currence

such a scheme had originated, or that a reof disappointments would have overcome even sectarian pertinacity. But, when he saw that these difficulties only led to new and more powerful exertions; that every intermediate member of society, from the Mechanic to the Peer, was arming in one common design-the subversion of the FAITH; : when he perceived the wave of this porten

tous torrent roll home, even to his feet, he felt it was a duty he owed to himself as a Christian Priest, to his God as his Minister, and to his Country through a natural partiality, to oppose a system, which if reduced to practice, would risk the stability of society, and hazard the eternal happiness of Man. These were his motives, which must now constitute his apology, if indeed any be necessary, for undertaking this arduous task. Of the propriety of such an undertaking at this particular period, even though the writer had not the sanction of a Nation's voice, there could be little doubt: not so, however, of the manner in which it has been executed. Commencing the Work, without any prospect of continuing it to its present extent, it cannot be expected to exhibit all the uniformity of design and unbroken tenor of argument, which a sytematic arrangement only can bes

tow. Besides this obvious inconvenience, it was often necessary to treat each subject as it rose upon the public ear, and he is sure that the candid will be ready to admit, that the adaptation of historical evidence, to refute the falsehoods, and to meet the occurrences of the day at so short a notice, was but too well calculated to produce those transitions and digressions, which I fear, are too apparent in these letters. To the same cause he hopes the learned reader will be disposed to refer whatever defects may be discoverable in the style; and since the leisure required for elegance and ornament could not be commanded, he will be satisfied with the plain and energetic language of a first impression. Upon' this score, however, the writer is not over anxious, being well assured that, however excellently any work may be dressed up to suit the prevailing taste of the age, that work only, which has for its object the welfare of Man in his several stages of existence, and whose merit is founded in sentiment alone, is worthy the attention of a rational being. One word more-As in every case of anonymous authorship, conjecture kindly counterfeits knowledge, and supplies the place of certainty in discovering the unknown; the writer thinks this a fair opportunity of assu

ring them, ` that, although his productions have gone forth to the World in a state of ' literary orphanage, they are not the offspring of any parent with whose name they have been hitherto associated.

Dublin, Nov. 1824.

...

CLEROPHILOS.

LETTER I.

TO THE EDITOR OF

THE REGISTER.

SIR,

When the human mind has once gone forth into the regions of speculation, and metaphysical disquisition-when it has been once emancipated from the trammels of authority, and has substituted its own private judgment as the ultima ratio in matters of faith and religion, it is not difficult to foresee the lengths to which it may go, or the consequences which must result from an axiom so loose and indefinite. Was the principle truewere the Scriptures thus interpreted, to form the only, and exclusive rule of faith, it would follow, that God had imposed a condition, which, to the vast majority of his creatures, to all who had not the advantages of a liberal education, would be altogether impracticable; a condition the most arbitrary, partial, and

f

capricious, that can well be conceived; a condition, the fulfillment of which was impossible to the multitude, and on the fulfillment of which depended the salvation of the multitude. For, let me ask, what were people to do before the Gospel, and books of the New Testament were written, and published in the different languages? What were they to do during the fourteen hundred years which preceded the invention of the art of printingduring the ravages of the Huns, Goths, Vandals, and Normans-barbarians who declared war against literature, sacred and profane; and who, as far as depended on them, destroyed every monument and vestige of learning? How were they to effect their salvation during this long and dreary interval? Books, we all know, were exceedingly scarce in the early ages; it would have taken a man's whole life almost, to write out a correct and complete copy of the Bible. When the transcript was finished and offered for sale, what` would be the price? A single copy of the Armenian Bible cost £62. 10s. in manuscript, before the grand discovery of 1440. In the reign of Edward the First the price of a fair written Bible was £37 which, if we judge by the comparative price of labour, would now