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ment. I remained silent, covered | My charitable friend accompanied

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with confusion, and not knowing me home; I wished to be silent; what to say; though at the same when she spoke to me, I answered time feeling the full force of the her with a 'yes' or 'no.' But when truths he had delivered. He then we had reached my house, and were resumed his address, and said, 'Are now alone in my chamber, I pressed you disposed to perform the penance her hand,as a mark of my gratefulacwhich I shall now enjoin you, for knowledgment for her charity. She the purpose of procuring from God had the consolation to see me pour the grace of your conversion? It forth a flood of tears, and I saw that consists not in fasting, or alms, or she wept with me. Soon after, I prayers, or spiritual reading; will found myself able to open my heart you accept of it? Yes,' I replied, to her; I told her all that the man of I will, I promise to fulfil it; for God had said to me, and testified the the grace of God had began to touch | repugnance I felt at performing the my heart. This, then,' added he, penance which I had promised to is the penance I enjoin you each discharge. Take courage,' said she, morning and evening for eight days, begin by taking the mirror in your you will then come to me again, and hands, while I, in the next room, tell me the effect it has produced in will read a chapter in the 'Followyou. First, each morning and nighting of Christ,' which I have with me; wash your hands with essenced wa- in ten muutes I will return to you, ter, and, at the same time, say to Oh! how long did these ten minutes yourself beautiful hands, you will appear! I had applied no rouge to soon moulder into dust.' Repeat my face that day, nor did it want these words for the space of half an any; it was as red as scarlet. My hour, while you employ yourself in good friend returned; I pressed her some manual labour. Secondly, after to let me hear some instructive les this, for a quarter of an hour, sitting son from the book she held in her down, with a looking-glass in your hand. In the chapter which she hand, or kneeling before a mirror, opened by chance, I found many say, from time to time, handsome truths, which seemed written purface and head, you will soon re- posely for me. Finding myself touch, semble a death's head.' I advise ed with them in the most sensible you, moreover, during these eight manner, I begged her to procure me days, not to make any visit, except the of great necessity.' I promised faithfully to fulfil his advice, and he dismissed me with these words, which penetrated to the very bottom of my soul, Go, my child; do what I have recommended to you; I trust, all will be well with you in a little time.'

"As soon as I left the confessional, I threw myself upon my knees. Alas! this was a posture I had not been in for a long time; I continued in it for more than a quarter of an hour, agitated in an extraordimary manner, with my heart ready to burst with grief, yet unable to weep.

same work, signifying my intention of reading a chapter in it daily. She immediately requested me to accept that very volume, the Imitation or Following of Christ,' which has now for two years been my favourite book. My friend,' con tinued she, will you work an hour with me?' Have you any work to furnish me with? I confessed that I seldom employed myself in work, and was a very poor hand at my needle. Well,' said she, you must now make a beginning; let us each work some linen for the poor.' During our work we kept strict silence for a quarter of an hour; this

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was proposed by my friend, no doubt
with the intention of giving me the
more leisure to repeat interiorly,
beautiful hands, you will soon moul-
der into dust. My virtuous friend
quitted not her charge; while I, al-
ready so happily touched by the grace
of God, sighed for the day when I
was again to present myself before
the man of God, offer him the fruits
of his former counsel, and receive
from him new lessons of virtue. The
holy man blessed God a thousand
times for having struck in so forcible
a manner my light and irreligious
heart, and followed up with ardent
zeal the noble work which he had
begun. With that prudence and
discretion which form the character
of the true shepherd of souls, he con-
ducted this poor strayed sheep back
to the fold by the way of mercy and
compassion. At length, he pro-
nounced the happy sentence of recon-hardy sons exclusively.
ciliation over me, and admitted me
to the banquet of love and mercy."

Our catholics have abundant need to practice this moral lesson after the woful disappointment they have lately experienced in both houses of parliament. Four years ago they lost their bill in the house of commons, by a majority of four only, whereas the majority against them there, the other day, was twenty-four. In the house of lords they made sure of success; whereas here they were minus by no fewer than fifty-two voices or proxies; many of the latter sort, which were in readiness against them, were not produced. Patience, then, is necessary, 'till some great calamity, like the defeat of Saratoga, or the late tremendous revolution throughout Europe, shall have subdued the remainder of protestant bigotry, and shall render it necessary to leave the defence of Ireland to her own

Thus a new day of bright consolation beamed on this child of darkness; a holy life, full of works of mercy for the poor and distressed, succeeded her former days of vanity and folly; the most noble sacrifices fulfilled and confirmed her generous resolution; her piety gained strength from frequent and fervent exercises; and, after two years of happy perseverance in virtue, and the most striking progress in the science of salvation, this young convert was looked up to, in the place where she lived, as a model of perfect piety.

