824 Curious old Paintings in the Church of Raunds defcribed. [Sept. ject fo much connected with works of charity,that theClergy should everywhere be applied to. They have not remained unaddreffed; but it will eafily be underftood, that they can do little more than recommend offices of humanity and charity to thofe who attend to their exhortations; for, as to their influence over their veftries, the ineffectual application to them, and the 150 parishes in and about London, fufficiently fhews the abhorrence the veftrymen have of matters of expence; one of their most weighty excufes from receiving cafuals into their infirmaries having been, that they should get individuals to bury that did not belong to the parish. It might nevertheless be poffible to obtain, that a clerk, on prayer days, might read an abridged fet of inftructions to the congregation, and pathetic recommendation of the practice; and this method would become more effectual, if any well-difpofed perfon would provide him with a number of copies to diftribute at the time. Another mode of impreffing the rules on memory might be followed in our numerous Sunday-schools, according to the opinion of the celebrated Dr. Benjamin Ruth, of Philadelphia, in a letter to Dr. Johnfon, after the reception of feveral of his pamphlets: "I admire the thought of publishing the inftructions in verfe (done by a warm promoter of the falutary difcovery); I fhall get them printed in the Columbian (American) Magazine, and recommend their being learned, and pronounced publicly, by our young people at all our fchools." To obtain abundant fruit from this fertile practice, the most effectual methed for the purpose of teaching, recommending, and rewarding its exer cife, is certainly an univerfal inflitution of Humane Societies all over the kingdom, as the writer of the Appeal propoles; yet not of medical perfons, who are not numerous enough for the exigency, and never will inftru&t common people in any thing they hold as their art; but of fuch public-fpirited gentlemen as thofe of Amfierdam, who liberally formed the first fociety at their own expence, and fet the example of infruling and employing the common clats of people, that has, in Holland, France, and North America, restored more individuals from apparent death than all the medical practitioners over the face of the globe. Yours, &c. VERUS. ty Mr. URBAN, Raunds, June 20. N the church of Raunds, in the counIN of Northampton, on a fcreen which parts the South aile from the chancel, is a curious painting, on boards, of the hiftory of Jofeph and his brethren. It feems to be a work of great antiquity; probably the performance of fome painter of the 14th century. I fend you a defcription of it, and beg you will allow it a column in your inftructive and entertaining Magazine. The painting is in eight compart ments. In the first, Jofeph is fleeping, with the eleven fheaves bowing to his theaf, and the fun, moon, and eleven ftars, making obeifance to him, as defcribed in his dream from verfe the 5th to the 9th of the 37th chapter of Genefis. The fecond divifion contains Jofeph's interview with the person who fends him to Dothan in fearch of his brethren. 17th verfe. In the third, Jofeph is just taken from the pit, and felling by his brethren to the Ishmaelites. Verse 28. In the fourth, Jofeph in prifon, interpreting the dreams of the chief butler. and baker. Verle the 9th of the 40th chapter. In the fifth, Jofeph is brought before Pharaoh, and interprets his dream. 24th verfe of 41ft chapter. In the 6th, Jofeph, with fer. ants under his direction, filling ftorehouses with facks of corn in the years of plenty. Verfe 48. Seventh. The brethren aftonished at finding the cup in Benjamin's fack. Ch. xliv. v. 12. Eighth. Jofeph difcovering himself to his brethren. "There were infcriptions under each of them: three of them are entirely oblite rated. I fend you fac-fimiles of the remaining five, hoping fome ingenious correfpondent, who may have met with paintings of the fame kind, will give the lines perfect as they are to be read *. Yours, &c. J. T. P. S. The infcription marked with the letter A is on a tomb of an uncommon lize in Raunds church t. They are barely mentioned in Bridges's Hiftory of Northamptonshire, 11. p. 186.We have engraved them in Plate III. EDIT. † in Bridges's Hiftory of Northamptonshire, vol. II. p. 187, the name in this epitaph is read Waves, and the date 146; which correfponds with the date of his death. He was vicar from 1477 to 14,6. EDIT. SUM L PROCEEDINGS IN PARLIAMENT, 1791. (Continued from p. 735-) H. OF LORDS. May 31. ORD King, after the petition prefented by Mr. Haftings had, upon his