RELIGIOUS LIBERTY OF THE CATHOLICS.

To the Editor.

şir, HAVING read in your Magazine for March, Queries relating to the Irish and English Catholics, I send you an answer to those which refer to the former; requesting, if nothing better has been received on the subject, you will give it a place in your valuable Publication.

Your correspondent A. B. wishes to know, 1st, Whether the Catholic priests, in this country, are under the necessity of requesting a licence from the Protestant magistrates? —and, 2d, Whether the places in which they say mass must be registered? To each of these queries I am able, froin the most correct information, to give an answer in the negative. In no part of Ireland are the Catholic priests uuder the necessity of requesting a licence; nor is any registry of their chapels ever required. The priests can officiate, and the people can worship, independent of any they being as interference whatever on the part of the magistracy, fully protected by the laws, in the exercise of their religion, as the members of the established church.

I have the satisfaction to find, that the priest of this parish, to whom I made known these queries, candidly acknowledges the accuracy of the above statement.

Such then being the case, the opinion of the author of the queries is certainly well-founded :- That the Catholics already enjoy greater liberty in Ireland than the Protestant Dissenters do in England; for it is evident that the grievances of which they complain, are not of a religious nature consequently, their claims can only regard matters strictly civil. With what concern then must the friends of Religious Liberty observe the attempts which are making in England to lay on Protestant Dissenters additional and, in every point of view, unnecessary restrictions ! Surely, it is neither liberal nor sound policy, to diminish the religious freedom of those, whose number, respectability, and loyalty, entitle them to as much indulgence, in this respect, as any other class of their fellowsubjects.

The answer to the query which relates to English Catholics, I leave to some of your correspondents, possessed of better information respectYours, ing them.

Bunks of the Black Water, Ireland.

W. B.

In answer to the third Query, Are the Catholic priests who officiate in England, and their places, licenced? we insert the following passage from A Letter to a Protestant Dissenter,' lately published :

The Act of the 31st Geo. III. appears to me to recognize the right of the Roman Catholic to worship God according to his own religious tenets, to teach those tenets in the amplest manner, and also to recognize those principles upon which it is contended the Act of Toleration is to be interpreted, and from which principles there seems to be some departure in the new interpretation of this latter act. By Sect. 5, it is enacted, That no person, whether as priest or as a minister of any other higher order or rank, shall officiate in any meeting until his name and description as a priest, or minister, shall have been recorded at the quarter or other general sessions of the peace for the place wherein the meeting is situate, by the clerk of the peace; who is thereby required to record such name and description accordingly, upon demand, by such person, &c. Now it is quite clear, thala Roman Catholic teacher, having first taken the oath prescribed by the act, may teach his congregation, on the simple condition of recording his name as a minister, at the sessions. He may be the most ignorant, the most enthusiastical, or the most heterodox of the human race, and sull neither the magistrate, nor the clerk of the peace, has any power to refuse to record his name, or to say that he shall not officiate as a minister. In

fact, this admits the utmost latitude that a sect of religion can well have. It admits the right of any man to teach, whom that sect will hear as their teacher or minister. This is a benefit of the most inestimable nature to the Roman Catholics, resulting from the stat. of 31 Geo. III, and ought never to be overlooked by them. It places beyond doubt to them, what indeed the Protestant Dissenter imagined he enjoyed, under the Act of Toleration; but of which there now appears to be more than doubt, from a late determination on that act, and the practice which has since been adopted, at the quarter sessions relative to the qualifying of Dissenters to teach and preach. I need not particularize the subordinate privileges conferred upon the Roman Catholics by the 31st Geo. III, tending to secure the privileges of undisturbed worship, and the freedom of their ministers from serving in those offices, which seem incompatible with their func

tion.'