and

And yet, methinks, Mr. Editor, we are not absolutely reduced to make a virtue of necessity, as the expression is, since many motives concur to reconcile us to that which is the will of Heaven and of our legislature; for, 1st, we have not a hundredth part of the pains and penalties to endure for our fidelity to the true system of religion, which our forefathers suffered; and which they suffered, not only with patience, but also with alacrity:-2dly, neither our civil nor our social principles were calumniated in either house; on the contrary, we were universally allowed by our opponents to be good citizens and good subjects; 3dly,our very religion was, to a certain degree, respected by them; no one, to my knowledge, representing it as idolatrous, treacherous, or sanguinary.- These motives of consolaThis wise sentiment of the Ro- tion, however, are trifling compared man Flaccus our ancestors express-with the following: namely, that by ed with equal force, in the homely rhyme,

For the Orthodox Journal.

MR. EDITOR,

-Levius fit patentiâ
Quidquid corrigere est nefas.

What can't be cur'd, must be endur'd,

our defeat, we have saved the religion itself from essential injuries, if not from utter ruin. This will appear

evident to every man of sense who recollects the condition on which our parliamentary advocate was instructed by our managers to pray for a committee of tho commons to relieve us, and who witnessed the dispositions of the latter in our regard, as expressed by the orators of the majority. Mr. Grattan then assured the house that they might, at the present day, command the veto, or any other security they might wish for. On the other hand, Messrs. Foster, Webber, &c. no less than the bishops, required that, to make our allegiance perfect, and entitle us to emancipation, we should give up the pope's authority, renounce then admission of protestant converts into our communion, as also onr doctrinal objections to the reformation, our religious orders, particularly the jesuits, our episcopal synods, &c. &c. In vain had those managers agreed on the part of the body, as well as their own, to the unrestricted veto, and the other irreligious and unconstitutional clauses of the bill of 1813, (the same bill, framed by Messrs. Butler and Canning, which was to have been again brought forward, had the committee taken place); in vain had they even violated their rule of faith, by forming themselves into a democratical society for instructing the catholic population from the bare text of the bible; in vain had their director published himself a subscriber of two guineas to support catholic schools, from which catholic pastors and catholic catechisms, by a fundamental law, are excluded; in vain had they made common cause with hugonot Buonapartists in the south of France the whole of this irreligious sacrifice had been offered in vain; it could not lull the green-eyed monster to sleep. Nothing, then, remained but to assure the protestant laity and bishops, that they might have any other security (against this

dreadful evil, the religion of their forefathers, that of the Alfreds and the Edwards) which they could devise: and this Mr. Grattan, by what he thought due authority, did assure them of. In fact, he has been publicly thanked for what he then said.

In this situation of our religious concerns, what, Mr. Editor, would have been the consequence of our carrying the question of a committee? Not only the bill and the oaths, condemned by the pope (after being sanctioned by monsigneur Quarantotti, at the instance of Paul M Pherson and his adherents in England) would have been brought for ward, but also those other numerous and fatal measures, intimated above, with all sir John Hippisley's plans of catholic reformation, which he has been devising and brooding over for these dozen years past, would have been incorporated with the bill, to none of which we could have objected, after what Mr. Grattan and other parliamentary men had advanced in our name, without the loudest outcries, echoed throughout the nation, of prevarication and perfidy against us. It is certain, however, that nine out of ten amongst us would have objected and resisted at every risk. This evidently would have been followed by persecution with respect to the great majorityof the body, and with schism on the part of the rest of them. In the mean time the same fallacious excuse would have been urged by the managers in question which was set up by them when the former bill seemed to be on the point of passing. They would have cried out to us,-"We lament the terms of the emancipation as much as you do; -and we are sensible that they are injurious, and may be fatal to the catholic religion; but we could not help this: the act is a protestant act, made by protestants for the security of their religion, which it belongs to them to secure in the

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great body of English catholics more anxious for the small temporal advantages which they would derive from the proposed act of parliament, than they are for the safety of that

most effectual manner they can. Yes, sir, some catholics would have pretended, as they did pretend four years ago, that they had nothing to do with protestant securities, after they had invited and pressed protest-religion to which most of their comants to enact whatever conditions of emancipation they might think proper, and even after they had pledged themselves cheerfully to concur to such conditions.

fort in this life, and all their hope for the life to come, is annexed. They never will preclude themselves from expressing their sentiments and prayers to parliament, when they conceive this to be in danger, however a few persons in this metropolis