Lordship's motion, been read by the Clerk, moved, "That an humble Addrefs be prefented to his Majefty, praying him not to prorogue the Parliament till Warren Haftings, Efq. now impeached of High Crimes and Mifdemeanors, had made his defence, and till his trial was concluded." His Lordship recommended his motion, by obferving, that Mr. Haltings, after a profecution of four years, might very laudably be anxious for judgement; and, though he could not offer any thing like a compromife to their Lordships, he was willing to agree, that his defence thould not occupy more than fourteen, or, if that should be thought too long, feven days. Lord Grenville declared his disapprobation of the motion, which trenched upon one of the most important prerogatives of the Crown, and upon one with which it was peculiarly improper for Parliament to interfere, becaufe the exercise of it related perfonally to themselves. Lords Stanhope and Hawke, and Marquis Lansdowne, were for the motion; and Lord Mulgrave against it:-and it was negatived, without a division. The order of the day was then read, for the fecond reading of the bill for refcuing a certain defcription of perfons of the Catholic perfuafion frem the reftrictions and penalties at prefent against them. Lord Rawdon opened the fubject, and faid, it ought to be fupported upon the moft liberal principles. Taking a review of the establishments of fociety, he drew a conclufion that they were neceffarily formed for the happinefs of the whole; and confequently, no one part of the community should be circumfcribed from the common privileges, unlefs they were of a defcription that might pollibly endanger the profperity of the body at large. From thefe principles he thought the prefent bill ought to be fupported, and must meet with the countenance of their Lordships; but then they would recollect, there were petitioners at the bar who wished to be included in it ; and why they should not, he was at prefent at a lofs to know; for furely, in beftowing a boon of this kind, it was ungracious to reftrict it upon trifling differences: there GENT. MAG. September, 1791. fore, when the bill was in a Committee, he fhould fuggeft fome amendments that might include the petitioners to take the benefit of its advantages. The Archbishop of Canterbury expreffed his concurrence with the Noble Lord, in approving the bill as to its general prin ciple, but thought it his duty to flate in what refpects it was imperfect and erroneous. In the first place, the oath very naturally prefented itself to observation, and to that there was one obvious objection, that though it denied the infallibility of the Pope, except in matters of fpiritual doctrine, it was certainly clear, that whoever was admitted to be infalli ble in points of doctrine, was admitted to be infallible in declaring what was doctrine; fo that the reftriction, which was intended as to the influence of the Pope in temporal matters, might be overcome, if he himself chose to declare that fuch matters were not temporal, but fpiritual. Another part went to relieve this particular defcription of perfons from the penalties and punishments of those as which were univerfally condemned, leaving the members of the Church of England fubject to them. He confeffed he was much ftruck with the claufe that allowed Catholic fchoolmasters to teach the children of Proteftants, and mifchief had apparently ftruck the framers of the bill, as in a fubfequent clause they had made a provifion against their inftilling into them the Catholic doctrine. To fhew how far this would answer the purpofe, he thought it would be fuffici. ent to request their Lordships to recollect the mafter would be a Catholick, the forms and orders of the fchool would be Catholic, and, under these circumstances, was it an improper queftion to afk, how long it was probable the minority would be without being Catholicks? He was by no means averfe to their teaching the children of their own perfuafion; but at the fame time he thought the extenfion of their doctrine could not be too carefully guarded againft. Thefe c'aules, he therefore truffed, when in a Commit tee, their Lordships would fo amend, za to make them anfwer the intended purpofe, although he had fome doubts whe ther the bill could be fo amended as to render it that pure, liberal, and extenfive act of the Legiflature which the fubject deferved; and whether it would not be better to poftpone it until it had been fo framed, 826 Parliamentary Proceedings of Lords and Commons for 1791. [Sept.. framed, with due deliberation, as to effect every 1 terazd purpose. Lord Abingdon thought it abfurd to fuppofe they could abjure the