injurious to it. Each of the monarchies represented by the four metals of the image, rested upon a basis that was not uniformly solid and strong and the weak part of it was idolatry.Hence the downfall of all of them.-Even the kingdom that resembled iron for strength, crumbled into pieces, when touched by "the "stone cut out of the mountain without hands;" and the same stone will roll on, overturning every idolatrous kingdom, till it "rises into a great mountain and fills the whole earth.”— England, since it abjured the errors of Rome, has gradually advanced in knowledge, and power, and prosperity;—and at this time reposes upon a rock, that, on account of its strength, may be said to be of iron.-The friends of the Roman Catholics argue, that it would add strength to the British empire, and increase its prosperity, if emancipation was granted to the Catholics of Ireland, and an opportunity was offered them, of rising to the highest posts of trust in the protestant government.-But their arguments are contrary to experience and to scripture; for the two religions, the catholic and protestant, notwithstanding the assertions of a few individuals, are not equally good ;indeed, some of the warmest friends of the former, can smile at its absurdities, and acknowledge they cannot be defended :—and therefore, if a religion which contains certain gross absurdities, is allowed to be mixed with that, which was given by God himself to man, and

consequently must be true and good, then, in the figurative language of the prophet, "potters' or

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miry clay" will be added to it, and instead of strength, weakness will succeed, and the fall of the empire become inevitable-If the mixture of "the iron and clay" should be made, and the same catastrophe should befall the British empire, that befell the four monarchies of Daniel, which knew nothing of the revealed will of God, would the people of it have any real cause for impugning the justice of God? England possesses a glorions light, and he who gave it, expects she should make a proper use of it :-but if she neglects to do this, and she suffers it to be obscured or extinguished, the fault will be entirely in herself;-and she will deserve her fate.

It is an opinion of some of their friends, that if the Roman Catholics were admitted to all the privileges which protestants enjoy, their religious tenets would in no respects injure protestantism;—and they likewise assert, that such a free admission would lead to an amalgamation, that would ultimately destroy all the errors of Catholicism.

With regard to the first of these opinions, I would observe, that we are apt to judge of other mens' feelings by our own: well educated people, whose religious opinions are founded upon conviction, and who possess strong minds, would certainly never be injured by the false doctrine of Rome; but, all protestants are not educated the religious opinions of all of them,

are not formed upon conviction-nor, are all their ininds equally strong-There are young and tender minds-there are weak and uncultivated minds-there are minds that have no other religious impressions, than those which ignorant parents have stamped upon them; now, these minds, would not be proof against the artifices, and the pleasing insinuations of priestcraft, like the experienced and well tortified minds of British senators, and of all others, who have had the advantage of a liberal education-Would it be right then to expose such weak minds to danger?-Would not such a measure be a direct violation of that prayer, which we offer to the deity," lead us not into temp"tation?"-Men who acknowledge the propriety of this address, would act very inconsistently and very urjustifiably, in exposing their weaker brethren unnecessarily to temptation, which they might not be able to withstand :—in which case a real injury would be done to them, and the protestant faith.-For, if the artifices of men, in the first ages of christianity, when covered with the cloak of hypocrisy, could draw away numbers from the truth, and almost deceive "the very elect" by their subtle falsehoods, how much more easily will the ignorant, and those who are not well grounded in the truth of Christ's religion, be imposed upon and deluded by the pretended miracles of Rome, and her assumed power of forgiving sins, which must be grateful to all those who are

heavily oppressed with them.-And if the boundary line is removed, on the principle that all religious are equally good, and that it is a matter of no consequence, whether protestants or catholics direct and manage the affairs of the government, with which the protestant church, is inseparably interwoven, will not the common people quickly adopt the opinions of their superiors, and become indifferent about the religion they profess?-The removing of the separating line, will elevate the Catholic, and depress the Protestant-for, the Catholic calculates upon the certainty of great advantage from the alteration in his favour, but the Protestant can gain nothing by it:—the advantage therefore thus gained, must prove injurious to the interest of the protestant:—both religiously, and politically

With respect to the second point, it must be remarked, that there is a wide difference between the case of a person, who wishes to be · come a member of a community, for the purpose of learning its customs, manners, laws, and religion, that he may correct his errors, improve his mind, and acquire different sorts of knowledge; and the case of another, who demands admission into the same community, as his right, not for the sake of improvement, not for the sake of correcting any error in his religion, which he considers in all respects quite perfect, but, for the sake of emolument and power.-In the first case, an ingenuous mind, would throw

aside its prejudices and ignorance, and embrace the truth with eagerness and pleasure;-in the latter, interest being the only object, and that being once obtained, all change and reformation would be out of the question:-pride, generally accompanies wealth and power, and never sees any thing better than itself.-The Catholics demand admission as a right, and so far from supposing that they can learn any thing good from protestants in religious matters, they consider them in the deepest errors, and in the worst kind of heresy.-How then is their religion to be altered and reformed by protestantism, and a closer intercourse with protestants? Will not protestantism do more to destroy catholicism, by exposing its errors in the bright and strong light of its own truth, than by any other means it could adopt?-How can ignorance be better removed, than by information and knowledge?-And when is real christian charity better exercised, than in bringing the ignorant to God by the way, he himself has graciously pointed out?-To introduce error into the peaceable dwellings of truth, is an extraordinary—a dangerous experiment;-it it would be a still more dangerous thing, for truth to nourish and indulge it. It ought never to be admitted; the "clay," though only mixed up with "the iron of the feet of the great "image," was the cause of its destruction.Instead, therefore, of the Catholic errors being destroyed, if their claims were granted, the

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