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rectly or indirectly affect or interfere with the independence, sovereignty, laws, or constitution of this kingdom, or with the civil or ecclesiastical government thereof, as by law established, or with the rights, liberties, persons, or properties of the subjects thereof." It soon appeared that the four vicars apostolic, though they had signified their approbation of these principles by signing the "protestation," were determined to oppose the oath; for they addressed what is called an encyclical letter to all the clergy and laity, declaring the oath unlawful to be taken, &c. &c. The Committee being now in great difficulties, met February 3, 1790, at the Crown and Anchor, and resolved, "That the Committee shall endeavour to prevail on the legislature to alter the oath to the words of the protestation; and that so altered, the oath would be unobjectionable." The eath was accordingly altered, and then stood in the present form: “That no church, nor any prelate, nor any assembly of prelates or priests, nor any ecclesiastical power whatsoever, have, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction or authority whatsoever within this realm, that can, directly or indirectly, interfere with the independency, sovereignty, laws, constitution, government, or the rights, liberties, persons, or properties of the people of the said realm, or any of them.”

any further step to get the oath altered to please their offended prelates. In an address to the general body of the English Ca tholics, signed April 21, 1792, they speak of the protestation, "as an explicit and unequivocal declaration of the sentiments of the English Catholics as men and citizens," and of the oath "as a counterpart of the protestation." "To withdraw the oath," say they, " appeared to us receding from the protestation. To recede from the protestation we held in horror; we thought it an act of unjustifiable perfidy; we were persuaded it would cover the body, and ourselves in particular, with ignominy, and make us for ever despicable in the eyes of men of honour, principles, consistency of character, or truth. We never, therefore, could be induced to solicit the withdrawment of the oath."

Our readers will be ready to ask, If these were the determinations of the body of English Catholics, who had protested in the face of the country and of parliament, "that no foreign prince, prelate, &c. &c. had or ought to have any civil jurisdiction, &c. or any spiritual authority within the realm, that could, directly or indirectly, interfere with the independence, &c. of the people of this realm, &c. &c. how was it that they were so much interfered with, that their independence was entirely nullified, if This alteration satisfied one of not destroyed? The subsequent the apostolic-vicars, but not the history informs us, if not in so three others, who wrote to their many words, yet by implication, respective flocks, telling them that a power existed at Rome, to that "the altered oath remained which these noblemen, gentleliable to the censure fixed on the men, and priests, were so subformer." ject, and by which they were so The Committee, notwithstand-enthralled, in a matter which reing this, resolved to persevere to lated solely to their civil rights as get the bill passed, without taking the subjects of Great Britain,

that, "to prevent any miscon- | Pope over the three vicars apos, ception of their conduct by the tolic, was more powerful than holy see, the Committee deter- that of the whole body of Engmined to depute the Rev. Mr.lish Catholics, "who persisted in Hussey, afterwards Bishop of their refusal to take any active part Waterford, to his holiness,"" to in procuring an alteration in the -"to lay before his holiness, a fair re- oath. The bill passed the House presentation of the late proceed- of Commons unaltered, and withings of the Committee, and an out a dissenting voice; but in the exact state of the present situa- House of Lords the vicars apostion of the English Catholics." tolic obtained the alteration which In the instructions given to Mr. they solicited; and the clause to Hussey as to the object of his which the Pope and they had embassy to Rome we find, that objected was altogether omitted. he was to inform his holiness, And the bill thus amended passed "that the protestation," which into a law, leaving the oath prehad given so much uneasiness at cisely as it was in the bill of Rome, "was a pledge of upright-1778, viz. "And I do declare, ness called for by their Protestant that I do not believe that the fellow-subjects; that it was not Pope of Rome, or any other foattempted to be carried into ex-reign prince, prelate, state, or ecution, as a basis of public potentate, hath or ought to have measures, until it had been ap-any temporal or civil jurisdiction, proved and signed by the apos-power, superiority, or pre-emitolic-vicars, the far greater part of the clergy, and most of the respectable laity in the four districts; that it had been already presented to Parliament, and therefore, if the present form were not perfectly correct in the wording, the Committee were not to blame, because no alterations had been previously called for by the clergy, and the deed having gone before Parliament, it could not possibly be revoked; and that it was not intended to hurt religion, but to serve it; not to infringe the communion of English Catholics with the holy apostolical see, but to render that communion less odious; not to prejudice the character of the first pastortion of the Pope, but also to of the church, but to rescue it from obloquy and abuse." But Doctor Hussey being chaplain to the Spanish embassy, was not suffered to proceed to Rome, and we hear no more of the opinion of the Pope!