Aware of this danger, certain catholics of Warwickshire and Staffordshire, to the number of about a thou-may think and act in the business, sand, whose example would have Another measure of the persons in been followed, had the time permit- question, which has been lately tated, throughout England, presented ken, deserves to be attended to.a petition to the two houses of par- Among the subscribers to the petiliament, praying indeed for the eman- tion presented to the legislature, cipation; but praying still more ear- was a vicar apostolic, who was even nestly that the threatened subjuga- supposed to have drawn it up and tion of their religion might not take procured many signaturcs, particu place. This wise precaution, as larly of the catholic clergy, to it.-might be expected, proved doubly There was, of course, an absolute offensive to the persons alluded to. necessity of fixing a stigma upon It proved that the English, no less him. But, how was this to be effectthan the Irish catholics, were averse ed? He could not be directly cento the subjugation in question, and sured for the exercise of a constituit demonstrated, that those who had tional right which the legislature heretofore undertaken to think and had approved of, by receiving the peto act for the English catholics, were tition, and ordering it to be printed. not, in fact, their authorized repre- The only resource, then, which resentatives. It was most of all offen-mained, was to give a feeble backsive to one gentleman of the law, kanded blow to the prelate, by votwho, for these thirty years past has ing thanks to one of his colleagues claimed it, as his right, to draw up who had not remonstrated to parthe petitions, resolutions, and ad-liament against the threatened bill; dresses of his catholic countrymen, but who was not employed on this occasion. To prevent such acts of presumption in future, nothing has been thought more effectual than to form affiliated societies of catholics throughout England, dependent on the London board; and it is understood that this measure has been resolved upon. Supposing, however, that it can be put in execution, which is exceedingly doubtful, we may safely affirm that it will never answer the purpose of its proposers, unless the latter can succeed in making the

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and this has been done accordingly.
It remains to be seen what effect this
measure will produce on each of the
prelates: how far it will depress the
former and elate the latter. Thus
much we may venture to affirm, that
the latter will not hang up the embla-
zoned vellum, containing the thanks,
among the pious pictures in his ora-
tory, and that he will not send it to
the Scotch agent to be presented to
certain eminent personages. I am,
sir,
AN OBSERVER.

For the Orthodox Journal.

MR. EDITOR,-Not merely aspersed, but loaded as I am with ca. Jumnies, and assailed by hosts of enemies of every form, class, charac ter, and religion, I should not have obtruded myself on the attention of your readers, in the present number of your Journal, did I not conceive that respect to the public and to religion calls upon me to notice one particular point of Dr. Poynter's late pastoral, printed in your last, in which I am charged before the whole catholic body of the united kingdom with having refused, or neglected to correct, in my published works, some errors contrary to the faith and doctrine of the catholic church," which the bishop says he had pointed out to me.

doctrine of the catholic church, if they can be so called; and if Dr. Poynter will only intimate a wish that these expressions be made correct, the pages shall be instantly can celled. His lordship, however, has never even condescended to inform himself of the amendments I have or have not introduced into the works, and never having once spoken to me on the subject since my return from the holy see to England, I see not on what foundation he has denounced me in his pastoral as he has done. It is painful, however, for me to dwell upon this disedifying subject; the rest of this publication is equally at variance with all that is recorded in my knowledge and recollection of facts.

There is one circumstance, however, which I may be here allowed to mention, because it appears to have escaped Dr. Poynter's memory in his detail of proceedings, and forms one instance among many of his lordship's defective recollection. The FACT is simply this, that during last winter Dr. Poynter appealed on this very question from the propaganda to the pope in person, through cardinal Consalvi. Now, if the pastoral give a true account of things, it must be allowed, I think, that Dr. Poynter had no reason to be dissa

I must declare, then, most solemnly, that Dr. Poynter's memory and my own are totally at variance as to the fact, and that, notwithstanding my repeated entreaties to be made acquainted with errors, if any exist in my works of the nature in question, not one has ever been communicated to me by Dr. Poynter, or by any other individual. All that his lordship has ever notified to me in writing has been, that errors were to be found in the works, and when press-tisfied with the Propaganda, and that ed by myself to show them, he has this appeal was made without a momentioned a few inaccuracies of ex- tive. Whereas, if a motive did expression, with some mistakes of the ist, or if it was because Dr. Poynter press, particularly one in the third felt dissatisfied with the decisions of volume of the sermons, where ele- that sacred congregation (" to which ments has been printed for accidents, our missions are subject,”) then, acand another in the prayer-book, cording to commou fairness and juswhere in page 252 the words, for the tice, this circumstance, so favoura thing offered, should have been pre-ble to my honour and cause, should ceded by first as to the matter of the have been stated. Excuse me, Mr. sacrifice. I again solemnly assert, Editor, and allow me to remain, that I believe these to be the most your obedient humble servant, important of the errors existing in my two works against the faith and

PETER GANDOLPHY. East Sheen, June 23, 1817.

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