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INSPIRED WRITINGS.

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racle may be received by Catholics, we of the Protestant Church do not admit of evidence of this description. Besides, if it was not till after three centuries had elapsed, that the Holy Spirit condesended to sanction the New Testament writings, it would follow that the Christians who lived prior to that period, were left in darkness and uncertainty as to the authority of the sacred writings, and, consequently, without any stable foundation on which to rest their faith. This is a view of the subject which no sincere believer can adopt, without charging the Almighty with partiality, and wantonly sporting with the feelings of the crea tures he had made. The authority of the author of Ecce Homo must, therefore, have been rejected by all good protestants, even although it had not been thought necessary to put that work down for the safety of the protestant church, and to preserve unshaken the faith of thousands, who might otherwise have been staggered by a perusal of its dangerous arguments, and the fearless manner in which the writer discusses the most important and interesting subjects.

Mr. COBBETT.-In your Register of the 18th ult. a correspondent asks, by whose authority those books (the New Testament Scriptures)" when formed into "their present collective state, were de"signated holy inspired writings?"-For some time I was surprised that a question, involving so many important consequences, had not received a prompt and satisfactory answer, either from yourself, who had already so powerfully advocated the cause of the established church, or from one of your Fordhams, your Churchmen, or other staunch supporters of the faith, who so ably assisted you in your pious opposition to the repeal of the penal statutes against the Unitarians; but, after some enquiry and considerable reflection, my surprise subsided on finding, that no celebrated ecclesiastical historian, as far as I have been able to discover, has attempted to fix a period when the books composing the New Testament " designated holy inspired writings." The author of Ecce Homo, who refers to Tillemont and other fathers in proof of A writer of the name of Dodwell, in his his statement; but whose authority has dissertations on Irenæus, says that a been overthrown by one of more weight collection or canon of the books of the and general influence; has asserted, that "New Testament was made in the reign it was not till 325 years after the birth of" of Trajan the Roman Emperor, more Christ that those books were received a century after Christ."-Dr. or acknowledged as inspired. His words Milis, who treated of this subject in the "At the end of three centuries beginning of last century, asserted, that (i. e. in the three hundred and twenty"there was no collection made of fifth year of the Christian era) some any books of Scripture, whether of bishops decided, that these four gos- "epistles or gospels, till about 60 years pels were the only ones which ought after the death of Christ. Not of the "to be adopted, or which had been" epistles certainly; for concerning the "really inspired by the Holy Ghost. A"authors and authority of some of these, "miracle enabled them to discover there were great disputes and doubts 50 dithcult "this important truth, "to be discerned, at time "then not very remote from that of the apostles. They placed, it is said, promiscuously, books apocryphal and au"thentic under an altar:-the Fathers "of the Council betook themselves to prayers, in order to obtain of the Loid that he would permit the false 66 or doubtful books to remain under the altar, whilst those which were truly inspired by the Holy Ghost, should place themselves above it, a circum"stance which did not fail to occur."

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"in the apostolical churches in the fol'lowing ages, which had never happened "had any of the last surviving apostles "constituted a canon. Nor of the four

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gospels, the reading of which in the "churches was not then determined and agreed m."-Another writer about the same perod, Dr. Beveridge, saysAmong all the more ancient writers of "ecclesiastical matters, you will hardly "find two that agree in the same num"ber of canonical books."-Again, “no one can be ignorant that some of the truly canonical books of the apostles were doubted of in the three first cen