Pope as to temporals, and yet profefs their faith in him in fpiritual affairs. The Bishop of St. David's, who next rofe, addreffed the Houfe in the following animated terms: My Lords, With great charity for the Roman Catholicks, with a perfect abhorrence of the penal laws, I have my doubts, whether the bill for their relief, that has been fent up to us from the Lower Houfe, comes in a fit fhape to be fent to a Committee. My Lords, it is not my intention to make any exprefs motion to obftru&t the commitment of it, if I should perceive that measure to be the fenfe and inclination of the Houfe: but I have my doubts, which I think it my duty to fubmit to your Lordships' confideration. Fixed, my Lords, as I am in the perfuafion, that Religion is the only foundation of civil fociety, and, by confequence, that an establishment of Religion is an effential branch of every well-conftructed polity; I am equally fixed in another principle, that it is a duty, which the great law of Chriftian charity impofes on the Chriftian magiftrate, to tolerate Chriftians of every denomination, feparated from the Eftablifhed Church by confcientious fcruples; with the exception of fuch fects only, if any fuch there be, which hold principles fo fubverfive of civil government in general, or fo hoftile to the particular conftitution under which they live, as to render the extermination of fuch fects an object of just policy. My Lords, I have no fcruple to fay, that the opinions, which feparate the Roman Catholicks, of the prefent day, from the communion of the Church of England, are not of that dangerous complexion. Times, my Lords, it is too well known, have been, when the towering ambition of the Roman clergy, and the tame fuperftition of the people, rendered the hierarchy the rival of the civil government, the triple mitre the terror of the Crown, in every flate in Chriftendom. The Reformation in this country, as it took its rife not in any controverfies upon speculative points, but in a high-spirited monarch's manly renunciation of the Pope's ufurped authority-in the claim of the original abfolute exemption of the Church, no lefs than of the State of this kingdom, from all fubordination to the fee of Rome-excited a spirit of intrigue among the adherents of the Papacy against the internal government, which rendered every Roman Catholick, in proportion as he was confcientiously attached to the interefts of his Church, a difaffected, or, at the beft, a fufpected, fubject. The Revolution widened the breach, by the natural attachment of the fect to the abdicated family, which had always favoured it. Happily for this country, and for the peace of mankind, thofe times are paft. My Lords, it is now univerfally understood, that the extravagant claims of the Church to a paramount authority over the State, in fecular matters, ftand confuted by the very firft principle of the original charter of her inftitution, by the early edict of her divine and holy founder, that "his kingdom is not of this world.” The ambition of the Roman Pontiff, by the reduction of his power and his fortunes, is become contemptible and ridiculous in the eyes of his own party = and the extinction of the Stuart family leaves the Roman Catholicks of thiscountry no choice, but the alternative of continuing in the condition of aliens in their native land, or of bringing themfelves under the protection of her laws by peaceable fubmiffion, and loyal attachment to the exifting Government. My Lords, in thefe circumstances, in this ftate of opinions, in this reduced condition of the Pope's importance in the political world, in the actual ftate of the interests of the Roman Catholicks of this country, I perfuade myself that the long-wifhed-for feafon for the abolition of the penal laws is come. Emancipated from the prejudices which once carried them away, the Roman Catholicks are led, by the genuine principles of their religion, to inoffenlive conduct, to dutiful fubmiffion, and cordial loyalty. My Lords, the Roman Catholicks better underftand, than the thing feems to be understood by many of thofe who call themfelves our Pro teftant brethren, in what plain characters the injunction of the unreferved fubmiffion of the individual, to the Government under which he is born, is written in the divine law of the Gofpel. My Lords, with all this charity for Roman Catholicks, with these sentiments of the inexpediency of the penal laws, I must ftill difapprove of the bill which is now offered for a fecond reading. Your Lordships muft perceive that, confiftently with the fentiments which I avow, I cannot quarrel with the bill for the relief it gives. No, my Lords-the Noble