On this page

• Text (1)

  Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

  • 

    Untitled Article

• Transcript

  • Note: This text has been automatically extracted via Optical Character Recognition (OCR) software. The text has not been manually corrected and should not be relied on to be an accurate representation of the item.

    Additionally, when viewing full transcripts, extracted text may not be in the same order as the original document.

    Untitled Article

    themselves and their families from its communion . The review which we have taken of the state of the Roman Catholic Church in every part of Ireland , must satisfy reflecting persons , that the real impression is beyond comparison greater ; a spirit of religious inquiry appearing to have been generally excited among Roman Catholics , and the authority of the sacred Scriptures superseding everywhere the dictation of their priests . "—P . 53 .

    " ' The conversions that have taken place are but , as it were , the first shaking of the tree ; a few of the ripest have been severed . 'ITiese recantations have had the most beneficial results . One immediate effect they had , of confirming all Protestants in the truth of

    Protestantism , which was a point of much importance in this part of the kingdom , — which was the better religion was a subject of doubt in the minds of most ignorant Protestants . Now the Reformed Religion is completely victorious , having Reason aud Scripture on its side . ' ....

    ' Never , ' the writer urges in his conclusion , ' was there a time when English aid was more necessary than now , because the overwhelming power possessed for so many centuries by the priests , is all brought to bear in every parish against the infant Reformation . Its battle must

    be fought inch by inch . The Woman that fled into the Wilderness is returning out of it , and the monster stands with open jaws to devour her , if he can , before she has attained strength from on High . '"—P . 41 . " Two observations have been added , which should not be omitted . ' Hitherto , ' says our informant , ' the Roman Catholics have had too much reason for an

    opinion which is very commonly entertained among them , namely , that to be a Protestant and to have no religion are synonymous expressions . ' The evil is indeed rapidly disappearing , and Roman Catholics are now forced to make a distinction between nominal and real

    Protestants . The other observation is , * that nothing seems so fitted to produce extensive good in Ireland as the influence of the landed proprietor , who should prove to his tenantry that he values them at something" more than the revenue which they produce to him . The

    influence of such a man , who would feel and act as a servant largely entrusted by God , would , ' it is said , ' be incalculably great . ' The power of this influence has , however , been little tried in Kerry . "—P . 47 . Our readers shall see in the next extract what this genial " influence" is .

    Untitled Article

    "A gentleman possessing an estate in a part of Ireland , in which the Roman Catholics form a considerable part of the population , established on it a school for the education of his tenantry , and appointed a committee of five persons , three of whom were Roman Catholics , to arrange a system of education .

    Having thus taken sufficient care that the peculiar opinions of Roman Catholics should not be offended , he announced to the tenants , that he would insist upon their children receiving the education which he offered , and that he would accordingly exercise all the power of a landlord against those tenants whose children should be absent a single day without

    permission . The clergy interfered in this , as in other instances ; the landlord distrained the cattle of the parents of the children whom they had caused to be withdrawn ; and the tenants frequently sent private messages , requesting that these coercive measures might be employed against them , to furnish them with an apology for sending their children again to the school . "—P . 24 .

    But the Protestant church finds some difficulty in agreeing what doctrine it seeks conversion to . " The prevailing argument urged on the other side by the Roman Catholic clergy , is the dissension existing not only between distinct churches of Protestants , but even within the Established Church

    of these countries itself , between Calvinists and Armiuians . It may indeed easily be admitted , that a question concerning the manner in which the Atonement of the death of Jesus Christ is applied to the salvation of believers , cannot properly have place in a church in which the doctrine of the Atonement is

    overlaid and stifled by the superstition of a sacrificial sacrament , and by the various contrivances of priestcraft , which have corrupted the scriptural doctrine of salvation with the most unchristian notion of meritorious performances . The very dissension prevailing among Protestants is , on the other hand , at least a proof that the notion of human merit is rejected , since the question is concerning the manner in which the salvation of

    Jesus Christ is granted by the free mercy of God , whether it is appointed only for a chosen number , or offered generally and without restriction to every individual . It is , however , notorious to every person acquainted with the state of religious opinion within the Established Church , that much of this dissension has been mitigated , and that the two parties , in-

    Untitled Article

    Critical Notices . 125

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Feb. 2, 1828, page 125, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse-os.kdl.kcl.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct2557/page/53/