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invariably annexed by Roman Catholics-by the Church to the holy writings.

hack barristers-the demagogue leaders of the Catholic Association-O'Connell and Shiel, with some Catholic pastors and the mob; and their objects were insult, abuse, and riot. An opportunity had just been given to these people to attend a public meeting-a meeting composed of gentlemen of a similar kind; they were challenged to avail themselves of it, but they were too sagacious and gallant to accept the challenge. It was more safe to insult women than men-a far greater effect might be produced by taking a private meeting by storm, than by walking without obstacle into a public one-a ferocious mob would be irresistible against helpless females -and it was most delectable to the mountebank spouters to bully, hector, and abuse an audience that was bound by the laws of sex to passive, mute endurance. Verily these great men of the Irish Parliament-these pathetic declaimers against wrong and cruelty, are most chivalrous and well-bred per

sons.

It mattered not that Mr Noel and Captain Gordon had been silent touching the two religions-it mattered not that the ladies were Protestants, and were entitled to have their religious feelings treated with the tenderness which ladies always receive from all but brutes and savages-this was nothing. The two lawyers charged them with having concealed objects, covered the two strangers with direct personalities, and the ladies with indirect ones, and heaped the most gross and false abuse upon Protestantism and— the Bible.

The following extracts are from the speech of Sheil, as we find it reported in the Irishman.

"The general perusal of the Bible without any interpretation was in accordance, perhaps, with the desultory and capricious genius of the Protestant religion; but in Ireland there exists a creed utterly incompatible with the wild freedom of opinion, and which is so determinate and fixed, as to leave no field for the exercise of individual judgment in the construction of the word of God. The Roman Catholic faith is built upon the Scriptures, as explained by the Church, and if the lower classes were to pursue (peruse) them without that explanation upon which their religion rests, it is not unlikely that they would contract opinions inconsistent with the meaning

The whole dispute narrows itself into a question of fact. Is it, (the circulation of the Scriptures without note or comment,) or is it not inconsistent with the spirit of Catholicism? If it be, there is an end of the argument, at least it must be admitted that Roman Catholics are justified in their strenuous opposition to an attempt to subvert their religion."

This, gentle reader, is the description which a Catholic champion gives of Catholicism. The priest must be the despot; the poor layman must have neither judgment nor will, and he must not on any account look into the Bible: whatever monstrous meaning the tyranny or cupidity of the Church may affix to the Scriptures, he must devoutly adopt it. Mr Sheil announces that the general circulation of the Scriptures would overturn Catholicism; and this, whatever may be its effect on those who rail against proselytism, gives us much pleasure. A system of Christianity which sees in such circulation its certain destruction, ought not to exist. Notwithstanding Mr Sheil's exposure, some people couple his religion with the sacred name of liberty; and clamour for freedom of opinion, the freedom of the press, and the granting of political power to Catholicism, all in the same breath!

"The lower classes of the Protestant community are driven into a sort of biblical insanity by this system of excitation; and madness, now-a-days, almost invariably assumes a religious character."-" Now, how could this fact be accounted for, but by referring it to the fanaticism which the unrestrained perusal of the holy writings had produced?"

This would seem a very odd assertion, if it were not remembered that good Mr Sheil is not only a lawyer, a political demagogue, a traducer of the Protestant religion, and an insulter of ladies, but he is likewise an occasional manufacturer of fustian tragedies.

Some minds are strangely formedhere is a believer in the Hohenlohe miracles, the infallibility of the Pope, &c. &c. railing against fanaticism! Be it known to Mr Sheil, that the fanaticism which is to be found here, is generated much more by religious liberty than by the reading of the Bible. If a man wish to become the

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The Bible and the Roman Catholics of Ireland.

founder of a sect, he can easily procure
a Bible almost anywhere, and the sure
way to give him followers is to keep
the holy volume from the people. Very
many of our fanatics cannot read; like
the Catholics, they take the words of
their teachers upon trust; and if the
Scriptures were not circulated so pro-
fusely, their number would be far
greater than it is.

"The Established Church, whose hierarchy was as hostile as the Roman Catholic clergy to the reading of the uninterpreted Scriptures."

We should not have thought this falsehood worthy of refutation, had it not been again and again put forth in the House of Commons. The heads of our Church have long zealously laboured to promote the circulation of the "uninterpreted Scriptures." All wish to give the Bible without mutilation or false interpretation to the people, although some wish to give the Prayer-book in a separate volume along with it. This certainly differs from that hostility which withholds the Bible altogether from the lower classes.