It appears, therefore, that, in either part of the united kingdom, the Catholic can worship God agreeably to the dictates of his own conscience. He can hear what preacher he pleases; and any man, without any inquiry from the civil magistrate, as to his abilities or pretensions, can preach, if he can procure a Roman Catholic congregation to hear him, on the simple condition of taking those oaths prescribed by law, which Roman Catholics have no scruple in taking. Surely then, as to their religious privileges, the toleration cannot be more complete. This being the case, I cannot but advert to the term Catholic Emancipation, which has been adopted; and I must assert, that no term was ever more improperly, or, I might say, absurdly applied. It conveys the notion, that the Roman Catholics are in a state of slavery; and from the question being coupled with their religious condition, it is considered that their slavery is of the most unreasonable kind, and prevents the free exercise of their religion:-but the very reverse is the fact. They are under no religious bondage by the laws of the country; and they are as much (or more) in the possession of their religious rites as any other of his Majesty's subjects dissenting from the Church of England.'.. Their present object is, Civil Immunities, or, in other words, POLITICAL POWER

Evangelicana.

ON THE DEATH OF JOHN THE BAPTIST.

[EXTRACTS.]

P. 10.

ST. FULGENTIUS, a father of the church, who lived in the sixth century, gives a most affecting picture of the death of the forerunner of Christ: his words are,

The hall of the feast is ready; this is the theatre where an immodest woman is to slay the prophet, not with her hands, but with her feet. The daughter of Herodias steps in time and measure to please Herod, and to ask the head of John the Baptist. She dances so, in order to please; and knows so well how to please, that she murders. The blood of the head just cut off runs into the bason; this was the only dish that. was wanting for so sumptuous an entertainment. All delicacies have been already upon the table; but what were these to the revengeful fury and lechery of a cruel king! Three sorts of dishes might have been at a private man's table; at a royal feast, the entertainment would not have been grand without a human head; and what made the thing less common was, that the prophet's head was brought all bloody out of the prison. Kings are said, upon festivals, to search the earth and sea for things to make their feasts the more delicious; but the dungeon furnished Herod with a rarity for his.'-Bouhours,

It may be remarked, that it was and is customary with princes in those

eastern parts of the world, to require the heads of those they order to be executed to be brought to them, that they may be assured of their death. The Grand Seignior does it to this day.

Jerome tells us, that Herodias treated the Baptist's head in a very disdainful manner, pulling out the tongue, which she imagined had injured her, and piercing it with a needle.'-Doddridge.

When the head of Cicero was brought to Fulvia, wife of Mark Anthony, she took it in her lap, spit upon it, and thrust repeatedly a silver bodkin through the tongue.'-Watkins.

Dr. Whitby, after many others, observes, that Providence interested itself very remarkably in the revenge of this murder on all concerned. Herod's army was defeated in a war occasioned by his marrying Herodias; which many Jews thought a judgment sent upon him for the death of John. Both he and Herodias, whose ambition occasioned his ruin in banishment, were afterwards driven from their kingdom with great regret ; and died at Lyons, in Gaul. And if any credit may be given to Nicephorus, Salome, the young lady who made this cruel request, fell into the ice as she was walking over it, which closing suddenly, cut off her head!'

REFLECTIONS.

How mysterious was that Providence which left the life of so holy a man as John the Baptist in such infamous hands, and permitted it to be sacrificed to the malice of an abandoned harlot, to the petulancy of a vain girl, and to the rashness of a foolish and perhaps intoxicated prince, who made the prophet's head the reward of a dance! The ways of God are unsearchable! but we are sure he can never be at a loss to repay his servants in another world for the greatest sufferings they endure in this, and even for life itself, when given up in his cause.

We may reasonably conclude, that death could never be an unseasonable surprise to this excellent saint. When the executioner came into the prison by night, perhaps breaking in upon his slumbers, and executed his bloody commission almost as soon as he disclosed it, a soul like his might welcome the stroke, as the means of liberty and glory; assured that the transient agony of a moment would transmit it to a kingdom where the least of its inhabitants would be in holiness, honour, and felicity, superior to John in his most prosperous and successful stale

On earth.

His enemies might awhile insult over him, while his disciples were mingling their tears with his dust, and lamenting the residue of his days cut off in the midst.' His death was precious in the sight of the Lord,' and the triumphing of the wicked was short;' so will he, ere long, plead the cause of all his injured people, and give a cup of trembling and astonishment' to those who have made themselves drunk with their blood.' Let cruelty and tyranny do their worst, verily, there is a reward for the righteous;- verily, there is a God that judgeth in the earth.' Loddridge.

