nation did not forget its obligations to France at the commencement of the French revolution, the documents respecting our foreign affairs, which have been given to the world by our minister, Mr. Monroe, now the President of the United States, will sufficiently explain. My instructions, says that great patriot, enjoined my utmost endeavors to inspire the French government with perfect confidence in the solicitude which was felt for the success of the French revolution, and of the preference due to a nation which had rendered us important services in our revolution. The senate had expressed with sensibility the same good wishes, and the House of Representatives say to the ally of the United States, that with increasing enthusiasm in the cause of liberty, they take a deep interest in the happiness and prosperity of the French republic. A nation, like our own, that is indebted to foreign aid for the independence it possesses; that has welcomed to its service the talents and virtues of foreigners; that has been solicitous to explain its hopes to the world, and professes in turn a readiness to prefer the allies of its infancy for the strength they gave, will not be hasty in rejecting the best opportunities to extend the blessings it enjoys in full consent with its commerce and prosperity; and they who have felt the gratitude which the enthusiasm of past times has inspired, will never be deceived by any names which may be used to disgrace the obligations we owe to the cause of humanity, wherever it may appear. If our humanity can do but little, we may be suffered to do much by the example of those who consult only their own interest. We should not be deceived by a policy that may seem to appeal to our integrity, while it may serve itself of our simplicity. The history of our own may explain to us what we owe to South America.

"Dean Tucker, in his answer to objections upon separation of the colonies, observes- It has been the unanimous opinion of the North Americans for these fifty years past,' speaking at the declaration of independence, that the seat of empire ought to be transferred from the less to the greater country, that is, from England to America; or, as Dr. Franklin elegantly phrased it, from the cock-boat to the man of war. Moreover, the famous American pamphlet, Common Sense, (in the composition of which Dr. Franklin and Mr. Adams are supposed to be principally concerned) declares it to be preposterous, absurd, and against the course of nature, that a great continent should be governed by an island. In no instance hath nature made the satellite larger than its primary planet. And as England and America, with respect to each other, reverse the common order of nature, it is evident they belong to different systems-England to Europe, and America to itself.""

1

ROMAN CATHOLIC

Principles

1 IN REFERENCE TO

GOD AND THE KING.

BY THE REV. JOHN KIRK.

LONDON:

1818.

FIRST PUBLISHED IN THE YEAR 1680.

Ir cannot have escaped the notice of those who have read, with any attention, the debates in Parliament on what is called, The Catholic Question, that in order to show the purity of the Principles of Catholics, as citizens at least, if not as Christians, an appeal was frequently made to "The Prayer Book," on account of certain Principles which it contained. This appeal was, in particular, made by MR. GRATTAN, MR. G. PONSONBY, MR. PARNELL, and SIR JOHN Cox HIPPISLEY.

What is the book, it has been asked, which is thus emphatically styled "The Prayer Book?"- What are the Principles, to which these Gentlemen appeal?-When and by whom were they first published? And in what estimation are they held by the body of Roman Catholics?

These and similar questions have frequently been asked; and some of them, no doubt, have been answered: yet to others, I am persuaded, no answer has been given which was satisfactory, even to the persons who undertook to answer them. Hence we find, that the Editors of those Principles, and of "The Prayer Book," who may naturally be supposed to know something of them, have never pretended to assign the precise time of their first publication, nor to mention the name of the person, by whom they were written or if they have ventured to name him, they have fixed upon some one, who could not have been the writer of them.

The present Inquiry was therefore undertaken with a view to solve more satisfactorily the above questions in themselves so natural and rational; and, at the same time, not uninteresting to the body of Catholics. But it cannot be well done, unless I give at length The Principles themselves, on account of which "The Prayer Book" has been so frequently mentioned. These then I

give with the title originally prefixed to them by the author in 1680. The language however of the work itself is, in some instances, rather obsolete: for which reason, in the edition given of them by MR. BERINGTON in 1785, some verbal alterations were made, with the view to accommodate the expression to the more modern forms of speech. By so doing, moreover, the Principles appear to have been more fully and clearly expressed in that, than in any preceding edition. For these reasons, I have given the preference to the edition of 1785, which is also the edition that has been adopted by DR. COPPINGER, and by others.-The few alterations which have been made by that learned prelate, will be found at the bottom of the page.

The reader, no doubt, will be aware, that as the Principles were written long before certain doctrines of the present day were broached, or at a time, when they were little noticed in this country, he is not hastily to conclude, from a little similarity of expression, that the author was therefore favorable to such doctrines.

I must moreover entreat him, not to draw inferences from solitary, detached sentences or paragraphs. By such method the lips of truth itself may be made to teach, with Arius, that the Son is inferior to the Father, and therefore not God: and, with Calvin, that God, by a horrible decree, destines some to eternal destruction and that it is impossible for these to avoid the necessity of sinning, which is imposed upon them by the ordinance of God."-And if this be impiety in one instance, is it not, at least, injustice in the other?

:

It will be clearly seen, in the following pages, that the Tract intitled Roman Catholic Principles, &c. was penned by a Catholic divine-by a divine of some eminence in the Church-and by one, who had passed the fiery ordeal in defence of his faith.-It will be seen, that those Principles were so favorably received by the Catholic public, that in the short space of six years, they passed through not less than twelve editions ;-and that they were solemnly appealed to, in the highest court of English justice, by a Catholic peer,-venerable for his age and for his attachment to his religious principles as to the established doctrine of the Roman Catholic Church."-Finally, it will be seen, that they were repeatedly presented to the English nation, as such, by an eminent and accredited champion of the Catholic Faith, the REV. JOHN GOTHER," who was chosen by his superiors, in preference to any other, for the delicate task of explaining, with precision, the Catholic tenets, and showing the exact difference between what we really believe; laying

1 Decretum quidem horribile fateor. Inst. L. 3. ch. 23. Sect. 7 and 9-De Præd. p. 690.