We will not disgust our readers by
extracting Mr Sheil's hackneyed and
wretched slander of the Bible; it may
be found in the writings of almost
every infidel who has attacked Chris-
tianity. Lest, however, any fears be
entertained that the Bible will destroy
the modesty and chastity of the fair
daughters of Erin, we will acquaint
the Irish husbands and fathers that
such of our lovely countrywomen as
are neither modest nor chaste, are
those who have never studied the
Scriptures; and that such of them as
are models of modesty and chastity,
are precisely those who are constant
Bible readers.

Mr Sheil concluded his charitable
aud conciliatory harangue by indirect-
ly, and in the most decorous, gentle-
manly, and gallant manner possible,
applying to the ladies, and the friends
of the circulation of the Bible, the
text of Scripture "Woe unto you,
Scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! for
ye compass sea and land to make one
proselyte; and when he is made, ye
make him twofold more the child of
hell than yourselves!!!"

Attend now to Mr O'Connell.
"He would now ask which of the
Bible-reading gentlemen agreed in
their faith? He did not believe that
any two of those he saw held the same
religious opinion. Did the young

[Nov.

captain, who came here as missionaries, English gentleman and the Scotch hold the same faith?-They travelled, he supposed, in a post-chaise, to overturn the Catholic religion."-" How did these post-chaise companions agree on religious matters ?-Did they toss up for the religion?—Or which of their religious tenets were their converts to embrace ?-It was too good a joke of the English-sending a schoolboy and a Scotch captain to educate the wild Irish, and bring them over from the religion they had derived from their fathers."

Most delicate and gentlemanly this, Mr O'Connell, particularly when addressed to ladies.

"Though a layman, he would unthat the Catholic religion was the dertake to prove to any rational mind only form of faith that had all the consistency and evidence of a Divine revelation."

Considering how great a stranger Mr O'Connell is to the habit of proving, this assertion is admirable.

"The Roman Catholic religion was increasing in Scotland; it was increasing rapidly in England; wherever a chapel was opened, thousands flocked to it. In this country (Ireland) it was gaining converts every day, and from all sects. The chapels were found insufficient to accommodate the numbers who attended them, though it was not one cold service that was celebrated in the day, but repeated services, from five in the morning, till one in the afternoon. Dr Doyle, and two of those bugbears, the Jesuits, accompanied by the Rev. Dr Keogh, who has already many converts, would shortly proceed to England. They would preach that pure faith, which served as a beacon to light to the haven of salvation-a beacon having its light from the resurrection of our blessed Saviour, and never to wane until his second coming. They would return the compliment which England paid to us, by endeavouring to draw back her inhabitants to the holy faith of the saints."

This is actually too good:-Mr O'Connell declares that the ladies and their friends, simply because they wish to distribute the Scriptures, seek to this in the most virulent manner; and make proselytes; he attacks them for in the same breath he avows, that the Catholics are proselytising with all their might in the three kingdoms,

and that certain individuals are coming to England, on a special proselytising mission! We Catholics will fight you Protestants, only you shall be bound from striking again, when we are pommelling you!

"Proclaim honestly that conscience is free: destroy that worst of monopolies-the monopoly of religion !"

The crack-brained simpleton, it seems, was not aware that at the very moment when he uttered this, he was fighting furiously against liberty of conscience, and in favour of religious monopoly.

At the conclusion of the day's proceedings, O'Connell desired the mob to give three cheers "for Old Ireland." This was most appropriate when the contest had been with ladies.

Whatever may be the case with the men, it would seem that the fair sex in Ireland have but little cause to be the friends of Catholicism. There is not a Protestant in Great Britain above the rank of a cobbler, who would not have been ashamed of treating a meeting of ladies, whether private or public, as this meeting was treated by Sheil and O'Connell.

The meeting continued by adjournment for three days. At its close, Mr Noel, Captain Gordon, and some ladies, who were in the carriage of a lady, were pursued by the mob, and hooted, and pelted with stones. One stone hit a lady, and was prevented almost by miracle from having fatal consequences. Most chivalrous and heroic Sheil, and O'Connell! Lawyers in England are fearful people when they straggle from the bar; in court, they make but little difference between a female and a blackguard; but, however, they are strangers to exploits like this of the Irish ones.

Let it not be forgotten, that this private ladies' meeting did not avow a wish to make proselytes, and that if it were even actuated by such a wish, it was not suspected by the Catholics themselves, of meaning to employ any other means than the distribution of the authorised version of the Scriptures, without note or comment.