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"turies of Christianity."-I could multi- dividual, except inasmuch as it shows the ply authorities on this subject; but as falsehoods which have been had recours they all differ from one another, this to, in order to make up something like a would only tend the more to confirm defence of so disgraceful an expenditure what I have already stated, that no cer- of the public money, as is the giving of tain period has been agreed upon by the such sums to such & man. However, as numerous writers of church history, when it has been taken up in Parliament, I trust the books of the New Testament" were the enquiries will not cease until the evil designated holy inspired writings.-I is done away. I have already commucordially agree with your correspondent, nicated to you, that Sir John Downie "that if these books were more candidly played a principal part in the late tragedy "examined, and more rationally consi- of the restoration of the Inquisition, and "dered, the truth and rationality of Chris- that Ferdinand, according to his custom, "tianity would be better understood." got tired of the man, and sent him to It must, at the same time, however, be Seville. General Morillo was about this acknowledged, that where a difficulty time appointed to the chief command of presents itself in the outset of this exami- the embryo expedition to South America, nation, it cannot be expected that any and passed through Seville on his way to one can enter upon it, with an unbiassed Cadiz, to commence operations in the and unprejudiced mind, until that diffi- organization of his army. It will be, perculty is removed. The point under dis-haps, thought extraordinary here, but it cussion appears to me in that light. It is no less true, that a part of this army, involves, in my apprehension, all that is and one in which Ferdinand placed great desirable on earth. Upen it depends | confidence, was a depuiation of Priests, the truth of our holy religion, the founda- consisting of a certain number of every tion of our faith, the hope of a future ex- order in Spain, headed by the new Ameistence. I trust, therefore, that some rican Inquisitor General,llùmou Guiraquiz. abler pen than mine will take up the sub-|Seville, which is only about 30 leagues ject, not only for the sake of consistency, distant from Cadiz, was appointed as but that infidels, who are always on the the place of rendezvous for these Priests. watch to take advantage, may be for ever Sir John Downie, finding his appointment silenced, and the divine authority of the of gealer, or (as he calls it in the paid for sæered writings established on an im- put paragraphs in the Sun and Courier) movable basis. Inspector of the Palace, neither profitable nor honourable, set to work immediately with the Holy Protherhood, and so well succeeded with them that Ramon GuiraTHE INQUISITION. quiz wrote to the Inquisitor General at SIR,-Since my last I perceive, by the Madrid, desiring that Downie might Morning Post and the Times newspa- be permitted to embark with the Expedipers, that Sir John Newport in the House tion, stating his devotion to the interests of Commons, and Lord Landsdowne in of the Holy Offee, and that he would be the Lords, have taken up the Inquisition an excellent centerpoise to the rough General, Sir John Downie.--The Chen-independence of the General in Chief, Mccellor of the Exchequer, in defending the rillo. This officer, as I have already item of about 135,3607, of the public mo- stated, was originally a private marine, ney, which has been paid to this man, and serving on board the Spanish Flect, independent of an annuity which he re-in the battle of Trafalgar, was taken priceived from the public, (for what is not explained) stated as a sort of salco, that he was the brother of the late lamented Captain Downie, of the Navy, who was killed on the Lakes in Amèrica. This declaration produced a letter, which has been inserted in all the newspapers, contradicting the assertion, and stating Sir John Downie to be the son of a weaver, in Renfrewshire.--Now this has nothing Whatever to do with the merits of the in

VERITAS.

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soner, and confined on board one of the prison ships at Portsmouth, until the breaking out of the Spanish revolution, when he was sent home with the whole of the Spanish prisoners. Naturally boisterous and violent, a man of war and a mountain camp, his only education, which his guerilla avocations had not contributed much to soften, he appeared little disposed to submit his operations to the guidance of the priests, who con

course. Thus stood the expedition, when after repeated disappointments it sailed; but, owing to some unexplained cause, it has returned to port, and it is said its destination is changed. What will now become of Sir John Downie remains to be seen. Perhaps he will return to the Inspectorship of his Palace at Seville. At all events, he has little chance of being employed in the regular Spanish army, where his Inquisition merits are very thoroughly understood, and properly ap preciated.

The capture of Monte Video has placed the whole eastern part of Spanish America in the power of the Patriots. An army of 40,000 men, flushed with conquest, most of them "Patriots of the

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sidered their approbation of every measure as a sine qua non to success.Ramon Guiraquiz was indefatigable in his applications in favour of Sir John Downie, and at last succeeded; but not, as the Chancellor of the Exchequer stated, in getting him appointed a Lieutenant General on the staff of the expedition; his only rank is that of Brigadier and he is inferior to all the staff officers employed. On his arrival at Cadiz, he was received most coldly by Morillo, who, from his residence in England, (limited as it was) was enabled to form a pretty accurate judgment of General Sir John Downie. In addition to which, he considered him solely as an Inquisition General, and from his residing constantly with the Priests, he received the Spanish nickname of "El Inquisitore Ynglese." For five months, the expedition remained in preparation at Cadiz, and during the whole of that time, (so cold was the reception he met with on his reporting himself to General Morillo) he continued with the deputation of the Inquisition at Seville, and never once joined the army until its embarkation, when he arrived with the Holy Brethren, having with him a Lieutenant Steele of the Marines, and was appointed to the same ship with Ramon Guiraquiz! This Lient. Steele left England in the year 1813, having been permitted by the Admiralty to enter the Spanish service in the corps of Gene-mission to the "San Benito," would have ral Doyle, who being totally without officers, came to England to recruit for them in the British service; and finding none to be got at in the regiments of the line, he applied to the marines, where he succeeded in getting half a dozen, one of whom is Sir John Downie's follower, Lieut. Steele, who, also, in imitation of his master, calls himself by some pompeus designation-if not General, certainly at least Colonel.

