THE END OF Religious Controversy, IN A FRIENDLY CORRESPONDENCE BETWEEN Religious Society of Protestants, AND A Roman Catholic Divine. Addressed to the Right Rev. Dr. BURGESS, Lord Bishop of St. David's, in IN THREE PARTS. PART I.... On the RULE OF FAITH; or, the Method of finding out the TRUE By KEATING, BROWN, and Co. No. 38, Duke-Street, Grosvenor-Square. SOLD ALSO BY BOOKER, Bond-street; LONGMAN and Co. and SHERWOOD and Co. Paternoster- "Let those treat you harshly, who are not acquainted with the difficulty of attaining to truth and avoiding error. Let those treat you harshly, who know not how hard it is to get rid of old prejudices. Let those treat 'you harshly, who have not learned how very hard it is to purify the 'interior eye and render it capable of contemplating the sun of the soul, truth. But as to us: we are far from this disposition towards persons, 'who are separated from us, not by errors of their own invention, but by 'being entangled in those of others. We are so far from this disposition, 'that we pray to God, that, in refuting the false opinions of those, whom 'you follow, not from malice, but imprudence, he would bestow upon us that spirit of peace, which feels no other sentiment than Charity, no other interest than that of Jesus Christ, no other wish but for your sal'vation.'-St. Augustin, Doctor of the Church, A. D. 400, contra Ep. Fund. 1. i. c. ii. ADDRESS. TO THE RIGHT REVEREND LORD BISHOP OF ST. DAVID'S. MY LORD, THE following Letters, with some others belonging to the same series, were written in the latter part of the year 1801, and the first months of 1802, though they have since that time been revised, and, in some respects, altered They grew out of the controversy, which the principal writer of them was obliged to sustain against an eminent author, a Prebendary of the Cathedral, and the Chancellor of the Diocese of Winchester, who had personally challenged him to the field of argument, in a book, called Reflections on Popery. That controversy having made some noise in the public, and even in the Houses of Parlia ment, particularly in the Upper House, where the Lord Chancellor (1) and a predecessor of your Lordship, then the light and glory of the Established Church (2), expressed opposite opinions on the issue of it, certain powerful personages expressed an earnest wish for its termination. For this purpose the usual method of silencing authors was at first resolved upon with respect to the writer, and a Catholic Gentleman of name, still living, was commissioned to sound him (1) The Right Hon. the Earl of Loughborough. (2) The Right Rev. Dr. Horsley, successively Bishop of St. David's, Rochester, and St. Asaph's. iv on the business: but, in conclusion, it was thought most adviseable to employ the influence which the Prelate alluded to, had so justly acquired over him. This method succeeded; and, accordingly, these Letters, which, otherwise, would have been published fifteen years ago, have slept in silence ever since. I trust your Lordship will not be the person to ask me, why the Letters, after having been so long suppressed, now appear?-You are witness, my Lord, of the increased and increasing virulence of the press against Catholics; and this, in many instances, directed by no ignoble or profane hands. Abundant proofs of this will be seen in the following work. For the present, it is sufficient to mention, that one of your most venerable colleagues publishes and re-publishes that we stand convicted of Idolatry, Blasphemy, and Sacrilege. Another proclaims to the clergy, assembled in Synod, that we are enemies of all law, human and divine. More than one of them has charged us with the guilt of that Anti-Christian conspiracy on the continent, of which we were exclusively the victims. This dignitary accuses us of Antinomianism; that maintains our religion to be fit only for persons weak in body and in mind. In short, we seldom find our. selves, or our religion mentioned, in modern sermons, or other theological works, unaccompanied with the epithets of superstitious, idolatrous, impious, disloyal, perfidious, and sanguinary. One of the theologues alluded to, who, like many others, has gained promotion by the fervour of his NO POPERY zeal has exalted his tone to the pitch of proclaiming that our Religion is calculated for the meridian of hell!!— Thus solemnly, and almost continually, charged be fore the tribunal of the public, with crimes against Society and our Country, no less than against Religion, and yet conscious, all the while, of our entire innocence, it is not only lawful, but also a duty, which we owe to our fellow-subjects and ourselves, to repel these charges by proving that there was reason, and religion, and loyalty, and good faith among Christians, before Luther quarrelled with Leo X., and Henry VIII. fell in love with Ann Bullen; and that, if we ourselves have not yet been persuaded by the arguments, either of the monk or the monarch, to relinquish the faith originally preached in this island, above 1300 years before their time, we are, at least, possessed of common sense, virtuous principles, and untainted loyalty. The writer might assign another reason for making the present publication; namely, the number and acrimony of his own public opponents on subjects of religion. To say nothing of the groundless charges, by word of mouth, of certain privileged personages, the following writers are some of those who have published books, pamphlets, essays, or notes against him, on subjects of a religious nature; the Deans of Winchester and Peterborough; Chancellor Sturges; Prebendary Poulter; the Doctors Hoadley-Ash, Ryan, Ledwich, Le Mesurier (1), and Elrington; Sir Richard Musgrave, John Reeves, Esq.; the Reverend Messrs. (1) To one only objection of his adversaries the writer wishes here to give an answer, that of having quoted falsely; which, however, has been advanced by very few of them, and is confined, as far as he knows, to two instances. The first of these is that the writer in his History of Winchester, vol. i. p. 61, quotes Gildas, for the exploits of King Arthur, who never once mentions 'his name.' This objection was first started, by Dr. O'Conor, in his Columbanus, was borrowed from him by the Rev. Mr. Le Mesurier in |