On September 21, a meeting of the Cork Auxiliary Church Missionary Society was held. We need not tell our

readers that this society has no particular reference to Ireland, or Catholicism. The Dean of Cork was called to the chair-a gentleman who, as we are told by a morning paper, is a conciliator, and who several years ago publicly reprehended the Orange processions. After two or three speeches had been delivered, a fellow of the name of Dwyer-a gentleman of the press-attempted to speak, and then, in the words of a Cork paper

"A scene ensued, one of the most scandalous and abominable that ever presumed to set decency and common policy at defiance-sounds of the most deafening kind were raised-the benches were thrown down-artificial noises of every kind were made, without any clemency for the female visitors, and others who attended upon the interesting occasion. The most abominable denunciations were heard from all quarters--a recruitment to the mob that was inside broke in from the streets, and the uproar that instantly followed, beggars all description. The screams of the ladies-the faintings of several-the bustle made to relieve some from their terrors, and others from their sufferings-the curses, and execrations, and menaces shouted by the mob-the mild but idle exhortation of those of a better descriptionthe vociferations raised against the chair, against a dean of the established church! against such a man too!-as pull him out!' kick him out!'the sound of blows-and the clamour of wicked and barbarous voices-altogether presented to the astonished senses, a Babel of confusion!"

The Cork Advertiser gives the following additional particulars :

"The most violent and threatening language was uttered against the society in general, and the very reverend chairman in particular; and the early avowal of a determination to knock up' all society meetings, was overheard by a gentleman.-A mob collected outside the building as well as within, and shouted loudly when they were informed by a principal disturber that they had knocked up the meeting. Let it not be said that the disturbers were the dregs of the people; the two ringleaders are writers for the

[graphic]

press!!! The gallery was filled with men, most of whom were well-dressed, and who had been marshalled together long before the chair was taken, and the chief portion of tumult proceeded from this body of individuals."-" We pledge ourselves to the fact, that a Roman Catholic priest was amongst the noisiest supporters of the rioters. There were others of his fraternity present, who expressed no disapprobation at such proceedings."

This infamous riot was only put down at last by the sheriffs, and a strong body of constables.

A meeting was held at Clonmell, by the friends of the education of the poor, which was broken up by the rioting of the Catholics.

The following were published in the Dublin Weekly Register, as the counter-resolutions meant to have been proposed at the Clonmell meeting.

"Resolved-That it appears to this meeting, from the exposition made this day, by the Hon. Baptist Noel, and Captain Gordon of the Royal Navy, that the free and indiscriminate circulation of the Bible, without note or comment, amongst our poor, constitutes the basis of the education sanctioned and supported by the London Hibernian Society.

"Resolved, 2dly, That we consider such a system of education CONTRARY

TO THE SACRED SCRIPTURES, PREJU DICIAL TO THE INTERESTS OF TRUE RELIGION, AND SUBVERSIVE OF ALL ORDER IN CIVIL SOCIETY.

"Resolved, 3dly, That, as good and sincere Christians, and as loyal subjects, we will resist, with all our might, the establishment of such a system amongst us, because we are convinced that it would substitute eventually scepticism and infidelity, in place of Christianity, and anarchy and confusion, in place of order and good government.'

"

The Northern Whig, a Belfast Whig paper, which, of course, advocates the removal of the disabilities, states, "These, be it remembered, are not the sentiments of some aspiring bar rister, struggling to rise in the profession of the law by the denunciation of the Gospel, but the matured opinions of a ROMAN CATHOLIC ECCLESIASTIC."

From a speech delivered at a meeting at Waterford by the Reverend Mr Esmonde, a Catholic clergyman, and

the brother of Sir T. Esmonde, we give the following extracts :

"I am a Catholic clergyman, and consequently cannot be suspected of overweening affection to the Protestant Established Church; but I do protest, that, were I a Protestant dignitary, I would come hither-not to be a silent spectator-(the eyes of many were here directed to the reverend Dean)— but I would come armed with all the powers of eloquence I could command; I would urge every argument, and strain every nerve, to oppose the progress of this new system. And why?

Because it is my decided conviction that this Biblical Society has for its object the subversion of the Established Church; that it is actually at this moment sapping its foundations, and, if allowed to proceed, must, at no very distant period, bring its lofty spires to the ground. Were this consummation to be effected, it is not to be expected that I would shed many tears over the ruins; but I am free to declare, that I would regret to see the fabric swept away by an inundation of Biblical fanaticism."