The influence, however, of the

nence, directly or indirectly, within this realm." The additional clause which they rejected was, "Nor any ecclesiastical power whatsoever, have, hath, or ought to have, any jurisdiction or authority whatsoever within this realm, that can, directly or indirectly, interfere with the independency, sovereignty, laws, constitution, government, or the rights, liberties, persons, or properties of the people of the said realm, or any of them."

From this it appears, that the body of English Catholics, both clergy and laity, were willing to renounce subjection, not only to the temporal and civil jurisdic

his ecclesiastical jurisdiction, if ever it should interfere directly or indirectly with the allegiance they owed to the King of England; but that the vicars apostolic, influenced by the Pope, would not suffer them to give the government such a pledge. Is it

not clear then, that English Ro-jected them to the suspicion of man Catholics are expected by their government, and exposed their spiritual superiors, to sub- them to the pity and derision of mit implicitly to foreign eccle- all their Protestant fellow-subsiastical authority, even when it jects! "In consequence of this interferes with the independency, resolution," (we are gravely insovereignty, laws, constitution, formed, but without any expresgovernment, &c. &c. &c. of the sion of indignation,) "it is, this people of the realm? So true is 30th day of December, 1791, it, "that no man can serve two delivered to Doctor Morton, the masters;" and also, that when Secretary of the British Museum, the civil authority of the chief by Charles Butler, Secretary to magistrate interferes with the ec- the Catholic Committee!" We clesiastical authority of the Pope, only add, that we hope Dr. Morthe Roman Catholics must obey ton took good care of it, for the the Pope rather than the King! purpose of its being known in Is it not, therefore, impossible future, what concessions the Engthey can give that pledge of their lish Catholics would have made allegiance to the King, which in 1791, to obtain merely equal shall effectually secure his Pro- privileges with Protestant dissentestant subjects from oppression, ters; but which we suppose they if they should be entrusted with would not now be permitted to the administration of the laws? make in order to their being admitted to share in all the honours and jurisdictions of the state.

ex

(To be continued.)

IOTA.

WILLIAM TYNDAL.

To the Editors of the Baptist Magazine.

But to return to this famous "protestation," which had now been rendered useless, we find that at a general meeting held at the Crown and Anchor Tavern in the Strand, June 9, 1791, it was resolved, "That as the oath contained in the bill for the relief of English Catholics, is not pressed in the words of the protestation, the English Catholics take this occasion to repeat their adherence to the protestation, as an explicit declaration of their civil and social principles; and direct the Committee to use their endeavours to have it deposited in the Museum, or some other proper place of public institution, that it may be preserved there, as a lasting memorial of their politi- A laudable anxiety is often felt cal and moral integrity." To to know something of the private which they might have added,-life, as well as of the public hisand as a permanent monument of their degraded and humiliated circumstances, in consequence of their religious adherence to a foreign prince and prelate, who has by his recent conduct justly sub

THE Portrait and Memoir of William Tyndal* could not but afford much gratification to all who value the blessings which have attended the Reformation from Popery. If the following additional particulars shall be deemed sufficiently interesting to deserve a place in your Magazine, they are at your service.

tory, of those individuals whose labours have materially benefitted their fellow-men; and our esteem

*See our Magazine for October, 1819. We are sorry that this article has been so long delayed.

for such persons is much increased, when we discover that they exemplified in their daily conduct the purity and excellence of the principles which they advocated by their publications. This remark may be pleasingly illustrated by an extract from the Memoir of Tyndal, prefixed to the collected edition of his Works; and which, by the way, will furnish a complete refutation of the charge often alleged against the Reformers, that in their zeal for the doctrine of justification by faith, they discarded works as unnecessary and useless. Thus writes the compiler of the Memoir above-mentioned:

and yet overburdened with children, or els were aged, or weake, those also he plentifully releved. And thus he spent his two dayes of pastime, as he called them. And truely his almose was very large and great; and so it might well bee; for his exhibition that he had yearely of the Englishe merchauntes was very much, and that for the most part he bestowed upon the poore, as afore sayd. The reste of the dayes in the weeke he gave hym wholy to his booke, wherein most diligently he traveled. When the Sonday came, then went he to some one merchaunt's chamber or other, whether came many other merchauntes; and unto them would he reade some one percell of scripture, eyther out of the olde testament, or out of the new, the which proceded so frutefully, sweetely, and gentely from him, (much like to the writing of S. John the Evangelest,) that it was a heavenly comfort and joy to the audience to heare him reade the scripture: and in like wise after dinner, he spent an houre in the aforesayd maner."

