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    the civil power in tfee appointment of popish bishops in Ireland . On this question , the Remonstrants would bave reason and scripture on their side , provided it shall appear , that these bishops , when appointed , never interfere in temporal matters . The fact is * that neither pope nor king has any thing" to do with the election of officers

    of a Christian church : but in a sect , by Jaw established , or in one acknowledging * the authority of a foreigner in its concerns , the interference of the sovereign is < iuite a different question . This discussion on the rights of the sovereign and of the pretended holy father , and of the society of Papists or Catholics in Ireland , cannot fail , it is to be hoped , of opening * the eyes of the Remonstrants , and leading them to the knowledge of the true church of

    Christ , in which no man can exercise lordshtp or dominion , and in which he who would be the first must be the servant of all . But it is ever to be recollected , that tbe spirit of Popery is not confined to the society under that name : it may be found equally in a petty meeting-ho use as in a splendid conclave . Persons may persecute each other for the sake of their religious

    opinions , thoug'h they are not backed by the civil authority ; and the mind may be prostrated to the traditions recorded in the anuals of the meeting' -house , as much as those of a large society to decrees of councils , or articles sanctioned by act of parliament .

    In the Low Countries the popish bishops bave taken the alarm , but happily without any effect . The union of the seventeen provinces under one head . a : id that a Protestant , might . naturally lead them to fear that some encroachment miglit be made on their spiritual authority . The Belgians are , next to the Irish , the most bigoted

    Papists on this side of the Atlantic ; but they have , or rather they used to have , a clergy which paid considerable attention to learning * . The liberty allowed to religion , may not , for a long time , produce any sensible effect , and we do not hear of Protestant

    churches being settled in Belgium . In facl , at the late coronation of the new king- , he went to hear Te Deum sung in the popish cathedral , where we will hope , that h « did not beni the knee to any *> f the * bominations in that church . He has

    calmed , by his declarations , the popish bishopa , arid time will shew , whether the 1 k |> isfs and Protestants enn coalesce tolerably well together in civil government . How little effect is produced on either side

    by tlieii reasoning's , is too evident from t « i € state of Germany , where religion follows the political divisions of the country . -A v illage , surrounded by Protestants re-Hfc ^ usi Catholic to this day , if \\ was so at "le lime of the treaty of religion , und vice v * ts ( i . And indeed much of this is to he

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    the inhabitants take their places in churches , chapels or meetings , according as they have been brought up to this or that form of worship . But Christians are , according to the Jewish idiom , born of God . They must receive their religion from him , not from the commands or the traditions of

    man : and it is easy for any one to determine for himself , whether he has received it from the former or the latter . France continues to be the object of great attention : and very doubtful is the ultimate position which that unhappy country will take . The Protestants are leaving : it in great numbers , and it is to be lamented , that they should have such cause : but

    big * otry succeeds infidelity , and is likely to be the greater enemy to veligion . The plunder collected by the French from all nations , is carried av ay in gveat convoys , dud the English are the only persons who do not partake in the spoil That the robbers should , in their turn , he robbed , cannot excite commiseration : but we tear

    that this exanijile will not deter future royal or imperial or republican rubbers from tin-suing the same career . Though France is actually under the controul of foreigners , they soem to interfere but little in the internal government of the country . The French king lias his parliament about him , artd he has addressed them and received their addresses as in time of profound peace . The articles of the peace have not yet been laid before this body , which lias been chiefly occupied in its forms and its addresses . The refusal of two peers to take the constitutional oath , excited much

    more discussi-. / ii than necessary , ii seems that religion is their ground of dissect , and they will be in the case of our Catholic peers . The character of the nssernbly is not yet sufficiently developed , but it seems to lean towards the ancient re ^ 'iin ^; and uninstructed by the past , would build up an authority , which cannot long be supported or endured . It will requiie considerable time , however , before the effects of their delibeiufions will be kn-wn . As

    long as foreign troops remain m the conntry , there will be outward homage to the Bourbons ; they may pass what laws thoy please , —l > ut the enforcement of them m ; . y be difficult . It is now sutficir . niSy well known , that Bounaparte could aoi have inarched to Paris , hud the people at huge n < A entertained a jealo ¦ ¦ > > y of tin ; emigrants , and a rear from ; . '> c ^ lo ^ onv they bad purohas -d or acquire * c ! m ing * the to . oi . ition .

    These fears are uot uMayod , ihongii the government issues |; i . ; o ausations sufficiently strong to remove them . . ¦ % . gvcut p : * int , which excited much fli . TieuMy m the addrcs . ses ot 'he legislature , was the wording of the article tn which the punishment of the guilty was in / ol \< d . But whut are we to say of guilt in vvhiolt a whole nation participates ? And how idle it i % to give aa .

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    State of Public Affairs . 60 S

• Citation
  • Monthly Repository (1806-1838) and Unitarian Chronicle (1832-1833), Oct. 2, 1815, page 663, in the Nineteenth-Century Serials Edition (2008; 2018) ncse.ac.uk/periodicals/mruc/issues/vm2-ncseproduct1765/page/63/