soil," accustomed to habits of freedom, and detesting tyranny, either civil, religious, or military, would have laughed to scorn Morillo's army of 8,000 men, even with the aid of his Holy Brotherhood Deputation, the Pope's Bull with which they were furnished, and the threatened Auto de Fé, which was to have been celebrated in honour of God, on their arrival in America, Morillo himself is known never to have been at all sanguine of success. The priests imagined, that their fulmination of burning in this world, and damnation in the next, would have effectually put down the efforts of the revolutionary party; and that quiet sub

been the immediate consequence of their first appearance. Cevallos, however, who is still at the head of the government at Madrid, began to find that the expedition would have been a certain sacrifice, while the ships, and their stores and equipments would have been an important acquisition to the revolutionists; and it is understood by the best informed Spaniards here, that certain information was received of the complete establishment of the New GoGeneral Morillo looked upon these men vernment. However this may be, it is with suspicion:-he remembered, that certain that the expedition is suspended while he was bravely fighting at the head for the present; the troops have all disof his guerillas, Sir John Downie was embarked, and have occupied again their otherwise employed at Madrid; and old quarters at Cadiz, the Isla, St. Maria, perhaps judging not over favorably of and Puerto Real; and the priests have the man, who, notwithstanding that he returned, some of them to Sevile, where owed his all to the late government, had Ramon Guiraquiz has himself gone ; and been ungrateful enough to be a principal the remainder occupy the great convent operator in its destruction, he avoided all of the Dominicans, near the Water Gate communication with him, and left him to at Cadiz. In the mean time, the luquithe society of his friends the priests, with sition is not idle:All the revolutionists whom alone he had any sort of inter-have been publicly excommunicated in

One of the

every church in Spain. All communica in conversation with them. tion with them is denounced under the pro-proctors (who was of Trinity College) severest penalties, and a complete sepa- accompanied by the marshal of the univer ration is effected between the colonies tity, stopped the young women, and and the mother country. The evils which charged them with having been in conthis will produce, will no doubt be at versation with the gownsmen. They in first, most severely felt, but the consevain denied the fact. The pro-proctor dequences must eventually be beneficial to sired them to follow him, which they did both parties. All revolutionary govern- attended by the marshal. The gownsmen ments are liberal in their policy. They perceiving the young women were stopped, will no doubt invite all Europe to a free and supposing that it might have been trade, and thus commercial prosperity occasioned by their having apparently will be both given and received; while, been in their company, returned and on the other hand, Old Spain, where indo-begged leave to assure the pro-proctors lence and inactivity have so long been that no blame whatever was imputable habitual, will give way to exertion. This to the young women; but they were dewill arise from the scarcity of the pre-sired to go to their College, and the fecious metals, which the revolution must males were escorted to Exeter College, necessarily produce. Under the old sys-where the marshal learned that the Vice tem, so abundant was the supply of gold Chancellor was engaged, and would not and silver, that little labour was necessary be spoken with. The pro-proctor upon to obtain support. A most material being informed of this circumstance, dechange will now be produced, and I have sired they might be taken to the marshal's no doubt, that if the government is not house, and said that he would send the so stupidly blind to its own existence, as senior proctor to them. The marshal to still encourage the dominion of the obeyed the pro-procter's directions, and priests, and the ignorance of the people, conducted them to his house, where the that a material alteration will take place senior proctor came Soon afterwards. in the general habits and pursuits of the The young women asked what they had whole nation. been brought there for. The proctor said that the pro-proctor had informed him they had been talking to the gownsmen. This they denied, and begged they might be liberated. The proctor replied that they must be confined there all night, and taken before the Vice-Chancellor in the morning to exculpate themselves.

In my next letter, I shall trouble you with a statement of the operation of the Inquisition upon trade, commerce, and agriculture. In this country, an English man can with difficulty understand how these great causes of national prosperity can be interfered with by the church. 1 shall explain this, and will shew clearly, that Spain possesses every requisite to rival the most favoured commercial nations, if a wise and liberal government were to give spirit and energy to the exertions of the people. I am, &c.

March 1, 1815.