Lord, who moved the fecond reading, has himself opened the grounds of my objection. My Lords, I object to the bill, that it is infufficient to its own purpose. My Lords, I quarrel with the bill for the partiality of its operation. With the indulgence of your Lord Ships, I will endeavour to explain, from what circumstances, in the fabrick of the bill, this defect arifes; I will fet forth the importance of the objection; and then I will trouble your Lordships with the reafons of my apprehenfion, that this objection is not likely to be done away, by any amendments which we can give the bill in a Committee. My Lords, this bill is to relieve Roman Catholicks from the penal laws, under the condition that they take an oath of allegiance, abjuration, and declaration; the terms of which oath the bill prefcribes. The bill, therefore, will relieve fuch Roman Catholicks as take this oath, and none elfe. Now, my Lords, it is, I believe, a well-known fact, that a very great number, I believe I fhould be correct if I were to fay, a very great majority, of the Roman Catholicks fcruple the terms in which this oath is unfortunately drawn, and declare they cannot bring themselves to take it. With the permiffion of the Houfe, I will enter a little into the detail of their objections; not that I mean to go at prefent into a difcuffion upon all the imperfections of the oath; I concur in every one of the objections made by the most reverend the Metropolitan. But I fhall not touch upon thefe objections, because they have been ably ftated, and becaufe they are not to the purpote of my argument. It is my point to ftate the objections of fcrupulous Roman Catholicks. My Lords, the majority of the Roman Catholicks who fcrupie this oath are not Papifts in the opprobrious fenfe of the word-they are not the Pope's courtiers-more than the gentlemen of the Roman Catholic Committee, who are ready to accept the oath. My Lords, the more fcrupulous Roman Catholicks, who object to the terms of this oath, are ready to fwear allegiance to the King-they are ready to aojure the Pretender-to renounce the Pope's authority in civil and temporal matters; they are ready to renounce the doctrine, that faith is not to be kept with here ticks, and that perfons may be murdered, under the pretence that they are hereticks, as impious and unchriftian; they are ready to renounce, as impious and unchriftian, the doctrine, that Princes, excommunicated by the See of Rome, may be murdered by their fubjects; they are ready to renounce the doctrine, that Princes, excommunicated by the See of Rome, may be depofed by their fubjects: but to this depofing doctrine they fcruple to apply the epithets of impious, unchriftian, and damnable. My Lords, they think that this doctrine is rather to be called falfe, than impious; traiterous, than unchriftian. They fay, that the language of an oath fhould not be adorned, figured, and amplified, but plain, fimple, and precife. But in truth, my Lords, this fcruple is founded in a tender regard for the memory of their progenitors. Some two centuries fince, this error, however abfurd and malignant, was, like other abfurd and malignant errors, univerfal. Yet, my Lords, there lived in thofe times many men of diftinguished piety and virtue, who acquiefced in this error as a fpeculative doctrine, though they never acted upon it. My Lords, the more fcrupulous of the Roman Catholicks think it hard, that men of probity and virtue, entertaining a fpeculative error, fanétioned by its univerfality, upon which they never a&ted, fhould for that error, in mere fpeculation, be figmatized as devoid of piety, as no Chriftians, and as perfons that died under a fentence of eternal damnation. And certainly, my Lords, the reprobation of this doctrine, under the qualifications of impious, unchriftian, and damnable, goes to this effect. My Lords, I befeech you to give a candid attention to this fcruple, as I am confi dent your Lordships will to every fcruple. My Lords, I enter into this detail from a defire of imprefling on your Lordships minds, what is very ftrongly impresied on mine, that the objections of thefe men are not cavils, but fair, honeft, confcientious fcruples. My Lords, this fcruple is analogous to that which every enlightened man would feel, if he were called upon to decide upon that, which has fometimes been decided upon with little ceremony, upon the final doom of virtuous H.athens; of men, who, with a lente of moral obligation, and with fentiments of piety towards the Creator of the univerfe, which might have done no dif 828 Parliamentary Proceedings of Lords and Commons for 1791. [Sept. credit to the profeffors of