"

We are happy to hear that associations are now forming in England, with a view to obtain a repeal of the late act paff ed there. Every Proteftant, every true Briton, fhould rejoice at the event. It were to be wished, that those in administration, of their own accord, would retract their error, and thus prevent all applications; and hereby they might yet recover that influence and honour they have lately loft. But, as there is very little appearance or probability of this, every one, who wishes well to his country and pofterity, ought to promote the defign with his best wishes, and most active endeavours. It becomes Scotchmen, in particular, to come in to the aid of their brethren, and to fupport, by their reprefentatives, any fuch applications. They ought to confider the cause as their own; as indeed it properly is; without the fuccefs of which, all they have obtained for themfelves will little avail them. It may eafily be perceived how very much the example, the laws, and religion of their more numerous and more powerful neighbours, connected as the two nations are together, must neceffarily affect the ftate and fafety of the Proteftant interest among them. Wherefore not only duty to God, charity to their brethren, the laws of Chriftianity, and the inviolable engagements of their forefathers, but also a prudent regard to their own greater fecurity, lay the people of Scotland under obligations to ufe every lawful mean both for preventing the growth of Popery in the neighbouring land, and promoting a further degree of reformation in it from every fpecies of falfe religion, as well as among themselves, notwithstanding any abfurd acts and terms of union mutually adopted, and prefently in being, to the contrary: for if there ought to be one Lord, and his name one throughout all the earth, why not through the confined boundaries of one of the illes of the sea?

*See An Appeal from the Proteftant Affociation to the People of Great Britain, concerning the probable tendency of the late Act of Parliament in favour of the Papifts.

Were

Were the nobility and gentlemen of rank in cither kingdom, difpofed, at last, to ftand forth, and affert the common caufe of Proteftants, they might win to themselves a wreath of lafting renown, and retrieve, in fome measure, their languishing honour, so long blasted by their irreligion, diffipation, and profanity. A public and difinterefted fpirit, wifely and feasonably exerted in the best of causes, would make them truly great, elevate them far above their grovelling contemporaries, and enrol their names in the annals of fame. But how vain and chimerical are all fuch profpects! Thofe objects fo truly grand and important, that have formerly been the veneration of the good, the wife, and great, are now, in their eyes, dwindled into nothing. Religion! Reformation! To talk of fuch antiquated matters is to tickle their fpleen, and tempt them to throw out fome threadbare jeft, picked up from the mouth of fome debauchee, or conceited infidel, or gleaned perhaps from last year's comedies, or novels, if their reading extends fo far. Many of them are become fuch fots, that the beasts which graze in their fields, or fatten at their stalls, have nearly as much knowledge and veneration for a Deity as they. Some of them would be at a lofs to find out the difference between the Bible and the breviary. A mafshouse or a Turkish mofque would please them full as well as a naked Proteftant church; and the playhouse better than them all. Gaming, racing, drinking, intriguing, ca pering at balls, and fooling at masquerades, are the devouteft and most fervent exercises they know.-Go on, ye fallen degenerate fons of earth! Ye ignoble flaves of fense, go on! and entail infamy on your names, poverty on your families, disease and rottenness on your bodies, and damnation on your fouls. To reform the disorders and corruptions of your native land, or to preferve our religion from violations, is a task unmeet for fuch hands as yours!

But, if nobler motives cannot operate on your fordid minds, yet, methinks, you should at least consider what may be the confequence to you, and your families, if Popery fhould reafcend the throne. Many of you would then hold your estates by a very precarious and flippery tenure. Not a few of you are indebted for your estates and greatness to that Reformation which you curfe or contemn. You have been feeding on the rich fpoils of church and abbey lands, which will, in that event, be reclaimed, and must revert to their original use. No royal acts, charters, or inftruments of feifin, will then be fufficient to fecure you in poffeffion against the claws of the religious harpies, or the canons and ánathemas of the Romish church, whofe conftant doctrine is, that whatever has been devoted to pious ufes, can never again be alienated, nor applied to profane purposes, without facrilege. What then would you think of being compelled to lay down your rich spoils at the feet of tyrant priests, and after your fine parks, fields, and manors, are wrested from you, to have yourselves, perhaps, cursed with bell, book, and candle, to the bargain.

But, though these should altogether hold their peace at this time, deliverance will arife from another place. Rouse! then, Britons! roufe! and let every one be ambitious of fharing in the glory. It is already high time to appear, left the evil gather ftrength by long delays, and become immedicable. It will be rather too late to complain, murmur, and petition, when Papifts have reared their stately churches, and coftly chapels, through every corner of the land;when they fhall have fet up their images at the head of every ftreet; when their academies are established, and

That this is the invariable doctrine and principles of the church of Rome, might be made abundantly evident: but as this matter was fet in a very clear light, in a small tract pub.ifhed, about the time of the Revolution, under the title of Abbey and other Church Lands not yet affured to fuch poffeffors as are Roman Catholics, which is probably now very rare, we have inferted an abstract af it in the Appendix, to which we therefore refer the reader.

shall

fhall have poured forth their numerous miffionaries, like locufts, through the kingdom;-when friars, and vicars apoftolical, and nuntios, fhall be openly making proceffions in the cities; when the elevated hoft fhall be publicly adored;-when rich eftates, and extenfive counties, fhall have become Roman-Catholic property;-when posts and preferments, by difpenfation, fhall be lavished upon their leaders; when their grandees fhall have daily access to the royal ear, and the kings of Britain fhall become familiar guests at their table;-when- Let Proteftants, in time, confider, again and again, the confequences. Would they wish to leave their innocent babes a prey to fuch devourers? Would they have them after they are dead, or perhaps before they die, prattle their fenfelefs Aves, or fall down and weep before a stock or a stone? Would they have them, after their decease, offering wax candles, and hiring masses and dirges for the redemption of their fouls? If they would not, let them now exert themselves; let them break the fatal fnare that is prepared for them, and crush the deadly cockatrice when hatching;-and generations yet unborn fhall rife up and call them bleffed: otherwife, the contempt of the prefent, and the curfe and execrations of future ages will defervedly light upon their heads.

THE EN D.