IMPROVEMENT OF MORTALITY.

ONE of the Antients, standing by Cæsar's tomb, wept and cried out, Where is now the flourishing beauty of Cæsar? What is become of his magnificence? Where are the armies now? Where the honours of Cæsar? Where are now the victories, the triumphs, and trophies of Cæsar? (Caryl.) Happy then the Christian! when he dies, he goes to live with Christ. ile rises above the world to perfect unfading honour and happiness-Reader, seek those honours and treasures which are to be found in Christ, and in the pursuit and practice of true godliness. Thy dwelling on earth may be mean, and thy grave unnoficed; but thou shalt have a mansion in the skies, while in the most important and pleasing sense, thy name, shall be had in everlasting remembrance,

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N. G.

MR. R. TROTMAN was a native and respectable tradesman of the town of Dursley, Gloucestershire. Although he had, been unmindful of his Creator in his early days, yet he was brought to an experimental acquaintance with true religion before he ar-, rived at the age of 20 years.

Since it was evident, from his knowledge of the gospel, and his exemplary deportment for a series of years, that he was born of God,' I shall pass over the greater part of his life, and state that which came chiefly within my own personal knowledge. Mr. T. was for several years afflicted with a complication of disorders; and about two years before his death he was confined to his chamber for several months. To himself and his friends his dissolution appeared to be fast approaching. Previously to this he had suffered much, both in body and mind. At times, he was so depressed in spirit, that conversation was very irksome. For many years, he enjoyed strong consolation; but now arrived the season of trial, in which he was in heaviness through manifold temptations." His confidence was put to the test, and his sensible comfort suspended." In some measure, the fiery trial' seemed a strange thing' to him: he was so troubled that he could scarcely speak and, in consequence of a long continuance of excruciating pain of body, extreme anguish of mind, and repeated, assaults of the enemy, he was ready to say with Job, My soul choose.h strangling, and death rather than life.' Oh that I might have my request! and that God would grant me the thing that I long for! Even that it would please God to destroy me, that he would let loose his hand and cut me off.'

In the midst of this gloom the Lord was graciously pleased to appear, as in times of old; his mind was set at liberty, his tongue loosed, and he again spake with delight, of divine things. His son was happy, his friends filled with jey, visitors astonished, and God glori

fied. After this, Mr. T. was raised up again, and enabled (though still very poorly) to frequent the house of the Lord for a considerable time.

In that relapse which terminated his days, he uttered many weighty and important truths. A friend wrote me thus:- When I entered, Mr T.'s room, he cried, "Oh cursed' unbelief! when I lie down it lies down with me; when I arise it arises with me! I still feel an evil' heart of unbelief, departing from the living God. Oh! I want my heart thoroughly broken for sin, and my soul filled with the love of God!" At another time, in an extacy, he said, "He is a God of love, and I love him; I love his son Jesus Christ, and I love his atonement. I am his servant and subject, and I rest upon him for salvation. He is the only foundation; and believing in him, I have eternal life. I am justified freely through his blood!-Worthy is the Lamb! to receive all might, majesty, dominion, and power for ever and ever. Oh! I want to proclaim his name from morning till night. He is a good God; blessed are all they that trust in him. He does all things well. I leave all things with Him; body, soul, and spirit.

At another time, when Mr.. entered the room, Mrs. S. said, Father, here is Mr. -.' He replied, with a peculiar smile, Well! I love them all;' (meaning the church) I love them from the bottom of my heart!' and lifting up his hands, said, 'What am I, that the children of God should' visit me!--When some of the members of the church were about to leave the room, he exhorted them with very great earnestness, saying, 'If I never see you again, strive together for the faith of the gospel; Christ is the only foundation; and we should ask ourselves the important question, Are we built upon this Rock?'

Having laboured under great distress respecting death, not as to its consequences, but as to the unpleasant feeling of his mind about the awful moment of separation,