Chriftianity, nevertheless, from the force of example and education, acquiefced in the popular idolatry of their times. My Lords, I believe-your Lordships all believe that there is no name under Heaven by which men may be faved, but the name of Jefus Chrift. Nevertheless, my Lords, 1 fhould be very unwilling to affert My Lords, I would refufe to fwear-that it is matter of my belief, that fuch men as Socrates, Plato, Tully, Seneca, and Marcus Antoninus, who were every one of them idolaters, are now fuffering in the place of torment, and are doomed to fuffer there to all eternity. My Lords, upon this point I concur in the fentiments of a great or nament of the Roman Church, who might have been an ornament to the pure church in the most enlightened times: ubi nunc anima Marci Tullii agat, fortaffe non eft humani judicii pronuntiare; me certè non admodum averfum habituri fint in ferendis calcu lis, qui fperant illum apud fuperos fumma pace frui." My Lords, will not your Lordships permit the Roman Catholicks to have the fame tende nefs for the memory of Bellarmin and Erafmus, which your Lordships would feel for that of virtuous Heathens? My Lords, the terms, in which the Pope's civil authority is renounced, are matter of fcruple to that divifion of the Roman Catholicks, which I confider as the majority. My Lords, they are ready to renounce the civil authority of the Pope; but they think that the words used in the oath go to the denial of the Pope's fpiritual authority, which they cannot confcientiously abjure. The terms of the oath, my Lords, are the fe "I do alfo in my confcience declare, and folemnly fwear, that no foreign church, prelate, or prieft, or affembly of priests, or ecclefiaftical power what foever, hath, or ought to have, any jurifdiction or authority whatfoever within this realm, that can directly or indirectly affect or interfere with the independence, fovereignty, laws, conftitution, or government thereof, or the rights, liberties, perfons, or properties, of the people of the faid realm, or any of them.' The power, therefore, abjured, is all ecclefiaftical power which can, directly or indirectly, interfere with the fovereignty, conftitution, or government, with public or with private rights. My Lords, these fcrupulous Catholicks think that this defcrip tion comprehends the Pope's spiritual authority; for they fay, that they must admit that the Pope's fpiritual authority does, indirectly, by inference and implication, interfere with civil govern ment and with civil rights. My Lords, is it not manifeft that the Pope's fupre macy, indirectly, and in fpeculation, interferes with the fovereignty? with the King's fupremacy as head of the Church? My Lords, with the Conftitu❤ tion the Pope's fupremacy indirectly interferes in a part which, I believe, your Lordships hold in fome regard. My Lords, it is a confequence from the doctrine of the Pope's fupremacy, that no confecrations and ordinations are va lid, but what emanate from the authority of the fee of Rome. If this be the cafe, my Lords, the bishops of the Church of England are no bithops. If we are no bifhops, we have no right to fit in this Alfembly with your Lordships; I have no right to be now holding this argument before your Lordships. My Lords, is not this an interference, indire&ly I grant, but indirectly is it not an interference with the Conftitu tion? My Lords, if we are no bishops, it is a further confequence that no man is made a prieft by virtue of our ordina tions-no prieft of ours, therefore, has any juft right to any temporalities that he may hold of fuch a nature, as to at tach exclufively to the priestly character. My Lords, is not this an interfe rence with the rights of the fubject? My Lords, thefe are striking inftances, that occur at the moment. Many other intances might be found, in which the Pope's fpiritual fupremacy unquestionably interferes, indirectly, with civil authority and civil rights; and the moft that can be expected of confcientious Roman Catholicks is, not that they fhould renounce all authority carrying this interference, for that were to renounce the Pope as their fpiritual head; but that they thould bind themselves to Government, that they will never a upon thefe principles, which in theory they cannot renounce; that, whatever they may think (as a matter of opinion) about the Pope's fupremacy, they will never, in fact, make an attack, or commit any act of hoftility, against the Conftitution and the Government in either branch, but, on the contrary, will defend it. And thefe engagements, my Lords, thofe Roman Catholicks, who fcruple this oath, are ready and difirous to give in the most explicit and unequi |