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conformable to Scripture, and of that conformity every man mustjudge for himself. This liberty of private judgment is recognisedby our church (notwithstanding subscription to the Thirty-nineArticles) when, in the service far the ordering of priests, it proposesthis question :—“ Are you det ermined, out of the said Scriptures,to instruct the people committed to your charge, and to teachnothing, as required of necessity to eternal salvation, but thatwhich you shall be persuaded may be concluded and proved by theScriptures ?”
In March, 1791,1 wrote to Mr. Pitt, that, as Iwas then going intoWestmoreland, I should have no opportunity of delivering, in theHouse of Lords , my sentiments on the Catholic Bill, which was thenpending in the Commons, and that, on that account, Itook the libertyof sending him the following hint: — “ Might it not be proper tointroduce into the Oath of Protestation, a declaration of this kind?—And that we believe salvation is not restricted to the members ofthe Church of Rome . — Whilst the doctrine of there being nosalvation out of the Romish pale is maintained, the Catholics havesuch a motive for making proselytes as belongs not to Protestants ,and it is a motive which must operate with great force on themind of every sincere Papist. I am apprehensive that Catholic schools will become numerous ; the glare of ceremonies will fas-cinate the minds of the common people; and the doctrine ofabsolution, and of praying souls out of purgatory, will be palatableto many. I am afraid of Popery, because, where it has the power,it assumes the right of persecution, and whilst it believes that inafflicting the body, it saves the soul of a convert, I do not seehow it can abandon the idea of the utility of persecution. If