papists and Protestants. This source, 

 which the Roman Catholic has exdimvely, 

 is an unwritten tradition — a tradition of 

 doctrines received from mouth to mouth 

 from the days of the apostles— miraculously 

 preserved from any mixture of error : the 

 source common to both is the Bible. The 

 Roman Catholic professes all those tenets 

 which a Protestant deems necessary to 

 salvation ; to these the Romanist adds many 

 which he deems necessaiy to salvation, and 

 which we do not. The Romanist declares, 

 that unless we believe in all his tenets, over 

 and above those common to the creed of 

 both, we must be damned everlastingly — 

 that we are infidels and heretics, to be per- 

 secuted and destroyed. He, moreover, con- 

 sistently says, that it is his duty to endea- 

 vour to convert us. This we affirm is a candid 

 and true statement of the positions of both. 

 Tlie question is now, whether the Protest- 

 ants, bearing the rule, shall give tlie profes- 

 sors of these opinions equal privileges with 

 themselves. 



The experience of past ages imperatively 

 commands us not to give power to them, 

 because they have always used their spiri- 

 tual power to obtain temporal aggrandize- 

 ment. No Roman Catholic power ever 

 gave such privileges to Protestants : they 

 have, with very few exceptions, persecuted 

 them. The horrid persecutions of the Wal- 

 denses prove that spunt ot intolerance to 

 exist even now.* 



• We do not refer to more recent events in France, 

 since tlie Government possesses a most able docu- 

 ment, written by an officer of liigli ranli, talent, and 

 estimation, sent on purpose to examine into the 

 state of the Protestant Church in France, tracing 

 the state of the Protestant Church, from the 

 revocation of the edict of Nantz to that period, 



Every government has found it neces- 

 sary to impose restrictions on the Roman 

 Catholics. Even Catharine, the despot of 

 Russia, erected a Popedom in her domi- 

 nions — expelled the foreign Roman Ca- 

 tholic Priests — and prohibited any inter- 

 course, excepting through the cabinet. No 

 nation can, politically, give power and equal 

 privileges to any sect professing the same 

 intolerant tenets against their faith, which 

 tlie Romanists do. In short, before a Pro- 

 testant government can place such persons 

 on the same footing as the people who en- 

 trust themselves to their guidance, they 

 must have — every opprobrious epithet ex- 

 punged for ever : no designations, directly 

 or indirectly, of our being heretics and infi- 

 dels, or that such are to be persecuted or 

 destroyed : they must take an oath of alle- 

 giance, so guarded, as not to be capable of 

 dispensation : they must hold no inter- 

 course with a foreign power, on things spiri- 

 tual or temporal, excejjting through the 

 cabinet. Our monarch must have the 

 posver of a]5pointing the Roman Catholic 

 Bishops : he does appoint the Roman 

 Catholic Bishop of Canada : the Czar 

 appoints the Roman Catholic Bishops in 

 his empire. AVhen these points are ceded 

 by the Roman Catholics (and every point 

 is just and reasonable), then, but not until, 

 we can consistently grant their claims : if 

 they refuse these concessions, they' cannot 

 intend good. 



Tlie part of Mr. Kendall's work to which 

 we particularly refer, shews much reseai'ch 

 and calm investigation of the subject, but a, 

 very unceremonious manner of speaking of 

 others. Mr. Kendall imputes the worst 

 of motives to Mr. Canning for his conduct 

 on the Catholic Question, previous to liis 

 expected departure as Governor General of 

 India. We deprecate such an unwar- 

 ranted attack on the most able and straight- 

 forward minister England has been blessed 

 with for years. To suppose that a liigh- 

 minded statesman woidd cast a fire-brand 

 amid the ministry he left, which might 

 have ignited a discontented and miserable 

 people, is attributing to him the feelings 

 and conduct of a demon. We believe him 

 to be not only an able minister, but an 

 estimable man, and therefore regret that 

 Mr. Kendall should have soiled his book 

 with such unjustifiable personalities. Tliere 

 is no doubt but that this book will gain a 

 more than common reputation, as every 

 party is attacked, and so will be spurred on 

 to resent it. We shall resume our remarks 

 on his other volumes in our next number. 



A Picturesque and Topographical Ac- 

 count of Cheltenham and its Viciniti/, hy the 

 Rev. T. D. FosBROKE, m.a. f.s.a. — This 

 is certainly one of the best books of its 

 class extant. The historical and philoso- 



and which shows that the late contest arose as much 

 tmmpoUtical and mercantile circumstances as from 

 religious dili'ercnccs, which, uulced, were very su- 

 condaiv. 