In one part of his speech, Mr Esmonde labours to shew, that the Catholics do not hold the doctrine of exclusive salvation. One of the Irish papers states him to be a Jesuit, and his words savour abominably of Jesuitism. We will ask him one or two plain questions.

Does the Pope admit the Established Church to be a lawful one? Does he admit that the regular clergy can lawfully administer baptism?-If not, where is the worth of the observation, that "lawful baptism," whether Catholic or Protestant, gives its objects the hope of salvation?

If the Roman Catholic Church do not hold the Protestants to be heretics, why do the Rockites, and the lower orders of the Catholics generally, publicly call them heretics, and threaten them with extermination as heretics? From whom do the vast mass of the Irish Catholics learn to do this, if not from the Catholic clergy?

If the Roman Catholic clergy hold that the Protestants are NOT heretics, why do they suffer the majority of their flocks to avow the directly contrary belief, when their creed is "so determinate and fixed, as to leave no field for the exercise of individual

judgment?" Why do they not instantly excommunicate all who hold an opinion so hostile to their alleged creed, and so fearfully fruitful of wickedness and crime?

These questions, we think, will greatly puzzle Mr Esmonde. We do not merely want to know what the clergy believe, but we want to know what the laity believe;-it is of far greater importance for us to know what the officiating clergy TEACH, than what their heads think. When the most bigotted and fanatical portion of the laity publicly call the Protest ants heretics, nothing upon earth can convince us that they are not taught the belief by their clergy.

If there be any difference in point of feeling among the Catholic clergy, this is from one of the better portion. The worthy gentleman pretty broadly hints, that the ruin of the Established Church, by anything save "Biblical fanaticism," would give him joy. The reason of his exception may be guessed at." Biblical fanaticism" would not offer its spoils to the Catholics; if it swept away the Established Church, it would sweep away Catholicism previously.

The Northern Whig, to which we have already alluded, in a well-written article states:

"We deeply regret that a portion of the Irish periodical press should have become, in the strict and literal meaning of the term, decidedly antiScriptural. We can scarcely peruse a single southern newspaper, without fancying ourselves transported to those countries, where men's inquiries are bounded by the Index Expurgatorius, and the press lies manacled beneath the anathema of the Church. Nor is the evil confined to the south. The press which could advocate the miracles of Hohenlohe, re-circulates with a species of perverse consistency, the hackneyed sophisms of those who would interdict to the laity the private and personal perusal of the Word of God.

"The dissemination of the Scriptures, in ANY version, without note or commentary, is virtually interdicted. The readers of the Scriptures are publicly described as enthusiasts, fickle in their religious principles, driven at one time into scepticism, plunged at another into melancholy madness. The Roman Catholic and Protestant

world are placed in strong contrast with each other."

The able writer of this article professes to wonder that those who advocate the removal of the disabilities, should be thought to be the friends of the Roman Catholic religion. We are not aware that this opinion prevails. But surely he must know, that those who contend for the removal of the disabilities, in effect labour to give a very considerable portion of the general government to the Roman Catholics-to the men who thus fight against toleration and the Scriptures.

While we write, the papers inform, us, that the meeting of the Galway Bible Society held at Loughrea, has just been broken up by a Catholic mob. The Archbishop of Tuam was in the chair; he was grossly insulted, and some of the papers say his life was endangered. Our readers are aware that the Bible Society has nothing to do with schools, or school societies, and that it merely seeks to distribute the authorised version of the Scriptures, without note or comment, to such as wish to possess it.

Similar scenes have taken place in other parts of Ireland.

In a former Number of this Magazine, we gave it as our opinion, that, if even the children were suffered to use the Bible as a school-book, this alone would do but little towards giving them a religious education. We insisted, that, in addition to this, they ought to have the Bible explained to them, to be catechised by the clergy, and to be taken regularly to a place of worship. We insisted, moreover, that it was of even greater importance to give religious instruction to the adults than to the children.

The schools, however, in the matters before us, sink into comparative insignificance. Not only are the Scriptures and religious instruction to be carefully excluded from them, but the Bible is to be a prohibited book to the mass of the people, and the Protestants-the dignitaries of the Established Church-are to have their lives endangered in, and are to be driven by mob-violence from, the fair and lawful discharge of their religious duties. The great body of the population are to be restricted from looking into the Scriptures, or any religious treatise, save certain specified Popish ones, and

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