"And here to ende and conclude this history with a fewe notes touching his private behavior in dyet, study, and especially his charitable zeale, and fender releving of the poore. Fyrst, he was a man very frugall, and spare of body, a great student and earnest laborer, namely, in the setting forth of the scriptures of God. He reserved or halowed to hymselfe two dayes in the weeke, which he named his dayes of pastime; and those The works of this illustrious dayes were, Monday the first day Reformer furnish constant proof in the weeke, and Satterday the of his great talents, and eminent last day in the weeke. On the piety. Grieved to see the true Monday he visited all such poore religion so awfully dishonoured men and women as were fled out and misrepresented, and fired of England by reason of perse- with holy indignation at the abocution into Antwarp, and those minable practices of Antichrist, well understanding their good ex- he never shrunk from an avowal ercises and qualities, he did very of his sentiments, but took every liberally comfort and relieve; and opportunity of exposing the enorin like maner provided for the mities of the system, sometimes sicke and deseased persons. On by the most cutting sarcasms, the Satterday he walked round and sometimes by judicious arabout the towne in Antwarp, gumentation. In this respect, I seeking out every corner and think him not unworthy the title hole where he suspected any poore of the Luther of England. The person to dwell, (as God know-following paragraph, taken from th there are many,) and where he "the obedience of a christian found any to be well occupied, man," is a fair specimen of the

boldness of speech which he used when combating the hirelings of Rome.

"Ye blind guides, sayth Christ, ye strayne out a gnat, and swalow a camell.' Do not our blind guides also stomble at a straw, and lepe over a blocke, makyng narow consciences at trifles, and at matters of weight none at all? If any of them happen to swalow hys spitle or any of the water wherewith he washeth hys mouth, ere he goe to masse; or touch the sacrament with his nose, or happen to handle it with any of his fingers which are not annoyuted, or say Alleluia instede of Laus tibi Domine, or Ita Missa est instede of Benedicamus Domino, or poure to much wine in the chalice, or read the gospell without light, or make not his crosses aright, how trembleth he! how feareth he! what an horrible sin is committed! I cry God mercy, sayth he, and you my ghostly father. But to hold an whore or another man's wife, to bye a benefice, to set one realme at variance with another, and to cause twenty thousand men to dye on a day, is but a trifle and a pastime with them."

Your readers will not now be surprised to hear that the works of Tyndal were prohibited by royal proclamation; the king discovered in them " sundry pernicious

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darkness, and his own sanguinary temper often induced him to yield to their persuasions.

The following sketch of Tyndal's character and talents, written by the celebrated John Fox, the martyrologist, and inserted in his preface to the folio edition of his works, is too interesting to be omitted:

"In opening the scriptures, what trueth, what soundnes can a man require more, or what more is to be sayd, then is to be founde in Tyndall? In his Prologues uppon the five bookes of Moses; uppon Jonas, uppon the Gospelles, and Epistles of S. Paule, namely, to the Romaines, how perfectly doth he hit the right sence and true meaning in every thing! In his obedience,' how fruitfully teacheth he every person his dutie! In his expositions, and uppon the parable of the wicked Mammon, how pithely doth he persuade! how gravely doth he exhort! how lovingly doth he comforte! simply without ostentation, vehement without contention. Briefly, such was his modestie, zeale, charitie, and painefull travaile, that he never sought for any thing less then for hymselfe; for nothyng more then for Christe's glory, and edification of other; for whose cause not onely he bestowed his labours, but hys life and bloud also. Wherefore not unrightly he might be then, as he is yet cauled, the Apostle of England, as Paul cauleth Epaphroditus the Apostle of the Philippians;* for his singular care

and affection toward them. For

* Philip. ii. 25. "I supposed it necessary to send brother Epaphroditus and fellowe soudier, youre Apostle, and unto you, my companion in laboure, mynyster at my nedes." Tyndal's Version.

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