Letters to Charles B

This historic book may have numerous typos and missing text. Purchasers can download a free scanned copy of the original book (without typos) from the publisher. Not indexed. Not illustrated. 1826. Excerpt: ... the guilt, therefore, is upon their heads; and the infamy is upon that Church, that Roman Catholic Church whose principles made persecution a duty;... that Roman Catholic Church which, till this hour, has neither retracted the principle, nor expressed its contrition for the practice. You have adjured me as a Christian and a gentleman, to say on which side the balance of religious persecution lies... the (Roman) Catholic or the Protestant? There is an Irish act against making comparisons, which you cannot but be acquainted with, were it only for its name's-sake, for it is called the Butler-aboo Statute. You should have remembered it, Sir, on this occasion, and enforced it against yourself... On which side does the balance of persecution lie!! Put the Inquisition in the scale, Sir, and nothing can be found to counterpoise it, unless Hell be plucked up by the roots! SLAVERY.--THE SLAVE TRADE. Concerning slavery, Sir, you have claimed for the Popes a merit which belongs to the Christian religion. Great exertions, you say.f were made by them for the redemption Tuge 260. t Page 07. of captives and the melioration of the condition of the slaves: in 1167 Pope Alexander III. solemnly declared in council, that all Christians ought to be exempt from slavery. That declaration certainly was not followed by any systematic measures for effecting the object which it had in view. But the gradual abolition of slavery in European Christendom is one of those benefits for which we are indebted mainly to Christianity; it is one of those things whereby, as I had stated, the Clergy advanced the best interests of this country even during the darkest ages of Papal domination. Here, Sir, let me introduce a remark relating to the present times, .. intreating you to lay asid...