Civis.

hey then requested that their mother might be sent for; but this was refused by the proctor, who immediately left the house, desiring the marshal to confine them. The marshal conducted them into a room up stairs (the usual place of confinement for common prostitutes,) and locked them up. Perceiving the mar shal before he left the room was about to UNIVERSITY OF OXFORD. take away the candle, the girls begged SIR,-To the many instances of the they might have a light and a fire. But abuses of the proctorial power in the Uni-he told them it was as much as his place versity of Oxford, which have been lately was worth to allow them to have either animadverted upon, in your Register, the one or the other; and they were conbeg leave to add the following: On the fined all night, without fire, candles, or 29th of November, 1811, two young wo- any sort of refreshment. In the course of men, the daughters of a widow in the the evening, their mother, and two of middling rank of life, resident in Oxford, their friends, wished to be admitted, but were in the High-street, near St. Mary's were refused. About nine o'oleck the Church, betwen four and five o'clock in fol owing morning, the marshal desired the afternoon, when two gownsmen cross-them to prepare to go before the Viceed the way, and endeavoured to engage Chancellor, and then left them. He re

to females, as it may be the means of subjecting their cliaracters, however pure, to uncharitable remarks, and illnatured surmises.

Oxford, Feb. 18. 1815. ·

FREEDOM OF SPEECH.

turned to them at twelve o'clock, and and perhaps ruinous in its consequences. told them that they were to be liberated To which may be added, that publicity, without going before the Vice-Chancellor, in those cases, is extremely unpleasant upon which they came down stairs and walked home.-An action was brought in the Court of Kings' Bench against the proctor, pro-proctor, and marshal, for false imprisonment. The University claimed their recognizance of the cause, which was allowed.--The plaintiffs, whose expences were already to a considerable sum, were advised to drop all SIR, Knowing that you as much despise farther proceedings, as the cause must panegyric, as I do the panegyrist, it is have been determined in the Vice Chan- not my intention to pass fulsome com cellor's Court, where there is no jury, and pliments, but merely to shew to the where it might have been protracted to a world what happy effects are produced great length of time, and have been atten- by the perseverance of plain truth.ded with much additional expence; not The fact is, your plain arguments have to mention this trifling circumstance, greatly tended to convert an educated that the proctor himself, the very man man, and an original enemy to your Rewho was one of the defendants, might gister. From my intimacy and friendhave sat with the assessor, and his bro-ship with him, I have constantly sent ther proctor, as one of the judges! Now it him to read. Sometimes he would, and it must be observed that the conduct of sometimes he would not look at it. the proctors was not only unnecessarily Time, the tryer of all things, as your corharsh and severe, but iffegal. That this respondent on Religious Persecution was the opinion of the Vice-Chancellor, says, eradicated that raucour, and curimay be inferred from the circumstance Osity predominating, led him occasion of the young women being liberated, ally to look it over, till at last conviction without appearing before him, who, if got the better of his prejudice, and I am any thing whatever could have been happy to state, that we are now as unitved against them, would not have dis- ed in politics as we are sincere in missed them without reprimand. It friendship.-The wonder working effects would have been unjustifiable and illegal, of your uncontaminated reasening is also even if the young women had been com- proved in your forcing a rebut from Sir mon prostitutes, for they had been guilty J. C. Hippisley, to your animadversions of no ill-behaviour, and the pro-proctor on the abominable the abominable Times Newspaper interposed his authority, at a time of day, report of what you justly censured as an when he had no power of exerting it ex- impropriety in Sir John's (supposed) illicept on matriculated persons. Punish-beral and urgentlemanly attack on Mr. ment, in this case, if inflicted at all, Madison, the President of the only free should have been inflicted on the gowns country in the world. I cordially partici men; but they were allowed to with pate escape you when you say, "you cannot with impunity.--Instances similar to the "help wishing that a respectable English above, I have reason to think, have fre- gentleman had refrained from the use quently occurred, though the individu-" of a phrase fit to be applied only to als who suffered had no opportunity of "the head and members of a government bringing their cases before the public; "of a very different description." I could a circumstance that will not be wonder- have wished that you had named the ed at, when it is considered that aggres-government, but I have a pretty good sions of this nature are generally committed against persons who cannot take any expensive measures to obtain redress, as by their own situation or that of their relations and friends, they are more or less dependent on the University, and to whom any resistance or opposition to those members of it who are clothed with authority, might be very detrimental

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key to this when I look to your extracts from a Pamphlet written by Mr. Thorpe, the Chief Justice of the Colony of Sierra Leone, (on the subject of the slave trade) to Mr. Wilberforce, a sanctified member of parliament, a suppressor of vice; a good old man, who would rather die than be deprived of the pleasure and power of cramming Bibles

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